title: Is there any reason to prefer UTF-16 over UTF-8?
body: <p>Examining the attributes of UTF-16 and UTF-8, I can't find any reason to prefer UTF-16.</p>
  
  <p>However, checking out Java and C#, it looks like strings and chars there default to UTF-16. I was thinking that it might be for historic reasons, or perhaps for performance reasons, but couldn't find any information.</p>
  
  <p>Anyone knows why these languages chose UTF-16? And is there any valid reason for me to do that as well?</p>
  
  <p><strong>EDIT:</strong> Meanwhile I've also found <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1049947/should-utf-16-be-considered-harmful/1176384#1176384">this answer</a>, which seems relevant and has some interesting links.</p>