Another reason is that people will _care_ about Shelob. It builds a community. They wouldn't care about an InternalWebCrawler.
Either they'll care or it will catalyze their hate of it. Strong names lead to strong emotional responses.
Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
71–80 of 339 posts
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#72Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#73I do like the Intel code names like Tiger Lake, Light Peak and Ivy Ridge. They evoke some kind of combination of Manhattan project megaproject and just-charted territory.
I don't like them - they were OK when talking about 6-8 chips in 3-4 generations. But after the 30th different lake you get thoroughly confused. Apple did it better, switching from big cats to big cliffs after ten releases...
Going from cool felines to places you fall from or wreck your ship into is an interesting analogy for OS X evolution.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#74My favourite example of how this can go sideways is BlueJeans - video conferencing software. There's probably some cultural context I'm missing here, but I asked around in the office and got a different answer each time as to why it would be named like that. That was 9 years ago and I still don't know BTW.
I'd say it gets the worst of both worlds, or maybe even worst of three worlds. It is long, it is cryptic, and it actually leads you down the false path of trying to guess why jeans and why they're blue. I mean if you go with cryptic then at least call it something short and obviously cryptic. "Chrome" good, "VersatileGopher" bad. PS Yes I know that Chrome actually has an explanation, but it does not sound like it mea…
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Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#75I like the distinction between tools and products here.
If it's a product, by all means think about brand including a creative name. Might be vaguely related to the service, like YouTube, or completely wild, like Starbucks.
If it's mostly a tool, being descriptive is just good SEO. You are not ever becoming a "household name" with a recognizable name when you are just supplementing a library supplementing a framework (or similar), and there is no reason to strive for that. "Django REST framework" shows up naturally when I google "django rest" and that just benefits both sides.
If you are in between the two, opt for the middle: TweetDeck, MailChimp.
That's my two cents anyways..
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seems that names for projects follow the same rule as troll names in the japanese light novel Overlord. Short names, like "Gru" were reserved for the most powerful trolls because there were only so many combinations of three letters. Long names on the other hand were a sign of weakness and cowardice - bringing ridicule to those who introduced themselves like that.
Sed and awk kind of sound like high-level troll names.
Both of which cower in fear when vi strolls by.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#77Also, unique. Or at least unique-ish. Whoever named the ML thing "transformer" deserves a special place in hell. So many intriguing headlines, so few things worth reading. (I'm an EE, so I'm very interested in the other transformers. For some reason, the headlines for these things scan like they could apply to either. Alas, they don't.)
The EE transformer is just as descriptive than the ML transformer. Your complaint is similar to cryptography conference attendants hating the word ,,crypto'' to change from cryptography to cryptocurrency, but that's just the natural evolution of language with technology (not mentioning that the original meaning of the Greek word is hidden/secret).
Does naming a public ledger 'hidden/secret' really make sense?
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#78> CO_Cron: Despite the name, uses node-schedule rather than cron. That seems like a bad example. I've often googled "cronjob foo" for how to schedule something in foo. Seems like "cronjob" is a general term for scheduling now.
I think cron is short for chronos which is Greek for time. Chronological, chronograph, etc. So a cron job is simply a job that happens at a particular time.
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the point still somewhat stands. Imagine a “UserProfile” service. It’s accessed from everywhere to show the handle name, address, icon etc. of your user. Your application grows and your users want way more customization, now they get personas and avatars and can show different profile to different people. Those are full of breaking changes that you want to isolate from the legacy “UserProfile”, how do you nam…
UserProfile2
Us3rPr0f1le
Re: Software component names should be whimsical and cryptic
#80Also variables.