Unicorn

Unicorn(getunicorn.io)

38 points by monsur 13 years ago | 65 comments

pak 13 years ago |

Could they have possibly picked a more confusing name?

1. Unicorn for Ruby: http://unicorn.bogomips.org/

2. Green Unicorn for Python: http://gunicorn.org/

The fact that this is an HTTP request library, as opposed to a server, is what pushes this into serious troll territory. The only saving grace here is that Java programmers searching for this library might come upon one of the other two and realize what they are missing.

Edit: A Ruby and a Python library, named unicorn-rest and unicorn respectively, are built into this project. This is madness.

zampano 13 years ago | |

I clicked and just assumed it was the Ruby server, I've even seen that logo used in conjunction with Unicorn before. Did they just not google the name at all before diving in?

IanChiles 13 years ago | | |

I'm pretty certain that that's the error message Github gives when something goes wrong with Unicorn (The Ruby one, that is)...

psychometry 13 years ago | |

As pointed out by another commenter, they also ripped off the unicorn image seen on Github error pages, which further confuses the matter because Github obviously used that unicorn since they run the Unicorn web server, not whatever this HTTP library is.

They would have been better off naming it something awful like "Hospice" or something.

smmnyc 13 years ago | | |

apparently they got permission for use in open-source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5597431

eranation 13 years ago | |

One point to be taken - as an old (35 years old) Java developer, who knows Ruby from page 4 of the rails tutorial and tryruby mostly, I would not have that confusion problem with the unicorn server (which I hear about here in the first time)

And still I'm really happy to see some Java friendly open source project hit HN front page (either due to legit reasons or due to naming confusion). I feel I'm not forgotten, and yes, I will use this soon to be renamed library in a real project today, as using Apache Http Client is a real HeadacheFactory sometimes. and this is what I used to revert to most of the time as we java folks simply don't get many new, modern open source libraries developed with Java developers in mind very often these days.

pak 13 years ago | | |

Oh my god, there actually is an Apache HttpClient library [1]. I was going to say "this would be as confusing as if somebody made a HTTP client library named Apache," but it's already been done, and of course it's a Java library. RoflFactories...

[1]: http://hc.apache.org/

smmnyc 13 years ago | |

I agree -- the name is super confusing... at least they reference the collision within ruby: "Why not a name change? Well, we decided on the name before writing the libraries and decided to stick through to the end with it, also... this awesome site. The more you know~"

tptacek 13 years ago |

Extremely confusing name, given that Unicorn happens to be the name of both an extremely popular Ruby web server and its extremely popular Python port.

nijiko 13 years ago | |

My little cousin decided it and I didn't have the heart to break his...

cheald 13 years ago | | |

I sympathize, but at least use a variant on it. Picking that name and logo for an HTTP request library with Ruby and Python bindings is extremely bad form given that there's an existing HTTP server project that uses that name and is associated with that logo.

eurleif 13 years ago | | |

How about changing it to "Unicrest", as a play on unicorn/request?

biot 13 years ago | | |

So rather than taking the opportunity to provide a lesson on project naming, you've let him think that it's a perfectly valid name. Now an entire development community is about to shoot down the project because you wanted to play the nice guy. How cruel!

dljsjr 13 years ago |

I'm going to operate completely under the assumption that the library authors didn't choose the Unicorn name with intentional malice, and that their motivations were entirely benevolent. It looks like a nice enough library, congrats on all of your hard work.

That said, this name is going to foster a lot of ill will in the community, for all of the reasons already mentioned:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5597411

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5597402

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5597455

Additionally, as has been mentioned, the GitHub Angry Unicorn, whether permission was given or not, is most likely related to the fact that GitHub uses the Unicorn Rack server and are proponents of the software. In addition, the Ruby port of this library presents itself as "unicorn-rest", which could very easily be interpreted as either disingenuous or as a form of "coat-tail riding" off the name/notoriety of the existing Unicorn.

jrabone 13 years ago | |

Ill will with the Ruby community, maybe, but fuck 'em. As long as it's unique in the Maven namespace, I don't care and neither should they/you.

daxelrod 13 years ago |

All right, I'm confused. I thought this was a new site for http://unicorn.bogomips.org/ , the Rack HTTP server. This was further reinforced by the use of the angry unicorn logo which GitHub used in their article on the Unicorn Rack HTTP server [1].

