[Mod-c-users] handling binary data

[Gonzalo A. <gon...@gm...>]

Hi,

If we are going to handle binary data, I guess we need an utility
class MemBuff ('memory buffer').

See attached file for an initial implementation.  I would like to
avoid memcpy on each MemBuf copy constructor call.  We are facing now
a 'buffer ownership' problem (i.e.: when should the buffer be freed in
MemBuff destructor?).

We could use reference counting, but that would require to use an
underlying object, and all MemBuff simply have a pointer to the true
object.

Another possibility (a little overhead in memory & CPU) is to use a
circular doubly linked lists of MemBuf objects.  All MemBuf objects
that point to the same buffer, would be in the same 'ring'.  When the
last element of a ring is destroyed, the buffer is destroyed.

Any other ideas?  The first requires another class, while the second
requires more CPU & memory.  So I guess the first is the best.

How does this sound to you?

Cheers,

-- 
Gonzalo A. Arana