[SciPy-dev] Namespaces in documentation

[John Hunter]

On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 9:11 AM, Joe Harrington <jh at physics.ucf.edu> wrote:

> Is there any other place in Python (or indeed in computer science)
> where a package advocates referring to itself by something other than

>From Bjarne Stroustrup "Programming Language C++, 3rd edition" Section 8,2
"Namespaces"::

  If users give their namespaces short names, the names of different
  namespaces will clash:

    namespace A { //short name, will clash (eventually)

  However, long namespaces can be impractical in real code:

    namespace American_Telephone_and_Telegraph { //too long

  This dilemma can be resolved by providing a short alias for a longer
  namespace name

    //use namespace alias to shorten names:
    namespace ATT = American_Telephone_and_Telegraph;
    ATT:String s3 = "Grieg";

  Namespace aliases allow a user to refer to "the library" and have a
  single declaration defining what library that really is.  For example:

  namespace Lib = Foundation_library_v2r11;


Well said.  Because they are so handy, most languages provide
facilities for aliases::

    python  : import something as somethingelse
    C++     : namespace new_name = current_name;
    Bash    : alias ls='ls -F'
    C       : # DEFINE
    C#      : using colAlias = System.Collections;
    Texinfo : @alias new=existing'
    Perl    : use perl Alias

And we needn't look too far beyond our own doors, since there is broad
agreement here on the usefulness of namespace aliases.

JDH