Python IRC parser o.o

ef parse(line):
    line = line.lstrip(":")
    temp = line.split(" :", 1)
    data = []
    data.extend(temp[0].split(" "))
    try:
        data.append(temp[1])
    except IndexError:
        pass
    return data

def readline(sock):
   global buffer
   try:
      buffer[sock]
   except:
      buffer[sock] = ""
   while "\n" not in buffer[sock]:
      new = sock.recv(2**12)
      buffer[sock] += new
      if len(new) == 0:
         break
   splt = buffer[sock].split("\n", 1)
   try:
      buffer[sock] = splt[1]
   except:
      buffer[sock] = ""
   return splt[0].rstrip("\r\n")