[fpc-devel] Unicodestring branch, please test and help fixing

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Wed, 10 Sep 2008, listmember wrote:

> Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
> > You are mixing 2 things:
> >
> > - Texts (strings) at the compiler language level.
> > - (complex) GUI design that needs to handle a lot of text and a lot of extra
> >    properties.
> 
> :)
> 
> If you draw the lines so red and thick, who am I to disagree...
> 
> But, I could write a gigantic data mining application, a database application
> or a myriad of such apps that uses the above class without doing a single
> pixel of GUI stuff.

I'd like to see that: it will be guaranteed dog slow :(

But that is not the point.
 
> > For GUI design, you may well need all the things you describe.
> > And as I said before: you can do this yourself if you need it.
> 
> True.
> 
> I could also do my own TList, TStringList etc. etc. but, luckily I don't have
> to.
> 
> I was under the impression, therefore, that stuff that makes life easier for a
> number of developers get to be included into the main distribution for common
> use; and not be rejected on the basis of /language level/ .

This is another discussion: we could very well decide to include such a
string/character handling class in the RTL or FCL, and you could use it.
I never said we would refuse such a set of classes. 

If certain - generally useful - language features are needed to implement 
such a set of classes, we could even decide to do that. I imagine that auto 
class instance destruction when the variable goes out of scope, is one of them. 
I have proposed something like it years ago, because it is broader in scope.

However, changing the object pascal language, so it requires the use of 
objects whenever you use strings: this is a different story. 

And that is what it was all about, after all.

Michael.