Cython was specially designed as a language that can make writing C extensions for the Python programming language as easy as Python itself. Cython is based on the well-known Pyrex, but supports more cutting edge functionality and optimizations. The Cython language is very close to the Python language, but Cython additionally supports calling C functions and declaring C types on variables and class attributes. This allows the compiler to generate very efficient C code from Cython code. This makes Cython the ideal language for wrapping external C libraries, and for fast C modules that speed up the execution of Python code.