Dot

[Baker, John]

        How's this:  >>The "and" operator is often represented by a centered
dot (.),<<

        From Glossary of Computer Engineering and Programming Terminology
(Partial list from BRL Report 1115, March 1961), online at

http://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/comphist/61ordnance/app8.html

        Actually, I feel sure that "dot" has been used in computer contexts
as long as there have been dots to refer to.  The trisyllabic "period" is
just too long and awkward.

John Baker

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jesse Sheidlower [SMTP:jester at PANIX.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 12:25 PM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: Dot
>
> > Dots & dashes.  Want me to research telegraphy?
>
> Sure, but OED has _that_ "dot" from 1835. Perhaps I should also
> make clear that _dot_ in the sense 'small round mark used in
> punctuation, as the period (full stop) or mark over a lowercase
> "i"' goes back to 1735; it's the use this "dot" specifically
> in computing contexts I was talking about before.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower