Is `using Package: function` supposed to save precompile time, or just prevent namespace collisions?

New to Julia
1

I often import a package even though I am only planning on using one or two functions from it:

julia> @time using Distributions
  1.420353 seconds (1.77 M allocations: 113.360 MiB, 0.27% compilation time)

I am thinking about replacing these lines with ones that just import the functions I am using.

However, doing so doesn’t save me any time at the REPL:

julia> @time using Distributions: Gumbel
  1.390181 seconds (1.77 M allocations: 113.344 MiB, 0.29% compilation time)

julia> @time using Distributions
  0.001797 seconds (251 allocations: 16.266 KiB)

On the other hand, perhaps when I am precompiling a package that is using Distributions, the time savings will become apparent. Is this the case?

If not, then what is the purpose of calling using Distributions: Gumbel? Is it just to safeguard against namespace collisions?

2

It would just guard against namespace collisions.

If you want to save time, try PackageCompiler.jl to build the package into your native system image.