Apronyms
Apronyms => Apronym Discussion => Topic started by: Gavin Lambert on December 12, 2001, 08:25:30 PM
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I'm trying to come up with an acronym for my computer program, but I'm blanking.
I've got a program called PRAY which encodes files.
My program will decode those files, so basically it's reversing or undoing what PRAY did.
Two possible names for my program that I've come up with are YARP (PRAY reversed) and ATHEIST.
Of those, I think I prefer the first, but I can't come up with a decent acronym. The best I've come up with so far is Yet Another Reversal of PRAY, but while I like the ending the "YA" is totally wrong, since my program is the only one that exists :P
If anyone can come up with any ideas, please email me - I promise to credit you in the readme file if I use your suggestion! :)
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Hmm... it might be useful to know what PRAY stands for.
Yarely Access Resources (in) Package?
According to my dictionary, Yarely is an archaic word for promptly, skilfully.
ATHEIST: Application To Have Encoding Inverted... Sans Theology!
Although, perhaps to undo a prayer, CURSE would be more effective.
CURSE Can Undo Resource's Software Encoding
There's probably a better R word, but I can't think of it right now.
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Gavin Lambert wrote:
> I've got a program called PRAY which encodes files.
> My program will decode those files, so basically it's reversing or undoing what PRAY did.
> Two possible names for my program that I've come up with are YARP (PRAY reversed) and ATHEIST.
> Of those, I think I prefer the first, but I can't come up with a decent acronym. The best I've come up with so far is Yet Another Reversal of PRAY,
As the Process of encoding can be a Procedure for Protection (and is done by PRAY), in the following offerings I see the P as standing for:
PRAY, Procedure, Protection, Process
YARP
You Automatically Reverse P.....
You're Allowed Reverse P....
or
You Artfully Return (to) Previous
Welcome to this site, and we look forward to hearing more from you.
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Gavin Lambert wrote:
> I've got a program called PRAY which encodes files.
> My program will decode those files, so basically it's reversing or undoing what PRAY did.
How about a new angle...
Prayer is a human (or humans) talking to God
The opposite of prayer is 'revelation'
Revelation is God talking to human(s)
REVELATION
Reads Encoding Very Easily, Literally, And Turns It Out Normal
... and I imagine that your program will 'reveal' something.
BTW
Do you mean 'encode' or 'encrypt'?
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Wow! Those are some really great suggestions :)
Actually, at the moment I've been using:
Yet Another Ridiculous Program
but that has pejorative connotations I'd rather avoid :)
>>> On 12 December 2001 12:49:52 UTC, Tony wrote:
>BTW
>Do you mean 'encode' or 'encrypt'?
Technically, I guess, it's 'encapsulation'; the compiler takes several data files and an information file and combines them together into one super-file (which is called a 'PRAY file', hence the name). My program extracts the original files from the super-file (but it has to regenerate the information file, since that isn't stored verbatim).
Actually, the compiler can also compress the files when it merges them. My program doesn't handle that yet, but at the moment most files are uncompressed.
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Hmm... should I include these acronyms on the website? They might take a bit of explaining, but no more than, say, SHOVE OFF. I think the suggestions are creative and worthy of inclusion.
There is a subcategory of Computers:Macintosh & Newton:Software called 'Applications' which has names of apps such as SimpleText. I don't know what OS Gavin's program is for, but whichever it is I could have a subcategory of Computers:that OS:Applications named after whatever he decides to call the program, and it could contain our name suggestions. Sound good?
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Hmm... should I include these acronyms on the website? They might take a bit of explaining, but no more than, say, SHOVE OFF. I think the suggestions are creative and worthy of inclusion.
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It's fine by me :)
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There is a subcategory of Computers:Macintosh & Newton:Software called 'Applications' which has names of apps such as SimpleText. I don't know what OS Gavin's program is for, but whichever it is I could have a subcategory of Computers:that OS:Applications named after whatever he decides to call the program, and it could contain our name suggestions. Sound good?
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The program's for Win32 at the moment, though I'm thinking about making a Linux version (since the compiler is available on both).
As I said, at the moment I'm calling it Yet Another Ridiculous Program (hmm, some other amusing R-words might be Redundant or Reversal, or perhaps Rejuvenation, since I wrote this program because someone kept losing their source files...); I might change the name for the next release.
I really like both ATHEIST and REVELATION; I'm having trouble picking one :)
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Huh... I just noticed that I never really said what the program is for (just fairly general statements) :P
There's a game called Creatures 3 (and another called Docking Station, see ds.creatures.net) that's basically a really cool artificial life simulation. One of the things that it supports is the addition of new gizmos and things into its world through the use of specially-compiled addon files - the PRAY files.
A couple of people asked in the developer forums if a program to reverse this compilation existed (so that they could recover their accidentally-deleted source), and the authors responded that while they think such a tool would be useful, they didn't have one. So I wrote one for them :)
Incidentally, I find it really interesting how many New Zealanders (like myself) I run across on the Internet; several of the major fan sites of the Creatures series are based in New Zealand too...
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Hi Gavin,
Is there a web page about your dearchiving software (would dearchive be a good term, since there's no actual encoding?) which I could mention in the explanation of the acronyms? There's no policy against plugging other people's products when there are acronyms about them. :) Just look at all the Mac-related acronyms and, more recently, the Altscape ones.
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Is there a web page about your dearchiving software (would dearchive be a good term, since there's no actual encoding?) which I could mention in the explanation of the acronyms?
