We've learned what modules are and how to import them. Now it's time to take the next logical step: creating your own. This is a fundamental skill for any Python developer. By creating your own modules, you can break down complex problems into logical, reusable pieces, making your code cleaner, easier to debug, and more professional.
We've successfully organized our code into reusable modules. But what happens when your project grows even larger and you have dozens of modules? Throwing them all into the same directory becomes just as messy as having one giant file. The next level of organization in Python is the package. A package is simply a way to structure your project's modules into a directory hierarchy.
In our last article, we learned how to organize code into separate files called [modules]. Now, we need to master the tool that makes modules useful: the import statement. This statement is the gateway to accessing code from other files and from Python's vast standard library, allowing you to build powerful applications without reinventing the wheel.
One of Python's greatest strengths is its extensive Standard Library. This is a vast collection of modules that comes bundled with every Python installation, providing tools for a huge variety of common programming tasks. It's often referred to as Python's "batteries-included" philosophy.
So far, we've been writing all our code in a single Python file. This is fine for small scripts, but as your projects grow, it becomes messy, hard to navigate, and difficult to maintain. The solution is to break your code into multiple files, and in Python, these files are called modules. This article is the first step toward organizing your code like a professional developer.