[ale] pronunciation

Jeff Hubbs jhubbs at telocity.com
Sun Feb 4 16:09:50 EST 2001


Sue Bauer-Lee wrote:
> 
> I couldn't resist. :)  Eiter is correct.
> 
> daemon
> 
> <operating system> /day'mn/ or /dee'mn/ (From the mythological meaning, later
> rationalised as the acronym "Disk And Execution MONitor") A program that is
> not invoked explicitly, but lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur.
> The idea is that the perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a
> daemon is lurking (though often a program will commit an action only because
> it knows that it will implicitly invoke a daemon).
> 
> For example, under ITS writing a file on the LPT spooler's directory would
> invoke the spooling daemon, which would then print the file. The advantage
> is that programs wanting files printed need neither compete for access to,
> nor understand any idiosyncrasies of, the LPT. They simply enter their
> implicit requests and let the daemon decide what to do with them. Daemons
> are usually spawned automatically by the system, and may either live forever
> or be regenerated at intervals.
> 
> Unix systems run many daemons, chiefly to handle requests for services from
> other hosts on a network. Most of these are now started as required by a
> single real daemon, inetd, rather than running continuously. Examples are
> cron (local timed command execution), rshd (remote command execution),
> rlogind and telnetd (remote login), ftpd, nfsd (file transfer), lpd (printing).
> 
> Daemon and demon are often used interchangeably, but seem to have distinct
> connotations (see demon). The term "daemon" was introduced to computing
> by CTSS people (who pronounced it /dee'mon/) and used it to refer to what
> ITS called a dragon.
> 
>  [Jargon File]
> 
>  (1995-05-11)
> 
I prefer "DEE-mun" to "DAY-mun" mostly because I don't want people to
think I'm referring to a Ferengi captain.

- Jeff

>  Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2000 Denis Howe
> 
> On Sun, Feb 04, 2001 at 03:15:24PM -0500, Christopher Bergeron wrote:
> >
> > Considering that pronouncing "Linux" can either give you credibility or make
> > you look "paper":  Is there a preffered pronunciation for Daemons?  I've
> > heard it pronounced both ways.  This may sound silly, but I'm quite
> > curious...
> >
> >
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> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Sue Bauer-Lee          |    KE4HNN
> PO Box 2900            |
> Lilburn, GA 30048      |    Email: sblee at tazmania.org
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