Amethyst

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Amethyst/Brain/Infobot/Module/Math.pm  view on Meta::CPAN

	# print STDERR "Math: Premunge: '$content'\n";

	# Perform usual infobot substitutions
    $content =~ s/ to the / ** /g;
    $content =~ s/\btimes\b/\*/g;
    $content =~ s/\bdiv(ided by)? /\/ /g;
    $content =~ s/\bover /\/ /g;
    $content =~ s/\bsquared/\*\*2 /g;
    $content =~ s/\bcubed/\*\*3 /g;
    # $content =~ s/\bto\s+(the\s+)?(\d+)(r?st|nd|rd|th)?( power)?/\*\*$1 /ig;
    $content =~ s/\bpercent of/*0.01*/ig;
    $content =~ s/\bpercent/*0.01/ig;
    $content =~ s/\% of\b/*0.01*/g;
    $content =~ s/\%/*0.01/g;
    $content =~ s/\bsquare root of (\d+)/sqrt($1)/ige;
    $content =~ s/\bsqrt\s*(\d+)/sqrt($1)/ige;
    # $content =~ s/\bcubed? root of (\d+)/$1 **(1.0\/3.0) /ig;
    $content =~ s/ of / * /;
    $content =~ s/(bit(-| )?)?xor(\'?e?d(\s+with))?/\^/g;
    $content =~ s/(bit(-| )?)?or(\'?e?d(\s+with))?/\|/g;
    $content =~ s/bit(-| )?and(\'?e?d(\s+with))?/\& /g;
    $content =~ s/(plus|and)/+/ig;

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

WebTTS => <reply> $who, WWW-based Trouble Ticketing System for ISP's. URL: http://www.gashalot.com/software/webtts/
WebX10 => <reply> $who, Web Based GUI to control X10 Devices. URL: http://www.famewolf.com/webx10/
Weeder => <reply> $who, Binary identification tool. URL: http://members.teleweb.at/erikajo/weeder.htm
weedlog => <reply> $who, A packet logger to help debug network connections.. URL: http://www.firepool.com/weedlog/
WEEDS => <reply> $who, Java application that converts XML files describing plants into an HTML flora. URL: http://www.honeylocust.com/weeds/
WeirdX => <reply> $who, A pure Java X Window System server. URL: http://www.jcraft.com/weirdx/
WEKA => <reply> $who, Data Mining Workbench in Java. URL: http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/ml/weka/
Welcome2L => <reply> $who, Linux ANSI boot logo. URL: http://www.littleigloo.org/
Wforward => <reply> $who, Virtual Web hosting. URL: http://ac2i.dyn.ml.org/wforward.html
Wget-HTML-Interface => <reply> $who, HTML-based Wget-Interface. URL: http://www.provi.de/s.schliesing/wget/
Wget-New-Percentage => <reply> $who, New progress/percentage indicator for WGNU Wget. URL: http://www.biscom.net/~cade/away/
WHAMp => <reply> $who, An mpg123 frontend using the gtk-toolkit. URL: http://www.casema.net/~bosboom/
whatpix => <reply> $who, Duplicate file finder.. URL: http://www.bogus.net/~codex/
whats => <reply> $who, Grab useful info from Netcraft. URL: http://www.luciddesigns.com/chrislea/whats/index.html
Wheel of Falken => <reply> $who, A Wheel of Fortune style game for Falken. URL: http://bbs.ipass.net/rds/
Where's Your Grammar? => <reply> $who, A simple config-file-and-command-line-parser generator.. URL: http://www.larsshack.org/sw/wyg/
which => <reply> $who, Show full path of commands. URL: http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlo17/which/
whichcap => <reply> $who, Allows Linux capabilities to be used via sudo. URL: http://epona.ucam.org/rrw/whichcap.html
whichman => <reply> $who, whichman, ftff and ftwhich are fault tolerant search utilities.. URL: http://www.linuxfocus.org/~guido.socher/
WhirlGif => <reply> $who, Command-line animated GIF creator. URL: http://www.msg.net/utility/whirlgif/
Whodat => <reply> $who, modified whois. URL: ftp://divisionbyzero.com/pub/

factpacks/html.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

html <FRAME MARGINHEIGHT> => ( MARGINHEIGHT=number ) Here number is the top and bottom margin thickness in pixels.
html <FRAME SCROLLING> => (SCROLLING=type) Here type is one of yes, no or auto. It specifies if the frame is to have a scroll bar: auto (the default) means the browser will decide.
html <FRAME NORESIZE> => Stops the user from resizing the frame..
html <FRAME FRAMEBORDER> => (FRAMEBORDER=yes/no) Specifies if the border should be displayed.
html <FRAME FRAMESPACING> => (FRAMESPACING=number) Here number is the spacing between frames in pixels.
html <FRAME ALIGN> => (ALIGN = "alignment") One of: LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, TEXTTOP, MIDDLE, ABSMIDDLE, BASELINE, BOTTOM, or ABSBOTTOM.
html <FRAMESET> => The FRAMESET tag replaces the BODY tag in a document and is used to split the documents window into a set of smaller frames. See: html <FRAMESET> 2
html <FRAMESET> 2 => FRAMESET tags can be nested to create more complicated frame layouts. NOFRAME tags can also be placed in a frameset.
example <FRAMESET> => <FRAMESET attributes> frame tags </FRAMESET>
html <FRAMESET attributes> => The attributes for the tag <FRAMESET> are: ROWS & COLS
html <FRAMESET ROWS> => (ROWS="row heights") Here "row heights" specifies a list of values for the rows, each one can be specified as a percentage, a pixel value or as "*". See: html <FRAMESET ROWS> 2
html <FRAMESET ROWS> 2 => The frameset will be split vertically into frames based on these values. Rows with "*"'s in them will have any remaining space split between them.
html <FRAMESET COLS> => (COLS="column widths") Here "column widths" specifies a list of values for the columns. The width of each column can be specified as a percentage, a pixel value or as "*". See: html <FRAMESET COLS> 2
html <FRAMESET COLS> 2 => The frameset will be split into frames based on these values. Columns with a width of "*" will split the space that is not assigned to other columns.
html <H1> => The heading 1 tag defines a level 1 heading. It is typically shown in a very large bold font with several blank lines around it, and is used by automatic indexers to describe a page.
example <H1> => <H1> text </H1> & <H1 ALIGN=alignment > text </H1> & <H1 SRC="URL" > text </H1> & <H1 DINGBAT="entity-name" > text </H1>
html <H1 attributes> => The attributes for the HTML tag <H1> are: ALIGN, SRC, DINGBAT, NOWRAP & CLEAR
html <H1 ALIGN> => The alignment attribute can be LEFT, RIGHT, or CENTER -- it defines the placement of the header on the screen. <H1 ALIGN=alignment > text </H1>
html <H1 SRC> => The SRC attribute identifies a graphic image to be embedded before the header text. <H1 SRC="URL" > text </H1>
html <H1 DINGBAT> => The DINGBAT attribute identifies an iconic entity to be embedded. <H1 DINGBAT="entity-name" > text </H1>
html <H1 NOWRAP> => The NOWRAP attribute prevents the browser from breaking long header lines; use a <BR> to break those lines yourself. <H1 NOWRAP> text </H1>
html <H1 CLEAR> => The clear attribute is used to position a header after a graphic: it can be LEFT, RIGHT, or ALL & specifies which margin should be clear. <H1 CLEAR=clear > text </H1>
html <H2> => The heading 2 tag defines a level 2 heading. It is typically shown in a large bold font with several blank lines around it. See: <H1 attributes>

