.NET & XML

A Note About Type Names

Throughout the quick reference, you’ll notice that types are sometimes referred to by type name alone and at other times referred to by type name and namespace. If namespaces were always used, the type synopses would become long and hard to read. On the other hand, if namespaces were never used, it would sometimes be difficult to know what type was being referred to. The rules for including or omitting the namespace name are complex. They can be summarized approximately as follows, however:

• If the type name alone is ambiguous, the namespace name is always used.

• If the type is part of the System namespace or is a very commonly used type like System.Collection.ICollection, the namespace is omitted.

• If the type being referred to is part of the current namespace (and has a quick-reference entry in the current chapter), the namespace is omitted. The namespace is also omitted if the type being referred to is part of a namespace that contains the current namespace.