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qseratoday at 2:59 PM3 repliesview on HN

Isn't it supposed to be fubar? fucked up beyond any recognition?


Replies

daharttoday at 3:15 PM

Yes that’s the original spelling & meaning. But using the spellings foobar, foo, bar, and sometimes baz, have been used for decades in programming as examples, temporary names, stand-ins etc. I just assumed that spelling it foo was meant to distance it from the curse word slightly while simultaneously making the pronunciation more clear (i.e. foo not fuh); foo just makes a good nonsense word.

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ChrisClarktoday at 3:14 PM

not in code, the tradition has been two words actually, foo and bar