* [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 [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1413 bytes --] 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 > [-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 1993 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2022-07-25 17:38 UTC | newest] Thread overview: 4+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed) -- links below jump to the message on this page -- [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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