Lots of documentation, an example program, and also some visibility cleanup.

9 files changed, 258 insertions, 148 deletions

diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsBoolean.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsBoolean.java
index 472db00..7e5d217 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsBoolean.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsBoolean.java
@@ -3,24 +3,40 @@ package com.xagasoft.gats;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 
+/**
+ * Represents a boolean value.  This is probably the simplest of all Gats
+ * objects.  It can be true or false.
+ */
 public class GatsBoolean extends GatsObject
 {
         private boolean bValue = false;
 
+        /**
+         * Construct a new GatsBoolean, the default value is false.
+         */
         public GatsBoolean()
         {
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Construct a new GatsBoolean, specify the value.;
+         */
         public GatsBoolean( boolean bValue )
         {
                 this.bValue = bValue;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Get the current value, either true or false.
+         */
         public boolean getValue()
         {
                 return bValue;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Set the value.
+         */
         public void setValue( boolean bValue )
         {
                 this.bValue = bValue;
@@ -36,7 +52,7 @@ public class GatsBoolean extends GatsObject
                 return "" + bValue;
         }
 
-        public void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 if( cType == '0' )
                         bValue = false;
@@ -44,7 +60,7 @@ public class GatsBoolean extends GatsObject
                         bValue = true;
         }
 
-        public void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 if( bValue )
                         os.write( (int)'1' );
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsDictionary.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsDictionary.java
index 0ad4c78..654dc6c 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsDictionary.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsDictionary.java
@@ -7,6 +7,21 @@ import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.Hashtable;
 
+/**
+ * Gats dictionary, or hashtable.  This stores any number of items, keyed with
+ * strings.  The values can be any valid com.xagasoft.gats.GatsObject decendant
+ * object.  This class is often used as the root of complex Gats structures.
+ * <p>
+ * This class implements all standard java Map interface features but contains
+ * additional helper functions to make inserting and extracting values from the
+ * dictionary much easier, please see the extra get / put functions for more
+ * information.
+ * <p>
+ * Keys are stored as GatsStrings in the end, but are plain Java strings until
+ * encoding occurs to make use easier.  This means that using extended
+ * characters in the strings may be dangerous.  In a future version, the keys
+ * may have to be encoded in UTF-8 which will solve this problem.
+ */
 public class GatsDictionary extends GatsObject implements Map<String,GatsObject>
 {
         private Hashtable<String, GatsObject> hValue =
@@ -21,7 +36,7 @@ public class GatsDictionary extends GatsObject implements Map<String,GatsObject>
                 return GatsObject.DICTIONARY;
         }
 
-        public void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 for(;;)
                 {
@@ -34,7 +49,7 @@ public class GatsDictionary extends GatsObject implements Map<String,GatsObject>
                 }
         }
 
-        public void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 os.write( (int)'d' );
                 for( String sKey : hValue.keySet() )
@@ -55,14 +70,14 @@ public class GatsDictionary extends GatsObject implements Map<String,GatsObject>
                 hValue.clear();
         }
 
-        public boolean containsKey( Object arg0 )
+        public boolean containsKey( Object key )
         {
-                return hValue.containsKey( arg0 );
+                return hValue.containsKey( key );
         }
 
-        public boolean containsValue( Object arg0 )
+        public boolean containsValue( Object value )
         {
-                return hValue.containsValue( arg0 );
+                return hValue.containsValue( value );
         }
 
         public Set<java.util.Map.Entry<String, GatsObject>> entrySet()
@@ -70,9 +85,9 @@ public class GatsDictionary extends GatsObject implements Map<String,GatsObject>
                 return hValue.entrySet();
         }
 
-        public GatsObject get( Object arg0 )
+        public GatsObject get( Object key )
         {
-                return hValue.get( arg0 );
+                return hValue.get( key );
         }
 
         public boolean isEmpty()
@@ -85,70 +100,121 @@ public class GatsDictionary extends GatsObject implements Map<String,GatsObject>
                 return hValue.keySet();
         }
 
