[Python-Dev] Re: Python-Dev Digest, Vol 5, Issue 57 (original) (raw)

Edward Loper edloper at gradient.cis.upenn.edu
Tue Dec 16 15:17:49 EST 2003

Guido said:

There is the remaining issue of what exactly the syntax would be. I propose to extend the from clause to allow one or more dots before the dotted name, and to make the dotted name optional if at least one leading dot is found. I propose not to change from-less import.

What's the motivation for restricting it to from-imports? I suspect that this will cause confusion, and it doesn't feel self-consistent to me: why can you call a module ".foo" in one context, and not in another? In particular, I think that if people see that you can do:

 from .foo import *

Then they'll assume that they can also do:

 import .foo

With the obvious semantics, i.e. equivalence to:

 from . import foo

What do we gain by not extending the syntax to from-less imports?

-Edward

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