factpacks/html.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

example <MARQUEE> => <MARQUEE> text </MARQUEE> and See: html <MARQUEE attributes> 
html <MARQUEE attributes> => ALIGN, BEHAVIOR, BGCOLOR, DIRECTION, HEIGHT, HSPACE, LOOP, SCROLLAMOUNT, SCROLLDELAY, WIDTH, VSPACE, and WIDTH
html <MARQUEE ALIGN> => The ALIGN attribute works like the ALIGN attribute in the IMG tag, setting the location of the surrounding text. "align" can be TOP, BOTTOM, or MIDDLE.
example <MARQUEE ALIGN> => <MARQUEE ALIGN="align"> text </MARQUEE> 
html <MARQUEE BEHAVIOR> => The BEHAVIOR attribute defines the way the text moves. SCROLL means that the text slides into the marquee box and out again, then repeats. SLIDE means that the text slides into the marquee box, stops when it is all in, then...
example <MARQUEE BEHAVIOR> => <MARQUEE BEHAVIOR="behavior"> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE BGCOLOR> => The BGCOLOR attribute specifies the colour to be used for the background. rrggbb is a six digit hexadecimal number with the first two digits specifying the red value, the middle two the green value, and the last two the blue...
example <MARQUEE BGCOLOR> => <MARQUEE BGCOLOR="#rrggbb"> text </MARQUEE> & <MARQUEE BGCOLOR="colorname"> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE DIRECTION> => The DIRECTION attribute is LEFT or RIGHT and specifies the direction in which the text should move.
example <MARQUEE DIRECTION> => <MARQUEE DIRECTION="direction"> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE HEIGHT> => The HEIGHT and WIDTH attributes size the marquee box. If n is an absolute number, it is taken to mean pixels; if n is followed by a % sign it is taken to mean a percentage of the width or height (as appropriate) of the screen...
example <MARQUEE HEIGHT> => <MARQUEE HEIGHT=n> text </MARQUEE> & <MARQUEE HEIGHT=n%> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE HSPACE> => The HSPACE and VSPACE attributes specify a margin to the left and right, or above and below, the marquee box, in pixels. 
example <MARQUEE HSPACE> => <MARQUEE HSPACE=n> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE LOOP> => The LOOP attribute will cause the marquee to scroll n times. LOOP="INFINITE" will cause the marquee to scroll as long as the page is open.
example <MARQUEE LOOP> => <MARQUEE LOOP=n> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE SCROLLAMOUNT> => The SCROLLAMOUNT attribute specifies, the amount, in pixels, to move the scrolling text by each time it is drawn.
example <MARQUEE SCROLLAMOUNT> => <MARQUEE SCROLLAMOUNT=n> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE SCROLLDELAY> => The SCROLLDELAY attribute specifies the delay, in milliseconds, between drawings.
example <MARQUEE SCROLLDELAY> => <MARQUEE SCROLLDELAY=n> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE VSPACE> => The HSPACE and VSPACE attributes specify a margin to the left and right, or above and below, the marquee box, in pixels.
example <MARQUEE VSPACE> => <MARQUEE VSPACE=n> text </MARQUEE>
html <MARQUEE WIDTH> => The HEIGHT and WIDTH attributes size the marquee box. If n is an absolute number, it is taken to mean pixels; if n is followed by a % sign it is taken to mean a percentage of the width or height (as appropriate) of the screen.
example <MARQUEE WIDTH> => <MARQUEE WIDTH=n%> text </MARQUEE>
html <MATH> => The math tag introduces a description of an equation or formula. math-content is not yet fully defined.
example <MATH> => <MATH> math-content </MATH>
html <MENU> => <Menu List> The menu list tag introduces a menu list, which is made up of List Item (LI) tags and does not include bullets or numbers before them. For a bulleted list use UL. For a numbered list use OL. For a list without bullets or nu...
example <MENU> => <MENU> list entries </MENU> & <MENU COMPACT> list entries </MENU> **In HTML 3.0, the same effect can be achieved with <UL PLAIN>. The MENU tag will probably be obsolete some day, so use UL.
html <META> => <META [...]> The meta tag, which is only valid in a HEAD section, declares HTTP meta name/value pairs that are associated with the HTML document. These are used to extend the HTTP header information returned by the HTTP server. The sup...
html <MULTICOL> => <Multi Column Text> This tag is a container, used to split the display into columns without using frames or tables. The attributes of this tag are: COLS, GUTTER, and WIDTH
html <MULTICOL COLS> => (COLS="number") The COLS attribute is mandatory and controls how many columns the display will be split into.
html <MULTICOL GUTTER> => (GUTTER="pixels") The GUTTER attribute controls the pixels of space between columns. It defaults to a value of 10.
html <MULTICOL WIDTH> => (WIDTH="number") The WIDTH attribute controls the width of an individual column. 

