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| -rw-r--r-- | Misc/FAQ | 37 |
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@@ -1866,33 +1866,16 @@ Calling setattr(), to assign to variables in the module, also works. 5.10. Q. How do I interface to C++ objects from Python? -A. Depending on your requirements, there are many approaches. Begin -by reading the "Extending and Embedding" document (Doc/ext.tex, see -also <URL:http://www.python.org/doc/>). Realize that for the Python -run-time system, there isn't a whole lot of difference between C and -C++ -- so the strategy to build a new Python type around a C structure -(pointer) type will also work for C++ objects. - -Automatic generation of interfaces between Python and C++ is still at -the horizon -- parsing C++ header files requires an almost complete -C++ parser, and many features aren't easily translated from C++ to -Python: certain forms of operator oveloading, function overloading -(best approached by a varargs function which explicitly type-checks -its arguments), and reference arguments are just a number of features -that are hard to translate correctly if at all. - -The hardest problem is to transparently translate the C++ class -hierarchy to Python, so that Python programs derive classes from C++ -classes. Given suitable constraints, this may be possible, but it -would require more space than I have in this FAQ to explain how. -In any case, you can get quite a bit done without this, using just the -existing classes from Python. - -If this all seems rather daunting, that may be because it is -- C++ -isn't exactly a baby to handle without gloves! However, people have -accomplished amazing feats of interfacing between Python and C++, and -a detailed question posted to the Python list is likely to elicit some -interesting and useful responses. +A. Depending on your requirements, there are many approaches. To do +this manually, begin by reading the "Extending and Embedding" document +(Doc/ext.tex, see also <URL:http://www.python.org/doc/>). Realize +that for the Python run-time system, there isn't a whole lot of +difference between C and C++ -- so the strategy to build a new Python +type around a C structure (pointer) type will also work for C++ +objects. + +A useful automated approach (which also works for C) is SWIG: +http://www.cs.utah.edu/~beazley/SWIG/. 6. Python's design |