diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRow.java b/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRow.java
index 96a1b07a41015..796f64c0eb277 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRow.java
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRow.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types.StructType;
 import org.apache.spark.unsafe.PlatformDependent;
 import org.apache.spark.unsafe.bitset.BitSetMethods;
+import org.apache.spark.unsafe.string.UTF8StringMethods;
 import scala.collection.Map;
 import scala.collection.Seq;
 
@@ -62,12 +63,16 @@ private long getFieldOffset(int ordinal) {
    return baseOffset + bitSetWidthInBytes + ordinal * 8;
   }
 
+  public static int calculateBitSetWidthInBytes(int numFields) {
+    return ((numFields / 64) + ((numFields % 64 == 0 ? 0 : 1))) * 8;
+  }
+
   public UnsafeRow() { }
 
   public void set(Object baseObject, long baseOffset, int numFields, StructType schema) {
     assert numFields >= 0 : "numFields should >= 0";
     assert schema == null || schema.fields().length == numFields;
-    this.bitSetWidthInBytes = ((numFields / 64) + ((numFields % 64 == 0 ? 0 : 1))) * 8;
+    this.bitSetWidthInBytes = calculateBitSetWidthInBytes(numFields);
     this.baseObject = baseObject;
     this.baseOffset = baseOffset;
     this.numFields = numFields;
@@ -219,9 +224,11 @@ public double getDouble(int i) {
   @Override
   public String getString(int i) {
     assertIndexIsValid(i);
-    // TODO
-
-    throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    final long offsetToStringSize = getLong(i);
+    final long stringSizeInBytes =
+      PlatformDependent.UNSAFE.getLong(baseObject, baseOffset + offsetToStringSize);
+    // TODO: ugly cast; figure out whether we'll support mega long strings
+    return UTF8StringMethods.toJavaString(baseObject, baseOffset + offsetToStringSize + 8, (int) stringSizeInBytes);
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRowConverter.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRowConverter.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f4d5a5cbd8af4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRowConverter.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions
+
+import org.apache.spark.sql.types._
+import org.apache.spark.unsafe.PlatformDependent
+import org.apache.spark.unsafe.array.ByteArrayMethods
+
+/** Write a column into an UnsafeRow */
+private abstract class UnsafeColumnWriter[T] {
+  /**
+   * Write a value into an UnsafeRow.
+   *
+   * @param value the value to write
+   * @param columnNumber what column to write it to
+   * @param row a pointer to the unsafe row
+   * @param baseObject
+   * @param baseOffset
+   * @param appendCursor the offset from the start of the unsafe row to the end of the row;
+   *                     used for calculating where variable-length data should be written
+   * @return the number of variable-length bytes written
+   */
+  def write(
+      value: T,
+      columnNumber: Int,
+      row: UnsafeRow,
+      baseObject: Object,
+      baseOffset: Long,
+      appendCursor: Int): Int
+
+  /**
+   * Return the number of bytes that are needed to write this variable-length value.
+   */
+  def getSize(value: T): Int
+}
+
+private object UnsafeColumnWriter {
+  def forType(dataType: DataType): UnsafeColumnWriter[_] = {
+    dataType match {
+      case IntegerType => IntUnsafeColumnWriter
+      case LongType => LongUnsafeColumnWriter
+      case StringType => StringUnsafeColumnWriter
+      case _ => throw new UnsupportedOperationException()
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+private class StringUnsafeColumnWriter private() extends UnsafeColumnWriter[UTF8String] {
+  def getSize(value: UTF8String): Int = {
+    // round to nearest word
+    val numBytes = value.getBytes.length
+    8 + ByteArrayMethods.roundNumberOfBytesToNearestWord(numBytes)
+  }
+
+  override def write(
+      value: UTF8String,
+      columnNumber: Int,
+      row: UnsafeRow,
+      baseObject: Object,
+      baseOffset: Long,
+      appendCursor: Int): Int = {
+    val numBytes = value.getBytes.length
+    PlatformDependent.UNSAFE.putLong(baseObject, baseOffset + appendCursor, numBytes)
+    PlatformDependent.copyMemory(
+      value.getBytes,
+      PlatformDependent.BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET,
+      baseObject,
+      baseOffset + appendCursor + 8,
+      numBytes
+    )
+    row.setLong(columnNumber, appendCursor)
+    8 + ((numBytes / 8) + (if (numBytes % 8 == 0) 0 else 1)) * 8
+  }
+}
+private object StringUnsafeColumnWriter extends StringUnsafeColumnWriter
+
+private abstract class PrimitiveUnsafeColumnWriter[T] extends UnsafeColumnWriter[T] {
+  def getSize(value: T): Int = 0
+}
+
+private class IntUnsafeColumnWriter private() extends PrimitiveUnsafeColumnWriter[Int] {
+  override def write(
+      value: Int,
+      columnNumber: Int,
+      row: UnsafeRow,
+      baseObject: Object,
+      baseOffset: Long,
+      appendCursor: Int): Int = {
+    row.setInt(columnNumber, value)
+    0
+  }
+}
+private object IntUnsafeColumnWriter extends IntUnsafeColumnWriter
+
+private class LongUnsafeColumnWriter private() extends PrimitiveUnsafeColumnWriter[Long] {
