* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
@ 2024-09-15 21:48 Noel Chiappa
2024-09-15 22:01 ` Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Noel Chiappa @ 2024-09-15 21:48 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs; +Cc: jnc
> From: Rik Farrow <rik@rikfarrow.com>
> Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny
> disk and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33
> for input?
I'm not sure the answer was ever written down (e.g. in a memo); we will
probably have to rely on memory - and memories that far back are now fairly
thin on the ground by now. Perhaps Mr. McIlroy (or Mr. Thompson, if we're
_really_ lucky) will humor us? :-)
I have the impression that some of the names are _possibly_ inherited from
Multics (which the early Unicians all used before Unix existed) - but maybe
not. The command to list a directory, on Multics, is 'ls' (but see below) -
but the Multics qcommand to remove a file is 'del' (not 'rm'); and change working
directory is 'cwd'. So maybe ls' is just chance?
Multics had a 'feature' where a segment (file) could have additional names (to
the main name), and this is used to add short aliases to many commands, so the
'base name'' for the directory list command is 'list'; 'ls' is a short
alias. A list of Multics commands (with short forms) is available here:
https://www.multicians.org/multics-commands.html
I'm not sure how early that alias mechanism came in, though; my copy of
"Introduction to Multics" (February, 1974) doesn't have short names (or, at
least, it doesn't use them).
It won't have anything to do with disk and memory. Having used a Teletype, it
would take noticeably longer to type in a longer name! It's also more effort
and time. I would expect those are the reasons for the short names.
Noel
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 21:48 [TUHS] Re: On computerese Noel Chiappa
@ 2024-09-15 22:01 ` Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS
2024-09-15 22:15 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-16 3:02 ` arnold
0 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS @ 2024-09-15 22:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Noel Chiappa; +Cc: tuhs
i doubt there is a fully satisfactory answer. dd was a jab at IBM JCL.
Several later commands were derived from earlier ones, like sed and
tar. And awk ...
I think the one that needs more explaining is grep. If brevity were
the sole criterion, it could have been shorter.
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 5:49 PM Noel Chiappa <jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
>
> > From: Rik Farrow <rik@rikfarrow.com>
>
> > Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny
> > disk and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33
> > for input?
>
> I'm not sure the answer was ever written down (e.g. in a memo); we will
> probably have to rely on memory - and memories that far back are now fairly
> thin on the ground by now. Perhaps Mr. McIlroy (or Mr. Thompson, if we're
> _really_ lucky) will humor us? :-)
>
>
> I have the impression that some of the names are _possibly_ inherited from
> Multics (which the early Unicians all used before Unix existed) - but maybe
> not. The command to list a directory, on Multics, is 'ls' (but see below) -
> but the Multics qcommand to remove a file is 'del' (not 'rm'); and change working
> directory is 'cwd'. So maybe ls' is just chance?
>
> Multics had a 'feature' where a segment (file) could have additional names (to
> the main name), and this is used to add short aliases to many commands, so the
> 'base name'' for the directory list command is 'list'; 'ls' is a short
> alias. A list of Multics commands (with short forms) is available here:
>
> https://www.multicians.org/multics-commands.html
>
> I'm not sure how early that alias mechanism came in, though; my copy of
> "Introduction to Multics" (February, 1974) doesn't have short names (or, at
> least, it doesn't use them).
>
>
> It won't have anything to do with disk and memory. Having used a Teletype, it
> would take noticeably longer to type in a longer name! It's also more effort
> and time. I would expect those are the reasons for the short names.
>
> Noel
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 22:01 ` Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS
@ 2024-09-15 22:15 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-15 22:29 ` Larry McVoy
` (2 more replies)
2024-09-16 3:02 ` arnold
1 sibling, 3 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rob Pike @ 2024-09-15 22:15 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Peter Weinberger (温博格); +Cc: Noel Chiappa, tuhs
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For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the JCL
notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
That is, people prefer "dd if=foo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
obviously easiest "dd <foo".
It's a counterargument to my understanding of why people prefer "cat foo |
cmd" to "cmd <foo" or "<foo cmd". There's a psych thesis in there somewhere.
-rob
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 8:01 AM Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS <
tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
> i doubt there is a fully satisfactory answer. dd was a jab at IBM JCL.
> Several later commands were derived from earlier ones, like sed and
> tar. And awk ...
>
> I think the one that needs more explaining is grep. If brevity were
> the sole criterion, it could have been shorter.
>
> On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 5:49 PM Noel Chiappa <jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > > From: Rik Farrow <rik@rikfarrow.com>
> >
> > > Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the
> tiny
> > > disk and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype
> 33
> > > for input?
> >
> > I'm not sure the answer was ever written down (e.g. in a memo); we will
> > probably have to rely on memory - and memories that far back are now
> fairly
> > thin on the ground by now. Perhaps Mr. McIlroy (or Mr. Thompson, if we're
> > _really_ lucky) will humor us? :-)
> >
> >
> > I have the impression that some of the names are _possibly_ inherited
> from
> > Multics (which the early Unicians all used before Unix existed) - but
> maybe
> > not. The command to list a directory, on Multics, is 'ls' (but see
> below) -
> > but the Multics qcommand to remove a file is 'del' (not 'rm'); and
> change working
> > directory is 'cwd'. So maybe ls' is just chance?
> >
> > Multics had a 'feature' where a segment (file) could have additional
> names (to
> > the main name), and this is used to add short aliases to many commands,
> so the
> > 'base name'' for the directory list command is 'list'; 'ls' is a short
> > alias. A list of Multics commands (with short forms) is available here:
> >
> > https://www.multicians.org/multics-commands.html
> >
> > I'm not sure how early that alias mechanism came in, though; my copy of
> > "Introduction to Multics" (February, 1974) doesn't have short names (or,
> at
> > least, it doesn't use them).
> >
> >
> > It won't have anything to do with disk and memory. Having used a
> Teletype, it
> > would take noticeably longer to type in a longer name! It's also more
> effort
> > and time. I would expect those are the reasons for the short names.
> >
> > Noel
>
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 22:15 ` Rob Pike
@ 2024-09-15 22:29 ` Larry McVoy
2024-09-16 3:55 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-16 22:50 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
2024-09-17 20:25 ` Alexander Schreiber
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Larry McVoy @ 2024-09-15 22:29 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Rob Pike; +Cc: Peter Weinberger (?????????), Noel Chiappa, tuhs
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 08:15:34AM +1000, Rob Pike wrote:
> For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the JCL
> notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
> That is, people prefer "dd if=foo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
> obviously easiest "dd <foo".
Muscle memory. dd is weird but you sort of get used to it and then just
do it how you always have.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 22:01 ` Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS
2024-09-15 22:15 ` Rob Pike
@ 2024-09-16 3:02 ` arnold
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2024-09-16 3:02 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: pjw, jnc; +Cc: tuhs
Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
> I think the one that needs more explaining is grep. If brevity were
> the sole criterion, it could have been shorter.
First, it was mnemonic for the ed(1) syntax g/re/p, and second
have a vowel in it (instead of calling it grp) made it easily
pronounceable.
I also suspect that at this point we're overthinking it. :-)
Arnold
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 22:29 ` Larry McVoy
@ 2024-09-16 3:55 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-16 4:17 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-16 5:06 ` Henry Bent
0 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Adam Thornton @ 2024-09-16 3:55 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1189 bytes --]
You know, this is a place that might actually be able to provide a
definitive answer to me. A brief web search found me asking the same
question in 1995.
When I were a wee lad, I was told `dd` was short for `do DEBE`, which,
while obviously referencing a well-known movie about a Northern Texas
sports team and their most enthusiastic fan, also referred to the mainframe
software whose name was an acronym for `Does Everything But Eat` and whose
function was to copy data across sources with very different blocking and
representation conventions...which is kinda what `dd` does.
Can anyone here confirm or deny that origin for the utility's name?
Adam
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 3:36 PM Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 08:15:34AM +1000, Rob Pike wrote:
> > For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the
> JCL
> > notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
> > That is, people prefer "dd if=foo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
> > obviously easiest "dd <foo".
>
> Muscle memory. dd is weird but you sort of get used to it and then just
> do it how you always have.
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 3:55 ` Adam Thornton
@ 2024-09-16 4:17 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-16 5:15 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-16 5:06 ` Henry Bent
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rob Pike @ 2024-09-16 4:17 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Adam Thornton; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
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I was told it's IBMese: Define Dataset.
-rob
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 2:01 PM Adam Thornton <athornton@gmail.com> wrote:
> You know, this is a place that might actually be able to provide a
> definitive answer to me. A brief web search found me asking the same
> question in 1995.
>
> When I were a wee lad, I was told `dd` was short for `do DEBE`, which,
> while obviously referencing a well-known movie about a Northern Texas
> sports team and their most enthusiastic fan, also referred to the mainframe
> software whose name was an acronym for `Does Everything But Eat` and whose
> function was to copy data across sources with very different blocking and
> representation conventions...which is kinda what `dd` does.
>
> Can anyone here confirm or deny that origin for the utility's name?
>
> Adam
>
> On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 3:36 PM Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 08:15:34AM +1000, Rob Pike wrote:
>> > For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the
>> JCL
>> > notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
>> > That is, people prefer "dd if=foo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
>> > obviously easiest "dd <foo".
>>
>> Muscle memory. dd is weird but you sort of get used to it and then just
>> do it how you always have.
>>
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 3:55 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-16 4:17 ` Rob Pike
@ 2024-09-16 5:06 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-16 6:11 ` Rob Pike
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Henry Bent @ 2024-09-16 5:06 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Adam Thornton; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
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On Mon, 16 Sept 2024 at 00:11, Adam Thornton <athornton@gmail.com> wrote:
> You know, this is a place that might actually be able to provide a
> definitive answer to me. A brief web search found me asking the same
> question in 1995.
>
> When I were a wee lad, I was told `dd` was short for `do DEBE`, which,
> while obviously referencing a well-known movie about a Northern Texas
> sports team and their most enthusiastic fan, also referred to the mainframe
> software whose name was an acronym for `Does Everything But Eat` and whose
> function was to copy data across sources with very different blocking and
> representation conventions...which is kinda what `dd` does.
>
> Can anyone here confirm or deny that origin for the utility's name?
>
>
I looked through a broad swath of dd source files and man pages from v5 to
System III and SVR4, the BSD SCCS tree, various commercial UNIXes, modern
BSDs, and modern Linux but none of them have any sort of explanation of the
name. I figured I'd at least find something!
It is the case that many places refer to the command's function as "convert
and copy," so I wonder if it's some sort of play on the fact that the
expected name of the command might be "cc".
-Henry
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 4:17 ` Rob Pike
@ 2024-09-16 5:15 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-16 5:26 ` Tom Lyon
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dave Horsfall @ 2024-09-16 5:15 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Rob Pike wrote:
[ The origin of the "dd" command ]
> I was told it's IBMese: Define Dataset.
Straight from IBM's JCL (Job Control Language); heck, I still remember
obscure things like "DISP=(,KEEP)" etc...
-- Dave
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 5:15 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-16 5:26 ` Tom Lyon
2024-09-16 10:30 ` Rob Pike
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Tom Lyon @ 2024-09-16 5:26 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dave Horsfall; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 492 bytes --]
According to GC28-6704-1, IBM System/360 Operating System: Job Control
Language Reference,
DD means "Data Definition". Bitsavers knows all.
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 10:15 PM Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Rob Pike wrote:
>
> [ The origin of the "dd" command ]
>
> > I was told it's IBMese: Define Dataset.
>
> Straight from IBM's JCL (Job Control Language); heck, I still remember
> obscure things like "DISP=(,KEEP)" etc...
>
> -- Dave
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 5:06 ` Henry Bent
@ 2024-09-16 6:11 ` Rob Pike
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rob Pike @ 2024-09-16 6:11 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Henry Bent; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1778 bytes --]
James Gosling used this idiomatic JCL command (see loop body) in something
or other, and Brian and I borrowed it (with attribution) for the bundle
command in our book.
% cat /usr/local/plan9/bin/bundle
#!/bin/sh
echo '# To unbundle, run this file'
for i
do
echo "echo $i"
echo "sed 's/.//' >$i <<'//GO.SYSIN DD $i'"
sed "s/^/-/" $i
echo "//GO.SYSIN DD $i"
done
%
-rob
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 3:31 PM Henry Bent <henry.r.bent@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Sept 2024 at 00:11, Adam Thornton <athornton@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> You know, this is a place that might actually be able to provide a
>> definitive answer to me. A brief web search found me asking the same
>> question in 1995.
