List/Dict inconsistency

[marcelhas]

Hello, I just tried Gleam for the first time and I think it's great! :star:

Just one minor thing I encountered: Is there a reason why I have to prefix the Dict type like dict.Dict, but the List type can be used directly when importing their module respectively? I would have expected that they behave the same, considering they are both building blocks of the language.

Example

import gleam/dict
import gleam/list

pub fn main() {
  let _l: List(Int) = list.new()
  let _d: dict.Dict(Int, Int) = dict.new()
  // Does not work.
  let _d2: Dict(Int, Int) = dict.new()
}

Error

gleam run
  Compiling main
error: Unknown type
  ┌─ /home/.../main/src/main.gleam:8:12
  │
8 │   let _d2: Dict(Int, Int) = dict.new()
  │            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Did you mean `List`?

The type `Dict` is not defined or imported in this module.

Versions

# manifest.toml
# This file was generated by Gleam
# You typically do not need to edit this file

packages = [
  { name = "gleam_stdlib", version = "0.36.0", build_tools = ["gleam"], requirements = [], otp_app = "gleam_stdlib", source = "hex", outer_checksum = "C0D14D807FEC6F8A08A7C9EF8DFDE6AE5C10E40E21325B2B29365965D82EB3D4" },
  { name = "gleeunit", version = "1.0.2", build_tools = ["gleam"], requirements = ["gleam_stdlib"], otp_app = "gleeunit", source = "hex", outer_checksum = "D364C87AFEB26BDB4FB8A5ABDE67D635DC9FA52D6AB68416044C35B096C6882D" },
  { name = "simplifile", version = "1.5.0", build_tools = ["gleam"], requirements = ["gleam_stdlib"], otp_app = "simplifile", source = "hex", outer_checksum = "EB9AA8E65E5C1E3E0FDCFC81BC363FD433CB122D7D062750FFDF24DE4AC40116" },
]

[requirements]
gleam_stdlib = { version = "~> 0.34 or ~> 1.0" }
gleeunit = { version = "~> 1.0" }
simplifile = { version = "~> 1.5"}

gleam --version
gleam 1.0.0

Cheers!

[lpil]

Hello! You can import the dict type constructor in an unqualified fashion if you like! The difference is that List is part of the language, while dict is defined in a library and not part of the language itself.