Talk:Namespace

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Is the word namespace really used in general like this article suggests it is? I thought it was more or less restricted to programming languages. Note that I am not saying the word couldn't or shouldn't be used in a more general context, I am just questioning whether it is or not already. If not, this is effectively primary research. Pcb21| Pete 00:14, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Although Namespaces have strong applications in computer science to localize naming conventions, the term can be generically applied to most anything. Namespaces are even used inside the wiki system itself, as in the WoWWiki help files Help:Editing. Notice how I used a namespace to link to that. Tiranak 05:33, 24 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I completely agree; namespace is definitely a more general term. However, I would propose making a disambiguation link on the top of the page to the computer science term Metromoxie 01:54, 13 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
- Also, there hasn't been talk about this in a while, so I'm going to remove the tag in the next couple of days. Metromoxie 01:55, 13 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's not restricted programming languages, but is is restricted to computing. Try finding it in any non-computing dictionary. Linking syntax in MediaWiki is a very poor example - it's a program! Try finding the term namespace used in any of the See Also links that aren't computing topics - it can be applied to those fields, but wouldn't be except by someone from a computing background. Also, C has no namespaces and no name-mangling. This article needs work. JonathanWakely 11:04, 2 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I also agree that the word namespace is restricted to computing. The paragraph which starts "Each language is a namespace..." is simply untrue. The same word can have several different meanings within each language. The example of family names as namespaces suffers from the same problem. I propose this article be redirect to Namespace (computer science). Mikecron 17:46, 18 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I take issue with the definition: the idea is to allow the same name to be reused in several different ways without ambiguity. Given the alphabet {a,b,c,...,x,y,z}, an infinite number of unique names can be generated, but only a few are used regularly, such as the letters {i,j,x,y,..} because long names are impractical. A prefix (or suffix), taken from the alphabet, creates a new set of names and disambiguates all names between the two. For example, the prefix 'aa' added to {i,j,x,y} becomes aa:{i,j,x,y}, which is distinct from {aai,aax,aay} and {i,j,x,y}. However, the prefix (or namespace), is itself a name in the original name set and similarly subject to regular use, such as {Help, Category, Template}. By creating a meta-namespace, such as 'bb', the same namespace 'aa' can be reused as bb:aa:{i,j,x,y}, which is different from bb:{aai,aaj,aax,aay}. It should clear that a file's path defines its unique namespace (e.g. /foo/bar/widget/) and all filenames in that namespace (i.e. directory) are unique. Similarly, a person's lineage can also be considered a namespace, although personal names are inherently ambiguous.

Namespaces do not provide context, it follows from uniqueness. Although the name i maybe used in both the global and aa namespaces, they are completely separate entities. So aa:i is not i used in the 'aa' namespace, but another item entirely, regardless of whether they are equal, similar, or different to each other. (PeterMG 20:54, 5 May 2007 (UTC))[reply]

I'd say this article is more than justified as whether or not the term "namespace" is only used in the computer sciences today or not it refers to a good and useful concept well adaptable to use outside the field. As taxonomy is correctly mentioned as an example of a field which uses this logical construct I feel there should also be an example of this and that example should be of Homo Sapiens Sapiens where the first instance of "sapiens" in the name refers to the species and the second to the subspecies of the animal in question. Of course if anyone knows of Ontology or Taxonomy terms with a similar meaning links to those would be very good too. Wiki-BT (talk) 02:20, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]