What is "Foo" and why do people use it as names for variables?

General Discussions
#1

I’ve read tons of example code and people seem to name their variables “Foo” atleast once :stuck_out_tongue:
Why is that?

#2

Because Bar and Baz!

#3

Wikipedia!

The terms foobar /ˈfuːbɑːr/, fubar, or foo, bar, baz and qux (alternatively quux) are sometimes used as placeholder names (also referred to as metasyntactic variables) in computer programming or computer-related documentation.[1] They have been used to name entities such as variables, functions, and commands whose purpose is unimportant and serve only to demonstrate a concept. The words themselves have no meaning in this usage. Foobar is sometimes used alone; foo, bar, and baz are sometimes used in that order, when multiple entities are needed.

#4

I guess I could have googled this -.-’
Sorry

#5

The question itself is completely useless anyways, but I guess there is no need to apologize! :smiley:

#6

fubar = WWII GI term = fck up beyond all recognition. Made popular (I believe) by K&R in their original C book.

#7

Fubar The last is all repair. At was in fact has origins with the radio techs in WW2. It not clear that solders use it much at all till much later. Saving private Matt Damon made it pretty popular that it was a grunt thing.

Then there is the SNAFU. Situation Normal. All Fraked Up.

#8

I stand corrected. :slight_smile: I never even saw that movie!