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  3. I Propose We Rename \ and /

I Propose We Rename \ and /

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  • A AspDotNetDev

    A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

    \

    /

    Slide Slash

    Hill Slash

    Five Slash

    One Slash

    Negative Slash

    Positive Slash

    Fall Slash

    Rise Slash

    Other ideas?

    Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

    Y Offline
    Y Offline
    YvesDaoust
    wrote on last edited by
    #18

    Easy: \ backslash, / slashback

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • A AspDotNetDev

      A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

      \

      /

      Slide Slash

      Hill Slash

      Five Slash

      One Slash

      Negative Slash

      Positive Slash

      Fall Slash

      Rise Slash

      Other ideas?

      Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

      M Offline
      M Offline
      mr priyank
      wrote on last edited by
      #19

      considering the directions. the names could be. North West (NW) Slash or South East(SE) Slash for \ North East (NE) Slash or South West(SW) Slash for / There is no confusion now. From the suggested name we can know the direction and find the correct slash.

      S 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • A AspDotNetDev

        A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

        \

        /

        Slide Slash

        Hill Slash

        Five Slash

        One Slash

        Negative Slash

        Positive Slash

        Fall Slash

        Rise Slash

        Other ideas?

        Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

        R Offline
        R Offline
        RogelioP EX DE HL
        wrote on last edited by
        #20

        AspDotNetDev wrote:

        Other ideas?

        \ Wax on / Wax off -- RP

        A 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • A AspDotNetDev

          A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

          \

          /

          Slide Slash

          Hill Slash

          Five Slash

          One Slash

          Negative Slash

          Positive Slash

          Fall Slash

          Rise Slash

          Other ideas?

          Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

          J Offline
          J Offline
          JHizzle
          wrote on last edited by
          #21

          I like the hill one. Uphill/downhill would work visually. Particularly the rise and fall one.

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • A AspDotNetDev

            A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

            \

            /

            Slide Slash

            Hill Slash

            Five Slash

            One Slash

            Negative Slash

            Positive Slash

            Fall Slash

            Rise Slash

            Other ideas?

            Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

            T Offline
            T Offline
            Thornik
            wrote on last edited by
            #22

            "Fall Slash Rise Slash" - most intuitive.

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • A AspDotNetDev

              A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

              \

              /

              Slide Slash

              Hill Slash

              Five Slash

              One Slash

              Negative Slash

              Positive Slash

              Fall Slash

              Rise Slash

              Other ideas?

              Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

              M Offline
              M Offline
              Merlin87
              wrote on last edited by
              #23

              As not of english speaking group, I always was told that this "/" is a SLASH and that "\" is a BACKSLASH. Whats the confusion?

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • P PIEBALDconsult

                They're fine the way they are; leave well enough alone. Anecdote: Way back in college in the late 80s I overheard a teacher telling his class to reverse the names so that the one they'd use more often (\) would be called slash. :sigh: I am also reminded that some texts cross Os rather than 0s. :(

                D Offline
                D Offline
                DerekT P
                wrote on last edited by
                #24

                This should probably spawn a thread of its own, but...

                PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                I am also reminded that some texts cross Os rather than 0s. :(

                Surely way back when, coding was done in 1's and 0's (OK, and octal and hex). Nothing was crossed. Then when some pillock decided to expand things beyond binary and introduce Is and Os (amongst others) they had to be differentiated. I can't believe the entire binary/octal/hex coding community suddenly went from NOT crossing their zeroes to crossing them; surely for backwards compatibility the newcomers (Is and Os) would need the lines? Back in the 70s I started my full-time professional career writing COBOL onto coding sheets for the punch-girls to type up, and I'm sure we crossed either the 0s or the Os but I'm blowed if I can remember which!! (Though that's definitely when I started crossing my 7s to differentiate them from 1s, a habit I've kept to this day)... the Is had a straight serif top and bottom the 1s a single, sloping top serif, which if exaggerated did look like a 7)

                L 1 Reply Last reply
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                • A AspDotNetDev

                  A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                  \

                  /

                  Slide Slash

                  Hill Slash

                  Five Slash

                  One Slash

                  Negative Slash

                  Positive Slash

                  Fall Slash

                  Rise Slash

                  Other ideas?

