UNIX Arcana [was Re: Perl (or Unix vs. MS, actually) ]

pll at lanminds.com pll at lanminds.com
Tue Aug 20 16:14:48 EDT 2002


In a message dated: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 16:20:29 EDT
bscott at ntisys.com said:

>  I think he is thinking of the five-character limit in the original
>linker(s) used to develop Unix (which very well may have come from Multics).  
>That five-character limit gave us the infamous creat(2) system call.


Hmmmm, I don't believe that's correct either.  I remember a 
discussion with either Brian Kernighan or Dennis Ritchie, who,
when asked what he would do different if he had a chance to go back 
and change anything in UNIX, stated, "I'd spell creat(2) with an 'e' 
on the end".[1]

[1]	This quote is not necessarilly verbatim, but it's close :)
-- 

Seeya,
Paul
--
	It may look like I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
   but I'm really actively waiting for all my problems to go away.

	 If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!





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