the.com/main
The line of code that starts everything and blames nothing.
means The entry point of a program — the function that runs first and kicks off everything else.
from From Latin 'manus' (hand), which gave Old French 'main' meaning hand, and by extension 'principal' or 'chief' — the hand that holds control. English borrowed this sense of 'chief, principal, most important' (as in 'main road' or 'main point') centuries before programmers in the C tradition borrowed the word again, naming the one function every program must have: the starting hand that sets everything else in motion.
- origin
- short for main routine, coined by early C programmers
- universal entry
- nearly every language still calls it main() to start
- slang shift
- now means your primary account, partner, or vibe
- irony
- the most important function, named with zero creativity