Discussion on: What's the use of if __name__ == '__main__': in Python?

Hey Luca. Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

Nice explanation.

It also indicates the starting point of the script when executing script_1.py on its own.

I had actually thought of saying it like this, but then I doubted if it was really very correct since it kinda implies that it has to be there because it's the starting point of the execution. If I was a complete beginner, I'd take that to mean that a program without that part wouldn't run since the script doesn't have a starting point to execute from.

Here's what I mean. Consider this code for example:

def hello():
  print("hello!")

hello()

The code works just fine without the if __name__ == '__main__':. What's the starting point of the script when executing that code on its own?

Maybe I'm overthinking it? 😅