>>
>> When I were a wee lad, I was told `dd` was short for `do DEBE`, which,
>> while obviously referencing a well-known movie about a Northern Texas
>> sports team and their most enthusiastic fan, also referred to the mainframe
>> software whose name was an acronym for `Does Everything But Eat` and whose
>> function was to copy data across sources with very different blocking and
>> representation conventions...which is kinda what `dd` does.
>>
>> Can anyone here confirm or deny that origin for the utility's name?
>>
>>
> I looked through a broad swath of dd source files and man pages from v5 to
> System III and SVR4, the BSD SCCS tree, various commercial UNIXes, modern
> BSDs, and modern Linux but none of them have any sort of explanation of the
> name. I figured I'd at least find something!
>
> It is the case that many places refer to the command's function as
> "convert and copy," so I wonder if it's some sort of play on the fact that
> the expected name of the command might be "cc".
>
> -Henry
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 5:26 ` Tom Lyon
@ 2024-09-16 10:30 ` Rob Pike
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rob Pike @ 2024-09-16 10:30 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Tom Lyon; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 698 bytes --]
One man's "data definition" is another's "define dataset" remembered
faintly from 50 years ago.
-rob
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 6:11 PM Tom Lyon <pugs78@gmail.com> wrote:
> According to GC28-6704-1, IBM System/360 Operating System: Job Control
> Language Reference,
> DD means "Data Definition". Bitsavers knows all.
>
> On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 10:15 PM Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Rob Pike wrote:
>>
>> [ The origin of the "dd" command ]
>>
>> > I was told it's IBMese: Define Dataset.
>>
>> Straight from IBM's JCL (Job Control Language); heck, I still remember
>> obscure things like "DISP=(,KEEP)" etc...
>>
>> -- Dave
>>
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 22:15 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-15 22:29 ` Larry McVoy
@ 2024-09-16 22:50 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
2024-09-16 23:14 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
` (2 more replies)
2024-09-17 20:25 ` Alexander Schreiber
2 siblings, 3 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) @ 2024-09-16 22:50 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Rob Pike; +Cc: tuhs
Rob Pike writes:
> For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the JCL
> notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
> That is, people prefer "dd if=3Dfoo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
> obviously easiest "dd <foo".
Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
the moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL
mode.
And don't tell me you have never put a copy of dd in the root
directory just so you could tell someone to
/dd if=... :-)
--lyndon
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 22:50 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
@ 2024-09-16 23:14 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
2024-09-17 2:19 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
2024-09-16 23:16 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-17 6:00 ` arnold
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Bakul Shah via TUHS @ 2024-09-16 23:14 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM); +Cc: tuhs
> On Sep 16, 2024, at 3:50 PM, Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) <lyndon@orthanc.ca> wrote:
>
> Rob Pike writes:
>
>> For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the JCL
>> notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
>> That is, people prefer "dd if=3Dfoo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
>> obviously easiest "dd <foo".
>
> Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
> the moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL
> mode.
It has to be DD, not dd!
> And don't tell me you have never put a copy of dd in the root
> directory just so you could tell someone to
>
> /dd if=... :-)
That won't work. The data definition JCL statement format
is more like this:
//<name> DD <parameters>
optionally continued by one or more of
//<spaces> DD <parameters>
...
:-)
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 22:50 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
2024-09-16 23:14 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
@ 2024-09-16 23:16 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-16 23:24 ` Larry McVoy
2024-09-17 6:00 ` arnold
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dave Horsfall @ 2024-09-16 23:16 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) wrote:
> Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50, the
> moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL mode.
Indeed, but no "dd" I know has "-if" etc; is that a Penguin thing?
> And don't tell me you have never put a copy of dd in the root directory
> just so you could tell someone to
>
> /dd if=... :-)
Better still: //dd ...
-- Dave
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 23:16 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-16 23:24 ` Larry McVoy
2024-09-17 0:00 ` segaloco via TUHS
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Larry McVoy @ 2024-09-16 23:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dave Horsfall; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 09:16:17AM +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) wrote:
>
> > Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50, the
> > moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL mode.
>
> Indeed, but no "dd" I know has "-if" etc; is that a Penguin thing?
Not a penguin thing on current xubuntu.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 23:24 ` Larry McVoy
@ 2024-09-17 0:00 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-09-17 0:17 ` Rob Pike
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: segaloco via TUHS @ 2024-09-17 0:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
On Monday, September 16th, 2024 at 4:24 PM, Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 09:16:17AM +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) wrote:
> >
> > > Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50, the
> > > moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL mode.
> >
> > Indeed, but no "dd" I know has "-if" etc; is that a Penguin thing?
>
>
> Not a penguin thing on current xubuntu.
Never seen that either, POSIX doesn't suggest any support for that either, with this in the RATIONALE section:
---QUOTE---
The OPTIONS section is listed as "None" because there are no options recognized by historical dd utilities. Certainly, many of the operands could have been designed to use the Utility Syntax Guidelines, which would have resulted in the classic hyphenated option letters. In this version of this volume of POSIX.1-2024, dd retains its curious JCL-like syntax due to the large number of applications that depend on the historical implementation.
---END QUOTE---
- Matt G.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 0:00 ` segaloco via TUHS
@ 2024-09-17 0:17 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-17 5:54 ` arnold
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rob Pike @ 2024-09-17 0:17 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: segaloco; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1350 bytes --]
I don't remember whether late Research Unix had -if, but Plan 9 certainly
did.
-rob
On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 10:06 AM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
> On Monday, September 16th, 2024 at 4:24 PM, Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com>
> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 09:16:17AM +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) wrote:
> > >
> > > > Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
> the
> > > > moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL mode.
> > >
> > > Indeed, but no "dd" I know has "-if" etc; is that a Penguin thing?
> >
> >
> > Not a penguin thing on current xubuntu.
>
> Never seen that either, POSIX doesn't suggest any support for that either,
> with this in the RATIONALE section:
>
> ---QUOTE---
>
> The OPTIONS section is listed as "None" because there are no options
> recognized by historical dd utilities. Certainly, many of the operands
> could have been designed to use the Utility Syntax Guidelines, which would
> have resulted in the classic hyphenated option letters. In this version of
> this volume of POSIX.1-2024, dd retains its curious JCL-like syntax due to
> the large number of applications that depend on the historical
> implementation.
>
> ---END QUOTE---
>
> - Matt G.
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 23:14 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
@ 2024-09-17 2:19 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) @ 2024-09-17 2:19 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Bakul Shah; +Cc: tuhs
Bakul Shah writes:
> > /dd if=... :-)
>
> That won't work. The data definition JCL statement format
> is more like this:
>
> //<name> DD <parameters>
Yeah, I know. But you can get away with '//dd if= ...' which
was more than enough to give some old timers whiplash the
first time they saw that on a UNIX box :-)
--lyndon
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 0:17 ` Rob Pike
@ 2024-09-17 5:54 ` arnold
2024-09-18 1:40 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-30 1:01 ` Russ Cox
0 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2024-09-17 5:54 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: segaloco, robpike; +Cc: tuhs
I think it was only Plan 9. The change was motivated by the
rc shell, which treated x=y anywhere on the command line (not just
at the beginning of a command) as a variable assignment.
(For a while I used Byron's rc. I was used to typing
echo ===============
to generate separator lines. rc threw a syntax error at me. :-)
Arnold
Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't remember whether late Research Unix had -if, but Plan 9 certainly
> did.
>
> -rob
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 10:06 AM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
>
> > On Monday, September 16th, 2024 at 4:24 PM, Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 09:16:17AM +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM) wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
> > the
> > > > > moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL mode.
> > > >
> > > > Indeed, but no "dd" I know has "-if" etc; is that a Penguin thing?
> > >
> > >
> > > Not a penguin thing on current xubuntu.
> >
> > Never seen that either, POSIX doesn't suggest any support for that either,
> > with this in the RATIONALE section:
> >
> > ---QUOTE---
> >
> > The OPTIONS section is listed as "None" because there are no options
> > recognized by historical dd utilities. Certainly, many of the operands
> > could have been designed to use the Utility Syntax Guidelines, which would
> > have resulted in the classic hyphenated option letters. In this version of
> > this volume of POSIX.1-2024, dd retains its curious JCL-like syntax due to
> > the large number of applications that depend on the historical
> > implementation.
> >
> > ---END QUOTE---
> >
> > - Matt G.
> >
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 22:50 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
2024-09-16 23:14 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
2024-09-16 23:16 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-17 6:00 ` arnold
2024-09-17 6:25 ` Henry Bent
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2024-09-17 6:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: robpike, lyndon; +Cc: tuhs
"Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)" <lyndon@orthanc.ca> wrote:
> Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
> the moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL
> mode.
I am (considerably) over 50, but was fortunate enough to never have
to have used JCL. After a two year hiatus for religious studies,
I returned to my university for my senior year and encountered
Unix (IS/1 on a PDP-11/70), C, and Software Tools. It was sooooo far
ahead of everything else that I knew then that's where I wanted
to spend my career.
Arnold
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 6:00 ` arnold
@ 2024-09-17 6:25 ` Henry Bent
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Henry Bent @ 2024-09-17 6:25 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1238 bytes --]
On Tue, 17 Sept 2024 at 02:00, <arnold@skeeve.com> wrote:
> "Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)" <lyndon@orthanc.ca> wrote:
>
> > Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
> > the moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL
> > mode.
>
> I am (considerably) over 50, but was fortunate enough to never have
> to have used JCL. After a two year hiatus for religious studies,
> I returned to my university for my senior year and encountered
> Unix (IS/1 on a PDP-11/70), C, and Software Tools. It was sooooo far
> ahead of everything else that I knew then that's where I wanted
> to spend my career.
>
In the liberal arts world where my background is, IBMs were not a sure
thing. My alma mater was a DEC shop top to bottom starting in the early
'70s. The psychology department had a PDP-12, I believe the natural and
computer sciences had a few 8s and 11s (and CS later an 11/750), and I know
that the "computing center" (mostly administrativa) got an 11/780 pretty
much as soon as they could. When I got there everything was still all DEC,
VMS for the computing center (a 6620 clustered with some smaller boxes,
also serving email and news) and mostly Ultrix on MIPS for the sciences.
-Henry
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 22:15 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-15 22:29 ` Larry McVoy
2024-09-16 22:50 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
@ 2024-09-17 20:25 ` Alexander Schreiber
2024-09-17 20:50 ` Larry McVoy
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Alexander Schreiber @ 2024-09-17 20:25 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Rob Pike; +Cc: Peter Weinberger (温博格), Noel Chiappa, tuhs
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 08:15:34AM +1000, Rob Pike wrote:
> For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the JCL
> notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
> That is, people prefer "dd if=foo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
> obviously easiest "dd <foo".
Wait, when did that happen? And more importantly, _where_?
The GNU Coreutils version (according to both --help and the man page)
only appears to support the JCL convention and in fact complains and
aborts when fed Unix style arguments. The NetBSD version behaves the
same way.
Kind regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 20:25 ` Alexander Schreiber
@ 2024-09-17 20:50 ` Larry McVoy
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Larry McVoy @ 2024-09-17 20:50 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Alexander Schreiber; +Cc: Peter Weinberger (?????????), Noel Chiappa, tuhs
On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 10:25:04PM +0200, Alexander Schreiber wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 08:15:34AM +1000, Rob Pike wrote:
> > For me the fascinating thing about dd is that people tended to use the JCL
> > notation for its arguments even after the Unix style was made available.
> > That is, people prefer "dd if=foo" rather than "dd -if foo" or even the
> > obviously easiest "dd <foo".
>
> Wait, when did that happen? And more importantly, _where_?
>
> The GNU Coreutils version (according to both --help and the man page)
> only appears to support the JCL convention and in fact complains and
> aborts when fed Unix style arguments. The NetBSD version behaves the
> same way.
Plan 9.
--
---
Larry McVoy Retired to fishing http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 5:54 ` arnold
@ 2024-09-18 1:40 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-18 2:04 ` Rich Salz
2024-09-18 13:08 ` Chet Ramey via TUHS
2024-09-30 1:01 ` Russ Cox
1 sibling, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dave Horsfall @ 2024-09-18 1:40 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[ Of "dd -if" ]
On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, arnold@skeeve.com wrote:
> I think it was only Plan 9. The change was motivated by the rc shell,
> which treated x=y anywhere on the command line (not just at the
> beginning of a command) as a variable assignment.
That is plain broken, but I can see how it could/would work; something
like "A=B blah A=C blah"?
> (For a while I used Byron's rc. I was used to typing
>
> echo ===============
>
> to generate separator lines. rc threw a syntax error at me. :-)
Which is why I've always quoted anything not strictly alphanumeric; you
never know what the current shell will do (especially if it's CSH[*]).
