The term foobar is a common placeholder name, also referred to as "metasyntactic variable", used in computer programming or computer-related documentation.
In technology, the word was probably originally propagated through system manuals by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1960s and early 1970s. Another possibility is that foobar evolved from electronics, as an inverted foo signal. This is because if a digital signal is active low (so a negative or zero-voltage condition represents a "1") then a horizontal bar is commonly placed over the signal label. The Jargon File makes a case that "foo" possibly predates "FUBAR" [ [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/F/foobar.html The Jargon File] ] .
Examples
The term foobar or foo and bar separately are very often used in programming examples, much like the Hello World program is commonly used as an introduction.
Here is an example of how foo and bar might be used to illustrate a simple string concatenation:
//Java CodeString foo = "Hello, ";String bar = "World";System.out.println(foo + bar);//Hello, World is printed to the screen by printing foo and bar
//PHP Code$foo = "Hello, ";$bar = "World";echo $foo . $bar;//Hello, World is shown on the screen using PHP.An early example of foobar being used in a famous program is its use as a variable name in the fortran code of Colossal Cave Adventure (1977 Crowther and Woods version).The variable FOOBAR was used to contain the player's progress in saying the magic phrase "Fee Fie Foe Foo".
ee also
*Placeholder name *bar *foo *Alice and Bob *Lorem ipsum *FUBAR *foobar2000 *Foo fighter
ources
External links
* [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/F/foobar.html The Jargon File entry on foobar] *RFC 3092 - Origin and usage of "foobar" * [http://www.foobar2000.org/ Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform] *RFC 1639 - FTP Operation Over Big Address Records (FOOBAR)
Foobar — Fubar ist ein Wort aus dem anglo amerikanischen Sprachraum, dessen Herkunft nicht genau bestimmt werden kann. Es ist auch die Schreibweise Foobar verbreitet, die wiederum die Verbindung zweier weiterer undefinierter Wörter, Foo und bar, ist. Mit… … Deutsch Wikipedia
foobar — A programer s placeholder. Used in examples to fill in for the name of something that isn t important to the class names, table names, function names. See fubar in slang dictionaries. sql select select * from foobar integer declaration int foobar … Dictionary of american slang
foobar — A programer s placeholder. Used in examples to fill in for the name of something that isn t important to the class names, table names, function names. See fubar in slang dictionaries. sql select select * from foobar integer declaration int foobar … Dictionary of american slang
Foobar — Variable métasyntaxique En programmation informatique, une variable métasyntaxique est une variable générique, utilisée dans les exemples pour se concentrer sur le fond plutôt que sur la forme, et dont le nom est choisi pour être tacitement… … Wikipédia en Français
FOOBAR — • FTP Operation Over Big Address Records, definiert in RFC1545 • foobar metasyntaktische Variable (bzw. Name einer bel. Beispielroutine), Kombination der Variablen foo und bar … Acronyms
FOOBAR — [1] FTP Operation Over Big Address Records, definiert in RFC1545 [2] foobar metasyntaktische Variable (bzw. Name einer bel. Beispielroutine), Kombination der Variablen foo und bar … Acronyms von A bis Z
Foobar (disambiguation) — Foobar can refer to:*Foobar, an all purpose placeholder name commonly used in computing *foobar2000, an audio player for Microsoft Windows *FOOBAR, FTP Operation Over Big Address Records (RFC 1639, FTP) *Foobar, cigar smoking priest in Order of… … Wikipedia
Foobar 2000 — foobar2000 foobar2000 Développeur Peter Pawłowski Dernière version 0.9.6.9 … Wikipédia en Français
