CBOR bytes decoded as List<int>

[karalabe]

This seems a very strange thing. The CBOR bytes [0-255] range are decoded as List<int>, which 1) are super wasteful and 2) can represent much larger values than [0-255]. Any particular reason instead of using Uint8List?

[shamblett]

Not really, although rfc7049 for unsigned ints says -

The 5-bit additional information is either the integer itself (for additional information values 0
 through 23) or the length of additional data.  Additional information 24 means the value is represented in additional
 uint8_t, 25 means a uint16_t, 26 means a uint32_t, and 27 means a uint64_t.  

the package has never done this, it uses ints and BigInts for these values. Although a little wasteful these are easier to deal with in Dart world than typed data.

Is this causing you a problem somehow?

[karalabe]

I wasn't referring to unsigned ints, rather to byte strings.

IMO there are 2 potential issues:

• An int (AFAIK) in Dart will use 8 bytes vs 1 if represented as byte, so it's quite wasteful.
• In a security context, you usually want to be as strict as possible. Being lax at types tends to hide footguns.

[shamblett]

OK, could you provide an example of what CBOR you are decoding.