Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 21:38:16 -0500

From: Gerald Cohen gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU

Subject: Re: "Java"



First, thanks for the messages on "Mudville." I've forwarded them to

Robert Smith of the _Boston Globe_ and will ask that he send me a copy of

whatever he writes on the subject. If in fact he does so, I'll let you

know what he says.



In the forwarding of the messages I somehow inadvertently sent Dan

Marcus' message back to ads-l. Sorry about the mishap.



Now to "Java." Barry Popik has recently treated this word in a few ads-l

messages, and I would like to add a footnote. An article in the German

news magazine _Der Spiegel_, Nov. 4, 1996, p.243, contains an interview

with the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Scott McNealy, in which he tells

how the computer language "Java" received its name. McNealy of course

spoke in English, which _Spiegel_ translated into German. Here is the

German version and then my translation of it:



SPIEGEL: Wie sind Sie auf diesen merkw=FCrdigen Namen gekommen? (How did yo=

u

come up with this peculiar name?)



MCNEALY: Ich glaube, wir haben sie so genannt, weil bei der Entwicklung

irrsinnig viel Kaffee getrunken wurde. Au=DFerdem waren alle anderen gut

klingenden Namen schon per Copyright gesch=FCtzt. (I believe we called it

that because while we were developing it we drank a terrific amount of

coffee. Besides, all other good-sounding names were already copyrighted.)



--Gerald Cohen



gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu