def unpack_ascii(data):
    """Unpack ASCII data using string methods``
    
    :param data_pointer: metadata for the ``data_pointer`` attribute for this data stream
    :type data_pointer: ``ahds.header.Block``
    :param definitions: definitions specified in the header
    :type definitions: ``ahds.header.Block``
    :param bytes data: raw binary data to be unpacked
    :return list output: unpacked data 
    """
    # string: split at newlines -> exclude last list item -> strip space from each 
    numstrings = map(lambda s: s.strip(), data.split('\n')[:-1])
    print numstrings
    # check if string is digit (integer); otherwise float
    if len(numstrings) == len(filter(lambda n: n.isdigit(), numstrings)):
        output = map(int, numstrings)
    else:
        output = map(float, numstrings)
    return output