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[Caml-list] Automatic wrapper generator
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Date: | 2004-05-18 (10:36) |
From: | skaller <skaller@u...> |
Subject: | Re: [Caml-list] Automatic wrapper generator |
On Tue, 2004-05-18 at 19:25, Olivier Andrieu wrote: > > > Here's your chance to get THE LOT in one go. > > I really don't buy this. There is just not enough information in the C > prototypes to give you a reasonable interface for OCaml. You're right. It doesn't generate an interface any more 'reasonable' than the C one it is wrapping. > Or does your > generator use annotations (like camlIDL does) ? Not at present, although that will be necessary. > For instance, consider this prototype: > int foo (double *, int); > Even if (double *, int) represents an array and its length, the caml > interface is not obvious : > float array -> int -> ... (straightforward mapping) > float array -> ... (use the array length for the int parameter) > float array -> pos:int -> len:int -> ... (account for pointer arithmetic) Yup. So what you actually get 'initially' is: c_double c_ptr -> c_int -> c_int Not a single Ocaml native data type is visible. [Well, we could typemap c_int to 'native_int' since they're isomorphic by specification, and c_double to float for the same reason ..] >In the end you get at best a very low-level bunch of autogenerated > unsafe externals, that you have to re-wrap in ocaml to get something > comfortable and/or safe to program with. That is correct, that's what you get. (1) It's better than nothing :) (2) It can be used to build a better interface *in Ocaml* (3) Once it works, it may be possible to add some annotations to improve the level of abstraction of the generated interface -- John Skaller, mailto:skaller@users.sf.net voice: 061-2-9660-0850, snail: PO BOX 401 Glebe NSW 2037 Australia Checkout the Felix programming language http://felix.sf.net ------------------- To unsubscribe, mail caml-list-request@inria.fr Archives: http://caml.inria.fr Bug reports: http://caml.inria.fr/bin/caml-bugs FAQ: http://caml.inria.fr/FAQ/ Beginner's list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ocaml_beginners