Unicorn (opens in new tab)

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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?

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

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!

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

Just throwing in my vote for changing your name.

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

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.

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.

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

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...

Looks really good, only need a name change..

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?

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.

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.

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

The text isn't very readable.

Some suggestions on the new name?

- uniape

- mashcorn

- cornmash

- unimashape

- Restape

- RestMash

A name suggestion:

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

That web design challenges manhood.

And yet another confusing name. Yay.

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

This one should get a CocoaPods package ASAP.

This is hilarious

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.