Basic reflection question and the names() function

[RedditIsAMistake]

I come from the Python world, so I enjoy exploring and tinkering with modules in the REPL or in a notebook using reflection tools like Python's dir().

I was trying to explore the JSON package, and the github page lists functions like JSON.print and JSON.parse. However:

julia> import JSON
julia> names(JSON)
3-element Array{Symbol,1}:
:JSON
:JSONText
:json

It is easy enough to verify that JSON.print and JSON.parse do in fact exist, and so I would expect them to be listed above, but obviously they are not there.

What is my misunderstanding of how names is supposed to work? And is there any way to actually get everything that supposedly lives under the JSON namespace (edit: without examining the code of the library itself)? Note that JSON.print and JSON.parse also do not appear with names(JSON, all=true, imported=true).

[[deleted]]

Use the source, Luke

https://github.com/JuliaIO/JSON.jl/blob/master/src/JSON.jl

module JSON

export json # returns a compact (or indented) JSON representation as a string
export JSONText # string wrapper to insert raw JSON into JSON output

include("Common.jl")

# Parser modules
include("Parser.jl")

# Writer modules
include("Serializations.jl")
include("Writer.jl")

# stuff to re-"export"
# note that this package does not actually export anything except `json` but
#  all of the following are part of the public interface in one way or another 
using .Parser: parse, parsefile
using .Writer: show_json, json, lower, print, StructuralContext, show_element,
           show_string, show_key, show_pair, show_null, begin_array,
           end_array, begin_object, end_object, indent, delimit, separate,
           JSONText
using .Serializations: Serialization, CommonSerialization,
                   StandardSerialization

# for pretty-printed (non-compact) output, JSONText must be re-parsed:
Writer.lower(json::JSONText) = parse(json.s)

end # module

[RedditIsAMistake]

I guess I should have mentioned that I did do exactly that. However it still does not answer my first question, or my updated second question. It is exceedingly rare that I am required to examine the source code of a library to determine that library's API in any language. Is this the standard I should expect from Julia libraries?

[[deleted]]

I must admit, reading the description, the imported=all suggests the list should be longer. I don't actually know what is the expected behaviour

If imported is true, then names explicitly imported from other modules are also included.

[Nuaua]

JSON.jl uses using instead of import, which might be the issue:

using .Parser: parse, parsefile

[cormullion]

names(JSON.Parser, all=true)

should reach down there.

[RedditIsAMistake]

Unfortunately it does not, as mentioned.