5 ms·

I know what it is, that doesn't make it good.

ryandrake 2y ago
It's amazing how bad software developers are at naming their projects. At least this one is unique enough to be searchable, and could probably be SEO'ed above the computer lore (indeed, at least for me it's already #1 for "deadbeef" on the Google SERP). The worst are when they pick a generic English word for a project that has nothing to do with that word. I'm not going to name and shame, but there are so many examples of new project that get posted to HN monthly that have irrelevant and unsearchable names. We see things like "Show HN: Banana - A lightweight URL parsing library in Rust". WTF does URL parsing have to do with bananas? How do you expect that word to be uniquely searchable back to your project??
- thesnide 2y ago
  Isn't it obvious ? Lightweight URL parsing library in Rust is just Bananas! But i totally get your point. I'm wondering that if some random gibberish might even be better to name a project nowadays. At least there would be less SEO collision.
- leviathant 2y ago
  "Why hasn't Gimp found mainstream success?" "Adoption of our Ogg Vorbis format isn't where we hoped it to be" "Fork me on Git"
  - GuB-42 2y ago
    Git is just a hobby project named after the author, like Linux. Yes, really: https://archive.kernel.org/oldwiki/git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/GitFaq.html#Why_the_.27Git.27_name.3F https://archive.kernel.org/oldwiki/git.wiki.kernel.org/index... https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html
    - leviathant 2y ago
      Neat! Both Linux and Git are examples of terrible product names.
- keyringlight 2y ago
  The thing that gets me is application launchers, I'm fine with any clever and obscure name you pick for something that's intended to be behind the scenes as presumably there's going to be a certain amount of promotion or awareness inside whatever domain is involved. However if a launcher (or a repository/app store as an earlier step) just gives the clever name with no context to what it does rather than "CleverName - media tag information editor". It can go too far the other direction too, for example the generic names like Files, Phone, etc either preloaded on the device by the manufacturer (eg Samsung) or by Google, or some third party.
  - card_zero 2y ago
    Yes, my tablet has Contacts (icon: a blue figure on a white background), and then it has Contacts (icon: a white figure on a blue background), depending on which tech firm I want to spy on my social relationships.
    - Lammy 2y ago
      > It can go too far the other direction too, for example the generic names like Files The worst is when an application's display name is different from its actual name. Like on my MATE desktop it took me years to fully internalize that “Files” is actually `caja` if I want to invoke it from a terminal. At least Nautilus was a type of shell lol
      - card_zero 2y ago
        Probably meaningful in another language. For instance it means "box" in Spanish, or in the language of the Pali Tipitaka it means "giving up".
- Lammy 2y ago
  My experience is that the most overloaded software project name is “Apollo”. I worked at one big company that had three different internal services by that name. I blame NASA for this one :v
  - otikik 2y ago
    Blame the ancient Greeks!
  - reverendsteveii 2y ago
    If it makes you feel any better I worked for a company that referred to each of an internal tooling library, an externally-facing web app and an offshore consultant as 'Zeus'
- GuB-42 2y ago
  I think that "Go" (the programming language) takes the crown. It is one of the most common words in the English language. It is also one of the most popular board games in the world, and it has nothing to do with it. It can mean plenty of other things, just look at the Wikipedia disambiguation page. It is enough of a problem that it is often called "golang" to make it more searchable. And ironically, it is made by Google.
  - nayuki 2y ago
    Agreed that Go is a terrible language name. Just go use Go to make a game of go while riding the GO train. C is pretty terrible too, being a popular and extremely influential language with a one-letter name.
  - Lammy 2y ago
    The best part is that it wasn't even an original name within the domain of programming languages: https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9 https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9
- reverendsteveii 2y ago
  It's because we don't care, labels are arbitrary and if your app is any good you can call it Chimpanzee Hot Dog Fart and people will still use it. Honestly, my personal stretch goal for my dev career is to invent an app that's so useful to corporate America as to be indispensable and then call it ThumbBum just to force people to reference it in professional contexts. "Jared I need you to get on ThumbBum right now. Lives are at stake."
  - tumnus 2y ago
    This is exactly why Terry Gilliam named his production company Poo Poo Pictures. He liked the idea of studio executives having to ask their assistants "Did the Poo Poo memo come in yet?"