-        public GatsObject put( String arg0, GatsObject arg1 )
+        public GatsObject put( String key, GatsObject value )
         {
-                return hValue.put( arg0, arg1 );
+                return hValue.put( key, value );
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that inserts a new com.xagasoft.gats.GatsInteger with
+         * the value val.
+         */
         public GatsObject put( String key, long val )
         {
                 return hValue.put( key, new GatsInteger( val ) );
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that inserts a new com.xagasoft.gats.GatsFloat with the
+         * value val.
+         */
         public GatsObject put( String key, double val )
         {
                 return hValue.put( key, new GatsFloat( val ) );
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that inserts a new com.xagasoft.gats.GatsBoolean with the
+         * value val.
+         */
         public GatsObject put( String key, boolean val )
         {
                 return hValue.put( key, new GatsBoolean( val ) );
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that inserts a new com.xagasoft.gats.GatsString with the
+         * value val.
+         */
         public GatsObject put( String key, String val )
         {
                 return hValue.put( key, new GatsString( val ) );
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that gets the specified GatsObject, casts it to a
+         * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsInteger and extracts the value from it.  If the
+         * key specified does not appear in the GatsDictionary or is not the correct
+         * type you will get the expected exception.
+         */
         public long getInt( String key )
         {
                 return ((GatsInteger)hValue.get( key )).getValue();
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that gets the specified GatsObject, casts it to a
+         * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsFloat and extracts the value from it.  If the
+         * key specified does not appear in the GatsDictionary or is not the correct
+         * type you will get the expected exception.
+         */
         public double getFloat( String key )
         {
                 return ((GatsFloat)hValue.get( key )).getValue();
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that gets the specified GatsObject, casts it to a
+         * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsBool and extracts the value from it.  If the
+         * key specified does not appear in the GatsDictionary or is not the correct
+         * type you will get the expected exception.
+         */
         public boolean getBool( String key )
         {
                 return ((GatsBoolean)hValue.get( key )).getValue();
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that gets the specified GatsObject, casts it to a
+         * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsString and extracts the value from it.  If the
+         * key specified does not appear in the GatsDictionary or is not the correct
+         * type you will get the expected exception.
+         */
         public byte[] getString( String key )
         {
                 return ((GatsString)hValue.get( key )).getValue();
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that gets the specified GatsObject, casts it to a
+         * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsDictionary and returns it.  If the
+         * key specified does not appear in the GatsDictionary or is not the correct
+         * type you will get the expected exception.
+         */
         public GatsDictionary getDict( String key )
         {
                 return (GatsDictionary)hValue.get( key );
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Helper function that gets the specified GatsObject, casts it to a
+         * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsList and returns it.  If the
+         * key specified does not appear in the GatsDictionary or is not the correct
+         * type you will get the expected exception.
+         */
         public GatsList getList( String key )
         {
                 return (GatsList)hValue.get( key );
         }
 
-
-        public void putAll( Map<? extends String, ? extends GatsObject> arg0 )
+        public void putAll( Map<? extends String, ? extends GatsObject> src )
         {
-                hValue.putAll( arg0 );
+                hValue.putAll( src );
         }
 
-        public GatsObject remove( Object arg0 )
+        public GatsObject remove( Object key )
         {
-                return hValue.remove( arg0 );
+                return hValue.remove( key );
         }
 
         public int size()
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsFloat.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsFloat.java
index d70f910..3d7583e 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsFloat.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsFloat.java
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 
 import java.lang.Math;
 
+/**
+ * Represents a simple java double value.  This does not represent an arbitrary
+ * precision floating point number, a class to handle that is forthcoming.
+ */
 public class GatsFloat extends GatsObject
 {
         double dValue = 0.0;
@@ -40,7 +44,7 @@ public class GatsFloat extends GatsObject
                 return GatsObject.FLOAT;
         }
 
-        public void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 if( cType == 'F' )
                 {
@@ -83,7 +87,7 @@ public class GatsFloat extends GatsObject
                 }
         }
 
-        public void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 if( dValue == 0.0 )
                 {
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInputStream.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInputStream.java
index 5cd830d..2417018 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInputStream.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInputStream.java
@@ -1,14 +1,32 @@
 package com.xagasoft.gats;
 
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
-import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.DataInputStream;
 
+/**
+ * Facilitates reading GatsObjects from an InputStream.  This doesn't really
+ * inherit from InputStream, so maybe it would make more sense to call it
+ * something else.  Use the readObject function to read an entire object from
+ * the InputStream.
+ * <p>
+ * At the moment this class will require all data to be available in continuous
+ * read operations from teh provided InputStream.  This means that only complete
+ * packets can be read from files on the disk, or that if a socket is provided
+ * it is in blocking or synchronous I/O mode.  In java, this should rarely be
+ * an issue.
+ * <p>
+ * Each call to readObject returns a new GatsObject read from the InputStream or
+ * null if nothing else could be read.  While reading, all zero bytes discovered
+ * in between packets will be considered padding and will be ignored.
+ * <p>
+ * Like with the GatsOutputStream, there are generally many small reads
+ * performed during a single readObject operation, so it is a good idea to
+ * provide some sort of buffered input stream.
+ *@see com.xagasoft.gats.GatsOutputStream
+ */
 public class GatsInputStream
 {
         private InputStream is;
-        private ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
         private int iVer = 0;
         private int iSize;
 
