Re: Converting Python code to C/C++
Kurt Smith
Pikler<Andras...@students.olin.edu> wrote:
> Hi!
>
>
>
> Short: I need to turn a Python program that I (mostly) wrote into C code,
> and I am at a loss.
>
>
>
> Long: I’m doing research/programming for a professor, and we are working
> with MIDI files (a type of simple music file). The research deals with
> generating variations from a musical melody; currently, my Python code uses
> a Python midi package I found online to read the notes in question from a
> midi file, about 350 lines of my own code to generate a variation based on
> these notes and the professor’s algorithms, and finally the package again to
> write the new melody to another midi file.
>
>
>
> Now, my professor would like to have this exact code in C/C++, as she
> believes C is more compatible with MATLAB, and wants the code to be
> available in multiple languages in case a programmer works for her in the
> future who knows C but not Python. While I know a tiny bit of C (emphasis on
> the tiny), I would much prefer if there were some sort of automatic compiler
> I could use to turn my Python code into C than taking a week or two or three
> to learn the minimum I need about C, find a way to access MIDI files in it,
> and rewrite all of my code.
>
>
>
> After some googling, I found and tried Shedskin, but it doesn’t work, as the
> Python midi package I’m using uses modules which Shedskin does not support.
> Otherwise, I haven’t found much. Is there anything out there to help me do
> this? If not, from anyone who has experience in this regard, how daunting
> should I expect this to be?
Taking on C from a cold start and being able to handle the ins and
outs of interfacing with Python isn't something that's feasible in
'two or three weeks'. Here are a couple of options -- take 'em or
leave 'em:
1) Put the code in Cython: http://www.cython.org/ (full disclosure:
I'm doing a GSoC project with Cython). It will convert pretty much
any python code into C code (even closures are supported in the most
recent version, I think), and the C code can then be compiled into an
extension module.
The only problem with the above is the C code isn't, at first blush,
easy to read. Nor is it supposed to be changed by the user. So that
leads us to option...
2) Write the core functionality in C yourself, and then wrap those C
functions in Cython. You'll want to take a look at the documentation:
and, more specifically on wrapping C code:
http://docs.cython.org/docs/external_C_code.html
I don't think you'll be able to avoid learning C, though.
Kurt
Couper, Tim T
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2000-June/039779.html
My experience is that developers who know C and C++ can be productive in
less than 1 week in python, and find it liberating, and educational, to
do so. And at the same time they will have added a second language to
their toolbox. As Kurt points out, learning C/C++ takes considerably
longer (weeks/months to attain a level of competence).
Python is now used in a number of universities as the language in which
to teach comp sci undergraduate courses (I know of Leeds, & MIT),
biomathematics, and my daughter just finished her PhD in speech and
language processing at Edinburgh .. using python and Matplotlib .. as
the extensive C/C++ libraries in that infomatics world are wrapped in
python - and the MSc Comp Sci course has replaced Java as the language
for teaching with Python.
Dr Tim Couper
http://docs.cython.org/docs/external_C_code.html
Kurt
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
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Grant Edwards
> Your prof. may find this thread of interest
>
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2000-June/039779.html
>
> My experience is that developers who know C and C++ can be productive in
> less than 1 week in python, and find it liberating, and educational, to
> do so. And at the same time they will have added a second language to
> their toolbox. As Kurt points out, learning C/C++ takes considerably
> longer (weeks/months to attain a level of competence).
I agree. Your professor is deluded and knows nothing about
software development [not that either is particularly unusual
in an academic setting]. Converting a Python program to C or
C++ is a complete waste of time (both now _and_ later) unless
there are severe, insurmountable performance problems with the
Python version.
Python is a far, far better language for both real-world
production application development and for algorithm R&D. With
Python, you spend your time working on algorithms and solving
real-world problems. In C or C++, you spend your time fighting
with the bugs in your code that are preventing the program from
running. An algorithm that takes a few hours to implement and
test in Python will take weeks in C or C++.
That said, you'll be niether the first nor last person to be
forced by a professor or manager to waste weeks or months of
time doing something that's obviously stupid and futile from a
technical point of view.
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! What's the MATTER
at Sid? ... Is your BEVERAGE
visi.com unsatisfactory?
bobicanprogram
3) use Python-SIMPL to connect your C module to your Python module
using a 5 function API without any need for wrappers. ie. have your
cake and eat it too
http://www.icanprogram.com/06py/main.html
bob
Scott David Daniels
> ... My experience is that developers who know C and C++ can be productive
> in less than 1 week in python, and find it liberating, and educational, to
> do so. And at the same time they will have added a second language to
> their toolbox. As Kurt points out, learning C/C++ takes considerably
> longer (weeks/months to attain a level of competence).
Yup. Remember that "be productive" is not quite the same as "master."
The nice thing is that the mastery comes on a gentle slope, adding to
your productivity without requiring drastic rethinking of all you
understood (as is done to physics students, for example).
> Python is now used in a number of universities as the language in which
> to teach comp sci undergraduate courses (I know of Leeds, & MIT),
> biomathematics, and my daughter just finished her PhD in speech and
> language processing at Edinburgh .. using python and Matplotlib .. as
> the extensive C/C++ libraries in that infomatics world are wrapped in
> python - and the MSc Comp Sci course has replaced Java as the language
> for teaching with Python.
As a data point, Georgia Tech (I believe) had a two-semester Computer
Science intro course in C++. In introducing a Python intro course, they
provided for a few years both the Python and the C++ first semester,
and kept the C++ second semester. They found no measurable difference
in the performance on the second course (still in C++) even though the
Python course people had to learn a new language in addition to learning
the rest of the coursework. The first course is now in Python, since
at the end of the two-semester sequence they know two languages and
apparently suffer no compensating loss.
--Scott David Daniels
Scott....@Acm.Org
Terry Reedy
>> Short: I need to turn a Python program that I (mostly) wrote into C
>> code, and I am at a loss.
>>
>> believes C is more compatible with MATLAB, and wants the code to be
>> available in multiple languages in case a programmer works for her in
>> the future who knows C but not Python. While I know a tiny bit of C
>> (emphasis on the tiny),
Your professor should wait until your Python version is complete and in
final form and until a C version is needed. Then hire someone competent
in both languages to do the translation.
Grant Edwards
> Your professor should wait until your Python version is complete and in
> final form and until a C version is needed. Then hire someone competent
> in both languages to do the translation.
Professor... hire...
Good one! :)
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! BARRY ... That was
at the most HEART-WARMING
visi.com rendition of "I DID IT MY
WAY" I've ever heard!!
Neuruss
There's another (very good) option: Try shedskin http://code.google.com/p/shedskin/
.
Shedskin can compile a whole program or part of it as an extension
module.
It translates python code to c++ and compiles it.
The good thing is that you don't have to know anything about c or c++.
You simply have to restrict your coding style a little bit to make it
explicitly static.
For example: if you declare a = 5, that means that "a" is an integer,
so you cannot then change it to a string (a = "hello", won't work).
Luis
Carl Banks
> On 2009-06-24, Couper, Tim T <Tim.Cou...@standardbank.com> wrote:
>
> > Your prof. may find this thread of interest
>
> >http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2000-June/039779.html
>
> > My experience is that developers who know C and C++ can be productive in
> > less than 1 week in python, and find it liberating, and educational, to
> > do so. And at the same time they will have added a second language to
> > their toolbox. As Kurt points out, learning C/C++ takes considerably
> > longer (weeks/months to attain a level of competence).
>
> I agree. Your professor is deluded and knows nothing about
> software development [not that either is particularly unusual
> in an academic setting]. Converting a Python program to C or
> C++ is a complete waste of time (both now _and_ later) unless
> there are severe, insurmountable performance problems with the
> Python version.
What if the point of asking a student to convert Python to C is to
teach them this:
> Python is a far, far better language for both real-world
> production application development and for algorithm R&D. With
> Python, you spend your time working on algorithms and solving
> real-world problems. In C or C++, you spend your time fighting
> with the bugs in your code that are preventing the program from
> running. An algorithm that takes a few hours to implement and
> test in Python will take weeks in C or C++.
If that [teaching them this] is the case, it might be best use of time
they will ever have.
Carl Banks