A new, generic but poetic name for "code objects"

[juliendorra]

The programs edited by users in the Programmer and send to the Paysage Playground are called Code objects in the documentation.

Informally, following the success of the Code Creatures workshops based on Paysage, we often refer to the programs as Creatures.

Both are unsatisfactory:

Code Objects is more a reflexion on the design of the code base, where isolation and separation of concern is our main drive. But in reality, it doesn't convey a lot of meaning, especially for users. It is not fun nor poetic (compared to the name of the project, Paysage).

Creatures is too narrow. What about using text in Paysage? or maybe just sound? Abstract art? By telling them about Creatures, there is the risk that users identify and reduce Paysage to programming animal-like drawings without exploring other behaviors and visual possibilities.

@telohtrab for example had this idea of adding a set of plants to complement his creatures.

We need a lasting, interesting and motivating name, a name that convey what Paysage is about — a live visual sandbox to create together.

It needs to: make sense in the documentation, be useful orally when we explain Paysage, and to fit well in the user interface too.

One sub-goal would be to replace the [Go Live] button with [Send ---- to Paysage]

So, to start with some ideas — here's my list. Please extend it with other crazy name ideas :-)

• Bubbles

• Pops

• Entities

• Animas (twisted latin, plural should be animae. Soul, spirit, breeze https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/anima#Latin°

• Code Souls

• Kami (Japanese for the gods/spirits animating the elements of nature https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami)

• Anito (Philippine name for spirits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anito )

• Obake (Japanese for creatures that changes shapes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obake)

• Jinn (English transliteration of Arabic for supernatural creatures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn)

• Yaomo (Chinese for a strange demon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoguai)

• Kodama (Japanese spirit inhabiting trees. Fun because it coincidentally sounds like code and is related to the idea of Paysage)

• Drawings

• Sketches (let's go back to our Processing roots)

• Paxels (for Paysage Elements, similar to Pixels, Voxels…)

• Fragments

• Codettes

• Codetti (singular: codetto. Yes, it's the italian diminutive postfix https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-etto)

• Codette (singular: codetta. Italian again but feminine gender)

• Coditta (singular: codittum Latin this time, Or another variation, codittus, coditta, etc. playing with gender and inflections https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ittus https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ettus)

[etienneCharignon]

I don't know if it is a good idea, but I created a survey using framadate. Here is the administration page so that you can vote but also add new columns if you have new ideas.

This is a mean to do a "dot voting" on propositions. 5 votes by personne, you can vote multiple times for the same (by adding multiple lines with the same first name). This is juste to give some information for the final decision that might not take it into account :-).

https://framadate.org/OqEzSyBe72OdwuNm2DoGQQWc/admin

[juliendorra]

I was more interested in what you like and what you don't, and about the reasons you feel like that :-)

@etienneCharignon as there is some names you like and maybe see yourself using, and some other names you don't see yourself using: Can you say what you find interesting in the ones you might like? And why you dislike the others?

[etienneCharignon]

Animas (twisted latin, plural should be animae. Soul, spirit, breeze https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/anima#Latin°

I like this one very much because it is close to "Animals" and to "Animations".

Kodama (Japanese spirit inhabiting trees. Fun because it coincidentally sounds like code and is related to the idea of Paysage)

I like this one. I hear "Code Panorama". However, I'm not very seduced by using Japanese words (It does not talk to me very much). But, after all, the name will become a symbol so the sound of the word is more important than it's origin. I'm not sure about the interface beeing in english more than french or only pictural or any other language and then why using Japanese for only one concept ? Is there any other connection to the Japanese culture in Paysage ?

Paxels (for Paysage Elements, similar to Pixels, Voxels…)

I like the idea of Paysage Elements and I'm very pleased that you found (made?) a word for it.

Fragments

I love that word. Very musical. It remind me about the Daft punk song "Fragments of time".

A fragments is a very small, but essential, part of something that could not exist without it. Also the fragments has no life out of the big thing it belongs to.

As a cons, "fragment" is also referring to something broken. That's one of it's definition.

Paysage elements

I've added that last one. If we allow ourself to use two words (as in "Code objects"), this one is very explicite. Unfortunately this is long. It has too many letters. In the code, "Code objects" tends to be shortened to "co" or "objects" what I find not very nice.

[elefevre]

How about this one?

• Sprite/Lutin

This would be in keeping with the terminology in Scratch, which some children might/will know.

From the original list, I do like Animas :-)

[juliendorra]

@elefevre I thought about sprites, but it conveys (traditionally in computer game design) the idea of a single character, a single contained animated graphic.

In that regard it's not much better than creatures.

Sketches vs. Sprites is an interesting way of seeing the conceptual difference between Scratch and Processing. One is for more for drawing on the screen, the other more for moving small… sprites.

We are more on the Processing side of this divide than on the Scratch side.
But probably the existing example don't reflect that enough.