Using module as variable
Question:
I am parsing through some code for an SSD simulator. The top module imports the package experiment. It later instantiates an object to this module as follows:
from config_helper import experiment
.
.
.
if __name__ == '__main__':
.
.
experiment = RunFTL(args)
experiment.run()
Inside the experiment module, there is an Experiment class that has a main function defined. I am just wondering what is happening in the experiment = RunFTL(args) operation. I am using Python 2.7.
Answers:
It just rebinds the name, much like the x = 2 in
x = 1
x = 2
Before the assignment, experiment in this scope referred to the object imported from config_helper. After the assignment, experiment in this scope refers to the new instance of RunFTL.
Reassigning imported names like this is almost always a bad idea. People expect imported names not to be overridden, plus reassigning a variable to something completely unrelated with its original usage is a bad idea in general.
I am parsing through some code for an SSD simulator. The top module imports the package experiment. It later instantiates an object to this module as follows:
from config_helper import experiment
.
.
.
if __name__ == '__main__':
.
.
experiment = RunFTL(args)
experiment.run()
Inside the experiment module, there is an Experiment class that has a main function defined. I am just wondering what is happening in the experiment = RunFTL(args) operation. I am using Python 2.7.
It just rebinds the name, much like the x = 2 in
x = 1
x = 2
Before the assignment, experiment in this scope referred to the object imported from config_helper. After the assignment, experiment in this scope refers to the new instance of RunFTL.
Reassigning imported names like this is almost always a bad idea. People expect imported names not to be overridden, plus reassigning a variable to something completely unrelated with its original usage is a bad idea in general.