Re: [PATCH v4 08/10] intro.3: wfix

["G. Branden Robinson" <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>]

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At 2023-01-07T13:45:30+0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> On 1/7/23 10:55, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> > * Say "application _programming_ interface".
> 
> I noticed that when you sent it, but thought that maybe it was just
> another way of saying it.  Duckduckgo seemed to have several instances
> of that alternative expansion of API, so I accepted it.  I'm curious
> about "application program interace", since I hadn't heard about it
> before your patch; is it a normal expansion of API?

It's simply a lazy abbreviation as far as I know.  The reason I believe
"application programming interface" to be more correct is that an API is
an interface for the _activity_ of _programming_ for the purpose of
applying it (the interface).  It is not merely an interface for the
development of "application programs".

The novice programmer will not perceive much of a distinction here.

The obvious counterexample is the writing of one library that uses
another's API.

Beyond that, there exist many library-using programs that are not
properly considered "applications" in the classical sense, which is a
program usable by relatively untrained users for the purpose of
achieving some goal outside the purpose of maintaining the system (or
developing software).  In this sense, ed(1) and roff(1) were the
original Unix applications. :)

     The prime reason for Unix was the desire of Ken [Thompson], Dennis
     [Ritchie], and Joe Ossanna to have a pleasant environment for
     software development.  The fig leaf that got the nod from ...
     management was that an early use would be to develop a
     "stand-alone" word-processing system for use in typing pools and
     secretarial offices.  Perhaps they had in mind "dedicated", as
     distinct from "stand-alone"; that's what eventuated in various
     cases, most notably in the legal/patent department and in the AT&T
     CEO's office.

     Both those systems were targets of opportunity, not foreseen from
     the start.  When Unix was up and running on the PDP-11, Joe got
     wind of the legal department having installed a commercial word
     processor.  He went to pitch Unix as an alternative and clinched a
     trial by promising to make 'roff' able to number lines by tomorrow
     in order to fulfill a patent-office requirement that the commercial
     system did not support.

     Modems were installed so legal-department secretaries could try the
     Research machine.  They liked it and Joe's superb customer service.
     Soon the legal department got a system of their own.  Joe went on
     to create 'nroff' and 'troff'.  Document preparation became a
     widespread use of Unix, but no stand-alone word-processing system
     was ever undertaken.

     -- Doug McIlroy

> Patch applied.

Thanks!

Regards,
Branden

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