[Jython-dev] Taking advantage of native java types (was: New Coercion Model)

[<bc...@wo...>]

[Brad Buchsbaum]

>On the topic of coercion, currently (correct me if I'm wrong) when a java
>numeric primitive (it, double, etc.) is accessed from jython code a
>conversion takes place from the native java type to a PyNumber object.

Correct. The concrete classes are PyInteger and PyFloat.

[Description of jython's coolness snipped]

>Is there any way that java primitives could be accessed "as-is" from within
>Jython?

I'm no expert on language implementation and I'm sure the types-sig have
stronger and more well-founded opinions than I, but I don't think we can
do it transparently. The tools I have seen described on c.l.py which
performed analysis of the control flow and data types suggested that
such analysis are dificult for python code both in theory and in
practice.

I know JimH felt very strongly about this topic (he was very numerical)
and he might have been able to add some improvements. I can't.

Doing it through some kind of explicit type syntax that is added to the
python code is OTOH possible, but I'm not going to spearhead a syntax
change to python. When the types-sig have convinced Guido of a design
for explicit types, we will ofcourse add it to jython in a way that
takes advantage of the possible speed improvements.

regards,
finn