I think it’s exactly what I say: mythology around dragons varies a lot. Scala is a global language. These two things must be taken into account, which leads to me prefering the pengolin idea.
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While I think the pangolin is an excellent idea, I’d like to throw in a completely different idea for a mascot. What about a beetle? British biologist J.B.S. Haldane surmised that the creator has an inordinate fondness for beetles, as there are over 400,000 known species, that’s quite a lot of types. With so many different types to choose from, I imagine we could find one that is easy to draw, cute-ish, and has some other properties that make it a good representative of Scala.
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(but the pangolin is /so cute/)
Due to on-going off-topic replies, I’ve locked the thread until Monday so we don’t have to moderate it over the weekend.
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This topic was automatically opened after 3 days.
If Scala was based on C/C++ instead of Java, we could have the unsigned long loong
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@kapunga - I think beetles are cool too, but insects are a bad choice for computer languages. I recommend we avoid anything that looks like a bug.
Bugs are unavoidable, so better a friendly critter than a mean one !
I nominate a bicycle as the mascot, because it’s quite apparent from this thread that we like painting its shed.
(Slightly more seriously: I think having a distinctive logo, which Scala has, and no mascot, is fine. Any mascot that hasn’t been around since the beginning brings its own connotations that, since they haven’t evolved with the language, don’t match. So better to leave it alone.)
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tpolecat has been around since the beginning and arguably they have evolved with the language.
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So I spotted a sort of “Scala turd” on a poster while on my way to the bathroom:
Possibly a new Scala mascot/logo??
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Given the Swiss origin of Scala, I would propose a marmot
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I told my fiancée about this thread, and her first idea was to adapt the logo into a mascot, instead of modifying an animal so that it fits the logo
What she ended up with is a springy little friend somewhat reminiscent of Clippy
The design is simple, but allows for a lot of movement and expressiveness
She quickly sketched it out, and I convinced her to let me post it here
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Here is what ChatGPT proposed.
Given the discussion about Scala’s need for a mascot, here’s a creative idea for a new mascot design:
Concept: A “Scalable Salamander” (Scalamander), combining the agility and adaptability of a salamander with the concept of scalability, a core feature of Scala. This character would be vibrant, friendly, and innovative, embodying the dynamic and scalable nature of the Scala programming language.
Design Features:
- Body: Sleek and stylized, with patterns or scales that subtly resemble the Scala logo.
- Color: A mix of Scala’s red and gray colors, with vibrant accents to make it stand out.
- Eyes: Expressive and intelligent, symbolizing the smart design of Scala.
- Accessory: Wearing a scarf or carrying an item that features the Scala logo, reinforcing the brand identity.
- Pose: Dynamic and playful, suggesting flexibility and the ability to adapt to various programming paradigms.
Let’s create an image based on this description.
Here’s an alternative mascot design for the Scala programming language, inspired by the concept of a “Scalable Salamander” or “Scalamander.” This character embodies the agility, adaptability, and scalability that Scala represents, featuring a sleek and stylized appearance with Scala’s color scheme and a dynamic, playful pose.
cute!
It’s heartening to see how much more interesting the hand drawn version of the Scala logo is than anything that ChatGPT can produce.
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On related names, “Scamander” was the river at Troy (or the river god).
The word “meander” comes from a different river, but one can’t help wonder if the suffix looks like “manly” or “of men” (andros) because men are known to wander.
The other semantic axis for the river would be, “anything but straight.”
If the mascot embodies the curlicue (which may not be likely since we abandoned curly braces), its name could also be Spiro, like Spiro Agnew, after this little guy:
I did not mean to suggest that a wandering corkscrew mascot must be male.
Since we have enough mascots to rival Pokemon, it may be time to release a Scala game. Unfortunately, there is already “Pokemon Go”, so it can’t be “Pokemon Scala”, although Dotty’s test framework is a Pokemon.
Wikipedia reports that “as of December 2023, 1,025 Pokémon species have been introduced.” If we generate a competitive number of Scala creatures, we’ll have enough so that each can represent a Scala feature.
When Scala creatures “do battle”, we call it a “feature interaction”.
The goal of the game is to defeat others and collect all the feature creatures.
If you relieve a player of all their cards, you have not only defeated but defeatured them.
Can you scale your feature creatures without your Scala World becoming a mess?
Another bit of lore is that Scala creatures are born in a Big Ball of Mud.
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