Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Python Django Basics Django Templates Add a Detail View

vinay kumar
vinay kumar
147 Points

Error executing python file

treehouse:~/workspace/learning_site/courses$ python views.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "views.py", line 4, in <module>
from .models import Course
SystemError: Parent module '' not loaded, cannot perform relative import

1 Answer

Chris Freeman
MOD
Chris Freeman
Treehouse Moderator 68,454 Points

Great question! The "parent module" is the top most module in the execution hierarchy. In Python, this top-most level is given the name __main__. This make relative imports not possible at the top level.

In the docs on intra-package references, it says

Note that relative imports are based on the name of the current module. Since the name of the main module is always "__main__", modules intended for use as the main module of a Python application must always use absolute imports.

Post back if you need more help. Good luck!!!