http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=158060

Question: How do I pronounce $var? Or $_? I've gotten the impression that there is a way to read Perl aloud, but I don't know it . . . I figured it out while reading a discussion of the much debated "??" (hook hook) operator (though what ?? was supposed to do escapes me at the moment . . .).

It really come down to "what is the English translation of all this code I'm writing?".

Cheers,
Erik

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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by belg4mit (Prior) on Apr 10, 2002 at 17:43 UTC 
    <>!*''#             waka waka bang splat tick tick hash
^@`$$-              carat at back-tick dollar dollar dash
*!'$_               splat bang tick dollar underscore
%*<>#4              percent splat waka waka number four
&)../               ampersand right-paren dot dot slash
{~|**SYSTEM HALTED  curly bracket tilde pipe splat splat crash

    [download]

    For the record I use

  • In my BASIC days chr$ was "chr bucks"
  • For perl I tend to stick to English punctuation names 
    ('$'=>'dollar',
 '@'=>'array'||'ary',
 '%'=>'hash'||'percent',
 '#'=>'hash',
 '!'=>'bang',
 '#!'=>'shebang',
 '&'=>'ampersand',
 '*'=>'star',
 '/'=>'slash',
 '\\'=>'back-slash',
 "'"=>'tick',
 '`'=>'back-tick',
 '"'=>'quote"||'quot', #not usually pronounced
 '~'=>'tilde',         #long E
 '?'=>'question mark,  #hook is cooler but it never occurs to me
 '|'=>'pipe',
 '['=>'left bracket',  #These rarely need
 ']'=>'right bracket',#to be pronounced
 '{'=>'left curly(?: brace)',
 '}'=>'right curly(?: brace)',
 '<'=>'less than'||'waka',
 '>'=>'greater than'||'waka',
 ...  #dot dot dot, in this case however yadda yadda yadda
);

    [download]
    I read $_[1] as "array underscore sub 1" or worst case simply "at underscore 1".

    • --
    perl -pe "s/\b;([mnst])/'\1/mg"

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      belg4mit onomatopoetically offered: 
      <>!*''#              waka waka bang splat tick tick hash
^@`$$-               carat at back-tick dollar dollar dash
*!'$_                splat bang tick dollar underscore
%*<>#4               percent splat waka waka number four
&)../                ampersand right-paren dot dot slash
{~|**SYSTEM HALTED   curly bracket tilde pipe splat splat crash

      [download]

      Is it just me, or does anyone else envision two kids sitting cross-legged across from one another, clapping their hands, knees, and each others hands as they chant this rhyming incantation? I think this is the basis for a whole new area of Perl poetry!

      Nice discussion. I do think I might be alone in using the american predilection for calling a dollar a 'buck' in my pronunciations while muttering perl code to myself:

      • $var: "buck var"
      • $_: "buck bar"
      • etc...

      Matt

      Update: Okay, belg4mit did make a 'bucks' reference. I'm not alone after all! Except perhaps with my reading retention skills. ;-)

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        These are fairly standard in copy-editing: 
        $  : "buck"
_  : "score"
|  : "bar"
?  : "hook"
&  : "et" (it is a ligature of E and t)
        Think of all the extra milliseconds you'd have in your life if you always said "buck score" instead of "dollar underscore"! -- well microseconds, anyway.

        On the other hand, I call '#' "scratch", but I don't think anyone else does. Have no idea where I picked it up.

          p

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      '\' 

      '\\'

      [download]
      And you missed a comma after 'greater than'. 

      U28geW91IGNhbiBhbGwgcm90MTMgY
W5kIHBhY2soKS4gQnV0IGRvIHlvdS
ByZWNvZ25pc2UgQmFzZTY0IHdoZW4
geW91IHNlZSBpdD8gIC0tIEp1ZXJk

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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by Juerd (Abbot) on Apr 10, 2002 at 17:22 UTC

    How do I pronounce $var? Or $_? I

    I pronounce $ as "dollar", or as "string". The latter is because I used to code in BASIC, where a dollar sign suffix denotes a string variable - I try to avoid that habit, but sometimes I fall back. Sometimes I just say "variable" instead of "dollar" (just to avoid confusion, I don't say scalar).

    _ is "underscore", but sometimes I call $_ "default", instead of "dollar underscore".

    These may be (probably are) wrong, but this is what I'm used to: 

    =   is
==  equals
eq  equals (or "e q")
~   tilde
$   dollar, variable
^   caret (but <tt>$^W</tt> --> "variable control W")
@   at, array
%   hash
_   underscore
$_  default
@_  default array
{[( opening (or "left") curly, bracket, paren
}[( closing (or "right") curly, bracket, paren
:   colon
;   semicolon, stop
/   slash
\   backslash, escape
\n  newline (not "escape n")
\w  word
\s  whitespace
`   backtick
<>  glob, readline ("diamond" if without handle), tag (depending on co
+ntext)
<   less-than-sign, opening (left) angle
>   greater-than-sign, closing (right)angle
&   ampersand, and
&&  and (or "and and" to avoid confusion, "short and")
|   pipe, or
||  or (or "or or", "pipe pipe", "short or")
'   single quote
"   double quote
*   asterisk, times
--  decrease
++  increase
#   pound, comment, remark (not "hash" because of % :)

    [download]
    I leave out parens and curlies where they're not optional. I often say "end of $control_structure" instead of "closing curly"
    So this: 
    while (<>) {
   s/\r/blah/;
   print $_ || "Empty\n";
}

    [download]
    becomes: 
    while diamond,
s slash carriage return slash blah slash, stop, 
print default, short or,
double quote titlecase empty, newline, double quote, stop.
end of while.