@@ -17,6 +35,9 @@ public class GatsInputStream
                 this.is = is;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Reads an object from the input and returns it.
+         */
         public GatsObject readObject() throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 do
@@ -34,88 +55,5 @@ public class GatsInputStream
 
                 return null;
         }
-
-                /*
-        public GatsObject readObject() throws java.io.IOException
-        {
-                do
-                {
-                        if( baos.size() < 5 )
-                        {
-                                byte aBuf[] = new byte[5-baos.size()];
-                                int iRead = is.read( aBuf );
-                                baos.write( aBuf, 0, iRead );
-
-                                if( baos.size() < 5 )
-                                        return null;
-                        }
-                } while( !skipReadNulls() );
-
-                if( iVer == 0 )
-                {
-                        ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(
-                                baos.toByteArray()
-                                );
-                        DataInputStream dis = new DataInputStream( bais );
-                        iVer = dis.readUnsignedByte();
-                        iSize = dis.readInt();
-                }
-
-                byte aBuf[] = new byte[1500];
-                while( baos.size() < iSize )
-                {
-                        int iGoal = iSize-baos.size();
-                        if( iGoal > 1500 )
-                                iGoal = 1500;
-
-                        int iRead = is.read( aBuf, 0, iGoal );
-                        baos.write( aBuf, 0, iRead );
-
-                        if( iRead < iGoal )
-                                return null;
-                }
-
-                if( baos.size() < iSize )
-                        return null;
-
-                byte aTmp[] = baos.toByteArray();
-                ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(
-                        aTmp
-                        );
-                bais.skip( 5 );
-                
-                GatsObject goRet = GatsObject.read( bais );
-
-                baos.reset();
-                baos.write( aTmp, iSize, aTmp.length-iSize );
-                
-                iVer = 0;
-
-                return goRet;
-        }
-
-        private boolean skipReadNulls()
-        {
-                if( baos.size() == 0 )
-                        return false;
-
-                byte aBuf[] = baos.toByteArray();
-                if( aBuf[0] != 0 )
-                        return true;
-
-                for( int j = 1; j < aBuf.length; j++ )
-                {
-                        if( aBuf[j] != 0 )
-                        {
-                                baos.reset();
-                                baos.write( aBuf, j, aBuf.length-j );
-                                return true;
-                        }
-                }
-
-                baos.reset();
-                return true;
-        }
-        */
 };
 
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInteger.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInteger.java
index 139e8ab..0ea5122 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInteger.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsInteger.java
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ package com.xagasoft.gats;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 
+/**
+ * Represents a simple java long value.  This does not handle arbitrary
+ * precision integer values, a class to handle that is forthcoming.
+ */
 public class GatsInteger extends GatsObject
 {
         private long iValue = 0;
@@ -36,19 +40,23 @@ public class GatsInteger extends GatsObject
                 return GatsObject.INTEGER;
         };
 
-        public void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
 
         {
                 iValue = readPackedInt( is );
         }
 
-        public void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 os.write( (int)'i' );
                 writePackedInt( os, iValue );
         }
 
         /**
+         * This is a general helper function used by several parts of the Gats
+         * system.
+         * It reads a "packed integer" from the given input stream, and returns the
+         * value.
          * Possible TODO: have this return a Number, and construct either a Long
          * or BigInteger when appropriate.
          */
@@ -72,6 +80,11 @@ public class GatsInteger extends GatsObject
                 return rOut;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * This is a general helper function used by several parts of the Gats
+         * system.
+         * It writes a "packed integer" to the given output stream.
+         */
         public static void writePackedInt( OutputStream os, long iIn ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 int b;
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsList.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsList.java
index 35b2a4c..27c4c11 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsList.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsList.java
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ import java.util.List;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.ListIterator;
 
+/**
+ * Represents an ordered list of Gats objects.  The order of the objects in the
+ * list is always preserved, unlike the values in a
+ * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsDictionary.  This class implements all java List
+ * interface features, and is implemented internally as a LinkedList.
+ */
 public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
 {
         private LinkedList<GatsObject> lValue = new LinkedList<GatsObject>();
@@ -28,7 +34,7 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 return GatsObject.LIST;
         }
 
-        public void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 for(;;)
                 {
@@ -39,7 +45,7 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 }
         }
 
-        public void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 os.write( (int)'l' );
                 for( GatsObject obj : this )
@@ -54,24 +60,24 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 return lValue.toString();
         }
         
