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Afaik newer versions of messagepack added an extra type to have string and binary now seperated. I read somewhere that CBOR was better designed for extensibili

Afaik newer versions of messagepack added an extra type to have string and binary now seperated. I read somewhere that CBOR was better designed for extensibility, but don't know anything further about it. One difference (on the non-technical side) is that CBOR is standardized through IETF.

rspeer 11y ago
> Afaik newer versions of messagepack added an extra type to have string and binary now seperated. The problem is that the 'str' type contains arbitrary binary data in an unspecified encoding, and always will, because of backward compatibility. This isn't changed by adding a 'bin' type. Msgpack decoders in Python, for example, have to give you bytestrings unless you pass an option that promises that 'str's are all encoded in UTF-8.
- tracker1 11y ago
  They should just add a UTF8 type... I don't know why that wasn't the default for strings all along.
- prutschman 11y ago
  From https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/blob/master/spec.md https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/blob/master/spec.md Raw String extending Raw type represents a UTF-8 string Binary extending Raw type represents a byte array
  - rspeer 11y ago
    Ah okay, I didn't know there was now a specific String type (and that the one I was calling 'str' is called 'raw'). Does the Python library use it?
    - prutschman 11y ago
      It can: see https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack-python#string-and-binary-type https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack-python#string-and-binary-...
      - rspeer 11y ago
        I don't even know what to believe anymore. That documentation is referring to two types, with "raw" renamed to "str" plus a new "bin", which is what I thought it was. But the link you posted referred to three types, where "str" and "bin" subclass "raw", which sounded like it provided a non-backward-compatible "str" that's guaranteed to be text.
spc476 11y ago
The base types are "unsigned int", "negative int", "binary data", "UTF-8 string", an array of said items, a map (key,value) of said items, extended types (up to 2^64) and tags (again, up to 2^64). There are only 8 "extended types" currently defined (false, true, null, undefined, half float (IEEE 16b), single float (IEEE 32b) and double float (IEEE 64b) and break (used to terminate streaming data)), leaving plenty unused values for future expansion. Tags are used to apply meta information to a piece of datum. For example, you can tag a UTF-8 string as a URL or tag an array with a reference so it can be referred to elsewhere in the CBOR encoded data (an extension defined by the IETF but outside RFC-7049).

rspeer 11y ago

> Afaik newer versions of messagepack added an extra type to have string and binary now seperated. The problem is that the 'str' type contains arbitrary binary data in an unspecified encoding, and always will, because of backward compatibility. This isn't changed by adding a 'bin' type. Msgpack decoders in Python, for example, have to give you bytestrings unless you pass an option that promises that 'str's are all encoded in UTF-8.

tracker1 11y ago
They should just add a UTF8 type... I don't know why that wasn't the default for strings all along.
prutschman 11y ago
From https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/blob/master/spec.md https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/blob/master/spec.md Raw String extending Raw type represents a UTF-8 string Binary extending Raw type represents a byte array
- rspeer 11y ago
  Ah okay, I didn't know there was now a specific String type (and that the one I was calling 'str' is called 'raw'). Does the Python library use it?
  - prutschman 11y ago
    It can: see https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack-python#string-and-binary-type https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack-python#string-and-binary-...
    - rspeer 11y ago
      I don't even know what to believe anymore. That documentation is referring to two types, with "raw" renamed to "str" plus a new "bin", which is what I thought it was. But the link you posted referred to three types, where "str" and "bin" subclass "raw", which sounded like it provided a non-backward-compatible "str" that's guaranteed to be text.

spc476 11y ago

The base types are "unsigned int", "negative int", "binary data", "UTF-8 string", an array of said items, a map (key,value) of said items, extended types (up to 2^64) and tags (again, up to 2^64). There are only 8 "extended types" currently defined (false, true, null, undefined, half float (IEEE 16b), single float (IEEE 32b) and double float (IEEE 64b) and break (used to terminate streaming data)), leaving plenty unused values for future expansion. Tags are used to apply meta information to a piece of datum. For example, you can tag a UTF-8 string as a URL or tag an array with a reference so it can be referred to elsewhere in the CBOR encoded data (an extension defined by the IETF but outside RFC-7049).