feat(assessment): auto comprehensive assessment - rules engine from college scoring standard, per-semester stats, manual overrides, word export

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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Extending/Embedding FAQ</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#can-i-create-my-own-functions-in-c">Can I create my own functions in C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#id1">Can I create my own functions in C++?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#writing-c-is-hard-are-there-any-alternatives">Writing C is hard; are there any alternatives?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-execute-arbitrary-python-statements-from-c">How can I execute arbitrary Python statements from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-evaluate-an-arbitrary-python-expression-from-c">How can I evaluate an arbitrary Python expression from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-extract-c-values-from-a-python-object">How do I extract C values from a Python object?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-use-py-buildvalue-to-create-a-tuple-of-arbitrary-length">How do I use Py_BuildValue() to create a tuple of arbitrary length?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-call-an-object-s-method-from-c">How do I call an object’s method from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-catch-the-output-from-pyerr-print-or-anything-that-prints-to-stdout-stderr">How do I catch the output from PyErr_Print() (or anything that prints to stdout/stderr)?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-access-a-module-written-in-python-from-c">How do I access a module written in Python from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-interface-to-c-objects-from-python">How do I interface to C++ objects from Python?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#i-added-a-module-using-the-setup-file-and-the-make-fails-why">I added a module using the Setup file and the make fails; why?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-debug-an-extension">How do I debug an extension?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#i-want-to-compile-a-python-module-on-my-linux-system-but-some-files-are-missing-why">I want to compile a Python module on my Linux system, but some files are missing. Why?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-tell-incomplete-input-from-invalid-input">How do I tell “incomplete input” from “invalid input”?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-find-undefined-g-symbols-builtin-new-or-pure-virtual">How do I find undefined g++ symbols __builtin_new or __pure_virtual?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#can-i-create-an-object-class-with-some-methods-implemented-in-c-and-others-in-python-e-g-through-inheritance">Can I create an object class with some methods implemented in C and others in Python (e.g. through inheritance)?</a></li>
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<section id="extending-embedding-faq">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2" role="doc-backlink">Extending/Embedding FAQ</a><a class="headerlink" href="#extending-embedding-faq" title="Link to this heading"></a></h1>
<nav class="contents" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title">Contents</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#extending-embedding-faq" id="id2">Extending/Embedding FAQ</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#can-i-create-my-own-functions-in-c" id="id3">Can I create my own functions in C?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#id1" id="id4">Can I create my own functions in C++?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#writing-c-is-hard-are-there-any-alternatives" id="id5">Writing C is hard; are there any alternatives?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-execute-arbitrary-python-statements-from-c" id="id6">How can I execute arbitrary Python statements from C?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-evaluate-an-arbitrary-python-expression-from-c" id="id7">How can I evaluate an arbitrary Python expression from C?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-extract-c-values-from-a-python-object" id="id8">How do I extract C values from a Python object?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-use-py-buildvalue-to-create-a-tuple-of-arbitrary-length" id="id9">How do I use Py_BuildValue() to create a tuple of arbitrary length?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-call-an-object-s-method-from-c" id="id10">How do I call an object’s method from C?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-catch-the-output-from-pyerr-print-or-anything-that-prints-to-stdout-stderr" id="id11">How do I catch the output from PyErr_Print() (or anything that prints to stdout/stderr)?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-access-a-module-written-in-python-from-c" id="id12">How do I access a module written in Python from C?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-interface-to-c-objects-from-python" id="id13">How do I interface to C++ objects from Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#i-added-a-module-using-the-setup-file-and-the-make-fails-why" id="id14">I added a module using the Setup file and the make fails; why?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-debug-an-extension" id="id15">How do I debug an extension?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#i-want-to-compile-a-python-module-on-my-linux-system-but-some-files-are-missing-why" id="id16">I want to compile a Python module on my Linux system, but some files are missing. Why?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-tell-incomplete-input-from-invalid-input" id="id17">How do I tell “incomplete input” from “invalid input”?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-find-undefined-g-symbols-builtin-new-or-pure-virtual" id="id18">How do I find undefined g++ symbols __builtin_new or __pure_virtual?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#can-i-create-an-object-class-with-some-methods-implemented-in-c-and-others-in-python-e-g-through-inheritance" id="id19">Can I create an object class with some methods implemented in C and others in Python (e.g. through inheritance)?</a></p></li>
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</li>
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<section id="can-i-create-my-own-functions-in-c">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3" role="doc-backlink">Can I create my own functions in C?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#can-i-create-my-own-functions-in-c" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Yes, you can create built-in modules containing functions, variables, exceptions
and even new types in C. This is explained in the document
<a class="reference internal" href="../extending/index.html#extending-index"><span class="std std-ref">Extending and Embedding the Python Interpreter</span></a>.</p>
<p>Most intermediate or advanced Python books will also cover this topic.</p>
</section>
<section id="id1">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4" role="doc-backlink">Can I create my own functions in C++?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#id1" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Yes, using the C compatibility features found in C++. Place <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">extern</span> <span class="pre">&quot;C&quot;</span> <span class="pre">{</span>
<span class="pre">...</span> <span class="pre">}</span></code> around the Python include files and put <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">extern</span> <span class="pre">&quot;C&quot;</span></code> before each
function that is going to be called by the Python interpreter. Global or static
C++ objects with constructors are probably not a good idea.</p>
</section>
<section id="writing-c-is-hard-are-there-any-alternatives">
<span id="c-wrapper-software"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5" role="doc-backlink">Writing C is hard; are there any alternatives?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#writing-c-is-hard-are-there-any-alternatives" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>There are a number of alternatives to writing your own C extensions, depending
on what you’re trying to do. <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/intro.html#c-api-tools"><span class="std std-ref">Recommended third party tools</span></a>
offer both simpler and more sophisticated approaches to creating C and C++
extensions for Python.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-can-i-execute-arbitrary-python-statements-from-c">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6" role="doc-backlink">How can I execute arbitrary Python statements from C?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-can-i-execute-arbitrary-python-statements-from-c" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>The highest-level function to do this is <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/veryhigh.html#c.PyRun_SimpleString" title="PyRun_SimpleString"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyRun_SimpleString()</span></code></a> which takes
a single string argument to be executed in the context of the module
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__main__</span></code> and returns <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">0</span></code> for success and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-1</span></code> when an exception occurred
(including <a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/exceptions.html#SyntaxError" title="SyntaxError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SyntaxError</span></code></a>). If you want more control, use
<a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/veryhigh.html#c.PyRun_String" title="PyRun_String"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyRun_String()</span></code></a>; see the source for <code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyRun_SimpleString()</span></code> in
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Python/pythonrun.c</span></code>.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-can-i-evaluate-an-arbitrary-python-expression-from-c">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7" role="doc-backlink">How can I evaluate an arbitrary Python expression from C?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-can-i-evaluate-an-arbitrary-python-expression-from-c" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Call the function <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/veryhigh.html#c.PyRun_String" title="PyRun_String"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyRun_String()</span></code></a> from the previous question with the
start symbol <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/veryhigh.html#c.Py_eval_input" title="Py_eval_input"><code class="xref c c-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Py_eval_input</span></code></a>; it parses an expression, evaluates it and
returns its value.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-extract-c-values-from-a-python-object">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8" role="doc-backlink">How do I extract C values from a Python object?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-extract-c-values-from-a-python-object" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>That depends on the object’s type. If it’s a tuple, <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/tuple.html#c.PyTuple_Size" title="PyTuple_Size"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyTuple_Size()</span></code></a>
returns its length and <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/tuple.html#c.PyTuple_GetItem" title="PyTuple_GetItem"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyTuple_GetItem()</span></code></a> returns the item at a specified
index. Lists have similar functions, <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/list.html#c.PyList_Size" title="PyList_Size"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyList_Size()</span></code></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/list.html#c.PyList_GetItem" title="PyList_GetItem"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyList_GetItem()</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>For bytes, <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/bytes.html#c.PyBytes_Size" title="PyBytes_Size"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyBytes_Size()</span></code></a> returns its length and
<a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/bytes.html#c.PyBytes_AsStringAndSize" title="PyBytes_AsStringAndSize"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyBytes_AsStringAndSize()</span></code></a> provides a pointer to its value and its
length. Note that Python bytes objects may contain null bytes so C’s
<code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">strlen()</span></code> should not be used.</p>
<p>To test the type of an object, first make sure it isn’t <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">NULL</span></code>, and then use
<a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/bytes.html#c.PyBytes_Check" title="PyBytes_Check"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyBytes_Check()</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/tuple.html#c.PyTuple_Check" title="PyTuple_Check"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyTuple_Check()</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/list.html#c.PyList_Check" title="PyList_Check"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyList_Check()</span></code></a>, etc.</p>
<p>There is also a high-level API to Python objects which is provided by the
so-called ‘abstract’ interface – read <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Include/abstract.h</span></code> for further
details. It allows interfacing with any kind of Python sequence using calls
like <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/sequence.html#c.PySequence_Length" title="PySequence_Length"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PySequence_Length()</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/sequence.html#c.PySequence_GetItem" title="PySequence_GetItem"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PySequence_GetItem()</span></code></a>, etc. as well
as many other useful protocols such as numbers (<a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/number.html#c.PyNumber_Index" title="PyNumber_Index"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyNumber_Index()</span></code></a> et
al.) and mappings in the PyMapping APIs.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-use-py-buildvalue-to-create-a-tuple-of-arbitrary-length">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9" role="doc-backlink">How do I use Py_BuildValue() to create a tuple of arbitrary length?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-use-py-buildvalue-to-create-a-tuple-of-arbitrary-length" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>You can’t. Use <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/tuple.html#c.PyTuple_Pack" title="PyTuple_Pack"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyTuple_Pack()</span></code></a> instead.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-call-an-object-s-method-from-c">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10" role="doc-backlink">How do I call an object’s method from C?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-call-an-object-s-method-from-c" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/call.html#c.PyObject_CallMethod" title="PyObject_CallMethod"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyObject_CallMethod()</span></code></a> function can be used to call an arbitrary
method of an object. The parameters are the object, the name of the method to
call, a format string like that used with <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/arg.html#c.Py_BuildValue" title="Py_BuildValue"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Py_BuildValue()</span></code></a>, and the
argument values:</p>
<div class="highlight-c notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">PyObject</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">*</span>
<span class="nf">PyObject_CallMethod</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">PyObject</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">*</span><span class="n">object</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="k">const</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="kt">char</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">*</span><span class="n">method_name</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="k">const</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="kt">char</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">*</span><span class="n">arg_format</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">...);</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This works for any object that has methods – whether built-in or user-defined.
You are responsible for eventually <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/refcounting.html#c.Py_DECREF" title="Py_DECREF"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Py_DECREF()</span></code></a>‘ing the return value.</p>
<p>To call, e.g., a file object’s “seek” method with arguments 10, 0 (assuming the
file object pointer is “f”):</p>
<div class="highlight-c notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">res</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">PyObject_CallMethod</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">f</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s">"seek"</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s">"(ii)"</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="mi">10</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">);</span>
<span class="k">if</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">res</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">==</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">NULL</span><span class="p">)</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">{</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="p">...</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">an</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">exception</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">occurred</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">...</span>
<span class="p">}</span>
<span class="k">else</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">{</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Py_DECREF</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">res</span><span class="p">);</span>
<span class="p">}</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note that since <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/call.html#c.PyObject_CallObject" title="PyObject_CallObject"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyObject_CallObject()</span></code></a> <em>always</em> wants a tuple for the
argument list, to call a function without arguments, pass “()” for the format,
and to call a function with one argument, surround the argument in parentheses,
e.g. “(i)”.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-catch-the-output-from-pyerr-print-or-anything-that-prints-to-stdout-stderr">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id11" role="doc-backlink">How do I catch the output from PyErr_Print() (or anything that prints to stdout/stderr)?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-catch-the-output-from-pyerr-print-or-anything-that-prints-to-stdout-stderr" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>In Python code, define an object that supports the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">write()</span></code> method. Assign
this object to <a class="reference internal" href="../library/sys.html#sys.stdout" title="sys.stdout"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.stdout</span></code></a> and <a class="reference internal" href="../library/sys.html#sys.stderr" title="sys.stderr"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.stderr</span></code></a>. Call print_error, or
just allow the standard traceback mechanism to work. Then, the output will go
wherever your <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">write()</span></code> method sends it.</p>
<p>The easiest way to do this is to use the <a class="reference internal" href="../library/io.html#io.StringIO" title="io.StringIO"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">io.StringIO</span></code></a> class:</p>
<div class="highlight-pycon notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">io</span><span class="o">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">sys</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">sys</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">stdout</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">io</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">StringIO</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'foo'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'hello world!'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">sys</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">stderr</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">sys</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">stdout</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getvalue</span><span class="p">())</span>
<span class="go">foo</span>
<span class="go">hello world!</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>A custom object to do the same would look like this:</p>
<div class="highlight-pycon notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">io</span><span class="o">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">sys</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="k">class</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nc">StdoutCatcher</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">io</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">TextIOBase</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="fm">__init__</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="gp">... </span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">data</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[]</span>
<span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">def</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nf">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">stuff</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="gp">... </span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">data</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">append</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">stuff</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">...</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="kn">import</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nn">sys</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">sys</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">stdout</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">StdoutCatcher</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'foo'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'hello world!'</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">sys</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">stderr</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">''</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">join</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">sys</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">stdout</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">data</span><span class="p">))</span>
<span class="go">foo</span>
<span class="go">hello world!</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-access-a-module-written-in-python-from-c">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id12" role="doc-backlink">How do I access a module written in Python from C?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-access-a-module-written-in-python-from-c" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>You can get a pointer to the module object as follows:</p>
<div class="highlight-c notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">module</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">PyImport_ImportModule</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"&lt;modulename&gt;"</span><span class="p">);</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>If the module hasn’t been imported yet (i.e. it is not yet present in
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/sys.html#sys.modules" title="sys.modules"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.modules</span></code></a>), this initializes the module; otherwise it simply returns
the value of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.modules[&quot;&lt;modulename&gt;&quot;]</span></code>. Note that it doesn’t enter the
module into any namespace – it only ensures it has been initialized and is
stored in <code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.modules</span></code>.</p>
<p>You can then access the module’s attributes (i.e. any name defined in the
module) as follows:</p>
<div class="highlight-c notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">attr</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">PyObject_GetAttrString</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">module</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s">"&lt;attrname&gt;"</span><span class="p">);</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Calling <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/object.html#c.PyObject_SetAttrString" title="PyObject_SetAttrString"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyObject_SetAttrString()</span></code></a> to assign to variables in the module
also works.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-interface-to-c-objects-from-python">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id13" role="doc-backlink">How do I interface to C++ objects from Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-interface-to-c-objects-from-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Depending on your requirements, there are many approaches. To do this manually,
begin by reading <a class="reference internal" href="../extending/index.html#extending-index"><span class="std std-ref">the “Extending and Embedding” document</span></a>. Realize that for the Python run-time system, there isn’t a
whole lot of difference between C and C++ – so the strategy of building a new
Python type around a C structure (pointer) type will also work for C++ objects.</p>
<p>For C++ libraries, see <a class="reference internal" href="#c-wrapper-software"><span class="std std-ref">Writing C is hard; are there any alternatives?</span></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="i-added-a-module-using-the-setup-file-and-the-make-fails-why">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id14" role="doc-backlink">I added a module using the Setup file and the make fails; why?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#i-added-a-module-using-the-setup-file-and-the-make-fails-why" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Setup must end in a newline, if there is no newline there, the build process
fails. (Fixing this requires some ugly shell script hackery, and this bug is so
minor that it doesn’t seem worth the effort.)</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-debug-an-extension">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15" role="doc-backlink">How do I debug an extension?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-debug-an-extension" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>When using GDB with dynamically loaded extensions, you can’t set a breakpoint in
your extension until your extension is loaded.</p>
<p>In your <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.gdbinit</span></code> file (or interactively), add the command:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>br _PyImport_LoadDynamicModule
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Then, when you run GDB:</p>
<div class="highlight-shell-session notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">$ </span>gdb<span class="w"> </span>/local/bin/python
<span class="go">gdb) run myscript.py</span>
<span class="go">gdb) continue # repeat until your extension is loaded</span>
<span class="go">gdb) finish # so that your extension is loaded</span>
<span class="go">gdb) br myfunction.c:50</span>
<span class="go">gdb) continue</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="i-want-to-compile-a-python-module-on-my-linux-system-but-some-files-are-missing-why">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16" role="doc-backlink">I want to compile a Python module on my Linux system, but some files are missing. Why?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#i-want-to-compile-a-python-module-on-my-linux-system-but-some-files-are-missing-why" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Most packaged versions of Python omit some files
required for compiling Python extensions.</p>
<p>For Red Hat, install the python3-devel RPM to get the necessary files.</p>
<p>For Debian, run <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">apt-get</span> <span class="pre">install</span> <span class="pre">python3-dev</span></code>.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-tell-incomplete-input-from-invalid-input">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17" role="doc-backlink">How do I tell “incomplete input” from “invalid input”?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-tell-incomplete-input-from-invalid-input" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Sometimes you want to emulate the Python interactive interpreter’s behavior,
where it gives you a continuation prompt when the input is incomplete (e.g. you
typed the start of an “if” statement or you didn’t close your parentheses or
triple string quotes), but it gives you a syntax error message immediately when
the input is invalid.</p>
<p>In Python you can use the <a class="reference internal" href="../library/codeop.html#module-codeop" title="codeop: Compile (possibly incomplete) Python code."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">codeop</span></code></a> module, which approximates the parser’s
behavior sufficiently. IDLE uses this, for example.</p>
<p>The easiest way to do it in C is to call <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/veryhigh.html#c.PyRun_InteractiveLoop" title="PyRun_InteractiveLoop"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyRun_InteractiveLoop()</span></code></a> (perhaps
in a separate thread) and let the Python interpreter handle the input for
you. You can also set the <a class="reference internal" href="../c-api/veryhigh.html#c.PyOS_ReadlineFunctionPointer" title="PyOS_ReadlineFunctionPointer"><code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyOS_ReadlineFunctionPointer()</span></code></a> to point at your
custom input function. See <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Modules/readline.c</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Parser/myreadline.c</span></code>
for more hints.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-find-undefined-g-symbols-builtin-new-or-pure-virtual">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18" role="doc-backlink">How do I find undefined g++ symbols __builtin_new or __pure_virtual?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-find-undefined-g-symbols-builtin-new-or-pure-virtual" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>To dynamically load g++ extension modules, you must recompile Python, relink it
using g++ (change LINKCC in the Python Modules Makefile), and link your
extension module using g++ (e.g., <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">g++</span> <span class="pre">-shared</span> <span class="pre">-o</span> <span class="pre">mymodule.so</span> <span class="pre">mymodule.o</span></code>).</p>
</section>
<section id="can-i-create-an-object-class-with-some-methods-implemented-in-c-and-others-in-python-e-g-through-inheritance">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19" role="doc-backlink">Can I create an object class with some methods implemented in C and others in Python (e.g. through inheritance)?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#can-i-create-an-object-class-with-some-methods-implemented-in-c-and-others-in-python-e-g-through-inheritance" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Yes, you can inherit from built-in classes such as <a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/functions.html#int" title="int"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">int</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/stdtypes.html#list" title="list"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">list</span></code></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/stdtypes.html#dict" title="dict"><code class="xref py py-class docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">dict</span></code></a>, etc.</p>
<p>The Boost Python Library (BPL, <a class="reference external" href="https://www.boost.org/libs/python/doc/index.html">https://www.boost.org/libs/python/doc/index.html</a>)
provides a way of doing this from C++ (i.e. you can inherit from an extension
class written in C++ using the BPL).</p>
</section>
</section>
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<h3><a href="../contents.html">Table of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Extending/Embedding FAQ</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#can-i-create-my-own-functions-in-c">Can I create my own functions in C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#id1">Can I create my own functions in C++?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#writing-c-is-hard-are-there-any-alternatives">Writing C is hard; are there any alternatives?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-execute-arbitrary-python-statements-from-c">How can I execute arbitrary Python statements from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-evaluate-an-arbitrary-python-expression-from-c">How can I evaluate an arbitrary Python expression from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-extract-c-values-from-a-python-object">How do I extract C values from a Python object?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-use-py-buildvalue-to-create-a-tuple-of-arbitrary-length">How do I use Py_BuildValue() to create a tuple of arbitrary length?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-call-an-object-s-method-from-c">How do I call an object’s method from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-catch-the-output-from-pyerr-print-or-anything-that-prints-to-stdout-stderr">How do I catch the output from PyErr_Print() (or anything that prints to stdout/stderr)?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-access-a-module-written-in-python-from-c">How do I access a module written in Python from C?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-interface-to-c-objects-from-python">How do I interface to C++ objects from Python?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#i-added-a-module-using-the-setup-file-and-the-make-fails-why">I added a module using the Setup file and the make fails; why?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-debug-an-extension">How do I debug an extension?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#i-want-to-compile-a-python-module-on-my-linux-system-but-some-files-are-missing-why">I want to compile a Python module on my Linux system, but some files are missing. Why?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-tell-incomplete-input-from-invalid-input">How do I tell “incomplete input” from “invalid input”?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-find-undefined-g-symbols-builtin-new-or-pure-virtual">How do I find undefined g++ symbols __builtin_new or __pure_virtual?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#can-i-create-an-object-class-with-some-methods-implemented-in-c-and-others-in-python-e-g-through-inheritance">Can I create an object class with some methods implemented in C and others in Python (e.g. through inheritance)?</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
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<section id="general-python-faq">
<h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2" role="doc-backlink">General Python FAQ</a><a class="headerlink" href="#general-python-faq" title="Link to this heading"></a></h1>
<nav class="contents" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title">Contents</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#general-python-faq" id="id2">General Python FAQ</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#general-information" id="id3">General Information</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#what-is-python" id="id4">What is Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#what-is-the-python-software-foundation" id="id5">What is the Python Software Foundation?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#are-there-copyright-restrictions-on-the-use-of-python" id="id6">Are there copyright restrictions on the use of Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#why-was-python-created-in-the-first-place" id="id7">Why was Python created in the first place?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#what-is-python-good-for" id="id8">What is Python good for?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-does-the-python-version-numbering-scheme-work" id="id9">How does the Python version numbering scheme work?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-obtain-a-copy-of-the-python-source" id="id10">How do I obtain a copy of the Python source?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-get-documentation-on-python" id="id11">How do I get documentation on Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#i-ve-never-programmed-before-is-there-a-python-tutorial" id="id12">I’ve never programmed before. Is there a Python tutorial?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#is-there-a-newsgroup-or-mailing-list-devoted-to-python" id="id13">Is there a newsgroup or mailing list devoted to Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-get-a-beta-test-version-of-python" id="id14">How do I get a beta test version of Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-submit-bug-reports-and-patches-for-python" id="id15">How do I submit bug reports and patches for Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#are-there-any-published-articles-about-python-that-i-can-reference" id="id16">Are there any published articles about Python that I can reference?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#are-there-any-books-on-python" id="id17">Are there any books on Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#where-in-the-world-is-www-python-org-located" id="id18">Where in the world is www.python.org located?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#why-is-it-called-python" id="id19">Why is it called Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#do-i-have-to-like-monty-python-s-flying-circus" id="id20">Do I have to like “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”?</a></p></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#python-in-the-real-world" id="id21">Python in the real world</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-stable-is-python" id="id22">How stable is Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-many-people-are-using-python" id="id23">How many people are using Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#have-any-significant-projects-been-done-in-python" id="id24">Have any significant projects been done in Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#what-new-developments-are-expected-for-python-in-the-future" id="id25">What new developments are expected for Python in the future?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#is-it-reasonable-to-propose-incompatible-changes-to-python" id="id26">Is it reasonable to propose incompatible changes to Python?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#is-python-a-good-language-for-beginning-programmers" id="id27">Is Python a good language for beginning programmers?</a></p></li>
</ul>
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<section id="general-information">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3" role="doc-backlink">General Information</a><a class="headerlink" href="#general-information" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<section id="what-is-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4" role="doc-backlink">What is Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#what-is-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Python is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It
incorporates modules, exceptions, dynamic typing, very high level dynamic data
types, and classes. It supports multiple programming paradigms beyond
object-oriented programming, such as procedural and functional programming.
Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax. It has interfaces to
many system calls and libraries, as well as to various window systems, and is
extensible in C or C++. It is also usable as an extension language for
applications that need a programmable interface. Finally, Python is portable:
it runs on many Unix variants including Linux and macOS, and on Windows.</p>
<p>To find out more, start with <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorial/index.html#tutorial-index"><span class="std std-ref">The Python Tutorial</span></a>. The <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide">Beginner’s Guide to
Python</a> links to other
introductory tutorials and resources for learning Python.</p>
</section>
<section id="what-is-the-python-software-foundation">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5" role="doc-backlink">What is the Python Software Foundation?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#what-is-the-python-software-foundation" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>The Python Software Foundation is an independent non-profit organization that
holds the copyright on Python versions 2.1 and newer. The PSF’s mission is to
advance open source technology related to the Python programming language and to
publicize the use of Python. The PSF’s home page is at
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/psf/">https://www.python.org/psf/</a>.</p>
<p>Donations to the PSF are tax-exempt in the US. If you use Python and find it
helpful, please contribute via <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/">the PSF donation page</a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="are-there-copyright-restrictions-on-the-use-of-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6" role="doc-backlink">Are there copyright restrictions on the use of Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#are-there-copyright-restrictions-on-the-use-of-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>You can do anything you want with the source, as long as you leave the
copyrights in and display those copyrights in any documentation about Python
that you produce. If you honor the copyright rules, it’s OK to use Python for
commercial use, to sell copies of Python in source or binary form (modified or
unmodified), or to sell products that incorporate Python in some form. We would
still like to know about all commercial use of Python, of course.</p>
<p>See <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/license.html">the license page</a> to find further
explanations and the full text of the PSF License.</p>
<p>The Python logo is trademarked, and in certain cases permission is required to
use it. Consult <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/psf/trademarks/">the Trademark Usage Policy</a> for more information.</p>
</section>
<section id="why-was-python-created-in-the-first-place">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7" role="doc-backlink">Why was Python created in the first place?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#why-was-python-created-in-the-first-place" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Here’s a <em>very</em> brief summary of what started it all, written by Guido van
Rossum:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>I had extensive experience with implementing an interpreted language in the
ABC group at CWI, and from working with this group I had learned a lot about
language design. This is the origin of many Python features, including the
use of indentation for statement grouping and the inclusion of
very-high-level data types (although the details are all different in
Python).</p>
<p>I had a number of gripes about the ABC language, but also liked many of its
features. It was impossible to extend the ABC language (or its
implementation) to remedy my complaints – in fact its lack of extensibility
was one of its biggest problems. I had some experience with using Modula-2+
and talked with the designers of Modula-3 and read the Modula-3 report.
Modula-3 is the origin of the syntax and semantics used for exceptions, and
some other Python features.</p>
<p>I was working in the Amoeba distributed operating system group at CWI. We
needed a better way to do system administration than by writing either C
programs or Bourne shell scripts, since Amoeba had its own system call
interface which wasn’t easily accessible from the Bourne shell. My
experience with error handling in Amoeba made me acutely aware of the
importance of exceptions as a programming language feature.</p>
<p>It occurred to me that a scripting language with a syntax like ABC but with
access to the Amoeba system calls would fill the need. I realized that it
would be foolish to write an Amoeba-specific language, so I decided that I
needed a language that was generally extensible.</p>
<p>During the 1989 Christmas holidays, I had a lot of time on my hand, so I
decided to give it a try. During the next year, while still mostly working
on it in my own time, Python was used in the Amoeba project with increasing
success, and the feedback from colleagues made me add many early
improvements.</p>
<p>In February 1991, after just over a year of development, I decided to post to
USENET. The rest is in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Misc/HISTORY</span></code> file.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="what-is-python-good-for">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8" role="doc-backlink">What is Python good for?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#what-is-python-good-for" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Python is a high-level general-purpose programming language that can be applied
to many different classes of problems.</p>
<p>The language comes with a large standard library that covers areas such as
string processing (regular expressions, Unicode, calculating differences between
files), internet protocols (HTTP, FTP, SMTP, XML-RPC, POP, IMAP),
software engineering (unit testing, logging, profiling, parsing
Python code), and operating system interfaces (system calls, filesystems, TCP/IP
sockets). Look at the table of contents for <a class="reference internal" href="../library/index.html#library-index"><span class="std std-ref">The Python standard library</span></a> to get an idea
of what’s available. A wide variety of third-party extensions are also
available. Consult <a class="reference external" href="https://pypi.org">the Python Package Index</a> to
find packages of interest to you.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-does-the-python-version-numbering-scheme-work">
<span id="faq-version-numbering-scheme"></span><h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9" role="doc-backlink">How does the Python version numbering scheme work?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-does-the-python-version-numbering-scheme-work" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Python versions are numbered “A.B.C” or “A.B”:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><em>A</em> is the major version number – it is only incremented for really major
changes in the language.</p></li>
<li><p><em>B</em> is the minor version number – it is incremented for less earth-shattering
changes.</p></li>
<li><p><em>C</em> is the micro version number – it is incremented for each bugfix release.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Not all releases are bugfix releases. In the run-up to a new feature release, a
series of development releases are made, denoted as alpha, beta, or release
candidate. Alphas are early releases in which interfaces aren’t yet finalized;
it’s not unexpected to see an interface change between two alpha releases.
Betas are more stable, preserving existing interfaces but possibly adding new
modules, and release candidates are frozen, making no changes except as needed
to fix critical bugs.</p>
<p>Alpha, beta and release candidate versions have an additional suffix:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>The suffix for an alpha version is “aN” for some small number <em>N</em>.</p></li>
<li><p>The suffix for a beta version is “bN” for some small number <em>N</em>.</p></li>
<li><p>The suffix for a release candidate version is “rcN” for some small number <em>N</em>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In other words, all versions labeled <em>2.0aN</em> precede the versions labeled
<em>2.0bN</em>, which precede versions labeled <em>2.0rcN</em>, and <em>those</em> precede 2.0.</p>
<p>You may also find version numbers with a “+dev” suffix, such as “3.15.0b3+dev”.
These are unreleased versions, built directly from the CPython development
repository. After the first beta release is made, the version is
incremented to the next feature version, which becomes the “a0” version,
such as “3.16.0a0”.</p>
<p>See the <a class="reference external" href="https://devguide.python.org/developer-workflow/development-cycle/">Developer’s Guide</a>
for more information about the development cycle, and
<span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0387/"><strong>PEP 387</strong></a> to learn more about Python’s backward compatibility policy. See also
the documentation for <a class="reference internal" href="../library/sys.html#sys.version" title="sys.version"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.version</span></code></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../library/sys.html#sys.hexversion" title="sys.hexversion"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.hexversion</span></code></a>, and
<a class="reference internal" href="../library/sys.html#sys.version_info" title="sys.version_info"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.version_info</span></code></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-obtain-a-copy-of-the-python-source">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10" role="doc-backlink">How do I obtain a copy of the Python source?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-obtain-a-copy-of-the-python-source" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>The latest Python source distribution is always available from python.org, at
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/downloads/">https://www.python.org/downloads/</a>. The latest development sources can be obtained
at <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/">https://github.com/python/cpython/</a>.</p>
<p>The source distribution is a gzipped tar file containing the complete C source,
Sphinx-formatted documentation, Python library modules, example programs, and
several useful pieces of freely distributable software. The source will compile
and run out of the box on most UNIX platforms.</p>
<p>Consult the <a class="reference external" href="https://devguide.python.org/setup/">Getting Started section of the Python Developer’s Guide</a> for more
information on getting the source code and compiling it.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-get-documentation-on-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id11" role="doc-backlink">How do I get documentation on Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-get-documentation-on-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>The standard documentation for the current stable version of Python is available
at <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/">https://docs.python.org/3/</a>. EPUB, plain text, and downloadable HTML versions are
also available at <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/download.html">https://docs.python.org/3/download.html</a>.</p>
<p>The documentation is written in reStructuredText and processed by <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/">the Sphinx
documentation tool</a>. The reStructuredText source for
the documentation is part of the Python source distribution.</p>
</section>
<section id="i-ve-never-programmed-before-is-there-a-python-tutorial">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id12" role="doc-backlink">I’ve never programmed before. Is there a Python tutorial?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#i-ve-never-programmed-before-is-there-a-python-tutorial" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>There are numerous tutorials and books available. The standard documentation
includes <a class="reference internal" href="../tutorial/index.html#tutorial-index"><span class="std std-ref">The Python Tutorial</span></a>.</p>
<p>Consult <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide">the Beginner’s Guide</a> to
find information for beginning Python programmers, including lists of tutorials.</p>
</section>
<section id="is-there-a-newsgroup-or-mailing-list-devoted-to-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id13" role="doc-backlink">Is there a newsgroup or mailing list devoted to Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#is-there-a-newsgroup-or-mailing-list-devoted-to-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>There is a newsgroup, <em class="newsgroup">comp.lang.python</em>, and a mailing list,
<a class="reference external" href="https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list">python-list</a>. The
newsgroup and mailing list are gatewayed into each other – if you can read news
it’s unnecessary to subscribe to the mailing list.
<em class="newsgroup">comp.lang.python</em> is high-traffic, receiving hundreds of postings
every day, and Usenet readers are often more able to cope with this volume.</p>
<p>Announcements of new software releases and events can be found in
comp.lang.python.announce, a low-traffic moderated list that receives about five
postings per day. It’s available as <a class="reference external" href="https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-announce-list.python.org/">the python-announce mailing list</a>.</p>
<p>More info about other mailing lists and newsgroups
can be found at <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/community/lists/">https://www.python.org/community/lists/</a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-get-a-beta-test-version-of-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id14" role="doc-backlink">How do I get a beta test version of Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-get-a-beta-test-version-of-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Alpha and beta releases are available from <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/downloads/">https://www.python.org/downloads/</a>. All
releases are announced on the comp.lang.python and comp.lang.python.announce
newsgroups and on the Python home page at <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/">https://www.python.org/</a>; an RSS feed of
news is available.</p>
<p>You can also access the development version of Python through Git. See
<a class="reference external" href="https://devguide.python.org/">The Python Developer’s Guide</a> for details.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-submit-bug-reports-and-patches-for-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15" role="doc-backlink">How do I submit bug reports and patches for Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-submit-bug-reports-and-patches-for-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>To report a bug or submit a patch, use the issue tracker at
<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/python/cpython/issues">https://github.com/python/cpython/issues</a>.</p>
<p>For more information on how Python is developed, consult <a class="reference external" href="https://devguide.python.org/">the Python Developer’s
Guide</a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="are-there-any-published-articles-about-python-that-i-can-reference">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16" role="doc-backlink">Are there any published articles about Python that I can reference?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#are-there-any-published-articles-about-python-that-i-can-reference" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>It’s probably best to cite your favorite book about Python.</p>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://ir.cwi.nl/pub/18204">very first article</a> about Python was
written in 1991 and is now quite outdated.</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Guido van Rossum and Jelke de Boer, “Interactively Testing Remote Servers
Using the Python Programming Language”, CWI Quarterly, Volume 4, Issue 4
(December 1991), Amsterdam, pp 283–303.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="are-there-any-books-on-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17" role="doc-backlink">Are there any books on Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#are-there-any-books-on-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Yes, there are many, and more are being published. See the python.org wiki at
<a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonBooks">https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonBooks</a> for a list.</p>
<p>You can also search online bookstores for “Python” and filter out the Monty
Python references; or perhaps search for “Python” and “language”.</p>
</section>
<section id="where-in-the-world-is-www-python-org-located">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18" role="doc-backlink">Where in the world is www.python.org located?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#where-in-the-world-is-www-python-org-located" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>The Python project’s infrastructure is located all over the world and is managed
by the Python Infrastructure Team. Details <a class="reference external" href="https://infra.psf.io">here</a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="why-is-it-called-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19" role="doc-backlink">Why is it called Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#why-is-it-called-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>When he began implementing Python, Guido van Rossum was also reading the
published scripts from <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python">“Monty Python’s Flying Circus”</a>, a BBC comedy series from the 1970s. Van Rossum
thought he needed a name that was short, unique, and slightly mysterious, so he
decided to call the language Python.</p>
</section>
<section id="do-i-have-to-like-monty-python-s-flying-circus">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20" role="doc-backlink">Do I have to like “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#do-i-have-to-like-monty-python-s-flying-circus" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>No, but it helps. :)</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="python-in-the-real-world">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21" role="doc-backlink">Python in the real world</a><a class="headerlink" href="#python-in-the-real-world" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<section id="how-stable-is-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22" role="doc-backlink">How stable is Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-stable-is-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Very stable. New, stable releases have been coming out roughly every 6 to 18
months since 1991, and this seems likely to continue. As of version 3.9,
Python will have a new feature release every 12 months (<span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0602/"><strong>PEP 602</strong></a>).</p>
<p>The developers issue bugfix releases of older versions, so the stability of
existing releases gradually improves. Bugfix releases, indicated by a third
component of the version number (e.g. 3.5.3, 3.6.2), are managed for stability;
only fixes for known problems are included in a bugfix release, and it’s
guaranteed that interfaces will remain the same throughout a series of bugfix
releases.</p>
<p>The latest stable releases can always be found on the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/downloads/">Python download page</a>.
Python 3.x is the recommended version and supported by most widely used libraries.
Python 2.x <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0373/"><strong>is not maintained anymore</strong></a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-many-people-are-using-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23" role="doc-backlink">How many people are using Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-many-people-are-using-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>There are probably millions of users, though it’s difficult to obtain an exact
count.</p>
<p>Python is available for free download, so there are no sales figures, and it’s
available from many different sites and packaged with many Linux distributions,
so download statistics don’t tell the whole story either.</p>
<p>The comp.lang.python newsgroup is very active, but not all Python users post to
the group or even read it.</p>
</section>
<section id="have-any-significant-projects-been-done-in-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24" role="doc-backlink">Have any significant projects been done in Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#have-any-significant-projects-been-done-in-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>See <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/about/success">https://www.python.org/about/success</a> for a list of projects that use Python.
Consulting the proceedings for <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/community/workshops/">past Python conferences</a> will reveal contributions from many
different companies and organizations.</p>
<p>High-profile Python projects include <a class="reference external" href="https://www.list.org">the Mailman mailing list manager</a> and <a class="reference external" href="https://www.zope.dev">the Zope application server</a>. Several Linux distributions, most notably <a class="reference external" href="https://www.redhat.com">Red Hat</a>, have written part or all of their installer and
system administration software in Python. Companies that use Python internally
include Google, Yahoo, and Lucasfilm Ltd.</p>
</section>
<section id="what-new-developments-are-expected-for-python-in-the-future">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25" role="doc-backlink">What new developments are expected for Python in the future?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#what-new-developments-are-expected-for-python-in-the-future" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>See <a class="reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/">https://peps.python.org/</a> for the Python Enhancement Proposals
(PEPs). PEPs are design documents describing a suggested new feature for Python,
providing a concise technical specification and a rationale. Look for a PEP
titled “Python X.Y Release Schedule”, where X.Y is a version that hasn’t been
publicly released yet.</p>
<p>New development is discussed on <a class="reference external" href="https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-dev.python.org/">the python-dev mailing list</a>.</p>
</section>
<section id="is-it-reasonable-to-propose-incompatible-changes-to-python">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26" role="doc-backlink">Is it reasonable to propose incompatible changes to Python?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#is-it-reasonable-to-propose-incompatible-changes-to-python" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>In general, no. There are already millions of lines of Python code around the
world, so any change in the language that invalidates more than a very small
fraction of existing programs has to be frowned upon. Even if you can provide a
conversion program, there’s still the problem of updating all documentation;
many books have been written about Python, and we don’t want to invalidate them
all at a single stroke.</p>
<p>Providing a gradual upgrade path is necessary if a feature has to be changed.
<span class="target" id="index-3"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0005/"><strong>PEP 5</strong></a> describes the procedure followed for introducing backward-incompatible
changes while minimizing disruption for users.</p>
</section>
<section id="is-python-a-good-language-for-beginning-programmers">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id27" role="doc-backlink">Is Python a good language for beginning programmers?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#is-python-a-good-language-for-beginning-programmers" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>It is still common to start students with a procedural and statically typed
language such as Pascal, C, or a subset of C++ or Java. Students may be better
served by learning Python as their first language. Python has a very simple and
consistent syntax and a large standard library and, most importantly, using
Python in a beginning programming course lets students concentrate on important
programming skills such as problem decomposition and data type design. With
Python, students can be quickly introduced to basic concepts such as loops and
procedures. They can probably even work with user-defined objects in their very
first course.</p>
<p>For a student who has never programmed before, using a statically typed language
seems unnatural. It presents additional complexity that the student must master
and slows the pace of the course. The students are trying to learn to think
like a computer, decompose problems, design consistent interfaces, and
encapsulate data. While learning to use a statically typed language is
important in the long term, it is not necessarily the best topic to address in
the students’ first programming course.</p>
<p>Many other aspects of Python make it a good first language. Like Java, Python
has a large standard library so that students can be assigned programming
projects very early in the course that <em>do</em> something. Assignments aren’t
restricted to the standard four-function calculator and check balancing
programs. By using the standard library, students can gain the satisfaction of
working on realistic applications as they learn the fundamentals of programming.
Using the standard library also teaches students about code reuse. Third-party
modules such as PyGame are also helpful in extending the students’ reach.</p>
<p>Python’s interactive interpreter enables students to test language features
while they’re programming. They can keep a window with the interpreter running
while they enter their program’s source in another window. If they can’t
remember the methods for a list, they can do something like this:</p>
<div class="highlight-python3 notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">L</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[]</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">dir</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">L</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">['__add__', '__class__', '__contains__', '__delattr__', '__delitem__',</span>
<span class="go">'__dir__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__format__', '__ge__',</span>
<span class="go">'__getattribute__', '__getitem__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__iadd__',</span>
<span class="go">'__imul__', '__init__', '__iter__', '__le__', '__len__', '__lt__',</span>
<span class="go">'__mul__', '__ne__', '__new__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__',</span>
<span class="go">'__repr__', '__reversed__', '__rmul__', '__setattr__', '__setitem__',</span>
<span class="go">'__sizeof__', '__str__', '__subclasshook__', 'append', 'clear',</span>
<span class="go">'copy', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove',</span>
<span class="go">'reverse', 'sort']</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="n">d</span> <span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">d</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="nb">dir</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">L</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">if</span> <span class="s1">'__'</span> <span class="ow">not</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">d</span><span class="p">]</span>
<span class="go">['append', 'clear', 'copy', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">help</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">L</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">append</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">Help on built-in function append:</span>
<span class="go">append(...)</span>
<span class="go"> L.append(object) -&gt; None -- append object to end</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">L</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">append</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="n">L</span>
<span class="go">[1]</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>With the interpreter, documentation is never far from the student as they are
programming.</p>
<p>There are also good IDEs for Python. IDLE is a cross-platform IDE for Python
that is written in Python using Tkinter.
Emacs users will be happy to know that there is a very good Python mode for
Emacs. All of these programming environments provide syntax highlighting,
auto-indenting, and access to the interactive interpreter while coding. Consult
<a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonEditors">the Python wiki</a> for a full list
of Python editing environments.</p>
<p>If you want to discuss Python’s use in education, you may be interested in
joining <a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/edu-sig">the edu-sig mailing list</a>.</p>
</section>
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<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#i-can-t-get-key-bindings-to-work-in-tkinter-why" id="id7">I can’t get key bindings to work in Tkinter: why?</a></p></li>
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<p>Standard builds of Python include an object-oriented interface to the Tcl/Tk
widget set, called <a class="reference internal" href="../library/tk.html#tkinter"><span class="std std-ref">tkinter</span></a>. This is probably the easiest to
install (since it comes included with most
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.python.org/downloads/">binary distributions</a> of Python) and use.
For more info about Tk, including pointers to the source, see the
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.tcl.tk">Tcl/Tk home page</a>. Tcl/Tk is fully portable to the
macOS, Windows, and Unix platforms.</p>
<p>Depending on what platform(s) you are aiming at, there are also several
alternatives. A <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/GuiProgramming#Cross-Platform_Frameworks">list of cross-platform</a> and
<a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.python.org/moin/GuiProgramming#Platform-specific_Frameworks">platform-specific</a> GUI
frameworks can be found on the python wiki.</p>
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<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5" role="doc-backlink">How do I freeze Tkinter applications?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-freeze-tkinter-applications" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>Freeze is a tool to create stand-alone applications. When freezing Tkinter
applications, the applications will not be truly stand-alone, as the application
will still need the Tcl and Tk libraries.</p>
<p>One solution is to ship the application with the Tcl and Tk libraries, and point
to them at run-time using the <code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TCL_LIBRARY</span></code> and <code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TK_LIBRARY</span></code>
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<p>On platforms other than Windows, yes, and you don’t even
need threads! But you’ll have to restructure your I/O
code a bit. Tk has the equivalent of Xt’s <code class="xref c c-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">XtAddInput()</span></code> call, which allows you
to register a callback function which will be called from the Tk mainloop when
I/O is possible on a file descriptor. See <a class="reference internal" href="../library/tkinter.html#tkinter-file-handlers"><span class="std std-ref">File handlers</span></a>.</p>
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<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7" role="doc-backlink">I can’t get key bindings to work in Tkinter: why?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#i-can-t-get-key-bindings-to-work-in-tkinter-why" title="Link to this heading"></a></h3>
<p>An often-heard complaint is that event handlers <a class="reference internal" href="../library/tkinter.html#bindings-and-events"><span class="std std-ref">bound</span></a>
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don’t get handled even when the appropriate key is pressed.</p>
<p>The most common cause is that the widget to which the binding applies doesn’t
have “keyboard focus”. Check out the Tk documentation for the focus command.
Usually a widget is given the keyboard focus by clicking in it (but not for
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<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Python on Windows FAQ</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-run-a-python-program-under-windows">How do I run a Python program under Windows?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-make-python-scripts-executable">How do I make Python scripts executable?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#why-does-python-sometimes-take-so-long-to-start">Why does Python sometimes take so long to start?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-make-an-executable-from-a-python-script">How do I make an executable from a Python script?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#is-a-pyd-file-the-same-as-a-dll">Is a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.pyd</span></code> file the same as a DLL?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-embed-python-into-a-windows-application">How can I embed Python into a Windows application?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-keep-editors-from-inserting-tabs-into-my-python-source">How do I keep editors from inserting tabs into my Python source?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-check-for-a-keypress-without-blocking">How do I check for a keypress without blocking?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-solve-the-missing-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-error">How do I solve the missing api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll error?</a></li>
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<section id="python-on-windows-faq">
<span id="windows-faq"></span><h1><a class="toc-backref" href="#id1" role="doc-backlink">Python on Windows FAQ</a><a class="headerlink" href="#python-on-windows-faq" title="Link to this heading"></a></h1>
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<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#python-on-windows-faq" id="id1">Python on Windows FAQ</a></p>
<ul>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-run-a-python-program-under-windows" id="id2">How do I run a Python program under Windows?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-make-python-scripts-executable" id="id3">How do I make Python scripts executable?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#why-does-python-sometimes-take-so-long-to-start" id="id4">Why does Python sometimes take so long to start?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-make-an-executable-from-a-python-script" id="id5">How do I make an executable from a Python script?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#is-a-pyd-file-the-same-as-a-dll" id="id6">Is a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.pyd</span></code> file the same as a DLL?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-embed-python-into-a-windows-application" id="id7">How can I embed Python into a Windows application?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-keep-editors-from-inserting-tabs-into-my-python-source" id="id8">How do I keep editors from inserting tabs into my Python source?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-check-for-a-keypress-without-blocking" id="id9">How do I check for a keypress without blocking?</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-solve-the-missing-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-error" id="id10">How do I solve the missing api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll error?</a></p></li>
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</li>
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</nav>
<section id="how-do-i-run-a-python-program-under-windows">
<span id="faq-run-program-under-windows"></span><h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2" role="doc-backlink">How do I run a Python program under Windows?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-run-a-python-program-under-windows" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>This is not necessarily a straightforward question. If you are already familiar
with running programs from the Windows command line then everything will seem
obvious; otherwise, you might need a little more guidance.</p>
<p>Unless you use some sort of integrated development environment, you will end up
<em>typing</em> Windows commands into what is referred to as a
“Command prompt window”. Usually you can create such a window from your
search bar by searching for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cmd</span></code>. You should be able to recognize
when you have started such a window because you will see a Windows “command
prompt”, which usually looks like this:</p>
<div class="highlight-doscon notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">C:\&gt;</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The letter may be different, and there might be other things after it, so you
might just as easily see something like:</p>
<div class="highlight-doscon notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">D:\YourName\Projects\Python&gt;</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>depending on how your computer has been set up and what else you have recently
done with it. Once you have started such a window, you are well on the way to
running Python programs.</p>
<p>You need to realize that your Python scripts have to be processed by another
program called the Python <em>interpreter</em>. The interpreter reads your script,
compiles it into bytecodes, and then executes the bytecodes to run your
program. So, how do you arrange for the interpreter to handle your Python?</p>
<p>First, you need to make sure that your command window recognises the word
“py” as an instruction to start the interpreter. If you have opened a
command window, you should try entering the command <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">py</span></code> and hitting
return:</p>
<div class="highlight-doscon notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">C:\Users\YourName&gt;</span> py
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You should then see something like:</p>
<div class="highlight-pycon notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="go">Python 3.6.4 (v3.6.4:d48eceb, Dec 19 2017, 06:04:45) [MSC v.1900 32 bit (Intel)] on win32</span>
<span class="go">Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt;</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You have started the interpreter in “interactive mode”. That means you can enter
Python statements or expressions interactively and have them executed or
evaluated while you wait. This is one of Python’s strongest features. Check it
by entering a few expressions of your choice and seeing the results:</p>
<div class="highlight-pycon notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="nb">print</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"Hello"</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="go">Hello</span>
<span class="gp">&gt;&gt;&gt; </span><span class="s2">"Hello"</span> <span class="o">*</span> <span class="mi">3</span>
<span class="go">'HelloHelloHello'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Many people use the interactive mode as a convenient yet highly programmable
calculator. When you want to end your interactive Python session,
call the <a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/constants.html#exit" title="exit"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">exit()</span></code></a> function or hold the <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Ctrl</kbd> key down
while you enter a <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Z</kbd>, then hit the “<kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Enter</kbd>” key to get
back to your Windows command prompt.</p>
<p>You may also find that you have a Start-menu entry such as <span class="menuselection">Start
‣ Programs ‣ Python 3.x ‣ Python (command line)</span> that results in you
seeing the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&gt;&gt;&gt;</span></code> prompt in a new window. If so, the window will disappear
after you call the <a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/constants.html#exit" title="exit"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">exit()</span></code></a> function or enter the <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Ctrl</kbd>-<kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Z</kbd>
character; Windows is running a single “python”
command in the window, and closes it when you terminate the interpreter.</p>
<p>Now that we know the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">py</span></code> command is recognized, you can give your
Python script to it. You’ll have to give either an absolute or a
relative path to the Python script. Let’s say your Python script is
located in your desktop and is named <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">hello.py</span></code>, and your command
prompt is nicely opened in your home directory so you’re seeing something
similar to:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>C:\Users\YourName&gt;
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>So now you’ll ask the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">py</span></code> command to give your script to Python by
typing <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">py</span></code> followed by your script path:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>C:\Users\YourName&gt; py Desktop\hello.py
hello
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-make-python-scripts-executable">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3" role="doc-backlink">How do I make Python scripts executable?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-make-python-scripts-executable" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>On Windows, the standard Python installer already associates the .py
extension with a file type (Python.File) and gives that file type an open
command that runs the interpreter (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">D:\Program</span> <span class="pre">Files\Python\python.exe</span> <span class="pre">&quot;%1&quot;</span>
<span class="pre">%*</span></code>). This is enough to make scripts executable from the command prompt as
‘foo.py’. If you’d rather be able to execute the script by simple typing ‘foo’
with no extension you need to add .py to the PATHEXT environment variable.</p>
</section>
<section id="why-does-python-sometimes-take-so-long-to-start">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4" role="doc-backlink">Why does Python sometimes take so long to start?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#why-does-python-sometimes-take-so-long-to-start" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Usually Python starts very quickly on Windows, but occasionally there are bug
reports that Python suddenly begins to take a long time to start up. This is
made even more puzzling because Python will work fine on other Windows systems
which appear to be configured identically.</p>
<p>The problem may be caused by a misconfiguration of virus checking software on
the problem machine. Some virus scanners have been known to introduce startup
overhead of two orders of magnitude when the scanner is configured to monitor
all reads from the filesystem. Try checking the configuration of virus scanning
software on your systems to ensure that they are indeed configured identically.
McAfee, when configured to scan all file system read activity, is a particular
offender.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-make-an-executable-from-a-python-script">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5" role="doc-backlink">How do I make an executable from a Python script?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-make-an-executable-from-a-python-script" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>See <a class="reference internal" href="programming.html#faq-create-standalone-binary"><span class="std std-ref">How can I create a stand-alone binary from a Python script?</span></a> for a list of tools that can be used to
make executables.</p>
</section>
<section id="is-a-pyd-file-the-same-as-a-dll">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6" role="doc-backlink">Is a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.pyd</span></code> file the same as a DLL?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#is-a-pyd-file-the-same-as-a-dll" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Yes, .pyd files are dll’s, but there are a few differences. If you have a DLL
named <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">foo.pyd</span></code>, then it must have a function <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyInit_foo()</span></code>. You can then
write Python “import foo”, and Python will search for foo.pyd (as well as
foo.py, foo.pyc) and if it finds it, will attempt to call <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">PyInit_foo()</span></code> to
initialize it. You do not link your .exe with foo.lib, as that would cause
Windows to require the DLL to be present.</p>
<p>Note that the search path for foo.pyd is PYTHONPATH, not the same as the path
that Windows uses to search for foo.dll. Also, foo.pyd need not be present to
run your program, whereas if you linked your program with a dll, the dll is
required. Of course, foo.pyd is required if you want to say <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">import</span> <span class="pre">foo</span></code>. In
a DLL, linkage is declared in the source code with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__declspec(dllexport)</span></code>.
