MUMPS - "MUMPS" Vs. "M" Naming Debate

"MUMPS" Vs. "M" Naming Debate

While of little interest to those outside the MUMPS/M community, this topic has been contentious there.

All of the following positions can be, and have been, supported by knowledgeable people at various times:

• The language's name became M in 1993 when the M Technology Association adopted it.
• The name became M on December 8, 1995 with the approval of ANSI X11.1-1995
• Both M and MUMPS are officially accepted names.
• M is only an "alternate name" or "nickname" for the language, and MUMPS is still the official name.

Some of the contention arose in response to strong M advocacy on the part of one commercial interest, InterSystems, whose chief executive disliked the name MUMPS and felt that it represented a serious marketing obstacle. Thus, favoring M to some extent became identified as alignment with InterSystems. The dispute also reflected rivalry between organizations (the M Technology Association, the MUMPS Development Committee, the ANSI and ISO Standards Committees) as to who determines the "official" name of the language. Some writers have attempted to defuse the issue by referring to the language as M, square brackets being the customary notation for optional syntax elements. A leading authority, and the author of an open source MUMPS implementation, Professor Kevin O'Kane, uses only 'MUMPS'.

The most recent standard (ISO/IEC 11756:1999, re-affirmed on 25 June 2010), still mentions both M and MUMPS as officially accepted names.