> > The bitshift operations on S-register contents are valid, so long as > the thing hanging off the register support it. Binary data ought > allow this. Most 8-bit string encodings will have to support it > whether it's a good idea or not, since you can do it now. If Jarkko > tells me you can do bitwise operations with unicode text now in Perl > 5, well... we'll support it there, too, though we shan't like it at > all.
We can and I don't like it at all :-) What they basically operate on are the internal UTF-8 bit patterns, in other words utter crapola from the viewpoint of traditional "bit strings". Especially "fun" was getting the semantics of ~ to make any sense whatsoever. None of it anything I want to propagate anywhere. > I *think* most of the variable-width encodings, and the character > sets that sit on top of them, can reasonably forbid this.
