* [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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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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