                  Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                  E Offline
                  E Offline
                  englebart
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #25

                  Some of your names are heavily biased toward left to right reading direction. If you are proposing new names, make them bidi agnostic. Remember that < is "greater than" for right to left readers. a < b "b is greater than a". How about / web slash, internet slash \ Windows slash If only keyboard makers would standardize and put them on the same key! Then we could have / - slash \ - shift+slash My nomenclature is / - slash (divide slash if other party is a programmer) \ - back slash Deep thought: Do right to left readers use left to right URLs?

                  K A 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • A AspDotNetDev

                    A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                    \

                    /

                    Slide Slash

                    Hill Slash

                    Five Slash

                    One Slash

                    Negative Slash

                    Positive Slash

                    Fall Slash

                    Rise Slash

                    Other ideas?

                    Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                    J Offline
                    J Offline
                    jsc42
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #26

                    Most of the names are too long to say quickly. How about ... \ = Tob (Top tO Bottom) / = Bot (Bottom tO Top) Or, going back to their original purposes when added to ASCII [citation needed], \ = OR (First char in \/) (I remember this looking like a rowing oar going into the water) / = AND (First char in /\) [You'd then have to use 'et' to differentiate between ampersand and AND) Or, for Geologists, \ = Stalactites / = Stalagmites (Geologist's aide memoire: Mites grow up, Tights come down)

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • A AspDotNetDev

                      A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                      \

                      /

                      Slide Slash

                      Hill Slash

                      Five Slash

                      One Slash

                      Negative Slash

                      Positive Slash

                      Fall Slash

                      Rise Slash

                      Other ideas?

                      Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                      T Offline
                      T Offline
                      Timothy Carroll
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #27

                      How I teach: BACK slash is near the BACKspace. Done.

                      S S 2 Replies Last reply
                      0
                      • A AspDotNetDev

                        A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                        \

                        /

                        Slide Slash

                        Hill Slash

                        Five Slash

                        One Slash

                        Negative Slash

                        Positive Slash

                        Fall Slash

                        Rise Slash

                        Other ideas?

                        Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                        S Offline
                        S Offline
                        svella
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #28

                        / - slash, \- hsals

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • A AspDotNetDev

                          A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                          \

                          /

                          Slide Slash

                          Hill Slash

                          Five Slash

                          One Slash

                          Negative Slash

                          Positive Slash

                          Fall Slash

                          Rise Slash

                          Other ideas?

                          Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                          P Offline
                          P Offline
                          Pascal Ganaye
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #29

                          For completeness, this is how the French call them:

                          /

                          \

                          Slash

                          Antislash

                          Perhaps some other language will already have a good name.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • A AspDotNetDev

                            A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                            \

                            /

                            Slide Slash

                            Hill Slash

                            Five Slash

                            One Slash

                            Negative Slash

                            Positive Slash

                            Fall Slash

                            Rise Slash

                            Other ideas?

                            Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                            S Offline
                            S Offline
                            SWhite
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #30

                            I've always remembered it as the line you would trace out if you were swinging a sword with your right hand. Forward slash would be the line when bringing your right arm back as if your going to slap someone or serve in tennis and then bringing it down across the front of your body. Back slash as if you were going to back hand someone by bringing your right hand high up on your left and swinging down. Sounds complicated now that I type it out but works for me.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                              How 'bout \ -> left slash / -> right slash

                              If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
                              You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von Braun

                              L Offline
                              L Offline
                              Lilith C
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #31

                              And I suggest the other way. / -> left salute \ -> right salute

                              I'm not a programmer but I play one at the office

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • A AspDotNetDev

                                A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                                \

                                /

                                Slide Slash

                                Hill Slash

                                Five Slash

                                One Slash

                                Negative Slash

                                Positive Slash

                                Fall Slash

                                Rise Slash

                                Other ideas?

