They will eventually create a file innocuously called something like calendar.py (the same name as a standard library module) in the same directory as their main binary and their debugging of the mysterious failures they just started getting from the tarfile module will suddenly require leveling up to be able to figure it out. ;)
But they'll get the same problems either way. If calendar.py isn't on sys.path, it won't interfere with tarfile. And if it is on sys.path, so it does interfere with tarfile, then it's already an absolute import, so enabling absolute_import doesn't help.
I suppose if they've done something extra stupid, like putting a package directory on sys.path as well as putting something called calendar.py in that package and importing it with an unqualified import, then maybe it'll be easier for someone to explain all the details of everything they did wrong (including why they shouldn't have put the package on sys.path) if they're using absolute_imports, but beyond that, I don't see how it helps this case.
It's just about these four imports, right?
from __future__ import absolute_import
from __future__ import division
from __future__ import print_function
from __future__ import unicode_literals
I think the case is overblown.
- absolute_import is rarely an issue; the only thing it does (despite the name) is give an error message when you attempt a relative import without using a "." in the import. A linter can find this easily for you, and a little discipline plus the right example can do a lot of good here.
- division is important.
- print_function is important.
- unicode_literals is useless IMO. It breaks some things (yes there are still APIs that don't take unicode in 2.7) and it doesn't nearly as much as what would be useful -- e.g. repr() and <stream>.readline() still return 8-bit strings. I recommend just using u-literals and abandoning Python 3.2.
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