Solaronite renamed to Bowfin
I've never been completely satisfied with the name "Solaronite" for my web framework, so I have been trying to think of a new name for a while. Naming software is hard, because it seems that most of the good names are taken! The most important criteria in a name are that it be relatively unique and that it impart a positive first impression. Uniqueness is not an absolute, but you don't want a name that conflicts with the name of some other software, product, or company. You want your project's site to come up when people enter the name in a search engine, so you don't want it to be too generic either. As for imparting a positive impression, this is more subjective. A good name rolls off the tongue, and possibly has some connection to what the project is, to make it memorable. Acronyms can sometimes make good names, but you don't want to force it too hard, or that's what people will focus on.
I came up with bowfin, eventually, by looking up a list of words that have "wf" in them, for "web framework", and choosing among the ones that I liked. Some other contenders were "dewfall", "cowflop", and "newfangled". Okay "cowflop" fails the positive impression test, but there are different aesthetics you can go by, and I didn't go with that one anyway.
So if the "wf" stands for "web framework", what does the rest of it stand for? I decided to leave that open for interpretation — remember, not forcing the acronym, haha. Here are some suggestions:
- Best Of Web Frameworks (Implemented Nicely)
- Backronyms Obviously Won't Fit It Neatly
Have other ideas? I'll keep a list of the best ones.
So a bowfin is a type of predatory freshwater fish, of a lineage that goes way way back. Whatever. Nice name, and I just wanted to announce, for those of you following this project, that the name has changed and all filenames and urls have been updated accordingly.