5 ms·

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod#Idiom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod#Idiom "In 15th-century English, "Nimrod" had come to mean tyrant" "In 20th-centu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod#Idiom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod#Idiom "In 15th-century English, "Nimrod" had come to mean tyrant" "In 20th-century American English, the term is now commonly used to mean a dimwitted or a stupid person." I could see how you wouldn't want your programming language to be considered a tyrant or a dimwit. Or a dimwitted tyrant. ;-)

norswap 12y ago
On the other hand, the most popular version control software is called "git".
- aaron-lebo 12y ago
  Yes, not to mention, when was the last time you heard someone call somebody else a nimrod? The 1940s? It can't hurt and Nim is a short and memorable name. Realistically it will probably have very little impact (and the core devs likely know this). Whether Nim gains widespread adoption has a lot more to do with whether it can compete successfully with Rust, C++, or whatever is remotely similar to it. D, for example, has a really good name (the successor to C), but hasn't become heavily used in industry despite what advantages it does have and years of development.
  - sitkack 12y ago
    Nim should follow the tooling around Go and just steal all of the good parts. I think Nim's main competitor is Julia. I'd focus on weaving Nim and RoboVM code together so one could leverage all the libs from Java/JVM while getting native performance.
  - RogerL 12y ago
    > Yes, not to mention, when was the last time you heard someone call somebody else a nimrod? 1890s England? I hear it all the time. Probably nearly daily. It depends on your circles, I suppose.
    - aaron-lebo 12y ago
      I apologize for making such a broad statement. What portion of the US do you live in?
      - eru 12y ago
        Why do you assume RogerL lives in the US? (RogerL probably does, but what makes you think so?)
        rakoo 12y ago
        As others have said, nimrod-as-an-insult seems to be a thing mostly in the US.
- rz2k 12y ago
  You also probably do not want a version control system that is "liable to unpredictable changes".
ternaryoperator 12y ago
Having a pejorative reference to an unpleasant person didn't hurt git. Here, Araq has taken an association that is generally viewed as slightly humorous and moved to a name with which no one has any associations, either good or bad. In tech marketing, taking a brand that's been invested in and renaming it for no good reason is something you should be loath to do, as it throws away the value and associations that exist with the current brand. Among the typical "good reasons" for changing the name in are: 1) the brand has been diminished by some bad news / negagive attention and so they're rebranding; 2) the brand causes confusion with other products; 3) legal reasons; 4) some other well-defined limitation that makes growth impossible. Without having any more insight into the reasons behind this, it's hard to see whether this is a good move or the beginning of a decline for Nimrod as a concept.
- JadeNB 12y ago
  > Here, Araq has taken an association that is generally viewed as slightly humorous and moved to a name with which no one has any associations, either good or bad. That's not true; every mathematician knows the game of Nim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim (_asummers points this out below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8352021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8352021). I agree that it's a pretty neutral association, but, then again, did the name 'Nimrod' ever really have anything to do with the language? (I don't know.)
  - adrusi 12y ago
    Nimrod was a character in the story of the tower of babel, which explains the diversity of languages in the old testament. Hence its relation to programming languages.
    - andrewflnr 12y ago
      Ah, no. Nimrod had nothing to do with Babel.
      - adrusi 12y ago
fsck--off 12y ago
Nimrod was the great grandson of Noah, and he is mentioned in the book of Genesis as "a mighty hunter before the lord." So great hunters were sometimes called "Nimrod" as a compliment. Bugs Bunny taunted Elmer Fudd, a stupid an incompetent hunter that failed to catch Bugs Bunny, by calling him a Nimrod. But the children who watched Loony Tunes didn't get the joke and so they assumed it was a synonym for "stupid and incompetent." Imagine that in the future people think that that "Einstein" means "imbecile" because "you're a regular Einstein" was an ironic taunt. It's the same idea.
- cjoh 12y ago
  Well, except that Einstein was an actual person, and Nimrod was a mythological one.
  - Crito 12y ago
    Hardly an important distinction for these intents and purposes; particularly since those stories were widely taught as fact until fairly recently.
  - sigzero 12y ago
    And you know that how? Yeah, you don't. It isn't even relevant to this conversation.
- deanmen 12y ago
  "Dunce" comes from the name of the philosopher Duns Scotus.
- wslh 12y ago
  Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quando_el_Rey_Nimrod http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quando_el_Rey_Nimrod
Rayearth 12y ago
Also, the British have named a bunch of ships "Nimrod" in centuries past. I think the name has a bit of dignity because of that.
- Nursie 12y ago
  IIRC we Brits also have/had some sort of reconaissance aircraft by that name too. Also, wasn't there a living-metal future-sentinel type thing in the X-Men stories that was called Nimrod and was pretty terrifying?