[*]
At a client's office I espied a book on CSH, and said something like "If
there's any book that deserves to be burned, it's one on CSH programming";
pretty much everyone laughed :-)
-- Dave
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-18 1:40 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-18 2:04 ` Rich Salz
2024-09-18 5:09 ` arnold
2024-09-18 13:08 ` Chet Ramey via TUHS
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rich Salz @ 2024-09-18 2:04 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dave Horsfall; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 311 bytes --]
>
> > which treated x=y anywhere on the command line (not just at the
> > beginning of a command) as a variable assignment.
>
> That is plain broken
>
No. The shell is NOT like sh, bash, etc., that you are used to. Go read
the paper or, better yet, play with a version of it at
https://github.com/rakitzis/rc
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-18 2:04 ` Rich Salz
@ 2024-09-18 5:09 ` arnold
2024-09-18 5:12 ` arnold
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2024-09-18 5:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: rich.salz, dave; +Cc: tuhs
Rich Salz <rich.salz@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > which treated x=y anywhere on the command line (not just at the
> > > beginning of a command) as a variable assignment.
> >
> > That is plain broken
> >
>
> No. The shell is NOT like sh, bash, etc., that you are used to. Go read
> the paper or, better yet, play with a version of it at
> https://github.com/rakitzis/rc
There is also https://github.com/benavento/rc ; I didn't know that
Byron had made rc available directly.
Arnold
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-18 5:09 ` arnold
@ 2024-09-18 5:12 ` arnold
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2024-09-18 5:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: rich.salz, dave, arnold; +Cc: tuhs
Taking a closer look:
https://github.com/benavento/rc --- This is a standalone port of Tom Duff's
original to *nix.
https://github.com/rakitzis/rc --- This is Byron's reimplementation.
Arnold
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-18 1:40 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-18 2:04 ` Rich Salz
@ 2024-09-18 13:08 ` Chet Ramey via TUHS
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Chet Ramey via TUHS @ 2024-09-18 13:08 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dave Horsfall, The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
On 9/17/24 9:40 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:
>> The change was motivated by the rc shell,
>> which treated x=y anywhere on the command line (not just at the
>> beginning of a command) as a variable assignment.
>
> That is plain broken,
Unfamiliar, maybe, but even the Bourne shell had `set -k'.
--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU chet@case.edu http://tiswww.cwru.edu/~chet/
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 5:54 ` arnold
2024-09-18 1:40 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-30 1:01 ` Russ Cox
2024-09-30 8:16 ` arnold
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Russ Cox @ 2024-09-30 1:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: arnold; +Cc: segaloco, tuhs
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 883 bytes --]
On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 1:55 AM <arnold@skeeve.com> wrote:
> I think it was only Plan 9. The change was motivated by the
> rc shell, which treated x=y anywhere on the command line (not just
> at the beginning of a command) as a variable assignment.
>
I'm a little late to the thread, but this is not quite true.
rc's lexer and grammar treated = as a special
symbol - just like ( or | or & or ; - and so it couldn't
be used as a literal except when quoted.
That is, "foo x=y" was a syntax error, not an equivalent to "x=y foo".
One of the tidyings I did during covid lockdown was to rewrite
rc's parser not to use yacc anymore [1], specifically to make
it easy to allow "foo x=y". As I wrote in the commit message,
dd fans rejoice! (Also fans of -foo=bar flag syntax.)
Best,
Russ
[1] https://groups.google.com/g/plan9port-dev/c/AS8acHti7eo/m/0tZF7h7FBQAJ
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 1:01 ` Russ Cox
@ 2024-09-30 8:16 ` arnold
2024-09-30 12:10 ` Russ Cox
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2024-09-30 8:16 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: rsc, arnold; +Cc: tuhs, segaloco
Russ Cox <rsc@swtch.com> wrote:
> I'm a little late to the thread, but this is not quite true.
> rc's lexer and grammar treated = as a special
> symbol - just like ( or | or & or ; - and so it couldn't
> be used as a literal except when quoted.
> That is, "foo x=y" was a syntax error, not an equivalent to "x=y foo".
OK, distinction noted. It was a long time ago.
> One of the tidyings I did during covid lockdown was to rewrite
> rc's parser not to use yacc anymore [1], specifically to make
> it easy to allow "foo x=y". As I wrote in the commit message,
> dd fans rejoice! (Also fans of -foo=bar flag syntax.)
Very cool. Have other Plan 9 distros picked this up? Just wondering.
Thanks,
Arnold
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 8:16 ` arnold
@ 2024-09-30 12:10 ` Russ Cox
2024-09-30 15:00 ` Jacob Moody
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Russ Cox @ 2024-09-30 12:10 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: arnold; +Cc: tuhs, segaloco
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 650 bytes --]
On Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 4:17 AM <arnold@skeeve.com> wrote:
> > One of the tidyings I did during covid lockdown was to rewrite
> > rc's parser not to use yacc anymore [1], specifically to make
> > it easy to allow "foo x=y". As I wrote in the commit message,
> > dd fans rejoice! (Also fans of -foo=bar flag syntax.)
>
> Very cool. Have other Plan 9 distros picked this up? Just wondering.
I looked at https://9p.io/plan9/ and also 9front and neither has the change.
I don't think either is particularly maintained at this point.
(I made the change in the Unix port of the tools,
https://9fans.github.io/plan9port/.)
Best,
Russ
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 12:10 ` Russ Cox
@ 2024-09-30 15:00 ` Jacob Moody
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Jacob Moody @ 2024-09-30 15:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
On 9/30/24 07:10, Russ Cox wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 4:17 AM <arnold@skeeve.com <mailto:arnold@skeeve.com>> wrote:
>
> > One of the tidyings I did during covid lockdown was to rewrite
> > rc's parser not to use yacc anymore [1], specifically to make
> > it easy to allow "foo x=y". As I wrote in the commit message,
> > dd fans rejoice! (Also fans of -foo=bar flag syntax.)
>
> Very cool. Have other Plan 9 distros picked this up? Just wondering.
>
>
> I looked at https://9p.io/plan9/ <https://9p.io/plan9/> and also 9front and neither has the change.
> I don't think either is particularly maintained at this point.
Since (and including) 2020, 9front has averaged 700 commits a year to
the project, a very large portion of that being bug fixes and upkeep.
We've also been presenting some of the more interesting new work at
recent IWP9 conferences, now that they've become a yearly occurrence
again thanks to the Plan 9 Foundation. From my perspective things
have been quite lively lately.
We did take a look at your rc parser changes (closer to when they were
first pushed to plan9port) but had decided not to adopt them at the
time.
Thank you,
Jacob Moody
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-19 16:59 ` Clem Cole
@ 2024-10-19 18:16 ` Steve Nickolas
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Steve Nickolas @ 2024-10-19 18:16 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
On Sat, 19 Oct 2024, Clem Cole wrote:
> Yes, programming is often better when it's a more social enterprise. It's
> funny. I liked having an office for times when I wanted to think, but when
> I was batting an interesting issue or trying to remember something pretty
> obscure, the terminal room was the best. I also began to slowly realize my
> own knowledge base was improving when I was the one answering the question
> when someone asked, " Hey, does anybody have a good way to ..."
I notice I'm more motivated to work on a program when I'm not alone
slogging through it.
Of course a lot of my projects tend to fall into the "who cares?"
category. Like trying to backport MS-DOS 6.2 functionality to the
open-source 4, or create an alternate-universe OS where it was System V
rather than BSD that got the Theseus treatment...
-uso.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-19 15:03 ` Larry McVoy
@ 2024-10-19 16:59 ` Clem Cole
2024-10-19 18:16 ` Steve Nickolas
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Clem Cole @ 2024-10-19 16:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Larry McVoy; +Cc: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1364 bytes --]
Yes, programming is often better when it's a more social enterprise. It's
funny. I liked having an office for times when I wanted to think, but when
I was batting an interesting issue or trying to remember something pretty
obscure, the terminal room was the best. I also began to slowly realize my
own knowledge base was improving when I was the one answering the question
when someone asked, " Hey, does anybody have a good way to ..."
ᐧ
On Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at 11:09 AM Larry McVoy <lm@mcvoy.com> wrote:
> I think as you move from OS to OS, there are basics. You seek those out.
>
> The thing I miss is a terminal room. That's where I really learned.
> You seek out the people who are the most productive and look over their
> shoulder. The first time I saw Udi do !}fmt<CR> my head exploded. That's
> been a vi mapping for decades.
>
> On Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at 10:55:57AM -0400, Paul Winalski wrote:
> > Regarding use of apropos as a way to answer "How do I do X?"-type
> > questions, I've never had any joy with that. apropos has always returned
> > pages and pages of irrelevant information. Maybe the direct answer is in
> > there somewhere, but it's always been a needle-in-the-haystack situation
> > for me.
> >
> > -Paul W.
>
> --
> ---
> Larry McVoy Retired to fishing
> http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-19 14:55 ` Paul Winalski
@ 2024-10-19 15:03 ` Larry McVoy
2024-10-19 16:59 ` Clem Cole
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Larry McVoy @ 2024-10-19 15:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Paul Winalski; +Cc: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
I think as you move from OS to OS, there are basics. You seek those out.
The thing I miss is a terminal room. That's where I really learned.
You seek out the people who are the most productive and look over their
shoulder. The first time I saw Udi do !}fmt<CR> my head exploded. That's
been a vi mapping for decades.
On Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at 10:55:57AM -0400, Paul Winalski wrote:
> Regarding use of apropos as a way to answer "How do I do X?"-type
> questions, I've never had any joy with that. apropos has always returned
> pages and pages of irrelevant information. Maybe the direct answer is in
> there somewhere, but it's always been a needle-in-the-haystack situation
> for me.
>
> -Paul W.
--
---
Larry McVoy Retired to fishing http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-18 21:34 ` Greg A. Woods
@ 2024-10-19 14:55 ` Paul Winalski
2024-10-19 15:03 ` Larry McVoy
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Paul Winalski @ 2024-10-19 14:55 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 305 bytes --]
Regarding use of apropos as a way to answer "How do I do X?"-type
questions, I've never had any joy with that. apropos has always returned
pages and pages of irrelevant information. Maybe the direct answer is in
there somewhere, but it's always been a needle-in-the-haystack situation
for me.
-Paul W.
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-17 20:17 ` Al Kossow
@ 2024-10-18 21:39 ` Greg A. Woods
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Greg A. Woods @ 2024-10-18 21:39 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
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At Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:17:19 -0700, Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org> wrote:
Subject: [TUHS] Re: On computerese
>
> On 10/17/24 1:08 PM, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> > Of course anyone with even the
> > tiniest smattering of academic experience would expect to have an index
> > to use to find things
>
> I don't think this true any more for anyone younger than a college
> undergrad, is it?
Heh. Probably not.
--
Greg A. Woods <gwoods@acm.org>
Kelowna, BC +1 250 762-7675 RoboHack <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com> Avoncote Farms <woods@avoncote.ca>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-17 20:37 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
@ 2024-10-18 21:34 ` Greg A. Woods
2024-10-19 14:55 ` Paul Winalski
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Greg A. Woods @ 2024-10-18 21:34 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
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At Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:37:35 -0700, Bakul Shah via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
Subject: [TUHS] Re: On computerese
>
> Unfortunately things are a bit more complicated now!
>
> On freebsd:
> $ apropos ls | wc 1761 11158 121413
Someone forgot the "word" part of "keyword" I guess (but see below --
nothing new here). The same brain-damage happens on NetBSD (where all
the manual page processing has had a rather obnoxious and unnecessary
overhaul, for lack of a better description).
BTW, the first keyword I might search for when looking to find something
that does what ls(1) does would probably be "list", or maybe "files",
but not "ls" itself obviously! (Thus my earlier complaint that "files"
does not appear in the synopsis for ls(1).)
> $ apropos '\<ls\>' | wc 9 187 1260
So it seems FreeBSD's apropos(1) now allows regular expressions for the
keyword argument!
On my rather stock plain FreeBSD machine there are only two lines output
for '\<ls\>', and searching for '\<list\>' generates only 27 lines, all
quite reasonable.
At least this support for REs is well documented, assuming one would
think to read the manual page for apropos(1) before using it, so knowing
to use the RE word delimiters isn't too much of a stretch:
... uses case-insensitive extended regular expression matching
over manual names and descriptions
Use of word delimiters are even shown in some of the examples given.
I still fail to see why the default isn't/wasn't to treat the keyword
argument as only matching a whole word (+/- any suffixes).
The new NetBSD implementation doesn't document what its arguments do,
though a quick experiment shows it doesn't parse regular expressions.
Sadly it doesn't handle its '-s' option properly either.
