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Re: [zzdev] Re: :zz: Orthoplex or Hypergrid? You decide



-- Oops, resent because I initially hit "reply" instead of "reply to
all." Sorry! --


Leslie Carr wrote:
> I guess it depends what the intention is: what are we trying to communicate,
> and to whom. My gut feel was that 'orthoplex' was a good name because it
> sounds technical rather than whimsical, and because it is (partly)
> self-explanatory. 

To me the only thing it (strongly) connotes is orthopedics; and indeed,
the website at www.orthoplex.com sells orthopedic braces.

> I feel comfortable with putting "orthoplex" or
> "orthoplectic software" in a funding proposal or technical article.

Well, I have a different perspective there: I do not care much about
sounding technical; I care about a word that sounds interesting to
someone who hears it for the first time, that does not sound overly hard
to grasp (in order not to make people stay away from it), and that
communicates at least some aspect of ZigZag interesting to a user. (I'm
pretty sure "orthogonality" is not an interesting property to most
users.) I do not see a problem with putting any of the other proposed
terms in a funding proposal or a technical article, but then, this just
shows that our perspectives are different.

(Of course, once people are used to the name, whatever it will be, these
considerations won't be very important any more-- they won't mind the
word in either a technical article or in day-to-day use. The question is
most interesting as long as we're talking to people who don't know the
concept yet.)

> The naming of cats is a xxxx matter; it isn't just one of your everday games

I'm sorry, but I do not get that reference.

- Benja