Application version or milestone Naming Schemes

Question

I'm looking for "schemes" for application version or milestone naming.

I'd like to find a naming scheme that suits my current project but I think we should gather here the more interesting schemes to share knowledge and ideas on the subject.

You also should provide the number of possible name with the proposed scheme or an estimate.

For example :

• OGRE (Object-Oriented-Graphic-Rendering-Engine) : each version is named like one of "The Great Old Ones" from Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu" mythos - 67 possible names.
• Ubuntu (Linux based OS) : as explained here

The development codename of a release takes the form "Adjective Animal". So for example: Warty Warthog (Ubuntu 4.10), Hoary Hedgehog (Ubuntu 5.04), Breezy Badger (Ubuntu 5.10), are the first three releases of Ubuntu. In general, people refer to the release using the adjective, like "warty" or "breezy".

That allow a finite but very big possible name count.

• Some hardware and software releases are named like real world big cities - hundreds of possible names;
• Some hardware and software releases are named like (Greek-Roman-whatever) mythology gods or king/warlord/emperor - tenths of possible names my mythology;
• etc.

For my own project I'm thinking about using a naming scheme that would be to name public releases like popular software principles/philosophies/rules/pattern like DRY, KISS, YAGNI, Singleton, Factory, Visitor, etc. But it feel maybe a little too much...computer-geek. :)

Answer 1

The problem with programming terms as project names is that they're confusing for most users. They'd make great internal codenames.

I've heard major rivers used as project names - Nile, Brisbane, etc.

check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers

Releasing in alphabetical order helps users remember which version is more recent.

Answer 2

I personally find naming release versions of a software product after mythological creatures, furry animals and geographic landmarks all just a bit new age and pretentious. Fine for a beta or internal working codename maybe, but there's no substitute for proper version numbers when releasing to your end users.

Just my 2c
Kev