This is the readme for the Julia fractal example. To run the Cython code, comment out all but one calculate_z function and compile from command line using: python setup.py build_ext --inplace -f Requirements: cython (0.23.4) numpy (1.10.1) matplotlib (1.3.1) gcc (4.8.4) NOTE: These were the versions on my laptop, but others will likely work too. I would recommend pip installing what you do not already have. I would also recommend you take a look at High Performance Python by O'Reilly Press. It is available online and I acknowledge my blatant theft of their example.