6 ms·
The use of the obscure word "solidus" instead of "slash" for the character "/" is absurd. The term "slash" should at least be a formal alias, if it isn't alread
by dwheeler 6y ago
The use of the obscure word "solidus" instead of "slash" for the character "/" is absurd. The term "slash" should at least be a formal alias, if it isn't already. This text seems to imply it's not a formal alias, but maybe it is.
After all, the POSIX standard includes slash as a name for the character, and that an ISO standard: https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/ https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/
What's more, Unicode refers to "\" as "backslash".
Very weird.
- Sniffnoy 6y ago"Slash" and "virgule" are both formal aliases for U+002F SOLIDUS.
- reaperducer 6y agoWhat's more, Unicode refers to "\" as "backslash". I'd be happy if nobody ever referred to the word "backslash." I heard it read in a URL in a TV commercial this week. I can't believe it. People have been getting that wrong since AOL days.
- rplst8 6y agoWhat would you prefer then?
- cool_dude85 6y agoAntivirgule, of course.
- reaperducer 6y agoThey simply don't belong in web addresses.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- dhosek 6y agoPeople say backslash in web addresses when they mean a plain old slash.
- rplst8 6y agoI reread your post and now I understand what you were trying to say.
- mark-r 6y agoI've been calling it a backslash since the '70's. Get off my lawn, kid.
- cmroanirgo 6y agoIn my neck of the woods it was slash and slosh.
- dwheeler 6y agoIt's a standard character, it needs a name, the standard name for "\" is backslash. I'm okay with that. The normal and widespread name for "/" is "slash", and I'm fine with that too. Yes, there are people who get things wrong on the internet. Just gently correct them and move on. I don't think trying to change to other terms like solidus and reverse solidis are going to make it any better. And I like :// being in URLs. It makes them incredibly easy to disambiguate them from anything else.
- jws 6y agoIn over 40 years of computing I've never heard the backslash called anything else… until today when you made me look into it. Apparently Unicode has renamed it be "REVERSE SOLIDUS" while still tolerating "BACKSLASH" as a name for it. I don't expect anyone to ever use the words "REVERSE SOLIDUS" in my presence. Interesting, it entered computer use in the era of Algol so they could write their /\ and \/ operators.