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sharing your code

Welcome to the PyPI community

Congratulations! You are now a full-fledged, card-carrying member of the
PyPI community. Your distribution has joined the over 10,000 other uploads
on PyPI. Feel free to surf on over to the PyPI website to confirm the upload.
Programmers from all over the globe are now able to download, unpack, and
install your module into their local copy of Python, which is pretty cool when
you think about it.
You’ve now written and

how cool is that?
Sit back, put your feet up, and wait for the plaudits to published your code…
begin…

Q: Which is best: plain imports or Q: Is it really necessary for me to a result of your Java technologies compiling
your code.) The Python interpreter is smart
specific imports? install my modules into my local copy of enough to skip the translation phase the next
time your module is used, because it can
Python? Can’t I just put them in any old determine when you’ve made changes to
A: Neither, really. Most programmers folder and import them from there? the original module code file. If your module
mix and match based on their own personal code hasn’t changed, no translation occurs
preference and taste (although there are A: Yes, it is possible. Just bear in mind and the “compiled” code is executed. If your
plenty of programmers willing to argue that that Python looks for modules in a very code has changed, the translation occurs
their preferred way is the “one true way”). specific list of places (recall the import (creating a new pyc file) as needed. The
sys; sys.path trick from earlier upshot of all this is that when Python sees a
Note that the from module import in this chapter). If you put your modules pyc file, it tries to use it because doing so
function form pollutes your current in a folder not listed in Python’s path list, makes everything go much faster.
namespace: names already defined in your chances are the interpreter won’t find
current namespace are overwritten by the them, resulting in ImportErrors. Using the Q: Cool. So I can just provide my
imported names. distribution utilities to build and install your users with the pyc file?
Q: And when I press F5 in IDLE’s edit module into your local copy of Python avoids
these types of errors.
imported with an import statement, right? Q: I noticed the distribution utiliites A: No, don’t do that, because the use of
window, it’s as if the module’s code is
the pyc file (if found) is primarily a runtime
created a file called nester.pyc. optimization performed by the interpreter.
A: Yes, that is essentially what happens. What’s up with that? Q:
So, can I delete the pyc file if I don’t
The code in your edit window is compiled need it?
and executed by Python, and any names A: That’s a very good question. When
in the edit window are imported into the the interpreter executes your module code
namespace being used by IDLE’s shell. This for the first time, it reads in the code and A: Sure, if you really want to. Just be
is handy, because it makes it easy to test translates it into an internal bytecode format aware that you lose any potential runtime
functionality with IDLE. But bear in mind that which is ultimately executed. (This idea is optimization.
outside of IDLE, you still need to import your very similar to the way the Java JVM works:
module before you can use its functionality. your Java code is turned into a class file as

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