CIO - Console Input/Output for Rust

CIO brings Python-like simplicity to Rust console operations with powerful procedural macros that enhance println! and provide type-safe input!. Experience advanced table formatting, ANSI colors, mathematical matrices, and seamless JSON integration.

✨ Key Features

• 🎨 Rich ANSI Colors: Easy @(color, style) syntax
• 📊 Advanced Table Formatting: Professional layouts with Unicode borders
• 🔢 Mathematical Matrices: Beautiful matrix display with :m and :d formats
• 📥 Type-Safe Input: Automatic parsing with input! macro
• 🚀 Dynamic Separators: Custom output control with $(...)
• 🌟 JSON Native Support: Seamless serde_json integration
• 📋 Multiple Format Specifiers: :t, :m, :d, :a, :c, :j

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

[dependencies]

cio = "0.5.0"

serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }

serde_json = "1.0"

Basic Usage

use cio::{println, input};
use serde_json::json;

fn main() {
    // Type-safe input with automatic parsing
    let name: String = input!("Your name: ");
    let age: i32 = input!("Your age: ");
    
    // Rich colored output
    println!("Hello, @(green, bold){name}@()! You are @(yellow){age}@() years old.");
    
    // Advanced table formatting
    let data = json!({"France": "Paris", "Germany": "Berlin"});
    println!("Capitals: {data:t(Country, Capital)}");
}

📥 Type-Safe Input with input!

The input! macro provides automatic type parsing with elegant error handling:

use cio::input;

// Basic types with automatic parsing
let name: String = input!("Your @(green,italic)first name@(): ");
let age: i32 = input!("Your @(yellow)age@(): ");
let height: f64 = input!("Your @(blue)height@() (in meters): ");
let married: bool = input!("Are you @(magenta)married@()? (true/false): ");
let favorite_letter: char = input!("What is your @(cyan,italic)favorite letter@()? ");

Features:

• ✅ Automatic Type Conversion: Handles all standard Rust types
• ✅ Color Support in Prompts: Use @(color) syntax in input prompts
• ✅ Error Resilience: Automatically retries on invalid input
• ✅ Zero Runtime Cost: All parsing happens at compile-time

🎨 Enhanced println! with ANSI Colors

Color Syntax

Use @(color, style) for rich terminal output:

use cio::println;

// Basic colors
println!("@(red)Error:@() Something went wrong");
println!("@(green,bold)Success!@() Operation completed");

// Multiple styles
println!("@(blue,bold,italic)Important Notice@() - Please read carefully");

// Reset with @()
println!("Normal text @(yellow)highlighted@() back to normal");

Available Colors

Standard Colors: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white Bright Colors: bright_red, bright_green, bright_blue, bright_cyan, bright_magenta, bright_yellow, bright_white, bright_black Styles: bold, italic, underline, dimmed, blink, reversed, hidden, strikethrough

Dynamic Colors

let color_style = "bright_blue,bold,italic";
let temp = 18.7;
println!("@({color_style}){temp:.1}°C@()");

🚀 Dynamic Separators with $(...)

Control output flow with dynamic separators:

use cio::println;

// Progress indicators without newlines
for i in 1..10 {
    println!("@(yellow){i}$( → )");  // Custom separator
}
println!("@(yellow)10");  // Final item with newline

// Output: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10

Separator Options:

• $( → ) - Custom separator string
• $(\n) - Explicit newline
• $(sep_variable) - Dynamic separator from variable

📊 Advanced Table Formatting

Smart Table Format (:t)

CIO automatically detects data structure and creates professional tables:

use cio::println;
use serde_json::json;

// JSON object → Key-value table
let capitals = json!({
    "France": "Paris",
    "Italy": "Rome", 
    "Germany": "Berlin",
    "Spain": "Madrid"
});
println!("European Capitals: {capitals:t(Country, Capital)}");

Output:

┌─────────┬─────────┐
│ Country │ Capital │
├─────────┼─────────┤
│ France  │ Paris   │
├─────────┼─────────┤
│ Germany │ Berlin  │
├─────────┼─────────┤
│ Italy   │ Rome    │
├─────────┼─────────┤
│ Spain   │ Madrid  │
└─────────┴─────────┘

