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An aside on BFD, which doesn't seem to have come up, and I suspect relatively few people have read the History node of the ‘Binary File Descriptor’ Library manu
by gnufx 5y ago
An aside on BFD, which doesn't seem to have come up, and I suspect relatively few people have read the History node of the ‘Binary File Descriptor’ Library manual on the back-constructed name: “The name came from a conversation David Wallace [gumby] was having with Richard Stallman about the library: RMS said that it would be quite hard--David said "BFD". Stallman was right, but the name stuck.”. [I gather that's ‘Big’, ‘Deal’, and something like an adjective.]
- gumby 5y agoThat’s basically correct. The first time I gave a talk on the subject, I was asked what the acronym stood for. I had to come up with an explanation on the spot and casually said “Oh, it’s Binary File Descriptors” as if that had always been the name. And that’s how it got an official name.
- imoverclocked 5y agoBoth of these anecdotes just made my day :)
- Gollapalli 5y agosame!