[pypy-dev] GSoC 2015: cpyext project?

[Toby St Clere Smithe]

Hi all,

I've posted a couple of times on here before: I maintain a Python
extension for GPGPU linear algebra[1], but it uses boost.python. I do
most of my scientific computing in Python, but often am forced to use
CPython where I would prefer to use PyPy, largely because of the
availability of extensions.

I'm looking for an interesting Google Summer of Code project for next
year, and would like to continue working on things that help make
high-performance computing in Python straight-forward. In particular,
I've had my eye on the 'optimising cpyext'[2] project for a while: might
work in that area be available?

I notice that it is described with difficulty 'hard', and so I'm keen to
enquire early so that I can get up to speed before making a potential
application in the spring. I would love to work on getting cpyext into a
good enough shape that both Cython and Boost.Python extensions are
functional with minimal effort on behalf of the user. Does anyone have
any advice? Are there particular things I should familiarise myself
with? I know there is the module/cpyext tree, but it is quite formidable
for someone uninitiated!

Of course, I recognise that cpyext is a much trickier proposition in
comparison with things like cffi and cppyy. In particular, I'm very
excited by cppyy and PyCling, but they seem quite bound up in CERN's
ROOT infrastructure, which is a shame. But it's also clear that very
many useful extensions currently use the CPython API, and so -- as I
have often found -- the apparent relative immaturity of cpyext keeps
people away from PyPy, which is also a shame!

[1] https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyviennacl
[2] https://bitbucket.org/pypy/pypy/wiki/GSOC%202014

Best,

Toby


-- 
Toby St Clere Smithe
http://tsmithe.net