factor/core/byte-arrays/byte-arrays-docs.factor

USING: kernel help.markup help.syntax ;
IN: byte-arrays

ARTICLE: "byte-arrays" "Byte arrays"
"Byte arrays are fixed-size mutable sequences (" { $link "sequence-protocol" } ") whose elements are integers in the range 0-255, inclusive. Each element only uses one byte of storage, hence the name. The literal syntax is covered in " { $link "syntax-byte-arrays" } "."
$nl
"Byte array words are in the " { $vocab-link "byte-arrays" } " vocabulary."
$nl
"Byte arrays play a special role in the C library interface; they can be used to pass binary data back and forth between Factor and C. See " { $link "c-byte-arrays" } "."
$nl
"Byte arrays form a class of objects."
{ $subsection byte-array }
{ $subsection byte-array? }
"There are several ways to construct byte arrays."
{ $subsection >byte-array }
{ $subsection <byte-array> }
{ $subsection 1byte-array }
{ $subsection 2byte-array }
{ $subsection 3byte-array }
{ $subsection 4byte-array }
"Resizing byte-arrays:"
{ $subsection resize-byte-array } ;

ABOUT: "byte-arrays"

HELP: byte-array
{ $description "The class of byte arrays. See " { $link "syntax-byte-arrays" } " for syntax and " { $link "byte-arrays" } " for general information." } ;

HELP: <byte-array> ( n -- byte-array )
{ $values { "n" "a non-negative integer" } { "byte-array" "a new byte array" } }
{ $description "Creates a new byte array holding " { $snippet "n" } " bytes." } ;

HELP: (byte-array)
{ $values { "n" "a non-negative integer" } { "byte-array" "a new byte array" } }
{ $description "Creates a new byte array with unspecified contents of length " { $snippet "n" } " bytes." } ;

HELP: >byte-array
{ $values { "seq" "a sequence" } { "byte-array" byte-array } }
{ $description
  "Outputs a freshly-allocated byte array whose elements have the same signed byte values as a given sequence." }
{ $errors "Throws an error if the sequence contains elements other than integers." } ;

HELP: 1byte-array
{ $values
     { "x" object }
     { "byte-array" byte-array } }
{ $description "Creates a new byte-array with one element." } ;

HELP: 2byte-array
{ $values
     { "x" object } { "y" object }
     { "byte-array" byte-array } }
{ $description "Creates a new byte-array with two elements." } ;

HELP: 3byte-array
{ $values
     { "x" object } { "y" object } { "z" object }
     { "byte-array" byte-array } }
{ $description "Creates a new byte-array with three element." } ;

HELP: 4byte-array
{ $values
     { "w" object } { "x" object } { "y" object } { "z" object }
     { "byte-array" byte-array } }
{ $description "Creates a new byte-array with four elements." } ;

{ 1byte-array 2byte-array 3byte-array 4byte-array } related-words

HELP: resize-byte-array ( n byte-array -- newbyte-array )
{ $values { "n" "a non-negative integer" } { "byte-array" byte-array }
        { "newbyte-array" byte-array } }
{ $description "Creates a new byte-array of n elements.  The contents of the existing byte-array are copied into the new byte-array; if the new byte-array is shorter, only an initial segment is copied, and if the new byte-array is longer the remaining space is filled in with 0." } ;