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hack mode4 is  etiquette will appear quite odd to an   observer unaware of the high value placed on hack mode.  For   example, if someone appears at your door, it is perfectly okay to   hold up a hand (without turning one's eyes away from the screen)...
hack mode5 is  type, and interact with the   computer for quite some time before further acknowledging the   other's presence (of course, he or she is reciprocally free to   leave without a word).  The understanding is that you might be in   {hack mo...
hack mode6 is  your   head, and you dare not {swap} that context out until you have   reached a good point to pause. See also {juggling eggs}. 
hack on is  vt. To {hack}; implies that the subject is some   pre-existing hunk of code that one is evolving, as opposed to   something one might {hack up}.
hack together is  vt. To throw something together so it will work.   Unlike `kluge together' or {cruft together}, this does not   necessarily have negative connotations.
hack up is  vt. To {hack}, but generally implies that the result is   a hack in sense 1 (a quick hack).  Contrast this with {hack on}.   To `hack up on' implies a {quick-and-dirty} modification to an   existing system.  Contrast {hacked up}; compare ...
hack value is  n. Often adduced as the reason or motivation for   expending effort toward a seemingly useless goal, the point being   that the accomplished goal is a hack.  For example, MacLISP had   features for reading and printing Roman numerals, ...
hack value2 is  See {display hack} for one   method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be   explained.  As a great artist once said of jazz "If you hafta ask,   you ain't never goin' to find out." 
hack-and-slay is  v. (also `hack-and-slash') 1. To play a {MUD}   or go mudding, especially with the intention of {berserking} for   pleasure.  2. To undertake an all-night programming/hacking   session, interspersed with stints of mudding as a chang...
hack-and-slay2 is  academic network amongst students   who worked nights and logged onto Essex University's MUDs during   public-access hours (2 A.M. to 7 A.M.).  Usually more   mudding than work was done in these sessions. 
hacked off is  [analogous to `pissed off'] adj. Said of system   administrators who have become annoyed, upset, or touchy owing to   suspicions that their sites have been or are going to be victimized   by crackers, or used for inappropriate, technic...
hacked off2 is  activities.  For example, having unreadable   files in your home directory called `worm', `lockpick', or `goroot'   would probably be an effective (as well as impressively obvious and   stupid) way to get your sysadmin hacked off at y...
hacked up is  adj. Sufficiently patched, kluged, and tweaked that the   surgical scars are beginning to crowd out normal tissue (compare   {critical mass}).  Not all programs that are hacked become   `hacked up'; if modifications are done with some e...
hacked up2 is  maintainability, the software may emerge better for   the experience.  Contrast {hack up}. 
hacker is  [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] n.   1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable   systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most   users, who prefer to learn only the minimum neces...
hacker2 is  (even obsessively) or who enjoys   programming rather than just theorizing about programming.  3. A   person capable of appreciating {hack value}.  4. A person who is   good at programming quickly.  5. An expert at a particular program,  ...
hacker3 is  it; as in `a UNIX   hacker'.  (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit   them congregate.)  6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind.  One   might be an astronomy hacker, for example.  7. One who enjoys the   intellectual...
hacker4 is  circumventing   limitations.  8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to   discover sensitive information by poking around.  Hence `password   hacker', `network hacker'.  See {cracker}.   It is better to be described as a hacker by ...
hacker5 is  Hackers consider themselves something of an   elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new   members are gladly welcome.  There is thus a certain ego   satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if ...
hacker6 is  quickly be labeled   {bogus}). 
hacking run is  [analogy with `bombing run' or `speed run'] n. A   hack session extended long outside normal working times, especially   one longer than 12 hours.  May cause you to `change phase the hard   way' (see {phase}).
Hacking X for Y is  [ITS] n. The information ITS made publicly   available about each user (the INQUIR record) was a sort of form in   which the user could fill out fields.  On display, two of these   fields were combined into a project description o...
Hacking X for Y2 is  `"Hacking perceptrons for   Minsky"').  This form of description became traditional and has   since been carried over to other systems with more general   facilities for self-advertisement (such as UNIX {plan file}s). 
Hackintosh is  n. 1. An Apple Lisa that has been hacked into emulating a   Macintosh (also called a `Mac XL').  2. A Macintosh assembled   from parts theoretically belonging to different models in the line.
hackish is  /hak'ish/ adj. (also {hackishness} n.) 1. Said of   something that is or involves a hack.  2. Of or pertaining to   hackers or the hacker subculture.  See also {true-hacker}.
hackishness is  n. The quality of being or involving a hack.  This   term is considered mildly silly.  Syn.  {hackitude}.
hackitude is  n. Syn. {hackishness}; this word is considered sillier.
hair is  [back-formation from {hairy}] n. The complications that   make something hairy.  "Decoding {TECO} commands requires a   certain amount of hair."  Often seen in the phrase `infinite   hair', which connotes extreme complexity.  Also in `hairif...
hair2 is  "GNUMACS Elisp encourages lusers   to write complex editing modes."  "Yeah, it's pretty hairiferous   all right." (or just "Hair squared!") 
hairy is  adj. 1. Annoyingly complicated.  "{DWIM} is incredibly   hairy."  2. Incomprehensible.  "{DWIM} is incredibly hairy."   3. Of people, high-powered, authoritative, rare, expert, and/or   incomprehensible.  Hard to explain except in context "...
hairy2 is  nothing to worry about."  See   also {hirsute}. 
HAKMEM is  /hak'mem/ n. MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972).  A   legendary collection of neat mathematical and programming hacks   contributed by many people at MIT and elsewhere.  (The title of the   memo really is "HAKMEM", which is a 6-letterism for ...
