Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!lethe!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!rutgers!att!pacbell.com!ucsd!ucbvax!ulysses!ggs
From: ggs@ulysses.att.com (Griff Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.programmer
Subject: Re: filters
Message-ID: <14134@ulysses.att.com>
Date: 20 Dec 90 03:29:05 GMT
References: <1990Dec4.105612.14422@dce.ie> <1990Dec5.014313.28592@ibmpcug.co.uk> <1990Dec19.032258.7823@NCoast.ORG>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 29

In article <1990Dec19.032258.7823@NCoast.ORG>, allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR) writes:
> (I would argue that "dd"
> should not have "if" and "of" because shell redirection or "cat" will do that.

Which means I'm stuck with the brain-damaged error messages that some
shells supply when the `open' fails.  No thanks, I'll do it myself
and make sure it's done right.

> But it must be remembered that dd was designed for IBM-heads.)

No sense of humor.  Can't you recognize a treacherous parody when you
see one?  Besides, it's an indespensable system administration tool
when you REALLY need to work with blocks instead of character streams.
There are also some of us who use UNIX systems to get at data written
by IBM systems.  Do you really want to sentence us to use //sysin dd *
on the real thing?  dd may be a bit strange, but it reads blocked
EBCDIC a lot better than awk does, and I don't see a lot of people
offering to write a politically correct replacement.

> He: Brandon S. Allbery			    VHF/UHF: KB8JRR on 220, 2m, 440
> Internet: allbery@NCoast.ORG		    Packet: KB8JRR @ WA8BXN
> America OnLine: KB8JRR			    AMPR: KB8JRR.AmPR.ORG [44.70.4.88]
> uunet!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery    Delphi: ALLBERY

-- 
Griff Smith	AT&T (Bell Laboratories), Murray Hill
Phone:		1-201-582-7736
UUCP:		{most AT&T sites}!ulysses!ggs
Internet:	ggs@ulysses.att.com