From:	jfn AT enteract DOT com (Jeremy Nelson)
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: The meaning of FOO and BAR
Date:	23 Dec 1997 20:49:48 GMT
Organization:	Damage, org.
Lines:	15
Message-ID:	<67p85c$p9d@eve.enteract.com>
References:	<Chameleon DOT 971223221837 DOT nrotem AT netvision DOT netvision>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	nathan.enteract.com
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Noam Rotem  <nrotem AT johnbryce DOT co DOT il> wrote:
>I see every here and there examples of code, using the prefixes FOO and BAR.
>I always consider it merely identifiers, ignoring their semantic meaning, 
>but I've got curious lately.
>Are these abbreviations or something? What are the originals of the 
>prefixes?

You might try reading the "new hacker's dictionary" (eg, the Jargon Lexicon)
which discusses the entymology of "foo" and "bar" and hundreds of other 
items which if you have a knowledge of will allow you to have a good working
knowledge of most of the lingo that unix programmers use.

http://www.wins.uva.nl/~mes/jargon/

Jeremy

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