It's a strange distinction, because the standard library sometimes eschews this. `os.path` is accessible through just `import os`, because they made os.py import it into the local namespace.

I wish it was clearer sometimes what was a module, and what was an attribute in the core import syntax. `import foo; foo.bar` only breaks if it's a module, and `import foo.bar` only breaks if it's an attribute. If you do `from foo import bar`, the syntax works with both.