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0 pointsp_l20d ago0 comments

DOS uses / because programs written for CP/M, and which were subsequently ported to MS-DOS, used forward slashes.

when PC/MS-DOS 2.0 was released, with support for directories, it supported both forward and backward slashes for directory separator because Microsoft programmers wanted to use forward slashes (bringing them over from Xenix, including adding virtual "DEV" directory with device files), but for compatibility and user friendliness the default was \ for directories and / for options

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dhosek18d ago

Oops, the influence was a bit higher up the ancestry chain on both sides. CP/M uses / under the influence of VMS’s ancestor, TOPS-10. That’s what I get on relying on old memories of things I was told that were probably inaccurate from the start.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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dhosek18d ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse