4 ms·

Is it me or is 'stdlib' not the best name for something that's not the <stdlib.h>?

Nimsical 10y ago
hah, the C/C++ programmer in me cringed the first time I saw it. It's a decent platform though.
colmmacc 10y ago
Related story: I own stdlib.net, and have been using it for some e-mail and stuff for more than ten years. The original reason for getting it was that we were playing around with using the net.stdlib Java namespace for Apache commons. But too many people had the same reaction as you. So everything is org.apache...
- Nimsical 10y ago
  A ton of modern languages still use the namespace I think.
keithwhor 10y ago
Founder here; as much as it pains many of us to hear, the vast majority of software developers never interface with <stdlib.h> directly. You can think of our choice of name more as an homage for a new generation of web-based developers. The question we asked ourselves was --- if I'm a developer today, and I want to release services for people to easily use and compose, take advantage of new "serverless" technology, where do I put it and how do I distribute it? How do I keep my services organized? Can I build a business around an API? What does that look like? The name "Standard Library" was a natural fit --- I consider it a huge amount of serendipity that the domain was available. We've also been lucky to have a huge amount of support from our developer community --- we got a few questions like this to begin with, which naturally caused some unease, but far more positive reactions in total. I'm very happy we've been able to build something people like. The name choice has not negatively impacted our SEO or anything like that, thankfully! :) If you happen to play with it at all, let me know what you think! (Humorous aside; it is more frequent for newer developers to ask us about "sexually transmitted diseases" than it is for them to get the C reference - which is totally fine, don't mind sharing knowledge! But when I told my non-CS mother about the business we were building, definitely had to really quickly explain the background of the name.)
- afandian 10y ago
  Thanks for your reply! So is this a library or a service? It looks like a library but why would I need to sign up to use a library?
  - keithwhor 10y ago
    It's a library of services, but we provide deployment, authorization, rate limiting, billing, and documentation layers for developers. Think of it like GitHub for Services instead of source control. (+ Making the usage-based billing model highly accessible to every developer.)
- Chris2048 10y ago
  > You can think of our choice of name more as an homage for a new generation of web-based developers. Hmm. web-devs are known for NIH, this will only encourage this reputation..
programmarchy 10y ago
This name drives me a little nuts, too. The modules are named `lib`. Good luck grepping that!

hah, the C/C++ programmer in me cringed the first time I saw it. It's a decent platform though.

Related story: I own stdlib.net, and have been using it for some e-mail and stuff for more than ten years. The original reason for getting it was that we were playing around with using the net.stdlib Java namespace for Apache commons. But too many people had the same reaction as you. So everything is org.apache...

Nimsical 10y ago
A ton of modern languages still use the namespace I think.

keithwhor 10y ago

Founder here; as much as it pains many of us to hear, the vast majority of software developers never interface with <stdlib.h> directly. You can think of our choice of name more as an homage for a new generation of web-based developers. The question we asked ourselves was --- if I'm a developer today, and I want to release services for people to easily use and compose, take advantage of new "serverless" technology, where do I put it and how do I distribute it? How do I keep my services organized? Can I build a business around an API? What does that look like? The name "Standard Library" was a natural fit --- I consider it a huge amount of serendipity that the domain was available. We've also been lucky to have a huge amount of support from our developer community --- we got a few questions like this to begin with, which naturally caused some unease, but far more positive reactions in total. I'm very happy we've been able to build something people like. The name choice has not negatively impacted our SEO or anything like that, thankfully! :) If you happen to play with it at all, let me know what you think! (Humorous aside; it is more frequent for newer developers to ask us about "sexually transmitted diseases" than it is for them to get the C reference - which is totally fine, don't mind sharing knowledge! But when I told my non-CS mother about the business we were building, definitely had to really quickly explain the background of the name.)

afandian 10y ago
Thanks for your reply! So is this a library or a service? It looks like a library but why would I need to sign up to use a library?
- keithwhor 10y ago
  It's a library of services, but we provide deployment, authorization, rate limiting, billing, and documentation layers for developers. Think of it like GitHub for Services instead of source control. (+ Making the usage-based billing model highly accessible to every developer.)
Chris2048 10y ago
> You can think of our choice of name more as an homage for a new generation of web-based developers. Hmm. web-devs are known for NIH, this will only encourage this reputation..

programmarchy 10y ago

This name drives me a little nuts, too. The modules are named `lib`. Good luck grepping that!