[erlang-patches] customized ERL_NIF_TERM type support

[Sverker Eriksson]

The "hook" solution has an advantage I think. It leaves it up to the 
user to define the type and thereby to "make it work".

I actually don't understand how you get this to work. How can you mix 
C++ types within a extern "C" declaration?

/Sverker

On 02/07/2014 08:21 PM, Daniel Goertzen wrote:
> 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.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>