I'm using the bleeding-edge documentation at
http://python.sourceforge.net/devel-docs/api/api.html
I know that it's not complete until someone has the time to do so, but I've
run into a few places where it's completely wrong.
For instance, from the object protocol docs:
"""
int PyObject_Cmp (PyObject *o1, PyObject *o2, int *result)
Compare the values of o1 and o2 using a routine provided by o1, if one
exists, otherwise with a routine provided by o2. The result of the
comparison is returned in result. Returns -1 on failure. This is the
equivalent of the Python statement "result = cmp(o1, o2)".
"""
After getting weird behavior implementing this, and then squinting at the
relevant Python 2.0 code, it appears that in actuality the Cmp function is to
return the direct comparison results (-1, 0, 1 based on ordering of the
parameters) furthermore, there is no such "result" argument.
4Suite has a lot of C extension code developed by squinting at Python sources
and long gdb sessions and I have a feeling that in many cases we're taking up
hacks that would get us into trouble across versions, and all that; but the
"official" interfaces and behaviors are not documented (or only poorly
documented). In general, the C API docs are in a rather sorry state and
though I doubt I could do a great deal about fixing it, I'd be interested in
discussion of the matter, and perhaps making what contribution I can.
Is the doc-sig the best place for this? My experience there wouldn't seem to
encourage this conclusion (most of the discussion is of docstring syntax and
neat-o automagic document generators).
--
Uche Ogbuji Principal Consultant
uche.ogbuji@fourthought.com +1 303 583 9900 x 101
Fourthought, Inc. http://Fourthought.com
4735 East Walnut St, Ste. C, Boulder, CO 80301-2537, USA
Software-engineering, knowledge-management, XML, CORBA, Linux, Python
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