• JackbyDev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    45 days ago

    How is it dumb? Ham and hamsters are two totally different things but sound similar. Java and JavaScript are two totally different things but sound similar. It’s a way to immediately explain to a non technical person in a way they can grok.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -35 days ago

      It’s dumb because it can’t be reliably extrapolated to other instances.

      It’s perfectly reasonable for someone to think Java and JavaScript are related. It’s not reasonable for people to think ham and hamsters are related.

      This is a result of badly naming something because the ECMAscript creator wanted to ride the coattails of the ‘hot new thing’ at the time, which was Java.

      For example, people shouldn’t immediately doubt whether Godot and GodotScipt are related because Java and Javascript are not. Your hamster analogy falls apart here because it only describes an exception, not a rule.

      • JackbyDev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        34 days ago

        Your hamster analogy falls apart here because it only describes an exception, not a rule.

        It’s not my analogy.

          • JackbyDev
            link
            fedilink
            English
            34 days ago

            I’m not splitting a hair, I’m just telling you I don’t feel that strongly about it because I’m not the one who made it. I’d never heard it before.

              • JackbyDev
                link
                fedilink
                English
                34 days ago

                It doesn’t have to be the whole explanation. It’s not like you get a singular sentence to talk to someone lol.

                  • JackbyDev
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    0
                    edit-2
                    4 days ago

                    “It’s like ham and hamster. Totally unrelated. But that’s just JavaScript, other BlahScripts are related. There was this crazy advertising push for Java back in the '90s that they took advantage of for name recognition.”

                    Still a very succinct and straightforward explanation.