Import concerns revisited

[Ivan Senji]

Walter Bright wrote:
> Ivan Senji wrote:
>> There should be a big difference (if I understand things correctly):
>> A simple example:
>>
>> If I have:
>>
>> module m1;
>>
>> int func(){return 1;}
>>
>> and
>>
>> module mainmodule;
>>
>> import m1;
>>
>> void main()
>> {
>>   writefln(func());
>>   writefln(m1.func());
>> }
>>
>> there are no problems with that!
>>
>> But if I add:
>>
>> module m2;
>>
>> int func(){return 2;}
>>
>> and change mainmodule to:
>>
>> import m1;
>> import m2;
>>
>> void main()
>> {
>>   writefln(func());     //<- conflict
>>   writefln(m1.func());
>>   writefln(m2.func());
>> }
>>
>> And suddenly I get a lot of conflicts.
> 
> I agree, but the "static import" resolves that.

It does, but I thought your original example was solving the isue by
only importing one name from a module?

> 
> 
>> Sure there is a way to solve it by adding:
>>
>> alias m1.func func;
>>
>> And then use m2.func to use func from m2.
>>
>> But what if I wanted to give m2.func a totally different name to avoid
>> confusion, i can try to add this:
>>
>> alias m2.func someOtherName; instead of alias m1.func func;
>>
>> But then once again I would get an error about a conflict:
>>
>> Once again there is a solution:
>>
>> alias m1.func func;
>> alias m2.func f2;
>>
>> And it works OK, but the intention here is a bit hidden.
>>
>> Conclusion:
>>
>> import m2.func as f2;
>>
>> is not the same as:
>>
>> import m2;
>> alias m2.func f2;
>>
>> but is equivalent to:
>>
>> import m2;
>> alias m2.func f2;
>> //insert here a possibly huge number of aliases to avoid conflicts of
>> m2.func with func from other imported modules.
> 
> If "static import" is used, there aren't any conflicts.

OK.

> 
> There are two issues here:
> 
> 1) the "second class name lookup" characteristic of import.
> 2) inserting a name from one scope into another (possibly renaming it in
> the process)
> 
> static import does (1) by importing but disabling the second class lookup.
> alias does (2).

Sure I could use

static import m2;
alias m2.func f2;

And that would be an improvement but it is still longer (and arguably
less understandable) than:

import m2.func as f2; ;) :)