Python docs: confusing terminology of modules and submodules

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The docs say: Packages are a way of structuring Python’s module namespace by using “dotted module names”. For example, the module name A.B designates a submodule named B in a package named A.

A package is defined in the docs a dir with some either subdirs or files. Those subdirs would be subpackages, following this convention. A submodule then would be a module in the subdir, or the subpackage?

Would it be more clear to say module name A.B designates a module named B in a package named A?

And suppose dir A has a subdir C which contains file D, then one would say D, fully A.C.D, is a submodue of A?

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1 Answers

From the glossary on the term module:

An object that serves as an organizational unit of Python code. Modules have a namespace containing arbitrary Python objects. Modules are loaded into Python by the process of importing.

... and on the term package:

A Python module which can contain submodules or recursively, subpackages. Technically, a package is a Python module with an __path__ attribute.

So every (sub-)package is also a module, but the opposite is not true.

Considering the package layout you gave as an example:

A
├── B.py
├── C
│   ├── D.py
│   └── __init__.py
└── __init__.py

Here, A, B, C, D are all modules (you can import them via their name: import A or import A.B or import A.C or import A.C.D). However only A, C are considered packages.

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