[Python-Dev] Syntax suggestion for imports

[Aahz]

On Wed, Jan 02, 2008, Raymond Hettinger wrote:
>
> The standard library, my personal code, third-party packages, and
> my employer's code base are filled with examples of the following
> pattern:
>
> try:
>    import threading
> except ImportError:
>    import dummy_threading as threading
>
> How about a new, simpler syntax:
> 
> * import threading or dummy_threading as threading

My gut reaction is -0.  For starters, many of these should go away with
Python 3.0 (e.g. cStringIO).  Also, annoying as the try/except is, I
think the fact that it signals the special import is helpful; your
suggestion is too light-weight IMO.  If you could devise something just
a bit heavier, that would be much better.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

Weinberg's Second Law: If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote 
programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.