Is sys.path.append() a good workaround?

Question

I am seeing some of my colleagues use the following workaround for importing external python modules (without installing them).

import sys

sys.path.append(<PATH_TO_MODULE>)
import <module>
sys.path.remove(<PATH_TO_MODULE>)

I don't think this is a good approach but "it works". What should I suggest them to do instead of the following code and why?

Thanks!

Answer 1

It sounds as though your colleagues are not making virtual environments to run python and are trying to avoid muddy-ing the main python modules.

So I'd suggest they start seperating out their concerns and projects into seperate virtual environments where they don't need to worry about having modules installed.

_{See also conda environments and other alternatives to achieve the same goal}