Is it correct to have a variable with the same name as a namespace

Question

Is it correct to do this? :

namespace name {
    int name;
}

void proc(int name)
{
    name::name = name;
}

int main()
{
    int name = name::name;   
    return 0;
}

It works in GCC. But is this OK with standard and other compilers?

Answer 1

Yes this is okay, we need to look at how the scope resolution operator works in this context. If we look at the draft C++ standard section 3.4.3 Qualified name lookup actually has a very similar example, it says (emphasis mine):

If a :: scope resolution operator in a nested-name-specifier is not preceded by a decltype-specifier, lookup of the name preceding that :: considers only namespaces, types, and templates whose specializations are types. If the name found does not designate a namespace or a class, enumeration, or dependent type, the program is ill-formed.[ Example:

class A {
public:
    static int n;
};

int main() {
    int A;
    A::n = 42; // OK
    A b; // ill-formed: A does not name a type
}

—end example ]

Answer 2

Yes, it is perfectly fine to do that. Namespaces are literally designed to resolve this kind of issue once the size of the code/project grows larger.

Here is a good place to check things out about C++.