The Etymology of Programming
summary
Tracing concrete etymologies for everyday jargon — "first actual case of bug being found" anchors how "bug"/"debug" popularizes, MacLisp coins throw/catch in 1972, foobar from MIT Tech Model Railroad Club explains placeholder history, and "thunk" literally comes from thunk = past tense of think. A survey of about 30 non-English speakers finds longer learning curves, trouble with slang in issues and PRs, poor searchability for help, and recommends more diagrams, less slang, and collaborating with native-language contributors.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:57The term bug
- 3:06The term debugging
- 4:13Throwing and catching
- 6:38Fubar
- 11:24Thunks
- 13:05Shells
- 14:48New Hackers Dictionary
- 15:59Programming Terms
- 18:45Learning Curve
- 19:52Getting Help
- 21:25Community Involvement
- 23:10Outro
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