Is it bad to prefix all of my framework class names? - actionscript-3

Question

I develop a lot of frameworks for Flash games and applications. I have always prefixed my class names with a random character or two, to avoid conflict with class names that the developer may already have, for example:
class LEntity
Recently I had a co-worker blast me for poor and "annoying" naming of classes who then proceeded to rename every class in the frameworks I've created for people here to use.
I'm having trouble explaining my reasoning thoroughly enough for him to accept what I've done as a good approach.
Is what I've done above actually a bad thing? If not, how can I explain otherwise? If so, why?
Comments are asking about namespaces - I know AS3 in this example has what I know to be called a namespace but I'm not sure if this is the same thing or if it can be used as expected.

Answer 1

Given that Actionscript supports namespaces, there is no reason to use prefixes simply to prevent naming clashes. That's what namespaces are for.
Some people like to use namespaces to significy member variables (ie, underscore prefix, or sometimes m_) and that has some merit, but simply for the sake of name clashing no.

Answer 2

It sounds like you don't quite understand what namespacespackages are in AS3.
An example:
//Class1.as
package com.test.someModule { //This is the package/namespace
public class Class1 {...}
}
//Class2.as
package com.test.otherModule {
import com.test.someModule.Class1; //Class1 can be used as "Class1" now. Otherwise you would do "com.test.someModule.Class1"
import com.test.someModule.*; //You can also use the "*" to "import" all classes in that package
}

Answer 3

I have to agree with your co-worker, your class names are 'annoying'.
In Actionscript 3 we use the package name to define the namespace of a class. If you're not sure what namespace means, take the wikipedia definition (as of the time of writing):
"In general, a namespace is a container for a set of identifiers
(names), and allows the disambiguation of homonym identifiers residing
in different namespaces."
So you will never "conflict with class names" as long as you name your packages correctly. Most developers use what is called the reverse domain notation to name their packages (e.g com.mywebsite.MyGenericNamedClass). Domain names are unique so it's very unlikely you would clash with another class.
As a rule of thumb the class name should be as descriptive as possible, so some of your class names will be the same as someone else's class. Take the default Sprite class for instance:
import flash.display.Sprite;
import uk.co.mywebsite.Sprite;
if you then initialize an object:
var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
The compiler would not know which Sprite you want to initialize (is it the flash sprite or your own custom sprite), and it would throw an error.
The solution is simple: because your packages have been named properly, all you need to do is to use the full class name including the package name to initialize your object:
var mySprite:uk.co.mywebsite.Sprite = new uk.co.mywebsite.Sprite();
var myOtherSprite:flash.display.Sprite = new flash.display.Sprite();
Mind you, you would rarely need to do that. This is only necessary if you want to use those two classes (the default Sprite and your own Sprite) in the same scope. Generally, you would only import your own class:
/* we are not importing this any more
import flash.display.Sprite;*/
//only importing my own class
import uk.co.mywebsite.Sprite;
/* now I can initialize my object without using the full class name, and the compiler knows
I mean my own Sprite class */
var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();