DDT
from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
DDT
/D.D.T/, n.
[from the insecticide para-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethene]
1. Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other programs
by showing individual machine instructions in a readable symbolic form
and letting the user change them. In this sense the term DDT is now
archaic, having been widely displaced by debugger or names of
individual programs like adb, sdb, dbx, or gdb.
2. [ITS] Under MIT's fabled {ITS} operating system, DDT (running under
the alias HACTRN, a six-letterism for `Hack Translator') was also used
as the {shell} or top level command language used to execute other
programs.
3. Any one of several specific DDTs (sense 1) supported on early {DEC}
hardware and CP/M. The PDP-10 Reference Handbook (1969) contained a
footnote on the first page of the documentation for DDT that
illuminates the origin of the term:
Historical footnote: DDT was developed at MIT for the PDP-1
computer in 1961. At that time DDT stood for "DEC Debugging Tape".
Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging program has propagated
throughout the computer industry. DDT programs are now available
for all DEC computers. Since media other than tape are now
frequently used, the more descriptive name "Dynamic Debugging
Technique" has been adopted, retaining the DDT abbreviation.
Confusion between DDT-10 and another well known pesticide,
dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane C[14]H[9]Cl[5] should be minimal
since each attacks a different, and apparently mutually exclusive,
class of bugs.
(The `tape' referred to was, incidentally, not magnetic but paper.)
Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions of the handbook
after the {suit}s took over and {DEC} became much more `businesslike'.
The history above is known to many old-time hackers. But there's more:
Peter Samson, compiler of the original {TMRC} lexicon, reports that he
named DDT after a similar tool on the TX-0 computer, the direct
ancestor of the PDP-1 built at MIT's Lincoln Lab in 1957. The debugger
on that ground-breaking machine (the first transistorized computer)
rejoiced in the name FLIT (FLexowriter Interrogation Tape). Flit was
for many years the trade-name of a popular insecticide.
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
DDT
1. Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other
programs by showing individual machine instructions in a
readable symbolic form and letting the user change them. In
this sense the term DDT is now archaic, having been widely
displaced by "debugger" or names of individual programs like
"{adb}", "{sdb}", "{dbx}", or "{gdb}".
2. Under {MIT}'s fabled {ITS} {operating system}, DDT (running
under the alias HACTRN) was also used as the {shell} or top
level command language used to execute other programs.
3. Any one of several specific debuggers supported on early
{DEC} hardware. The {DEC} {PDP-10} Reference Handbook (1969)
contained a footnote on the first page of the documentation
for DDT that illuminates the origin of the term:
Historical footnote: DDT was developed at {MIT} for the
{PDP-1} computer in 1961. At that time DDT stood for "DEC
Debugging Tape". Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging
program has propagated throughout the computer industry. DDT
programs are now available for all DEC computers. Since media
other than tape are now frequently used, the more descriptive
name "Dynamic Debugging Technique" has been adopted, retaining
the DDT abbreviation. Confusion between DDT-10 and another
well known pesticide, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane
(C14-H9-Cl5) should be minimal since each attacks a different,
and apparently mutually exclusive, class of bugs.
(The "tape" referred to was, incidentally, not magnetic but
paper.) Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions
of the handbook after the {suits} took over and DEC became
much more "businesslike".
The history above is known to many old-time hackers. But
there's more: Peter Samson, compiler of the original {TMRC}
lexicon, reports that he named "DDT" after a similar tool on
the {TX-0} computer, the direct ancestor of the PDP-1 built at
{MIT}'s Lincoln Lab in 1957. The debugger on that
ground-breaking machine (the first transistorised computer)
rejoiced in the name FLIT (FLexowriter Interrogation Tape).
[{Jargon File}]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
25 Moby Thesaurus words for "DDT":
DDD, Paris green, antimony, arsenic, arsenic trioxide, beryllium,
bichloride of mercury, cadmium, carbolic acid, carbon monoxide,
carbon tetrachloride, chlorine, cyanide, hydrocyanic acid,
hyoscyamine, lead, mercuric chloride, mercury, mustard gas,
nicotine, phenol, poison gas, prussic acid, selenium, strychnine
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