Refactor io.Reader/Writer and []byte methods to delegate to each other

[phiryll]

Can MaxSize() just be Size()? No. The only point of MaxSize() is so the user can preallocate a buffer to use for Put(buf, value).

Can RequiresTerminator() simply be size < 0? Exceptions:

• empty: req term, size = 0
• *fixed-size-type: NOT req term, size = 1 or 1 + size(referent)
• big.Int, big.Rat: NOT req term, size ???

wrt the general task, whichever way makes more sense or is more performant (benchmark!).

• [ ] Read/WritePrefix
• [ ] empty
• [ ] bool
• [ ] uint*
• [ ] int*
• [ ] float*
• [ ] complex*
• [ ] string
• [ ] time
• [ ] duration
• [ ] big.*
• [ ] bytes
• [ ] pointer
• [ ] slice
• [ ] map
• [ ] negate
• [ ] terminate
• [ ] add helper methods to allow users to go in either direction
• [ ] example_*.go
• [ ] package docs
• [ ] README

[phiryll]

If it turns out that the I/O methods almost always delegate to []byte ones, then consider removing them entirely and provide some helper functions for that use case.

Big Issue to Resolve

If the user is actually working with an I/O stream, nillable Codecs and those requiring a terminator are impossible without some additional code on the user's part.

Unless those are additional methods on those specific Codecs? For fixed-length Codecs, using Size() would be sufficient for a (non-member) helper function.

• empty
• string
• bytes
• pointer
• slice
• map
• big.*

[phiryll]

I think lexy is going to abandon the io.Reader/Writer API entirely. There will be a couple adapter functions, but that's it.

If I decide to not do this, this issue can be reopened.