Looking for various python compilers used by developers to do all that magic with python code? You are at the right place; this article covers the best compilers you can use to compile python code to the desired output format.
Created by Guido van Rossum back in 1991, Python is the fastest-growing programming language of recent times. Python has applications in multiple areas including web and desktop development, but it is the #1 language of choice when it comes to machine learning, artificial intelligence, data analysis, and data visualization.
It is worth noting that the Python ecosystem has grown huge in the last few years with many libraries, frameworks, and even compilers to either speed up Python, to overcome some of its limitations, or to use Python with other programming languages like Java, C, C++, JavaScript, and others.
What are the Best Python Compilers
While official and the most widely used one is CPython, there are many others including Jython, Brython, PyPy, Skulpt, IronPython, PyJs, Nuitka, WinPython, and few others.
When you download python from the official website and start playing around with it, you are dealing with CPython default.
CPython vs Other Compilers
Talking about CPython, the source code written in .py files is first compiled automatically to .pyc file which contains the python bytecode and then interpreted by the PVM – Python Virtual Machine.
So, it is a combination of compiler and interpreter, unlike C language where source code is directly compiled to the binary machine code as CPU instructions.
Other implementations of Python deal with the source code differently. Jython for example is the python implementation that converts code to the java bytecode which runs on JVM instead of PVM.
This also means that you can mix both Java and Python code and utilize existing libraries of both java and Python Jython project. We will talk about this a bit more.
Let us look at various Python compilers –
Please note that if you are looking for online Python Editors to run Python code snippets. You can check out our article – best online python editor
CPython
Since this is the official one, when you download Python from the official website, you essentially download CPython to execute Python code on your machine.
Also, given that this is the original Python compiler, it happens to be the first one to get all the latest and greatest features of the Python language. In essence, this is the reference implementation of Python language specifications.
It is written purely in C programming language, and hence the name. It is worth noting that you can call functions of C source code from Python code. This lets you utilize tons of existing C libraries directly in Python.
Also note that since CPython interprets the bytecode at run time, it uses a Global Interpreter Lock (GIL) on each process which ensures that only one thread is interpreting the bytecode.
For all the students and beginners, this is the one to start your python programming journey. Other compiler implementations of python are more for specific use cases, and to mix other programming languages with Python.
Brython
Brython is an alternative to JavaScript and can be used to include python 3 scripts in the web applications running in the browser. All you need to do is include the brython.js on the web page where you want to run python scripts.
After including brython.js, you can add python scripts using script type “text/python” and use Python code to manipulate the DOM just like JavaScript. You can also make ajax calls and access the local file system.
Just to give you a bit more idea, you can make HTML5 games using python as a script instead of JavaScript, add an analog clock on the webpage, add validations on the webforms, and more or less everything else JavaScript.
You can also include existing JavaScript libraries and frameworks like High charts, vue.js, and three.js, etc. in your Brython based python scripts.
Brython
PyPy Python
While CPython is the most widely used compiler for Python, it is not the fastest one. An alternative to default Python implementation is PyPy which supports core language specifications of both Python 2 and Python 3.
Why PyPy for Python?
PyPy works on the “Just in Time” compilation (JIT) concept where code is compiled directly to machine code prior to the execution which means faster execution.
In the case of CPython, bytecode is interpreted at run time which means performance hit. Experts claim you get almost 4x speed with PyPy when compared to CPython.
It is worth noting that PyPy speed advantage is at its best when you are dealing with long-running processes where Python code execution takes most of the time. For shorter processes, the JIT compiler itself might take more time nullifying the overall speed advantage.
Read more here about Python Pypy – PyPy
Jython or Jpython
Jython was originally known as JPython and is the second most used implementation of Python. It is the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) implementation of the python programming language and is designed to mix Python with Java.
You can import existing Java libraries and packages into your python programs. Another way round, you can embed Python scripts in your java programs.
