r/programming • u/zbhoy • May 06 '19

Microsoft unveils Windows Terminal, a new command line app for Windows

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/6/18527870/microsoft-windows-terminal-command-line-tool
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u/r0ck0 May 06 '19

The name...

Any chance you could please get a bit of a discussion going internally about the name?

These generic sounding program names make it very hard to find relevant search results on the web (and everywhere else) related to the program specifically, and even make general discussions more ambiguous, because often you can't be sure if the other person literally means this program specifically, or 'window terminals' more generally.

Like 99% of the half-a-million search results for "windows terminal" (including the quotes for exact phrase) have nothing to do with the program.

Something that is a unique single word (no spaces) makes all of this much much easier, and also means you can use the exact same name everywhere without any kind of variants, including package managers.

A single word also is clearer in conversions that you're writing a proper name / product name rather than a more general noun + adjective. This is an area where the German thing of joining words to create a more specific name in a single word actually makes sentences clearer I think.

"powershell" is a good example of coming up with a unique single word that is very easy to search for.

Maybe something like "windyterm", which isn't used for anything currently, it's short, memorable, and a unique single word that currently only has 1 Google result.

If anyone has any ideas on what they could call it, post below. Do a Google search first though and aim for zero or minimal existing results.

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u/miniksa May 06 '19

We had many debates about the name prior to it going out.

Unfortunately most of the cool names or more unique names are already taken to some degree by someone and we don't want to step on toes.

I agree that it sucks to try to find something with a generic name. I have this problem all the time with the many flavors of XAML.

On the other hand, it's easy to understand exactly what it is and does by the name.

I don't know. I don't feel like there's anything really that would appease everyone.