
The Best Name Ever for a Computer Language - stevoski
http://blog.pokercopilot.com/2010/02/best-name-ever-for-computer-language.html
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max_wall_2000
Tech has a misogyny problem? No way.

> It took some years for me to realise that Linda was named after the porn
> star Linda Lovelace. It was a subtle joke and allusion to Ada by the
> language's designers

Try and read this and then explain how this is an appropriate "subtle joke",
"allusion to Ada [Lovelace]" and "best name ever for a computer language":

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Lovelace#Charges_against...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Lovelace#Charges_against_Chuck_Traynor)

~~~
CodeMage
_sigh_ I know I shouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole, but I really don't
think overreactions like these help anyone.

First of all, sexist jokes are a bad thing, but we need to keep in mind the
meaning of the word "misogyny": _hatred_ of women. While sexist jokes
desensitize men to sexism in general, which can _lead_ to misogyny, the knee-
jerk reaction you're having is beginning to resemble crying wolf.

As for the name Linda, it is a clever reference to a person who shares the
same surname as the person for which another programming language is named. No
doubt the choice of the person was motivated by that person's fame and no
doubt that choice was immature, unprofessional and sexist. Likewise, calling
it a "best name ever for a computer language" is probably equally immature and
unprofessional.

But the fact is that the reference really is clever and a subtle joke. I agree
with you that it's not appropriate, but it's not really the reason to cry
"misogyny". Criticizing the OP for being childish, unprofessional and sexist
would have been enough without trying to demonize him.

~~~
max_wall_2000
> First of all, sexist jokes are a bad thing, but we need to keep in mind the
> meaning of the word "misogyny": hatred of women.

You are correct in that the definition of misogyny is the hatred or dislike of
women or girls. Misogyny can be manifested in the denigration or sexual
objectification of women and in entrenched prejudice against women. From
Wikipedia (first item in the definition) "Misogyny .... is a central part of
sexist prejudice and ideology and, as such, is an important basis for the
oppression of females in male-dominated societies. Misogyny is manifested in
many different ways, from jokes to pornography..." (Allan G. Johnson).

The attitude expressed in the linked article is that pornography is an
appropriate (and amusing) subject to link to something to be used in academic
and professional contexts. Further, that it's amusing that pornography is
linked to a prominent woman simply by virtue of her surname. In doing so,
those who named the programming language and those who find it amusing are
denigrating both Linda Boreman and Ada Lovelace and expressing and normalising
the attitude that this is amusing and appropriate. I find this a clear case of
misogyny.

> I really don't think overreactions like these help anyone.

I don't think it's an overreaction, and I would think that the appropriate
reaction is to condemn these instances of misogyny. In doing so, hopefully we
can create an environment and industry less hostile to women and girls. I'd
say that would help quite a few people.

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gjm11
The page says, about C#,

> C#, which is also a musical note one semitone higher than C.

Which is true enough, but am I the only person to think that the original idea
must surely have been to signify "(C++)++", with the two "++"es one on top of
the other? (See: [http://imgur.com/8On6Stn](http://imgur.com/8On6Stn))

[EDIT: Thanks, _wtetzner_ : apparently Anders Hejlsberg had the good taste to
agree with me :-).]

~~~
wtetzner
[http://www.donnfelker.com/how-did-c-get-its-
name/](http://www.donnfelker.com/how-did-c-get-its-name/)

------
yorhel
Agree with the article; Linda is great, both the name and the project. It was
one of the more interesting topics of a Distributed Systems course that I
followed, but I never ended up using it (or its concepts) in practice due to
the performance overhead.

As a nitpick: Perl is originally not an acronym, the language used to be
called "Pearl".
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl#Name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl#Name)

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GotAnyMegadeth
I'm currently designing a Hardware Description Language. I'm probably going to
call it Vee, because it's main competitors are VHDL and Verilog HDL, which
have the same acronym. So mine will be VeeHDL. I'll HN it when it get nearer
to completion.

PS I am aware no one says Verilog HDL...

~~~
reeses
When you release it, if it is good, I will curse your name (hah) when I try to
google for information and get back 10,000,000 near misses.

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snowwrestler
No mention of TCL, pronounced "tickle"? This was the scripting language used
in the ArsDigita Community System, one of the first commercially available
platforms for database-backed websites.

~~~
VLM
This is a good point, that some languages cross barriers. Tool Control
Language is just another acronym, but "tickle" is a funny one.

~~~
reeses
There are a number of TCLs (usually job control shells similar to
JCL/DCL/etc.) but for some reason they never get called "tickle" the way Tcl
does.

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jwarren
What exactly is so brilliant about naming a programming language after a porn
star, especially one famous subjected to sexual abuse? How on earth is it a
"subtle reference" to Ada Lovelace? What do they have in common, apart from
both being women? I don't understand the premise for this article.

~~~
JulianMorrison
They have a surname in common, it seems.

The article calls Linda a porn star, but she became an anti-porn activist. I
call sexism on the article for childishly thinking that loose association with
sex makes something "best ever", and double sexism for failing to acknowledge
her choice to _stop_.

~~~
jwarren
Oh, good point on the surname. Don't know how I managed to miss that.

Totally agree on the rest of your comment.

~~~
reeses
"Oh, good point on the surname. Don't know how I managed to miss that."

Don't feel bad. You were not the only one.

------
nhebb
I personally like that PHP originally stood for _Personal Home Page_. Love it
or hate, it's pretty cool that a language with such humble roots rose to such
widespread use.

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gnuvince
Clojure is probably one of my favorite language name ever; it's an homonym of
an extremely important concept in the language, the 'j' in the name refers to
the Java/JVM ecosystem and it's very easy to google for.

------
_pmf_
> A reworking of C++ became D

Hey, this is pretty offensive! D is a clean and nice language, compared to the
comparatively train-wrecky C++.

~~~
ginko
> There are only two kinds of languages: the ones people complain about and
> the ones nobody uses.

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frankcaron
I've always been partial to "Lua". It's as fun say as it is to work with.

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minikomi
I heard that the perl name also is an allusion to it being found primarily
within the shell.

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omegote
> So a successor language to C was C++ (Like C, but a bit better)

C++ is not a bit better than C. It's a whole lot better (for most situations,
that is).

~~~
gjm11
Of course, in C, "C++" actually means "add 1 to C, _and then use the old
value_ ". (After executing C=3; D=C++; the value of D is 3, not 4.)

~~~
Roboprog
Yep, and I bet you've maintained that project as well: "//" comments, and
that's about it.

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jere
Maybe it's because I've been watching too much _Justified_ , but I really
liked hearing the "Harlan" announcement.

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moomin
"BODOL" is pretty funny.

