[Python-Dev] PEP: Extending the buffer protocol to share array information.

Wed Nov 1 23:22:52 CET 2006

Fredrik Lundh wrote:
> Chris Barker wrote:
>>>>While /F suggested we get off the PIL bandwagon
>>> I suggest we drop the obsession with pointers to memory areas that are 
> supposed to have a specific format; modern data access API:s don't work 
> that way for good reasons, so I don't see why Python should grow a 
> standard based on that kind of model.
>
Please give us an example of a modern data-access API (i.e. an 
application that uses one)?
I presume you are not fundamentally opposed to sharing memory given the 
example you gave.
> the "right solution" for things like this is an *API* that lets you do 
> things like:
>> view = object.acquire_view(region, supported formats)
> ... access data in view ...
> view.release()
>> and, for advanced users
>> format = object.query_format(constraints)
>
It sounds like you are concerned about the memory-area-not-current 
problem. Yeah, it can be a problem (but not an unsolvable one). 
Objects that share memory through the buffer protcol just have to be 
careful about resizing themselves or eliminating memory.
Anyway, it's a problem not solved by the buffer protocol. I have no 
problem with trying to fix that in the buffer protocol, either.
It's all completely separate from what I'm talking about as far as I can 
tell.
-Travis