Slash or Backslash

SkyHog

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Everything Offends Me
So - I'm curious if I've always been wrong...

"/" == Slash or Backslash?
 
Slash

slash.jpg



\ = backslash


:D
 
Just remember that it's the TOP of the slash that makes the difference... if it's pointing "backwards" (towards the left, negative numbers) it's a backslash. Top pointing to the right? Slash!
 
That's what I have been saying since I was like 6. Why do people adamently refuse to call it a slash...sigh.

"aych tee tee pee colon backslash backslash"

Its like nails on a chalkboard. lol
 
> "aych tee tee pee colon backslash backslash"

too much time with windows. ... (d&r)
 
it amazes me when I hear a major company (with big budget ad dollars and a big web site) say backslash. I'm with you. Nails on a chalkboard.
 
I type slashes all day and to hell if I know which one is which. I just say slash and if the person typed the wrong one I said "no the other one".
 
jesse said:
I type slashes all day and to hell if I know which one is which. I just say slash and if the person typed the wrong one I said "no the other one".
Click to expand...
That's not very evident of a professional slasher. :)
 
jesse said:
I type slashes all day and to hell if I know which one is which. I just say slash and if the person typed the wrong one I said "no the other one".
Click to expand...
Yes you do. Linux and macs use a slash when typing paths. Windows uses a backslash (as in backwards).
 
Which raises a question (just out of curiosity). Which OS's use backslash
in pathnames? Is it just windows, or are there others?
 
Bob Noel said:
Which raises a question (just out of curiosity). Which OS's use backslash
in pathnames? Is it just windows, or are there others?
Click to expand...

DOS uses \
It doesn't care if you type in either one though.
ProDOS uses \ as well. -- Speaking of which, anyone remember ProDOS and where it comes from?
 
fgcason said:
ProDOS uses \ as well. -- Speaking of which, anyone remember ProDOS and where it comes from?
Click to expand...


Came from Apple, was popular on the Apple II. Got its start in SOS (Sophisticated Operating System) for the Apple III. I played a lot with the Apple II, Apple IIe, and my favorite of the age, the Apple IIc Plus. Never saw or used an Apple III...
 
I had only ever heard of a / "slash", like what is used as an alternative to a division sign (1/2) or a separator for words, until the days of computers. Did old typewriters even have a backslash? Of course I know that some (many) of you can't remember a time when you didn't use a computer... :confused: :D
 
Believe it or don't but we finally gave the typewriter away about a year ago. We debated keeping it for too long.
 
kevin47881 said:
Believe it or don't but we finally gave the typewriter away about a year ago. We debated keeping it for too long.
Click to expand...

I still have an ancient Remington manual typewriter on the shelf in my office. Just in case, see. Never know when the world is going to run out of electrons, seeing that the internet is using them up at such a rate:)

I'm just waiting for the first student to ask me what it is. Our typical entrant is about 19, has never known a non-CD/DVD world, probably has never operated a record player and certainly has no idea what an 8-track cartridge is, what a roller-skate key is for (or what those roller skates look like), or has ever seen an amber or green monitor or a black-and-white TV.
But the airplanes we use are 15 years older than they are and are based on designs as old as I am (55). Their engine design is nearly as old as my father.
Curiously, I just finished reading a classic science fiction omnibus, full of short stories written in the early 1940s to the mid-1950s. The people in the stories, which take place 100 or 200 or more years from now, are using typewriters, are all smoking cigarettes and cigars, and are operating spaceships that require human control. Makes me wonder just how clueless we might be about the future and its machines...

Dan
 
FlyNE said:
Yes you do. Linux and macs use a slash when typing paths. Windows uses a backslash (as in backwards).
Click to expand...

and you use the "windows" backslash to escape pretty much everything in Linux and Mac OS. I suppose I could just call them the Linux slash or the Windows slash...I could handle remembering that.
 
Everskyward said:
I had only ever heard of a / "slash", like what is used as an alternative to a division sign (1/2) or a separator for words, until the days of computers. Did old typewriters even have a backslash? Of course I know that some (many) of you can't remember a time when you didn't use a computer... :confused: :D
Click to expand...
No. Typewriters did (do?) not have these keys:
~`|\
I am not sure, but think they also did (do?) not have these:
{}[]
There were some typewriters that did not have the number 1. Use the l (ell) key instead.

And of course, no <ctrl> <alt> <fn> <insert> <delete> <home> <end> <page up> <page dn> <esc> keys.
 
AuntPeggy said:
Use the l (ell) key instead.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I remember that now. I gave the last one I had to Goodwill a couple years ago when I was in a "getting rid of this obsolete junk" mood, but I hadn't touched it in a long time.
 
AuntPeggy said:
No. Typewriters did (do?) not have these keys:
~`|\
I am not sure, but think they also did (do?) not have these:
{}[]
There were some typewriters that did not have the number 1. Use the l (ell) key instead.

And of course, no <ctrl> <alt> <fn> <insert> <delete> <home> <end> <page up> <page dn> <esc> keys.
Click to expand...
Ah, but with the beautiful IBM Selectric you could change balls and have about any character you wanted.

BTW, I keep a typewriter in my office and use it from time to time to complete paper forms that companies send. There's still a lot of non .pdf stuff that needs filling out. I think typed looks more professional than done by hand.
 
Also, "\" = "Whack". So like in a Windows environment, you'll hear "Those files are in whack whack fileserver whack sharename (\\servername\sharename)." Not sure of the genesis of that one.

Also "!" = "bang"... Seems like there are other ones like that, too...
 
smigaldi said:
Ok is '#' pound or hash?
Click to expand...

You are only the 2nd person I've ever heard say hash. Whenever I call Research in Motion, I hear "Please enter your partner code, followed by the hash or pound sign."

What the hell is hash and where is it from?
 
ReverendSlappy said:
Also, "\" = "Whack". So like in a Windows environment, you'll hear "Those files are in whack whack fileserver whack sharename (\\servername\sharename)." Not sure of the genesis of that one.

Also "!" = "bang"... Seems like there are other ones like that, too...
Click to expand...

Never heard whack, but I've heard bang. Also, I learned that in some international locations, "." is called stop or fullstop.

Fun thing: Most everyone knows that tab moves forward through fields, a lot of people know that shift-tab goes backward through fields, but almost no one notices that the tab key is marked that way, with an arrow on the bottom pointing to the right (like all other keys, the bottom indication requires no shift to work), and an arrow pointing to the left above (requiring shift to activate).

Blew my mind when I noticed.
 
ReverendSlappy said:
Also, "\" = "Whack". So like in a Windows environment, you'll hear "Those files are in whack whack fileserver whack sharename (\\servername\sharename)." Not sure of the genesis of that one.

Also "!" = "bang"... Seems like there are other ones like that, too...
Click to expand...

Rant on...

It probably originates from the same general source that created the term "racetrack" for holding pattern and "flavor" as versions of non edible/drinkable things. "This electrical device can run on 3 different flavors of electricity." -- I am so ready for someone to taste the wire when it's plugged in...serve them right for making up terminology instead of taking 2 minutes to learn the proper terminology instead of dumbing everything down to half the IQ of a dead lizard.

...Rant off
 
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