Editing Incompatible Timesharing System (section)

==Miscellaneous==
The default ITS top-level [[Command line interface|command interpreter]] was the PDP-10 machine language debugger ([[Dynamic debugging technique|DDT]]). The usual [[text editor]] on ITS was [[Text Editor and Corrector|TECO]] and later [[Emacs]], which was written in TECO. Both DDT and TECO were implemented through simple [[dispatch table]]s on single-letter commands, and thus had no true [[Syntax of programming languages|syntax]]. The ITS [[task manager]] was called PEEK.

The local spelling "TURIST" is an artifact of six-character filename (and other identifier) limitations, which is traceable to six [[Sixbit|SIXBIT encoded]] characters fitting into a single 36-bit PDP-10 word. "TURIST" may also have been a [[pun]] on [[Alan Turing]], a pioneer of theoretical [[computer science]].<ref name=Turist>{{cite web|title=turist|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/turist|website=Dictionary.com|publisher=TuristDictionary.com, LLC|access-date=2014-06-04}}</ref> The less-complimentary term "[[Luser|LUSER]]" was also applied to guest users, especially those who repeatedly engaged in clueless or vandalous behavior.<ref name=Luser>{{cite web|title=luser|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/luser|website=Dictionary.com|publisher=Dictionary.com, LLC|access-date=2014-06-04}}</ref>

The [[Jargon File]] started as a combined effort between people on the ITS machines at MIT and at Stanford University [[Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory|SAIL]]. The document described much of the terminology, puns, and culture of the two AI Labs and related research groups, and is the direct predecessor of the ''Hacker's Dictionary'' (1983),<ref name=TOHD>{{cite web|title=The Original Hacker's Dictionary|url=http://www.dourish.com/goodies/jargon.html|website=dourish.com|publisher=Paul Dorish|access-date=2014-06-16}}</ref> the first compendium of hacker jargon to be issued by a major publisher ([[MIT Press]]).

Different implementations of ITS supported an odd array of peripherals, including an automatic wire stripper devised by hacker Richard Greenblatt, who needed a supply of pre-stripped jumper wires of various lengths for [[wire-wrapping]] computer hardware he and others were prototyping. The device used a [[stepper motor]] and a formerly hand-held wire stripper tool and cutter, operated by [[solenoid]], all under computer control from ITS software. The device was accessible by any ITS user, but was disappointingly unreliable in actual use.

The [[Xerox Graphics Printer]] (XGP), one of the first laser printers, was supported by ITS by 1974.<ref>{{cite web |title=XGP Font Catalog |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/41107/AI_WP_072.pdf |website=MIT Dspace |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=2021-08-20 |date=May 24, 1974}}</ref> The MIT AI Lab had one of these prototype continuous roll-fed printers for experimentation and use by its staff. By 1982, the XGP was supplemented by a [[Xerox Dover]] printer, an early sheet-fed laser printer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stacy |first1=Christopher C. |title=Getting Started Computing at the Al Lab |url=https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/41180/AI_WP_235.pdf |website=MIT Dspace |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date=2021-08-20 |date=7 September 1982}}</ref> Although any ITS user could send files to the laser printers, physical access to pick up printouts was limited to staff and others who obtained access to the MIT lab, to control usage of printer supplies which had to be specially ordered.

CTSS and ITS file systems have a number of design elements in common.  Both have an M.F.D. (master file directory) and one or more U.F.D. (user file directories). Neither of them have nested directories (sub-directories)  Both have file names consisting of two names which are a maximum of six-characters long.  Both support linked files.