1by32

1by32 is a lightweight JavaScript library designed for manipulating 32‑bit binary data within web applications. The library provides an intuitive interface for creating, reading, and writing 32‑bit integers and floating‑point values, and it is particularly useful in contexts where binary data needs to be exchanged between a web front‑end and a back‑end service written in languages such as Go, Rust, or C++. 1by32 abstracts the low‑level typed‑array operations behind a set of convenient wrapper functions, easing the developer experience while preserving performance.

The project was initiated by software engineer J. Lee in March 2022 as a response to fragmented tools for binary manipulation in JavaScript. Lee originally wrote a prototype for a browser‑based WebAssembly debugger and discovered the need for a reusable component that could be shared across projects. 1by32 was open‑source released under the MIT license on GitHub in April 2022, and it garnered early community engagement through issue reports and pull requests quickly. The modular design allows developers to bundle only the portions of the API that are required for their application, keeping bundle sizes minimal.

Core features of 1by32 include support for big‑endian and little‑endian byte orders, bit‑field extraction and packing, and a suite of utility functions for converting between ArrayBuffers, DataViews, and standard JavaScript numbers. The library exposes a clear API for reading signed and unsigned 32‑bit integers, reading and writing 32‑bit floats, and for setting or clearing individual bits. A token‑based serialization scheme expands the library’s functionality to encode custom data structures that can be transmitted efficiently over WebSockets or HTTP/2 streams. In addition to the core library, the repository contains a set of examples demonstrating typical use cases such as WebRTC data channel negotiation, binary logging, and interaction with WebAssembly modules.

1by32 has been adopted by several open‑source web projects, with usage metrics showing rapid increase since its release. Peer reviews on GitHub highlight the library’s simple API and minimal friction when integrating with existing build pipelines. Community endorsements point to the library’s compatibility with tree‑shaking tooling in modern bundlers such as Rollup and Webpack, which helps maintain low runtime overhead. The project's continued development includes plans to add optional type‑checking via TypeScript definitions and to extend support for 64‑bit integer types once appropriate polyfills become widely available.