Need reference to Bell Labs research on ed commands

Eric Roskos roskos at ida.org
Tue Apr 4 05:20:32 AEST 1989


Some time ago, I read a paper describing an experiment conducted at Bell
Labs.  In this experiment, different groups of new users of the "ed"
editor were taught that the command letters meant different things. 
Thus, one group would be taught that the letter "e" meant "elide," while
another would be taught it meant "enter".  Soon, according to the paper,
users were talking about different operations using these unusual terms
without any visible awareness of the fact that the names they were using
had nothing to do with what the commands actually did. 

I'm trying to find a reference to this paper.  Does anyone recall it,
and where it appeared? Please mail to me (roskos at ida.org) if you know of
this paper.  Thanks for any information. 

--E. Roskos
-- 
Eric Roskos (roskos at CS.IDA.ORG or Roskos at DOCKMASTER.ARPA)



More information about the Comp.unix.wizards mailing list