../ blog / hello-world
"Hello, World!" in Many of My Introductory PostsIt's not because I'm naÃve and just now in the big, bad, world...
2024.09.04
It's a software programmer/engineer joke.
"Hello, World!" I'm Joshua Spann, and this is how I normally introduce myself to others for the first time.
I mainly use this in online discssion boards and forums, but have been known for using it in the occasional performance or public speech.
The reasoning why I use this is convoluted, typically obscure or esoteric.
This statement is present in nearly all of my media, and my Youtube channel makes sure to include variations of this term as the introduction to nearly all of my videos: "Hey there..."
Yes, I also turned that phrase into a song.
I am not unawares of the fact that Ewan MacGregor's portrayal of Obi-Wan also used this phrasing, so I found it as a gnostic double-entendre.
For some sick reason, "Hello, world!" is like a rite of passage for most IT folks.
Your first program that you write or compose typically is a "Hello world" program.
Apparantly it allows you to grasp the all of the nuances, complexities, and syntax of a programming/compiled/scripting/markup language in one go.
I sincerely don't understand why, all it does is call standardized print libraries and shows you how to print stuff to the console.
The other starting option is to make a factorial app, because we all supposedly use factorials in everyday life.
If you wanted to make a great first program, you could do something like:
``
Comment: My own psuedocode
import Math, IO, OS
main(shellArgs): let myVar = myFactorial(3) let libVar = Math.factorial(3) if myVar == libVar: IO.print('Hello, console! On ${OS.version}, myVar = libVar ($myVar = $libVar)') return ` OS.success is implied in empty return statements for main() return OS.failure
myFactorial(number): let factorialtotal = 1 for let i=2..$number: $factorialtotal = $factorialtotal * $i return $factorialtotal ```
But no, the textbooks and all online resources would tell you to start with:
``` import IO
main(shellArgs): IO.print('Hello, world!') return ```
What gives?!
My version shows you how to import standard libs, use classes, loops, conditional statements, variable assignments, function declaration and usage, string interpolation, and basic maths and reassignment — oh — and comments! The texbook way shows me how to import a print library and print a static string. There's something seriously wrong with this...
Like all things great-then-ruined, it comes from AT&T.
A long time ago, in this galaxy, not so far away, this planet actually...
A Brian Kernighan used a "Hello world" program as an example for both the B and C programming languages.
The particular phrase of "hello, world" may or may not derive from a cartoon where a hatchling chick said the words, akin to how the "Legend of Zelda" franchise name may or may not be derived from a Mrs. Zelda Fitzgerald.
However, God sent the prophets K&R to us to show us the truth of wisdom and goodness, bringing us back to enlightenment, where the covenant of "hello, world" was established.
Therefore, this tradition is as integral to computer science as western culture is to Zelda.
Using variations of "Hello, world!" is not just an esoteric reference to an inside joke that only programmers would get, it also carries connotations of peaceful innocence encountering the unbeknownst perpetual darkness that is the world.
It sounds overly happy, making me look like one of those goody-two-shoes, overtly happy, nigh-ungodly-optimistic, nice people that we all know.
Even then, it has good energy and is a double entendre.
It acts as an innocent introduction to others, but for the initiated, the progammers and software engineers... it is an inside joke that lets them know, "Hey there, you're not alone..."
This post is saturated with sarcasm and spittin' fax (youtube version for privacy-haters): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NkU8EpXrSg). It's pretty easy to tell which is which...