Erlang Shen or Erlang is a Chinese deity who supposedly regulates floods, Erlang a computer language ideal for large volume applications. Is this just some kind of weird coincidence?
+5
A:
Wikipedia says it's either a reference to Agner Krarup Erlang, or an abbreviation for Ericsson Language. Given that it was developed by a company based in Sweden, it's unlikely (though not impossible) that it's secretly a reference to a Chinese god.
Matthew Flaschen
2010-06-15 02:26:13
Just love this site. Even a silly question like this gets answered in seconds!
Chris Huang-Leaver
2010-06-15 02:32:27
@Chris, regarding your profile description: it's overrated.
Steve
2010-06-15 03:00:22
Historical Note: my profile says 'one day I will be able to edit other peoples posts'. ( I might change my profile one day!)
Chris Huang-Leaver
2010-06-25 10:20:01
+3
A:
The wiki article you linked to says
The name "Erlang", attributed to Bjarne Däcker, has been understood either as a reference to Danish mathematician and engineer Agner Krarup Erlang, or alternatively, as an abbreviation of "Ericsson Language".[1][3]
Paul Tomblin
2010-06-15 02:26:15
The mathematician Agner Krarup Erlang did important work on telephone network analysis and how to calculate network loads.
rvirding
2010-06-15 22:10:27