bind results from the CPAN

Amethyst

barf3 is  operation checks for an attempt to divide by zero, and   if one is encountered it causes the operation to fail in some   unspecified, but generally obvious, manner.) "The text editor   barfs if you try to read in a new file before writing o...
barf4 is  Commonwealth hackish,   `barf' is generally replaced by `puke' or `vom'.  {barf}   is sometimes also used as a metasyntactic variable, like {foo} or   {bar}. 
barfulation is  /bar`fyoo-lay'sh*n/ interj. Variation of {barf}   used around the Stanford area.  An exclamation, expressing disgust.   On seeing some particularly bad code one might exclaim,   "Barfulation!  Who wrote this, Quux?"
barfulous is  /bar'fyoo-l*s/ adj. (alt. `barfucious',   /bar-fyoo-sh*s/) Said of something that would make anyone barf,   if only for esthetic reasons.
baroque is  adj. Feature-encrusted; complex; gaudy; verging on   excessive.  Said of hardware or (esp.) software designs, this has   many of the connotations of {elephantine} or {monstrosity} but is   less extreme and not pejorative in itself.  "Meta...
baroque2 is  variations to its letterform output.   Now *that* is baroque!"  See also {rococo}. 
BartleMUD is  /bar'tl-muhd/ n. Any of the MUDs derived from the   original MUD game by Richard Bartle (see {MUD}).  BartleMUDs are   noted for their (usually slightly offbeat) humor, dry but friendly   syntax, and lack of adjectives in object descrip...
BartleMUD2 is  `brand172', for instance (see {brand   brand brand}).  Some MUDders intensely dislike Bartle and this   term, and prefer to speak of `MUD-1'. 
BASIC is  n. A programming language, originally designed for   Dartmouth's experimental timesharing system in the   early 1960s, which has since become the leading cause of   brain-damage in proto-hackers.  This is another case (like   {Pascal}) of t...
BASIC2 is  deliberately designed as an educational toy gets taken too   seriously.  A novice can write short BASIC programs (on the order of   10--20 lines) very easily; writing anything longer is (a) very   painful, and (b) encourages bad habits tha...
BASIC3 is  hack in a real language.  This wouldn't be so   bad if historical accidents hadn't made BASIC so common on low-end   micros.  As it is, it ruins thousands of potential wizards a year. 
batch is  adj. 1. Non-interactive.  Hackers use this somewhat more   loosely than the traditional technical definitions justify; in   particular, switches on a normally interactive program that prepare   it to receive non-interactive command input ar...
batch2 is  switches.  A `batch file' is a series of   instructions written to be handed to an interactive program running   in batch mode.  2. Performance of dreary tasks all at one sitting.   "I finally sat down in batch mode and wrote out checks fo...
batch3 is  electricity back on next   week..." 3. Accumulation of a number of small tasks that can be   lumped together for greater efficiency.  "I'm batching up those   letters to send sometime" "I'm batching up bottles to take to the   recycling ce...
bathtub curve is  n. Common term for the curve (resembling an   end-to-end section of one of those claw-footed antique bathtubs)   that describes the expected failure rate of electronics with time   initially high, dropping to near 0 for most of the ...
bathtub curve2 is  `tires out'.  See also {burn-in   period}, {infant mortality}. 
baud is  /bawd/ [simplified from its technical meaning] n. Bits per   second.  Hence kilobaud or Kbaud, thousands of bits per second.   The technical meaning is `level transitions per second'; this   coincides with bps only for two-level modulation w...
baud2 is  are aware of these nuances but blithely   ignore them. 
baud barf is  /bawd barf/ n. The garbage one gets on the monitor   when using a modem connection with some protocol setting (esp.   line speed) incorrect, or when someone picks up a voice extension   on the same line, or when really bad line noise di...
baud barf2 is  completely {random}, by the way;   hackers with a lot of serial-line experience can usually tell   whether the device at the other end is expecting a higher or lower   speed than the terminal is set to.  *Really* experienced ones   can...
baz is  /baz/ [Stanford corruption of {bar}] n. 1. The third   metasyntactic variable, after {foo} and {bar} and before   {quux} (or, occasionally, `qux'; or local idiosyncracies like   `rag', `zowie', etc.).  "Suppose we have three functions FOO,BAR...
baz2 is  BAZ...."   2. interj. A term of mild annoyance.  In this usage the term is   often drawn out for 2 or 3 seconds, producing an effect not unlike   the bleating of a sheep; /baaaaaaz/.  3. Occasionally appended to   {foo} to produce `foobaz'. 
bboard is  /bee'bord/ [contraction of `bulletin board'] n.   1. Any electronic bulletin board; esp. used of {BBS} systems   running on personal micros, less frequently of a USENET   {newsgroup} (in fact, use of the term for a newsgroup generally   ma...
bboard2 is  BBS world or as   a real old-timer predating USENET).  2. At CMU and other colleges   with similar facilities, refers to campus-wide electronic bulletin   boards.  3. The term `physical bboard' is sometimes used to   refer to a old-fashio...
bboard3 is  it refers to a particular one outside the CS Lounge.   In either of senses 1 or 2, the term is usually prefixed by the   name of the intended board (`the Moonlight Casino bboard' or   `market bboard'); however, if the context is clear, th...
bboard4 is  name alone, as in (at CMU) "Don't   post for-sale ads on general". 
BBS is  /B-B-S/ [acronym, `Bulletin Board System'] n. An electronic   bulletin board system; that is, a message database where people can   log in and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically)   into {topic group}s.  Thousands of local ...
BBS2 is  U.S., typically run by amateurs for fun   out of their homes on MS-DOS boxes with a single modem line each.   Fans of USENET and Internet or the big commercial timesharing   bboards such as CompuServe and GEnie tend to consider local BBSes  ...
BBS3 is  but they serve a   valuable function by knitting together lots of hackers and users in   the personal-micro world who would otherwise be unable to exchange   code at all. 
beam is  [from Star Trek Classic's "Beam me up, Scotty!"] vt. To   transfer {softcopy} of a file electronically; most often in   combining forms such as `beam me a copy' or `beam that over to   his site'.  Compare {blast}, {snarf}, {BLT}.
beanie key is  [Mac users] n. See {command key}.
beep is  n.,v. Syn. {feep}.  This term seems to be preferred among micro   hobbyists.
beige toaster is  n. A Macintosh. See {toaster}; compare   {Macintrash}, {maggotbox}.
bells and whistles is  [by analogy with the toyboxes on theater   organs] n. Features added to a program or system to make it more   {flavorful} from a hacker's point of view, without necessarily   adding to its utility for its primary function.  Dis...
bells and whistles2 is  to attract users.  "Now that we've   got the basic program working, let's go back and add some bells and   whistles."  No one seems to know what distinguishes a bell from a   whistle. 
bells, whistles, and gongs is  n. A standard elaborated form of   {bells and whistles}; typically said with a pronounced and ironic   accent on the `gongs'.
benchmark is  [techspeak] n. An inaccurate measure of computer   performance.  "In the computer industry, there are three kinds of   lies lies, damn lies, and benchmarks."  Well-known ones include   Whetstone, Dhrystone, Rhealstone (see {h}), the Gab...
benchmark2 is  SPECmark suite, and LINPACK.  See   also {machoflops}, {MIPS}. 
Berkeley Quality Software is  adj. (often abbreviated `BQS') Term used   in a pejorative sense to refer to software that was apparently   created by rather spaced-out hackers late at night to solve some   unique problem.  It usually has nonexistent, ...
Berkeley Quality Software2 is  been tested on at least two examples,   and core dumps when anyone else attempts to use it.  This term was   frequently applied to early versions of the `dbx(1)' debugger.   See also {Berzerkeley}. 
berklix is  /berk'liks/ n.,adj. [contraction of `Berkeley UNIX'] See   {BSD}.  Not used at Berkeley itself.  May be more common among   {suit}s attempting to sound like cognoscenti than among hackers,   who usually just say `BSD'.
berserking is  vi. A {MUD} term meaning to gain points *only*   by killing other players and mobiles (non-player characters).   Hence, a Berserker-Wizard is a player character that has achieved   enough points to become a wizard, but only by killing ...
berserking2 is  frowned upon because of its   inherently antisocial nature, but some MUDs have a `berserker   mode' in which a player becomes *permanently* berserk, can   never flee from a fight, cannot use magic, gets no score for   treasure, but do...
berserking3 is  wizards can seriously damage your elf!" 
Berzerkeley is  /b*r-zer'klee/ [from `berserk', via the name of a   now-deceased record label] n. Humorous distortion of `Berkeley'   used esp. to refer to the practices or products of the   {BSD} UNIX hackers.  See {software bloat}, {Missed'em-five}...
Berzerkeley2 is  use of this term in reference to the cultural and   political peculiarities of UC Berkeley as a whole has been reported   from as far back as the 1960s. 
beta is  /bay't*/, /be't*/ or (Commonwealth) /bee't*/ n. 1. In   the {Real World}, software often goes through two stages of   testing Alpha (in-house) and Beta (out-house?).  Software is said   to be `in beta'.  2. Anything that is new and experimen...
beta2 is  means that he is still testing   for compatibility and reserving judgment.  3. Beta software is   notoriously buggy, so `in beta' connotes flakiness.   Historical note More formally, to beta-test is to test a   pre-release (potentially unre...
beta3 is  making it available to selected customers and users.  This term   derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints,   first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry.   `Alpha Test' was the unit, module, or co...
beta4 is  system test.  These themselves came from earlier   A- and B-tests for hardware.  The A-test was a feasibility and   manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design   and development.  The B-test was a demonstration that th...
beta5 is  The C-test   (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early   samples of the production design. 
BFI is  /B-F-I/ n. See {brute force and ignorance}.  Also   encountered in the variant `BFMI', `brute force and   *massive* ignorance'.
bible is  n. 1. One of a small number of fundamental source books   such as {Knuth} and {K&R}.  2. The most detailed and   authoritative reference for a particular language, operating   system, or other complex software system.
BiCapitalization is  n. The act said to have been performed on   trademarks (such as NeXT, {NeWS}, VisiCalc, FrameMaker,   TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been raised above the ruck of   common coinage by nonstandard capitalization.  Too many   {mar...
BiCapitalization2 is  really cute, even   the 2,317th time they do it.  Compare {studlycaps}. 
BIFF is  /bif/ [USENET] n. The most famous {pseudo}, and the   prototypical {newbie}.  Articles from BIFF are characterized by   all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally with bangs, typos,   `cute' misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD OLD BIFF CUZ HE"S...
BIFF2 is  IN CAPITULL LETTRS LIKE   THIS!!!), use (and often misuse) of fragments of {talk mode}   abbreviations, a long {sig block} (sometimes even a {doubled   sig}), and unbounded na"ivet'e.  BIFF posts articles using his elder   brother's VIC-20....
BIFF3 is    appear to come from a variety of sites.  However, {BITNET} seems to   be the most frequent origin.  The theory that BIFF is a denizen of   BITNET is supported by BIFF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic   mail address BIFF@BIT.NET. 
biff is  /bif/ vt. To notify someone of incoming mail.  From the   BSD utility `biff(1)', which was in turn named after the   implementor's dog (it barked whenever the mailman came).  No   relation to {BIFF}.
