On Mon, 2003-12-15 at 17:57, Timwi wrote:

(What does "boilerplate" mean anyway, and where does that word come

from?)

Boilerplate is writing that is reused without being changed much from the original. Programmers often use the term "boilerplate code", but the term really comes from the early 1900s. Boilerplate is steel that is used in steam boilers. It is text that is "strong as steel".

In the 1890s, boilerplate was actually cast or stamped in metal ready for the printing press and distributed to newspapers around the United States. Until the 1950s, thousands of newspapers received and used this kind of boilerplate from the nation's largest supplier, the Western Newspaper Union. Some companies also sent out press releases as boilerplate so that they had to be printed as written.

(Paraphrased from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211686,00.html)