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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!enews.sgi.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!xyzzy!bcstec!nntp From: Lawrence Doan <led2064@fugue.ca.boeing.com> Subject: Re: On the Naming of UNIX Things X-Nntp-Posting-Host: fugue.ca.boeing.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Message-ID: <329382A4.3F65@fugue.ca.boeing.com> Sender: nntp@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (NNTP News Access) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Organization: Everett Client/Server admin References: <55vhpf$q3o@mail1.wg.waii.com> <56lnvc$l6c@hil-news-svc-2.compuserve.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 22:13:56 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02 (X11; I; HP-UX A.09.04 9000/806) Lines: 18 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au alt.folklore.computers:124973 comp.unix.misc:26578 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1575 James M. Curran wrote: > Mark Whetzel <markw@zeus.wg.waii.com> wrote: > > Why are system processes called 'daemons'? > "Daemons" are called such because, just like their"real-world" > counterparts, they are little imps, which hide unnoticed and do > something in the background. I wondered for years if they had anything to do with Maxwell's Demons (which did things like cause cold regions to become spontaneously hot -- something only possible because they were ackumpucky(tm) critters of no mass, size or friction) but apparently my notions of computer/physics jargon overlap were optimistic. led2064@fugue.ca.boeing.com I didn't write this. Im a contractor. Therefore my opinions belong to the contracting agency. Or something.