The Slice codec (slice-codec)

slice-codec is a lightweight library for encoding and decoding values using the Slice encoding.

Overview

The codec is built around two pairs of types:

• Encoder writes values into an OutputTarget, driven by the EncodeInto trait.
• Decoder reads values out of an InputSource, driven by the DecodeFrom trait.

Implementations of EncodeInto / DecodeFrom are provided for common primitives and collections, but you can implement these traits on your own types to make them usable with Slice.

Example

use slice_codec::encoder::Encoder;
use slice_codec::decoder::Decoder;

fn main() -> slice_codec::Result<()> {
    let mut buffer: Vec<u8> = Vec::new();

    // Encode some values into a byte buffer.
    let mut encoder = Encoder::from(&mut buffer);
    encoder.encode("hello")?;
    encoder.encode::<i32>(42)?;

    // Decode them back out.
    let mut decoder = Decoder::from(&buffer);
    let greeting: String = decoder.decode()?;
    let the_answer = decoder.decode::<i32>()?;

    assert_eq!(greeting, "hello");
    assert_eq!(the_answer, 42);
    Ok(())
}

Using slice-codec in a Cargo Project:

Add slice-codec as a dependency to your project's Cargo.toml file:

[dependencies]

slice-codec = "0.4"

Usage in no_std Projects

The codec is no_std compatible, so it can be used in embedded or other constrained environments.
To use the codec in a no_std project, just disable default features:

[dependencies]

slice-codec = { version = "0.4", default-features = false }

If you have a global allocator and need to decode owned types like String or Vec, also enable the alloc feature.

Feature Flags

Building

This crate is part of the slicec workspace. Commands should be run from the repository root:

# Build with the default features.
cargo build -p slice-codec

# Run the tests with all features enabled.
cargo test -p slice-codec --all-features

License

'slicec-codec' is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.