Sockets: Sending/receiving arbitrary amounts of data

[Greg Ewing]

"Doobee R. Tzeck" wrote:
> 
> Considering Python is a high level Language I ask myself
> if there shouldend be a way in Python to optionally shield the
> user (programmer) from the hassle of handling of short socket
> reads.

I think so, too. I once suggested that file.read(),
socket.recv() and similar methods should have an
optional two-argument form:

   recv(min, max)

This would block until at least min bytes had
arrived, and return at most max bytes. If EOF
occurs before min bytes have arrived, an exception
is raised.

Putting min == 0 gives the current behaviour.
Putting min == max gives you a fixed-length read.

Perhaps I'll PEP this one day, too.

-- 
Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, University of Canterbury,	  
Christchurch, New Zealand
To get my email address, please visit my web page:	  
http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/~greg