Comments on: Using Mathematica to generate Web 2.0 company names http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names I hate self-referential taglines Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:57:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: Sean McColgan http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13727 Sean McColgan Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:36:02 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13727 Hey Patrick, love it! anychance of the code download link fixed? Thank you :D Hey Patrick, love it! anychance of the code download link fixed? Thank you :D

]]> By: Patrick http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13520 Patrick Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:09:04 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13520 Barry - the stochastic matrix actually describes the transitions of a Markov chain. And the above code uses letter triplets instead of pairs, for the reasons you describe. Barry - the stochastic matrix actually describes the transitions of a Markov chain. And the above code uses letter triplets instead of pairs, for the reasons you describe.

]]> By: Kai http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13512 Kai Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:21:02 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13512 Could anyone do a online generator please :) Could anyone do a online generator please :)

]]> By: Barry Kelly http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13455 Barry Kelly Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:07:03 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13455 I don't know Mathematica, so I can't quite tell exactly what algorithm is being used in your code, but I do know that Markov chains are a useful way of generating similar names and are easy to program in common languages. (Your example may use Markov chaining - I see a RandomChoice from CharFreqs.) Basically, analyze a word corpus and create frequencies for letter pairs, considering word start and end as letters for convenience. Then, starting with a word start, choose letters randomly based on the frequency of the pairs where the first letter in the pair is the last letter in your current word. Continue until a word end is chosen. Building frequencies using letter triplets rather than letter pairs can get better results, where pairs may choose unlikely match-ups such as "cth", taking e.g. "ac"t as common, and "th"e as common. Longer tuples can be chosen but a slight adjustment of word start and end strategy is needed. I don’t know Mathematica, so I can’t quite tell exactly what algorithm is being used in your code, but I do know that Markov chains are a useful way of generating similar names and are easy to program in common languages. (Your example may use Markov chaining - I see a RandomChoice from CharFreqs.)

Basically, analyze a word corpus and create frequencies for letter pairs, considering word start and end as letters for convenience. Then, starting with a word start, choose letters randomly based on the frequency of the pairs where the first letter in the pair is the last letter in your current word. Continue until a word end is chosen.

Building frequencies using letter triplets rather than letter pairs can get better results, where pairs may choose unlikely match-ups such as “cth”, taking e.g. “ac”t as common, and “th”e as common. Longer tuples can be chosen but a slight adjustment of word start and end strategy is needed.

]]> By: Mandlit Ketteb http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13449 Mandlit Ketteb Sat, 11 Apr 2009 06:53:49 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13449 Awesome! Please someone port this to any language you can find here: http://packages.ubuntu.com/ , as Mathematica is beyond my budget. I might find myself a kewl company name, and perhaps if the algorithm is expanded to say, a trillion results, we can drive domain-name squatters bankrupt (perhaps as good a result as the end of the cold war!) Awesome! Please someone port this to any language you can find here: http://packages.ubuntu.com/ , as Mathematica is beyond my budget. I might find myself a kewl company name, and perhaps if the algorithm is expanded to say, a trillion results, we can drive domain-name squatters bankrupt (perhaps as good a result as the end of the cold war!)

]]> By: broken link http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13445 broken link Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:06:08 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13445 the link to the notebook is broken the link to the notebook is broken

]]> By: Avi http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13438 Avi Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:05:24 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13438 Win. Win.

]]> By: sli http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13433 sli Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:38:37 +0000 http://collison.ie/blog/2009/04/using-mathematica-to-generate-web-20-company-names#comment-13433 It works! Impressive! I might actually use this. Hell, I might even port it to Python for fun. It works! Impressive! I might actually use this. Hell, I might even port it to Python for fun.

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