ARCHIVED: What do foo and bar mean?

In the world of computer programming, "foo" and "bar" are commonly used as generic examples of the names of files, users, programs, classes, hosts, etc. Thus, you will frequently encounter them in manual (man) pages, syntax descriptions, and other computer documentation.

The etymologies of these terms are unclear, but when considered together they are generally thought to derive from the word "foobar". Foobar, in turn, may be related to FUBAR, the acronym for a less polite version of "Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition" (or "Repair"). The Jargon File, a widely circulated public-domain dictionary of computer-related slang, discusses these and other terms in detail.

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