Working on better C++ bindings for Io

[dennisf486]

I'm working on a C++ binding library for Io that allows you to make your C++ objects callable from Io without typing a lot of code.  It's called LikeMagic.  ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." --Arthur C. Clarke)

Contrived example:

// Here's an existing C++ class we want to bind to Io.
class SomeClass
{
   int GetNum();
   void SetNum(int n);
   int AddTwo(int a, int b);
   // various other functions
};

// Here's the LikeMagic binding:

class Binds_SomeClass
 : public LikeMagic::TypeConverter<SomeClass, Backend_Io>
{
public:
    BoundTestObj()
    {
        BIND(GetNum);
        BIND(OtherF);
        BIND(SetNum);
        BIND(AddTwo);
        BIND(CompareWith);
        BIND(GetHalf);
        BIND(SetHalf);
    }
} instance;

/*
 LikeMagic only requires that you:
 1.  Inherit from the TypeConverter class
 2.  Pass the names of all the methods to BIND().

 What you get from this is:
 - All the Io callback functions registered for you.
 - Creates an IoMethodTable and Io-callable wrapper functions
   for all the methods you passed to the BIND() macro.
 - Automatically converts the arguments in the Io message to the
   equivalent C++ types to pass to the C++ function in BIND().
 - Automatically converts the value returned by the C++ function
   to an equivalent Io primitive or LikeMagic bound Io object.
 - The TypeConverter you just made will automatically be picked up
   and used if some other function returns this type of object to Io.
*/

[simonhaines]

Although you are working with C++, have you had a look at Lua's Alien project (http://alien.luaforge.net/)? It allows you bind to dynamic libraries from Lua itself (without writing glue). Thought you might be interested. Simon.


--- In iolanguage@..., "dennisf486" <dennisf486@...> wrote:
>
> I'm working on a C++ binding library for Io that allows you to make your C++ objects callable from Io without typing a lot of code.  It's called LikeMagic.  ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." --Arthur C. Clarke)

[dennisf486]

Thanks I'll take a look at that.  Unfortunately alien.luaforge.net is down, but I found the google cache of it.  I have a good handle on the C++ side of things, but for using the C API from Io to interact with the IoVM I have only the well-commented but somewhat incomplete (or outdated) C++ example from wikibooks.org.

--- In iolanguage@..., "simonhaines" <simonhaines@...> wrote:
>
> Although you are working with C++, have you had a look at Lua's Alien project (http://alien.luaforge.net/)? It allows you bind to dynamic libraries from Lua itself (without writing glue). Thought you might be interested. Simon.
>
>
> --- In iolanguage@..., "dennisf486" <dennisf486@> wrote:
> >
> > I'm working on a C++ binding library for Io that allows you to make your C++ objects callable from Io without typing a lot of code.  It's called LikeMagic.  ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." --Arthur C. Clarke)
>