GitLab

* `array_t(const object &)` now throws on error
* `array_t::ensure()` is intended for casters —- old constructor is
  deprecated
* `array` and `array_t` get default constructors (empty array)
* `array` gets a converting constructor
* `py::isinstance<array_T<T>>()` checks the type (but not flags)

There is only one special thing which must remain: `array_t` gets
its own `type_caster` specialization which uses `ensure` instead
of a simple check.

The pytype converting constructors are convenient and safe for user
code, but for library internals the additional type checks and possible
conversions are sometimes not desired. `reinterpret_borrow<T>()` and
`reinterpret_steal<T>()` serve as the low-level unsafe counterparts
of `cast<T>()`.

This deprecates the `object(handle, bool)` constructor.

Renamed `borrowed` parameter to `is_borrowed` to avoid shadowing
warnings on MSVC.

* Deprecate the `py::object::str()` member function since `py::str(obj)`
  is now equivalent and preferred

* Make `py::repr()` a free function

* Make sure obj.cast<T>() works as expected when T is a Python type

`obj.cast<T>()` should be the same as `T(obj)`, i.e. it should convert
the given object to a different Python type. However, `obj.cast<T>()`
usually calls `type_caster::load()` which only checks the type without
doing any actual conversion. That causes a very unexpected `cast_error`.
This commit makes it so that `obj.cast<T>()` and `T(obj)` are the same
when T is a Python type.

* Simplify pytypes converting constructor implementation

It's not necessary to maintain a full set of converting constructors
and assignment operators + const& and &&. A single converting const&
constructor will work and there is no impact on binary size. On the
other hand, the conversion functions can be significantly simplified.

Allows checking the Python types before creating an object instead of
after. For example:
```c++
auto l = list(ptr, true);
if (l.check())
   // ...
```
The above is replaced with:
```c++
if (isinstance<list>(ptr)) {
    auto l = reinterpret_borrow(ptr);
    // ...
}
```

This deprecates `py::object::check()`. `py::isinstance()` covers the
same use case, but it can also check for user-defined types:
```c++
class Pet { ... };
py::class_<Pet>(...);

m.def("is_pet", [](py::object obj) {
    return py::isinstance<Pet>(obj); // works as expected
});
```

* Also added unsafe version without checks

(avoid code bloat if possible)

NumPy internals are stored under "_numpy_internals" key.

PYBIND11_NUMPY_DTYPE_EX(Type, F1, "N1", F2, "N2", ...)

This avoid a hashmap lookup since the pointer to the list of
direct converters is now cached in the typeinfo.

We have various classes that have non-explicit constructors that accept
a single argument, which is implicitly making them implicitly
convertible from the argument.  In a few cases, this is desirable (e.g.
implicit conversion of std::string to py::str, or conversion of double
to py::float_); in many others, however, it is unintended (e.g. implicit
conversion of size_t to some pre-declared py::array_t<T> type).

This disables most of the unwanted implicit conversions by marking them
`explicit`, and comments the ones that are deliberately left implicit.

This convenience function ensures that a py::object is either a
py::array, or the implementation will try to convert it into one. Layout
requirements (such as c_style or f_style) can be also be provided.

This patch adds an extra base handle parameter to most ``py::array`` and
``py::array_t<>`` constructors. If specified along with a pointer to
data, the base object will be registered within NumPy, which increases
the base's reference count. This feature is useful to create shallow
copies of C++ or Python arrays while ensuring that the owners of the
underlying can't be garbage collected while referenced by NumPy.

The commit also adds a simple test function involving a ``wrap()``
function that creates shallow copies of various N-D arrays.

This also adds the `hasattr` and `getattr` functions which are needed
with the new attribute behavior. The new functions behave exactly like
their Python counterparts.

Similarly `object` gets a `contains` method which calls `__contains__`,
i.e. it's the same as the `in` keyword in Python.

If operators.h is included, int_ function in the `detail`
namespace will shadow pybind11::int_ type, so the fully qualified
name has to be used.

This is required since format descriptors for string types that
were using PYBIND11_DESCR were causing problems on C++14 on Linux.

Although this is technically a breaking change, it shouldn't cause
problems since the only use of format strings is passing them to
buffer_info constructor which expects std::string.

Note: for non-structured types, the const char * value is still
accessible via ::value for compatibility purpose.