OpenEuphoria

Re: OOPS and FOO ?

• Posted by simulat <simulat at INTERGATE.BC.CA> Aug 31, 2000
• 550 views

Hi
I first heard of "foo" and "bar" from a physics teacher when I was in
highschool in the sixties. At that time the words were used to refer to
variables as they do now in programming. But it was also a bit of a joke -
physicists seem to have a tradition of using absurd or humourous tems in the
middle of very serious and rigid discussions. Other examples would be the
quark and it's properties, ie Truth and Beauty (or Top or Bottom)

When my physics teacher first used foo and bar it gave me a shock - he had a
grin on his face - I'd never seen a teacher do anything absurd up till then.

Bye
Martin

----- Original Message -----
From: Derek Parnell <dparnell at BIGPOND.NET.AU>
To: <EUPHORIA at LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 5:16 AM
Subject: Re: OOPS and FOO ?


> OOP = Object Oriented Programming
>
>
> FOO is the first syllable of FOOBAR. This word has been used for years in
> programming examples to represent a couple of variables. As in ...
>
> integer FOO, BAR
>
> The origin of FOOBAR (or FUBAR) has had many theories. The one below is my
> favorite.
>
> -------------------
> Mr. Wolfstone is a student of language and offers the following
explanation
> of the battlefield slang, fubar, from the popular film, Saving Private
Ryan.
>
> Fubar is slang (mangled German) for the word "Furchtbar" which means
> terrible or horrible  --  Think of it as the opposite of "Wunderbar."
> Furcht means fear, literally translated, and the "bar" is added to make it
> an adverb or noun, as the case may be.  Notice that "Wunderbar" translates
> literally into wonderful.  By contrast, you should treat Furchtbar as an
> idiom and translate it to mean terrible or horrible.
>
> By the time our troops landed at Omaha Beach, D-Day (June 6, 1944), the
term
> fubar had undergone a pejoration.  The soldiers in Saving Private Ryan
were
> probably contemplating the pejorative, anglicized acronym "fubar" which
they
> would translate as "Fu***d  Up  Beyond  All  Recognition."
>
> A more recent example of battlefield slang (although not based on mangling
> the enemy's language) is, for instance, the word "Snafu."  Snafu is an
> acronym for the battlefield expression "Situation  Normal  All  Fu***d
Up."
> Snafu was widely used in 'Nam and perhaps in earlier wars.
>
> ----------------------
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gene Mannel" <genem2 at GJ.NET>
> To: <EUPHORIA at LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 10:56 PM
> Subject: OOPS and FOO ?
>
>
> > Hi Folks
> >
> >   Im learning UE pretty good I think but
> >
> >  OOPs must be a general term for what ?
> >    Help  me out, at first I figured  object oreinted but
> >   EU as far as I know isn't object oreinted.
> >
> >  FOO must be a genereal term for ?
> >    I havent tried to guess that one yet.
> >
> >  Then I pondered and decided that maybe they are terms
> > which carryed over from C or C++.
> >
> >
> >  Those are probably stupid questions but an inquiring
> > mind wants to know.
> >
> >   Thanks
> >     Gene
>