[erlang-patches] customized ERL_NIF_TERM type support

[Daniel Goertzen]

Thank you for your feedback.  Maybe the "hook" approach I suggested is too
generic.  My original patch from nifpp actually looks like this...

#ifdef CPP11_UNIQUE_TERM_TYPE
  enum class ERL_NIF_TERM : ERL_NIF_UINT;
#else
  typedef ERL_NIF_UINT ERL_NIF_TERM;
#endif

...and then to use the typed enum in your c++ nif you write...

#define CPP11_UNIQUE_TERM_TYPE
#include <erl_nif.h>


In the future ERL_NIF_TERM can be changed to a struct and the
CPP11_UNIQUE_TERM_TYPE option can just be ignored.  What do you think?

Cheers,
Dan.


On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 12:46 PM, Sverker Eriksson <
sverker.eriksson@REDACTED> wrote:

>  Thanks for the patch.
>
> I got one objection/question though. My C++ knowledge is a bit rusty but
> as I understand it
> the "enum class" construct demands that Type is an integer type.
>
> This is currently true for ERL_NIF_TERM but it might not be in the future.
> I earlier tried to define ERL_NIF_TERM as
>
> typedef struct { int x; } ERL_NIF_TERM;
>
> to get stronger type checking even for C. I reverted that due to bad
> performance
> as gcc has different calling conventions for int and struct {int}.
> However, future compilers
> might be better at passing struct{int} by value in which case we might
> want to change
> the definition of ERL_NIF_TERM.
>
> What then? Do we ignore CUSTOM_NIF_TERM_TYPE in such a scenario?
>
>
> /Sverker, Erlang/OTP
>
>
>
> On 02/07/2014 06:34 PM, Daniel Goertzen wrote:
>
> When writing NIFs in C++, it is impossible to employ C++ function
> overloading because the underlying type of ERL_NIF_TERM is "unsigned int".
> For example:
>
> // won't compile :(
> #include <erl_nif.h>
> void my_func(ERL_NIF_TERM a)  {...}
> void my_func(unsigned int a)  {...}
>
>
> This patch allows NIF authors to mutate the type of ERL_NIF_TERM by
> defining the macro CUSTOM_NIF_TERM_TYPE().  In the example below, the
> underlying unsigned integer type gets wrapped as a C++11 typed
> enumeration.  The type of ERL_NIF_TERM is now unique and can be used in
> overloaded functions.
>
> // compiles!  :)
> #define CUSTOM_NIF_TERM_TYPE(Type) enum class ERL_NIF_TERM : Type {};
> #include <erl_nif.h>
> void my_func(ERL_NIF_TERM a)  {...}
> void my_func(unsigned int a)  {...}
>
>
> The patch has no impact on erl_nif.h if CUSTOM_NIF_TERM_TYPE is not defined
> (other than flipping the definition order of ERL_NIF_TERM and ERL_NIF_UINT).
>
> A similar approach has been used on my C++11 NIF wrapper (https://github.com/goertzenator/nifpp).  The wrapper requires manual
> installation of a similar patch, and I would love to remove that
> requirement.
>
> Regards,
> Dan.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> erlang-patches mailing listerlang-patches@REDACTED://erlang.org/mailman/listinfo/erlang-patches
>
>
>
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