folders.md

Create a Folder Structure

A small but important part of a project is creating folders for your code. In the Python world, there is a standard structure that you will find in many other projects. The next few steps let you create one.

Step 1: A package folder

First, you need a place for the package you want to write. A Python package is simply a folder that contains .py files. Create a folder snake inside your repository. On the bash terminal, you would use

:::bash
mkdir snake

If your git repository is also called snake, you may want to rename your project folder to something else like snake_project, snake_repo or similar. If you have two folders calles snake inside each other could lead to strange import bugs later

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Step 2: A folder for tests

You will also want to have a place where you add test code later. Name that folder tests/. We will leave it empty for now.

:::bash
mkdir tests

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Step 3: Create a Python module

You may want to create a Python module (a .py file) to make sure everything is set up correctly. Create a file game.py inside the snake/ folder. Add a placeholder function to it:

:::python3
def play_snake():
    print('this is a snake game')

Now start Python in your main project folder (above the package) through the terminal. It is important that you start Python in your project folder. It will probably not work from your IDE at this point. The code that you want to get running is:

from snake.game import play_snake

play_snake()

You should see the message from the print statement.

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Step 4: main Python file

Importing the play_snake() function to play the game is a bit inconvenient. Let's create a shortcut. Create a file named __main__.py (with double underscores on both ends) in the package folder that contains the following code:

:::python3
from game import play_snake

play_snake()

Now it should be possible to start the game by typing:

:::text
python snake

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Summary

At this point, your project folder should contain:

:::text
LICENSE
prototype.py
README.md
snake/
    game.py
    __main__.py
tests/

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Further Reading

You find detailed info on importing stuff in Python Modules and Packages on realpython.com