factpacks/html.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

html <TABLE CELLPADDING> => (CELLPADDING=number) This separates the cell borders and the text with a padding of number pixels.
html <TABLE CELLSPACING> => (CELLSPACING=number) This separates cells with a gutter of number pixels.
html <TABLE BGCOLOR> => (BGCOLOR="#rrggbb" -or- BGCOLOR="colorname") This attribute sets the background colour for the entire table. 
html <TABLE BORDERCOLOR> => (BORDERCOLOR="#rrggbb" -or- BORDERCOLOR="colorname") This attribute sets the border colour for the entire table.
html <TABLE BORDERCOLORLIGHT> => (BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#rrggbb" -or- BORDERCOLORLIGHT="colorname") This attribute sets the border highlight colour for the entire table.
html <TABLE BORDERCOLORDARK> => (BORDERCOLORDARK="#rrggbb" -or- BORDERCOLORDARK="colorname") This attribute sets the border shadow colour for the entire table.
html <TABLE VALIGN> => (VALIGN="valign") This attribute sets the vertical alignment for the entire table. "valign"is TOP or BOTTOM.
html <TABLE CLEAR> => (CLEAR=clear) Here "clear" should be one of LEFT, RIGHT, or ALL and specifies which margin should be clear.
html <TABLE NOFLOW> => (NOFLOW) This attribute prevents text flow around the table and is equivalent to setting the CLEAR attribute on the element after the table.
html <TABLE COLSPEC> => (COLSPEC=colspec) Here colspec is a list of column alignments and widths, separated by spaces. There should be one entry for each column in the table, and each should be an optional capital letter for alignment (one of L (left...
html <TABLE UNITS> => (UNITS=units) This makes sense only if the COLSPEC or WIDTH attributes are being used and specifies the units to be used for the column or table widths. units should be one of, en: widths are in en spaces, proportional to font s...
html <TABLE DP> => (DP="character") Here "character" is the character (the default is ".") to be used in aligning for decimal point alignment. 
html <TABLE NOWRAP> => (NOWRAP) This attribute prevents word wrap within table entries.
html <TBODY> => The TBODY tag is used to group together a number of rows within a table, for assigning ID or STYLE values. (CLASS=type) This attribute indicates the class that the element belongs too. (ID=value) This attribute specifies a unique valu...
example <TBODY> => <TBODY> table body </TBODY>
html <TD> => <Table Data> Valid only in a TR, the table data tag defines a table cell. ( See also: html <TD attributes> )
html <TD attributes> => The attributes for this tag are: COLSPAN, ROWSPAN, NOWRAP, ALIGN, VALIGN, BGCOLOR, BORDERCOLOR, BORDERCOLORLIGHT, and BORDERCOLORDARK 
html <TD COLSPAN> => (COLSPAN="number") the number of columns this cell occupies.
html <TD ROWSPAN> => (ROWSPAN="number") the number of rows this cell occupies.
html <TD NOWRAP> => (NOWRAP) This attribute prevents word wrap within the cell.
html <TD ALIGN> => (ALIGN="align") governs the alignment of the text within the table cell. "align" can be LEFT, RIGHT or CENTER.

factpacks/jargon-split.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

buried treasure2 is  anything *but* treasure.  Buried   treasure almost always needs to be dug up and removed.  "I just   found that the scheduler sorts its queue using {bubble sort}!   Buried treasure!" 
burn-in period is  n. 1. A factory test designed to catch systems   with {marginal} components before they get out the door; the   theory is that burn-in will protect customers by outwaiting the   steepest part of the {bathtub curve} (see {infant   m...
burn-in period2 is  length in which a person   using a computer is so intensely involved in his project that he   forgets basic needs such as food, drink, sleep, etc.  Warning   Excessive burn-in can lead to burn-out.  See {hack mode},   {larval stag...
burst page is  n. Syn. {banner}, sense 1.
busy-wait is  vi. Used of human behavior, conveys that the subject is   busy waiting for someone or something, intends to move instantly as   soon as it shows up, and thus cannot do anything else at the   moment.  "Can't talk now, I'm busy-waiting ti...
busy-wait2 is  `busy-wait' means to wait on an event by   {spin}ning through a tight or timed-delay loop that polls for   the event on each pass, as opposed to setting up an interrupt   handler and continuing execution on another part of the task.  T...
busy-wait3 is  time-sharing systems where   a busy-waiting program may {hog} the processor. 
buzz is  vi. 1. Of a program, to run with no indication of progress   and perhaps without guarantee of ever finishing; esp. said of   programs thought to be executing tight loops of code.  A program   that is buzzing appears to be {catatonic}, but yo...
buzz2 is  buzzing loop may eventually end of its own   accord.  "The program buzzes for about 10 seconds trying to sort   all the names into order."  See {spin}; see also {grovel}.   2. [ETA Systems] To test a wire or printed circuit trace for   cont...
buzz3 is   Some wire   faults will pass DC tests but fail a buzz test.  3. To process an   array or list in sequence, doing the same thing to each element.   "This loop buzzes through the tz array looking for a terminator   type." 
BWQ is  /B-W-Q/ [IBM acronym, `Buzz Word Quotient'] The   percentage of buzzwords in a speech or documents.  Usually roughly   proportional to {bogosity}.  See {TLA}.
by hand is  adv. Said of an operation (especially a repetitive,   trivial, and/or tedious one) that ought to be performed   automatically by the computer, but which a hacker instead has to   step tediously through.  "My mailer doesn't have a command ...
by hand2 is  replying to, so I have to do it   by hand."  This does not necessarily mean the speaker has to   retype a copy of the message; it might refer to, say, dropping into   a {subshell} from the mailer, making a copy of one's mailbox file,   r...
by hand3 is  and bottom of the   message in question, deleting the rest of the file, inserting `>'   characters on each line, writing the file, leaving the editor,   returning to the mailer, reading the file in, and later remembering   to delete the ...
byte is  /bit/ [techspeak] n. A unit of memory or data equal to   the amount used to represent one character; on modern architectures   this is usually 8 bits, but may be 9 on 36-bit machines.  Some   older architectures used `byte' for quantities of...
byte2 is  `bytes' that were actually bitfields of   1 to 36 bits!  These usages are now obsolete, and even 9-bit bytes   have become rare in the general trend toward power-of-2 word sizes.   Historical note The term originated in 1956 during the earl...
byte3 is  originally it was   described as 1 to 6 bits (typical I/O equipment of the period   used 6-bit chunks of information).  The move to an 8-bit byte   happened in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and   promulgated as a standard by th...
byte4 is  mutating the word `bite' so it would not be accidentally   misspelled as {bit}.  See also {nybble}. 
bytesexual is  /bit`sek'shu-*l/ adj. Said of hardware, denotes   willingness to compute or pass data in either {big-endian} or   {little-endian} format (depending, presumably, on a {mode bit}   somewhere).  See also {NUXI problem}.*C n. 1. The third ...
bytesexual2 is  1000011.  3. The name of a programming language designed by   Dennis Ritchie during the early 1970s and immediately used to   reimplement {{UNIX}}.  So called because many features derived   from an earlier compiler named `B' in comme...
bytesexual3 is  Stroustrup settled the   question by designing C++, there was a humorous debate over whether   C's successor should be named `D' or `P'.  C became immensely   popular outside Bell Labs after about 1980 and is now the dominant   langua...

