Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!uwvax!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!alberta!auvax!rwa From: rwa@auvax.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: UNIX NAME ABBREVIATIONS Message-ID: <428@auvax.UUCP> Date: Sat, 28-Nov-87 15:15:37 EST Article-I.D.: auvax.428 Posted: Sat Nov 28 15:15:37 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 30-Nov-87 07:06:40 EST References: <10376@brl-adm.ARPA> <16550@topaz.rutgers.edu> <388@cogen.UUCP> <897@pembina.UUCP> Organization: Athabasca U., Alberta, Canada Lines: 19 Summary: I always thought it stood for... In article <897@pembina.UUCP>, steve@alberta.UUCP (Steve Sutphen) writes: > One command ... that isn't immediately obvious in its entymology is `dd'. > My guess is that the author really wanted to call it `cc' (for Convert > and Copy -- the title on the `man' page) but that letter pair was already > used. Locally, we refer to dd as 'd*mned dangerous', and this seems a fairly accurate description of the beast. The other possibility is that it refers to ibm jcl (the infamous '//sysin dd *' statement). It always makes me think of the jingle (sung to the tune of `Twinkle, twinkle, little {star,bat}') : Slash-slash sysin deedee star, How I wonder what you are... -- Ross Alexander @ Athabasca University alberta!auvax!rwa