2 <!-- ############ chapter ############# -->
4 <chapter id="cha-buffers">
7 Buffers are structures used to pass data between elements. All streams of
8 data are chopped up into chunks which are stored in buffers. Buffers can be
9 of any size, and also contain metadata indicating the type of data contained
10 in them. Buffers can be allocated by various different schemes, and may
11 either be passed on by elements or unreferenced (and the memory used by the
15 <sect1 id="sect1-buffers-anatomy">
16 <title>Anatomy of a buffer</title>
21 <sect1 id="sect1-buffers-refcounts">
22 <title>Refcounts and mutability</title>
27 <sect1 id="sect1-buffers-metadata">
28 <title>Metadata</title>