Cython and C++ inheritance

Question

I have 2 classes, A and B. B inherits from A.

//C++    
class A
{
    public:
        int getA() {return this->a;};
        A() {this->a = 42;}
    private:
        int a;

};

class B: public A
{
    public:
       B() {this->b = 111;};
       int getB() {return this->b;};
    private:
        int b;

};

Now I would like to interface those two classes using Cython and have the possibility to call the getA() method from a B instance:

a = PyA()
b = PyB()
assert a.getA() == b.getA()

Currently my pyx file looks like this:

cdef extern from "Inherit.h" :
    cdef cppclass A:
       int getA()

    cdef cppclass B(A):
       int getB()


cdef class PyA:
    cdef A* thisptr

    def __cinit__(self):
       print "in A: allocating thisptr"
       self.thisptr = new A()
    def __dealloc__(self):
       if self.thisptr:
           print "in A: deallocating thisptr"
           del self.thisptr

    def getA(self):
       return self.thisptr.getA()

cdef class PyB(PyA):
    def __cinit__(self):
       if self.thisptr:
          print "in B: deallocating old A"
          del self.thisptr
       print "in B: creating new b"
       self.thisptr = new B()

    def __dealloc__(self):
       if self.thisptr:
           print "in B: deallocating thisptr"
           del self.thisptr
           self.thisptr = <A*>0

    def getB(self):
       return (<B*>self.thisptr).getB()

While I hope this code is not doing anything too dangerous, I also hope there is a better way to handle it.

Also using the module generates the following output:

>>> from inherit import *
>>> b = PyB()
in A: allocating thisptr
in B: deallocating old A
in B: creating new b
>>> b.getA()
42
>>> b.getB()
111
>>> del b
in B: deallocating thisptr

And I don't really like allocating an A instance just to free it immediately after.

Any advice about how to do it correctly ?

Answer 1

I make some experiments, and have quite ready answer but now i see where is the problem:

If your extension type has a base type, the __cinit__ method of the base type is automatically called before your __cinit__ method is called; you cannot explicitly call the inherited __cinit__ method.

So the real problem is that Cython types still do not have constructors, only pre initializer hook __cinit__ which behave more like default constructors. You cannot call virtual method from constructor and you cannot call it from __cinit__ either (if you make a call, it behave like non virtual).

Somehow inside __cinit__ the type(self) return correct type object, but it is useless. Cython do not have static fields, methods and type object can be only instance of type (no metaclasses). Python @staticmethod is easy overridable, so it is useless.

So there is no other way like to put allocation inside def __init__(self):, and check for initialized thisptr wherever you use it.

You may consider creating a global dummy C++ object, and assign it to thisptr to avoid checking and crashing. There are no post initializer hook, so you will be unable to check if correct initialization already have taken place.