node-int64

What is node-int64?

The node-int64 npm package is used for handling 64-bit integer values in Node.js. It provides functionality to represent, manipulate, and convert 64-bit integers, which are not natively supported in JavaScript due to its use of IEEE 754 floating-point numbers for all numeric values.

What are node-int64's main functionalities?

Creating 64-bit integers

This feature allows the creation of 64-bit integer instances from various inputs such as number, string, or buffer.

const Int64 = require('node-int64');
const int64 = new Int64('0x1234567890abcdef');

Reading 64-bit integers from buffers

This feature enables reading 64-bit integers directly from buffers, which is useful when dealing with binary data streams.

const Int64 = require('node-int64');
const buffer = Buffer.from('1234567890abcdef', 'hex');
const int64 = new Int64(buffer);

Converting 64-bit integers to strings

This feature allows the conversion of 64-bit integers to their string representation, which can be displayed or stored as text.

const Int64 = require('node-int64');
const int64 = new Int64('0x1234567890abcdef');
const str = int64.toString();

Converting 64-bit integers to native JavaScript numbers

This feature provides the ability to convert 64-bit integers to native JavaScript numbers, with the caveat that precision might be lost for large values.

const Int64 = require('node-int64');
const int64 = new Int64('0x1234567890abcdef');
const num = int64.toNumber();

Other packages similar to node-int64

bignum

The 'bignum' package provides arbitrary-precision arithmetic operations. It is more versatile than 'node-int64' as it can handle numbers of any size, but it might be slower for operations that only require 64-bit precision.

long

The 'long' package also deals with 64-bit integers and provides a rich set of arithmetic and comparison operations. It is similar to 'node-int64' but has a more extensive API for working with 64-bit integers.

bigint-buffer

The 'bigint-buffer' package is designed to work with Node.js's native BigInt type, providing buffer conversion utilities. It is a modern alternative to 'node-int64' that leverages the BigInt type introduced in newer versions of JavaScript.