[r6rs-discuss] vectors of unsigned octets

From: Anton van Straaten <anton>
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 01:48:37 -0400

r6rsguy at free-comp-shop.com wrote:
> From: Michael Sperber
>>But bytevectors *aren't* vectors of unsigned octets.
>>However, the external representation starting with #vu8
>>uses unsigned octets. Those are two different things.
>
>
> You have lost me. If you are making the pedantic point that
> external representations differ from internal objects, then
> I don't see the relevance of that to a discussion of naming.

The name "bytevector" refers more to their access mode than their
contents. The title of SRFI 74 is more accurate: "Octet-Addressed
Binary Blocks".

One could imagine specifying a bytevector's contents with an external
representation such as:

   #vu2(0100100101001110010101010101001001000010010010010101010001010011)

But that doesn't mean that bytevectors should be called vu2s.

Anton
Received on Tue Jun 26 2007 - 01:48:37 UTC