PyO3 VS RustPython

PyO3 0.23.0 was a big release I’ve been tinkering with extensively and support for “free-threaded Python” is a headline feature and I imagine this NoGIL Python will be extremely nice for Rust interoperability so there is definitely interest in that crate. Also could be huge for queueing data for GPUs, api servers, bulk data fetching.

For whatever reason (maybe post 2to3 PTSD), Python community seems not extremely eager to jump on latest versions of Python and it often takes a long time for popular libraries to support the latest and greatest, so I’d recommend patience and baby steps

https://github.com/PyO3/pyo3/releases/tag/v0.23.0

🤖 Unlike the above languages Rust can also be used as a replacement of part of the application. Especially if there is a part that needs some speed-up or needs some memory saving. One could replace part of a Python or Node project by Rust and embed the code using PyO3 or napi respectively. This is also going to be the topic of the presentation of Aviram Hassan called Microdosing Rust to your organization.

The interop shop for Rust and Python is Pyo3. As the only game in town, Pyo3 uses the Foreign Function Interface (FFI) to allow your Rust code to make calls into the CPython binary. This works by agreeing on the Application Binary Interface (ABI), a concept I used during my career at AMD. Core software ftw!

Sorry, "FFI" was a shorthand for "mixing and matching two languages GC expectations, memory layouts, ..." and all the overhead associated with merging something opinionated, like Rust, with something dynamic, like Python. You almost certainly _can_ reduce that overhead further, but unless somebody has gone out of their way to do so, the default expectation for cross-language calls like that should be that somebody opted for maintainable code that has actually shipped instead of shaving off every last theoretical bit of overhead.

It's been a few years, so I really can't tell you exactly what the problem was (other than the general observation that you should try to do nontrivial amounts of work in your python extensions rather than trivial amounts), but PyO3 agrees with the general sentiment [0] [1], or at least did at roughly the same time I was working there.

[0] https://github.com/PyO3/pyo3/issues/679

[1] https://github.com/PyO3/pyo3/issues/1470

This blog post is meant to be an introduction to PyO3 by walking the reader through the build process of a non-trivial extension module in Rust using PyO3. Some familiarity with Python and Rust is recommended to get the most out of this post, basic understanding of Bitcoin concepts may be required to fully grasp the code samples.

RustPython

RustPython – Python Interpreter written in Rust

Integrating Rust into Python, Edward Wright, 2021-04-12 Examples for making rustpython run actual python code Calling Rust from Python using PyO3 Writing Python inside your Rust code — Part 1, 2020-04-17 RustPython, RustPython Rust for Python developers: Using Rust to optimize your Python code PyO3 (Rust bindings for Python) Musing About Pythonic Design Patterns In Rust, Teddy Rendahl, 2023-07-14

No.

…and this one is no exception -> https://github.com/RustPython/RustPython/issues/1940

Packages that rely on c dependencies like numpy, etc. only work if you write a custom implementation by hand; the “normal” package flat out doesn’t (and cannot) work.

The title would be accurate if this project (https://rustpython.github.io/) was becoming the official version of Python.