[Python-Dev] Parrot -- should life imitate satire?

[Owen Taylor]

Sterling Hughes <sterling@designmultimedia.com> writes:

> > Etc. If you follow these rules, you get a a library where writing
> > bindings for it is a brain-dead task. But still task.  A library like
> > GObject that standardizes memory management, and object-oriented
> > structures helps quite a bit, but I'm certainly of the opinion that
> > the eventual goal has to be
> >
> >  - write a library using tools that produce an introspectable
> >    descriptions of its interfaces.
> >
> >  - Language bindings are automatic and can be done without
> >    a compilation step.
> 
> 
>     Not quite sure I understand you here -- write a library using tools
>     that produce an introspectable descriptions of its interface???
>     context?
> 
>     Are you talking about a library that is written so that it can be
>     analyzed by a program and then extension bindings for the individual
>     language can be created?

Sorry for the vagueness, just trying to be very generic.

There are multiple ways of "automatically" getting information
about the interfaces library/module, some being:

 - Generate the headers for the library from an IDL file,
   that can later be used (directly or via a typelib)
   for generating language bindings. (example XPCOM) 

 - Produce interface information as part of the compilation process.
   (example .NET)

 - Parse header files to determine the interface. (examples: SWIG,
   most GTK+ bindings) 

Once you have that information, you can:

 - Compile an extension module for a particular language.

 - Generate bindings on the fly using dynamic invocation
   (XptCall, libffi, etc.)

In that space of possiiblities, I tend to favor avoiding
header parsing, and dynamic bindings rather than static
bindings. 

Regards,
                                        Owen