tuesday, january 18, 2005
Nerdy nerdy wordy wordy
The best unixy things have names that are so obviously right, so well thought-out, I love them. I forget syntax and flags and how to do things, but the names stick. (Translations included for my mom [and grandma?].)
ls - list directory contents
cd - change directory
rm - remove files
They’re weird little names: whole phrases reduced to two letters. They’re the right length for basic commands that get typed a lot. The names don’t share any letters, which sort of subconsciously makes them harder to confuse. I like them, this little triplet of useful things. They go in that order, of course.
vi; emacs - text editors that can do a lot
nano; pico - simple text editors
“vi” and “emacs” look and sound appropriately different — with a longer name for the more complicated one. “nano” and “pico” sound and look similar — but not identical — just like they should.
This had been sitting on my desktop since July. Someday, I’ll write about HTML tags and the worst names.
comments (2)
hey britta, wasn't sure if you were checking the wallscrawls on waferbaby... anyway, your link to the elements of typographic style caught my eye--i just bought it for a class :) i'm also the one that apparently goes to school with your sister (although i'm pretty sure she's not in that class)
– nita on 1/18/2005 23:42:07
deeep... do deep
– kyle on 1/19/2005 19:44:25
comments are off. for new comments, my email address is brittag@gmail.com.
