What about YC25q1, YC25q2, YC25q3 and YC25q4?
Hey quit it with that universally understood, sensible solution. We're here to disrupt!
They should do batches by pure three digit numbers. E.g.
251 for winter 252 for spring 253 for summer 254 for fall
good for them but
> One of the first questions people ask when we say we are doing a spring batch is what letter we will use to refer to it since “S” is already taken for the summer batch. We considered something like “Sp” or “P” but one founder made the suggestion of using “X” since it's a common variable name in programming and thus makes sense since the name “Y Combinator” itself is a programming term.
This chain of reasoning seems totally disconnected? "While trying to come up with a single letter to denote spring, since S was taken, we decided on... a common variable name instead" ??? what happened to denoting spring in there? Am I missing some clever reference? Is spring in particular the season for common variables?
The spring constant (in physics) is denoted by the letter "k", why not use that? I know its not programming, but at least it denotes spring.
Notation is ultimately arbitrary, it's just what everyone has agreed on.
(As a fun fact, Spanish has decided to use X for Wednesday because both Wednesday and Tuesday start with the same letter, M: https://www.20minutos.es/cultura/blogs/yaestaellistoquetodol...)
I learned a while back that Miercoles is a minced oath in Spanish. As in, you start to say the other thing that starts with Mier--, make eye contact with a child, and say the other thing.
The same exists in French with Mer...credi
I can confirm, my wife uses this all the time
I think you may need to review what that word means in case you have an incorrect belief about its definition. Almost all notation ever created has a reason or a system, I have no idea why one would think its ultimately arbitrary (having no reason or system).
Consensus is not arbitrary either, that's a strong reason, a lack of arbitrary-ness. Even the second definition of arbitrary, something done unilaterally, is contra-consensus.
Isn’t it possible thst there could be multiple , equally systematic, candidate notations. Isn’t the decision as to which one gains traction arbitrary?
On reddit recently I read that X has the ASCII decimal 88.
We live in a bizarre yet tumultuous time.
Also the word for “of or pertaining to spring” is “vernal”, so… V? Obscure and a bit antiquated, but also technically correct (the best kind).
El verano is Spanish for summer. Primavera for spring. But I agree it's all arbitrary. Could just do the boring thing and say 2025Q[1-4]
Vernal equinox is a pretty well-known expression
Nobody knows what it means but it's provocative, gets the people going.
I think SP would have been the best. The thing about W25 or S25 is that you can guess what W or S means without being told. Can you imagine trying to explain this to someone? There's nothing about it that makes sense. There's no kernel of intuition to chew on. You'd finish explaining and the other person still wouldn't get it.
"What batch were you?"
"X25"
"What does X stand for?"
"Oh yeah haha, its a clever programming reference, it actually means spring, but S was taken by summer, so they used X instead because its a common variable name."
Most likely by the time you are asked “what batch were you?” Anyone that would be asking that question is going to be familiar with the naming convention whatever it is
G would have made more sense
In MTG the 5 colors are white, blue, black, red, and green. WUBRG. B is already taken by black (bla > blu) so blue became U. Hence in my head logic spring should have been G (technically sp > su but no point to change summer’s S after decades)
In good spirit of programming, nothing better than a terrible non-descriptive one character variable name.
X also comes right after W, just as the Spring batch will come right after the Winter batch.
I would just take the opportunity to rename all batched 1,2,3,4 and call the batches yc25 etc to denote all batches in 2025 etc. who cares what season you are in at this point. But this is just me.
Maybe the "founder" is the Twitter boss
Z would have made more sense as a pair of the Y combinator (and the next letter).
X is jut plain boring because there's nothing theoritical behind it.
Z has the unfortunate association with the russian invasion of Ukraine.
V25, the Vernal YC 2025 batch!
That's clever, we didn't think of that.
X sounds way cooler than SP, Q2 etc. This is the real reason, all else are rationalizations
Months would be easier to follow than seasons for those of us on the upside down world.
Can YC be attended completely remotely, or which incubators can be?
B25 for Bloom would've been nicer
This is great. There is still nothing like YC. Great news for batches who get in.