Import

Import is the ability to retrieve data from an application or program

For example, an application might facilitate importing contacts

What is an Import in programming

In programming, import is typically a keyword used to retrieve modules or functions from a package or file

A module is a piece of code (like a set of functions, a file or directory) which can be distributed and can be independently created and maintained

Python import

In Python, modules are imported by using import statement

A file containing Python code, for example: ncthon.py, is called a module, and its module name is ncthon

It can be imported to another file as

import ncthon

Then, specific function of the module can be accessed using . (dot notation) like

import ncthon
ncthon.some_function()

Above example calls a function some_function() of ncthon module

Same function can be imported using from keyword in the import statement or using . (dot)

from ncthon import some_function
some_function()

Similarly, a module can be imported from a directory hierarchy using .(dot) between directory names

To imported all global variables and objects wildcard * import can be used

from ncthon import *
some_function()

Java import

A Java package is like a directory that contains Java classes, interfaces, enumerations etc and packages (which are typically related)

To use such a class or interface, it is typically imported using import

For example, the built-in ArrayList class is to be imported from java.util package

import java.util.ArrayList;

class PrintList {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        ArrayList<Integer> intList = new ArrayList<>(3);
        intList.add(43);
        intList.add(22);
        intList.add(31);

        System.out.println(myList);
    }
}