[ih] ARPANET vs ARPAnet?

[Robert H'obbes' Zakon]

I would have to agree with Vint on this.  Given the government's proclivity
for acronyms, ARPANET fits cleanly, and is what was used in the "ARPANET
Completion Report" (draft Sept 9, 1977).

Similarly, I always refer to *the* 'I'nternet, and use lower case 'i'nternet
only when discussing a generic network of networks.

- Robert

***
Robert H'obbes' Zakon
www.Zakon.org
  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: internet-history-bounces at postel.org 
> [mailto:internet-history-bounces at postel.org] On Behalf Of Vint Cerf
> Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 3:35 PM
> To: jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu; internet-history at postel.org; 
> rfc-interest at rfc-editor.org
> Cc: rfc-editor at rfc-editor.org
> Subject: Re: [ih] ARPANET vs ARPAnet?
> 
> I generally prefer ARPANET, but I also prefer Internet to 
> internet when referring to the public network. It would be 
> nice to have a definitive statement about the spelling of ARPANET.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: internet-history-bounces at postel.org
> To: internet-history at postel.org; rfc-interest at rfc-editor.org
> CC: jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu; rfc-editor at rfc-editor.org
> Sent: Wed Oct 04 12:24:24 2006
> Subject: Re: [ih] ARPANET vs ARPAnet?
> 
>     > The RFC Editor needs to make an editorial decision on 
> capitalization of
>     > "arpanet". This is such an important historical name 
> that we felt a
>     > need to think a bit about it.
> 
> :-)
> 
>     > Here is my memory: we originally called it "ARPANET"
> 
> You're right on target there. All the original documentation 
> (1822, etc)
> which I hurriedly consulted (i.e. the ones on shelves which 
> are convenient to
> the computer :-) uses "ARPANET". (FWIW, the very earliest 
> document, the
> original RFP, used "ARPA Computer Network", and the BBN 
> response to the RFP
> used "ARPA network".)
> 
>     > but over the years there has been a tendency to morph 
> the name to
>     > "ARPAnet".
>     > Any opinions? Preferences?
> 
> I always preferred (and used) the CamelCase variant; i.e. 
> "ARPANet", with the
> ARPA in all upper-case because it's an acronym that was 
> always given as all
> caps. Somehow "ARPAnet" bugged me, with the "net" all in 
> lowercase; and
> ARPANET (although historically correct) didn't suit me 
> either. I can't offer
> any rational argument as to why the other two are less 
> tasteful (to me), but
> then that's the nature of taste! :-)
> 
>     > IEEE style guide says "Arpanet: the oldest of the 
> networks on the
>     > Internet; initial capital only"
> 
> Uggh. *Totally* bletchiferous. Worse than all three of the 
> other options, any
> of which I would *much* prefer to this.
> 
> And how do we straighten out the IEEE? Would pointing out that all the
> original documents use "ARPANET" do the trick?
> 
> 	Noel
> 
>