UTF-8 as told by Rob Pike
a day ago
- #UTF-8
- #Encoding
- #Ken Thompson
- Ken Thompson invented UTF-8 in one evening in September 1992, with Rob Pike present.
- The design was created in response to a request from X/Open committee members, aiming for a better encoding standard.
- UTF-8 was implemented system-wide in Plan 9 within a week, showcasing rapid development and deployment.
- The encoding was designed to be compatible with existing Unix systems, avoiding null bytes and ASCII slashes in filenames.
- Key design criteria included ease of conversion from/to UCS, efficient synchronization in byte streams, and minimal byte usage.
- UTF-8's adoption was supported by X/Open and IBM, despite initial misconceptions about its origins.
- Historical emails and archives confirm the collaborative yet rapid development process behind UTF-8.