Current structure of code leads to circular dependencies or classes as modules

[devclinton]

Because of the way we important files into init.py and the fact are class files are the same name of the class, we end up with either a circular import or modules confused as classes. We should either

• change class file names to snake case
• Do away with imports into init.py

@ckirkman-IDM @ZDu-IDM @braybaud , what is your preferred option?

[ckirkman-IDM]

I can live with either choice, but my personal preference would be to probably empty out the init files and force the use of the full names e.g.
from abc.def.PythonSimulation import PythonSimulation

Primarily because keeping the class loads in the init files means, for consistency, we will have to add every future py file as an import in the appropriate init (or end up with some classes loaded, some not, with different pathing required). It's one more thing to remember to do.

[ZDu-IDM]

To make it simple, I prefer to use the full names (both actually are fine). Currently I removed Platform import from init.py and use the following instead wherever needed:

from idmtools.core.PlatformFactory import Platform

[devclinton]

I still think we should snake_case the filenames as well so we can have a unique reference name for both the class and file.. ie platform_simulation and PythonSimulation

[devclinton]

From https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/#package-and-module-names

Modules should have short, all-lowercase names. Underscores can be used in the module name if it improves readability. Python packages should also have short, all-lowercase names, although the use of underscores is discouraged.

Classes:

Class names should normally use the CapWords convention.

[JSchripsema-IDM]

Just chiming in to note that the current naming structure causes the class name to be repeated in the signature for API docs built with Sphinx too. You can see this in the DTK-Tools docs here: https://institutefordiseasemodeling.github.io/Documentation/dtk-tools/dtk/dtk.utils.Campaign.utils.html#module-dtk.utils.Campaign.utils.CampaignManager