Naming Things

One of my favourite jokes in software development is

There are only 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things and off by one errors.

A long time ago I came up with a bunch of alphabetical project names based on things from the Halo games/books. A bit like how Google used to name Android version after different deserts. I did this so I could easily “start” a new project without having to worry about what it should be called (also code names just sound cooler). This kind of decision paralysis is bad enough on solo projects, but even worse when there are more people involved. The other day a friend asked me for help on a project he’s be thinking about for ages at this point. I set up a repo so we can start sharing code and design notes, but what to call it. He didn’t have any suggestions, my brain started trying to come up with something that “sounds good”, whatever that means. Chat GPT gave some very poor suggestions. I realised what was happening before I wasted any more time. Name decision paralysis. Consulting the list of names past Mike named, I just grabbed the next one available. Now we’ll have to come up with a new reason to procrastinate project Onyx.

• Software Development
• Projects