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kgbvax is  /K-G-B'vaks/ n. See {kremvax}.
kill file is  [USENET] n. (alt. `KILL file') Per-user file(s) used   by some {USENET} reading programs (originally Larry Wall's   `rn(1)') to discard summarily (without presenting for reading)   articles matching some particularly uninteresting (or u...
kill file2 is  other header lines.  Thus to add   a person (or subject) to one's kill file is to arrange for that   person to be ignored by one's newsreader in future.  By extension,   it may be used for a decision to ignore the person or subject in ...
killer micro is  [popularized by Eugene Brooks] n. A   microprocessor-based machine that infringes on mini, mainframe, or   supercomputer performance turf.  Often heard in "No one will   survive the attack of the killer micros!", the battle cry of th...
killer micro2 is  architectures.   The popularity of the phrase `attack of the killer micros' is   doubtless reinforced by the movie title "Attack Of The Killer   Tomatoes" (one of the {canonical} examples of   so-bad-it's-wonderful among hackers).  ...
killer micro3 is  micros have gone on the offensive not just   individually (in workstations) but in hordes (within massively   parallel computers). 
killer poke is  n. A recipe for inducing hardware damage on a machine   via insertion of invalid values (see {poke}) in a memory-mapped   control register; used esp. of various fairly well-known tricks   on {bitty box}es without hardware memory manag...
killer poke2 is  that can overload and trash analog   electronics in the monitor.  See also {HCF}. 
kilo- is  [SI] pref. See {{quantifiers}}.
KIPS is  /kips/ [acronym, by analogy with {MIPS} using {K}] n.   Thousands (*not* 1024s) of Instructions Per Second.  Usage   rare.
KISS Principle is  /kis' prin'si-pl/ n. "Keep It Simple, Stupid".   A maxim often invoked when discussing design to fend off   {creeping featurism} and control development complexity.   Possibly related to the {marketroid} maxim on sales   presentati...
kit is  [USENET] n. A source software distribution that has been   packaged in such a way that it can (theoretically) be unpacked and   installed according to a series of steps using only standard UNIX   tools, and entirely documented by some reasona...
kit2 is  {README file}.  The more general   term {distribution} may imply that special tools or more   stringent conditions on the host environment are required. 
klone is  /klohn/ n. See {clone}, sense 4.
kludge is  /kluhj/ n. Common (but incorrect) variant of {kluge}, q.v.
kluge is  /klooj/ [from the German `klug', clever] 1. n.  A Rube   Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) device, whether in hardware or   software.  (A long-ago `Datamation' article by Jackson Granholme   said "An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching pa...
kluge2 is  clever programming trick   intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not   clear, manner.  Often used to repair bugs.  Often involves   {ad-hockery} and verges on being a {crock}.  In fact, the   TMRC Dictionary defined...
kluge3 is  Something that works for the wrong reason.  4. vt. To insert a   kluge into a program.  "I've kluged this routine to get around   that weird bug, but there's probably a better way."  5. [WPI] n. A   feature that is implemented in a {rude} ...
kluge4 is  encountered in the variant spelling   `kludge'.  Reports from {old fart}s are consistent that `kluge'   was the original spelling, and that `kludge' arose by mutation   sometime in the early 1970s.  Some people who encountered the word   f...
kluge5 is  reasonable but incorrect   conclusion that the word should be pronounced /kluhj/ (rhyming   with `sludge').  The result of this tangled history is a mess; in   1991, many (perhaps even most) hackers pronounce the word correctly   as /klooj...
kluge6 is  the   pronunciation drift of {mung}).  Some observers consider this   appropriate in view of its meaning. 
kluge around is  vt. To avoid a bug or difficult condition by   inserting a {kluge}.  Compare {workaround}.
kluge up is  vt. To lash together a quick hack to perform a task; this   is milder than {cruft together} and has some of the connotations   of {hack up} (note, however, that the construction `kluge on'   corresponding to {hack on} is never used).  "I...
kluge up2 is  buffer contents to a safe place." 
Knights of the Lambda Calculus is  n. A semi-mythical organization of   wizardly LISP and Scheme hackers.  The name refers to a   mathematical formalism invented by Alonzo Church, with which LISP is   intimately connected.  There is no enrollment lis...
Knights of the Lambda Calculus2 is  unclear, but one well-known LISPer has been known   to give out buttons and, in general, the *members* know who   they are.... 
Knuth is  [Donald E. Knuth's `The Art of Computer Programming']   n. Mythically, the reference that answers all questions about data   structures or algorithms.  A safe answer when you do not know   "I think you can find that in Knuth."  Contrast {li...
kremvax is  /krem-vaks/ [from the then large number of {USENET}   {VAXen} with names of the form foovax] n. Originally, a   fictitious USENET site at the Kremlin, announced on April 1, 1984   in a posting ostensibly originated there by Soviet leader ...
kremvax2 is  actually forged by Piet   Beertema as an April Fool's joke.  Other fictitious sites mentioned in the   hoax were moskvax and {kgbvax}, which now seems to be the one by   which it is remembered.  This was probably the funniest of the many...
kremvax3 is  (which has negligible   security against them), because the notion that USENET might ever   penetrate the Iron Curtain seemed so totally absurd at the time.   In fact, it was only six years later that the first genuine site in   Moscow, ...
kremvax4 is  convincing that the postings from it weren't just another prank.   Vadim Antonov (avg@hq.demos.su), the major poster from there   up to at least the end of 1990, was quite aware of all this,   referred to it frequently in his own posting...
