Question

I create a dictionary from a remote database as part of my application run. This process is pretty I/O heavy, so I’ve decided to create a “singleton” instance of this dictionary and just call it as it is needed in my application.

The code looks like (in Dictionaries.py):

state_code_dict = None

def get_state_code_dict():
    global state_code_dict
    if state_code_dict == None:
        state_code_dict = generate_state_code_dict()
    return state_code_dict

I then import and call the get_state_code_dict() function where needed. I added a print statement to check if state_code_dict was being reinitialized or reused, and I found it was being reused (which is the functionality I want). Why is the instance of state_code_dict surviving the application run?

Edit

I import the get_state_code_dict function in multiple files.

Answer 1

This is the Python Language Reference’s description of how importing a module works:

(1) find a module, and initialize it if necessary; (2) define a name or names in the local namespace

(Emphasis added.) Here, initializing a module means executing its code. This execution is only performed if necessary, i.e. if the module was not previously imported in the current process. Since Python modules are first-class runtime objects, they effectively become singletons, initialized at the time of first import.

Note that this means that there’s no need for a get_state_dict_code function; just initialize state_code_dict at top-level:

state_code_dict = generate_state_code_dict()

For a more in-depth explanation, see this talk by Thomas Wouters, esp. the first part — around 04:20 — where he discusses the “everything is runtime” principle.