What's the best way to initialise and use constants across Python classes?

Question

Here's how I am declaring constants and using them across different Python classes:

# project/constants.py GOOD = 1 BAD = 2 AWFUL = 3  # project/question.py from constants import AWFUL, BAD, GOOD  class Question:     def __init__(self):         ... 

Is the above a good way to store and use contant values? I realise that after a while, the constants file can get pretty big and I could explicitly be importing 10+ of those constants in any given file.

Answer 1

why not just use

import constants  def use_my_constants():     print constants.GOOD, constants.BAD, constants.AWFUL 

From the python zen:

Namespaces are good. Lets do more of those!

EDIT: Except, when you do quote, you should include a reference and check it, because as others have pointed out, it should read:

Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

This time, I actually copied it from the source: PEP 20 -- The Zen of Python

Answer 2

You also have the option, if the constants are tied to a particular class and used privately within that class of making them specific to that class:

class Foo(object):    GOOD = 0    BAD = 1    WTF = -1     def __init__(self... 

and away you go.