On Thu, 29 Jun 2006, Austin Ziegler wrote:

> There is *no possible good argument* for separating ByteArray from String in
> Ruby. Not with what it would do to the rest of the API, and I don't think
> that anyone who wants a ByteArray is thinking beyond String issues.

i woulnd't go that far.  i'm wanting a byte array and thinking beyond string
issues about every 1-2 hrs in my job.  for example

   f = open 'grayscale_image.dat'

   n_rows.times do
     row = f.read n_cols

     # now i have to this this
     row = row.split(//).map{|char| char[0]}

     # because here i need to do
     avg_pixel_value = row[31,5].inject(0){|avg,n| avg += n} / 5.0

     if some_range.include? avg_pixel_value
       ...
     end
   end

this may have nothing to do with unicode issues - but would love to have
'array of bytes' style io operations, though i've not thought about api for
more that 1 second.

anyhow - we actually want byte arrays more often than strings.

regards.

-a
-- 
suffering increases your inner strength.  also, the wishing for suffering
makes the suffering disappear.
- h.h. the 14th dali lama