Name collision is when two elements have the same name in a logical attachment, causing errors. Namespaces and qualifiers can solve the problem, but collisions can occur in multiple inheritance and overlapping variable scopes.
In the context of computers and computer programming, “name collision” is the technical term for an instance where two elements have the same name within a logical attachment. A name collision can occur in many cases, such as with filenames in a directory or in a program where local variables in a function have the same name as some global variables. Most of the time, a name collision needs to be resolved immediately somehow, either automatically by an OS or compiler, or manually via user input and decisions. The concept of namespaces sometimes solves collision problems by creating several logical areas where similarly named elements can coexist unambiguously. In some programming cases, a name collision may not be immediately apparent, occasionally leading to hard-to-find program errors that can result from the compiler making certain assumptions about the element names used.
An example of how a name collision can occur involves two directories full of files. If each directory contains a file named “DATA” and the contents of one directory are copied to the other, attempts by the computer to copy the file named DATA will find that a file with the same name already exists in the destination directory. This creates a name collision. In this case, the user is usually prompted and allowed to choose from a list of resolutions, including renaming one of the files, not copying the file, or overwriting one of the files.
A commonly used workaround for a name collision is the implementation of namespaces. A namespace is simply a way of defining an area under which object names are contained. In the example above, a directory is technically a namespace, meaning that multiple files can all have the same name as long as they are each in different directories.
From a programming perspective, a name collision can occur in situations such as multiple inheritance, overlapping variable scopes, or even with libraries imported into some languages. In general, a compiler will notice a conflict and issue a warning or error, although this may not always be the case. In addition to using namespaces, collisions in many programming languages can be avoided by using qualifiers. A qualifier is usually a prefix that can be placed in front of a variable or class name to distinguish it from another variable of the same name.
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