{"id":51742,"date":"2020-07-10T09:53:01","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T13:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/?p=51742"},"modified":"2022-11-21T09:45:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T14:45:51","slug":"python-function-tutorial-part-xi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/ibkr-quant-news\/python-function-tutorial-part-xi\/","title":{"rendered":"Python Function Tutorial \u2013 Part XI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

See the previous installment in this series Variable Namespace and Scope<\/a>, to get up-to-date in this tutorial.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Namespace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name conflicts happen all the time in real life. For example, we often see that there are multiple students with the same name X in a classroom. If someone has to call the student X, there would be a conflicting situation for determining which student X is actually being called. While calling, one might use the last name along with the student’s first name to ensure that the call is made to the correct student X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, such conflicts also arise in programming. It is easy and manageable to have unique names when programs are small without any external dependencies. Things start becoming complex when programs become larger and external modules are incorporated. It becomes difficult and wearisome to have unique names for all objects in the program when it spans hundreds of lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A namespace can be thought of a naming system to avoid ambiguity between names and ensures that all the names in a program are unique and can be used without any conflict. Most namespaces are implemented as a dictionary in Python. There is a name to object mapping, with names as keys and objects as values. Multiple namespaces can use the same name and map it to a different object. Namespaces are created at different moments and have different lifetimes. Examples of namespaces are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n