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I am a place you will never visit.
I'm an origin of sorts, but not a real destination.
On some devices you could end up here by accident,
Especially if you don't know where you're going.

My coordinates are absolute.
Albeit less famous, I'm a programmer meme.
My name indicates I might be an ecumene,
but I am not, unlike Rebus Island.

What's my digital name?

If you've not heard of the meme, this will take some looking up, but the clues are very much there. These are a special kind of programmer, but by no means an uncommon kind.

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5 Answers 5

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latitude 0, longitude 0: Null Island

I am a place you will never visit.

It's in the middle of the ocean

I'm an origin of sorts, but not a real destination.

not a place you'd necessarily want to go, but all coordinates are based relative to its location

On some devices you could end up here by accident,

if your GPS gets messed up

Especially if you don't know where you're going.

locations without known coordinates are sometimes mapped to (0,0) by default

My coordinates are absolute.

absolutely 0,0

Albeit less famous, I'm a programmer meme.

0_o ?

My name indicates I might be an ecumene,

It's called Null Island, even though it's a tiny buoy

but I am not, unlike Rebus Island.

Not like Rebus Island, which is inhabitable land in the middle of a body of water

What's my digital name?

00

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  • $\begingroup$ @crid, Not a trick question, but have you seen a GPS unit/program take you to these coordinates when it didn't know where else to go? $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 23:28
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    $\begingroup$ This seems like it ought to be the right answer, more or less. If so, I think the actual words the questioner is looking for are "Null Island". (I am not making that an answer because crld has done the actual job and I don't want to create any temptation to give the credit to anyone else.) $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 23:57
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    $\begingroup$ @John: I've edited it into this answer. crld was the first to get it (without knowing the actual name) so he should get the accept. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Aug 20, 2016 at 5:16
  • $\begingroup$ @GarethMcCaughan, you were exactly right. Sorry I didn't see that earlier. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Aug 20, 2016 at 5:36
  • $\begingroup$ @John I have seen a GPS do that before; it can happen when it doesn't get a signal. $\endgroup$
    – crld
    Commented Aug 20, 2016 at 21:17
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Could it be:

Home (directory), i.e. /~

I am a place you will never visit.

You can't physically go to the directory

I'm an origin of sorts, but not a real destination

When you login, this is where you go, the origin of your session.

On some devices you could end up here by accident Especially if you don't know where you're going

If you type 'cd' without specifying a directory, e.g. by accident, you come here.

My coordinates are absolute

It is precisely "/~"

Albeit less famous, I'm a programmer meme

Lot's of meme's about "/~ is where the heart is" etc.

My name indicates I might be an ecumene but I am not, unlike Rebus Island

Name indicates it's somehwere inhabitable, which a home is, but again you can't go to this home.

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  • $\begingroup$ Yeah, but it has a physical presence. Good answer. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 21:13
  • $\begingroup$ I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you mean by 'it has a physical presence'. Are you saying that the answer is somewhere that you cannot find physically anywhere at all? $\endgroup$
    – Avik Mohan
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 21:14
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    $\begingroup$ The title best answers that. All I can say for now. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 21:19
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It is

Null

I am a place you will never visit.

Dereferencing a null pointer will cause an exception or a crash.

I'm an origin of sorts, but not a real destination

In many programming languages, newly declared references point to null by default, and null is usually defined as memory address zero.

On some devices you could end up here by accident Especially if you don't know where you're going

Null reference/pointer exceptions are a common computer software glitch.

My coordinates are absolute

The address of null is address point zero.

Albeit less famous, I'm a programmer meme

Branch to null (i.e. go away)

My name indicates I might be an ecumene but I am not, unlike Rebus Island

A null reference is a reference, but going there will cause an exception (or possibly even a crash).

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  • $\begingroup$ Yep. That's all correct. Might involve null. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Aug 20, 2016 at 5:13
  • $\begingroup$ Null Island is a place at (0,0) on the map! $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Aug 20, 2016 at 5:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Deusovi, that's it. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Aug 20, 2016 at 5:14
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Answer:

Source

I'm a place you will never visit:

There isn't a place called Source for you to visit

I'm an origin of sorts, but not a real destination:

Well you get stuff from a source

Especially if you don't know where you're going:

Most people don't know how they got there(web browser source code)

My coordinates are absolute:

Hit F12 on a browser

Albeit less famous, I'm a programmer meme:

People associate source code with typical programming wizardry

My name indicates I might be an ecumene:

No idea

But I am not, :

No idea

What's my digital name?

Source Code

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  • $\begingroup$ This was somewhat of a stretch $\endgroup$
    – Areeb
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 21:38
  • $\begingroup$ I wouldn't provide an answer if you have to list 'no idea' as how it works in multiple places haha $\endgroup$
    – Avik Mohan
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 21:52
  • $\begingroup$ @AvikMohan I mean someone else could see things in a different way and add that to my answer, or maybe get inspired for another answer $\endgroup$
    – Areeb
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 21:53
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It is:

root. Or "/", the root directory, also known as just "root"

I am a place you will never visit.

You can't physically go there

I'm an origin of sorts, but not a real destination

It's the origin of all file paths

On some devices you could end up here by accident

If you accidentally put a space char after the first "/" of an absolute path, you could cd to root, eg "cd / opt" instead of "cd /opt"

Especially if you don't know where you're going

My coordinates are absolute

You can only get there by going to "/", and paths that start with a slash are absolute paths

Albeit less famous, I'm a programmer meme

Hackers use "getting root" to mean "getting root access", and the only way to get to the root directory is if you have root access

My name indicates I might be an ecumene

People talk about their "roots" to mean where they came from

but I am not, unlike Rebus Island

Huh?

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  • $\begingroup$ Ecumene is a scientific term to refer to a geographical place people inhabit, so root doesn't really fit that. $\endgroup$
    – Avik Mohan
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 21:44
  • $\begingroup$ @avik the definition I found was a place people have completely inhabited (past tense), so it's their "home" and where their "roots" are $\endgroup$
    – Bohemian
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 22:42
  • $\begingroup$ I see. It wouldn't be an argument I'd make but I now see where you're coming from $\endgroup$
    – Avik Mohan
    Commented Aug 19, 2016 at 23:32

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