-        public boolean add( GatsObject arg0 )
+        public boolean add( GatsObject value )
         {
-                return lValue.add( arg0 );
+                return lValue.add( value );
         }
 
-        public void add( int arg0, GatsObject arg1 )
+        public void add( int iPos, GatsObject value )
         {
-                lValue.add( arg0, arg1 );
+                lValue.add( iPos, value );
         }
 
-        public boolean addAll( Collection<? extends GatsObject> arg0 )
+        public boolean addAll( Collection<? extends GatsObject> src )
         {
-                return lValue.addAll( arg0 );
+                return lValue.addAll( src );
         }
 
-        public boolean addAll( int arg0, Collection<? extends GatsObject> arg1 )
+        public boolean addAll( int iPos, Collection<? extends GatsObject> src )
         {
-                return lValue.addAll( arg0, arg1 );
+                return lValue.addAll( iPos, src );
         }
 
         public void clear()
@@ -79,24 +85,24 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 lValue.clear();
         }
 
-        public boolean contains( Object arg0 )
+        public boolean contains( Object value )
         {
-                return lValue.contains( arg0 );
+                return lValue.contains( value );
         }
 
-        public boolean containsAll( Collection<?> arg0 )
+        public boolean containsAll( Collection<?> src )
         {
-                return lValue.containsAll( arg0 );
+                return lValue.containsAll( src );
         }
 
-        public GatsObject get( int arg0 )
+        public GatsObject get( int iPos )
         {
-                return lValue.get( arg0 );
+                return lValue.get( iPos );
         }
 
-        public int indexOf( Object arg0 )
+        public int indexOf( Object value )
         {
-                return lValue.indexOf( arg0 );
+                return lValue.indexOf( value );
         }
 
         public boolean isEmpty()
@@ -109,9 +115,9 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 return lValue.iterator();
         }
 
-        public int lastIndexOf( Object arg0 )
+        public int lastIndexOf( Object value )
         {
-                return lValue.lastIndexOf( arg0 );
+                return lValue.lastIndexOf( value );
         }
 
         public ListIterator<GatsObject> listIterator()
@@ -119,34 +125,34 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 return lValue.listIterator();
         }
 
-        public ListIterator<GatsObject> listIterator( int arg0 )
+        public ListIterator<GatsObject> listIterator( int iPos )
         {
-                return lValue.listIterator( arg0 );
+                return lValue.listIterator( iPos );
         }
 
-        public GatsObject remove( int arg0 )
+        public GatsObject remove( int iPos )
         {
-                return lValue.remove( arg0 );
+                return lValue.remove( iPos );
         }
 
-        public boolean remove( Object arg0 )
+        public boolean remove( Object value )
         {
-                return lValue.remove( arg0 );
+                return lValue.remove( value );
         }
 
-        public boolean removeAll( Collection<?> arg0 )
+        public boolean removeAll( Collection<?> src )
         {
-                return lValue.removeAll( arg0 );
+                return lValue.removeAll( src );
         }
 
-        public boolean retainAll( Collection<?> arg0 )
+        public boolean retainAll( Collection<?> src )
         {
-                return lValue.retainAll( arg0 );
+                return lValue.retainAll( src );
         }
 
-        public GatsObject set( int arg0, GatsObject arg1 )
+        public GatsObject set( int iPos, GatsObject src )
         {
-                return lValue.set( arg0, arg1 );
+                return lValue.set( iPos, src );
         }
 
         public int size()
@@ -154,9 +160,9 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 return lValue.size();
         }
 
-        public List<GatsObject> subList( int arg0, int arg1 )
+        public List<GatsObject> subList( int iBegin, int iEnd )
         {
-                return new GatsList( lValue.subList( arg0, arg1 ) );
+                return new GatsList( lValue.subList( iBegin, iEnd ) );
         }
 
         public Object[] toArray()
@@ -164,9 +170,9 @@ public class GatsList extends GatsObject implements List<GatsObject>
                 return lValue.toArray();
         }
 
-        public <T> T[] toArray( T[] arg0 )
+        public <T> T[] toArray( T[] src )
         {
-                return lValue.toArray( arg0 );
+                return lValue.toArray( src );
         }
 };
 
