命名类和名称空间是否相同？

Question

I'm a beginner on C# (I know Java well though) and came to a problem with naming namespaces and classes/interfaces the same.

What won't work is this:

- Projekt
--> (Interface) Node
--> (Namespace/Folder) Node
-----> (Class): SomethingNode : Node
-----> ... 

Because there is an error that the type "Project.Node" and the Namespace "Project.Node" are named the same.

I will explain why I would intentionally like to name those the same: I have many classes who implement the interface "Node". Those classes should all be in one namespace, so why don't name them "Node" I thought. The Interface "Node" should be in the project's root namespace, because it's used by other classes and I don't want to eg move the interface "Node" to "Project.Node.Node", because I think it would be silly to allways import "Project.Node" just because I need the interface.

So my question is, how should I resolve this situation? How should I name my classes/namespaces, is there a nice elegant way of doing this, are there any naming conventions for this kind of situation?

Answer 1

You should follow .NET conventions and name your interface INode . Then classes inside the Node namespace will implement your INode interface.

Answer 2

Easiest solution to the problem is simply to adopt the C#/.NET naming convention for interfaces, which is to add an I - INode , not the Java-esque Node . Also, it SHOULD sit under the Nodes namespace. Importing a namespace isn't a cumbersome action, especially as most IDEs, and certainly Visual Studio, can automate it for you. It prevent your root namespace from being crowded and unbrowsable.

Secondly, I think that a more intuitive name for a namespace is using the plural: Projekt.Nodes , so you'll have this:

namespace Projekt
{
    namespace Nodes
    {
        public interface INode { }
        public class Node : INode { }
    }
}

Answer 3

Basically namespaces in .Net are very similar to packages in Java. You could get around this by calling your Interface INode. It is a .Net convention to prefix an interface with the letter I. Silly, Hungarian notation, but silly conventions are what .Net developers are used to anyway ;-)

Answer 4

You are not allowed to have name collisions between types and namespaces. Then there's the .Net convention of prefixing interfaces with a capital 'i', so your interface Node would then become INode . This is a standard among all libraries and components of the .Net framework. Applying the standard to your code should easily solve your problem of collisions.

Now in my opinion, from an architectual point of view, if all implementations of INode are under the Node namespace, I'd also expect to find INode under it as well.