From: ara.t.howard@...
Date: 2006-12-13T08:19:43+09:00
Subject: Re: C => Ruby plus TCP serialization using Marshal.dump/load

On Wed, 13 Dec 2006, Nathan Baker wrote:

> Hey,
>
> We are writing an application that gets data from a C library, passes
> it through our Ruby framework and over the network, and then sends
> those data back down into the C library. We don't actually want to
> manipulate the data in Ruby, but we do want to be able to store them in
> an opaque blob and have them marshal correctly and arrive intact. It is
> also worth noting that we are trying to produce a generic framework, so
> we want to make no assumptions about the sort of data we might be
> getting from C.
>
> What is the best way to do this? We tried the naive approach, using
> Data_Wrap_Struct to pass the data into Ruby and then Data_Get_Struct to
> move the data back down to C, but then when we tried to serialize it
> using Marshal.dump, it failed (no marshal_dump is defined for class
> Object).
>
> Is there a relatively painless way to wrap data and pass them to Ruby
> in such a way that these data can then be serialized over the network?
>
> Thanks,
> Nathan

i think you really want to be using mmap.  that way there is no 'passing'.
the interface to mmap is as a string, so joel's comments there apply.  mmap is
avialible on nix or windoze.

cheers.

-a
-- 
if you find yourself slandering anybody, first imagine that your mouth is
filled with excrement.  it will break you of the habit quickly enough. - the
dalai lama