In my opensolid/geometry package, I have an OpenSolid. prefix on each package name which I included to avoid potential conflicts with modules from other packages. I’m considering removing the prefixes, but this would be a breaking change and could lead to import conflicts in the future so I wanted to get some feedback from the community first!
The main advantages I see of removing the prefixes are:
- Consistency with other packages:
elm-community/elm-test uses top-level Expect, Fuzz and Test modules, mdgriffith/style-elements uses top-level Style and Element modules, terezka/elm-plot uses a top-level Plot module, etc.
- Less typing (the number of times I’ve typed
import OpenSolid.Point3d as Point3d…), especially in the REPL where you can’t rely on autocompletion
- Smoother integration with editors/IDEs that are optimized for unprefixed module names
- More data points for this issue if import conflicts do arise
The main disadvantages:
- Potential for conflicts: if I publish a plain
Point3d module, then nobody using opensolid/geometry can use any other package which also exposes a plain Point3d module (they also can’t define their own Point3d module, but that’s a bit less of an issue)
- Less clarity about imports: in the same way that seeing
List.map in your code shows that you’re using a function from the List module, seeing OpenSolid.Point3d in your imports hints that you’re using a module from an opensolid/* package
If I do go ahead with removing the prefixes, I might also rename the Scalar and Interval modules to Scalar1d and Interval1d so that all top-level modules have a 1d, 2d or 3d suffix (which I think should be enough to avoid conflicts with any existing published packages, and reduce the likelihood of conflicts in the future).
Thoughts? Any alternate approaches I’ve missed?
