Nested modules (packages) with python c api?

Question

How can I create nested modules (packages?) with the python c api?

I would like the client code (python) to be able do something like this:

import MainModuleName
import MainModuleName.SubModuleName

Instead of currently:

import MainModuleName
import MainModuleNameSubModuleName

Which imo looks ugly and clutters up the namespace.

Is it possible without having to mess around with file system directories?

Answer 1

You do not "mess around" with file system directories. File system directories are how you create submodules, unless you want to be really obscure and have a lot of needless pain.

You want to have a module called MainModuleName.SubModuleName and then MainModuleName should be a directory with an __init__.py file.

A common way of doing C modules is to put all the C-code in modules with names starting in underscore, in this case _mainmodulename.c, and then importing them from Python files. This is done so that you only need to implement the things in C that has to be in C, and the rest you can do in Python. You can also have pure-Python fallbacks that way. I suggest you do something similar, and create the module structure in Python and then import the classes and functions from C modules with underscore names.