Compile Python module to C extension

I found an interesting blog post: You Should Compile Your Python And Here’s Why. In short: if you have a type-annotated Python code (mypy), then with the command mypyc you can compile it to a C extension. Under Linux, the result will be an .so file, which is a binary format.

Here you can find a concrete example: https://github.com/jabbalaci/SpeedTests/tree/master/python3

Steps:

• We need a type-annotated source code (example). It’s enough to add type hints to functions. It’s not necessary to annotate every single variable.
• Compile it (mypyc main.py). The result is an .so file.
• You can import the .so file as if it were a normal Python module.
• If your project consists of just one file (main.py) that you compiled, here is a simple launcher for it:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

python3 -c "import main; main.main()"

If you do a lot of computation in a function, then with this trick you can make it 4-5 times faster.

I don’t think I would use it very often, but it’s good to know that this thing exists. And all you have to do is to add type hints to your code.

Links

• You Should Compile Your Python And Here’s Why
• mypyc documentation