In article <mailman.248.1267652136.23598.python-l...@python.org>, D'Arcy J.M. Cain <da...@druid.net> wrote: >On Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:44:08 +0100 >mk <mrk...@gmail.com> wrote: >> It reminds me of why Windows uses backslashes for path separation >> instead of slashes: what I've *heard*, and do not know if it's true, >> it's because Gates fancied using / for options switch instead of -, and >> to hell with established practice. > >That was because CP/M used slashes for options and DOS copied that. By >the time hierarchy was added it was too late to change.
And CP/M got it from the various PDP-11 operating systems. I *think* that Tops-10 had it as well. In fact, I think using / to delimit commandline options goes back to the PDP-8. -- -Ed Falk, f...@despams.r.us.com http://thespamdiaries.blogspot.com/ -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list