Namespaces

A namespace is a mechanism for unabiguously naming objects, e.g.

• The space of all possible phone numbers (where the 'names' are phone numbers, and the 'objects' are phones, fax machines and modems).
• The Domain Naming System (DNS), which gives a unique 'domain name' to networks on the Internet (which are the 'objects').
• A 'scope' in a programming language. For example, each C++ function has its own namespace, in which names are associated unabiguously with variables (the 'objects').

Filesystems provide namespaces for files.

Under UNIX and similar systems, we can talk about the "virtual file system", which is a global namespace (global to all processes in a single UNIX system) which provides uniform naming for all files and devices in the system.