Chapter 63 — Modules and Packages

SmartNotes has grown: a Note class, search functions, a FileManager, statistics, decorators, and tests. All crammed into a handful of files in one directory. This works for learning. It does not work for a real project.

This chapter teaches you to organize Python code into modules (individual .py files) and packages (directories with __init__.py). You will split SmartNotes into a proper package with separate modules for models, search, storage, and tests.

#	Lesson	Focus	SmartNotes Deliverable
1	Why Modules?	Single-file pain, import basics, creating modules	Split Note class into models.py, import it
2	Packages and __init__.py	Directory packages, __init__.py, public API	Create smartnotes/ package with submodules
3	Import Mechanics	Relative vs absolute imports, __name__ == "__main__"	Add smartnotes/__main__.py entry point
4	Avoiding Import Traps	Circular imports, star imports, namespace collisions	Diagnose and fix a circular import
5	SmartNotes Package Capstone	Full TDG cycle: package architecture	Refactored SmartNotes as a proper package

Prerequisites: Chapters 42-62. You should be comfortable with classes, file I/O, and the TDG cycle.