JuliaPy / JuliaPy/PythonCall.jl

More convenient conversion

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Langage dominant
Julia
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Merge moyen
1 j 22 h
PR mergées (30 j)
3

Description

First off, thanks for all the effort you've put into this package! It's been wonderfully useful, and the integration with CondaPkg is just :ok_hand:.

Unfortunately, at the moment, it feels like whenever I want to write functions that work with python, or (even worse) python *and* julia I have to engage in a somewhat annoying dance with `pyconvert`.

I can't help but feel that the situation could be much nicer.

### On `pyconvert` and `convert`

As an example consider if I want to write an MSE function that works with data from python and Julia. At the moment, I'd need to do something like this:

```julia
function mse(y, ŷ)
native_y = if y isa Py
pyconvert(Vector, y)
else y end
native_ŷ = if ŷ isa Py
pyconvert(Vector, ŷ)
else ŷ end
sum((native_y .- native_ŷ).^2)
end
```

I find myself regularly writing `convert` on instinct, getting method errors, and feeling tricked! — as that's the muscle memory I have in julia for "I want type X, I have y". From what I can tell, defining `Base.convert(T::Type, obj::Py)` wouldn't cause any issues, so I'm confused by why `pyconvert` actually exists?

Furthermore, since `convert(::Type{T}, t::T)` just returns `t`, it would allow for equivalent but much simpler code in quite a few places I think. Returning to the earlier example, the `mse` function could be rewritten as:

```julia
mse(y, ŷ) = sum((convert(Vector, y) .- convert(Vector, ŷ).^2)
```

I imagine this change could be made in a straightforward backwards compatible way like so:

```julia
Base.convert(T::Type, obj::Py) = pyconvert(T, obj)
```

### On type information

Currently, `Py` is a struct a single field and no parameters. I feel like it would be nice to expose python type information. Short of constructing a python type tree, perhaps it would be possible to cheaply encode some type information in a type parameter? Just as an example, say `Py` was changed to:

```julia
mutable struct Py{pytype}
ptr :: C.PyPtr
Py(::Val{:new}, ptr::C.PyPtr) = finalizer(py_finalizer, new(ptr))
end
```

From a quick benchmark, `pytype` seems very fast to run (10ns on my machine), perhaps it one could use this to populate `pytype` information? E.g. `Py{:list}`? There's likely a better way of doing this, it just occurs to me that something along these lines could be helpful. This definitely needs more thought.

### On automatic conversion

The fact that PythonCall does not eagerly make best-guess conversions from Python to Julia types has been quite good from a performance perspective, but I feel like there is still room for a convenience function to "just give me X in pure Julia form", say via a `pynative` function or similar.

It occurs to me that should `Py` have type annotations, as proposed earlier, then this might be able to be done quite cleanly with multiple dispatch.

```julia
pynative(juliatype::Any) = juliatype
pynative(::Py{T}) where {T} = throw(MethodError(pynative, Tuple{Py{T}}))
pynative(list::Py{:list}) = map(pynative, convert(Vector, list))
...
```

### On type promotion

I imagine guessing when it would make sense to convert to Julia would be a bit fraught, so while this would be nice theoretically, I have no particular ideas here.

Guide de contribution

Aucun guide de contribution indexé pour ce dépôt

Piste de recherche

Start with the issue's discussion of pyconvert, Base.convert, Py type parameters, and a possible pynative function; no source files or tests are identified. Compare these proposals and determine a focused, backward-compatible conversion design, with completion defined by an agreed scope and corresponding behavior.

Rédigé par le modèle d'indexation à partir du texte de l'issue.

Évaluation

Stack technique
julia, python
Domaine
api, backend
Type d'issue
Fonctionnalité
Difficulté
5/5
Temps estimé
Plus d'une semaine
Activité
À l'abandon
Clarté
À clarifier
Accessibilité débutants
25/100

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