Many languages and frameworks advocate (or even enforce) a standard folder structure that includes a 'src' folder.
I always found 'src' to be quite "ugly" and also possibly confusing to beginners, who might think it's an abbreviation of a multi-word phrase instead of a contraction. In the end, it only reduces the word by 3 letters.
Why isn't it simply called 'source'? Does it have historic reasons? Or is it just laziness?
Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#2My best guess is that `src` is shorter than `source` and thus faster to type.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#3One of the reasons I hate the command line is that it causes all sorts of tiny hacks like this as you need to type everything out.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#4Per https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/10816/6388, referencing https://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#PURPOSE18, "Source code may be place placed in this subdirectory, only for reference purposes"
One presumes calling it "src" is in historical alignment with UNIX using short names wherever possible to reduce typing (and the possibility for typos)
See also: "ls" (list files), "mv" (move), "cp" (copy), "/usr" (userland-specific items), "/bin" (binaries), and on and on
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#5My best guess is that `src` is shorter than `source` and thus faster to type.
UNIX was also introduced in the 1970s when you frequently were working with a 110 baud modem and/or a printing terminal.
That's why UNIX uses very short command names like 'rm' and 'ls'.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#6"White space is as important to code as silence is to music. Without them music is noise and code is an impenetrable wall of text." -Nils M Holm
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#7Shortening was probably driven by storage constraints - 3 bytes saved multiplied out by a few hundred references becomes a real saving on a 1.2Mb floppy disk.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#8'src' has inertia carried over from Unix. Unix systems have kept the source is /usr/src since since at least the late 70s. That's in keeping with the general terseness of Unix. Similar to how only errors are reported; successful execution means nothing is printed by default but a new prompt. And it's why most of the original file system manipulation and text editing commands are 2 or 3 letters long. Tradition now, I guess.
Originally, way, way back in the day, there was good reason to be so terse. The first UNIX machines had literal teletypes for terminals; printers with moving parts. Every extra character meant wear and tear, paper, ink, and especially, time.
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#9One of the reasons I hate the command line is that it causes all sorts of tiny hacks like this as you need to type everything out.
Tab is your friend
Re: Ask HN: Why is the source folder called 'src'?
#10"White space is as important to code as silence is to music. Without them music is noise and code is an impenetrable wall of text." -Nils M Holm
Probably true for Lisp, but gofmt would disagree.