Issue #8990: array.fromstring() and array.tostring() get renamed to

frombytes() and tobytes(), respectively, to avoid confusion.  Furthermore,
array.frombytes(), array.extend() as well as the array.array()
constructor now accept bytearray objects.  Patch by Thomas Jollans.

1 files changed, 25 insertions, 9 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/library/array.rst b/Doc/library/array.rst
index 2235f08..e24a98b 100644
--- a/Doc/library/array.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/array.rst
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ The module defines the following type:
    appropriate type.
 
    If given a list or string, the initializer is passed to the new array's
-   :meth:`fromlist`, :meth:`fromstring`, or :meth:`fromunicode` method (see below)
+   :meth:`fromlist`, :meth:`frombytes`, or :meth:`fromunicode` method (see below)
    to add initial items to the array.  Otherwise, the iterable initializer is
    passed to the :meth:`extend` method.
 
@@ -136,6 +136,15 @@ The following data items and methods are also supported:
    must be the right type to be appended to the array.
 
 
+.. method:: array.frombytes(s)
+
+   Appends items from the string, interpreting the string as an array of machine
+   values (as if it had been read from a file using the :meth:`fromfile` method).
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.2
+      :meth:`fromstring` is renamed to :meth:`frombytes` for clarity.
+
+
 .. method:: array.fromfile(f, n)
 
    Read *n* items (as machine values) from the file object *f* and append them to
@@ -151,17 +160,16 @@ The following data items and methods are also supported:
    a.append(x)`` except that if there is a type error, the array is unchanged.
 
 
-.. method:: array.fromstring(s)
+.. method:: array.fromstring()
 
-   Appends items from the string, interpreting the string as an array of machine
-   values (as if it had been read from a file using the :meth:`fromfile` method).
+   Deprecated alias for :meth:`frombytes`.
 
 
 .. method:: array.fromunicode(s)
 
    Extends this array with data from the given unicode string.  The array must
    be a type ``'u'`` array; otherwise a :exc:`ValueError` is raised.  Use
-   ``array.fromstring(unicodestring.encode(enc))`` to append Unicode data to an
+   ``array.frombytes(unicodestring.encode(enc))`` to append Unicode data to an
    array of some other type.
 
 
@@ -194,6 +202,16 @@ The following data items and methods are also supported:
    Reverse the order of the items in the array.
 
 
+.. method:: array.tobytes()
+
+   Convert the array to an array of machine values and return the bytes
+   representation (the same sequence of bytes that would be written to a file by
+   the :meth:`tofile` method.)
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.2
+      :meth:`tostring` is renamed to :meth:`tobytes` for clarity.
+
+
 .. method:: array.tofile(f)
 
    Write all items (as machine values) to the file object *f*.
@@ -206,15 +224,13 @@ The following data items and methods are also supported:
 
 .. method:: array.tostring()
 
-   Convert the array to an array of machine values and return the string
-   representation (the same sequence of bytes that would be written to a file by
-   the :meth:`tofile` method.)
+   Deprecated alias for :meth:`tobytes`.
 
 
 .. method:: array.tounicode()
 
    Convert the array to a unicode string.  The array must be a type ``'u'`` array;
-   otherwise a :exc:`ValueError` is raised. Use ``array.tostring().decode(enc)`` to
+   otherwise a :exc:`ValueError` is raised. Use ``array.tobytes().decode(enc)`` to
    obtain a unicode string from an array of some other type.