Re: [9fans] Why does Plan 9 use “snarf” instead of “copy”?

[Jules Merit <jules.merit.eurocorp.us@gmail.com>]

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The EUROcorp fork of plan9 has no snafu. Haven't figured out how to name
things for brown nosers to climb the SocLadder of troglodytes. I tried
inventing spork(), but who would want to read your e-mails.

On Sep 12, 2016 8:00 PM, "Winston Kodogo" <kodogo@gmail.com> wrote:

> Channeling my inner Quine here. Did you mean:
>
> The operation is not "copy" but "snarf". It's called "snarf" because
> snarf is what it does.
>
> Of course the White Knight would also have asked what the name of the
> operation was called.
>
> But be that as it may, a simple explanation of the difference between
> "snarf" and "copy" would be welcome, especially since under Windows I can
> snarf in Sam and paste into TextPad. Whereas I have to copy in Notepad and
> paste into TextPad.
>
> On 13 September 2016 at 00:27, Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The operation is not to copy but to snarf. It's called snarf because
>> snarf is what it does. There is no design document.
>>
>> -rob
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 8:44 PM, Alexander Kapshuk
>> <alexander.kapshuk@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Both 'Zerox' and 'Snarf' are there:
>> >
>> > /sys/src/cmd/acme/cols.c:34
>> > textinsert(t, 0, L"New Cut Paste Snarf Sort Zerox Delcol ", 38, TRUE);
>> >
>> > On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 1:38 PM, Robert Raschke <
>> rtrlists@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> >> Hi Mateusz,
>> >>
>> >> as far as I remember, it was originally called "xerox". But that is
>> >> trademarked. No idea where the word "snarf" comes from.
>> >>
>> >> Cheers,
>> >> Robby
>> >>
>> >> On 12 Sep 2016 12:19, "Mateusz Piotrowski" <mpp302@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Hello,
>> >>
>> >> I've discovered Plan 9 recently and became curious about some
>> >> design decisions.
>> >>
>> >> Why there is a snarf buffer and not a copy buffer?
>> >>
>> >> As it might seem to be a dull question, it is not. I am very
>> >> interested in the reason behind this decision. I've browsed
>> >> numerous websites (including cat-v.org and the 9fans archives)
>> >> but I wasn't able to find anything about it.
>> >>
>> >> I decided to ask this question [1] on Unix & Linux StackExchange
>> >> but its community doesn't seem to know the answer.
>> >>
>> >> My guess is that "copying" is not as an atomic action.
>> >> "Copying" is in fact:
>> >>
>> >> - obtaining the content you want to copy (_snarfing_)
>> >> - inserting the content where you want it to be (_pasting_)
>> >>
>> >> Hence the use of snarf instead of copy.
>> >>
>> >> Am I right? Is there a document / book / article where
>> >> it is explained?
>> >>
>> >> Cheers!
>> >>
>> >> Mateusz Piotrowski
>> >>
>> >> [1]:
>> >> http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/308943/why-does-plan
>> -9-use-snarf-instead-of-copy
>> >
>>
>>
>

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