Is it possible these days to write perl code and then turn it in
to C++ that one could then put in to a C++ program?
I am writing a c++ program that will deal with PCM audio
and alsa sound functions which are good at managing sound cards
so that one can get a stream of binary audio from the card at the
rate and format for the job at hand.
C++ and gcc are both very good at this with c++ being a
little more useful in compiling routines that access the right
libraries.
Perl, on the other hand is wonderful at munching and
crunching text such as text-based configuration files in which
one usually reads a string and splits it based on delimiters to
assign values to one's program.
The hope, here, is to use the strengths of perl to write
code that does what I want for handling configuration files and
then use c++ for the logic of the sound handler where it really
shines.
In c++, one certainly can write code to open and read
text files but making something good happen in c++ takes longer
and what one ends up with is not nearly as nice as what one gets
with the string handling functions that are part of perl.
What is ironic is that perl uses these functions in C so
basically, I am trying to find a lazier way to get past the
opening part of my program. The configuration part happens right
as the program starts and is never needed after that point. The
C++ part, on the other hand runs after all the values are set
until one kills the program.
Unless I am missing something, there don't seem to be
many sound modules in perl because they would have to work in
unix and Windows environments so I am not complaining but perl
also can do bit-wise binary operations so I looked in to seeing
if my sound handler could be written in perl but you'd have to
use system calls to aplay and arecord or start from bare metal to
get the same function that aplay and arecord give you. You can
do that but aplay and arecord are already there and work fine so
there is no reason to reinvent the wheel.
I could be wrong about everything I have just written so
I am looking for ideas.
The C programming for handling the sound is nothing
fancy, mainly splitting the left and right channels from the
standard 32-bit int that sound cards generate with each sample.
Also, the samples are 16 bits and communications-grade sound can
work with 8-bit samples so all one has to do there is just use the
upper 8 bits for the actual PCM audio.
I am interested in any constructive ideas as to how to
take advantage of the easier text handling of perl but use the
binary features of c for the actual engine that reads the sound
and stores it in files.
Many thanks.
Martin McCormick
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