Talk:Comparison of Unicode encodings

Requested move

This article appears to be a sub-page of Unicode, which is ok; but it should have an encyclopedic name that reflects its importance (that of an article on Unicode encodings, rather than some evaluative comparison). —donhalcon^╤ 16:26, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

UTF-24?

hex 110000, the grand total of 17 Planes, obviously takes 21 bits, which comfortably fit into 3 bytes (24 bits). So why would anyone want to encode 21 bits in 32 bits? the fourth byte is entirely redundant. What, then, is the rationale behind having UTF-32 instead of "UTF-24"? Just a superstitious fear of odd numbers of bytes? dab (ᛏ) 12:47, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

It's more than superstitious fear of odd numbers of bytes - it is a fact that most computer architectures can process multiples of bytes equal to their word size quicker. Most modern computers use either a 32 bit or 64 bit word. On the other hand, modern computers are fast enough that the speed difference is irrelevant. It is also true that most computer languages provide easy ways to refer to those multiples. (For example, in C on a 32 bit machine, you can treat UTF-32 in the machines's native byte order as an array of integers.) --LeBleu 23:01, 7 July 2006 (UTC)