this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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The name C++ is an inside joke as ++ is the C language increment operator, meant to imply that C++ is an improvement on C.
I have heard several times that the name C# was meant to look like the ++ had been added again to the name C++. The syntax of C# was chosen to be familiar to programmers that knew C++.
If we are saying old languages use letters for names and that newer ones use words, it is worth noting that C# was also heavily inspired by Java, which came first. Both Java and JavaScript are from 1995 ( iolder than C# ).
In the grand scheme, Go is not much newer than C#. Go is from 2009 and C# is from 2000. That might seem like a lot but Go was intended as an alternative to C which is from 1972.
C got its name as a progression over B, which started the whole single letter thing, but C syntax was chosen to look like ALGOL ( 1958 ). So we have to blame ALGOL for the look of C, C++, Java, C#, JavaScript, and even Rust.
Two of the oldest languages as FORTRAN and Lisp. Language names were often abbreviations ( such as FORmula TRANslation for FORTRAN ). Lisp was originally LISP ( list processing ) but the name Lisp, from 1960, fits right in with Go and Rust I would say.
The trend is certainly towards more whimsical names though. An early name for C was NB which stood for “New B”. If it were named like we do today, maybe it would have been called “Newbie” or some synonym of that. I kind of like Punk.