index += VM_HardwarePerformanceMonitors.SIZE_OF_INT;
index = index.add(BYTES_IN_INT);
  private void addPadding(int padding)  {    if (padding==0) {      if (VM_HardwarePerformanceMonitors.verbose>=3) {        VM.sysWrite  ("***addPadding(",padding,") called with pad length of 0!***");      }      return;    }    byte pad = 0;    VM_Magic.setIntAtOffset( buffer, index, PADDING_FORMAT);                            // format    index += VM_HardwarePerformanceMonitors.SIZE_OF_INT;    VM_Magic.setIntAtOffset( buffer, index, padding);                                   // length    index += VM_HardwarePerformanceMonitors.SIZE_OF_INT;    for (int i=0; i<padding; i++) {                                                     // add padding      VM_Magic.setByteAtOffset( buffer, index, pad);          index += VM_HardwarePerformanceMonitors.SIZE_OF_BYTE;    }    if (VM_HardwarePerformanceMonitors.verbose>=3) {      VM.sysWriteln("addPadding(",padding,") index ", index);    }    n_records++;  }