Book Image

Modular Programming with Python

By : Erik Westra
Book Image

Modular Programming with Python

By: Erik Westra

Overview of this book

Python has evolved over the years and has become the primary choice of developers in various fields. The purpose of this book is to help readers develop readable, reliable, and maintainable programs in Python. Starting with an introduction to the concept of modules and packages, this book shows how you can use these building blocks to organize a complex program into logical parts and make sure those parts are working correctly together. Using clearly written, real-world examples, this book demonstrates how you can use modular techniques to build better programs. A number of common modular programming patterns are covered, including divide-and-conquer, abstraction, encapsulation, wrappers and extensibility. You will also learn how to test your modules and packages, how to prepare your code for sharing with other people, and how to publish your modules and packages on GitHub and the Python Package Index so that other people can use them. Finally, you will learn how to use modular design techniques to be a more effective programmer.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Modular Programming with Python
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

How to import anything


So far, we have used two different versions of the import statement:

  • Importing a module and then using the module name to access something defined within that module. For example:

    import math
    print(math.pi)
  • Importing something from a module and then using that thing directly. For example:

    from math import pi
    print(pi)

The import statement is very powerful, however, and we can do all sorts of interesting things with it. In this section, we will look at the different ways in which you can use the import statement to import modules and packages, and their contents, into your program.

What does the import statement actually do?

Whenever you create a global variable or function, the Python interpreter adds the name of that variable or function to what is called the global namespace. The global namespace holds all the names that you have defined at the global level. To see how this works, enter the following command into the Python interpreter:

>>> print(globals())

The...