Speaker
Dr
Pere Mato
(CERN)
Description
In this paper we present the developments in the area of interfacing Python with
large-scale C++ frameworks, driven by the needs of the new generation of High
Energy Physics experiments currently in preparation at CERN.
The physics software being developed for detector simulation, data
reconstruction, and data analysis is mainly written in C++. Yet, scripting is an
essential functionality of the complete software system that we are providing to
the physicists, and therefore it is essential to have a performing, easy to code
to, and flexible interface from C++ to Python.
Python is being used for application configuration, rapid prototyping, and
interactive physics analysis. The Python interface has been built on top of the
extended C++ reflection capabilities provided by such tools as CINT and
Reflex. This reflection information, in terms of dynamic loadable libraries, can
be used for the creation of Python bindings to C++ classes, functions,
variables, etc., in a fully automated manner, since this information is already
provided for by many end-user libraries for other purposes, such as object
persistency. A consistent and automatic mapping of any C++ construct into an
equi- purpose Python construct is achieved easily and elegantly. We finalize
with a few use case examples demonstrating the capabilities of this interface.
Authors
Dr
Pere Mato
(CERN)
Dr
Wim Lavrijsen
(LBNL)