> Seems word search on unix for such things needs to be beefed
> up....
Indeed, though "beefed down" might be the better direction.
It looks, on first glance, that the 4.4BSD apropos(1) was also very lax
in matching keywords as well:
Each word is considered separately and case of letters is
ignored. Words which are part of other words are considered;
when looking for “compile”, apropos will also list all instances
of “compiler”.
I think proper exclusion of normal word suffixes (and maybe prefixes)
would suffice for a reasonable definition of "word", but a quick glance
at the source suggests that's not what it does
Note that all of this mess is partially because the makewhatis.sh script
didn't make it into 4.4BSD (even though getNAME.c did), and furthermore
the ed(1) script in it won't work with modern BSD ed(1) implementations.
There was a makewhatis.sed script that is in 4.4BSD doesn't seem to do
anything useful with modern "nroff -man" output either. Sigh.
While looking up information about the different implementations I ran
across the following slightly amusing but mostly sad description of
ptx(1): <https://wiki.debian.org/WhyTheName#coreutils>
ptx: an inscrutable abbreviation for a word-salad generator.
PermuTed indeXes were tortuous concordances for manual pages
back in the days before tools like apropos. The GNU version was
created in 1999 as some sort of exercise in medieval
reenactment.
There's an embedded link therein to a somewhat more sedate description
of the UNIX Reference Manual's permuted index:
https://docstore.mik.ua/orelly/unix/upt/ch50_09.htm
--
Greg A. Woods <gwoods@acm.org>
Kelowna, BC +1 250 762-7675 RoboHack <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com> Avoncote Farms <woods@avoncote.ca>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-17 20:08 ` Greg A. Woods
2024-10-17 20:17 ` Al Kossow
@ 2024-10-17 20:37 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
2024-10-18 21:34 ` Greg A. Woods
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Bakul Shah via TUHS @ 2024-10-17 20:37 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
On Oct 17, 2024, at 1:08 PM, Greg A. Woods <woods@robohack.ca> wrote:
>
> I was taught, right
> from the beginning, to use the permuted index to find things, which is
> essentially what BSD apropos(1) does.
Unfortunately things are a bit more complicated now!
On freebsd:
$ apropos ls | wc
1761 11158 121413
$ apropos ls | tail -1
refchan.tcl86, refchan(n) - command handler API of reflected channels
Looks like it is matching "ls" in "channels". May be it should match
full words? You can get this effect today with a bit more work:
$ apropos '\<ls\>' | wc
9 187 1260
But who'd remember to do that?
And man pages themselves need some work:
$ apropos tcl_fsdata
Tcl_AllocStatBuf.tcl86, Tcl_FSAccess.tcl86, Tcl_FSChdir.tcl86, Tcl_FSConvertToPathType.tcl86, Tcl_FSCopyDirectory.tcl86, Tcl_FSCopyFile.tcl86, Tcl_FSCreateDirectory.tcl86, Tcl_FSData.tcl86, Tcl_FSDeleteFile.tcl86, Tcl_FSEqualPaths.tcl86, Tcl_FSEvalFile.tcl86, Tcl_FSEvalFileEx.tcl86, Tcl_FSFileAttrsGet.tcl86, Tcl_FSFileAttrsSet.tcl86, Tcl_FSFileAttrStrings.tcl86, Tcl_FSFileSystemInfo.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetCwd.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetFileSystemForPath.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetInternalRep.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetNativePath.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetNormalizedPath.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetPathType.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetTranslatedPath.tcl86, Tcl_FSGetTranslatedStringPath.tcl86, Tcl_FSJoinPath.tcl86, Tcl_FSJoinToPath.tcl86, Tcl_FSLink.tcl86, Tcl_FSListVolumes.tcl86, Tcl_FSLoadFile.tcl86, Tcl_FSLstat.tcl86, Tcl_FSMatchInDirectory.tcl86, Tcl_FSMountsChanged.tcl86, Tcl_FSNewNativePath.tcl86, Tcl_FSOpenFileChannel.tcl86, Tcl_FSPathSeparator.tcl86, Tcl_FSRegister.tcl86, Tcl_FSRemoveDirectory.tcl86, Tcl_FSRenameFile.tcl86, Tcl_FSSplitPath.tcl86, Tcl_FSStat.tcl86, Tcl_FSUnloadFile.tcl86, Tcl_FSUnregister.tcl86, Tcl_FSUtime.tcl86, Tcl_GetAccessTimeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetBlocksFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetBlockSizeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetChangeTimeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetDeviceTypeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetFSDeviceFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetFSInodeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetGroupIdFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetLinkCountFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetModeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetModificationTimeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetSizeFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_GetUserIdFromStat.tcl86, Tcl_FSRegister, Tcl_AllocStatBuf, Tcl_FSAccess, Tcl_FSChdir, Tcl_FSConvertToPathType, Tcl_FSCopyDirectory, Tcl_FSCopyFile, Tcl_FSCreateDirectory, Tcl_FSData, Tcl_FSDeleteFile, Tcl_FSEqualPaths, Tcl_FSEvalFile, Tcl_FSEvalFileEx, Tcl_FSFileAttrsGet, Tcl_FSFileAttrsSet, Tcl_FSFileAttrStrings, Tcl_FSFileSystemInfo, Tcl_FSGetCwd, Tcl_FSGetFileSystemForPath, Tcl_FSGetInternalRep, Tcl_FSGetNativePath, Tcl_FSGetNormalizedPath, Tcl_FSGetPathType, Tcl_FSGetTranslatedPath, Tcl_FSGetTranslatedStringPath, Tcl_FSJoinPath, Tcl_FSJoinToPath, Tcl_FSLink, Tcl_FSListVolumes, Tcl_FSLoadFile, Tcl_FSLstat, Tcl_FSMatchInDirectory, Tcl_FSMountsChanged, Tcl_FSNewNativePath, Tcl_FSOpenFileChannel, Tcl_FSPathSeparator, Tcl_FSRemoveDirectory, Tcl_FSRenameFile, Tcl_FSSplitPath, Tcl_FSStat, Tcl_FSUnloadFile, Tcl_FSUnregister, Tcl_FSUtime, Tcl_GetAccessTimeFromStat, Tcl_GetBlocksFromStat, Tcl_GetBlockSizeFromStat, Tcl_GetChangeTimeFromStat, Tcl_GetDeviceTypeFromStat, Tcl_GetFSDeviceFromStat, Tcl_GetFSInodeFromStat, Tcl_GetGroupIdFromStat, Tcl_GetLinkCountFromStat, Tcl_GetModeFromStat, Tcl_GetModificationTimeFromStat, Tcl_GetSizeFromStat, Tcl_GetUserIdFromStat(3) - procedures to interact with any filesystem
$ apropos tcl_fsdata|wc
1 119 2679
One very long line!
Seems word search on unix for such things needs to be beefed up....
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-17 20:08 ` Greg A. Woods
@ 2024-10-17 20:17 ` Al Kossow
2024-10-18 21:39 ` Greg A. Woods
2024-10-17 20:37 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Al Kossow @ 2024-10-17 20:17 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
On 10/17/24 1:08 PM, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> Of course anyone with even the
> tiniest smattering of academic experience would expect to have an index
> to use to find things
I don't think this true any more for anyone younger than a college undergrad, is it?
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 16:05 ` Paul Winalski
2024-09-30 18:07 ` Dan Cross
@ 2024-10-17 20:08 ` Greg A. Woods
2024-10-17 20:17 ` Al Kossow
2024-10-17 20:37 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
1 sibling, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Greg A. Woods @ 2024-10-17 20:08 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list
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Catching up on the last month's worth of email....
At Mon, 30 Sep 2024 12:05:52 -0400, Paul Winalski <paul.winalski@gmail.com> wrote:
Subject: [TUHS] Re: On computerese
>
> On Sat, Sep 28, 2024 at 8:49 PM Aron Insinga <aki@insinga.com> wrote:
>
> The terse Unix command verb style can be a steep learning curve for
> beginners. How is one supposed to know that you say 'ls' to get a
> directory listing? And unfortunately man pages aren't very useful for
> beginners because you have to know what the command verb is in order to
> call up its man page. Unix lacks a place to ask questions such as "how do
> I get a directory listing?".
Actually Unix has "always" (since 7th Edition at least) had a place to
ask such questions!
As a Unix beginner back in 1980, using 7th Edition, I was taught, right
from the beginning, to use the permuted index to find things, which is
essentially what BSD apropos(1) does. Of course anyone with even the
tiniest smattering of academic experience would expect to have an index
to use to find things, and for me taking this one step further with a
permuted index using the keywords from the one-line descriptions of
commands was a new and wonderful discovery. I think I had a printed
copy of the Unix permuted index, though I don't remember for sure.
You can find ls(1) in the 7th Edition permuted index in three places:
ls list contents of directory....... ls(1)
ls list contents of directory................... ls(1)
ls list contents of directory.. ls(1)
The manual page for ls(1) is unfortunately missing one useful keyword in
the short description and using one less meaningful keyword. Perhaps
the entry should have been more like:
ls \- list the files in a directory
Anyway folks in my first-year classes didn't need, or shouldn't have
needed, to use the index to find ls(1) because we were given printed
copies of the 7th Edition's "UNIX For Beginners Second Edition" by
BWK. Perhaps the permuted index was included in the package. We were
also using Multics, and had been given printed copies of a Multics new
user help document as well.
--
Greg A. Woods <gwoods@acm.org>
Kelowna, BC +1 250 762-7675 RoboHack <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com> Avoncote Farms <woods@avoncote.ca>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-10-01 4:31 ` Lars Brinkhoff
@ 2024-10-01 13:36 ` Dan Halbert
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dan Halbert @ 2024-10-01 13:36 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Lars Brinkhoff; +Cc: tuhs
On 10/1/24 00:31, Lars Brinkhoff wrote:
> Dan Halbert wrote:
>> I had used Emacs at MIT as an undergraduate. Bill would sometimes ask
>> me, "how do they do that in Emacs", or ITS, and then riff on a feature
>> and put it into vi or whatever. Whether I suggested an "apropos" Unix
>> command or someone wanted something like that, or I said, "sounds like
>> 'apropos' in Emacs", I don't remember.
> I'm curious if you remember any other features that Bill might have
> picked up from Emacs or ITS? From you or anyone else.
>
> Another interesting example would be job control that was done by Jim
> Kulp.
A lot of the vi visual-mode commands were inspired by emacs, like
forward/back words, sentences/statements, paragraphs/functions. I
specifically remember explaining the hierarchy of ctrl-f, meta-f,
ctrl-meta-f, etc., and then Bill went off and put in '{' and '}' and
similar commands. And the "yank" commands were named after ctrl-Y and
other "yank" commands in emacs. Those are on the 2BSD tape.
Earl Cohen did the "finger" command quite soon after our class of first
year grad students arrived at UCB. It's in 2BSD.
I did "more" really early (https://danhalbert.org/more.html), but my
very simple version did not get back into the sources, and the reworked
"more" that Eric Shienbrood did is in 3BSD but not 2BSD.
Dan
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 20:00 ` Dan Halbert
2024-09-30 20:11 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 20:39 ` Clem Cole
@ 2024-10-01 4:31 ` Lars Brinkhoff
2024-10-01 13:36 ` Dan Halbert
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Lars Brinkhoff @ 2024-10-01 4:31 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dan Halbert; +Cc: tuhs
Dan Halbert wrote:
> I had used Emacs at MIT as an undergraduate. Bill would sometimes ask
> me, "how do they do that in Emacs", or ITS, and then riff on a feature
> and put it into vi or whatever. Whether I suggested an "apropos" Unix
> command or someone wanted something like that, or I said, "sounds like
> 'apropos' in Emacs", I don't remember.
I'm curious if you remember any other features that Bill might have
picked up from Emacs or ITS? From you or anyone else.
Another interesting example would be job control that was done by Jim
Kulp.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 21:25 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 22:38 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
@ 2024-09-30 22:46 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Bakul Shah via TUHS @ 2024-09-30 22:46 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
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Apropos of apropos: https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=apropos
etymonline.com is my goto etymological dictionary site.
> On Sep 30, 2024, at 2:25 PM, Henry Bent <henry.r.bent@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 16:51, Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu <mailto:steffen@sdaoden.eu>> wrote:
>> Henry Bent wrote in
>> <CAEdTPBeK4HOjuiqJPtpneqrDj0CF3=5=jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg@mail.gmail.com <mailto:jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg@mail.gmail.com>>:
>> |On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com <mailto:crossd@gmail.com>> wrote:
>> |> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
>> |> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
>> |> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
>> |> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
>> |>
>> |
>> |Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
>> |4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD
>> |source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of name.
