diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c4bc3c7fa..5a48a47ab 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -282,6 +282,22 @@ Documentation
 
 * [protobuf.js API Documentation](http://dcode.io/protobuf.js/)
 
+### Data type recommendations
+
+| Value type               | protobuf Type | Size / Notes
+|--------------------------|---------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+| Unsigned 32 bit integers | uint32        | 1 to 5 bytes.
+| Signed 32 bit integers   | sint32        | 1 to 5 bytes. Do not use int32 (always encodes negative values as 10 bytes).
+| Unsigned 52 bit integers | uint64        | 1 to 10 bytes.
+| Signed 52 bit integers   | sint64        | 1 to 10 bytes. Do not use int64 (always encodes negative values as 10 bytes).
+| Unsigned 64 bit integers | uint64        | Use with long.js. 1 to 10 bytes.
+| Signed 64 bit integers   | sint64        | Use with long.js. 1 to 10 bytes. Do not use int64 (always encodes negative values as 10 bytes).
+| 32 bit precision floats  | float         | 4 bytes.
+| 64 bit precision floats  | double        | 8 bytes. Use float if 32 bits of precision are enough.
+| Boolean values           | bool          | 1 byte.
+| Strings                  | string        | 1 byte + utf8 byte length.
+| Buffers                  | bytes         | 1 byte + byte length.
+
 Command line
 ------------
 
diff --git a/bench/prof.js b/bench/prof.js
index 1cb4992f2..12313db05 100644
--- a/bench/prof.js
+++ b/bench/prof.js
@@ -1,8 +1,44 @@
 var fs       = require("fs"),
     path     = require("path");
-var protobuf = require("..");
 
-// A profiling stub to measure just raw encoding / decoding performance using benchmark data.
+// A profiling stub to measure encoding / decoding performance using benchmark data.
+
+var commands = ["encode", "decode", "encode-browser", "decode-browser"];
+if (commands.indexOf(process.argv[2]) < 0) { // 0: node, 1: prof.js
+    console.error("usage: " + path.basename(process.argv[1]) + " <" + commands.join('|') + "> [iterations=10000000]");
+    process.exit(0);
+}
+
+// Spin up a node process with profiling enabled and process the generated log
+if (process.execArgv.indexOf("--prof") < 0) {
+    console.log("cleaning up old logs ...");
+    var child_process = require("child_process");
+    var logRe = /^isolate\-[0-9A-F]+\-v8\.log$/;
+    fs.readdirSync(process.cwd()).forEach(function(file) {
+        if (logRe.test(file))
+            fs.unlink(file);
+    });
+    console.log("generating profile (may take a while) ...");
+    child_process.execSync("node --prof --trace-deopt " + process.argv.slice(1).join(' '), {
+        cwd: process.cwd(),
+        stdio: 'inherit'
+    });
+    console.log("processing profile ...");
+    fs.readdirSync(process.cwd()).forEach(function(file) {
+        if (logRe.test(file)) {
+            child_process.execSync("node --prof-process " + file, {
+                cwd: process.cwd(),
+                stdio: 'inherit'
+            });
+            fs.unlink(file);
+        }
+    });
+    console.log("done.");
+    process.exit(0);
+}
+
+// Actual profiling code
+var protobuf = require("..");
 
 var root = protobuf.parse(fs.readFileSync(require.resolve("../bench/bench.proto")).toString("utf8")).root;
 var Test = root.lookup("Test");
@@ -16,10 +52,6 @@ function setupBrowser() {
 }
 
 switch (process.argv[2]) {
-    default:
-        console.error("usage: " + path.basename(process.argv[1]) + " <encode|decode|encode-browser|decode-browser> [iterations=10000000]");
-        process.exit(1);
-        return;
     case "encode-browser":
         setupBrowser();
     case "encode":
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 767c4f088..75e486220 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -33,9 +33,7 @@
     "zuul": "zuul --ui tape --no-coverage --concurrency 4 -- tests/*.js",
     "zuul-local": "zuul --ui tape --no-coverage --concurrency 1 --local 8080 --disable-tunnel -- tests/*.js",
     "bench": "node bench",
-    "bench-read": "node bench/read",
-    "bench-write": "node bench/write",
-    "all": "npm run lint && npm run test && npm run build && npm run types && npm run docs && npm run bench",
+    "prof": "node bench/prof",
     "prepublish": "node scripts/prepublish"
   },
   "optionalDependencies": {
diff --git a/src/writer.js b/src/writer.js
index 33551d44a..11530b287 100644
--- a/src/writer.js
+++ b/src/writer.js
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@ function BufferWriter() {
 BufferWriter.alloc = function alloc_buffer(size) {
     BufferWriter.alloc = util.Buffer.allocUnsafe
         ? util.Buffer.allocUnsafe
-        : function allocUnsafe(size) { return new util.Buffer(size); };
+        : function allocUnsafeNew(size) { return new util.Buffer(size); };
     return BufferWriter.alloc(size);
 };
 
diff --git a/tests/empty.js b/tests/empty.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9f97a66d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/empty.js
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+var tape = require("tape");
+
+var protobuf = require("..");
+
+tape.test("empty messages", function(test) {
+    var root = new protobuf.Root().addJSON({
+        "Test": {
+            fields: {}
+        }
+    });
+
+    var Test = root.lookup("Test");
+    var buf = Test.encodeDelimited({}).finish();
+    test.equal(buf.length, 1, "should encodeDelimited to a buffer of length 1");
+    test.equal(buf[0], 0, "should encodeDelimited a length of 0");
+    test.end();
+});