8-12-09 a snake in the pants

[fluffy]

qotd: Has anyone here used libPython to allow calling Python code from C? I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall in trying to do basic, vital things, like resolving function objects. The only useful stuff I find online is going the other way around (calling C from Python) which isn't what I need.

[HeuristicsInc]

no, but i did have a really similar problem trying to find info on calling java code from c++.
i did eventually figure that one out.
-bill

[jast]

If it helps... I hate Python and never use it.

[fluffy]

I used to think JNI was horrific, and then I had to use libpython. I don't hate JNI as much anymore.

[Caravan Ray]

I used to be licenced to handle both pythons and venomous snakes in Queensland. I would remove them from people's houses and release them in the bush. Pythons are easy to catch - but brown snakes are really scary.

[fluffy]

I figured it out. It turns out that while all the examples use PyModule_AddModule(), I wanted to use PyModule_ImportModule(), which I would have known if I'd bothered to read the documentation for PyModule_AddModule() but I don't know Python and the documentation seems to assume some sort of pathologically intimate familiarity with not only the language but the source code of the interpreter itself.

[Ross]

I have no idea what you are talking about - except the part caravan ray said.

[mrbeany]

Personally, I really like Python. Sure the syntax is a bit odd compared to some (the whole white-space has meaning thing) but when you accept that all practical coding styles either highly recommend or outright require some sort of spacing consensus it isn't nearly that bad.

I'm planning to teach my daughter Python as her first computer language. My wife jokes that it'll make her a Parselmouth.

I've never needed to call it from another language. Last time I even thought about that, I decided it was a better idea to just do the whole thing in Python.

I, however, abhor Ruby. Everyone has certain things that they just can't stomach when it comes to languages.

Back in the day, I did some testing on a Java runtime environment. That whole process caused me to hate Java a lot, but in the long term even back then it was less than I currently hate Ruby. And now, shoot, I practically don't hate Java at all.

[fluffy]

Well yeah, Python does seem like a rather good "my first language" language. Certainly better than BASIC, which is what I grew up with. And it's a great extension/scripting language for a number of reasons, which is why we're using it. But we can't just do the whole thing in Python for reasons I won't get into.

Now that I have module loading, symbol resolution, and method invocation working, I'm satisfied and not hating the library so much as the crappy documentation. The main thing I hate about it is just the SDK docs, since it has a lack of useful example code (and for some reason it's really hard to find any simple do-just-this-one-thing code online) which aren't very easy to consult unless you know exactly what you're looking for, which requires a lot more intimacy with the language's conceptual model than I've ever had any reason to get.

Many years ago I played with libtcl for similar purposes and found it extremely easy and straightforward to use, but Tcl just isn't a popular enough language (mostly because of a bad reputation from Tcl/Tk, but also because its standard library is a bit cumbersome to work with) even though conceptually Tcl and Python actually aren't all that different, from an underlying semantics/design standpoint anyway, although the big advantage Python has is that nearly everything's a dictionary (which makes OO stuff completely natural), while in Tcl everything's a list, so in Tcl you end up having a lot of "marshalling" mechanisms which treat objects as opaque tokens which have to be accessed through external functions.

[ujnhunter]

I thought Ebonics was the most hated language?

[Billy's Little Trip]

Has anyone here used libPython to allow calling Python code from C?

I invented it, ask me anything.

Please ask in the form of a yes or no question.
Please note, there is a 50% error allowance in my answers.

Ok, fire when ready, grizzly.

[fluffy]

Hey! Where ya been?

(Also I am pretty sure your name is not Guido.)

[Billy's Little Trip]

Hey! Where ya been?

(Also I am pretty sure your name is not Guido.)

That's because you don't have ESPN (extrasensory perception knowledge...the K is silent)

Business finally started getting better. I couldn't sell a gold fish pond towards the end of 08, and now I'm closing huge projects. YAY!!! Jon will be happy to know that he campaigned for the right guy, lol.

I need to rock again. I miss all you freaks, geeks and alcoholics.

[JonPorobil]

Hey! Where ya been?

(Also I am pretty sure your name is not Guido.)

That's because you don't have ESPN (extrasensory perception knowledge...the K is silent)

Business finally started getting better. I couldn't sell a gold fish pond towards the end of 08, and now I'm closing huge projects. YAY!!! Jon will be happy to know that he campaigned for the right guy, lol.

I need to rock again. I miss all you freaks, geeks and alcoholics.

You do need to rock again.

(Ahh... the old dumbrella board had an emoticon of the Devil's Horns. I miss that.)

In fact, if you find yourself available again, then keep an eye on your PM box in the near future.

[fluffy]

Yeah this phpBB doesn't have or at all and it's sad

oh wait

[Spud]

It's also too bad you can't just link one from somewhere else

[JonPorobil]

I meant the hand signal. You guys don't remember that?

[Billy's Little Trip]

Here's one with some head bangin'

This one looks like that strong bad guy.