Comment by skissane | Hacker News Reader

Comment by skissane | Hacker News Reader

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OS/400, the operating system of the IBM AS/400, has a really consistent pattern to its command names. The format is VERB+NOUN where VERB is a small list of verb abbreviations (ADD=Add,CFG=Configure,CHG=Change,CPY=Copy,CRT=Create,DEL=Delete,DSP=Display,RMV=Remove,STR=Start,WRK=Work With) and likewise there are abbreviations for the type of object the command acts on. So CRTPF=Create Physical File, CRTLIB=Create Library, CRTUSRPRF=Create User Profile, etc.

(OS/400 was later renamed i5/OS, and then renamed again to IBM i. Likewise, AS/400 was renamed iSeries, then System i, and then merged with System p–successor of the RS/6000–to become POWER Systems. But, I prefer IBM's original product names–OS/400 is a far more distinctive name for an operating system called "IBM i", which promotes confusion with Cisco IOS and Apple iOS.)

I also used the AS/400 / System i / IBM i, back when it was called the System/38.

The feature I most miss is command prompting. Type a command name, press F4, and fill in the blanks for the parameters. If a parameter takes enumerated values, type in a question mark (?) and get a list of the allowed values.

That was great for productivity.

Is this like PowerShell's `Show-Command` and the earlier Macintosh Programmer's Workbench Commando?

Yes, same basic concept. Display a fill-in form to guide the user in filling out the command parameters. The main difference is that the OS/400 display a text mode form (5250 block mode terminal form), whereas PowerShell Show-Command and MPW Commando are both GUI tools.

Is this where powershell got it from?

I believe the answer is yes. Jefrrey Snover (inventor of PowerShell) apparently used IBM OS/400 earlier in his career and liked this aspect of it, although PowerShell does implement the idea a little differently (dash between verb and noun; using less abbreviations.)

(Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a direct quote from Mr. Snover stating this, but I can find a number of people saying he has said it before.)

Here's a primary source:

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powershell/verb-noun-vs-noun-...

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