title: pack/unpack functions for C++
body: <p>NOTE: I know that this has been asked many times before, but none of the questions have had a link to a concrete, portable, maintained library for this.</p>
  
  <p>I need a C or C++ library that implements Python/Ruby/Perl like <code>pack</code>/<code>unpack</code> functions. Does such a library exist?</p>
  
  <p>EDIT: Because the data I am sending is simple, I have decided to just use <code>memcpy</code>, pointers, and the <code>hton*</code> functions. Do I need to manipulate a <code>char</code> in any way to send it over the network in a platform agnostic manner? (the <code>char</code> is only used as a byte, not as a character).</p>