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From: cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Don Norman: The Truth About Unix
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 14:39:47 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
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In article <FjqeR.3$%sT8.2@fx23.iad>, Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
>cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) writes:
>>In article <unix-20260128130650@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de>,
>>Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
>>>Niklas Karlsson <nikke.karlsson@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:
>>>>I do find the name of the TYPE command a bit counterintuitive, though.
>>>>Not that "more", or worse, "cat" or "less", is any better.
>>>
>>>  This is probably a textbook case of bikeshedding. For people
>>>  who aren't into this stuff, the first thing that clicks for
>>>  them are the command names, so that's what they end up talking
>>>  about. Doesn't mean it's wrong to talk about command names.
>>>
>>>  Still, you could say that a name like "rm" instead of "remove"
>>>  is quicker to type and helps avoid the mistake of thinking you
>>>  can just use the command word like the regular English verb.
>>
>>And that was the original motivation, of course.
>>
>>Multics had a concept of an official name for a command, and
>>then a short version.  So to list the contents of the current
>>working directory, one might run the `list` command:
>>
>  <snip description of list vs. ls on Multics>
>>
>
>DEC's VMS supported abbreviating commands
>to the shortest unique first characters of the command name.

Yeah, that was kind of nifty.  TOPS-20/TENEX does it, as well.

Prime had the 'AB' command to create an abbreviation, and
Multics also has aliases.  I guess the point is that many
systems have created ways to customize things in this area over
the decades.  Nothing new under the sun.

	- Dan C.