04.rust_impl.md

Rust implementation

Pros

• Cargo and crates.io for package management
• FFI interface is reusable in other languages
• Auto-generated C header (cbindgen) and low level bindings (CFFI)
• Works for PyPy too
• One wheel per OS (universal)

Cons

• Fewer projects using Rust extensions
• FFI overhead when calling C code
• No gradual transition from Python to Rust code
• Fewer bioinformatics libraries available
• No NumPy integration
• Low level abstraction ("what C can represent")

Further reading

• The Rust implementation
• The .h header with definitions created by cbindgen
• The Python implementation using CFFI to make low level code more pythonic
• PR on the sourmash repo for tracking progress