Complex 3D Structures

CIO handles deeply nested JSON with hierarchical headers:

let class_grades = json!({
    "6A": {
        "Français": [16.0, 13.0, 18.0, 15.0, 17.0],
        "Mathématiques": [15.0, 11.0, 16.0, 14.0, 15.0]
    },
    "6B": {
        "Français": [14.0, 12.0, 15.0, 13.0, 14.0],
        "Mathématiques": [12.0, 11.0, 14.0, 13.0, 11.0]
    }
});
println!("Class Grades: {class_grades:t}");

Output:

                ┌──────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────┐
                │                6A                │                6B                │
┌───────────────┼──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┼──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┤
│ Français      │ 16.0 │ 13.0 │ 18.0 │ 15.0 │ 17.0 │ 14.0 │ 12.0 │ 15.0 │ 13.0 │ 14.0 │
├───────────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┤
│ Mathématiques │ 15.0 │ 11.0 │ 16.0 │ 14.0 │ 15.0 │ 12.0 │ 11.0 │ 14.0 │ 13.0 │ 11.0 │
└───────────────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┘

Native Rust Collections

CIO works seamlessly with standard Rust collections:

use std::collections::{HashMap, BTreeMap, HashSet, VecDeque};

// HashMap
let mut capitals = HashMap::new();
capitals.insert("France", "Paris");
capitals.insert("Germany", "Berlin");
println!("HashMap Display: {capitals:t(Country, Capital)}");

// BTreeMap (automatically sorted)
let mut btree_map = BTreeMap::new();
btree_map.insert("C", 3);
btree_map.insert("A", 1);
btree_map.insert("B", 2);
println!("BTreeMap: {btree_map:t(Key, Value)}");

// HashSet
let mut hash_set = HashSet::new();
hash_set.insert("apple");
hash_set.insert("banana");
println!("HashSet: {hash_set:t}");

// VecDeque
let mut vecdeque = VecDeque::new();
vecdeque.push_back("Second");
vecdeque.push_front("First");
println!("VecDeque: {vecdeque:t}");

🔢 Mathematical Matrix Formatting

Matrix Format (:m)

Display matrices with proper mathematical notation:

let matrix_2d = vec![vec![1, 2, 3], vec![4, 5, 6], vec![7, 8, 9]];
println!("3x3 Matrix: {matrix_2d:m}");

Output:

⎛  1  2  3  ⎞
│  4  5  6  │
⎝  7  8  9  ⎠

Determinant Format (:d)

Display determinants with vertical bars:

let matrix_small = vec![vec![4, 3], vec![2, 1]];
println!("Determinant: {matrix_small:d}");

Output:

│  4  3  │
│  2  1  │

Matrix Operations

let matrix = vec![vec![4, 3], vec![2, 1]];
let sum: i32 = matrix.iter().flatten().sum();

println!("Matrix: {matrix:m}");
println!("Sum of all elements: @(bright_green){sum}");

📋 Complete Format Specifier Reference

Format Comparison Example

let demo_matrix = json!([[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]);
let demo_native = vec![vec![1, 2, 3], vec![4, 5, 6]];

println!("Standard: {demo_matrix}");
println!("Compact: {demo_matrix:c}");
println!("Array: {demo_matrix:a}");
println!("Matrix: {demo_native:m}");
println!("Table: {demo_matrix:t}");

💡 Advanced Examples

Employee Data Analysis

use cio::println;
use std::collections::HashMap;

let dataset = vec![
    ("Alice", 28, 75.5, "Marketing"),
    ("Bob", 35, 82.3, "Engineering"),
    ("Charlie", 42, 91.0, "Management"),
];

// Advanced data analysis with turbofish
let mut dept_count = HashMap::<&str, i32>::new();
let mut dept_ages = HashMap::<&str, Vec<i32>>::new();

for (_name, age, _weight, dept) in &dataset {
    *dept_count.entry(*dept).or_insert(0) += 1;
    dept_ages.entry(*dept).or_insert_with(Vec::<i32>::new).push(*age);
}

println!("@(blue,bold)Department Statistics:");
for (dept, count) in &dept_count {
    let ages = &dept_ages[dept];
    let avg_age = ages.iter().sum::<i32>() as f64 / ages.len() as f64;
    println!("@(cyan){dept}@(): {count} people, avg age: {avg_age:.1}");
}

Sales Data Analysis

let sales_data = vec![
    ("Q1", "North", "Software", 12000.0, 150),
    ("Q1", "South", "Hardware", 15000.0, 75),
    ("Q2", "North", "Software", 14500.0, 180),
];

