How to install Python package from source on Windows

[Chris Angelico]

On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 4:12 AM, Deborah Swanson
<python at deborahswanson.net> wrote:
> It continues to amaze me that Anaconda and Python.org, probably the two
> biggest distributors of official Python builds, are now relying on
> Visual C++. Why can't Python developers write the entire setup and
> installation code in Python? Surely Python has the required
> functionality, and it seems more than a little demeaning for Python to
> be using Visual C++ as a crutch.

Are you suggesting that a C compiler should be written in Python?
Because you're dealing with an extension library. It's not written in
pure Python. That's why it needs a C compiler. While it is certainly
possible to write a C compiler in Python, it is unlikely to outperform
the existing popular compilers (gcc, clang, msvc, etc), which have had
many years of expertise poured into them.

None of this applies if you are actually depending on a pure Python
module, which *can* be installed without a C compiler. Visual C++ is
not a crutch but a critical part of the build process.

ChrisA