[Python-Dev] PEP: Adding data-type objects to Python

[Nick Coghlan]

Travis Oliphant wrote:
> Nick Coghlan wrote:
>> In fact, it may make sense to just use the lists/strings directly as the data 
>> exchange format definitions, and let the various libraries do their own 
>> translation into their private format descriptions instead of creating a new 
>> one-type-to-describe-them-all.
> 
> Yes, I'm open to this possibility.   I basically want two things in the 
> object passed through the extended buffer protocol:
> 
> 1) It's fast on the C-level
> 2) It covers all the use-cases.
> 
> If just a particular string or list structure were passed, then I would 
> drop the data-format PEP and just have the dataformat argument of the 
> extended buffer protocol be that thing.
> 
> Then, something that converts ctypes objects to that special format 
> would be very nice indeed.

It may make sense to have a couple distinct sections in the datatype PEP:
  a. describing data formats with basic Python types
  b. a lightweight class for parsing these data format descriptions

It's most of the way there already - part A would just be the various styles 
of arguments accepted by the datatype constructor, and part B would be the 
datatype object itself.

I personally think it makes the most sense to do both, but separating the two 
would make it clear that the descriptions can be standardised without 
*necessarily* defining a new class.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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