Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 16:19:07 +0200 (IST) From: Nadav Eiron <nadav@barcode.co.il> To: Larry Dolinar <LARRYD@bldg1.croute.com> Cc: owner-questions@FreeBSD.org, Jeremy Sigmon <jsigmon@www.hsc.wvu.edu>, "Randall D. DuCharme" <randyd@nconnect.net>, questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: MS-DOS text files in UNIX Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960926161435.9721A-100000@gatekeeper.barcode.co.il> In-Reply-To: <ED0F2C66790@bldg1.croute.com>
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On Thu, 26 Sep 1996, Larry Dolinar wrote: > | From: Anthony Hill <ahill@interconnect.com.au> > > | On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, hmmm wrote: > | > | > apple/mac uses CR > | > dos/win uses LF/CR > | > unixes use LF > | > > | > why didn't unix choose CR as the standard EOL? > | > (at least we'd be left w/only 2 standards) > | > what a mess of such a simple stupid thing! > | > | Since UNIX precedes these other OS's by about 15 years, I would have > | thought if Microsoft/Apple had any interest in standards they would > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > What in the world are you thinking: Mr. Gates (et al) interested in > standards? > > | have followed UNIX's lead. (bit like using \ in dos instead of UNIX's /) > | > > I'll drink to that.... > I know that's not popular around here, but I guess everybody deserves justice. Both those differences between DOS and UNIX stem from DOS's roots in CP/M. Gates had nothing to do with that. CP/M used the CR/LF convention, and the / for switches to commands. It didn't use the \ for anything because it didn't have a directory structure. DOS 1.x didn't have a directory structure either (it had just a single root directory - would you believe that???) and used the / for command switches, just like CP/M. When MS moved to 2.0, and added hierarchial directories, the / was already taken, so they used the \. I guess that Digital Research (who developed CP/M) are to blame for those two bits. Gates only copied from them (as he usually does). Nadav
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