Python error: TypeError: 'module' object is not callable for HeadFirst Python code

Question

I'm following the tutorial from the HeadFirst Python book. In chapter 7, I get an error message when trying to run the next code:

Athlete class:

class AthleteList(list):
    def __init__(self, a_name, a_dob=None, a_times=[]):
        list.__init__([])
        self.name = a_name
        self.dob = a_dob
        self.extend(a_times)

    def top3(self):
        return(sorted(set([sanitize(t) for t in self]))[0:3])

def get_coach_data(filename):
    try:
        with open(filename) as f:
            data = f.readline()
        templ = data.strip().split(',')
        return(AthleteList(templ.pop(0), templ.pop(0), templ))
    except IOError as ioerr:
        print('File error: ' + str(ioerr))
        return(None)

def sanitize(time_string):
    if '-' in time_string:
        splitter = '-'
    elif ':' in time_string:
        splitter = ':'
    else:
        return(time_string)
    (mins, secs) = time_string.split(splitter)
    return(mins + '.' + secs)

and with the next module I do some tests:

import pickle

import AthleteList

def get_coach_data(filename):
    try:
        with open(filename) as f:
            data = f.readline()
        templ = data.strip().split(',')
        return(AthleteList(templ.pop(0), templ.pop(0), templ))
    except IOError as ioerr:
        print('File error (get_coach_data): ' + str(ioerr))
        return(None)

def put_to_store(files_list):
    all_athletes = {}
    for each_file in files_list:
        ath = get_coach_data(each_file)
        all_athletes[ath.name] = ath
    try:
        with open('athletes.pickle', 'wb') as athf:
            pickle.dump(all_athletes, athf)
    except IOError as ioerr:
        print('File error (put_and_store): ' + str(ioerr))
    return(all_athletes)

def get_from_store():
    all_athletes = {}
    try:
        with open('athletes.pickle', 'rb') as athf:
            all_athletes = pickle.load(athf)
    except IOError as ioerr:
        print('File error (get_from_store): ' + str(ioerr))
    return(all_athletes)


print (dir())

the_files = ['sarah.txt','james.txt','mikey.txt','julie.txt']
data = put_to_store(the_files)

data

This is the content of the Julie.txt file:

Julie Jones,2002-8-17,2.59,2.11,2:11,2:23,3-10,2-23,3:10,3.21,3-21,3.01,3.02,2:59

and it's almost the same with the other files

I should get something like this output:

{'James Lee': ['2-34', '3:21', '2.34', '2.45', '3.01', '2:01', '2:01', '3:10', '2-22', '2-
01', '2.01', '2:16'], 'Sarah Sweeney': ['2:58', '2.58', '2:39', '2-25', '2-55', '2:54', '2.18',
'2:55', '2:55', '2:22', '2-21', '2.22'], 'Julie Jones': ['2.59', '2.11', '2:11', '2:23', '3-
10', '2-23', '3:10', '3.21', '3-21', '3.01', '3.02', '2:59'], 'Mikey McManus': ['2:22', '3.01',
'3:01', '3.02', '3:02', '3.02', '3:22', '2.49', '2:38', '2:40', '2.22', '2-31']}

but I get this error message:

['AthleteList', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__name__', '__package__', 'get_coach_data', 'get_from_store', 'pickle', 'put_to_store']
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Python\workspace\HeadFirst\src\prueba.py", line 41, in <module>
    data = put_to_store(the_files)
  File "C:\Python\workspace\HeadFirst\src\prueba.py", line 19, in put_to_store
    ath = get_coach_data(each_file)
  File "C:\Python\workspace\HeadFirst\src\prueba.py", line 11, in get_coach_data
    return(AthleteList(templ.pop(0), templ.pop(0), templ))
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Your module and your class AthleteList have the same name. The line

import AthleteList

imports the module and creates a name AthleteList in your current scope that points to the module object. If you want to access the actual class, use

AthleteList.AthleteList

In particular, in the line

return(AthleteList(templ.pop(0), templ.pop(0), templ))

you are actually accessing the module object and not the class. Try

return(AthleteList.AthleteList(templ.pop(0), templ.pop(0), templ))

Answer 2

You module and class AthleteList have the same name. Change:

import AthleteList

to:

from AthleteList import AthleteList

This now means that you are importing the module object and will not be able to access any module methods you have in AthleteList