diff --git a/bitshift/parser/c.py b/bitshift/parser/c.py
index e69de29..774825c 100644
--- a/bitshift/parser/c.py
+++ b/bitshift/parser/c.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+
+def parse_c():
+    pass
diff --git a/bitshift/parser/java.py b/bitshift/parser/java.py
index e69de29..a495a10 100644
--- a/bitshift/parser/java.py
+++ b/bitshift/parser/java.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+
+def parse_java():
+    pass
diff --git a/bitshift/parser/python.py b/bitshift/parser/python.py
index e69de29..abccfb5 100644
--- a/bitshift/parser/python.py
+++ b/bitshift/parser/python.py
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+import ast
+
+def _serialize(tree):
+    """
+    Private function to serialize an abstract syntax tree so it is indexable by the database.
+
+    :param tree: The syntax tree to be serialized.
+
+    :type tree: list or ast.AST
+    """
+
+    def _start_n_end(big_node):
+        """
+        Helper function to get the start and end lines of a code node.
+
+        :param big_node: The node.
+
+        :type big_node: ast.FunctionDef, ast.ClassDef, ast.Module
+        """
+
+        start_line = big_node.lineno
+
+        temp_node = big_node
+        while 'body' in temp_node.__dict__:
+            temp_node = temp_node.body[-1]
+
+        end_line = temp_node.lineno
+        return (start_line, end_line)
+
+    def _helper(cur_node, accum):
+        """
+        Helper function for _serialize which recursively updates the 'vars', 'functions', and 'classes' in the parsed version of the tree.
+
+        :param cur_node: The node in the syntax tree currently being parsed.
+        :param accum: Dicitonary holding parsed version of the tree.
+
+        :type cur_node: list or ast.AST
+        :type accum: dict
+        """
+
+        if isinstance(cur_node, list):
+            for node in cur_node:
+                _helper(node, accum)
+
+        elif isinstance(cur_node, ast.Assign):
+            # return name
+            # return col and line offset
+            # in the future add value and type metadata
+            for t in cur_node.targets:
+                if isinstance(t, ast.Tuple):
+                    for n in t.elts:
+                        line, col = n.lineno, n.col_offset
+                        accum['vars'][n.id] = {'ln': line, 'col': col}
+                else:
+                    line, col = t.lineno, t.col_offset
+                    accum['vars'][t.id] = {'ln': line, 'col': col}
+
+
+        elif isinstance(cur_node, ast.FunctionDef):
+            # return name
+            # return start and end of the function
+            # in the future add arguments and decorators metadata
+            start_line, end_line = _start_n_end(cur_node)
+            accum['functions'][cur_node.name] = {'start_ln': start_line , 'end_ln': end_line}
+
+        elif isinstance(cur_node, ast.ClassDef):
+            # return name
+            # return start and end of the class
+            # in the future add arguments, inherits, and decorators metadata
+            start_line, end_line = _start_n_end(cur_node)
+            accum['classes'][cur_node.name] = {'start_ln': start_line , 'end_ln': end_line}
+
+        elif isinstance(cur_node, ast.AST):
+            for k in cur_node.__dict__.keys():
+                node = node.__dict__[k]
+                _helper(node, accum)
+
+    accum = {}
+    _helper(tree, accum)
+    return accum
+
+def parse_py(codelet):
+    """
+    Adds 'symbols' field to the codelet after parsing the code.
+
+    :param codelet: The codelet object to parsed.
+
+    :type code: Codelet
+    """
+    tree = ast.parse(codelet.code)
+    symbols = _serialize(tree)
+    codelet.symbols = symbols
+    print symbols