[python] Adding initial pypostal bindings for tokenize so we can remove address_normalizer dependency. Not tested on Python 3.

python/postal/text/encoding.py

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import six
+
+text_type = six.text_type
+string_types = six.string_types
+binary_type = six.binary_type
+
+
+def safe_decode(value, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict'):
+    if isinstance(value, text_type):
+        return value
+
+    if isinstance(value, (string_types, binary_type)):
+        return value.decode(encoding, errors)
+    else:
+        return binary_type(value).decode(encoding, errors)
+
+
+def safe_encode(value, incoming=None, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict'):
+    if not isinstance(value, (string_types, binary_type)):
+        return binary_type(value)
+
+    if isinstance(value, text_type):
+        return value.encode(encoding, errors)
+    else:
+        if hasattr(incoming, 'lower'):
+            incoming = incoming.lower()
+        if hasattr(encoding, 'lower'):
+            encoding = encoding.lower()
+
+        if value and encoding != incoming:
+            value = safe_decode(value, encoding, errors)
+            return value.encode(encoding, errors)
+        else:
+            return value