example usage

format-bits.py

def formatBits(width, desc, inarray, outarray, scale=1, blank=255, leftpad=0):
  """
  Copy one array to another, inserting blanks between fields (for display).
  If ``leftpad`` is one, then there is a dummy value at element 0
  of the arrays, and we should start our counting from 1 rather than 0.

  :param inarray: TODO: document
  :param outarray: TODO: document
  :param scale: TODO: document
  :param blank: TODO: document
  :param leftpad: TODO: document
  """
  description = desc + [("end", width)]
  print description

  # copy the data, but put one blank in between each field
  for i in xrange(len(description) - 1):
    start = description[i][1]
    end = description[i+1][1]
    print "Copying: %s" % inarray[start:end]
    outarray[start+i+leftpad:end+i+leftpad] = inarray[(start+leftpad):(end+leftpad)] * scale
    if end < width:
      outarray[end+i+leftpad] = blank

if __name__ == "__main__":
  input = [1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0]
  desc = [('test formatBits 1', 0), ('test formatBits 2', 3)]
  width = len(input)
  output = []
  formatBits(width, desc, input, output, scale=1)
  print output