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsObject.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsObject.java
index 8c398e8..fc3fb5a 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsObject.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsObject.java
@@ -3,6 +3,13 @@ package com.xagasoft.gats;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 
+/**
+ * The abstract base class of all Gats storage classes.  You probably don't
+ * need to worry about these functions at all, maybe getType.  The IO functions
+ * in this class shouldn't really be used since they won't contain the proper
+ * packet header info.  See com.xagasoft.gats.GatsOutputStream and
+ * com.xagasoft.gats.GatsInputStream for that.
+ */
 public abstract class GatsObject
 {
         public final static int INTEGER = 1;
@@ -12,12 +19,29 @@ public abstract class GatsObject
         public final static int DICTIONARY = 5;
         public final static int BOOLEAN = 6;
 
+        /**
+         * Gets the type of the current object, type can be one of INTEGER, FLOAT,
+         * STRING, LIST, DICTIONARY, or BOOLEAN.
+         */
         public abstract int getType();
 
-        public abstract void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException;
-        public abstract void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException;
+        /**
+         * Read an object from the given input stream, with a particular type, this
+         * function is used internally.
+         */
+        abstract void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException;
 
-        public static GatsObject read( InputStream is ) throws java.io.IOException
+        /**
+         * Write the current object to the output stream.
+         */
+        abstract void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException;
+
+        /**
+         * Static function that returns a new object deserialized from an input
+         * stream.  This still doesn't take advantage of packet data, so you
+         * probably shouldn't use this yourself.
+         */
+        static GatsObject read( InputStream is ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 char type = (char)is.read();
                 GatsObject goRet = null;
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsOutputStream.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsOutputStream.java
index a0f4503..c67d345 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsOutputStream.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsOutputStream.java
@@ -4,6 +4,34 @@ import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.DataOutputStream;
 
+/**
+ * Facilitates writing GatsObjects to an OutputStream.  This doesn't really
+ * inherit from OutputStream, so maybe it would make more sense to call it
+ * something else, but this is how it is right now.  Use the writeObject
+ * function to write any given GatsObject to the OutputStream.
+ * <p>
+ * Each time you write an object with this class it actually writes a Gats
+ * Packet data structure which consists of a 5 byte header followed by the
+ * encoded GatsObject data.  In the packet header is information about which
+ * version of gats is in use, which options are enabled, etc.  This ensures
+ * that Gats is backward compatible.
+ * <p>
+ * According to the GATS standard only fully formed gats packets may be written
+ * to files or sockets to ensure integrity and context.  Since each packet can
+ * only contain one GatsObject that means that each writeObject call should
+ * write one fully formed message or data structure to ensure maximum
+ * efficiency.
+ * <p>
+ * The OutputStream is written to frequently, and often in small increments, so
+ * it is highly advisable to pass in a BufferedOutputStream or similar structure
+ * to ensure maximum performance.
+ * <p>
+ * The gats format stipulates that all zero bytes found in between packets are
+ * simply ignored, which allows you to pad streams of sequential gats objects
+ * if necesarry.  This can be handy in some encoding/compression/encryption
+ * schemes.
+ *@see com.xagasoft.gats.GatsInputStream
+ */
 public class GatsOutputStream
 {
         private OutputStream os;
@@ -13,6 +41,10 @@ public class GatsOutputStream
                 this.os = os;
         }
 
+        /**
+         * Write an object to the provided output stream.
+         *@return The total number of bytes written.
+         */
         public int writeObject( GatsObject obj ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 ByteArrayOutputStream bos1 = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
diff --git a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsString.java b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsString.java
index e512ade..e119aec 100644
--- a/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsString.java
+++ b/java/com/xagasoft/gats/GatsString.java
@@ -3,6 +3,17 @@ package com.xagasoft.gats;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 
+/**
+ * Represents a Gats string, that is, a string of 8-bit bytes.  Unlike the
+ * standard Java string, a Gats string is a string of 8-bit bytes, not 16-bit
+ * UCS characters.  If you want to transmit textual data, we highly recommend
+ * encoding it into UTF-8.  You can do this by constructing a GatsString from
+ * a java string thusly:  new GatsString( myStr.getBytes("UTF8") )
+ * <p>
+ * If you pass a java string into a GatsString instead of an array of bytes it
+ * will simply call the getBytes function.  This may not be what you want in
+ * many cases, but will work great for simple cases.
+ */
 public class GatsString extends GatsObject
 {
         private byte[] aValue = null;
@@ -46,14 +57,14 @@ public class GatsString extends GatsObject
                 return GatsObject.STRING;
         }
 
-        public void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void read( InputStream is, char cType ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 long lSize = GatsInteger.readPackedInt( is );
                 aValue = new byte[(int)lSize];
                 is.read( aValue );
         }
 
-        public void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
+        void write( OutputStream os ) throws java.io.IOException
         {
                 os.write( (int)'s' );
                 if( aValue == null )