What Do The Ending Letters Mean - pythonw, javaw, javap, javac, etc

Question

I just made a connection between python's: pythonw.exe and java's: javaw.exe and I'm curious about this as I cant figure out what some of those ending letters mean. I know that javac is the Java compiler so I assume the w on the end of the name also has some significance. I've also seen more like javap, javah etc. Could someone outline the meanings for the most common endings like c, w, h, p, etc?

I've tried googling and searching on Stackoverflow but haven't found anything that isn't just about a specific ending.

Edit:

I realize there are a lot of isolated answers to these questions. All I really want to know is if there's a place where I can view a complete (or decent) list of the common letters and their meanings, or if someone could outline them for me? Also what to call these endings so that I'm not referring to them just "ending letters"?

Quirita

#4862023 – Causerie

#8195213 – Causerie

"windows" - that won't open a command prompt when executed ;) – Delainedelainey

https://mcmap.net/q/76011/-pythonw-exe-or-python-exe – Grus

Answer 1

By default java opens a console window when executed in windows OS. By using javaw the java process doesn't open in a console window. It is a good UX practice to use javaw in scripts or bundled executables. I guess it is the same for pythonw also. 'w' stands for 'Windows' as in Java for windows.

Weiser

Answer 2

The difference between python.exe and pythonw.exe is terminal suppression. When you execute a script with pythonw.exe, no terminal windows is opened, which is nice if you wrote a program that uses a GUI and you don't want an additional terminal window to show

See here for more info: https://docs.python.org/2/using/windows.html#executing-scripts

Teddi

That answers my question about the w but what about all the other letters? And the ones I didn't even mention – Quirita

Answer 3

There're no "common endings", it depends on developers what they decide to use to name their executables.

In case of Java, here are various Java 8 executable suffixes:

• java: The launcher for Java applications. In this release, a single launcher is used both for development and deployment. The old deployment launcher, jre, is no longer provided.
• javac: The compiler for the Java programming language.
• javah: C header and stub generator. Used to write native methods.
• javap: Class file disassembler.
• javaw: The javaw command is identical to java, except that with javaw there is no associated console window. Use javaw when you do not want a command prompt window to appear. The javaw launcher will, however, display a dialog box with error information if a launch fails.
• javaws: Command line tool for launching Java Web Start and setting various options.

(https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/tools/#basic)

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