1. 8         d'b   o                           8     o
2. 8         8     8                           8
3. 8 .oPYo. o8P   o8P       .oPYo. .oPYo. .oPYo8    o8 .oPYo.
4. 8 8oooo8  8     8  ooooo 8    8 .oooo8 8    8     8 8    8
5. 8 8.      8     8        8    8 8    8 8    8     8 8    8
6. 8 `Yooo'  8     8        8YooP' `YooP8 `YooP' 88  8 `YooP'
7. ..:.....::..::::..:::::::8 ....::.....::.....:..::..:.....:
8. :::::::::::::::::::::::::8 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
9. :::::::::::::::::::::::::..::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
10.  
11. Welcome to left-pad.io!
12.  
13. ## History
14.  
15. On March 22nd 2016, a terrible tragedy befell the Node.JS community. A popular
16. microframework for robust string expansion, `left-pad`, was removed from
17. npmjs.com.
18.  
19. This resulted in broken deploys worldwide, a sudden and complete inability to
20. appropriately zero-pad the fractional real cent value of many stock options,
21. and untold billions of dollars in economic damage to the still nascent startup
22. ecosystem of String Manipulation as a Service.
23.  
24. ## A microservice saviour appears
25.  
26. In order to prevent such a terrible tragedy from occurring ever again during
27. our lifetimes, `left-pad.io` has been created to provide all the functionality
28. of `left-pad` AND the overhead of a TLS handshake and an HTTP request.
29.  
30. Less code is better code, leave the heavy lifting to `left-pad.io`, The String
31. Experts™.
32.  
33. ## How do I make use of left-pad.io?
34.  
35. Simple! Just make a request to `https://api.left-pad.io`:
36.  
37. ```
38. $ curl 'https://api.left-pad.io/?str=paddin%27%20oswalt&len=68&ch=@'
39. {"str":"@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@paddin' oswalt"}
40. ```
41.  
42. The query parameter names `str`, `len`, and `ch` match the argument names of
43. our fallen comrade in left-stringist thought, `leftpad()`. May the Developer
44. Happiness achieved forever commemorate its sacrifice.
45.  
46. `left-pad.io` is 100% REST-compliant as defined by some guy on StackOverflow
47. with maximal opinions and minimal evidence.
48.  
49. ## Can I buy an enterprise license?
50.  
51. Yes. Email root@left-pad.io with your account and ABA routing numbers.