Serializer API

local function postprocessing(toProcess)
    local parameters = {}
    for index, value in ipairs(toProcess) do
        if tonumber(value) ~= nil then
            table.insert(parameters, tonumber(value))
        elseif textutils.unserialize(value) ~= nil then
            table.insert(parameters, textutils.unserialize(value))
        else
            table.insert(parameters, value)
        end
    end
    return parameters, #parameters
end

function deserialize(message)
    local position = 1
    local parameters = {}
    while true do
        local colonPos = string.find(message, ":", position)
        if colonPos == nil then
            table.insert(parameters, string.sub(message,position))
            break
        else
            table.insert(parameters, string.sub(message,position, colonPos-1))
        end
        position = colonPos+1
    end
    return postprocessing(parameters)
end

function serialize(...)
    local encodedString = ""
    for index, value_original in ipairs(arg) do
        local value = value_original
        if type(value) == "number" then
            value = tostring(value_original)
        elseif type(value) == "table" then
            value = textutils.serialize(value_original)
        end
        if type(value) ~= "string" then
            error("serialize() expects either strings, numbers, or tables")
        end
        if index == 1 then
            encodedString = value
        else
            encodedString = encodedString..":"..value
        end
    end
    return encodedString
end