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SIG for development of Python/C++ integration
The Python C++ SIG is a forum for discussions about the integration
of Python and C++, with an emphasis on the development of the
Boost.Python
library. At the point of
this writing (Jan 2002), Boost.Python is undergoing a major rewrite to
add powerful new features and to take
full advantage of the new type system introduced in Python
2.2. Suggestions regarding the direction of the development work and
contributions in the form of source code should be posted to this SIG.
Boost.Python is a popular open-source tool for
interfacing Python and C++. Boost.Python is built on
accessible, well-maintained, well documented components
(the Boost C++ Library), so it does not tie its users to
the services of any one programmer or organization.
Developers worldwide have contributed significant
unsolicited improvements to the project. The main
developer and coordinator of the library is
David Abrahams.
Development goals
The following sections describe the current development
goals. Suggestions regarding the direction of the
development work and contributions in the form of source
code should be posted to the Python C++ SIG.
- Reference/Pointer support
-
Boost.Python currently refuses to wrap C++ functions
which return pointers or non-const references, in order
to prevent dangling pointers and references from causing
crashes on the Python side. This limits the library's
ability to export arbitrary C++ functions.
Goal: Implementation of a mechanism by which references
and pointers to internal elements of function and method
arguments can be returned safely. This will include a
mechanism by which any argument object can be kept alive
during the lifetime of any other argument object, so that
Wrapped C++ objects can adopt one another without the
direct use of smart pointers.
- Globally Registered Type Coercions
-
Goal: Provide a mechanism for global registration of type
relationships between arbitrary Python and C++ types, so
that, for example, a Python tuple might be automatically
converted to a C++ std::vector when passed to a wrapped
function accepting a std::vector argument.
- Full Cross-Module Support
-
Inheritance hierarchies which span Python extension
modules are not currently supported by Boost.Python.
Other inter-module interaction issues, e.g. exception
handling, are expected to arise.
Goal: Full support for the interaction of wrapped types
and functions residing in different extension modules.
- Improved Overloading Support
-
Boost.Python's support for overloaded functions and
operators is based on throwing C++ exceptions when a
signature fails to match the appropriate function. This
has several disadvantages: firstly, on many
implementations the C++ exception-handling mechanism is
highly optimized for the case where no exception is
thrown, and throwing an exception can pose serious
performance penalties. Secondly, enough C++
implementations have bugs in their exception-handling
mechanisms that it is best not to rely on exceptions for
routine control flow.
Goal: Modification of the type conversion mechanism so
that overloading can be implemented without the use of
C++ exceptions.
- C++ to Python Exception Translation
-
It is critical for any mature C++ software package to be
able to report error conditions via arbitrary exception
types. Boost.Python currently provides support for
translating only a limited selection of exception types
to Python.
Goal: Implementation of a feature which allows arbitrary
new exception types to be registered and automatically
translated.
- Default Argument Support
-
C++ functions with default argument values can currently
be exposed to Python, but the defaults are lost.
Goal: Implementation of compile-time constant default
argument expressions. Potentially implementation of
lambda expressions for describing default arguments.
- Keyword Argument Support
-
Python supports the specification of particular function
arguments by name, rather than by position.
Goal: Implementation of a feature which allows keyword
arguments to be used from Python for wrapped C++
functions.
- Generic C++ to Python Object Interface
-
It is often necessary for C++ functions to manipulate
objects passed to them directly from Python, without
converting them to some other representation. Currently
Boost.Python has undocumented support for that usage when
the expected Python type is known.
Goal: Addition of a C++ type which wraps any Python
object and provides a similar interface to Python's, with
the validity of any operation checked at runtime.
- Interface for the application of standard C++ algorithms to Python objects
-
Goal: Implementation of interfaces for the application of
C++ Standard Template Library algorithms and boost
algorithms to Python objects, such as Python lists,
tuples, strings and Python objects that support the
buffer interface.
- Python LONG support
-
Python provides an arbitrary-precision LONG integer type
which is not currently supported by Boost.Python.
Goal: Addition of an interface to Python LONGs which
allows them to be directly manipulated in C++ with a
natural interface.
- Improved Built-In Numeric Type Coercion
-
Goal: Python supplies at least 4 numeric types, any of
which should be able to be passed where an argument of
any C++ numeric type is expected, provided that the
conversion does not lose significant information.
- Python Iterator Support
-
Goal: Python 2.2 provides an iteration interface which
should allow C++ sequences to be easily exposed to Python
in a natural way.
- Automatic C++ Object Initialization
-
While Python allows classes to be created without
initialization, C++ does not. Boost.Python currently
allows C++ base classes of Python extension classes to
remain uninitialized. That behavior is not always
appropriate.
Goal: Optional support for the automatic default
construction of C++ base classes and error reporting when
base classes are not initialized.
- DocString Support
-
Modules, Types, and Functions in Python can be documented
with "docstrings", which allow the automatic extraction
of documentation (and even testing code) at runtime.
Goal: Full support for docstrings on the elements of C++
extension modules and classes.
- C++ long long support
-
The long long type is a popular extension to C++ which
allows the representation of integer numeric values of at
least 64 bits.
Goal: Automatic conversions of C++ long long values
to/from Python.
- Code Footprint Reduction
-
Currently Boost.Python is not optimized to reduce the
code size of the C++ extension modules.
Goal: Reengineering of Boost.Python so that the code
footprint for each extension module is as small as
feasible.
- Data Memory Footprint Reduction
-
Wrapped C++ classes that are not subclassed in Python use
more dynamic allocation than necessary, increasing the
overall data footprint of an application using
Boost.Python extension classes.
Goal: Embedding of C++ classes directly in Python
objects. This will eliminate the overhead due to dynamic
allocation.
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