why sqrt is not a built-in function?

[Chris Angelico]

On Sat, Jan 16, 2021 at 8:56 AM Michael F. Stemper <mstemper at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 15/01/2021 15.26, Stefan Ram wrote:
> > "Michael F. Stemper" <mstemper at gmail.com> writes:
> >> On 15/01/2021 14.01, Stefan Ram wrote:
> >>> __import__( "math" ).sqrt( 4 )
> >> I had no idea that syntax existed, and find it completely at odds
> >> with The Zen of Python. I'm torn between forgetting that I ever saw
> >> it and using it for some evilly-obfuscated code.
> >
> >    When one collects snippets of Python code that are intended
> >    to be inserted into programs, a snippet usually would have
> >    to consist of two parts: One part to be inserted at the top
> >    of the program, into the imports section, and then the actual
> >    snippet.
> >    "__import__" allows to write snippets that can be inserted
> >    as they are without the need to do insertions at two different
> >    places. (Possibly with a tool to later normalize the insertions
> >    to the usual style.)

I'm not sure how that works. In Python, you can just put the imports
where you want them - why would the __import__ function be needed?

I am confuzzed.

ChrisA