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Project rename

2011-08-11
2012-10-26
  • Horea Haitonic

    Horea Haitonic - 2011-08-11

    Hi all,

    I would like to correct a mistake I made when starting this project: choosing
    a name.

    PyCmd is (and has been from the very beginning) a poor name to say the least;
    moreover, a newer project emerged
    (http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pycmd)
    for which 'pycmd' is a much better fit. I therefore think it's high time to
    try to come up with a better name.

    So I ask you all to post and discuss name suggestions here; possible names may
    or may not be acronyms, may or may not contain "sh" (more or less customary
    for a shell), may or may not contain "w" or "win" (for "Windows"), may or may
    not be an actual word, etc. Here's my current list for a start:

    • wes (Windows Enhanced Shell)
    • wysh
    • swan

    Please add suggestions and/or comments; you should probably do some googling
    to make sure there are no obvious collisions (or other drawbacks).

    Any idea is welcome -- thanks in advance!

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    How about:
    - cmdplus
    - cmd++
    - cmddr (= "cmd done right")
    - cash (as a portmanteau on "cmd" and "(b)ash")

    Good luck with the choice!

     
  • Blackwell

    Blackwell - 2011-08-12

    cmd++, etc. turn up things on Google, so it should be more unique perhaps.

    Since it remains such a close relative to cmd.exe perhaps the name should
    express that, to avoid that people go "oh no, not yet another shell
    (incompatible with cmd.exe)...". (And yes, "PowerCmd" seems in use already,
    for an improved cmd.exe (but GUI based) variant.

    Also, since Windows users are less familiar with the term "shell", I would
    avoid that as part of the name, perhaps.

    • NGCmd (Next Generation Cmd)
    • ImprovedCmd
    • BetterCmd

    For such artificially assembled names Google comes up with hits for "better
    cmd.exe?", too. But we are not afraid of the competition, are we? :)

     
  • Blackwell

    Blackwell - 2011-08-12
    • NiceCmd
    • GentleCmd
    • GoodCmd

    (Oh well, I am a one track mind.)

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    order.exe?
    "order" being a semi-synonym of "command"

     
  • Horea Haitonic

    Horea Haitonic - 2011-08-12

    For some reason, I prefer the names that are not based on 'cmd' -- I guess I
    tend to "downvote" them instinctively as they feel hard to speak aloud.
    Avoiding the term "shell" is a valid point, albeit not a strong one -- our
    target consists mainly of power users, they probably know what it means.

    'cash' is nice, although probably not easily searchable; also, there's some
    (far fetched) overlap with GNU Cash.

    'order' seems to vague/weak, imo. But the idea of synonyms of 'command' is
    good, I'll try to look for more.

    Thanks for the suggestions, keep'em coming :)

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    How about "c-shell"? As an abbreviation of "c(o)m(man)d shell" but of course
    sounding like "seashell".
    A fitting seashell icon would also be nice :)

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    How about a recursive acronym? Even a self-denying one (in the tradition of
    GNU and LAME)?
    For example: zinc = "zinc is not cmd"
    (GNU = "GNU's not Unix"; LAME = "Lame Ain't an MP3 Encoder")

     
  • Horea Haitonic

    Horea Haitonic - 2011-08-12

    "C shell" is taken since at least 20 years -- this is one of the oldest shells
    in the Unix world :)

    "Zinc" I really like (with or without the explanatory recursive acronym); it
    yields some collisions (there's at least a software library at http://www
    .psa-software.com/gui_hmi.html)

    but it seems far enough to not be an issue.

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    To avoid confusion you can always add a tagline like so: "Zinc, cmd.exe done
    right", or something similar.
    Everyone will still just call it "zinc" but it may help with searchability and
    may keep lawyers at buy ;-)

     
  • TravisAlan

    TravisAlan - 2011-08-14

    I like Zinc and Cash. I have no sound logic to back me up, but they roll off
    the tongue well and they had some sound origins.
    It seems that Horea has sided with Zinc?

    Oh and...
    C Shell. That made me laugh.

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    Recursive algorithms have a long history beyond GNU and LAME: http://en.wikip
    edia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym

     
  • bdumitriu

    bdumitriu - 2011-08-16

    I like zinc as well.

     
  • TravisAlan

    TravisAlan - 2011-08-17

    @thorx:
    Thanks for the information on recursive acronyms*, is this in support of your
    previous argument?
    Because it almost seems to be criticism of your previous post.

    *Not "recursive algorithms." That info is here.

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    Oops I meant recursive acronyms and not algorithms of course. (I guess the
    mix-up is due to the fact that I'm currently writing a computer science
    thesis:-).

    Anyway, the wikipedia link was not meant as criticism, just to give some
    background info.

     
  • Horea Haitonic

    Horea Haitonic - 2011-08-17

    How about "charge" (as in being in charge/command)? There's no acronym backing
    it up, but there's some semantic overlap instead. For me, it has a nice ring,
    maybe better than the current favorite "zinc" (that is occasionally hard/weird
    to pronounce in some constructs: "using zinc")

     
  • TravisAlan

    TravisAlan - 2011-08-23

    Charge sounds good. I think there will have to be some explanation explicitly
    stated though. (As with the others). I think I actually like a synonym better
    than an acronym. I even did a thesaurus search after reading this to see if
    there was a more fitting one but you seem to have hit on the best in the list.
    I would like more input from thorx though. He seems to have a lot of input in
    this project and I value his opinion.

     
  • Matthias Stevens

    Thanks for valueing my input travis.
    Charge sounds good, but I like zinc better. But maybe that's just a pride
    reflex ;-)
    Maybe we should hold a poll?

     
  • TravisAlan

    TravisAlan - 2011-08-27

    A poll sounds like a beautiful idea. We will have to leave it open for at
    least five votes though. (Assuming we can get that many. This project does not
    seem to be extremely popular among the masses.) Can we do this on Sourceforge
    or will we have to use an external resource? I know that SurveyMonkey allows
    users to hold free custom surveys. Horea?

     
  • Blackwell

    Blackwell - 2011-09-12

    Hello.

    I would advise against a common term as the name (at least not in a common
    spelling).

    For example, imagine you want to search for all articles on the web that
    concern themselves with PyCmd / zinc...give it a try...you'll have to do some
    Google foo to weed through the many results that you will get.

    I think the ideal name also generates no hits at Google (for starters). (That
    way almost all future hits will apply to it.)

    Clemens

     
  • Horea Haitonic

    Horea Haitonic - 2011-09-20

    Clemens, your remark is correct but I think we have too many constraints
    already; I, for one, am willing to concede the uniqueness of the name (I think
    that ranking up on searches like "Zinc cmd" or "Zinc shell" is good enough).
    So "zinc" still remains my favorite -- unless you come up with some
    suggestions to go along with the remark you posted.

    How about Zync? Zink? ;)

     
  • Blackwell

    Blackwell - 2011-09-20

    Hello Horea,

    CiMDahl (only 3 hits at Google!)

     

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