Re: Guile idea list

[Jim Blandy <jimb@red-bean.com>]

> > ABI-conformant packed data structure interface 
> 
> Excuse me but what is a "ABI"? 

"Application Binary Interface".  It's the document which gives the
details of how the C types are implemented on a given processor.  It
specifies type sizes, structure packing, bitfield numbering, the stack
layout, and so on.

Basically, if we want to be able to parse C struct declarations and
generate code that will manipulate those types, we need to know
how the C compiler maps a given declaration onto the bits.  That's
what the ABI specifies.