serialization-hex-debugging

Testing & Quality

Constantine serialization and hex debugging conventions. Use when serializing cryptographic types, parsing bytes, debugging values with toHex, or working with BLS12-381, Banderwagon, or ECDSA codecs.

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What I do

Cover serialization patterns and debugging practices in Constantine library.

Serialization Conventions

Status Codes

Serialization functions return status codes, never exceptions:

type
  CttCodecScalarStatus* = enum
    cttCodecScalar_Success
    cttCodecScalar_Zero
    cttCodecScalar_ScalarLargerThanCurveOrder

  CttCodecEccStatus* = enum
    cttCodecEcc_Success
    cttCodecEcc_InvalidEncoding
    cttCodecEcc_CoordinateGreaterThanOrEqualModulus
    cttCodecEcc_PointNotOnCurve
    cttCodecEcc_PointNotInSubgroup
    cttCodecEcc_PointAtInfinity

Parsing Functions (bytes → internal)

unmarshal(dst: var BigInt, src: openArray[byte], endianness) - returns bool
deserialize_* - for cryptographic types, returns status code
fromBytes, fromHex - alternative names
fromUint*(dst: var FF, src: SomeUnsignedInt) - parse small unsigned integers into field elements

Serialization Functions (internal → bytes)

marshal(dst: var openArray[byte], src, endianness) - returns bool
serialize_* - for cryptographic types
toBytes, toHex - alternative names

BLS12-381 Serialization Functions

From constantine/serialization/codecs_bls12_381.nim:

# Scalar (Fr) - 32 bytes
func serialize_scalar*(dst: var array[32, byte], scalar: Fr[BLS12_381].getBigInt()): CttCodecScalarStatus
func deserialize_scalar*(dst: var Fr[BLS12_381].getBigInt(), src: array[32, byte]): CttCodecScalarStatus

# G1 Point (compressed) - 48 bytes
func serialize_g1_compressed*(dst: var array[48, byte], g1P: EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp[BLS12_381], G1]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserialize_g1_compressed*(dst: var EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp[BLS12_381], G1], src: array[48, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserialize_g1_compressed_unchecked*(dst: var EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp[BLS12_381], G1], src: array[48, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus

# G2 Point (compressed) - 96 bytes
func serialize_g2_compressed*(dst: var array[96, byte], g2P: EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp2[BLS12_381], G2]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserialize_g2_compressed*(dst: var EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp2[BLS12_381], G2], src: array[96, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserialize_g2_compressed_unchecked*(dst: var EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp2[BLS12_381], G2], src: array[96, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus

# Validation (expensive, can be cached)
func validate_scalar*(scalar: Fr[BLS12_381].getBigInt()): CttCodecScalarStatus
func validate_g1*(g1P: EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp[BLS12_381], G1]): CttCodecEccStatus
func validate_g2*(g2P: EC_ShortW_Aff[Fp2[BLS12_381], G2]): CttCodecEccStatus

Banderwagon Serialization Functions

From constantine/serialization/codecs_banderwagon.nim:

# Scalar - 32 bytes (big-endian)
func serialize_scalar*(dst: var array[32, byte], scalar: Fr[Banderwagon].getBigInt(), order: static Endianness = bigEndian): CttCodecScalarStatus
func serialize_fr*(dst: var array[32, byte], scalar: Fr[Banderwagon], order: static Endianness = bigEndian): CttCodecScalarStatus
func deserialize_scalar*(dst: var Fr[Banderwagon].getBigInt(), src: array[32, byte], order: static Endianness = bigEndian): CttCodecScalarStatus
func deserialize_fr*(dst: var Fr[Banderwagon], src: array[32, byte], order: static Endianness = bigEndian): CttCodecScalarStatus

# Point (compressed) - 32 bytes
func serialize*(dst: var array[32, byte], P: EC_TwEdw_Aff[Fp[Banderwagon]]): CttCodecEccStatus
func serializeUncompressed*(dst: var array[64, byte], P: EC_TwEdw_Aff[Fp[Banderwagon]]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserialize_unchecked_vartime*(dst: var EC_TwEdw_Aff[Fp[Banderwagon]], src: array[32, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserialize_vartime*(dst: var EC_TwEdw_Aff[Fp[Banderwagon]], src: array[32, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserializeUncompressed*(dst: var EC_TwEdw_Aff[Fp[Banderwagon]], src: array[64, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus
func deserializeUncompressed_unchecked*(dst: var EC_TwEdw_Aff[Fp[Banderwagon]], src: array[64, byte]): CttCodecEccStatus

# Batch serialization
func serializeBatch_vartime*(dst: ptr UncheckedArray[array[32, byte]], points: ptr UncheckedArray[EC_TwEdw_Prj[Fp[Banderwagon]]], N: int): CttCodecEccStatus
func serializeBatchUncompressed_vartime*(dst: ptr UncheckedArray[array[64, byte]], points: ptr UncheckedArray[EC_TwEdw_Prj[Fp[Banderwagon]]], N: int): CttCodecEccStatus

ECDSA Serialization Functions

From constantine/serialization/codecs_ecdsa.nim:

# ASN.1 DER signature (generic over curve)
type DerSignature*[N: static int] = object
  data*: array[N, byte]
  len*: int

proc toDER*[Name: static Algebra; N: static int](derSig: var DerSignature[N], r, s: Fr[Name])
proc fromDER*(r, s: var array[32, byte], derSig: DerSignature)
proc fromRawDER*(r, s: var array[32, byte], sig: openArray[byte]): bool

