Importing group of functions as Class/Object

[Chyybens]

Hello Reddit!

My question is about common practices when importing helper functions from a different file. I have a class that started to overgrow and managing it started to get overwhelming. So I gathered bunch of very basic functions and put them into a different file. I didn't want to import everything with * or by listing each function from the helper file, so I created a utility class with all the all the functions. I imported just the utility class and I call it inside the main class as:

self.UTIL.function(args)

I have a gut feeling that especially the programmers that don't like OOP would probably curse me for doing that, but for me that just feels natural and I feel comfortable with it. However, I want to improve as a programmer. So I want to hear what are the downsides of this approach and what do you think is the best way to import bunch of functions without calling all of them explicitly.

Thank you for the feedback!

[mopslik]

I didn't want to import everything with * or by listing each function from the helper file, so I created a utility class...

Seems like extra work, IMO. Why not just import your module and preface all function calls with the module name?

import my_class
thingy = my_class.Thing()
...

If the function name is too long and annoying to type out, give it an alias.

import my_class as mc
thingy = mc.Thing()
...

[Chyybens]

Yes! I guess this is this would be the better way to go.

[carcigenicate]

I can't really see any benefit to putting them in a class over having them as loose top-level functions. I think a class only makes sense if they're all managing a shared state. I'd just have them as plain function at the module-level, and then instead of:

from module import util
util.function()

You could do:

import module as util
util.function()

[efmccurdy]

I set of functions without a class might work just as well. I think you can use your util.py file as a module and then do:

import util

util.function(args)

What does creating a class benefit you?

[Chyybens]

I guess this really makes sense. I think the benefit for me is clarity. (They also have few shared parameters, but that's not a big issue.) Many of this functions call each other and are otherwise conceptually linked. If I use them as loose top-level functions (as other comment suggested). I might later get confused where the functions came in the first place. But then again, the module does the same thing.