Sam Ruby: Sometimes the dragon wins

Sam Ruby: Sometimes the dragon wins: "I believe more strongly than ever that internationalization is an excellent litmus test as to whether or not that flashy startup has an expensive rewrite in their future."

Also in that post: "At the present time, Java is better than Python, PHP, Perl, and Ruby in handling Unicode."

Unfortunately, very true.

• In Python, the disconnect between a string and a unicode string is very frustrating. Python 3000, come save us!
• Correct me if I'm wrong but in Ruby, you need an extension (!!!) to use Unicode.
• In Common Lisp, there is some promise because a character is defined as a non-negative number. Note: Not bounded on size.

But in the meantime, you are better off writing in Java or even C++ if you expect to have to deal with lots of Unicode. Python will get there but God help Ruby as there are some nasty politics in play because of Han Unification.