✧✦Catherine✦✧
whitequark@treehouse.systems
programmers: uwu we're so bad at naming things
biologists: Hold my petri dish
4
0
1
making a new library and calling it "Nal1" (numpy associated library 1)
1
0
0
@whitequark
This isn't even the worst one: *Sonic Hedgehog* was discovered after it was named to cause certain fatal developmental disorders, so now pediatriticans sometimes have to tell their parents that their baby is going to die because of a mutation in their *Sonic Hedgehog* gene
1
0
0
✧✦Catherine✦✧
whitequark@treehouse.systems@iris_meredith yeah that one is famous. it's the fault of the fruit fly people, of course. most of the really unhinged names are Drosophila genes or homologs
1
0
0
@iris_meredith it's not just "going to die", by the way. if I remember right, Shh is one of the genes that regulate overall body plan, meaning a mutation in it leaves the child with spina bifida or other similarly horrific condition
0
0
0
✧✦Catherine✦✧
whitequark@treehouse.systemsmaking a new library and calling it "WAI57" (Web Application Interactor, 57 kB of source code)
2
0
0
✧✦Catherine✦✧
whitequark@treehouse.systemsimagine being told that you have a "switch/sucrose non-fermentable-related matrix-associated actin-dependent regulator of chromatin subfamily B member 1 (integrase interactor 1)-deficient sinonasal carcinoma" type of cancer. short for SDSC. or five other things
i studied molecular biology in uni and i don't think i could recite that pharse from memory without a set of flashcards and a few days
4
0
0
/Cinny 
Peter Bindels
dascandy@infosec.exchange@whitequark honestly that doesn't sound more complicated than describing a new usb4/TB/DP type-C hybrid.
1
0
0
@whitequark SNCF? Yeah I know about that one - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF
1
0
0
@sophia81 er. typo
0
0
0
@whitequark or just "sober color grid Chinese nose cancer" in short?
1
0
0
@whitequark reminds me of a network toolkit netwox/netwib/netwag which had like 200+ CLI subcommands that were just named "5", "6", "7"... one integer sends fake ICMP packets, another brews coffee, etc.
0
0
0
@whitequark would you rather all biologists were the same kind of "quirky" compsci undergrads are
1
0
0
✧✦Catherine✦✧
whitequark@treehouse.systems@yavien oddly enough, Shh still hasn't been renamed
0
0
0
Sophie of Ratsnake Games
ratsnakegames@mastodon.social@whitequark to be fair, i suppose these names are really only used in very specific expert cycles
like, i don't go to my doctor and ask for a short-acting β2 adrenergic receptor agonist, i just ask for an asthma puffer
1
0
0
@ratsnakegames in this particular case, there were only 39 documented cases at the time, so the patient was exposed to it
1
0
0
Sophie of Ratsnake Games
ratsnakegames@mastodon.social@whitequark i'd argue that if you have a very specific cancer with a case count in the double digits, it doesn't really matter if the name is a kafkaesque nightmare or if it is called "Jeff" because unless you are talking to one of the few oncologists who are aware of this thing, the only salient information for the patient is "the kind of cancer i have is super weird"
1
0
0
@ratsnakegames well, yes. but that's a boring answer
0
0
0