I'm using Python for what is becoming a sizeable project and I'm already running into problems organizing code and importing packages. I feel like the Python package system, in particular the isomorphism between filesystem and namespace, doesn't seem very well suited for big projects. However, I might not really understand the Pythonic way. I'm not sure if I have a specific question here, just a general plea for advice.
1) Namespace. Python wants my namespace heirarchy to match my filesystem heirarchy. I find that a well organized filesystem heirarchy for a nontrivial project will be totally unwieldy as a namespace. I'm either forced to use long namespace prefixes, or I'm forced to use "from foo import *" and __all__, which has its own set of problems. 1a) Module/class collision. I like to use the primary class in a file as the name of the file. However this can lead to namespace collisions between the module name and the class name. Also it means that I'm going to be stuck with the odious and wasteful syntax foo.foo everywhere, or forced to use "from foo import *". 1b) The Pythonic way seems to be to put more stuff in one file, but I believe this is categorically the wrong thing to do in large projects. The moment you have more than one developer along with a revision control system, you're going to want files to contain the smallest practical functional blocks. I feel pretty confident saying that "put more stuff in one file" is the wrong answer, even if it is the Pythonic answer. 2) Importing and reloading. I want to be able to reload changes without exiting the interpreter. This pretty much excludes "from foo import *", unless you resort to this sort of hack: http://www.python.org/search/hypermail/python-1993/0448.html Has anyone found a systematic way to solve the problem of reloading in an interactive interpreter when using "from foo import *"? I appreciate any advice I can get from the community. Martin -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
