I agree that ln is a little confusing. I've often explained it to people that it's the same order as if you were copying the file, but it creates a link instea

I agree that ln is a little confusing. I've often explained it to people that it's the same order as if you were copying the file, but it creates a link instead. Also, in sections 1 and 8 (shell), data typically flows from left-to-right across the line. The filename on the left flows into the link on the right. Data flows from the left of the pipe to the right. Whereas in section 3 (C), data typically flows from right-to-left across the line. Variable assignment, memcpy, ... There are of course exceptions (dup2, bcopy), but that's the general style for the order of arguments in *nix.