Hello!
Summary:
It looks like fixing the Python C API is a lot of work and might fail,
so I was wondering if it would be better to put effort into reducing
the C API by making more use of CFFI within the Python standard
library instead?
Motivation:
* It feels like the C API is currently very broad because it provides
a second interface layer to a large chunk of the Python object space
(in addition to the one visible to Python code).
* I think it was Armin Rigo's observation when writing CFFI that there
is a better API that already exists -- i.e. C types and function
signatures.
* If we're going to do a lot of work, would it not be better to push
instead for moving towards CFFI as the interface between C and Python?
I'm not sure that this is orthogonal to Victor's current proposal or
not -- it might just be one route to achieving it.
Advantages over the current route:
* There's a clearer direction for people to head it, so it's easier to
contribute.
* A lot of work has already been done (e.g. it works for PyPy, a lot
of libraries already exist that use it).
Maybe Cython is an equally good option to CFFI in this scenario -- I
don't know Cython though, so I have no deep opinion on that.
Schiavo
Simon