I have a class which can be plotted using matplotlib, but it can (and will) also be used without plotting it. I would like to only import matplotlib if necessary, ie. if the plot method is called on an instance of the class, but at the same time I would like to only import matplotlib once if at all. Currently what I do is: class Cheese: def plot(self): from matplotlib import pyplot as plt # *plot some cheese* ..but I suppose that this may lead to importing multiple times. I can think of lots of ways to accomplish only importing once, but they are not pretty. What is a pretty and "pythonic" way of doing this? I don't mean for this to be "opinion based", so let me clarify what I mean by "pretty": using the fewest lines of code. most readable most efficient least error-prone etc. Continue reading...
