2008/7/2 Craig Latta <craig at netjam.org>:
>
>> 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.
>

Yeah, Hydra could (small)talk a lot faster, because it having many heads.

- there is no Spoon nor a fork, simply because Hydra swallowed them both :)

>     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).
>

I don't share your point here. A name is quite relevant to computing:
if we going to talk with computers then to understand each other we
need something in common - a language. Small language, which we can
understand both and talk on it :)

And that's the most why i like smalltalk - it is small. It is
inherently easy to learn and talk on it. Maybe there other language(s)
which would make programmer's life as easy as smalltalk does. But i
didn't met them yet in my life.

>     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)]
>
>
>



-- 
Best regards,
Igor Stasenko AKA sig.