On 8/2/12 7:18 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
On Thursday, August 02, 2012 19:06:32 Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
Sure, you could have a function which specifically operates on ranges of
code units and understands how unicode works and is written accordingly,
but then that function is specific to ranges of code units and is only
generic with regards to various ranges of code units. It can't operate on
generic ranges like functions such as map and filter can.
Yes, and I think that's exactly what the doctor prescribed here.
It may be the best approach for the lexer (though I'm not convinced; I'll have
to think about it more),
Your insights are always appreciated; even their Cliff notes :o).
but Walter seems to be arguing that that strings
should be treated as ranges of code units in general, which I think is
completely wrong.
I think Walter has very often emphasized the need for the lexer to be
faster than the usual client software. My perception is that he's
discussing lexer design in understanding there's a need for a less
comfortable approach, namely do decoding in client.
Andrei
