Re: F9X twister & ADA (was: n-dim'l vectors)

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@earthlink.net>]

Aidan Skinner wrote:
> 
> Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com> writes:
> 
> > No, like bug it is MUCH MUCH older than people think, I know
> > it was used (usually spelled Foobar) in the Algol-60 world,
> > anyone know anything definitive on first use here?
> 
> Foldoc claims it was used in at the TMRC, which is where the MIT AI
> Lab probably picked it up, possibly from a "Smokey Stover" comic by
> Bill Holman.

    This is just to confirm the use of FOO (actually F00) at TMRC. 
(Tech Model Railroad Club).
When I was a freshman in 1964, the HO layout was controlled using dozens
of telephone stepping switches mounted under the platform.  (It was
later converted to use a set of 3? crossbar switches.)  This allowed
users to dial the block containing the train they wanted to control from
one of several control stations, and the switching network would
automagically follow the train from block to block.  (Switches could
also be changed by dialing them up.)  Of course with several users
running trains, and in some cases trying to set up collisions and ner
collisions, the system would often get in a situation where it had to
"drop" a user.  That user could then dial back in and pick up where he
left off.  There was a status board on the wall to show when this
happened, which could display one alphanumeric character and two
digits.  So the alpha was used to indicate the failure condition, and
the two digits the block or switch number.  F00, of course, was a
general system failure.

    I have no idea if this is the original use of foo in this context. 
But it is certainly the reason that the first and third metavariables
were spelled foo and foobar at Project MAC and in the AI Lab.