Ask HN: When was the first usage of “Hello, world”?

6 points by sillysaurus3 ↗ HN
I realize this might be an impossible question to answer, but I was just wondering how "Hello, world" started as a trend.

2 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 12.4 ms ] thread
The first use I know of that gained wide recognition was in Kernighan and Ritchie's "The C Programming Language" from 1978.

"1.1 Getting Started The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it. The first program to write is the same for all languages: Print the words hello, world"

I find it interesting, because K&R seem to assume that this was already a standard approach, and also because of the comma after hello. In my first attempt in a new language, I don't think I would be paying that much attention to grammar...