# Names from Base appear in modules

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/names-from-base-appear-in-modules/117205>\
**Category:** Internals & Design\
**Created:** [July 19, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/names-from-base-appear-in-modules/117205 "2024-07-19T00:17:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jar1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@jar1](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jar1)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/names-from-base-appear-in-modules/117205/1 "2024-07-19T00:17:50Z")

</div>

The standard behavior is that names from Base are accessible as properties of normal modules.

```julia
julia> module Foobar end
Main.Foobar

julia> Main.Foobar.:*
* (generic function with 237 methods)

```

Do we like this? It seems a bit odd to me: They don’t appear in `names(Main.Foobar; all=true)` or `propertynames(Main.Foobar)`, so I wouldn’t expect them to be properties. The alternative would be that the names are accessible from within `Foobar` but aren’t actually properties of it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Benny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@Benny](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Benny)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/names-from-base-appear-in-modules/117205/2 "2024-07-19T00:54:19Z")

</div>

Yes, I expect to access imported names (like `FooBar` importing `*` from `Base`) with dot syntax. Unfortunately, `names` isn’t good at showing those. The `imported` keyword doesn’t work for implicit imports or explicit imports with `using`:

```julia
julia> module A
         module B
           export b, c, d
           b = 1; c = 2; d = 3
         end
         using .B
         using .B: c
         import .B: d
       end
Main.A

julia> A.b, A.c, A.d
(1, 2, 3)

julia> names(A;imported=true)
2-element Vector{Symbol}:
 :A
 :d

```

Ironic because explicit imports with `using` are now more recommended than with `import` so that module qualification protects against unintended method definitions on imported functions like it always protects against unintended reassignment of imported variables.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbauman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbauman/32/31082_2.png) [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/names-from-base-appear-in-modules/117205/3 "2024-07-19T01:39:41Z")

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If you don’t want this behavior, you can use a `baremodule`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jar1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@jar1](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jar1)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/names-from-base-appear-in-modules/117205/4 "2024-07-19T02:21:20Z")

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Could someone explain why it’s desirable? I’m not seeing the advantage currently.

For example I find it more intuitive that this would define a new function rather than extending the Base function.

```julia
julia> module Foobar end
Main.Foobar

julia> Foobar.:*(a::Symbol, b::Symbol) = Symbol(string(a,b))

julia> Foobar.:*
* (generic function with 237 methods)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Benny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@Benny](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Benny)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/names-from-base-appear-in-modules/117205/5 "2024-07-19T02:51:04Z")

</div>

That just seems intuitive to me when imported names exist at all. If you want to make a new function particular to `FooBar`, it should be done in the module itself with no qualification.

```julia
julia> module Foobar end
Main.Foobar

julia> @eval Foobar (*)(a::Symbol, b::Symbol) = Symbol(string(a,b))
* (generic function with 1 method)

```

I would agree that it’s ideal that qualified modules are exactly the origin module, but that’s necessary for reassigning global variables at the moment and it’s a pain when modules get nested. Seems good enough just specify one imported module without going down the whole import chain.