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pythoncoding-style

Order of functions within a Python source file

In languages such as C and C++, it is common to define called functions above their callers, in order to avoid the need for forward declarations. For example:

void g() { ... }

void f() { g(); ... }

int main() { f(); ... }

In Python, if the

if __name__ == '__main__': 
    main()

idiom is used at the end of a source file, forward declarations are unnecessary and the order of functions does not matter.

Is there any convention for the order of functions within a Python source file? Are called functions still generally written above callers, or vice-versa?

Solution

  • There is no convention (for example, there is nothing in PEP 8) regarding function order. Even modules within the standard library are inconsistent.