                                Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                                F Offline
                                F Offline
                                Fabio Franco
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #32

                                They are still open to interpretation, the fall and rise for example, depends on the direction... How about Triangle Left and Triangle Right?

                                To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • A AspDotNetDev

                                  A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                                  \

                                  /

                                  Slide Slash

                                  Hill Slash

                                  Five Slash

                                  One Slash

                                  Negative Slash

                                  Positive Slash

                                  Fall Slash

                                  Rise Slash

                                  Other ideas?

                                  Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                                  C Offline
                                  C Offline
                                  Charles Kincaid DCT
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #33

                                  But then we still have trouble getting people to call the octothorpe the octothorpe. In the US lots of people still say "pound sign". Still others call the exclamation point the "bang". At the end of a sentance I'm used to saying that there is a period. I was asked how long of a period that my period was and adding that he was used to ending a sentance with a "full stop".

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • A AspDotNetDev

                                    A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                                    \

                                    /

                                    Slide Slash

                                    Hill Slash

                                    Five Slash

                                    One Slash

                                    Negative Slash

                                    Positive Slash

                                    Fall Slash

                                    Rise Slash

                                    Other ideas?

                                    Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                                    C Offline
                                    C Offline
                                    cruest
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #34

                                    This is easy! I propose we rename them "File Slash" \ and "Web Slash" / just to piss off the UNIX guys :) :cool:

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • E englebart

                                      Some of your names are heavily biased toward left to right reading direction. If you are proposing new names, make them bidi agnostic. Remember that < is "greater than" for right to left readers. a < b "b is greater than a". How about / web slash, internet slash \ Windows slash If only keyboard makers would standardize and put them on the same key! Then we could have / - slash \ - shift+slash My nomenclature is / - slash (divide slash if other party is a programmer) \ - back slash Deep thought: Do right to left readers use left to right URLs?

                                      K Offline
                                      K Offline
                                      kmoorevs
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #35

                                      englebart wrote:

                                      Do right to left readers use left to right URLs?

                                      Good question, and something I had never considered before. Seems the solution is to just switch the insertion point. People think it's a virus or bug when everything they type starts coming out backwards...moc.elgoog.www//:ptth because they accidently hit an odd key combination. (ctrl + left arrow in ie) As for the OP, for as long as I can recall, I have always fully qualified slashes both verbally and mentally as either '/ forwardslash' or '\ backslash' to avoid confusion. Occasionally, I still get a user that is unsure which is which so I have to reference by either 'above Enter' (beccause they sure won't know what a pipe is!) or 'right of period' or 'question mark'. When someone just says 'slash', I assume '/' unless the context requires otherwise...that, and 'Sweet Child 'o Mine' starts playing in my head!

                                      "Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • A AspDotNetDev

                                        A coworker was recently confused about which slash was the backslash and which was the forward slash. I propose we rename them, perhaps to one of these:

                                        \

                                        /

                                        Slide Slash

                                        Hill Slash

                                        Five Slash

                                        One Slash

                                        Negative Slash

                                        Positive Slash

                                        Fall Slash

                                        Rise Slash

                                        Other ideas?

                                        Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

                                        G Offline
                                        G Offline
                                        grgran
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #36

                                        "The name of a thing does not matter as much as the quality of the thing." -WS The options given are all left to right (English reading order) biased. Put another way one person’s slide is another person’s hill. The Unicode tables refer to these as: / Solidus (with alternatives slash and virgule) \ Reverse Solidus (with alternative backslash) If you need to be explicit always refer to solidus as “a line moving from the bottom left to the top right of imaginary box enclosing the character” … or slash. Do that a couple of times and people will become “not confused”.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • M mr priyank

                                          considering the directions. the names could be. North West (NW) Slash or South East(SE) Slash for \ North East (NE) Slash or South West(SW) Slash for / There is no confusion now. From the suggested name we can know the direction and find the correct slash.

                                          S Offline
                                          S Offline
                                          Stefan_Lang
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #37

                                          I'm not sure everyone can use those terms without a compass ;P (and then some may not even be able to if they have one...)

                                          Y 1 Reply Last reply
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