Amethyst

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barfulation is  /bar`fyoo-lay'sh*n/ interj. Variation of {barf}   used around the Stanford area.  An exclamation, expressing disgust.   On seeing some particularly bad code one might exclaim,   "Barfulation!  Who wrote this, Quux?"
barfulous is  /bar'fyoo-l*s/ adj. (alt. `barfucious',   /bar-fyoo-sh*s/) Said of something that would make anyone barf,   if only for esthetic reasons.
baroque is  adj. Feature-encrusted; complex; gaudy; verging on   excessive.  Said of hardware or (esp.) software designs, this has   many of the connotations of {elephantine} or {monstrosity} but is   less extreme and not pejorative in itself.  "Meta...
baroque2 is  variations to its letterform output.   Now *that* is baroque!"  See also {rococo}. 
BartleMUD is  /bar'tl-muhd/ n. Any of the MUDs derived from the   original MUD game by Richard Bartle (see {MUD}).  BartleMUDs are   noted for their (usually slightly offbeat) humor, dry but friendly   syntax, and lack of adjectives in object descrip...
BartleMUD2 is  `brand172', for instance (see {brand   brand brand}).  Some MUDders intensely dislike Bartle and this   term, and prefer to speak of `MUD-1'. 
BASIC is  n. A programming language, originally designed for   Dartmouth's experimental timesharing system in the   early 1960s, which has since become the leading cause of   brain-damage in proto-hackers.  This is another case (like   {Pascal}) of t...
BASIC2 is  deliberately designed as an educational toy gets taken too   seriously.  A novice can write short BASIC programs (on the order of   10--20 lines) very easily; writing anything longer is (a) very   painful, and (b) encourages bad habits tha...
BASIC3 is  hack in a real language.  This wouldn't be so   bad if historical accidents hadn't made BASIC so common on low-end   micros.  As it is, it ruins thousands of potential wizards a year. 
batch is  adj. 1. Non-interactive.  Hackers use this somewhat more   loosely than the traditional technical definitions justify; in   particular, switches on a normally interactive program that prepare   it to receive non-interactive command input ar...
batch2 is  switches.  A `batch file' is a series of   instructions written to be handed to an interactive program running   in batch mode.  2. Performance of dreary tasks all at one sitting.   "I finally sat down in batch mode and wrote out checks fo...
batch3 is  electricity back on next   week..." 3. Accumulation of a number of small tasks that can be   lumped together for greater efficiency.  "I'm batching up those   letters to send sometime" "I'm batching up bottles to take to the   recycling ce...
bathtub curve is  n. Common term for the curve (resembling an   end-to-end section of one of those claw-footed antique bathtubs)   that describes the expected failure rate of electronics with time   initially high, dropping to near 0 for most of the ...
bathtub curve2 is  `tires out'.  See also {burn-in   period}, {infant mortality}. 
baud is  /bawd/ [simplified from its technical meaning] n. Bits per   second.  Hence kilobaud or Kbaud, thousands of bits per second.   The technical meaning is `level transitions per second'; this   coincides with bps only for two-level modulation w...
baud2 is  are aware of these nuances but blithely   ignore them. 
baud barf is  /bawd barf/ n. The garbage one gets on the monitor   when using a modem connection with some protocol setting (esp.   line speed) incorrect, or when someone picks up a voice extension   on the same line, or when really bad line noise di...
baud barf2 is  completely {random}, by the way;   hackers with a lot of serial-line experience can usually tell   whether the device at the other end is expecting a higher or lower   speed than the terminal is set to.  *Really* experienced ones   can...
baz is  /baz/ [Stanford corruption of {bar}] n. 1. The third   metasyntactic variable, after {foo} and {bar} and before   {quux} (or, occasionally, `qux'; or local idiosyncracies like   `rag', `zowie', etc.).  "Suppose we have three functions FOO,BAR...
baz2 is  BAZ...."   2. interj. A term of mild annoyance.  In this usage the term is   often drawn out for 2 or 3 seconds, producing an effect not unlike   the bleating of a sheep; /baaaaaaz/.  3. Occasionally appended to   {foo} to produce `foobaz'. 
bboard is  /bee'bord/ [contraction of `bulletin board'] n.   1. Any electronic bulletin board; esp. used of {BBS} systems   running on personal micros, less frequently of a USENET   {newsgroup} (in fact, use of the term for a newsgroup generally   ma...
bboard2 is  BBS world or as   a real old-timer predating USENET).  2. At CMU and other colleges   with similar facilities, refers to campus-wide electronic bulletin   boards.  3. The term `physical bboard' is sometimes used to   refer to a old-fashio...
bboard3 is  it refers to a particular one outside the CS Lounge.   In either of senses 1 or 2, the term is usually prefixed by the   name of the intended board (`the Moonlight Casino bboard' or   `market bboard'); however, if the context is clear, th...
bboard4 is  name alone, as in (at CMU) "Don't   post for-sale ads on general". 
BBS is  /B-B-S/ [acronym, `Bulletin Board System'] n. An electronic   bulletin board system; that is, a message database where people can   log in and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically)   into {topic group}s.  Thousands of local ...
BBS2 is  U.S., typically run by amateurs for fun   out of their homes on MS-DOS boxes with a single modem line each.   Fans of USENET and Internet or the big commercial timesharing   bboards such as CompuServe and GEnie tend to consider local BBSes  ...
BBS3 is  but they serve a   valuable function by knitting together lots of hackers and users in   the personal-micro world who would otherwise be unable to exchange   code at all. 
beam is  [from Star Trek Classic's "Beam me up, Scotty!"] vt. To   transfer {softcopy} of a file electronically; most often in   combining forms such as `beam me a copy' or `beam that over to   his site'.  Compare {blast}, {snarf}, {BLT}.
beanie key is  [Mac users] n. See {command key}.
beep is  n.,v. Syn. {feep}.  This term seems to be preferred among micro   hobbyists.
beige toaster is  n. A Macintosh. See {toaster}; compare   {Macintrash}, {maggotbox}.
bells and whistles is  [by analogy with the toyboxes on theater   organs] n. Features added to a program or system to make it more   {flavorful} from a hacker's point of view, without necessarily   adding to its utility for its primary function.  Dis...
bells and whistles2 is  to attract users.  "Now that we've   got the basic program working, let's go back and add some bells and   whistles."  No one seems to know what distinguishes a bell from a   whistle. 
bells, whistles, and gongs is  n. A standard elaborated form of   {bells and whistles}; typically said with a pronounced and ironic   accent on the `gongs'.
benchmark is  [techspeak] n. An inaccurate measure of computer   performance.  "In the computer industry, there are three kinds of   lies lies, damn lies, and benchmarks."  Well-known ones include   Whetstone, Dhrystone, Rhealstone (see {h}), the Gab...
benchmark2 is  SPECmark suite, and LINPACK.  See   also {machoflops}, {MIPS}. 
Berkeley Quality Software is  adj. (often abbreviated `BQS') Term used   in a pejorative sense to refer to software that was apparently   created by rather spaced-out hackers late at night to solve some   unique problem.  It usually has nonexistent, ...
Berkeley Quality Software2 is  been tested on at least two examples,   and core dumps when anyone else attempts to use it.  This term was   frequently applied to early versions of the `dbx(1)' debugger.   See also {Berzerkeley}. 
berklix is  /berk'liks/ n.,adj. [contraction of `Berkeley UNIX'] See   {BSD}.  Not used at Berkeley itself.  May be more common among   {suit}s attempting to sound like cognoscenti than among hackers,   who usually just say `BSD'.
berserking is  vi. A {MUD} term meaning to gain points *only*   by killing other players and mobiles (non-player characters).   Hence, a Berserker-Wizard is a player character that has achieved   enough points to become a wizard, but only by killing ...
berserking2 is  frowned upon because of its   inherently antisocial nature, but some MUDs have a `berserker   mode' in which a player becomes *permanently* berserk, can   never flee from a fight, cannot use magic, gets no score for   treasure, but do...
berserking3 is  wizards can seriously damage your elf!" 
Berzerkeley is  /b*r-zer'klee/ [from `berserk', via the name of a   now-deceased record label] n. Humorous distortion of `Berkeley'   used esp. to refer to the practices or products of the   {BSD} UNIX hackers.  See {software bloat}, {Missed'em-five}...
Berzerkeley2 is  use of this term in reference to the cultural and   political peculiarities of UC Berkeley as a whole has been reported   from as far back as the 1960s. 
beta is  /bay't*/, /be't*/ or (Commonwealth) /bee't*/ n. 1. In   the {Real World}, software often goes through two stages of   testing Alpha (in-house) and Beta (out-house?).  Software is said   to be `in beta'.  2. Anything that is new and experimen...
beta2 is  means that he is still testing   for compatibility and reserving judgment.  3. Beta software is   notoriously buggy, so `in beta' connotes flakiness.   Historical note More formally, to beta-test is to test a   pre-release (potentially unre...
beta3 is  making it available to selected customers and users.  This term   derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints,   first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry.   `Alpha Test' was the unit, module, or co...
beta4 is  system test.  These themselves came from earlier   A- and B-tests for hardware.  The A-test was a feasibility and   manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design   and development.  The B-test was a demonstration that th...
beta5 is  The C-test   (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early   samples of the production design. 
BFI is  /B-F-I/ n. See {brute force and ignorance}.  Also   encountered in the variant `BFMI', `brute force and   *massive* ignorance'.
bible is  n. 1. One of a small number of fundamental source books   such as {Knuth} and {K&R}.  2. The most detailed and   authoritative reference for a particular language, operating   system, or other complex software system.
BiCapitalization is  n. The act said to have been performed on   trademarks (such as NeXT, {NeWS}, VisiCalc, FrameMaker,   TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been raised above the ruck of   common coinage by nonstandard capitalization.  Too many   {mar...
BiCapitalization2 is  really cute, even   the 2,317th time they do it.  Compare {studlycaps}. 
BIFF is  /bif/ [USENET] n. The most famous {pseudo}, and the   prototypical {newbie}.  Articles from BIFF are characterized by   all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally with bangs, typos,   `cute' misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD OLD BIFF CUZ HE"S...
BIFF2 is  IN CAPITULL LETTRS LIKE   THIS!!!), use (and often misuse) of fragments of {talk mode}   abbreviations, a long {sig block} (sometimes even a {doubled   sig}), and unbounded na"ivet'e.  BIFF posts articles using his elder   brother's VIC-20....
BIFF3 is    appear to come from a variety of sites.  However, {BITNET} seems to   be the most frequent origin.  The theory that BIFF is a denizen of   BITNET is supported by BIFF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic   mail address BIFF@BIT.NET. 
biff is  /bif/ vt. To notify someone of incoming mail.  From the   BSD utility `biff(1)', which was in turn named after the   implementor's dog (it barked whenever the mailman came).  No   relation to {BIFF}.
Big Gray Wall is  n. What faces a {VMS} user searching for   documentation.  A full VMS kit comes on a pallet, the documentation   taking up around 15 feet of shelf space before the addition of layered   products such as compilers, databases, multive...
Big Gray Wall2 is  Recent (since VMS version 5) DEC   documentation comes with gray binders; under VMS version 4 the   binders were orange (`big orange wall'), and under version 3   they were blue.  See {VMS}. 
big iron is  n. Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers.  Used generally   of {number-crunching} supercomputers such as Crays, but can include   more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes.  Term of   approval; compare {heavy metal}, oppose {di...
Big Red Switch is  [IBM] n. The power switch on a computer, esp. the   `Emergency Pull' switch on an IBM {mainframe} or the power switch   on an IBM PC where it really is large and red.  "This !@%$%   {bitty box} is hung again; time to hit the Big Re...
Big Red Switch2 is  tune with the company's passion for   {TLA}s, this is often acronymized as `BRS' (this has also   become established on FidoNet and in the PC {clone} world).  It   is alleged that the emergency pull switch on an IBM 360/91 actuall...
Big Red Switch3 is  power feed; the BRSes on   more recent machines physically drop a block into place so that   they can't be pushed back in.  People get fired for pulling them,   especially inappropriately (see also {molly-guard}).  Compare   {powe...
the Big Room is  n. The extremely large room with the blue ceiling   and intensely bright light (during the day) or black ceiling with   lots of tiny night-lights (during the night) found outside all   computer installations.  "He can't come to the p...
big win is  n. Serendipity.  "Yes, those two physicists discovered   high-temperature superconductivity in a batch of ceramic that had   been prepared incorrectly according to their experimental schedule.   Small mistake; big win!" See {win big}.
big-endian is  [From Swift's `Gulliver's Travels' via the famous   paper `On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace' by Danny Cohen,   USC/ISI IEN 137, dated April 1, 1980] adj. 1. Describes a computer   architecture in which, within a given multi-byte numer...
big-endian2 is  has the lowest address   (the word is stored `big-end-first').  Most processors, including   the IBM 370 family, the {PDP-10}, the Motorola microprocessor   families, and most of the various RISC designs current in mid-1991,   are big...
big-endian3 is  {NUXI   problem}.  2. An {{Internet address}} the wrong way round.  Most   of the world follows the Internet standard and writes email   addresses starting with the name of the computer and ending up with   the name of the country.  I...
big-endian4 is  decided to do it the other way round before the Internet domain   standard was established; e.g., me@uk.ac.wigan.cs.  Most gateway   sites have {ad-hockery} in their mailers to handle this, but can   still be confused.  In particular,...
big-endian5 is  (domain uk) or Czechoslovakia (domain cs). 
