Extending python – to swig, not to swig or Cython

If its not a big extension, boost::python might also be an option, it executes faster than swig, because you control what’s happening, but it’ll take longer to dev.

Anyways swig’s overhead is acceptable if the amount of work within a single call is large enough. For example if you issue is that you have some medium sized logic block you want to move to C/C++, but that block is called within a tight-loop, frequently, you might have to avoid swig, but I can’t really think of any real-world examples except for scripted graphics shaders.

You should consider Boost.Python if you are not planning to generate bindings for other languages as well with swig.

If you have a lot of functions and classes to bind, Py++ is a great tool that automatically generates the needed code to make the bindings.

Pybindgen may also be an option, but it’s a new project and less complete that Boost.Python.

Edit:

Maybe I need to be more explicit about pro and cons.

• Swig:

  pro: you can generate bindings for many scripting languages.

  cons: I don’t like the way the parser works. I don’t know if the made some progress but two years ago the C++ parser was quite limited. Most of the time I had to copy/past my .h headers add some % characters and give extra hints to the swig parser.

  I was also needed to deal with the Python C-API from time to time for (not so) complicated type conversions.

  I’m not using it anymore.

• Boost.Python:

  pro:
  It’s a very complete library. It allows you to do almost everything that is possible with the C-API, but in C++. I never had to write C-API code with this library. I also never encountered bug due to the library. Code for bindings either works like a charm or refuse compile.

  It’s probably one of the best solutions currently available if you already have some C++ library to bind. But if you only have a small C function to rewrite, I would probably try with Cython.

  cons: if you don’t have a pre-compiled Boost.Python library you’re going to use Bjam (sort of make replacement). I really hate Bjam and its syntax.

  Python libraries created with B.P tend to become obese. It also takes a lot of time to compile them.

• Py++ (discontinued): it’s Boost.Python made easy. Py++ uses a C++ parser to read your code and then generates Boost.Python code automatically. You also have a great support from its author (no it’s not me 😉 ).

  cons: only the problems due to Boost.Python itself. Update: As of 2014 this project now looks discontinued.

• Pybindgen:

  It generates the code dealing with the C-API. You can either describe functions and classes in a Python file, or let Pybindgen read your headers and generate bindings automatically (for this it uses pygccxml, a python library wrote by the author of Py++).

  cons: it’s a young project, with a smaller team than Boost.Python. There are still some limitations: you cannot use multiple inheritance for your C++ classes, Callbacks (not automatically, custom callback handling code can be written, though). Translation of Python exceptions to C.

  It’s definitely worth a good look.

• A new one:
  On 2009/01/20 the author of Py++ announced a new package for interfacing C/C++ code with python. It is based on ctypes. I didn’t try it already but I will! Note: this project looks discontiued, as Py++.

• CFFI: I did not know the existence of this one until very recently so for now I cannot give my opinion. It looks like you can define C functions in Python strings and call them directly from the same Python module.

• Cython: This is the method I’m currently using in my projects. Basically you write code in special .pyx files. Those files are compiled (translated) into C code which in turn are compiled to CPython modules.
  Cython code can look like regular Python (and in fact pure Python are valid .pyx Cython files), but you can also more information like variable types. This optional typing allows Cython to generate faster C code. Code in Cython files can call both pure Python functions but also C and C++ functions (and also C++ methods).

  It took me some time to think in Cython, that in the same code call C and C++ function, mix Python and C variables, and so on. But it’s a very powerful language, with an active (in 2014) and friendly community.

Before giving up on your python code, have a look at ShedSkin. They claim better performance than Psyco on some code (and also state that it is still experimental).

Else, there are several choices for binding C/C++ code to python.

Boost is lengthy to compile but is really the most flexible and easy to use solution.

I have never used SWIG but compared to boost, it’s not as flexible as it’s generic binding framework, not a framework dedicated to python.

Next choice is Pyrex. It allows to write pseudo python code that gets compiled as a C extension.

Using Cython is pretty good. You can write your C extension with a Python-like syntax and have it generate C code. Boilerplate included. Since you have the code already in python, you have to do just a few changes to your bottleneck code and C code will be generated from it.