Big Gray Wall is  n. What faces a {VMS} user searching for   documentation.  A full VMS kit comes on a pallet, the documentation   taking up around 15 feet of shelf space before the addition of layered   products such as compilers, databases, multive...
Big Gray Wall2 is  Recent (since VMS version 5) DEC   documentation comes with gray binders; under VMS version 4 the   binders were orange (`big orange wall'), and under version 3   they were blue.  See {VMS}. 
big iron is  n. Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers.  Used generally   of {number-crunching} supercomputers such as Crays, but can include   more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes.  Term of   approval; compare {heavy metal}, oppose {di...
Big Red Switch is  [IBM] n. The power switch on a computer, esp. the   `Emergency Pull' switch on an IBM {mainframe} or the power switch   on an IBM PC where it really is large and red.  "This !@%$%   {bitty box} is hung again; time to hit the Big Re...
Big Red Switch2 is  tune with the company's passion for   {TLA}s, this is often acronymized as `BRS' (this has also   become established on FidoNet and in the PC {clone} world).  It   is alleged that the emergency pull switch on an IBM 360/91 actuall...
Big Red Switch3 is  power feed; the BRSes on   more recent machines physically drop a block into place so that   they can't be pushed back in.  People get fired for pulling them,   especially inappropriately (see also {molly-guard}).  Compare   {powe...
the Big Room is  n. The extremely large room with the blue ceiling   and intensely bright light (during the day) or black ceiling with   lots of tiny night-lights (during the night) found outside all   computer installations.  "He can't come to the p...
big win is  n. Serendipity.  "Yes, those two physicists discovered   high-temperature superconductivity in a batch of ceramic that had   been prepared incorrectly according to their experimental schedule.   Small mistake; big win!" See {win big}.
big-endian is  [From Swift's `Gulliver's Travels' via the famous   paper `On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace' by Danny Cohen,   USC/ISI IEN 137, dated April 1, 1980] adj. 1. Describes a computer   architecture in which, within a given multi-byte numer...
big-endian2 is  has the lowest address   (the word is stored `big-end-first').  Most processors, including   the IBM 370 family, the {PDP-10}, the Motorola microprocessor   families, and most of the various RISC designs current in mid-1991,   are big...
big-endian3 is  {NUXI   problem}.  2. An {{Internet address}} the wrong way round.  Most   of the world follows the Internet standard and writes email   addresses starting with the name of the computer and ending up with   the name of the country.  I...
big-endian4 is  decided to do it the other way round before the Internet domain   standard was established; e.g., me@uk.ac.wigan.cs.  Most gateway   sites have {ad-hockery} in their mailers to handle this, but can   still be confused.  In particular,...
big-endian5 is  (domain uk) or Czechoslovakia (domain cs). 
bignum is  /big'nuhm/ [orig. from MIT MacLISP] n. 1. [techspeak] A   multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers.   More generally, any very large number.  "Have you ever looked at   the United States Budget?  There's bignums f...
bignum2 is  numbers on the dice are called   `bignums', especially a roll of double fives or double sixes   (compare {moby}, sense 4).  See also {El Camino Bignum}.   Sense 1 may require some explanation.  Most computer languages   provide a kind of ...
bignum3 is  integers are usually very limited in size; usually they must be   smaller than than 2^{31} (2,147,483,648) or (on a losing   {bitty box}) 2^{15} (32,768).  If you want to work with   numbers larger than that, you have to use floating-poin...
bignum4 is  six or seven decimal places.   Computer languages that provide bignums can perform exact   calculations on very large numbers, such as 1000!  (the factorial   of 1000, which is 1000 times 999 times 998 times ... times 2   times 1). 
bigot is  n. A person who is religiously attached to a particular   computer, language, operating system, editor, or other tool (see   {religious issues}).  Usually found with a specifier; thus,   `cray bigot', {ITS bigot}, `APL bigot', `VMS bigot', ...
bigot2 is  distinguished from mere   partisans or zealots by the fact that they refuse to learn   alternatives even when the march of time and/or technology is   threatening to obsolete the favored tool.  It is said "You can   tell a bigot, but you c...
bit is  [from the mainstream meaning and `Binary digIT'] n.   1. [techspeak] The unit of information; the amount of information   obtained by asking a yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes   are equally probable.  2. [techspeak] A computation...
bit2 is  values, such as true and false or 0 and 1.   3. A mental flag a reminder that something should be done   eventually.  "I have a bit set for you."  (I haven't seen you for   a while, and I'm supposed to tell or ask you something.)  4. More   ...
bit3 is  of belief.  "I have   a bit set that says that you were the last guy to hack on EMACS."   (Meaning "I think you were the last guy to hack on EMACS, and what   I am about to say is predicated on this, so please stop me if this   isn't true.")...
bit4 is  way of indicating that   you intend only a short interruption for a question that can   presumably be answered yes or no.   A bit is said to be `set' if its value is true or 1, and   `reset' or `clear' if its value is false or 0.  One   spea...
bit5 is  or   `invert' a bit is to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from   1 to 0.  See also {flag}, {trit}, {mode bit}. 
bit bang is  n. Transmission of data on a serial line, when   accomplished by rapidly tweaking a single output bit at the   appropriate times.  The technique is a simple   loop with eight OUT and SHIFT instruction pairs for each byte.   Input is more...
bit bang2 is  and output   at the same time) is one way to separate the real hackers from the   {wannabee}s.   Bit bang was used on certain early models of Prime computers,   presumably when UARTs were too expensive, and on archaic Z80 micros   with ...
bit bang3 is  instance of the   {cycle of reincarnation}, this technique is now (1991) coming   back into use on some RISC architectures because it consumes such   an infinitesimal part of the processor that it actually makes sense   not to have a UA...
bit bashing is  n. (alt. `bit diddling' or {bit twiddling}) Term   used to describe any of several kinds of low-level programming   characterized by manipulation of {bit}, {flag}, {nybble},   and other smaller-than-character-sized pieces of data; the...
bit bashing2 is  encryption algorithms, checksum   and error-correcting codes, hash functions, some flavors of   graphics programming (see {bitblt}), and assembler/compiler code   generation.  May connote either tedium or a real technical   challenge...
bit bashing3 is  decoding for   the new tape driver looks pretty solid but the bit-bashing for the   control registers still has bugs."  See also {bit bang},   {mode bit}. 
bit bucket is  n. 1. The universal data sink (originally, the   mythical receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end   of a register during a shift instruction).  Discarded, lost, or   destroyed data is said to have `gone to the bit buck...
bit bucket2 is  {/dev/null}.  Sometimes amplified as `the Great   Bit Bucket in the Sky'.  2. The place where all lost mail and news   messages eventually go.  The selection is performed according to   {Finagle's Law}; important mail is much more lik...
bit bucket3 is  mail, which has an almost 100% probability   of getting delivered.  Routing to the bit bucket is automatically   performed by mail-transfer agents, news systems, and the lower   layers of the network.  3. The ideal location for all un...
bit bucket4 is  article to the bit bucket."   Such a request is guaranteed to overflow one's mailbox with flames.   4. Excuse for all mail that has not been sent.  "I mailed you   those figures last week; they must have ended in the bit bucket."   Co...
bit bucket5 is  in jest.  It is based on the fanciful   notion that bits are objects that are not destroyed but only   misplaced.  This appears to have been a mutation of an earlier term   `bit box', about which the same legend was current; old-time ...
bit bucket6 is  told that when the CPU   stored bits into memory it was actually pulling them `out of the   bit box'.  See also {chad box}.   Another variant of this legend has it that, as a consequence of the   `parity preservation law', the number ...
bit bucket7 is  equal the number of 0 bits.  Any imbalance results in   bits filling up the bit bucket.  A qualified computer technician   can empty a full bit bucket as part of scheduled maintenance. 
bit decay is  n. See {bit rot}.  People with a physics background   tend to prefer this one for the analogy with particle decay.  See   also {computron}, {quantum bogodynamics}.
bit rot is  n. Also {bit decay}.  Hypothetical disease the existence   of which has been deduced from the observation that unused programs   or features will often stop working after sufficient time has   passed, even if `nothing has changed'.  The t...
bit rot2 is  were radioactive.  As time passes, the   contents of a file or the code in a program will become   increasingly garbled.   There actually are physical processes that produce such effects   (alpha particles generated by trace radionuclide...
bit rot3 is  change the contents of a computer memory   unpredictably, and various kinds of subtle media failures can   corrupt files in mass storage), but they are quite rare (and   computers are built with error-detecting circuitry to compensate   ...
bit rot4 is  hackers that cosmic   rays are among the causes of such events turns out to be a myth;   see the {cosmic rays} entry for details.   The term {software rot} is almost synonymous.  Software rot is   the effect, bit rot the notional cause. 
bit twiddling is  n. 1. (pejorative) An exercise in {tuning} in   which incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little   noticeable improvement, often with the result that the code has   become incomprehensible.  2. Aimless small modifica...
bit twiddling2 is  goal.  3. Approx. syn. for {bit   bashing}; esp. used for the act of frobbing the device control   register of a peripheral in an attempt to get it back to a known   state. 
bit-paired keyboard is  n. obs. (alt. `bit-shift keyboard') A   non-standard keyboard layout that seems to have originated with   the Teletype ASR-33 and remained common for several years on early   computer equipment.  The ASR-33 was a mechanical de...
bit-paired keyboard2 is  generate the character codes from   keystrokes was by some physical linkage.  The design of the ASR-33   assigned each character key a basic pattern that could be modified   by flipping bits if the SHIFT or the CTRL key was p...
bit-paired keyboard3 is  more of a Rube Goldberg kluge than it   already was, the design had to group characters that shared the   same basic bit pattern on one key.   This is why the characters !"#$%&'() appear where they do on a   Teletype (thankfu...
bit-paired keyboard4 is  was   *not* the weirdest variant of the {QWERTY} layout widely   seen, by the way; that prize should probably go to one of several   (differing) arrangements on IBM's even clunkier 026 and 029 card   punches.   When electroni...
bit-paired keyboard5 is  there   was no agreement in the industry over how the keyboards should be   laid out.  Some vendors opted to emulate the Teletype keyboard,   while others used the flexibility of electronic circuitry to make   their product l...
bit-paired keyboard6 is  alternatives   became known as `bit-paired' and `typewriter-paired' keyboards.  To   a hacker, the bit-paired keyboard seemed far more logical --- and   because most hackers in those days had never learned to touch-type,   th...
bit-paired keyboard7 is  users to adapt   keyboards to the typewriter standard.   The doom of the bit-paired keyboard was the large-scale   introduction of the computer terminal into the normal office   environment, where out-and-out technophobes wer...
bit-paired keyboard8 is  `typewriter-paired' standard became universal,   `bit-paired' hardware was quickly junked or relegated to dusty   corners, and both terms passed into disuse. 
bitblt is  /bit'blit/ n. [from {BLT}, q.v.] 1. Any of a family   of closely related algorithms for moving and copying rectangles of   bits between main and display memory on a bit-mapped device, or   between two areas of either main or display memory...
bitblt2 is  the case of overlapping source and   destination rectangles is what makes BitBlt tricky).  2. Synonym   for {blit} or {BLT}.  Both uses are borderline techspeak. 
BITNET is  /bit'net/ [acronym Because It's Time NETwork] n.   Everybody's least favorite piece of the network (see {network,   the}).  The BITNET hosts are a collection of IBM dinosaurs and   VAXen (the latter with lobotomized comm hardware) that com...
BITNET2 is  images (see {eighty-column   mind}); thus, they tend to mangle the headers and text of   third-party traffic from the rest of the ASCII/RFC-822 world with   annoying regularity.  BITNET is also notorious as the apparent home   of {BIFF}. 
bits is  n.pl. 1. Information.  Examples "I need some bits about file   formats."  ("I need to know about file formats.")  Compare {core   dump}, sense 4.  2. Machine-readable representation of a document,   specifically as contrasted with paper  "I ...
bits2 is  does anyone know where I can get the bits?".   See {softcopy}, {source of all good bits} See also {bit}. 
bitty box is  /bit'ee boks/ n. 1. A computer sufficiently small,   primitive, or incapable as to cause a hacker acute claustrophobia   at the thought of developing software for it.  Especially used of   small, obsolescent, single-tasking-only persona...
bitty box2 is  Sinclair, VIC-20, TRS-80, or IBM PC.   2. [Pejorative]  More generally, the opposite of `real computer'   (see {Get a real computer!}).  See also {mess-dos},   {toaster}, and {toy}. 
bixie is  /bik'see/ n. Variant {emoticon}s used on BIX (the Byte   Information eXchange).  The {smiley} bixie is <@_@>, apparently   intending to represent two cartoon eyes and a mouth.  A few others   have been reported.
black art is  n. A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by   implication) mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular   application or systems area (compare {black magic}).  VLSI design   and compiler code optimization were (in their begin...
black art2 is  art; as theory developed they   became {deep magic}, and once standard textbooks had been written,   became merely {heavy wizardry}.  The huge proliferation of formal   and informal channels for spreading around new computer-related   ...
black art3 is  made both the term   `black art' and what it describes less common than formerly.  See   also {voodoo programming}. 
black hole is  n. When a piece of email or netnews disappears   mysteriously between its origin and destination sites (that is,   without returning a {bounce message}) it is commonly said to have   `fallen into a black hole'.  "I think there's a blac...
black hole2 is  site foovax has been dropping   a lot of stuff on the floor lately (see {drop on the floor}).   The implied metaphor of email as interstellar travel is interesting   in itself.  Compare {bit bucket}. 
black magic is  n. A technique that works, though nobody really   understands why.  More obscure than {voodoo programming}, which   may be done by cookbook.  Compare also {black art}, {deep   magic}, and {magic number} (sense 2).
blast is  1. vt.,n. Synonym for {BLT}, used esp. for large data   sends over a network or comm line.  Opposite of {snarf}.  Usage   uncommon.  The variant `blat' has been reported.  2. vt.   [HP/Apollo] Synonymous with {nuke} (sense 3).  Sometimes th...
blast2 is  Blast them (y/n)?' would   appear in the command window upon logout. 
blat is  n. 1. Syn. {blast}, sense 1.  2. See {thud}.
bletch is  /blech/ [from Yiddish/German `brechen', to vomit, poss.   via comic-strip exclamation `blech'] interj.  Term of disgust.   Often used in "Ugh, bletch".  Compare {barf}.
bletcherous is  /blech'*-r*s/ adj. Disgusting in design or function;   esthetically unappealing.  This word is seldom used of people.   "This keyboard is bletcherous!" (Perhaps the keys don't work very   well, or are misplaced.)  See {losing}, {creti...
bletcherous2 is  The term {bletcherous}   applies to the esthetics of the thing so described; similarly for   {cretinous}.  By contrast, something that is `losing' or   `bagbiting' may be failing to meet objective criteria.  See also   {bogus} and {r...
bletcherous3 is  meaning than any of the above. 
blinkenlights is  /blink'*n-litz/ n. Front-panel diagnostic lights   on a computer, esp. a {dinosaur}.  Derives from the last word of   the famous   blackletter-Gothic   sign in mangled pseudo-German that once graced about half the   computer rooms i...
blinkenlights2 is  in   its entirety as follows                   ACHTUNG!  ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!        Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben.        Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken     ...
blinkenlights3 is  bei das dumpkopfen.        Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das        pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.   This silliness dates back at least as far as 1959 at Stanford   Universit...
blinkenlights4 is  early 1960s,   when it was reported at London University's ATLAS computing site.   There are several variants of it in circulation, some of which   actually do end with the word `blinkenlights'.   In an amusing example of turnabout...
blinkenlights5 is  their own versions of the blinkenlights poster in   fractured English, one of which is reproduced here                               ATTENTION        This room is fullfilled mit special electronische equippment.        Fingergrabbi...
blinkenlights6 is  computers is        allowed for die experts only!  So all the "lefthanders" stay away        and do not disturben the brainstorming von here working        intelligencies.  Otherwise you will be out thrown and kicked        andersw...
blinkenlights7 is  astaunished        the blinkenlights.   See also {geef}. 
blit is  /blit/ vt. 1. To copy a large array of bits from one part   of a computer's memory to another part, particularly when the   memory is being used to determine what is shown on a display   screen.  "The storage allocator picks through the tabl...
blit2 is  memory, and then blits it all back   down again."  See {bitblt}, {BLT}, {dd}, {cat},   {blast}, {snarf}.  More generally, to perform some operation   (such as toggling) on a large array of bits while moving them.   2. All-capitalized as `BL...
blit3 is  designed by Rob Pike at Bell Labs, later commercialized as   the AT&T 5620.  (The folk etymology from `Bell Labs Intelligent   Terminal' is incorrect.) 
blitter is  /blit'r/ n. A special-purpose chip or hardware system   built to perform {blit} operations, esp. used for fast   implementation of bit-mapped graphics.  The Commodore Amiga and a   few other micros have these, but in 1991 the trend is awa...
blitter2 is  reincarnation}).  Syn. {raster   blaster}. 
blivet is  /bliv'*t/ [allegedly from a World War II military term   meaning "ten pounds of manure in a five-pound bag"] n. 1. An   intractable problem.  2. A crucial piece of hardware that can't be   fixed or replaced if it breaks.  3. A tool that ha...
blivet2 is  programmers that it has become an   unmaintainable tissue of hacks.  4. An out-of-control but   unkillable development effort.  5. An embarrassing bug that pops up   during a customer demo.   This term has other meanings in other technica...
blivet3 is  hardware engineers of various kinds it   seems to mean any random object of unknown purpose (similar to   hackish use of {frob}).  It has also been used to describe an   amusing trick-the-eye drawing resembling a three-pronged fork that  ...
blivet4 is  until one realizes that   the parts fit together in an impossible way. 
block is  [from process scheduling terminology in OS theory] 1. vi.   To delay or sit idle while waiting for something.  "We're blocking   until everyone gets here."  Compare {busy-wait}.  2. `block   on' vt. To block, waiting for (something).  "Lunc...
block transfer computations is  n. From the television series   "Dr. Who", in which it referred to computations so fiendishly   subtle and complex that they could not be performed by machines.   Used to refer to any task that should be expressible as...
blow an EPROM is  /bloh *n ee'prom/ v. (alt. `blast an EPROM',   `burn an EPROM') To program a read-only memory, e.g. for use   with an embedded system.  This term arises because the programming   process for the Programmable Read-Only Memories (PROM...
blow an EPROM2 is  Programmable Read-Only Memories   (EPROMs) involved intentionally blowing tiny electrical fuses on   the chip.  Thus, one was said to `blow' (or `blast') a PROM, and   the terminology carried over even though the write process on  ...
blow away is  vt. To remove (files and directories) from permanent   storage, generally by accident.  "He reformatted the wrong   partition and blew away last night's netnews."  Oppose {nuke}.
blow out is  vi. Of software, to fail spectacularly; almost as serious   as {crash and burn}.  See {blow past}, {blow up}.
blow past is  vt. To {blow out} despite a safeguard.  "The server blew   past the 5K reserve buffer."
blow up is  vi. 1. [scientific computation] To become unstable.  Suggests   that the computation is diverging so rapidly that it will soon   overflow or at least go {nonlinear}.  2.  Syn. {blow out}.
BLT is  /B-L-T/, /bl*t/ or (rarely) /belt/ n.,vt. Synonym for   {blit}.  This is the original form of {blit} and the ancestor   of {bitblt}.  It referred to any large bit-field copy or move   operation (one resource-intensive memory-shuffling operati...
BLT2 is  and TOPS-10 was sardonically   referred to as `The Big BLT').  The jargon usage has outlasted the   {PDP-10} BLock Transfer instruction from which {BLT} derives;   nowadays, the assembler mnemonic {BLT} almost always means   `Branch if Less ...
Blue Book is  n. 1. Informal name for one of the three standard   references on the page-layout and graphics-control language   PostScript (`PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook', Adobe   Systems, Addison-Wesley 1985, QA76.73.P67P68, ISBN 0-201-...
Blue Book2 is  known as the {Green Book} and   {Red Book}.  2. Informal name for one of the three standard   references on Smalltalk `Smalltalk-80 The Language and its   Implementation', David Robson, Addison-Wesley 1983, QA76.8.S635G64,   ISBN 0-201...
Blue Book3 is  and red   books).  3. Any of the 1988 standards issued by the CCITT's   ninth plenary assembly.  Until now, they have changed color each review   cycle (1984 was {Red Book}, 1992 would be {Green Book}); however,   it is rumored that th...
Blue Book4 is  1992.   These include, among other things, the X.400 email spec and   the Group 1 through 4 fax standards.  See also {{book titles}}. 
Blue Glue is  [IBM] n. IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture), an   incredibly {losing} and {bletcherous} communications protocol   widely favored at commercial shops that don't know any better.  The   official IBM definition is "that which binds b...
Blue Glue2 is  loathing}.  It may not be irrelevant   that {Blue Glue} is the trade name of a 3M product that is   commonly used to hold down the carpet squares to the removable   panel floors common in {dinosaur pens}.  A correspondent at   U. Minn....
Blue Glue3 is  80 bottles   of the stuff hanging about, so they often refer to any messy work   to be done as `using the blue glue'. 
blue goo is  n. Term for `police' {nanobot}s intended to prevent   {gray goo}, denature hazardous waste, destroy pollution, put   ozone back into the stratosphere, prevent halitosis, and promote   truth, justice, and the American way, etc.  See   {{n...
BNF is  /B-N-F/ n. 1. [techspeak] Acronym for `Backus-Naur Form', a   metasyntactic notation used to specify the syntax of programming   languages, command sets, and the like.  Widely used for language   descriptions but seldom documented anywhere, s...
BNF2 is  from other hackers.  2. In   {{science-fiction fandom}}, BNF means `Big-Name Fan'   (someone famous or notorious).  Years ago a fan started handing out   black-on-green BNF buttons at SF conventions; this confused the   hacker contingent ter...
boa is  [IBM] n. Any one of the fat cables that lurk under the floor   in a {dinosaur pen}.  Possibly so called because they display a   ferocious life of their own when you try to lay them straight and   flat after they have been coiled for some tim...
boa2 is  cables for the 370 are limited to 200 feet   because beyond that length the boas get dangerous --- and it is   worth noting that one of the major cable makers uses the trademark   `Anaconda'. 
board is  n. 1. In-context synonym for {bboard}; sometimes used   even for USENET newsgroups.  2. An electronic circuit board   (compare {card}).
boat anchor is  n. 1. Like {doorstop} but more severe; implies that   the offending hardware is irreversibly dead or useless.  "That was   a working motherboard once.  One lightning strike later, instant   boat anchor!"  2. A person who just takes up...
bogo-sort is  /boh`goh-sort'/ n. (var. `stupid-sort') The   archetypical perversely awful algorithm (as opposed to {bubble   sort}, which is merely the generic *bad* algorithm).   Bogo-sort is equivalent to repeatedly throwing a deck of cards in   th...
bogo-sort2 is  testing whether they   are in order.  It serves as a sort of canonical example of   awfulness.  Looking at a program and seeing a dumb algorithm, one   might say "Oh, I see, this program uses bogo-sort."  Compare   {bogus}, {brute forc...
bogometer is  /boh-gom'-*t-er/ n. See {bogosity}.  Compare the   `wankometer' described in the {wank} entry; see also   {bogus}.
bogon is  /boh'gon/ [by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but   doubtless reinforced after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas   Adams's `Vogons'; see the Bibliography] n. 1. The elementary particle of   bogosity (see {quantum bogodynamics}).  For ...
bogon2 is  again" means that it is broken or   acting in an erratic or bogus fashion.  2. A query packet sent from   a TCP/IP domain resolver to a root server, having the reply bit set   instead of the query bit.  3. Any bogus or incorrectly formed  ...
bogon3 is  used to refer to any   bogus thing, as in "I'd like to go to lunch with you but I've got   to go to the weekly staff bogon".  5. A person who is bogus or who   says bogus things.  This was historically the original usage, but   has been ov...
bogon4 is  also {bogosity}, {bogus}; compare {psyton}. 
bogon filter is  /boh'gon fil'tr/ n. Any device, software or hardware,   that limits or suppresses the flow and/or emission of bogons.   "Engineering hacked a bogon filter between the Cray and   the VAXen, and now we're getting fewer dropped packets....
bogon flux is  /boh'gon fluhks/ n. A measure of a supposed field of   {bogosity} emitted by a speaker, measured by a {bogometer};   as a speaker starts to wander into increasing bogosity a listener   might say "Warning, warning, bogon flux is rising"...
bogosity is  /boh-go's*-tee/ n. 1. The degree to which something is   {bogus}.  At CMU, bogosity is measured with a {bogometer}; in   a seminar, when a speaker says something bogus, a listener might   raise his hand and say "My bogometer just trigger...
bogosity2 is  bogometer"  means you just said   or did something so outrageously bogus that it is off the scale,   pinning the bogometer needle at the highest possible reading (one   might also say "You just redlined my bogometer").  The   agreed-upo...
bogosity3 is  /mik`roh-len'*t/   (uL).   The consensus is that this is the largest unit practical   for everyday use.  2. The potential field generated by a {bogon   flux}; see {quantum bogodynamics}.  See also {bogon flux},   {bogon filter}, {bogus}...
bogosity4 is  as a attack against   noted computer scientist Doug Lenat by a {tenured graduate   student}.  Doug had failed the student on an important exam for   giving only "AI is bogus" as his answer to the questions.  The   slur is generally cons...
bogosity5 is  gag nevertheless.  Some of Doug's friends argue that *of   course* a microLenat is bogus, since it is only one millionth of a   Lenat.  Others have suggested that the unit should be redesignated   after the grad student, as the microRei...
bogotify is  /boh-go't*-fi/ vt. To make or become bogus.  A   program that has been changed so many times as to become completely   disorganized has become bogotified.  If you tighten a nut too hard   and strip the threads on the bolt, the bolt has b...
bogotify2 is  it any more.  This coinage led to the   notional `autobogotiphobia' defined as `the fear of becoming   bogotified'; but is not clear that the latter has ever been   `live' jargon rather than a self-conscious joke in jargon about   jargo...
bogue out is  /bohg owt/ vi. To become bogus, suddenly and   unexpectedly.  "His talk was relatively sane until somebody asked   him a trick question; then he bogued out and did nothing but   {flame} afterwards."  See also {bogosity}, {bogus}.
bogus is  adj. 1. Non-functional.  "Your patches are bogus."   2. Useless.  "OPCON is a bogus program."  3. False.  "Your   arguments are bogus."  4. Incorrect.  "That algorithm is bogus."   5. Unbelievable.  "You claim to have solved the halting pro...
bogus2 is  bogus."  6. Silly.  "Stop   writing those bogus sagas."   Astrology is bogus.  So is a bolt that is obviously about to break.   So is someone who makes blatantly false claims to have solved a   scientific problem.  (This word seems to have...
bogus3 is  {random} --- mostly the negative ones.)   It is claimed that `bogus' was originally used in the hackish sense   at Princeton in the late 1960s.  It was spread to CMU and Yale by   Michael Shamos, a migratory Princeton alumnus.  A glossary ...
bogus4 is  word was first popularized (see   {autobogotiphobia} under {bogotify}). The word spread into   hackerdom from CMU and MIT.  By the early 1980s it was also   current in something like the hackish sense in West Coast teen   slang, and it had...
bogus5 is    Cambridge reports, by contrast, that these uses of `bogus' grate on   British nerves; in Britain the word means, rather specifically,   `counterfeit', as in "a bogus 10-pound note". 
Bohr bug is  /bohr buhg/ [from quantum physics] n. A repeatable   {bug}; one that manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but   well-defined set of conditions.  Antonym of {heisenbug}; see also   {mandelbug}.
boink is  /boynk/ [USENET ascribed there to the TV series   "Cheers" and "Moonlighting"] 1. To have sex with;   compare {bounce}, sense 3. (This is mainstream slang.) In   Commonwealth hackish the variant `bonk' is more common.  2. After   the origin...
boink2 is  for   almost any net social gathering, e.g., Miniboink, a small boink   held by Nancy Gillett in 1988; Minniboink, a Boinkcon in Minnesota   in 1989; Humpdayboinks, Wednesday get-togethers held in the San   Francisco Bay Area.  Compare {@-...
bomb is  1. v. General synonym for {crash} (sense 1) except that it   is not used as a noun; esp. used of software or OS failures.   "Don't run Empire with less than 32K stack, it'll bomb."   2. n.,v. Atari ST and Macintosh equivalents of a UNIX `pan...
bomb2 is  of little black-powder bombs   or mushroom clouds are displayed, indicating that the system has died.   On the Mac, this may be accompanied by a decimal (or occasionally   hexadecimal) number indicating what went wrong, similar to the   Ami...
bomb3 is  {{MS-DOS}} machines   tend to get {locked up} in this situation. 
bondage-and-discipline language is  A language (such as Pascal, Ada,   APL, or Prolog) that, though ostensibly general-purpose, is designed   so as to enforce an author's theory of `right programming' even   though said theory is demonstrably inadequ...
bondage-and-discipline language2 is  general-purpose programming.  Often abbreviated   `B&D'; thus, one may speak of things "having the B&D nature".   See {{Pascal}}; oppose {languages of choice}. 
bonk/oif is  /bonk/, /oyf/ interj. In the {MUD} community, it has   become traditional to express pique or censure by `bonking' the   offending person.  There is a convention that one should   acknowledge a bonk by saying `oif!' and a myth to the eff...
bonk/oif2 is  bonk/oif balance, causing much   trouble in the universe.  Some MUDs have implemented special   commands for bonking and oifing.  See also {talk mode},   {posing}. 
book titles is  There is a tradition in hackerdom of informally   tagging important textbooks and standards documents with the   dominant color of their covers or with some other conspicuous   feature of the cover.  Many of these are described in thi...
book titles2 is  {Aluminum Book}, {Blue Book},   {Cinderella Book}, {Devil Book}, {Dragon Book}, {Green   Book}, {Orange Book}, {Pink-Shirt Book}, {Purple Book},   {Red Book}, {Silver Book}, {White Book}, {Wizard Book},   {Yellow Book}, and {bible}.b...
book titles3 is  v.,n. To load and   initialize the operating system on a machine.  This usage is no   longer jargon (having passed into techspeak) but has given rise to   some derivatives that are still jargon.   The derivative `reboot' implies that...
book titles4 is  that the boot is a {bounce} intended to clear   some state of {wedgitude}.  This is sometimes used of human   thought processes, as in the following exchange "You've lost   me." "OK, reboot.  Here's the theory...."   This term is als...
book titles5 is  power-off condition) and `warm boot' (with the CPU and all   devices already powered up, as after a hardware reset or software   crash).   Another variant `soft boot', reinitialization of only part of a   system, under control of oth...
book titles6 is  the {mess-dos} emulator, control-alt-insert will   cause a soft-boot of the emulator, while leaving the rest of the   system running."   Opposed to this there is `hard boot', which connotes hostility   towards or frustration with the...
book titles7 is  hard-boot this losing Sun." "I recommend booting it hard."   Historical note this term derives from `bootstrap loader', a short   program that was read in from cards or paper tape, or toggled in   from the front panel switches.  This...
book titles8 is  were expended on making it short in order to   minimize the labor and chance of error involved in toggling it in),   but was just smart enough to read in a slightly more complex   program (usually from a card or paper tape reader), t...
book titles9 is  turn was smart enough to read the   application or operating system from a magnetic tape drive or disk   drive.  Thus, in successive steps, the computer `pulled itself up   by its bootstraps' to a useful operating state.  Nowadays th...
book titles10 is  and reads the first   stage in from a fixed location on the disk, called the `boot   block'.  When this program gains control, it is powerful enough to   load the actual OS and hand control over to it. 
bottom-up implementation is  n. Hackish opposite of the techspeak term   `top-down design'.  It is now received wisdom in most   programming cultures that it is best to design from higher levels   of abstraction down to lower, specifying sequences of...
bottom-up implementation2 is  to actual code.  Hackers often find   (especially in exploratory designs that cannot be closely   specified in advance) that it works best to *build* things in   the opposite order, by writing and testing a clean set of ...
bounce is  v. 1. [perhaps from the image of a thrown ball bouncing   off a wall] An electronic mail message that is undeliverable and   returns an error notification to the sender is said to `bounce'.   See also {bounce message}.  2. [Stanford] To pl...
bounce2 is  Power Lab} building used by the   Stanford AI Lab in the 1970s, there was a volleyball court on the   front lawn.  From 5 P.M. to 7 P.M. was the scheduled   maintenance time for the computer, so every afternoon at 5 the   computer would b...
bounce3 is  voice   would cry, "Now hear this bounce, bounce!" followed by Brian   McCune loudly bouncing a volleyball on the floor outside the   offices of known volleyballers.  3. To engage in sexual   intercourse; prob. from the expression `bounci...
bounce4 is  psychosexually loaded "Bounce on me   too, Tigger!" from the "Winnie-the-Pooh" books.  Compare   {boink}.  4. To casually reboot a system in order to clear up a   transient problem.  Reported primarily among {VMS} users.   5. [IBM] To {po...
bounce message is  [UNIX] n. Notification message returned to sender by   a site unable to relay {email} to the intended {{Internet address}}   recipient or the next link in a {bang path} (see {bounce}).   Reasons might include a nonexistent or missp...
bounce message2 is  Bounce messages can themselves fail, with   occasionally ugly results; see {sorcerer's apprentice mode}.   The term `bounce mail' is also common. 
box is  n. 1. A computer; esp. in the construction `foo box'   where foo is some functional qualifier, like `graphics', or   the name of an OS (thus, `UNIX box', `MS-DOS box', etc.)  "We   preprocess the data on UNIX boxes before handing it up to the...

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

Chernobyl packet2 is  both source and destination Ether and IP   address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the   subnetworks being gated between.  Compare {Christmas tree   packet}. 
chicken head is  [Commodore] n. The Commodore Business Machines logo,   which strongly resembles a poultry part.  Rendered in ASCII as   `C='.  With the arguable exception of the Amiga (see {amoeba}),   Commodore's machines are notoriously crocky lit...
chicken head2 is  Thus, this usage may owe something to   Philip K.  Dick's novel `Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'   (the basis for the movie `Blade Runner'), in which a   `chickenhead' is a mutant with below-average intelligence. 
chiclet keyboard is  n. A keyboard with small rectangular or   lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of   chewing gum.  (Chiclets is the brand name of a variety of chewing   gum that does in fact resemble the keys of chiclet key...
chiclet keyboard2 is  IBM PCjr keyboard.  Vendors   unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early   portable and laptop products got launched using them.  Customers   rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets a...
chine nual is  /sheen'yu-*l/ [MIT] n.,obs. The Lisp Machine Manual, so   called because the title was wrapped around the cover so only those   letters showed on the front.
Chinese Army technique is  n. Syn. {Mongolian Hordes technique}.
choke is  v. To reject input, often ungracefully.  "Nuls make System   V's `lpr(1)' choke."  "I tried building an {EMACS} binary to   use {X}, but `cpp(1)' choked on all those `#define's."   See {barf}, {gag}, {vi}.
chomp is  vi. To {lose}; specifically, to chew on something of   which more was bitten off than one can.  Probably related to   gnashing of teeth.  See {bagbiter}.  A hand gesture commonly   accompanies this.  To perform it, hold the four fingers   t...
chomp2 is  tips.  Now open and   close your hand rapidly to suggest a biting action (much like what   Pac-Man does in the classic video game, though this pantomime seems   to predate that).  The gesture alone means `chomp chomp' (see   Verb Doubling ...
chomp3 is  Prependices).  The hand may be pointed at the object of complaint,   and for real emphasis you can use both hands at once.  Doing this   to a person is equivalent to saying "You chomper!"  If you point   the gesture at yourself, it is a hu...
chomp4 is  You might do this if someone told you that a program   you had written had failed in some surprising way and you felt dumb   for not having anticipated it. 
chomper is  n. Someone or something that is chomping; a loser.  See   {loser}, {bagbiter}, {chomp}.
Christmas tree is  n. A kind of RS-232 line tester or breakout box   featuring rows of blinking red and green LEDs suggestive of   Christmas lights.
Christmas tree packet is  n. A packet with every single option set for   whatever protocol is in use.  See {kamikaze packet}, {Chernobyl   packet}.  (The term doubtless derives from a fanciful image of each   little option bit being represented by a ...
chrome is  [from automotive slang via wargaming] n. Showy features   added to attract users but contributing little or nothing to   the power of a system.  "The 3D icons in Motif are just chrome,   but they certainly are *pretty* chrome!"  Distinguis...
chrome2 is  that the latter are usually   added to gratify developers' own desires for featurefulness.    Often used as a term of contempt. 
chug is  vi. To run slowly; to {grind} or {grovel}.  "The disk is   chugging like crazy."
Church of the SubGenius is  n. A mutant offshoot of   {Discordianism} launched in 1981 as a spoof of fundamentalist   Christianity by the `Reverend' Ivan Stang, a brilliant satirist   with a gift for promotion.  Popular among hackers as a rich source...
Church of the SubGenius2 is  "Bob" the divine   drilling-equipment salesman, the Benevolent Space Xists, and the   Stark Fist of Removal.  Much SubGenius theory is concerned with the   acquisition of the mystical substance or quality of   `slack'. 
Cinderella Book is  [CMU] n. `Introduction to Automata Theory,   Languages, and Computation', by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman,   (Addison-Wesley, 1979).  So called because the cover depicts a girl   (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a R...
Cinderella Book2 is  coming out of it.  The back cover depicts the   girl with the device in shambles after she has pulled on the rope.   See also {{book titles}}. 
CI$ is  // n. Hackerism for `CIS', CompuServe Information Service.   The dollar sign refers to CompuServe's rather steep line charges.  Often   used in {sig block}s just before a CompuServe address.  Syn.   {Compu$erve}.
Classic C is  /klas'ik C/ [a play on `Coke Classic'] n. The   C programming language as defined in the first edition of {K&R},   with some small additions.  It is also known as `K&R C'.  The name   came into use while C was being standardized by the ...
Classic C2 is  This is sometimes applied   elsewhere thus, `X Classic', where X = Star Trek (referring to the   original TV series) or X = PC (referring to IBM's ISA-bus machines   as opposed to the PS/2 series).  This construction is especially   us...
Classic C3 is  versions are considered   serious losers relative to the older ones. 
clean is  1. adj. Used of hardware or software designs, implies   `elegance in the small', that is, a design or implementation that   may not hold any surprises but does things in a way that is   reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to comprehend...
clean2 is  or {crufty}.  2. v. To remove   unneeded or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter  "I'm   cleaning up my account." "I cleaned up the garbage and now have   100 Meg free on that partition." 
CLM is  /C-L-M/ [Sun `Career Limiting Move'] 1. n. An action   endangering one's future prospects of getting plum projects and   raises, and possibly one's job  "His Halloween costume was a   parody of his manager.  He won the prize for `best CLM'." ...
CLM2 is  discovered by a   customer and obviously missed earlier because of poor testing   "That's a CLM bug!" 
clobber is  vt. To overwrite, usually unintentionally "I walked off   the end of the array and clobbered the stack."  Compare {mung},   {scribble}, {trash}, and {smash the stack}.
clocks is  n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each   generally corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor's timing.   The relative execution times of instructions on a machine are   usually discussed in clocks rather than absolute frac...
clocks2 is  is that clock speeds for various   models of the machine may increase as technology improves, and it   is usually the relative times one is interested in when discussing   the instruction set.  Compare {cycle}. 
clone is  n. 1. An exact duplicate "Our product is a clone of   their product."  Implies a legal reimplementation from   documentation or by reverse-engineering.  Also connotes lower   price.  2. A shoddy, spurious copy "Their product is a   clone of...
clone2 is  likely violating   copyright, patent, or trade secret protections "Your   product is a clone of my product."  This use implies legal   action is pending.  4. A `PC clone'; a PC-BUS/ISA or   EISA-compatible 80x86-based microcomputer (this u...
clone3 is   These invariably have much   more bang for the buck than the IBM archetypes they resemble.   5. In the construction `UNIX clone' An OS designed to deliver   a UNIX-lookalike environment without UNIX license fees, or with   additional `mis...
clone4 is  real-time programming.  6. v. To make an exact copy of something.   "Let me clone that" might mean "I want to borrow that paper so I   can make a photocopy" or "Let me get a copy of that file before   you {mung} it". 
clover key is  [Mac users] n. See {command key}.
clustergeeking is  /kluh'st*r-gee`king/ [CMU] n.  Spending more time   at a computer cluster doing CS homework than most people spend   breathing.
COBOL is  /koh'bol/ [COmmon Business-Oriented Language] n.   (Synonymous with {evil}.)  A weak, verbose, and flabby language   used by {card walloper}s to do boring mindless things on   {dinosaur} mainframes.  Hackers believe all COBOL programmers   ...
COBOL2 is  self-respecting hacker   will ever admit to having learned the language.  Its very name is   seldom uttered without ritual expressions of disgust or horror.   See also {fear and loathing}, {software rot}. 
COBOL fingers is  /koh'bol fing'grz/ n. Reported from Sweden, a   (hypothetical) disease one might get from coding in COBOL.  The   language requires code verbose beyond all reason; thus it is   alleged that programming too much in COBOL causes one's...
COBOL fingers2 is  endless typing.  "I refuse to type in   all that source code again; it would give me COBOL fingers!" 
code grinder is  n. 1. A {suit}-wearing minion of the sort hired in   legion strength by banks and insurance companies to implement   payroll packages in RPG and other such unspeakable horrors.  In his   native habitat, the code grinder often removes...
code grinder2 is  consisting of button-down shirt (starch   optional) and a tie.  In times of dire stress, the sleeves (if   long) may be rolled up and the tie loosened about half an inch.  It   seldom helps.  The {code grinder}'s milieu is about as ...
code grinder3 is  touch a computer; the term   connotes pity.  See {Real World}, {suit}.  2. Used of or to a   hacker, a really serious slur on the person's creative ability;   connotes a design style characterized by primitive technique,   rule-boun...
code grinder4 is  imagination.   Compare {card walloper}; contrast {hacker}, {real   programmer}. 
code police is  [by analogy with George Orwell's `thought police'] n.   A mythical team of Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst   into one's office and arrest one for violating programming style   rules.  May be used either seriously, to unde...
code police2 is  violation is dangerous, or ironically, to suggest   that the practice under discussion is condemned mainly by   anal-retentive {weenie}s.  "Dike out that goto or the code   police will get you!"  The ironic usage is perhaps more comm...
codewalker is  n. A program component that traverses other programs for   a living.  Compilers have codewalkers in their front ends; so do   cross-reference generators and some database front ends.  Other   utility programs that try to do too much wi...
codewalker2 is  As in "This new `vgrind' feature would require a   codewalker to implement." 
coefficient of X is  n. Hackish speech makes rather heavy use of   pseudo-mathematical metaphors.  Four particularly important ones   involve the terms `coefficient', `factor', `index', and   `quotient'.  They are often loosely applied to things you ...
coefficient of X2 is  there are subtle   distinctions among them that convey information about the way the   speaker mentally models whatever he or she is describing.   `Foo factor' and `foo quotient' tend to describe something for   which the issue ...
coefficient of X3 is  example is {fudge factor}.  It's not important how much you're   fudging; the term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed.   You might talk of liking a movie for its silliness factor.   Quotient tends to imply that the ...
coefficient of X4 is  "I would have won except for my luck quotient."  This   could also be "I would have won except for the luck factor", but   using *quotient* emphasizes that it was bad luck overpowering   good luck (or someone else's good luck ov...
coefficient of X5 is  `coefficient of foo' both tend to imply   that foo is, if not strictly measurable, at least something that   can be larger or smaller.  Thus, you might refer to a paper or   person as having a `high bogosity index', whereas you ...
coefficient of X6 is  bogosity factor'.  `Foo index' suggests   that foo is a condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane   cost-of-living index; `coefficient of foo' suggests that foo is a   fundamental quantity, as in a coefficient of fricti...
coefficient of X7 is  one of personal preference; e.g., some   people might feel that bogosity is a fundamental attribute and thus   say `coefficient of bogosity', whereas others might feel it is a   combination of factors and thus say `bogosity inde...
cokebottle is  /kohk'bot-l/ n. Any very unusual character,   particularly one you can't type because it it isn't on your   keyboard.  MIT people used to complain about the   `control-meta-cokebottle' commands at SAIL, and SAIL people   complained rig...
cokebottle2 is    commands at MIT.  After the demise of the {space-cadet   keyboard}, `cokebottle' faded away as serious usage, but was   often invoked humorously to describe an (unspecified) weird or   non-intuitive keystroke command.  It may be due...
cokebottle3 is  window manager, `mwm(1)', has   a reserved keystroke for switching to the default set of   keybindings and behavior.  This keystroke is (believe it or not)   `control-meta-bang' (see {bang}).  Since the exclamation point   looks a lot...
cokebottle4 is  have   begun referring to this keystroke as `cokebottle'.  See also   {quadruple bucky}. 
cold boot is  n. See {boot}.
