Serialisation Primitives

This document describes how primitive types are encoded within Dijets platform which uses a simple, uniform, and elegant representation for all internal data.

Following are the basic primitive types used when encoding a transaction.

Byte#

Bytes are packed "as is" into the message payload.

Example:

Short#

Shorts are packed in BigEndian format into the message payload.

Example:

Integer#

Integers are 32-bit values packed in BigEndian format into the message payload.

Example:

Long Integers#

Long integers are 64-bit values packed in BigEndian format into the message payload.

Example:

IP Addresses#

IP addresses are represented as 16-byte IPv6 format, with the port appended into the message payload as a Short. IPv4 addresses are padded with 12 bytes of leading 0x00s.

IPv4 example:

IPv6 example:

Fixed-Length Array#

Fixed-length arrays, whose length is known ahead of time and by context, are packed in order.

Byte array example:

Integer array example:

Variable Length Array#

The length of the array is prefixed in Integer format, followed by the packing of the array contents in Fixed Length Array format.

Byte array example:

Int array example:

String#

A String is packed similarly to a variable-length byte array. However, the length prefix is a short rather than an int. Strings are encoded in UTF-8 format.

Example: