[pypy-commit] extradoc extradoc: Slides, from the Swiss Python Summit

arigo pypy.commits at gmail.com
Mon Jul 18 11:53:35 EDT 2016


Author: Armin Rigo <arigo at tunes.org>
Branch: extradoc
Changeset: r5653:6930f22b654b
Date: 2016-07-18 17:14 +0200
http://bitbucket.org/pypy/extradoc/changeset/6930f22b654b/

Log:	Slides, from the Swiss Python Summit

diff --git a/talk/ep2016/Makefile b/talk/ep2016/Makefile
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/talk/ep2016/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+slides.pdf: slides.tex author.latex
+	pdflatex $<
+
+slides.tex: slides.rst
+	rst2beamer.py slides.rst > slides.tex
+	sed 's/\\date{}/\\input{author.latex}/' -i slides.tex || exit
diff --git a/talk/ep2016/author.latex b/talk/ep2016/author.latex
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/talk/ep2016/author.latex
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+\definecolor{rrblitbackground}{rgb}{0.4, 0.0, 0.0}
+
+\title[CFFI and PyPy]{CFFI and PyPy}
+\author[Armin Rigo]{Armin Rigo}
+
+\institute{EuroPython 2016}
+\date{July 2016}
diff --git a/talk/ep2016/slides.rst b/talk/ep2016/slides.rst
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/talk/ep2016/slides.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,587 @@
+====================================================
+CFFI and PyPy
+====================================================
+
+.. raw:: latex
+
+   \catcode`\|=13
+   \def|{\hskip 1cm}
+
+   \let\foobarbaz=>
+   \catcode`\>=13
+   \def>{\foobarbaz\relax}
+
+ 
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+* successful project according to PyPI
+
+* 3.4 million downloads last month
+
+* total 19.2 millions, 27th place on `pypi-ranking.info`
+
+  - Django is 28th
+
+* some high-visibility projects have switched to it (Cryptography)
+
+
+PyPy
+====
+
+* harder to say, but probably not so successful
+
+* more later
+
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+* call C from Python
+
+* CFFI = C Foreign Function Interface
+
+* shares ideas from Cython, ctypes, and LuaJIT's FFI
+
+
+CFFI demo
+=========
+
+::
+
+ |    $ man getpwuid
+
+ | 
+
+ |    SYNOPSIS
+
+ |    |      #include <sys/types.h>
+
+ |    |      #include <pwd.h>
+
+ |    |
+
+ |    |      struct passwd *getpwnam(const char *);
+
+
+CFFI demo
+=========
+
+::
+
+ |       .
+
+ |       .
+
+ |       .
+
+ |       The passwd structure is defined in <pwd.h>
+
+ |       as follows:
+
+ |
+ 
+ |       struct passwd {
+
+ |       |      char   *pw_name;       /* username */
+
+ |       |      char   *pw_passwd;     /* user password */
+ 
+ |       |      uid_t   pw_uid;        /* user ID */
+ 
+ |       .
+
+ |       .
+
+ |       .
+   
+
+CFFI demo
+=========
+
+::
+
+ |  import cffi
+
+ |  ffi = cffi.FFI()
+
+ |
+
+ |  ffi.cdef("""
+
+ |  |     typedef int... uid_t;
+ 
+ |  |     struct passwd {
+ 
+ |  |     |     uid_t pw_uid;
+ 
+ |  |     |     ...;
+ 
+ |  |     };
+ 
+ |  |     struct passwd *getpwnam(const char *);
+ 
+ |  """)
+
+
+CFFI demo
+=========
+
+::
+
+ | ffi.set_source("_pwuid_cffi", """
+ 
+ | |    #include <sys/types.h>
+ 
+ | |    #include <pwd.h>
+ 
+ | """)
+
+ |
+ 
+ | ffi.compile()
+
+ |
+
+... and put that in pwuid_build.py
+
+
+CFFI demo
+=========
+
+::
+
+ | python pwuid_build.py
+
+ |
+
+creates _pwuid_cffi.so
+
+
+CFFI demo
+=========
+
+::
+
+  from _pwuid_cffi import lib
+
+  print lib.getpwnam("username").pw_uid
+
+
+CFFI demo
+=========
+
+::
+
+  from _pwuid_cffi import ffi, lib
+
+* ``lib`` gives access to all functions from the cdef
+
+* ``ffi`` gives access to a few general helpers
+
+
+ffi.cdef()
+==========
+
+::
+
+ |   ffi.cdef("""
+ 
+ |   |   int foo1(int a, int b);
+
+ |   |
+
+ |   |   typedef ... Window;
+ 
+ |   |   Window *make_window(int w, int h);
+ 
+ |   |   void hide_window(Window *);
+ 
+ |   """)
+
+
+ffi.new()
+=========
+
+::
+    
+ |   >>> p = ffi.new("char[]", "Some string")
+ 
+ |   >>> p
+ 
+ |   <cdata 'char[]' owning 12 bytes>
+
+ |
+ 
+ |   >>> p[1]
+ 
+ |   'o'
+
+ |
+ 
+ |   >>> q = lib.getpwnam(p)
+ 
+ |   >>> q
+ 
+ |   <cdata 'struct passwd *' 0x12345678>
+
+ |
+  
+ |   >>> q.pw_uid
+ 
+ |   500
+
+ffi.cast()
+==========
+
+::
+
+ |   >>> p = lib.getpwnam("root")
+
+ |   >>> p
+
+ |   <cdata 'struct passwd *' 0x12345678>
+
+ |
+
+ |   >>> ffi.cast("void *", p)
+
+ |   <cdata 'void *' 0x12345678>
+
+ |
+
+ |   >>> ffi.cast("long", p)
+
+ |   305419896
+
+ |   >>> hex(_)
+
+ |   0x12345678
+
+
+ffi.new_handle()
+================
+
+::
+
+ |   >>> h1 = ffi.new_handle(some_object)
+ 
+ |   >>> h1
+ 
+ |   <cdata 'void *' handle to
+
+ |   | | | | <X object at 0x123456>>
+ 
+ |   >>> lib.save_away(h1)
+ 
+ |
+ 
+ |   >>> h2 = lib.fish_again()
+ 
+ |   >>> h2
+ 
+ |   <cdata 'void *' 0x87654321>
+
+ |
+
+ |   >>> ffi.from_handle(h2)
+ 
+ |   <X object at 0x123456>
+
+
+ffi.string()
+============
+
+::
+
+ |   >>> p
+
+ |   <cdata 'struct passwd *' 0x12345678>
+
+ |
+
+ |   >>> p.pw_uid
+
+ |   500
+
+ |
+
+ |   >>> p.pw_name
+
+ |   <cdata 'char *' 0x5234abcd>
+
+ |
+
+ |   >>> ffi.string(p.pw_name)
+
+ |   "username"
+
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+* supports more or less the whole C
+
+* there is more than my short explanations suggests
+
+* read the docs: http://cffi.readthedocs.org/
+
+
+
+PyPy
+====
+
+
+PyPy
+====
+
+* a Python interpreter
+
+* different from the standard, which is CPython
+
+* main goal of PyPy: speed
+
+
+PyPy
+====
+
+::
+
+ |   $ pypy
+
+ |  Python 2.7.10 (5f8302b8bf9f, Nov 18 2015,
+
+ |  [PyPy 4.0.1 with GCC 4.8.4] on linux2
+ 
+ |  Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or
+
+ |  >>>> 2+3
+
+ |  5
+
+ |  >>>>
+
+
+PyPy
+====
+
+* run ``pypy my_program.py``
+
+* starts working like an interpreter
+
+* then a Just-in-Time Compiler kicks in
+
+* generate and execute machine code from the Python program
+
+* good or great speed-ups for the majority of long-running code
+
+
+PyPy
+====
+
+* different techniques than CPython also for "garbage collection"
+
+* works very well (arguably better than CPython's reference counting)
+
+
+PyPy: Garbage Collection
+========================
+
+* "**moving,** generational, incremental GC"
+
+* objects don't have reference counters
+
+* allocated in a "nursery"
+
+* when nursery full, find surviving nursery objects and move them out
+
+* usually work on nursery objects only (fast), but rarely also perform
+  a full GC
+
+
+PyPy: C extensions
+==================
+
+* PyPy works great for running Python
+
+* less great when there are CPython C extension modules involved
+
+
+PyPy: C extensions
+==================
+
+* not directly possible: we have moving, non-reference-counted objects,
+  and the C code expects non-moving, reference-counted objects
