libencode
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libencode provides interfaces to operate on plain unicode codepoints and UTF-8
encoded strings.
It doesn't provide any I/O functions, advanced buffering or other complicated
features. libencode is meant to be used as a base for more sophisticated
interfaces and programs. It conveniently handles the low-level encoding/decoding
of data while the user builds upon that and focuses on the specific needs of the
application in question.

  Glossary
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The following definitions attempt to explain the terms used troughout the
project in an understandable way, while still reflecting the original meaning
as specified by the Unicode Consortium.


codespace         | The range of integers available for encoding characters.
                  |   It spans from 0x0 to 0x10FFFF.

codepoint         | A number in the Unicode codespace that is assigned to an
                  |   abstract character or another part of a writing system.

grapheme          | The smallest unit of a writing system that carries meaning
                  |   (what a human perceives as a character) and is also called
                  |   a 'user-perceived character'.

grapheme cluster  | A sequence of one or more codepoints that represent a grapheme.
                  |   This is what you want "character" to mean if you operate on text.

character         | A character is *NOT* a 7-bit ASCII value.
                  |   The word 'character' is a synonym for 'user-perceived character'
                  |   but since it's common for people to think a character is an
                  |   ASCII value and a byte in size, the term 'grapheme' was
                  |   introduced and is preferred to avoid ambiguity.

UTF-8 sequence    | A series of code units (bytes in this case) that represent a single
                  |   codepoint encoded in the UTF-8 encoding scheme.

code unit         | Code units (or simply 'unit') are the building blocks out of which
                  |   a valid encoding is made. In the case of UTF-8 each unit is 8-bit
                  |   (hence the eight) in size. Chained together, they form the
                  |   UTF-8 sequence denoting an encoded codepoint.