A few weeks ago I needed a few integer values whose hexadecimal values were clearly recognizable when debugging -- magic numbers. I did a search on the web for a list of good magic number, which I was sure would exist, but couldn't find any. I ended up using 0xBADDEAD and 0xBEEFDAD which I thought were pretty good.

Then I made a mistake: I decided that I should make that list of magic numbers if no one else would. It wasn't until I was done that that I realized the depth of pointlessness of the thing I had just done. But here it is: a list of all hexadecimal words that are meaningful in the english language, in the form of a google spreadsheet. As proof of the words' meaningfulness each word has a link to a dictionary or encyclopedia describing the meaning. Most of them are pretty obscure -- like dace, a small fish, or eba, a food eaten in West Africa. However, some are pretty meaningful (scroll down to see the list, for some reason blogger messes up the formatting):
















ace A playing card
bad Not good; unfavorable; negative
bead A small decorative object
bee A flying insect
beef Culinary name for meat from bovines
cab A type of public transport
cafe A coffee-shop
dad Father
dead Bereft of life
deaf Insensitive to sound
decade A period of 10 years
decaf Decaffeinated coffee
fabaceae A family of flowering plants
facade The front of a building
face The front part of the head

The next time I or anyone else has to come up with a magic number it should be a lot easier. I'll try to ignore the fact that I probably spent ten times as long compiling this list as any programmer spends inventing magic numbers in a lifetime.