How did the names of popular programming languages come about?
The histories of some languages are known, others less so. Some were named according to corporate naming rules, others were the fruit of the team’s long creativity, and still others were names taken out of thin air. In this article I have collected funny stories about the appearance of some of them.
Java
Java was developed by James Gosling while working at Sun Microsystems in early 1991. While thinking about a name, he looked out his office window for inspiration and thought, “Why not call it Oakin honor of the oak? “. Having reasoned that the name Oak carries the risk of difficulties with trademark registration, Sun Microsystems organized a brainstorming session to find a new name.
“The goal was to find a name that would sound revolutionary, lively, dynamic, easy to pronounce and memorable,” Georges Saab, vice president of Java development, told The New York Times. The idea for the name Java came from cups of Javanese coffee fueling the brainstorming session. Java, or Java in Indonesian, is the name of a large island in Indonesia where strong, dark and sweet coffee is grown. Its name comes from the Sanskrit word yavadvip, yava meaning barley and dvipa meaning island. Since the 19th century in American slang, the word Java is sometimes used to refer to a coffee drink. The name is also fitting because “programmers drink a lot of Java,” said Jim Waldo, a Harvard engineer who worked at Sun Microsystems.
Other contenders also included: Silk, DNA, Lyric, Pepper, NetProsse, Neon, Ruby, WebRunner Language, WebDancer and WebSpinner.
JavaScript
JavaScript was created at Netscape Communications by Brendan Eich in 1995. He was tasked with creating a scripting language for use with Netscape’s flagship browser, Navigator.
At the time, the most popular language for the web was Java. Java was developed by Sun Microsystems and was known for its ability to run on a variety of platforms and devices. Netscape decided to create a new language specifically for use in web browsers to make it easier for developers to create interactive and dynamic websites while maintaining compatibility with Java.
The project was implemented by Netscape in partnership with Sun Microsystems and the new language was initially called Mocha, and later renamed LiveScript. The name LiveScript was chosen because it was intended to be a more lively and interactive version of Java.
However, when Netscape released the first version of their browser to support LiveScript, they decided to rename the language JavaScript. The Java brand was already known in the market, so the name JavaScript was not accidental, although it has little in common with the original Java. “The name is a complete lie,” Eich told Computer in 2012. “In fact, in terms of syntax, it is closer not to Java, but to its common ancestor, C.”
A conflict arose between Netscape and Sun Microsystems on this basis, which resulted in a licensing agreement: Sun Microsystems allowed Netscape to use the JavaScript name in exchange for Java support in the Netscape Navigator browser.
Python
When creating Python, Dutch developer Guido van Rossum wanted to find “short, unique and a little mysterious” name for the new language. At the time, he was avidly reading published scripts for Monty Python’s Flying Circus (Monty Python’s Flying Circus), a BBC comedy series from the 1970s, which gave him the idea for the name Python.
“The name was a good marketing decision, although I didn’t realize it at the time,” van Rossum wrote in blog in 2016 – “I simply wanted to pay tribute to the satirical genius of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and in 1990 I did not attach importance to this decision. Nowadays, I am sure that “brand research” firms would happily take “You will be charged a very substantial fee for explaining exactly what complex of associations this name evokes in the subconscious of a typical client. But my decision was just the fruit of frivolity.”
Perl
Perl was created by American developer Larry Wall in 1987. He initially chose the name Pearl (pearl), because I thought it was a short and memorable word associated with positive associations. Also, this is a reference to parable of the pearl from the Gospel of Matthew. However, Larry discovered that a language called PEARL already existed, so he changed the spelling to Perl.
Later, the name Perl had decodings, for example Practical Extraction and Reporting Language (convenient extraction and representation language). And Larry himself is in the documentation Perl stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister (pathologically eclectic garbage sorter).
Ruby
Ruby was created by Japanese developer Yukihiro Matsumoto, known as Matz, in 1995. Influenced by Perl, he also wanted to use a gemstone in the name. Words “diamond” (diamond) and “sapphire” (sapphire) seemed too long, so he chose between Ruby and Coral. In the end he chose Ruby (ruby)because this one stone corresponding to month of birth his colleagues. By lucky coincidence, ruby comes next in the monthly sequence after Perl: pearl in June, and ruby in July. It seemed symbolic to him that Perl’s successor would be called Ruby.
C and C++
The C language was born at Bell Labs in the 1970s and is the brainchild of an engineer named Dennis Ritchie. The name is not inventive: C was so named because it was based on language B (which in turn was a simplified version of the BCPL language).
Later, in 1983, another Bell Labs programmer named Björn Stroustrup proposed C with Classes, which was later renamed C++. Of course, they could continue the boring tradition and call the new language D, but “++” is a reference to the variable increment operator in C. So C++ actually means “C+1”.
C#
The C# language was born at Microsoft. Its name is pronounced “B sharp” (i.e. C-sharp). According to Anders Hejlsberg, who created C# in 2000, C# was almost called COOL, for C-style Object Oriented Language, but the name raised copyright concerns.
“We wanted the name to be a nod to the heritage of the C language, and we ended up going with C#,” Heilsberg said in a 2009 interview. “The other candidates I remember were eC, Safe C, C-square, C-cube, C-prime, C-star and Cesium… Looking at them now, I think we made the right choice.”
Rust
Since the main translation of this word, “rust,” seems unexpected for an innovative software product, the name of this language at one time gave rise to many theories. For example: contrast with the word chrome, which is sometimes used to describe user interface elements; the fact that the language relies on old software solutions, avoiding invention (which is partly true); and a reference to large factory mechanical units. In fact, founder Graydon Hoare was inspired by this name rust mushroomswhich amazed him with their incredible adaptation to survival in different conditions (for example, some of them have as many as five stages of the life cycle in which they are able to live on plants of different species).
Kotlin
The language, released by JetBrains in 2011, was originally called “Jet” by the team. But, as in previous stories, this name could lead to difficulties with trademark registration. The search for a name was difficult, the team could not come to an agreement. At some point, one of them, Dmitry Zhemerov, suggested the name Kotlin, after the island near St. Petersburg. The name was to my liking because, on the one hand, it continued the tradition of using the island in the name, started by Java and continued by Ceylon, and on the other, it was related to St. Petersburg, where JetBrains was based.
As for the origin of the island itself, until 1703, when the troops of Peter I established control over the island, it bore the Swedish name Ketlingen, which possibly comes from the Low German kettel, meaning “cauldron”. After joining Russia, it was renamed Kotling, later shortened to Kotlin.
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