This part of the book explores Python's interfaces for in-process communication with software components written in other programming languages. Its emphasis is on mixing Python with programs written in C and C++, but other integration techniques are also introduced along the way. This part contains two chapters that address the two primary modes of Python/C integration:
Chapter 22, Extending Python
This chapter presents tools that allow Python scripts to call out to C components. C components take the form of new modules or object types. Extending is used as an optimization technique, as an escape mechanism for performing tasks outside the Python language, and as a way to leverage existing libraries. This chapter also covers SWIGa system that automatically generates the glue code needed to export C and C++ libraries to Python scripts and hides much of the complexity underlying extensions.
Chapter 23, Embedding Python
This chapter presents tools that allow C programs to execute Python scripts. These tools live in the Python runtime APIa collection of functions exposed by the Python interpreter and linked into your C/C++ program. Embedding is often used as a customization mechanism and for routing events back to Python code. This chapter concludes with a look at other integration topics and systems: Jython, COM, CORBA, and so on.
This part of the book assumes that you know how to read C programs, and it is useful mostly to developers responsible for implementing application integration layers that route control to and from Python scripts. Yet because C components are at the heart of many Python systems, a basic understanding of integration concepts can be useful even to scripters who code strictly in Python.
