< tool > Peripheral Interchange Program.
A program on CP/M , RSX-11 , RSTS/E , TOPS-10 , and OS/8 (derived from a utility on the PDP-6 ) that was used for file copying (and in OS/8 and RT-11 for just about every other file operation you might want to do). It is said that when the program was written, during the development of the PDP-6 in 1963, it was called ATLATL ("Anything, Lord, to Anything, Lord"; this played on the Nahuatl word "atlatl" for a spear-thrower, with connotations of utility and primitivity that were no doubt quite intentional).
See also BLT , dd , cat .
[ Jargon File ]
(1995-03-28)