1API 2======= 3 4The data API is centered around :type:`cbor_item_t`, a generic handle for any CBOR item. There are functions to 5 6 - create items, 7 - set items' data, 8 - parse serialized data into items, 9 - manage, move, and links item together. 10 11The single most important thing to keep in mind is: :type:`cbor_item_t` **is an opaque type and should only be manipulated using the appropriate functions!** Think of it as an object. 12 13The *libcbor* API closely follows the semantics outlined by `CBOR standard <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7049>`_. This part of the documentation provides a short overview of the CBOR constructs, as well as a general introduction to the *libcbor* API. Remaining reference can be found in the following files structured by data types. 14 15The API is designed to allow both very tight control & flexibility and general convenience with sane defaults. [#]_ For example, client with very specific requirements (constrained environment, custom application protocol built on top of CBOR, etc.) may choose to take full control (and responsibility) of memory and data structures management by interacting directly with the decoder. Other clients might want to take control of specific aspects (streamed collections, hash maps storage), but leave other responsibilities to *libcbor*. More general clients might prefer to be abstracted away from all aforementioned details and only be presented complete data structures. 16 17 18*libcbor* provides 19 - stateless encoders and decoders 20 - encoding and decoding *drivers*, routines that coordinate encoding and decoding of complex structures 21 - data structures to represent and transform CBOR structures 22 - routines for building and manipulating these structures 23 - utilities for inspection and debugging 24 25.. toctree:: 26 27 api/item_types 28 api/item_reference_counting 29 api/decoding 30 api/encoding 31 api/streaming_decoding 32 api/streaming_encoding 33 api/type_0_1 34 api/type_2 35 api/type_3 36 api/type_4 37 api/type_5 38 api/type_6 39 api/type_7 40 41.. [#] http://softwareengineering.vazexqi.com/files/pattern.html 42