1. A method for implementing a network interface in a computer network performed by a special-purpose computer programmed by a frame engine comprising: receiving one or more data packets encoded in a first communication protocol; decoding the data packets into a set of data objects wherein the data packets are decoded in accordance with a machine-readable set of protocol frame definitions containing one or more sub-fields for parsing of the data packets; and encoding the data objects into a second communication protocol wherein the data objects are encoded in accordance with the machine-readable set of protocol frame definitions.