markb@sdcrdcf.UUCP (02/03/87)
I would imagine that daemons are called that in anology to Maxwell's
demon. I.E., a little autonomus something that does something for you
automatically.
Mark Biggar
{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,akgua,sdcsvax}!sdcrdcf!markbjcl@bdrc.UUCP (02/05/87)
Webster's definition of a demon is:
demon or daemon (dee-mon)
1. a. an evil spirit
b. an evil or undesirable emotion
2. usually daemon: an attentive spirit
3. usually daemon: a supernatural being of greek mythology
intermediate between gods and men
4. one that has unusual drive <a ~ for work>
I imagine the computerese use of the word daemon refers
to the second definition.
John C. Lusth
Becton-Dickinson Research Center
RTP, NCkurt@hi.UUCP (02/13/87)
In article <711@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP> alicia@bucsb.bu.edu.UUCP (alicia h) writes: > Hey out there, it's late and we're tired... but we have a > question. Why are daemons (like,"rwhod", "talkd", "rsendd"...) > called "daemons". I mean, we know it's Latin for something that's > not quite a God, but more than a man - but how does that relate. > My first association is that daemons are eternal... but I > don't know.... just curios.... > alicia I think down deep in one of the old 4.2 daemons if found: Daemon: runs around in the shadows (background) doing devilish deeds. Maybe it was sendmail... -kdz -- Kurt Zeilenga, Research Asst. | ARPA: zeilenga@hc.dspo.gov Electrical and Computer Eng. | UUCP: hc!zeilenga University of New Mexico | (505) 277-8797 (Lab) Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131 | (505) 277-0805 (Office)