[TUHS] On computerese

[Rik Farrow]

Was the brevity typical of Unix command names a function of the tiny disk
and memory available? Or more a function of having a Teletype 33 for input?
Of course, it could simply be that 'cat' is more convenient than
'catenate'...

Rik


On Sun, Sep 15, 2024 at 7:38 AM Douglas McIlroy <
douglas.mcilroy at dartmouth.edu> wrote:

> > Who created the "cat" command and did they have the
> > word "catenate" or "concatenate" in their heads?
>
> Ken Thompson wrote "cat" for the PDP-7, with "concatenate" in
> mind. The cat(1) page in the v1 manual is titled, "concatenate (or
> print) files". Only later did someone in Research--I don't know
> who--remark on the existence of the shorter synonym. It was
> deliberately adopted in v7, perhaps because it better mirrored
> the command name.
>
> But brevity is the defensible argument for "catenate", while
> familiarity boosts "concatenate". It stll takes some conscious
> effort for me to use the former, However, I sense sinister
> vibes in "concatenate", driven by the phrase "concatenation
> of events", which often is used to explain misfortune.
>
> Doug
>
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