[gambit-list] os_dyn
Michele Zaffalon
michele.zaffalon at gmail.com
Thu Oct 8 09:13:03 EDT 2009
>> Is this the only way to have a Scheme defined function passed on the
>> fly to C? Short of using global variables as in here
>>
>> https://mercure.iro.umontreal.ca/pipermail/gambit-list/2009-January/002939.html
>
> Well, the only solutions I find acceptable. There might be some (more or
> less portable) library to implement C closures that could be used (libffi?).
> You have to understand what the fundamental problem is. In C, functions
> pointers are implemented (usually) as the address of the code which
> implements the function. The C compiler generates a "call" instruction to
> that address. Scheme closures carry with them an environment... that is
> what makes them more useful than plain functions. So to convert a Scheme
> closure to a C function pointer, in general it is necessary to allocate a
> fresh code address that will correspond to the Scheme closure. The
> technique shown in the message linked above is based on the idea of
> allocating at compile time a pool of C functions, and then to assign them on
> demand to Scheme closures. It is 100% portable, but it places a static
> limit on the number of Scheme closures that can be converted (the code could
> be improved to un-assign the Scheme closure when it is no longer live using
> wills for example). The other solution, based on dynamic code generation,
> does not place a limit on the number of converted Scheme closures, but it is
> not portable (it is CPU and OS dependent). There is no portable solution I
> know of that solves both issues (portable here means it respects the C
> standard and only relies on the C standard).
>
> Marc
I don't understand: in
(c-define (helper-func x)
(int) int "helper_func" ""
(*f* x))
(define gsl-func
(c-lambda (int) int "gsl_func"))
and helper_func is called by the gsl_func routine, *f* can be any
Scheme closure.
Then why can't the C interface accept
(define gsl-func2
(c-lambda ( (function (int) int) int) int "gsl_func"))
and generate the correct helper-func with *f* replaced by whatever
function is passed to gsl-func2?
I am sure this is a silly question so apologies in advance.
michele
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