kremvax5 is  readers by blandly asserting that he   *was* a hoax!   Eventually he even arranged to have the domain's gateway site   *named* kremvax, thus neatly turning fiction into truth   and demonstrating that the hackish sense of humor transcends...
kremvax6 is  contributed the   Russian-language material for this lexicon. --- ESR]*lace card n. obs. A {{punched card}} with all holes punched (also   called a `whoopee card').  Card readers jammed when they got to   one of these, as the resulting c...
kremvax7 is  avoid buckling inside the mechanism.  Card punches   could also jam trying to produce these things owing to power-supply   problems.  When some practical joker fed a lace card through the   reader, you needed to clear the jam with a `car...
language lawyer is  n. A person, usually an experienced or senior   software engineer, who is intimately familiar with many or most of   the numerous restrictions and features (both useful and esoteric)   applicable to one or more computer programmin...
language lawyer2 is  distinguished by the ability to show you the   five sentences scattered through a 200-plus-page manual that   together imply the answer to your question "if only you had   thought to look there".  Compare {wizard}, {legal},   {le...
languages of choice is  n. {C} and {LISP}.  Nearly every hacker   knows one of these, and most good ones are fluent in both.  Smalltalk   and Prolog are also popular in small but influential communities.   There is also a rapidly dwindling category o...
languages of choice2 is  assembler, as their language of choice.  They   often prefer to be known as {real programmer}s, and other hackers   consider them a bit odd (see "The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer"   in appendix A).  Assembler is generally ...
languages of choice3 is  appropriate for anything but {HLL} implementation,   {glue}, and a few time-critical and hardware-specific uses in systems   programs.  FORTRAN occupies a shrinking niche in scientific   programming.   Most hackers tend to fr...
languages of choice4 is  which don't give them the near-total freedom considered   necessary for hacking (see {bondage-and-discipline language}), and   to regard everything that's even remotely connected with {COBOL}   or other traditional {card wall...
larval stage is  n. Describes a period of monomaniacal concentration   on coding apparently passed through by all fledgling hackers.   Common symptoms include the perpetration of more than one 36-hour   {hacking run} in a given week; neglect of all o...
larval stage2 is  food, sleep, and personal hygiene; and   a chronic case of advanced bleary-eye.  Can last from 6 months to 2   years, the apparent median being around 18 months.  A few so   afflicted never resume a more `normal' life, but the ordea...
larval stage3 is  wizardly (as opposed to   merely competent) programmers.  See also {wannabee}.  A less   protracted and intense version of larval stage (typically lasting   about a month) may recur when one is learning a new {OS} or   programming l...
lase is  /layz/ vt. To print a given document via a laser printer.   "OK, let's lase that sucker and see if all those graphics-macro   calls did the right things."
laser chicken is  n. Kung Pao Chicken, a standard Chinese dish   containing chicken, peanuts, and hot red peppers in a spicy   pepper-oil sauce.  Many hackers call it `laser chicken' for   two reasons It can {zap} you just like a laser, and the   sau...
laser chicken2 is  beams.   In a variation on this theme, it is reported that some Australian   hackers have redesignated the common dish `lemon chicken' as   `Chernobyl Chicken'.  The name is derived from the color of the   sauce, which is considere...
laser chicken3 is  mythically, do some of the inhabitants of Chernobyl). 
laundromat is  n. Syn. {disk farm}; see {washing machine}.
LDB is  /l*'d*b/ [from the PDP-10 instruction set] vt. To extract   from the middle.  "LDB me a slice of cake, please." This usage   has been kept alive by Common LISP's function of the same name.   Considered silly.  See also {DPB}.
leaf site is  n. A machine that merely originates and reads USENET   news or mail, and does not relay any third-party traffic.  Often   uttered in a critical tone; when the ratio of leaf sites to   backbone, rib, and other relay sites gets too high, ...
leaf site2 is  Compare {backbone site}, {rib   site}. 
leak is  n. With qualifier, one of a class of resource-management bugs   that occur when resources are not freed properly after operations   on them are finished, so they effectively disappear (leak out).   This leads to eventual exhaustion as new al...
leak2 is  and {fd leak} have their own entries; one   might also refer, to, say, a `window handle leak' in a window   system. 
leaky heap is  [Cambridge] n. An {arena} with a {memory leak}.
legal is  adj. Loosely used to mean `in accordance with all the   relevant rules', esp. in connection with some set of constraints   defined by software.  "The older =+ alternate for += is no longer   legal syntax in ANSI C."  "This parser processes ...
legal2 is  the trailing linefeed."  Hackers   often model their work as a sort of game played with the   environment in which the objective is to maneuver through the   thicket of `natural laws' to achieve a desired objective.  Their   use of `legal'...
legal3 is  as by   the more conventional one having to do with courts and lawyers.   Compare {language lawyer}, {legalese}. 
legalese is  n. Dense, pedantic verbiage in a language description,   product specification, or interface standard; text that seems   designed to obfuscate and requires a {language lawyer} to   {parse} it.  Though hackers are not afraid of high infor...
legalese2 is  (indeed, they rather enjoy   both), they share a deep and abiding loathing for legalese; they   associate it with deception, {suit}s, and situations in which   hackers generally get the short end of the stick. 
LER is  /L-E-R/ [TMRC, from `Light-Emitting Diode] n. A   light-emitting resistor (that is, one in the process of burning   up).  Ohm's law was broken.  See {SED}.