// Multi-dimensional analysis
let quarterly_summary: HashMap<&str, HashMap<&str, HashMap<&str, (f64, i32)>>> =
    sales_data.iter()
        .fold(
            HashMap::<&str, HashMap<&str, HashMap<&str, (f64, i32)>>>::new(),
            |mut acc, (quarter, region, product, revenue, units)| {
                let quarter_entry = acc.entry(*quarter)
                    .or_insert_with(HashMap::<&str, HashMap<&str, (f64, i32)>>::new);
                let region_entry = quarter_entry.entry(*region)
                    .or_insert_with(HashMap::<&str, (f64, i32)>::new);
                let product_entry = region_entry.entry(*product).or_insert((0.0, 0));
                product_entry.0 += *revenue;
                product_entry.1 += *units;
                acc
            }
        );

println!("@(blue,bold)Quarterly Summary:");
for (quarter, regions) in &quarterly_summary {
    println!("@(cyan){quarter}:@()");
    for (region, products) in regions {
        println!("  @(yellow){region}:@()");
        for (product, (revenue, units)) in products {
            println!("    {product}: ${revenue:.0} revenue, {units} units");
        }
    }
}

🎯 Best Practices

When to Use JSON vs Native Collections

Use JSON (json!) for:

• ✅ Static data structures and demonstrations
• ✅ Clean, readable data declarations
• ✅ Complex nested structures for display
• ✅ Table formatting examples

// Perfect for JSON
let config = json!({
    "database": {
        "host": "localhost",
        "port": 5432,
        "name": "myapp"
    }
});
println!("Configuration: {config:t}");

Use Native Collections for:

• ✅ Data analysis and computation
• ✅ Operations like .iter(), .get(), .insert()
• ✅ Performance-critical code
• ✅ Type safety and compile-time checks

// Perfect for Native
let mut sales = HashMap::new();
sales.insert("Q1", 50000.0);
sales.insert("Q2", 75000.0);

let total: f64 = sales.values().sum();  // Native operations
println!("Sales Analysis: {sales:t(Quarter, Revenue)}");
println!("Total: @(green,bold)${total:.0}@()");

Color Usage Guidelines

// System messages
println!("@(red,bold)Error:@() Connection failed");
println!("@(yellow,bold)Warning:@() Low disk space");
println!("@(green,bold)Success:@() File saved");
println!("@(blue,bold)Info:@() Processing...");

// Data highlighting
println!("Temperature: @(bright_red){temp:.1}°C@() (above normal)");
println!("Status: @(bright_green,bold)ACTIVE@()");

// Progress indicators
for i in 1..=5 {
    println!("Step {i}: @(cyan)Processing@()$( → )");
}

Expression Integration

let first_name = "John";
let last_name = "Doe";
let age = 30;
let height = 1.85;

// Direct expressions in placeholders
println!("Age in months: @(yellow){age * 12}");
println!("Height in cm: @(blue){height * 100.0:.0}");
println!("Full name: @(green,bold){first_name} {last_name.to_uppercase()}@()");

// Complex expressions
let letter = 'A';
let category = if letter.is_alphabetic() { "letter" } else { "symbol" };
println!("Character '@(magenta){letter}@()' is a {category}");

🔧 Technical Details

Performance Characteristics

• Zero Runtime Overhead: All formatting decisions made at compile-time
• Memory Efficient: Optimized string building with capacity pre-allocation
• ANSI Optimized: Efficient color code generation and reset management
• Unicode Safe: Proper handling of multi-byte characters in alignment

Compatibility

• Rust Version: 1.70+ required for procedural macro features
• Terminal Support: Works with all ANSI-compatible terminals
• Platform Support: Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Fallback Handling: Graceful degradation on unsupported terminals

Error Handling

// Input macro handles errors gracefully
let number: i32 = input!("Enter a number: ");  // Retries automatically on invalid input

// Println macro provides safe defaults
let data = problematic_data;
println!("Data: {data:t}");  // Falls back to Debug format if JSON fails

📚 Examples Repository

All examples from this README are available in a complete demonstration:

cargo new cio_demo

cd cio_demo

# Add the complete main.rs example from the repository

cargo run

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🚀 Roadmap

• Custom color themes
• More mathematical formats (vectors, tensors)
• Export formats (CSV, JSON, HTML)
• Interactive table editing
• Graph/chart ASCII rendering
• Custom format specifier plugins