John O'Conner's Blog

Groovy? Are you serious?

You've seen the titles in the bookstore: Rock Gardening for Dummies, Needlepoint for Dummies, etc. If ever I'm tempted to pick one of them up, I quickly put it back on the shelf...and of course I could never let myself actually buy one regardless of the quality. OK, I know that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover (or title), but I just can't get past the name. Something about dummies just offends me, or maybe targets me just a bit too accurately on some subjects. Whatever the reason, I'm affected by the name, and yes, I'm a little ashamed to admit it. I wonder how many others are affected in the same way.

Now for another secret...deep breath...I'm affected similarly by Groovy. You know...it's the latest Java-like scripting language that targets the Java platform. Yes, I think the platform could use a quick, easy scripting language. I've no problem with that idea. I don't even have an issue with Groovy, the actual tool/language/environment. But couldn't it have a different name? Groovy? I wonder how many people have just overlooked it so far because of its silly name? Is it irresponsible to overlook it for that reason? Yes, most definitely. But will some of you? Come on, be honest. Doesn't the name put you off just a little? Can serious professionals use something that sounds so silly?

Comments

• good post
  Nice blog entry. It's the associations the name brings that puts me off:
  I haven't looked at it at all - I agree with you that the intention sounds great, but with a name like that, I just assumed it's a geek's pet project, not something I can justify spending serious time on.

  Posted by: lee_ on April 27, 2004 at 01:43 AM

• Other words and phrases
  I'm afraid with me it's American technological marketing speak that annoys me :

  Leverage
  Solutions
  Empower
  'touch bases'
  'thinking out of the box'
  'out of the box experience'
  restructuring (i.e. redundances)

  Particularly words used in other contexts like, 'We'll talk about it offline'.

  Posted by: uhf on April 27, 2004 at 03:20 AM

• Silly names
  Hmm.... That wouldn't be anything like naming a language after the colloquial term for coffee would it... not that that seems to have affected its popularity.

  Posted by: dkfn on April 27, 2004 at 03:47 AM

• Name critique
  Not that a name really matters, but... I find the Java space really suffers from people taking themselves waaayyy too seriously and benefits from some levity.

  It's bad enough that Java is -thought of- as slow and cumbersome, but dull too is the third strike.

  Posted by: steve on April 27, 2004 at 04:59 AM

• Oh Boy!
  I agree with you 100%! Plus, when you look at some of the "gotchas" it does make you wonder if they ARE smoking something.

  Posted by: zatoichi on April 27, 2004 at 05:46 AM

• Wow man! How cool!
  I am a child of the 60's and can't help myself... I kind of like the idea of being a "Groovy Programmer" :-)

  
  Peace!

  Posted by: johnreynolds on April 27, 2004 at 07:03 AM

• Suggesting a name
  The Groovy folks seem to think this is only a provisional name, so you can suggest your own here:

  http://wiki.codehaus.org/groovy/GroovyNameContest

  I like these suggestions:
  Lapsang
  Jasmine
  Jazz

  I think the names Jasmine and Jazz have already been used for Java products, but maybe not very well-known ones?

  Posted by: lucretius on April 27, 2004 at 12:57 PM

• I love the name -- keep it!
  If you ask me, it's the best project name to come out recently. I'm certainly tired of acronyms and various coffee-related names. And I hate any new project name that starts with a J in order to try and 'match' with Java. "Groovy" actually piqued my interest because of it's name, so there. But, unlike the geezers that actually remember the 70's, I didn't grow up in the disco era so I have no positive or negative connotations. "Groovy" works for me, and I hope they keep the name!

  Posted by: gerryg on April 27, 2004 at 02:15 PM

• Joovy better?
  Uh, lets see. JScript? .. hmm .. too close to Java Script. JSL (Java Scripting Language)? Joovy? ..at least got the sacred J letter. Jammin? Better...

  The fact is most of the java names are pretty bad. We're wearing out the "J" key .. maybe Groovy's not so bad!

  And I find it one of the best of the java scripting languages so find Groovy not at all inappropriate!

  Posted by: backspaces on April 27, 2004 at 10:28 PM

• Ever heard of google?
  Simple and attractive names stick; its clear you are a developer since the general public thinks differently about this name.

  Its just as silly as google (the name), and you don't use that for the same reasons, do you? :)

  Posted by: zander on April 28, 2004 at 07:14 AM

• I like Scooby
  Scooby brings nicer recollections than Groovy. But you have too admit that having experience in Groovy scripting languages might be a plus with boomer hiring managers.

  Posted by: depeupleur on April 28, 2004 at 10:27 AM

• Google is a math term bud
  and Yahoo is a actually a reference to Jonathan Swifts "Gulliver's travel", whereas Groovy is most lately related to Austin Powers mojo-speake

  Posted by: depeupleur on April 28, 2004 at 10:32 AM

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