Modules and Packages

modules

single files containing Python code, like functions and classes, that serve as self-contained units of code

maintainability

modules allow changes to be made to independent parts without affecting the whole application

reusability

can write the code once and use it many times throughout the application

collaboration

modules allow different teams to work on an application without interfering with each other’s work

readability

modules make it easier to see what’s going on

dir()

returns a sorted list of all attributes available in a module

__file__

returns physical name of module

__package__

returns the packages to which the module belongs

__doc__

returns the docstring at the top of the module if any

__dict__

returns the entire scope of the module

__name__

returns the name of the module

packages

collections of related modules organized in directories that contain the __init__.py file

if _name_ == “_main_”

used to determine whether the Python file is being run directly or being imported as a module into another script

library

a collection of related packages and modules providing specific functionality

*args

used to pass a variable number of non-keyworded (positional) arguments to a function

• the * unpacks the arguments into a tuple

**kwargs

used to pass a variable number of keyword arguments to a function

• the ** unpacks the arguments into a dictionary