Example. hello.pyx:

cdef int hello(int a, int b):
    return a + b

That generates 601 lines of boilerplate code:

/* Generated by Cython 0.10.3 on Mon Jan 19 08:24:44 2009 */

#define PY_SSIZE_T_CLEAN
#include "Python.h"
#include "structmember.h"
#ifndef PY_LONG_LONG
  #define PY_LONG_LONG LONG_LONG
#endif
#ifndef DL_EXPORT
  #define DL_EXPORT(t) t
#endif
#if PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x02040000
  #define METH_COEXIST 0
#endif
#if PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x02050000
  typedef int Py_ssize_t;
  #define PY_SSIZE_T_MAX INT_MAX
  #define PY_SSIZE_T_MIN INT_MIN
  #define PyInt_FromSsize_t(z) PyInt_FromLong(z)
  #define PyInt_AsSsize_t(o)   PyInt_AsLong(o)
  #define PyNumber_Index(o)    PyNumber_Int(o)
  #define PyIndex_Check(o)     PyNumber_Check(o)
#endif
#if PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x02060000
  #define Py_REFCNT(ob) (((PyObject*)(ob))->ob_refcnt)
  #define Py_TYPE(ob)   (((PyObject*)(ob))->ob_type)
  #define Py_SIZE(ob)   (((PyVarObject*)(ob))->ob_size)
  #define PyVarObject_HEAD_INIT(type, size) 
          PyObject_HEAD_INIT(type) size,
  #define PyType_Modified(t)

  typedef struct {
       void *buf;
       PyObject *obj;
       Py_ssize_t len;
       Py_ssize_t itemsize;
       int readonly;
       int ndim;
       char *format;
       Py_ssize_t *shape;
       Py_ssize_t *strides;
       Py_ssize_t *suboffsets;
       void *internal;
  } Py_buffer;

  #define PyBUF_SIMPLE 0
  #define PyBUF_WRITABLE 0x0001
  #define PyBUF_LOCK 0x0002
  #define PyBUF_FORMAT 0x0004
  #define PyBUF_ND 0x0008
  #define PyBUF_STRIDES (0x0010 | PyBUF_ND)
  #define PyBUF_C_CONTIGUOUS (0x0020 | PyBUF_STRIDES)
  #define PyBUF_F_CONTIGUOUS (0x0040 | PyBUF_STRIDES)
  #define PyBUF_ANY_CONTIGUOUS (0x0080 | PyBUF_STRIDES)
  #define PyBUF_INDIRECT (0x0100 | PyBUF_STRIDES)

#endif
#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
  #define __Pyx_BUILTIN_MODULE_NAME "__builtin__"
#else
  #define __Pyx_BUILTIN_MODULE_NAME "builtins"
#endif
#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
  #define Py_TPFLAGS_CHECKTYPES 0
  #define Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_INDEX 0
#endif
#if (PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x02060000) || (PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3)
  #define Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_NEWBUFFER 0
#endif
#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
  #define PyBaseString_Type            PyUnicode_Type
  #define PyString_Type                PyBytes_Type
  #define PyInt_Type                   PyLong_Type
  #define PyInt_Check(op)              PyLong_Check(op)
  #define PyInt_CheckExact(op)         PyLong_CheckExact(op)
  #define PyInt_FromString             PyLong_FromString
  #define PyInt_FromUnicode            PyLong_FromUnicode
  #define PyInt_FromLong               PyLong_FromLong
  #define PyInt_FromSize_t             PyLong_FromSize_t
  #define PyInt_FromSsize_t            PyLong_FromSsize_t
  #define PyInt_AsLong                 PyLong_AsLong
  #define PyInt_AS_LONG                PyLong_AS_LONG
  #define PyInt_AsSsize_t              PyLong_AsSsize_t
  #define PyInt_AsUnsignedLongMask     PyLong_AsUnsignedLongMask
  #define PyInt_AsUnsignedLongLongMask PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLongMask
  #define __Pyx_PyNumber_Divide(x,y)         PyNumber_TrueDivide(x,y)
#else
  #define __Pyx_PyNumber_Divide(x,y)         PyNumber_Divide(x,y)
  #define PyBytes_Type                 PyString_Type
#endif
#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
  #define PyMethod_New(func, self, klass) PyInstanceMethod_New(func)
#endif
#if !defined(WIN32) && !defined(MS_WINDOWS)
  #ifndef __stdcall
    #define __stdcall
  #endif
  #ifndef __cdecl
    #define __cdecl
  #endif
#else
  #define _USE_MATH_DEFINES
#endif
#ifdef __cplusplus
#define __PYX_EXTERN_C extern "C"
#else
#define __PYX_EXTERN_C extern
#endif
#include <math.h>
#define __PYX_HAVE_API__helloworld

