static byte eightBitCharacter(final String asciiCharacter)
    {
        Verify.notNull(asciiCharacter, "asciiCharacter");
        final byte[] bytes = asciiCharacter.getBytes(StandardCharsets.US_ASCII);
        if (bytes.length != 1)
        {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                "String value `" + asciiCharacter + "` did not fit into a single 8-bit character");
        }

        return bytes[0];
    }
@Test
    void happyPathEightBitCharacter()
    {
        final byte aByte = RustUtil.eightBitCharacter("a");
        assertEquals('a', (char)aByte);
        assertEquals("97", Byte.toString(aByte));
    }