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Python is good at many things, but packaging is not one of them. The best python package manager at the moment is Poetry, and it drew most of its inspiration fr

Python is good at many things, but packaging is not one of them. The best python package manager at the moment is Poetry, and it drew most of its inspiration from npm and yarn... Python packaging has historically been so bad that dotcloud invented docker in an attempt to make it usable.

Carpetsmoker 6y ago
But at least I can just download a .py file (or a bunch of files) and just import them. Perhaps the biggest frustration/pain point in this article isn't npm as such, but that you can't "just" use some JS module.
- TechBro8615 6y ago
  You definitely can. On the server side, you can literally do that. On the client side, you can "import" one with a script tag, and increasingly you can use modules in browsers too.
- dceddia 6y ago
  Nothing would stop you from doing that (import thing from ‘./downloaded.js’) but it’s Just Not Done That Way and packages aren’t really built with that in mind, so it probably wouldn’t work very well in practice.
- yawaramin 6y ago
  > But at least I can just download a .py file (or a bunch of files) and just import them Unless you have a Python version locally that doesn't support some features used in said .py file...
- ggregoire 6y ago
  > But at least I can just download a .py file (or a bunch of files) and just import them. Just importing doesn't seem to work for millions of people: - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4383571/importing-files-from-different-folder https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4383571/importing-files-... (1.5m views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14132789/relative-imports-for-the-billionth-time https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14132789/relative-import... (215k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72852/how-to-do-relative-imports-in-python https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72852/how-to-do-relative... (325k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1918539/can-anyone-explain-pythons-relative-imports https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1918539/can-anyone-expla... (100k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1260792/import-a-file-from-a-subdirectory https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1260792/import-a-file-fr... (480k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7505988/importing-from-a-relative-path-in-python https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7505988/importing-from-a... (136k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9252543/importerror-cannot-import-name-x https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9252543/importerror-cann... (700k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2325923/how-to-fix-importerror-no-module-named-error-in-python https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2325923/how-to-fix-impor... (430k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15514593/importerror-no-module-named-when-trying-to-run-python-script https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15514593/importerror-no-... (250k views)

Carpetsmoker 6y ago

But at least I can just download a .py file (or a bunch of files) and just import them. Perhaps the biggest frustration/pain point in this article isn't npm as such, but that you can't "just" use some JS module.

TechBro8615 6y ago
You definitely can. On the server side, you can literally do that. On the client side, you can "import" one with a script tag, and increasingly you can use modules in browsers too.
dceddia 6y ago
Nothing would stop you from doing that (import thing from ‘./downloaded.js’) but it’s Just Not Done That Way and packages aren’t really built with that in mind, so it probably wouldn’t work very well in practice.
yawaramin 6y ago
> But at least I can just download a .py file (or a bunch of files) and just import them Unless you have a Python version locally that doesn't support some features used in said .py file...
ggregoire 6y ago
> But at least I can just download a .py file (or a bunch of files) and just import them. Just importing doesn't seem to work for millions of people: - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4383571/importing-files-from-different-folder https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4383571/importing-files-... (1.5m views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14132789/relative-imports-for-the-billionth-time https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14132789/relative-import... (215k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72852/how-to-do-relative-imports-in-python https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72852/how-to-do-relative... (325k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1918539/can-anyone-explain-pythons-relative-imports https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1918539/can-anyone-expla... (100k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1260792/import-a-file-from-a-subdirectory https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1260792/import-a-file-fr... (480k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7505988/importing-from-a-relative-path-in-python https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7505988/importing-from-a... (136k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9252543/importerror-cannot-import-name-x https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9252543/importerror-cann... (700k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2325923/how-to-fix-importerror-no-module-named-error-in-python https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2325923/how-to-fix-impor... (430k views) - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15514593/importerror-no-module-named-when-trying-to-run-python-script https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15514593/importerror-no-... (250k views)