(for example, in e-mail or Usenet) contained "{, }" and similar variants in the middle of words, something those programmers got used to.
fɔːɹ ɛɡzˈæmpəl, ɪn ˈiːmˈeɪl ɔːɹ jˈuːzənˌɛt kəntˈeɪnd "," ænd sˈɪmɪlɚ vˈɛɹiənts ɪnðə mˈɪdəl ʌv wˈɜːdz, sˈʌmθɪŋ ðoʊz pɹˈoʊɡɹæmɚz ɡɑːt jˈuːzd tuː.