I have 2 definitive answers. I believe both are true.
I posed the question to the U2-list & LinkedIn Pick Users Group (not
Googlegroups).1
No one seemed to know there, either. “Q”uick seemed to be the most
popular guess.
Finally, there were 2 claims of certain knowledge:
Brian Stone says:
Dick Pick himself told me that the Q-pointer stood for "Query."
Jonathon Sisk says:
Since my Pocket Guide was mentioned, I went to the same authority I used
31 years ago when researching it. That would be Henry, of course, who
said there is no significance to the choice of the letter Q for
Q-pointers. Glad to still have access for these types of questions, and
sorry to disappoint those searching for deeper meaning.
The Henry that Sisk mentions is, no doubt, Henry Eggers.
I believe both answers.
In case anyone was still interested.
cds
On 9/7/2012 5:25 PM, Charles Stevenson wrote:
The etymology question about "Q" has deteriorated into a PI vs Pick
discussion.
In the Pick User GoogleGroup, it's about words that rhyme with "orange".
No one has the definitive historical answer? I thought maybe our
resident historian, Dawn Wolthuis, would notice my "dawning days of
Pick" comment and chime in.
"Quick" is the best anyone has come up with, I guess.
On 9/6/2012 9:19 PM, Charles Stevenson wrote:
A newbie stumped me: Why are "Q-Pointers" "Q" pointers ?
The "Q" lingo comes from the dawning days of Pick.
Why was the letter "Q" chosen?
"A"ttribute makes sense.
"S"ynonym makes sense.
"PQ" for Prestored Query makes sense. PR for Proc would have been
better.
D3 User Guide just says,
"Q-pointers are used in account master dictionaries to point to other
files."
UV User Ref says,
"Q-pointers are file definition synonyms that point to files in local
and remote UniVerse accounts."
Jonathon Sisk's "Pick Pocket Guide" doesn't help, either.
PI never had Q-pointers. Clif, did Devcom consider it "Q"uestionable?
I posed the same question on Pick Users GoogleGroup, but I didn't get
a really satisfactory answer, yet.
I'll bet someone here on the U2-List knows the true answer.
Chuck Stevenson
_______________________________________________
U2-Users mailing list
[email protected]
http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
