SWIG and the netCDF library interfaces

• To: netcdfgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: SWIG and the netCDF library interfaces
• From: hein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Paul Hein)
• Date: Wed, 19 Jun 1996 11:57:10 +0700

With all the discussion about adding the Java interface and with
Rob Managan <managan@xxxxxxxx> mention about a Python interface.
I thought I would bring up the tool SWIG which allows one to take
C (and C++) code and interface with Tcl, Perl, Python, or Guile.
I have not tried it yet but it seems like a very easy way to add
netCDF to these scripting languages.  And it might be extendable
to Java.  More information is available at
        http://www.cs.utah.edu/~beazley/SWIG/
It is something to consider.  Below is part of the web page.
Paul
   Paul F. Hein   hein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   (970) 491-8531


SWIG
Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator

Introduction

SWIG is an easy to use tool that lets you add Tcl, Perl, Python, or Guile to
programs written in C and C++. Normally, this requires you to write special
"wrapper" functions---a process that is both tedious and error-prone. SWIG 
freesyou from this task and allows you to focus on the application at hand 
while 
providing all of the benefits of using an interpreted scripting language 
interface.

A brief overview of features

       Supports Tcl, Perl4, Perl5, Python, and Guile-3. 
       Allows you to add C/C++ functions, variables, and constants. 
       Handles almost all C datatypes and pointers. 
       Run-time type checking of pointers. 
       Automatic documentation generation in ASCII, LaTeX, or HTML. 
       Extends common applications including tclsh, wish, and expect. 
       Can be extended to support new target languages.