# \[ANN\] PatModules.jl: a better module system for Julia

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-patmodules-jl-a-better-module-system-for-julia/52226>\
**Category:** Package Announcements\
**Tags:** code-organization\
**Created:** [December 22, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-patmodules-jl-a-better-module-system-for-julia/52226 "2020-12-22T13:09:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 15

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CameronBieganek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/cameronbieganek/32/6915_2.png) [@CameronBieganek](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/CameronBieganek)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-patmodules-jl-a-better-module-system-for-julia/52226/15 "2020-12-22T17:24:51Z")

</div>

By the way, one of the reasons that Julia doesn’t use namespaces as aggressively as Python is because we group related functionality into generic functions. Instead of having `List.map`, `String.map`, `Tuple.map`, etc, we just have one generic function `map`. The emphasis is on overloading generic functions rather than putting slightly different versions of functions in separate modules. In order to fully take advantage of multiple dispatch and function overloading, you want a pretty flat namespace.

I think one takeaway from this thread is that sometimes it’s good to solicit feedback from the community before embarking on a new project, rather than after. It’s not uncommon for new Julia users to come to this forum and say, “You’re doing it wrong.” Unsurprisingly, those posts usually receive a bit of pushback. 😛

(The `List.map`, `String.map`, `Tuple.map` example is taken from languages like Erlang and Elm.)

---

_[View the full topic](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-patmodules-jl-a-better-module-system-for-julia/52226)._