Package: pak
PakPak is a simple, yet powerful and extendable Python library for translating between raw data and usable, meaningful values.Here's an example of simple usage:importpakraw_data=(# Represents the value '0'.b"\x00"+# A string encoded in 4 bytes, with characters "abcd".b"\x04"+b"abcd"+# Two contiguous 16-bit, little endian numbers, '1' and '2'.b"\x01\x00"+b"\x02\x00")classMyPacket(pak.Packet):byte:pak.Int8string:pak.PrefixedString(pak.UInt8)array:pak.UInt16[2]# Unpack a packet from the raw data.packet=MyPacket.unpack(raw_data)# Each field will have the appropriate value unpacked from the raw data.assertpacket==MyPacket(byte=0,string="abcd",array=[1,2],)# Pack the packet into raw data.packet_data=packet.pack()# The packed data will be the same as the initial raw data.assertpacket_data==raw_dataFeaturesA declarative, simple API for defining packet structures.Highly generic, able to fit any packet protocol with relative ease.The ability to define your own means of marshaling between raw data and usable values.A composable API to allow you to easily leverage pre-existing code and reduce code duplication.A healthy set of provided features with general application, such as marshaling numeric, string, and enum values.Numerous high quality tests to make sure your code works as expected.Well-documented to help you know what APIs exist and how to use them.And more!InstallationTo install Pak, simply install through pip:$ pip install pakDocumentationThe documentation for Pak lives athttps://pak.readthedocs.io. There you will find tutorials, including a quickstart, and a reference manual detailing the API that Pak provides.GoalsThe impetus for creating this library was that I was making a library for the Minecraft networking protocol, which had a very similar API to the one now in Pak. I then wanted to write code for other protocols, and found myself duplicating much of the code I had written for Minecraft's protocol. I therefore created this library so that I did not need to repeat myself for each and every protocol I wrote code for. And so, from that inciting motivation, these are Pak's goals:Above all else, maintain a pleasing and readable API.Be easily workable with many if not all packet protocols.Have a solid base of fundamental or generally applicable features.Be easily extendable to account for all the quirks a particular protocol might have.Be a venue for me to learn about API design and project maintenance.In particular Pak's goals do not include performance. I have not benchmarked the library, and I don't currently intend to go through and make sure all code is optimized, though I of course make no conscious effort to pessimize code either. I may in the future go through and improve the performance of particular features, but in general performance is not something in particular that I strive for.Creditsammaraskar/pyCraftfor my initial inspiration to embark on creating this library and its API, even though it did not result in much resemblance.ManimCommunity/manimfor giving me experience in writing tests and docs and maintaining a serious project.The beginner's guide from Write the Docsfor an excellent walkthrough of good documentation practices.The various protocols I stress-tested Pak with to ensure that it is sufficiently generic and easy to use with a wide range of formats. These protocols include but are not limited to those ofMinecraft,Transformice, andCraftyBoss/SuperMarioOdysseyOnline.