[Verse-dev] Verse 2.0 Specification

[Oleg Ageyev]

Hello,
I have some questions about Verse 2 Specification
http://dev.nti.tul.cz/trac/verse2/wiki/Specification
1) Strings
> string8: unsigned char, array of chars without terminating char '\0'
> string16: unsigned short, array of chars without terminating char '\0'
> string32: unsigned int, array of chars without terminating char '\0'

this means that string8 is ANSI string (array of 1 byte char)
string16 is UTF-16 string (array of 2 byte char)
string32 is UTF-32 string (array of 4 byte char)
or no?
if so, I'm confused
> +---+---+---+---+
> | 3 | j | o | e |
> +---+---+---+---+

1 int8 is length = 3
3 int8 is string = "joe", it's ok, but

> +---+---+---+---+---+
> | 0 | 3 | j | o | e |
> +---+---+---+---+---+

what does this mean?
2 int16 for length = "03"
3 int16 for string = "joe", O_o
or
1 int16 for length = 3
3 int8 for string = "joe", o_O?
and Why be so hard?
may UTF-8 best choice?

2) Data types
may "Scalar value types" from google protocol buffers is better choice
for data types in verse 2?
http://code.google.com/intl/ru-RU/apis/protocolbuffers/docs/proto.html#scalar
http://code.google.com/intl/ru-RU/apis/protocolbuffers/docs/encoding.html#varints
may take Google Protocol Buffer as a basis for the Verse protocol?
and where signed integer types in specification?

Best Regards,
Oleg aka cNoNim

PS: Sorry for my English