[fetter-devel] Question

[C Y]

I'm not really technically qualified to discuss FFIs, but I do have an
interst in them as a possible future aid to the Maxima project.  I have
a question as to the "scale" of FFIs, and it looks like this is the
place to ask :-).

AFAICT, there seem to be two levels, or maybe philosophies, to Lisp FFI
interactions.  The first is low level, doing the minimal mapping needed
to be able to interact with foreign library constructs in Lisp.  The
second is much higher level (and maybe more ambitious?) - to make
interacting with the library in question a "lisp-like" experience -
i.e. the interaction between programmer and library takes place at a
level where the details of the foreign nature of the library can be
safely ignored.  Have I understood this correctly?

If so, my question is whether these goals are complementary or mutually
exclusive.  I have heard good things about both Allegro's and Clisp's
FFIs, but IIRC those are both "high level."  Is there some reason the
"high level" activity can't be built on the lower level work, with both
accessable?

I apologize if this is obvious or the wrong place to ask what must be a
rather basic question.

Cheers,
CY

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