Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!felix!ccicpg!mahrk From: mahrk@ccicpg.UUCP (MHR {who?}) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc Subject: Re: Where is the long awaited MS DOS 5.0 ? Summary: Arbitrary and capricious, or maybe just lack of forethought Message-ID: <9354@ccicpg.UUCP> Date: 3 Jan 91 22:32:41 GMT References: <13523@milton.u.washington.edu> <10110@lanl.gov> Organization: ICL North America Lines: 35 In <10110@lanl.gov>, crs@lanl.gov writes: > In article <13523@milton.u.washington.edu>, dittrich@milton.u.washington.edu (Dave Dittrich) writes: > > I've a question about DOS: Is there a real reason for the choice > of switch character ("/") and path-element separator ("\")? Or > was the choice made gratuitously (or, worse, just to be different > from Unix)? I've always assumed that, since in some cases it's > possible to use the Unix counterparts, that the choice was > arbitrary. > Since you asked, the reason is one of the two items I listed in the Summary line. Apparently, when MS-DOS was created, they wanted it to look (somewhat? a lot?) like CP/M, which I believe had been using the '/' character for program control switches or flags. At the time, there was no such thing as a path (in CP/M or xxDOS - I prefer xx to ??) because all there were for secondary memory media were floppy diskettes (for a PC, that is). When the notion of hard disks, complete with paths and subdirectories suddenly became relevant, around xxDOS version 1.2 (which was actually later released as 2.0 and fixed to work in 2.1), the '/' as switch character had become so firmly entrenched that they had to use something else, so they picked the '\'. > Best, > Likewise. > Charlie Sorsby "I'm the NRA!" > crs@lanl.gov > sorsby@pprg.unm.edu -- Mark A. Hull-Richter Witty comment (identified for those who lack wit): ICL North America ^^^^^^^^^^^^^-----------vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv 9801 Muirlands Blvd UUCP: ccicpg!mahrk Go ahead, flame me. I have Irvine, CA 92713 (714)458-7282x4539 a /dev/null on my machine.