bignum is  /big'nuhm/ [orig. from MIT MacLISP] n. 1. [techspeak] A   multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers.   More generally, any very large number.  "Have you ever looked at   the United States Budget?  There's bignums f...
bignum2 is  numbers on the dice are called   `bignums', especially a roll of double fives or double sixes   (compare {moby}, sense 4).  See also {El Camino Bignum}.   Sense 1 may require some explanation.  Most computer languages   provide a kind of ...
bignum3 is  integers are usually very limited in size; usually they must be   smaller than than 2^{31} (2,147,483,648) or (on a losing   {bitty box}) 2^{15} (32,768).  If you want to work with   numbers larger than that, you have to use floating-poin...
bignum4 is  six or seven decimal places.   Computer languages that provide bignums can perform exact   calculations on very large numbers, such as 1000!  (the factorial   of 1000, which is 1000 times 999 times 998 times ... times 2   times 1). 
bigot is  n. A person who is religiously attached to a particular   computer, language, operating system, editor, or other tool (see   {religious issues}).  Usually found with a specifier; thus,   `cray bigot', {ITS bigot}, `APL bigot', `VMS bigot', ...
bigot2 is  distinguished from mere   partisans or zealots by the fact that they refuse to learn   alternatives even when the march of time and/or technology is   threatening to obsolete the favored tool.  It is said "You can   tell a bigot, but you c...
bit is  [from the mainstream meaning and `Binary digIT'] n.   1. [techspeak] The unit of information; the amount of information   obtained by asking a yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes   are equally probable.  2. [techspeak] A computation...
bit2 is  values, such as true and false or 0 and 1.   3. A mental flag a reminder that something should be done   eventually.  "I have a bit set for you."  (I haven't seen you for   a while, and I'm supposed to tell or ask you something.)  4. More   ...
bit3 is  of belief.  "I have   a bit set that says that you were the last guy to hack on EMACS."   (Meaning "I think you were the last guy to hack on EMACS, and what   I am about to say is predicated on this, so please stop me if this   isn't true.")...
bit4 is  way of indicating that   you intend only a short interruption for a question that can   presumably be answered yes or no.   A bit is said to be `set' if its value is true or 1, and   `reset' or `clear' if its value is false or 0.  One   spea...
bit5 is  or   `invert' a bit is to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from   1 to 0.  See also {flag}, {trit}, {mode bit}. 
bit bang is  n. Transmission of data on a serial line, when   accomplished by rapidly tweaking a single output bit at the   appropriate times.  The technique is a simple   loop with eight OUT and SHIFT instruction pairs for each byte.   Input is more...
bit bang2 is  and output   at the same time) is one way to separate the real hackers from the   {wannabee}s.   Bit bang was used on certain early models of Prime computers,   presumably when UARTs were too expensive, and on archaic Z80 micros   with ...
bit bang3 is  instance of the   {cycle of reincarnation}, this technique is now (1991) coming   back into use on some RISC architectures because it consumes such   an infinitesimal part of the processor that it actually makes sense   not to have a UA...
bit bashing is  n. (alt. `bit diddling' or {bit twiddling}) Term   used to describe any of several kinds of low-level programming   characterized by manipulation of {bit}, {flag}, {nybble},   and other smaller-than-character-sized pieces of data; the...
bit bashing2 is  encryption algorithms, checksum   and error-correcting codes, hash functions, some flavors of   graphics programming (see {bitblt}), and assembler/compiler code   generation.  May connote either tedium or a real technical   challenge...
bit bashing3 is  decoding for   the new tape driver looks pretty solid but the bit-bashing for the   control registers still has bugs."  See also {bit bang},   {mode bit}. 
bit bucket is  n. 1. The universal data sink (originally, the   mythical receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end   of a register during a shift instruction).  Discarded, lost, or   destroyed data is said to have `gone to the bit buck...
bit bucket2 is  {/dev/null}.  Sometimes amplified as `the Great   Bit Bucket in the Sky'.  2. The place where all lost mail and news   messages eventually go.  The selection is performed according to   {Finagle's Law}; important mail is much more lik...
bit bucket3 is  mail, which has an almost 100% probability   of getting delivered.  Routing to the bit bucket is automatically   performed by mail-transfer agents, news systems, and the lower   layers of the network.  3. The ideal location for all un...
bit bucket4 is  article to the bit bucket."   Such a request is guaranteed to overflow one's mailbox with flames.   4. Excuse for all mail that has not been sent.  "I mailed you   those figures last week; they must have ended in the bit bucket."   Co...
bit bucket5 is  in jest.  It is based on the fanciful   notion that bits are objects that are not destroyed but only   misplaced.  This appears to have been a mutation of an earlier term   `bit box', about which the same legend was current; old-time ...
bit bucket6 is  told that when the CPU   stored bits into memory it was actually pulling them `out of the   bit box'.  See also {chad box}.   Another variant of this legend has it that, as a consequence of the   `parity preservation law', the number ...
bit bucket7 is  equal the number of 0 bits.  Any imbalance results in   bits filling up the bit bucket.  A qualified computer technician   can empty a full bit bucket as part of scheduled maintenance. 
bit decay is  n. See {bit rot}.  People with a physics background   tend to prefer this one for the analogy with particle decay.  See   also {computron}, {quantum bogodynamics}.
bit rot is  n. Also {bit decay}.  Hypothetical disease the existence   of which has been deduced from the observation that unused programs   or features will often stop working after sufficient time has   passed, even if `nothing has changed'.  The t...
bit rot2 is  were radioactive.  As time passes, the   contents of a file or the code in a program will become   increasingly garbled.   There actually are physical processes that produce such effects   (alpha particles generated by trace radionuclide...
bit rot3 is  change the contents of a computer memory   unpredictably, and various kinds of subtle media failures can   corrupt files in mass storage), but they are quite rare (and   computers are built with error-detecting circuitry to compensate   ...
bit rot4 is  hackers that cosmic   rays are among the causes of such events turns out to be a myth;   see the {cosmic rays} entry for details.   The term {software rot} is almost synonymous.  Software rot is   the effect, bit rot the notional cause. 
bit twiddling is  n. 1. (pejorative) An exercise in {tuning} in   which incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little   noticeable improvement, often with the result that the code has   become incomprehensible.  2. Aimless small modifica...
bit twiddling2 is  goal.  3. Approx. syn. for {bit   bashing}; esp. used for the act of frobbing the device control   register of a peripheral in an attempt to get it back to a known   state. 
bit-paired keyboard is  n. obs. (alt. `bit-shift keyboard') A   non-standard keyboard layout that seems to have originated with   the Teletype ASR-33 and remained common for several years on early   computer equipment.  The ASR-33 was a mechanical de...
bit-paired keyboard2 is  generate the character codes from   keystrokes was by some physical linkage.  The design of the ASR-33   assigned each character key a basic pattern that could be modified   by flipping bits if the SHIFT or the CTRL key was p...
