Python: slow, yet powerful
How Programming Languages Got Their Names
11–20 of 121 posts
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#12Oh, I was disappointed that it's missing some interesting (albeit often well-know) cases like C++, C#, JavaScript or even PHP.
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#13No. Ruby is called Ruby because it is the better Perl.
Joke for Pokémon fans: Surely it should be called Platinum then?
[Explaining / Ruining the joke: Pokémon games come in paired editions - red/blue, gold/silver, sword/shield. For the fourth generation of games the paired editions are Diamond/Pearl.
In many generations an 'upper' edition is later released - Yellow, Crystal, Emerald - this is a slightly enhanced remake, often with a tweaked story. For the fourth generation the upper edition was called Platinum.]
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#14This list is disappointingly short. Here's a few more of the top of my head, feel free to expand the list! : C: a successor to B, itself derived from BCPL. C++: increments over C. D: a successor to C. LISP: LISt Processor. FORTRAN: FORmula TRANslator. ALGOL: ALGorithmic Language. Prolog: PROgrammation LOGique (logic programming in French). PHP: initially PHP/FI for "Personal Home Page Form Interpreter", later rebrand…
There is also C#, where # represents a duplication of "++", on top of each other. Technically, the # is not the sign for the musical sharp key (♯), but "C sharp" sounds better than "C hash", "C pound" or "C octothorp". :)
Edit: On an unrelated note, TIL that the sign used on telephone keys is also not #, but ⌗ -- a.k.a. the "Viewdata square" [0].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewdata#Keypad_symbols:_the_s...
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#15This list is disappointingly short. Here's a few more of the top of my head, feel free to expand the list! : C: a successor to B, itself derived from BCPL. C++: increments over C. D: a successor to C. LISP: LISt Processor. FORTRAN: FORmula TRANslator. ALGOL: ALGorithmic Language. Prolog: PROgrammation LOGique (logic programming in French). PHP: initially PHP/FI for "Personal Home Page Form Interpreter", later rebrand…
I'm obliged to point out that C has the same value as C++.
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#16This list is disappointingly short. Here's a few more of the top of my head, feel free to expand the list! : C: a successor to B, itself derived from BCPL. C++: increments over C. D: a successor to C. LISP: LISt Processor. FORTRAN: FORmula TRANslator. ALGOL: ALGorithmic Language. Prolog: PROgrammation LOGique (logic programming in French). PHP: initially PHP/FI for "Personal Home Page Form Interpreter", later rebrand…
There is also C#, where # represents a duplication of "++", on top of each other. Technically, the # is not the sign for the musical sharp key (♯), but "C sharp" sounds better than "C hash", "C pound" or "C octothorp". :) Edit: On an unrelated note, TIL that the sign used on telephone keys is also not #, but ⌗ -- a.k.a. the "Viewdata square" [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewdata#Keypad_symbols:_the_s...
I assumed they just meant to comment out everything that came after C.
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#17I can't shake a vague memory that Java was named in an early brainstorming session with post-it notes on walls with tons of good and bad names, where eventually Java remained as the winner. I believe I've heard about this as a prime example of good brain storming methods from the early days when it wasn't at all obvious. Does anybody know if this is right or if I'm confusing it with something else?
Wasn't this how AltaVista got its name, but as a whiteboard remnant rather than post-it notes?
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#18No. Ruby is called Ruby because it is the better Perl.
I think both you and the article are correct. Here's a bit more context [1], it seems both Ruby and Coral were considered in part due to their connection with Perl, and in the end Ruby won because it "sounds better" and also because it's Matz's birthstone: 1: https://web.archive.org/web/20110717205734/http://blade.naga... Edit: this also provides a clue for Perl's naming, it's "related to a shell" (I don't know if th…
"Perl is the gem found in the shell"
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#19I can't shake a vague memory that Java was named in an early brainstorming session with post-it notes on walls with tons of good and bad names, where eventually Java remained as the winner. I believe I've heard about this as a prime example of good brain storming methods from the early days when it wasn't at all obvious. Does anybody know if this is right or if I'm confusing it with something else?
Java was originally called Oak.
Re: How Programming Languages Got Their Names
#20This list is disappointingly short. Here's a few more of the top of my head, feel free to expand the list! : C: a successor to B, itself derived from BCPL. C++: increments over C. D: a successor to C. LISP: LISt Processor. FORTRAN: FORmula TRANslator. ALGOL: ALGorithmic Language. Prolog: PROgrammation LOGique (logic programming in French). PHP: initially PHP/FI for "Personal Home Page Form Interpreter", later rebrand…
Perl: Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister
(it's actually a reference to the Parable of the Pearl, but that name clashed with PEARL, a real-time programming language from the 70s developed in Germany)