YASQ - Proper way to convert byte[] <--> string

[Frits van Bommel]

Steve Teale wrote:
> I have a byte[] A that contains an AJP13 packet, presumably including UTF8 strings.  I need to extract such strings and to place strings in such a buffer.  I'm using:
> 
> string s = A[n .. m].dup;  // n and m from prefixed string length/position
> return s;
> 
> to get strings, and

That should work, and be optimal unless you can be sure the A array 
doesn't change while you still need the string (in which case the .dup 
is unnecessary).

> byte[] ba = cast(byte[]) s;
> A[n .. n+ba.length] = ba[0 .. $].dup;
> 
> to put them.  Are these a) sensible, b) optimal?

This one should work as well, but isn't optimal; the .dup is 
unnecessary. This should be equivalent but more efficient:
---
A[n .. n+s.length] = cast(byte[]) s;
---