This design doc from DyND (a possible NumPy alternative) has some useful references on this point:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;libdynd&#x2F;libdynd&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;docs&#x2F;string-design.md#code-unit-api-not-code-point" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;libdynd&#x2F;libdynd&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;docs&#x2F;string-d...</a>