Some terms (and in this I include brand names) are based on people’s names, either the full names or abbreviations or other variants — czar, Mirandize, Ford, watt, HP, and so on. Some of those terms are used in relation to the programming or use of computers (though they need not be used solely in relation to computers); HP is one. Some of those, unlike HP, are based on the names of people who were not themselves personally involved in the development of modern computers, whether as technicians, investors, owners, managers, or otherwise.
Who are the four people whose names are used in four such terms that are most commonly used in relation to the programming or use of computers (again, whether brand names or otherwise)? Obviously, there’ll be disagreement about how common such use is, but I have four in mind that are indeed pretty common, and I’d like to see what you folks can come up with.
Again,
- The person’s name had to be used within the term, whether it’s a full first or last name, or an abbreviations or other variant.
- The person had to be not personally involved in the development of modern computers (so keep Michael Dell, for instance, out of it).
- I’m focusing on use today, not in the past.
Alan Turing, for instance, doesn’t qualify, because he was involved in the development of modern computers, and because the Turing Test is also at this point generally used in relation to computing theory, and not commonly used in relation to the programming or use of computers. Herman Hollerith, of the FORTRAN H notation, would qualify in principle, since Hollerith did his work with devices that are not modern computers, but my sense is that this particular code has long been used only rarely, even among FORTRAN users.