Expert Python Programming - Second Edition

Interfacing with dynamic libraries without extensions

Thanks to ctypes (a module in the standard library) or cffi (an external package), you can integrate just about every compiled dynamic/shared library in Python no matter in what language it was written. And you can do that in pure Python without any compilation steps, so this is an interesting alternative to writing extensions in C.

This does not mean you don't need to know anything about C. Both solutions require from you a reasonable understanding of C and how dynamic libraries work in general. On the other hand, they remove the burden of dealing with Python reference counting and greatly reduce the risk of making painful mistakes. Also interfacing with C code through ctypes or cffi is more ...