understanding help/documentation in python

Question

This might be a stupid question. I don't understand why the first one throws an error while the other one works. Is there a simple explanation here?

In[2]: import scipy
In[3]: help(scipy.optimize)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:.....lib\site-packages\IPython\core\interactiveshell.py", line 3035, in run_code
  File "<ipython-input-3-87bd9e5565b6>", line 1, in <module>
    help(scipy.optimize)
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'optimize'



In[4]: from scipy import optimize
In[5]: help(optimize)
Help on package scipy.optimize in scipy:..........................

Xantium · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-14 01:19:22Z

1

This has nothing to do with help(), importing it in a terminal yeilds the same result.

scipy is a package, optimize is a sub-package of scipy. In order for a module to be imported from a package it must be specified in the __init__.py file in the top level package scipy.

scipy -
       |- optimize
       |- __init.py__

It does not so you must specify that it does exist by importing it directly.

import scipy

Gets scipy but it does not say in the __init__.py file optimize is part of it. So it does not load it.

from scipy import optimize

Goes into scipy package and loads optimize without using the __init__.py file. In other words you tell it to get optimize yourself.

edited Feb 14, 2018 at 1:19

answered Feb 14, 2018 at 1:14

Xantium

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