What's a good color name for this sequence?

[Moelf]

When people want to integrate this color pallet and sequence into packages such as JuliaGraphics/ColorSchemes.jl#119, how should we name this work's color sequence?

[mpetroff]

That's a good question. As discussed in matplotlib/matplotlib#27851, I've been using ccs6 / ccs8 / ccs10 as placeholders, with ccs standing for "color cycle survey," but better names would be desirable.

[matthewfeickert]

@mpetroff scikit-hep/mplhep#463 and scikit-hep/mplhep#508 have reinvigorated my desire to see scikit-hep/mplhep#508 get into a matplotlib release. :) I generally prefer longer more descriptive names (though I know not everyone feels that way), but how do you feel about color-cycle-surveyX for X in {6, 8, 10}? Typing "color-cycle-survey" into Google brings up exactly what you would hope

and so if someone ever wants to know more about it and doesn't read the docs I think searchability of the name alone helps a lot.

For that reason, I also think that petroffX would work, but I can understand if you'd prefer to not have your name directly attached to it. Though I (and many others) have been calling it "the Petroff color sequence" for a few years now.

[andrzejnovak]

Just to chime in for the CMS side, thanks a lot for implementing these. You can see some of the adoption already at our LHCP 2024 Boston conference.

As for the naming convention, it may have not been intended, but we refer to them internally as petroff# colors already and having an associated name is much easier to remember than an acronym

[tacaswell]

I also like petroffX

[NJManganelli]

Similarly, I feel petroffX is much easier to use, and I'm afraid there may be no re-bottling the genie in CMS at least

[mpetroff]

While I don't have a strong objection to petroffX, I do feel mildly weird about it. If it were abbreviated, to, e.g., petX or ptrffX, or if my initials were used, i.e., mapX, I wouldn't feel weird about it, but I understand that this is less clear, and using my initials is probably confusing, as these sequences are not colormaps.

In JuliaGraphics/ColorSchemes.jl#119, there was a suggestion of using a city name, so baltimoreX or bmoreX would also be options, as I was in Baltimore when most of the work was done, or cheshireX for the town where I'm from (although the latter could result in confusion with Edward Tufte).

I've also considered Latin, with circumspectusX or universalisX being the best I could come up with. The former is for "surveyed," while the latter is for "universal," as a nod to the principle of universal design. I like that the latter option references the design principle behind the sequences—without explicitly mentioning accessibility or colorblindness, which could lead to pigeonholing—although it unfortunately leads to search results beyond just the Latin word.

If petroffX is still the consensus after considering other options, I guess I'm okay with that.

[tacaswell]

I understand the discomfort of having something named after yourself (and naming your work after your self in a particular type of egotistical). However, I know that it was a journey to get anything about this published and support using same part of "petroff" in the name to provide what level of (informal) credit and acknowledgement we can.

Of the abbreviations I think ptrff is the best (agree map is confusing due to color maps and pet both sounds like an animal you keep or PET scans neither of which are great associations).

For places, I think the full name is better than an abbreviation (google something close and check full spelling is easier than adding "and guess how it was abbreviated"). I'm biased to Baltimore.

I'm pretty negative on the Latin names as most people don't know Latin and might have more trouble getting the spelling correct. "circumspectus" makes me think of "evasive and unclear".

[matthewfeickert]

I would defer to @tacaswell here, but I have negative views on city names and latin names as I am someone who strongly prefers names to be self descriptive or easily understood by search by a new user (this makes me an "unfun" person at times as it means that I usually veto inside joke names and such of groups).

In total personal preference, I would go petroffX, but given that @mpetroff has voiced some (totally valid) discomfort with this, I would vote strongly in favor of ptrffX. 👍

[mpetroff]

After thinking about this the past couple weeks, I've mostly gotten over my discomfort with petroffX, and it doesn't have the pronunciation issues of ptrffX. Thus, I'm fine with either petroffX or ptrffX being used, but it seems that petroffX is the general consensus.

[matthewfeickert]

Thanks very much for this conscientious decision, @mpetroff! That's super great news. :)

Thus, I'm fine with either petroffX or ptrffX being used, but it seems that petroffX is the general consensus.

I would be a strong +1 for petroffX!