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From: landauer@sun.uucp (Doug Landauer)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: switchar
Message-ID: <9013@sun.uucp>
Date: Thu, 6-Nov-86 22:03:06 EST
Article-I.D.: sun.9013
Posted: Thu Nov  6 22:03:06 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Nov-86 04:05:00 EST
References: <1402@uw-june.UUCP> <15200040@hpcvlo.UUCP> <7129@boring.mcvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: landauer@sun.UUCP (Doug Landauer)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 44

In article <15200040@hpcvlo.UUCP> bill@hp-pcd.UUCP (bill frolik) writes:
>Microsoft didn't document SWITCHAR because they didn't want
>people to use it, since it can potentially add a lot of confusion.

In article <7129@boring.mcvax.UUCP> guido@boring (Guido van Rossum) writes:
>Yeah, the real question is, why did they add the code in the first
>place?  Sounds like somebody working on the code added it without
>approval.

My guess (total speculation, since I don't know anyone who was involved):

Microsoft had some people familiar with Unix, and when they got DOS-86 (or
whatever it was called) from SCP, they wanted to start adding Unix features
to the system.  They wanted to add a Unix-like hierarchical file system, but
DOS-86 already used "/" for the command switches.  (DOS-86 used "/" because
CP/M did; CP/M used it because of the DEC systems (RT11?) that Kildall had
used when he developed CP/M.)

So they added SWITCHAR so that they could use "/" for the filename separator
without provoking the wrath of the marketing people who thought that MS-DOS
had to retain its command-level similarity to CP/M.

Why the awful choice of backslash (with a different location on every
different keyboard) was made, I'll never know (unless anyone at Microsoft is
listening and would like to correct me.  (Except, I don't think they're
allowed to post news.))  Why not hyphen, semicolon or comma?

>Obviously, the switch never came, so maybe it should be removed from MS-DOS
>3.0 (or has it already been removed?).

The "SWITCHAR=?" option in CONFIG.SYS doesn't work in PC-DOS 3.XX,
but the system call (INT 21/Function ??) still works.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anyway, It's clear that this whole problem is primarily DEC's fault, for
being so slow to recognize Unix' benefits, and for hanging on to their
"rainbow" of PDP11 operating systems instead of jumping on the Unix
bandwagon ten or twelve years ago when it was only a rubber-band wagon.
									:-)
--
	Doug Landauer		    Sun's Net:		 landauer@morocco
	Phone:   415 691-7655	    ARPANET (aka DDN):   landauer@sun.com
	UUCP:  {amdahl, decwrl, hplabs, seismo, ...}!sun!landauer