[C++-sig] Announcing pybindgen

[Joseph Lisee]

Gustavo Carneiro <gjcarneiro <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> 
> (manually replying from copy-pasting the archives because my c++-sig
subscription was disabled by accident).Nat Goodspeed wrote:       >Gustavo
Carneiro wrote:>>   Hello all,>>
> >>   I'd like to announce a new project for producing python extensions, >>
called PyBindGen.  It follows a radical new path for Python bindings >>
generation: it is itself written in (gasp!) Python!  And it does not 
> >> even use C++ templates at all! >Interesting! I would be curious to see you
contrast it with the Py++ >project:>>
> http://www.language-binding.net/pyplusplus/pyplusplus.html>>to get a sense of
when I might choose to use one vs. the other.I know Py++.  You cannot compare
Py++ with PyBindGen.  I would say that PyBindGen replaces 
> Boost.Python.  Py++ is a layer on top of Boost.Python.  Py++ generates
Boost.Python module definition sources through automatic scanning of C++ header
files.  PyBindGen lacks the header files scanning feature that Py++ provides,
and I really miss that feature in PyBindGen.  I hope that someone (maybe me)
finds time to work on that for PyBindGen, some day...  I'm not sure if Py++ is
modular enough to be able to receive a different code generation backend besides 
> Boost.Python (Roman, feel free to comment :).Although I like Py++ a lot, I
really hate Boost.Python.  Maybe it's because of my lack of skill in
understanding C++ templates, but I feel like Boost.Python hides too many details
underneath a layer of cryptic to follow set of C++ templates, while I need to
see the generated code in order to check that memory management details are
being declared and implemented correctly.  In addition, to compile 
> Boost.Python based bindings your users need to have the boost python library
and header files installed.  In contrast, PyBindGen generated extensions only
require python development header files in order to compile, nothing more.  I
also think 
> Boost.Python extensions compile to rather large modules...Regards,-- Gustavo
J. A. M. CarneiroINESC Porto, Telecommunications and Multimedia Unit"The
universe is always one step beyond logic." -- Frank Herbert
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> C++-sig mailing list
> C++-sig <at> python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/c++-sig
> 

Let me chime in on the code generation side too.  Just taking a look at your
example, you have to write almost twice as much python wrapping code as there is
C++ in the header you are wrapping.  Is this case for all headers you wish to
wrap, or is it because you were overexercising your library?

I welcome a project that removes the longer compile times of Boost.Python.  Yet
one of those reasons for the long compile times is because its hard to
understand template magic is doing quite a bit of work for you.

-Joe