[Python-Dev] The os module, unix and win32 (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Fri Jan 9 11:19:51 EST 2004

[Dave]

>> Another possibility: we'd get a lot more mileage out of simply >> adding ctypes to the standard install. That would solve the >> immediate popen problem, let us get rid of winreg entirely (and >> replace it with a pure Python version), and make future Win32 >> problems easier to solve. [Guido] > I don't know that a Python version of winreg using ctypes would be > preferable over a C version. Since there is a C version, there's no need to code it in Python again. > I'd expect it to be slower, less readable than the C version, and more > susceptible to the possibility of causing segfaults. Slower: yes, but I don't know how much. Less readable: no, more readable. Susceptible to segfaults: If written correctly, it should be bullet proof - exactly the same as a C version.

But the version that was referenced here before isn't bulletproof, right? Wouldn't the bullet-proofing reduce the readability?

> That doesn't mean I don't think ctypes is a good idea -- just that I > don't think applying it to winreg would be useful.

Cool. Should this be a Windows only version, or cross-platform?

I don't know enough about ctypes and its user community to answer that (I doubt I'd have much direct need for it myself). But in general I'm biased towards cross-platform tools.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

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