On Fri, Oct 17, 2003 at 09:08:22AM -0700, Dean Arnold wrote: > > On Thu, Oct 16, 2003 at 02:12:36PM -0700, Dean Arnold wrote: > > > Has anyone attempted to write a DBD > > > using Inline::C (or C++) ? I'm looking into updating a driver > > > to selectively switch between a pure Perl implementation, > > > and a native C i/f to a low level vendor API library if its available, in order > > > to get more performance/functionality. Inline::C looked > > > like an attractive alternative (esp w/ Inline::Struct) to all the XS > > > madness. This would allow the driver to exploit Perl's > > > strenghts for parsing SQL, mapping things w/ hashes, etc, but > > > use the vendor lib for the low level data movement, as opposed > > > to writing a complete DBD in C/XS. > > > > I don't think any DBD is pure C/XS. All have a significant amount of perl. > > > > Driver authors wanting to use C don't have to write _any_ XS if they > > use the Driver.xst template mechanism (which is strongly recommended). > > > > Then just add some logic around the "bootstrap()" method call in > > the .pm file. The .pm file can implement the same methods as the > > C/XS code and, if the c/XS code hasn't been bootstraped, then the > > perl methods will be called instead. Simple. > > > > Tim. > > > Hmmm, guess its been a while since I've hacked on DBD::ODBC, > but it sure seemed like a lot of XS and C. But I was very much an XS > newbie at the time, so perhaps my view is jaundiced. > > Perhaps my question is also colored by the fact that I already > have a pure Perl driver, and am just looking to adapt to a vendor > lib for the low-level protocol calls. This notion probably arises from > Inline::Struct more than Inline::C, since the API I'm using > is driven primarily from a well-defined 'C' struct, with just a handful > of method calls. Based on Inline::Struct's POD, it seems pretty > easy to directly manipulate a C struct directly from Perl, then > make a simple Inline::C function wrapper (with a tiny bit > of perlguts'ness) to drive the execution. > > And now I'm designing out loud, so I'll shut up...but will still likely > pursue this concept; it probably wouldn't work well for other function-based > APIs like ODBC, but for data structure driven APIs, esp from a pre-existing > pure Perl driver, it looks promising.
Yes, sounds fine. But I'd still strongly recommend using Driver.xst if possible as it encapsulates some aspects of the DBI/DBD interface. It may make sense to use both Driver.xst and Inline::Struct. Tim.