COME FROM is  n. A semi-mythical language construct dual to the `go   to'; `COME FROM' <label> would cause the referenced label to act as a   sort of trapdoor, so that if the program ever reached it control   would quietly and {automagically} be tran...
COME FROM2 is  FROM'.  `COME FROM' was first proposed in a   {Datamation} article of December 1973 (reprinted in the April 1984   issue of `Communications of the ACM') that parodied the   then-raging `structured programming' {holy wars} (see   {consi...
COME FROM3 is  the   `assigned COME FROM' and the `computed COME FROM'   (parodying some nasty control constructs in FORTRAN and some   extended BASICs).  Of course, multi-tasking (or non-determinism)   could be implemented by having more than one `C...
COME FROM4 is  label.   In some ways the FORTRAN `DO' looks like a `COME FROM'   statement.  After the terminating statement number/`CONTINUE'   is reached, control continues at the statement following the DO.   Some generous FORTRANs would allow arb...
COME FROM5 is  the statement, leading to examples like           DO 10 I=1,LIMIT     C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the     C original DO statement lost in the spaghetti...           WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I)      10   FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4)   i...
COME FROM6 is  statement labeled 10.   (This is particularly surprising because the label doesn't appear   to have anything to do with the flow of control at all!)   While sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this   form of `COME FROM...
COME FROM7 is  all,   control will eventually pass to the following statement.  The   implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN,   ca. 1975.  The statement `AT 100' would perform a `COME   FROM 100'.  It was intended strictly as a...
COME FROM8 is  promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in   production code.  More horrible things had already been perpetrated   in production languages, however; doubters need only contemplate   the `ALTER' verb in {COBOL}.   `COME FROM' was su...
COME FROM9 is  15 years later, in C-INTERCAL (see {INTERCAL},   {retrocomputing}); knowledgeable observers are still reeling   from the shock. 
comm mode is  /kom mohd/ [ITS from the feature supporting on-line   chat; the term may spelled with one or two m's] Syn. for {talk   mode}.
command key is  [Mac users] n. The Macintosh key with the cloverleaf   graphic on its keytop; sometimes referred to as `flower',   `pretzel', `clover', `propeller', `beanie' (an apparent   reference to the major feature of a propeller beanie), or   {...
command key2 is   The   proliferation of terms for this creature may illustrate one subtle   peril of iconic interfaces. 
comment out is  vt. To surround a section of code with comment   delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment   marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted.  Often   done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but...
comment out2 is  the intent of the active code clearer;   also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass   it in order to debug some other part of the code.  Compare   {condition out}, usually the preferred technique in languages...
Commonwealth Hackish is  n. Hacker jargon as spoken outside   the U.S., esp. in the British Commonwealth.  It is reported that   Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce truncations like   `char' and `soc', etc., as spelled (/char/, /sok/),...
Commonwealth Hackish2 is  Dots in {newsgroup}   names tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot   wib'l/ rather than /sohsh wib'l/).  The prefix {meta} may be   pronounced /mee't*/; similarly, Greek letter beta is often   /bee't*/, ...
Commonwealth Hackish3 is  Preferred   metasyntactic variables include `eek', `ook',   `frodo', and `bilbo'; `wibble', `wobble', and   in emergencies `wubble'; `banana', `wombat',   `frog', {fish}, and so on and on (see {foo}, sense 4).   Alternatives...
Commonwealth Hackish4 is  `frenzy' (as in feeding frenzy), and `city' (examples "barf   city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!").  Finally, note   that the American terms `parens', `brackets', and `braces' for (),   [], and {} are uncommon; Commonw...
Commonwealth Hackish5 is  brackets', and `curly brackets'.  Also, the   use of `pling' for {bang} is common outside the United States.   See also {attoparsec}, {calculator}, {chemist}, {console   jockey}, {fish}, {go-faster stripes}, {grunge}, {haksp...
Commonwealth Hackish6 is  fixer}, {noddy},   {psychedelicware}, {plingnet}, {raster blaster}, {seggie},   {terminal junkie}, {tick-list features}, {weeble},   {weasel}, {YABA}, and notes or definitions under {Bad Thing},   {barf}, {bogus}, {bum}, {ch...
Commonwealth Hackish7 is  {crunch}, {dodgy}, {gonk}, {hamster},   {hardwarily}, {mess-dos}, {nybble}, {proglet}, {root},   {SEX}, {tweak}, and {xyzzy}. 
compact is  adj. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it   can all be apprehended at once in one's head.  This generally means   the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility   and fewer errors than an equivalent to...
compact2 is  imply triviality or lack of power; for   example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful   than FORTRAN.  Designs become non-compact through accreting   {feature}s and {cruft} that don't merge cleanly into the   overall ...
compact3 is  maintain   that ANSI C is no longer compact). 
compiler jock is  n. See {jock} (sense 2).
compress is  [UNIX] vt. When used without a qualifier, generally   refers to {crunch}ing of a file using a particular   C implementation of Lempel-Ziv compression by James A. Woods et al. and   widely circulated via {USENET}.  Use of {crunch} itself ...
Compu$erve is  n. See {CI$}.
computer confetti is  n. Syn. {chad}.  Though this term is common,   this use of the punched-card chad is not a good idea, as the pieces   are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes.  GLS   reports that he once attended a wedding at ...
computer confetti2 is  enthusiastically threw chad instead of rice. The   groom later grumbled that he and his bride had spent most of the   evening trying to get the stuff out of their hair. 
computer geek is  n. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living.  One   who fulfills all the dreariest negative stereotypes about hackers   an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the   personality of a cheese grater.  Cannot be used b...
computer geek2 is  hackers; compare black-on-black usage   of `nigger'.  A computer geek may be either a fundamentally   clueless individual or a proto-hacker in {larval stage}.  Also   called `turbo nerd', `turbo geek'.  See also   {clustergeeking},...
computron is  /kom'pyoo-tron`/ n. 1. A notional unit of computing   power combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned   roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store   times megabytes-of-mass-storage.  "That machi...
computron2 is  enough computrons!"  This usage is usually   found in metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible   commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel horsepower.  See   {bitty box}, {Get a real computer!}, {toy}, {crank}.   2. A mythi...
computron3 is  quantity of   computation or information, in much the same way that an electron   bears one unit of electric charge (see also {bogon}).  An   elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons has been developed   based on the physical f...
computron4 is  more rapidly as it is heated.  It is argued that an object   melts because the molecules have lost their information about where   they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons).   This explains why computers get so ho...
computron5 is  computrons.  Conversely, it should be   possible to cool down an object by placing it in the path of a   computron beam.  It is believed that this may also explain why   machines that work at the factory fail in the computer room the  ...
computron6 is  other hardware.   (This theory probably owes something to the "Warlock" stories   by Larry Niven, the best known being "What Good is a Glass   Dagger?", in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural   resource called `mana'.) 
condition out is  vt. To prevent a section of code from being compiled   by surrounding it with a conditional-compilation directive whose   condition is always false.  The {canonical} examples are `#if   0' (or `#ifdef notdef', though some find this ...
condom is  n. 1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch   microfloppy diskettes.  Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes.   Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on) not only   impedes the practice of {SEX} but has al...
condom2 is  drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk --- and   can even fatally frustrate insertion.  2. The protective cladding   on a {light pipe}. 
connector conspiracy is  [probably came into prominence with the   appearance of the KL-10 (one model of the {PDP-10}), none of   whose connectors matched anything else] n. The tendency of   manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors o...
connector conspiracy2 is  that don't fit together   with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or   expensive interface devices.  The KL-10 Massbus connector was   actually *patented* by DEC, which reputedly refused to license   ...
connector conspiracy3 is  parties out of   competition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market.  This is   a source of never-ending frustration for the diehards who maintain   older PDP-10 or VAX systems.  Their CPUs work fine, but they are   st...
connector conspiracy4 is  drives with low   capacity and high power requirements.   In these latter days of open-systems computing this term has fallen   somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observation that   "Standards are great!  There are ...
cons is  /konz/ or /kons/ [from LISP] 1. vt. To add a new element   to a specified list, esp. at the top.  "OK, cons picking a   replacement for the console TTY onto the agenda."  2. `cons up'   vt. To synthesize from smaller pieces "to cons up an ex...
cons2 is  fundamental operation for   building structures.  It takes any two objects and returns a   `dot-pair' or two-branched tree with one object hanging from each   branch.  Because the result of a cons is an object, it can be used   to build bin...
cons3 is  think   of it as a sort of universal constructor, and that is where the   jargon meanings spring from. 
considered harmful is  adj. Edsger W. Dijkstra's note in the   March 1968 `Communications of the ACM', "Goto Statement   Considered Harmful", fired the first salvo in the structured   programming wars.  Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting   a...
considered harmful2 is  policy) no longer   print an article taking so assertive a position against a coding   practice.  In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious   papers and parodies have borne titles of the form "X   considered Y".  ...
considered harmful3 is    over with the realization that both sides were wrong, but use of   such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke (the   `considered silly' found at various places in this lexicon is   related). 
console is  n. 1. The operator's station of a {mainframe}.  In   times past, this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike   powers to anyone with fingers on its keys.  Under UNIX and other   modern timesharing OSes, such privileges are guarde...
console2 is  just the {tty} the system was booted   from.  Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is traditional   for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from the console   (on UNIX, /dev/console).  2. On microcomputer UNIX boxes, ...
console3 is  character-only terminals talking   to a serial port).  Typically only the console can do real graphics   or run {X}.  See also {CTY}. 
console jockey is  n. See {terminal junkie}.
content-free is  [by analogy with techspeak `context-free'] adj.   Used of a message that adds nothing to the recipient's knowledge.   Though this adjective is sometimes applied to {flamage}, it more   usually connotes derision for communication styl...
content-free2 is  centered on concerns irrelevant to the   subject ostensibly at hand.  Perhaps most used with reference to   speeches by company presidents and other professional manipulators.   "Content-free?  Uh...that's anything printed on glossy...
content-free3 is  "He gave a talk on   the implications of electronic networks for postmodernism and the   fin-de-siecle aesthetic.  It was content-free." 
control-C is  vi. 1. "Stop whatever you are doing."  From the   interrupt character used on many operating systems to abort a   running program.  Considered silly.  2. interj. Among BSD UNIX   hackers, the canonical humorous response to "Give me a br...

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

taste3 is  `kind or `variety not shared by   `taste.  {Flavor} is a more popular word than `taste,   though both are used.  See also {elegant}.  2. Alt. sp. of   {tayste}. 
tayste is  /tayst/ n. Two bits; also as {taste}.  Syn. {crumb},   {quarter}.  Compare {{byte}}, {dynner}, {playte},   {nybble}, {quad}.
TCB is  /T-C-B/ [IBM] n. 1. Trouble Came Back.  An intermittent or   difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to respond to   neglect.  Compare {heisenbug}.  Not to be confused with   2. Trusted Computing Base, an `official jargon term from the...
ISO standard cup of tea is  [South Africa] n. A cup of tea with milk   and one teaspoon of sugar, where the milk is poured into the cup   before the tea.  Variations are ISO 0, with no sugar; ISO 2, with   two spoons of sugar; and so on.   Like many ...
ISO standard cup of tea2 is  ring in North   America, where hackers generally shun the decadent British practice   of adulterating perfectly good tea with dairy products and   prefer instead to add a wedge of lemon, if anything.  If one were   feelin...
ISO standard cup of tea3 is  analogous `ANSI   standard cup of tea and wind up with a political situation   distressingly similar to several that arise in much more serious   technical contexts.  Milk and lemon dont mix very well. 
TechRef is  /tekref/ [MS-DOS] n. The original `IBM PC   Technical Reference Manual, including the BIOS listing and   complete schematics for the PC.  The only PC documentation in the   issue package thats considered serious by real hackers.
TECO is  /teekoh/ obs. 1. vt. Originally, to edit using the TECO   editor in one of its infinite variations (see below).  2. vt.,obs.   To edit even when TECO is *not* the editor being used!  This   usage is rare and now primarily historical.  2. [or...
TECO2 is  and COrrector; later, `Text   Editor and COrrector] n. A text editor developed at MIT and   modified by just about everybody.  With all the dialects included,   TECO might have been the most prolific editor in use before   {EMACS}, to which...
TECO3 is  powerful programming-language-like features and its unspeakably   hairy syntax.  It is literally the case that every string of   characters is a valid TECO program (though probably not a useful   one); one common hacker game used to be ment...
TECO4 is  corresponding to human names did.  As an example   of TECOs obscurity, here is a TECO program that takes a list of   names such as     Loser, J. Random     Quux, The Great     Dick, Moby   sorts them alphabetically according to surname, and...
TECO5 is  comma, to produce the following     Moby Dick     J. Random Loser     The Great Quux   The program is     [1 J^P$L$$     J <.-Z; .,(S,$ -D .)FX1 @F^B $K L I $ G1 L>$$   (where ^B means `Control-B (ASCII 0000010) and $ is actually   an {ALT}...
TECO6 is  fact, this very program was used to produce the second, sorted   list from the first list.  The first hack at it had a {bug} GLS   (the author) had accidentally omitted the `@ in front   of `F^B, which as anyone can see is clearly the {Wron...
TECO7 is  There is no space to describe all the   features of TECO, but it may be of interest that `^P means   `sort and `J<.-Z; ... L> is an idiomatic series of commands   for `do once for every line.   In mid-1991, TECO is pretty much one with the ...
TECO8 is  affections of hackerdom by {EMACS}.   Descendants of an early (and somewhat lobotomized) version adopted   by DEC can still be found lurking on VMS and a couple of crufty   PDP-11 operating systems, however, and ports of the more advanced  ...
TECO9 is  antiquarian interest.  See   also {retrocomputing}, {write-only language}. 
tee is  n.,vt. [Purdue] A carbon copy of an electronic transmission.   "Oh, youre sending him the {bits} to that?  Slap on a tee for   me."  From the UNIX command `tee(1), itself named after a   pipe fitting (see {plumbing}).  Can also mean `save one...
Telerat is  /tel*-rat/ n. Unflattering hackerism for `Teleray, a   line of extremely losing terminals.  See also {terminak},   {sun-stools}, {HP-SUX}.
TELNET is  /telnet/ vt. To communicate with another Internet host   using the {TELNET} program.  TOPS-10 people used the word   IMPCOM, since that was the program name for them.  Sometimes   abbreviated to TN /T-N/.  "I usually TN over to SAIL just t...
ten-finger interface is  n. The interface between two networks that   cannot be directly connected for security reasons; refers to the   practice of placing two terminals side by side and having an   operator read from one and type into the other.
tense is  adj. Of programs, very clever and efficient.  A tense piece   of code often got that way because it was highly {bum}med, but   sometimes it was just based on a great idea.  A comment in a clever   routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student ...
tense2 is  will bring tears to your eyes."  A tense   programmer is one who produces tense code. 
tenured graduate student is  n. One who has been in graduate school   for 10 years (the usual maximum is 5 or 6) a `ten-yeared   student (get it?).  Actually, this term may be used of any grad   student beginning in his seventh year.  Students dont r...
tenured graduate student2 is  professors do, but a tenth-year graduate   student has probably been around the university longer than any   untenured professor. 
tera- is  /ter*/ [SI] pref. See {{quantifiers}}.
teraflop club is  /ter*-flop kluhb/ [FLOP = Floating Point   Operation] n. A mythical association of people who consume outrageous   amounts of computer time in order to produce a few simple pictures   of glass balls with intricate ray-tracing techni...
teraflop club2 is  said to have been the founder. 
terminak is  /termi-nak`/ [Caltech, ca. 1979] n. Any malfunctioning   computer terminal.  A common failure mode of Lear-Siegler ADM 3a   terminals caused the `L key to produce the `K code instead;   complaints about this tended to look like "Terminak...
terminak2 is  {sun-stools}, {Telerat},   {HP-SUX}. 
terminal brain death is  n. The extreme form of {terminal illness}   (sense 1).  What someone who has obviously been hacking   continuously for far too long is said to be suffering from.
terminal illness is  n. 1. Syn. {raster burn}.  2. The `burn-in   condition your CRT tends to get if you dont have a screen saver.
terminal junkie is  [UK] n. A {wannabee} or early   {larval stage} hacker who spends most of his or her time wandering   the directory tree and writing {noddy} programs just to get   a fix of computer time.  Variants include `terminal   jockey, `cons...
terminal junkie2 is  `console jockey seems to imply more expertise than the other   three (possibly because of the exalted status of the {{console}}   relative to an ordinary terminal).  See also {twink},   {read-only user}. 
terpri is  /terpree/ [from LISP 1.5 (and later, MacLISP)] vi. To   output a {newline}.  Now rare as jargon, though still used as   techspeak in Common LISP.  It is a contraction of `TERminate PRInt   line, named for the fact that, on early OSes, no c...
terpri2 is  line was formed, so this operation   terminated the line and emitted the output. 
test is  n. 1. Real users bashing on a prototype long enough to get   thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful monitoring and followup   of the results.  2. Some bored random user trying a couple of the   simpler features with a developer looking ...
test2 is  mistakes.  Judging by the quality of most   software, the second definition is far more prevalent.  See also   {demo}. 
TeX is  /tekh/ n. An extremely powerful {macro}-based   text formatter written by Donald E. Knuth, very popular in the   computer-science community (it is good enough to have displaced   UNIX `troff(1), the other favored formatter, even at many   UNI...
TeX2 is  correct (guttural)   pronunciation, and the correct spelling (all caps, squished   together, with the E depressed below the baseline; the   mixed-case `TeX is considered an acceptable kluge on ASCII-only   devices).  Fans like to proliferate...
TeX3 is  TeXnician (TeX user), TeXhacker (TeX   programmer), TeXmaster (competent TeX programmer), TeXhax,   and TeXnique.   Knuth began TeX because he had become annoyed at the declining   quality of the typesetting in volumes I--III of his monument...
TeX4 is  {bible}).  In a   manifestation of the typical hackish urge to solve the problem at   hand once and for all, he began to design his own typesetting   language.  He thought he would finish it on his sabbatical in 1978;   he was wrong by only ...
TeX5 is  frozen around 1985, but volume IV of `The Art of Computer   Programming has yet to appear as of mid-1991.  The impact and   influence of TeXs design has been such that nobody minds this   very much.  Many grand hackish projects have started ...
TeX6 is  something else; Knuths diversion was   simply on a grander scale than most. 
text is  n. 1. [techspeak] Executable code, esp. a `pure code   portion shared between multiple instances of a program running in a   multitasking OS (compare {English}).  2. Textual material in the   mainstream sense; data in ordinary {{ASCII}} or {...
text2 is   "Those are text files;   you can review them using the editor."  These two contradictory   senses confuse hackers, too. 
thanks in advance is  [USENET] Conventional net.politeness ending a   posted request for information or assistance.  Sometimes written   `advTHANKSance or `aTdHvAaNnKcSe or abbreviated `TIA.  See   {net.-}, {netiquette}.
the X that can be Y is not the true X is  Yet another instance of   hackerdoms peculiar attraction to mystical references --- a common   humorous way of making exclusive statements about a class of   things.  The template is from the `Tao te Ching "T...
the X that can be Y is not the true X2 is  true Tao."  The implication   is often that the X is a mystery accessible only to the   enlightened.  See the {trampoline} entry for an example, and   compare {has the X nature}. 
theology is  n. 1. Ironically or humorously used to refer to   {religious issues}.  2. Technical fine points of an abstruse   nature, esp. those where the resolution is of theoretical   interest but is relatively {marginal} with respect to actual use...
theology2 is  software issues with a   heavy AI or language-design component, such as the smart-data vs.   smart-programs dispute in AI. 
theory is  n. The consensus, idea, plan, story, or set of rules that   is currently being used to inform a behavior.  This is a   generalization and abuse of the technical meaning.  "Whats the   theory on fixing this TECO loss?"  "Whats the theory on...
theory2 is  "Whats the current theory   on letting lusers on during the day?"  "The theory behind this   change is to fix the following well-known screw...." 
thinko is  /thingkoh/ [by analogy with `typo] n. A momentary,   correctable glitch in mental processing, especially one involving   recall of information learned by rote; a bubble in the stream of   consciousness.  Syn. {braino}.  Compare {mouso}.
This time, for sure! is  excl. Ritual affirmation frequently uttered   during protracted debugging sessions involving numerous small   obstacles (e.g., attempts to bring up a UUCP connection).  For the   proper effect, this must be uttered in a fruit...