LERP is  /lerp/ vi.,n. Quasi-acronym for Linear Interpolation, used as a   verb or noun for the operation.  E.g., Bresenham's algorithm lerps   incrementally between the two endpoints of the line.
let the smoke out is  v. To fry hardware (see {fried}).  See   {magic smoke} for the mythology behind this.
letterbomb is  n. A piece of {email} containing {live data}   intended to do nefarious things to the recipient's machine or   terminal.  It is possible, for example, to send letterbombs that   will lock up some specific kinds of terminals when they a...
letterbomb2 is  {cycle power} to unwedge them.   Under UNIX, a letterbomb can also try to get part of its contents   interpreted as a shell command to the mailer.  The results of this   could range from silly to tragic.  See also {Trojan horse};   co...
lexer is  /lek'sr/ n. Common hacker shorthand for `lexical   analyzer', the input-tokenizing stage in the parser for a language   (the part that breaks it into word-like pieces).  "Some C lexers   get confused by the old-style compound ops like `=-'....
lexiphage is  /lek'si-fayj`/ n. A notorious word {chomper} on   ITS.  See {bagbiter}.
life is  n. 1. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton   Conway and first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner (`Scientific   American', October 1970).  Many hackers pass through a stage of   fascination with it, and hackers at various plac...
life2 is  analysis of this game (most notably   Bill Gosper at MIT, who even implemented life in {TECO}!; see   {Gosperism}).  When a hacker mentions `life', he is much more   likely to mean this game than the magazine, the breakfast cereal,   or the...
life3 is  {USENET}.   As in {Get a life!} 
light pipe is  n. Fiber optic cable.  Oppose {copper}.
like kicking dead whales down the beach is  adj. Describes a slow,   difficult, and disgusting process.  First popularized by a famous   quote about the difficulty of getting work done under one of IBM's   mainframe OSes.  "Well, you *could* write a ...
like kicking dead whales down the beach2 is  kicking dead whales down the beach."   See also {fear and loathing} 
like nailing jelly to a tree is  adj. Used to describe a task thought   to be impossible, esp. one in which the difficulty arises from   poor specification or inherent slipperiness in the problem domain.   "Trying to display the `prettiest' arrangeme...
like nailing jelly to a tree2 is  graph is like nailing jelly to a tree,   because nobody's sure what `prettiest' means algorithmically." 
line eater, the is  [USENET] n. 1. A bug in some now-obsolete   versions of the netnews software that used to eat up to BUFSIZ   bytes of the article text.  The bug was triggered by having the   text of the article start with a space or tab.  This bu...
line eater, the2 is  creature called the `line   eater', and postings often included a dummy line of `line eater   food'.  Ironically, line eater `food' not beginning with a space or   tab wasn't actually eaten, since the bug was avoided; but if ther...
line eater, the3 is  line eater would eat   the food *and* the beginning of the text it was supposed to be   protecting.  The practice of `sacrificing to the line eater'   continued for some time after the bug had been {nailed to the   wall}, and is ...
line eater, the4 is  is   still (in mid-1991) occasionally reported to be lurking in some   mail-to-netnews gateways.  2. See {NSA line eater}. 
line starve is  [MIT] 1. vi. To feed paper through a printer the wrong   way by one line (most printers can't do this).  On a display   terminal, to move the cursor up to the previous line of the screen.   "To print `X squared', you just output `X', ...
line starve2 is  starve causes the `2' to appear on the   line above the `X', and the line feed gets back to the original   line.)  2. n. A character (or character sequence) that causes a   terminal to perform this action.  Unlike `line feed', `line ...
line starve3 is  terminology.  Even among hackers   it is considered a bit silly.  3. [proposed] A sequence such as \c   (used in System V echo, as well as nroff/troff) that suppresses a   {newline} or other character(s) that would normally be emitte...
link farm is  [UNIX] n. A directory tree that contains many links to   files in a master directory tree of files.  Link farms save space   when (for example) one is maintaining several nearly identical   copies of the same source tree, e.g., when the...
link farm2 is  object files.  "Let's freeze the source and   then rebuild the FROBOZZ-3 and FROBOZZ-4 link farms."  Link farms   may also be used to get around restrictions on the number of   `-I' (include-file directory) arguments on older   C prepr...
link-dead is  [MUD] adj. Said of a {MUD} character who has frozen in   place because of a dropped Internet connection.
lint is  [from UNIX's `lint(1)', named perhaps for the bits of   fluff it picks from programs] 1. vt. To examine a program closely   for style, language usage, and portability problems, esp. if   in C, esp. if via use of automated analysis tools, mos...
lint2 is  used.  This term used to be   restricted to use of `lint(1)' itself, but (judging by   references on USENET) it has become a shorthand for {desk check}   at some non-UNIX shops, even in languages other than C.  Also as   v.  {delint}.  2. n...
lint3 is  draft has too much lint". 
lion food is  [IBM] n. Middle management or HQ staff (by extension,   administrative drones in general).  From an old joke about two   lions who, escaping from the zoo, split up to increase their   chances but agreed to meet after 2 months.  When the...
lion food2 is  overweight.  The thin one says   "How did you manage?  I ate a human just once and they turned out   a small army to chase me --- guns, nets, it was terrible.  Since   then I've been reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass."  The  ...
lion food3 is  office and ate a   manager a day.  And nobody even noticed!"Lions Book n. `Source Code and Commentary on UNIX level 6',   by John Lions.  The two parts of this book contained (1) the entire   source listing of the UNIX Version 6 kernel...
lion food4 is  discussing the algorithms.  These were circulated   internally at the University of New South Wales beginning 1976--77,   and were for years after the *only* detailed kernel   documentation available to anyone outside Bell Labs.  Becau...
lion food5 is  secret status on the   kernel, the Lions book was never formally published and was only   supposed to be distributed to affiliates of source licensees.  In   spite of this, it soon spread by samizdat to a good many of the   early UNIX ...
