alt Hacker NewsWhy were forward slashes so popular in computing product names in the 70s and 80s?
PL/0, PS/2, CP/M, etc.
Replies
azhenley • today at 6:28 PM
It was a convention to denote a variation or version. Not sure how the trend started though.
theanonymousone • today at 6:30 PM
Maybe referencing the reputation of IBM System/360?
I think it started with IBM: System/360 and /370, PS/2, OS/2, PL/I
And then Gary Kildall also seemed to like it with CP/M and PL/M, but those were after IBM had used it and I'd guess Gary was just copying IBM.
Between just those two influences you cover a huge portion of the mainframe and micro computer worlds during the 60s-80s