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From: mac@uvacs.UUCP (Alex Colvin)
Newsgroups: net.unix
Subject: Re: nonsense names
Message-ID: <2123@uvacs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-May-85 11:20:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: uvacs.2123
Posted: Thu May 23 11:20:09 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 27-May-85 02:53:30 EDT
References: <1936@sdcrdcf.UUCP> <2673@nsc.UUCP> <122@sdlvax.UUCP>
Organization: U.Va. CS dept.  Charlottesville, VA
Lines: 13

Some of us use the name ZQX3 and variants when a meaningless name is needed.

Legend has it that this practice stems (by way of Lou Fernandez) from an old
book which advises the programmer to avoid meaningless or obscure names (e.g.
ZQX3, after a cabdriver named Zarathustra Q.  Xerxes III).  Since then, a number
of people have insinuated this name into every program they've touched.

Ths does point out an annoying feature of UN*X -- the lack of an anonymous
current file, which forces the invention of a lot of names for intermediate
files.  Pipes help, but sometimes you need to see intermediate stages before
they disappear.