Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!cwruecmp!cwruacm From: cwruacm@cwruecmp.UUCP (Kronen Insultants) Newsgroups: net.unix Subject: Re: "tenex", where does the word come from? Message-ID: <1648@cwruecmp.UUCP> Date: Sat, 25-Oct-86 16:32:16 EST Article-I.D.: cwruecmp.1648 Posted: Sat Oct 25 16:32:16 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 26-Oct-86 04:05:49 EST References: <623@sdcc12.UUCP> Reply-To: cwruacm@cwruecmp.UUCP (Kronen Insultants) Organization: CWRU Dept. of Animal Husbandry, Cleveland OH Lines: 48 Keywords: TENEX, TOPS-10, DECsystem-10, BBN Summary: TOPS-10 ==> TENEX ==> TOPS-20 In article <623@sdcc12.UUCP> wa371@sdcc12.UUCP (Bernd Riechelmann) writes: >Recently learned about the tcsh shell, and the documentation says that >it is 'tenex' like. I can not find tenex in the dictionary. >Where does it come from and/or what does it mean? >Bernd "TENEX" was an operating system designed and implemented by Daniel Murphy and others at BBN (Bolt, Baranek, and Newman) in the early 1970's based on TOPS-10. It ran on a DECsystem-10 with special paging hardware added by BBN. DEC, as the story goes, bought the rights to TENEX and used it as a base for TOPS-20 ("Twenex"). A shell that is "tenex-like" would probably include some of the following characteristics: 1. completion of filenames and commands 2. to find out more information about a command (defaults, etc.) 3. Typing a question mark at any time will cause the EXEC to list the options at that point (e.g. typing "CO?" at the EXEC prompt will cause the exec to list all the commands that begin with "CO") 4. Typing a question mark after a command will cause the EXEC to list the available options and/or what type of argument is expected TENEX was written entirely in assembly language (the norm for that time, but still terrible to contemplate -- if you hadn't guessed, I only use assembler when absolutely necessary :-)). An article describing TENEX appears in "Communications of the ACM" in one of the 1972 issues. The article is by Murphy and the other implementors. Chet Ramey Trademark is a Disclaimer of Bell Labs ARPANET: cwruacm%case@csnet-relay.arpa or ramey%cwru-20%case@csnet-relay.arpa CSNET: cwruacm@case or ramey%cwru-20@case UUCP: {...}!decvax!cwruecmp!cwruacm or {...}!decvax!cwruecmp!ramey@cwru-20 BITNET: ramey%cwru20@cu20b "But we decide which is real and which is an illusion..." The Moody Blues