constructors inside a namespace

Question

I have read that creating a namespace for JavaScript projects helps to reduce conflicts with other libraries. I have some code with a lot of different types of objects for which I have defined constructor functions. Is it good practice to put these inside the namespace as well?

For example:

var shapes = {
    Rectangle: function(w, h) {
        this.width = w;
        this.height = h;
    }
};

which can be called via:

var square = new shapes.Rectangle(10,10);

Answer 1

This is generally a good idea; additionally, if your objects require a set of shared functions that should not be exposed you can wrap them all inside a closure, like a module:

var shapes = (function() {
  // private variables
  var foo = 0;

  // private function
  function get_area(w, h)
  {
    return w * h;
  }

  return {
    Rectangle: function(w, h) {
      this.width = w;
      this.height = h;
      // call private function to determine area (contrived example)
      this.area = get_area(w, h);
    }
  }
}());

var s = new shapes.Rectangle(100, 5);