docs: public static byte[] longToBytesNoLeadZeroes(long val) {
  
          // todo: improve performance by while strip numbers until (long >> 8 == 0)
          if (val == 0)
              return EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY;
  
          byte[] data = ByteBuffer.allocate(8).putLong(val).array();
  
          return stripLeadingZeroes(data);
      }