>>
>> "a pro position" maybe.
>>
>> needs a "pro user" from the start; AI would instead and
>> additionally clean your back i would assume.
>
> Well, I no longer have institutional access to the full Oxford English Dictionary, but Merriam Webster is happy to provide an extended paragraph (!) on the etymology:
>
> --
> Apropos wears its ancestry like a badge—or a beret. From the French phrase à propos, meaning “to the purpose,” the word’s emphasis lands on its last syllable, which ends in a silent “s”: \ap-ruh-POH. Apropos typically functions as an adjective describing what is suitable or appropriate (“an apropos comment”), or as a preposition (with or without of) meaning “with regard to,” as in “apropos (of) the decision, implementation will take some time.” The phrase “apropos of nothing” suggests that something does not relate to a specified topic.
> --
>
> -Henry
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 21:25 ` Henry Bent
@ 2024-09-30 22:38 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2024-09-30 22:46 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Steffen Nurpmeso @ 2024-09-30 22:38 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Henry Bent; +Cc: tuhs
Henry Bent wrote in
<CAEdTPBcGoBDb-r4vkbnqueb397G99XFBthqNMb3h5DaZ0o+gyg@mail.gmail.com>:
|On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 16:51, Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu> wrote:
|> Henry Bent wrote in
|> <CAEdTPBeK4HOjuiqJPtpneqrDj0CF3=5=jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg@mail.gmail.com>:
|>|On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com> wrote:
|>|> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
|>|> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
|>|> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
|>|> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
|>|
|>|Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
|>|4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD
|>|source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of
|> name.
|>
|> "a pro position" maybe.
|>
|> needs a "pro user" from the start; AI would instead and
|> additionally clean your back i would assume.
|
|Well, I no longer have institutional access to the full Oxford English
|Dictionary, but Merriam Webster is happy to provide an extended paragraph
|(!) on the etymology:
Oh! Apropos is known in Germany as a (*that*) word, too, also
commonly heard, even in the (upper) middle class, but sounding
like "apro-poh" here. Ef "Apropos -- have i already" etc etc.
I was "only leaving of the e of that creat", so to say.
(I am not looking at the online "Duden" because they now require
Javascript and tracking, if i recall correctly.)
|--
|*Apropos* wears its ancestry like a badge—or a beret. From the French
|phrase *à propos*, meaning “to the purpose,” the word’s emphasis lands on
|its last syllable, which ends in a silent “s”: \ap-ruh-POH. *Apropos*
|typically functions as an adjective describing what is suitable or
|appropriate (“an apropos comment”), or as a preposition (with or without
|*of*) meaning “with regard to,” as in “apropos (of) the decision,
|implementation will take some time.” The phrase “apropos of nothing”
|suggests that something does not relate to a specified topic.
|--
|
|-Henry
--End of <CAEdTPBcGoBDb-r4vkbnqueb397G99XFBthqNMb3h5DaZ0o+gyg@mail.gmail\
.com>
--steffen
|
|Der Kragenbaer, The moon bear,
|der holt sich munter he cheerfully and one by one
|einen nach dem anderen runter wa.ks himself off
|(By Robert Gernhardt)
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 20:51 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
@ 2024-09-30 21:25 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 22:38 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2024-09-30 22:46 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
0 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Henry Bent @ 2024-09-30 21:25 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
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On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 16:51, Steffen Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu> wrote:
> Henry Bent wrote in
> <CAEdTPBeK4HOjuiqJPtpneqrDj0CF3=5=jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg@mail.gmail.com>:
> |On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com> wrote:
> |> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
> |> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
> |> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
> |> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
> |>
> |
> |Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
> |4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD
> |source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of
> name.
>
> "a pro position" maybe.
>
> needs a "pro user" from the start; AI would instead and
> additionally clean your back i would assume.
>
Well, I no longer have institutional access to the full Oxford English
Dictionary, but Merriam Webster is happy to provide an extended paragraph
(!) on the etymology:
--
*Apropos* wears its ancestry like a badge—or a beret. From the French
phrase *à propos*, meaning “to the purpose,” the word’s emphasis lands on
its last syllable, which ends in a silent “s”: \ap-ruh-POH. *Apropos*
typically functions as an adjective describing what is suitable or
appropriate (“an apropos comment”), or as a preposition (with or without
*of*) meaning “with regard to,” as in “apropos (of) the decision,
implementation will take some time.” The phrase “apropos of nothing”
suggests that something does not relate to a specified topic.
--
-Henry
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 19:15 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 20:00 ` Dan Halbert
@ 2024-09-30 20:51 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2024-09-30 21:25 ` Henry Bent
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Steffen Nurpmeso @ 2024-09-30 20:51 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Henry Bent; +Cc: tuhs
Henry Bent wrote in
<CAEdTPBeK4HOjuiqJPtpneqrDj0CF3=5=jv5aOPjYPBisDkPmyg@mail.gmail.com>:
|On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com> wrote:
|> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
|> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
|> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
|> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
|>
|
|Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
|4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD
|source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of name.
"a pro position" maybe. (Having said that
#?0|kent:linux$ apropos 'directory list'
CURLOPT_DIRLISTONLY (3) - ask for names only in a directory listing
vs
#?0|kent:linux$ apropos 'list directory'
dir (1) - list directory contents
ls (1) - list directory contents
ls (1p) - list directory contents
vdir (1) - list directory contents
vs
#?0|kent:linux$ apropos -a list directory
chacl (1) - change the access control list of a file or directory
CURLOPT_DIRLISTONLY (3) - ask for names only in a directory listing
dir (1) - list directory contents
ls (1) - list directory contents
ls (1p) - list directory contents
vdir (1) - list directory contents
vs
#?0|kent:linux$ apropos -a directory list
..same..
needs a "pro user" from the start; AI would instead and
additionally clean your back i would assume.
--steffen
|
|Der Kragenbaer, The moon bear,
|der holt sich munter he cheerfully and one by one
|einen nach dem anderen runter wa.ks himself off
|(By Robert Gernhardt)
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 20:00 ` Dan Halbert
2024-09-30 20:11 ` Henry Bent
@ 2024-09-30 20:39 ` Clem Cole
2024-10-01 4:31 ` Lars Brinkhoff
2 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Clem Cole @ 2024-09-30 20:39 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dan Halbert; +Cc: tuhs
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On Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 4:01 PM Dan Halbert <halbert@halwitz.org> wrote:
> I was one of the Berkeley grad students in the office with Bill Joy around
> this time.
>
IIRC Dark curly hair, and I can not think of his name either.
I bet if I saw a picture, I could identify him. apropos(1) was a great
hack, but I always thought whoever came up with locate(1) really hit the
jackpot.
ᐧ
ᐧ
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 20:00 ` Dan Halbert
@ 2024-09-30 20:11 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 20:39 ` Clem Cole
2024-10-01 4:31 ` Lars Brinkhoff
2 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Henry Bent @ 2024-09-30 20:11 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dan Halbert; +Cc: tuhs
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On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 16:01, Dan Halbert <halbert@halwitz.org> wrote:
> On 9/30/24 15:15, Henry Bent wrote:
>
> On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
>> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
>> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
>> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
>>
>
> Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
> 4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD
> source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of name.
>
>
> I was one of the Berkeley grad students in the office with Bill Joy around
> this time. I think the name probably come from the "apropos" command in
> Emacs. That command is mentioned here:
> https://worrydream.com/refs/Stallman_1979_-_EMACS,_The_Extensible,_Customizable,_Self-Documenting_Display_Editor.pdf,
> which is dated June 1979, but the Emacs command existed before that date.
> The Berkeley source code is dated 1979:
> https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2BSD/src/apropos.c
>
> I had used Emacs at MIT as an undergraduate. Bill would sometimes ask me,
> "how do they do that in Emacs", or ITS, and then riff on a feature and put
> it into vi or whatever. Whether I suggested an "apropos" Unix command or
> someone wanted something like that, or I said, "sounds like 'apropos' in
> Emacs", I don't remember.
>
That definitely tracks with an outlier I turned up in my search of sources,
an "apropos.doc" that appears on the CSRG DVD with the sources for CMU
Emacs. It's just a list of mappings from commands to keybindings, for
example:
...
delete-next-character ^D
delete-next-word ESC-D
delete-other-windows ^X1
delete-previous-character ^H
delete-previous-character RUBOUT
...
I'm not particularly an Emacs person, but it looks like it could be the
output from an "apropos" command, or perhaps the input to it.
-Henry
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 19:15 ` Henry Bent
@ 2024-09-30 20:00 ` Dan Halbert
2024-09-30 20:11 ` Henry Bent
` (2 more replies)
2024-09-30 20:51 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
1 sibling, 3 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dan Halbert @ 2024-09-30 20:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
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On 9/30/24 15:15, Henry Bent wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
>
>
> Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
> 4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD
> source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of name.
I was one of the Berkeley grad students in the office with Bill Joy
around this time. I think the name probably come from the "apropos"
command in Emacs. That command is mentioned here:
https://worrydream.com/refs/Stallman_1979_-_EMACS,_The_Extensible,_Customizable,_Self-Documenting_Display_Editor.pdf,
which is dated June 1979, but the Emacs command existed before that
date. The Berkeley source code is dated 1979:
https://minnie.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2BSD/src/apropos.c
I had used Emacs at MIT as an undergraduate. Bill would sometimes ask
me, "how do they do that in Emacs", or ITS, and then riff on a feature
and put it into vi or whatever. Whether I suggested an "apropos" Unix
command or someone wanted something like that, or I said, "sounds like
'apropos' in Emacs", I don't remember.
Dan H
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 18:07 ` Dan Cross
@ 2024-09-30 19:15 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 20:00 ` Dan Halbert
2024-09-30 20:51 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
0 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Henry Bent @ 2024-09-30 19:15 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dan Cross; +Cc: tuhs
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On Mon, 30 Sept 2024 at 14:08, Dan Cross <crossd@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
> the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
> listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
> immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
>
Looks like it was introduced in 2BSD, written by Bill Joy, though the
4.4BSD manpage claims that it was introduced in 3BSD. Neither the BSD
source nor manpage are particularly enlightening about the choice of name.
-Henry
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-30 16:05 ` Paul Winalski
@ 2024-09-30 18:07 ` Dan Cross
2024-09-30 19:15 ` Henry Bent
2024-10-17 20:08 ` Greg A. Woods
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dan Cross @ 2024-09-30 18:07 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Paul Winalski; +Cc: Aron Insinga, tuhs
On Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 1:22 PM Paul Winalski <paul.winalski@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 28, 2024 at 8:49 PM Aron Insinga <aki@insinga.com> wrote:
>> For the counter-example, I wonder if anyone ever tried to type very much (verbose) DCL on VAX/VMS using a Teletype. :-)
>>
> I had occasion to use an ASR model 33 Teletype with VAX/VMS. Hated it. The DECwriter LA36 was acceptable, though.
>
> While DCL commands generally involved complete words, they could be abbreviated to the smallest unique abbreviation. Thus one mostly typed DIR instead of DIRECTORY. Command keywords also were be required to be unique in the first 4 characters--the DCL parser ignored all but the first four. characters. The engineers at DEC's Marlboro MA facility named one of their networked machines TWINKIE so that to log into it they could type SET HOSTESS TWINKIE.
>
> The terse Unix command verb style can be a steep learning curve for beginners. How is one supposed to know that you say 'ls' to get a directory listing? And unfortunately man pages aren't very useful for beginners because you have to know what the command verb is in order to call up its man page. Unix lacks a place to ask questions such as "how do I get a directory listing?".
This makes me wonder when the `apropos` command was introduced; surely
the name was also somewhat of an obscure joke ("what is apropos of
listing a directory?" is not exactly the phrase that springs
immediately to mind when wondering how to list a directory).
But the other form of it, `man -k`, is reasonable. Plan 9 called the
similar thing, `lookman`.
- Dan C.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-29 0:49 ` Aron Insinga
2024-09-29 1:09 ` Warner Losh
@ 2024-09-30 16:05 ` Paul Winalski
2024-09-30 18:07 ` Dan Cross
2024-10-17 20:08 ` Greg A. Woods
1 sibling, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Paul Winalski @ 2024-09-30 16:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Aron Insinga; +Cc: tuhs
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On Sat, Sep 28, 2024 at 8:49 PM Aron Insinga <aki@insinga.com> wrote:
> For the counter-example, I wonder if anyone ever tried to type very much
> (verbose) DCL on VAX/VMS using a Teletype. :-)
>
> I had occasion to use an ASR model 33 Teletype with VAX/VMS. Hated it.
The DECwriter LA36 was acceptable, though.