HAKMEM2 is  techniques, powerful   theorems, or interesting unsolved problems, but most fall into the   category of mathematical and computer trivia.  Here is a sampling   of the entries (with authors), slightly paraphrased   Item 41 (Gene Salamin) T...
HAKMEM3 is  than 2^18.   Item 46 (Rich Schroeppel) The most *probable* suit   distribution in bridge hands is 4-4-3-2, as compared to 4-3-3-3,   which is the most *evenly* distributed.  This is because the   world likes to have unequal numbers a ther...
HAKMEM4 is  the state of lowest energy, but in the state   of lowest disordered energy.   Item 81 (Rich Schroeppel) Count the magic squares of order 5   (that is, all the 5-by-5 arrangements of the numbers from 1 to 25   such that all rows, columns, ...
HAKMEM5 is  There are about 320 million, not counting those that   differ only by rotation and reflection.   Item 154 (Bill Gosper) The myth that any given programming language is   machine independent is easily exploded by computing the sum of   pow...
HAKMEM6 is  with   sign +, you are on a sign-magnitude machine.  If the result   loops with period = 1 at -1, you are on a   twos-complement machine.  If the result loops with period greater   than 1, including the beginning, you are on a ones-comple...
HAKMEM7 is  period greater than 1, not   including the beginning, your machine isn't binary --- the pattern   should tell you the base.  If you run out of memory, you are on a   string or bignum system.  If arithmetic overflow is a fatal error,   som...
HAKMEM8 is  to enforce machine   independence.  But the very ability to trap overflow is machine   dependent.  By this strategy, consider the universe, or, more   precisely, algebra Let X = the sum of many powers of 2 =   ...111111.  Now add X to its...
HAKMEM9 is  X = -1.  Therefore algebra is run on a machine (the   universe) that is two's-complement.   Item 174 (Bill Gosper and Stuart Nelson) 21963283741 is the only   number such that if you represent it on the {PDP-10} as both an   integer and a...
HAKMEM10 is  two   representations are identical.   Item 176 (Gosper) The "banana phenomenon" was encountered when   processing a character string by taking the last 3 letters typed   out, searching for a random occurrence of that sequence in the   t...
HAKMEM11 is  occurrence, typing it out,   and iterating.  This ensures that every 4-letter string output   occurs in the original.  The program typed BANANANANANANANA....  We   note an ambiguity in the phrase, "the Nth occurrence of."  In one   sense...
HAKMEM12 is  there are   nine.  The editing program TECO finds five.  Thus it finds only the   first ANA in BANANA, and is thus obligated to type N next.  By   Murphy's Law, there is but one NAN, thus forcing A, and thus a   loop.  An option to find ...
HAKMEM13 is  it would require backing up N - 1 characters before   seeking the next N-character string.   Note This last item refers to a {Dissociated Press}   implementation.  See also {banana problem}.   HAKMEM also contains some rather more compli...
HAKMEM14 is  these examples show some of its fun flavor. 
hakspek is  /hak'speek/ n. A shorthand method of spelling found on   many British academic bulletin boards and {talker system}s.   Syllables and whole words in a sentence are replaced by single   ASCII characters the names of which are phonetically s...
hakspek2 is  are usually dropped.  Hence,   `for' becomes `4'; `two', `too', and `to' become `2'; `ck'   becomes `k'.  "Before I see you tomorrow" becomes "b4 i c u   2moro".  First appeared in London about 1986, and was probably   caused by the slow...
hakspek3 is  operated on archaic machines with outdated operating systems and   no standard methods of communication.  Has become rarer since.   See also {talk mode}. 
hamster is  n. 1. [Fairchild] A particularly slick little piece of code   that does one thing well; a small, self-contained hack.  The image   is of a hamster happily spinning its exercise wheel.  2. [UK] Any item   of hardware made by Amstrad, a com...
hand-hacking is  n. 1. The practice of translating {hot spot}s from   an {HLL} into hand-tuned assembler, as opposed to trying to   coerce the compiler into generating better code.  Both the term and   the practice are becoming uncommon.  See {tune},...
hand-hacking2 is  2. More generally, manual   construction or patching of data sets that would normally be   generated by a translation utility and interpreted by another   program, and aren't really designed to be read or modified by   humans. 
handshaking is  n. Hardware or software activity designed to start or   keep two machines or programs in synchronization as they {do   protocol}.  Often applied to human activity; thus, a hacker might   watch two people in conversation nodding their ...
handshaking2 is  others' points and say "Oh, they're   handshaking!".  See also {protocol}. 
handwave is  [poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians]   1. v. To gloss over a complex point; to distract a listener; to   support a (possibly actually valid) point with blatantly faulty   logic.  2. n. The act of handwaving.  "Boy, wha...
handwave2 is  with "Clearly..." or   "Obviously..." or "It is self-evident that...", it is   a good bet he is about to handwave (alternatively, use of these   constructions in a sarcastic tone before a paraphrase of someone   else's argument suggests...
handwave3 is  this term is that if you wave your hands at the right moment, the   listener may be sufficiently distracted to not notice that what you   have said is {bogus}.  Failing that, if a listener does object,   you might try to dismiss the obj...
handwave4 is  this word is often accompanied by gestures both hands   up, palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting   at the elbows and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the   handwave); alternatively, holding the forea...
handwave5 is  at the wrist to make them flutter.  In   context, the gestures alone can suffice as a remark; if a speaker   makes an outrageously unsupported assumption, you might simply wave   your hands in this way, as an accusation, far more eloque...
hang is  v. 1. To wait for an event that will never occur.  "The   system is hanging because it can't read from the crashed drive".   See {wedged}, {hung}.  2. To wait for some event to occur; to   hang around until something happens.  "The program d...
hang2 is  a character."  Compare {block}.   3. To attach a peripheral device, esp. in the construction `hang   off'  "We're going to hang another tape drive off the file   server."  Implies a device attached with cables, rather than   something that ...
Hanlon's Razor is  prov. A corollary of {Finagle's Law}, similar to   Occam's Razor, that reads "Never attribute to malice that which can   be adequately explained by stupidity."  The derivation of the   common title Hanlon's Razor is unknown; a simi...
Hanlon's Razor2 is  James.  Quoted here because it seems to be a   particular favorite of hackers, often showing up in {fortune   cookie} files and the login banners of BBS systems and commercial   networks.  This probably reflects the hacker's daily...
Hanlon's Razor3 is  well-intentioned but short-sighted people. 
happily is  adv.  Of software, used to emphasize that a program is   unaware of some important fact about its environment, either   because it has been fooled into believing a lie, or because it   doesn't care.  The sense of `happy' here is not that ...
happily2 is  ignorance.  "The program continues to   run, happily unaware that its output is going to /dev/null." 
hard boot is  n. See {boot}.
hardcoded is  adj. 1. Said of data inserted directly into a program,   where it cannot be easily modified, as opposed to data in some   {profile}, resource (see {de-rezz} sense 2), or environment   variable that a {user} or hacker can easily modify. ...
hardcoded2 is  literal instead of a   `#define' macro (see {magic number}). 
hardwarily is  /hard-weir'*-lee/ adv. In a way pertaining to   hardware.  "The system is hardwarily unreliable."  The adjective   `hardwary' is *not* traditionally used, though it has recently   been reported from the U.K.  See {softwarily}.
hardwired is  adj. 1. In software, syn. for {hardcoded}.  2. By   extension, anything that is not modifiable, especially in the sense   of customizable to one's particular needs or tastes.
has the X nature is  [seems to derive from Zen Buddhist koans of the   form "Does an X have the Buddha-nature?"] adj. Common hacker   construction for `is an X', used for humorous emphasis.  "Anyone   who can't even use a program with on-screen help ...
has the X nature2 is  nature!"  See also {the X that can be Y   is not the true X}. 
hash bucket is  n. A notional receptacle into which more than one   thing accessed by the same key or short code might be dropped.   When you look up a name in the phone book (for example), you   typically hash it by extracting its first letter; the ...
hash bucket2 is  letter sections.  This is used as   techspeak with respect to code that uses actual hash functions; in   jargon, it is used for human associative memory as well.  Thus, two   things `in the same hash bucket' may be confused with each...
hash bucket3 is  length, you get too many common   grammar words in the first couple of hash buckets." Compare {hash   collision}. 
hash collision is  [from the technical usage] n. (var. `hash   clash') When used of people, signifies a confusion in associative   memory or imagination, especially a persistent one (see   {thinko}).  True story One of us [ESR] was once on the phone ...
hash collision2 is   When asked what he   expected Berkeley to be like, the friend replied "Well, I have   this mental picture of naked women throwing Molotov cocktails, but   I think that's just a collision in my hash tables."  Compare   {hash bucke...
hat is  n. Common (spoken) name for the circumflex (`^', ASCII   1011110) character.  See {ASCII} for other synonyms.
HCF is  /H-C-F/ n. Mnemonic for `Halt and Catch Fire', any of   several undocumented and semi-mythical machine instructions with   destructive side-effects, supposedly included for test purposes on   several well-known architectures going as far back...
HCF2 is  was the first for which the HCF opcode   became widely known.  This instruction caused the processor to   {toggle} a subset of the bus lines as rapidly as it could; in   some configurations this can actually cause lines to burn   up. 
heads down is  [Sun] adj. Concentrating, usually so heavily and for so   long that everything outside the focus area is missed.  See also   {hack mode} and {larval stage}, although it is not confined to   fledgling hackers.
heartbeat is  n. 1. The signal emitted by a Level 2 Ethernet   transceiver at the end of every packet to show that the   collision-detection circuit is still connected.  2. A periodic   synchronization signal used by software or hardware, such as a b...
heartbeat2 is  `natural' oscillation   frequency of a computer's clock crystal, before frequency division   down to the machine's clock rate.  4. A signal emitted at regular   intervals by software to demonstrate that it is still alive.   Sometimes h...
heartbeat3 is  stops   hearing a heartbeat.  See also {breath-of-life packet}. 
heavy metal is  [Cambridge] n. Syn. {big iron}.
heavy wizardry is  n. Code or designs that trade on a particularly   intimate knowledge or experience of a particular operating system   or language or complex application interface.  Distinguished from   {deep magic}, which trades more on arcane *th...
heavy wizardry2 is  drivers is heavy wizardry; so is   interfacing to {X} (sense 2) without a toolkit.  Esp. found in   comments similar to "Heavy wizardry begins here ...".  Compare   {voodoo programming}. 
heavyweight is  adj. High-overhead; {baroque}; code-intensive;   featureful, but costly.  Esp. used of communication protocols,   language designs, and any sort of implementation in which maximum   generality and/or ease of implementation has been pu...
heavyweight2 is  considerations such as speed, memory utilization,   and startup time.  {EMACS} is a heavyweight editor; {X} is an   *extremely* heavyweight window system.  This term isn't   pejorative, but one man's heavyweight is another's {elephan...
heisenbug is  /hi'zen-buhg/ [from Heisenberg's Uncertainty   Principle in quantum physics] n. A bug that disappears or alters   its behavior when one attempts to probe or isolate it.  Antonym of   {Bohr bug}; see also {mandelbug}.  In C, nine out of ...
heisenbug2 is  on core} phenomena (esp. lossage   related to corruption of the malloc {arena}) or errors that   {smash the stack}. 
