You could simply take the timestamp as a Long and store it as as a byte array.
What's the main advantage you are after with smaller keys? Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone -------- Original message -------- From: Rita Date:11/06/2014 4:19 AM (GMT-08:00) To: [email protected] Subject: key byte pattern ATM, i have a key which is a string. "Z.1415276116.223232" Are there any algorithms or design patterns I should follow for something like this to decrease the key size? Obviously, storing it as a String is costly was wondering if there was a better way to store something like this? BTW, 1415276116.223232 is a epoch second -- --- Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.--
