Shorthand for same-named "as" clause

[seaneagan]

It's quite common to import a library using the same prefix as the last segment of the library's name. It would be nice to have a shorthand for doing this:

import <foo>;
import foo.<bar>;
import dart.<async>;

as shorthand for:

import foo as foo;
import foo.bar as bar;
import dart.async as async;

Alternative syntaxes:

import (foo);
import foo.(bar);

(too similar to a function call?)

import [foo];
import foo.[bar];

import {foo};
import foo.{bar};

(too similar to destructuring?)

[lrhn]

Another option:

    import *foo;
    import foo.*bar;

[sigmundch]

yet another option:

import *foo*;
import foo.*bar*;

[seaneagan]

I wonder if the * would be confused as a "wildcard", which feels would work in the opposite direction:

import foo; // `foo` prefix
import *foo; // "wildcard" import, no prefix.

[munificent]

All of those look awfully "punctuation-ey" to me. How about one of:

import foo.bar as;
import as foo.bar;

Either way, I think it might be better to consider this a separate proposal. I think it's easier to us to adopt small bits of sugar at a time, instead of large doses.

[seaneagan]

All of those look awfully "punctuation-ey" to me.

Normally I prefer keywords too, but in this case the punctuation accentuates that the identifier is being used both to quality the location of the library as well as specify the prefix.

import foo.bar as;

It could work for traditional imports too:

import 'package:foo/bar.dart' as;
import 'dart:core' as;

but it reads like an unfinished / incomplete sentence to me.

import as foo.bar;

looks like the prefix is foo.bar, not bar.

[sigmundch]

... but it reads like an unfinished / incomplete sentence to me.

Same here. Yet another variation, use parenthesis with 'as':

import (as foo).bar;
import foo.(as bar);

Either way, I think it might be better to consider this a separate proposal. I think it's easier to us to adopt small bits of sugar at a time, instead of large doses.

I agree, let's keep this as something separate.