Both 'Zerox' and 'Snarf' are there: /sys/src/cmd/acme/cols.c:34 textinsert(t, 0, L"New Cut Paste Snarf Sort Zerox Delcol ", 38, TRUE);
On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 1:38 PM, Robert Raschke <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Mateusz, > > as far as I remember, it was originally called "xerox". But that is > trademarked. No idea where the word "snarf" comes from. > > Cheers, > Robby > > On 12 Sep 2016 12:19, "Mateusz Piotrowski" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, > > I've discovered Plan 9 recently and became curious about some > design decisions. > > Why there is a snarf buffer and not a copy buffer? > > As it might seem to be a dull question, it is not. I am very > interested in the reason behind this decision. I've browsed > numerous websites (including cat-v.org and the 9fans archives) > but I wasn't able to find anything about it. > > I decided to ask this question [1] on Unix & Linux StackExchange > but its community doesn't seem to know the answer. > > My guess is that "copying" is not as an atomic action. > "Copying" is in fact: > > - obtaining the content you want to copy (_snarfing_) > - inserting the content where you want it to be (_pasting_) > > Hence the use of snarf instead of copy. > > Am I right? Is there a document / book / article where > it is explained? > > Cheers! > > Mateusz Piotrowski > > [1]: > http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/308943/why-does-plan-9-use-snarf-instead-of-copy
