for more detailssearch the web other languages as we discussed at the end of our extending coverageyou'll also find direct support for mixing python with other languagesincluding fortranobjective-cand others many support both extending (calling out to the integrated languagesas well as embedding (handling calls from the integrated languagesee the prior discussion and the web for more details some observers might also include the emerging pyjamas system in this category--by compiling python code to javascript codeit allows python programs to access ajax and web browser-based apis in the context of the rich internet applications discussed earlier in this booksee and network-based integration protocols finallythere is also support in the python world for internet-based data transport protocolsincluding soapand xml-rpc by routing calls across networks such systems support distributed architecturesand give rise to the notion of web services xml-rpc is supported by standard library module in pythonbut search the web for more details on these protocols as you can seethere are many options in the integration domain perhaps the best parting advice can give you is simply that different tools are meant for different tasks extension modules and types are ideal at optimizing systems and integrating librariesbut frameworks offer other ways to integrate components--jython and ironpython for using java and netscom for reusing and publishing objects on windowsxmlrpc for distributed servicesand so on as alwaysthe best tools for your programs will almost certainly be the best tools for your programs python/ integration