What is boilerplate code?

terminology definition boilerplate
Nate Parsons picture Nate Parsons · Oct 21, 2010 · Viewed 168.4k times · Source

A coworker had never heard of this, and I couldn't provide a real definition. For me, it's always been an instance of 'I-know-it-when-I-see-it'.

Bonus question, who originated the term?

Answer

Adam Vandenberg picture Adam Vandenberg · Oct 21, 2010

"boilerplate code" is any seemingly repetitive code that shows up again and again in order to get some result that seems like it ought to be much simpler.

It's a subjective definition.

The term comes from "boilerplate" in the newspaper industry: wiki

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