Fully qualified name

In computer programming, a fully qualified name is an unambiguous name that specifies which object, function, or variable a call refers to without regard to the context of the call. In a hierarchical structure, a name is fully qualified when it "is complete in the sense that it includes (a) all names in the hierarchic sequence above the given element and (b) the name of the given element itself."[1]

Programming

In computer programming, a fully qualified name is an unambiguous name that specifies which object, function, or variable a call refers to without regard to the context of the call. In a hierarchical structure, a name is fully qualified when it "is complete in the sense that it includes (a) all names in the hierarchic sequence above the given element and (b) the name of the given element itself."[1] Thus fully qualified names explicitly refer to namespaces that would otherwise be implicit because of the scope of the call.[2] While always done to eliminate ambiguity, this can mean different things dependent on context.

Commonly encountered applications of the notion have been given their own names, such as the fully qualified domain name and the fully qualified file name.

Examples

To distinguish a fully qualified name from a regular name, C++, Tcl, Perl and Ruby use two colons (::), and Java uses dots (.), as does Visual Basic .NET.[3] and C#.[4] In Java, ActionScript,[5] and other object-oriented languages the use of the dot is known as "dot syntax".[6] Other examples include:

Filenames and paths

The term fully qualified file name means a file on a computer whose exact name is completely specified such that it is unambiguous and cannot be mistaken for any other file on that system. It is somewhat equivalent on the Internet to a URL specifying the full name of the computer and the entire name of a particular document as a file. The alternative is an unqualified file name or a partially qualified file name.

Path names

Fully qualified path name (FQPN) is the full path of a resource, directory or file, stored in a computer. It is composed by the full path to the resource and its syntax depends on the operating system. In Unix-like operating systems it is represented in the following form: /root/path-to/file[OR]directory, while in DOS and Microsoft Windows it is represented in the following form: [Drive]:\path-to\file.ext[OR]directory. FQPN is also used in Networking and takes the following form: \root\FQDN\path-to\file.ext[OR]directory, where /root/ is the root directory, the first or top-most directory in a hierarchy, and, in this case, the rooted tree; FQDN is the fully qualified domain name or node. It is also used in bootstrapping, computer programming and in computer science referencing.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Weik, Martin H. (2000). Computer Science and Communications Dictionary. Volume 1. Springer. p. 662. ISBN 978-0-7923-8425-0.
  2. Hejlsberg, Anders; Torgersen, Mads; Wiltamuth, Scott (29 October 2010). The C# Programming Language (Covering C# 4.0). Addison-Wesley Professional. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-13-248172-4. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  3. Vick, Paul (2004). The Visual Basic .NET programming language. Addison-Wesley Professional. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-321-16951-8.
  4. Mayo, Joe. ": C# Tutorial Lesson 06 - Namespaces". C# Station. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  5. "ActionScript 3 fundamentals: Packages". Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  6. "Object Oriented Programming - JavaScript Programming Fundamentals - DHTML". Lanoie.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  7. "Using Identifiers As Object Names". msdn.microsoft.com. Retrieved 2011-10-27.
  8. "mod_perl: Perl Reference". perl.apache.org. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
  9. Kochan, Stephen G.; Wood, Patrick H. (2003). UNIX Shell programming. Sams Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-672-32490-1. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
  10. Lowe, Doug (8 February 2011). Networking For Dummies. For Dummies. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-118-05100-9. Retrieved 28 October 2011.

External links

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