Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: {arch} directory

[Tom Lord]

    > From: Miles Bader <address@hidden>

    > BTW, my memory on this is very fuzzy, but I don't _think_ these
    > naming conventions are entirely a Tom-only thing.  At least,
    > I've also used the `comma prefixed temp file' convention for a
    > long time, and I got that habit from David Tilbrook; Tom also
    > worked at the same place I did when David was there, so perhaps
    > some of the other conventions are also DTisms.  Tom?

Very much so.  He makes very excellent use of the facilities of unix,
from what I've seen -- and the naming convention habits are one small
part of that.

May I also report that he is the one line-editor user (of QED) that
I've ever seen who can compete with top-notch Emacs users.   Hell, I
sometimes _still_ miss having some QED skills -- it runs circles
around Emacs in some ways.

If there's an analogy -- hmmm --- might be vaguely like this:

Suppose you know little about cooking but, nevertheless, go to the
store and by a good french knife.   You'll be able to use it to get
things done, sure.

But now suppose you watch a _really_good_ chef use that same knife.
(S)He holds it certain ways, holds the things (s)he's cutting certain
ways, etc.  It hardly even looks like the same tool you naively picked
up when its weilded by that chef.  You might learn some of those
techhniques and that's a good thing.  And in the process, you might
also gain the chef's prejudice: why some kitchen "tools" are really
second rate and not worth buying.

       knife:good chef::unix:DT

Alas, the internet is a really weak medium for passing the good stuff
along.

And, of course, where we worked, people gossiped about what an ass DT
was too -- it's weird and interesting how things look from different
perspectives.  From where I stood, his assishness usually underlay an
understandable impatience at making a very sound point that was in
danger of being drowned out by a prevailing borishness that was not
soluble by anything less.

"_Why_ do I cook?  Because _I'm_ hungry" -- Adam (a chef)
"Whaddaya mean `No Beer'?!" -- DT
"Cheers!" -- anonymous
-t


p.s.: naming conventions heavily DT-influenced, sure.  But DT is also
where the original inspiration for `inventory' comes from -- though I
added some of my own elaborations on top of that.   Lots of other
little details, too.