public byte[] toByteArray(String ascii){
  if (ascii == null) {
    return EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY;
  }
  return fromAscii(ascii.toCharArray());
}

public byte [ ] toByteArray ( String ascii ) { if ( ascii == null ) { return EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY ; } return fromAscii ( ascii . toCharArray ( ) ) ; }
decodes a string where each char of the string represents an ascii ' 0 ' or ' 1 ' .
