this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
394 points (98.5% liked)

unix_surrealism

1877 readers
149 users here now

one should not chase the electric dream, but strive to became an extension to its dreamer

Automatism in the age of the children of Unix.

It's a box of antique photographs. A blade, a girl and a fish. Whatever it means, you're invested.

https://analognowhere.com

Now that you're a surrealist, become a Techno-Mage:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

I understand that etymologically, it makes perfect sense to pronounce daemon the same as demon because it's the same word. But I'll never stop pronouncing it day- instead of dee-, as if it's a Ferengi captain.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I pronounce it like the German word for demon, Dämon [ˈdeːmɔn] 🔊 because daemon is how Germans would write the word in lowercase ASCII.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

I pronounce it da-eh-mon in my head, it sounds more old-timey than "dee-mon".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is that because you have a daemon in your brain, swapping neurons to force you to pronounce it wrong?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

More likely a DaiMon using a thought maker.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

How do you pronounce denut?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I left a comment about taking one, so it was balanced. Now you're up one.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

systemctl restart artistd

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Why should I?

Please write a 250-or-more word essay explaining 3 reasons why I should.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Demon != Daemon

It took me way too long to learn this, please don't confuse me.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Liar. Daemon = Demon. There's lottle red demons in your PC doing stuff

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

You're thinking of Gremlins!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Any background process, routine, or program contributes to the complexity of the overall system, which does indeed contribute to ruin as entropy gradually builds and collapse/death/crashing becomes inevitable.

Which is to say, I agree with these definitions.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

If a daemon is an agent of ruin then ... Systemd must be ... Oh no !

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

TODO write a clever comment

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Why is the daemon smoking? Are they taking a break from their duties? Is this what happens when I run rc-service sshd stop?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

The origin for computing is actually documented too.

The term daemon was coined by programmers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Project MAC (Mathematics and Computation) in 1963, inspired by Maxwell's demon, an imaginary agent in physics and thermodynamics. In a thought experiment devised by James Clerk Maxwell in 1867, a demon would control a small massless door between two chambers of gas, forcing fast-moving molecules to pass through in one direction and slow-moving molecules to pass in the other direction. In Greek mythology, a daemon was considered a supernatural being or power.

https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/daemon

There's also a response on Virginia Tech's website from a professor from the group that used the word first.

Your explanation of the origin of the word daemon is correct in that my group began using the term around that time frame. However the acronym explanation is a new one on me. Our use of the word daemon was inspired by the Maxwell's daemon of physics and thermodynamics. (My background is Physics.) Maxwell's daemon was an imaginary agent which helped sort molecules of different speeds and worked tirelessly in the background. We fancifully began to use the word daemon to describe background processes which worked tirelessly to perform system chores. I found a very good explanation of all this online at:

I also found this stackexchange post that adds even more context to it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

As if there was any doubt.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You don't tell me what to do!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Or do you? vsauce music starts playing (you made me talk)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Connection to fubar closed by remote host.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

That's allowed.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Many years ago now I was told that we needed a way to turn a series of lights on and off for a custom bit of hardware. The hardware ran a Unix-like system so I decided that a daemon would be a good fit for the use case. I do not know what has become of my daemon of light but I do know whomever uses it must call the “summon” function to daemonize the process

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

thank you for making your art

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Woah, this is so cool

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

This is a comment, identifiable by the text and whatnot.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

"These damn demons!"

Demon: points

"Oh, its a memory leak."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Wait, is Ma Bell the dæmon? or is the dæmon controlling Ma Bell?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

but what should I write?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

This comment has been left

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

This is the first one of these that I've even remotely comprehended.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Fun fact, the bell is also a bell curve shape.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Holy hell it is a baby bell.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Are they helpful?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago
load more comments
view more: next ›