tim Rowledge <tim at rowledge.org> writes:
> Forgive me if I'm being hopelessly naive here (remember, none of my
> degrees are in CS ) but isn't namespaces something that has been
> solved before? I mean, it's not exactly a new issue is it? Isn't
> there a standard somewhere for dealing with them?

It is an old issue that has seen a lot of research.  I don't think
there is a consensus on a good solution, though.  Keep in mind that
this stuff is related to the ongoing work on components, an area that
seems to be nowhere near mined out.


Practically, a Java-like solution seems pretty good.  There is room
for incremental improvement in that area, though.  The generalized
imports of Scala seem helpful, IMHO.  As two examples of this (and
attempting a Smalltalky syntax):

   import Core.Date -> CDate  "import Core.Date, and"
                              "rename it to CDate in"
                              "this scope"


   import Deeply.Nested.[Package -> Pack]
                              "make Pack be a shortened"
                              "version of Deeply.Nested.Package"
                              


These are small improvements over Java, but I use them all the time.

-Lex