factpacks/jargon-split.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

crash2 is  and scraping off the oxide may also   be referred to as a `head crash', whereas the term `system   crash' usually, though not always, implies that the operating   system or other software was at fault.  2. v. To fail suddenly.   "Has the s...
crash3 is  OS!" See   {down}.  Also used transitively to indicate the cause of the   crash (usually a person or a program, or both).  "Those idiots   playing {SPACEWAR} crashed the system." 3. vi. Sometimes said   of people hitting the sack after a l...
crash and burn is  vi.,n. A spectacular crash, in the mode of the   conclusion of the car-chase scene in the movie "Bullitt" and   many subsequent imitators.  Sun-3 monitors losing the flyback   transformer and lightning strikes on VAX-11/780 backpla...
crash and burn2 is  The construction   `crash-and-burn machine' is reported for a computer used   exclusively for alpha or {beta} testing, or reproducing bugs   (i.e., not for development).  The implication is that it wouldn't   be such a disaster if...
crash and burn3 is  would be inconvenienced. 
crawling horror is  n. Ancient crufty hardware or software that is   kept obstinately alive by forces beyond the control of the hackers   at a site.  Like {dusty deck} or {gonkulator}, but connotes   that the thing described is not just an irritation...
crawling horror2 is  "Mostly we code new stuff in C, but   they pay us to maintain one big FORTRAN II application from   nineteen-sixty-X that's a real crawling horror...."  Compare   {WOMBAT}. 
cray is  /kray/ n. 1. (properly, capitalized) One of the line of   supercomputers designed by Cray Research.  2. Any supercomputer at   all.  3. The {canonical} {number-crunching} machine.   The term is actually the lowercased last name of Seymour Cr...
cray2 is  co-founder of the company.  Numerous   vivid legends surround him, some true and some admittedly invented   by Cray Research brass to shape their corporate culture and image. 
cray instability is  n. A shortcoming of a program or algorithm that   manifests itself only when a large problem is being run on a powerful   machine (see {cray}).  Generally more subtle than bugs that can   be detected in smaller problems running o...
crayola is  /kray-oh'l*/ n. A super-mini or -micro computer that   provides some reasonable percentage of supercomputer performance   for an unreasonably low price.  Might also be a {killer micro}.
crayon is  n. 1. Someone who works on Cray supercomputers.  More   specifically, it implies a programmer, probably of the CDC ilk,   probably male, and almost certainly wearing a tie (irrespective of   gender).  Systems types who have a UNIX backgrou...
crayon2 is  A {computron} (sense 2) that   participates only in {number-crunching}.  3. A unit of   computational power equal to that of a single Cray-1.  There is a   standard joke about this that derives from an old Crayola crayon   promotional gim...
creationism is  n. The (false) belief that large, innovative designs   can be completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked   out of the void by the normal efforts of a team of normally   talented programmers.  In fact, experience has ...
creationism2 is  only from evolutionary, exploratory   interaction between one (or at most a small handful of)   exceptionally able designer(s) and an active user population ---   and that the first try at a big new idea is always wrong.   Unfortunat...
creationism3 is  planning models   beloved of {management}, they are generally ignored. 
creeping elegance is  n. Describes a tendency for parts of a design to   become {elegant} past the point of diminishing return.  This   often happens at the expense of the less interesting parts of the   design, the schedule, and other things deemed ...
creeping elegance2 is  {creeping featurism}, {second-system   effect}, {tense}. 
creeping featurism is  /kree'ping fee'chr-izm/ n. 1. Describes a   systematic tendency to load more {chrome} and {feature}s onto   systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed   when originally designed.  See also {feeping crea...
creeping featurism2 is  {BSD} UNIX has always been creeping   featurism."  2. More generally, the tendency for anything   complicated to become even more complicated because people keep   saying "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature   ...
creeping featurism3 is  a patchwork   because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being   planned.  Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one   extra little feature to help someone ... and then another ...   and another.... ...

factpacks/jargon-split.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

deep magic is  [poss. from C. S. Lewis's "Narnia" books] n. An   awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system, esp. one   not generally published and available to hackers at large (compare   {black art}); one that could only have been co...
deep magic2 is  optimization techniques and many aspects of   {OS} design used to be {deep magic}; many techniques in   cryptography, signal processing, graphics, and AI still are.   Compare {heavy wizardry}.  Esp. found in comments of the form   "De...
deep space is  n. 1. Describes the notional location of any program   that has gone {off the trolley}.  Esp. used of programs that   just sit there silently grinding long after either failure or some   output is expected.  "Uh oh.  I should have gott...
deep space2 is  in deep space somewhere." Compare   {buzz}, {catatonic}, {hyperspace}.  2. The metaphorical   location of a human so dazed and/or confused or caught up in some   esoteric form of {bogosity} that he or she no longer responds   coherent...
defenestration is  [from the traditional Czechoslovak method of   assassinating prime ministers, via SF fandom] n. 1. Proper karmic   retribution for an incorrigible punster.  "Oh, ghod, that was   *awful*!"  "Quick! Defenestrate him!"  2. The act of...
defenestration2 is  better response time from a   full-screen program.  This comes from the dictionary meaning of   `defenestrate', which is to throw something out a window.  3. The   act of discarding something under the assumption that it will   im...
defenestration3 is  left."  "Well,   why don't you defenestrate that 100 megs worth of old core dumps?"   4. [proposed] The requirement to support a command-line interface.   "It has to run on a VT100."  "Curses!  I've been   defenestrated!" 
defined as is  adj. In the role of, usually in an organization-chart   sense.  "Pete is currently defined as bug prioritizer."  Compare   {logical}.
dehose is  /dee-hohz/ vt. To clear a {hosed} condition.
delint is  /dee-lint/ v. To modify code to remove problems detected   when {lint}ing.
delta is  n. 1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a small   or incremental one (this use is general in physics and   engineering).  "I just doubled the speed of my program!"  "What   was the delta on program size?"  "About 30 percent."  (...
delta2 is  increased its size by only 30   percent.)  2. [UNIX] A {diff}, especially a {diff} stored   under the set of version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code   Control System) or RCS (Revision Control System).  3. n. A small   quantity, but ...
delta3 is    {delta} and {epsilon} stems from the traditional use of these   letters in mathematics for very small numerical quantities,   particularly in `epsilon-delta' proofs in limit theory (as in the   differential calculus).  The term {delta} i...
delta4 is  mentioned, to mean a quantity that is   slightly bigger than {epsilon} but still very small.  "The cost   isn't epsilon, but it's delta" means that the cost isn't totally   negligible, but it is nevertheless very small.  Common   construct...
delta5 is  epsilon of   ---' that is, close to and even closer to. 
demented is  adj. Yet another term of disgust used to describe a   program.  The connotation in this case is that the program works as   designed, but the design is bad.  Said, for example, of a program   that generates large numbers of meaningless e...
demented2 is  brink of imminent collapse.  Compare   {wonky}, {bozotic}. 
demigod is  n. A hacker with years of experience, a national reputation,   and a major role in the development of at least one design, tool,   or game used by or known to more than half of the hacker community.   To qualify as a genuine demigod, the ...
demigod2 is  hacker community and have helped shape it.  Major   demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (co-inventors of   {{UNIX}} and {C}) and Richard M. Stallman (inventor of   {EMACS}).  In their hearts of hearts, most hackers dream of ...
demigod3 is  more than one major   software project has been driven to completion by the author's   veiled hopes of apotheosis.  See also {net.god}, {true-hacker}. 
demo is  /de'moh/ [short for `demonstration'] 1. v. To demonstrate a   product or prototype.  A far more effective way of inducing bugs to   manifest than any number of {test} runs, especially when   important people are watching.  2. n. The act of d...
demo mode is  [Sun] n. 1. The state of being {heads down} in order   to finish code in time for a {demo}, usually due yesterday.   2. A mode in which video games sit there by themselves running   through a portion of the game, also known as `attract ...

factpacks/jargon-split.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

PDP-20 is  n. The most famous computer that never was.  {PDP-10}   computers running the {{TOPS-10}} operating system were labeled   `DECsystem-10' as a way of differentiating them from the PDP-11.   Later on, those systems running {TOPS-20} were lab...
PDP-202 is  being the result of a lawsuit   brought against DEC by Singer, which once made a computer called   `system-10'), but contrary to popular lore there was never a   `PDP-20'; the only difference between a 10 and a 20 was the   operating syst...
PDP-203 is  all)   machines sold to run TOPS-10 were painted `Basil Blue', whereas   most TOPS-20 machines were painted `Chinese Red' (often mistakenly   called orange). 
peek is  n.,vt. (and {poke}) The commands in most microcomputer   BASICs for directly accessing memory contents at an absolute   address; often extended to mean the corresponding constructs in any   {HLL} (peek reads memory, poke modifies it).  Much ...
peek2 is  {peek}ing around memory, more   or less at random, to find the location where the system keeps   interesting stuff.  Long (and variably accurate) lists of such   addresses for various computers circulate (see {{interrupt list,   the}}).  Th...
peek3 is  highly   useful, mildly amusing, useless but neat, or (most likely) total   {lossage} (see {killer poke}). 
pencil and paper is  n. An archaic information storage and   transmission device that works by depositing smears of graphite on   bleached wood pulp.  More recent developments in paper-based   technology include improved `write-once' update devices w...
pencil and paper2 is  balls to deposit colored   pigment.  All these devices require an operator skilled at   so-called `handwriting' technique.  These technologies are   ubiquitous outside hackerdom, but nearly forgotten inside it.  Most   hackers h...
pencil and paper3 is  years of   keyboarding tend to have encouraged it to degrade further.  Perhaps   for this reason, hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper technology and   often resist using it in any but the most trivial contexts.  See   also append...
peon is  n. A person with no special ({root} or {wheel})   privileges on a computer system.  "I can't create an account on   *foovax* for you; I'm only a peon there."
percent-S is  /per-sent' es'/ [From the code in C's `printf(3)'   library function used to insert an arbitrary string argument] n. An   unspecified person or object.  "I was just talking to some   percent-s in administration."  Compare {random}.
perf is  /perf/ n. See {chad} (sense 1).  The term `perfory'   /per'f*-ree/ is also heard.
perfect programmer syndrome is  n. Arrogance; the egotistical   conviction that one is above normal human error.  Most frequently   found among programmers of some native ability but relatively   little experience (especially new graduates; their per...
perfect programmer syndrome2 is  excellent performance at solving {toy   problem}s).  "Of course my program is correct, there is no need to   test it."  "Yes, I can see there may be a problem here, but   *I'll* never type `rm -r /' while in {root}." 
Perl is  /perl/ [Practical Extraction and Report Language, a.k.a   Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister] n. An interpreted language   developed by Larry Wall (lwall@jpl.nasa.gov, author of   `patch(1)' and `rn(1)') and distributed over USENET.   Su...
Perl2 is  hairier (see   {awk}).  UNIX sysadmins, who are almost always incorrigible   hackers, increasingly consider it one of the {languages of   choice}.  Perl has been described, in a parody of a famous remark   about `lex(1)', as the "Swiss-Army...
pessimal is  /pes'im-l/ [Latin-based antonym for `optimal'] adj.   Maximally bad.  "This is a pessimal situation."  Also `pessimize'   vt. To make as bad as possible.  These words are the obvious   Latin-based antonyms for `optimal' and `optimize', b...
pessimal2 is  most English dictionaries, although   `pessimize' is listed in the OED. 
pessimizing compiler is  /pes'*-miz`ing k*m-pil'r/ [antonym of   `optimizing compiler'] n. A compiler that produces object code that   is worse than the straightforward or obvious hand translation.  The   implication is that the compiler is actually ...
pessimizing compiler2 is  excessive cleverness is doing the opposite.  A   few pessimizing compilers have been written on purpose, however, as   pranks or burlesques. 
peta- is  /pe't*/ [SI] pref. See {{quantifiers}}.

factpacks/jargon-split.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

sitename4 is  probably the most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly   descending order).  The obligatory comment when discussing these is   Harris's Lament "All the good ones are taken!"  See also   {network address}. 
skrog is  v. Syn. {scrog}.
skulker is  n. Syn. {prowler}.
slap on the side is  n. (also called a {sidecar}, or abbreviated   `SOTS'.)  A type of external expansion hardware marketed by   computer manufacturers (e.g., Commodore for the Amiga 500/1000   series and IBM for the hideous failure called `PCjr').  ...
slap on the side2 is  as memory, hard drive   controllers, and conventional expansion slots. 
slash is  n. Common name for the slant (`/', ASCII 0101111)   character.  See {ASCII} for other synonyms.
sleep is  vi. 1. [techspeak] On a timesharing system, a process that   relinquishes its claim on the scheduler until some given event   occurs or a specified time delay elapses is said to `go to   sleep'.  2. In jargon, used very similarly to v. {blo...
sleep2 is  on'.  Often used to   indicate that the speaker has relinquished a demand for resources   until some (possibly unspecified) external event "They can't get   the fix I've been asking for into the next release, so I'm going to   sleep on it ...
slim is  n. A small, derivative change (e.g., to code).
slop is  n. 1. A one-sided {fudge factor}, that is, an allowance for   error but in only one of two directions.  For example, if you need   a piece of wire 10 feet long and have to guess when you cut it,   you make very sure to cut it too long, by a ...
slop2 is  short by even a little bit, because you   can always cut off the slop but you can't paste it back on again.   When discrete quantities are involved, slop is often introduced to   avoid the possibility of being on the losing side of a {fence...
slop3 is  code generated by a compiler   over the size of equivalent assembler code produced by   {hand-hacking}; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you lose because   you didn't do it yourself.  This number is often used as a measure   of the goodness ...
slop4 is   10% is usually acceptable.  With modern compiler technology, esp.   on RISC machines, the compiler's slop may actually be   *negative*; that is, humans may be unable to generate code as   good.  This is one of the reasons assembler program...
slopsucker is  /slop'suhk-r/ n. A lowest-priority task that must   wait around until everything else has `had its fill' of machine   resources.  Only when the machine would otherwise be idle is the   task allowed to `suck up the slop'.  Also called a...
slopsucker2 is  slopsucker hunts for large prime   numbers.  Compare {background}. 
slurp is  vt. To read a large data file entirely into {core} before   working on it.  This may be contrasted with the strategy of reading   a small piece at a time, processing it, and then reading the next   piece.  "This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K...
smart is  adj. Said of a program that does the {Right Thing} in a   wide variety of complicated circumstances.  There is a difference   between calling a program smart and calling it intelligent; in   particular, there do not exist any intelligent pr...
smart2 is  {robust} (smart programs can be   {brittle}). 
smart terminal is  n. A terminal that has enough computing capability   to render graphics or to offload some kind of front-end processing   from the computer it talks to.  The development of workstations and   personal computers has made this term a...
smart terminal2 is  semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase   `act like a smart terminal' used to describe the behavior of   workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost   entirely out of a remote {server}'...
smart terminal3 is  Compare {glass tty}.   There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the {blit}   terminal) "A smart terminal is not a smart*ass* terminal,   but rather a terminal you can educate."  This illustrates a common   design proble...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