#ifdef __GNUC__
#define INLINE __inline__
#elif _WIN32
#define INLINE __inline
#else
#define INLINE 
#endif

typedef struct 
    {PyObject **p; char *s; long n; 
     char is_unicode; char intern; char is_identifier;} 
     __Pyx_StringTabEntry; /*proto*/

static int __pyx_skip_dispatch = 0;


/* Type Conversion Predeclarations */

#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
#define __Pyx_PyBytes_FromString PyString_FromString
#define __Pyx_PyBytes_AsString   PyString_AsString
#else
#define __Pyx_PyBytes_FromString PyBytes_FromString
#define __Pyx_PyBytes_AsString   PyBytes_AsString
#endif

#define __Pyx_PyBool_FromLong(b) ((b) ? (Py_INCREF(Py_True), Py_True) : (Py_INCREF(Py_False), Py_False))
static INLINE int __Pyx_PyObject_IsTrue(PyObject* x);
static INLINE PY_LONG_LONG __pyx_PyInt_AsLongLong(PyObject* x);
static INLINE unsigned PY_LONG_LONG __pyx_PyInt_AsUnsignedLongLong(PyObject* x);
static INLINE Py_ssize_t __pyx_PyIndex_AsSsize_t(PyObject* b);

#define __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x) (PyInt_CheckExact(x) ? PyInt_AS_LONG(x) : PyInt_AsLong(x))
#define __pyx_PyFloat_AsDouble(x) (PyFloat_CheckExact(x) ? PyFloat_AS_DOUBLE(x) : PyFloat_AsDouble(x))

static INLINE unsigned char __pyx_PyInt_unsigned_char(PyObject* x);
static INLINE unsigned short __pyx_PyInt_unsigned_short(PyObject* x);
static INLINE char __pyx_PyInt_char(PyObject* x);
static INLINE short __pyx_PyInt_short(PyObject* x);
static INLINE int __pyx_PyInt_int(PyObject* x);
static INLINE long __pyx_PyInt_long(PyObject* x);
static INLINE signed char __pyx_PyInt_signed_char(PyObject* x);
static INLINE signed short __pyx_PyInt_signed_short(PyObject* x);
static INLINE signed int __pyx_PyInt_signed_int(PyObject* x);
static INLINE signed long __pyx_PyInt_signed_long(PyObject* x);
static INLINE long double __pyx_PyInt_long_double(PyObject* x);
#ifdef __GNUC__
/* Test for GCC > 2.95 */
#if __GNUC__ > 2 ||               (__GNUC__ == 2 && (__GNUC_MINOR__ > 95)) 
#define likely(x)   __builtin_expect(!!(x), 1)
#define unlikely(x) __builtin_expect(!!(x), 0)
#else /* __GNUC__ > 2 ... */
#define likely(x)   (x)
#define unlikely(x) (x)
#endif /* __GNUC__ > 2 ... */
#else /* __GNUC__ */
#define likely(x)   (x)
#define unlikely(x) (x)
#endif /* __GNUC__ */

static PyObject *__pyx_m;
static PyObject *__pyx_b;
static PyObject *__pyx_empty_tuple;
static int __pyx_lineno;
static int __pyx_clineno = 0;
static const char * __pyx_cfilenm= __FILE__;
static const char *__pyx_filename;
static const char **__pyx_f;

static void __Pyx_AddTraceback(const char *funcname); /*proto*/

/* Type declarations */
/* Module declarations from helloworld */

static int __pyx_f_10helloworld_hello(int, int); /*proto*/


/* Implementation of helloworld */

/* "/home/nosklo/devel/ctest/hello.pyx":1
 * cdef int hello(int a, int b):             # <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 *     return a + b
 * 
 */

static  int __pyx_f_10helloworld_hello(int __pyx_v_a, int __pyx_v_b) {
  int __pyx_r;

  /* "/home/nosklo/devel/ctest/hello.pyx":2
 * cdef int hello(int a, int b):
 *     return a + b             # <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 * 
 */
  __pyx_r = (__pyx_v_a + __pyx_v_b);
  goto __pyx_L0;

