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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.Hawaii.Edu!news.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!newsgate.cuhk.edu.hk!news.hk.net!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!uunet!in2.uu.net!news23.expernet.com!usenet From: Peter Ludemann <ludemann@expernet26.expernet.com> Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things Date: 14 Nov 1996 10:43:27 -0800 Organization: ExperNet Lines: 22 Message-ID: <wzzq0kfrg0.fsf@expernet26.expernet.com> References: <55vhpf$q3o@mail1.wg.waii.com> <560146$t9c@mail1.wg.waii.com> <E0L92J.4tM@world.std.com> <kbibb.847601696@shellx> <1996111206190712643@[192.159.32.2]> <569rkk$gv0@orac.mon.rnb.com> <1996111212371894551@[192.159.32.153]> NNTP-Posting-Host: expernet26.expernet.com X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.misc:26408 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1496 alt.folklore.computers:124583 swb@mercury.campbell-mithun.com (Shawn Barnhart) writes: > Are there many other OS of Unix vintage that have as many two character > commands? [snip] The operator's console for IBM's OS/360 (MFT, MVT, etc., and as far as I know this is still true for MVS) would accept single-letter abbreviations for commands. Some were obvious, such "R" for "REPLY" and "Q" for "QUERY", but others were more obscure such as "A" for "RELEASE". The oldest consoles were 1050s, essentially modified Selectric typewriters (probably the greatest design ever in terms of keyboard feel), so clunkiness of input was not an excuse, as was (allegedly) the case with Unix's 2-letter commands. I seem to remember 3-letter commands for RT-11, but the only one that comes to mind now is "PIP" (Peripheral Interchange Program"). On PDP-11s, there was a straightforward method of packing 3 characters into a 2-byte word, so file names were 6 characters, with a 3-character extension (I suppose MS-DOS copied the 3-character extension, but without the 3-to-2 packing).