I'm working on writing C# libraries which can be imported by a variety
of .NET languages, DLR and otherwise, which appear native to the
language importing them.
For example, writing a C# function that can be used naturally in
IronPython as if it were written in Python, IronRuby as if it were
written in Ruby, and F# as if it were written in F#, etc.
I've encountered some gotchas that I thought I'd share, and looking
for any other points of advice in writing cross-language libraries.
1. IronRuby strings aren't really strings, so you need to pass them in
as an object, and call .ToString().
public static string expects_string(object val) {
return val.ToString();
}
2. F# 2.0 doesn't seem to automatically convert a type to the
associated nullable type, so avoid nullable types as parameters.
// AVOID:
public static double? expects_nullable(double? var1=null) {
return var1;
}
// BETTER:
public static double? expects_nullable() {
return null;
}
public static double expects_nullable(double var1) {
return var1;
}
3. IronPython and IronRuby lists and dictionaries implement IList and
IDictionary, so no problem with those.
public static IDictionary<object,object> make_dict(object val) {
if (val as IDictionary<object,object> != null) {
return ((IDictionary<object,object>)val);
} else
throw new System.ArgumentException("object is not a dictionary");
}
public static IList<object> make_list(object val) {
if (val as IList<object> != null) {
return ((IList<object>)val);
} else
throw new System.ArgumentException("object is not a list");
}
Any other suggestions?
-Doug
_______________________________________________
Users mailing list
Users@lists.ironpython.com
http://lists.ironpython.com/listinfo.cgi/users-ironpython.com
