Getting Started

This guide takes you from a fresh environment to your first working Python extension. Choose Fortran or C for the native source; both paths generate a semantic .pyi contract, build an extension, and call the same Python API.

Beginner Path

Follow these pages in order:

  1. Installation — Install PRIK and the required native compilers.
  2. Verification — Check the package, headers, and your selected toolchain.
  3. Your First Function — Build the same scalar function from Fortran or C.
  4. Development Workflow — Repeat the edit → review → build → test loop.

The quickstart notebook runs this same loop in Colab, with nothing to install.

What You Will Build

In Your First Function, you will create either scale.f90 or scale.c. Both paths build a Python extension named scale with the same call:

import numpy as np

import scale

result = scale.scale(np.float64(3.0), np.float64(2.5))
print(result)        # 7.5

After this first build, continue with the Fortran User Guide or the C User Guide. Fortran modules and their Python namespaces are covered in Wrapping Modules.

Next

Ready? Start with Installation.