[Python-Dev] New include statement

[Ebbinge, Onno]

Wouldn't it be very useful if it would be possible to include C header 
files so that you could easily access to the local shared libraries 
(e.g., a .so or .dll)? A simple example: 

>>> include <time.h>
>>> secs = time.time(None)
>>> tm = time.localtime(secs)
>>> print 'The time is (ANSI format): %d-%d-%d %d:%d:%d\n' % (
...     tm.tm_year + 1900, tm.tm_mon + 1, tm.tm_mday, tm.tm_hour,
...     tm.tm_min, tm.tm_sec)
The time is (ANSI format): 2003-7-2 13:52:31

Ok, the standard C time.h is totally not interesting in 
Python because it has it's own time module, but able to access
other (os specific!) shared libraries is very useful! Access
to ufs/ufs/quota.h on my FreeBSD box would be very simple
this way (instead of wrapping/compiling/etc the whole thing).

The new include statement should wrap #define's, struct's, function 
declarations and such found in the header files in a module object.
This would be a _very_ general way to access shared libraries and OS 
API's. I even think it would dramatically simplify the standard or 
third party modules for python.

But... is this possible? Would it have the big advantages I think
it would have?

Please CC me in your reply because I'm not on the python-dev list.

Sincerely,

Onno Ebbinge





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