Hexspeak, like leetspeak, is a novelty form of variant English spelling. Hexspeak predates the modern leetspeak by many years (and may be one of its precursors), but it was invented for an entirely different purpose; the two ways of spelling are based on similar principles.

Hexspeak was created by programmers who wanted a unique identifier with which to mark memory and/or data. Since they used hexadecimal notation, which uses the digits 0123456789ABCDEF, it was possible to create small words.

Hexspeak is mostly either 16 or 32 bits when it is used for magic numbers. Examples include deadbeef, cafebabe, decafbad, baadfeed, baadf00d, c0edbabe and c001d00d. Note the use of the digits "1" and "0" to represent the letters "L" and "O".

One could also use the prefixes and suffixes that are sometimes used to denote that it is a hexadecimal number. For example, old Intel syntax puts an "h" at the end of the hexadecimal number to indicate that the number is base 16. This makes it possible to write new words. For example: 1517AB19B17Ch ("Is it a big bitch"). Note, however, that it is impossible to just spell "bitch" as a single word, as older Intel assembly syntax hexadecimal numbers that begin with a letter (such as B in Bitch) have to start with a zero to distinguish them from variables. "Bitch" would then be "0B17Ch".

Also, it is possible to use the Pascal notation for hexadecimal numbers for words starting with S. For example: $EA7 ("Seat").

External links

• http://www.aarongiles.com/funfacts.html
• http://www.decafbad.com/twiki/bin/view/Main/HexOddities