An experiment with code-objects and namespaces.

codeobjects.py

"""
codeobjects.py

An experiment with code-objects and namespaces.

Inspired by Jeff Rush's PyCON'09 talk.
    http://us.pycon.org/2009/conference/schedule/event/7/

Compiles a module at run-time from a string containing the code for the module
and installs a new module object in sys.modules ready to be importable!
"""

import types, sys

mod_code_str = """
x = 10

class Person(object):
    def __init__(self):
        pass

def foobar():
    return "invoked foobar!"

"""

# compile the module's code into code-objects
#   -> parses the code into a tree of code-objects
#   -> returns the root of the tree (ie) code-object for the Module
mod_code = compile(mod_code_str, "<runtime>", "exec")

# create an instance of an empty Module object (let's call our module 'mymod')
mod = types.ModuleType('mymod', 'module created at run-time by parsing code from a string')

# exec module's code in the empty Module object's namespace
exec mod_code in mod.__dict__

# install the Module object into sys.module to make it `importable`
sys.modules['mymod'] = mod

# start using mymod!
import mymod
print mymod.x
print mymod.Person()
print mymod.foobar()