[r6rs-discuss] [Formal] String positions and string slices

From: Thomas Lord <lord>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:37:57 -0700

Chris Hanson wrote:
> Except that the only strong argument for keeping the string interface is
> historical compatibility.

I disagree.

A strong argument for keeping the CHAR type is to have a model
for encoding units. That's "encoding units" in a broad sense that
goes beyond anything specified in Unicode. Encoding units in
this broad sense are simply the atomic units of I/O -- members of
abstract alphabets, considered separately from their bit-wise
external representations (of which, each CHAR might have several).

Then, a strong argument for keeping the STRING type is that
a mutable, homogenous, disjoint, arbitrary-size sequence of CHAR
is a vital abstraction for common I/O operations.

-t
Received on Tue Apr 10 2007 - 10:37:57 UTC