Introduce buffer relative methods

[araujogui]

What is the problem this feature will solve?

Sequential buffer operations requires manual offset tracking. This is error-prone and verbose. Many developers already create abstractions around Buffer to avoid it completely.

@nodejs/buffer

What is the feature you are proposing to solve the problem?

Introducing relative methods to Buffer with automatic internal position tracking would simplify usage and improve developer experience in scenarios where data is read or written sequentially.

This is inspired by abstractions like Java’s ByteBuffer and Rust’s ByteBuffer.

It can be implemented in a backward-compatible manner by adding new get and put methods, without modifying existing read or write methods.

What alternatives have you considered?

No response

[geeksilva97]

I like this feature. When I had to do parsing using Node.js I needed to come up with an abstraction to do this.

[bnoordhuis]

Counterargument: instead of Node going its own way, it's better to standardize as typed array/dataview methods.

[araujogui]

Counterargument: instead of Node going its own way, it's better to standardize as typed array/dataview methods.

Well, that's an idea but I think DataView should stay minimal. This feature adds a high-level API on top of primitives without bypassing standards.

[jasnell]

I think @bnoordhuis ' point still stands, a standard API here would be better and DataView would be a nice place for this.

[targos]

In general, I think we should try not to add new APIs to Buffer. People are supposed to use the standard APIs now.
For this specific use case, it's also quite easy to implement in userland (I maintain a library that does it myself), and the details can quickly become a matter of opinions.