Unicode in Identifiers: Why Does g Fall Short in Supporting the Full Range?

Unicode Characters in Identifiers: Why Does g Fall Short?

Despite its name, the -fextended-identifiers option in g 4.7 falls short of allowing the full range of Unicode characters as identifiers. While this option enables extended identifiers, it restricts them to characters within a specified range, hindering the creation of more meaningful variable names.

Despite allowing characters in the range 10000-1FFFD in Annex E.1, the standard does not disallow them as initial characters in E.2. However, g 4.7 seems to disregard this provision, leaving users unable to use characters like the widely-recognizable ?.

To add to the confusion, other compilers provide varying levels of support. Clang 3.3, for example, allows both ? and U0001F603 as identifiers with only -std=c 11.

GCC's Limited Support

GCC has updated to provide wider support for Unicode characters in identifiers since g 4.7:

• From version 4.8, GCC supports extended Unicode characters outside of the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP) as identifiers.
• With the release of version 4.9, GCC aligns with the C11 character set, enabling identifiers using the C11 character set.

However, it's important to note that even with the extended support in later versions of GCC, limitations still exist. The -fextended-identifiers option remains experimental and may not function as expected.

Conclusion

While Unicode characters can enhance identifier readability and expressiveness, their support in g remains limited. Users may encounter inconsistencies and restrictions when attempting to use Unicode characters as identifiers. For optimal cross-compiler compatibility, it's advisable to adhere to standard naming conventions that avoid Unicode characters until broader support is established.

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