callbacks.txt

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.. Copyright David Abrahams 2006. Distributed under the Boost
.. Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
.. file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)

Here's the plan:

I aim to provide an interface similar to that of Boost.Python v1's
callback<>::call(...) for dealing with callbacks. The interface will
look like:

    returning<ResultType>::call("method_name", self_object, a1, a2...);

or

    returning<ResultType>::call(callable_object, a1, a2...);

ARGUMENT HANDLING

There is an issue concerning how to make Python objects from the
arguments a1...aN. A new Python object must be created; should the C++
object be copied into that Python object, or should the Python object
simply hold a reference/pointer to the C++ object? In general, the
latter approach is unsafe, since the called function may store a
reference to the Python object somewhere. If the Python object is used
after the C++ object is destroyed, we'll crash Python.

I plan to make the copying behavior the default, and to allow a
non-copying behavior if the user writes boost::ref(a1) instead of a1
directly. At least this way, the user doesn't get dangerous behavior "by
accident". It's also worth noting that the non-copying ("by-reference")
behavior is in general only available for class types, and will fail at
runtime with a Python exception if used otherwise**

However, pointer types present a problem: My first thought is to refuse
to compile if any aN has pointer type: after all, a user can always pass
*aN to pass "by-value" or ref(*aN) to indicate a pass-by-reference
behavior. However, this creates a problem for the expected NULL pointer
=> None conversion: it's illegal to dereference a null pointer value.

We could use another construct, say "ptr(aN)", to deal with null
pointers, but then what does it mean? We know what it does when aN is
NULL, but it might either have by-value or by-reference behavior when aN
is non-null.

The compromise I've settled on is this: 

1. The default behavior is pass-by-value. If you pass a non-null
   pointer, the pointee is copied into a new Python object; otherwise
   the corresponding Python argument will be None.

2. if you want by-reference behavior, use ptr(aN) if aN is a pointer
   and ref(aN) otherwise. If a null pointer is passed to ptr(aN), the
   corresponding Python argument will be None.

RESULT HANDLING

As for results, we have a similar problem: if ResultType is allowed to
be a pointer or reference type, the lifetime of the object it refers to
is probably being managed by a Python object. When that Python object is
destroyed, our pointer dangles. The problem is particularly bad when the
ResultType is char const* - the corresponding Python String object is
typically uniquely-referenced, meaning that the pointer dangles as soon
as returning<char const*>::call() returns.

Boost.Python v1 deals with this issue by refusing to compile any uses of
callback<char const*>::call(), but IMO this goes both too far and not
far enough. It goes too far because there are cases where the owning
String object survives beyond the call (just for instance when it's the
name of a Python class), and it goes not far enough because we might
just as well have the same problem with any returned pointer or
reference.

I propose to address this in Boost.Python v2 by

    1. lifting the compile-time restriction on const
    char* callback returns

    2. detecting the case when the reference count on the
    result Python object is 1 and throwing an exception
    inside of returning<U>::call() when U is a pointer or
    reference type.

I think this is acceptably safe because users have to explicitly specify
a pointer/reference for U in returning<U>, and they will be protected
against dangles at runtime, at least long enough to get out of the
returning<U>::call() invocation.

-Dave

**It would be possible to make it fail at compile-time for non-class
types such as int and char, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to impose
this restriction yet.