for values of

for values of


   [MIT] A common rhetorical maneuver at MIT is to use any of the
   canonical {random numbers} as placeholders for variables. "The max
   function takes 42 arguments, for arbitrary values of 42.:" "There are
   69 ways to leave your lover, for 69 = 50." This is especially likely
   when the speaker has uttered a random number and realizes that it was
   not recognized as such, but even `non-random' numbers are occasionally
   used in this fashion. A related joke is that p equals 3 -- for small
   values of p and large values of 3.

   Historical note: at MIT this usage has traditionally been traced to
   the programming language MAD (Michigan Algorithm Decoder), an
   Algol-58-like language that was the most common choice among
   mainstream (non-hacker) users at MIT in the mid-60s. It inherited from
   Algol-58 a control structure FOR VALUES OF X = 3, 7, 99 DO ... that
   would repeat the indicated instructions for each value in the list
   (unlike the usual FOR that only works for arithmetic sequences of
   values). MAD is long extinct, but similar for-constructs still
   flourish (e.g., in Unix's shell languages).
    

for values of

   <jargon> A common rhetorical maneuver at {MIT} is to use any
   of the canonical {random numbers} as placeholders for
   variables.  "The max function takes 42 arguments, for
   arbitrary values of 42".  "There are 69 ways to leave your
   lover, for 69 = 50".  This is especially likely when the
   speaker has uttered a random number and realises that it was
   not recognised as such, but even "non-random" numbers are
   occasionally used in this fashion.  A related joke is that pi
   equals 3 - for small values of pi and large values of 3.

   This usage probably derives from the programming language MAD
   ({Michigan Algorithm Decoder}), an {ALGOL}-like language that
   was the most common choice among mainstream (non-hacker) users
   at {MIT} in the mid-1960s.  It had a {control structure} FOR
   VALUES OF X = 3, 7, 99 DO ... that would repeat the indicated
   instructions for each value in the list (unlike the usual FOR
   that generates an {arithmetic sequence} of values).  MAD is
   long extinct, but similar for-constructs still flourish
   (e.g. in {Unix}'s {shell} languages).

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1994-12-16)