• Yao G. (11/11) Aug 28 2010 I'm here with another n00b question:
• BCS (5/20) Aug 28 2010 If the data may contain pointers into the heap, use void[] if it will no...
• Steven Schveighoffer (12/18) Aug 30 2010 One other point to make -- any type of array casts to void[]. So void[]...

"Yao G." <yao.gomez spam.gmail.com> writes:

I'm here with another n00b question:

When dealing with big buffers (or files), which is better to use as  
storage? void[] or byte[]?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each one? I've seen that  
void[] is used in some Phobos modules, like std.zlib, and in other modules  
the choice is byte[] (chunk in std.stdio).

Is there a place where this stuff is documented? Or choosing one or  
another is just a matter of preference and the differences are trivial?

Thanks in advance.


-- 
Yao G.

BCS <none anon.com> writes:

Hello Yao G.,

 I'm here with another n00b question:
 
 When dealing with big buffers (or files), which is better to use as
 storage? void[] or byte[]?

If the data may contain pointers into the heap, use void[] if it will not 
use byte[]. byte[] is "raw" data, void[] is anything at all.


 
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of each one? I've seen that
 void[] is used in some Phobos modules, like std.zlib, and in other
 modules  the choice is byte[] (chunk in std.stdio).
 
 Is there a place where this stuff is documented? Or choosing one or
 another is just a matter of preference and the differences are
 trivial?
 
 Thanks in advance.
 

-- 
... <IXOYE><

"Steven Schveighoffer" <schveiguy yahoo.com> writes:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:13:28 -0400, BCS <none anon.com> wrote:

 Hello Yao G.,

 I'm here with another n00b question:
  When dealing with big buffers (or files), which is better to use as
 storage? void[] or byte[]?

 If the data may contain pointers into the heap, use void[] if it will  
 not use byte[]. byte[] is "raw" data, void[] is anything at all.

One other point to make -- any type of array casts to void[].  So void[]  
is kind of like a "catch all" array type.  It's typically the correct  
choice when accepting data that you are going to blindly copy somewhere.   
For example a function to write data to a file.

For reading data/storing data, the best type might be ubyte[] (don't use  
byte[], it's signed).  void[] can also be used, but you may run into  
issues with "may contain pointers" problems.

I personally think the idea of allocating a void[] should set the  
"contains pointers" bit seems incorrect.  Usually when a void[] contains  
pointers, it was not allocated as a void[].

-Steve