Eliminate array resetting loop in _msg_support.c.em

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
72/100
Issue type
Refactor
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
c, python
Domain
tooling

Research direction

Start with rosidl_generator_py/resource/_msg_support.c.em at lines 589-608 and read the surrounding comment and array-handling code. Compare the available Python APIs against the project's supported Python versions, then verify that the generated message support code resets the array without the existing loop and preserves its behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

enhancement
Description

As comment in the following code suggested, there exists a part of the code that uses a less ideal way to reset the array.

https://github.com/ros2/rosidl_python/blob/01af6097d3ca820865df8826e43dafef51760275/rosidl_generator_py/resource/_msg_support.c.em#L589-L608

This part can be improved by replacing with either

  • PyObject * ret = PyObject_CallMethodNoArgs(field, "clear"); but this only works with Python 3.13 or higher (reference)
  • PySequence_DelSlice(field, 0, length) that should work in any Python version
Motivation

This is discovered and suggested in a review from PR #250

Design / Implementation Considerations

No response

Additional Information

No response

Dominant language
EmberScript
Stars
26
Forks
68
Avg merge
2d 13h
Merged PRs (30d)
1

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