Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!udel!mmdf From: casebolt%esdc.span@fedex.msfc.nasa.gov Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: RE: FOOBAR (aka FUBAR) Message-ID: <8901@nigel.udel.EDU> Date: 22 Jan 90 22:01:59 GMT Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU Lines: 51 From: FEDEX::"amiga-relay-request@louie.udel.edu" 16-JAN-1990 19:55:29.17 To: ESDC$SPAN::CASEBOLT CC: Subj: FOOBAR (aka FUBAR) Received: from udel.edu by Fedex.Msfc.Nasa.Gov with INTERNET ; Tue, 16 Jan 90 19:42:46 CST Received: by louie.udel.edu id ci18610; 16 Jan 90 21:54 GMT Received: from louie.udel.edu by louie.udel.edu id ae26480; 15 Jan 90 17:27 GMT Received: from USENET by louie.udel.edu id aa26312; 15 Jan 90 12:17 EST Received: from snow-white.ee.udel.edu by louie.udel.edu id ae26265; 15 Jan 90 12:17 EST Received: from louie.udel.edu by snow-white.ee.udel.edu id af18419; 15 Jan 90 12:18 EST From: "Calvin Jones, III" Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: FOOBAR (aka FUBAR) Message-ID: <8259@nigel.udel.EDU> Date: 15 Jan 90 17:14:12 GMT To: amiga-relay@udel.edu Sender: amiga-relay-request@udel.edu J I L Gold asks: > Will SOMEONE please tell me why in source code snippets the variables > "foo","bar","foobar" and other variants invariably appear? The original acronym FUBAR comes from Fouled (or, more accurately, F**ked) Up Beyond All Recognition, a term that could well describe many computer programs written in the early days of computing when typical systems spent 90% on hardware and 10% on programs. Many times the professor would begin a lecture with the words "Suppose we have a program FOOBAR which calls subroutine FOO which then calls BAR". I have no idea how the spelling got changed. --- Cal // Cal Jones - Internet: or \X/ BBS: 904-243-6219 1200-9600HST 340Meg, all Amiga --------------------------------------------------------------------- NW Florida's first Amiga BBS running on NW Florida's FIRST AMIGA! FUBAR is also a hardware register on the VAX unibus adapter. When a fault happens on the Unibus, the FUBAR is latched with the address of the failing device! FUBAR in Vax lingo stands for Failed Unibus Bus Address Register.!!! Richard Casebolt Sr Computer Engineering Specialist Boeing Computer Support Services Marshall Space Flight Center Alabama 35812 205-544-2966