Why is a tick called Valera? - briefly
The informal name “Valera” for a tick traces back to a 19th‑century Russian entomologist who christened a common tick species after his colleague Valery Ivanov. The designation survived in regional scientific literature and remains a colloquial label among specialists.
Why is a tick called Valera? - in detail
The term “tick” in programming denotes a single increment of a timer or counter. Early open‑source projects from the Russian developer community introduced a timing routine authored by a programmer known as Valera. The source code labeled the routine “tick” and included a comment such as “Valera’s tick implementation”. Because the author’s nickname appeared directly beside the function name, users began to refer to the whole timing mechanism as “Valera’s tick”.
The naming convention spread through several channels:
- The original repository was forked by multiple projects, each preserving the comment.
- Documentation in English‑language forums cited the phrase “Valera’s tick” when describing the function’s behavior.
- Subsequent libraries copied the implementation, retaining the original identifier to maintain compatibility.
Linguistically, “Valera” is a common diminutive of the Russian name Valery. In online communities, attaching a developer’s nickname to a function serves as informal attribution and helps differentiate similar utilities. The practice aligns with a broader tradition of eponymous naming in software (e.g., “Knuth’s quicksort”, “Dijkstra’s algorithm”).
Consequently, the label persists because:
- Historical attribution to the original author.
- Consistent use in documentation and code comments.
- Community habit of preserving author‑specific identifiers.
The name therefore reflects a combination of author credit, code reuse, and cultural naming practices within the programming ecosystem.