binary.Write doesn't support slices

[hoisie]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Calling binary.Write() with slice values doesn't work. For example:

http://pastie.org/760660

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
Output is "binary.Write: invalid type main.Test"
I expect it to succeed

What is your $GOOS?  $GOARCH?
linux/386

Which revision are you using?  (hg identify)
eb3355e52683+ tip

Please provide any additional information below.
I understand that binary.Read() can't support slice types, because it 
doesn't know how much data to read. However it makes sense to be able to 
write slices, because you know the length. 

Unless the go authors don't want this, I could implement the fix.

[peterGo]

Comment 1:

The documentation for 'binary.Read(r io.Reader, order ByteOrder, data interface{})
os.Error' states that "Data must be a pointer to a fixed-size value or a slice of
fixed-size values." The source code for binary.Read has a case for *reflect.SliceValue.

[robpike]

Comment 2:

Owner changed to r...@golang.org.

Status changed to Accepted.

[hoisie]

Comment 3:

Patch out: http://golang.org/cl/183091/

[hoisie]

Comment 4:

I'd also like binary.Write to support strings. Should I try to make another patch? I'm 
hesitant because I've submitted 2-3 patches against binary, all of which have been 
rejected, so I have no idea what the goals are for this package.

[rsc]

Comment 5:

Binary is intended for fixed-size structures with obvious encodings.
Strings are not fixed size and do not have an obvious encoding
(NUL-terminated?  size + data?).
Again, I would be interested in proposals to use interfaces to make
binary handle user-specified encodings.  That's a much more scalable
way for it to grow than just tossing feature upon feature into the core.

[rsc]

Comment 6:

Status changed to TimedOut.