unix-bytestring v0.2.0 (Was: Re: Proposal: add ByteString support to unix:System.Posix.IO API)

[wren ng thornton]

On 3/5/11 10:03 AM, Bas van Dijk wrote:
> On 5 March 2011 13:30, wren ng thornton<wren at freegeek.org>  wrote:
>> This currently consists of:
>> * System.Posix.IO.ByteString
>>     * fdRead   -- like System.Posix.IO.fdRead, the same as before.
>
> What about changing this:
>
> fdRead :: Fd ->  ByteCount ->  IO (ByteString, ByteCount)
>
> to this:
>
> fdRead :: Fd ->  ByteCount ->  IO ByteString
>
> I agree that it's nice to be consistent with the String version but
> since that version might go away and since the length (O(1)) of the
> ByteString should always equal the ByteCount I think it's better to
> remove that invariant.

I even have a note in the source file to that effect :)

One thing I considered was to offer both versions, one for compatibility 
with the old string versions (and for decluttering client code)[1] and 
then one that just gives the bytestring. Of course, then the issue is 
what to name them...

So the big question is: how minimal should we be, vs how much in the way 
of convenience functions should we offer?



Update: In v0.2.1 I added an fdReads function which lets you pass a 
predicate for determining whether to retry after incomplete reads.

-- 
Live well,
~wren