Name Explanation

Acinetobacter is a genus of non-motile bacteria. Its name derives from the Greek akinetos, meaning "non-moving," and bakterion, meaning "little rod."

The name is used as a metaphor for the separation between language and execution. The language remains stationary in its identity, syntax, and semantics, while the runtime acts as the vector of movement, carrying execution through a changing computational environment.

In this model, the language does not need to move with, or be defined by, a particular machine or runtime. Different execution environments can carry the same language while changing independently of it.

The runtime moves the computation; the language remains still.