Is it too late to change the name of this language?

[Jonathan M Davis]

On 2011-06-18 01:49, Manfred Hansen wrote:
> Benjamin Lindley wrote:
> > I'm new to this language, and so far, I really like it.  But that name
> > is unsearchable.  Don't you guys think that hinders the language from
> > catching on?  Yes, you can search for D Programming Language, but that
> > doesn't help find pages where the author only calls it D.  Is it too
> > late to change the name?  Possibly deprecate it?
> 
> Yes, i think it is a good idear.
> 
> This questions pop up sometimes earlier, i read this newsgroup
> since 2003.
> 
> My feeling is that renaming the langauge would be better for publicity,
> but Walter didn't do that.
> 
> I think the language should at least 3 character.
> 
> Maybe we should vote to keep the old or for an new language name.

It was originally the Mars language, but because it was effectively C+++, 
people kept calling it D, and the name stuck. There have been 2 books 
published on the D programming language. Lots of people have heard about D. 
The fact that its name is D does indicate to people that it's related to C 
and/or C++. It's a known and recognized name even if not all that many people 
have really tried the language out. Yes, the name sucks for searching, but 
changing it at this point would be lose a _ton_ of name recognition, and it's 
quite possible to search for "d programming" or "d programming language." 
Perhaps the language really should have stayed as Mars, or maybe it should 
have had a more unique name than that, but at this point, it's far too late. 
We'd lose _far_ more than we'd gain at this point by changing the name. That 
ship has long since sailed.

However, if you really think about it, how many successful programming 
languages have particularly unique names, and for how many programming 
languages was their success at all tied in with their name? I mean C, Java, 
Python, Perl, Ruby, etc. These are all names which would be horrible to search 
for if it weren't for the fact that their so big at this point a large portion 
of the hits is for them instead of the words that their names come from. As D 
grows, it will eventually be in the same category as them, and even searching 
for plain "D" will give many more hits. It just takes time. And we'd do far 
better to stabilize the language and libraries and make them fantastic so that 
people will _want_ to search for it and use it than we would to go and change 
the name. Ultimately, the name doesn't mean all that much. What matters is 
what the language can do and how much people use it.

- Jonathan M Davis