While DCL commands generally involved complete words, they could be
abbreviated to the smallest unique abbreviation. Thus one mostly typed DIR
instead of DIRECTORY. Command keywords also were be required to be unique
in the first 4 characters--the DCL parser ignored all but the first four.
characters. The engineers at DEC's Marlboro MA facility named one of their
networked machines TWINKIE so that to log into it they could type SET
HOSTESS TWINKIE.
The terse Unix command verb style can be a steep learning curve for
beginners. How is one supposed to know that you say 'ls' to get a
directory listing? And unfortunately man pages aren't very useful for
beginners because you have to know what the command verb is in order to
call up its man page. Unix lacks a place to ask questions such as "how do
I get a directory listing?".
-Paul W.
-Paul W.
>
> On 9/15/24 16:43, sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au wrote:
>
> ...
> For non touch typists, shorter commands & keywords are helpful.
>
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-29 0:49 ` Aron Insinga
@ 2024-09-29 1:09 ` Warner Losh
2024-09-30 16:05 ` Paul Winalski
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Warner Losh @ 2024-09-29 1:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Aron Insinga; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
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On Sat, Sep 28, 2024, 6:49 PM Aron Insinga <aki@insinga.com> wrote:
> I am sure that shorter shell commands and switches were helpful for
> *anybody* typing on a clunky, electro-mechanical Teletype (former TM).
> They were for me, even though I had learned some typing in school on
> mechanical typewriters.
>
> For the counter-example, I wonder if anyone ever tried to type very much
> (verbose) DCL on VAX/VMS using a Teletype. :-)
>
Not a teletype... but I did on a DECwriter II. It was ok, but not as nice
as a crt
Warner
- Aron
>
>
> On 9/15/24 16:43, sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au wrote:
>
> ...
> For non touch typists, shorter commands & keywords are helpful.
>
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 20:43 ` sjenkin
2024-09-15 20:48 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-29 0:49 ` Aron Insinga
@ 2024-09-29 0:57 ` Aron Insinga
2 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Aron Insinga @ 2024-09-29 0:57 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 603 bytes --]
p.s. And I did use PDP-11 Unix on an upper-case-only ASR33 by typing
backslashes before all upper-case letters to keep them from being mapped
to lower case.
"Unix means never having to use the shift key."
(Except for those annoying all-upper-case macro names in C.)
- Aron
>> On 16 Sep 2024, at 05:21, Rik Farrow <rik@rikfarrow.com> wrote:
>>
>> Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny
>> disk and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33
>> for input? Of course, it could simply be that 'cat' is more
>> convenient than 'catenate'...
>>
>> Rik
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 20:43 ` sjenkin
2024-09-15 20:48 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-29 0:49 ` Aron Insinga
2024-09-29 1:09 ` Warner Losh
2024-09-30 16:05 ` Paul Winalski
2024-09-29 0:57 ` Aron Insinga
2 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Aron Insinga @ 2024-09-29 0:49 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 503 bytes --]
I am sure that shorter shell commands and switches were helpful for
*anybody* typing on a clunky, electro-mechanical Teletype (former TM).
They were for me, even though I had learned some typing in school on
mechanical typewriters.
For the counter-example, I wonder if anyone ever tried to type very much
(verbose) DCL on VAX/VMS using a Teletype. :-)
- Aron
On 9/15/24 16:43, sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au wrote:
> ...
> For non touch typists, shorter commands & keywords are helpful.
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 1:29 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-17 3:44 ` Adam Thornton
@ 2024-09-17 12:08 ` Dan Cross
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dan Cross @ 2024-09-17 12:08 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Rob Pike; +Cc: tuhs
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 9:36 PM Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com> wrote:
> THAT WAS MOSTLY TOM DUFF, BUT YES.
THIS POST INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 1:29 ` Rob Pike
@ 2024-09-17 3:44 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-17 12:08 ` Dan Cross
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Adam Thornton @ 2024-09-17 3:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Rob Pike; +Cc: tuhs
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 570 bytes --]
I feel like I would somehow be remiss if I did not point out that the
formidable Rick Troth just put XFL, which is more-or-less a port of CMS/TSO
Pipelines to POSIX, up on GitHub.
https://github.com/trothtech/xfl
I will confess to thinking CMS Pipelines are pretty cool.
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 6:36 PM Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com> wrote:
> THAT WAS MOSTLY TOM DUFF, BUT YES.
>
>> Rob doubtless got IBM out of his system back in the
>> late 1970s, when I think he was one of the authors
>> of a shell that brought the TSO experience to Unix.
>>
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 1:27 Norman Wilson
@ 2024-09-17 1:29 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-17 3:44 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-17 12:08 ` Dan Cross
0 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rob Pike @ 2024-09-17 1:29 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Norman Wilson; +Cc: tuhs
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 534 bytes --]
THAT WAS MOSTLY TOM DUFF, BUT YES.
-ROB
On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 11:28 AM Norman Wilson <norman@oclsc.org> wrote:
> Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM):
>
> Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
> the moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL
> mode.
>
> ===
>
> Rob doubtless got IBM out of his system back in the
> late 1970s, when I think he was one of the authors
> of a shell that brought the TSO experience to Unix.
>
> Norman Wilson
> Toronto ON
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-17 1:17 Norman Wilson
@ 2024-09-17 1:28 ` Henry Bent
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Henry Bent @ 2024-09-17 1:28 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Norman Wilson; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 941 bytes --]
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024, 21:17 Norman Wilson <norman@oclsc.org> wrote:
> Rob Pike:
>
> I don't remember whether late Research Unix [dd] had -if, but Plan 9
> certainly did.
>
> ===
>
> I don't have a live 10/e system at the moment, but I have
> the 10/e source tree handy. Classic parody-IBM syntax
> only.
>
> Aside: I'm curious: does anyone else have 8/e, 9/e, or
> 10/e running these days?
>
> Norman Wilson
> Toronto ON
>
I have v8 on the VAX (SIMH) running but as it doesn't have TCP/IP it fell
into my pile of "I'll try some porting later" and never got picked back up.
I also have v9 on a Sun in TME and now that the NME project has resurrected
and enhanced that, shall we say, very particular emulator I should fire it
back up and see what I can get running. I'd love to have v10 on a VAX but
my preliminary efforts to get v10 going from source on v8 were not very
successful; I suspect that it's just too big of a leap.
-Henry
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
@ 2024-09-17 1:27 Norman Wilson
2024-09-17 1:29 ` Rob Pike
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Norman Wilson @ 2024-09-17 1:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM):
Oh come on Rob, you should know that for anyone over the age of 50,
the moment you see 'dd' your brain automatically switches to JCL
mode.
===
Rob doubtless got IBM out of his system back in the
late 1970s, when I think he was one of the authors
of a shell that brought the TSO experience to Unix.
Norman Wilson
Toronto ON
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
@ 2024-09-17 1:17 Norman Wilson
2024-09-17 1:28 ` Henry Bent
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Norman Wilson @ 2024-09-17 1:17 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
Rob Pike:
I don't remember whether late Research Unix [dd] had -if, but Plan 9
certainly did.
===
I don't have a live 10/e system at the moment, but I have
the 10/e source tree handy. Classic parody-IBM syntax
only.
Aside: I'm curious: does anyone else have 8/e, 9/e, or
10/e running these days?
Norman Wilson
Toronto ON
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 20:55 ` Dan Cross
@ 2024-09-16 21:05 ` Chet Ramey via TUHS
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Chet Ramey via TUHS @ 2024-09-16 21:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dan Cross, Edouard Klein; +Cc: tuhs
[-- Attachment #1.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1055 bytes --]
On 9/16/24 4:55 PM, Dan Cross wrote:
>> I correctly guessed that only one of thing or otherthing would be printed,
>> but I was not able to guess if the | or the < would take precedence.
>>
>> Is there a simple reason why the < has priority over | for the stdin ?
>
> I suppose this depends entirely on the shell; perhaps that is the
> point.
POSIX actually speaks on this:
"The standard input, standard output, or both of a command shall be
considered to be assigned by the pipeline before any redirection specified
by redirection operators that are part of the command"
https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9799919799/utilities/V3_chap02.html#tag_19_09_02
In the general case, this is how things like
program 2>&1 | collect_stdout_and_stderr
can work (file descriptor 1 is associated with the pipe before fd 2 is
redirected to it).
--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU chet@case.edu http://tiswww.cwru.edu/~chet/
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 10:59 ` Edouard Klein
@ 2024-09-16 20:55 ` Dan Cross
2024-09-16 21:05 ` Chet Ramey via TUHS
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dan Cross @ 2024-09-16 20:55 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Edouard Klein; +Cc: tuhs
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 7:31 AM Edouard Klein <edouardklein@gmail.com> wrote:
> George Michaelson <ggm@algebras.org> writes:
> > cat is capable of endless discussion.
> >
> > cat thing | cat otherthing doesn't do what (some) people think.
> > cat thing | cat otherthing /dev/stdin does, but there's an ordering
> > point to be made.
> > cat thing | cat < otherthing /dev/stdin makes the ordering point. and
> > the number of lines seen.
>
> I'm not sure of the point you are making with your last example, which
> gave me pause. I had to run it to see what it does.
>
> I correctly guessed that only one of thing or otherthing would be printed,
> but I was not able to guess if the | or the < would take precedence.
>
> Is there a simple reason why the < has priority over | for the stdin ?
I suppose this depends entirely on the shell; perhaps that is the
point. Arguably, being the target of a pipe _and_ having a redirect on
stdin should be some kind of an error, but regardless, something that
is true is that is that the second `cat` command will only see
whatever is on `stdin` as it reads from `/dev/stdin`, but what is _on_
stdin can be confusing.
- Dan C.
> If the < precedence was your point, why did you specify /dev/stdin ?
> cat thing | cat < otherthing
> makes the point.
>
> Is there a finer point I am missing ?
>
> Sorry for being dense. I'm happy, after more that 20 years of Unixing,
> to see something new even with such supposedly basic commands. Thank you
> for your brain twister.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 12:07 Douglas McIlroy
@ 2024-09-16 14:36 ` Clem Cole
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Clem Cole @ 2024-09-16 14:36 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Douglas McIlroy; +Cc: TUHS main list
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 484 bytes --]
Well, Doug, I'm not sure what it says about me now or them, but I remember
that my 18-year-old self thought that was a funny name in those days. Over
50 years later, I find that it still makes me smile.
Clem
ᐧ
On Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 8:07 AM Douglas McIlroy <
douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> The florid syntax of IBM's DD was rivaled by that of GE's file utility. I
> always wondered whether it was named FUTIL unwarily or with tongue in cheek.
>
> Doug
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
@ 2024-09-16 12:07 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-16 14:36 ` Clem Cole
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Douglas McIlroy @ 2024-09-16 12:07 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: TUHS main list
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 157 bytes --]
The florid syntax of IBM's DD was rivaled by that of GE's file utility. I
always wondered whether it was named FUTIL unwarily or with tongue in cheek.
Doug
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 3:30 ` George Michaelson
2024-09-16 10:41 ` Andy Kosela
@ 2024-09-16 10:59 ` Edouard Klein
2024-09-16 20:55 ` Dan Cross
1 sibling, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Edouard Klein @ 2024-09-16 10:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: George Michaelson; +Cc: tuhs
George Michaelson <ggm@algebras.org> writes:
> cat is capable of endless discussion.
>
> cat thing | cat otherthing doesn't do what (some) people think.
> cat thing | cat otherthing /dev/stdin does, but there's an ordering
> point to be made.
> cat thing | cat < otherthing /dev/stdin makes the ordering point. and
> the number of lines seen.
>
I'm not sure of the point you are making with your last example, which
gave me pause. I had to run it to see what it does.
I correctly guessed that only one of thing or otherthing would be printed,
but I was not able to guess if the | or the < would take precedence.
Is there a simple reason why the < has priority over | for the stdin ?
If the < precedence was your point, why did you specify /dev/stdin ?
cat thing | cat < otherthing
makes the point.
Is there a finer point I am missing ?
Sorry for being dense. I'm happy, after more that 20 years of Unixing,
to see something new even with such supposedly basic commands. Thank you
for your brain twister.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 3:30 ` George Michaelson
@ 2024-09-16 10:41 ` Andy Kosela
2024-09-16 10:59 ` Edouard Klein
1 sibling, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Andy Kosela @ 2024-09-16 10:41 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: George Michaelson; +Cc: tuhs
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On Monday, September 16, 2024, George Michaelson <ggm@algebras.org> wrote:
> cat is capable of endless discussion.
>
> cat thing | cat otherthing doesn't do what (some) people think.
> cat thing | cat otherthing /dev/stdin does, but there's an ordering
> point to be made.