    [download]

    Then again, my English is disastrous at best, so I don't think you should rely on this :) 

    U28geW91IGNhbiBhbGwgcm90MTMgY
W5kIHBhY2soKS4gQnV0IGRvIHlvdS
ByZWNvZ25pc2UgQmFzZTY0IHdoZW4
geW91IHNlZSBpdD8gIC0tIEp1ZXJk

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      "I leave out parens and curlies where they're not optional."

      Are you sure? (Sorry Juerd, I just couldn't resist. ;-)

      Everything went worng, just as foreseen.

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        I think he meant it the way he said, as 'while (<>)' was pronounced as 'while diamond'? He knows the parens are needed, the Perl-knowledgable listener knows the parens are needed, so in a spoken context they're little more than line noise.

        Vocal line noise. Now there's a scary thought.

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      #   pound, comment, remark (not "hash" because of % :)

      The # character should never be pronounced pound. I accept square sign, but £ means pound because it is simply a fancy L, which is short for the latin libra meaning pound. YAA (Yet Another Americanisation ;) ) that came about this time from the difference between UK and US keyboards.

      I have a wiry brain/each eye a camera. Robot Tourist, by Ten Benson

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        # is obviously "sharp". That's how we get "sh-bang" (#!) to start every program!

        - Richie

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        That's a pretty specious argument.

        In any event the name of # is of great debate. There are many terms (most listed in the two links I provided earlier (higher up, below.)

      • The Useless Pages used to have an entire section dedicated to this, I cannot find it now
      • Octothorpe
      • Despite the actual definition I had heard Sesquipedalian as a contender
      • Interesting observation
        • If - is a bithorpe and # is an octothorpe, why isn't * a hexathorpe? And if - is a bithorpe and = is a quadrathorpe, what's +? And furthermore, what's a thorpe?

        --
        perl -pe "s/\b;([mnst])/'\1/mg"

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        The # character should never be pronounced pound.

        #perl (irc channel) is often refered to as "pound perl", and I tend to use "remark" when talking about code. When not in Perl context, I use "hash" for it, but that's far to confusing when talking about Perl code :). 

        Yes, I reinvent wheels.

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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by BUU (Prior) on Apr 10, 2002 at 16:41 UTC 
            
Character    Name        
                                
    .        spot        
    :         two-spot    
    ,        tail        
    ;        hybrid        
    #        mesh        
    =        half-mesh    
    '        spark        
    `        backspark    
    !        wow        
    ?         what        
    "        rabbit-ears    
    ".        rabbit        
    |        spike           
    %      double-oh-seven        
    -        worm        
    <        angle        
    >        right angle    
    (        wax        
    )        wane        
    [        U turn        
    ]        U turn back    
    {        embrace        
    }        bracelet    
    *        splat        
    &        ampersand[5]    
    V        V        
            (or book)    
    V-        bookworm    
        (or universal qu
    $        big money    
    c|        change        
    ~        sqiggle        
    _        flat worm    
            overline    
    +        intersection    
    /        slat        
    \        backslat    
    @        whirlpool    
    -'        hookworm    
    ^        shark        
            (or simply shark
    #I[]        blotch

    [download]
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      Shouldn't it be: 
      )   wax
(   wane

      [download]
      i.e. shouldn't it follow the way the moon does it?
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      Puh-lease! Obviously, we're using the Universal Intercal ASCII Pronunciation Guide. But we could (at least) incorporate the common vernacular: 

      &   ampersandHitchcock

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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by theorbtwo (Prior) on Apr 11, 2002 at 01:25 UTC

    Strange, nobody else so far has mentioned how larry told us to do it.

    The one time I tried to write perl poetry, I tried to have metre, and relized that I can't count sylables on somthing that looks like linenoize.

    We are using here a powerful strategy of synthesis: wishful thinking. -- The Wizard Book

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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by premchai21 (Curate) on Apr 10, 2002 at 17:41 UTC

    I assign many characters to small sounds, rather than whole words, myself. $ becomes 'zh', for instance (like the later part of 'j'). Example:

    (/\S/) && print $hash{$;.$_} for (@ary);

    is pronounced:

    in slash back-cap-ess slash out and-and print zh-hash de zh-semi dot zhunder for yary

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      in slash back-cap-ess slash out and-and print zh-hash de zh-semi dot zhunder for yary

      this sounds almost like German!

      ze have veys of making you talk.

      metadoktor

      "The doktor is in."

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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by belden (Friar) on Apr 11, 2002 at 01:10 UTC
    I was trying to talk Perl over the phone one day and mispronounced $_ as "dunderscore" instead of "dollar underscore". Dunderscore has stuck with me ever since; I like the dunderheadedness of it.

    With Perl6 we'll be able to finally sing the old favorite:
    #! #! ... ... #! #! ... ... !

    blyman
    setenv EXINIT 'set noai ts=2'

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(crazyinsomniac) Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by crazyinsomniac (Prior) on Apr 11, 2002 at 00:00 UTC
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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by erikharrison (Deacon) on Apr 10, 2002 at 19:48 UTC

    Seems that several of us fall in to the "$var" being pronounces "string var" back from BASIC. BASIC is the only other language that I know (and that was years ago). I still have a bad habit of writing it "var$" instead of "$var". Actually, I don't have this problem - I've succesfully turned it into a problem writing BASIC vars.

    Oh, well

    Cheers,
    Erik
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Re: How do I pronounce all this stuff
by George_Sherston (Vicar) on Apr 11, 2002 at 09:19 UTC
    I say "dollar-var", when I'm singing my code to the tune of "Anything Goes".

    I usually translate { as a glottal stop followed by a change in pitch until the closing }. But don't try this at home.

    § George Sherston
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