[3np]

> Think of MCPs as standardized APIs—connectors between external data sources or applications and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Claude.

This is incorrect.

MCP is Model Context Protocol.

You didn't "build an MCP", you implemented an MCP server. Lighttpd is not "an HTTP", it's an HTTP server. wget is also not "an HTTP", it's an HTTP client. Lighttpd and wget are different enough that it's useful to make that distinction clear when labeling them.

dnsmasq is not "a DHCP", it's a DHCP server.

This distinction also matters because it is certain that we will see further protocol iterations so we will indeed have multiple different MCPs that may or may not be compatible.

[helloooooooo]

I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!

[esseph]

Hey look I found the individual willing to die on the "ATM Machine" / "NIC card" hill!

[didgeoridoo]

I prefer “AT Machine”, then nobody can tell whether you’re talking about Automated Teller, All-Terrain, or Anti-Tank.

And that’s how you get them.

[lizardking]

Honestly can't tell if this is very dry sarcasm or not

[3np]

It's tired copypasta. Typically interpreted as "parent is a silly nitpicking neckbeard keyboard warrior".

[happyopossum]

> You didn't "build an MCP"

The author explicitly states he built 2 MCP servers, not 2 MCPs, so I don’t know where your beef is coming from

[quantadev]

I had the exact same reaction to the plural "MCPs". That's silly wording. There are no multiple MCPs. It's a single protocol. It's hilariously awkward wording to say you built "an MCP". It's like saying you built "an FTP", or "an HTTP". I guess every Web App is really just "an HTTP". We've been talking wrong all these years. lol.

[szvsw]

On the other hand, IP addresses have crossed into the popular lexicon in exactly this manner… it’s common enough to hear people say “what’s my “ip?” or “are there any free ips?” or what are the IPs for x/y/z”.

I agree that it sounds stupid and incorrect, but that doesn’t necessarily mean using MCP as a metonym for MCP server.

[falcor84]

Good point. Other examples are Wi-Fi (e.g. "What's your Wi-Fi?"), DNS (e.g. "You should change your DNS") and USB (e.g. "I only have 2 USBs on my laptop"). So who knows, maybe "MCPs" will catch-on.

[quantadev]

I always say "The Google" though, so maybe I'm guilty as well of playing fast and loose with the Engrish Rangurage.

[cle]

Purists perpetually decry the zeitgeist's sloppy terminology.

Words that climb the Zipf curve get squeezed for maximum compression, even at the cost of technical correctness. Entropy > pedantry. Resisting it only Streisands the shorthand.

[hinkley]

“The map is not the territory.”

[falcor84]

I've actually been thinking about this recently in the context of video games and virtual worlds in general, where when we speak about "the map", we are literally referring to the (virtual) territory. The more we digitize things, the more this distinction breaks down.