Workspace
Workspace is a term used in various branches of engineering and economic development.
Business development
Workspace refers to small premises provided, often by local authorities or economic development agencies, to help new businesses to establish themselves. These typically provide not only physical space and utilities, but also administrative services and links to support and finance organisations, as well as peer support among the tenants. A continuum of sophistication ranges through categories such as 'managed workspaces', 'business incubators' and 'business and employment co-operatives'. In cities, they are often set up in buildings that are disused but which the local authority wishes to retain as a landmark. At the larger end of the spectrum are business parks, virtual offices, technology parks and science parks.
Technology and software
In technology and software, "workspace" is a term used for several different purposes.
Software development
A workspace is (often) a file or directory that allows a user to gather various source code files and resources and work with them as a cohesive unit. Often these files and resources represent the complete state of an IDE at a given time, a snapshot. Workspaces are very helpful in cases of complex projects when maintenance can be challenging. Good examples of environments that allow users to create and use workspaces are Microsoft Visual Studio and Eclipse.