Cc @alexcrichton @aturon

Alternative: Add a checked_from_slice() method, just like we have x/y which may panic and x.checked_div(y) which does not.

@kennytm I have added a paragraph on why simply adding functions is worse than changing the "shortest name" API.

In case of division, a zero divisor arguably is a programmer error. A restriction on NULs in a string, on the other hand, is arbitrary for the value domain in general (a Unicode text with NUL characters is valid). There are also performance concerns regarding the implementation of division.

That said, a migration path is probably needed whereby the Result-returning functions are added under temporary names and the current functions deprecated. Suggestions?

Thanks so much for throwing this together! I'm increasingly in favor of this approach for C strings.

cc @wycats @nikomatsakis @brson @huonw

@pcwalton I know CString is somewhat common in Servo, do you all have a preference here?

Seems fine to me.

@aturon +1 from me.

After discussion here and on discuss, we've decided to move forward with this long-requested change. Thanks again, @mzabaluev! We'll try to land this ahead of alpha2 if possible.

Tracking issue