Build your Python Extensions with Rust!

Paul Ganssle

All Other Programming Languages C-Languages Rust

See in schedule

When your Python needs to be fast, one powerful tool is the ability to write compiled extension modules. Normally this is done using the C API, but that requires managing reference counts and memory allocation and is nearly impossible to do *correctly* for non-trivial programs. In this talk, we'll look at how you can write extension modules in Rust - a memory-safe systems programming language that is increasingly popular as a replacement for C and C++, and the [most loved language in the Stack Overflow developer survey 4 years running](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#technology-_-most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted-languages).

This talk will focus on `pyo3` and `milksnake`, two popular libraries that provide very different approaches for writing Rust extensions; it will cover a basic introduction to the libraries, and compare their relative strengths and weaknesses. These will also be compared to C and Cython extension modules from a performance, safety and maintainability perspective.
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Type: Talk (30 mins); Python level: Intermediate; Domain level: Intermediate