def connect(filename: str, mode: str = '<STR_LIT>', *, validate: bool = True, spec_version: str = "<STR_LIT>") -> LoomConnection:
return LoomConnection(filename, mode, validate=validate, spec_version=spec_version)<EOL>
Establish a connection to a .loom file.

Args:
        filename:		Path to the Loom file to open
        mode:			Read/write mode, 'r+' (read/write) or 'r' (read-only), defaults to 'r+'
        validate:		Validate the file structure against the Loom file format specification
        spec_version:	The loom file spec version to validate against (e.g. "2.0.1" or "old")
Returns:
        A LoomConnection instance.

Remarks:
        This function should typically be used as a context manager (i.e. inside a ``with``-block):

        .. highlight:: python
        .. code-block:: python

                import loompy
                with loompy.connect("mydata.loom") as ds:
                        print(ds.ca.keys())

        This ensures that the file will be closed automatically when the context block ends

        Note: if validation is requested, an exception is raised if validation fails.