>this is one of those questions you keep hoping you'll run into a definitive
>answer for, because you think it should be obvious.
>okay, is "foo" and "foobar" intended as generic wildcards? Or does "foo"
>have a meaning to a computer?
>
>is it intended that you substitute context specific information at that point?
>Anyone know the history of it?
OK... From what I can remember from the Jargon File, 'foo bar baz' are the
first three of the most commonly-used metasyntactic variables. That is to say,
words that represent some real value in a statement. You should replace them
(most of the time - sometimes the value might be foo) with the correct
information. For instance, 'REN foo bar' is a way of describing the syntax of
DOS's REN command - you actually use 'REN File1 File2' or whatever.
There are several different series of these variable - 'foo bar baz ...' is one
American one, along with a 'foo baz ...' variant IIRC. The British version -
which I've never seen - runs 'Fred Barney ...' (The File notes it was based on
The Flintstones IIRC)
'Foobar' is basically the same thing - however, don't get it confused with
FUBAR which has an ever so *slightly* different meaning.
BTW, does anyone have a URL for a recent edition of the File? My copy bit the
dust when the batteries fell out of my palmtop.
Regards, Home page: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/8786
Ben A L Jemmett ICQ: 9848866 JGSD e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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