Editing Boilerplate text

{{short description|Standard template of written text}}
'''Boilerplate text''', or simply '''boilerplate''', is any written text ([[copy (written)|copy]]) that can be reused in new contexts or applications without significant changes to the original. The term is used about statements, contracts, and [[source code]], and is often used [[Pejorative|pejoratively]] to refer to [[cliché|clichéd]] or unoriginal writing.

==Etymology==
"Boiler plate" originally referred to the [[rolled steel]] used to make [[boiler]]s to heat water.<ref>"boiler plate", ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' ([https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boilerplate online])</ref><ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/boilerplate Boilerplate], Dictionary.com</ref> Metal printing plates ([[type metal]]) used in [[hot metal typesetting]] of prepared text such as advertisements or syndicated columns were distributed to small, local [[newspaper]]s, and became known as 'boilerplates' by analogy. One large supplier to newspapers of this kind of boilerplate was the Western Newspaper Union, which supplied "ready-to-print stories" that "contained national or international news" to papers with smaller geographic footprints, which could include advertisements pre-printed next to the conventional content.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2004/05/29/building-that-was-home-to-boilerplate-to-become-luxury-condos/|title=Building that was home to boilerplate to become luxury condos|website=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=29 May 2004 |access-date=2024-02-05}}</ref>

==Boilerplate language==
{{Main|Boilerplate clause}}
In contract law, the term "boilerplate language" or "[[boilerplate clause]]" describes the parts of a contract that are considered standard. A [[standard form contract]] or boilerplate contract is a contract between two parties, where the terms and conditions of the contract are set by one of the parties, and the other party has little or no ability to negotiate more favorable terms and is thus placed in a "take it or leave it" position.

Boilerplate language may also exist in pre-created [[form letter]]s. The person sending the form letter then usually only needs to add his or her name at the end of the pre-written greeting and body. Typically, the sender of such a letter needs to personalize it minimally, often by just adding their name or specific details to a pre-written greeting and body, making these templates highly practical for mass communication or repetitive correspondence.

== Boilerplate code ==
{{main|Boilerplate code}}
In computer programming, boilerplate is the sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration. Such boilerplate code is particularly salient when the programmer must include a lot of code for minimal functionality.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lämmel |first1=Ralf |title=Proceedings of the 2003 ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Types in Languages Design and Implementation |last2=Jones |first2=Simon Peyton |date=2003 |publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]] |isbn=9781581136494 |series=TLDI '03 |location=New York |pages=26–37 |chapter=Scrap your boilerplate: a practical design pattern for generic programming |doi=10.1145/604174.604179 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221282345 |s2cid=9472305}}</ref>

A related phenomenon, bookkeeping code, is code that is not part of the business logic, but is interleaved with it to keep data structures updated or able to handle secondary [[Aspect (computer science)|aspects]] of the program.

==Boilerplate statement==
A boilerplate statement or response generally refers to a message used with minimal effort for multiple different situations. Examples include official statements from government officials such as "[[thoughts and prayers|Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected]]" or messages left by companies' [[voicemail]] such as "Thank you for [[Hold (telephone)|holding]]. Your call is very important to us."{{cn|date=January 2024}}

==See also==
* [[Canned response]]
* [[Clipboard manager]]
* [[Library (computer science)]]
* [[Snippet management]]
* [[Template processor]]s are used to generate boilerplate text automatically
* [[Transpromotional]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190202031741/http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Railway/en/ag2.php?id=49&pn=4 Example of a boiler plate]

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[[Category:Computer jargon]]
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[[Category:Articles with example C code]]
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