bum => 1. vt. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at the expense of clarity. "I managed to bum three more instructions out of that code." "I spent half the night bumming the interrupt code." 2. To squeeze out excess; to remove so...
bump => vt. Synonym for increment. Has the same meaning as C's ++ operator. Used esp. of counter variables, pointers, and index dummies in `for', `while', and `do-while' loops.
burble => [from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"] v. Like flame, but connotes that the source is truly clueless and ineffectual (mere flamers can be competent). A term of deep contempt. "There's some guy on the phone burbling about how he got a DISK FUL...
buried treasure => n. A surprising piece of code found in some program. While usually not wrong, it tends to vary from crufty to bletcherous, and has lain undiscovered only because it was functionally correct, however horrible it is. Used sarcastical...
buried treasure2 => anything *but* treasure. Buried treasure almost always needs to be dug up and removed. "I just found that the scheduler sorts its queue using {bubble sort}! Buried treasure!" 
burn-in period => n. 1. A factory test designed to catch systems with marginal components before they get out the door; the theory is that burn-in will protect customers by outwaiting the steepest part of the {bathtub curve} (see {infant mortality})....
burn-in period2 => length in which a person using a computer is so intensely involved in his project that he forgets basic needs such as food, drink, sleep, etc. Warning Excessive burn-in can lead to burn-out. See {hack mode}, {larval stage}. 
burst page => n. Syn. banner, sense 1.
busy-wait => vi. Used of human behavior, conveys that the subject is busy waiting for someone or something, intends to move instantly as soon as it shows up, and thus cannot do anything else at the moment. "Can't talk now, I'm busy-waiting till Bill ...
buzz => vi. 1. Of a program, to run with no indication of progress and perhaps without guarantee of ever finishing; esp. said of programs thought to be executing tight loops of code. A program that is buzzing appears to be catatonic, but you never ge...
BWQ => /B-W-Q/ [IBM acronym, `Buzz Word Quotient'] The percentage of buzzwords in a speech or documents. Usually roughly proportional to bogosity. See TLA.
by hand => adv. Said of an operation (especially a repetitive, trivial, and/or tedious one) that ought to be performed automatically by the computer, but which a hacker instead has to step tediously through. "My mailer doesn't have a command to inclu...
by hand2 => replying to, so I have to do it by hand." This does not necessarily mean the speaker has to retype a copy of the message; it might refer to, say, dropping into a subshell from the mailer, making a copy of one's mailbox file, reading that ...
by hand3 => and bottom of the message in question, deleting the rest of the file, inserting `>' characters on each line, writing the file, leaving the editor, returning to the mailer, reading the file in, and later remembering to delete the file. Com...
byte => /bit/ [techspeak] n. A unit of memory or data equal to the amount used to represent one character; on modern architectures this is usually 8 bits, but may be 9 on 36-bit machines. Some older architectures used `byte' for quantities of 6 or 7 ...
bytesexual => /bit`sek'shu-*l/ adj. Said of hardware, denotes willingness to compute or pass data in either big-endian or little-endian format (depending, presumably, on a {mode bit} somewhere). See also {NUXI problem}.*C n. 1. The third letter of th...
calculator => [Cambridge] n. Syn. for {bitty box}.
can => vt. To abort a job on a time-sharing system. Used esp. when the person doing the deed is an operator, as in "canned from the {console}". Frequently used in an imperative sense, as in "Can that print job, the LPT just popped a sprocket!" Synony...
canonical => [historically, `according to religious law'] adj. The usual or standard state or manner of something. This word has a somewhat more technical meaning in mathematics. Two formulas such as 9 + x and x + 9 are said to be equivalent because ...
card => n. 1. An electronic printed-circuit board (see also {tall card}, {short card}. 2. obs. Syn. {{punched card}}.
card walloper => n. An EDP programmer who grinds out batch programs that do stupid things like print people's paychecks. Compare {code grinder}. See also {{punched card}}, {eighty-column mind}.