bit-paired keyboard3 is  more of a Rube Goldberg kluge than it   already was, the design had to group characters that shared the   same basic bit pattern on one key.   This is why the characters !"#$%&'() appear where they do on a   Teletype (thankfu...
bit-paired keyboard4 is  was   *not* the weirdest variant of the {QWERTY} layout widely   seen, by the way; that prize should probably go to one of several   (differing) arrangements on IBM's even clunkier 026 and 029 card   punches.   When electroni...
bit-paired keyboard5 is  there   was no agreement in the industry over how the keyboards should be   laid out.  Some vendors opted to emulate the Teletype keyboard,   while others used the flexibility of electronic circuitry to make   their product l...
bit-paired keyboard6 is  alternatives   became known as `bit-paired' and `typewriter-paired' keyboards.  To   a hacker, the bit-paired keyboard seemed far more logical --- and   because most hackers in those days had never learned to touch-type,   th...
bit-paired keyboard7 is  users to adapt   keyboards to the typewriter standard.   The doom of the bit-paired keyboard was the large-scale   introduction of the computer terminal into the normal office   environment, where out-and-out technophobes wer...
bit-paired keyboard8 is  `typewriter-paired' standard became universal,   `bit-paired' hardware was quickly junked or relegated to dusty   corners, and both terms passed into disuse. 
bitblt is  /bit'blit/ n. [from {BLT}, q.v.] 1. Any of a family   of closely related algorithms for moving and copying rectangles of   bits between main and display memory on a bit-mapped device, or   between two areas of either main or display memory...
bitblt2 is  the case of overlapping source and   destination rectangles is what makes BitBlt tricky).  2. Synonym   for {blit} or {BLT}.  Both uses are borderline techspeak. 
BITNET is  /bit'net/ [acronym Because It's Time NETwork] n.   Everybody's least favorite piece of the network (see {network,   the}).  The BITNET hosts are a collection of IBM dinosaurs and   VAXen (the latter with lobotomized comm hardware) that com...
BITNET2 is  images (see {eighty-column   mind}); thus, they tend to mangle the headers and text of   third-party traffic from the rest of the ASCII/RFC-822 world with   annoying regularity.  BITNET is also notorious as the apparent home   of {BIFF}. 
bits is  n.pl. 1. Information.  Examples "I need some bits about file   formats."  ("I need to know about file formats.")  Compare {core   dump}, sense 4.  2. Machine-readable representation of a document,   specifically as contrasted with paper  "I ...
bits2 is  does anyone know where I can get the bits?".   See {softcopy}, {source of all good bits} See also {bit}. 
bitty box is  /bit'ee boks/ n. 1. A computer sufficiently small,   primitive, or incapable as to cause a hacker acute claustrophobia   at the thought of developing software for it.  Especially used of   small, obsolescent, single-tasking-only persona...
bitty box2 is  Sinclair, VIC-20, TRS-80, or IBM PC.   2. [Pejorative]  More generally, the opposite of `real computer'   (see {Get a real computer!}).  See also {mess-dos},   {toaster}, and {toy}. 
bixie is  /bik'see/ n. Variant {emoticon}s used on BIX (the Byte   Information eXchange).  The {smiley} bixie is <@_@>, apparently   intending to represent two cartoon eyes and a mouth.  A few others   have been reported.
black art is  n. A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by   implication) mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular   application or systems area (compare {black magic}).  VLSI design   and compiler code optimization were (in their begin...
black art2 is  art; as theory developed they   became {deep magic}, and once standard textbooks had been written,   became merely {heavy wizardry}.  The huge proliferation of formal   and informal channels for spreading around new computer-related   ...
black art3 is  made both the term   `black art' and what it describes less common than formerly.  See   also {voodoo programming}. 
black hole is  n. When a piece of email or netnews disappears   mysteriously between its origin and destination sites (that is,   without returning a {bounce message}) it is commonly said to have   `fallen into a black hole'.  "I think there's a blac...

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

Church of the SubGenius2 is  "Bob" the divine   drilling-equipment salesman, the Benevolent Space Xists, and the   Stark Fist of Removal.  Much SubGenius theory is concerned with the   acquisition of the mystical substance or quality of   `slack'. 
Cinderella Book is  [CMU] n. `Introduction to Automata Theory,   Languages, and Computation', by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman,   (Addison-Wesley, 1979).  So called because the cover depicts a girl   (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a R...
Cinderella Book2 is  coming out of it.  The back cover depicts the   girl with the device in shambles after she has pulled on the rope.   See also {{book titles}}. 
CI$ is  // n. Hackerism for `CIS', CompuServe Information Service.   The dollar sign refers to CompuServe's rather steep line charges.  Often   used in {sig block}s just before a CompuServe address.  Syn.   {Compu$erve}.
Classic C is  /klas'ik C/ [a play on `Coke Classic'] n. The   C programming language as defined in the first edition of {K&R},   with some small additions.  It is also known as `K&R C'.  The name   came into use while C was being standardized by the ...
Classic C2 is  This is sometimes applied   elsewhere thus, `X Classic', where X = Star Trek (referring to the   original TV series) or X = PC (referring to IBM's ISA-bus machines   as opposed to the PS/2 series).  This construction is especially   us...
Classic C3 is  versions are considered   serious losers relative to the older ones. 
clean is  1. adj. Used of hardware or software designs, implies   `elegance in the small', that is, a design or implementation that   may not hold any surprises but does things in a way that is   reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to comprehend...
clean2 is  or {crufty}.  2. v. To remove   unneeded or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter  "I'm   cleaning up my account." "I cleaned up the garbage and now have   100 Meg free on that partition." 
CLM is  /C-L-M/ [Sun `Career Limiting Move'] 1. n. An action   endangering one's future prospects of getting plum projects and   raises, and possibly one's job  "His Halloween costume was a   parody of his manager.  He won the prize for `best CLM'." ...
CLM2 is  discovered by a   customer and obviously missed earlier because of poor testing   "That's a CLM bug!" 
clobber is  vt. To overwrite, usually unintentionally "I walked off   the end of the array and clobbered the stack."  Compare {mung},   {scribble}, {trash}, and {smash the stack}.
clocks is  n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each   generally corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor's timing.   The relative execution times of instructions on a machine are   usually discussed in clocks rather than absolute frac...
clocks2 is  is that clock speeds for various   models of the machine may increase as technology improves, and it   is usually the relative times one is interested in when discussing   the instruction set.  Compare {cycle}. 
clone is  n. 1. An exact duplicate "Our product is a clone of   their product."  Implies a legal reimplementation from   documentation or by reverse-engineering.  Also connotes lower   price.  2. A shoddy, spurious copy "Their product is a   clone of...
clone2 is  likely violating   copyright, patent, or trade secret protections "Your   product is a clone of my product."  This use implies legal   action is pending.  4. A `PC clone'; a PC-BUS/ISA or   EISA-compatible 80x86-based microcomputer (this u...
clone3 is   These invariably have much   more bang for the buck than the IBM archetypes they resemble.   5. In the construction `UNIX clone' An OS designed to deliver   a UNIX-lookalike environment without UNIX license fees, or with   additional `mis...
clone4 is  real-time programming.  6. v. To make an exact copy of something.   "Let me clone that" might mean "I want to borrow that paper so I   can make a photocopy" or "Let me get a copy of that file before   you {mung} it". 
clover key is  [Mac users] n. See {command key}.
clustergeeking is  /kluh'st*r-gee`king/ [CMU] n.  Spending more time   at a computer cluster doing CS homework than most people spend   breathing.
