LeftShift

LeftShift is a simple work-in-progress protocol used to send and receive JSON-like data using HTTP POST Requests and responses. It is designed to be easy and quick to set up and currently offers very little. The protocol is designed to work across any language and platform, as such, it only transfers text and Request Headers, but no python-specific binary data.

Project Structure

LeftShift is structured as a Python Package, as such, it has to be installed via the pip package manager.

Building LeftShift

Requirements

• Python 3.7 or newer
• The Python build module
• The hatchling backend

Procedure

• Clone this repository
• Run the build module via Python (python3 -m build on macOS/Linux, py -m build on Windows)
• Install LeftShift using pip and the .whl in the dist directory

The LeftShift Protocol

Currently, the LeftShift Protocol is very simple and basic: it uses the JSON format to send and receive information and provides two identical (For now) types: LeftShiftRequest and LeftShiftResponse. A LeftShift Request/Response only contains the content and its type.

Using LeftShift in a Python Project

Writing a makeshift server

# Import the LeftShift package
import leftshift


# Create a LeftShift Server instance on localhost:8000
leftshift_server = leftshift.LeftShiftServer('', 8000)

# Start the server (The library will automatically spawn a new thread)
leftshift_server.run()

# Create a handler for a 'ping-pong-request'
# This handler will send back the client's message (content)
@leftshift_server.handler('ping-pong-request')
def ping_pong_handler(content):
    return leftshift.LeftShiftResponse(
        content_type='ping-pong-response',
        content=f'ping-pong {content}'
    )