[Python-Dev] Unicode and Windows

[Fred L. Drake, Jr.]

M.-A. Lemburg writes:
 > And/or perhaps sepcific APIs for each OS... e.g.
 > 
 > 	PyOS_MBCSFromObject() (only on WinXX)
 > 	PyOS_AppleFromObject() (only on Mac ;)

  Another approach may be to add some format modifiers:

	te -- text in an encoding specified by a C string (somewhat
              similar to O&)
        tE -- text, encoding specified by a Python object (probably a
              string passed as a parameter or stored from some other
              call)

  (I'd prefer the [eE] before the t, but the O modifiers follow, so
consistency requires this ugly construct.)
  This brings up the issue of using a hidden conversion function which 
may create a new object that needs the same lifetime guarantees as the 
real parameters; we discussed this issue a month or two ago.
  Somewhere, there's a call context that includes the actual parameter 
tuple.  PyArg_ParseTuple() could have access to a "scratch" area where
it could place objects constructed during parameter parsing.  This
area could just be a hidden tuple.  When the C call returns, the
scratch area can be discarded.
  The difficulty is in giving PyArg_ParseTuple() access to the scratch 
area, but I don't know how hard that would be off the top of my head.


  -Fred

--
Fred L. Drake, Jr.	  <fdrake at acm.org>
Corporation for National Research Initiatives