Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/11/08/09:46:24
From: | "John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com>
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Newsgroups: | comp.os.msdos.djgpp
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Subject: | Re: what's "foo"?
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Date: | Fri, 07 Nov 1997 07:37:44 +0000
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Organization: | Two pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt
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Lines: | 26
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Message-ID: | <3462C548.1E3E@cs.com>
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References: | <01bceabf$55b66080$150867d1 AT default>
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Reply-To: | fighteer AT cs DOT com
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NNTP-Posting-Host: | ppp203.cs.com
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Mime-Version: | 1.0
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To: | djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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DJ-Gateway: | from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp
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test wrote:
>
> I've seen "foo" poping up in lot of djgpp and at&t unix documentations. Why
> is this obsesion with this word? I wonder if this is somekind of insider
> jargon?
"foo", like "bar" and sometimes "baz", is simply a placeholder. It
implies that whatever is named "foo" can be replaced by whatever is
appropriate in a specific circumstance. For example:
To compile a program, type "gcc -o foo.exe foo.c".
In this case, 'foo' would be replaced with whatever your program's name
is.
This little bit of jargon is standard throughout the computer trade,
although I understand that different languages use different terms. I'm
quite sure that a quick web search for "jargon" would turn up any of a
dozen net dictionaries; I don't have any URLs handy at the moment.
--
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| John M. Aldrich, aka Fighteer I | mailto:fighteer AT cs DOT com |
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