Bindings for .NET languages

I have been trying to follow the discussions regarding the refactoring 
of Boost.Python and Luabind because the issue of multi-language 
interoperability ties in very heavily with my Ph.D. research.  A lot of 
the discussion is way over my head right now, but I hope that with time 
I'll be able to garner more information from the list archives and from 
future posts.  I have checked out the langbindings branch of the Boost 
source tree with the intent of learning how all the magic happens, and I 
am pretty sure I have a long way to go before I'll understand the code.

In any event, I am curious as to how the design of the new Boost 
language bindings code is being generalized for languages besides Python 
and Lua.  From some of the early discussions back in June, I got the 
impression that interpreted languages were the focus of the work, and I 
am wondering if that is in fact the case.  Does that have any specific 
impact on the design, or does it relate more to the fact that 
interpreted languages often have C APIs for embedding the interpreter in 
natively compiled code?

All of this boils down to an interest I have in making native/unmanaged 
C++ code (relatively?) easily accessible by C# and other .NET languages 
and vice versa.  I really like what Boost.Python offers in terms of 
exposing C++ for extension and use by Python code, and I like what it 
offers in simplifying the Python/C API.  It's something I want very much 
to see replicated for .NET.

For the last 8 or 9 months, I have been trying to keep track of efforts 
to make C# talk to unmanaged C++ in roughly the same manner that Python 
and C++ can talk via Boost.Python.  Unfortunately, the projects that 
held the most promise at the beginning of the year seemed to run out of 
steam after only a couple of months.  There is SWIG's support for C#, 
but I am not sure that will meet my needs correctly.  So, I am 
contemplating writing something similar to Boost.Python for .NET, though 
I am not yet sure how--or even if--it will work.  Has anyone here given 
any thought to this?

There are no doubt dozens of issues, big and little, that I need to 
investigate and evaluate before proceeding.  Before I go too far, I want 
to be sure I don't duplicate anyone else's efforts, and I want to be 
sure I start from the right foundation if I do write the code myself.

  -Patrick


-- 
Patrick L. Hartling                     | Research Assistant, VRAC
[email protected]                | 2624 Howe Hall: 1.515.294.4916
http://www.137.org/patrick/             | http://www.vrac.iastate.edu/



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