[PyKDE] SIP overhead

[Jim Bublitz]

On 11-Oct-02 Sato, Kristine wrote:
> I have just started looking at SIP as an alternative to SWIG for
> wrapping C++ code for use with Python. The drawback with SWIG is
> that you must generate "shadow classes" in Python in order to
> access your wrapped class as a Python class. This introduces
> overhead I would like to avoid.
 
> I know little about SIP as of yet, trying to read through as much
> documentation as I can find. Any information on its efficiency
> and comparison to SWIG is much appreciated!

Boudewijn Rempt's book on PyQt has an appendix on sip - I believe
you can still find it online, but I don't have the URL handy. There
are also people on this list who use sip for other things besides
PyQt/PyKDE and can help with questions. IMHO the hardest part is
figuring out how to get your module to build.

Probably the best way to familiarize yourself with sip is to look
at PyQt or PyKDE (http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk) - compare a
*.sip file to the Qt .h file of the same name and most of what you
need to do to create a sip input file should be apparent. Also look
at something like qtmod.sip and build.py (and the makefiles of
course) to see what you need to do to build your module.

There is no Python "overhead" for sip - your modules will look like
any other Python module from Python.

Jim