> I think "String" is a much better name. Strings are composed of
 > threads.

      But the word "string" is so overloaded, especially in computer 
science. It seemed to me that Igor was looking for a name that would 
evoke "multi-headedness", and "Hydra" certainly does that. I don't think 
it falls into the same category as names like "Zeus" or "Thor", which I 
assume were symptomatic of power fantasies with no further meaning. It's 
the lack of meaning that I see as the problem, I think the mythic 
quality is otherwise irrelevant.

      While were at it, though...

 > Smalltalk comes from Alan Kay's distaste for the kinds of names people
 > were using for programming languages in the 60's & 70's, names like
 > Zeus and Thor.  Hence Smalltalk.

      I think "Smalltalk" was a terrible choice. Pretty much everyone to 
whom I've mentioned it thinks it's too long, and it immediately makes 
them think of annoying obligatory chit-chat, something they hate (as 
either speaker or listener).

      And how unfortunately ironic would it be to act with such 
deference to an authority figure expressing his distaste for authority 
figures? :) I don't think we should treat Alan Kay like a god, either...

      Oh, and Cog is a great name. :)


-C

--
Craig Latta
improvisational musical informaticist
www.netjam.org
Smalltalkers do: [:it | All with: Class, (And love: it)]