Nimp: Nested Imports (a la Java)

[Tomer Filiba]

Stefan Behnel <stefan_ml <at> behnel.de> writes:
> 
> So, this isn't really about "nested imports" but rather about merging 
> distinct packages, right? This allows me to let packages that are stored in 
> different places appear within their common package prefix.

yes, in lack of a better name, i chose "nested packages", in the sense that they 
are "logically nested" into one another.

> Does is really require the "-" naming convention for packages, or would it 
> also work with normal directories? E.g.
> 
>     ...path1/org/humbug/test/...
>     ...path2/org/humbug/toast/...

the current code doesn't support this -- of course it's easy to do, but it 
raises some issues. for instance, i didn't want Nimp to get in the way of 
"normal" python packages, i.e., i want the regular import mechanism to take care 
of those. also, as you said yourself, there's a question of multiple __init__.py 
files. and alternative apporach is http://packages.python.org/distribute/setuptools.html#namespace-packages -- 
which simply disallows any code in __init__.py except for their boilerplate.

> That seems like a more common use case: different install directories, egg 
> directories and zip files that contain the same prefix package directories.
> 
> I guess there are issues with "__init__.py" files in this case, though - 
> which ones should be executed if the package structure is multiplied?
> 
> Stefan
> 
> 

-tomer