Helen Keller mode is  n. State of a hardware or software system that   is deaf, dumb, and blind, i.e., accepting no input and generating no   output, usually due to an infinite loop or some other excursion   into {deep space}.  (Unfair to the real He...
Helen Keller mode2 is  was triumphant.)  See also   {go flatline}, {catatonic}. 
hello, sailor! is  interj. Occasional West Coast equivalent of   {hello, world}; seems to have originated at SAIL, later   associated with the game {Zork} (which also included "hello,   aviator" and "hello, implementor").  Originally from the   tradi...
hello, sailor!2 is  off the boat, of   course. 
hello, wall! is  excl. See {wall}.
hello, world is  interj. 1. The canonical minimal test message in the   C/UNIX universe.  2. Any of the minimal programs that emit this   message.  Traditionally, the first program a C coder is supposed to   write in a new environment is one that jus...
hello, world2 is  (and indeed it is the first example program   in {K&R}).  Environments that generate an unreasonably large   executable for this trivial test or which require a {hairy}   compiler-linker invocation to generate it are considered to  ...
hello, world3 is  hacker making an   entrance or requesting information from anyone present.  "Hello,   world!  Is the {VAX} back up yet?" 
hex is  n. 1. Short for {{hexadecimal}}, base 16.  2. A 6-pack   of anything (compare {quad}, sense 2).  Neither usage has   anything to do with {magic} or {black art}, though the pun is   appreciated and occasionally used by hackers.  True story As ...
hex2 is  surplus ICs for sale to be   worn as protective amulets against hostile magic.  The chips were,   of course, hex inverters. 
hexadecimal is  n. Base 16.  Coined in the early 1960s to replace   earlier `sexadecimal', which was too racy and amusing for stuffy   IBM, and later adopted by the rest of the industry.   Actually, neither term is etymologically pure.  If we take `b...
hexadecimal2 is  etymologically correct term for   base 10, for example, is `denary', which   comes from `deni' (ten at a time, ten each), a Latin `distributive'   number; the corresponding term for base-16 would be something like   `sendenary'.  `De...
hexadecimal3 is  corresponding prefix for 6 would imply something like   `sextidecimal'.  The `sexa-' prefix is Latin but incorrect in this   context, and `hexa-' is Greek.  The word `octal' is similarly   incorrect; a correct form would be `octaval'...
hexadecimal4 is  with binary).  If anyone ever implements a   base-3 computer, computer scientists will be faced with the   unprecedented dilemma of a choice between two *correct* forms;   both `ternary' and `trinary' have a claim to this throne. 
hexit is  /hek'sit/ n. A hexadecimal digit (0--9, and A--F or a--f).   Used by people who claim that there are only *ten* digits,   dammit; sixteen-fingered human beings are rather rare, despite what   some keyboard designs might seem to imply (see {...
hidden flag is  [scientific computation] n. An extra option added to a   routine without changing the calling sequence.  For example,   instead of adding an explicit input variable to instruct a routine   to give extra diagnostic output, the programm...
hidden flag2 is  meaningless feature of the existing inputs,   such as a negative mass.  Liberal use of hidden flags can make a   program very hard to debug and understand. 
high bit is  [from `high-order bit'] n. 1. The most significant   bit in a byte.  2. By extension, the most significant part of   something other than a data byte "Spare me the whole {saga},   just give me the high bit."  See also {meta bit}, {hobbit...
high bit2 is  mainstream slang   `bottom line'. 
high moby is  /hi' mohb'ee/ n. The high half of a 512K {PDP-10}'s   physical address space; the other half was of course the low moby.  This   usage has been generalized in a way that has outlasted the   {PDP-10}; for example, at the 1990 Washington ...
high moby2 is  (Disclave), when a miscommunication resulted in two   separate wakes being held in commemoration of the shutdown of MIT's   last {{ITS}} machines, the one on the upper floor was dubbed the   `high moby' and the other the `low moby'.  A...
highly is  [scientific computation] adv. The preferred modifier for   overstating an understatement.  As in `highly nonoptimal', the   worst possible way to do something; `highly nontrivial', either   impossible or requiring a major research project;...
highly2 is  unpredictable; `highly   nontechnical', drivel written for {luser}s, oversimplified to the   point of being misleading or incorrect (compare {drool-proof   paper}).  In other computing cultures, postfixing of {in the   extreme} might be p...
hirsute is  adj. Occasionally used humorously as a synonym for {hairy}.
HLL is  /H-L-L/ n. [High-Level Language (as opposed to assembler)]   Found primarily in email and news rather than speech.  Rarely, the   variants `VHLL' and `MLL' are found.  VHLL stands for `Very-High-Level   Language' and is used to describe a {bo...
HLL2 is  speaker happens to like; Prolog and Backus's FP   are often called VHLLs.  `MLL' stands for `Medium-Level Language' and is   sometimes used half-jokingly to describe {C}, alluding to its   `structured-assembler' image.  See also {languages o...
hobbit is  n. 1. The High Order Bit of a byte; same as the {meta   bit} or {high bit}.  2. The non-ITS name of vad@ai.mit.edu   (*Hobbit*), master of lasers.
hog is  n.,vt. 1. Favored term to describe programs or hardware that   seem to eat far more than their share of a system's resources,   esp. those which noticeably degrade interactive response.   *Not* used of programs that are simply extremely large...
hog2 is  slow themselves (see {pig,   run like a}).  More often than not encountered in qualified forms,   e.g., `memory hog', `core hog', `hog the processor', `hog   the disk'.  "A controller that never gives up the I/O bus   gets killed after the b...
hog3 is  *people* who use more than their fair share of resources   (particularly disk, where it seems that 10% of the people use 90%   of the disk, no matter how big the disk is or how many people use   it).  Of course, once disk hogs fill up one fi...

