Two variations of Python's main function

Question

When writing scripts for personal use, I am used to doing this:

def do_something():
    # Do something.

if __name__ == '__main__':
    do_something()

Or, we can also do this:

def do_something(): 
    # Do something.  

do_something()      # No if __name__ thingy. 

I know the first form is useful when differentiating between importing the script as a module or calling it directly, but otherwise for scripts that will only be executed (and never imported), is there any reason to prefer one over the other?

Answer 1

Even if the script is only meant to be executed, it might sometimes be useful to import it anyway -- in an interactive shell, by documentation generation tools, in unit tests or to perform timings. So routinely using the more general form will never hurt.