On Jul 21, 2008, at 7:52 AM, Dan D'Alimonte wrote:
Having never used SWIG, my understanding was it gives you access to
the functions in the C library? This is a good thing, yes, but I was
thinking of something beyond this. As I stated earlier, to allow
programming for GRASS at a higher level the the C functions,
including making use of Python's Object Oriented features to
encapsulate GRASS data structures and processes. For example, a
RasterLayer class that contains raster data, with it associated
spatial characteristics, that can provide interators over rows of
cells, columns of cells, individual cells, or moving windows such as
a 3x3 matrix.
My understanding is that the Python GRASS SWIG interface makes this
possible. However, wrapping this into a nice Python library would make
it more accessible to a broader audience.
And apologies in return if I've been unclear.
Probably my lack of understanding of the more advanced aspects of
Python.
Michael
Michael Barton wrote:
I can see how it could be handy to be able to access GRASS library
functions from Python. Would this differ from the Python SWIG
interface? I thought that SWIG was supposed to allow this?
Or maybe I misunderstand. Sorry if I am missing something.
Michael
On Jul 18, 2008, at 3:29 PM, Dan D'Alimonte wrote:
That's why I put it to the mailing list. I was picturing something
that acted as an intermediate between the low-level, direct data
access nature of the C library and the high-level nature of shell
scripts, This could possibly easily allow access to both in the
same program. In situations where shell scripts' limits make you
jump through hoops and the C library is just too low-level, a
solid Python library would be of use in developing GRASS programs.
It could also allow for more people access to GRASS and GIS
programming by providing a language with a much lower learning
curve then C.
As to whether it is needed or worth undertaking, that would be up
to the community. What I put below was based on some periodic
thoughts I've had in the past, but an actual design and
implementation would need to be developed if there is enough
interest. And if Python is indeed the right environment to do this
in (I know speed of raster processing has already been brought up).
-- Dan.
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