Is there a Python module that already does this?

[Paul Rubin]

"MDK" <mdk at mdk.com> writes:
> This is for a project where Python is embeded in a piece of hardware and in
> order to move the data around it must be "flattened".  After I get the list
> of characters I am going to convert it to ASCII.

If you're only going to get flattened data from trusted sources, use
the pickle module.  If you're getting the data from untrusted sources
(such as over the internet), make sure to read the security notes in
the new (2.2) version of the pickle module documentation.