// 1 signed byte for the strategy
    // 1 unsigned byte for the number of hash functions
    // 1 big endian int, the number of longs in our bitset
    // N big endian longs of our bitset
    DataOutputStream dout = new DataOutputStream(out);
    dout.writeByte(SignedBytes.checkedCast(strategy.ordinal()));
    dout.writeByte(UnsignedBytes.checkedCast(numHashFunctions)); // note: checked at the c'tor
    dout.writeInt(bits.data.length());