Hacker News Reader

Comment by jdblair | Hacker News Reader

From a marketing perspective, "mold" meaning "a form used to cast an object from liquid" is a lot more appealing than "green fungus growing on bread." A mold for casting objects is also a lot closer, metaphorically speaking, to what a linker does.

I honestly thought that was the meaning the author was trying to evoke before I saw the picture on the github page.

View on HN

Author here. Haha, that's perhaps true. But at the same time, it seems like a tradition to give a silly name (e.g. "git") to a tool, and I actually like that name and the image to show that I'm not too serious. This is a fun project but not ready for production use.

Given the C was named because it was derived from B, I think there's an effective tradition in compsci of naming things by just playing with the letters.

M comes after G so the name tracks perfectly while also being weird and distinctive.

Sounds like you just need a multi-bump cake/jello mold like [1] with multiple "input spigots" pouring in with a "fast harden" aspect to have the perfect logo/name combo. Not sure how to convey rapid hardening with simple art, though... :-)

EDIT: You may just have to settle for speed/parallelism being conveyed by 2..3 spigots pouring in. :-) It's perfect - you can stay with moldy bread while it is a major work in progress and evolve to the more finished logo when your own work is "hardened" -- all without changing the name. ;-)

[1] https://www.foodandwine.com/cooking-techniques/baking/best-b...

> that name and the image to show that I'm not too serious. This is a fun project but not ready for production use.

I'm not sure if that image is the best way to communicate that status, given that the sudo sandwich logo exists (which coincidentally bears some resemblance to your moldy bread). A big bold "not ready for production" at the top of the README is probably a better way to achieve that.

The author has no such obligation, and "ready for production" is something that you would want to verify for yourself based on your evaluation of the project and your requirements.

Or it could be "bold".

Or “weld”.

Which I think might just be the greatest name for a new linker.

Winner.

For the record, a candidate for another name was "weld" as it joins pieces of data into a single binary. That's I think a good name, but I couldn't come up with a backronym.

That's fine, because it's not exactly clear what "ld" stands for to begin with. If anyone asks, you could just say that the W and E stand for "Weally Efficient".

Boston says: "Wicked Efficient"

Whickhed

How about "wildly experimental linking device"?

Edit: Had fun thinking up a couple others:

"whimsically eclectic logical design"

"willfully egregious lackadaisical decision"

"wise element location director"

"world exploring layout detector"

"wrong-headed exasperating liability defender"

"workaday execution layer developer"

"wonderfully elegant logistical delegator"

wildly exhilarated link editor

I was going to say: but the casting template is spelled 'mould' not 'mold'.

Looked it up and realised that the US spelling is actually also 'mold' https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis...

Moreover, the fungus is spelled 'mould' in British English: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/mould

Why wouldn't the fungus be spelt mould in British English? I'm just wondering if there's a reason beyond the natural surprise of finding variations, not trying to be argumentative.

I've just been interrupred while writing this to be told that America and Britain number calendar weeks differently (Britain follows ISO[1]) and that Apple's calendar is fixed to the US version. It never ends…!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_week_date

You gotta love the English language. Contradictions abound.

I wonder if this another Buffalo situation. Mold is also a place name...

On the other hand, Rust was apparently named after the fungus, not iron oxide. There seems to be a new category of low-level tools named after life forms that grow in ecological niches :D

How interesting. Doesn't the fungus get its name from the oxidized metal though and not the other way around? Mold the form and mold the fungus seem etymologically unrelated, however.

> Doesn't the fungus get its name from the oxidized metal though and not the other way around?

Huh, apparently so! So Rust-the-language isn't necessarily named after oxidized metal, but it _is_ named after something that's named after oxidized metal.

And what's the relationship between the programming language and fungi ? is it a root growing invading the world concept ? is it a pun on 'fun'-'gi' ?

https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/27jvdt/internet_archa... is the primary source here. Quotes:

> <graydon> fungi are amazingly robust

> <graydon> to start, they are distributed organisms. not single cellular, but also no single point of failure.

However, I will note that graydon uses words like "I think I" and "I remember kinda" and everyone says "yes this means this is 100% the source of the name" whereas I take it to be like, "this is one of many reasons that Rust is named Rust."

You also have to remember that Rust was a very different language in many senses back when Graydon was choosing the name, so allusions may not make sense now but may have then. Early Rust was much more erlang-like, which may make the above feel more relevant.

That's funny because BFD linker's original meaning was Big F**ing Deal. Linkers sure are marketable oddballs.

Would emulsifier roll off the tongue better?

It would likely get shortened to emu, and then we would all be wondering if it's an emulator or a large bird.

Also, everybody in australia would be leery of using it lest it win a war against them again.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com