Arrays

Arrays are length-prefixed sequences of values.

• fixarray: 0x90..0x9f — top 4 bits 1001, low 4 bits = length (0-15).
• array 16: 0xdc + 2 byte length BE.
• array 32: 0xdd + 4 byte length BE.

Then: each element encoded recursively.

Example: [1, 2, 3]:

• fixarray of length 3: 0x93.
• elements: 01 02 03 (each is positive fixint).
• Total: 93 01 02 03 (4 bytes).

vs JSON [1,2,3] (7 bytes).

Decoding:

Heterogeneous arrays: each element can be any type. JSON-style.

Nested arrays: recursive. [[1,2],[3,4]]:

• 92 (outer length 2)
• 92 (first inner length 2) 01 02
• 92 (second inner length 2) 03 04
• Total: 7 bytes.

Length limits:

• fixarray: 15 elements.
• array 16: 65535.
• array 32: 4 billion.

If exceeded, use bigger format.

Encoder strategy:

• If fits in fixarray: use it.
• Else: smallest size class.