What does alias do?

[xtreak via Digitalmars-d-learn]

I am a D newbie from Python and I am trying to grok alias. Is 
alias like Python does as below

L = []
myextend = L.extend
L.myextend
Renaming imported function

from itertools import permutations as p
p([1, 2], 2)

Is D aliasing the same as above? How does aliasing types help 
like below

alias intList = LinkedList!int

Is the above like a partially applied template as in 
LinkedList!int([1, 2, 3]) and hence can I use it like intList([1, 
2, 3])?