Namespaces (DCL)

Owned by David Harms
Last updated: May 04, 2014
1 min read

Code libraries have a way of getting big. This is one of the problems with the Windows API - there are thousands of functions, and finding the one you want is often difficult. 

The .NET platform contains far more functionality than the Windows API, which potentially makes the confusion far worse. So .NET divides the API (really the class library) into namespaces. 

Clarion doesn't really have the concept of namespaces, so to make it easier to find what you're looking for in the class library, the DCL uses pseudo-namespaces - names separated by underscores, e.g.

  • DCL_System_Stack
  • DCL_System_IO_AsciiFile
  • DCL_ClarionTest_TestResult

All names begin with the DCL "namespace" to avoid naming conflicts with classes from other sources.