[Python-Dev] an idea for improving struct.unpack api

[Anthony Baxter]

My take on this:

    struct.pack/struct.unpack is already one of my least-favourite parts 
    of the stdlib. Of the modules I use regularly, I pretty much only ever
    have to go back and re-read the struct (and re) documentation because
    they just won't fit in my brain. Adding additional complexity to them 
    seems like a net loss to me. 

    I'd _love_ to find the time to write a sane replacement for struct - as
    well as the current use case, I'd also like it to handle things like
    attribute-length-value 3-tuples nicely (where you get a fixed field 
    which identifies the attribute, a fixed field which specifies the value
    length, and a value of 'length' bytes). Almost all sane network protocols
    (i.e. those written before the plague of pointy brackets) use this in
    some way.

    I'd much rather specify the format as something like a tuple of values -
    (INT, UINT, INT, STRING) (where INT &c are objects defined in the
    struct module). This also then allows users to specify their own formats
    if they have a particular need for something.

Anthony
-- 
Anthony Baxter     <anthony at interlink.com.au>
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.