Here's this chapter's typing exercise (name it cal.py (import actually looks for a file named calendar.py and reads it in. If the file is named calendar.py and it sees a "import calendar" it tries to read in itself which works poorly at best.)):

importcalendaryear=int(input("Type in the year number: "))calendar.prcal(year)

And here is part of the output I got:

Type in the year number: 2001                                 2001                                         January                  February                    March      Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su      Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su      Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su1  2  3  4  5  6  7                1  2  3  4                1  2  3  4     8  9 10 11 12 13 14       5  6  7  8  9 10 11       5  6  7  8  9 10 1115 16 17 18 19 20 21      12 13 14 15 16 17 18      12 13 14 15 16 17 18     22 23 24 25 26 27 28      19 20 21 22 23 24 25      19 20 21 22 23 24 25     29 30 31                  26 27 28                  26 27 28 29 30 31

(I skipped some of the output, but I think you get the idea.) So what does the program do? The first lineimport calendar uses a new commandimport. The commandimport loads a module (in this case thecalendar module). To see the commands available in the standard modules either look in the library reference for python (if you downloaded it) or go tohttp://docs.python.org/3/library/. If you look at the documentation for the calendar module, it lists a function calledprcal that prints a calendar for a year. The linecalendar.prcal(year) uses this function. In summary to use a moduleimport it and then usemodule_name.function for functions in the module. Another way to write the program is:

fromcalendarimportprcalyear=int(input("Type in the year number: "))prcal(year)

This version imports a specific function from a module. Here is another program that uses the Python Library (name it something like clock.py) (press Ctrl and the 'c' key at the same time to terminate the program):

fromtimeimporttime,ctimeprev_time=""whileTrue:the_time=ctime(time())ifprev_time!=the_time:print("The time is:",ctime(time()))prev_time=the_time

With some output being:

The time is: Sun Aug 20 13:40:04 2000The time is: Sun Aug 20 13:40:05 2000The time is: Sun Aug 20 13:40:06 2000The time is: Sun Aug 20 13:40:07 2000Traceback (innermost last): File "clock.py", line 5, in ?    the_time = ctime(time())KeyboardInterrupt

The output is infinite of course so I cancelled it (or the output at least continues until Ctrl+C is pressed). The program just does an infinite loop (True is always true, sowhile True: goes forever) and each time checks to see if the time has changed and prints it if it has. Notice how multiple names after the import statement are used in the linefrom time import time, ctime.

The Python Library contains many useful functions. These functions give your programs more abilities and many of them can simplify programming in Python.

Rewrite thehigh_low.py program from sectionDecisions to use an random integer between 0 and 99 instead of the hard-coded 7. Use the Python documentation to find an appropriate module and function to do this.

fromrandomimportrandintnumber=randint(0,99)guess=-1whileguess!=number:guess=int(input("Guess a number: "))ifguess>number:print("Too high")elifguess<number:print("Too low")print("Just right")

Sometimes you want to use a python module that does not come with the Python installation. You can also import those, but you have to have them installed on your computer.

When python reads the import command, it first checks files in your directory, then site-packages or pre installed modules. To make your own module, just create a .py file in the current directory and use the command:

importmodule

This will try to import the file module.py from your current directory and if not found, from site-packages and prepackaged modules. Changing module to the name of the .py file you created will import that file.

However, when it imports the module, it will basically start the file as a program, so any code on there will be run. You want to group all code into functions.

In python, the variable__name__ will give you the current name of the program. If a module you import prints the__name__ variable, then it will print the name of the module. If the current file prints the__name__ variable, it will print__main__, to show it is the main program.

If an if statement checks the name variable and runs code if the program is main, it can bypass the unintentional run problem created when a module is imported. Say for example you have a file, which runs some code. It also has a function you want to use in another program. However, you only want the function, not to run the code. By setting up the code below, it will only run the code if it is the file that was clicked on or started, not if it was imported.

if__name__=='__main__':pass

In this instance, if the file is run but not imported, it will run the pass command. You can replace the pass command with the code you want to be run when not imported. Just remember to indent the code.

The pip module is a module that comes with the python installation and acts as a module downloader/manager. You can download other modules from the internet with pip.

The pip module is not used in the python interpreter, but is run through the command line. To use it, open up your command line interpreter (for Windows it is Command Prompt, for Mac/Linux it is Terminal) and type in the following code:

py3-mpipinstallmodule

or the alternate code

pipinstallmodule

This will try to download and install module from the user-submitted python modules database. Module can be changed to the name of the module.

• Book:Non-Programmer's Tutorial for Python 3