What does 'foo' really mean? [closed]
I hope this qualifies as a programming question, as in any programming tutorial, you eventually come across 'foo' in the code examples. (yeah, right?)
what does 'foo' really mean?
If it is meant to mean nothing, when did it begin to be used so?
See: RFC 3092: Etymology of "Foo", D. Eastlake 3rd et al.
Quoting only the relevant definitions from that RFC for brevity:
- Used very generally as a sample name for absolutely anything, esp. programs and files (esp. scratch files).
- First on the standard list of metasyntactic variables used in syntax examples (bar, baz, qux, quux, corge, grault, garply, waldo, fred, plugh, xyzzy, thud). [JARGON]
foo is used as a place-holder name, usually in example code to signify that the object being named, or the choice of name, is not part of the crux of the example. foo is often followed by bar, baz, and even bundy, if more than one such name is needed. Wikipedia calls these names Metasyntactic Variables. Python programmers supposedly use spam, eggs, ham, instead of foo, etc.
There are good uses of foo in SA.
I have also seen foo used when the programmer can't think of a meaningful name (as a substitute for tmp, say), but I consider that to be a misuse of foo.