Using "Module.jl" as alias to include("Module.jl"); using .Module

[lmiq]

Wouldn’t it be handy if using and import had methods (or @using and @import macros) that include and load the module at once?

using "MyModule.jl" 

as an alias to

include("MyModule.jl")
using .MyModule

and

using "./MyModule.jl": myfunc
import "./MyModule.jl"
import "./MyModule.jl": myfunc

etc?

(maybe a macro @using "./MyModule.jl": myfunc, etc).

Of course those should throw an error if MyModule is not found in MyModule.jl.

Probably a good answer to this is “that simply is not worth the effort”. Fair enough

[lungben]

There is already an issue with a suggestion like this, see

https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/issues/4600

and

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

The issue is not double inclusion, but the inclusion order. This can cause a lot mental burden and should be handled by the compiler since the compiler knows which module depends on which, e.g when you have include("B.jl") include("A.jl") where module B depends on A, manual include will result in undefined error, but if we implement issue 4600, then we can just write something like (the syntax is not decided yet) using .B from "B.jl" using .A from "A.jl" or using .A from "A.jl" using .B fr…

[zgornel]

The include syntax does have its semantic advantages over using and import which are more module related (with all namespace implied functionality). Sometimes being more verbose is simpler and clearer rather than hiding functionality behind seemingly arbitrarily cumbersome one-liners. This seems like package material though

[mkitti]

If I need this for a self-contained project, I just modify the LOAD_PATH or the environmental variable JULIA_LOAD_PATH.

push!(LOAD_PATH,pwd())
using MyModule

[ctkelley]

@mkitti

If I need this for a self-contained project, I just modify the LOAD_PATH or the environmental variable JULIA_LOAD_PATH .

Yup. I also do this for notebooks that other people will use. Telling 'em to

include "mstuff.jl"

which contains a push! to their LOAD_PATH and several lines of using and/or include is a lot simpler than asking them to manage their LOAD_PATH on their own or add dependencies they may never have heard of. My coauthors and students appreciate this.