Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Why SWIG has been selected as C++ wrapper for Python for GNURadio ?

[Martin Braun]

On 06/20/2014 10:34 AM, Joe D wrote:
> This is a question intended  for the Software designers and maintainers
> of the GNURadio
> 
> Is there a specific reason / advantage of using SWIG as a C++ wrapper
> over  using other avaialble  wrappers  for C++ as Boost.Python , Cython
> etc .... in the context of GNURadio ?

First, you need to realize that the decision to use SWIG was made a long
way back, when there were less alternatives. At the time, one important
argument was that Python wasn't the only scripting language that was to
be supported.
At this point, we know a lot of SWIG's quirks, and there is little
reason to change. It does all we need (although it could do somethings a
bit faster, the build times are still annoying), and it integrates well
with our code structure.
To be honest: Few of us are 100% happy with SWIG, but it's the devil we
know :)

However, while there are alternatives to SWIG worth considering, Cython
is not suitable for what we need. I haven't looked into Boost.Python
closely, though.

M