[Python-Dev] Baffled by PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords modification (original) (raw)

Tim Peters tim.peters at gmail.com
Fri Feb 10 18:54:17 CET 2006

[Jeremy]

I added some const to several API functions that take char* but typically called by passing string literals. In C++, a string literal is a const char* so you need to add a constcast<> to every call site, which is incredibly cumbersome. After some discussion on python-dev, I made changes to a small set of API functions and chased the const-ness the rest of the way, as you would expect. There was nothing random about the places const was added.

[Guido]

I still don't understand why this was done,

Primarily to make life easier for C++ programmers using Python's C API. But didn't Jeremy just say that?

Some people (including me) have been adding const to char* API arguments for years, but in much slower motion, and at least I did it only when someone complained about a specific function.

nor how the set of functions was chosen if not randomly.

[Jeremy]
I added some const to several API functions that take char* but
typically called by passing string literals.

If he had stuck to that, we wouldn't be having this discussion :-) (that is, nobody passes string literals to PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords's kws argument).

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