[Python-Dev] 'import as' (original) (raw)

Barry A. Warsaw bwarsaw@beopen.com
Fri, 18 Aug 2000 09:27:05 -0400 (EDT)

"Gordo" == Gordon McMillan <gmcm@hypernet.com> writes:

Gordo> A whole lot rides on what you mean by "resulting" above. If
Gordo> by "resulting" you mean "goom", then "import goom.bah as
Gordo> snarf" would result in my namespace having "snarf" as an
Gordo> alias for "goom", and I would use "bah" as "snarf.bah". In
Gordo> which case Greg Ewing is right, and it's "import <dotted
Gordo> name> as ..."  that should be outlawed, (since that's not
Gordo> what anyone would expect).

Right.

Gordo> OTOH, if by "resulting" you meant "bah", things are much 
Gordo> worse, because it means you must patched code you didn't 
Gordo> understand ;-b.

But I think it /is/ useful behavior for "import as" to bind the rightmost attribute to the local name. I agree though that if that can't be done in a sane way, it has to raise an exception. But that will frustrate users.

-Barry