I hadn’t really noticed how often the ‘Hello World’ code is used. It is the same awareness that you have when you learn a new word – suddenly it is everywhere – in conversations, on TV, in books… Well, the same thing seems to be happening with the ‘Hello World’ code. In just the last couple of days, I have noticed its use in several places. It isn’t that I didn’t know about it; just that I haven’t thought about it in quite awhile.
Most recently, I visited my iGoogle page and thought about updating my gadgets. A few clicks later, I was in the Google Gadgets Developer Docs pages and there it was… an example of a code for a Google Gadget that says ‘Hello, world!’
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<Module>
<ModulePrefs title=”hello world example” />
<Content type=”html”><![CDATA[
Hello, world!
]]></Content>
</Module>
This code is written for use within the Google Gadget Editor (GGE). In the GGE, a simple click on “Preview” shows ‘Hello, world.’
Doesn’t this seem like an ‘inside joke’ among programmers? … Remember the way that ‘foo’ is used by programmers to represent a variable or data that is unspecific? No matter what the Computer Science course, often ‘foo’ will come up as a consistent word to represent something unspecific. This seems to be a bit ironic, don’t you think?
Perhaps the use of the ‘Hello World’ code is simply to invite programmers to a new language with a familiar greeting; like meeting an old friend… or an unintimidating beginning to learning something new.
Perhaps the use is more profound… symbolizing entering a new world.
Whatever the reason, the ‘Hello World’ code is a warm greeting that you respond to with a smile.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: hello world
