importing down in code rather than at top of file.

Mon Aug 29 20:40:21 EDT 2016

On 8/29/2016 1:57 PM, Tobiah wrote:
> Is it worth while to defer the import of a large module that seldom
> gets used in the script?
>>> import sys
> import os
>> if hardly_ever_happens():
>> import large_module
> large_module.do_task()
>>>> I imagine it takes a certain amount of processing
> power and memory to import a module, so it seems
> like I'd save those resources with the above pattern.
>> The down side would be that it's nice to see all of the
> imports at the top which would follow convention. Should
> I care?

If you delay the import, you can put it a function, such as 'almost 
never', and then document the delayed import with comments either mixin 
in with or below the real ones, such as
# import large_module # in almost_never
-- 
Terry Jan Reedy