> cat thing | cat < otherthing /dev/stdin makes the ordering point. and
> the number of lines seen.
>
> the role of the shell in marshalling the IO and determining what is
> opened, when, truncated is another pitfall that seems to escape
> people. "I thought the commands ran left to right" when your first
> command < something and your final command > something
>
> like others, my use of cat is reflexive. I know perfectly well I could
> solve the whole problem in awk or sed, I still construct sequences to
> use sed to edit the lines, and awk to extract the fields in LSWP
> denoted counts. we're speaking english and say "comme ci comme ca" and
> nobody blinks, it's the same in shell. codeswitching!
>
I have always admired one letter commands in ed(1) and during the years
constructed my own personal perfect Unix dictionary with most often used
commands as one letter abbreviations. For cat(1) I have always used 'c'
(cee) which also denotes one of its main functions.
Grep(1) is 'g', vi(1) is 'v', etc.
It makes typing a little faster, at least for me.
--Andy
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 19:36 ` Ron Natalie
@ 2024-09-16 5:36 ` Wesley Parish
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Wesley Parish @ 2024-09-16 5:36 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
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Every computer geek knows his/her cat is the Computer Purry Furr-all ...
don't say you weren't warned! :)
Wesley Parish
On 16/09/24 07:36, Ron Natalie wrote:
> Before I got hooked on UNIX in 1977, I used a Univac Exec8 system.
> You “cataloged” (created) a file with the @CAT command.
> Other, file operations were done by the File Utility Routine/Program
> Utility Routine: FURPUR
> (sort of like pip on steroids).
>
> I decided that if I ever got a CAT, it would be named FURPUR. That
> happened when I was working for Rutgers. Not having any UNIVACs
> around, the name escaped notice until the EE department hired a guy
> from the University of Maryland who says “You have a cat named FURPUR?”
>
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-16 3:10 ` arnold
@ 2024-09-16 3:30 ` George Michaelson
2024-09-16 10:41 ` Andy Kosela
2024-09-16 10:59 ` Edouard Klein
0 siblings, 2 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: George Michaelson @ 2024-09-16 3:30 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
cat is capable of endless discussion.
cat thing | cat otherthing doesn't do what (some) people think.
cat thing | cat otherthing /dev/stdin does, but there's an ordering
point to be made.
cat thing | cat < otherthing /dev/stdin makes the ordering point. and
the number of lines seen.
the role of the shell in marshalling the IO and determining what is
opened, when, truncated is another pitfall that seems to escape
people. "I thought the commands ran left to right" when your first
command < something and your final command > something
like others, my use of cat is reflexive. I know perfectly well I could
solve the whole problem in awk or sed, I still construct sequences to
use sed to edit the lines, and awk to extract the fields in LSWP
denoted counts. we're speaking english and say "comme ci comme ca" and
nobody blinks, it's the same in shell. codeswitching!
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 14:37 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-15 19:21 ` Rik Farrow
2024-09-15 19:36 ` Ron Natalie
@ 2024-09-16 3:10 ` arnold
2024-09-16 3:30 ` George Michaelson
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2024-09-16 3:10 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs, douglas.mcilroy
Douglas McIlroy <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> But brevity is the defensible argument for "catenate", while
> familiarity boosts "concatenate".
I suspect that only "highly educated east-coasters" are
familiar with "catenate." My education was pretty good,
but catenate, for all it's advantages of brevity and similar
age to "concatenate" is simply never used in modern-day
American English.
I'd never heard it until, like just about all the rest of
us, I came across it in the Unix manual.
My $.02,
Arnold
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 21:41 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-16 0:49 ` Marc Donner
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Marc Donner @ 2024-09-16 0:49 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dave Horsfall; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
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Sorry, my 'eh?' was an ironic reference to the cryptic error messages from
ed.
=====
nygeek.net
mindthegapdialogs.com/home <https://www.mindthegapdialogs.com/home>
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 5:41 PM Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org> wrote:
> [ Undoing top-posting ]
>
> On Sun, 15 Sep 2024, Marc Donner wrote:
>
> > > BSD didn’t use those rules (backup & restore).
> >
> > dump/restor (no "e"), as I recall?
> >
> > eh?
>
> What needs to be clarified?
>
> -- Dave
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 21:08 ` Marc Donner
@ 2024-09-15 21:41 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-16 0:49 ` Marc Donner
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dave Horsfall @ 2024-09-15 21:41 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
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[ Undoing top-posting ]
On Sun, 15 Sep 2024, Marc Donner wrote:
> > BSD didn’t use those rules (backup & restore).
>
> dump/restor (no "e"), as I recall?
>
> eh?
What needs to be clarified?
-- Dave
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 20:48 ` Dave Horsfall
@ 2024-09-15 21:08 ` Marc Donner
2024-09-15 21:41 ` Dave Horsfall
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Marc Donner @ 2024-09-15 21:08 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Dave Horsfall; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
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eh?
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 16:48 Dave Horsfall <dave@horsfall.org> wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au wrote:
>
> > BSD didn’t use those rules (backup & restore).
>
> dump/restor (no "e"), as I recall?
>
> -- Dave
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 20:43 ` sjenkin
@ 2024-09-15 20:48 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-15 21:08 ` Marc Donner
2024-09-29 0:49 ` Aron Insinga
2024-09-29 0:57 ` Aron Insinga
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dave Horsfall @ 2024-09-15 20:48 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
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On Mon, 16 Sep 2024, sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au wrote:
> BSD didn’t use those rules (backup & restore).
dump/restor (no "e"), as I recall?
-- Dave
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 19:21 ` Rik Farrow
@ 2024-09-15 20:43 ` sjenkin
2024-09-15 20:48 ` Dave Horsfall
` (2 more replies)
0 siblings, 3 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: sjenkin @ 2024-09-15 20:43 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: TUHS
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Early on, here in Faraway Land, I was told Unix command naming rules were these:
however can’t recall seeing it written:
2-7 chars - ie. short + reserved single chars for personal use
lower case
non-dictionary words - allowing 3rd party software a clear run
Of course, “sort” fails those rules :)
BSD didn’t use those rules (backup & restore).
For non touch typists, shorter commands & keywords are helpful.
> On 16 Sep 2024, at 05:21, Rik Farrow <rik@rikfarrow.com> wrote:
>
> Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny disk and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33 for input? Of course, it could simply be that 'cat' is more convenient than 'catenate'...
>
> Rik
>
--
Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA
mailto:sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 19:25 John Dow via TUHS
@ 2024-09-15 19:52 ` Dan Halbert
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Dan Halbert @ 2024-09-15 19:52 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
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On 9/15/24 15:25, John Dow via TUHS wrote:
>
>> On 15 Sep 2024, at 20:21, Rik Farrow <rik@rikfarrow.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny
>> disk and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33
>> for input? Of course, it could simply be that 'cat' is more
>> convenient than 'catenate'...
>>
>
> Hangover from assembly mnemonics, perhaps.
>
Multics had long names and short names for many commands. `ls` was the
short name for `list`, for instance. See "additional names" in
https://multicians.org/mga.html.
Dan H
(original author of the `more` command`, considered to be a long name by
some and short by others! https://danhalbert.org/more.html)
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 14:37 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-15 19:21 ` Rik Farrow
@ 2024-09-15 19:36 ` Ron Natalie
2024-09-16 5:36 ` Wesley Parish
2024-09-16 3:10 ` arnold
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Ron Natalie @ 2024-09-15 19:36 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Douglas McIlroy, TUHS main list
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Before I got hooked on UNIX in 1977, I used a Univac Exec8 system.
You “cataloged” (created) a file with the @CAT command.
Other, file operations were done by the File Utility Routine/Program
Utility Routine: FURPUR
(sort of like pip on steroids).
I decided that if I ever got a CAT, it would be named FURPUR. That
happened when I was working for Rutgers. Not having any UNIVACs
around, the name escaped notice until the EE department hired a guy from
the University of Maryland who says “You have a cat named FURPUR?”
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
@ 2024-09-15 19:25 John Dow via TUHS
2024-09-15 19:52 ` Dan Halbert
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: John Dow via TUHS @ 2024-09-15 19:25 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Rik Farrow; +Cc: TUHS list
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> On 15 Sep 2024, at 20:21, Rik Farrow <rik@rikfarrow.com> wrote:
>
> Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny disk and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33 for input? Of course, it could simply be that 'cat' is more convenient than 'catenate'...
Hangover from assembly mnemonics, perhaps.
J
—
John Dow <jmd@nelefa.org>
Written by a human.
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-15 14:37 Douglas McIlroy
@ 2024-09-15 19:21 ` Rik Farrow
2024-09-15 20:43 ` sjenkin
2024-09-15 19:36 ` Ron Natalie
2024-09-16 3:10 ` arnold
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Rik Farrow @ 2024-09-15 19:21 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Douglas McIlroy; +Cc: TUHS main list
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1134 bytes --]
Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny disk
and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33 for input?
Of course, it could simply be that 'cat' is more convenient than
'catenate'...
Rik
On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 7:38 AM Douglas McIlroy <
douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> > Who created the "cat" command and did they have the
> > word "catenate" or "concatenate" in their heads?
>
> Ken Thompson wrote "cat" for the PDP-7, with "concatenate" in
> mind. The cat(1) page in the v1 manual is titled, "concatenate (or
> print) files". Only later did someone in Research--I don't know
> who--remark on the existence of the shorter synonym. It was
> deliberately adopted in v7, perhaps because it better mirrored
> the command name.
>
> But brevity is the defensible argument for "catenate", while
> familiarity boosts "concatenate". It stll takes some conscious
> effort for me to use the former, However, I sense sinister
> vibes in "concatenate", driven by the phrase "concatenation
> of events", which often is used to explain misfortune.
>
> Doug
>
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
@ 2024-09-15 14:37 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-15 19:21 ` Rik Farrow
` (2 more replies)
0 siblings, 3 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Douglas McIlroy @ 2024-09-15 14:37 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: TUHS main list
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> Who created the "cat" command and did they have the
> word "catenate" or "concatenate" in their heads?
Ken Thompson wrote "cat" for the PDP-7, with "concatenate" in
mind. The cat(1) page in the v1 manual is titled, "concatenate (or
print) files". Only later did someone in Research--I don't know
who--remark on the existence of the shorter synonym. It was
deliberately adopted in v7, perhaps because it better mirrored
the command name.
But brevity is the defensible argument for "catenate", while
familiarity boosts "concatenate". It stll takes some conscious
effort for me to use the former, However, I sense sinister
vibes in "concatenate", driven by the phrase "concatenation
of events", which often is used to explain misfortune.
Doug
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 16:12 ` Adam Thornton
@ 2024-09-13 22:56 ` Will Senn
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Will Senn @ 2024-09-13 22:56 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
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Nice. KISS is underrated :).
On 9/13/24 11:12, Adam Thornton wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 7:06 AM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Big fan of KISS here
>
>
> Yeah, _Destroyer_ is a great album.
>
> Adam
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 13:57 ` Will Senn
@ 2024-09-13 16:12 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-13 22:56 ` Will Senn
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Adam Thornton @ 2024-09-13 16:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
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On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 7:06 AM Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:
> Big fan of KISS here
>
Yeah, _Destroyer_ is a great album.
Adam
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 4:03 ` Eric E. Bowles via TUHS
@ 2024-09-13 16:05 ` Åke Nordin
0 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Åke Nordin @ 2024-09-13 16:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
On 2024-09-13 06:03, Eric E. Bowles via TUHS wrote:
>> I always assumed this was some old crusty project management term that predated modern technology but the Wikipedia sphere says it was coined in the late 80s by Ivar Jacobson of Ericsson in the context of requirements analysis. Apparently the original Swedish term is "användningsfall". I've got a coworker that likes to share "fun facts" every Friday...I might have to supplement that bit of our call tomorrow :)
>> - Matt G.
> For reference, here's the relevant (and lengthy) Wikipedia entry:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_case
Ericsson corrupting the use of English words is not news to me,
as I've had some exposure to various Ericsson operations
at that time (and onwards).
It can be noted that they were deep into the process of replacing
Swedish with English everywhere, in documentation and (internal
as well as external) communication. To this end, and to alleviate
the pains of most senior execs (many of who were of a generation
where German, not English, was the first foreign language studied
in primary schools), Ericsson invented some rather Pidginesque
internal variety of English that actually was branded "Ericsson
English." It wouldn't surprise me if "Användningsfall" (which
is a term in Ericsson "PROPS" process management methodology)
was translated to "use case" there already before Jacobson
used it in his documentation.
It's no surprise that "Ericsson English" basically was Swedish
with word-for-word replacements. This abomination was surprisingly
usable, probably because they're both Germanic languages
who were mutually intelligible until maybe 1000 years ago.
