Re: Thanks for the help and fstab?

From: "Mike Schwartz" <mike.l.schwartz@gmail.com>
> On 7/30/07, Matt Graham <danceswithcrows@usa.net> wrote:
> > Yes, the syntax for dd is a bit weird. This is because of Hysterical
> > Raisins, AFAICT.
> from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backward_compatibility":
> 'Hysterical raisins is a play on words of the term "historical reasons",
> [...]' and it also has an xref (hyper link) to "
> http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hysterical-reasons.html"
> which adds, "[...]indicating specifically that something must be done in
> some stupid way for backwards compatibility, and moreover that the feature
> it must be compatible with was the result of a bad design in the first
place"

The syntax for dd is *different* from most other Unix-like commands. Whether
this is due to bad design or backwards combatability with various IBM things,
I have no idea. ISTR that they borrowed some syntax elements from a similar
command on old IBM 'frames, but ICBW. All of this was implemented years
before
I started working with computers, though.

The thing is, there are a relatively small subset of tasks for which dd is
the best tool. So its odd syntax sticks around, sort of like the "c" in
"scissors" or the "k" in "knife".


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