cat [from `catenate' via Unix cat(1)] vt.
1. [techspeak] To spew an entire file to the screen or some other
output sink without pause. 2. By extension, to dump large amounts
of data at an unprepared target or with no intention of browsing it
carefully. Usage: considered silly. Rare outside Unix sites. See
also dd, BLT.
Among Unix fans, cat(1) is considered an excellent example
of user-interface design, because it delivers the file contents
without such verbosity as spacing or headers between the files, and
because it does not require the files to consist of lines of text,
but works with any sort of data.
Among Unix haters, cat(1) is considered the canonical
example of bad user-interface design, because of its
woefully unobvious name. It is far more often used to blast a
file to standard output than to concatenate two files. The name
cat for the former operation is just as unintuitive as, say,
LISP's cdr.
Of such oppositions are holy wars made....
1. [techspeak] To spew an entire file to the screen or some other
output sink without pause. 2. By extension, to dump large amounts
of data at an unprepared target or with no intention of browsing it
carefully. Usage: considered silly. Rare outside Unix sites. See
also dd, BLT.
Among Unix fans, cat(1) is considered an excellent example
of user-interface design, because it delivers the file contents
without such verbosity as spacing or headers between the files, and
because it does not require the files to consist of lines of text,
but works with any sort of data.
Among Unix haters, cat(1) is considered the canonical
example of bad user-interface design, because of its
woefully unobvious name. It is far more often used to blast a
file to standard output than to concatenate two files. The name
cat for the former operation is just as unintuitive as, say,
LISP's cdr.
Of such oppositions are holy wars made....
Related:
- cat: [from `catenate' via {{UNIX}} `cat(1)'] vt.
1.
[techspeak] To spew an entire file to the screen or some other output sink without pause.... - dd: /dee-dee/ [UNIX: from IBM {JCL}] vt. Equivalent to
{cat} or {BLT}.
Originally the name of a UNIX copy command with special options suitable for block-oriented device... - dd /dee-dee/ vt.
[Unix: from IBM JCL] Equivalent to
cat or BLT.
Originally the name of a Unix copy command with special options suitable for block-oriented device... - magic number n.
[Unix/C; common] 1. In source code
some non-obvious constant whose value is significant to the operation of a program and that is inserted inconspicuously in-line (hardcoded), rather than expanded in by a symbol set by a commented #define.... - ponge n.
[Unix] A special case of a filter that reads its
entire input before writing any outpu
he canonical example is a sort utility. Unlike most filters, a sponge can conveniently overwrite the input file with the output data stream.... - ponge: [UNIX] n. A special case of a {filter} that reads its
entire input before writing any outpu
he canonical example is a sort utility. Unlike most filters, a sponge can conveniently overwrite the input file with the output data stream.... - plumbing: [UNIX] n. Term used for {shell} code, so called
because of the prevalence of `pipelines' that feed the output of
one program to the input of another.
Under UNIX, user utilities can often be implemented or at least prototyped by a suitable collection of pipelines and temp-file grinding encapsulated in a shell scrip... - plumbing n.
[Unix] Term used for shell code, so called
because of the prevalence of `pipelines' that feed the output of
one program to the input of another.
Under Unix, user utilities can often be implemented or at least prototyped by a suitable collection of pipelines and temp-file grinding encapsulated in a shell scrip... - dot file [Unix] n.
A file that is not visible by default to
normal directory-browsing tools (on Unix
files named with a leading dot are, by convention, not normally presented in directory listings)....