It's amazing how bad software developers are at naming their projects. At least this one is unique enough to be searchable, and could probably be SEO'ed above the computer lore (indeed, at least for me it's already #1 for "deadbeef" on the Google SERP). The worst are when they pick a generic English word for a project that has nothing to do with that word. I'm not going to name and shame, but there are so many examples of new project that get posted to HN monthly that have irrelevant and unsearchable names. We see things like "Show HN: Banana - A lightweight URL parsing library in Rust". WTF does URL parsing have to do with bananas? How do you expect that word to be uniquely searchable back to your project??

thesnide 2y ago
Isn't it obvious ? Lightweight URL parsing library in Rust is just Bananas! But i totally get your point. I'm wondering that if some random gibberish might even be better to name a project nowadays. At least there would be less SEO collision.
leviathant 2y ago
"Why hasn't Gimp found mainstream success?" "Adoption of our Ogg Vorbis format isn't where we hoped it to be" "Fork me on Git"
- GuB-42 2y ago
  Git is just a hobby project named after the author, like Linux. Yes, really: https://archive.kernel.org/oldwiki/git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/GitFaq.html#Why_the_.27Git.27_name.3F https://archive.kernel.org/oldwiki/git.wiki.kernel.org/index... https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html
  - leviathant 2y ago
    Neat! Both Linux and Git are examples of terrible product names.
keyringlight 2y ago
The thing that gets me is application launchers, I'm fine with any clever and obscure name you pick for something that's intended to be behind the scenes as presumably there's going to be a certain amount of promotion or awareness inside whatever domain is involved. However if a launcher (or a repository/app store as an earlier step) just gives the clever name with no context to what it does rather than "CleverName - media tag information editor". It can go too far the other direction too, for example the generic names like Files, Phone, etc either preloaded on the device by the manufacturer (eg Samsung) or by Google, or some third party.
- card_zero 2y ago
  Yes, my tablet has Contacts (icon: a blue figure on a white background), and then it has Contacts (icon: a white figure on a blue background), depending on which tech firm I want to spy on my social relationships.
  - Lammy 2y ago
    > It can go too far the other direction too, for example the generic names like Files The worst is when an application's display name is different from its actual name. Like on my MATE desktop it took me years to fully internalize that “Files” is actually `caja` if I want to invoke it from a terminal. At least Nautilus was a type of shell lol
    - card_zero 2y ago
      Probably meaningful in another language. For instance it means "box" in Spanish, or in the language of the Pali Tipitaka it means "giving up".
Lammy 2y ago
My experience is that the most overloaded software project name is “Apollo”. I worked at one big company that had three different internal services by that name. I blame NASA for this one :v
- otikik 2y ago
  Blame the ancient Greeks!
- reverendsteveii 2y ago
  If it makes you feel any better I worked for a company that referred to each of an internal tooling library, an externally-facing web app and an offshore consultant as 'Zeus'
GuB-42 2y ago
I think that "Go" (the programming language) takes the crown. It is one of the most common words in the English language. It is also one of the most popular board games in the world, and it has nothing to do with it. It can mean plenty of other things, just look at the Wikipedia disambiguation page. It is enough of a problem that it is often called "golang" to make it more searchable. And ironically, it is made by Google.
- nayuki 2y ago
  Agreed that Go is a terrible language name. Just go use Go to make a game of go while riding the GO train. C is pretty terrible too, being a popular and extremely influential language with a one-letter name.
- Lammy 2y ago
  The best part is that it wasn't even an original name within the domain of programming languages: https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9 https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9
reverendsteveii 2y ago
It's because we don't care, labels are arbitrary and if your app is any good you can call it Chimpanzee Hot Dog Fart and people will still use it. Honestly, my personal stretch goal for my dev career is to invent an app that's so useful to corporate America as to be indispensable and then call it ThumbBum just to force people to reference it in professional contexts. "Jared I need you to get on ThumbBum right now. Lives are at stake."
- tumnus 2y ago
  This is exactly why Terry Gilliam named his production company Poo Poo Pictures. He liked the idea of studio executives having to ask their assistants "Did the Poo Poo memo come in yet?"