Name space of external data

In programming languages, the name space is defined as the portion of a load module within which a particular declaration applies or is known. Figure 1 and Figure 2 illustrates that, like the name scope, the name space of external data differs between PL/I and COBOL.

Figure 1 and Figure 2 illustrate that within the same load module, the name space of COBOL programs is the same. However, the name spaces of a COBOL program and a PL/I procedure within the same load module are not the same. If you give external data the same name in both languages, an incompatibility in external data mapping can occur in the future.