LISP is  [from `LISt Processing language', but mythically from   `Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses'] n. The name of AI's   mother tongue, a language based on the ideas of (a) variable-length   lists and trees as fundamental data types, and ...
LISP2 is  vice-versa.  Invented by John   McCarthy at MIT in the late 1950s, it is actually older than any   other {HLL} still in use except FORTRAN.  Accordingly, it has   undergone considerable adaptive radiation over the years; modern   variants a...
LISP3 is  LISP 1.5.   The dominant HLL among hackers until the early 1980s, LISP now   shares the throne with {C}.  See {languages of choice}.   All LISP functions and programs are expressions that return   values; this, together with the high memory...
LISP4 is  Perlis's famous quip (itself a take on an Oscar   Wilde quote) that "LISP programmers know the value of everything   and the cost of nothing".   One significant application for LISP has been as a proof by example   that most newer languages...
LISP5 is  unnecessary {crock}s.  When the {Right Thing} has already   been done once, there is no justification for {bogosity} in newer   languages. 
literature, the is  n. Computer-science journals and other   publications, vaguely gestured at to answer a question that the   speaker believes is {trivial}.  Thus, one might answer an   annoying question by saying "It's in the literature."  Oppose  ...
little-endian is  adj. Describes a computer architecture in which,   within a given 16- or 32-bit word, bytes at lower addresses have   lower significance (the word is stored `little-end-first').  The   PDP-11 and VAX families of computers and Intel ...
little-endian2 is  and networking hardware are little-endian.   See {big-endian}, {middle-endian}, {NUXI problem}.  The term   is sometimes used to describe the ordering of units other than   bytes; most often these are bits within a byte. 
live data is  n. 1. Data that is written to be interpreted and takes   over program flow when triggered by some un-obvious operation, such   as viewing it.  One use of such hacks is to break security.  For   example, some smart terminals have command...
live data2 is  program keys; this can be used to write live   data that, when listed to the terminal, infects it with a   security-breaking {virus} that is triggered the next time a   hapless user strikes that key.  For another, there are some   well...
live data3 is  send   arbitrary commands back to the machine when they are simply viewed.   2. In C code, data that includes pointers to function {hook}s   (executable code).  3. An object, such as a {trampoline}, that is   constructed on the fly by ...
live data4 is  code. 4. Actual real-world data, as opposed to `test data'.   For example, "I think I have the record deletion module   finished."  "Have you tried it out on live data?"  It usually   carries the connotation that live data is more frag...
live data5 is  things will happen.  So a possible alternate   response to the above claim might be "Well, make sure it works   perfectly before we throw live data at it."  The implication here   is that record deletion is something pretty significant...
live data6 is  running amok on live data would   cause great harm and probably require restoring from backups. 
Live Free Or Die! is  imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which   appears on that state's automobile license plates.  2. A slogan   associated with UNIX in the romantic days when UNIX aficionados saw   themselves as a tiny, beleaguered undergro...
Live Free Or Die!2 is  industry.  The "free" referred specifically to   freedom from the {fascist} design philosophies and crufty   misfeatures common on commercial operating systems.  Armando   Stettner, one of the early UNIX developers, used to giv...
Live Free Or Die!3 is  under a large UNIX, all in New   Hampshire colors of green and white.  These are now valued   collector's items. 
livelock is  /liv'lok/ n. A situation in which some critical stage   of a task is unable to finish because its clients perpetually   create more work for it to do after they have been serviced but   before it can clear its queue.  Differs from {deadl...
livelock2 is  waiting for anything, but has a   virtually infinite amount of work to do and can never catch up. 
liveware is  /liv'weir/ n. 1. Synonym for {wetware}.  Less   common.  2. [Cambridge] Vermin. "Waiter, there's some liveware in my   salad..."
lobotomy is  n. 1. What a hacker subjected to formal management   training is said to have undergone.  At IBM and elsewhere this term   is used by both hackers and low-level management; the latter   doubtless intend it as a joke.  2. The act of remov...
lobotomy2 is  order to replace or upgrade it.   Some very cheap {clone} systems are sold in `lobotomized' form   --- everything but the brain. 
locked and loaded is  [from military slang for an M-16 rifle with   magazine inserted and prepared for firing] adj. Said of a removable   disk volume properly prepared for use --- that is, locked into the   drive and with the heads loaded.  Ironicall...
locked and loaded2 is  the power is up, this description is never   used of {{Winchester}} drives (which are named after a rifle). 
locked up is  adj. Syn. for {hung}, {wedged}.
logic bomb is  n. Code surreptitiously inserted in an application or   OS that causes it to perform some destructive or   security-compromising activity whenever specified conditions are   met.  Compare {back door}.
logical is  [from the technical term `logical device', wherein a   physical device is referred to by an arbitrary `logical' name]   adj.  Having the role of.  If a person (say, Les Earnest at SAIL)   who had long held a certain post left and were rep...
logical2 is  known as the `logical' Les   Earnest.  (This does not imply any judgment on the replacement.)   Compare {virtual}.   At Stanford, `logical' compass directions denote a coordinate   system in which `logical north' is toward San Francisco,...
logical3 is  even though logical   north varies between physical (true) north near San Francisco and   physical west near San Jose.  (The best rule of thumb here is that,   by definition, El Camino Real always runs logical north-and-south.)   In givi...

