Why do you keep looping out "11111"?

Question

aaa.py:

import subprocess

print(11111)
exp = 0
subprocess.run(['python', 'bbb.py'])

print(22222)
print(exp)

bbb.py

import aaa

print("hello world")
print("bbb.py :", aaa.exp)
aaa.exp += 1

Why does it keep getting stuck in a loop?

Answer 1

Your implementation creates a circular dependency between aaa.py and bbb.py, leading to an infinite loop. Let's break down what happens step by step:

1. aaa.py is executed.
2. import subprocess and print(11111) are executed.
3. exp is set to 0. subprocess.run(['python', 'bbb.py']) runs bbb.py.

Now, in bbb.py:
4. import aaa tries to import aaa.py again.

Here's the problem: when bbb.py imports aaa, it executes all the code in aaa.py again, including subprocess.run(['python', 'bbb.py']). This creates a loop where aaa.py spaws a subprocess that calls bbb.py, and bbb.py imports aaa.py, leading to an infinite loop.

How to fix this:

As both the programs are accessing and changing the value of exp, you can keep exp in a separate module and import that module in both aaa.py and bbb.py.

exp.py

exp = 0

aaa.py

import subprocess
import exp

print(11111)
subprocess.run(['python', 'bbb.py'])
print(22222)
print(exp.exp)

bbb.py

import exp

print("hello world")
print("bbb.py :", exp.exp)
exp.exp += 1

Output

11111
hello world
bbb.py : 0
22222
0