[Python-Dev] PEP: Extending the buffer protocol to share array information. (original) (raw)

Travis Oliphant oliphant.travis at ieee.org
Wed Nov 1 23:22:52 CET 2006

Fredrik Lundh wrote:

Chris Barker wrote:

While /F suggested we get off the PIL bandwagon I suggest we drop the obsession with pointers to memory areas that are supposed to have a specific format; modern data access API:s don't work that way for good reasons, so I don't see why Python should grow a standard based on that kind of model.

Please give us an example of a modern data-access API (i.e. an application that uses one)?

I presume you are not fundamentally opposed to sharing memory given the example you gave.

the "right solution" for things like this is an API that lets you do things like:

view = object.acquireview(region, supported formats) ... access data in view ... view.release() and, for advanced users format = object.queryformat(constraints)

It sounds like you are concerned about the memory-area-not-current problem. Yeah, it can be a problem (but not an unsolvable one). Objects that share memory through the buffer protcol just have to be careful about resizing themselves or eliminating memory.

Anyway, it's a problem not solved by the buffer protocol. I have no problem with trying to fix that in the buffer protocol, either.

It's all completely separate from what I'm talking about as far as I can tell.

-Travis

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