Memory efficient to_string system

[KCreate]

• StringBuffer, BytesBuffer mutable alternatives for String, Bytes

  • Can be converted to const string or bytes by freezing

• to_string(io) method declared on Value class

  • can be overridden to implement custom to_string behaviour
  • receives an IO object to write string contents to
  • IO is an interface implementing basic read / write access to "stuff"
  • io is backed by a string buffer
  • Base Value class contains to_string() method with no io, allocating the string buffer

interface IO {
  func to_string {
    const buf = StringBuffer.new()
    to_string(buf)
    buf.freeze()
  }
}

class Person {
  property name
  property age
  
  func to_string(io) {
    io << "Person name={name} age={age}"
    io
  }
}

const p1 = Person("alice", 24)
const p2 = Person("bob", 22)

p1.to_string() // Person name=alice age=24
p2.to_string() // Person name=bob age=22