On Wed, Jul 2, 2008 at 4:01 AM, Craig Latta craig@netjam.org wrote:
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...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briareos_Hecatonchires http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecatonchires
but it's long :-)
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)]