What is boilerplate code?

Question

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,

Answer 1

Boilerplate definition is becoming more global in many other programming languages nowadays. It comes from OOP and hybrid languages that have become OOP and were before procedual have now the same goal to keep repeating the code you build with a model/template/class/object hence why they adapt this term. You make a template and the only things you do for each instance of a template are the parameters to individualize an object this part is what we call boilerplate. You simply re-use the code you made a template of, just with different parameters.

Synonyms
a blueprint is a boilerplate
a stencil is a boilerplate
a footer is a boilerplate
a design pattern for multiple use is a boilerplate
a signature of a mail is a boilerplate

Answer 2

Boilerplate code means a piece of code which can be used over and over again. On the other hand, anyone can say that it's a piece of reusable code.

The term actually came from the steel industries.

For a little bit of history, according to Wikipedia:

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.

Now according to Wikipedia:

In object-oriented programs, classes are often provided with methods for getting and setting instance variables. The definitions of these methods can frequently be regarded as boilerplate. Although the code will vary from one class to another, it is sufficiently stereotypical in structure that it would be better generated automatically than written by hand. For example, in the following Java class representing a pet, almost all the code is boilerplate except for the declarations of Pet, name and owner:

public class Pet {
    private PetName name;
    private Person owner;

    public Pet(PetName name, Person owner) {
        this.name = name;
        this.owner = owner;
    }

    public PetName getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(PetName name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public Person getOwner() {
        return owner;
    }

    public void setOwner(Person owner) {
        this.owner = owner;
    }
}

Answer 3

From whatis.techtarget.com :

In information technology, a boilerplate is a unit of writing that can be reused over and over without change. By extension, the idea is sometimes applied to reusable programming as in "boilerplate code." The term derives from steel manufacturing, where boilerplate is steel rolled into large plates for use in steam boilers. The implication is either that boilerplate writing has been time-tested and strong as "steel," or possibly that it has been rolled out into something strong enough for repeated reuse.

Beyond programming :

A boilerplate can be compared to a certain kind of template, which can be thought of as a fill-in-the-blanks boilerplate. Some typical boilerplates include: mission statements, safety warnings, commonly used installation procedures, copyright statements, and responsibility disclaimers.

In my experience as a programmer, the proper kind of boilerplate code is typically a bunch of code that you start off with that's not large and/or complicated enough to be called a framework.

A typical example would be the HTML5 Boilerplate.

Answer 4

In a nutshell, boilerplate codes are repetitive codes required to be included in the application with little to no change by the program/framework, and contribute nothing to the logic of the application. When you write pseudo codes you can remove boilerplate codes. The recommendation is to use a proper Editor that generates boilerplate codes.

in HTML, the boilerplate codes in the interface.

<!DOCTYPE html>   
<html>   
   <head>   
      <title></title>   
   </head>   
   <body> </body>   
</html>

in C#, The boilerplate codes of properties.

class Price
{   
  private string _price;   
  public string Price
  {   
     get {return _price;}   
     set {_price= value;}   
  }   
}  

Answer 5

"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

Answer 6

From Wikipedia:

In computer programming, boilerplate is the term used to describe sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration. It is more often used when referring to languages that are considered verbose, i.e. the programmer must write a lot of code to do minimal jobs.

So basically you can consider boilerplate code as a text that is needed by a programming language very often all around the programs you write in that language.

Modern languages are trying to reduce it, but also the older language which has specific type-checkers (for example OCaml has a type-inferrer that allows you to avoid so many declarations that would be boilerplate code in a more verbose language like Java)