
“I have already used the name for my programming language” (2009) - scapbi
https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9
======
beltex
Note this is from 2009 (before Go was on GitHub, and thus the gopherbot
comment imports).

Apple ran into a similar issue with Swift.

 _" Looking for the Swift parallel scripting language? Please visit
[http://swift-lang.org](http://swift-lang.org) "_

[https://developer.apple.com/swift/](https://developer.apple.com/swift/)

~~~
fiatjaf
Like Go, Swift is a terrible name for a programming language.

~~~
SeanLuke
Why? Because it's a common word and difficult to google? I refer you to Java,
Python, Ruby, Scheme, Forth, and Lisp.

~~~
forty
I googled a few of those (including go and swift) and the first result was
always about the programming language. I would expect that most people
googling "go" would actually like to know about the game (and same for ruby-
the stone, python-the snake, and so on).

~~~
mikeash
Beware that Google is tailoring the results to what it knows about you. If I
Google "swift" from a normal window, Apple's main Swift page is the first hit.
If I do it from an incognito window, the first hit is the bank transfer
provider.

Of course, most people who are looking for the programming language will
probably be known to Google to be interested in that, so the result isn't
necessarily invalid, but neither is it universal.

------
Justsignedup
I mean these things are bound to happen. He does not have a trademark.

This is _not_ free advertising. Imagine someone bought his book thinking its
for google's "go" language. That is not a happy customer, that is an upset one
who wants a refund.

It would only be right for google to reach out and at least start a
discussion. If they don't sounds like they are just in the mindset of "we're
google, we do what we want" (which is kinda of not too far from the truth)

~~~
supermatt
Sure he has a trademark. Its just not registered.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unregistered_trademark](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unregistered_trademark)

~~~
nkozyra
Not my area of expertise, but I'd think "Go" would be very difficult to
trademark given it's a generic term.

~~~
johnnyfaehell
It's not very generic for a name. Remember "That's hot" got trademarked
successfully.

~~~
cozuya
Lets face it, golang has a lot of problems with generics..

~~~
nkozyra
Wow, I didn't even see it coming.

------
fiatjaf
"Go" is a terrible name, by the way. Google's own programming language is by
far the worst language to search on Google.

~~~
acomjean
>Google's own programming language is by far the worst language to search on
Google.

I always found this somewhat ironic.

It seems that when a language is mistakenly given a unsearchable name (go &
rust I'm looking at you) then searching with lang after works better (golang).

They should have just called it golang and been done with it.

~~~
mindcrime
_They should have just called it golang and been done with it._

Yep. For the life of me, I don't understand why they didn't either do that, or
change the name to "Issue 9".

------
MatthewWilkes
> Status changed to Unfortunate.

Wonderful.

~~~
Navarr
There are 160 issues labeled "Unfortunate."

~~~
daveloyall
I think all but two are related to golang. The other two issues are attached
to some project named iris.

------
mikeash
If you value uniqueness, don't name your stuff with the 49th most common
English word.

~~~
forty
Exactly. And I would suggest avoiding 2 letter words as well :)

------
eridal
If you don't know who McCabe is, he was most know for his software change
control, TrueChange[0] .. which was a huge pain in our development process ;)

0: [http://www.mccabe.com/cm.htm](http://www.mccabe.com/cm.htm)

------
lubomir
Looks kind of similar to the situation where Apple released their Swift while
there already was a language with that name [1]:

1: [http://swift-lang.org/main/](http://swift-lang.org/main/)

~~~
rdsnsca
At least Apple acknowledged that their was another language named Swift.

------
pknerd
Ironically Googlers could not google the name before picking it for their new
language.

------
batbomb
Go could consider renaming themselves to GoGo, GoScript, Gopher, Go Jr, or Go
Starship.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
GoGoGadgetPrintln?

~~~
mcv
I would totally support a language where all basic statements are methods of
an object called GoGoGadget.

------
asadhaider
ThoughtWorks also have a continuous delivery platform called Go[1].

[1] [http://www.go.cd/](http://www.go.cd/)

------
meesles
Considering this is 6 years old, I think the general rule is you have to
actively work to protect your IP or you lose it. Unless this guy got some
lawyers, I don't think there's much to be said here...

------
guide42
It's also a board game.

[http://senseis.xmp.net/?Go](http://senseis.xmp.net/?Go)

But Google already knows that. The game has been played for more than 4000
years.

~~~
DonaldFisk
It's actually two board games. There's also Waddington's Go:
[http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7097/go-international-
tra...](http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7097/go-international-travel-game)

Which proves Francis McCabe's point. Before naming something, it's a good idea
to see if someone's already given something in the same category (a board
game, a programming language) the name you thought of. And nowadays, we have
search engines such as Google that can be used for this ... which Google could
have used.

It's now also a good idea to make sure your name is easily searchable. Go is a
common stop word ... so maybe that's why Go! failed to show up when searched
for?

The decent thing for Google to do is to return McCabe's language in search
results if the user types in Go! with the exclamation mark. It has no trouble
returning the programming languages when C, lisp, or basic are entered. Better
still would be to rename their language to Golang, its alternative name.

------
frou_dh
Not sure what the submitter's intention is in linking a 5 year old bug report.

An issue that's easy to form a drive-by opinion on, so, bikeshedding fodder?

------
dhimes
From 2009.

------
JustSomeNobody
Change it to golang. They're already using that commonly.

------
Graham67
go-one go-two

------
Graham67
go two

