satan, 666, goat's blood

[bzs at bu-cs.UUCP]

I believe the image of a software 'daemon' came from AI lingo for a
piece of code which waited in the shadows and awoke when it was
needed. I know the term is used like that in older AI literature to
describe a form of event-driven programming where the system was
designed as a "panel" of experts or daemons each waiting for a
question in his/her/its field to arrive at which time it would pop up,
answer it, and then disappear again back into the shadows.

I suspect the sum of its metaphysical+AI implications (not to mention
being a perfect metaphor if you accept the above) made it irresistible
to us system types as a term for such programs.

Or, perhaps the account just appeared on the system one day when one
not ready typed in the true name of root...

	-Barry Shein, Boston University

[Obviously I am just trying to relate it to its software usage, a good
dictionary should reveal its common usage.]