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Programmers and software developers lost the plot on naming their tools

(larr.net)
311 points todsacerdoti | 1 comments | 11 Dec 25 18:06 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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TehCorwiz ◴[11 Dec 25 19:05 UTC] No.46235653[source]▶
The author should read up on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_hedgehog_protein or maybe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boaty_McBoatface both of which are actually scientifically important things.

Amiga famously had a custom ASIC called "Fat Gary" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_custom_chips

I really could go on about this. Names are only useful for distinct identification. They need to be distinct within their domain. Otherwise they're just an index into a list.

replies(1): >>46235806 #
1. lr0 ◴[11 Dec 25 19:15 UTC] No.46235806[source]▶
Sonic hedgehog is a terrible example this case. Researchers literally had to tell parents their children had mutations in the "sonic hedgehog gene." The scientific community recognized this was a problem and it's a widely-known controversy. It's cited as an example of bad naming in medical ethics discussions.

Boaty McBoatface? officials overrode the vote to name it after David Attenborough. The actual research submarine got the joke name. Again, this proves my point.

Fat Gary was an internal chip designation that never needed to be public-facing. Perfectly fine.

"Names are only for distinct identification" if efficiency was not at a question. Why use worse identifiers when better ones cost the same?