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Right now, it's just at the bottom of http://c3ds.ue.cjb.net/ - I'm planning to reorganise the site sometime... eventually... but that will probably stay valid for quite a while.
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I know this is not an anagram site, but did you know that Gavin Lambert
is an anagram of
vibrant gleam!
.... shine on!
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I know this is not an anagram site, but did you know that Gavin Lambert
is an anagram of
vibrant gleam!
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No, I didn't know that. Kinda funny, really :)
Incidentally, I've been thinking through the name for my program. I really like your description for REVELATION, but I just felt I had to to tweak it a little. Well, ok, a lot :P I wanted to incorporate the word "Agent", since the most common form of the compiled PRAY files are commonly referred to as agent files.
Here's what I've come up with so far:
Reads Each Visible Encapsulated Listed Agent, Translating Into Ordinary Normality
I think the "VEL" sequence and the final "N" need some work, but I couldn't think of anything better :(
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Hmm... since it's for an artificial life simulation, maybe it could be described as an Electronic Life Agent - I don't know about the V... unless you call it a Virtual Experimental/Electronic Life Agent. I don't know about the N but Original might be a better word than Ordinary, since it is useful for people who have lost their original source files and want to get them back out of the PRAY file. Original Notation perhaps? We need an N word for 'format' I guess.
So, putting it all together, something like:
Reads Each Virtual Experimental Life Agent, Translating Into Original Notation
or
Reads Each Visible Electronic Life Agent, Translating Into Original Notation.
or some combination of the two, or neither... Apologies if this is all nonsense, I should be asleep.
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As the original file is written.....
Reads Each Virtual Experimental Life Agent, Translating Into Original Narrative
... this must be the first acronym written by a committee which has never met!
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>>> On 16 December 2001 20:07:43 UTC, Tony wrote:
... this must be the first acronym written by a committee which has never met!
Which made think about the many acronyms created by two people who have never met, and look up 'committee' which is a group selected from a more numerous body (or the whole body) to which some special business is committed. Is that really what we are? The other definition, 'a person entrusted with the care of a lunatic or imbecile' seems closer to the truth... we should be committed! ;)
It also made me think 'Well, maybe we should meet! I can't afford to get to Ireland yet but I wonder where in NZ this Gavin is'
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Angela quoth:
<<<<<
Reads Each Virtual Experimental Life Agent, Translating Into Original Notation
or
Reads Each Visible Electronic Life Agent, Translating Into Original Notation.
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"Reads Each Virtual Electronic Life Agent, Translating Into Original Notation". That sounds perfect! (at least until someone comes up with a better one :])
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It also made me think 'Well, maybe we should meet! I can't afford to get to Ireland yet but I wonder where in NZ this Gavin is'
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I'm in Auckland.
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>>> On 17 December 2001 06:27:58 UTC, Gavin Lambert wrote:
I'm in Auckland.
so on that same day, Angela, who was not at all surprised, replied:
So am I - well, the North Shore anyway. There's quite a high concentration of acronymists in Auckland compared with the rest of the world, mainly because that's where my family and friends live.
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So am I - well, the North Shore anyway. There's quite a high concentration of acronymists in Auckland compared with the rest of the world, mainly because that's where my family and friends live.
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Me too. I'm in Milford, specifically. And I found your site through a general (world-wide) internet search, so it wasn't word-of-mouth :)
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I'm in the area known as either Bayswater, Belmont, Devonport or Takapuna. It's almost a pity you didn't find out about the site through word of mouth, since that would have meant a trail of other people you heard it through would know about it too.
What were you searching for? A web search for 'acronyms' usually yields a few pages of links to other web sites before this one. However, I've noticed that searching for my name brings up many pages about me or with acronyms by me before pages about the other Angela Bretts. Search for the name of any hall-of-fame acronymist and the first link you get tends to be, 'Acronyms by <name>' I doubt that gets me any traffic though, so it would be interesting to know which search terms did lead you to this site.
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The best acronymists come from Ireland though. (I've run across one or two in Nebraska though, mainly Balderdash players I've tried to convert from their more zany form of wordplay)
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>>> On 23 December 2001 16:06:17 UTC, Jeff Anonymous wrote:
> The best acronymists come from Ireland though.
This is very, very true in the singular, but I'm not so sure about the plural! ;-)
> I've run across one or two in Nebraska though
Run across?
MOTOR ACCIDENT
Met One/Two Others Recently As Car Crashed Into Drinkers Exiting Nebraskan Tavern?
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I'm in the area known as either Bayswater, Belmont, Devonport or Takapuna. It's almost a pity you didn't find out about the site through word of mouth, since that would have meant a trail of other people you heard it through would know about it too.
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Ah. Relatively nearby, but not especially so :) I've got relatives living in Devonport, too.
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What were you searching for? A web search for 'acronyms' usually yields a few pages of links to other web sites before this one.
>>>>>
I can't remember my exact search terms... I think I was searching for something like "creating acronyms" or "writing acronyms". Yours wasn't the first site (I think it came in around 25th), but all the others were obviously not what I was looking for. They were mostly lists of established jargon acronyms, rather than a way to get help writing my own (rather obscure) one.
Speaking of which, I'm just about to release my new extraction program (dubbed REVELATION - Reads Each Virtual Electronic Life Agent, Translating Into Original Notation). Most of that name was my own design, but since I've incorporated a few suggestions from here I've included a link from its website to yours. So you might get a few more visitors that way :)