GZip File Reading

[Jonathan M Davis]

On Thursday 10 March 2011 07:14:32 dsimcha wrote:
> On 3/10/2011 9:45 AM, Lars T. Kyllingstad wrote:
> > Although I agree this would be nice, I don't think std.stdio.File is the
> > right place to put it.  I think a general streaming framework should be
> > in place first, and File be made to work with it.  Then, working with a
> > gzipped/bzipped file should be as simple as wrapping the raw File stream
> > in a compression/decompression stream.
> > 
> > -Lars
> 
> Ok, this seems to be the general consensus based on the replies I've
> gotten.  Unfortunately, I have neither the time, the desire, nor the
> knowledge to design and implement a full-fledged stream API, whereas I
> have enough of all three of these to bolt gzip support onto std.stdio.
> I guess I'll solve my specific use case at a higher level by wrapping
> the C gzip stuff for my DNA sequence reader class, and let someone who
> knowns something about good stream design solve the more general problem.

There _have_ been some threads on designing a new stream API, and there are some 
preliminary designs, but as far as I know, they have yet to really go anywhere. 
I'm unaware of the stream API really having a champion per se. Andrei has done 
some preliminary design work, but I don't know if he intends to actually 
implement anything, and as far as I know, no one else has volunteered. So, a new 
std.stream is one of those things that we all agree on that we want but which 
hasn't happened yet, because no one has stepped up to do it.

And I do agree that the ability to deal with a compressed file should be part of 
the stream API (probably as some sort of adapter/wrapper which uncompresses the 
stream as you iterate through it). But the stream API needs to be designed and 
_implemented_ before we'll have that.

- Jonathan M Davis