[plt-dev] `rico' and ".rkt"

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 12:13 PM, Neil Van Dyke <neil at neilvandyke.org> wrote:
> * I agree that it's good to have the "#!" executable be called "racket".
>
> * I'm ambivalent about having a monolithic "racket" or "rico" command.  A
> small downside is that monolitic does feel more like a closed platform.  A
> small upside is that it looks (deceptively) friendly in demos.
>
> * I suspect that "rico" will make Googling harder, in multiple ways.  I'd
> suggest avoiding racketeering puns, and incorporating "Racket" or some
> abbreviation of same into every executable command name.  Examples:
> "racket-setup" "racket setup" "rkt-setup" "rkt setup".  This also makes it
> easier to find for people who find commands for software they know the name
> of by doing filename completion (a few Scheme implementations have this
> small usability failing).

I like having a single command instead of memorizing mzc, planet,
setup-plt, etc.  I'm also not a big fan of the "rico" name.  How about
"racket" for running programs and "plt" for all the compilation
chores?

> * ".racket" is pleasing in some sense, and in keeping with Scheme verbosity,
> but it's going to alienate people who think that ".java" is already too long
> or pushing the limits.  (Whether any of those people would be receptive to
> Scheme anyway, I don't know.)  I do know that I'd prefer to type ".rkt",
> rather than to be typing out ".racket" all the time or hitting the Tab key
> at strategic points to try to do filename completion.

I think ".ss", ".scm", ".scrbl", ".plt", ".zo", and whatever else we
have lying around are "pushing the limits" of obscurity.  If we're
going to take over part of a filename, and it's supposed to describe
what type of file it is, why not actually describe it?  Alternately,
if we want to be terse, and we're using #lang instead of the extension
to decide what type of file it is anyway, how about we abandon
extensions entirely?

Personally I'd love to see ".scheme", ".scribble", ".racket", and so
on.  I probably won't get the whole shebang but just getting the one
we'll be exposing to users most frequently will make a big difference
in people knowing what they've got their hands on.

--Carl