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* [COFF] Awk, not Kaw?
       [not found] <e9f4cb6a-a382-71a5-8603-1485d9675d30@gmail.com>
@ 2022-07-24 23:30 ` Stuff Received
  2022-07-25  0:33   ` [COFF] " Dan Cross
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Stuff Received @ 2022-07-24 23:30 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: COFF

As I was (re)reading Bentley's "More Programming Pearls", I saw the 
following in Sect. 2.6, Further Reading: "Aho, Kernighan, and Weinberger 
designed and built the original Awk language in 1977. (Whatever you do, 
don't permute the initials of their last names!)"

The exclamation mark seems to indicate a background story.  Anyone know it?

N.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

* [COFF] Re: Awk, not Kaw?
  2022-07-24 23:30 ` [COFF] Awk, not Kaw? Stuff Received
@ 2022-07-25  0:33   ` Dan Cross
  2022-07-25  9:47     ` Harald Arnesen
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Dan Cross @ 2022-07-25  0:33 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Stuff Received; +Cc: COFF

On Sun, Jul 24, 2022 at 7:30 PM Stuff Received <stuff@riddermarkfarm.ca> wrote:
> As I was (re)reading Bentley's "More Programming Pearls", I saw the
> following in Sect. 2.6, Further Reading: "Aho, Kernighan, and Weinberger
> designed and built the original Awk language in 1977. (Whatever you do,
> don't permute the initials of their last names!)"
>
> The exclamation mark seems to indicate a background story.  Anyone know it?

I once asked Aho about this when I was a student (his
compilers class was one of the few CS courses I took).
He said they would meet in a room and people would
walk by and stick their heads in and say, "AWK! AWK!
AWK!" as a kind of joke, and the name came from that.

`akw` seems like the most promising alternative, for
no other reason than that the initials are alphabetized.
`kaw` feels a bit silly, sounding like the noise that a
crow makes.

I suspect "awk" was the closest to pronounceable
without seeming unduly goofy.

        - Dan C.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

* [COFF] Re: Awk, not Kaw?
  2022-07-25  0:33   ` [COFF] " Dan Cross
@ 2022-07-25  9:47     ` Harald Arnesen
  2022-07-25 17:36       ` Adam Thornton
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Harald Arnesen @ 2022-07-25  9:47 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: coff


Dan Cross [25/07/2022 02.33]:

> `akw` seems like the most promising alternative, for
> no other reason than that the initials are alphabetized.
> `kaw` feels a bit silly, sounding like the noise that a
> crow makes.
> 
> I suspect "awk" was the closest to pronounceable
> without seeming unduly goofy.

Whether a crow cries "kaw" or "awk" is open to discussion...in 
Norwegian, it says "kra".

I have always thought the name was a play on the bird "auk". The Book 
even has a picture of this creature on the cover.
-- 
Hilsen Harald

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

* [COFF] Re: Awk, not Kaw?
  2022-07-25  9:47     ` Harald Arnesen
@ 2022-07-25 17:36       ` Adam Thornton
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Adam Thornton @ 2022-07-25 17:36 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Harald Arnesen; +Cc: Computer Old Farts Followers

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I mean let's look at this logically.  We only have six possibilities:

AWK: well, it won.  It's easy to pronounce.  It does sound like an extinct
flightless bird, which is helpful in a world in which ORA is going to come
along with its distinctive product line book covers.
AKW: unpronounceable, but probably would have turned into "ak-dub".  Nah.
KWA: I like this one.  But then I'm a fan of Waiting For Godot.
KAW: Well, yeah, the ORA cover would have been a crow.  Just about as good
as AWK, really.
WKA: "wocka wocka" is the noise Pac-man makes.  Unfortunately the program
predated the video game by three years.  Would have been a great ORA cover
though.
WAK: "This language is WAK" would have been excellent marketing.  I'm a
little sorry this one didn't win.

Adam

On Mon, Jul 25, 2022 at 2:49 AM Harald Arnesen <skogtun@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Dan Cross [25/07/2022 02.33]:
>
> > `akw` seems like the most promising alternative, for
> > no other reason than that the initials are alphabetized.
> > `kaw` feels a bit silly, sounding like the noise that a
> > crow makes.
> >
> > I suspect "awk" was the closest to pronounceable
> > without seeming unduly goofy.
>
> Whether a crow cries "kaw" or "awk" is open to discussion...in
> Norwegian, it says "kra".
>
> I have always thought the name was a play on the bird "auk". The Book
> even has a picture of this creature on the cover.
> --
> Hilsen Harald
>

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

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     [not found] <e9f4cb6a-a382-71a5-8603-1485d9675d30@gmail.com>
2022-07-24 23:30 ` [COFF] Awk, not Kaw? Stuff Received
2022-07-25  0:33   ` [COFF] " Dan Cross
2022-07-25  9:47     ` Harald Arnesen
2022-07-25 17:36       ` Adam Thornton

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