[fpc-pascal] FPC 3 regression: cannot use TStringList for UTF-8 data any more?

[vfclists .]

Isn't some formality in these Unicode discussions called for? Use of
everyday language to express things which can only be properly expressed
and tested through source code is very confusing.

Consider these few sentences by Mattias

>>>>
It depends.
There are two codepages. The real one and the one you tell the
compiler.
If you tell the compiler that the string literal is 8-bit system
codepage, it will copy it without conversion to the binary.
Otherwise it converts it to UTF-16
>>>>

How do you know what the "real" codepage is at runtime or compile time, as
opposed to "the one you tell the compiler"?
Is there some macro that can print out which codepages is active at some
stage in the compilation or at runtime?
Can codepages be switched around at various stages in the compilation?

Being an English speaker and writing software for English speakers only,
these are issues I have never had to deal with and hopefully, never will,
which is just wishful thinking, but I think that all these discussions must
be accompanied by code and use cases whch explain them better. I have been
looking in these Unicode discussion threads and I am none the wiser after
all these years.

There must be some test suites in FPC and Lazarus which cover the issues
being raised in these discussions. Wouldn't those be a better starting
point?

Unicode discussions are leading me to appreciate Edsger Dijkstra more and
more. ;)

-- 
Frank Church

=======================
http://devblog.brahmancreations.com
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