Pling

Pling

1. An alternate name for the exclamation mark ('!'). Also referred to as bang or screamer (in typesetting).

The pling symbol (exclamation mark) is used as an operator function in many languages. It commonly conveys the meaning "not", as in "if ! value then ..." or "!=" meaning not equal. In VB and VBA it can also mean "dictionary lookup operator" and can be used when referencing fields in a collection or record set.

2. In mathematics an exclamation mark (a pling) is used to denote a factorial sum, so n! means the product of all the numbers from 1 to n. For example 3! = 3 x 2 x 1, 5! = 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 and so on. Apparently 0! is defined as 1.