Is it possible to reference two identically named namespaces?

Question

The title should say it all...

EDIT: Apparently the title didn't say it all, but Jon Skeet was able to figure out what I meant anyway!

Answer 1

Ummm, yes and no....

To you they might be two "different" namespaces because they are in different files or assemblies, but to the code they form just a single namespace - so in reality you are only referencing one namespace.

Answer 2

Assuming you mean you want to refer to types in the same namespace (or even the same fully qualified type name) provided by two different assemblies, you can do this from C# 2 and up using extern aliases.

Ideally you should try to avoid getting into this situation, but you can do it if you really, really need to.

Anson Horton has a blog post about extern aliases and using them from Visual Studio.

Answer 3

Exactly. THere are soemtiems good reasons to have one namespace in different assemblies - for example if some part is written in c#, and some in C++/CLI.

You never reference a namespace, sorry. You reference an assembly.