Relative imports

[aslilac]

(Bringing this here from Discord)

// src/a.gleam
import a/b

// Now has stuff from src/a/b.gleam available

// src/a/b.gleam
import ./c

// Now has stuff from src/a/c.gleam available

^ Could potentially be nice to have

[lpil]

Very nice, thank you. I could see us potentially adding this. Do you think one should be able to use ../../ etc?

[aslilac]

Yeah, those would be nice too!

[lpil]

After some thinking I'm not as sure about ../. With ./ there's a clear relationship between the different modules, while with ../ the module is reaching outside its namespace.

What other languages have relative imports? Python and JS spring to mind, both support ../ and ./

edit: I've made a poll here https://twitter.com/louispilfold/status/1491739342955552769

[aslilac]

Rust has this via super::. Different syntax, but same end result.

Plus you can already reach out of your namespace with the existing import system, you just have to know the absolute path. ../ wouldn't be a fundamental change in that regard, it would just make it easier.

[lpil]

Aye, that making it easier is the thing to consider here. With Gleam I'm attempting to create a "pit of success" where the most obvious or easiest approach is the best one. It's good to be conservative with features and consider how they'll influence people writing Gleam.

[inoas]

I am in favour of adding relative imports below the namespace path but not upwards of it.
Going up a path then down can make you end up anywhere and will make things hard to track.