from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
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).
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
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)