# ArrayFire Python Bindings

[ArrayFire](https://github.com/arrayfire/arrayfire) is a high performance library for parallel computing with an easy-to-use API. It enables users to write scientific computing code that is portable across CUDA, OpenCL and CPU devices. This project provides Python bindings for the ArrayFire library.

## Documentation

Documentation for this project can be found [over here](http://arrayfire.org/arrayfire-python/).

## Example

```python
# Monte Carlo estimation of pi
def calc_pi_device(samples):
    # Simple, array based API
    # Generate uniformly distributed random numers
    x = af.randu(samples)
    y = af.randu(samples)
    # Supports Just In Time Compilation
    # The following line generates a single kernel
    within_unit_circle = (x * x + y * y) < 1
    # Intuitive function names
    return 4 * af.count(within_unit_circle) / samples
```


Choosing a particular backend can be done using `af.set_backend(name)`  where name is either "_cuda_", "_opencl_", or "_cpu_". The default device is chosen in the same order of preference.

## Requirements

Currently, this project is tested only on Linux and OSX. You also need to have the ArrayFire C/C++ library installed on your machine. You can get it from the following sources.

- [Download and install binaries](https://arrayfire.com/download)
- [Build and install from source](https://github.com/arrayfire/arrayfire)

Please check the following links for dependencies.

- [Linux dependencies](http://www.arrayfire.com/docs/using_on_linux.htm)
- [OSX dependencies](http://www.arrayfire.com/docs/using_on_osx.htm)

## Getting started

**Install the last stable version:**

```
pip install arrayfire
```

**Install the development version:**

```
pip install git+git://github.com/arrayfire/arrayfire-python.git@devel
```

**Installing offline:**

```
cd path/to/arrayfire-python
python setup.py install
```

**Post Installation:**

Please follow [these instructions](https://github.com/arrayfire/arrayfire-python/wiki) to ensure the arrayfire-python can find the arrayfire libraries.

To run arrayfire tests, you can run the following command from command line.

```
python -m arrayfire.tests
```

## Communication

* [Slack Chat](https://join.slack.com/t/arrayfire-org/shared_invite/MjI4MjIzMDMzMTczLTE1MDI5ODg4NzYtN2QwNGE3ODA5OQ)
* [Google Groups](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/arrayfire-users)

## Acknowledgements

The ArrayFire library is written by developers at [ArrayFire](http://arrayfire.com) LLC
with [contributions from several individuals](https://github.com/arrayfire/arrayfire_python/graphs/contributors).

The developers at ArrayFire LLC have received partial financial support
from several grants and institutions. Those that wish to receive public
acknowledgement are listed below:

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### Grants

This material is based upon work supported by the DARPA SBIR Program Office
under Contract Numbers W31P4Q-14-C-0012 and W31P4Q-15-C-0008.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the DARPA SBIR Program Office.