code: def _encode_item(self, item):
          '''
          Encode an item object
  
          @requires: The object be serializable
          '''
          if self.encoding.__name__ == 'pickle':
              return self.encoding.dumps(item, protocol=-1)
          else:
              return self.encoding.dumps(itemf _encode_item(self, item):
          '''
          Encode an item object
  
          @requires: The object be serializable
          '''
          if self.encoding.__name__ == 'pickle':
              return self.encoding.dumps(item, protocol=-1)
          else:
              return self.encoding.dumps(item)
docs: Encode an item object
  
          @requires: The object be serializable