Cython

Preface

There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.

Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you’re Dutch.

— T. Peters “The Zen of Python”

Cython: A Guide for Python Programmers covers all you need to know about the eponymous creole programming language and Python-to-C compiler. If you have heard of Cython and want to find out more, or if you have been using Cython and want to go deeper, then this book is for you.

Cython is not another experimental (and all too often minimally maintained) language x–to–language y compiler project. Neither is it limited to an interesting research project that never achieves widespread use. Cython is an integral part of foundational projects in the Python world. It is battle-tested in real-world environments, and it continues to innovate to provide better performance, greater ease of use, and better coverage of new Python features.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is for you if:

• While programming Python, you have thought, “These nested for loops would run hundreds of times faster in C, but the hassle isn’t worth it.”
• You have considered using PyPy, Numba, or even Julia but want something more mature and with better support tools.
• You have ever wished Python supported optional static typing to speed up the numeric expression that takes up 40 percent of your runtime.
• You use NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, a scikit, or some other data-intensive package and want to go beyond the prepackaged algorithms without compromising ...