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

shell out is  [UNIX] n. To spawn an interactive {subshell} from   within a program (e.g., a mailer or editor).  "Bang foo runs foo in   a subshell, while bang alone shells out."
shift left logical is  [from any of various machines'   instruction sets] 1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right).  To   move out of the way.  2. imper. "Get out of that (my) seat!  You   can shift to that empty one to the left (right)."  Often   ...
shift left logical2 is  instead of   `shift left'.  Sometimes heard as LSH /lish/, from the {PDP-10}   instruction set.  See {Programmer's Cheer}. 
shitogram is  /shit'oh-gram/ n. A *really* nasty piece of email.   Compare {nastygram}, {flame}.
short card is  n. A half-length IBM PC expansion card or adapter that   will fit in one of the two short slots located towards the right   rear of a standard chassis (tucked behind the floppy disk drives).   See also {tall card}.
shotgun debugging is  n. The software equivalent of {Easter egging};   the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope   that a bug will be perturbed out of existence.  This almost never   works, and usually introduces more bugs.
showstopper is  n. A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes   an implementation effectively unusable; one that absolutely has to   be fixed before development can go on.  Opposite in connotation   from its original theatrical use, which ref...
shriek is  n. See {excl}.  Occasional CMU usage, also in common use   among APL fans and mathematicians, especially category theorists.
Shub-Internet is  /shuhb in't*r-net/ [MUD from H. P. Lovecraft's   evil fictional deity `Shub-Niggurath', the Black Goat with a   Thousand Young] n.  The harsh personification of the Internet,   Beast of a Thousand Processes, Eater of Characters, Ava...
Shub-Internet2 is  the hideous multi-tendriled entity   formed of all the manifold connections of the net.  A sect of   MUDders worships Shub-Internet, sacrificing objects and praying for   good connections.  To no avail --- its purpose is malign and...
Shub-Internet3 is  slowdown.  Often heard as in   "Freela casts a tac nuke at Shub-Internet for slowing her down."   (A forged response often follows along the lines of "Shub-Internet   gulps down the tac nuke and burps happily.")  Also cursed by use...
Shub-Internet4 is  slows down.  The dread   name of Shub-Internet is seldom spoken aloud, as it is said that   repeating it three times will cause the being to wake, deep within its   lair beneath the Pentagon. 
sidecar is  n. 1. Syn. {slap on the side}.  Esp. used of add-ons   for the late and unlamented IBM PCjr.  2. The IBM PC compatibility   box that could be bolted onto the side of an Amiga.  Designed and   produced by Commodore, it broke all of the com...
sidecar2 is  other peripherals, it was by {magic}. 
sig block is  /sig blok/ [UNIX often written `.sig' there] n.   Short for `signature', used specifically to refer to the   electronic signature block that most UNIX mail- and news-posting   software will {automagically} append to outgoing mail and ne...
sig block2 is  quite an art form, including an   ASCII logo or one's choice of witty sayings (see {sig quote},   {fool file}); but many consider large sigs a waste of   {bandwidth}, and it has been observed that the size of one's sig   block is usual...
sig block3 is  and   level of prestige on the net. 
sig quote is  /sig kwoht/ [USENET] n. A maxim, quote, proverb, joke,   or slogan embedded in one's {sig block} and intended to convey   something of one's philosophical stance, pet peeves, or sense of   humor. "Calm down, it's only ones and zeroes."
signal-to-noise ratio is  [from analog electronics] n. Used by hackers   in a generalization of its technical meaning.  `Signal' refers to   useful information conveyed by some communications medium, and   `noise' to anything else on that medium.  He...
signal-to-noise ratio2 is  paying attention to the medium in question.   Figures for such metaphorical ratios are never given.  The term is   most often applied to {USENET} newsgroups during {flame war}s.   Compare {bandwidth}.  See also {coefficient...
silicon is  n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer   systems (compare {iron}).  Contrasted with software.  See also   {sandbender}.
silicon foundry is  n. A company that {fab}s chips to the designs of   others.  As of the late 1980s, the combination of silicon foundries   and good computer-aided design software made it much easier for   hardware-designing startup companies to com...
silicon foundry2 is  silicon foundry is that the distance from the   actual chip-fabrication processes reduces designers' control of detail.   This is somewhat analogous to the use of {HLL}s versus coding in   assembler. 
silly walk is  [from Monty Python's Flying Circus] vi. 1. A ridiculous   procedure required to accomplish a task.  Like {grovel}, but more   {random} and humorous.  "I had to silly-walk through half the   /usr directories to find the maps file."  2. ...
silo is  n. The FIFO input-character buffer in an RS-232 line card.  So   called from DEC terminology used on DH and DZ line cards for the   VAX and PDP-11, presumably because it was a storage space for   fungible stuff that you put in the top and to...
