Can I reference an imported type without using dot notation

Consider the following interface definition:

package repos

import (
  resources "unit/pkg/resources"
)

type IRepo interface {
  fetch(int32) (resources.IResource, error)
  update(resources.IResource) (resources.IResource, error)
  new() resources.IResource
  create(resources.IResource) (resources.IResource, error)
  delete(int32) error
}

Is there a way to 'use' the imported package (in the sense of C++ namespaces), so that I don't need to explicitly name it using dot notation each time I reference one of its types (IResource)

(TBH - this may just mean that IResource belongs in the repos package and not in resources)

You can prefix the import declaration with the name . to import all of its identifiers:

package repos

import (
  . "unit/pkg/resources"
)

However, import . is almost never the appropriate solution. If new identifiers are added to the resources package in the future, they can collide with existing identifiers in the repos package and break your build.

Furthermore, the fact that the package name is redundant with the type name may indicate that either the package or the types within that package should have a better name (see the Package names blog post for much more detail).

In this case, perhaps the abstraction boundary between resources and repos is doing more harm than good. What kind of resources are you dealing with here? Could the Resource type be moved into some higher-level package?

Finally, I would note that the IRepo interface seems very large and likely out-of-place. Go interfaces — unlike, say, Java interfaces — generally belong with the API that consumes the interface, not the API that provides implementations of that interface.

For more on that principle, see:

• https://golang.org/wiki/CodeReviewComments#interfaces
• https://hyeomans.com/golang-and-interfaces-misuse/
• https://dave.cheney.net/2016/08/20/solid-go-design
• https://dave.cheney.net/practical-go/presentations/gophercon-israel.html#_prefer_single_method_interfaces

You can use a type alias.

type IRes = resources.IResource

In contrast to a type definition, an alias is just another name for the same type and not a new distinct type. A type definition would be without the =.