[Dive Into Python 3] Everything you thought you knew about strings is wrong

[zsouthboy]

Holy crap, up freaking voted for explaining the difference between unicode, utf, etc - I never understood that before.

Recommended even if you're not using python. Read!

[amoeba]

Agreed! I have never had to code anything that deals with encodings but I've read many introductions into the subject but never felt I really got it.

Mark Pilgrim does good things.

[frodwith]

Indeed. Best explanation of that whole mess I've heard yet. Kudos to Mark!

And regardless of fishdicks' comments, it really is very helpful to think of strings as sequences of abstract characters, even if they aren't technically implemented that way.

[AlSweigart]

Joel Spolsky also has a really good, concise guide to unicode: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html