Name: rmT116609			Date: 08/07/2001


java version "1.4.0-beta"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.0-beta-b65)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.0-beta-b65, mixed mode)


The ByteBuffer class defines methods that can create views of a given ByteBuffer such as:

CharBuffer ByteBuffer.asCharBuffer()
DoubleBuffer ByteBuffer.asDoubleBuffer()
LongBuffer ByteBuffer.asLongBuffer()
... etc.

Why is there no corresponding method in the view buffer classes to create a ByteBuffer view?

ByteBuffer CharBuffer.asByteBuffer()
ByteBuffer DoubleBuffer.asByteBuffer()
ByteBuffer LongBuffer.asByteBuffer()
... etc.

The nio class Channel only has methods for IO using ByteBuffer so the only way I can see to 
write a DoubleBuffer is to 'copy' it into a ByteBuffer. I can see no utility in the method

DoubleBuffer.wrap(double[] array)

if I cannot write the newly created DoubleBuffer.

Ideally I would like to create a ByteBuffer view of a DoubleBuffer and/or be
able to write a DoubleBuffer directly via a Channel method. Another possiblity
would be additonal wrap methods in ByteBuffer such as:

ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(char[] array)
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(double[] array)
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(long[] array)
... etc.

I am developing an application that must process very large amounts of both
numerical and text data. Because this data will not all fit in memory I must
stage this data in TEMPORARY files while I process it. This requires that I
write and reread this data during processing (potentially many times). I
feel it is unnecessary to add the additional overhead of byteswapping for
numerical data or Unicode encoding/decoding for text data for a temporary
file read/write. For instance: I see no way using nio to write a Unicode
string to disk without incurring substantial overhead. I can create a
CharBuffer by wrapping a String but I cannot write a CharBuffer. I could use
CharsetDecoder to decode the String into a ByteBuffer, write it, and then
read it back using CharsetEncoder but the overhead is substantial for use in
a temporary storage situation. The same holds true for other primitive
types. I can create a DoubleBuffer by wrapping a double[] but I cannot write
a DoubleBuffer, ... etc. I propose a simple solution, add the following
static methods to ByteBuffer:

ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(String)
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(char[])
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(double[])
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(float[])
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(long[])
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(int[])
ByteBuffer ByteBuffer.wrap(short[])


(Review ID: 129561) 
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