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From: ljdursi@yoho.uwaterloo.ca (Jonathan Dursi)
Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things
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Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 22:24:42 GMT
References: <55vhpf$q3o@mail1.wg.waii.com> <56g0mm$gpf@web.nmti.com> <328cb5ad.2528560@news.msn.fullfeed.com> <848076666.19924.0@balti.bankersnet.co.uk>
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In article <848076666.19924.0@balti.bankersnet.co.uk>,
Chris Hedley <cbh@bankersnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>I'm sorry, you're totally wrong. GREP was ported to UNIX from its
>original inception on NT. [...incorrect history deleted...]
Revisionists.
Even if there was a VMS program called GROPE, that clearly wasn't
the origin of the command. It predates VMS by quite some time.
In the days not too long after ENIAC, it soon became clear to such
luminaries as von Neumann that a quick, efficient way of scanning
memory for certain patterns would be extremely useful; one could set up
`bit-patterns' that would be recognizable as a flag that some event had
occurred in the system, such as a calculation was complete. Then a
bell could be run, or a light turned on, or an electric charge could be
run through the cabinet; anyway, you get the idea, some way of letting
the `operators' know that something had occurred could be done.
A circuit, then, that examined the voltage patterns of the various
electron tubes was occasionly wired up by the technicians; it
was, originally, labelled a `Vaccuum Tube Grid Electric Charge Probe'
by the Americans. The name was was both awkward, and confused the
Brits who didn't use nice reasonable terms like `Vaccuum tube'.
Eventually, it got cut down to `Grid electric charge probe',
`GRid Electric Probe', and then, finally, grep.
This was pretty much nearly forgotten until the days of the TRS-80s,
when designers put the same sort of function into early ROMS of some of
these machines; it searched RAM for specified bit-patterns. It wasn't
intended to be a feature for use by users; it was solely a system thing,
but it wasn't long before clever users discovered what it could do,
and it often found its way into `The super duper book of pokes and peeks',
and literature of that nature. It was sometimes labled `the Great Poke',
as it was considerably more interesting than pokes which merely changed
colours; thus, ironically, the pseudo-acronym `grep' occasionally occurred
in this context, as well.
Finally, Kernigan and Ritchie when they were first implementing UNIX
for the TRS-80 model 4s, (it never really worked as well; that's why
they switched over to PDP-10s), discovered this feature, and started
figuring out how it could be used. Early implementations loaded
a file entirely into memory and called the Great Poke to look for
fixed strings.
After all these years, it's about time we got this straight. Geez,
people.
- Jon
--
Jonathan Dursi | ``..And the world will be better for this;
ljdursi@yoho.uwaterloo.ca | that one man, scorned and covered with scars,
| still strove with his last ounce of courage.''