Language names, goals, and other lofty ideals

[clayasaurus]

kris wrote:
> Leading on from the Mascot and D/Java topics, I went hunting for this 
> quote from Don Knuth:
> 
> "The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A 
> language will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented 
> a very good name and now I am looking for a suitable language." -- D. E. 
> Knuth
> 
> Wonder if he had the name "Dude" in mind? <g>
> 
> 

D is a good recognizable name, at least as good as C and C++. Call it 
something else and it is not so obvious it is a C derivative language.

> Along the way, I stumbled upon one of PG's essays that looked 
> interesting enough to pass along. It has some thoughts on what makes a 
> language popular: http://www.paulgraham.com/popular.html
> 

He seems to like macro's and 'dirty' languages, I don't think he'll like 
D. For the case of D needing an 'environment,' I think D is suited to 
take over C and C++'s environments. However, I agree that a book would 
help D's recognition quite a bit, but I guess that can't happen until 
the language is stabilized. I agree with his piece about early adopters 
and I believe they are a necessary part in order refine features and 
catch bugs; D is still in early adopter stage, and I think the D 
community knows which buttons to push once D goes 1.0 :D

      __
    _(  )
   ( (-) )
    \---/
    |+ +|
   -++++-
  /  D   \
/ Volcano\
__________|
- Book's   \] <-- buttons to press to explode D volcano
- Articles  \_
- GDC --> GCC \_____________/\_______________
- Libraries, Projects, Cool D template code  \
- Tutorials                                   \
- Word of mouth                                \
- C++Ox : D discussion sure to ensue >:)        \
____/\____/\_____________________________________\_______
The pressure is slowly building while the smoke fumes.