Modules

A module is something like a package. We can import it into our code. Or we can import functions from the module into our code. For example, you can import the function sqrt from the module math:

from math import sqrt

print(sqrt(2))

You can also import a whole module. You can access a module's functions through a period - the same way as you access string methods ('Hello'.upper()).

For example:

import turtle

turtle.left(90)
turtle.color('red')
turtle.forward(100)
turtle.exitonclick()

import math

print(math.cos(math.pi))

Custom modules

You can also create your own module simply by creating a Python file. Functions and variables that you create there will be available in programs where you import this module.

Try it! Create file meadow.py and write:

meadow_colour = 'green'
number_of_kitties = 28

def description():
    return 'The meadow is {colour}. There are {number} kitties.'.format(
        colour=meadow_colour, number=number_of_kitties)

And then write in another file (write.py):

import meadow

print(meadow.description())

and run:

$ python write.py

The command import looks for files in the same folder of the file where you imported the module - in our case write.py. So place both of the files into the same folder.

Side effects

What exactly does the command import meadow do?

Python will look for a matching file (meadow.py) and run all the commands there from top to bottom, like it was a normal program. It will give all the global variables (including defined functions) to the program that imported that module.

When you import the same module a second time, it doesn't run everything again - it will just use what it already has.

Try it - write in the end of meadow.py:

print('The meadow is green!')

And then run python in the command line (if you already have an interactive Python open, close it, and run again) and enter:

>>> print('First import:')
>>> import meadow
>>> print('Second import:')
>>> import meadow

The print we wrote in the end of the module file will appear only once.

When the module is "doing something" (it prints something, asks the user, writes something into a file) - we say that it has a side effect. We try to avoid writing modules that have side effects: because the purpose of a module is to give us functions, that we will use to do something, not to do it instead of us. For example, when we write import turtle, no window opens. It opens only when we write turtle.forward().

So you better delete print from our module.

One directory for every project

From now on, we will work on bigger projects that contain more files. We recommend that you create a folder for each of them.

You can find more info about import and modules here.