# "New" application - call for names.



## fonz (Oct 11, 2009)

Apparently, the old xticktalk program has died. So I've decided to take it upon me to write a replacement for it (under a BSD license, of course).

For those of you who have either forgotten or never even heard of it: xticktalk was a small X app (there also was a console version, though) that displayed time. Not in the traditional analog or digital way, but through natural language. For example, if the time is currently 9:45 PM the app would display "a quarter to ten in the evening". Writing such an app for one particular language is of course fairly trivial, but the challenge lies in supporting several languages in such a way that a new language can be added easily by simply writing a description file for it that can be parsed by the program. Thus, languages can be added without involving any coding in the program itself. Which means that anyone can contribute a new language without having to be an expert coder or having to explain to a developer how the language works.

First thing I need is a name for this project. Below are some of my own ideas but feel free to pitch in, either by letting me know which name you like best or with suggestions of your own if you're feeling creative. If your suggestion gets chosen, you will of course be given due credit if you like :h 

Here's what I have so far:
speakingclock
telltime
xticktalk2 (not very original)
bsdtime :h
yasca (yet another speaking clock app)
Jinx (Jinx is not xticktalk)
I'm looking forward to suggestions,

Alphons


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## ale (Oct 11, 2009)

whattimeisit (or wtii)

As the output of the program is an answer to a question using natural language, I'd name it as the question.

More or less, like whoami.


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## Eponasoft (Oct 11, 2009)

I like jinx personally...it's a new name that inherits the original name by (dis)association, plus uses that age-old Unix tradition of recursive acronyms.


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## ale (Oct 11, 2009)

I prefer the other old UNIX tradition: having "talking" names (or contraction/abbreviation) for commands.
IMHO recursive names are over abused, especially when they are trivial.


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## fonz (Oct 13, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

I think I'll leave this thread open until the end of the week(end) or so, then I'll make the decision and start working on the next stage: designing a formal way to describe how to transform time into natural language (most likely something along the lines of a decision tree of some sort).

Alphons


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