[Python-3000] PEP Draft: Enhancing the buffer protcol

[Travis Oliphant]

> Travis E. Oliphant wrote:
> 
> 
>>Yes, this was the reason for my dtype object.  But, I think that folks 
>>felt it was too much, especially since the struct-style syntax is 
>>already there in Python.
> 
> 
> Making it a full-blown Python object would be too much
> for this application. But it could be something like an
> array of structs containing a type code and a size.
> 

Another thing going in the struct-syntax's favor is that it seems to be 
accepted by a wide number of Python devs.  But, I'm open to anything 
that contains the same level of expressiveness.


>>you are also not describing how allocation for
>>this array of structs will be handled.
> 
> 
> That's up to the base object. Something with a fixed
> number of dimensions (as I expect most objects implementing
> this protocol will) can store it in the object itself.
> If the number of dimensions can vary, it might have to
> malloc/realloc. But that doesn't seem like a difficult
> thing to do.

I see better now.  The objects themselves would store the dimensions 
(either directly as part of the object), or in some 
extension-module-maintained memory (that is used as a buffer to copy 
into everytime it is needed).

That is fine by me.  I suppose the format-string could be managed the 
same way --- it's up to the type object implementing the interface to 
manage it.

-Travis