[erlang-questions] byte() vs. char() use in documentation

[Richard O'Keefe]

On 6/05/2011, at 7:04 PM, Lionel Cons wrote:

> Richard O'Keefe writes:
>>> In any case, the language must provide specific functions to work on strings
>>> and characters. For instance, a logical character comparison must take into
>>> account the Unicode equivalence.
>> 
>> What do you mean "THE" equivalence?
> 
> I mean what is described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_equivalence.

Yes but that describes *TWO* notions of equivalence, not one.
They are different, not just differently described.
And with four normal forms, there are arguably four notions of
equivalence.

And when you start talking about collation, there are lots and lots more.
> 
> Anyway, if logical characters are not supported, this is less relevant.

Not really.  Given two Unicode strings in any chosen representation,
the distinction between "are these the same representations" and "are
these the same string" exists, and the question of "what does it mean
for two of these to be 'the same' string?" needs an answer, of which
Unicode provides an abundance.