<!--

@license Apache-2.0

Copyright (c) 2018 The Stdlib Authors.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

-->

# Contiguous Data Buffer

> Create a zero-filled contiguous linear ndarray data buffer.

<!-- Section to include introductory text. Make sure to keep an empty line after the intro `section` element and another before the `/section` close. -->

<section class="intro">

</section>

<!-- /.intro -->

<!-- Package usage documentation. -->

<section class="usage">

## Usage

```javascript
var buffer = require( '@stdlib/ndarray/base/buffer' );
```

#### buffer( dtype, size )

Returns a zero-filled contiguous linear ndarray data buffer.

```javascript
var buf = buffer( 'float64', 3 );
// returns <Float64Array>[ 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 ]
```

The function supports the following data types:

-   `binary`: binary.
-   `complex64`: single-precision complex floating-point numbers.
-   `complex128`: double-precision complex floating-point numbers.
-   `float32`: single-precision floating-point numbers.
-   `float64`: double-precision floating-point numbers.
-   `generic`: values of any type.
-   `int16`: signed 16-bit integers.
-   `int32`: signed 32-bit integers.
-   `int8`: signed 8-bit integers.
-   `uint16`: unsigned 16-bit integers.
-   `uint32`: unsigned 32-bit integers.
-   `uint8`: unsigned 8-bit integers.
-   `uint8c`: unsigned clamped 8-bit integers.

If provided an unknown or unsupported data type, the function returns `null`.

```javascript
var buf = buffer( 'float', 3 );
// returns null
```

</section>

<!-- /.usage -->

<!-- Package usage notes. Make sure to keep an empty line after the `section` element and another before the `/section` close. -->

<section class="notes">

</section>

<!-- /.notes -->

<!-- Package usage examples. -->

<section class="examples">

## Examples

<!-- eslint no-undef: "error" -->

```javascript
var dtypes = require( '@stdlib/ndarray/dtypes' );
var buffer = require( '@stdlib/ndarray/base/buffer' );

var DTYPES = dtypes();
var buf;
var i;

for ( i = 0; i < DTYPES.length; i++ ) {
    buf = buffer( DTYPES[ i ], 10 );
    console.log( buf );
}
```

</section>

<!-- /.examples -->

<!-- Section to include cited references. If references are included, add a horizontal rule *before* the section. Make sure to keep an empty line after the `section` element and another before the `/section` close. -->

<section class="references">

</section>

<!-- /.references -->

<!-- Section for all links. Make sure to keep an empty line after the `section` element and another before the `/section` close. -->

<section class="links">

</section>

<!-- /.links -->