diff --git a/python/heck/lexer.py b/python/heck/lexer.py
index 1af81ba..7e2f7f0 100644
--- a/python/heck/lexer.py
+++ b/python/heck/lexer.py
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 import ply.lex as lex
 
+"""
+Lexical analyzer for HECKformat lines using PLY Lex.
+"""
+
+from .exceptions import HeckLexException
+
 from typing import List, Optional
 
 import string
@@ -25,6 +31,7 @@ tokens = ('ATOM', 'BASE10', 'BASE16', 'COMMENT', 'STRING', 'SECTION', 'ATTRIB',
 
 
 t_ignore = string.whitespace
+
 t_DEEP = r'^(>)+'
 t_ATOM = r'[A-Za-z_$][A-Za-z0-9_.-]*'
 t_BASE16 = r'0x[0-9A-Fa-f]+'
@@ -60,7 +67,11 @@ def t_error(token: lex.LexToken):
 
 lexer = lex.lex()
 
-def lex_line(line, lineno=0) -> Optional[List[lex.LexToken]]:
+def lex_line(line: str, lineno: int=0) -> List[lex.LexToken]:
+    """
+    Return a list of tokens for a particular HECKformat file line.
+
+    """
     lexer.lineno = lineno
     try:
         lexer.input(line)
@@ -74,7 +85,7 @@ def lex_line(line, lineno=0) -> Optional[List[lex.LexToken]]:
         return tokens
     except lex.LexError as inst:
         # fixme raise a HeckFormat exception
-        raise inst
+        raise HeckLexException from inst
 
 TEST_STRINGS = [
     '"hi yo123 123xyz #foo" 123xyz 123.223 1f abcd123 123abc $foo "hello world" #foo',
diff --git a/python/heck/parse.py b/python/heck/parse.py
index 7437701..90a6309 100644
--- a/python/heck/parse.py
+++ b/python/heck/parse.py
@@ -1,24 +1,24 @@
-from typing import Iterable, Union, Mapping, TypeVar, List
+from typing import Iterable, Union, Mapping, TypeVar, List, TextIO
 
 import re
 
-from parser import parser
-
-class HeckException (Exception):
-    ...
-
-class HeckParseException(HeckException):
-    ...
-
+from .parser import parser
+from .exceptions import HeckParseException
 
 HeckValue = TypeVar("HeckElement") | str | int | float
 
 class HeckElement:
+    """
+    Container for a tree of HECKformat elements.
+    """
     name: str
+    """The name of the element, either __ROOT__ for top level or whatever is specified in file."""
     children: Iterable[TypeVar]
+    """The children of the element."""
     values: Iterable[HeckValue]
+    """One or more values associated with the element."""
     attributes: Mapping[str, HeckValue]
-
+    """Zero or more attributes associated with the element as a key-value pair."""
 
     def __init__(self):
         self.children = []
@@ -36,28 +36,10 @@ class HeckElement:
     def __repr__(self):
         return self.__str__()
 
-# COMMENT            ::= # .*$
-# ATOM               ::= [A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_-]?
-# BASE10NUMBER       ::= (-)?[0-9]+(\.)?[0-9]+([FLUIDCfluidc])?
-# BASE16NUMBER       ::= 0x[0-9A-Fa-f]+
-# NUMBER             ::= (<BASE10NUMBER|BASE16NUMBER>)
-# STRING             ::= "([^\"]*|(\\)|(\"))"
-# VALUE              ::= (<ATOM>|<STRING>|<NUMBER>)
-# VALUES             ::= <VALUE>(\s+<VALUES>)?
-# ATTRIBUTENAME      ::= <ATOM>
-# ATTRIBUTE          ::= <ATTRIBUTENAME>=<VALUE>
-# ATTRIBUTES         ::= <ATTRIBUTE>(\s+<ATTRIBUTES>)?
-# SECTIONLABEL       ::= <ATOM>
-# SECTION            ::= %%%\s+<SECTIONLABEL>\s+<ATTRIBUTES>
-# ELEMENTLABEL       ::= [A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9!@#$%^&*()_+/\\-]?
-# ELEMENT            ::= <ELEMENTLABEL>\s+(<VALUES>|<ATTRIBUTES>)
-# LINE               ::= ^(((>)*<ELEMENT>) | <SECTION> | <COMMENT>) (<COMMENT>|$)
-
-
-# ATOM = re.compile(r'[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_-]*')
-
-
-def get_element(ast: List) -> HeckElement:
+def _get_element(ast: List) -> HeckElement:
+    """
+    Get an element from an element AST from the parser.
+    """
     if not (ast[0] == 'element'):
         raise HeckParseException("Found a non-element where an element was expected.")
     elm = HeckElement()
@@ -70,6 +52,9 @@ def get_element(ast: List) -> HeckElement:
     return elm
 
 def load_heck(inp: Iterable[str]) -> HeckElement:
+    """
+    Load a HECKformat into a tree of HeckElements from a list of lines from the file.
+    """
     MODE_INIT = 0
     MODE_ELM = 1
     MODE_UNPARSE = 2
@@ -102,10 +87,16 @@ def load_heck(inp: Iterable[str]) -> HeckElement:
                 if not mode == MODE_ELM:
                     raise HeckParseException("Didn't find heck preamble, line {idx}")
                 else:
-                    pelm.children.append(get_element(ast))
+                    pelm.children.append(_get_element(ast))
 
     return rootelm
 
+def load(infile: TextIO) -> HeckElement:
+    return load_heck(infile.readlines())
+
+def loads(ins: str) -> HeckElement:
+    return load_heck(re.split(r'\n|\r|\r\n', ins))
+
 
 TEST_HECK = """
 %%% heck
diff --git a/python/heck/parser.py b/python/heck/parser.py
index 6718350..4ab3112 100644
--- a/python/heck/parser.py
+++ b/python/heck/parser.py
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 import ply.yacc as yacc
 
-from lexer import tokens
+"""
+Parser for HECKformat lines using PLY Parser.
+"""
+
+from .lexer import tokens
 
 def p_value(p):
     """