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

religious issues3 is  thing one can do when one stumbles into the   crossfire is mumble {Get a life!} and leave --- unless, of course,   one's *own* unassailably rational and obviously correct   choices are being slammed. 
replicator is  n. Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself;   this could be a living organism, an idea (see {meme}), a program   (see {worm}, {wabbit}, and {virus}), a pattern in a cellular   automaton (see {life}, sense 1), or (speculativ...
replicator2 is  claimed by some that {{UNIX}} and {C}   are the symbiotic halves of an extremely successful replicator; see   {UNIX conspiracy}. 
reply is  n. See {followup}.
reset is  [the MUD community] v. In AberMUD, to bring all dead mobiles   to life and move items back to their initial starting places. New   players who can't find anything shout "Reset! Reset!" quite a bit.   Higher-level players shout back "No way!...
reset2 is  found.  Used in {RL}, it means to put things back   to the way they were when you found them. 
restriction is  n. A {bug} or design error that limits a program's   capabilities, and which is sufficiently egregious that nobody can   quite work up enough nerve to describe it as a {feature}.  Often   used (esp. by {marketroid} types) to make it s...
restriction2 is  been intended by the designers all   along, or was forced upon them by arcane technical constraints of a   nature no mere user could possibly comprehend (these claims are   almost invariably false).   Old-time hacker Joseph M. Newcom...
restriction3 is  quantifiable but arbitrary restriction, you should make it either a   power of 2 or a power of 2 minus 1.  If you impose a limit of   17 items in a list, everyone will know it is a random number --- on   the other hand, a limit of 15...
restriction4 is  0- or 1-based indexing in binary) and you will get less   {flamage} for it.  Limits which are round numbers in base 10 are   always especially suspect. 
retcon is  /ret'kon/ [`retroactive continuity', from the USENET   newsgroup rec.arts.comics] 1. n. The common situation in pulp   fiction (esp. comics or soap operas) where a new story `reveals'   things about events in previous stories, usually leav...
retcon2 is  continuity) while completely   changing their interpretation.  E.g., revealing that a whole season   of "Dallas" was a dream was a retcon.  2. vt. To write such a   story about a character or fictitious object.  "Byrne has   retconned Sup...
retcon3 is  unbreakable."   "Marvelman's old adventures were retconned into synthetic   dreams."  "Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person   into a sentient vegetable."   [This is included because it is a good example of hackish linguisti...
retcon4 is  to computers.  The word   `retcon' will probably spread through comics fandom and lose its   association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for the   record, it started here. --- ESR] 
RETI is  v. Syn. {RTI}
retrocomputing is  /ret'-roh-k*m-pyoo'ting/ n. Refers to emulations   of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or   implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; esp. if such   implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or par...
retrocomputing2 is  the most widely distributed   retrocomputing utility was the `pnch(6)' or `bcd(6)'   program on V7 and other early UNIX versions, which would accept up   to 80 characters of text argument and display the corresponding   pattern in...
retrocomputing3 is  retrocomputing   hacks have included the programming language {INTERCAL}, a   {JCL}-emulating shell for UNIX, the card-punch-emulating editor   named 029, and various elaborate PDP-11 hardware emulators and RT-11   OS emulators wr...
RFC is  /R-F-C/ [Request For Comment] n. One of a long-established   series of numbered Internet standards widely followed by commercial   and PD software in the Internet and UNIX communities.  Perhaps the   single most influential one has been RFC-8...
RFC2 is  RFCs are unusual in that they are   floated by technical experts acting on their own initiative and   reviewed by the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated   through an institution such as ANSI.  For this reason, they remain   ...
RFE is  /R-F-E/ n. 1. [techspeak] Request For Enhancement.  2. [from   `Radio Free Europe', Bellcore and Sun] Radio Free Ethernet, a system   (originated by Peter Langston) for broadcasting audio among Sun   SPARCstations over the ethernet.
rib site is  [by analogy with {backbone site}] n. A machine that   has an on-demand high-speed link to a {backbone site} and serves   as a regional distribution point for lots of third-party traffic in   email and USENET news.  Compare {leaf site}, {...
rice box is  [from ham radio slang] n. Any Asian-made commodity   computer, esp. an 80x86-based machine built to IBM PC-compatible   ISA or EISA-bus standards.
Right Thing is  n. That which is {compellingly} the correct or   appropriate thing to use, do, say, etc.  Often capitalized, always   emphasized in speech as though capitalized.  Use of this term often   implies that in fact reasonable people may dis...
Right Thing2 is  do when it sees `(mod a 0)'?  Should   it return `a', or give a divide-by-0 error?"  Oppose   {Wrong Thing}. 
