Importing multiple modules that have the same named functions

[aleks-qq]

Quick Summary: Elm lets you import 2 modules and use a function with the same name from both modules.

SSCCE

-- first.elm
module First exposing (number)

number =
 	1


-- second.elm
module Second exposing (number)

number =
 	2


 -- main.elm
import First exposing (number)
import Second exposing (number)

add : Int -> Int
add num =
 	num + number


mynumber =
	add 3 -- mynumber is now 5

• Elm: 0.19
• Browser: Chrome
• Operating System: Mac

Additional Details

I feel this could be dangerous and confusing with a bigger codebase that use many modules.
I'm pretty new to elm and I know that my example isn't the most kosher one but maybe the compiler shouldn't let you use duplicate function names especially if they return the same type?

[evancz]

Thank you for the nice SSCCE! It looks like this is a regression. With 0.18 I am getting:

-- NAMING ERROR -------------------------------------------------------- bug.elm

This usage of variable `number` is ambiguous.

6|   num + number
           ^^^^^^
Maybe you want one of the following?

    First.number
    Second.number

Looking into it further now!

[evancz]

Based on the change in 82a8be3 I am now seeing the following error:

-- AMBIGUOUS NAME ------------------------------------------------------ bug.elm

This usage of `number` is ambiguous:

6|   Html.text <| String.fromInt number
                                 ^^^^^^
This name is exposed by 2 of your imports, so I am not sure which one to use:

    First.number
    Second.number

I recommend using qualified names for imported values. I also recommend having
at most one `exposing (..)` per file to make name clashes like this less common
in the long run.

Note: Check out <https://elm-lang.org/0.19.1/imports> for more info on the
import syntax.

So this should be available once 0.19.1 is ready for release.

---

Before the patch, this regression manifested in only some cases of ambiguous imports:

import First exposing (..)
import Second exposing (..)
-- GOOD gives error

import First exposing (number)
import Second exposing (..)
-- GOOD gives error

import First exposing (..)
import Second exposing (number)
-- BAD no error

import First exposing (number)
import Second exposing (number)
-- BAD no error

So I hope that this regression is relatively rare in practice since 0.19 came out.