[SciPy-user] interactive work with extension modules

[Robert Kern]

On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 10:04, Steve Schmerler <elcorto at gmx.net> wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I've read in the scipy and IPython archives that Python cannot reload extension
> modules (C and Fortran). So if I change and re-compile my extension and do
>
>    >>> reload(foo)
>    >>> foo.some_function(args)
>
> in the [i]python shell, there is no change to "foo". Even
>
>    >>> del foo
>    >>> import foo
>    >>> foo.some_function(args)
>
> does not change the module foo in the interactive session (why?). So, I'd like
> to hear how people develop/test extensions interactively, then.

By and large, you have to use a new process. Python extension modules
don't really have the capability to be unloaded. Consequently, they
can't really be reloaded, either.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless
enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as
though it had an underlying truth."
 -- Umberto Eco