dd syntax question (was: ISO Ripping)

[Erik Price]

Kenneth E. Lussier wrote:
> *I* can use dd.

[...]

> On Mon, 2002-12-23 at 11:21, Jason Stephenson wrote:
> 
>>If you just want to rip an ISO image from a CD-ROM, then I wouldn't 
>>bother with a gui. Just do this:
>>
>>$ dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/path/to/image.iso bs=8k


Random, unimportant question:

Why does dd use options named "if" and "of"?  I just paged through the 
man page but can't seem to find an explanation.  Especially since you 
would think "of" refers to the original (source), not the destination.

Erik