SWIG

Developers who wish to connect the C or  C++ programming languages with other high-level programming environments could be seeking for a compiler that might help them achieve such tasks.

SWIG is an application that was designed precisely with that purpose in mind and it will offer people an accessible means to establish links between applications that were written in the C/C++ programming languages and other programming environments, such as Perl, Python, Ruby and Tcl.

The way the compiler works is by taking the declarations that are identified in the C/C++ header files and uses them to generate the wrapper code that the scripting languages rely on to access the underlying C/C++ code.

The compiler offers people a variety of customization features that allow them to define the wrapping process to specific requirements.

Users will be able to make the most out of this compiler by resorting to several methods. They can build more powerful C/C++ programs, by replacing the main function of a C program with a scripting interpreter that can be used for controlling the application.

Rapid prototyping and debugging is also another feature that can be achieved with the compiler, which will allow people to place C/C++ programs in scripting environments that can be used for testing and debugging.