Extending and Embedding the Python Interpreter

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1. Extending Python with C or C++

It is quite easy to add new built-in modules to Python, if you know how to program in C. Such extension modules can do two things that can't be done directly in Python: they can implement new built-in object types, and they can call C library functions and system calls.

To support extensions, the Python API (Application Programmers Interface) defines a set of functions, macros and variables that provide access to most aspects of the Python run-time system. The Python API is incorporated in a C source file by including the header "Python.h".

The compilation of an extension module depends on its intended use as well as on your system setup; details are given in later chapters.

• 1.1 A Simple Example
• 1.2 Intermezzo: Errors and Exceptions
• 1.3 Back to the Example
• 1.4 The Module's Method Table and Initialization Function
• 1.5 Compilation and Linkage
• 1.6 Calling Python Functions from C
• 1.7 Extracting Parameters in Extension Functions
• 1.8 Keyword Parameters for Extension Functions
• 1.9 Building Arbitrary Values
• 1.10 Reference Counts
  • 1.10.1 Reference Counting in Python
  • 1.10.2 Ownership Rules
  • 1.10.3 Thin Ice
  • 1.10.4 NULL Pointers
• 1.11 Writing Extensions in C++
• 1.12 Providing a C API for an Extension Module

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Extending and Embedding the Python Interpreter

Previous: Contents Up: Extending and Embedding the Next: 1.1 A Simple Example

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Release 2.3, documentation updated on July 29, 2003.