The Original Slash

[alixtii]

I just read missambs complaining people who don't the difference between a fake-cut and, y'know, a normal link, which reminded me of the complaint I had all through my orientation on Friday.
The following typographical mark is a forward slash: /
The following typographical mark is a backslash: \

Forward slashes are used for a various purposes: indicating 'ships (Joss/River) or options (and/or) or in URL's (http://www.freewebs.com/postmoderncrisis/Tradescan.htm) or to close tags (</a>]). Backslashes are used for . . . pretty much nothing. I remember using them with MS-DOS in the pre-Windows era, and Wikipedia assures me they still have uses in computing, but if one is not 100% certain of the difference between the forward and backslashes? Then one wants a normal, forward-looking slash, every time. To be specific, backslashes never, never, NEVER appear in URL's.

I can't tell the people who actually need this information, so all you net-savvy people who already know this get to see me rant about it.

Comments

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

Just bring up a command window in Windows and you'll find the same backslashes you saw back in DOS. You probably don't want to know why they're backslashes instead of normal slashes.