Python Programming On Win32

Modules

Python code is organized into modules . A module must be loaded into memory using the import statement. Some modules are built into Python and always available; others are stored in external files. Modules can also be written either in C (in which case they are compiled as a special kind of DLL) or in Python (in which case they are saved in text files ending in .py ). As far as the user is concerned, they are all used the same way:

>>> import math
>>> math.sin(math.pi/2)
1.0
>>>

We used both a function and a constant from the math module. Note that the module’s name must be prefixed. This prevents namespace collisions: imagine how many different programs might wish to define a function called read( ) or save( ). It’s also possible to import a function explicitly into the present namespace:

>>> from string import split, join
>>> split('We are the knights who say Ni')
['We', 'are', 'the', 'knights', 'who', 'say', 'Ni']
>>>

This procedure can be used for brevity but increases the risk of a collision, and, more important, of losing track of what your code means a few months later. It should be used sparingly.