RL is  // [MUD community] n. Real Life.  "Firiss laughs in RL"   means that Firiss's player is laughing.  Oppose {VR}.
roach is  [Bell Labs] vt. To destroy, esp. of a data structure.  Hardware   gets {toast}ed or {fried}, software gets roached.
robust is  adj. Said of a system that has demonstrated an ability to   recover gracefully from the whole range of exceptional inputs and   situations in a given environment.  One step below {bulletproof}.   Carries the additional connotation of elega...
robust2 is  detail.  Compare {smart}, oppose   {brittle}. 
rococo is  adj. {Baroque} in the extreme.  Used to imply that a   program has become so encrusted with the software equivalent of   gold leaf and curlicues that they have completely swamped the   underlying design.  Called after the later and more ex...
rococo2 is  decoration prevalent during the   mid-1700s in Europe.  Fred Brooks (the man who coined   {second-system effect}) said "Every program eventually becomes   rococo, and then rubble." 
rogue is  [UNIX] n. A Dungeons-and-Dragons-like game using character   graphics, written under BSD UNIX and subsequently ported to other   UNIX systems.  The original BSD `curses(3)' screen-handling   package was hacked together by Ken Arnold to supp...
rogue2 is  UNIX's most important   and heavily used application libraries.  Nethack, Omega, Larn, and   an entire subgenre of computer dungeon games all took off from the   inspiration provided by `rogue(6)'.  See {nethack}. 
room-temperature IQ is  [IBM] quant. 80 or below.  Used in describing the   expected intelligence range of the {luser}.  "Well, but   how's this interface going to play with the room-temperature IQ   crowd?"  See {drool-proof paper}.  This is a much ...
root is  [UNIX] n. 1. The {superuser} account that ignores   permission bits, user number 0 on a UNIX system.  This account   has the user name `root'.  The term {avatar} is also used.   2. The top node of the system directory structure (home directo...
root2 is  privileged   system-maintenance login on any OS.  See {root mode}, {go root}. 
root mode is  n. Syn. with {wizard mode} or `wheel mode'.  Like   these, it is often generalized to describe privileged states in   systems other than OSes.
rot13 is  /rot ther'teen/ [USENET from `rotate alphabet   13 places'] n., v. The simple Caesar-cypher encryption that replaces   each English letter with the one 13 places forward or back along   the alphabet, so that "The butler did it!" becomes "Gu...
rot132 is  and posting programs include a   rot13 feature.  It is used to enclose the text in a sealed wrapper   that the reader must choose to open --- e.g., for posting things   that might offend some readers, or answers to puzzles.  A major   adva...
rot133 is  it   is self-inverse, so the same code can be used for encoding and   decoding. 
rotary debugger is  [Commodore] n. Essential equipment for those   late-night or early-morning debugging sessions.  Mainly used as   sustenance for the hacker.  Comes in many decorator colors, such as   Sausage, Pepperoni, and Garbage.  See {pizza, A...
RSN is  // adj. See {Real Soon Now}.
RTFAQ is  /R-T-F-A-Q/ [USENET primarily written, by analogy with   {RTFM}] imp. Abbrev. for `Read the FAQ!', an exhortation that   the person addressed ought to read the newsgroup's {FAQ list}   before posting questions.
RTFM is  /R-T-F-M/ [UNIX] imp. Acronym for `Read The Fucking   Manual'.  1. Used by {guru}s to brush off questions they   consider trivial or annoying.  Compare {Don't do that, then!}   2. Used when reporting a problem to indicate that you aren't jus...
RTFM2 is  figure out how to   interface UNIX to my toaster, and yes, I have RTFM."  Unlike   sense 1, this use is considered polite.  See also   {RTFAQ}, {RTM}.  The variant RTFS, where S = `Standard',   has also been reported.  Compare {UTSL}. 
RTI is  /R-T-I/ interj. The mnemonic for the `return from   interrupt' instruction on many computers including the 6502 and   6800.  The variant `RETI' is found among former Z80 hackers (almost   nobody programs these things in assembler anymore).  E...
RTI2 is  end a conversational digression.   See {pop}; see also {POPJ}. 
RTM is  /R-T-M/ [USENET acronym for `Read The Manual']   1. Politer variant of {RTFM}.  2. Robert T. Morris, perpetrator   of the great Internet worm of 1988; villain to many, na"ive hacker   gone wrong to a few.  Morris claimed that the worm that br...
RTM2 is  experiment that got out of   control as the result of a coding error.  After the storm of negative   publicity that followed this blunder, Morris's name on ITS was   hacked from RTM to {RTFM}. 
rude is  [WPI] adj. 1. (of a program) Badly written.  2. Functionally   poor, e.g., a program that is very difficult to use because of   gratuitously poor (random?) design decisions.  See {cuspy}.
runes is  pl.n. 1. Anything that requires {heavy wizardry} or   {black art} to {parse} core dumps, JCL commands, APL, or code   in a language you haven't a clue how to read.  Compare {casting   the runes}, {Great Runes}.  2. Special display character...
runic is  adj. Syn. {obscure}.  VMS fans sometimes refer to UNIX as   `Runix'; UNIX fans return the compliment by expanding VMS to `Very   Messy Syntax' or `Vachement Mauvais Syst`eme' (French; lit.   "Cowlike Bad System", idiomatically "Bitchy Bad S...
rusty iron is  n. Syn. {tired iron}.  It has been claimed that this   is the inevitable fate of {water MIPS}.
rusty memory is  n. Mass-storage that uses iron-oxide-based magnetic   media (esp. tape and the pre-Winchester removable disk packs used   in {washing machine}s).  Compare {donuts}.*S/N ratio // n. (also `s/n ratio', `sn ratio').  Syn.   {signal-to-n...
sacred is  adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (an   extension of the standard meaning).  Often means that anyone may   look at the sacred object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it   is sacred to.  The comment "Register 7 is sacre...
sacred2 is  program would be interpreted by a hacker   to mean that if any *other* part of the program changes the   contents of register 7, dire consequences are likely to ensue. 
saga is  [WPI] n. A cuspy but bogus raving story about N random   broken people.
sagan is  /say'gn/ [from Carl Sagan's TV series "Cosmos"; think   "billions and billions"] n. A large quantity of anything.   "There's a sagan different ways to tweak EMACS."  "The   U.S. Government spends sagans on bombs and welfare --- hard to say ...
