Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding)

References	<9tg21lFmo3U1@mid.dfncis.de> <mailman.1065.1332925364.3037.python-list@python.org> <jkvb5a$88d$1@rumours.uwaterloo.ca>
Date	2012-03-29 03:18 +1100
Subject	Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding)
From	Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Message-ID	<mailman.1081.1332951527.3037.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 2:36 AM, Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:
> Chris Angelico  <rosuav@gmail.com> wrote:
>>What is a string? It's not a series of bytes.
>
> Of course it is.  Conceptually you're not supposed to think of it that
> way, but a string is stored in memory as a series of bytes.

Note that distinction. I said that a string "is not" a series of
bytes; you say that it "is stored" as bytes.

> What he's asking for many not be very useful or practical, but if that's
> your problem here than then that's what you should be addressing, not
> pretending that it's fundamentally impossible.

That's equivalent to taking a 64-bit integer and trying to treat it as
a 64-bit floating point number. They're all just bits in memory, and
in C it's quite easy to cast a pointer to a different type and
dereference it. But a Python Unicode string might be stored in several
ways; for all you know, it might actually be stored as a sequence of
apples in a refrigerator, just as long as they can be referenced
correctly. There's no logical Python way to turn that into a series of
bytes.

ChrisA

Thread

"convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Peter Daum <gator@cs.tu-berlin.de> - 2012-03-28 10:56 +0200
  Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-03-28 20:02 +1100
    Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Peter Daum <gator@cs.tu-berlin.de> - 2012-03-28 11:43 +0200
      Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Heiko Wundram <modelnine@modelnine.org> - 2012-03-28 12:42 +0200
        Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Peter Daum <gator@cs.tu-berlin.de> - 2012-03-28 19:43 +0200
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Heiko Wundram <modelnine@modelnine.org> - 2012-03-28 20:13 +0200
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2012-03-28 21:13 +0300
            RE: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) "Prasad, Ramit" <ramit.prasad@jpmorgan.com> - 2012-03-28 18:31 +0000
            Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2012-03-28 11:49 -0700
          RE: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) "Prasad, Ramit" <ramit.prasad@jpmorgan.com> - 2012-03-28 18:20 +0000
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2012-03-28 12:20 -0600
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-03-28 18:26 +0000
            Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2012-03-28 19:40 +0000
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ethan Furman <ethan@stoneleaf.us> - 2012-03-28 11:17 -0700
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) John Nagle <nagle@animats.com> - 2012-03-28 12:30 -0700
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2012-03-28 17:37 -0400
            Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Peter Daum <gator@cs.tu-berlin.de> - 2012-03-29 16:57 +0200
            Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Peter Daum <gator@cs.tu-berlin.de> - 2012-03-29 16:57 +0200
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka@gmail.com> - 2012-03-30 22:06 +0300
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-03-31 06:10 +1100
      Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Stefan Behnel <stefan_ml@behnel.de> - 2012-03-28 13:25 +0200
      Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-03-28 18:12 +0000
    Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-28 11:36 -0400
      Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-03-29 03:18 +1100
        Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2012-03-28 16:33 +0000
        Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-28 14:05 -0400
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2012-03-28 13:49 -0500
            Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-28 15:10 -0400
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) "Albert W. Hopkins" <marduk@letterboxes.org> - 2012-03-28 15:22 -0400
      Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-03-28 17:54 +0000
        Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-28 14:22 -0400
          Re: Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Evan Driscoll <driscoll@cs.wisc.edu> - 2012-03-28 14:20 -0500
            Re: Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-28 15:43 -0400
              Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-03-28 21:44 +0100
              Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2012-03-28 20:56 +0000
              Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-03-29 00:02 +0000
              Re: Re: Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Evan Driscoll <driscoll@cs.wisc.edu> - 2012-03-28 19:11 -0500
                Re: Re: Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-28 23:04 -0400
                Re: Re: Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-03-29 14:31 +1100
                Re: Re: Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-28 23:58 -0400
                Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-03-29 07:01 +0100
                Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-03-29 06:51 +0000
                Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-29 11:30 -0400
                Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2012-03-29 12:49 -0400
                Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> - 2012-03-29 14:00 -0400
                Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2012-03-30 07:41 +1100
                Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-03-30 01:16 +0000
                Re: Re: Re: Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Evan Driscoll <driscoll@cs.wisc.edu> - 2012-03-29 11:31 -0500
          RE: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) "Prasad, Ramit" <ramit.prasad@jpmorgan.com> - 2012-03-28 19:02 +0000
            Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2012-03-28 19:44 +0000
          Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2012-03-28 20:50 +0100
          RE: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) "Prasad, Ramit" <ramit.prasad@jpmorgan.com> - 2012-03-29 17:36 +0000
            Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2012-03-30 01:10 +0000
              Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Michael Ströder <michael@stroeder.com> - 2012-03-30 09:04 +0200
      Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2012-03-28 14:11 -0400
  Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Stefan Behnel <stefan_ml@behnel.de> - 2012-03-28 11:08 +0200
  Re: "convert" string to bytes without changing data (encoding) Dave Angel <d@davea.name> - 2012-03-28 13:16 -0400

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