[C++-sig] Re: Re: Re: map key

[eric jones]

> > You might consider the impact of using something like weave for a
case
> > like this.  It generates and compiles different instantiations of
the
> > same code on demand.
> 
> That's a very interesting idea. But our users don't even know how to
spell
> the word compiler. It would be a major problem to establish a working
> compilation environment on all the platforms that we support (e.g. we 
> couldn't ship Visual C++ with our package). 

Yep.  This is a real problem.  Mingw is really easy to install now and
works fine with weave.  But requiring the installation of an extra tool
-- especially on windows -- is a non-starter except for geeks.  I've
often wondered how hard it would be to distribute a stripped down
version of mingw inside the weave setup.exe for windows.  That would
ease things markedly.

The other thing I tried to get working a while back is a means of
running a test suite in setup.py that calls all the weave code fragments
with all the types you wish your module to support.  It would then
bundle all the compiled versions into the distribution you create.
This, I think, is a great solution, but, after an evening of work, I
realized it was several days effort to make it robust -- it requires a
re-think of the cataloging mechanism.  I hope to find the time to do
it... before I retire. :-)

eric

> Also, it is my feeling that 
> this would eventually lead to PSYCO II, a large research project in
its
> own right.
> Ralf
> 
> P.S.: The darker parts of my ego make me hope that a mature, fully
> featured and universally available PSYCO isn't a reality before I
retire. 
> Somehow I think my chances are pretty good ;-)