Silver Book is  n. Jensen and Wirth's infamous `Pascal User Manual   and Report', so called because of the silver cover of the   widely distributed Springer-Verlag second edition of 1978 (ISBN   0-387-90144-2).  See {{book titles}}, {Pascal}.
since time T equals minus infinity is  adj. A long time ago; for as   long as anyone can remember; at the time that some particular frob   was first designed.  Usually the word `time' is omitted.  See also   {time T}.
sitename is  /sit'naym/ [UNIX/Internet] n. The unique electronic   name of a computer system, used to identify it in UUCP mail,   USENET, or other forms of electronic information interchange.  The   folklore interest of sitenames stems from the creat...
sitename2 is  Interpreting a sitename is not unlike   interpreting a vanity license plate; one has to mentally unpack it,   allowing for mono-case and length restrictions and the lack of   whitespace.  Hacker tradition deprecates dull,   institutiona...
sitename3 is  and   clever coinages (except that it is considered appropriate for the   official public gateway machine of an organization to bear the   organization's name or acronym).  Mythological references, cartoon   characters, animal names, an...
sitename4 is  probably the most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly   descending order).  The obligatory comment when discussing these is   Harris's Lament "All the good ones are taken!"  See also   {network address}. 
skrog is  v. Syn. {scrog}.
skulker is  n. Syn. {prowler}.
slap on the side is  n. (also called a {sidecar}, or abbreviated   `SOTS'.)  A type of external expansion hardware marketed by   computer manufacturers (e.g., Commodore for the Amiga 500/1000   series and IBM for the hideous failure called `PCjr').  ...
slap on the side2 is  as memory, hard drive   controllers, and conventional expansion slots. 
slash is  n. Common name for the slant (`/', ASCII 0101111)   character.  See {ASCII} for other synonyms.
sleep is  vi. 1. [techspeak] On a timesharing system, a process that   relinquishes its claim on the scheduler until some given event   occurs or a specified time delay elapses is said to `go to   sleep'.  2. In jargon, used very similarly to v. {blo...
sleep2 is  on'.  Often used to   indicate that the speaker has relinquished a demand for resources   until some (possibly unspecified) external event "They can't get   the fix I've been asking for into the next release, so I'm going to   sleep on it ...
slim is  n. A small, derivative change (e.g., to code).
slop is  n. 1. A one-sided {fudge factor}, that is, an allowance for   error but in only one of two directions.  For example, if you need   a piece of wire 10 feet long and have to guess when you cut it,   you make very sure to cut it too long, by a ...
slop2 is  short by even a little bit, because you   can always cut off the slop but you can't paste it back on again.   When discrete quantities are involved, slop is often introduced to   avoid the possibility of being on the losing side of a {fence...
slop3 is  code generated by a compiler   over the size of equivalent assembler code produced by   {hand-hacking}; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you lose because   you didn't do it yourself.  This number is often used as a measure   of the goodness ...
slop4 is   10% is usually acceptable.  With modern compiler technology, esp.   on RISC machines, the compiler's slop may actually be   *negative*; that is, humans may be unable to generate code as   good.  This is one of the reasons assembler program...
slopsucker is  /slop'suhk-r/ n. A lowest-priority task that must   wait around until everything else has `had its fill' of machine   resources.  Only when the machine would otherwise be idle is the   task allowed to `suck up the slop'.  Also called a...
slopsucker2 is  slopsucker hunts for large prime   numbers.  Compare {background}. 
slurp is  vt. To read a large data file entirely into {core} before   working on it.  This may be contrasted with the strategy of reading   a small piece at a time, processing it, and then reading the next   piece.  "This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K...
smart is  adj. Said of a program that does the {Right Thing} in a   wide variety of complicated circumstances.  There is a difference   between calling a program smart and calling it intelligent; in   particular, there do not exist any intelligent pr...
smart2 is  {robust} (smart programs can be   {brittle}). 
smart terminal is  n. A terminal that has enough computing capability   to render graphics or to offload some kind of front-end processing   from the computer it talks to.  The development of workstations and   personal computers has made this term a...
smart terminal2 is  semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase   `act like a smart terminal' used to describe the behavior of   workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost   entirely out of a remote {server}'...
smart terminal3 is  Compare {glass tty}.   There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the {blit}   terminal) "A smart terminal is not a smart*ass* terminal,   but rather a terminal you can educate."  This illustrates a common   design proble...
smart terminal4 is  else)   intelligent sometimes results in finicky, rigid `special   features' that become just so much dead weight if you try to use   the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate.  Flexibility   and programmability, on the...
smash case is  vi. To lose or obliterate the uppercase/lowercase   distinction in text input.  "MS-DOS will automatically smash case   in the names of all the files you create."  Compare {fold case}.
smash the stack is  [C programming] n. On many C implementations it is   possible to corrupt the execution stack by writing past the end of   an array declared `auto' in a routine.  Code that does this is   said to `smash the stack', and can cause re...
smash the stack2 is  address.  This can produce some of the most   insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind.  Variants include   `trash' the stack, {scribble} the stack, {mangle} the stack;   the term *{mung} the stack is not used, as this is n...
smash the stack3 is  also {aliasing bug},   {fandango on core}, {memory leak}, {precedence lossage},   {overrun screw}. 
smiley is  n. See {emoticon}.
smoke test is  n. 1. A rudimentary form of testing applied to   electronic equipment following repair or reconfiguration, in which   power is applied and the tester checks for sparks, smoke, or other   dramatic signs of fundamental failure.  See {mag...
smoke test2 is  of a piece of software after construction   or a critical change.  See and compare {reality check}.   There is an interesting semi-parallel to this term among   typographers and printers When new typefaces are being punch-cut by   han...
smoke test3 is  smoke, then press   it onto paper) is used to check out new dies. 
smoking clover is  [ITS] n. A {display hack} originally due to   Bill Gosper.  Many convergent lines are drawn on a color monitor in   {AOS} mode (so that every pixel struck has its color   incremented).  The lines all have one endpoint in the middle...
smoking clover2 is  spaced one pixel apart around the   perimeter of a large square.  The color map is then repeatedly   rotated.  This results in a striking, rainbow-hued, shimmering   four-leaf clover.  Gosper joked about keeping it hidden from the...
smoking clover3 is  Administration) lest its   hallucinogenic properties cause it to be banned. 
