Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pacbell!att-ih!ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxf.cso.uiuc.edu!hafner
From: hafner@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Origin of 'awk'
Message-ID: <46800003@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 10 Mar 88 16:50:00 GMT
References: <2111@ukecc.engr.uky.edu>
Lines: 8
Nf-ID: #R:ukecc.engr.uky.edu:2111:uxf.cso.uiuc.edu:46800003:000:260
Nf-From: uxf.cso.uiuc.edu!hafner    Mar 10 10:50:00 1988


Sorry, the name "AWK" comes from the authors:  Aho, Weinberger, and Kernighan.

Say, does anyone *really* know where the name "biff" comes from?  I've heard
two derivations:

1) "Be InFormed iF" mail arrives

2) That it was named after the Author's dog, Biff.