"Python" is not a good name, should rename to "Athon"

[MonkeeSage]

On Dec 3, 5:39 pm, "Russ P." <Russ.Paie... at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 3, 2:40 pm, "Terry Reedy" <tjre... at udel.edu> wrote:
>
> > Until the OP posted his lastest 'why', I assumed this proposal was an April
> > Fools' post that he just could not wait to post.  In fact, given that the
> > effective cost would be in  the $millions, I an still not sure he is sanely
> > serious.
>
> I doubt you really thought that. I think you just want to make the OP
> feel like a fool. Do you feel better now? Where are the sensitivity
> police when they are needed?
>
> I find it interesting that someone can claim that Newton was not a
> scientist and be taken seriously on this site, but someone who
> suggests changing the name of a programming language is ridiculed.
> That's ridiculous.

Whether Newton was a scientist is a matter of opinion (mainly
regarding one's philosophy of science, and more specifically, the
demarcation problem); whether to change the name of python is a matter
of pragmatics. It's much easier to show that something is
pragmatically wrong (e.g., costs extra money with no overall gain),
than to show that someone's opinion about a complex matter is wrong.

On my view of "science," Newton was a scientist (as is anyone using
the tools of discursive reasoning and empirical observation; even if
they don't strictly follow the "scientific method"). That's all great.
But my opinions have nothing to do with the fact that it makes no
pragmatic sense to change the name of python. It is a foolish (or
"unwise" if you want a more "sensitive" euphemism) suggestion.

The suggestion, in syllogism (w/ conjunctions of the first premise
broken into separate premises 1-N):

1 Python is not taken seriously because of its "joke" name
2 great people of the past deserve honor
3 it would get better publicity with a different name
N ...
N' we want to be taken seriously, &c
Ergo, the name python should be changed to name X

It is easy to prove that premises 1-N are either true or false (or
pragmatically irrelevant, which can be considered as false to preserve
bivalence). So far, no compelling reasons have been given to think
them true, while several counter-examples and contradicting facts have
been given for thinking them false. Thus, a name change is
pragmatically stupid. QED.

Regards,
Jordan