So, being a developer and the systems manager hath its privileges. I get to wade through a convoluted process to come up with names of projects — and I get to apply them. Because, well, I can.
I’ve already rambled on more than once in the blog about desktop and server names, but I’ve never really talked much about coding projects.
Really, mainly that’s because the names are usually boring. And also that I/we thankfully don’t start many coding projects. Starting an application/project is not something to be taken lightly — and well, we already have what is likely too many projects anyway.
However, today I am taking the baby steps into a new rails project. Currently — our “Identity” project is serving as a hub of activity tracking. For a whole host of reasons, I’m thinking of separating the actual data collection and storage and “generation” of that data into a separate application (but leaving some of the views into that data within the Identity tool).
So, what to name it? We’ve named projects after Greek Words, the protagonist from a movie about a talking plant with psychological issues, and boring things like “project function.”
But this needed different. Our activity views are part of the idea of [freeranging][5] or [“work wide open”][6]. And after spending a few minutes in Google and Wikipedia trying to come up with names that were related to “free-range” and getting no further than pasture management strategies — I needed a new tack.
Our activity views are both a reporting/monitoring mechanism — but they are also an experiment in [workstreaming][7].
Hmmm…. streams. The [first free-associated “stream” idea that I had][8] was clearly NOT going to do.
So what’s the next most famous “streaming” idea? That’s right…
Dr. Egon Spengler: There’s something very important I forgot to tell you. Dr. Peter Venkman: What? Dr. Egon Spengler: Don’t cross the streams. Dr. Peter Venkman: Why? Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad. Dr. Peter Venkman: I’m a little fuzzy on the whole “good/bad” thing here. What do you mean, “bad”? Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Dr. Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal! Dr. Peter Venkman: That’s bad. Okay. All right, important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.
Hence, the new project for activity tracking, Google visualization, json data feeds, etc.
[Protonic Reversal][9]
And except for the ones brought to you by the stork, and the tooth fairy — is how project names happen. I mean, really, who you going to call?
(okay, sorry, couldn’t resist)
[5]:
[6]: https://rambleon.org/2008/10/18/work-wide-open/ [7]: http://blog.k1v1n.com/2008/11/freerange-tools-workstreaming.html [8]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands_in_the_Stream [9]: http://justcode.extension.org/projects/show/activity