Slash v. Backslash

*sigh*

Am I the ONLY person in the USA who screams every time someone calls this: "/" a "backslash"?

I just... Aaaaiiigh!

This character: "\" is called a "backslash". This character: "/" is called (among other names) a "slash".

What's the difference?

I'm glad you asked.

If you're typing a URI (or URL as they used to be called) into your garden-variety Web browser, and you type it this way:

http:\\www.yahoo.com
Your browser (if it's doing its job) should yell at you and present you with an error page.

Also, in the Microsoft world, "\" (the backslash) is the filesystem delimiter. In the UNIX/Linux/sensible/sane/restofthe world, the slash ("/") is the filesystem delimiter. The slash is also the filesystem delimiter for networking, such as Web addresses, NFS and other services on networks.

Why is this? Because the "\" has its own meaning. It is not a direct replacement for "/". The backslash (this thing: "\") is used to "escape" things. There are lots of characters that have special meaninig, like colons, semicolons, dollar signs and so on, which occasionally have to be used literally, rather than with their special meaning. To do this, we commonly precede these special characters with a backslash (remember? This one: "\").

There's APPARENTLY a tendency among the bulk of Americans to take on a "What's the difference?" attitude. There seems to be a lack of concern for Saying what is meant and meaning what is said. I'm just plain disgusted. This, I think, points to a larger problem in our society, and that is that people just don't seem to care about conveying meaning. There is concern for geting across the "like, you know" layer of meaning, but not the direct facts. I'm just sick of it.

People. *sigh*