# Shiboken the Binding Generator

Shiboken is the CPython-based binding code generator for C or C++ libraries. It uses an ApiExtractor library to parse the C or C++ headers and get the type information, using Clang. The library can also be used to parse non-Qt projects. The following diagram summarizes Shiboken’s role in the PySide project.

A typesystem file (XML) is used to specify the types to be exposed to Python and to apply modifications to properly represent and manipulate the types in the Python World. For example, you can remove and add methods to certain types, and also modify the arguments of each method. Such actions are inevitable to properly handle the data structures or types.

The final outcome of this process is a set of wrappers written in CPython, which can be used as a module in your python code.

Refer to the following topics for more information and examples:

- Generator Overview
- SampleBinding Example
- Table of contents