COBOL is  /koh'bol/ [COmmon Business-Oriented Language] n.   (Synonymous with {evil}.)  A weak, verbose, and flabby language   used by {card walloper}s to do boring mindless things on   {dinosaur} mainframes.  Hackers believe all COBOL programmers   ...
COBOL2 is  self-respecting hacker   will ever admit to having learned the language.  Its very name is   seldom uttered without ritual expressions of disgust or horror.   See also {fear and loathing}, {software rot}. 
COBOL fingers is  /koh'bol fing'grz/ n. Reported from Sweden, a   (hypothetical) disease one might get from coding in COBOL.  The   language requires code verbose beyond all reason; thus it is   alleged that programming too much in COBOL causes one's...
COBOL fingers2 is  endless typing.  "I refuse to type in   all that source code again; it would give me COBOL fingers!" 
code grinder is  n. 1. A {suit}-wearing minion of the sort hired in   legion strength by banks and insurance companies to implement   payroll packages in RPG and other such unspeakable horrors.  In his   native habitat, the code grinder often removes...
code grinder2 is  consisting of button-down shirt (starch   optional) and a tie.  In times of dire stress, the sleeves (if   long) may be rolled up and the tie loosened about half an inch.  It   seldom helps.  The {code grinder}'s milieu is about as ...
code grinder3 is  touch a computer; the term   connotes pity.  See {Real World}, {suit}.  2. Used of or to a   hacker, a really serious slur on the person's creative ability;   connotes a design style characterized by primitive technique,   rule-boun...
code grinder4 is  imagination.   Compare {card walloper}; contrast {hacker}, {real   programmer}. 
code police is  [by analogy with George Orwell's `thought police'] n.   A mythical team of Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst   into one's office and arrest one for violating programming style   rules.  May be used either seriously, to unde...
code police2 is  violation is dangerous, or ironically, to suggest   that the practice under discussion is condemned mainly by   anal-retentive {weenie}s.  "Dike out that goto or the code   police will get you!"  The ironic usage is perhaps more comm...
codewalker is  n. A program component that traverses other programs for   a living.  Compilers have codewalkers in their front ends; so do   cross-reference generators and some database front ends.  Other   utility programs that try to do too much wi...
codewalker2 is  As in "This new `vgrind' feature would require a   codewalker to implement." 
coefficient of X is  n. Hackish speech makes rather heavy use of   pseudo-mathematical metaphors.  Four particularly important ones   involve the terms `coefficient', `factor', `index', and   `quotient'.  They are often loosely applied to things you ...
coefficient of X2 is  there are subtle   distinctions among them that convey information about the way the   speaker mentally models whatever he or she is describing.   `Foo factor' and `foo quotient' tend to describe something for   which the issue ...
coefficient of X3 is  example is {fudge factor}.  It's not important how much you're   fudging; the term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed.   You might talk of liking a movie for its silliness factor.   Quotient tends to imply that the ...
coefficient of X4 is  "I would have won except for my luck quotient."  This   could also be "I would have won except for the luck factor", but   using *quotient* emphasizes that it was bad luck overpowering   good luck (or someone else's good luck ov...
coefficient of X5 is  `coefficient of foo' both tend to imply   that foo is, if not strictly measurable, at least something that   can be larger or smaller.  Thus, you might refer to a paper or   person as having a `high bogosity index', whereas you ...
coefficient of X6 is  bogosity factor'.  `Foo index' suggests   that foo is a condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane   cost-of-living index; `coefficient of foo' suggests that foo is a   fundamental quantity, as in a coefficient of fricti...
coefficient of X7 is  one of personal preference; e.g., some   people might feel that bogosity is a fundamental attribute and thus   say `coefficient of bogosity', whereas others might feel it is a   combination of factors and thus say `bogosity inde...
cokebottle is  /kohk'bot-l/ n. Any very unusual character,   particularly one you can't type because it it isn't on your   keyboard.  MIT people used to complain about the   `control-meta-cokebottle' commands at SAIL, and SAIL people   complained rig...
cokebottle2 is    commands at MIT.  After the demise of the {space-cadet   keyboard}, `cokebottle' faded away as serious usage, but was   often invoked humorously to describe an (unspecified) weird or   non-intuitive keystroke command.  It may be due...
cokebottle3 is  window manager, `mwm(1)', has   a reserved keystroke for switching to the default set of   keybindings and behavior.  This keystroke is (believe it or not)   `control-meta-bang' (see {bang}).  Since the exclamation point   looks a lot...
cokebottle4 is  have   begun referring to this keystroke as `cokebottle'.  See also   {quadruple bucky}. 
cold boot is  n. See {boot}.
COME FROM is  n. A semi-mythical language construct dual to the `go   to'; `COME FROM' <label> would cause the referenced label to act as a   sort of trapdoor, so that if the program ever reached it control   would quietly and {automagically} be tran...
COME FROM2 is  FROM'.  `COME FROM' was first proposed in a   {Datamation} article of December 1973 (reprinted in the April 1984   issue of `Communications of the ACM') that parodied the   then-raging `structured programming' {holy wars} (see   {consi...
COME FROM3 is  the   `assigned COME FROM' and the `computed COME FROM'   (parodying some nasty control constructs in FORTRAN and some   extended BASICs).  Of course, multi-tasking (or non-determinism)   could be implemented by having more than one `C...
COME FROM4 is  label.   In some ways the FORTRAN `DO' looks like a `COME FROM'   statement.  After the terminating statement number/`CONTINUE'   is reached, control continues at the statement following the DO.   Some generous FORTRANs would allow arb...
COME FROM5 is  the statement, leading to examples like           DO 10 I=1,LIMIT     C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the     C original DO statement lost in the spaghetti...           WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I)      10   FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4)   i...
COME FROM6 is  statement labeled 10.   (This is particularly surprising because the label doesn't appear   to have anything to do with the flow of control at all!)   While sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this   form of `COME FROM...
COME FROM7 is  all,   control will eventually pass to the following statement.  The   implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN,   ca. 1975.  The statement `AT 100' would perform a `COME   FROM 100'.  It was intended strictly as a...
COME FROM8 is  promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in   production code.  More horrible things had already been perpetrated   in production languages, however; doubters need only contemplate   the `ALTER' verb in {COBOL}.   `COME FROM' was su...
