Consider using bytearray

[Poikilos]

Maybe use bytearray in general (to replace int lists)

• mutable alternative to bytes, similar functionality as int list
• readable since is explicitly holding byte values and has related features, and for that reason also maps to other languages better (understandable example code; other languages have string features related to byte collections as well)
  • extend(ba: bytearray)
  • append(b: int) # no cast necessary
    • elements read as if it were list[int], but it has decode method like bytes
  • can cast directly from list[int] or bytes
  • cast cast directly to bytes
• conversion is more direct (bytes(data[:byteCount]).decode("utf-8") or bytearray(data[:byteCount]).decode("utf-8") becomes data[:byteCount].decode("utf-8"))
  • slightly faster probably, or at least less code

[bobjacobsen]

I'm not familiar with bytearray. This definitely seems like a good idea!