Let's try it out. First, if you're on Linux or OS X, install with the terminal command pip install cppimport.

Here's a simple C++ extension using pybind11:

#include <pybind11/pybind11.h>

namespace py = pybind11;

int square(int x) {
    return x * x;
}

void pyexport(py::module& m) {
    m.def("square", &square);
}

The pyexport function specifies which functions (or classes) are available from python [1].

Save this code as somecode.cpp.

Open a python interpreter and run these lines [2]:

>>> import cppimport
>>> import somecode #This will pause for a moment to compile the module
>>> somecode.square(9)
81

I'm a big fan of the workflow that this enables, where you can edit both C++ files and Python and recompilation happens transparently.

The technical description: cppimport is a small import hook that determines whether there is a C++ source file that matches the requested module. If there is, the file is compiled as a Python extension using pybind11 and placed in the same folder as the C++ source file. Python is then able to find the module and load it.

Simpler language please: Sometimes Python just isn't fast enough. Or you have existing code in a C++ library. So, you write a Python extension module, a library of compiled code. I recommend pybind11 for the C++ to Python bindings. I've done this a lot over the years. But, I discovered that my productivity goes through the floor when my development process goes from Edit -> Test in just Python to Edit -> Compile -> Test in Python plus C++. So, cppimport modifies the import process in Python so that you can type import modulename, to compile and import a C++ extension. Internally, when no matching Python module is found, cppimport looks for a file modulename.cpp. If one is found, it's compiled and loaded as an extension module.

You probably just need to run pip install cppimport. Two caveats:

• If you a super old compiler that doesn't support c++11, then it won't work.
• cppimport has only been tested on Unix, so if you'd like to use it on Windows, I'd love to see a pull request with the necessary fixes!

[1]: the pyexport function is called by an auto-generated PYBIND11_PLUGIN call, so that the module name can be substituted in by cppimport

[2]: The compilation should only happen the first time the module is imported. The C++ source is compared with a checksum on each import to determine if the file has changed.

[3]: Calling cppimport.set_quiet(False) will result in output that will be helpful in debugging compile errors. The default is to make the import process completely silent.

[4]: If you have a more complex extension that requires adding include directories, multiple source files, or libraries, this project isn't currently useful for you. Let me know if you have suggestions on how to include these features smoothly.