Python

11 Outdated Python Modules That You Should Never Use Again

And their modern alternatives that you should master

Image from Wallhaven

Python evolves so fast.

Some modules you learned 5 years ago? Perhaps they’ve become outdated today because of security risks, lack of maintenance, better modern alternatives, or new Python features have made them unnecessary.

Using outdated modules may cause unexpected and hard-to-detect bugs in your Python projects.

This article summarises 11 outdated Python modules and their modern alternatives to help you refresh your knowledge base and upgrade your Python arsenal.

1. Pipes Module: Removed Since Python 3.13

The pipes module was removed from Python 3.13 as the PEP 594 declared.

It was the tool to write a Unix “pipe” logic (the output of the previous command is the input of the next command) in Python.

A more powerful and cross-platform module now is subprocess.

The following code is how the outdated pipes module can be used:

# Old way using pipes (Deprecated and removed in Python 3.13)
import pipes

cmd = pipes.Template()
cmd.append('echo Hello, Yang!', '--')…