[swift-evolution] [swift-evolution-announce] SE-0138 UnsafeBytes

[Tony Parker]

Hi Andy, Dave,

I have two major objections to this proposal.

The first is timing. It is too late for us to evaluate this correctly for Swift 3.

The second is that this API overlaps too much with Foundation’s struct Data. We should be standardizing on a small number of common types, so that developers do not need to find ways to translate one API output into another API’s input.

I think we should instead focus on what needs to be added to struct Data (and other API, like Stream) to fill this role. The proposal touches only touches on this briefly, but in my opinion it is the direction we should pursue — and for Swift 4 or perhaps some Swift 3 update.

- Tony

> On Sep 1, 2016, at 3:18 PM, Andrew Trick <atrick at apple.com> wrote:
> 
> I’m resending this for Review Manager Dave A. because the announce list is dropping his messages...
> 
> Hello Swift community,
> 
> The review of "UnsafeBytes" begins now and runs through September
> 7th. This late addition to Swift 3 is a follow-up to SE-0107:
> UnsafeRawPointer. It addresses common use cases for UnsafeRawPointer,
> allowing developers to continue working with collections of UInt8 values,
> but now doing so via a type safe API. The UnsafeBytes API will not require 
> direct manipulation of raw pointers or reasoning about binding memory.
> 
> The proposal is available here:
> 
>  <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/0138-unsafebytes.md <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/proposals/0138-unsafebytes.md>>
> 
> Reviews are an important part of the Swift evolution process. All reviews
> should be sent to the swift-evolution mailing list at
> 
>  <https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution <https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution>>
> 
> or, if you would like to keep your feedback private, directly to the
> review manager. When replying, please try to keep the proposal link at
> the top of the message:
> 
> Proposal link:
>  <https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution <https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution>>
> 
> What goes into a review?
> 
> The goal of the review process is to improve the proposal under review
> through constructive criticism and, eventually, determine the direction of
> Swift. When writing your review, here are some questions you might want to
> answer in your review:
> 
>  * What is your evaluation of the proposal?
>  * Is the problem being addressed significant enough to warrant a
>    change to Swift?
>  * Does this proposal fit well with the feel and direction of Swift?
>  * If you have used other languages or libraries with a similar
>    feature, how do you feel that this proposal compares to those?
>  * How much effort did you put into your review? A glance, a quick
>    reading, or an in-depth study?
> 
> More information about the Swift evolution process is available at
> 
>  <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/process.md <https://github.com/apple/swift-evolution/blob/master/process.md>>
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> -Dave Abrahams
> Review Manager
> _______________________________________________
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> https://lists.swift.org/mailman/listinfo/swift-evolution-announce

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