Hey folks, What do you think about making it easier to use packages by automatically importing submodules on attribute access. Consider this example: >>> import matplotlib >>> figure = matplotlib.figure.Figure() AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'figure' For the newcomer (like me some months ago) it's not obvious that the solution is to import matplotlib.figure. Worse even: it may sometimes/later on work, if the submodule has been imported from another place. How, I'd like it to behave instead (in pseudo code, since `package` is not a python class right now): class package: def __getattr__(self, name): try: return self.__dict__[name] except KeyError: # either try to import `name` or raise a nicer error message The automatic import feature could also play nicely when porting a package with submodules to or from a simple module with namespaces (as suggested in [1]), making this transition seemless to any user. I'm not sure about potential problems from auto-importing. I currently see the following issues: - harmless looking attribute access can lead to significant code execution including side effects. On the other hand, that could always be the case. - you can't use attribute access anymore to test whether a submodule is imported (must use sys.modules instead, I guess) In principle one can already make this feature happen today, by replacing the object in sys.modules - which is kind of ugly and has probably more flaws. This would also be made easier if there were a module.__getattr__ ([2]) or "metaclass" like feature for modules (which would be just a class then, I guess). Sorry, if this has come up before and I missed it. Anyhow, just interested if anyone else considers this a nice feature. Best regards, Thomas [1] https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2014-September/029341.html [2] https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-ideas/2012-April/014957.html