From -1810103471701102833 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,fddfa855dc41ba0d X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: f78e5,fddfa855dc41ba0d X-Google-Attributes: gidf78e5,public From: ellis@allegra.att.com (Margaret Ellis) Subject: Re: Namespaces, naming conflicts Date: 1995/06/14 Message-ID: <1995Jun14.002909.21985@allegra.att.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 104328776 references: <3r79jk$3se@nms.telepost.no> organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.std.c++ In article tony@online.tmx.com.au (Tony Cook) writes: >Rune Huseby (Rune.huseby@gpi.telemax.no) wrote: > >: I know that namespaces was introduced to avoid naming-conflicts across >: libraries, but who defines the namespace names? It is possible that two >: vendors simultanously defines equal namespaces for their libraries, like >: 'ODBCLib' or similar. I would expect that the vendors would try to keep the >: namespace names as short as possible, so programmers don't have to write >: something similar to 'Microsofts_ODBC_library::Connect()' > >It's possible for a vendor to define a long name such as > Microsofts_ODBC_library >and then define a short alias. >-- > Tony Cook - tony@online.tmx.com.au > 100237.3425@compuserve.com Let me add to Tony's observation. Not only *can* library implementors *can* use a naming convention for namespaces, they *should* do so - to reduce the possibility of conflict with other namespaces. That is, they *should* use names like Microsofts_ODBC_library Note that use of a namespace (even with a lengthy and awkward name) is preferable to having to apply a naming convention to every global name with external linkage in a library. The library implementors have only one name per namespace for which they have to use the possibly lengthy and awkward name. And, as Tony notes, providing an alias is an option. The only disadvantage of using a namespace right now is that they are not yet implemented in all C++ compilation systems, so portability of code that uses namespaces might be limited. If the unavailability of a compilation system supporting namespaces is a problem, define and adhere to a naming convention. (Among other things, Martin Carroll and I discuss the use of naming conventions and namespaces in our new book "Designing and Coding Reusable C++," just out from Addison-Wesley.) Margaret A. Ellis