I have possibly foolishly decided to stop resisting the urge to port Joda Time to .NET. For those of you who are unaware, "use Joda Time" is almost always the best answer to any question involving "how do I achieve X with java.util.Date/Calendar?" It’s a Java library for handling dates and times, and it rocks. There is a plan to include a somewhat redesigned version in some future edition of Java (JSR-310) but it’s uncertain whether this will ever happen.

Now, .NET only gained the ability to work with time zones other than UTC and the local time zone (using only managed code) – it has a bit of catching up to do. It’s generally easier to work with the .NET BCL than the Java built-in libraries, but it’s still not a brilliant position to be in. I think .NET deserves good date/time support, and as no-one else appears to be porting Joda Time, I’m going to do it. (A few people have already volunteered to help. I don’t know how easily we’ll be able to divvy up the work, but we’ll see. I suspect the core may need to be done first, and then people can jump in to implement different chronologies etc. As a side-effect, I may try to use this project as a sort of case in terms of porting, managing an open source project, and properly implementing a .NET library with useful versioning etc.)

The first two problems, however, are to do with naming. First, the project name. Contenders include:

• Joda Time.NET (sounds like it would be an absolutely direct port; while I intend to port all the tricky bits directly, it’s going to be an idiomatic port with appropriate .NET bits. It’s also a bit of a mouthful.)
• Noda Time (as suggested in the comments and in email)
• TonyTime (after Tony the Pony)
• CoffeeTime
• TeaTime
• A progression of BreakfastTime, CoffeeTime, LunchTime, TeaTime, DinnerTime and SupperTime for different versions (not a serious contender)
• ParsleySageRosemaryAndThyme (not a serious contender)
• A few other silly ones too

I suspect I’m going to go for CoffeeTime, but we’ll see.

The second problem is going to prove more awkward. I want to mostly copy the names given in Joda Time – aside from anything else, it’ll make it familiar to anyone who uses Joda Time in Java (such as me). Now one of the most commonly used classes in Joda is "DateTime". Using that name in my port would be a Bad Idea. Shadowing a name in the System namespace is likely to lead to very disgruntled users who may prove hard to regruntle before they abandon the library.

So what do I do? Go for the subtly different DateAndTime? Tie it to the library with CoffeeDateTime? Change it to Instant? (It’ll derive from AbstractInstant anyway – assuming I keep the same hierarchy instead of moving to a composition model and value types.)

Obviously this is a decision which the "team" can make, when we’ve got one… but it feels like a decision which is lurking round the corner in a hostile way.

What I find interesting is that these are two very different naming problems: one is trying to name something in a relatively arbitrary way – I know I want something reasonably short and memorable for the overall name, but beyond that it doesn’t matter too much. The other is trying to nail a very specific name which really has to convey its meaning clearly… but where the obvious name is already taken. Also interestingly, neither is a particularly good example of my most common issue with naming: attempting to come up with a two or three word noun for something that actually needs a whole sentence to describe it adequately.

Oh well – we’ll see what happens. In another blog post I’ll suggest some of the goals I have in terms of what I’m hoping to learn from the project, and how I’d like it to progress. In other words, expect a work of complete fiction…

If you’re interested in helping out with the project, please mail me directly (rather than adding comments here) and as soon as I’ve set the project up, I’ll invite you to the mailing list.

UPDATE: I’ve already got a few interested names, which is great. Rather than be dictatorial about this, I’ll put it to a vote of the people who are willing to help out on it.