Modular Design

What Is a Module?
• The term “module” refers to the design
and/or implementation of specific
functionality to be incorporated into a
program.
Advantages of Modular Programming
 Module Specification
• Every module needs to provide a specification of
how it is to be used. This is referred to as the
module’s interface .
• Any program code making use of a particular
module is referred to as a client of the module.
• A module’s specification should be sufficiently
clear and complete so that its clients can
effectively utilize it.
• For example, numPrimes is a function that returns
the number of primes in a given integer range
• The function’s specification is provided by the line immediately
following the function header, called a docstring in Python.
• A docstring is a string literal denoted by triple quotes given as the
first line of certain program elements.
• The docstring of a particular program element can be displayed by
use of the __doc__ extension,
• >>> print(numPrimes.__doc__)
• Returns the number of primes between start and end.
• This provides a convenient way for discovering how to use a
particular function without having to look at the function
definition itself.
• Some software development tools also make use of docstrings.
• This docstring follows the Python convention
of putting a blank line after the first line of the
docstring, which should be an overall
description of what the function does,
followed by an arbitrary number of lines
providing additional details.
• These additional lines must be indented at the
same level, as shown in the figure.
• A module’s interface is a specification of what
it provides and how it is to be used. Any
program code making use of a given module is
called a client of the module.
• A docstring is a string literal denoted by triple
quotes used in Python for providing the
specification of certain program elements.
 Top-Down Design
• Top-down design is an approach for deriving
a modular design in which the overall design
of a system is developed first, deferring the
specification of more detailed aspects of the
design until later steps.
• The goal of top-down design is that each
module provides clearly defined functionality,
which collectively provide all of the required
functionality of the program.
First Stage of a Modular Design of the
Calendar Year Program
Second Stage of Modular Design of a
Calendar Year Program
 Python Modules
• What Is a Python Module?
• A Python module is a file containing Python
definitions and statements.
• The Python Standard Library contains a set of
predefined standard (built-in) modules.
• Create a Python module by entering the following in a file name
simple.py. Then execute the instructions in the Python shell as
shown and observe the results.
• # module simple
print('module simple loaded')

def func1():
print('func1 called')
def func2():
print('func2 called')
• >>> import simple
• ???
• >>> simple.func1()
• ???
• >>> simple.func2()
• ???
 Modules and Namespaces
• A namespace provides a context for a set of
identifiers.
• Every module in Python has its own
namespace.
• A name clash is when two otherwise distinct
entities with the same identifier become part
of the same scope.
• Enter each of the following functions in their own modules
named mod1.py and mod2.py. Enter and execute the
following and observe the results.
# mod1
def average(lst):
print('average of mod1 called')
# mod2
def average(lst):
print('average of mod1 called')
>>>import mod1, mod2
>>> mod1.average([10, 20, 30])
???
>>> mod2.average([10, 20, 30])
???
>>> average([10, 20, 30])
 Importing Modules
• In Python, the main module of any program is
identified as the first (“top-level”) module
executed.
 The “import modulename ” Form of
Import
• With the import modulename form of import
in Python, the namespace of the imported
module becomes available to, but does not
become part of, the namespace of the
importing module.
• Example
>>>Import math
>>>Factorial(5)
The “from-import” Form of Import
• Python also provides an alternate import
statement of the form
from modulename import something
• where something can be a list of identifiers, a
single renamed identifier, or an asterisk, as shown
• below,
• (a) from modulename import func1, func2
• (b) from modulename import func1 as
new_func1
• (c) from modulename import *
• With the from-import form of import,
imported identifiers become part of the
importing module’s namespace. Because of
the possibility of name clashes, import
modulename is the preferred form of import
in Python.
 Module Private Variables
• In Python, all the variables in a module are
“public,” with the convention that variables
beginning with an two underscores are
intended to be private.