>Yes, the DOS switch explanation I hadn't considered but was there a pre-PC "C" era?


From the horses mouth, so to speak...

http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/chist.html

>
>>That's interesting - and makes sense (as an explanation anyway)
>>
>>Now I'm wondering where the backslash came from. If they used it for C because it wasn't used for anything else it implies it wasn't on the keyboard. And if it wasn't on the keyboard there wouldn't be much point in using it as an escape character in C......
>>
>>>Here are the 'official explanations...
>>>
>>>
>>>http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/archive/2005/06/24/432386.aspx
>>>http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2006/07/060115.html
>>>
>>>
>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>> God knows why they did that anyway - as we know, "/" is used for all web addresses so why wasn't it good enough for PC paths? Why did it need to be introduced in the first place?
>>>>>
>>>>>So that it would be different from UNIX.......
>>>>
>>>>That's a joke, right? Something invented just so it will be different.
>>>>
>>>>For every invention one should ask "What is the problem for which this has been invented as a solution?"