Transcript should be called Transcript

[Devin Asay]

On Aug 13, 2009, at 7:18 AM, DunbarX at aol.com wrote:

> There was a short thread just a little while ago where it was  
> mentioned
> that the name of the language itself was important. That is, in  
> order to be
> taken seriously, to compete with C++ or Fortran, in other words to  
> break away
> from the hobby-like persona of Hypertalk, the name of the language  
> had to
> convey power.
>
> Had to, since it did not appear arcane in structure and syntax, at  
> least be
> named like it was raw machine code.
>
> Forget substance.
>
> HT was saddled with "scripting" instead of "programming" (note my  
> use of
> quoted literals)   to make it seem less daunting. On purpose,  
> imagine. This
> greatly contributed to its relegation to being kids stuff.  
> "Hypertalk" already
> sounded like a skateboard. It was the "Hyper", I guess.
>
> Forget substance. (note the verbosity). Mention fun or elegance at  
> your
> peril; it will not be taken seriously.
>
> Human beings (in my opinion the worst sort of people) probably need  
> the
> language to have a power name. Sort of like a power suit. I spent an  
> evening
> playing Rev with a "real" programmer who never heard of it. He loved  
> it,
> asking me about inheritance and polymorphism. We wrote gadgets ALL  
> night, playing
> especially with expression evaluation, which blew him away. He learned
> fast. Really fast. One convert.
>
> I vote for Transcript. It already exists and is no more homey than  
> Java. It
> is a strong, no-nonsense name.

You all saw Kevin's post. It's a done deal: revTalk.

Craig, here's why I think your (and others') concerns are probably  
outdated:

Scripting: Maybe it was a dirty word in the '80s and '90s. But that  
was then. Today we have JavaScript and ActionScript. Even "real"  
programmers take them seriously. So "scripting" doesn't carry the  
negative connotation it used to.

HyperCard and HyperTalk are ancient history. The new generation of  
programmers might have heard the names, but probably know next to  
nothing about them. People will judge Revolution on its merits when  
they see what it can do. And they'll project their impression onto the  
scripting language, whatever it's named. Do you think your programmer  
friend will think Rev is less cool when he hears revTalk?

That said, the switch from Transcript to Revolution barely caused a  
blip on the radar screen. I don't think this change for the scripting  
language will either.

My $.02.

Best regards,

Devin

Devin Asay
Humanities Technology and Research Support Center
Brigham Young University