[9rx]

> 1. avoids confusion, no matter how unlikely it is in a context like HN

Who would be confused by "Go", but not "Rust" and "Zig", which are also common English words not usually associated with programming languages?

> 2. search engine "findability".

What kind of search engine are you using in 2026 that isn't capable of understanding context?

And where one is still using some weird antique thing like a steampunk character, "C" is going to be the least findable, yet it didn't receive the same treatment. Why is that?

[Melonai]

At least with regards your second point, Google, DuckDuckGo, all other search engines. I always have to add "golang" because otherwise it just fucks up. I have to say that googling for "C", is a lot more dire, and because the LLVM people called their frontend "clang" I can't even use that, otherwise only clang stuff pops up. And even then, once I did manage to convince the search engine that I'm looking for the programming language, it still decides to just give me results for C++. It sucks.

[9rx]

> I can't even use that, otherwise only clang stuff pops up.

The searchable form is 'clanglang'. golang is the language compiled by the go compiler, like erlanglang is compiled by the erlang compiler, and clanglang is compiled by the clang compiler.

[win311fwg]

> because the LLVM people called their frontend "clang" I can't even use that

Said frontend is for the C programming language. Isn't that perfectly appropriate? I did a web search for "golang" and the first result was a download page for a Go compiler, so there is precedent.

[direwolf20]

What's the first result for "clang"? How about in private browsing?

[win311fwg]

A page about a C compiler. Not unlike the "golang" result, except without the same level of polish. The download link is similarly present, although due to the design choices doesn't stand out as the primary focus like it does in the "golang" case. I would consider the basic intent to be the same for both.

Which is the best one could hope for given that the search engine doesn't control the content. If I am searching for "golang", a Go compiler is the most likely thing I would want to find. Presumably someone who already has a Go compiler installed will have more specific queries. Likewise, if I am searching for "clang", a C compiler is also the most likely thing I would want to find. For all intents and purposes that is the entry point into using a language.

All in all the search engine did a great job and gave exactly what I would have expected.