This time, for sure!2 is  heard "Hey, Rocky!  Watch me pull a   rabbit out of my hat!"  The {canonical} response is, of course,   "But that trick *never* works!"  See {{Humor, Hacker}}. 
thrash is  vi. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing   anything useful.  Paging or swapping systems that are overloaded   waste most of their time moving data into and out of core (rather   than performing useful computation) and are the...
thrash2 is  changing his mind (esp. about what to   work on next) is said to be thrashing.  A person frantically trying   to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending enough time on   any single task) may also be described as thrashing.  Compa...
thread is  n. [USENET, GEnie, CompuServe] Common abbreviation of   `topic thread, a more or less continuous chain of postings on a   single topic.
three-finger salute is  n. Syn. {Vulcan nerve pinch}.
thud is  n. 1. Yet another meta-syntactic variable (see {foo}).   It is reported that at CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of   these was `foo, `bar, `thud, `blat.  2. Rare term   for the hash character, `# (ASCII 0100011).  See {ASCII} for...
thunk is  /thuhnk/ n. 1. "A piece of coding which provides an   address", according to P. Z. Ingerman, who invented thunks   in 1961 as a way of binding actual parameters to their formal   definitions in Algol-60 procedure calls.  If a procedure is c...
thunk2 is  formal parameter, the compiler   generates a {thunk} to compute the expression and leave the   address of the result in some standard location.  2. Later   generalized into an expression, frozen together with its   environment, for later e...
thunk3 is  in techspeak is called a `closure).  The process of   unfreezing these thunks is called `forcing.  3. A   {stubroutine}, in an overlay programming environment, that loads   and jumps to the correct overlay.  Compare {trampoline}.   4. Peop...
thunk4 is  manner.  "It   occurred to me the other day that I am rather accurately modeled by   a thunk --- I frequently need to be forced to completion." ---   paraphrased from a {plan file}.   Historical note There are a couple of onomatopoeic myth...
thunk5 is  The most common is that   it is the sound made by data hitting the stack; another holds that   the sound is that of the data hitting an accumulator.  Yet another   holds that it is the sound of the expression being unfrozen at   argument-e...
thunk6 is  inventors, it   was coined after they realized (in the wee hours after hours of   discussion) that the type of an argument in Algol-60 could be   figured out in advance with a little compile-time thought,   simplifying the evaluation machi...
thunk7 is  thought of; thus it was christened a `thunk,   which is "the past tense of `think at two in the morning". 
tick is  n. 1. A {jiffy} (sense 1).  2. In simulations, the   discrete unit of time that passes between iterations of the   simulation mechanism.  In AI applications, this amount of time is   often left unspecified, since the only constraint of inter...
tick2 is  AI simulation is often   pejoratively referred to as `tick-tick-tick simulation,   especially when the issue of simultaneity of events with long,   independent chains of causes is {handwave}d. 3. In the FORTH   language, a single quote char...
tick-list features is  [Acorn Computers] n. Features in software or   hardware that customers insist on but never use (calculators in   desktop TSRs and that sort of thing).  The American equivalent   would be `checklist features, but this jargon sen...
tickle a bug is  vt. To cause a normally hidden bug to manifest   through some known series of inputs or operations.  "You can   tickle the bug in the Paradise VGA cards highlight handling by   trying to set bright yellow reverse video."
tiger team is  [U.S. military jargon] n. A team whose purpose is to   penetrate security, and thus test security measures.  These people   are paid professionals who do hacker-type tricks, e.g., leave   cardboard signs saying "bomb" in critical defen...
tiger team2 is  "Your codebooks have been stolen"   (they usually havent been) inside safes, etc.  After a successful   penetration, some high-ranking security type shows up the next   morning for a `security review and finds the sign, note, etc.,   ...
tiger team3 is  of tiger teams   sometimes lead to early retirement for base commanders and security   officers (see the {patch} entry for an example).   A subset of tiger teams are professional {cracker}s, testing the   security of military computer...
tiger team4 is  via networks or supposedly `secure comm channels.  Some of   their escapades, if declassified, would probably rank among the   greatest hacks of all times.  The term has been adopted in   commercial computer-security circles in this m...
time sink is  [poss. by analogy with `heat sink or `current sink] n.   A project that consumes unbounded amounts of time.
time T is  /tim T/ n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood   time, often used in conjunction with a later time T+1.   "Well meet on campus at time T or at Louies at   time T+1" means, in the context of going out for dinner   "We can meet on ...
time T2 is  Louies   itself a bit later."  (Louies is a Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto   that is a favorite with hackers.)  Had the number 30 been used instead   of the number 1, it would have implied that the travel time from   campus to Louies is ...
time T3 is  hasnt been decided on yet), you can meet half an hour later at   Louies than you could on campus and end up eating at the same time.   See also {since time T equals minus infinity}. 
times-or-divided-by is  [by analogy with `plus-or-minus] quant. Term   occasionally used when describing the uncertainty associated with a   scheduling estimate, for either humorous or brutally honest effect.   For a software project, the factor is u...
tinycrud is  /tinee-kruhd/ n. A pejorative used by habitues of older   game-oriented {MUD} versions for TinyMUDs and other   user-extensible {MUD} variants; esp. common among users of the   rather violent and competitive AberMUD and MIST systems.  Th...
tinycrud2 is  how (allegedly)   inconsistent and lacking in genuine atmosphere the scenarios   generated in user extensible MUDs can be.  Other common knocks on   them are that they feature little overall plot, bad game topology,   little competitive...
tinycrud3 is  alleged   horrors of the TinyMUD code itself.  This dispute is one of the MUD   worlds hardiest perennial {holy wars}. 
tip of the ice-cube is  [IBM] n. The visible part of something small and   insignificant.  Used as an ironic comment in situations where `tip   of the iceberg might be appropriate if the subject were actually   nontrivial.
tired iron is  [IBM] n. Hardware that is perfectly functional but   far enough behind the state of the art to have been superseded by new   products, presumably with sufficient improvement in bang-per-buck that   the old stuff is starting to look a b...
tits on a keyboard is  n. Small bumps on certain keycaps to keep   touch-typists registered (usually on the `5 of a numeric keypad,   and on the `F and `J of a QWERTY keyboard).
TLA is  /T-L-A/ [Three-Letter Acronym] n. 1. Self-describing   acronym for a species with which computing terminology is infested.   2. Any confusing acronym.  Examples include MCA, FTP, SNA, CPU,   MMU, SCCS, DMU, FPU, NNTP, TLA.  People who like th...
TLA2 is  three letters, just as not all four-letter   words have four letters.  One also hears of `ETLA (Extended   Three-Letter Acronym, pronounced /ee tee el ay/) being used to   describe four-letter acronyms.  The term `SFLA (Stupid Four-Letter   ...
TLA3 is  {YABA}.   The self-effacing phrase "TDM TLA" (Too Damn Many...) is   often used to bemoan the plethora of TLAs in use.  In 1989, a   random of the journalistic persuasion asked hacker Paul Boutin   "What do you think will be the biggest prob...
TLA4 is  straight-faced response "There are only   17,000 three-letter acronyms." (To be exact, there are 26^3   = 17,576.) 
TMRC is  /tmerk/ n. The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, one of   the wellsprings of hacker culture.  The 1959 `Dictionary of   the TMRC Language compiled by Peter Samson included several terms   which became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see esp...
TMRC2 is  legendary layout was already a marvel of   complexity.  The control system alone featured about 1200 relays.   There were {scram switch}es located at numerous places around   the room that could be pressed if something undesirable was about...
TMRC3 is  an obstruction.   Another feature of the system was a digital clock on the dispatch   board.  Normally it ran at some multiple of real time, but if   someone hit a scram switch the clock stopped and the display was   replaced with the word ...
TMRC4 is  the Bibliography), gives a   stimulating account of those early years.  TMRCs Power and Signals   group included most of the early PDP-1 hackers and the people who   later bacame the core of the MIT AI Lab staff.  Thirty years later   that ...
TMRC5 is  lexicon   accordingly includes a number of entries from a recent revision of   the TMRC Dictionary. 
to a first approximation is  1. [techspeak] When one is doing certain   numerical computations, an approximate solution may be computed by   any of several heuristic methods, then refined to a final value.   By using the starting point of a first app...
to a first approximation2 is  algorithm that converges more quickly to the   correct result.  2. In jargon, a preface to any comment that   indicates that the comment is only approximately true.  The remark   "To a first approximation, I feel good" m...
to a first approximation3 is  reveal that not all is perfect (e.g., a   nagging cough still remains after an illness). 
to a zeroth approximation is  [from `to a first approximation] A   *really* sloppy approximation; a wild guess.  Compare   {social science number}.
toast is  1. n. Any completely inoperable system or component, esp.   one that has just crashed and burned "Uh, oh ... I think the   serial board is toast."  2. vt. To cause a system to crash   accidentally, especially in a manner that requires manua...
toast2 is  {firewall machine} again." 
toaster is  n. 1. The archetypal really stupid application for an   embedded microprocessor controller; often used in comments that   imply that a scheme is inappropriate technology (but see   {elevator controller}).  "{DWIM} for an assembler?  Thatd...
toaster2 is  toaster!"  2. A very, very dumb   computer. "You could run this program on any dumb toaster."  See   {bitty box}, {Get a real computer!}, {toy}, {beige toaster}.   3. A Macintosh, esp. the Classic Mac.  Some hold that this is   implied b...
toaster3 is  my box   without toasters, but since then Ive added two boards and a second   disk drive." 
toeprint is  n. A {footprint} of especially small size.
toggle is  vt. To change a {bit} from whatever state it is in to the   other state; to change from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1.  This comes from   `toggle switches, such as standard light switches, though the   word `toggle actually refers to the mechanism...
toggle2 is  which it is flipped rather than to the   fact that the switch has two positions.  There are four things you   can do to a bit set it (force it to be 1), clear (or zero) it,   leave it alone, or toggle it.  (Mathematically, one would say t...
toggle3 is  functions of one boolean   argument, but saying that is much less fun than talking about   toggling bits.) 
tool is  1. n. A program used primarily to create, manipulate, modify,   or analyze other programs, such as a compiler or an editor or a   cross-referencing program.  Oppose {app}, {operating system}.   2. [UNIX] An application program with a simple,...
tool2 is  interface designed specifically to be used   in programmed combination with other tools (see {filter}).   3. [MIT general to students there] vi. To work; to study (connotes   tedium).  The TMRC Dictionary defined this as "to set ones brain ...
tool3 is  A student who   studies too much and hacks too little.  (MITs student humor   magazine rejoices in the name `Tool and Die.) 
toolsmith is  n. The software equivalent of a tool-and-die specialist;   one who specializes in making the {tool}s with which other   programmers create applications.  See also {uninteresting}.
topic drift is  n. Term used on GEnie, USENET and other electronic   fora to describe the tendency of a {thread} to drift away from   the original subject of discussion (and thus, from the Subject   header of the originating message), or the results ...
topic drift2 is  reminders that the discussion has   strayed off any useful track.  "I think we started with a question   about Nivens last book, but weve ended up discussing the sexual   habits of the common marmoset.  Now *thats* topic drift!" 
topic group is  n. Syn. {forum}.
TOPS-10 is  /tops-ten/ n. DECs proprietary OS for the fabled {PDP-10}   machines, long a favorite of hackers but now effectively extinct.   A fountain of hacker folklore; see appendix A.  See also {{ITS}},   {{TOPS-20}}, {{TWENEX}}, {VMS}, {operating...
TOPS-102 is  BOTS-10 (from `bottoms-ten) as a comment on the   inappropriateness of describing it as the top of anything. 
TOPS-20 is  /tops-twentee/ n. See {{TWENEX}}.
toto is  /tohtoh/ n. This is reported to be the default scratch   file name among French-speaking programmers --- in other words, a   francophone {foo}.
tourist is  [ITS] n. A guest on the system, especially one who   generally logs in over a network from a remote location for {comm   mode}, email, games, and other trivial purposes.  One step below   {luser}.  Hackers often spell this {turist}, perha...
tourist2 is  {luser} (this also expresses the   ITS cultures penchant for six-letterisms).  Compare {twink},   {read-only user}.

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