BPL: Convert C++ char to/from one-character Python strings.

From: rwgk_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-02-08 10:54:35

In my named CVS branch ralf_grosse_kunstleve I have checked in a
modified version of conversions.cpp. With the modifications,
C++ un/signed char are converted from and to Python strings
with exactly one character.

In C++ a character literal is of type char (unlike C, where it
is of type int). Therefore I find it counter-intuitive and for my
applications not very useful that the C++ char are mapped to Python
integers.

I just noticed that char, unsigned char, and signed char are three
distinct C++ types. Trying to wrap a function that returns or uses
a char results in weird compiler error messages. Wouldn't it be
useful to also define to/from_python converters for plain char?

An alternative would be to map signed/unsigned char to Python integer,
and char to one-character Python strings.
What do other people think about this?

Ralf