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Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by BerislavLopac on Thursday February 08, 2024 @04:35AM (#39300033)
There is also C#, where # represents a duplication of "++", on top of each other. Technically, the # is not the sign for the musical sharp key (♯), but "C sharp" sounds better than "C hash", "C pound" or "C octothorp". :)

Edit: On an unrelated note, TIL that the sign used on telephone keys is also not #, but ⌗ -- a.k.a. the "Viewdata square" [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewdata#Keypad_symbols:_the_s...

Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by Y_Y on Thursday February 08, 2024 @04:37AM (#39300049)
I assumed they just meant to comment out everything that came after C.
Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by fluoridation on Thursday February 08, 2024 @12:56PM (#39305173)
Then it would be called C// or C/*
Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by fhd2 on Thursday February 08, 2024 @05:15AM (#39300293)
And then there's F#, which _does_ play on musical notation. But I suppose F is also for "functional".
Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by zogrodea on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:51PM (#39307522)
The F there is for System-F! According to Don Syme, although I don’t personally know what System-F is. https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/12/f_6_were_making_f/

Don Syme is a pretty cool guy from what I’ve seen online too. He enjoyed supporting and attending Migrateful (UK charity where refugees/asylum seekers teach cooking classes) which I’m appreciative of in particular.

Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by kevindamm on Thursday February 08, 2024 @06:30PM (#39309271)
System F is a polymorphic lambda calculus, it's more theoretical than practical (typing must be explicit or type inference may be impossible) but a restriction of its typing scheme is one you may have heard of, and the Hindley-Milner type inference algorithm works for it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_F

Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by topaz0 on Thursday February 08, 2024 @10:37AM (#39303147)
# may not be the same glyph as musical sharp, but the language name was indeed intended to have a musical interpretation, according to the wikipedia.
Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by MisterTea on Thursday February 08, 2024 @10:38AM (#39303161)
> Edit: On an unrelated note, TIL that the sign used on telephone keys is also not #, but ⌗ -- a.k.a. the "Viewdata square" [0].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_keypad#Layout

"The key labeled was officially named the "star" key. The key labeled # is officially called the "number sign" key, but other names such as "pound", "hash", "hex", "octothorpe", "gate", "lattice", and "square", are common, depending on national or personal preference. The Greek symbols alpha and omega had been planned originally."

Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by psunavy03 on Thursday February 08, 2024 @11:15AM (#39303717)
I'm now imagining an alternate world where Twitter/X introduced us to alphatags or omegatags.
Re:How Programming Languages Got Their Names by bitwize on Thursday February 08, 2024 @12:29PM (#39304825)
Twitter borrowed the # convention from IRC channel names, not telephone keypads.