From 222016a174ba08842d3c80cede846c284c7cb035 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Profpatsch Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2021 16:32:32 +0100 Subject: feat(users/Profpatsch/netstring): add README Change-Id: I2b5e74f376ac2212ec12fd85267e115621095639 Reviewed-on: https://cl.tvl.fyi/c/depot/+/2432 Reviewed-by: Profpatsch Tested-by: BuildkiteCI --- users/Profpatsch/netstring/README.md | 18 ++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+) create mode 100644 users/Profpatsch/netstring/README.md (limited to 'users/Profpatsch/netstring') diff --git a/users/Profpatsch/netstring/README.md b/users/Profpatsch/netstring/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4413d88ee4 --- /dev/null +++ b/users/Profpatsch/netstring/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,18 @@ +# Netstring + +Netstrings are a djb invention. They are intended as a serialization format. Instead of inline control characters like `\n` or `\0` to signal the end of a string, they use a run-length encoding given as the number of bytes, encoded in ASCII, at the beginning of the string. + +``` +hello -> 5:hello, +foo! -> 4:foo!, +こんにちは -> 15:こんにちは, +``` + +They can be used to encode e.g. lists by simply concatenating and reading them in one-by-one. + +If you need a more complex encoding, you could start encoding e.g. tuples as netstrings-in-netstrings, or you could use [`netencode`](../netcencode/spec.md) instead, which is what-if-json-but-netstrings, and takes the idea of netstrings to their logical conclusion. + +Resources: + +Spec: http://cr.yp.to/proto/netstrings.txt +Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netstring -- cgit 1.4.1