Generic Codecs

From constantine/serialization/codecs.nim:

# Hex conversion
func toHex*(bytes: openarray[byte]): string
func fromHex*(dst: var openArray[byte], hex: openArray[char])
func paddedFromHex*(output: var openArray[byte], hexStr: openArray[char], order: static[Endianness])

# Base64
func base64_decode*(dst: var openArray[byte], src: openArray[char]): int

Limbs I/O

From constantine/serialization/io_limbs.nim:

# Low-level limbs serialization
func unmarshal*(dst: var openArray[T], src: openarray[byte], wordBitWidth: static int, srcEndianness: static Endianness): bool
func marshal*(dst: var openArray[byte], src: openArray[T], wordBitWidth: static int, dstEndianness: static Endianness): bool

Working with Small Integers

When you need to set a field element or BigInt to a small constant value (0, 1, 2, etc.), use fromUint or setUint:

# For field elements (Fp, Fr)
from constantine/math/io/io_fields import fromUint
var x: Fr[BLS12_381]
x.fromUint(1)           # Set to 1
x.fromUint(42)          # Set to 42

# For BigInts
from constantine/math/arithmetic/bigints import setUint
var big: BigInt[256]
big.setUint(1)          # Set to 1 (in-place)
big.setUint(42)         # Set to 42

# Also available as fromUint for BigInt
let big2 = BigInt[256].fromUint(123)

Endianness

Ethereum spec v1.6.1+ uses big-endian (KZG_ENDIANNESS = 'big') for field/scalar elements
- Note: This changed from little-endian in spec v1.3.0
- Reference: https://github.com/ethereum/consensus-specs/blob/v1.6.1/specs/deneb/polynomial-commitments.md#constants
BLS12-381 uses big-endian for serialization (Zcash format)
Banderwagon uses big-endian
Big-endian is common for byte serialization in other contexts
Always specify explicitly: marshal(dst, src, bigEndian)

Byte Manipulation Utilities

From constantine/serialization/endians.nim:

# Low-level byte conversion (compile-time safe)
template toByte*(x: SomeUnsignedInt): byte

# Convert unsigned int to bytes
func toBytes*(num: SomeUnsignedInt, endianness: static Endianness): array[sizeof(num), byte]

# Read unsigned int from bytes (multiple overloads)
func fromBytes*(T: type SomeUnsignedInt, bytes: array[sizeof(T), byte], endianness: static Endianness): T
func fromBytes*(T: type SomeUnsignedInt, bytes: openArray[byte], offset: int, endianness: static Endianness): T
func fromBytes*(T: type SomeUnsignedInt, bytes: ptr UncheckedArray[byte], offset: int, endianness: static Endianness): T

# Write integer into raw binary blob
# - blobFrom: The whole array is interpreted as little-endian or big-endian (blobEndianness)
# - dumpRawInt: The array is little-endian by convention, but words inside are endian-aware (wordEndianness)
func blobFrom*(dst: var openArray[byte], src: SomeUnsignedInt, startIdx: int, endian: static Endianness)
func dumpRawInt*(dst: var openArray[byte], src: SomeUnsignedInt, cursor: int, endian: static Endianness)

Key difference:

blobFrom(blobEndianness): The entire byte array is interpreted as either little-endian or big-endian.
dumpRawInt(wordEndianness): The array is little-endian by convention, but the individual words are written with the specified endianness.

Example Pattern

func bytes_to_bls_field*(dst: var Fr[BLS12_381], src: array[32, byte]): CttCodecScalarStatus =
  var scalar {.noInit.}: Fr[BLS12_381].getBigInt()
  let status = scalar.deserialize_scalar(src)
  if status notin {cttCodecScalar_Success, cttCodecScalar_Zero}:
    return status
  dst.fromBig(scalar)
  return cttCodecScalar_Success

Debugging

IO Modules

For debugging, use the IO modules:

constantine/math/io/io_fields.nim - Fp/Fr serialization
constantine/math/io/io_ec.nim - Elliptic curve points
constantine/math/io/io_bigints.nim - BigInt serialization
constantine/math/io/io_extfields.nim - Extension fields (Fp2, Fp4, etc.)

Key Functions

# Hex output (for debugging only, not constant-time)
func toHex*(f: FF): string
func toHex*(P: EC_ShortW_Aff): string

# Marshal to byte array
func marshal*(dst: var openArray[byte], src: FF, endianness): bool

# From hex string
func fromHex*(dst: var FF, hexString: string)

Required Imports for debug toHex Functions

Type	Import
Field elements (Fp, Fr)	`constantine/math/io/io_fields`
Elliptic curve points	`constantine/math/io/io_ec`
BigInts	`constantine/math/io/io_bigints`
Extension fields (Fp2, Fp4...)	`constantine/math/io/io_extfields`

Debug Echo

Use debugEcho instead of echo to avoid side-effect warnings in func procedures:

# Bad - echo has side effects
echo "Value: ", value

# Good - debugEcho is allowed in debug code
debugEcho "Value: ", value.toHex()

Complex Debug Blocks

For complex debugging that can't use debugEcho, wrap in {.cast(noSideEffect).}:

{.cast(noSideEffect).}:
  block:
    # Complex debug code here
    # Can use echo, print, etc.
    echo "Debug info: ", someVar

No seq/strings in crypto code

Serialization in hot paths must avoid heap allocation:

Never use seq[byte] or string
Use fixed-size arrays or openArray
Use transcript.update(data) instead of building a seq