Pythran annotations in Python files
Project description
FluidPythran is a pure Python package (requiring Python >= 3.6 or Pypy3) to help to write Python code that can use Pythran.
Let’s recall that “Pythran is an ahead of time compiler for a subset of the Python language, with a focus on scientific computing. It takes a Python module annotated with a few interface description and turns it into a native Python module with the same interface, but (hopefully) faster.”
FluidPythran does not depend on Pythran.
Overview
Python + Numpy + Pythran is a great combo to easily write highly efficient scientific programs and libraries.
To use Pythran, one needs to isolate the numerical kernels functions in modules that are compiled by Pythran. The C++ code produced by Pythran never uses the Python interpretor. It means that only a subset of what is doable in Python can be done in Pythran files. Some language features are not supported by Pythran (for example no classes) and most of the extension packages cannot be used in Pythran files (basically only Numpy and some Scipy functions).
With FluidPythran, we try to overcome these limitations. FluidPythran provides few supplementary Pythran commands and a tiny Python API to define Pythran functions without writing the Pythran modules. The code of the numerical kernels can stay in the modules and in the classes where they were written. The Pythran files (i.e. the files compiled by Pythran), which are usually written by the user, are produced automatically by FluidPythran.
Implementation detail: For each Python file using FluidPythran, an
associated Pythran file is created in a directory _pythran
. For
example, for a Python file foo.py
, the associated file would be
_pythran/_foo.py
.
At run time, FluidPythran replaces the Python functions (and blocks) by their versions in the Pythran files.
Let’s stress again that codes using FluidPythran work fine without Pythran!
Installation
pip install fluidpythran
Using Pythran in Python files
Command # pythran def
import h5py
import mpi4py
from fluidpythran import pythran_def
# pythran def myfunc(int, float)
@pythran_def
def myfunc(a, b):
return a * b
...
Most of this code looks familiar to Pythran users. The differences:
One can use (for example) h5py and mpi4py (of course not in the Pythran functions).
# pythran def
instead of# pythran export
(to stress that it is not the same command).A tiny bit of Python… The decorator
@pythran_def
replaces the Python function by the pythranized function if FluidPythran has been used to produced the associated Pythran file.
Command # pythran block
One of the most evident application of # pythran block
is code in
classes:
from fluidpythran import FluidPythran
fp = FluidPythran()
class MyClass:
...
def func(self, n):
a, b = self.something_that_cannot_be_pythranized()
if fp.is_pythranized:
result = fp.use_pythranized_block("name_block")
else:
# pythran block (
# float a, b;
# int n
# ) -> result
# pythran block (
# complex a, b;
# int n
# ) -> result
result = a**n + b**n
return self.another_func_that_cannot_be_pythranized(result)
For blocks, we need a little bit more of Python.
At import time, we have
fp = FluidPythran()
, which detects which Pythran module should be used and imports it. This is done at import time since we want to be very fast at run time.In the function, we define a block with three lines of Python and special Pythran annotations (
# pythran block
). The 3 lines of Python are used (i) at run time to choose between the two branches (is_pythranized
or not) and (ii) at compile time to detect the blocks.
Note that the annotations in the command # pythran block
are different
(and somehow easier to write) than in the standard command # pythran
export
.
Make the Pythran files
There is a command-line tool fluidpythran
which makes the associated
Pythran files from Python files with annotations and fluidpythran code.
There is also a function make_pythran_files
that can be used in a
setup.py like this:
from pathlib import Path
from fluidpythran.dist import make_pythran_files
here = Path(__file__).parent.absolute()
paths = ["fluidsim/base/time_stepping/pseudo_spect.py"]
make_pythran_files([here / path for path in paths])
Note that FluidPythran never uses Pythran. Compiling the associated Pythran file can be done if wanted (see for example how it is done in the example package example_package_fluidpythran or in fluidsim’s setup.py).
License
FluidDyn is distributed under the CeCILL-B License, a BSD compatible french license.
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