This is a pitch for some low-level Unicode operations to enable libraries to implement their own String-like functionality and types. The purpose of this API is to present low-level core components out of which libraries can make types and higher-level API (i.e. tools for tool-makers).
I'm interested in hearing about capabilities that libraries may need and getting design feedback.
String
performs many Unicode operations using a mix of internal and publicly available functionality in the stdlib. The stdlib provides some limited general-purpose Unicode API, though this is a very dusty corner of the stdlib. We want to enable libraries to vend their own String
-like types and functionality.