object-model: Wrapping Subversion C-structs in C++

For the C++ folks out there, I've got a question about an approach to
take on the object-model branch. At issue is how to wrap the various
C structures returned to callers, particularly in a backward
compatible manner. Currently, I'm looking at svn_wc_notify_t *. As I
see it, there are a few options:

1) Just wrap the pointer to the C struct as a member of the wrapper class.
    Pros: Easy to implement; lightweight constructor.
    Cons: Getters would need to translate to C++ types; would need to
implement a copy constructor which deep copies the C struct; would
also introduce pools, since creating and duplicating C structs
requires them.

2) Wrap each C struct member individually
    Pros: C->C++ complexity is constrained to the constructor,
everything else is C++ types
    Cons: Hard to extend for future compatibility

3) Just pass the C-struct pointer around; don't even bother with a class
    Pros: Dead simple.
    Cons: Requires more memory management thought by consumers; not
C++-y enough; may introduce wrapping difficulties.

I'd like to come up with something consistent, which would be used
throughout the C++ bindings. I'm also interested in a solution which
ensures the C++ bindings can be used as the basis for other
object-oriented bindings models (Python, Perl, etc.)

Thoughts?

-Hyrum
Received on 2010-09-22 18:35:55 CEST