Same class and namespace name

Question

I have a problem how to go about naming my namespaces and classes. I already figured they shouldn't both have the same name, as it causes all kinds of problems. Most notable problem for me is that I need to fully qualify the class or make an alias. Here is what I have:

Model.DataSource.DataSource
Model.DataSource.FileSystemDataSource
Model.DataSource.JsonDataSource
Model.DataSource.XmlDataSource
Model.DataSource.DataSourceConstraints
Model.DataSource.DataSourceStorage
Model.DataSource.DataTable
... // more others

Model.QueryStorage.QueryStorage
Model.QueryStorage.FileSystemQueryStorage
... // more others

Model.Project.Project
Model.Project.ProjectFactory

As you can see, I have 3 classes that are named same as packages they are in. Two of them are interfaces so I could consider prefixing them with I but I really don't like this convention. I also heared the proposition to name package like ProjectUtils or something. But I think these are not utils, they are legit domain objects. I could alias, with using but what is a better name for Project than Project?

I can't figure out a way to have sensible names for my classes without duplicates.

Answer 1

You're right that you shouldn't name the namespace the same as a type it contains. I think there are several approaches you can use:

• Pluralize: Model.DataSources.DataSource

  This works especially well if the primary purpose of the namespace is to contain types that inherit from the same base type or implement the same interface.

• Shorten: Model.QueryStorage

  If a namespace contains only a small number of types, maybe you don't need that namespace at all.

• Make enterprisey: Model.ProjectSystem.Project

  This can work especially for features that are important part of your product, so they deserve their own name.

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Two of them are interfaces so I could consider prefixing them with I but I really don't like this convention.

You really should, if your code is used by others (i.e. it's a library) or if you don't want to confuse newcomers to your code.

Answer 2

.NET design guidelines requires I prefix for interfaces. It recommends singular form for classes (Collection suffix for everything implementing IEnumerable) and plural form for namespaces.

Answer 3

You need to prefix namespace names with a company name to prevent namespaces from different companies from having the same name.

examples:

Fabrikam.Math
Litware.Security

eventually your namespace must have this structure:

<Company>.(<Product>|<Technology>)[.<Feature>][.<Subnamespace>]