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

cracker => n. One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of hacker (q.v., sense 8). An earlier attempt to establish `worm' in this sense around 1981--82 on USENET was largely a failure.
crank => [from automotive slang] vt. Verb used to describe the performance of a machine, especially sustained performance. "This box cranks (or, cranks at) about 6 megaflops, with a burst mode of twice that on vectorized operations."
crash => 1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of the system (q.v., sense 1), sometimes of magnetic disk drives. "Three lusers lost their files in last night's disk crash." A disk crash that involves the read/write heads dropping o...
crash and burn => vi.,n. A spectacular crash, in the mode of the conclusion of the car-chase scene in the movie "Bullitt" and many subsequent imitators. Sun-3 monitors losing the flyback transformer and lightning strikes on VAX-11/780 backplanes are ...
crash and burn2 => The construction `crash-and-burn machine' is reported for a computer used exclusively for alpha or beta testing, or reproducing bugs (i.e., not for development). The implication is that it wouldn't be such a disaster if that machin...
crash and burn3 => would be inconvenienced. 
crawling horror => n. Ancient crufty hardware or software that is kept obstinately alive by forces beyond the control of the hackers at a site. Like {dusty deck} or gonkulator, but connotes that the thing described is not just an irritation but an ac...
crawling horror2 => "Mostly we code new stuff in C, but they pay us to maintain one big FORTRAN II application from nineteen-sixty-X that's a real crawling horror...." Compare WOMBAT. 
cray => /kray/ n. 1. (properly, capitalized) One of the line of supercomputers designed by Cray Research. 2. Any supercomputer at all. 3. The canonical number-crunching machine. The term is actually the lowercased last name of Seymour Cray, a noted c...
cray instability => n. A shortcoming of a program or algorithm that manifests itself only when a large problem is being run on a powerful machine (see cray). Generally more subtle than bugs that can be detected in smaller problems running on a workst...
crayola => /kray-oh'l*/ n. A super-mini or -micro computer that provides some reasonable percentage of supercomputer performance for an unreasonably low price. Might also be a {killer micro}.
crayon => n. 1. Someone who works on Cray supercomputers. More specifically, it implies a programmer, probably of the CDC ilk, probably male, and almost certainly wearing a tie (irrespective of gender). Systems types who have a UNIX background tend n...
creationism => n. The (false) belief that large, innovative designs can be completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked out of the void by the normal efforts of a team of normally talented programmers. In fact, experience has shown re...
creeping elegance => n. Describes a tendency for parts of a design to become elegant past the point of diminishing return. This often happens at the expense of the less interesting parts of the design, the schedule, and other things deemed important ...
creeping elegance2 => {creeping featurism}, {second-system effect}, tense. 
creeping featurism => /kree'ping fee'chr-izm/ n. 1. Describes a systematic tendency to load more chrome and features onto systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed when originally designed. See also {feeping creaturism}. "Yo...
creeping featurism2 => BSD UNIX has always been creeping featurism." 2. More generally, the tendency for anything complicated to become even more complicated because people keep saying "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature too". (See f...
creeping featurism3 => a patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one extra little feature to help someone ... and then another ... and another.... When creep...
creeping featurism4 => like a cancer. Usually this term is used to describe computer programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes afflicts conscious redesigns; see {sec...
creeping featuritis => /kree'ping fee'-chr-i`t*s/ n. Variant of {creeping featurism}, with its own spoonerization `feeping creaturitis'. Some people like to reserve this form for the disease as it actually manifests in software or hardware, as oppose...
creeping featuritis2 => designers' minds. (After all, -ism means `condition' or `pursuit of', whereas -itis usually means `inflammation of'.) 

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

deckle => /dek'l/ [from dec- and nickle] n. Two nickles; 10 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI 1600 (the Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but 10-bit-wide ROM.
deep hack mode => n. See {hack mode}.
deep magic => [poss. from C. S. Lewis's "Narnia" books] n. An awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system, esp. one not generally published and available to hackers at large (compare {black art}); one that could only have been composed ...
deep magic2 => optimization techniques and many aspects of OS design used to be {deep magic}; many techniques in cryptography, signal processing, graphics, and AI still are. Compare {heavy wizardry}. Esp. found in comments of the form "Deep magic beg...
deep space => n. 1. Describes the notional location of any program that has gone {off the trolley}. Esp. used of programs that just sit there silently grinding long after either failure or some output is expected. "Uh oh. I should have gotten a promp...
deep space2 => in deep space somewhere." Compare buzz, catatonic, hyperspace. 2. The metaphorical location of a human so dazed and/or confused or caught up in some esoteric form of bogosity that he or she no longer responds coherently to normal commu...
defenestration => [from the traditional Czechoslovak method of assassinating prime ministers, via SF fandom] n. 1. Proper karmic retribution for an incorrigible punster. "Oh, ghod, that was *awful*!" "Quick! Defenestrate him!" 2. The act of exiting a...
defined as => adj. In the role of, usually in an organization-chart sense. "Pete is currently defined as bug prioritizer." Compare logical.
dehose => /dee-hohz/ vt. To clear a hosed condition.
delint => /dee-lint/ v. To modify code to remove problems detected when linting.
delta => n. 1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a small or incremental one (this use is general in physics and engineering). "I just doubled the speed of my program!" "What was the delta on program size?" "About 30 percent." (He doubled ...
demented => adj. Yet another term of disgust used to describe a program. The connotation in this case is that the program works as designed, but the design is bad. Said, for example, of a program that generates large numbers of meaningless error mess...
demigod => n. A hacker with years of experience, a national reputation, and a major role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used by or known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine demigod, the person ...
demo => /de'moh/ [short for `demonstration'] 1. v. To demonstrate a product or prototype. A far more effective way of inducing bugs to manifest than any number of test runs, especially when important people are watching. 2. n. The act of demoing.
demo mode => [Sun] n. 1. The state of being {heads down} in order to finish code in time for a demo, usually due yesterday. 2. A mode in which video games sit there by themselves running through a portion of the game, also known as `attract mode'. So...
demo mode2 => they use as a screen saver, or may go through a demo mode on startup (for example, the Microsoft Windows opening screen --- which lets you impress your neighbors without actually having to put up with {Microsloth Windows}). 
demon => n. 1. [MIT] A portion of a program that is not invoked explicitly, but that lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. See daemon. The distinction is that demons are usually processes within a program, while daemons are usually pro...
depeditate => /dee-ped'*-tayt/ [by (faulty) analogy with `decapitate'] vt. Humorously, to cut off the feet of. When one is using some computer-aided typesetting tools, careless placement of text blocks within a page or above a rule can result in chop...
deprecated => adj. Said of a program or feature that is considered obsolescent and in the process of being phased out, usually in favor of a specified replacement. Deprecated features can, unfortunately, linger on for many years.
deserves to lose => adj. Said of someone who willfully does the {Wrong Thing}; humorously, if one uses a feature known to be marginal. What is meant is that one deserves the consequences of one's losing actions. "Boy, anyone who tries to use mess-dos...
deserves to lose2 => ({ITS} fans used to say this of {UNIX}; many still do.) See also screw, chomp, bagbiter. 

