Origin of LINT?

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Tuesday, 16 January 2007 at 23:28:51 -0500, Dan Mahoney, System Admin wrote:
> I know it's probably off-topic, but I've searched google for a bit with no
> results, and because I'm curious:
>
> Does anyone (maybe one of the old guard) know the origin of the term
> "lint" for the all-inclusive feature set.  I know SpamAssassin uses it as
> well (it's the command line argument to just regression-test everything).

From K&R 1st edition (1978), page 3:

  This program is called lint, apparently because it picks bits of
  fluff from one's programs.

Greg
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