I am learing Unix, while saying example they are always using foo and bar? why they are using like this ?

Question

I used to learn unix in books and in the internet everywhere if any example i am reading they are saying foo and bar..

What is the reason did you know any guess ?

not only unix also in Linux

Answer 1

Think of "Foo" and "Bar" in programming, as the "X" and "Y" of math.

They are metasyntactic variables.

Here is a link which attempts to further define these terms, The Etymology of "Foo";

Answer 2

Unix is the worst "operating system" ever to come out of hell. Don't wase your time. There is no reason for how anything is done in Unix, except for sheer stupidity. Want an example? Type in:

man tunefs

The last thing in the description of the command they mention "tunafish". When you come up with a good reason for this...

Answer 3

I don't know how it applies to learning Unix, but in the military FUBAR is an acronym for "F**ked Up Beyond All Recognition" - It was used to indicate the work one had completed was totally unacceptable.

Answer 4

"Foo" is a short form for "function", I suppose. They give names like "foo" or "foo_2" to examples of functional procedures in programming. For instance - in "Let's talk Lisp" by Siklossy if I remember correctly.

Unix is famous for omitting vowel letters in names (as in Arab writing). They use only consonants if you can guess the omitted vowels without ambiguity.