Network packet data structure.

["David A. Moon" <Moon@STONY-BROOK.SCRC.SYMBOLICS.COM>]

I'm not sure whether you understood that the art-string array
created by Chaosnet is displaced to the packet array.  Thus Chaosnet
is filling in the 8-bit bytes in the packet array by storing characters
into the string.  The storage is the same, only the access path to it
differs.

The key difference you are seeing between Chaosnet and TCP is that
most character-oriented Chaosnet-based protocols use the Lisp Machine
character set that Symbolics machines also use, thus no character
set translation is necessary on our machines.  On the other hand,
most character-oriented TCP-based protocols use the ASCII character
set, hence the need for character translation.  If you're defining
your own private protocols, you can use whatever character set you
find most convenient.  Of course both networks also offer binary
streams talking 8-bit bytes, where no character set translation is
needed.  Character set translation, if properly implemented, isn't
usually the factor that determines the performance of network
protocols, so don't spend overmuch time worrying about it.