norswap 12y ago

On the other hand, the most popular version control software is called "git".

aaron-lebo 12y ago
Yes, not to mention, when was the last time you heard someone call somebody else a nimrod? The 1940s? It can't hurt and Nim is a short and memorable name. Realistically it will probably have very little impact (and the core devs likely know this). Whether Nim gains widespread adoption has a lot more to do with whether it can compete successfully with Rust, C++, or whatever is remotely similar to it. D, for example, has a really good name (the successor to C), but hasn't become heavily used in industry despite what advantages it does have and years of development.
- sitkack 12y ago
  Nim should follow the tooling around Go and just steal all of the good parts. I think Nim's main competitor is Julia. I'd focus on weaving Nim and RoboVM code together so one could leverage all the libs from Java/JVM while getting native performance.
- RogerL 12y ago
  > Yes, not to mention, when was the last time you heard someone call somebody else a nimrod? 1890s England? I hear it all the time. Probably nearly daily. It depends on your circles, I suppose.
  - aaron-lebo 12y ago
    I apologize for making such a broad statement. What portion of the US do you live in?
    - eru 12y ago
      Why do you assume RogerL lives in the US? (RogerL probably does, but what makes you think so?)
      - rakoo 12y ago
        As others have said, nimrod-as-an-insult seems to be a thing mostly in the US.
rz2k 12y ago
You also probably do not want a version control system that is "liable to unpredictable changes".

ternaryoperator 12y ago

Having a pejorative reference to an unpleasant person didn't hurt git. Here, Araq has taken an association that is generally viewed as slightly humorous and moved to a name with which no one has any associations, either good or bad. In tech marketing, taking a brand that's been invested in and renaming it for no good reason is something you should be loath to do, as it throws away the value and associations that exist with the current brand. Among the typical "good reasons" for changing the name in are: 1) the brand has been diminished by some bad news / negagive attention and so they're rebranding; 2) the brand causes confusion with other products; 3) legal reasons; 4) some other well-defined limitation that makes growth impossible. Without having any more insight into the reasons behind this, it's hard to see whether this is a good move or the beginning of a decline for Nimrod as a concept.

JadeNB 12y ago
> Here, Araq has taken an association that is generally viewed as slightly humorous and moved to a name with which no one has any associations, either good or bad. That's not true; every mathematician knows the game of Nim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim (_asummers points this out below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8352021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8352021). I agree that it's a pretty neutral association, but, then again, did the name 'Nimrod' ever really have anything to do with the language? (I don't know.)
- adrusi 12y ago
  Nimrod was a character in the story of the tower of babel, which explains the diversity of languages in the old testament. Hence its relation to programming languages.
  - andrewflnr 12y ago
    Ah, no. Nimrod had nothing to do with Babel.
    - adrusi 12y ago

fsck--off 12y ago

Nimrod was the great grandson of Noah, and he is mentioned in the book of Genesis as "a mighty hunter before the lord." So great hunters were sometimes called "Nimrod" as a compliment. Bugs Bunny taunted Elmer Fudd, a stupid an incompetent hunter that failed to catch Bugs Bunny, by calling him a Nimrod. But the children who watched Loony Tunes didn't get the joke and so they assumed it was a synonym for "stupid and incompetent." Imagine that in the future people think that that "Einstein" means "imbecile" because "you're a regular Einstein" was an ironic taunt. It's the same idea.

cjoh 12y ago
Well, except that Einstein was an actual person, and Nimrod was a mythological one.
- Crito 12y ago
  Hardly an important distinction for these intents and purposes; particularly since those stories were widely taught as fact until fairly recently.
- sigzero 12y ago
  And you know that how? Yeah, you don't. It isn't even relevant to this conversation.
deanmen 12y ago
"Dunce" comes from the name of the philosopher Duns Scotus.
wslh 12y ago
Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quando_el_Rey_Nimrod http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quando_el_Rey_Nimrod

Rayearth 12y ago

Also, the British have named a bunch of ships "Nimrod" in centuries past. I think the name has a bit of dignity because of that.

Nursie 12y ago
IIRC we Brits also have/had some sort of reconaissance aircraft by that name too. Also, wasn't there a living-metal future-sentinel type thing in the X-Men stories that was called Nimrod and was pretty terrifying?