From: Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com>
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net>
Subject: Re: [9fans] Why does Plan 9 use “snarf” instead of “copy”?
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2016 22:27:31 +1000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAKzdPgzHeTa6FncWZt1RUjT25kJGXus7qR9s+JPuN=o+ga09LA@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAJ1xhMVNPzGs+tKArKn_dV2KAN1iddzJsPjg2cEQjh6budtNfg@mail.gmail.com>
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
>
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2016-09-12 12:27 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2016-09-12 10:19 Mateusz Piotrowski
[not found] ` <CAH+xwdCqV8fA6diS6Q4hOgMoo0daB+HLgoi_Ui=ETE+iPEDrFQ@mail.gmail.com>
[not found] ` <CAH+xwdA8kKRebYPNVZGHpYLBQ3tZSnVtbNZ4JsQo2cxwYS0_bA@mail.gmail.com>
2016-09-12 10:38 ` Robert Raschke
2016-09-12 10:44 ` Alexander Kapshuk
2016-09-12 12:27 ` Rob Pike [this message]
2016-09-12 12:37 ` Mateusz Piotrowski
2016-09-13 2:57 ` Winston Kodogo
2016-09-13 4:25 ` Jules Merit
2016-09-12 17:20 ` Skip Tavakkolian
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