If you’re new to this whole thing, let me tell ya, it can get pretty ***** complicated. But don’t be spooked, we’ve got your back! We’ll walk you through everything step by step and make sure you don’t get lost in all those fancy C terms.
To set the stage: what exactly are Python C extension types? Well, they’re basically a way to write code in C that can be used within Python. This is useful for when you need to interface with existing C libraries or if you want to optimize some of your Python code by writing it in C instead.
Now let’s get started! First, create a new directory and navigate into it using the terminal:
# This script creates a new directory called "my_extension" and navigates into it using the "cd" command.
# First, create a new directory called "my_extension"
mkdir my_extension
# Then, navigate into the newly created directory using the "cd" command
cd my_extension/
Next, initialize a virtual environment to avoid conflicts with your Python environment:
# This script initializes a virtual environment to avoid conflicts with the Python environment.
# First, it creates a virtual environment named ".venv" using the "venv" module of Python 3.
python3 -m venv .venv
# Then, it activates the virtual environment by sourcing the "activate" script located in the ".venv/bin" directory.
source .venv/bin/activate
Now let’s create our setup.py file. This is where we’ll define all the details about our extension module, including its name and source code files. Here’s an example:
# Importing the necessary module for creating a setup file
from setuptools import setup
# Importing the os module for accessing operating system functionalities
import os
# Defining the details of our extension module
setup(
# Name of the extension module
name='my_extension',
# Version of the extension module
version='0.1',
# Description of the extension module
description='A simple Python C extension type.',
# List of extension modules to be included
ext_modules=[
# Dictionary containing the name and source code files of the extension module
{
# Name of the extension module
'name': 'fputs_ext',
# List of source code files for the extension module
'sources': ['fputs.c']
}
]
)
In this example, we’re creating an extension module called fputs_ext that uses the source code file fputs.c. You can replace these values with your own as needed.
Now let’s create our C source code file:
// This script creates an extension module called fputs_ext that uses the source code file fputs.c
// Include necessary libraries
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
// Define the method for fputs
static PyObject* method_fputs(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
const char *str; // Declare a variable to store the string
FILE *file; // Declare a variable to store the file
int len; // Declare a variable to store the length of the string
// Parse the arguments passed to the method
if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "sO", &str, &file)) {
return NULL;
}
// Use the fputs function to write the string to the file
len = fputs(str, file);
// Return the length of the string
Py_RETURN_LONG(len);
}
This code defines a single function called method_fputs that takes two arguments: the string to write and the file to write it to. It then calls the C library function fputs() to perform the actual writing, and returns the number of bytes written as an integer.
Now let’s compile our extension module using setuptools:
# This script compiles an extension module using setuptools.
# The module is built in-place, meaning it is built in the current directory.
# The first line specifies the interpreter to use, in this case python3.
# This ensures that the script is executed using the correct version of Python.
#!/bin/bash
# The next line calls the setup.py file, which contains the necessary instructions for building the extension module.
# The build_ext command is used to build the module, and the --inplace option specifies that it should be built in the current directory.
python3 setup.py build_ext --inplace
This will automatically detect that we have a C source code file and compile it into a Python-compatible format. The `–inplace` flag tells setuptools to install the compiled extension module directly in our current directory, which is useful for testing purposes.
Now let’s test out our new function! Open up your favorite Python interpreter:
# Import the compiled extension module "my_extension"
import my_extension
# Open a file named "test.txt" in write mode and assign it to the variable "file"
file = open('test.txt', 'w')
# Call the "fputs" function from the "my_extension" module, passing in the string "Hello, world!\n" and the file object "file" as arguments
my_extension.fputs("Hello, world!\n", file)
# Call the "fputs" function again, passing in the string "This is a test." and the file object "file" as arguments, and print the return value
print(my_extension.fputs("This is a test.", file))
# Close the file
file.close()
If everything works as expected, you should see “19” printed to the console (the number of bytes written), and when you open up test.txt, it should contain:
// This script prints "Hello, world!" and "This is a test." to the console and writes them to a file called "test.txt".
// Declares a function named "print" that takes in a parameter "message".
function print(message) {
// Prints the value of "message" to the console.
console.log(message);
// Returns the number of bytes written to the file.
return message.length;
}
// Calls the "print" function with the string "Hello, world!" as the argument.
print("Hello, world!");
// Calls the "print" function with the string "This is a test." as the argument.
print("This is a test.");
// Stores the returned value from the first "print" function call in a variable named "bytesWritten".
var bytesWritten = print("Hello, world!");
// Prints the value of "bytesWritten" to the console.
console.log(bytesWritten);
// Opens the file "test.txt" and writes the string "Hello, world!" to it.
// Note: This code assumes that the file already exists.
fs.writeFile("test.txt", "Hello, world!", function(err) {
// Checks for any errors while writing to the file.
if (err) {
// Prints the error message to the console.
console.log(err);
} else {
// If no errors, prints a success message to the console.
console.log("Successfully wrote to file!");
}
});
Congratulations, you’ve successfully created your first Python C extension type using setuptools! Let’s talk about raising exceptions and defining constants in our module.
To raise an exception from within our C code, we can use the PyErr_*() functions provided by the Python API:
// This function takes in a string and a file object as arguments and writes the string to the file.
static PyObject* method_fputs(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
const char *str; // Declaring a variable to store the string
FILE *file; // Declaring a variable to store the file object
int len; // Declaring a variable to store the length of the string
// Using PyArg_ParseTuple() to parse the arguments passed to the function
// "sO" specifies that the first argument is a string and the second argument is a Python object
// &str and &file are pointers to the variables where the parsed values will be stored
if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "sO", &str, &file)) {
return NULL; // If the parsing fails, return NULL
}
// Using fputs() to write the string to the file
len = fputs(str, file);
// Using PyErr_SetString() to raise an exception if the string is too short
PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "The string is too short.");
}
In this example, we’re using the `PyErr_SetString()` function to raise a ValueError with a custom message. If you try running our code again and pass in a shorter string than before, you should see an error message printed instead of the number of bytes written:
# Import the module "my_extension" to use its functions
import my_extension
# Open a file named "test.txt" in write mode and assign it to the variable "file"
file = open('test.txt', 'w')
# Use the "fputs" function from the "my_extension" module to write the string "H" to the file
my_extension.fputs("H", file)
# The above code will raise an error because the "fputs" function expects a string of more than one character to be written to the file.
# To avoid this error, we can pass in a longer string or use the "PyErr_SetString()" function to raise a ValueError with a custom message.
To define constants in our module, we can use the `PyModule_AddIntConstant()` function provided by the Python API:
// This function is used to get a constant value from our module.
static PyObject* method_get_constant(PyObject *self) {
// We define a static constant variable named MY_CONSTANT and assign it a value of 42.
static const int MY_CONSTANT = 42;
// We use the PyLong_FromLong() function from the Python API to convert the constant value to a Python long integer object.
return PyLong_FromLong(MY_CONSTANT);
}
In this example, we’re defining a new constant called `MY_CONSTANT` with the value of 42. We can then access this constant from within our Python code:
# Defining a new constant called MY_CONSTANT with the value of 42
MY_CONSTANT = 42
# Importing the module "my_extension" to access its functions
import my_extension
# Printing the value of the constant "MY_CONSTANT" by calling the function "get_constant" from the "my_extension" module
print(my_extension.get_constant())
And that’s it! You now have all the tools you need to create your own Python C extension types using setuptools. If you don’t want to write a full-blown C library just for this purpose, you can also use alternative libraries like ctypes or cffi instead.
But hey, that’s another tutorial for another day. For now, happy coding!