3240ac0080
5a: record {.ffiHost.} procs in a compile-time registry (FFIHostMeta /
ffiHostRegistry), populated by the macro, so generators can see host fns.
5b: the Go generator emits an idiomatic wrapper over the host C ABI:
- a single //export cgo trampoline backs every host fn; a cgo.Handle in
userData selects the Go closure;
- the closure runs on a fresh GOROUTINE so the FFI thread is never blocked
(the non-blocking contract), then answers via <lib>_host_complete by token;
- a per-host `Set<Name>(func(string) (string, error))` method registers it.
Validated end to end with `go run` (examples/host_demo): Go UseToken -> Nim
{.ffi.} handler -> await fetchToken {.ffiHost.} -> Go trampoline -> goroutine
runs the closure -> host_complete -> future resolves on the loop thread ->
"token[TOK-session]" back in Go. Timer's Go output is unchanged (no host fns);
its regenerated .h just gains the always-exported host ABI decls.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
timer example
This example is a self-contained Nimble project demonstrating how to import nim-ffi and use the .ffiCtor. / .ffi. abstraction.
Two ABIs, one library
Every generated library exports two ABIs side by side, and you choose per call site:
| ABI | Header / symbols | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Native (pure C) | <lib>.h / <name> |
Same-process / local calls. Flat C structs by value, zero serialization. |
| CBOR | <lib>_cbor.h / <name>_cbor |
Inter-process communication only — a different process or machine, where the request must be serialized to cross the boundary. |
In a shared address space the CBOR round-trip is pure overhead, so default to the native ABI locally and reach for CBOR only when you actually cross a process/machine boundary (see ipc/). The per-language examples below: native C (c_bindings/), native Go (go_bindings/), native/CBOR C++ (cpp_bindings/), CBOR Rust (rust_client/), and CBOR-over-socket IPC (ipc/).
Usage
-
Change into the example directory:
cd examples/timer -
Install the local
ffidependency:nimble install -y ../.. -
Build the example library:
nimble build -
Generate bindings:
nimble genbindings_rust nimble genbindings_cpp
Rust example clients
The Rust client lives in examples/timer/rust_client.
-
Run the sync example:
cd examples/timer/rust_client cargo run --bin rust_client -
Run the Tokio example:
cd examples/timer/rust_client cargo run --bin tokio_client
C++ example
The generated C++ example lives in examples/timer/cpp_bindings.
Build and run it with:
cd examples/timer/cpp_bindings
cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build
./build/example