Jokes and Humour in the Public Android API

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Cultural references & “tricorder” debate

  • Large subthread questions how an Android dev could not recognize a Star Trek tricorder reference.
  • Others push back, arguing this expectation is age-, US-, and subculture-centric; “nerd” interests are diverse and fragmented.
  • Several note Star Trek’s popularity has waned relative to Star Wars and newer media; younger devs often haven’t seen either.
  • There’s disagreement about how big Star Trek ever was outside the US: some say it was niche, others recall it being widely broadcast across Europe and Asia.
  • Discussion branches into Star Trek vs Star Wars (science fiction vs space fantasy) and different generational preferences.

Humor in APIs and codebases

  • The Android jokes (e.g., isUserAGoat, isUserAMonkey, DISALLOW_FUN) spark a broader debate on humor in public APIs.
  • Supporters say:
    • Whimsy makes tedious work more enjoyable and fosters team culture.
    • Funny identifiers can be memorable and easy to grep for.
    • Products and APIs are also user experiences; some delight is good (e.g., Chrome dinosaur).
  • Critics say:
    • “Fun” names confuse readers, new hires, and non‑native English speakers, adding cognitive overhead.
    • Cute errors and jokey messages often obscure useful information and can feel condescending or unprofessional.
    • Public APIs, logs, and contracts must be clear for partners, auditors, and high‑stakes use; jokes age badly and don’t travel across contexts.

Android specifics and technical details

  • isUserAMonkey arose from automated “monkey” tests accidentally dialing 911; it gates actions the test harness must not perform.
  • isUserAGoat unintentionally allowed fingerprinting by revealing installed apps; its behavior was effectively neutered in newer Android versions.
  • DISALLOW_FUN is a string key in a key/value restrictions API (not a boolean stored as string); often configured via enterprise MDM.
  • Commenters note few new jokes have appeared in the last decade, reading this as Android’s move toward “maturity” and risk aversion.

Broader ecosystem & corporatization

  • Many examples from other systems: X11’s party_like_its_1989, BeOS/Haiku’s is_computer_on_fire, Delphi’s EProgrammerNotFound, OpenVMS’s “my hovercraft is full of eels”, internal Facebook/React and Google “sorcery” names.
  • Several lament the general decline of easter eggs, attributing it to corporatization and stricter security expectations; undocumented surprises are now treated like potential backdoors.
  • Anecdotes show jokes sometimes triggering security reviews or client concern, reinforcing the trend toward “defunnification.”
  • One commenter proposes a linter that flags joke names after some time so they can be revisited and possibly renamed.