From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Rusi Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: acronymania (was: Re: Real-life examples of lexical binding in Emacs Lisp) Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 10:53:20 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: References: <87bnh3eqiv.fsf@mbork.pl> <874mmuxyd5.fsf@gnu.org> <87k2v6wmpy.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com> <87vbendwq5.fsf@debian.uxu> <871thatxro.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com> <87wpz2sj1u.fsf@kuiper.lan.informatimago.com> <877fr2ulu1.fsf@debian.uxu> <878ubhnjya.fsf@rudiments.goosenet.in> <87h9q5c91u.fsf@debian.uxu> <871th7olke.fsf@rudiments.goosenet.in> <87wpyzvbo3.fsf_-_@debian.uxu> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1434736538 7092 80.91.229.3 (19 Jun 2015 17:55:38 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:55:38 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Jun 19 19:55:20 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Z60Vb-0004aB-EX for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 19 Jun 2015 19:55:19 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:59504 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Z60Va-0000KB-NB for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:55:18 -0400 X-Received: by 10.13.226.83 with SMTP id l80mr23370649ywe.5.1434736401426; Fri, 19 Jun 2015 10:53:21 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.50.56.114 with SMTP id z18mr100486igp.6.1434736401390; Fri, 19 Jun 2015 10:53:21 -0700 (PDT) Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!z60no2159480qgd.1!news-out.google.com!kd3ni11447igb.0!nntp.google.com!h15no5622303igd.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help In-Reply-To: <87wpyzvbo3.fsf_-_@debian.uxu> Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=59.94.113.24; posting-account=mBpa7woAAAAGLEWUUKpmbxm-Quu5D8ui Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 59.94.113.24 User-Agent: G2/1.0 Injection-Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 17:53:21 +0000 Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:212765 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:105049 Archived-At: On Friday, June 19, 2015 at 11:04:53 PM UTC+5:30, Emanuel Berg wrote: > Udyant Wig writes: > > >> I use "LISP" in the context of the history and > >> origin of the technology but I don't have a defined > >> endpoint at what time history gives way to your > >> everyday "Lisp". > > > > It seems to have been a byproduct of the general > > attitude that also made "UNIX" "Unix", "COBOL" > > "Cobol", "FORTH" "Forth", "EMACS" "Emacs", etc. > > UNIX, despite being uppercased, isn't an acronym but > a pun/poke on Multics - which by the was *is* an > acronym: > > Multiplexed Information and Computing Service > > Only "Multi" should be put within quotation marks as > that part never worked out, which is where the > fun begins. > > With UNIX/Unix the distinction is clearer (?) than > with LISP/Lisp as UNIX is the trademark that is > awarded/sold to (at that point) official > implementations - and Unix is everything else. > > I consider GNU/Linux to be Unix tho some people insist > it is UN*X, *nix, Unix-like, and so on. Hey, GNU is > not Unix but that's exactly what it is. The "x" in > Linux is a UNIX "x". The instigation to do Linux was > in order to be able to use the university SunOS UNIX, > only at home. It is Unix! > > COBOL is an acronym: Common Business-Oriented Language > and like EMACS (acronym/abbreviation of > "Editor MACroS") they have turned into names by now - > simple as that, I suppose. > > FORTH isn't an acronym so one might as well make it > a name with no regrets. All of those I would use as > capitalized names, except for perhaps in some > historical contexts - and to be sure, I never speak of > Cobol and so Forth. Curiously, I wrote a blog-post recently on a functional programming timeline http://blog.languager.org/2015/04/cs-history-1.html in which I mentioned tangentially about the culture of lowercase starting with Unix. Someone felt strongly enough about the inaccuracies in this that he wrote me some longer-than-my-post emails about this. Since this has interesting historical titbits itself (and is too long for blogger's comments) its here: http://blog.languager.org/2015/06/richard-okeefes-responses-to-fp-timeline.html