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Europe's first geostationary sounder satellite is launched

(www.eumetsat.int)
201 points diggan | 3 comments | 05 Jul 25 14:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.41s | source
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ArneVogel ◴[05 Jul 25 14:25 UTC] No.44473027[source]▶
I think this is the first time I have seen the .int tld used.
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diggan ◴[05 Jul 25 14:30 UTC] No.44473047[source]▶
It isn't super popular, no. I think the requirements are pretty strict if I remember correctly (edit: https://www.iana.org/domains/int/policy).

I think esa.int is probably one of the more popular .int domains on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=esa.int

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readthenotes1 ◴[05 Jul 25 15:15 UTC] No.44473320[source]▶
It would have been better if the requirements also included the domain name had to start with a letter between I and N (inclusive).

But I guess this is what you get when these things get away from technologists.

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1. jfengel ◴[05 Jul 25 15:29 UTC] No.44473424[source]▶
Ah, a Fortran joke. That's not just "technologists". That's old farts.

(In Fortran 66, variables didn't have to be declared. They would be integer if they began with I, J, K, L, M, or N. Otherwise it would be floating point [REAL, in Fortran parlance]. To this day it's why for loops usually use "i". With the bonus joke that God is real unless declared integer.)

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2. spauldo ◴[05 Jul 25 21:58 UTC] No.44475907[source]▶
I think that's still the case, even in the latest FORTRAN standard. It's usually considered good practice to turn it off with IMPLICIT NONE.
3. mkl ◴[05 Jul 25 22:20 UTC] No.44476051[source]▶
Maths is the reason for loops use i. Fortran defines variables starting with those letters to be integers because maths has used those letters for iteration, counting, indexing, etc. for centuries. It was natural for a formula translating system to follow suit.