[pyorbit] pyIDL

[Justin Bradford]

> Anyway, enough jabbering; I'm here to help hack code if you need it. I'd
> be more than happy to help write the idl compiler - I've got very quick
> at it in the last couple of months!

The current IDL compiler is limited. Michael had started on struct
support, but the source code died in a vi crash. Core dumps from that are
under the misc/ directory.

If you're up to writing a new compiler, then great. I had been planning to
explore pyIDL when I got to the compiler, anyway. I see Jeff has given you
CVS access, so feel free to make a new directory and start committing 
code.

> Do you have any plans for a dynamic client side? Something which looks
> up type information in the IR so that you don't have to compile IDL for
> client side stubs would be really cool!

That's our most requested feature, so we'll get it in eventually.

I'm busy this week with school work, but this weekend I'm planning on a
mild tree cleanup. I haven't looked at what James has committed yet for
building, but I'm going to move it over to autoconf/automake.

After that, I'll work on a plan for IR support and dynamic clients. Input
is welcome.

Also, if anyone finds limitations, bugs, or incompatibilities with the OMG
spec, send them to the list. By now, there are probably people on the list
who know the current code better than I do.

Justin