When a non-technically inclined web site owner speaks with an experienced programmer, technical jargon frequently enters the conversation. Some programmers do that intentionally, just to show off their expertise. For others, it is just the way they talk because they are immersed in a technical working environment. If you get confused talking with IT people, you may find this jargon guide to be handy.
The technical language of programmers can sometimes be very difficult to understand. It is loaded with shortcuts, euphemisms and analogies. Frequently, the full name or technical term for the many special symbols or characters used in programming is just too cumbersome or boring to use in everyday technical conversations. Unique names or monikers for programming symbols has evolved. Most are intended to be humorous and help to liven up the communications between programmers.
The following are a few of the most common jargon and techno-terms used by professional programmers in everyday conversations amongst themselves. Step outside of your box for a few moments and compare the special characters to the jargon terms and you can easily envision the evolution of the terms.
- . (dot) – A dot is just a period in a file name or domain name, as in google-dot-com.
- * (star, splat or spider) – An asterisk is a wild card symbol used with servers and computer programs.
- # (hash, pound, crunch, sharp) – Most commonly referred to as a hash, this symbol is commonly used to designate comments in many programming languages.
- ! (bang, pling, shriek, not) – The exclamation point serves different purposes in different programming languages, but it is most commonly used to reverse a Boolean evaluation. In other words, if a statement is true, it reverses it to false.
- #! (hash-bang or sh-bang) – When used as the first two characters on the first line of a programming script, a hash-bang causes Unix and Linux operating systems to execute that script using the interpreter specified by the rest of that line.
- ‘ (tick) – This is a single quote commonly used to surround a string of characters.
- " (snakebite, rabbit ears) – A standard double quote. This jargon goes way back to the 1980s, so if you hear this, you are talking to an old-timer.
- $ (buck, bling, cash) – Used to designate a string variable in many programming languages.
- ( ) (left paren, right paren, open, close) – Commonly used to group portions of algorithms or comparison statements. Algorithms and evaluations of statements always start with the inner-most set of parens in all programming languages.
- / (wack, slash, stroke) – A common slash character, most commonly used in directory paths on servers or to define a mathematical division.
- \ (backslash, backwack, hack) – A common blackslash used in some networking paths and also as a common designation for a escape character, which means that the next character in line should be taken literally and not executed.
- { } (left curly, right curly, hitchcocks -think Alfred Hitchcock silhouette, left banana, right banana) – Curly braces commonly used to group multiple programming statements.
- ~ (squiggle) – A tilde character.
- | (bar, pipe) – A vertical bar character.
- ^ (hat) – A caret character.
- % (mod, grapes) – Commonly used as a mathematical modulo character in programming languages.
- & (amp, amper) – An ampersand symbol.