Awk

/ɔk/ noun

Definition

A programming language and command-line tool designed for processing and analyzing structured text data, particularly useful for pattern scanning and data extraction.

Etymology

Acronym from the surnames of its creators: Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan. Developed at Bell Labs in 1977, the name conveniently forms a pronounceable word that reflects its somewhat awkward but powerful syntax.

Kelly Says

AWK represents a beautiful example of how acronyms can become words - it's named after its three creators but coincidentally sounds like 'awkward,' which some might say describes its learning curve! Despite being over 45 years old, AWK remains incredibly relevant for data processing tasks.

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