PYTHON MODULES AND PACKAGES

AN INTRODUCTION
PYTHON MODULES AND PACKAGES
Modules and Packages facilitate modular programming.

Modular programming refers to the process of breaking a large,

unwieldy programming task into separate, smaller, more
manageable subtasks or modules.
PYTHON MODULES AND PACKAGES
What are advantages of modularizing code in a large application?

● Simplicity
● Maintainability
● Reusability
● Scoping
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
WRITING A MODULE
Three different styles of modules in Python
● A module written in Python itself
● A module written in C and loaded dynamically at run-time
● A built-in module is intrinsically contained in the interpreter
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
THE MODULE SEARCH PATH
Where can you import a module from?
● The interpreter searches for the file
○ In the current directory
○ In the PYTHONPATH environment variable list of directories
○ The directories configured as part of your Python installation
THE MODULE SEARCH PATH
Where should you put your module file?
● To ensure you module is found place the file in:
○ The same directory as the input script or the current directory
○ Modify PYTHONPATH environment variable to contain the
directory where it is located
■ Or in one of the directories already in the PYTHONPATH
○ In one of the directories configured as part of your Python
installation
THE MODULE SEARCH PATH
Where should you put your module file?
● Or you can modify the sys.path list at run time
sys.path.append(r'C:\Users\chris\ModulesDirectory')
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
THE import STATEMENT
What forms can the import statement take?
● The simplest form
import <module_name>

● The module contents are not directly accessible to the caller

○ A module creates a separate namespace
THE import STATEMENT
What forms can the import statement take?
● Individual objects from the module can be imported
from <module_name> import <name(s)>

● The individual objects are directly accessible to the caller

○ Objects are imported into the caller’s symbol table
THE import STATEMENT
What forms can the import statement take?
● It is possible to import everything from a module at once
from <module_names> import *

● This places all the names of objects into the local symbol table
○ With the exception of any that begin with an underscore
○ NOTE: This isn’t necessarily recommended
○ Unless you know all the names will not conflict and overwrite
existing names
THE import STATEMENT
What forms can the import statement take?
● Individual objects can be imported with alternate names
from <module_name> import <name> as <alt_name>

● Making it possible to place names directly into the local symbol table
○ Avoiding conflicts with existing names
THE import STATEMENT
What forms can the import statement take?
● Import the entire module under an alternate name
import <module_name> as <alt_name>
THE import STATEMENT
What forms can the import statement take?
● Module contents can be imported from within a function definition
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
THE dir() FUNCTION
View the defined names in a namespace
● The built-in function dir() returns a list of defined names in a
namespace
● Without arguments, it produces an alphabetically sorted list of names
in the current local symbol table
THE dir() FUNCTION
How to view the defined names in a namespace
● When given the name of a module as an argument, dir() lists the
names defined in the module
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
EXECUTING A MODULE AS A SCRIPT
Is a module also a Python script?
● Any .py file that contains a module is essentially also a Python script
EXECUTING A MODULE AS A SCRIPT
What if you don’t want a module to generate output when imported?
● When a .py file is imported the dunder variable __name__ is set to
the name of the module
● When a .py file is run as a standalone script, __name__ is set to the
string '__main__'
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
RELOADING A MODULE
A Module is only loaded once per interpreter session
● This works fine for function and class definitions
● But modules can contain executable statements as well
○ Usually for initialization
○ These statements will only be executed the first time a module is
imported
RELOADING A MODULE
Is it possible to reload a module if needed?
● You can restart the interpreter
● Or use a function called reload() from the module importlib
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
PYTHON PACKAGES
How to keep track of a growing number of modules
● Packages allow for a hierarchical structuring of the module namespace
using dot notation
● Example package structure:

pkg

mod1.py

mod2.py
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
PACKAGE INITIALIZATION
The __init__.py file
● If a file named __init__.py is present in a package directory, it is
invoked when the package or a module in the package is imported

pkg

__init__.py

mod1.py

mod2.py
PACKAGE INITIALIZATION
The __init__.py file
● __init__.py can also be used to automatically import the modules from
a package
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
IMPORTING * FROM A PACKAGE
Expanding the current package
pkg

mod1.py

mod2.py

mod3.py

mod4.py
IMPORTING * FROM A PACKAGE
Add an __init__.py file with a list named __all__
pkg
__init__.py

mod1.py

mod2.py

mod3.py

mod4.py
IMPORTING * FROM A PACKAGE
The __all__ list controls what is imported when import * is specified
● For a package, when __all__ is not defined, import * does not
import anything
● For a module, when __all__ is not defined, import * imports
everything (except names starting with an underscore)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
SUBPACKAGES
Packages can contain nested subpackages to arbitrary depth
pkg
sub_pkg1
mod1.py
mod2.py
sub_pkg2
mod3.py
mod4.py
SUBPACKAGES
It is possible to use a relative import
● .. evaluates to the parent package
● ..sub_pkg evaluates to the subpackage of the parent package
 CONGRATULATIONS
YOU’VE COMPLETED THE COURSE!

PYTHON MODULES AND PACKAGES

AN INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Intro and Course Overview
2. Writing a Module
3. The Module Search Path
4. The import Statement
5. The dir() Function
6. Executing a Module as a Script
7. Reloading a Module
8. Python Packages
9. Package Initialization
10. Importing * From a Package
11. Subpackages
12. Conclusion and Course Review
 THANK YOU!

PRACTICE WITH
WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED