Ranter
Join devRant
Do all the things like
++ or -- rants, post your own rants, comment on others' rants and build your customized dev avatar
Sign Up
Pipeless API
From the creators of devRant, Pipeless lets you power real-time personalized recommendations and activity feeds using a simple API
Learn More
Comments
-
Cukes-17388y@KnightsOfCode my professor keeps saying "d-mon" and I wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy
-
According to Fernando J. Corbato who worked on Project MAC in 1963, his team was the first to use the term daemon, inspired by Maxwell's demon, an imaginary agent in physics and thermodynamics that helped to sort molecules:[9]
We fancifully began to use the word daemon to describe background processes which worked tirelessly to perform system chores.
In the general sense, daemon is an older form of the word demon, from the Greek δαίμων.
Wikipedia -
@Charmgoggles In the Unix System Administration Handbook, page 403, Evi Nemeth states the following about daemons:[10]
Many people equate the word "daemon" with the word "demon", implying some kind of satanic connection between UNIX and the underworld. This is an egregious misunderstanding. "Daemon" is actually a much older form of "demon"; daemons have no particular bias towards good or evil, but rather serve to help define a person's character or personality. The ancient Greeks' concept of a "personal daemon" was similar to the modern concept of a "guardian angel"—eudaemonia is the state of being helped or protected by a kindly spirit. As a rule, UNIX systems seem to be infested with both daemons and demons. -
@Charmgoggles Well, daemon is the old word for demon, no?
As for Greek, it's written 'δαίμων', pronounced "demon" with a soft delta and a long 'e' (as in 'person' with a long 'e').
So, if you steal the word from Greek (oh, burn!) I think daemon is a more straightforward solution. Letter for letter actually. Demon is just a simplified daemon. Same pronounciation. Correct me if I'm wrong.
As for what it means, it's a being that has superhuman powers, a transcended being that can give and take from normal human beings. If you have their support, you have eudaemonia (it's what the hipsters call happiness nowadays) and if you don't, dysdaemonia (something like...despair?).
No biased deity. Don't start me with what the church did with ancient greek mythology and the pretty lame biased creatures they turned out to be in their turn of events.
Is daemon pronounced "day-men" or "d - men"
undefined