Namespace

A container for text string meanings, providing context and preventing ambiguity.

“Namespace” is a concept popular in coding that refers to a boundary in which text strings are contextualized. A well-defined Namespace removes ambiguity from string literals, making the entities to which they refer clear. Namespacing is a key concept in both coding and MBSE. They are explicitly called out as a good idea in The Zen of Python.

In short, namespaces are what separates “modeling”:

From “modeling”:

From “modeling”:

graph
car --has--> tires
car --has--> occupants
occupants --type--> human
regulation --appliesTo--> car
regulation --appliesTo-->tires
regulation --appliesTo-->human

It’s a very abstract concept, so here are some other examples.

General example §

text: "Carl"
reference: ambiguous at this point.

text: "Carl"
Namespace: "Jim Carrey characters"
reference: The character Jim Carrey plays in the movie "Yes Man"

text: "Carl"
Namespace: "Famous Scientists"
reference: Carl Sagan

Coding example §

let x = 'hello';
class myClass{
	private x;
	constructor(xIn){
		this.x = xIn;
	}
}
let classInstance = new myClass('goodbye');
 
console.log(x); // prints 'hello', refers to x the script's global namespace
console.log(classInstance.x); // prints 'goodbye', refers to x in the myClass namespace

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Source §

Related §

• URI
• JSON-LD - the links utilize a given namespace
• The Zen of Python