COME FROM9 is  15 years later, in C-INTERCAL (see {INTERCAL},   {retrocomputing}); knowledgeable observers are still reeling   from the shock. 
comm mode is  /kom mohd/ [ITS from the feature supporting on-line   chat; the term may spelled with one or two m's] Syn. for {talk   mode}.
command key is  [Mac users] n. The Macintosh key with the cloverleaf   graphic on its keytop; sometimes referred to as `flower',   `pretzel', `clover', `propeller', `beanie' (an apparent   reference to the major feature of a propeller beanie), or   {...
command key2 is   The   proliferation of terms for this creature may illustrate one subtle   peril of iconic interfaces. 
comment out is  vt. To surround a section of code with comment   delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment   marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted.  Often   done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but...
comment out2 is  the intent of the active code clearer;   also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass   it in order to debug some other part of the code.  Compare   {condition out}, usually the preferred technique in languages...
Commonwealth Hackish is  n. Hacker jargon as spoken outside   the U.S., esp. in the British Commonwealth.  It is reported that   Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce truncations like   `char' and `soc', etc., as spelled (/char/, /sok/),...
Commonwealth Hackish2 is  Dots in {newsgroup}   names tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot   wib'l/ rather than /sohsh wib'l/).  The prefix {meta} may be   pronounced /mee't*/; similarly, Greek letter beta is often   /bee't*/, ...
Commonwealth Hackish3 is  Preferred   metasyntactic variables include `eek', `ook',   `frodo', and `bilbo'; `wibble', `wobble', and   in emergencies `wubble'; `banana', `wombat',   `frog', {fish}, and so on and on (see {foo}, sense 4).   Alternatives...
Commonwealth Hackish4 is  `frenzy' (as in feeding frenzy), and `city' (examples "barf   city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!").  Finally, note   that the American terms `parens', `brackets', and `braces' for (),   [], and {} are uncommon; Commonw...
Commonwealth Hackish5 is  brackets', and `curly brackets'.  Also, the   use of `pling' for {bang} is common outside the United States.   See also {attoparsec}, {calculator}, {chemist}, {console   jockey}, {fish}, {go-faster stripes}, {grunge}, {haksp...
Commonwealth Hackish6 is  fixer}, {noddy},   {psychedelicware}, {plingnet}, {raster blaster}, {seggie},   {terminal junkie}, {tick-list features}, {weeble},   {weasel}, {YABA}, and notes or definitions under {Bad Thing},   {barf}, {bogus}, {bum}, {ch...
Commonwealth Hackish7 is  {crunch}, {dodgy}, {gonk}, {hamster},   {hardwarily}, {mess-dos}, {nybble}, {proglet}, {root},   {SEX}, {tweak}, and {xyzzy}. 
compact is  adj. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it   can all be apprehended at once in one's head.  This generally means   the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility   and fewer errors than an equivalent to...
compact2 is  imply triviality or lack of power; for   example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful   than FORTRAN.  Designs become non-compact through accreting   {feature}s and {cruft} that don't merge cleanly into the   overall ...
compact3 is  maintain   that ANSI C is no longer compact). 
compiler jock is  n. See {jock} (sense 2).
compress is  [UNIX] vt. When used without a qualifier, generally   refers to {crunch}ing of a file using a particular   C implementation of Lempel-Ziv compression by James A. Woods et al. and   widely circulated via {USENET}.  Use of {crunch} itself ...
Compu$erve is  n. See {CI$}.
computer confetti is  n. Syn. {chad}.  Though this term is common,   this use of the punched-card chad is not a good idea, as the pieces   are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes.  GLS   reports that he once attended a wedding at ...
computer confetti2 is  enthusiastically threw chad instead of rice. The   groom later grumbled that he and his bride had spent most of the   evening trying to get the stuff out of their hair. 
computer geek is  n. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living.  One   who fulfills all the dreariest negative stereotypes about hackers   an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the   personality of a cheese grater.  Cannot be used b...
computer geek2 is  hackers; compare black-on-black usage   of `nigger'.  A computer geek may be either a fundamentally   clueless individual or a proto-hacker in {larval stage}.  Also   called `turbo nerd', `turbo geek'.  See also   {clustergeeking},...
computron is  /kom'pyoo-tron`/ n. 1. A notional unit of computing   power combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned   roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store   times megabytes-of-mass-storage.  "That machi...
computron2 is  enough computrons!"  This usage is usually   found in metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible   commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel horsepower.  See   {bitty box}, {Get a real computer!}, {toy}, {crank}.   2. A mythi...
computron3 is  quantity of   computation or information, in much the same way that an electron   bears one unit of electric charge (see also {bogon}).  An   elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons has been developed   based on the physical f...
computron4 is  more rapidly as it is heated.  It is argued that an object   melts because the molecules have lost their information about where   they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons).   This explains why computers get so ho...
computron5 is  computrons.  Conversely, it should be   possible to cool down an object by placing it in the path of a   computron beam.  It is believed that this may also explain why   machines that work at the factory fail in the computer room the  ...
computron6 is  other hardware.   (This theory probably owes something to the "Warlock" stories   by Larry Niven, the best known being "What Good is a Glass   Dagger?", in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural   resource called `mana'.) 
condition out is  vt. To prevent a section of code from being compiled   by surrounding it with a conditional-compilation directive whose   condition is always false.  The {canonical} examples are `#if   0' (or `#ifdef notdef', though some find this ...
condom is  n. 1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch   microfloppy diskettes.  Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes.   Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on) not only   impedes the practice of {SEX} but has al...
condom2 is  drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk --- and   can even fatally frustrate insertion.  2. The protective cladding   on a {light pipe}. 
connector conspiracy is  [probably came into prominence with the   appearance of the KL-10 (one model of the {PDP-10}), none of   whose connectors matched anything else] n. The tendency of   manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors o...
connector conspiracy2 is  that don't fit together   with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or   expensive interface devices.  The KL-10 Massbus connector was   actually *patented* by DEC, which reputedly refused to license   ...
connector conspiracy3 is  parties out of   competition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market.  This is   a source of never-ending frustration for the diehards who maintain   older PDP-10 or VAX systems.  Their CPUs work fine, but they are   st...
connector conspiracy4 is  drives with low   capacity and high power requirements.   In these latter days of open-systems computing this term has fallen   somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observation that   "Standards are great!  There are ...
cons is  /konz/ or /kons/ [from LISP] 1. vt. To add a new element   to a specified list, esp. at the top.  "OK, cons picking a   replacement for the console TTY onto the agenda."  2. `cons up'   vt. To synthesize from smaller pieces "to cons up an ex...
cons2 is  fundamental operation for   building structures.  It takes any two objects and returns a   `dot-pair' or two-branched tree with one object hanging from each   branch.  Because the result of a cons is an object, it can be used   to build bin...
