how to compile a C/C++ function for python

Question

I have a source code written in cpp that I want to compile and be readable in Python. Python must give 2 filenames as input and retrieve a matrix and a vector as output. If I had to do it in C/C++ I'd use 2 chars and 2 pointers but I don't know how a compiled C/C++ program can be seen for Python language.

I hope that someone can help me. Thank you very much.

You could do it with ctypes or a Python extension. The former would probably be quicker in terms of development. You build you C++ code into a DLL and export a single function. Read the ctypes documentation to learn how to get at it from Python. — David Heffernan
– David Heffernan, Commented Feb 18, 2012 at 17:21
Thank you very much for the link but I have some issues on compile as a shared library. How can I do on Mac OS? — Nicholas
– Nicholas, Commented Feb 19, 2012 at 11:39

Borealid · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-18 17:20:31Z

1

Try using Swig to generate the glue code necessary to call C/C++ code from Python. It's easier than writing the code yourself.

answered Feb 18, 2012 at 17:20

Borealid

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4 Comments

Nicholas Over a year ago

Thanks for the tip. I've installed swig on linux and it works perfectly, however on mac os I have some issues using the command ld -shared it says that it doesn't recognize -shared. How can I fix that?

Borealid Over a year ago

@Nicholas Why are you running ld by hand? You should do your linking with gcc or g++.

Nicholas Over a year ago

because I've found that on some website but it doesn't work on mac. Do you have any idea how to use gcc or g++ I don't know all the possible options. I'm a newbie

Borealid Over a year ago

@Nicholas The general procedure is something like this: run g++ -c -fPIC mylib_wrap.cxx -o mylib_wrap.os to compile the code (note the -c), then g++ -shared -o libmylib.so mylib_wrap.os to link. But I can't really give you a full guide here; there's plenty of information on the Internet.

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