  __pyx_r = 0;
  __pyx_L0:;
  return __pyx_r;
}

static struct PyMethodDef __pyx_methods[] = {
  {0, 0, 0, 0}
};

static void __pyx_init_filenames(void); /*proto*/

#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
static struct PyModuleDef __pyx_moduledef = {
    PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
    "helloworld",
    0, /* m_doc */
    -1, /* m_size */
    __pyx_methods /* m_methods */,
    NULL, /* m_reload */
    NULL, /* m_traverse */
    NULL, /* m_clear */
    NULL /* m_free */
};
#endif
static int __Pyx_InitCachedBuiltins(void) {
  return 0;
  return -1;
}

static int __Pyx_InitGlobals(void) {
  return 0;
  return -1;
}

#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
PyMODINIT_FUNC inithelloworld(void); /*proto*/
PyMODINIT_FUNC inithelloworld(void)
#else
PyMODINIT_FUNC PyInit_helloworld(void); /*proto*/
PyMODINIT_FUNC PyInit_helloworld(void)
#endif
{
  __pyx_empty_tuple = PyTuple_New(0); 
  if (unlikely(!__pyx_empty_tuple))
      {__pyx_filename = __pyx_f[0]; __pyx_lineno = 1; 
       __pyx_clineno = __LINE__; goto __pyx_L1_error;}
  /*--- Library function declarations ---*/
  __pyx_init_filenames();
  /*--- Initialize various global constants etc. ---*/
  if (unlikely(__Pyx_InitGlobals() < 0)) 
     {__pyx_filename = __pyx_f[0]; 
      __pyx_lineno = 1; 
      __pyx_clineno = __LINE__; 
      goto __pyx_L1_error;}
  /*--- Module creation code ---*/
  #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
  __pyx_m = Py_InitModule4("helloworld", __pyx_methods, 0, 0, PYTHON_API_VERSION);
  #else
  __pyx_m = PyModule_Create(&__pyx_moduledef);
  #endif
  if (!__pyx_m) 
     {__pyx_filename = __pyx_f[0]; 
      __pyx_lineno = 1; __pyx_clineno = __LINE__; 
      goto __pyx_L1_error;};
  #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
  Py_INCREF(__pyx_m);
  #endif
  __pyx_b = PyImport_AddModule(__Pyx_BUILTIN_MODULE_NAME);
  if (!__pyx_b) 
     {__pyx_filename = __pyx_f[0]; __pyx_lineno = 1; 
      __pyx_clineno = __LINE__; goto __pyx_L1_error;};
  if (PyObject_SetAttrString(__pyx_m, "__builtins__", __pyx_b) < 0) 
      {__pyx_filename = __pyx_f[0]; __pyx_lineno = 1; 
       __pyx_clineno = __LINE__; goto __pyx_L1_error;};
  /*--- Builtin init code ---*/
  if (unlikely(__Pyx_InitCachedBuiltins() < 0)) 
      {__pyx_filename = __pyx_f[0]; __pyx_lineno = 1; 
       __pyx_clineno = __LINE__; goto __pyx_L1_error;}
  __pyx_skip_dispatch = 0;
  /*--- Global init code ---*/
  /*--- Function export code ---*/
  /*--- Type init code ---*/
  /*--- Type import code ---*/
  /*--- Function import code ---*/
  /*--- Execution code ---*/

  /* "/home/nosklo/devel/ctest/hello.pyx":1
 * cdef int hello(int a, int b):             # <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
 *     return a + b
 * 
 */
  #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
  return;
  #else
  return __pyx_m;
  #endif
  __pyx_L1_error:;
  __Pyx_AddTraceback("helloworld");
  #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
  return NULL;
  #endif
}

static const char *__pyx_filenames[] = {
  "hello.pyx",
};

/* Runtime support code */

static void __pyx_init_filenames(void) {
  __pyx_f = __pyx_filenames;
}

#include "compile.h"
#include "frameobject.h"
#include "traceback.h"

static void __Pyx_AddTraceback(const char *funcname) {
    PyObject *py_srcfile = 0;
    PyObject *py_funcname = 0;
    PyObject *py_globals = 0;
    PyObject *empty_string = 0;
    PyCodeObject *py_code = 0;
    PyFrameObject *py_frame = 0;

