Solidity: abi.encode() vs abi.encodePacked() vs abi.encodeWithSignature() vs abi.encodeCall()

There are some encode/decode functions in Solidity, for instance:

• abi.encode() will concatenate all values and add padding to fit into 32 bytes for each values.
  • To integrate with other contracts, you should use abi.encode().
• abi.encodePacked() will concatenate all values in the exact byte representations without padding.
  • If you only need to store it, you should use abi.encodePacked() since it's smaller.
• abi.encodeWithSignature() is mainly used to call functions in another contract.
• abi.encodeCall() is the type-safe version of abi.encodeWithSignature(), required 0.8.11+.

pragma solidity >=0.8.19;

import { IERC20 } from "openzeppelin-contracts/contracts/token/ERC20/IERC20.sol";
import "forge-std/Test.sol";

contract MyTest is Test {
    function test_abi_encode() public {
        bytes memory result = abi.encode(uint8(1), uint16(2), uint24(3));
        console.logBytes(result);
        // 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003
        // total 32 bytes * 3 = 96 bytes
    }

    function test_abi_encodePacked() public {
        bytes memory resultPacked = abi.encodePacked(uint8(1), uint16(2), uint24(3));
        console.logBytes(resultPacked);
        // 0x010002000003
        // total 1 byte + 2 bytes + 3 bytes = 6 bytes
    }

    function test_abi_encodeWithSignature() public {
        address weth = 0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2;
        address vitalik = 0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045;
        bytes memory data = abi.encodeWithSignature("balanceOf(address)", vitalik);
        console.logBytes(data);
        (bool success, bytes memory result) = weth.call(data);
        console.logBool(success);
        console.logUint(abi.decode(result, (uint256)));
    }

    function test_abi_encodeCall() public {
        address weth = 0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2;
        address vitalik = 0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045;
        bytes memory data = abi.encodeCall(IERC20.balanceOf, (vitalik));
        console.logBytes(data);
        (bool success, bytes memory result) = weth.call(data);
        console.logBool(success);
        console.logUint(abi.decode(result, (uint256)));
    }
}

forge test --mc "MyTest" -vv --fork-url https://rpc.flashbots.net

ref:
https://github.com/AmazingAng/WTF-Solidity/tree/main/27_ABIEncode
https://trustchain.medium.com/abi-functions-explained-in-solidity-bd93cf88bdf2