Raymond Hettinger wrote: > How about a new, simpler syntax: > > * import threading or dummy_threading as threading > > * import xml.etree.CElementTree or cElementTree or elementree.ElementTree as > ET > > * from cStringIO or StringIO import StringIO > > * import readline or emptymodule
The syntax idea has a nice ring to it, except for the last idea. As others have already said, the name emptymodule is too magic. The readline example becomes more readable when you change the import to import readline or None as readline In my opinion the import or as syntax definition is easy to understand if you force the user to always have an "as" statement. The None name is optional but must be the last name: import name[, or name2[, or name3 ...] [, or None] as target This translates into: try: import name as target except ImportError: try: import name2 as target except ImportError: target = None from name[, or name2 ...] [, or None] import target translates into try: from name import target except ImportError: try: from name2 import target except ImportError: target = None Christian _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com