2020-07-30 –, Green Track
In Julia 1.5, a new interface for calling dynamic libraries will be introduced: the @ccall macro. The talk goes over the new syntax, API and development process.
As I was learning Julia, I was delighted with the ease and speed with which the language could access C libraries, but I found the specific syntax of ccall a bit cumbersome. I created a simple macro to provide what I felt was a more "Julian" syntax ccall. What I came up turned out to be very similar to a syntax that Julia's core developers had discussed previously, so I began the process of getting my macro into the language. PR #32748
This short talk will cover the new syntax presented by @ccall, what new features it has that the original ccall doesn't, and also provide some reflections on making my first contribution to the language and the helpful guidance provided by the Julia team.
Aaron works at the Goethe University Library in Frankfurt on problems related writing systems of natural languages. Most of the work is in Python, but he enjoys sneaking in bits and bobs in Julia and OCaml when no one is looking. Outside of work, he has contributed to a refreshed C-calling interface for Julia 1.5 and answers way, way too many questions about Julia on Quora.