From: Patrick Naughton <naughton@starwave.com> Subject: Re: Why CAFEBABE? Date: 1996/05/27 06:12:58 +0100 Message-ID: <31A939DA.E3@starwave.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 156920244 references: <31A0F05B.5759@artima.com> <31A2F78B.44F9@parallax.co.uk> content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii organization: Starwave Corporation mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: comp.lang.java x-mailer: Mozilla 3.0b4 (Win95; I) Bill Venners wrote: > > The first 4 bytes of every Java class file has the magic value > 0xCAFEBABE. I am curious. Does anyone know how this value was chosen? > Does anyone who doesn't know want to venture a guess? Strangely enough the magic number for .class files was chosen long before the name Java was ever uttered in reference to this language. We were looking for something fun, unique and easy to remember. 0xcafebabe was better than the second runner-up, 0xdeadbabe. :-) It is only a coincidence that the oblique reference to the cute barristas at Peet's Coffee was foreshadowing for the name Java. -- Patrick Naughton, senior vice president of technology Starwave Corporation, mailto:naugh...@starwave.com http://www.starwave.com/people/naughton (206) 957-3053 (206) 957-2009 (fax)