SMOP is  /S-M-O-P/ [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming] n.   1. A piece of code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is   significantly greater than its complexity.  Used to refer to a   program that could obviously be written, but is not ...
SMOP2 is  imply that a difficult problem   can be easily solved because a program can be written to do it; the   irony is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be   a great deal of work.  "It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN compiler to  ...
SMOP3 is  Often used   ironically by the intended victim when a suggestion for a program   is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is obviously (to the   victim) a lot of work. 
SNAFU principle is  /sna'foo prin'si-pl/ [from WWII Army acronym   for `Situation Normal, All Fucked Up'] n. "True communication is   possible only between equals, because inferiors are more   consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasan...
SNAFU principle2 is  central tenet of   {Discordianism}, often invoked by hackers to explain why   authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically.   The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of   decision-mak...
snail is  vt. To {snail-mail} something. "Snail me a copy of those   graphics, will you?"
snail-mail is  n. Paper mail, as opposed to electronic.  Sometimes   written as the single word `SnailMail'.  One's postal address is,   correspondingly, a `snail address'.  Derives from earlier coinage   `USnail' (from `U.S. Mail'), for which there ...
snap is  v. To replace a pointer to a pointer with a direct pointer;   to replace an old address with the forwarding address found there.   If you telephone the main number for an institution and ask for a   particular person by name, the operator ma...
snap2 is  connecting you, in the hopes that you will `snap   your pointer' and dial direct next time.  The underlying metaphor   may be that of a rubber band stretched through a number of   intermediate points; if you remove all the thumbtacks in the...
snap3 is  first to last.  See   {chase pointers}.   Often, the behavior of a {trampoline} is to perform an error   check once and then snap the pointer that invoked it so as henceforth   to bypass the trampoline (and its one-shot error check).  In th...
snap4 is  links'.  For example, in a   Lisp implementation, a function interface trampoline might check to   make sure that the caller is passing the correct number of arguments;   if it is, and if the caller and the callee are both compiled, then   ...
snap5 is  to use a direct   procedure-call instruction with no further overhead. 
snarf is  /snarf/ vt. 1. To grab, esp. to grab a large document   or file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's   permission.  See also {BLT}.  2. [in the UNIX community] To   fetch a file or set of files across a network.  See als...
snarf2 is  late 1960s, meaning   `to eat piggishly'.  It may still have this connotation in context.   "He's in the snarfing phase of hacking --- {FTP}ing megs of   stuff a day."  3. To acquire, with little concern for legal forms   or politesse (but...
snarf3 is  away samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them."  4. Syn. for   {slurp}.  "This program starts by snarfing the entire database   into core, then...." 
snarf & barf is  /snarf'n-barf`/ n. Under a {WIMP environment},   the act of grabbing a region of text and then stuffing the contents   of that region into another region (or the same one) to avoid   retyping a command line.  In the late 1960s, this ...
snarf & barf2 is  regret it later' cheap-restaurant   expedition. 
snarf down is  v. To {snarf}, with the connotation of absorbing,   processing, or understanding.  "I'll  snarf down the latest   version of the {nethack} user's guide --- It's been a while   since I played last and I don't know what's changed recentl...
snark is  [Lewis Carroll, via the Michigan Terminal System] n. 1. A   system failure.  When a user's process bombed, the operator would   get the message "Help, Help, Snark in MTS!"  2. More generally,   any kind of unexplained or threatening event o...
snark2 is  boojum).  Often used to refer to an   event or a log file entry that might indicate an attempted security   violation.  See {snivitz}.  3. UUCP name of   snark.thyrsus.com, home site of the Jargon File 2.*.* versions   (i.e., this lexicon)...
sneakernet is  /snee'ker-net/ n. Term used (generally with ironic   intent) for transfer of electronic information by physically   carrying tape, disks, or some other media from one machine to   another.  "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a stati...
sneakernet2 is  filled with CD-ROMs."  Also called   `Tennis-Net', `Armpit-Net', `Floppy-Net'. 
sniff is  v.,n. Synonym for {poll}.
snivitz is  /sniv'itz/ n. A hiccup in hardware or software; a small,   transient problem of unknown origin (less serious than a   {snark}).  Compare {glitch}.
SO is  /S-O/ n. 1. (also `S.O.') Abbrev. for Significant   Other, almost invariably written abbreviated and pronounced   /S-O/ by hackers.  Used to refer to one's primary   relationship, esp. a live-in to whom one is not married.  See   {MOTAS}, {MOT...
