From: atbowler@thinkage.on.ca (Alan Bowler) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.programmer Subject: 'creat' call name Date: 22 Jan 1998 22:50:14 GMT Organization: Thinkage Ltd. Lines: 14 Message-ID: <6a8if6$e7f$1@goblin.uunet.ca> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 192.102.11.4 Path: ccw.ch!aetna.dolphins.ch!news.planetc.com!newsfeed.usit.net!solaris.cc.vt.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!206.172.150.11!news1.bellglobal.com!news.uunet.ca!atbowler In article R!ch writes: > >I've just had a look in my copy of the Lions Book. This has a complete >listing of the Version 6 kernel, and there are function names longer ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >than 5 characters, for example, getuid(), access(), getpid(), etc. So >I think we can discount this (good sounding!) theory. As you say, that is Version 6. The name 'creat' was chosen long before version 6. It could well be a holdover from the pre PDP-11 days, when some loader other than LD was being used. Even in Version 6 LD only handled 8 character external names, limiting C externals to 7 significant characters (you lost one for the leading "_" added by the compiler.) ###### From: Dennis Ritchie Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.programmer Subject: Re: 'creat' call name Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 03:20:32 +0000 Organization: Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies Lines: 23 Message-ID: <34C80C80.4B6A@bell-labs.com> References: <6a8if6$e7f$1@goblin.uunet.ca> Reply-To: dmr@bell-labs.com NNTP-Posting-Host: cebu.cs.bell-labs.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; U) Path: ccw.ch!aetna.dolphins.ch!news.planetc.com!leto.ou.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!newsxfer3.itd.umich.edu!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!newsfeed.internetmci.com!199.117.161.1!csn!nntp-xfer-1.csn.net!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!news.research.bell-labs.com!news Ken spelled create without the 'e' because he likes short names. It was he, not I, who said that the spelling would be the one thing he would change about Unix. Both of us get asked the question enough that we're tempted to give createive answers. PDP-7 Unix had no linker. All source was assembled together into an a.out (that's why it's called that.) On the PDP-11, where the first Unix linker appeared, both the assembler and the linker supported 8-character names. But because there was a unified symbol table in the assembler, containing both user names and opcodes, the C compiler put the _ in front of external names so they couldn't conflict with opcodes and other predefined stuff. Thus the restriction to 7-character uniqueness. We never used radix-50. Dennis ###### From: R!ch Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.programmer Subject: Re: 'creat' call name Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 07:38:30 +0000 Lines: 30 Message-ID: References: <6a8if6$e7f$1@goblin.uunet.ca> <34C80C80.4B6A@bell-labs.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: paddington.uk.sun.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Sender: richardt@paddington To: Dennis Ritchie In-Reply-To: <34C80C80.4B6A@bell-labs.com> Path: ccw.ch!aetna.dolphins.ch!news.planetc.com!leto.ou.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!194.72.7.126!btnet-peer!btnet-feed2!btnet!carbon.eu.sun.com!uk-usenet.uk.sun.com!paddington!richardt On Fri, 23 Jan 1998, Dennis Ritchie wrote: > Ken spelled create without the 'e' because > he likes short names. It was he, not I, who > said that the spelling would be the one thing he would > change about Unix. Both of us get asked the > question enough that we're tempted to give > createive answers. Well, that's about as authoritive as it gets! Thanks for answering my question. -- R!ch (Email is flakey at present: use richard.teer@keaton.uk.sun.com) If it ain't analogue, it ain't music. #include \\|// - ? (o o) /==================================oOOo=(_)=oOOo========\ | Richard Teer richard.teer@uk.sun.com | | | | | | WWW: www.rkdltd.demon.co.uk | | .oooO | | ( ) Oooo. | \===================================\ (==( )==========/ \_) ) / (_/ ###### From: Erik OShaughnessy Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.unix.programmer Subject: Re: 'creat' call name Date: 23 Jan 1998 09:55:04 -0600 Organization: IBM Austin Lines: 20 Sender: eriko@majestic.austin.ibm.com Message-ID: References: <6a8if6$e7f$1@goblin.uunet.ca> <34C80C80.4B6A@bell-labs.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: majestic.austin.ibm.com X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.2 Path: ccw.ch!aetna.dolphins.ch!news.planetc.com!leto.ou.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!newsxfer3.itd.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!in1.uu.net!ausnews.austin.ibm.com!not-for-mail Dennis Ritchie writes: [snip entemology of creat() revealed] > Dennis Pardon my impertinence, but I am inclined to believe that the message from dmr in this thread was forged. Why? Because of the following damning mail X-Header: X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; U) regards ejo -- Erik O'Shaughnessy:eriko at austin.ibm.com:[838|678]-2622:bldg 902/2D014 Performance Tool Development Team:Division Formerly Known As RS/6000:IBM