SAIL is  /sayl/, not /S-A-I-L/ n. 1. Stanford Artificial   Intelligence Lab.  An important site in the early development of   LISP; with the MIT AI Lab, BBN, CMU, and the UNIX community, one of   the major wellsprings of technical innovation and hack...
SAIL2 is  entry for details).  The SAIL   machines were officially shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks   after the MIT AI Lab's ITS cluster was officially decommissioned.   2. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language used at SAIL   (sense 1)...
SAIL3 is  coroutining   facility and some new data types intended for building search trees   and association lists. 
salescritter is  /sayls'kri`tr/ n. Pejorative hackerism for a computer   salesperson.  Hackers tell the following joke     Q. What's the difference between a used-car dealer and a        computer salesman?     A. The used-car dealer knows he's lying....
salescritter2 is  that salescritters are   self-selected for stupidity (after all, if they had brains and the   inclination to use them, they'd be in programming).  The terms   `salesthing' and `salesdroid' are also common.  Compare   {marketroid}, {...
salsman is  /salz'm*n/ v. To flood a mailing list or newsgroup with   huge amounts of useless, trivial or redundant information.  From   the name of a hacker who has frequently done this on some widely   distributed mailing lists.
salt mines is  n. Dense quarters housing large numbers of programmers   working long hours on grungy projects, with some hope of seeing the   end of the tunnel in N years.  Noted for their absence of sunshine.   Compare {playpen}, {sandbox}.
salt substrate is  [MIT] n. Collective noun used to refer to potato   chips, pretzels, saltines, or any other form of snack food   designed primarily as a carrier for sodium chloride.  From the   technical term `chip substrate', used to refer to the ...
salt substrate2 is  of integrated circuits are deposited. 
same-day service is  n. Ironic term used to describe long response   time, particularly with respect to {{MS-DOS}} system calls (which   ought to require only a tiny fraction of a second to execute).   Such response time is a major incentive for prog...
same-day service2 is  {well-behaved}.  See also {PC-ism}. 
sandbender is  [IBM] n. A person involved with silicon lithography and   the physical design of chips.  Compare {ironmonger}, {polygon   pusher}.
sandbox is  n. (or `sandbox, the') Common term for the   R&D department at many software and computer companies (where hackers   in commercial environments are likely to be found).  Half-derisive,   but reflects the truth that research is a form of c...
sanity check is  n. 1. The act of checking a piece of code (or   anything else, e.g., a USENET posting) for completely stupid mistakes.   Implies that the check is to make sure the author was sane when it   was written; e.g., if a piece of scientific...
sanity check2 is  was giving unexpected results, one might   first look at the nesting of parentheses or the coding of the   formula, as a {sanity check}, before looking at the more complex   I/O or data structure manipulation routines, much less the...
sanity check3 is  2. A run-time test,   either validating input or ensuring that the program hasn't screwed   up internally (producing an inconsistent value or state). 
Saturday night special is  [from police slang for a cheap handgun] n.   A program or feature kluged together during off hours, under a   deadline, and in response to pressure from a {salescritter}.   Such hacks are dangerously unreliable, but all too...
say is  vt. 1. To type to a terminal.  "To list a directory   verbosely, you have to say `ls -l'."  Tends to imply a   {newline}-terminated command (a `sentence').  2. A computer   may also be said to `say' things to you, even if it doesn't have   a ...
say2 is  terminal in response   to your commands.  Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses   {mundane}s. 
science-fiction fandom is  n. Another voluntary subculture having a   very heavy overlap with hackerdom; most hackers read SF and/or   fantasy fiction avidly, and many go to `cons' (SF conventions) or   are involved in fandom-connected activities suc...
science-fiction fandom2 is  Some hacker jargon originated in SF fandom;   see {defenestration}, {great-wall}, {cyberpunk}, {h}, {ha ha   only serious}, {IMHO}, {mundane}, {neep-neep}, {Real   Soon Now}.  Additionally, the jargon terms {cowboy},   {cy...
science-fiction fandom3 is  {virus},   {wetware}, {wirehead}, and {worm} originated in SF   stories. 
scram switch is  [from the nuclear power industry] n. An   emergency-power-off switch (see {Big Red Switch}), esp. one   positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel.  In general,   this is *not* something you {frob} lightly; these often   ini...
scram switch2 is  and are installed   in a {dinosaur pen} for use in case of electrical fire or in   case some luckless {field servoid} should put 120 volts across   himself while {Easter egging}. 
scratch is  1. [from `scratchpad'] adj. Describes a data   structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or   temporary-use purposes; one that can be {scribble}d on without   loss.  Usually in the combining forms `scratch memory',  ...
scratch2 is  tape',   `scratch volume'.  See {scratch monkey}.  2. [primarily   IBM] vt. To delete (as in a file). 
scratch monkey is  n. As in "Before testing or reconfiguring, always   mount a {scratch monkey}", a proverb used to advise caution when   dealing with irreplaceable data or devices.  Used to refer to any   scratch volume hooked to a computer during a...
scratch monkey2 is  precious resource or data that might otherwise get   trashed.   This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder   Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of   Toronto ca. 1986.  Mabel was not (...
scratch monkey3 is  university had spent years teaching her how to swim,   breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of   different gas mixtures on her physiology.  Mabel suffered an   untimely demise one day when DEC {PM}ed the PD...
scratch monkey4 is  {provocative maintainance}).   It is recorded that, after calming down an understandably irate   customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC   troubleshooter called up the {field circus} manager responsible  ...
scratch monkey5 is  all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of   the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of   certain clueless droids at the local `humane' society.  The moral   is clear When in doubt, always...
screw is  [MIT] n. A {lose}, usually in software.  Especially used for   user-visible misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature.  This use   has become quite widespread outside MIT.
