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Practice

What is a Module?

To fetch and process data from a webpage through web scraping, you need a module that performs specific functions.

In programming, a module is a file containing code that performs certain functions, which can be imported and used by other programs.

For Python web scraping, there are several modules available, with the most notable being:

  • requests: A module for fetching webpage data through network requests.

  • BeautifulSoup: A module for processing HTML data fetched from a webpage and extracting desired information.

  • selenium: A module for controlling webpages.


Features of Modules​

  1. Reusable Code: A module contains code divided into functions, variables, classes, etc., segregated by function, allowing them to be packaged in a single file for reuse whenever needed.

  2. Independence: A module operates independently and should easily integrate with other code.

  3. Namespace: In programming, a namespace refers to the space where identifiers (such as the names of variables, functions, classes, etc.) are stored. Modules have their own namespace, ensuring that function or variable names within a module do not conflict with those in other modules or existing programs.


Advantages of Using Modules​

  1. Improved Readability: By separating code into modules based on functionality, the structure of the program becomes easier to understand.

  2. Enhanced Maintainability: Modularity divides code into smaller, independent units, allowing specific module issues to be addressed without affecting other modules, facilitating maintenance.

  3. Reusability: Once written, a module can be reused across different programs.


Example of Usage​

In Python, modules are Python files with the .py extension, which can be imported into other Python files using the import statement.

Defining a Module
# Define the say_hello function in the my_module.py file
def say_hello(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}!"
Importing a Module
# Import the my_module.py file in the same directory
import my_module

# Call the say_hello function from my_module
print(my_module.say_hello("CodeFriend"))

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