SO2 is  character in ASCII (Control-N, 0001110). 
social science number is  [IBM] n. A statistic that is   {content-free}, or nearly so.  A measure derived via methods of   questionable validity from data of a dubious and vague nature.   Predictively, having a social science number in hand is seldom...
social science number2 is  considerably worse.  {Management}   loves them.  See also {numbers}, {math-out}, {pretty   pictures}. 
soft boot is  n. See {boot}.
softcopy is  /soft'ko-pee/ n. [by analogy with `hardcopy'] A   machine-readable form of corresponding hardcopy.  See {bits},   {machinable}.
software bloat is  n. The results of {second-system effect} or   {creeping featuritis}.  Commonly cited examples include   `ls(1)', {X}, {BSD}, {Missed'em-five}, and {OS/2}.
software rot is  n. Term used to describe the tendency of software   that has not been used in a while to {lose}; such failure may be   semi-humorously ascribed to {bit rot}.  More commonly,   `software rot' strikes when a program's assumptions becom...
software rot2 is  insufficiently {robust}, this may   cause it to fail in mysterious ways.   For example, owing to endemic shortsightedness in the design of   COBOL programs, most will succumb to software rot when their   2-digit year counters {wrap ...
software rot3 is  Actually, related lossages often afflict centenarians   who have to deal with computer software designed by unimaginative   clods.  One such incident became the focus of a minor public flap   in 1990, when a gentleman born in 1889 a...
software rot4 is  Raleigh, North Carolina.  The new system   refused to issue the card, probably because with 2-digit years the   ages 101 and 1 cannot be distinguished.   Historical note Software rot in an even funnier sense than the   mythical one ...
software rot5 is  (e.g.,   the R1; see {grind crank}).  If a program that depended on a   peculiar instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user   might discover that the opcodes no longer did the same things they   once did.  ("Hey, so-and-...
software rot6 is  We can {snarf} this opcode, right?  No one uses   it.")   Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT hacker   found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump   instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched ...
software rot7 is  fragile timing software in a music-playing program,   throwing its output out of tune.  This was fixed by adding a   defensive initialization routine to compare the speed of a timing   loop with the real-time clock; in other words, ...
software rot8 is  day, and corrected appropriately.   Compare {bit rot}. 
softwarily is  /soft-weir'i-lee/ adv. In a way pertaining to software.   "The system is softwarily unreliable."  The adjective   `softwary' is *not* used.  See {hardwarily}.
softy is  [IBM] n. Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who   is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware.
some random X is  adj. Used to indicate a member of class X, with the   implication that Xs are interchangeable.  "I think some random   cracker tripped over the guest timeout last night."  See also   {J. Random}.
sorcerer's apprentice mode is  [from the film "Fantasia"] n. A bug in a   protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message   causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, when   received, triggers the same bug.  Used esp. of s...
sorcerer's apprentice mode2 is  loops in {email} software.  Compare   {broadcast storm}, {network meltdown}. 
SOS is  n.,obs. /S-O-S/ 1. An infamously {losing} text editor.   Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for the   PDP-6, a hacker crufted together a {quick-and-dirty} `stopgap   editor' to be used until a better one was written.  Unfo...
SOS2 is  discarded when new ones (in   particular, {TECO}) came along.  SOS is a descendant (`Son of   Stopgap') of that editor, and many PDP-10 users gained the dubious   pleasure of its acquaintance.  Since then other programs similar in   style to...
SOS3 is  editor BILOS   /bye'lohs/, the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap (the alternate expansion   `Bastard Issue, Loins of Stopgap' has been proposed).  2. /sos/   n. To decrease; inverse of {AOS}, from the PDP-10 instruction   set. 
source of all good bits is  n. A person from whom (or a place from   which) useful information may be obtained.  If you need to know   about a program, a {guru} might be the source of all good bits.   The title is often applied to a particularly comp...
space-cadet keyboard is  n. The Knight keyboard, a now-legendary device   used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired several still-current   jargon terms and influenced the design of {EMACS}.  It was inspired   by the Stanford keyboard and equipped wi...
space-cadet keyboard2 is  keys for {bucky bits} (`control',   `meta', `hyper', and `super') and three like regular shift keys,   called `shift', `top', and `front'.  Many keys had three symbols   on them a letter and a symbol on the top, and a Greek ...
space-cadet keyboard3 is  key had an `L' and a two-way   arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the front.   And of course each of these might also be typed with any   combination of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys.  On this   keyb...
space-cadet keyboard4 is  characters!  This   allowed the user to type very complicated mathematical text, and   also to have thousands of single-character commands at his   disposal.  Many hackers were actually willing to memorize the   command mean...
space-cadet keyboard5 is  typing time   (this attitude obviously shaped the interface of EMACS).  Other   hackers, however, thought having that many bucky bits was overkill,   and objected that such a keyboard can require three or four hands   to ope...
space-cadet keyboard6 is  bucky},   {meta bit}, {quadruple bucky}. 
SPACEWAR is  n. A space-combat simulation game, inspired by   E. E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" books, in which two spaceships   duel around a central sun, shooting torpedoes at each other and   jumping through hyperspace.  This game was first implemente...
SPACEWAR2 is  aficionados formed the core of   the early hacker culture at MIT.  Nine years later, a descendant   of the game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare time on a   scavenged PDP-7, the operating system that became {{UNIX}}.  Less ...
SPACEWAR3 is  commercialized as one of   the first video games; descendants are still {feep}ing in video   arcades everywhere. 
spaghetti code is  n. Code with a complex and tangled control   structure, esp. one using many GOTOs, exceptions, or other   `unstructured' branching constructs.  Pejorative.  The synonym   `kangaroo code' has been reported, doubtless because such co...