71–80 of 180 posts
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And off-by-one errors.
Off-by-one errors only affect good programmers. Otherwise you just add enough of such errors that all the under- and over-summing cancels out. 7 years ago, when I was a new programmer, I did use a technique like that to fix some JavaScript. I feel brave confessing that.
"We could ship a browser in a year" he missed the second part "thanks to work done on kHTML which we based it on"
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Well, it fits with the theme. "Safari" is Swahili for "journey" or "trip" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safari#Etymology ) That fits it in with the browsers of the time: Netscape Navigator Internet Explorer I would guess the code name 'Alexander' came from 'Alexander the Great', who not only traveled a lot, but also conquered, just like Safari was aiming to conquer the Internet. They must have ignored the 'die young…
What hasn't anyone developed a browser, and just called it "Browser"?
At Maxis, we didn't arrive at the totally obvious name The Sims until very late in development. At first there was the secret development name, Project X, but everybody had a Project X, and we certainly couldn't ship with that. Then there was Jamie's obvious name, Dollhouse, which was quite descriptive, but boys would hate it. Then there was Will's quirky name, Super Happy Friends Home, which only the Japanese would…
I think many of you in the Hacker News crowd will recognize this problem that I'm yet to find a solution to myself: mkdir [blinking cursor] Then 30 minutes passes and you didn't end up making that thing anyway since you got distracted while thinking up a name for it.
I always start with a codename. And for the longest time I've used the surnames of foreign scientists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_scientists
But why is the icon a compass though?
That’s one of those things that make perfect sense to me. I’m mystified in what respect that would not be a fitting icon. It’s certainly better than an “e”.
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I always start with a codename. And for the longest time I've used the surnames of foreign scientists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_scientists
We use Pokemon. The reason? Nobody gets too attached to the name Jigglypuff.
Also I'm pretty sure that they make new Pokémon faster than anyone starts projects...
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There are only two hard problems in Computer Science: Cache invalidation, and naming things.
And off-by-one errors.
Just for some perspective, in my time at Apple "It doesn't suck" was usually the highest form of praise possible.
I guess at some point one intellectually reaches a no-return state where due to some Dunning-Kruger corollary you find everything you do sucks to various degrees.
It follows that "it's brilliant" is much less impacting than "it doesn't suck" since the former, while authentic, may feel shallower in the reasoning that led to it.
[0]: http://www.mutt.org
Calling the browser 'Safari' is weird, if you think about it. I remember trying to teach my mom how to use the iPad to access the internet: "First press the home button" "Ok" "Now tap on Safari" "But I don't want to see animals" "..." And that's when I realized why Internet Explorer was so successful.
If we do not count the typical geek crowd (HN, /. etc.), then I am pretty sure most people go online to do exactly that: go on a safari, see animals (baby animals! cats! cats! dogs! cats!), babies, and Facebook is sort of a safari, allowing you to observe your online friends in their natural habitat. ;)