Skip to main content
The Porffor.bytestring API provides utilities for working with ByteStrings, Porffor’s optimized internal string representation for ASCII text.

​
What are ByteStrings?

ByteStrings are Porffor’s optimization for strings containing only ASCII characters (0-127). Instead of storing each character as 2 bytes (UTF-16), ByteStrings store one byte per character, reducing memory usage by 50% for ASCII text. 
// Automatically stored as ByteString
const ascii = 'Hello, World!';

// Stored as regular String (UTF-16)
const unicode = 'Hello, 世界!';

// Check the type
console.log(Porffor.type(ascii) === Porffor.TYPES.bytestring);  // true
console.log(Porffor.type(unicode) === Porffor.TYPES.string);    // true

​
appendStr

Append one ByteString to another. 
Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(str: bytestring, appendage: bytestring): i32
​
str
bytestring
required
Base string
​
appendage
bytestring
required
String to append
​
return
i32
Pointer to new concatenated ByteString

​
Usage

const base = 'Hello';
const suffix = ', World!';
const result = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(base, suffix);
console.log(result); // 'Hello, World!'

​
appendChar

Append a single character to a ByteString. 
Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(str: bytestring, char: i32): i32
​
str
bytestring
required
Base string
​
char
i32
required
Character code to append (0-127)
​
return
i32
Pointer to new ByteString with character appended

​
Usage

const base = 'Hello';
const result = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(base, 33); // 33 = '!'
console.log(result); // 'Hello!'

​
Character Codes

function appendExclamation(str) {
  return Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(str, 33); // !
}

function appendNewline(str) {
  return Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(str, 10); // \n
}

function appendSpace(str) {
  return Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(str, 32); // (space)
}

​
append2Char

Append two characters to a ByteString. 
Porffor.bytestring.append2Char(str: bytestring, char1: i32, char2: i32): i32
​
str
bytestring
required
Base string
​
char1
i32
required
First character code to append
​
char2
i32
required
Second character code to append
​
return
i32
Pointer to new ByteString with both characters appended

​
Usage

const base = 'Hello';
const result = Porffor.bytestring.append2Char(base, 33, 33); // !!
console.log(result); // 'Hello!!'

​
Efficient Padding

function appendTwoDigit(str, digit1, digit2) {
  // Append two numeric characters
  return Porffor.bytestring.append2Char(
    str,
    48 + digit1, // '0' + digit1
    48 + digit2  // '0' + digit2
  );
}

const time = 'Time: ';
const result = appendTwoDigit(time, 1, 5);
console.log(result); // 'Time: 15'

​
appendPadNum

Append a zero-padded number to a ByteString. 
Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(str: bytestring, num: number, len: number): i32
​
str
bytestring
required
Base string
​
num
number
required
Number to append
​
len
number
required
Minimum length (will pad with zeros if needed)
​
return
i32
Pointer to new ByteString with padded number appended

​
Usage

const base = 'ID: ';

const result1 = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(base, 5, 4);
console.log(result1); // 'ID: 0005'

const result2 = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(base, 42, 4);
console.log(result2); // 'ID: 0042'

const result3 = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(base, 1234, 4);
console.log(result3); // 'ID: 1234'

​
Date/Time Formatting

function formatTime(hours, minutes, seconds) {
  let result = '';
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(result, hours, 2);
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(result, 58); // ':'
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(result, minutes, 2);
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(result, 58); // ':'
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(result, seconds, 2);
  return result;
}

console.log(formatTime(9, 5, 7));   // '09:05:07'
console.log(formatTime(14, 30, 45)); // '14:30:45'

​
Zero-Padded IDs

function generateID(prefix, num, width) {
  return Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(prefix, num, width);
}

console.log(generateID('USER_', 1, 6));    // 'USER_000001'
console.log(generateID('ORDER_', 42, 8));  // 'ORDER_00000042'
console.log(generateID('ITEM_', 999, 5));  // 'ITEM_00999'

​
Usage Examples

​
Building Complex Strings

function buildLogEntry(level, message) {
  const now = new Date();
  
  let result = '[';
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(result, now.getHours(), 2);
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(result, 58); // ':'
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(result, now.getMinutes(), 2);
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(result, 58); // ':'
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendPadNum(result, now.getSeconds(), 2);
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(result, '] ');
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(result, level);
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(result, ': ');
  result = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(result, message);
  
  return result;
}

console.log(buildLogEntry('INFO', 'Server started'));
// '[09:30:45] INFO: Server started'

​
CSV Generation

function toCSV(data) {
  let csv = '';
  
  for (let row = 0; row < data.length; row++) {
    for (let col = 0; col < data[row].length; col++) {
      csv = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(csv, String(data[row][col]));
      
      if (col < data[row].length - 1) {
        csv = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(csv, 44); // ','
      }
    }
    csv = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(csv, 10); // '\n'
  }
  
  return csv;
}

const data = [
  ['Name', 'Age', 'City'],
  ['Alice', 30, 'NYC'],
  ['Bob', 25, 'LA']
];

console.log(toCSV(data));
// Name,Age,City
// Alice,30,NYC
// Bob,25,LA

​
URL Building

function buildURL(base, params) {
  let url = base;
  url = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(url, 63); // '?'
  
  const keys = Object.keys(params);
  for (let i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
    if (i > 0) {
      url = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(url, 38); // '&'
    }
    
    url = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(url, keys[i]);
    url = Porffor.bytestring.appendChar(url, 61); // '='
    url = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(url, String(params[keys[i]]));
  }
  
  return url;
}

const url = buildURL('https://api.example.com/search', {
  q: 'porffor',
  limit: '10',
  page: '1'
});

console.log(url);
// 'https://api.example.com/search?q=porffor&limit=10&page=1'

​
Performance Benefits

ByteStrings offer significant performance improvements: 
// Memory usage comparison
const str1 = 'Hello, World!'; // 13 chars * 1 byte = 13 bytes (+ 4 byte length)
const str2 = 'Hello, World!'; // 13 chars * 2 bytes = 26 bytes (+ 4 byte length)
// If str1 is ByteString: ~50% memory savings!

// These operations are optimized for ByteStrings
function benchmarkConcat(iterations) {
  const start = performance.now();
  
  let result = '';
  for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
    result = Porffor.bytestring.appendStr(result, 'x');
  }
  
  return performance.now() - start;
}

​
String vs ByteString

function detectStringType(value) {
  const t = Porffor.type(value);
  
  if (t === Porffor.TYPES.bytestring) {
    return 'ByteString (ASCII only)';
  } else if (t === Porffor.TYPES.string) {
    return 'String (UTF-16)';
  }
  
  return 'Not a string';
}

console.log(detectStringType('hello'));     // ByteString (ASCII only)
console.log(detectStringType('hello 世界')); // String (UTF-16)

​
See Also

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us