A simple Steem RPC client with no dependencies beyond the Python standard library.
Simple is better than complex.
One of the drivers for this project is horrible breakage in the Python packaging of another Python Steem client. This client has no Python dependencies outside of the Python standard library.
This library should maintain compatibility with the Python 3.5, the Python version packaged with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. After Ubuntu 16.04 is deprecated in 2021, this library should continue to maintain compatibility with the Python packaged with the oldest still-supported Ubuntu LTS release.
Now is better than never.
This project is currently under active development. Breaking changes to its API are to be expected. Development may quickly iterate and users of this library must keep pace.
Beautiful is better than ugly. Readability counts.
Python is a dynamic language. "Peer object" type code should be avoided, so this codebase should not need to be upgraded in sync with steemd API changes.
Simple is better than complex.
simple_steem_client is a tool that does one thing well: Provide a Pythonic
interface to functionality provided by steemd. Wallet is separate
functionality and should be provided by a separate library.
Signing, serializing, and general handling of binary objects may be provided
by wrappers for sign_transaction or similar C++ standalone binaries or
API calls provided by steemd. Complicated, slow, and has lots of dependencies.
Maintaining a wallet (i.e. a file of private keys created for an individual user to control personal accounts) is out of scope for this project. Maintaining the security of important private keys, or the secrets used to generate such keys, is the responsibility of the user of this library.
Since keys and secrets may be passed to binaries on the command line, and
Linux allows users to list the processes of other users, shell access to
the machine or VM running simple_steem_client needs to be limited to trusted
users.
It is possible to write legacy (pre-appbase) style RPC calls with
simple_steem_client, but simple_steem_client makes no attempt
to allow the same user code to be compatible with both
pre-appbase and post-appbase servers.
It is suggested that appbase servers should be used for all client and server code.
Explicit is better than implicit. The user must always specify the
URL of the steemd node(s) to connect to.
$ python -m unittest