• JackbyDev
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    1 month 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.

    • john89@lemmy.ca
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      1 month 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
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        1 month ago

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

        It’s not my analogy.

        • john89@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          Right… if you’re going to split that hair then you’re just proving my point.

          • JackbyDev
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            1 month 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.

            • john89@lemmy.ca
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              1 month ago

              I feel bad for anyone who internalizes it after hearing it from someone else.

              • JackbyDev
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                1 month ago

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

                • john89@lemmy.ca
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                  1 month ago

                  No, even adding it takes away from the explanation for the reasons I mentioned.

                  • JackbyDev
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                    1 month 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.