relative using/import should search current directory

[StefanKarpinski]

When I do

# Main.jl
module Main
  using .Foo
end

and there's a file called Foo.jl in the same directory as Main.jl it should be loaded. I suspect that relative using should also not look in the global require places – i.e. Pkg.dir() and then LOAD_PATH. The same applies to import.

[JeffBezanson]

I agree it should not look in the global places, but perhaps it should not look at files at all. This doesn't seem to extend to multiple dots, e.g. using ..Foo looking in the parent directory.

[StefanKarpinski]

Oops.

[WestleyArgentum]

I would love to see a solution to this problem... But Jeff has a point.

Would be a little weird, but what if using takes a second, optional parameter

using Foo "../../extra-src/"

[tknopp]

+1 for this.

[StefanKarpinski]

I'm not sure the relative path thing is a problem. You could, for example, have something like

# Foo.jl
module Foo
  using ..Bar
  using .Baz
end

# Bar.jl
module Bar
  # barfy stuff
end

# Foo/Baz.jl
module Baz
  # bazish stuff
end

That would allow relative imports of sibling modules to automatically work. Sure, it's strange if you do more dots than you're nested into modules, but just don't do that.

[fxbrain]

Why just not allow to use using with a string?
Such as: using "Baz/Baz.jl".

[StefanKarpinski]

Because loading from a file is only a side effect of using when no such module exists. The normal case is that the module already exists. If you allow a string, you still have to map those strings to a module.

[fxbrain]

But if the string, which is a path, qualifies a module, which it does due to its structure?

[fxbrain]

Ok. Let me try to get this straight.

I do not have an opinion about this "import/include/using" oddity.

Don't you think that sooner or later, the python import strategy turns out to be best?
You guys enabled to have a __init__ function within a module which is automatically called, but not at first, which is quite strange, since I expected it to be called first, just like a BEGIN block in Perl.

I ran into exactly this problem, that I arranged my code in a file directory manner and tried to push! the load-lib path inside the init function. But it is not evaluated at first, which was quite confusing
to me, since I expected it to act such as a CTor or something.

Let's just presume I know what using does semantically. Why not use using to publish several declarations inside the current namespace but give it the ability to assign some prefix for it?

I really liked the import idea of Java. Where dots marked a directory.

For instance:

using Baz.baz

or

using Baz.baz as bz

Does this make sense to you?

Cheers

Stefan