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Programming Python, Second Edition
book

Programming Python, Second Edition

by Mark Lutz
March 2001
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
1296 pages
38h 8m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Programming Python, Second Edition

Chapter 20. Embedding Python

“Add Python. Mix Well. Repeat.”

In the last chapter, we explored half of the Python/C integration picture -- calling C services from Python. This mode lets programmers speed up operations by moving them to C, and utilize external libraries by wrapping them in C extension modules and types. But the inverse can be just as useful -- calling Python from C. By delegating selected components of an application to embedded Python code, we can open them up to onsite changes without having to ship a system’s code.

This chapter tells this other half of the Python/C integration tale. It introduces the Python C interfaces that make it possible for programs written in C-compatible languages to run Python program code. In this mode, Python acts as an embedded control language (what some call a “macro” language). Although embedding is mostly presented in isolation here, keep in mind that Python’s integration support is best viewed as a whole. A system’s structure usually determines an appropriate integration approach: C extensions, embedded code calls, or both. To wrap up, this chapter concludes by discussing a handful of larger integration platforms, such as COM and JPython, that present broader component integration possibilities.

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596000855Supplemental ContentCatalog PageErrata