"Hello, World": history and meaning explained

Hello, World: This simple, not even creative phrase has shaped the digital world like no other. Read about the story behind it and why the phrase became famous around the globe.

A small phrase for humans, a big one for computers: "Hello, World" is quite famous.

Computers have achieved a lot in a relatively short time: they have fundamentally changed the world and advanced progress exponentially. Not surprisingly, many legends have been created in the process.

This is what's behind "Hello, World": the history of computer languages

The story of "Hello, World" goes back to 1978. This was the pioneering time of the computer era, still far from visually operable systems like Windows and form-fitting devices like the iPhone. The C programming language was a foundation of this development and a certain Brian W. Kernighan, together with Dennis Ritchie, wrote a textbook about it:

• The title was "The C Programming Language" and it soon became one of the world's leading references for learning C.
• The book is still commercially available today, albeit in newer editions.
• In the basic exercises, which allowed users to program a simple text output via print command, Kernighan stated it as "Hello, World."
• This text was deliberately generic and without major significance, as programming was the focus. Kernighan stated that he had seen the phrase years earlier in a cartoon.

Because of the rapid spread of C around the world and the prominence of the book, the phrase became a cultural asset within a few years and has not been forgotten over time. There's no question about it: anyone who studies programming languages today is almost bound to come across "Hello, World," as described here, for example.