Correct IDLE usage (was Reason for not allowing import twice but allowing reload())

[Terry Reedy]

On 2/29/2016 7:42 AM, Rustom Mody wrote:

> Is import needed at all when trying out in Idle?
...
> So it does appear that
> 1. import not necessary with(in) idle
> 2. However import and f5 (ie is run as main) are different
>
> May some idle experts elaborate on this? Whats the idle idiom of import-ing?

Rustom, since I know that you are not a rank beginner, I have trouble 
understanding what you are asking.  F5 when editing foo.py is equivalent 
to running "python -i foo.py" on a command line while 'in' the directory 
containing foo.py.  In both cases, foo.py is run as a main module, with 
__name__ == '__main__'.  The difference is that F5 runs foo.py under 
IDLE supervision, with results going into and interactive inputs coming 
from IDLE shell instead of the console interpreter.

Imports are used in a module to access objects within the imported module.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy