Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!ptsfa!ihnp4!homxb!mtuxo!mtune!codas!killer!jfh
From: jfh@killer.UUCP (The Beach Bum)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.wizards,news.misc
Subject: Re: History: foo and fubar are unrelated
Message-ID: <1810@killer.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 13-Oct-87 17:46:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: killer.1810
Posted: Tue Oct 13 17:46:22 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 15-Oct-87 21:50:15 EDT
References: <1266@mucs.UX.CS.MAN.AC.UK> <1632@chinet.UUCP> <1539@cognos.UUCP>
Organization: Big "D" Home for Wayward Hackers
Lines: 54
Summary: Fred is an anacronym ...
Xref: mnetor comp.misc:1466 comp.unix.questions:4521 comp.unix.wizards:4895 news.misc:1024

In article <1539@cognos.UUCP>, roberts@cognos.uucp (Robert Stanley) writes:
> In article <1632@chinet.UUCP> editor@chinet.UUCP (Alex Zell) writes:
> 
> >So what has all this to do with "foo?"
> >Nothing.  The two expressions were totally unrelated in their origins.
> >The use of "foo" in computerology was initiated simultaneously by many
> >hundreds of computerists.
>   
> >When we first received our IMSAI-8080 without disk drives, and with a 
> >defective copy of ALOS-8, we entered  programs by front panel paddles.
> >One would read the list while another did the entries.  
>
> My own choice has, for many years, been
> 'fred', which is a cycle of four keys under my frequently idle left index
> finger.  To the best of my knowledge, 'fred' has never been an acronym for
> anything in my computing career, nor do I use 'fred' as a generic personal
> reference, it is simply a conveniently mnemonic symbolic reference.
> 
> It is
> interesting to note that the ritual UNIX name 'junk' also lies moderately
> easily under a single finger of the right hand on the keyboard....
> 

This person is obviously not a touch typist.  Fred is under two fingers
as is junk.  Also, I disagree with the guy before that.  I have seen computer
texts dated pre-1974 (1972?) with references to MUMBLE.FOO , FOOBAR.DAT
and all manner of other file names.  The common item being, 6 letters in
the file name and three in the file extension (no, that's file TYPE, not
EXTENSION ;-)

If fuzzy memory serves correctly, all of the machines I saw with names like
this wre restricted to 9 letter file names.  It seems only normal to what
to use the full 9 letters ...

FOOBAR, or so I heard, was a 6 letter hack on FUBAR, the original of which
is well known.  FOO's meaning only comes from FOOBAR, mostly since I do
recall FOO pre-dates the 8008.  If I remember (which you may have figured
I really never do ;-) correctly, the IMSAI and ALTOS machines were
octal in the beginning.  (Actually, I don't think they were anything.  Didn't
they just have a switch registers and LED's above each paddle?)

On to the world of FRED.

F.R.E.D. is an anacronym.  It's also the name of every computer you every
didn't like.  It stands for (blush) Fucking Ridiculous Electronic Device.
As the founder of `The Internation Brotherhood of Freds' (Local 13),
I can vouche for that.

- John.
-- 
John F. Haugh II		HECI Exploration Co. Inc.
UUCP:	...!ihnp4!killer!jfh	11910 Greenville Ave, Suite 600
"Don't Have an Oil Well?"	Dallas, TX. 75243
" ... Then Buy One!"		(214) 231-0993