Terribly inefficient SMS point-to-point packing.

pack.py

#! /usr/bin/env python3

import math

"""
Proof-of-concept pseudocode for SMS point-to-point
packing.
"""

def pack(char_encodings):
    """
    Where char_count is a list of length-7 strings.
    """
    alphabet_markers = "abcdefg"
    char_count = len(char_encodings)
    row_count = math.ceil((char_count * 7) / 8)
    grid = [[' 0' for i in range(8)] for i in range(row_count)]
    offset = 1

    for i in range(char_count):
        start = offset
        char_display = str(i + 1)
        row_translation = math.ceil((i * 7) / 8)

        if not i % 7 and i:
            row_translation -= 1

        while start < 8:
            if offset == 0 and start == 7:
                break
            grid[row_translation][start] = char_encodings[i][start - offset]
            start += 1

        go_up_start = start - offset
        up_row = row_translation - 1

        while up_row >= 0 and go_up_start < len(alphabet_markers):
            grid[up_row][go_up_start - (start - offset)] = char_encodings[i][go_up_start]
            go_up_start += 1

        offset = (offset + 1) % 8

    return grid

def print_grid(grid):
    for row in grid:
        print(str(row))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print_grid(pack(("1000001", "1001100", "1010000", "1001000", "1000001", "0000000", "1001110", "1010101", "1001101")))