cons3 is  think   of it as a sort of universal constructor, and that is where the   jargon meanings spring from. 
considered harmful is  adj. Edsger W. Dijkstra's note in the   March 1968 `Communications of the ACM', "Goto Statement   Considered Harmful", fired the first salvo in the structured   programming wars.  Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting   a...
considered harmful2 is  policy) no longer   print an article taking so assertive a position against a coding   practice.  In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious   papers and parodies have borne titles of the form "X   considered Y".  ...
considered harmful3 is    over with the realization that both sides were wrong, but use of   such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke (the   `considered silly' found at various places in this lexicon is   related). 
console is  n. 1. The operator's station of a {mainframe}.  In   times past, this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike   powers to anyone with fingers on its keys.  Under UNIX and other   modern timesharing OSes, such privileges are guarde...
console2 is  just the {tty} the system was booted   from.  Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is traditional   for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from the console   (on UNIX, /dev/console).  2. On microcomputer UNIX boxes, ...
console3 is  character-only terminals talking   to a serial port).  Typically only the console can do real graphics   or run {X}.  See also {CTY}. 
console jockey is  n. See {terminal junkie}.
content-free is  [by analogy with techspeak `context-free'] adj.   Used of a message that adds nothing to the recipient's knowledge.   Though this adjective is sometimes applied to {flamage}, it more   usually connotes derision for communication styl...
content-free2 is  centered on concerns irrelevant to the   subject ostensibly at hand.  Perhaps most used with reference to   speeches by company presidents and other professional manipulators.   "Content-free?  Uh...that's anything printed on glossy...
content-free3 is  "He gave a talk on   the implications of electronic networks for postmodernism and the   fin-de-siecle aesthetic.  It was content-free." 
control-C is  vi. 1. "Stop whatever you are doing."  From the   interrupt character used on many operating systems to abort a   running program.  Considered silly.  2. interj. Among BSD UNIX   hackers, the canonical humorous response to "Give me a br...
control-O is  vi. "Stop talking."  From the character used on some   operating systems to abort output but allow the program to keep on   running.  Generally means that you are not interested in hearing   anything more from that person, at least on t...
control-O2 is  who is flaming.  Considered silly. 
control-Q is  vi. "Resume."  From the ASCII XON character used to   undo a previous control-S (in fact it is also pronounced   XON /X-on/).
control-S is  vi. "Stop talking for a second."  From the ASCII XOFF   character (this is also pronounced XOFF /X-of/).  Control-S   differs from {control-O} in that the person is asked to stop   talking (perhaps because you are on the phone) but will...
control-S2 is  listen to him --- as opposed to   control-O, which has more of the meaning of "Shut up."  Considered   silly. 
Conway's Law is  prov. The rule that the organization of the software and   the organization of the software team will be congruent; originally   stated as "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll   get a 4-pass compiler".   This was or...
Conway's Law2 is  early   proto-hacker who wrote an assembler for the Burroughs 220 called   SAVE.  The name `SAVE' didn't stand for anything; it was just that   you lost fewer card decks and listings because they all had SAVE   written on them. 
cookbook is  [from amateur electronics and radio] n. A book of small   code segments that the reader can use to do various {magic}   things in programs.  One current example is the `PostScript   Language Tutorial and Cookbook' by Adobe Systems, Inc  ...
cookbook2 is  has recipes for things   like wrapping text around arbitrary curves and making 3D fonts.   Cookbooks, slavishly followed, can lead one into {voodoo   programming}, but are useful for hackers trying to {monkey up}   small programs in unk...
cookbook3 is   of phrasebooks in human languages. 
cookie is  n. A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement   between cooperating programs.  "I give him a packet, he gives me   back a cookie."  The claim check you get from a dry-cleaning shop   is a perfect mundane example of a cookie; the...
cookie2 is  later transaction to this one (so you get   the same clothes back).  Compare {magic cookie}; see also   {fortune cookie}. 
cookie bear is  n. Syn. {cookie monster}.
cookie file is  n. A collection of {fortune cookie}s in a format   that facilitates retrieval by a fortune program.  There are several   different ones in public distribution, and site admins often   assemble their own from various sources including ...
cookie monster is  [from "Sesame Street"] n. Any of a family of   early (1970s) hacks reported on {{TOPS-10}}, {{ITS}}, {{Multics}},   and elsewhere that would lock up either the victim's terminal (on a   time-sharing machine) or the {{console}} (on ...
cookie monster2 is  "I WANT A COOKIE".  The   required responses ranged in complexity from "COOKIE" through   "HAVE A COOKIE" and upward.  See also {wabbit}. 
copper is  n. Conventional electron-carrying network cable with a   core conductor of copper --- or aluminum!  Opposed to {light   pipe} or, say, a short-range microwave link.
copy protection is  n. A class of clever methods for preventing   incompetent pirates from stealing software and legitimate customers   from using it.  Considered silly.
copybroke is  /ko'pee-brohk/ adj. [play on `copyright'] Used to   describe an instance of a copy-protected program that has been   `broken'; that is, a copy with the copy-protection scheme disabled.   Syn.  {copywronged}.
copyleft is  /kop'ee-left/ [play on `copyright'] n. 1. The   copyright notice (`General Public License') carried by {GNU}   {EMACS} and other Free Software Foundation software, granting reuse   and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also {Gen...
copyleft2 is  copyright notice intended to   achieve similar aims. 
copywronged is  /ko'pee-rongd/ [play on `copyright'] adj. Syn. for   {copybroke}.
core is  n. Main storage or RAM.  Dates from the days of ferrite-core   memory; now archaic as techspeak most places outside IBM, but also   still used in the UNIX community and by old-time hackers or those   who would sound like them.  Some derived ...
core2 is  example, means `in memory' (as opposed to `on   disk'), and both {core dump} and the `core image' or `core   file' produced by one are terms in favor.  Commonwealth hackish   prefers {store}. 
core dump is  n. [common {Iron Age} jargon, preserved by UNIX]   1. [techspeak] A copy of the contents of {core}, produced when a   process is aborted by certain kinds of internal error.  2. By   extension, used for humans passing out, vomiting, or r...

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

Death Star3 is  incorrectly done AT&T logo   in which the inner circle in the top left is dark instead of light   --- a frequent result of dark-on-light logo images. 
DEC Wars is  n. A 1983 {USENET} posting by Alan Hastings and Steve Tarr   spoofing the "Star Wars" movies in hackish terms.  Some years   later, ESR (disappointed by Hastings and Tarr's failure to exploit a   great premise more thoroughly) posted a 3...
DEC Wars2 is  WARS"; the two are often confused. 
