Import concerns revisited

[Georg Wrede]

Derek Parnell wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 09:25:50 +0300, Georg Wrede wrote:
>>Regan Heath wrote:
>>
>>>import std.stdio as io;
>>>
>>>writefln("");    //error
>>>io.writefln(""); //ok
>>>
>>>in that this syntax allows the compiler to _not_ import into the  
>>>2ndary namespace and _instead_ into the named one, instead of doing 
>>>both,  which is what appears does/will happen using 'alias'. I prefer this.
>>
>>Exactly!
>>
>>And this is *very important*.
> 
> 
> Why?

Several reasons.

  - The syntax looks explicit enough for the programmer to honestly 
assume that the only import is to the specified namespace.

  - Doing stuff behind the back is Bad Manners.

  - Importing to both would not alleviate the problem of namespace 
pollution.

  - Who'd understand the error messages about name clashes?

  - Any outsider would really consider this a grave beginner bug from 
the compiler writer.