[Python-Dev] Internal representation of strings and Micropython

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

dw+python-dev at hmmz.org writes:

 > Given the specialized kinds of application this Python
 > implementation is targetted at, it seems UTF-8 is ideal considering
 > the huge memory savings resulting from the compressed
 > representation,

I think you really need to check what the applications are in detail.
UTF-8 costs about 35% more storage for Japanese, and even more for
Chinese, than does UTF-16.  So if you might be using a lot of Asian
localized strings, it might even be worth implementing PEP-393 to get
the best of both worlds for most strings.