My point (and the reason I somehow hijacked this thread) is that
such functionality would be useful for random access over narrow
strings. Currently random access is missing.
Also this approach fits nicely if random access is needed to
Unicode characters, not just code points.
I don't see much practical value in proposals to reconsider
current string implementation. Arguments have been presented that
it improves consistency, but as Andrei replied, consistency
itself has many dimensions. Proposed changes have not been
described in detail, but from what I understood, they would make
common use cases more verbose.
In contrast, I do see value in Select / Rank indexing. Does
anybody agree?
