swig ☆

« Back to VersTracker

Description:
Generate scripting interfaces to C/C++ code

Type: Formula | Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Developer tools

Tags: c-plus-plus bindings cross-language code-generation development

Install: brew install swig

About:
SWIG (Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator) is a software development tool that connects programs written in C and C++ with a variety of high-level programming languages. It works by parsing C/C++ header files and automatically generating wrapper code to enable cross-language integration. This allows developers to reuse existing C/C++ libraries while scripting in languages like Python, Ruby, or JavaScript.

Key Features:

Automatic wrapper generation from C/C++ headers
Supports multiple target languages including Python, Java, and Go
Handles complex C++ features like classes, templates, and overloading
Extensible via typemaps for custom data type conversions

Use Cases:

Creating Python bindings for existing C++ libraries
Exposing C functions to scripting languages for automation
Integrating legacy C code into modern web applications

Alternatives:

Cython – Python-specific, better for Python-C integration but less language-agnostic
pybind11 – Modern C++11 focus, seamless Python interoperability but C++ only
cffi – Python-focused, simpler for C but lacks C++ support

Version History

Detected	Change	Commit
Oct 26, 2024 9:53pm	VERSION_BUMP	1b6d67d0
Oct 4, 2024 8:47pm	VERSION_BUMP	d431cb1b
Oct 4, 2024 1:06pm	VERSION_BUMP	1aeba0a6
Sep 17, 2024 1:49am	VERSION_BUMP	d68a6bc0
Sep 10, 2024 6:53am	VERSION_BUMP	0d688678
Jan 15, 2024 4:55am	VERSION_BUMP	4f88345b
Sep 13, 2023 10:53am	VERSION_BUMP	c83c8aaa