diff --git a/docs/bytecode.md b/docs/bytecode.md
index ab047e1..576ebc5 100644
--- a/docs/bytecode.md
+++ b/docs/bytecode.md
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Once a JAPL source file (i.e. one with a ".jpl" extension, without quotes) has b
 
 An object file starts with the headers, namely:
 
-- A 13-byte constant string with the value `"JAPL_BYTECODE"` (without quotes)
+- A 13-byte constant string with the value `"JAPL_BYTECODE"` (without quotes) encoded as a sequence of integers of the ASCII encoding of each character in the string
 - A 3-byte version header composed of 3 unsigned integers representing the major, minor and patch version of the compiler used to generate the file, respectively. JAPL follows the SemVer standard for versioning
 - A string representing the branch name of the git repo from which JAPL was compiled, prepended with its size represented as a single 8-bit unsigned integer. Due to this encoding the branch name can't be longer than 256 characters, which is a length deemed appropriate for this purpose
 - A 40 bytes hexadecimal string, pinpointing the version of the compiler down to the exact commit hash in the JAPL repository, particularly useful when testing development versions
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ An object file starts with the headers, namely:
 
 ### Constant section
 
-This section of the file follows the headers and is meant to store all constants needed upon startup by the JAPL virtual machine. For example, the code `var x = 1;` would have the number one as a constant. Constants are a compile-time view of the state of the VM's stack at runtime.
+This section of the file follows the headers and is meant to store all constants needed upon startup by the JAPL virtual machine. For example, the code `var x = 1;` would have the number one as a constant.
 
 
 ## Behavior
diff --git a/src/backend/serializer.nim b/src/backend/serializer.nim
index 9fe0bbb..0a59a98 100644
--- a/src/backend/serializer.nim
+++ b/src/backend/serializer.nim
@@ -36,9 +36,10 @@ type
         ## procedures to store
         ## metadata
         fileHash*: string
-        japlVer*: string
+        japlVer*: tuple[major, minor, patch: int]
         japlBranch*: string
         commitHash*: string
+        compileDate*: int
         chunk*: Chunk
 
 
@@ -68,6 +69,15 @@ proc toBytes(self: Serializer, d: SHA256Digest): seq[byte] =
         result.add(b)
 
 
+proc bytesToString(self: Serializer, input: seq[byte]): string =
+    for b in input:
+        result.add(char(b))
+
+
+proc bytesToInt(self: Serializer, input: seq[byte]): int =
+    copyMem(result.addr, input.unsafeAddr, sizeof(int))
+
+
 proc extend[T](s: var seq[T], a: openarray[T]) =
     for e in a:
         s.add(e)
@@ -80,6 +90,9 @@ proc dumpBytes*(self: Serializer, chunk: Chunk, file, filename: string): seq[byt
     self.filename = filename
     self.chunk = chunk
     result.extend(self.toBytes(BYTECODE_MARKER))
+    result.add(byte(JAPL_VERSION.major))
+    result.add(byte(JAPL_VERSION.minor))
+    result.add(byte(JAPL_VERSION.patch))
     result.add(byte(len(JAPL_BRANCH)))
     result.extend(self.toBytes(JAPL_BRANCH))
     if len(JAPL_COMMIT_HASH) != 40:
@@ -131,12 +144,23 @@ proc loadBytes*(self: Serializer, stream: seq[byte]): Serialized =
     new(result)
     result.chunk = newChunk()
     var stream = stream
-    if stream[0..<len(BYTECODE_MARKER)] != self.toBytes(BYTECODE_MARKER):
-        self.error("malformed bytecode marker")
-    stream = stream[len(BYTECODE_MARKER)..^1]
-
-
-
+    try:
+        if stream[0..<len(BYTECODE_MARKER)] != self.toBytes(BYTECODE_MARKER):
+            self.error("malformed bytecode marker")
+        stream = stream[len(BYTECODE_MARKER) - 1..^1]
+        result.japlVer = (major: int(stream[0]), minor: int(stream[1]), patch: int(stream[2]))
+        stream = stream[2..^1]
+        let branchLength = stream[0]
+        stream = stream[1..^1]
+        result.japlBranch = self.bytesToString(stream[0..<branchLength])
+        stream = stream[branchLength..^1]
+        result.commitHash = self.bytesToString(stream[0..<40]).toHex()
+        stream = stream[39..^1]
+        result.compileDate = self.bytesToInt(stream[0..7])
+        stream = stream[7..^1]
+        result.fileHash = self.bytesToString(stream[0..<32]).toHex()
+    except IndexDefect:
+        self.error("truncated bytecode file")
     
 
 
diff --git a/src/config.nim b/src/config.nim
index d26b747..e7731fa 100644
--- a/src/config.nim
+++ b/src/config.nim
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ const BYTECODE_MARKER* = "JAPL_BYTECODE"
 const MAP_LOAD_FACTOR* = 0.75  # Load factor for builtin hashmaps
 const HEAP_GROW_FACTOR* = 2   # How much extra memory to allocate for dynamic arrays and garbage collection when resizing
 const MAX_STACK_FRAMES* = 800   # The maximum number of stack frames at any one time. Acts as a recursion limiter (1 frame = 1 call)
-const JAPL_VERSION* = "0.4.0"
+const JAPL_VERSION* = (major: 0, minor: 4, patch: 0)
 const JAPL_RELEASE* = "alpha"
 const JAPL_COMMIT_HASH* = "b252749d0e5448b8fef64150299d8318362bc08c"
 const JAPL_BRANCH* = "master"
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ const SKIP_STDLIB_INIT* = false # Skips stdlib initialization (can be imported m
 const DEBUG_TRACE_GC* = false    # Traces the garbage collector (TODO)
 const DEBUG_TRACE_ALLOCATION* = false   # Traces memory allocation/deallocation
 const DEBUG_TRACE_COMPILER* = false  # Traces the compiler
-const JAPL_VERSION_STRING* = &"JAPL {JAPL_VERSION} ({JAPL_RELEASE}, {CompileDate}, {CompileTime}) on branch {JAPL_BRANCH} ({JAPL_COMMIT_HASH[0..8]})"
+const JAPL_VERSION_STRING* = &"JAPL {JAPL_VERSION.major}.{JAPL_VERSION.minor}.{JAPL_VERSION.patch} ({JAPL_RELEASE}, {CompileDate}, {CompileTime}) on branch {JAPL_BRANCH} ({JAPL_COMMIT_HASH[0..8]})"
 const HELP_MESSAGE* = """The JAPL language, Copyright (C) 2021 Mattia Giambirtone & All contributors
 
 This program is free software, see the license distributed with this program or check