RFC document for namespaces

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+Title:           Zend 2.0 Namespaces
+Version:         $Revision$
+Status:          draft
+Maintainer:      Stig S. Bakken <ssb@fast.no>
+Created:         2001-09-08
+Modified:        2001-09-08
+                  
+
+1. Background/Need
+==================
+
+PHP and Zend 1.0 have come to a point where a lot of reusable code is
+being written; from simple functions and classes to entire application
+frameworks.  It is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid symbol
+name collisions with the current scoping methods.
+
+The symbol scopes available in Zend 1.0 are the global scope, the
+class scope and the function scope.  All scopes but classes may
+contain variables, only the class and global scopes may contain
+functions, while only the global scope may contain constants and
+classes.  This means that all of Zend 1.0's scoping methods are
+inherently limited for solving symbol name collision problems.
+
+
+2. Overview
+===========
+
+Namespaces in Zend 2.0 provide a way to manage the symbol collision
+problem by making it possible to define multiple symbol tables able to
+contain all types of symbols.  Zend will get the notion of a current
+namespace, defaulting to the current global one.  The current name
+space may be changed on a file-by-file basis.  Symbols in other name
+spaces than the current one may be referenced using a new namespace
+operator.  It will be possible to "import" symbols from one namespace
+into another.
+
+
+3. Functionality
+================
+
+3.1. Namespace Syntax
+=====================
+
+The namespace operator ":" is used to refer to symbols in other
+namespaces than the current one:
+
+Class:          Namespace:class
+Function:       Namespace:function
+Static method:  Namespace:class::method
+Variable:       $Namespace:variable
+Constant:       Namespace:CONSTANT
+Class variable: $Namespace:class::variable
+
+To refer to symbols in the global namespace, symbols are prefixed with
+only the namespace operator:
+
+Class:          :class
+Function:       :function
+Static method:  :class::method
+Variable:       $:variable
+Constant:       :CONSTANT
+Class variable: $:class::variable
+
+Note: $:variable will effectively be just another syntax for
+$GLOBALS['variable'].
+
+A namespace may have a name containing a ":", it is always the last
+":" character in the symbol qualifier that is the actual namespace
+operator:
+
+Class:          Name:Space:class
+Function:       Name:Space:function
+Static method:  Name:Space:class::method
+Variable:       $Name:Space:variable
+Constant:       Name:Space:CONSTANT
+Class variable: $Name:Space:class::variable
+
+(Here, the ":" between "Name" and "Space" is part of the name, it is
+the one after "Space" that is the namespace operator.)
+
+
+3.2. Defining Namespaces
+========================
+
+Individual files may define a namespace that will apply to the entire
+file.  If no "namespace" operator occurs in the file, it will be in
+the global namespace:
+
+ 1 namespace HTML;
+ 2 
+ 3 class Form {
+ 4     function Form() {
+ 5         // constructor
+ 6     }
+ 7     // ...
+ 8 }
+
+Or with the "nested" name syntax:
+
+ 1 namespace HTML:Form;
+ 2 
+ 3 class Image {
+ 4     var $src;
+ 5     function Image($src) {
+ 6         $this->src = $src;
+ 7     }
+ 8     // ...
+ 9 }
+
+Code executed within the "HTML" namespace may refer to the Form class
+as just "Form".  Code executed from within other namespaces has to
+refer to it as "HTML:Form".  The "namespace" statement must occur
+before any other statements in the file.
+
+# [ssb 2001-09-08]:
+# Should it be possible to "add" symbols to a namespace by including a
+# second file with the same namespace statement?  This would screw up
+# the 1:1 file/namespace mapping, so I don't think it would be a good
+# thing.  3.4 below assumes that it is not possible.
+
+
+3.3. Importing Symbols
+======================
+
+It is possible to import symbols from another namespace into the
+current one with the "import" statement:
+
+  import * from HTML;          // all symbols
+
+  import Form from HTML;       // single symbols
+
+  import Form,Table from HTML; // multiple symbols
+
+There is a potential for name clashes between symols of different
+types that have the same qualifier syntax.  These are resolved in this
+order: class, function, constant.
+
+Optionally, the symbol type may be explicitly given to import (as
+"class", "function", "variable" or "constant"):
+
+  import class Form from HTML;
+
+And finally, you may import all symbols of a given type:
+
+  import constant * from HTML:Table;
+
+The namespace with its symbols must already be defined before using
+"import".
+
+
+4. Compatibility Notes
+======================
+
+Old code that does not take advantage of namespaces will run without
+modifications.
+
+
+5. Dependencies
+===============
+
+The class variable syntax depends on this class variables being
+implemented in the new ZE2 object model.
+
+
+6. Acknowledgements
+===================
+
+Andi Gutmans <andi@zend.com> and Zeev Suraski <zeev@zend.com> for
+initial ZE2 namespaces proposal
+
+Dean Hall <php@apt7.com> for the initial symbol qualification syntax