Problems arising from conflict between names of `std.builtin` and `@import("builtin")` about zig HOT 4 OPEN

Anecdote from the point of view of a user:
I started writing Zig about a year and a half ago and I distinctly remember that for the week or so I found the term "builtin" very overloaded and confusing, repeatedly mistaking @import("std").builtin for @import("builtin") until I eventually found my bearings.

The name std.builtin makes sense from the point of view that it defines and exposes interfaces that support @-prefixed built-in functions.

The generated builtin module that provides information about the compiler and target, however, I think has a misleading name. Aside from the fact that it's always automatically generated by the compiler, there is nothing especially "built-in" about it, and it is functionally more similar to something like std.Build.Options than the rule-breaking "you can't implement this in user space" functionality usually associated with the term. The documentation refers to builtin as "compile variables", so I wonder if using a different name like compile_vars, build_env, comptime_env, compilation, etc. would help convey its purpose more clearly and make it less likely to get mixed up with std.builtin.

from zig.

I have no idea how common is this approach:

const std = @import("std");
const math = std.math;
const os = std.os;

but I don't find this pattern convincing. I'd argue that, as a general rule, writing subspaces of std out explicitly has a positive impact on the readability of the code.

from zig.

The mixin approach is not viable because the contents of @import("builtin.zig") may differ between modules in one Zig compilation. And yes, for the record, there is a hard ban on introducing uses of usingnamespace into the standard library for now.

from zig.

Slightly renaming is preferable.

1. I propose add a 's' to one of them

const builtin = @import("builtin");
const builtins = @import("std").builtins;

2. Rename @import("builtin"); to @import("builtin_info"); or @import("builtin_constants");

We can do both 1. and 2. above.

from zig.