Re: [XForms] python wrapper for xforms

[Jens Thoms Toerring]

Hi,

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 10:58:54AM +0100, LukenShiro wrote:
> I don't know if it's somehow off-topic, if so please accept my
> apologies.

Not at all, at least IMHO.

> This mail is just to announce I am planning to create a
> python-only wrapper for xforms. As far as I know there is already a
> similar program, written in mixed c/python by Roberto Alsina, but it
> dates back to 1996/99 (xforms version 0.80-beta and python 1.3), pretty
> ancient one, indeed, so I don't know how compatible may it be, it's in
> alpha development state and it is unmaintained for many years, so I
> believe it's probably better to write one from scratch.
> 
> Objectives I intend to achieve are:
> - keeping, as far as I can, a strict adherence to xforms libraries' API;
> - using ctypes, included in python standard library, to load, call and
>   use xforms' shared libraries; in order to have a higher level of
>   abstraction and to have a more direct approach I would avoid using
>   swig, boost etc...;
> - handiness in reading and maintaining;
> - minimizing external dependencies (possibly it'll rely on python
>   standard library only);
> - releasing under the same license as xforms (LGPL).
> 
> As I am not a so-called 'experienced' programmer and I want to do some
> practice with ctypes before, this can take some time; but I believe I
> might reasonably have something workable by the end of the year ;-)
> 
> This is just for you to know, I'm not looking for help, yet :-P
> Any suggestions/comments before I start to get my hands on it?

Since I have never used python (except a bit of playing around with
t) I am hardly in a position to make suggestion. So I just can wish
you much luck and fun with your project. Please don't hesitate to
ask if you run into any XForms-related troubles. The documentation
can be a bit tricky to understand in some cases and a fresh reader
may have some valuable ideas on how to improve it. There could also
still be some inconsistencies in XForms itself that you might run
into and telling others about it may help to get them straightend out!

                                  Best regards, Jens
-- 
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