> 5. Strings: pushing unicode throughout a general purpose language is a
> mistake, IMHO. This is why languages like Java and C# are so slow.

Unicode by itself, when wider-than-byte encodings are used, adds "zero" 
runtime overhead; the only overhead is storage (2 or 4 bytes per character). 

Given that storage is cheap, I'd much rather have Unicode support than lack of 
it.

How exactly unicode support makes Java and C# slow?! Jon, I'd have thought 
that you know better than that :( Oh well, we all have bad days.

Cheers, Kuba