Re: use of small kana on the increase?

Phil Yff wrote:
On Tue, 5 Dec 2006 05:12:29 -0500, Phil Yff wrote:

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 03:05:39 GMT, jwb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Louise Bremner <trap_for_junk_mail@xxxxxxxxx> dixit:

I do so wish you'd used ROT13 .....
ROT13? Hugh and Nye are showing our ages. Who knows about ROT13
these days?
It's still in the usenet newsreader standard. Of course, usenet, too, is
showing it's age. Kids are more into instant messaging and chat. The
command my newsreader (40tude dialog has) is scramble/unscramble with rot13
in parentheses.

I should add that one of the reasons it crept into the newsreader standard
is because it was easy to do on UNIX systems. There's a UNIX utility (tr)
that does the cipher automatically. Back in the 80s when ROT13 came into
vogue, UNIX protocols were a heavy influence on Usenet. After all, Usenet
itself originated as a UNIX to UNIX file transfer protocol.

Or more probably because it both encodes and decodes 26-character input
like the English alphabet. I don't think ease of use had much to do with
it: 'tr' doesn't do ROT-13 any more automatically than it will do any
other substitution.

Dan

--
The so-called "desktop metaphor" of today's workstations is instead an
"airplane-seat" metaphor. Anyone who has shuffled a lap full of papers
while seated between two portly passengers will recognize the difference --
one can see only a very few things at once.
-- Fred Brooks
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: use of small kana on the increase?
    ... Who knows about ROT13 ... It's still in the usenet newsreader standard. ... is because it was easy to do on UNIX systems. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: use of small kana on the increase?
    ... Who knows about ROT13 ... It's still in the usenet newsreader standard. ... is because it was easy to do on UNIX systems. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: use of small kana on the increase?
    ... Who knows about ROT13 ... It's still in the usenet newsreader standard. ... is because it was easy to do on UNIX systems. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: use of small kana on the increase?
    ... Who knows about ROT13 ... It's still in the usenet newsreader standard. ... is because it was easy to do on UNIX systems. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
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