I honestly had no idea that a.out was the name of an actual executable format. I just thought it was the generic default output name of a compiler. Until I just

I honestly had no idea that a.out was the name of an actual executable format. I just thought it was the generic default output name of a compiler. Until I just looked it up, I was as bewildered as if the headline had said, "this removes support for untitled.txt". Below is the description written by Dennis Ritchie in the 1971 documentation: > "a.out is the output file of the assembler as and the link editor ld. In both cases, a.out is executable provided there were no errors and no unresolved external references. This file has four sections: a header, the program text, a symbol table, and relocation bits. The last two may be empty if the program was loaded with the —s option of ld or if the symbols and relocation have been removed by strip." https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/man51.pdf https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/man51.pdf