    #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
    py_srcfile = PyString_FromString(__pyx_filename);
    #else
    py_srcfile = PyUnicode_FromString(__pyx_filename);
    #endif
    if (!py_srcfile) goto bad;
    if (__pyx_clineno) {
        #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
        py_funcname = PyString_FromFormat( "%s (%s:%d)", funcname, 
             __pyx_cfilenm, __pyx_clineno);
        #else
        py_funcname = PyUnicode_FromFormat( "%s (%s:%d)", funcname, 
             __pyx_cfilenm, __pyx_clineno);
        #endif
    }
    else {
        #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
        py_funcname = PyString_FromString(funcname);
        #else
        py_funcname = PyUnicode_FromString(funcname);
        #endif
    }
    if (!py_funcname) goto bad;
    py_globals = PyModule_GetDict(__pyx_m);
    if (!py_globals) goto bad;
    #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
    empty_string = PyString_FromStringAndSize("", 0);
    #else
    empty_string = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize("", 0);
    #endif
    if (!empty_string) goto bad;
    py_code = PyCode_New(
        0,            /*int argcount,*/
        #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
        0,            /*int kwonlyargcount,*/
        #endif
        0,            /*int nlocals,*/
        0,            /*int stacksize,*/
        0,            /*int flags,*/
        empty_string, /*PyObject *code,*/
        __pyx_empty_tuple,  /*PyObject *consts,*/
        __pyx_empty_tuple,  /*PyObject *names,*/
        __pyx_empty_tuple,  /*PyObject *varnames,*/
        __pyx_empty_tuple,  /*PyObject *freevars,*/
        __pyx_empty_tuple,  /*PyObject *cellvars,*/
        py_srcfile,   /*PyObject *filename,*/
        py_funcname,  /*PyObject *name,*/
        __pyx_lineno,   /*int firstlineno,*/
        empty_string  /*PyObject *lnotab*/
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    if (!py_code) goto bad;
    py_frame = PyFrame_New(
        PyThreadState_GET(), /*PyThreadState *tstate,*/
        py_code,             /*PyCodeObject *code,*/
        py_globals,          /*PyObject *globals,*/
        0                    /*PyObject *locals*/
    );
    if (!py_frame) goto bad;
    py_frame->f_lineno = __pyx_lineno;
    PyTraceBack_Here(py_frame);
bad:
    Py_XDECREF(py_srcfile);
    Py_XDECREF(py_funcname);
    Py_XDECREF(empty_string);
    Py_XDECREF(py_code);
    Py_XDECREF(py_frame);
}

/* Type Conversion Functions */

static INLINE Py_ssize_t __pyx_PyIndex_AsSsize_t(PyObject* b) {
  Py_ssize_t ival;
  PyObject* x = PyNumber_Index(b);
  if (!x) return -1;
  ival = PyInt_AsSsize_t(x);
  Py_DECREF(x);
  return ival;
}

static INLINE int __Pyx_PyObject_IsTrue(PyObject* x) {
   if (x == Py_True) return 1;
   else if (x == Py_False) return 0;
   else return PyObject_IsTrue(x);
}

static INLINE PY_LONG_LONG __pyx_PyInt_AsLongLong(PyObject* x) {
    if (PyInt_CheckExact(x)) {
        return PyInt_AS_LONG(x);
    }
    else if (PyLong_CheckExact(x)) {
        return PyLong_AsLongLong(x);
    }
    else {
        PY_LONG_LONG val;
        PyObject* tmp = PyNumber_Int(x); if (!tmp) return (PY_LONG_LONG)-1;
        val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLongLong(tmp);
        Py_DECREF(tmp);
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}

static INLINE unsigned PY_LONG_LONG __pyx_PyInt_AsUnsignedLongLong(PyObject* x) {
    if (PyInt_CheckExact(x)) {
        long val = PyInt_AS_LONG(x);
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            return (unsigned PY_LONG_LONG)-1;
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    else if (PyLong_CheckExact(x)) {
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        PY_LONG_LONG val;
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        val = __pyx_PyInt_AsUnsignedLongLong(tmp);
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static INLINE unsigned char __pyx_PyInt_unsigned_char(PyObject* x) {
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        if (unlikely((val != long_val)  || (long_val < 0))) {
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    else {
        return __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
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static INLINE unsigned short __pyx_PyInt_unsigned_short(PyObject* x) {
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static INLINE char __pyx_PyInt_char(PyObject* x) {
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}

static INLINE short __pyx_PyInt_short(PyObject* x) {
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        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
        short val = (short)long_val;
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            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to short");
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static INLINE int __pyx_PyInt_int(PyObject* x) {
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        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
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        if (unlikely((val != long_val) )) {
            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to int");
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    else {
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}

static INLINE long __pyx_PyInt_long(PyObject* x) {
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        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
        long val = (long)long_val;
        if (unlikely((val != long_val) )) {
            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to long");
            return (long)-1;
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        return val;
    }
    else {
        return __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
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}

