Harris Reynolds wrote:
> I am still not getting the results I am looking for hacking around with the couple suggestions I received.  Here is an example:
>  
> bytes = Array.new(8)
> bytes[0] = 64
> bytes[1] = 53
> bytes[2] = 0
> bytes[3] = 0
> bytes[4] = 0
> bytes[5] = 0
> bytes[6] = 0
> bytes[7] = 0
>  
> Calling:
>  
> binary_string = bytes.pack('D') 
>  
> returns a binary string, but not the float which should be 21.0; if I turn around and call
>  
> binary_string.unpack('d'), I end up with the original bytes.
>  
> It is turning out that getting from bytes to a Float object is a bit painful.  Is there something easy I am missing?
>   

I was wrong about pack. String#unpack is what you need, as others have 
suggested.