Re: Universal Character Names, v2

[Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs dot mu dot OZ dot AU>]

On 29-Nov-2002, Kai Henningsen <kaih@khms.westfalen.de> wrote:
> zack@codesourcery.com (Zack Weinberg)  wrote on 28.11.02 in <87r8d5rq2b.fsf@egil.codesourcery.com>:
> 
> > "Martin v. Löwis" <martin@v.loewis.de> writes:
> 
> > > - I have not decided to deviate from the C and C++ standards for
> > >   character tests. Reviewers commented that they dislike the approach
> > >   taken by the standards committees, and that the relevant Unicode
> > >   specification should be taken into account instead. I disagree, as I
> > >   consider the approach of giving explicit lists quite reasonable.
> > >   More importantly, I think that standards conformance should be
> > >   valued quite highly unless specific user demands require to
> > >   ignore or extend the standards; this is not the case in the
> > >   specific issue.
> >
> > ... which I disagree with.  I am rejecting this patch until you
> > implement support for Unicode as she is spoke, which means UAX#15
> > including normalization, not whatever nonsense is in the C and C++
> > standards.
> 
> Specifically, the argument "I prefer following the standard" is not useful  
> as an argument against following the other involved standard, especially  
> where it applies to a subject falling into the core competence of that  
> other standard.

I strongly disagree.  We are talking about C and C++ code.  The C
and C++ standards are the ones which have primary jurisdiction here.
The GCC manual claims conformance to the C standard, not to the Unicode
standard.

If you think the C or C++ standard got it wrong, then the right mechanism
to use is to submit a defect report.

But in the absence of such a defect report and a C/C++ committee resolution
in favour of the proposed change, GCC should follow the C/C++ standards.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.