If I'm reading this right, though, this is an HTTP client library. The docs[2] say

  > If you are wondering why we aren't using the
  > Unicorn namespace for ruby it is because it's
  > already taken by the awesome Eric Wong's mostly
  > pure-Ruby HTTP backend

This looks like a case of two different pieces of software, both of which speak HTTP, and both named Unicorn.

[1]https://github.com/blog/517-unicorn

[2]http://getunicorn.io/?language=Ruby

kaolinite 13 years ago |

Hm, that's the Github unicorn. I wonder if they have permission.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ksc5rubkMt1qz5pz6o1_500.pn...

nijiko 13 years ago | |

We do! It's owned by Daniel Shaw, who I got permission from to use in an open-source project.

kaolinite 13 years ago | | |

Ah good, nice of him and good of you to obtain it :-)

jrabone 13 years ago |

Christ, the responses on here are absolutely what you'd expect from anyone remotely connected with the Ruby "community" - or at least a bunch of people who don't have sufficient experience with Java to comment on whether a fluent API is an improvement on the Apache HttpClient API, or HttpURLConnection (God help us, despite what Android devs think). When you've finished pissing on the colour scheme, or questioning whether the logo is a "rip off" (clue: used by permission), perhaps you can all go back to upgrading Rails, or stacking your gems in reverse version-number order, or whatever it is you do.

Also - Java. It's the FIFTH word on the page reading Western-style. How the hell can you miss it? Too eager to get to the comments tab?

johns 13 years ago | |

It's Java, PHP, Python, Ruby AND Objective-C. I think the naming criticisms are fair.

jrabone 13 years ago | | |

Can't hear anyone else over the sound of the Ruby people...

existentialmutt 13 years ago |

This strikes me as intentionally misleading. They're using the github angry unicorn pic.

GH is a noted proponent of Unicorn the ruby app server. https://github.com/blog/517-unicorn

anonfunction 13 years ago | |

It's actually Daniel Shaw's logo and he has given us (and GitHub I presume) permission to use it.

Sorry for the confusion, we really dropped the ball.

adrianpike 13 years ago | | |

It is? https://twitter.com/dshaw/status/326795177584914432

ismaelc 13 years ago |

Hi guys, this is Chris from Mashape. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. We acknowledge the naming hoopla and are working hard to resolve it. But in behalf of Mashape I'd like to assure everyone that the library was created with the purpose of helping developers with cross platform HTTP requests. As such, we would like to invite everyone on 2 things: 1) Suggest a new name/branding for Unicorn, and 2) Contribute/suggest/fix the library as you see fit :) You can write to me directly too! chris@mashape.com . Looking forward to your comments!

JimmaDaRustla 13 years ago |

Nice to see a multi-language HTTP library, but I won't be stepping away from python-requests.org anytime soon.

pudquick 13 years ago | |

100% agree on this one. Probably the only thing that immediately appealed to me for this project's python version was the integrated asynchronous requests capability.

With version v0.13.0+ of python-requests, async functionality was split out by the maintainer to https://github.com/kennethreitz/grequests (and it's a light wrapper over requests + gevent).

kenneth_reitz 13 years ago | |

calinet6 13 years ago |

Just throwing in my vote for changing your name.

My first thought was "You're kidding, right?"

monsur 13 years ago |

Naming aside, I think there is some value in a fluent, cross-language methodology for making HTTP requests. While each library adheres to the conventions of its specific language, the overall pattern for making requests looks the same across languages. If you are someone working with APIs in different languages, there is value in having this consistency.

rhizome 13 years ago | |

I don't think anybody would say that that consistency would be useless. Now, about the name...

jagthedrummer 13 years ago |

Definitely needs a name change. This was an incredibly poor choice and makes me question whether I could ever feel comfortable using the software of an entire organization that is capable of making such a poor choice. Especially since they admit that they knew it would be confusing.

anonfunction 13 years ago |

Everyone, we are listening! We are throwing around new names but they all suck. Any ideas?

examancer 13 years ago | |

There are plenty of names available that are somewhat related to unicorn, allowing you to keep the site design and pretty much everything else. Here are a few:

- Alicorn (what a unicorn's horn is made of, apparently)

- Oryx (An antelope-like creature that has a unicorn-ish horn and actually exists)

- Eland (another antelope-like creature that has two horns, but apparently is worshipped by tribes people)

- Unico (a cartoon unicorn)

- Peggy (another unicorn name)

- Camphurch (type of unicorn. ugly.)

