What (who) is quux - definition

PLACEHOLDER TERM USED IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

Quux; Metasyntactic variables; Metasynatic variable; ZXC; Metasyntactical variable; Canonical metasyntactical variable; Canonical metasyntactic variable; Metasyntatic variables; Gazonk; Zxc; Arfle; Barfle; Corge; Grault; Garply; Bat (metasyntactic variable); Quuux; Flob; Metasyntatic variable; Metasyntactic variable (computing); Meta-syntactic variable

quux

/kwuhks/ [Mythically, from the Latin semi-deponent verb quuxo, quuxare, quuxandum iri; noun form variously "quux" (plural "quuces", anglicised to "quuxes") and "quuxu" (genitive plural is "quuxuum", for four u-letters out of seven in all, using up all the "u" letters in Scrabble).] 1. Originally, a metasyntactic variable like foo and foobar. Invented by Guy Steele for precisely this purpose when he was young and naive and not yet interacting with the real computing community. Many people invent such words; this one seems simply to have been lucky enough to have spread a little. In an eloquent display of poetic justice, it has returned to the originator in the form of a nickname. 2. See foo; however, denotes very little disgust, and is uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it. 3. Guy Steele in his persona as "The Great Quux", which is somewhat infamous for light verse and for the "Crunchly" cartoons. 4. In some circles, used as a punning opposite of "crux". "Ah, that's the quux of the matter!" implies that the point is *not* crucial (compare tip of the ice-cube). [Jargon File]

foobar

PLACEHOLDER NAMES IN PROGRAMMING

User:Gwicke~enwiki/sandbox; Foo bar; Foo Bar; User:Nixeagle/test; Foo; Bar (computer science); FOo; Fooian; User:Eagle 101/test; FOOBAR; Baz (computer science); User:Riki-test/sandbox/RedirectToFoo; Foo (computing); Foo and bar; Barfoo; Foobarbaz

<jargon> Another common metasyntactic variable; see foo. Hackers do *not* generally use this to mean FUBAR in either the slang or jargon sense. According to a german correspondent, the term was coined during WW2 by allied troops who could not pronounce the german word "furchtbar" (horrible, terrible, awful). [Jargon File] (2003-07-03)

FOOBAR

PLACEHOLDER NAMES IN PROGRAMMING

FTP Operation Over Big Address Records (Reference: RFC 1639, FTP)

Wikipedia

Metasyntactic variable

A metasyntactic variable is a specific word or set of words identified as a placeholder in computer science and specifically computer programming. These words are commonly found in source code and are intended to be modified or substituted before real-world usage. The words foo and bar are good examples as they are used in over 330 Internet Engineering Task Force Requests for Comments, the documents which define foundational internet technologies like HTTP (web), TCP/IP, and email protocols.

By mathematical analogy, a metasyntactic variable is a word that is a variable for other words, just as in algebra letters are used as variables for numbers.

Metasyntactic variables are used to name entities such as variables, functions, and commands whose exact identity is unimportant and serve only to demonstrate a concept, which is useful for teaching programming.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasyntactic variable