static INLINE signed char __pyx_PyInt_signed_char(PyObject* x) {
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        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
        signed char val = (signed char)long_val;
        if (unlikely((val != long_val) )) {
            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to signed char");
            return (signed char)-1;
        }
        return val;
    }
    else {
        return __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
    }
}

static INLINE signed short __pyx_PyInt_signed_short(PyObject* x) {
    if (sizeof(signed short) < sizeof(long)) {
        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
        signed short val = (signed short)long_val;
        if (unlikely((val != long_val) )) {
            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to signed short");
            return (signed short)-1;
        }
        return val;
    }
    else {
        return __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
    }
}

static INLINE signed int __pyx_PyInt_signed_int(PyObject* x) {
    if (sizeof(signed int) < sizeof(long)) {
        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
        signed int val = (signed int)long_val;
        if (unlikely((val != long_val) )) {
            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to signed int");
            return (signed int)-1;
        }
        return val;
    }
    else {
        return __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
    }
}

static INLINE signed long __pyx_PyInt_signed_long(PyObject* x) {
    if (sizeof(signed long) < sizeof(long)) {
        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
        signed long val = (signed long)long_val;
        if (unlikely((val != long_val) )) {
            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to signed long");
            return (signed long)-1;
        }
        return val;
    }
    else {
        return __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
    }
}

static INLINE long double __pyx_PyInt_long_double(PyObject* x) {
    if (sizeof(long double) < sizeof(long)) {
        long long_val = __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
        long double val = (long double)long_val;
        if (unlikely((val != long_val) )) {
            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_OverflowError, "value too large to convert to long double");
            return (long double)-1;
        }
        return val;
    }
    else {
        return __pyx_PyInt_AsLong(x);
    }
}

There be dragons here. Don’t swig, don’t boost. For any complicated project the code you have to fill in yourself to make them work becomes unmanageable quickly. If it’s a plain C API to your library (no classes), you can just use ctypes. It will be easy and painless, and you won’t have to spend hours trawling through the documentation for these labyrinthine wrapper projects trying to find the one tiny note about the feature you need.

Since you are concerned with speed and overhead, I suggest considering PyBindGen .

I have experience using it to wrap a large internal C++ library. After trying SWIG, SIP, and Boost.Python I prefer PyBindGen for the following reasons:

1. A PyBindGen wrapper is pure-Python, no need to learn another file format
2. PyBindGen generates Python C API calls directly, there is no speed-robbing indirection layer like SWIG.
3. The generated C code is clean and simple to understand. I like Cython too, but trying to read its C output can be difficult at times.
4. STL sequence containers are supported (we use a lot of std::vector’s)

An observation: Based on the benchmarking conducted by the pybindgen developers, there is no significant difference between boost.python and swig. I haven’t done my own benchmarking to verify how much of this depends on the proper use of the boost.python functionality.

Note also that there may be a reason that pybindgen seems to be in general quite a bit faster than swig and boost.python: it may not produce as versatile a binding as the other two. For instance, exception propagation, call argument type checking, etc. I haven’t had a chance to use pybindgen yet but I intend to.

Boost is in general quite big package to install, and last I saw you can’t just install boost python you pretty much need the whole Boost library. As others have mentioned compilation will be slow due to heavy use of template programming, which also means typically rather cryptic error messages at compile time.

Summary: given how easy SWIG is to install and use, that it generates decent binding that is robust and versatile, and that one interface file allows your C++ DLL to be available from several other languages like LUA, C#, and Java, I would favor it over boost.python. But unless you really need multi-language support I would take a close look at PyBindGen because of its purported speed, and pay close attention to robustness and versatility of binding it generates.

SWIG 2.0.4 has introduced a new -builtin option that improves performance.
I did some benchmarking using an example program that does a lot of fast calls to a C++ extension.
I built the extension using boost.python, PyBindGen, SIP and SWIG with and without the -builtin option. Here are the results (average of 100 runs):

SWIG with -builtin     2.67s
SIP                    2.70s
PyBindGen              2.74s
boost.python           3.07s
SWIG without -builtin  4.65s

SWIG used to be slowest. With the new -builtin option, SWIG seems to be fastest.

There is an article worth reading on the topic Cython, pybind11, cffi – which tool should you choose?

Quick recap for the impatient:

• Cython compiles your python to C/C++ allowing you to embed your C/C++ into python code. Uses static binding. For python programmers.

• pybind11 (and boost.python) is the opposite. Bind your stuff at compile time from the C++ side. For C++ programmers.

• CFFI allows you to bind the native stuff dynamically at runtime. Simple to use, but higher performance penalty.