public static final void writeNumber( Number num, byte encoding, OutputStream os ) throws IOException {
		switch( encoding ) {
		case NE_FLOAT16: writeFloat16( num.floatValue() , os ); return;
		case NE_FLOAT32: writeFloat32( num.floatValue() , os ); return;
		case NE_FLOAT64: writeFloat64( num.doubleValue(), os ); return;
		case NE_INT8   : writeInt8(    num.byteValue()  , os ); return;
		case NE_INT16  : writeInt16(   num.shortValue() , os ); return;
		case NE_INT32  : writeInt32(   num.intValue()   , os ); return;
		case NE_INT64  : writeInt64(   num.longValue()  , os ); return;
		case NE_INT6   : writeInt6(    num.byteValue()  , os ); return;
		default:
			throw new UnsupportedOperationException(String.format("Unsupported number encoding:, 0x%02x",encoding));
		}
	}