1. A docking platform for network processor applications, the docking platform comprising: an ingress connector for packet entry, wherein the ingress connector receives a packet from a network processor application, wherein the ingress connector is not specific to the network processor application; and a packet processing application (PPA) shell that processes the packet wherein the PPA shell is an application that binds application procedures for its associated applications, the PPA shell comprising a plurality of interfaces between the docking platform and the network processor application, wherein the plurality of interfaces is not specific to the network processor application, wherein the plurality of interfaces are used to invoke at least one of a plurality of functions utilizing one of the plurality of interfaces, wherein the plurality of functions is specific to the network processor application, wherein the PPA shell, prior to the receiving the packet, binds each of the plurality of functions to one of the plurality of interfaces.