main_block.md

Structure of a Python script

There is a standard structure recommended for Python scripts:

1. imports
2. constants
3. functions and classes
4. __main__ block

Example

The following program contains most of these elements

:::python
from pprint import pprint

MESSAGE = "Good morning {}. Nice to see you!"

def hello(name):
    """Writes a hello world message"""
    msg = MESSAGE.format(name)
    pprint(msg)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    name = input("please enter your name: ")
    hello(name)

Imports

All import statements should be grouped together at the beginning of a Python file. If you have lots of imports, a standard for sorting them might be useful. The tools isort and black help with that.

Constants

In Python, constants do not exist as a syntax element. But it is a good practice to group variables *"that the programmer does not intend this variable to change".

These constants should be written in capitals to distinguish them from variables that change during their lifetime.

Function and Class definitions

Functions and classes should be defined in nested-first-order. That means functions called by other functions go first, functions called from the main program only go last.

The main block

At the end of the program, there is a strange construct: The if __name__ == '__main__': block indicates the main program.

The __main__ block is only executed when you run the entire program with python my_program.py (or the equivalent in your editor). However, it is not executed when you import functions or classes from it. This way you can have a main program and reusable functions in the same file.

It you can keep an entire code block here, or only call a main() function. Sometimes the __main__ block is used for other things (e.g. test code).