> Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 03:47:38 -0600
> From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: stupid question
> 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?
Nope - no meaning. It's used in educational texts solely as "some
hypothetical name" for a file, program, or process within a program.
> is it intended that you substitute context specific information at that point?
> Anyone know the history of it?
I'm sure that the verifiable history of it is lost in computer antiquity...
certainly before the late 1960s, when I first saw the term. ( It is
entirely possible that the term was in use in the late 1940s, when the
ONLY digital computers of any type had strictly-military uses.)
One thing is certain: the originator of the term HAD a military background.
Here's why...
The earliest digital logic circuits were NOR and NAND gates. ( "NOT" OR,
"NOT" AND.) A two-input NOR gate's output would go low if either of its
inputs went to a high logic state. In the NAND gate, it took both inputs
high before the output would go low. If these things were daisy-chained
( e.g. - NAND output tied to both inputs of a NOR - which equals an
inversion of the NAND ) - you could effectively created an "AND" gate,
or use other combinations for an "OR" gate, etc.
The standard logic expression used for these was "BOOLEAN" algebra.
So a two input ( A,B ) NAND gate would have one output: "not" C.
the standard way to write this was to place a BAR over the letter C.
Like this:
_
a�b = c
In speech, you said "A and B equals NOT C", or sometimes "equals C BAR".
If an AND gate happens to be used to determine a "foo" condition, it's
"false" condition could be "foo BAR", although "NOT foo" would be the
more common spoken usage today.
Everyone who has ever been in the military knows what "FUBAR" means
("f___ed-up beyond all repair" )...and you can bet your bippy that
is the reason "foo" was chosen in the first place: solely so it could
be illustrated in the "foo BAR" form. ( The military uses many "racy"
acronyms in a training environment; this helps the trainee retain the
info. You should hear the way I was taught trigonometric functions,
or the electronic resistor color codes....)
There will be a pop quiz on this tomorrow...I hope you got it !
- John T., former MSgt, USAF.
-- Arachne V1.5a;alpha, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://home.arachne.cz/
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