🚀 go-pugleaf

Mike Cheselka <armajiro@ccsi.com> wrote:

...

>>> > > dd = Data Dump (At least I always thought so)
>>> > Device Dump
...
>Actually, dd stands for copy & convert, but cc was already taken.

The definitive answer on this appeared earlier in this thread - dd is
define data; and the command is a takeoff on the JCL card of the same
name.  (Of course, the dd JCL card has more options; and a more
confusing syntax.)  There was a forwarded letter from DMR on this earlier
in this thread.

>>The functionality of 'cat .profile' makes little sense for a file
>>concatenator, but cat found uses other than concatenation.
>
>cat means to concatant; in this sense stdout is unspoken.


No, cat is short for catenate; which is a real word and means to run
together.  From Merriam-Webster Online:

  cat-e-nate (t.v.) (L. from catena): to connect in a series.


Note that this is slightly different than

  con-cat-e-nate (adj) (M.E. from L.L. concatenatus): linked together. 
		 (t.v.) to link togehter in a series or chain.

Where concatenate appears slightly earlier than catenate; but the
sense of the two words are slightly different. 
The adjective form is obviously incorrect; because most commands
are in the verb form (LiNk, Compile C, LiSt, etc.)

While this has been a pleasant diversion; the whole task would be
simplified by people not confusing the short description after the name
that appears on man pages.  (Hence, the continued mistake that dd
stands for convert and copy a file.)