+  override def write(
+      value: Long,
+      columnNumber: Int,
+      row: UnsafeRow,
+      baseObject: Object,
+      baseOffset: Long,
+      appendCursor: Int): Int = {
+    row.setLong(columnNumber, value)
+    0
+  }
+}
+private case object LongUnsafeColumnWriter extends LongUnsafeColumnWriter
+
+
+class UnsafeRowConverter(fieldTypes: Array[DataType]) {
+
+  private[this] val writers: Array[UnsafeColumnWriter[Any]] = {
+    fieldTypes.map(t => UnsafeColumnWriter.forType(t).asInstanceOf[UnsafeColumnWriter[Any]])
+  }
+
+  def getSizeRequirement(row: Row): Int = {
+    var fieldNumber = 0
+    var variableLengthFieldSize: Int = 0
+    while (fieldNumber < writers.length) {
+      if (!row.isNullAt(fieldNumber)) {
+        variableLengthFieldSize += writers(fieldNumber).getSize(row.get(fieldNumber))
+
+      }
+      fieldNumber += 1
+    }
+    (8 * fieldTypes.length) + UnsafeRow.calculateBitSetWidthInBytes(fieldTypes.length) + variableLengthFieldSize
+  }
+
+  def writeRow(row: Row, baseObject: Object, baseOffset: Long): Long = {
+    val unsafeRow = new UnsafeRow()
+    unsafeRow.set(baseObject, baseOffset, writers.length, null) // TODO: schema?
+    var fieldNumber = 0
+    var appendCursor: Int =
+      (8 * fieldTypes.length) + UnsafeRow.calculateBitSetWidthInBytes(fieldTypes.length)
+    while (fieldNumber < writers.length) {
+      if (row.isNullAt(fieldNumber)) {
+        unsafeRow.setNullAt(fieldNumber)
+        // TODO: type-specific null value writing?
+      } else {
+        appendCursor += writers(fieldNumber).write(
+          row.get(fieldNumber),
+          fieldNumber,
+          unsafeRow,
+          baseObject,
+          baseOffset,
+          appendCursor)
+      }
+      fieldNumber += 1
+    }
+    appendCursor
+  }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRowConverterSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRowConverterSuite.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ed1e907286f4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/UnsafeRowConverterSuite.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions
+
+import org.apache.spark.sql.types.{StringType, DataType, LongType, IntegerType}
+import org.apache.spark.unsafe.PlatformDependent
+import org.apache.spark.unsafe.array.ByteArrayMethods
+import org.scalatest.{FunSuite, Matchers}
+
+
+class UnsafeRowConverterSuite extends FunSuite with Matchers {
+
+  test("basic conversion with only primitive types") {
+    val fieldTypes: Array[DataType] = Array(LongType, LongType, IntegerType)
+    val row = new SpecificMutableRow(fieldTypes)
+    row.setLong(0, 0)
+    row.setLong(1, 1)
+    row.setInt(2, 2)
+    val converter = new UnsafeRowConverter(fieldTypes)
+    val sizeRequired: Int = converter.getSizeRequirement(row)
+    sizeRequired should be (8 + (3 * 8))
+    val buffer: Array[Long] = new Array[Long](sizeRequired / 8)
+    val numBytesWritten = converter.writeRow(row, buffer, PlatformDependent.LONG_ARRAY_OFFSET)
+    numBytesWritten should be (sizeRequired)
+    val unsafeRow = new UnsafeRow()
+    unsafeRow.set(buffer, PlatformDependent.LONG_ARRAY_OFFSET, fieldTypes.length, null)
+    unsafeRow.getLong(0) should be (0)
+    unsafeRow.getLong(1) should be (1)
+    unsafeRow.getInt(2) should be (2)
+  }
+
+  test("basic conversion with primitive and string types") {
+    val fieldTypes: Array[DataType] = Array(LongType, StringType, StringType)
+    val row = new SpecificMutableRow(fieldTypes)
+    row.setLong(0, 0)
+    row.setString(1, "Hello")
+    row.setString(2, "World")
+    val converter = new UnsafeRowConverter(fieldTypes)
+    val sizeRequired: Int = converter.getSizeRequirement(row)
+    sizeRequired should be (8 + (8 * 3) +
+      ByteArrayMethods.roundNumberOfBytesToNearestWord("Hello".getBytes.length + 8) +
+      ByteArrayMethods.roundNumberOfBytesToNearestWord("World".getBytes.length + 8))
+    val buffer: Array[Long] = new Array[Long](sizeRequired / 8)
+    val numBytesWritten = converter.writeRow(row, buffer, PlatformDependent.LONG_ARRAY_OFFSET)
+    numBytesWritten should be (sizeRequired)
+    val unsafeRow = new UnsafeRow()
+    unsafeRow.set(buffer, PlatformDependent.LONG_ARRAY_OFFSET, fieldTypes.length, null)
+    unsafeRow.getLong(0) should be (0)
+    unsafeRow.getString(1) should be ("Hello")
+    unsafeRow.getString(2) should be ("World")
+  }
+}
diff --git a/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/array/ByteArrayMethods.java b/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/array/ByteArrayMethods.java
index fda4bbb45d420..b037c46a165ad 100644
--- a/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/array/ByteArrayMethods.java
+++ b/unsafe/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/unsafe/array/ByteArrayMethods.java
@@ -31,6 +31,15 @@ private ByteArrayMethods() {
     // Private constructor, since this class only contains static methods.
   }
 
+  public static int roundNumberOfBytesToNearestWord(int numBytes) {
+    int remainder = numBytes % 8;
+    if (remainder == 0) {
+      return numBytes;
+    } else {
+      return numBytes + (8 - remainder);
+    }
+  }
+
   public static void zeroBytes(
       Object baseObject,
       long baseOffset,