This PR is obviously going to become out of date quite quickly as MemoryIO is used very often, so it would be a good idea to make a decision on this sooner rather than later.

I also think it's more consistent with the other IOs, but typing IO::Memory is a bit slower than typing MemoryIO. Nevertheless I agree it would be convenient to make the change. I'll check with @waj this week.

Same here. MemoryIO reads better than IO::Memory, but the same can be said of IO::Delimited, IO::Buffered... so it would fit better.

Well, we could rename IO::Delimited to DelimitedIO, etc. I actually think that this is a better change. IO::Memory is not a memory. We have Char::Reader, but there it makes sense: it's a reader.

It does feel tidier to group all Crystal IO services under the same namespace. And it could get even better once we develop more advanced editor tools. Just type IO:: and you get a nice dropdown with the menu of IO resources at your service, which is an organic way of learning about the std.

I don't feel like "typing cost" is a particularly good motivation for any change. Most time spent programming is spent looking at or thinking about code, so naming and syntax should be optimised for readability not typability. IO::Memory reads the same or better than MemoryIO to me.

How about StringIO? Easier to find for anyone coming from other languages (Ruby and Python both have StringIO), and fits with the point asterite makes about it being an IO.

@timcraft except it's not a StringIO because it can contain raw bytes that aren't UTF-8 code points, and renaming just MemoryIO doesn't fix the inconsistency in the slightest.

Still no movement on this? Unfortunately it's a PR that has to be merged soon after it's updated, and this PR wasn't as simple as running s/MemoryIO/IO::Memory/g on the repo.

Well, we could rename IO::Delimited to DelimitedIO, etc. I actually think that this is a better change. IO::Memory is not a memory. We have Char::Reader, but there it makes sense: it's a reader.

@asterite wouldn't this be similar to the decision of renaming BufferedChannel to Channel::Buffered and similar to UnbufferedChannel?

While type-to-result ratio for IO::Memory is more heavy, the question if is translates meaning quicker: is MemoryIO a type of IO? Is IO::Delimited similar?

Reading the documentation:

• IO::Delimited - An IO that wraps another IO, and only reads up to the beginning of a specified delimiter.
• MemoryIO - An IO that reads and writes from a buffer in memory.

The thing with Char::Reader can also be extended to StringPool or StringScanner, they are helpers that relates to Char or String respectively, but they are not by definition a subtype of Char or String.

IMO MemoryIO is easier to type in than IO::Memory but there are more things than typing speed to take in consideration 😄

Cheers.

Closed by #3563