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by stackghost 135 days ago
This is the first time in my life encountering "ZQX3" in some context that suggests it has broad meaning.

What does ZQX3 have to do with TFA?

1 comments

folklore was that IBM used it as an example of a bad variable name, based on Zarathustra Q Xerxes III

Here it is, in fact! Page 19:

http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/ibm/360/os/...

> But if the programmer decided to use ZQX-3 in pl.ace of MINIMUM-BALANCE because it is shorter, or because he once met a cab driver named Zarathustra Q. Xerxes III, then it is a bad name.