readBytes instead of read

[chrisflesher]

The WiFiClient inherits from Stream which has the readBytes function. I got confused using the read function that reads multiple bytes, this essentially does the same thing as readBytes but doesn't leverage other Stream functionality (e.g. timeouts). Is the read function with multiple parameters necessary? Could it just be removed to avoid confusion?

[JAndrassy]

The read(buffer, size) function must be implemented because it is pure virtual in Client which is the core base class for WiFiClient. Usually use of read(buffer, size) is much more efficient for networking than read(byte), because it can read out the internal buffers faster. But unfortunately If Client is accessed as Stream, this method is not visible.

Some years ago I prepared a git pull request to add read(buffer,size) to Stream, but then I canceled it because as you say it would cause confusion.

readBytes is implemented in Stream.h (base class for Client.h) and it is one of the blocking function which wait for the next byte.

there are some historical backward compatibility reasons for the current design of the Print<-Stream<-Client hierarchy.