--- a/BaseNCoder.st	Thu Mar 28 11:57:05 2019 +0100
+++ b/BaseNCoder.st	Thu Mar 28 18:08:06 2019 +0100
@@ -355,17 +355,128 @@
     "Created: / 14-03-2019 / 12:58:47 / Stefan Vogel"
 !
 
-nextBytesInto:anObject startingAt:offset
+nextByte
+    "ExternalStream compatibility"
+
+    ^ self next
+
+    "Created: / 27-03-2019 / 23:39:24 / stefan"
+!
+
+nextBytes:count into:anObject
+    "read the next count bytes into an object and return the number of
+     bytes read. On EOF, 0 is returned.
+     If the receiver is some socket/pipe-like stream, an exception
+     is raised if the connection is broken.
+
+     The object must have non-pointer indexed instvars (i.e. it must be
+     a ByteArray, String, Float- or DoubleArray).
+     If anObject is a string or byteArray and reused, this provides the
+     fastest possible physical I/O (since no new objects are allocated).
+
+     Use with care - non object oriented i/o.
+     Warning: in general, you cannot use this method to pass data from other
+     architectures since it does not care for byte order or float representation."
+
+    ^ self nextBytes:count into:anObject startingAt:1
+
+    "Created: / 27-03-2019 / 23:37:31 / stefan"
+!
+
+nextBytes:numBytes into:anObject startingAt:initialIndex
+    "copy bytes into anObject starting at offset"
+
+    |n "{Class: SmallInteger }"|
+
+    n := 0.
+
+    [n ~= numBytes and:[self atEnd not]] whileTrue:[
+        anObject byteAt:initialIndex+n put:self next.
+        n := n + 1.
+    ].
+    ^ n
+
+    "Created: / 27-03-2019 / 23:36:59 / stefan"
+!
+
+nextBytesInto:anObject startingAt:initialIndex
     "copy bytes into anObject starting at offset"
 
-    |off|
+    |n "{Class: SmallInteger }"|
 
-    off := offset.
+    n := 0.
+
     [self atEnd] whileFalse:[
-        anObject at:off put:self next.
-        off := off + 1.
+        anObject byteAt:initialIndex+n put:self next.
+        n := n + 1.
     ].
-    ^ off - offset
+    ^ n
+
+    "Modified: / 27-03-2019 / 23:48:16 / stefan"
+!
+
+nextInt32MSB:msbFlag
+    "return a signed long (4 bytes) from the stream.
+     The receiver must support reading of binary bytes.
+
+     The msbFlag argument controls if the integer is to be read with
+     most-significant-byte-first (true) or least-first (false).
+     This interface is provided to allow talking to external programs,
+     where it's known that the byte order is some definite one.
+     If you don't care (i.e. talk to other smalltalks) or you can control the
+     order, please use the corresponding xxxNet methods, which use a standard
+     network byte order.
+
+     1-to-1 copy from Stream"
+
+    |b1 b2 b3 b4 uval "{ Class: SmallInteger }" val|
+
+    b1 := self nextByte.
+    b2 := self nextByte.
+    b3 := self nextByte.
+    b4 := self nextByte.
+
+    msbFlag ifTrue:[
+        "most significant first"
+        uval := (b1 bitShift:8) bitOr:b2.
+        uval := (uval bitShift:8) bitOr:b3.
+        val := (uval bitShift:8) bitOr:b4.
+    ] ifFalse:[
+        "least significant first"
+        uval := (b4 bitShift:8) bitOr:b3.
+        uval := (uval bitShift:8) bitOr:b2.
+        val := (uval bitShift:8) bitOr:b1.
+    ].
+    "change from unsigned 0..FFFFFFFF to signed -80000000..7FFFFFFF"
+
+    val >= 16r80000000 ifTrue:[
+      ^ val - 16r100000000
+    ].
+    ^ val
+
+    "
+     |bytes s|
+
+     bytes := #[16rFF 16rFF 16rFF 16rFF].
+     s := bytes readStream.
+     Transcript showCR:(s nextInt32MSB:true).
+     s reset.
+     Transcript showCR:(s nextInt32MSB:false).
+
+     bytes := #[16r12 16r34 16r56 16r78].
+     s := bytes readStream.
+     Transcript showCR:(s nextInt32MSB:true).
+     s reset.
+     Transcript showCR:(s nextInt32MSB:false).
+
+     bytes := #[16r89 16rab 16rcd 16ref].
+     s := bytes readStream.
+     Transcript showCR:(s nextInt32MSB:true).
+     s reset.
+     Transcript showCR:(s nextInt32MSB:false).
+    "
+
+    "Created: / 27-03-2019 / 23:38:32 / stefan"
 !
 
 nextPut:aByte
@@ -392,6 +503,20 @@
     ]
 !
 
+skip:numberToSkip
+    "skip numberToSkip objects, return the receiver.
+     1-to-1 copy from Stream."
+
+    "don't know how to unread ..."
+    numberToSkip < 0 ifTrue:[
+        PositionError raiseRequest.
+        ^ self
+    ].
+    numberToSkip timesRepeat:[self next]
+
+    "Created: / 27-03-2019 / 23:43:26 / stefan"
+!
+
 stringUpToEnd
     "return a collection of the elements up-to the end"