The files contained in this directory contain a binding of the Python language to
Wolfram Research Inc.'s(WRI) MathLink library.  The binding provides the ability for
authors of Python programs to use the Mathematica Kernel as a computational engine.
At this time, the language binding provides only a Python level equivalent of a
subset of the C level MathLink API.

The language binding exists in one module built from the source file mathlink.c.
The mathlink module provides for two new object types and one new exception;
the link object, the mark object, and LinkError.

For documentation, users should consult the WRI MathLink developer's kit notebooks
for information regarding the use of MathLink.  Users may also find useful documentation
in the __doc__ strings provided by the mathlink module.  Also included with the basic
source code for the mathlink module, this directory contains two sample programs
written in python(textfrontend.py, guifrontend.py) that emulates a Mathematica Front End. 

Once you have built the module you may run the text interface program
by entering the following from a command line:

On Unix/Mac OS X:
  textfrontend.py(You may need to alter the #! invocation line to point to the
correct python binary.)

On Windows:
  C:\Python22\python.exe

  >>>import textfrontend.py

You may run the gui interface program from the command line by entering:

guifrontend.py -linkname "math -mathlink" -linkmode launch

As of this time, users should only use the mathlink module with versions of
Python 2.0 - 2.3.  WRI has made no attempt to make the mathlink module compliant
with versions of Python newer than 2.3.

To build the module, you may use the included setup.py program that relies on
Python 2.1's(or newer) distutils system for building new modules. We have
configured setup.py to refer to the MathLink libraries included in your Mathematica
layout.  If you used the default path installations you may build the mathlink
extension by simply running the following:

On Unix/Mac OS X:
  python setup.py build (This command assumes python points to a python 2.1 or newer
version of python).

On Windows:
  C:\Python22\python.exe setup.py build  

If you have installed Mathematica in a non standard location simply alter the 
paths for the library_dirs, include_dirs, and library files or your machine.  Users
with 2.0.x versions of Python will need to construct the appropriate Makefiles
to build the module on their own.

Finally to make the module available to your python interpreter you will need to 
run:

On Unix/Mac OS X:
  python setup.py install

On Windows:
  C:\Python22\python.exe setup.py install
