Re: [boost] Library Proposal: Reflection for C++

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-01-30 04:58:06

Stefan Roiser <stefan.roiser_at_[hidden]> writes:

> Hi,
>
> We would like to propose a library and tools which enhance C++ with  
> reflection capabilities. The package, "Reflex", provides a library  
> for runtime introspection and interaction with C++ "constructs" such  
> as objects, types, scopes, members, templated types, ... The library  
> has no external dependencies and was developed with the ISO/IEC  
> standard for C++ as guideline.
>
> Production of dictionary information of arbitrary C++ definitions is  
> done via a Python script (genreflex), in a non-intrusive way, using  
> an external tool (gccxml - www.gccxml.org). The generated dictionary  
> source code can be compiled into a shared library, dynamically loaded  
> and accessed via an API providing the introspection information.
>
> You can find more information at
>
> http://cern.ch/reflex
>
> Below you may find an example code snippet which exposes a subset of  
> the functionality. The four different parts show
> 1 - the definition of the example classes
> 2 - how to generate the dictionary information
> 3 - example on introspection (re-generate classes from the dictionary  
> information)
> 4 - examples on interaction (get/set data members, invoke functions,  
> con/destruct objects)

How does this work relate or compare to
http://www.language-binding.net/pygccxml/pygccxml.html?

The latter already has some traction in the Boost community because of
its use in http://www.language-binding.net/pyplusplus/pyplusplus.html

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com