Introduction

Before you start with this chapter, it is important to note that this chapter will require a working compiler that plays nicely with your Python interpreter. Unfortunately, these vary from platform to platform. While generally easy enough for most Linux distributions, this can be a big challenge on Windows. With OS X, it's generally easy enough provided you install the correct tools.

The generic building instructions are always available in the Python manual:

https://docs.python.org/3.5/extending/building.html

Do you need C/C++ modules?

In almost all cases, I'm inclined to say that you don't need C/C++ modules. If you are really strapped for best performance, then there are almost always highly optimized libraries available that fit your purpose. There are some cases where native C/C++ (or just "not Python") is a requirement. If you need to communicate directly with hardware that has specific timings, then Python might just not do the trick for you....