Update README

README.md

@@ -1,29 +1,38 @@
 # roto
 
-Rust protos without the pointers.
+Zero-allocation Rust protobuf reader and writer.
 
-The codegen is different; we don't create data structures.
+## Overview
-We mark what where each field is, and only read it when asked.
-The binary blob is never decompressed by the library; it is your
-job to figure out how to store the data if you need to access it
-more than once.
 
-And building protos? You use a builder. We don't make some fancy
+Instead of deserializing binary protobuf data into Rust structs, roto scans a message _once_ on
-structure and give you a marshal function, nah. You give us a blob
+construction — recording the byte offset of each field — then reads fields on demand directly from
-to write data into, and we write what you tell us, no questions asked.
+the original bytes. No heap allocation, no data copying, no full deserialization upfront.
 
-### Design
+Writing works the same way: you provide a fixed buffer and a builder writes fields directly into it,
+returning a slice of the bytes written.
 
-The `protoc` command generates a CodeGeneratorRequest message; `protoc-gen-roto` (from src/bin/protoc-gen-roto.rs)
+## Design
-reads this message from stdin, and generated a CodeGeneratorResponse, which it sends to stdout.
 
-The generated files get written to disk by protoc; these should be included in the Rust code being developed to
+`protoc` generates a `CodeGeneratorRequest` message; `protoc-gen-roto` (in
-use the protobuffers in question.
+`src/bin/protoc-gen-roto.rs`) reads this from stdin, generates Rust source files, and writes a
+`CodeGeneratorResponse` to stdout. `protoc` then writes those `.rs` files to disk. The generated
+files are included directly in the crate that uses the protobuffers.
 
-### Sample usage
+## Generated code
 
-```rust
+For each protobuf message roto generates two types:
-/*
+
+- **Reader struct** `MessageName<'a>` — borrows the original byte slice, zero-copy.
+- **Builder struct** `MessageNameBuilder<'b>` — writes into a caller-provided `&mut [u8]`.
+
+Nested message types are placed in a `pub mod message_name { ... }` module (snake_case of the
+parent message name) within the same generated file.
+
+## Sample usage
+
+Given this proto definition:
+
+```proto
 message Hello {
     string hello_world = 1;
     message InnerWorld {
@@ -31,42 +40,83 @@ message Hello {
     }
     InnerWorld inner_world = 2;
 }
- */
-
-fn parse_proto(data: &[u8]) -> Result<String> {
-    // Scans the data, marks where each flag is as an offset
-    // into the proto.
-    let accessor = HelloProto::new(data)?;
-    // Load the hello world string; returns bytes, not
-    // a Rust string.
-    let hello_world = accessor.hello_world()?;
-    // Inspect a nested message; accessing inner_world scans it
-    // for flag locations and returns a similiar access struct
-    let inner_world = accessor.inner_world()?.thought()?;
-
-    format!("{} is about {}", hello_world, inner_world)
-} 
 ```
 
-### Sample builder usage
+### Reading
 
 ```rust
-let mut buf = [0u8; 1024];
+fn parse_proto(data: &[u8]) -> roto::Result<String> {
-let mut builder = HelloProto::Builder::new(&mut buf)
+    // Scan the data once, recording field offsets
-    .hello_world("some world")
+    let hello = Hello::new(data)?;
-    .inner_world() // Returns an HelloProto::InnerWorld::Builder 
+
-        .thought("some thought")
+    // String fields return &str borrowed from the original bytes (zero-copy)
-        .done(); // returns the HelloProto::Builder
+    let hello_world: &str = hello.hello_world()?;
-let bytes_written = builder.finish()?; // returns the number of bytes written to buffer
+
+    // Nested message fields return &[u8]; construct the nested reader from those bytes
+    let inner_bytes: &[u8] = hello.inner_world()?;
+    let inner_world = hello::InnerWorld::new(inner_bytes)?;
+    let thought: &str = inner_world.thought()?;
+
+    Ok(format!("{} is about {}", hello_world, thought))
+}
 ```
 
-### High level design
+Fields absent from the binary data return `Err(roto::RotoError::FieldNotFound)`.
 
-The runtime library offers an iterator over the fields in a message, using the protobuf wire format provide
+### Writing
-objects of flag and type. Codegen creates a 'wrapper' that iterates over the message, and records the
-byte offset of each element. Helper methods in the wrapper give the user access to the name fields,
-casted to the appropriate data type.
 
-### Literature
+Nested messages must be serialized into a scratch buffer first, then embedded as raw bytes in the
+outer builder.
+
+```rust
+fn build_proto(buf: &mut [u8]) -> roto::Result<&[u8]> {
+    // Serialize the inner message first
+    let mut inner_buf = [0u8; 256];
+    let inner_bytes = hello::InnerWorldBuilder::builder(&mut inner_buf)
+        .thought("some thought")?
+        .finish()?;
+
+    // Build the outer message, embedding the serialized inner bytes
+    HelloBuilder::builder(buf)
+        .hello_world("some world")?
+        .inner_world(inner_bytes)?
+        .finish() // returns Result<&'b mut [u8]> — the written portion of buf
+}
+```
+
+Builder methods consume `self` and return `Result<Self>`, enabling `?`-based chaining.
+`finish()` returns `Result<&'b mut [u8]>` — a slice of the portion of the buffer that was written.
+
+### Repeated fields
+
+Repeated fields return a `RepeatedFieldIterator<'a>`. Each item yields `Result<(&[u8], WireType)>`.
+
+```rust
+let hello = Hello::new(data)?;
+for item in hello.tags() {
+    let (value_bytes, _wire_type) = item?;
+    // decode value_bytes according to the expected wire type
+}
+```
+
+## Runtime API
+
+The core runtime in `src/lib.rs` provides:
+
+- `ProtoAccessor<'a>` — scans a message's fields and reads values at recorded offsets.
+- `ProtoBuilder<'a>` — writes fields into a provided `&mut [u8]` buffer.
+- `FieldIterator<'a>` / `RepeatedFieldIterator<'a>` — iterators over fields and repeated fields.
+- `Tag`, `WireType` — protobuf encoding primitives.
+- `read_varint`, `write_varint`, `skip_value` — low-level wire-format helpers.
+- `RotoError`, `Result<T>` — error type and alias.
+
+## High-level design
+
+On construction (`MessageName::new(data)`), the generated reader struct iterates the binary once
+using `FieldIterator` and records the byte offset of each field's tag. Subsequent field accesses
+call `ProtoAccessor::get_value_at(offset)` — no re-scanning. For repeated fields, the start and
+end offsets of the field range are recorded to bound iteration efficiently.
+
+## Literature
 
 https://protobuf.dev/programming-guides/encoding/