binary_parsing_with_unpack_pack

🔬 Parse and build binary protocols with unpack/pack

Ruby’s String#unpack and Array#pack provide direct access to binary data layouts. Use template directives (C, L<, n, etc.) to decode headers or serialize messages without external gems. This is your go‑to for implementing compact network or file protocols.

# Unpack a 32-bit big‑endian length and payload
data = [0x00_00_00_05, 0x61_62_63_64_65].pack('N C5')
length, *bytes = data.unpack('N C*')
payload = bytes.pack('C*')
puts length     # => 5
puts payload    # => "abcde"