Why is there always a function like Foo in the program example?

"Foo" and "foobar" are often used as example names in various programs and technical documents. According to statistics, about 7% of documents in various computer and communication technology documents contain these buzzwords. However, none of these files provide a proper explanation for them. Although this is not a big problem, it is often confusing for beginners, especially non-English speakers. This article describes the meanings and origins of these words.

Although the official file does not have a detailed record of the language source of "foo", we can still clarify some contexts from its development history.

The word "foo" first appeared in cartoons and cartoons before World War II. In the cartoon "Smokey Stover" about firefighters, the author Bill Holman uses the word "foo" in large numbers. The cartoon was serialized between 1930 and 1952. In this cartoon, the word "foo" is often used in automobile license plates and meaningless conversations. For example: "He who foos last foos best" or "Smoke smoke but Foo men chew. According to the author, "foo" is based on the text at the bottom of a Chinese statue. This sounds reasonable, because Chinese statues are often engraved with blessings, and "foo" may be a transliteration of "Fu. However, the English grammar can accept the word "foo" produced by Holman, which is also influenced by the "Feh" and "fooey" and "fool" in the Jewish language.

In the cartoon, Holman also depicts a distinctive two-wheeled fire truck named foomobile. His cartoon was so popular in the 1930s s that it was once rumored that Indi danzhou had produced such a Holman foomobile.

According to the instructions in the American cartoon Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia of American comics, EAC), the word "foo" was once a craze in the United States, and it was used in many popular songs, and more than five hundred "foo clubs" are generated ". Warner also used the word "foo" in the cartoon "Tamiflu Duck" Made in 1938. Although "foo" is widely integrated into popular culture, its origins are forgotten.

In the subsequent World War II, the word "foo" was widely spread because British and American soldiers often used slang to communicate with crude words. People refer to the mysterious flying object tracked by radar as "Foo Fighter", which is later called "UFO. When British soldiers go back to defense, they often write the word "foo here.

The "foobar" can also be traced back to the crude words "FUBAR" in the army during the Second World War ". "Fubar" refers to fucked up beyond all repair, and then it becomes "foobar ".

Summary: although sometimes we can understand "foo" as a Chinese meaning such as Zhang sanli and Si, we can really understand the meanings of "foo" and "foobar, it also helps us better understand English documents and avoid unnecessary ambiguity.