Re:Why do we call it “boilerplate code?”
by jefftk on Tuesday November 15, 2022 @04:52PM
(#33615553)
I don't think any of those show that the use of "boilerplate" to mean "required verbose writing" predates boiler nameplates though?
They don't but it explains why pre-set/cast type plates that were sent ready-made to newspapers were called 'boiler plate' which in turn explains the origin of 'boilerplate' a lot better than the nameplate thing.
Re:Why do we call it “boilerplate code?”
by Smoosh on Tuesday November 15, 2022 @05:21PM
(#33615931)
A large slab of standardised content/dimensions ?
Re:Why do we call it “boilerplate code?”
by nickpinkston on Tuesday November 15, 2022 @06:00PM
(#33616423)
Yea, that's interesting, but I still bet this is likely a case of no one seriously looking into this term and knowing the full lexical space that well.
Boilerplate's early use was referring to boiler material, but it likely got semantically mixed together with the term for "standard form plate affixed to a boiler", as this term is actually more from the legal industry where it's literally a document with blanks you fill out, which more closely fits this definition.
I think people have looked into it and produced the most likely explanation. The name plate thing is a fun kind of 'folk etymology' theory but isn't supported by any evidence at all beside the hunches of people who've been around boilers. The other variant has a wealth of evidence supporting it.
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=boilerplate
And the OED on the original 'boiler plate'
1. Usually as two words. A plate or sheet of metal of suitable thickness and strength to be used in constructing the shell of a boiler. Also as mass noun: metal in the form of such plates. Cf. boiler-iron n. at boiler n. Compounds 2.
1793 Star 13 Nov. (advt.) Table of the number and dimensions of Boiler Plates and weights thereof, suitable for Boilers, from eight to sixteen feet and a half diameter.
1860 D. K. Clark & Z. Colburn Recent Pract. Locomotive Engine i. i. 1/1 The earliest recorded trials of the strength of boiler-plate, are those of Mr. Fairbairn, made in 1838.
1874 J. H. Collins Princ. Metal Mining (1875) xiii. 74 The kibble is simply an iron bucket made of boiler plates, riveted together.
1915 J. Wedgwood With Machine-guns in Gallipoli i. 4 Our mechanics..lined her bridges with boiler plate and leaky sand-bags.