MfG,
--
Åke Nordin <ake.nordin@netia.se>, resident Net/Lunix/telecom geek.
Netia Data AB, Stockholm SWEDEN *46#7O466OI99#
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 0:26 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-13 1:01 ` Luther Johnson
2024-09-13 7:13 ` G. Branden Robinson
@ 2024-09-13 13:57 ` Will Senn
2024-09-13 16:12 ` Adam Thornton
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Will Senn @ 2024-09-13 13:57 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
On 9/12/24, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
> There it festered, right in the middle of Branden's otherwise high
> literary
> style: "use cases". I've despaired over the term ever since it wormed its
> way into computer folks' vocabulary. How does a "use case" differ from a
> "use"? Or, what's the use of "use case"?
>
> And while I'm despairing, "concatenate" rolls on, undeterred by Research's
> campaign for concision. We determinedly excised the word from the seventh
> edition. The man page header for cat(1) read "catenate and print". Posix
> added content on both ends, making "concatenate and print files". Gnu
> puffed it up further to "concatenate files and print on the standard
> output".
>
> It's not as if the seventh edition was storming the gates of English.
> According to the OED, "catenate" and "concatenate" are synonyms of long
> standing that entered the language almost simultaneously. Why pick the
> flabby one over its brisk--and more mnemonic--rival?
>
> Doug
>
Just gotta say, I completely agree with this sentiment as regards
catenate. Also, I've never been sold
on use-case, either. If I remember, it was Jacobson who popularized the
term. Maybe use-case was contrived
to provide some further distinction from the uses connection... as in
the use-case:
Validate Password uses Enter Password...
Personally, I think a use is fine and it doesn't matter much that in a
use, an actor uses a function...but hey,
technical fields are well known and loved for using language in
perfectly unreasonable ways. Technical language is used, ostensibly, to
disambiguate, but more often than not it obscures and alienates. In my
classes, I spend a lot of effort breaking things down into simple terms
while pointing out the use of jargon and the importance of nailing it
for the chosen profession - likening it to a cult of technicality. Big
fan of KISS here :). Terms should mean what they say so professionals
can say what they mean... clearly and with as little ambiguity as is
reasonable, that is, language affords a great deal of redundancy and we
should not be afraid to leverage this tool as well - leave the hunt for
perfect disambiguation to the mathematicians.
- will
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 0:26 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-13 1:01 ` Luther Johnson
@ 2024-09-13 7:13 ` G. Branden Robinson
2024-09-13 13:57 ` Will Senn
2 siblings, 0 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: G. Branden Robinson @ 2024-09-13 7:13 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: TUHS main list
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At 2024-09-12T20:26:03-0400, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
> >> I've despaired over the term ever since it wormed its way into
> >> computer folks' vocabulary. How does a "use case" differ from a
> >> "use"?
For TUHS readers curious about the start of this thread, it's here:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2024-09/msg00040.html
Regards,
Branden
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 2:20 ` segaloco via TUHS
@ 2024-09-13 4:03 ` Eric E. Bowles via TUHS
2024-09-13 16:05 ` Åke Nordin
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Eric E. Bowles via TUHS @ 2024-09-13 4:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: segaloco; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 558 bytes --]
> I always assumed this was some old crusty project management term that predated modern technology but the Wikipedia sphere says it was coined in the late 80s by Ivar Jacobson of Ericsson in the context of requirements analysis. Apparently the original Swedish term is "användningsfall". I've got a coworker that likes to share "fun facts" every Friday...I might have to supplement that bit of our call tomorrow :)
>
> - Matt G.
For reference, here's the relevant (and lengthy) Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_case
--eric
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* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 1:01 ` Luther Johnson
@ 2024-09-13 2:20 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-09-13 4:03 ` Eric E. Bowles via TUHS
0 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: segaloco via TUHS @ 2024-09-13 2:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society
On Thursday, September 12th, 2024 at 6:01 PM, Luther Johnson <luther.johnson@makerlisp.com> wrote:
> "use case" is a case of the use of both of the words "use" and "case",
> compounding (confounding ?) them, they specify the use of "case" to
> identify (and emphasize) a specific "use" (or set of uses), as distinct
> from other cases in which so much attention has not been paid to which
> uses they serve. I'm having fun with words here but, like test cases can
> be used to isolate (or mix) certain behaviors, use cases might be
> crafted as examples, for the purpose of distilling from them, clearer
> requirements. I think the requirements people were trying to borrow the
> style of language from the test people. But many times it's probably
> just jargon-y technical sounding buzz-wordery meant to make things seem
> more important than they are.
>
> On 09/12/2024 05:26 PM, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
>
> > > > I've despaired over the term ever since it wormed its way into
> > > > computer folks' vocabulary. How does a "use case" differ from a "use"?
> > >
> > > Clarity as to whether one is employing a noun or a verb. Both "use" and
> > > "case" can be either (he said, casing the joint for tomorrow's heist),
> > > but juxtaposing them thus unambiguously makes a noun phrase.
> >
> > Usually context makes the nominal use of "use" clear : "many uses",
> > "the use",
> > "some uses". I'm not persuaded that "use case" disambiguates any more
> > reliably.
> >
> > How do supermarkets display their wares?
> > For some use cases they use cases.
> >
> > Metacomment. While the "use" in "nominal use" above must be a noun,
> > "nominal" isn't compelled to have the intended meaning of "being a
> > noun". It's a game of whac-a-mot. Kill one ambiguity and spawn another.
> >
> > Doug
I always assumed this was some old crusty project management term that predated modern technology but the Wikipedia sphere says it was coined in the late 80s by Ivar Jacobson of Ericsson in the context of requirements analysis. Apparently the original Swedish term is "användningsfall". I've got a coworker that likes to share "fun facts" every Friday...I might have to supplement that bit of our call tomorrow :)
- Matt G.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
2024-09-13 0:26 Douglas McIlroy
@ 2024-09-13 1:01 ` Luther Johnson
2024-09-13 2:20 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-09-13 7:13 ` G. Branden Robinson
2024-09-13 13:57 ` Will Senn
2 siblings, 1 reply; 91+ messages in thread
From: Luther Johnson @ 2024-09-13 1:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: tuhs
"use case" is a case of the use of both of the words "use" and "case",
compounding (confounding ?) them, they specify the use of "case" to
identify (and emphasize) a specific "use" (or set of uses), as distinct
from other cases in which so much attention has not been paid to which
uses they serve. I'm having fun with words here but, like test cases can
be used to isolate (or mix) certain behaviors, use cases might be
crafted as examples, for the purpose of distilling from them, clearer
requirements. I think the requirements people were trying to borrow the
style of language from the test people. But many times it's probably
just jargon-y technical sounding buzz-wordery meant to make things seem
more important than they are.
On 09/12/2024 05:26 PM, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
> >> I've despaired over the term ever since it wormed its way into
> >> computer folks' vocabulary. How does a "use case" differ from a "use"?
> >
> > Clarity as to whether one is employing a noun or a verb. Both "use" and
> > "case" can be either (he said, casing the joint for tomorrow's heist),
> > but juxtaposing them thus unambiguously makes a noun phrase.
>
> Usually context makes the nominal use of "use" clear : "many uses",
> "the use",
> "some uses". I'm not persuaded that "use case" disambiguates any more
> reliably.
>
> How do supermarkets display their wares?
> For some use cases they use cases.
>
> Metacomment. While the "use" in "nominal use" above must be a noun,
> "nominal" isn't compelled to have the intended meaning of "being a
> noun". It's a game of whac-a-mot. Kill one ambiguity and spawn another.
>
> Doug
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Re: On computerese
@ 2024-09-13 0:26 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-13 1:01 ` Luther Johnson
` (2 more replies)
0 siblings, 3 replies; 91+ messages in thread
From: Douglas McIlroy @ 2024-09-13 0:26 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: TUHS main list
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 805 bytes --]
>> I've despaired over the term ever since it wormed its way into
>> computer folks' vocabulary. How does a "use case" differ from a "use"?
>
> Clarity as to whether one is employing a noun or a verb. Both "use" and
> "case" can be either (he said, casing the joint for tomorrow's heist),
> but juxtaposing them thus unambiguously makes a noun phrase.
Usually context makes the nominal use of "use" clear : "many uses", "the
use",
"some uses". I'm not persuaded that "use case" disambiguates any more
reliably.
How do supermarkets display their wares?
For some use cases they use cases.
Metacomment. While the "use" in "nominal use" above must be a noun,
"nominal" isn't compelled to have the intended meaning of "being a noun".
It's a game of whac-a-mot. Kill one ambiguity and spawn another.
Doug
[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 1299 bytes --]
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 91+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2024-10-19 18:15 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 91+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
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2024-09-15 21:48 [TUHS] Re: On computerese Noel Chiappa
2024-09-15 22:01 ` Peter Weinberger (温博格) via TUHS
2024-09-15 22:15 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-15 22:29 ` Larry McVoy
2024-09-16 3:55 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-16 4:17 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-16 5:15 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-16 5:26 ` Tom Lyon
2024-09-16 10:30 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-16 5:06 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-16 6:11 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-16 22:50 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
2024-09-16 23:14 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
2024-09-17 2:19 ` Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)
2024-09-16 23:16 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-16 23:24 ` Larry McVoy
2024-09-17 0:00 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-09-17 0:17 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-17 5:54 ` arnold
2024-09-18 1:40 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-18 2:04 ` Rich Salz
2024-09-18 5:09 ` arnold
2024-09-18 5:12 ` arnold
2024-09-18 13:08 ` Chet Ramey via TUHS
2024-09-30 1:01 ` Russ Cox
2024-09-30 8:16 ` arnold
2024-09-30 12:10 ` Russ Cox
2024-09-30 15:00 ` Jacob Moody
2024-09-17 6:00 ` arnold
2024-09-17 6:25 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-17 20:25 ` Alexander Schreiber
2024-09-17 20:50 ` Larry McVoy
2024-09-16 3:02 ` arnold
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2024-09-17 1:27 Norman Wilson
2024-09-17 1:29 ` Rob Pike
2024-09-17 3:44 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-17 12:08 ` Dan Cross
2024-09-17 1:17 Norman Wilson
2024-09-17 1:28 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-16 12:07 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-16 14:36 ` Clem Cole
2024-09-15 19:25 John Dow via TUHS
2024-09-15 19:52 ` Dan Halbert
2024-09-15 14:37 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-15 19:21 ` Rik Farrow
2024-09-15 20:43 ` sjenkin
2024-09-15 20:48 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-15 21:08 ` Marc Donner
2024-09-15 21:41 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-09-16 0:49 ` Marc Donner
2024-09-29 0:49 ` Aron Insinga
2024-09-29 1:09 ` Warner Losh
2024-09-30 16:05 ` Paul Winalski
2024-09-30 18:07 ` Dan Cross
2024-09-30 19:15 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 20:00 ` Dan Halbert
2024-09-30 20:11 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 20:39 ` Clem Cole
2024-10-01 4:31 ` Lars Brinkhoff
2024-10-01 13:36 ` Dan Halbert
2024-09-30 20:51 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2024-09-30 21:25 ` Henry Bent
2024-09-30 22:38 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2024-09-30 22:46 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
2024-10-17 20:08 ` Greg A. Woods
2024-10-17 20:17 ` Al Kossow
2024-10-18 21:39 ` Greg A. Woods
2024-10-17 20:37 ` Bakul Shah via TUHS
2024-10-18 21:34 ` Greg A. Woods
2024-10-19 14:55 ` Paul Winalski
2024-10-19 15:03 ` Larry McVoy
2024-10-19 16:59 ` Clem Cole
2024-10-19 18:16 ` Steve Nickolas
2024-09-29 0:57 ` Aron Insinga
2024-09-15 19:36 ` Ron Natalie
2024-09-16 5:36 ` Wesley Parish
2024-09-16 3:10 ` arnold
2024-09-16 3:30 ` George Michaelson
2024-09-16 10:41 ` Andy Kosela
2024-09-16 10:59 ` Edouard Klein
2024-09-16 20:55 ` Dan Cross
2024-09-16 21:05 ` Chet Ramey via TUHS
2024-09-13 0:26 Douglas McIlroy
2024-09-13 1:01 ` Luther Johnson
2024-09-13 2:20 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-09-13 4:03 ` Eric E. Bowles via TUHS
2024-09-13 16:05 ` Åke Nordin
2024-09-13 7:13 ` G. Branden Robinson
2024-09-13 13:57 ` Will Senn
2024-09-13 16:12 ` Adam Thornton
2024-09-13 22:56 ` Will Senn
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