Either way, the Jython compiler will compile the entire code mix (Java & Python) to the bytecode that can run on JVM.
Since it runs on JVM, you can create Jython projects on almost all platforms like Windows, Linux, Mac OS, FreeBSD, Solaris and others.
Jython
Cython
Before we continue, it is worth mentioning that Cython is different from CPython. Cython is more like a superset that lets you combine both c and Python in your code and generates c code as an output, which can further be compiled using any c/c++ compiler.
This gives you the speed of c and flexibility of Python and can be used as a powerful tool to write c extensions for Python, with ease of Python programming.
Key notes about Cython –
Lets you use static type declarations in Python code
Debug mixed source code written in Cython, Python, and c
Build performant applications using existing libraries like NumPy, SciPy, and others from the CPython ecosystem.
In other words, using CPython you get the speed of Bytecode which is interpreted but using Cython you get the speed of native code which is pre-compiled to machine code.
Cython
Skulpt
Skulpt is an in-browser implementation of python. While the main purpose of Skulpt is to provide a good online Python compiler it can also be used in your own web pages. Including the Skulpt engine in the web app lets you write Python scripts for front-end development.
It is worth noting that, Skulpt first translates the Python code to JavaScript and then executes the code in the browser.
Skulpt was created by Graham Scott as an experimental project but became popular soon after. Check out more about Skulpt at – Skulpt.org
Nuitka
Nuitka is another useful Python compiler, it is written completely in Python itself. It is developed and maintained by Kay Hayen and has started to get a lot of attention in the last few months. While still under heavy development, it claims to give run time improvements over the default CPython implementation.
Nuitka works by compiling the Python code to C code and utilizes libpython for final execution. This however is planned to be replaced with pure c where native c data types would be used without accessing libpython.
Note that Nuitka for Python is free to use under Apache License and can be set up on Linux, Windows, macOS, and few other platforms.
Nuitka
IronPython
IronPython is a Python implementation for .Net framework and supports both .Net core and .Net Standard. Like Jython is to Java, IronPython is to .Net Framework.
With IronPython you can use all Python libraries, .Net framework and all other .Net supported languages like C#.
IronPython was first released back in 2006 and can run on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux platforms. It is written in C# and available under Apache licenses as free to use the software.
If you are from the .Net background, you can easily setup VS code for Python by using Python Tools extension.
Read more about Iron Python here at- IronPython
PyJS
PyJS is another good tool to develop web applications entirely in Python instead of using JavaScript and HTML. Behind the scene, PyJS compiles the python code to JavaScript before execution using the inbuild ajax framework.
PyJS also has a desktop version that makes it possible to run the web version of the application on the desktop, as it is.
PyJS
WinPython
This one is not exactly a different implementation of Python but a ready to use distribution of python that runs on Windows PC without any installation.
WinPython compiler for python not only brings home a Python execution environment but comes packed with many python libraries like Scipy, Numpy, and Pandas.
It is worth noting that WinPython is a full-featured scientific environment for data scientists, and a ready to uses tool for students and beginners.
WinPython
Transcrypt
Transcrypt is more like a python to JavaScript converter. So, you would do what all you can do with Python and use Transcrypt to convert your code to JavaScript. This way, one can use compiled code in the web app or the Node.js server for server-side applications.
Transcrypt generates readable JavaScript which you can debug using source maps and the python source code. You also get minifier, static type validator, and a linter with Typescript.
Transcrypt
Conclusion
Looking at the above, it is quite evident that various compilers empower developers to mix and match multiple languages in their projects.
Developers use these compilers for many reasons including the need to utilize existing libraries from other programming languages, shortage of skillset in java, javascript, C, or even Python or to speed up the Python runtime execution.
I know many java developers who are using scientific python libraries in their java projects by using Jython implementation of Python where they mix both Python and Java. Do share your experience of using one or more of these Python compilers with our readers, via comments.
Source: Best Python Compiler