In a .pyd, linkage is defined in a list of available functions.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-can-i-embed-python-into-a-windows-application">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7" role="doc-backlink">How can I embed Python into a Windows application?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-can-i-embed-python-into-a-windows-application" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Embedding the Python interpreter in a Windows app can be summarized as follows:</p>
<ol class="arabic">
<li><p>Do <strong>not</strong> build Python into your .exe file directly. On Windows, Python must
be a DLL to handle importing modules that are themselves DLL’s. (This is the
first key undocumented fact.) Instead, link to <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span><em><span class="pre">NN</span></em><span class="pre">.dll</span></code>; it is
typically installed in <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">C:\Windows\System</span></code>. <em>NN</em> is the Python version, a
number such as “33” for Python 3.3.</p>
<p>You can link to Python in two different ways. Load-time linking means
linking against <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span><em><span class="pre">NN</span></em><span class="pre">.lib</span></code>, while run-time linking means linking
against <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span><em><span class="pre">NN</span></em><span class="pre">.dll</span></code>. (General note: <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span><em><span class="pre">NN</span></em><span class="pre">.lib</span></code> is the
so-called “import lib” corresponding to <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span><em><span class="pre">NN</span></em><span class="pre">.dll</span></code>. It merely
defines symbols for the linker.)</p>
<p>Run-time linking greatly simplifies link options; everything happens at run
time. Your code must load <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span><em><span class="pre">NN</span></em><span class="pre">.dll</span></code> using the Windows
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">LoadLibraryEx()</span></code> routine. The code must also use access routines and data
in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python</span><em><span class="pre">NN</span></em><span class="pre">.dll</span></code> (that is, Python’s C API’s) using pointers obtained
by the Windows <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GetProcAddress()</span></code> routine. Macros can make using these
pointers transparent to any C code that calls routines in Python’s C API.</p>
</li>
<li><p>If you use SWIG, it is easy to create a Python “extension module” that will
make the app’s data and methods available to Python. SWIG will handle just
about all the grungy details for you. The result is C code that you link
<em>into</em> your .exe file (!) You do <strong>not</strong> have to create a DLL file, and this
also simplifies linking.</p></li>
<li><p>SWIG will create an init function (a C function) whose name depends on the
name of the extension module. For example, if the name of the module is leo,
the init function will be called initleo(). If you use SWIG shadow classes,
as you should, the init function will be called initleoc(). This initializes
a mostly hidden helper class used by the shadow class.</p>
<p>The reason you can link the C code in step 2 into your .exe file is that
calling the initialization function is equivalent to importing the module
into Python! (This is the second key undocumented fact.)</p>
</li>
<li><p>In short, you can use the following code to initialize the Python interpreter
with your extension module.</p>
<div class="highlight-c notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="cp">#include</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="cpf">&lt;Python.h&gt;</span>
<span class="p">...</span>
<span class="n">Py_Initialize</span><span class="p">();</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">// Initialize Python.</span>
<span class="n">initmyAppc</span><span class="p">();</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">// Initialize (import) the helper class.</span>
<span class="n">PyRun_SimpleString</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"import myApp"</span><span class="p">);</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">// Import the shadow class.</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</li>
<li><p>There are two problems with Python’s C API which will become apparent if you
use a compiler other than MSVC, the compiler used to build pythonNN.dll.</p>
<p>Problem 1: The so-called “Very High Level” functions that take <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">FILE</span> <span class="pre">*</span></code>
arguments will not work in a multi-compiler environment because each
compiler’s notion of a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">struct</span> <span class="pre">FILE</span></code> will be different. From an implementation
standpoint these are very low level functions.</p>
<p>Problem 2: SWIG generates the following code when generating wrappers to void
functions:</p>
<div class="highlight-c notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">Py_INCREF</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">Py_None</span><span class="p">);</span>
<span class="n">_resultobj</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Py_None</span><span class="p">;</span>
<span class="k">return</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">_resultobj</span><span class="p">;</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Alas, Py_None is a macro that expands to a reference to a complex data
structure called _Py_NoneStruct inside pythonNN.dll. Again, this code will
fail in a mult-compiler environment. Replace such code by:</p>
<div class="highlight-c notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">return</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="n">Py_BuildValue</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">""</span><span class="p">);</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>It may be possible to use SWIG’s <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%typemap</span></code> command to make the change
automatically, though I have not been able to get this to work (I’m a
complete SWIG newbie).</p>
</li>
<li><p>Using a Python shell script to put up a Python interpreter window from inside
your Windows app is not a good idea; the resulting window will be independent
of your app’s windowing system. Rather, you (or the wxPythonWindow class)
should create a “native” interpreter window. It is easy to connect that
window to the Python interpreter. You can redirect Python’s i/o to _any_
object that supports read and write, so all you need is a Python object
(defined in your extension module) that contains read() and write() methods.</p></li>
</ol>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-keep-editors-from-inserting-tabs-into-my-python-source">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8" role="doc-backlink">How do I keep editors from inserting tabs into my Python source?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-keep-editors-from-inserting-tabs-into-my-python-source" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>The FAQ does not recommend using tabs, and the Python style guide, <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="pep reference external" href="https://peps.python.org/pep-0008/"><strong>PEP 8</strong></a>,
recommends 4 spaces for distributed Python code; this is also the Emacs
python-mode default.</p>
<p>Under any editor, mixing tabs and spaces is a bad idea. MSVC is no different in
this respect, and is easily configured to use spaces: Take <span class="menuselection">Tools
‣ Options ‣ Tabs</span>, and for file type “Default” set “Tab size” and “Indent
size” to 4, and select the “Insert spaces” radio button.</p>
<p>Python raises <a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/exceptions.html#IndentationError" title="IndentationError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">IndentationError</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="../builtins/exceptions.html#TabError" title="TabError"><code class="xref py py-exc docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TabError</span></code></a> if mixed tabs
and spaces are causing problems in leading whitespace.
You may also run the <a class="reference internal" href="../library/tabnanny.html#module-tabnanny" title="tabnanny: Tool for detecting white space related problems in Python source files in a directory tree."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tabnanny</span></code></a> module to check a directory tree
in batch mode.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-check-for-a-keypress-without-blocking">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9" role="doc-backlink">How do I check for a keypress without blocking?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-check-for-a-keypress-without-blocking" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>Use the <a class="reference internal" href="../library/msvcrt.html#module-msvcrt" title="msvcrt: Miscellaneous useful routines from the MS VC++ runtime."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">msvcrt</span></code></a> module. This is a standard Windows-specific extension module.
It defines a function <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">kbhit()</span></code> which checks whether a keyboard hit is
present, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">getch()</span></code> which gets one character without echoing it.</p>
</section>
<section id="how-do-i-solve-the-missing-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-error">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10" role="doc-backlink">How do I solve the missing api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll error?</a><a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-solve-the-missing-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-error" title="Link to this heading"></a></h2>
<p>This can occur on Python 3.5 and later when using Windows 8.1 or earlier without all updates having been installed.
First ensure your operating system is supported and is up to date, and if that does not resolve the issue,
visit the <a class="reference external" href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3118401/">Microsoft support page</a>
for guidance on manually installing the C Runtime update.</p>
</section>
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<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Python on Windows FAQ</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-run-a-python-program-under-windows">How do I run a Python program under Windows?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-make-python-scripts-executable">How do I make Python scripts executable?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#why-does-python-sometimes-take-so-long-to-start">Why does Python sometimes take so long to start?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-make-an-executable-from-a-python-script">How do I make an executable from a Python script?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#is-a-pyd-file-the-same-as-a-dll">Is a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.pyd</span></code> file the same as a DLL?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-can-i-embed-python-into-a-windows-application">How can I embed Python into a Windows application?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-keep-editors-from-inserting-tabs-into-my-python-source">How do I keep editors from inserting tabs into my Python source?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-check-for-a-keypress-without-blocking">How do I check for a keypress without blocking?</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-do-i-solve-the-missing-api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0-dll-error">How do I solve the missing api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll error?</a></li>
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