Question

In my background in C++ I was a supporter of using the scope resolution operator, for example

class Foo
{
    std::list<int>  m_list;
    ...
}

for external libraries, to keep clear which library you were using.

Now in C# I don’t know if there’s a rule of thumb or a best practice to know which packages should be included via the using keyword and which classes should be fully qualified. I suppose that this can be a subjetive issue, but would like to know the most extended practices.

Answer 1

I pretty much never fully qualify names – I always use using directives instead.

If I need to use two names which clash, I’ll give both of them aliases:

using WinFormsTextBox = System.Windows.Forms.TextBox;
using WebFormsTextBox = System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox;

That rarely comes up though, in my experience.

I tend to make autogenerated code fully qualify everything though, just for simplicity and robustness.