--- /dev/null
+.. highlight:: cython
+
+.. _overview:
+
+********
+Welcome!
+********
+
+===============
+What is Cython?
+===============
+
+Cython is a programming language based on Python
+with extra syntax to provide static type declarations.
+
+================
+What Does It Do?
+================
+
+It takes advantage of the benefits of Python while allowing one to achieve the speed of C.
+
+============================
+How Exactly Does It Do That?
+============================
+
+The source code gets translated into optimized C/C++
+code and compiled as Python extension modules.
+
+This allows for both very fast program execution and tight
+integration with external C libraries, while keeping
+up the high *programmer productivity* for which the
+Python language is well known.
+
+=============
+Tell Me More!
+=============
+
+The Python language is well known.
+
+The primary Python execution environment is commonly referred to as CPython, as it is written in
+C. Other major implementations use:
+
+:Java: Jython [#Jython]_
+:C#: IronPython [#IronPython]_)
+:Python itself: PyPy [#PyPy]_
+
+Written in C, CPython has been
+conducive to wrapping many external libraries that interface through the C language. It has, however, remained non trivial to write the necessary glue code in
+C, especially for programmers who are more fluent in a
+high-level language like Python than in a do-it-yourself
+language like C.
+
+Originally based on the well-known Pyrex [#Pyrex]_, the
+Cython project has approached this problem by means
+of a source code compiler that translates Python code
+to equivalent C code. This code is executed within the
+CPython runtime environment, but at the speed of
+compiled C and with the ability to call directly into C
+libraries.
+
+At the same time, it keeps the original interface of the Python source code, which makes it directly
+usable from Python code. These two-fold characteristics enable Cython’s two major use cases:
+
+#. Extending the CPython interpreter with fast binary modules, and
+#. Interfacing Python code with external C libraries.
+
+While Cython can compile (most) regular Python
+code, the generated C code usually gains major (and
+sometime impressive) speed improvements from optional static type declarations for both Python and
+C types. These allow Cython to assign C semantics to
+parts of the code, and to translate them into very efficient C code.
+
+Type declarations can therefore be used
+for two purposes:
+
+#. For moving code sections from dynamic Python semantics into static-and-fast C semantics, but also for..
+#. Directly manipulating types defined in external libraries. Cython thus merges the two worlds into a very broadly applicable programming language.
+
+==================
+Where Do I Get It?
+==================
+
+Well.. at `cython.org <http://cython.org>`_.. of course!
+
+======================
+How Do I Report a Bug?
+======================
+
+=================================
+I Want To Make A Feature Request!
+=================================
+
+============================================
+Is There a Mail List? How Do I Contact You?
+============================================
+
+
+
+.. rubric:: Footnotes
+
+.. [#Jython] **Jython:** \J. Huginin, B. Warsaw, F. Bock, et al., Jython: Python for the Java platform, http://www.jython.org/
+
+.. [#IronPython] **IronPython:** Jim Hugunin et al., http://www.codeplex.com/IronPython.
+
+
+.. [#PyPy] **PyPy:** The PyPy Group, PyPy: a Python implementation written in Python, http://codespeak.net/pypy.
+
+.. [#Pyrex] **Pyrex:** G. Ewing, Pyrex: C-Extensions for Python, http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/greg.ewing/python/Pyrex/
+
+
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projects / cython.git / blobdiff