lists, strings, and byte strings

[DeaD_EyE]

Hm, let's try:

str.join('', list('Hello World'))

Output:
'Hello World'

Success :-)

Now the first try with bytes:

bytes.join(b'', list(b'Hello Bytes'))

Error:
TypeError: sequence item 0: expected a bytes-like object, str found

This is the problem with the representation. Iterating over bytes returns integers.

Third try:

bytearray(list(b'Hello Bytes'))

Output:
bytearray(b'Hello Bytes')

This looks better.

Finally you can use this:

bytes(bytearray(list(b'Hello Bytes')))

Output:
b'Hello Bytes'

But you're right. It's not so easy.

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Bonus:
Instead of using the list function to construct a list,
use a bytearray. A bytearray is mutable and acts like a list.

bytes(bytearray(b'Hello Bytes'))

Output:
b'Hello Bytes'

It's mutable. You can mutate it.

ba = bytearray(b'Hello Bytes')
ba[0] = b'W'

Error:
TypeError: an integer is required

A not so nice solution for it:

ba[0] = ord(b'W')
ba

Output:
bytearray(b'Wello Bytes')

Extending:

ba.extend(b' This is the next Chunk')
ba

Output:
bytearray(b'Wello Bytes This is the next Chunk')

But i know what you mean. Handling with bytes a bit pain in the ass.
There must be a better way.