• via Digitalmars-d-bugs (56/56) Sep 23 2016 https://issues.dlang.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16532

via Digitalmars-d-bugs <digitalmars-d-bugs puremagic.com> writes:

https://issues.dlang.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16532

          Issue ID: 16532
           Summary: Add "namespace" Keyword?
           Product: D
           Version: D2
          Hardware: All
               URL: http://dlang.org/
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P3
         Component: dmd
          Assignee: nobody puremagic.com
          Reporter: gyroheli gmail.com

Well namespaces are already implemented, but right now they are restricted to
modules. So a namespace can be created in the sense like this:


    // file: other/package.d

    import Name = other.modul;

    // file: other/modul.d

    module other.modul;

    enum someConstant = 10;

    // end -----------------------------


so now it would be accessed like: Name.someConstant. This is fine but this
involves putting everything into separate files. So if you want different
namespaces that means making a bunch of different files, maybe sometimes even
having just a single "enum" inside of the file. being able to have them in one
file would be better and it is possible using structs as well.


    struct Name
    {
         disable this();     // bloat that shouldn't exist
         disable this(this);

        enum someConstant = 10;
    }
    struct OtherName
    {
         disable this();
         disable this(this);

        enum moreConstant = 20;
    }
    struct EtcName
    {
         disable this();
         disable this(this);

        enum etcConstant = 000;
    }


Even with the  disable it is still possible to declare a variable like so:

    Name* ops; // shouldn't be possible

It also adds extra declarations like "Name.init" and "Name.sizeof" all of which
is not needed.

Really namespaces already exist in D, just they are very crudly implemented by
either meaning horrible to maintain with a bunch of extra module files or
through the use of structs. Adding namespaces would just be for sanity so that
code like above isn't possible and so that namespaces are treated as such. As
well adding namespace keyword will also help port from C++ if there is any code
that needs it. Just a thought for a small improvement.

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