On the way to more and more python3 support:
cython requires `compiler_directives={'language_level' : "3"}` for python3 support -- in order to remain compatible with python2, we include
cythonize(extensions, compiler_directives={'language_level' : sys.version_info[0]})
into the `setup.py` (thanks to [stackoverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34603628/how-to-specify-python-3-source-in-cythons-setup-py)).