Pekka
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As a little diversion, I offer a quick quiz for people who have some programming background. It is about the names of programming languages. People have named programming languages in various ways, and many of these names have other unrelated meanings.

I've collected several descriptions of these names below. You have to guess which language is intended. In some cases the description follows what the language creator(s) actually intended, but in a few cases there is some punnish indirection involved. Perhaps this will inspire someone to design their very own language, which should be a snap now after the proper naming techniques of the professionals have been revealed

There may be several answers to some questions, but I always have one language for each question clearly in mind as I write this. Any fitting answer will be acceptable (you may want to explain some obscure connections). There are no prizes, though I may have a couple of rating points in reserve for people who come up with good or creative answers.

Which programming language is ...

named after a famous engineer?
named after a compound of aluminum and oxygen?
named after a flesh-eating monster in Arabian mythology?
named after a large body of water?
named after a speech defect?
named after an island?
named after a British comedy troupe?
named after a satellite?
named after a religious philosopher?
named after a type of sailing ship?

And a bonus:

Which language is not named, but rather numbered?

bdwing
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I only know a few of these and probably don't really know as many as I think I do.

Pekka wrote:
Which programming language is ...

Click here to view the secret text

×
named after a famous engineer? I want to say Ada, but that's probably not right.
named after a compound of aluminum and oxygen? Ruby. (I had to google for this.)
named after a flesh-eating monster in Arabian mythology?
named after a large body of water?
named after a speech defect? Lisp.
named after an island?
named after a British comedy troupe? Python.
named after a satellite?
named after a religious philosopher?
named after a type of sailing ship? Clipper?

And a bonus:

Which language is not named, but rather numbered? Forth.

____________________________
In the words of Cyndi Lauper:

"Until it ends, there is no end."

Fafnir
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I realise I may be reaching slightly for a couple of these!

____________________________
Stupidity kills.
Absolute stupidity
Kills absolutely.

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[Last edited by Fafnir at 07-11-2008 01:09 PM]

Znirk
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Pekka wrote:
named after a large body of water?

Or, to be exact, after a big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in?

eb0ny
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(Some of) My answers:

EDIT: URL fixed.

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[Last edited by eb0ny at 07-11-2008 05:23 PM]

Someone Else
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Eb0ny, you're link fails because you don't have a </url> tag. (replace < with [)

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[Last edited by Someone Else at 07-11-2008 04:36 PM]

Pekka
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Znirk wrote:

Pekka wrote:
named after a large body of water?

Or, to be exact, after a big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in?

Um, yes! This phrase in fact also describes many programs I have written in it, though I have usually used a rather different word in place of mermaids.

Some comments:
The engineer I had in mind I don't think a mathematician counts as an engineer, but some other suggestions aren't so easy to criticize.

The satellite fits many languages, but I was specifically thinking of the one

I wager you've heard of

The numbered one could also be

The one I had in mind for a ship was what bdwing guessed. The others were also generally either what I expected, or equally good.

Thanks for the interest everyone.

Briareos
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eb0ny wrote:
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_(pattern_matching_language)]Tom
(BTW, why link here fails?)

Because for some reason you have to escape the parenthesiseses in URLs, like so:

Tom

( -> %28
) -> %29

Someone Else wrote:
Eb0ny, you're link fails because you don't have a </url> tag. (replace < with [)

Uh, actually that was an URL tag right there in his post...

np: Apparat - Arcadia (Walls)

____________________________
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
R.I.P. Robert Feldhoff (1962-2009)

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[Last edited by Briareos at 07-11-2008 04:44 PM]

mrimer
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Pekka wrote:
named after a famous engineer?

I'll put on a pedantic hat here and say that the language wasn't really named after a speech defect, but it's a fun way to put it for this game anyway. Carry on!

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Znirk
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Pekka wrote:
named after a satellite?

named after a religious philosopher?

Someone Else
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Briareos wrote:

Someone Else wrote:
Eb0ny, you're link fails because you don't have a </url> tag. (replace < with [)

Uh, actually that was an URL tag right there in his post...

np: Apparat - Arcadia (Walls)

No, I meant to end it. (and in your quote it shows there isn't one)

AtkinsSJ
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named after a famous engineer?