I take attendance by having the students answer a question.
If you created an algorithm, what would you call it?
Most people went for a legacy:
- [student's own first name]sort
- [student's own first name]algorithm
- [student's own last name]
- [student's own full name]3000
- [student's last name] method
- [student's last name]'s Algorithm
- Make[student's first name]OnTime
Then some people went for a bizarre name:
- golden
- Goat
- BifghkaJKHSTY
- cheeseburger
- transform
- apples
Then some people went for a straightforward "impossible to say what this algorithm does":
- The Best Algorithm
- Algorithm
- Algo I
- Algorithm X
My favorite was the "extremely possible to say what this algorithm does":
- something descriptive
This post's theme word is maecenatism (n), "patronage". None of today's forward-thinking algorithm designers has favored maecenatism in their naming scheme; how is modern-day artisanal algorithm design to thrive without this historical source of support?
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