- Ki-Lin (a chinese unicorn made of two separate unicorns)

Hope these help. Alicorn and Oryx are my favorites.

ninjay 13 years ago | |

Since this is a small library the name should be descriptive. Unicorn and all the other animal names are fun, but should probably be reserved for large projects that aren't small building blocks.

Reading through the site I'm reminded of 5th Element's 'multipass'. You get a common REST syntax to transfer data across several languages. Playing off that could be fun; Multirest, Multiquest, etc.

Also, something with the Babel fish (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) could work; Babelrest, Babelquest...

willismichael 13 years ago | |

Centaur, Minotaur, Pegasus, Satyr, Gryphon...

willismichael 13 years ago | | |

If you want to go with Gryphon, here's a nice piece of open-source artwork: http://units.wesnoth.org/trunk/pics/core$images$portraits$mo...

djbender 13 years ago | |

Thank you _so_ much. A renaming will really help set your projects apart.

jaquek 13 years ago | |

My_Little_Pony: Coz Friendship Is Magic

Logo: http://www.google.com/search?q=my+little+pony&tbm=isch

jfranz 13 years ago | |

Restitution

minikomi 13 years ago | |

Charlie

dschep 13 years ago |

Aside from the name crazyness this seems like a very thin layer on top of existing libraries to create a shared API across languages.

Being mainly a Python dev, I see little reason to use it instead of Requests. It has a similar API for the basic verbs but nothing else.

A quick glance at the code indicates to me that it doesn't have alot of the other features requests has (eg: simpler auth, cookies. builtin connection pooling). And worse it will explode on large a large response[1]

[1] https://github.com/Mashape/unicorn-python/blob/master/unicor...

danielmagnusson 13 years ago |

Looks really good, only need a name change..

mrinterweb 13 years ago |

The name alone of this project is very frustrating. As pointed out, there is ruby application server named Unicorn that is quite popular. The ruby application server has the exact same logo except this project chose to flip the logo. This is intentionally confusing. I might be able to appreciate this library if they chose a different name and image, but I can't support a project that is intentionally leading to confusion. It is so bad that it seems like this project is trying to be an imposter of an original project. Is there no shame in open source?

jack-r-abbit 13 years ago |

Of the supported languages, I only know PHP so I can't comment on the others. (and I don't really care what name/logo it uses) It looks like pretty clean work. However, this task has never really been a problem for me in PHP so I'm not likely to use it. But kudos to the author for trying to help out fellow programmers. And good luck.

middayc 13 years ago |

I think I'll never be able to switch to "libs have designed websites w/ logos and marketing messages" crowd. Probably getting old. This one with unreadable pink code font and blinking was specifically hard to look at. Consider this as friendly feedback please.

mythz 13 years ago |

I personally like my HTTP Util thin DRY extensions over .NET WebRequest better - more readable and concise and you retain access to the underlying HttpWebRequest so you don't lose any flexibility:

https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack/wiki/Http-Utils

coolsunglasses 13 years ago |

The text isn't very readable.

andyfleming 13 years ago | |

It looks like part of the line "<url>http://maven.mashape.com/releases</url> is being made into a lighter pink because of the "//" being marked as a single-line comment by the syntax highlighter.

sinzone 13 years ago |

Some suggestions on the new name?

- uniape

- mashcorn

- cornmash

- unimashape

- Restape

- RestMash

skytalon 13 years ago |

A name suggestion:

slighttp (from Simple LIGHTweight HTTP) (Just 205 results on google)

ahknight 13 years ago |

That web design challenges manhood.

And yet another confusing name. Yay.

sinzone 13 years ago |

We hear you! We're updating everything right now.

alpb 13 years ago |

This one should get a CocoaPods package ASAP.

gfalcao 13 years ago |

This is hilarious

wedtm 13 years ago |

I hate to add another nail to the name coffin, but I instantly thought this was regarding the ruby unicorn web server. I continued to think this until I came back to the comments to verify.