Re: slashes, UNIX, and Windows

["Wilcox, John (Contractor)" <wilcoxj -at- WDNI -dot- COM>]

 ----------
From: Chris Hamilton

I'm writing documentation for a distributed development environment. It
will run in UNIX and Windows environments. I have to show some
configuration that includes paths. The problem with that is, slashes go
one way in UNIX and the othe way in Windows. We're looking for a way to
represent paths in a way that wouldn't be platform specific. It seems
mutually exclusive.
 ------------------------------

I've written for such an environment, but I can't recall an instance
where there would be any confusion.  In system-specific areas, such as
installation instructions, you're okay, of course.  And all the major
network OS's, as well as URL's, use the Universal Naming Convention, in
which either the slash or the backslash is allowed in pathnames.
Perhaps you should mention this in the notational conventions section
and include a note that you're using [whichever] and that users need to
be aware that their system may use the other.


Regards,

John Wilcox, Documentation Specialist
Timberlands Information Services
Weyerhaeuser, WWC 2E2
Tacoma, WA  98477-0001  USA
253-924-7972   wilcoxj -at- wdni -dot- com

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