Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing • Hacker News Board

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#11

Post by mrngm » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 10:09 AM UTC

Earlier threads:

- [2023] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35283067 (24 comments)

- [2022] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31069163 (127 comments)

- [2018] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16299583 (46 comments)

- [2011] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2691752 (45 comments)

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#12

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 10:22 AM UTC

pzmarzly wrote: post #8

latexr wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Safari Reader View doesn't work on this page. What do you mean? I just tried it and it was fine.

For me (macOS 15.0.1), it only extracts the biggest quote (Your explanation of the origin of the word daemon ... United Kingdom web sites), the rest of the text is lost.

[deleted]

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#13

Post by etcd » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 11:07 AM UTC

Always thought it was because it denotes a process that stays alive and so is like a little living demon in your computer.

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#14

Post by reaperducer » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 11:17 AM UTC

I knew the origin of daemon from high school Greek philosophy courses.

At the time, I thought "when an I ever going to use this stuff in real life?" Then I got into computers.

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#15

Post by pantulis » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 11:26 AM UTC

Of course it's not the origin of the usage, but I always found Lovecraft's quote from Lactantius to be pretty adequate:

"Demons have the ability to cause people to see things that do not exist as if they did exist. -- Lactantius"

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#16

Post by modernerd » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 11:35 AM UTC

Wonderfully written. “Warning: This paragraph is about science so, if this topic causes you undue alarm, please close your eyes until you've finished reading it.”

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#17

Post by gcanyon » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 11:40 AM UTC

Ha -- I read the title and said to myself, "gotta be Maxwell, right?" The jolt of pleasure I get from being right about things like this is unreasonable.

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#18

Post by dcminter » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 12:03 PM UTC

> We also assume that this is the meaning behind the daemon.co.uk, host to many United Kingdom web sites

Not sure if it was the origin of the company name, but the domain was demon.co.uk not daemon. E.g. I had pretence.demon.co.uk with them for a few years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Internet

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#19

Post by trash_cat » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 12:04 PM UTC

"Disk And Executive MONitor" does sound kinda cool, though.

Re: Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

#20

Post by rubyfan » Sun, Oct 20, 2024, 12:13 PM UTC

trash_cat wrote: post #19

"Disk And Executive MONitor" does sound kinda cool, though.

I’d guess someone backed into that acronym when asked “why do you call these things daemons?”