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

PC-ism => /P-C-izm/ n. A piece of code or coding technique that takes advantage of the unprotected single-tasking environment in IBM PCs and the like, e.g., by busy-waiting on a hardware register, direct diddling of screen memory, or using hard timin...
PD => /P-D/ adj. Common abbreviation for `public domain', applied to software distributed over USENET and from Internet archive sites. Much of this software is not in fact public domain in the legal sense but travels under various copyrights granting...
pdl => /pid'l/ or /puhd'l/ [acronym for `Push Down List'] 1. In ITS days, the preferred MITism for stack. 2. Dave Lebling, one of the co-authors of Zork; (his {network address} on the ITS machines was at one time pdl@dms). 3. `Program Design Language...
PDP-10 => [Programmed Data Processor model 10] n. The machine that made timesharing real. It looms large in hacker folklore because of its adoption in the mid-1970s by many university computing facilities and research labs, including the MIT AI Lab, ...
PDP-20 => n. The most famous computer that never was. PDP-10 computers running the {TOPS-10} operating system were labeled `DECsystem-10' as a way of differentiating them from the PDP-11. Later on, those systems running TOPS-20 were labeled `DECSYSTE...
peek => n.,vt. (and poke) The commands in most microcomputer BASICs for directly accessing memory contents at an absolute address; often extended to mean the corresponding constructs in any HLL (peek reads memory, poke modifies it). Much hacking on s...
pencil and paper => n. An archaic information storage and transmission device that works by depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp. More recent developments in paper-based technology include improved `write-once' update devices which use...
pencil and paper2 => balls to deposit colored pigment. All these devices require an operator skilled at so-called `handwriting' technique. These technologies are ubiquitous outside hackerdom, but nearly forgotten inside it. Most hackers had terrible ...
pencil and paper3 => years of keyboarding tend to have encouraged it to degrade further. Perhaps for this reason, hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper technology and often resist using it in any but the most trivial contexts. See also appendix B. 
peon => n. A person with no special (root or wheel) privileges on a computer system. "I can't create an account on *foovax* for you; I'm only a peon there."
percent-S => /per-sent' es'/ [From the code in C's `printf(3)' library function used to insert an arbitrary string argument] n. An unspecified person or object. "I was just talking to some percent-s in administration." Compare random.
perf => /perf/ n. See chad (sense 1). The term `perfory' /per'f*-ree/ is also heard.
perfect programmer syndrome => n. Arrogance; the egotistical conviction that one is above normal human error. Most frequently found among programmers of some native ability but relatively little experience (especially new graduates; their perceptions...
perfect programmer syndrome2 => excellent performance at solving {toy problem}s). "Of course my program is correct, there is no need to test it." "Yes, I can see there may be a problem here, but *I'll* never type `rm -r /' while in root." 
Perl => /perl/ [Practical Extraction and Report Language, a.k.a Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister] n. An interpreted language developed by Larry Wall (lwall@jpl.nasa.gov, author of `patch(1)' and `rn(1)') and distributed over USENET. Superficial...
pessimal => /pes'im-l/ [Latin-based antonym for `optimal'] adj. Maximally bad. "This is a pessimal situation." Also `pessimize' vt. To make as bad as possible. These words are the obvious Latin-based antonyms for `optimal' and `optimize', but for som...
pessimizing compiler => /pes'*-miz`ing k*m-pil'r/ [antonym of `optimizing compiler'] n. A compiler that produces object code that is worse than the straightforward or obvious hand translation. The implication is that the compiler is actually trying t...
pessimizing compiler2 => excessive cleverness is doing the opposite. A few pessimizing compilers have been written on purpose, however, as pranks or burlesques. 
peta- => /pe't*/ [SI] pref. See {quantifiers}.
PETSCII => /pet'skee/ [abbreviation of PET ASCII] n. The variation (many would say perversion) of the {ASCII} character set used by the Commodore Business Machines PET series of personal computers and the later Commodore C64, C16, and C128 machines. ...
phase => 1. n. The phase of one's waking-sleeping schedule with respect to the standard 24-hour cycle. This is a useful concept among people who often work at night and/or according to no fixed schedule. It is not uncommon to change one's phase by as...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

Silver Book => n. Jensen and Wirth's infamous `Pascal User Manual and Report', so called because of the silver cover of the widely distributed Springer-Verlag second edition of 1978 (ISBN 0-387-90144-2). See {{book titles}}, Pascal.
since time T equals minus infinity => adj. A long time ago; for as long as anyone can remember; at the time that some particular frob was first designed. Usually the word `time' is omitted. See also {time T}.
sitename => /sit'naym/ [UNIX/Internet] n. The unique electronic name of a computer system, used to identify it in UUCP mail, USENET, or other forms of electronic information interchange. The folklore interest of sitenames stems from the creativity an...
skrog => v. Syn. scrog.
skulker => n. Syn. prowler.
slap on the side => n. (also called a sidecar, or abbreviated `SOTS'.) A type of external expansion hardware marketed by computer manufacturers (e.g., Commodore for the Amiga 500/1000 series and IBM for the hideous failure called `PCjr'). Various SOT...
slap on the side2 => as memory, hard drive controllers, and conventional expansion slots. 
slash => n. Common name for the slant (`/', ASCII 0101111) character. See ASCII for other synonyms.
sleep => vi. 1. [techspeak] On a timesharing system, a process that relinquishes its claim on the scheduler until some given event occurs or a specified time delay elapses is said to `go to sleep'. 2. In jargon, used very similarly to v. block; also ...
slim => n. A small, derivative change (e.g., to code).
slop => n. 1. A one-sided {fudge factor}, that is, an allowance for error but in only one of two directions. For example, if you need a piece of wire 10 feet long and have to guess when you cut it, you make very sure to cut it too long, by a large am...
slopsucker => /slop'suhk-r/ n. A lowest-priority task that must wait around until everything else has `had its fill' of machine resources. Only when the machine would otherwise be idle is the task allowed to `suck up the slop'. Also called a {hungry ...
slurp => vt. To read a large data file entirely into core before working on it. This may be contrasted with the strategy of reading a small piece at a time, processing it, and then reading the next piece. "This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K matrix and...
smart => adj. Said of a program that does the {Right Thing} in a wide variety of complicated circumstances. There is a difference between calling a program smart and calling it intelligent; in particular, there do not exist any intelligent programs (...
smart terminal => n. A terminal that has enough computing capability to render graphics or to offload some kind of front-end processing from the computer it talks to. The development of workstations and personal computers has made this term and the p...
smart terminal2 => semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase `act like a smart terminal' used to describe the behavior of workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost entirely out of a remote server's storage...
smart terminal3 => Compare {glass tty}. There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the blit terminal) "A smart terminal is not a smart*ass* terminal, but rather a terminal you can educate." This illustrates a common design problem The attemp...
smart terminal4 => else) intelligent sometimes results in finicky, rigid `special features' that become just so much dead weight if you try to use the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate. Flexibility and programmability, on the other han...
smash case => vi. To lose or obliterate the uppercase/lowercase distinction in text input. "MS-DOS will automatically smash case in the names of all the files you create." Compare {fold case}.
smash the stack => [C programming] n. On many C implementations it is possible to corrupt the execution stack by writing past the end of an array declared `auto' in a routine. Code that does this is said to `smash the stack', and can cause return fro...
smash the stack2 => address. This can produce some of the most insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind. Variants include `trash' the stack, scribble the stack, mangle the stack; the term *mung the stack is not used, as this is never done inten...