[foreign-memaccess] [Rev 01] RFR: Add MemorySegment::fill

[Chris Hegarty]

On Wed, 13 May 2020 16:25:30 GMT, Maurizio Cimadamore <mcimadamore at openjdk.org> wrote:

>> Nice and simple, but i think there is an open  design question here.
>> 
>> Notice that the bulk `copy` operation resides on `MemoryAddress`.  Fill is a little like a copy, e.g. if expanded later
>> to fill one segment repeatedly with another (if the destination segment is smaller than the source then it's a
>> truncated copy).  I think we need to consider grouping bulk operations in the same place.
>
>> I think we need to consider grouping bulk operations in the same place.
> 
> I suggested the location to Chris. Since the method operates on segment it felt right to add it on MemorySegment. If we
> add it on MemoryAddress it will look a tad odd IMHO, since it works on segments.
> We could tweak fill to work on MemoryAddress, but that means that the user has to pass an address and a length (which
> is what a segment is).
> Or we could make fill an instance method on segment.
> 
> I'm not sure there's one answer that's better than the others here - but I don't have any strong feelings one way or
> another, so I'm open to suggestions.

I agree with the logic of why this method fits better in MemorySegment, rather than MemoryAddress.

Fill seems more like a "utility", rather than an operation on the segment itself, so I marginally favour a static
method.

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PR: https://git.openjdk.java.net/panama-foreign/pull/161