5 ms·

The question still stands if insider jokes are an efficient source of inspiration for naming your work.

catalogia 6y ago
It's a catchy name that's fun to say. Being an amusing pun only makes it better. So the answer is yes, it's a wonderful name for a scheme.
akuchling 6y ago
"I would recommend not wasting any more time on the naming issue. (This is a recurring theme in my posts -- remember, I spent about 0.3 microseconds thinking about whether "Python" would be a good name for a programming language, and I've never regretted it.)" -- Guido van Rossum, 25 Nov 1998.
diegof79 6y ago
The answer is: yes. Some examples: - Python comes from Monty Python - Ruby is inspired by Perl but according Wikipedia chosen because of a bright stone used by one of the authors colleagues - Smalltalk was chosen by Alan Kay to avoid a god-like name and lower expectations (see The Early History of Smalltalk) - Lua is a Portuguese word for Moon, because of a previous project named SOL (sun) I can continue with Pascal, Ada, and Haskell based on people names. Also with Java (maybe inspired by a coffee store), C (which is not even a word), D... The point is: systems and programming languages are made by people. Good naming is important for function/operators/libraries because they play a part in system comprehension. But, otherwise having a “fun” name reflects the humane part of the creation :)
- jecel 6y ago
  SOL does indeed mean "Sun", but was actually an acronym for "Simple Object Language". It in turn was the successor to DEL (defined as a "dialog specification language", but that would be DSL in English or LED in Portuguese so I haven't figured that out). Anyway, having an acronym that is also a relevant word or name is a popular thing to do. The Wolfram Language is named after the author. The closest to that I can think of is Algol-W by Niklaus Wirth and Tony Hoare (that is if the W is for Wirth at all, which I couldn't verify). Are there any other cases?
  - diegof79 6y ago
    Another case is AWK named after the surnames of the authors.
dang 6y ago
"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments? You've been doing it in this and other threads.
- lowdose 6y ago
  Fair enough.

It's a catchy name that's fun to say. Being an amusing pun only makes it better. So the answer is yes, it's a wonderful name for a scheme.

akuchling 6y ago

"I would recommend not wasting any more time on the naming issue. (This is a recurring theme in my posts -- remember, I spent about 0.3 microseconds thinking about whether "Python" would be a good name for a programming language, and I've never regretted it.)" -- Guido van Rossum, 25 Nov 1998.

diegof79 6y ago

The answer is: yes. Some examples: - Python comes from Monty Python - Ruby is inspired by Perl but according Wikipedia chosen because of a bright stone used by one of the authors colleagues - Smalltalk was chosen by Alan Kay to avoid a god-like name and lower expectations (see The Early History of Smalltalk) - Lua is a Portuguese word for Moon, because of a previous project named SOL (sun) I can continue with Pascal, Ada, and Haskell based on people names. Also with Java (maybe inspired by a coffee store), C (which is not even a word), D... The point is: systems and programming languages are made by people. Good naming is important for function/operators/libraries because they play a part in system comprehension. But, otherwise having a “fun” name reflects the humane part of the creation :)

jecel 6y ago
SOL does indeed mean "Sun", but was actually an acronym for "Simple Object Language". It in turn was the successor to DEL (defined as a "dialog specification language", but that would be DSL in English or LED in Portuguese so I haven't figured that out). Anyway, having an acronym that is also a relevant word or name is a popular thing to do. The Wolfram Language is named after the author. The closest to that I can think of is Algol-W by Niklaus Wirth and Tony Hoare (that is if the W is for Wirth at all, which I couldn't verify). Are there any other cases?
- diegof79 6y ago
  Another case is AWK named after the surnames of the authors.

dang 6y ago

"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments? You've been doing it in this and other threads.

lowdose 6y ago
Fair enough.