Does development with scalaz require an Unicode/APL-like keyboard?

Question

Can scalaz be used without a keyboard containing the appropriate Unicode characters or does every Unicode identifier also have an "ASCII" equivalent (and if yes, is there any guarantee that it stays that way)? Are there special keyboard layouts for usage with scalaz?

What's the best practice? Inputting the Unicode identifiers directly or using the ASCII substitutes and using a script to replace them with the Unicode ones before commit?

Answer 1

No, you don't need anything besides ASCII to use Scalaz.

However, most editors and IDEs have some way of automatically or semi-automatically (like, -space) converting a sequence of characters into something else. That takes care of it if you want to keep your source code in Unicode.

Now, the problem with keeping stuff in Unicode is that you might trouble with some fonts when displaying stuff in web pages, etc. Hell, you might even be forced to convert the code to ASCII for some reason. Yes, it is unlikely, but it is an issue you should be aware of.

Answer 2

This post from Superuser has some information about this.

Answer 3

This wikipedia article on Unicode input might be helpful.

Answer 4

No. Yes. Yes. No. Benign guarantees are for sissies. Write code. I use an appropriate development environment that allows me to type whatever I like.