+
+
+PyPy: C extensions
+==================
+
+* PyPy has still some support for them, called its ``cpyext`` module
+
+* similar to IronPython's Ironclad
+
+* emulate all objects for C extensions with a shadow, non-movable,
+  reference-counted object
+
+
+PyPy: C extensions
+==================
+
+* ``cpyext`` is slow
+
+* ``cpyext`` is actually *really, really* slow
+
+  - but we're working on making it *only* slow
+
+
+PyPy: C extensions
+==================
+
+* ``cpyext`` will "often" work, but there are a some high-profile C
+  extension modules that are not supported so far
+
+* notably, ``numpy``
+
+* (it is future work)
+
+
+PyPy: ad
+========
+
+* but, hey, if you need performance out of Python and don't rely
+  critically on C extension modules, then give PyPy a try
+
+  - typical area where it works well: web services
+
+
+CPython C API: the problem
+==========================
+
+* CPython comes with a C API
+
+* very large number of functions
+
+* assumes objects don't move
+
+* assumes a "reference counting" model
+
+
+CPython C API
+=============
+
+* actually, the API is some large subset of the functions inside
+  CPython itself
+
+
+CPython C API
+=============
+
+* easy to use from C
+
+* historically, part of the success of Python
+
+
+CPython C API
+=============
+
+* further successful tools build on top of that API:
+
+  - SWIG
+  - Cython
+  - and other binding generators
+  - now CFFI
+
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+* but CFFI is a bit different
+
+  - it does not expose any part of the CPython C API
+
+  - everything is done with a minimal API on the ``ffi`` object
+    which is closer to C
+
+    - ``ffi.cast()``, ``ffi.new()``, etc.
+
+  - that means it can be directly ported
+
+
+CFFI and PyPy
+=============
+
+* we have a PyPy version of CFFI
+
+* the demos I have given above work equally well on CPython or on PyPy
+
+* (supporting PyPy was part of the core motivation behind CFFI)
+
+
+CFFI: performance
+=================
+
+* in PyPy, JIT compiler speeds up calls, so it's very fast
+
+* in CPython, it doesn't occur, but it is still reasonable when
+  compared with alternatives
+
+* main issue is that we write more code in Python with CFFI,
+  which makes it slower on CPython---but not really on PyPy
+
+
+CFFI: summary
+=============
+
+* call C from Python
+
+* works natively on CPython and on PyPy
+
+  - and easy to port to other Python implementations
+
+* supports CPython 2.6, 2.7, 3.2 to 3.5, and
+  is integrated with PyPy
+
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+* independent on the particular details of the Python implementation
+
+  - using CFFI, you call C functions and manipulate C-pointer-like
+    objects directly from Python
+
+  - you do in Python all logic involving Python objects
+
+  - there are no (official) ways around this API to call the CPython C
+    API, and none are needed
+
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+* two reasons to switch to it ``:-)``
+
+  - easy and cool
+
+  - better supported on non-CPython implementations
+
+
+CFFI: latest news
+=================
+
+* support for "embedding" Python inside some other non-Python program
+
+  - now you really never need the CPython C API any more
+
+
+CFFI
+====
+
+http://cffi.readthedocs.org/


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