What are the nicknames for common programming special characters?

Question

There are common slang names for period, exclamation mark, and asterisk:
. "dot"
! "bang"
* "star"

but what are the teched-out, one-syllable names for characters like
%
&
<
{
[
;
etc.

Answer 1

The Internet knows plenty of these

Or, check the jargon file.

Answer 2

Strive for clarity and don't use slang, but instead use the commonly accepted name of each symbol. Thus,

. dot or period
! exclamation point
* asterisk or star
% percent (sometimes mod)
& ampersand
< less than
{ left brace
[ left bracket
; semicolon

Answer 3

The intercal reference manual is the definitive guide:

.           spot                    identify 16-bit variable      
:           two-spot                identify 32-bit variable      
,           tail                    identify 16-bit array         
;           hybrid                  identify 32-bit array         
#           mesh                    identify constant             
=           half-mesh                                             
'           spark                   grouper                       
`           backspark                                             
!           wow                     equivalent to spark-spot      
?           what                    unary exlusive OR (ASCII)     
"           rabbit-ears             grouper                       
".          rabbit                  equivalent to ears-spot       
|           spike                                                 
%           double-oh-seven         percentage qualifier          
-           worm                    used with angles              
<           angle                   used with worms               
>           right angle                                           
(           wax                     precedes line label           
)           wane                    follows line label            
[           U turn                                                
]           U turn back                                           
{           embrace                                               
}           bracelet                                              
*           splat                   flags invalid statements      
&           ampersand[5]            unary logical AND             
V           V                       unary logical OR              
            (or book)                                             
V-          bookworm                unary exclusive OR            
            (or universal qualifier)                              
$           big money               unary exclusive OR (ASCII)                            
c|          change                  binary mingle                 
~           sqiggle                 binary select                 
_           flat worm                                             
            overline                indicates "times 1000"        
+           intersection            separates list items          
/           slat                                                  
\           backslat                                              
@           whirlpool                                             
-'         hookworm                                              
^           shark                                                 
            (or simply sharkfin)

Answer 4

Here's a few, poetry style:

<> !*''#
^"`$$-
!*=@$_
%*<> ~#4
&[]../
|{,,SYSTEM HALTED

The poem can be appreciated only by reading it aloud:

Waka waka bang splat tick tick hash,
Caret quote back-tick dollar dollar dash,
Bang splat equal at dollar under-score,
Percent splat waka waka tilde number four,
Ampersand bracket bracket dot dot slash,
Vertical-bar curly-bracket comma comma CRASH.

Source: http://babek.info/libertybasicfiles/lbnews/nl123/fun.htm

Answer 5

In addition to Tyler McHenry's list there is also Jeff's blog post which links to the ASCII entry in The New Hacker's Dictionary.

Answer 6

# = "pound"

as in

#sand

or

#puppy

Answer 7

Be sure to find the more British-flavored ones, I like the #! (read "crunch bang") as in CrunchBang Linux. And for pure weirdness, I enjoy calling "#" the "octothorpe."

Some other fun ones that I've heard (I'd be hard pressed to source these):

= "gets" (when reading C code "int num = 5;" would be "num gets five")
` "quasiquote" (lisp)
#! together are often pronounced "shebang" (consider that a kind of tech-dipthong)

Answer 8

@ is pronounced "dog" (собака) in Russian (for the visual picture).

Answer 9

Consider these extras:

! not
@ these (Perl)
$ this (Perl)
: otherwise (ternary operator)
; stop (read as a telegram?)
* anything (regex-esque)
& and
| or

Answer 10

Hehe, when I was a kid, I called the "#" - character (don't laugh!) "eh". And "$" was called "xsssss".