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Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!clyde!ihnp4!fortune!rpw3
From: rpw3@fortune.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: Identifier significance CHALLENGE - (nf)
Message-ID: <1969@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Dec-83 07:04:46 EST
Article-I.D.: fortune.1969
Posted: Wed Dec 14 07:04:46 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Dec-83 01:48:18 EST
Sender: notes@fortune.UUCP
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
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#R:sdcsvax:-6000:fortune:16200011:000:804
fortune!rpw3    Dec 14 04:01:00 1983

I don't know which PDP-10 compiler was meant, but there was an abbreviation
standard for squeezing 6-character program names into three characters,
as need for file extensions and per-job tempfiles. As I recall, it was
derived from some work done at Bell Labs on place-name abbreviations,
and went like this:

	Take the first letter, the next consonant, and the last
	consonant, duplicating as necessary,

	EXCEPT, if the word is already 3 chars, leave it alone
	(so PIP => PIP, not PPP)

Examples:	LOGIN => LGN
		ALGOL => ALL
		FORTRAN => FRN
		BASIC => BSC
		FREE => FRR

There was something about "Y" as a consonant, but I forget.

Rob Warnock

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