Re: Hints for networking

[Jano <402450@cepsz.unizar.es>]

En el mensaje <mailman.4.1044048101.3911.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>, 
david.c.hoos.sr@ada95.com dice...

Hello David,
 
>     2.  You need to write stream attributes for multi-octet numbers
>          that respect the bendiness of your platform.  Even when
>          you've been told that "this only has to run on Sparc," sooner
>          or later your code will also need to run on Intel, so I've
>          always taken the trouble to deal with bendiness.

I'm going to work on Intel but the protocol is using big endian fields, 
so I was already concerned about that. The only related thing I've found 
is the 'bit_order and system.default_bit_order, but I suspect that's 
related to storage representation and not to real byte ordering. 

Must I detect machine endingness manually? Are there helping packages 
for networking in the wild?

>    3.  All objects written to a stream must have a 'Size that is an
>         integer multiple of 8.  So, if you have an octet with two four-bit
>         fields, I make them into a record type, and write the stream
>         attributes for that record.  I've done things like a record that
>         has a 31-bit field, and a 1-bit field.  

I think that will not be a problem. I don't foresee streams of bits, all 
I'll need is 8-bit multiple types.

So to conclude: I must define my "atomic" types and implement their own 
stream input/output attributes. Then construct the more complex packets 
using them.

> Happy streaming!

Thanks to all who answered!

-- 
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Jano
402450[at]cepsz.unizar.es
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