screwage is  /skroo'*j/ n. Like {lossage} but connotes that the   failure is due to a designed-in misfeature rather than a simple   inadequacy or a mere bug.
scribble is  n. To modify a data structure in a random and   unintentionally destructive way.  "Bletch! Somebody's   disk-compactor program went berserk and scribbled on the i-node   table."  "It was working fine until one of the allocation routines ...
scribble2 is  {trash}; compare {mung},   which conveys a bit more intention, and {mangle}, which is more   violent and final. 
scrog is  /skrog/ [Bell Labs] vt. To damage, trash, or corrupt a   data structure.  "The list header got scrogged."  Also reported   as `skrog', and ascribed to the comic strip "The Wizard of   Id".  Equivalent to {scribble} or {mangle}.
scrool is  /skrool/ [from the pioneering Roundtable chat system in   Houston ca. 1984; prob. originated as a typo for `scroll'] n. The   log of old messages, available for later perusal or to help one get   back in synch with the conversation. It was...
scrool2 is  because an early version of the roundtable   software had a bug where it would dump all 8K of scrool on a user's   terminal. 
scrozzle is  /skroz'l/ vt. Used when a self-modifying code segment runs   incorrectly and corrupts the running program or vital data.  "The   damn compiler scrozzled itself again!"
SCSI is  [Small Computer System Interface] n. A bus-independent   standard for system-level interfacing between a computer and   intelligent devices.  Typically annotated in literature with `sexy'   (/sek'see/), `sissy' (/sis'ee/), and `scuzzy' (/sku...
SCSI2 is  being the overwhelmingly   predominant form, much to the dismay of the designers and their   marketing people.  One can usually assume that a person who   pronounces it /S-C-S-I/ is clueless. 
search-and-destroy mode is  n. Hackerism for the search-and-replace   facility in an editor, so called because an incautiously chosen   match pattern can cause {infinite} damage.
second-system effect is  n. (sometimes, more euphoniously,   `second-system syndrome') When one is designing the successor to   a relatively small, elegant, and successful system, there is a   tendency to become grandiose in one's success and design ...
second-system effect2 is  The term was first   used by Fred Brooks in his classic `The Mythical Man-Month   Essays on Software Engineering' (Addison-Wesley, 1975; ISBN   0-201-00650-2).  It described the jump from a set of nice, simple   operating sy...
second-system effect3 is  360 series.  A similar effect can also happen in an evolving   system; see {Brooks's Law}, {creeping elegance}, {creeping   featurism}.  See also {{Multics}}, {OS/2}, {X}, {software   bloat}.   This version of the jargon lex...
second-system effect4 is  much truth for comfort) as an example of   second-system effect run amok on jargon-1.... 
secondary damage is  n. When a fatal error occurs (esp. a   {segfault}) the immediate cause may be that a pointer has been   trashed due to a previous {fandango on core}.  However, this   fandango may have been due to an *earlier* fandango, so no   a...
secondary damage2 is  the damage occurred.   "The data structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage."   By extension, the corruption resulting from N cascaded   fandangoes on core is `Nth-level damage'.  There is at least   one case on record...
secondary damage3 is  actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of   seventh-level damage!  The hacker who accomplished this   near-superhuman feat was presented with an award by his fellows. 
security through obscurity is  n. A name applied by hackers to most OS   vendors' favorite way of coping with security holes --- namely,   ignoring them and not documenting them and trusting that nobody   will find out about them and that people who ...
security through obscurity2 is  This never works for long and occasionally   sets the world up for debacles like the {RTM} worm of 1988, but once   the brief moments of panic created by such events subside most   vendors are all too willing to turn o...
security through obscurity3 is  fixing the bugs would siphon off the resources   needed to implement the next user-interface frill on marketing's   wish list --- and besides, if they started fixing security bugs   customers might begin to *expect* it...
security through obscurity4 is  merchantability gave them some sort of *right*   to a system with fewer holes in it than a shotgunned Swiss cheese,   and then where would we be?   Historical note It is claimed (with dissent from {{ITS}} fans who   sa...
security through obscurity5 is  in a positive   sense) that this term was first used in the USENET newsgroup in   comp.sys.apollo during a campaign to get HP/Apollo to fix   security problems in its UNIX-{clone} Aegis/DomainOS.  They   didn't change ...
SED is  [TMRC, from `Light-Emitting Diode'] /S-E-D/ n.   Smoke-emitting diode.  A {friode} that lost the war. See   {LER}.
segfault is  n.,vi. Syn. {segment}, {seggie}.
seggie is  /seg'ee/ [UNIX] n. Shorthand for {segmentation fault}   reported from Britain.
segment is  /seg'ment/ vi. To experience a {segmentation fault}.   Confusingly, this is often pronounced more like the noun `segment'   than like mainstream v. segment; this is because it is actually a   noun shorthand that has been verbed.
segmentation fault is  n. [UNIX] 1. An error in which a running program   attempts to access memory not allocated to it and {core dump}s   with a segmentation violation error.  2. To lose a train of   thought or a line of reasoning.  Also uttered as ...
segv is  /seg'vee/ n.,vi. Yet another synonym for {segmentation   fault} (actually, in this case, `segmentation violation').
self-reference is  n. See {self-reference}.
selvage is  /sel'v*j/ [from sewing] n. See {chad} (sense 1).
semi is  /se'mee/ or /se'mi/ 1. n. Abbreviation for   `semicolon', when speaking.  "Commands to {grind} are   prefixed by semi-semi-star" means that the prefix is `;;*',   not 1/4 of a star.  2. A prefix used with words such as   `immediately' as a q...