Repository navigation
Idiomatic Python API #56
Description
Has any thought been given to developing an idiomatic Python API for Fast DDS? The API requires a coding style that is fairly unnatural in Python.
Some examples:
Accessing instance variables on objects:
# not idiomatic
data.message()
self.topic_data_type.getName()
# idiomatic
data.message
self.topic_data_type.nameSetting instance variables on objects:
# not idiomatic
data.message("Hello World")
self.topic_data_type.setName("HelloWorld") # p.s., why does this one use "set" and other doesn't?
# idiomatic
data.message = "Hello World"
self.topic_data_type.name = "HelloWorld"Passing objects by reference to have them initialized:
# not idiomatic
info = fastdds.SampleInfo()
data = HelloWorld.HelloWorld()
reader.take_next_sample(data, info)
# idiomatic
data, info = reader.take_next_sample()
# not idiomatic
self.subscriber_qos = fastdds.SubscriberQos()
self.participant.get_default_subscriber_qos(self.subscriber_qos)
# idiomatic, kind of?
self.subscriber_qos = self.participant.create_subscriber_qos()
self.subscriber_qos = fastdds.SubscriberQos.create_from(self.participant)Manual management of resources:
# not idiomatic
factory = fastdds.DomainParticipantFactory.get_instance()
self.participant.delete_contained_entities()
factory.delete_participant(self.participant)
# idiomatic, often happens implicitly
del self.participant
Activity
rgov commentedon Aug 4, 2023
Presumably this is mostly a consequence of using SWIG to generate the Python bindings.
SWIG does have
%attributefor wrapping setters and getters in an idiomatic way.I've also heard decent things about pybind11. This example shows how to handle mapping Python object properties to C++ setters and getters like
getName()andsetName()JLBuenoLopez commentedon Sep 12, 2023
Thanks @rgov for your contribution
I have labeled this as an enhancement and I am moving the ticket to the Ideas discussion forum. For the moment the Python API will remain as it is.