This humorous prefix is an idiomatic qualifier in the name of a computer program, organization, or event for the intention of elevating love and interest for something that seems confessedly unoriginal or unnecessarily repeated.[2] This is a programmer
practical joke which is an allusion to the culture of programmer esteem for perfection as seen by software programming principles such as
"Keep It Simple Stupid" (KISS) and
"Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY).
Stephen C. Johnson is credited with establishing the naming convention in the late 1970s when he named his
compiler-compileryacc (Yet Another Compiler-Compiler), since he felt there were already numerous compiler-compilers in circulation at the time.
Outside of computing, the YA construct has appeared in astronomy, where YAMOO means Yet Another Map of Orion.[3]
^"Yahoo! - Company History". Yahoo! Inc. Archived from
the original on 1999-10-13. The name Yahoo! is supposed to stand for 'Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle' but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.
^Paul Gil (2 July 2019).
"What Does "Yahoo" Stand For?". Lifewire.
Dotdash. Retrieved 20 January 2020. Yahoo stands for 'Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.'