code: def build_message(self, metric, value, timestamp, tags={}):
          
          if not metric or metric.split(None, 1)[0] != metric:
              raise ValueError('"metric" must not have whitespace in it')
          if not isinstance(value, (int, float)):
              raise TypeError('"value" must be an int or a float, not a {}'.format(
                  type(value).__name__))
  
          tags_suffix = ''.join(';{}={}'.format(x[0], x[1]) for x in sorted(tags.items()))
  
          message = u'{}{}{} {} {}\n'.format(
              self.prefix + '.' if self.prefix else '',
              metric,
              tags_suffix,
              value,
              int(round(timestamp))
          )
          message = message.encode('utf-8')
          return message
docs: Build a Graphite message to send and return it as a byte string.