> > And it occurs to me that it might be worth designing a stdio interface which
> > "reads" n bytes by returning a pointer and advancing the read pointer by n,
> > ASSUMING that there are n bytes available.  One possible approach would be
> > to have stdio refuse to refill the buffer until you call back to release
> > the pointer, or you could just take your chances if you're foolish enough to
> > call read again while you're still interested in the previous data.
> 
> It has already been done, IMO.  Take a look at sfio from Vo & Korn @ ATT.
> 
> 	ftp://netlib.att.com/netlib/attgifts/sfio.shar

I don't know if this was ever released, but you might also want to look
at the Alloc Stream Interface.  It is described in the March'95 issue of
IEEE Computer, if I remember correctly.

Also look at ftp://ftp.eecg.toronto.edu/pub/software/msio*.tar.Z