Hello,
On Apr 30, 2015, at 4:45 PM, Terrance Kennedy terrancerkenn...@gmail.com
wrote:
Hi,
I'm working on a Python project to convert Python built-in types to Nix
built-in types and it raised some quesions on the limitations of built-in Nix
types. I've been able to gather some information using nix-repl and reading
the Nix expression parser code, but am not sure on the following:
- Integer: Appear to be either 32 or 64 bit signed integer depending on the
underlying architecture. Is this correct?
Integers are mapped to the C++ long type [1].
- String: From what I can tell, since Nix strings are based on C++
std::string, they don't enforce or expect any kind of encoding. Is it
recommended or tested to put non-ASCII data (in any encoding) into a Nix
string? What about binary data?
Strings are stored as null-terminated char arrays[2]*. Any char besides 0 can
safely be stored in them, but if you try to display them they will be treated as
ASCII.
- Path: Are there any disallowed characters in a Nix path? How can one
represent paths with whitespace?
Path literals are determined by [3], but you can append a string to a path, so
e.g. (./. + /filename with spaces.txt) will result in a path with spaces in
the name.
Cheers,
- Terrance
___
nix-dev mailing list
nix-dev@lists.science.uu.nl
http://lists.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev
* They also have associated context, which is irrelevant for the purposes of
this
question.
[1]: https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/1.8/src/libexpr/value.hh#L38
[2]: https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/1.8/src/libexpr/value.hh#L115
[3]: https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/1.8/src/libexpr/lexer.l#L82
___
nix-dev mailing list
nix-dev@lists.science.uu.nl
http://lists.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/nix-dev
