[omniORB] omniORB3 build problem under Linux

[Duncan Grisby]

On Friday 28 April, Craig Rodrigues wrote:

> I really like the work you guys have done on omniORB, especially
> the new IDL compiler (I use it to catch errors that other IDL compilers
> like TAO and Visibroker let through).

Thanks!

> What advantages does Python give you for coding things like the IDL
> compiler?  Now, I'm motivated to learn Python...:)

Python just makes things like that easier!  Note that the IDL compiler
front end is written in C++ (with a flex/bison scanner/parser); only
the back-ends are written in Python. Python has nice clean syntax, and
very good string manipulation functions. It's much easier to do the
sort of string munging the IDL compiler has to do using Python than it
would be with C++, even if we used STL and C++ standard string (which
we don't because that would trigger loads of compiler problems).

Python has also proved to be extremely useful for testing CORBA
clients and servers, and experimenting with ideas. It's great to be
able to interactively poke at a server via Python's command line.

It's not the solution to everything, but I'd definitely recommend
learning Python, since it makes life much easier in lots of
circumstances.

Cheers,

Duncan.

-- 
 -- Duncan Grisby  \  Research Engineer  --
  -- AT&T Laboratories Cambridge          --
   -- http://www.uk.research.att.com/~dpg1 --