A resource-lightweight protocol for ZX Spectrum on which the client and the server communicate over the TCP channel, exchanging efficient key-value like objects, without having to worry about buffers or/and protocol details.
The objects use as little memory as possible and do dirty tricks to use even less. To function, the library uses Spectranet on ZX Spectrum and simple sockets on PC. Ultimately, same POSIX API.
Use cases: multiplayer games, networking programs, for ZX Spectrum.
You need to install z88dk and z88dk libraries for Spectranet into your system. You can read about both on speccytools.org.
Project uses CMake both on Server (PC) and Client (ZX Spectrum). Latest z88dk supports CMake as well, so it should build.
When setting things up, make sure to allocate a working buffer of sufficient size,
and supply it via proto_init(proto, buffer, buffer_size) call.
The size of the buffer should be enough for one biggest object
on a request/response, and it doesn't have to fit the whole response,
as responses are processed on per-object basis and not as a whole.
See terminal example to see how the protocol works, as well the library.
If didn't export ZCCCFG variable, do it to something like:
export ZCCCFG=/usr/local/share/z88dk/lib/config
./build.shTo use this on your project, simply add it as a submodule,
and do add_subdirectory() on your CMake project.
See examples on how it's done.
add_subdirectory("zx-proto")
target_link_libraries(<project> PUBLIC libspectranet.lib libsocket.lib channels_proto channels_proto_asm)For server use, if you need functionality that uses malloc or/and request-response support, you also have to link channels_proto_server.
See protocol details to see how the protocol and communication works.
If you want to inspect traffic for irregularities, see Inspecting traffic in Wireshark.