[swift-evolution] [Review] SE-0184: Unsafe[Mutable][Raw][Buffer]Pointer: add missing methods, adjust existing labels for clarity, and remove deallocation size

[Andrew Trick]

> On Sep 5, 2017, at 9:53 AM, Taylor Swift <kelvin13ma at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> we agreed to deprecate the strided at:? Note that UnsafeMutableRawBufferPointer would still need a byteOffset: argument. I’m also still not comfortable with duplicating functionality for the sake of having two names

I’ll summarize what I think happened in this thread...

I don't think the suggested copyBytes rename was controversial:

UMRP (raw pointer):
--- copyBytes(from:count)
+++ copyMemory(from:bytes:)


UMRBP (raw buffer):
--- copyBytes(from:)
+++ copyMemory(atByteOffset:from:)

--- copyBytes<C>(from:)
+++ copyMemory(from:)


In the new raw initializeMemory methods, Xiaodi and I agreed to make
it more clear that the offset is in terms of `self` rather than
`from`, and to further reduce ambiguity by forcing manual stride
computation and using an explicit "offset" label. The call site will
be just as explicit as dropping down to `baseAddress` but without any
pointer conversion boilerplate.

UMRBP (raw buffer):
+++ func initializeMemory<T>(atByteOffset:as:from:)
+++ func moveInitializeMemory<T>(atByteOffset:as:from:)


Than, in the one existing initializeMemory method, just drop the strided index.
It's never used, we want to be consistent in using a byte offset
for the raw index, and that can be expressed just as easily as pointer
arithmetic:

UMRP (raw pointer):
--- func initializeMemory<T>(as:T.Type, at:Int = 0, count:Int = 1, to:T)
+++ func initializeMemory<T>(as:T.Type, repeating:T, count:Int = 1)

Then you can simply leave these methods as-is:
> func initializeMemory<T>(as:T.Type, from:UnsafePointer<T>, count:Int)
> func moveInitializeMemory<T>(as:T.Type, from:UnsafeMutablePointer<T>, count:Int) 


We don't have a consensus, but I think the suggestion to distinguish
between single value vs. multiple semantics was good. Otherwise,
adding the default count could be very misleading. Normally, we try to
minimize surface area, but adding two methods for the single-value case
avoids ambiguity between the buffer and pointer semantics:

UMP (pointer)
--- func initialize(to:count:(=1))
+++ func initialize(to:)
+++ func initialize(repeating:count:) // no default count
+++ func assign(to:)
+++ func assign(repeating:count:) // no default count

UMRP (raw pointer):
--- func initializeMemory<T>(as:at:(=0)count:(1)to:)
+++ func initializeMemory<T>(as:repeating:count:) // remove default count

-Andy

> On Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 11:31 AM, Andrew Trick <atrick at apple.com <mailto:atrick at apple.com>> wrote:
> I think we’ve agreed to a few minor updates to this proposal. Since there hasn’t been any other feedback on the thread it may be worth posting an amended proposal so we all know what we’ve agreed on.
> 
> -Andy
> 
>> On Sep 3, 2017, at 8:23 PM, Andrew Trick via swift-evolution <swift-evolution at swift.org <mailto:swift-evolution at swift.org>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>> On Sep 3, 2017, at 8:05 PM, Xiaodi Wu <xiaodi.wu at gmail.com <mailto:xiaodi.wu at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> If we use byte offset, then the at parameter in UnsafeMutableRawPointer should be removed, since pointer arithmetic can be used instead (just like with UnsafeMutablePointer).
>>> 
>>> I agree that it seems quite sensible to remove the ‘at’ parameter altogether from the UMRP method.
>> 
>> No code in tree or on github is using the `at` argument. I think it can be removed. A fixit should still be possible.
>> 
>>> Not convinced moving the at: argument to come before the as: argument is worth it in terms of source breakage.
>>> 
>>> Since much of this proposal involves shuffling and relabeling arguments, I’d argue it’s better to break slight more source in one go for the optimal API than to break slightly less for a slightly less optimal API, no? (This is assuming there is agreement that ‘at:as:’ is less prone to misinterpretation than ‘as:at:’.)
>> 
>> 
>> To be clear, we’re just talking about UnsafeMutableRawBufferPointer.initializeMemory now, so this is purely additive.
>> I think the label needs to be `atByteOffset`, and placing it before `as` makes a lot of sense because it no longer depends on the type’s stride. 
>> 
>> -Andy
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> 

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