Cython is a tool that makes writing C extensions to Python as easy as writing Python
itself. This is the slogan to which Cython conforms. For those who don't know what
I am talking about, writing C extensions to Python from scratch is a fairly difficult
process; unless you really understand the Python-C API fully with respect to GIL
and garbage collection as well as managing your own reference counting, it's a very
difficult process.
I tend to consider Cython to be along these lines: what Jython is to Java and Python,
Cython is to C/C++ and Python. It allows us to extend and develop bindings to
applications in a really intuitive manner so that we are able to reuse code from levels
of the software stack. The Cython compiler compiles the Cython language or even
pure Python to a native C Python module, which can be loaded like any Python
module via the normal import. It not only generates all the wrapper and boilerplate
code, but also commands the Python garbage collector to add all the necessary
reference counting code.
What's interesting with the Cython language is that it has native support for
understanding C types and is able to juggle them from both languages. It's simply
an extension of Python that has additional keywords and some more constructs
and which allows you to call into C or Python.