DEChead is  /dek'hed/ n. 1. A DEC {field servoid}.  Not flattering.   2. [from `deadhead'] A Grateful Dead fan working at DEC.
deckle is  /dek'l/ [from dec- and {nickle}] n. Two {nickle}s;   10 bits.  Reported among developers for Mattel's GI 1600 (the   Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but   10-bit-wide ROM.
deep hack mode is  n. See {hack mode}.
deep magic is  [poss. from C. S. Lewis's "Narnia" books] n. An   awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system, esp. one   not generally published and available to hackers at large (compare   {black art}); one that could only have been co...
deep magic2 is  optimization techniques and many aspects of   {OS} design used to be {deep magic}; many techniques in   cryptography, signal processing, graphics, and AI still are.   Compare {heavy wizardry}.  Esp. found in comments of the form   "De...
deep space is  n. 1. Describes the notional location of any program   that has gone {off the trolley}.  Esp. used of programs that   just sit there silently grinding long after either failure or some   output is expected.  "Uh oh.  I should have gott...
deep space2 is  in deep space somewhere." Compare   {buzz}, {catatonic}, {hyperspace}.  2. The metaphorical   location of a human so dazed and/or confused or caught up in some   esoteric form of {bogosity} that he or she no longer responds   coherent...
defenestration is  [from the traditional Czechoslovak method of   assassinating prime ministers, via SF fandom] n. 1. Proper karmic   retribution for an incorrigible punster.  "Oh, ghod, that was   *awful*!"  "Quick! Defenestrate him!"  2. The act of...
defenestration2 is  better response time from a   full-screen program.  This comes from the dictionary meaning of   `defenestrate', which is to throw something out a window.  3. The   act of discarding something under the assumption that it will   im...
defenestration3 is  left."  "Well,   why don't you defenestrate that 100 megs worth of old core dumps?"   4. [proposed] The requirement to support a command-line interface.   "It has to run on a VT100."  "Curses!  I've been   defenestrated!" 
defined as is  adj. In the role of, usually in an organization-chart   sense.  "Pete is currently defined as bug prioritizer."  Compare   {logical}.
dehose is  /dee-hohz/ vt. To clear a {hosed} condition.
delint is  /dee-lint/ v. To modify code to remove problems detected   when {lint}ing.
delta is  n. 1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a small   or incremental one (this use is general in physics and   engineering).  "I just doubled the speed of my program!"  "What   was the delta on program size?"  "About 30 percent."  (...
delta2 is  increased its size by only 30   percent.)  2. [UNIX] A {diff}, especially a {diff} stored   under the set of version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code   Control System) or RCS (Revision Control System).  3. n. A small   quantity, but ...
delta3 is    {delta} and {epsilon} stems from the traditional use of these   letters in mathematics for very small numerical quantities,   particularly in `epsilon-delta' proofs in limit theory (as in the   differential calculus).  The term {delta} i...
delta4 is  mentioned, to mean a quantity that is   slightly bigger than {epsilon} but still very small.  "The cost   isn't epsilon, but it's delta" means that the cost isn't totally   negligible, but it is nevertheless very small.  Common   construct...
delta5 is  epsilon of   ---' that is, close to and even closer to. 
demented is  adj. Yet another term of disgust used to describe a   program.  The connotation in this case is that the program works as   designed, but the design is bad.  Said, for example, of a program   that generates large numbers of meaningless e...
demented2 is  brink of imminent collapse.  Compare   {wonky}, {bozotic}. 
demigod is  n. A hacker with years of experience, a national reputation,   and a major role in the development of at least one design, tool,   or game used by or known to more than half of the hacker community.   To qualify as a genuine demigod, the ...
demigod2 is  hacker community and have helped shape it.  Major   demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (co-inventors of   {{UNIX}} and {C}) and Richard M. Stallman (inventor of   {EMACS}).  In their hearts of hearts, most hackers dream of ...
demigod3 is  more than one major   software project has been driven to completion by the author's   veiled hopes of apotheosis.  See also {net.god}, {true-hacker}. 
demo is  /de'moh/ [short for `demonstration'] 1. v. To demonstrate a   product or prototype.  A far more effective way of inducing bugs to   manifest than any number of {test} runs, especially when   important people are watching.  2. n. The act of d...
demo mode is  [Sun] n. 1. The state of being {heads down} in order   to finish code in time for a {demo}, usually due yesterday.   2. A mode in which video games sit there by themselves running   through a portion of the game, also known as `attract ...
demo mode2 is  they use as a screen saver,   or may go through a demo mode on startup (for example, the   Microsoft Windows opening screen --- which lets you impress your   neighbors without actually having to put up with {Microsloth   Windows}). 
demon is  n. 1. [MIT] A portion of a program that is not invoked   explicitly, but that lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to   occur.  See {daemon}.  The distinction is that demons are   usually processes within a program, while daemons are ...
demon2 is  system.  Demons are particularly   common in AI programs.  For example, a knowledge-manipulation   program might implement inference rules as demons.  Whenever a new   piece of knowledge was added, various demons would activate (which   de...
demon3 is  and would create   additional pieces of knowledge by applying their respective   inference rules to the original piece.  These new pieces could in   turn activate more demons as the inferences filtered down through   chains of logic.  Mean...
demon4 is  whatever its primary task was.  2. [outside MIT] Often used   equivalently to {daemon} --- especially in the {{UNIX}} world,   where the latter spelling and pronunciation is considered mildly   archaic. 
depeditate is  /dee-ped'*-tayt/ [by (faulty) analogy with   `decapitate'] vt.  Humorously, to cut off the feet of.  When one is   using some computer-aided typesetting tools, careless placement of   text blocks within a page or above a rule can resul...
depeditate2 is  letters are said to have been depeditated. 
deprecated is  adj. Said of a program or feature that is considered   obsolescent and in the process of being phased out, usually in   favor of a specified replacement.  Deprecated features can,   unfortunately, linger on for many years.
deserves to lose is  adj. Said of someone who willfully does the   {Wrong Thing}; humorously, if one uses a feature known to be   {marginal}.  What is meant is that one deserves the consequences   of one's {losing} actions.  "Boy, anyone who tries to...
deserves to lose2 is  ({{ITS}} fans used to say this   of {{UNIX}}; many still do.)  See also {screw}, {chomp},   {bagbiter}. 
desk check is  n.,v. To {grovel} over hardcopy of source code,   mentally simulating the control flow; a method of catching bugs.   No longer common practice in this age of on-screen editing, fast   compiles, and sophisticated debuggers --- though so...
desk check2 is  Compare {eyeball search},   {vdiff}, {vgrep}. 
Devil Book is  n. `The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD   UNIX Operating System', by Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk   McKusick, Michael J. Karels, and John S. Quarterman (Addison-Wesley   Publishers, 1989) --- the standard reference book on ...
Devil Book2 is  because the cover has a picture   depicting a little devil (a visual play on {daemon}) in   sneakers, holding a pitchfork (referring to one of the   characteristic features of UNIX, the {fork(2)} system call). 
devo is  /dee'voh/ [orig. in-house jargon at Symbolics] n. A person in a   development group.  See also {doco} and {mango}.
dickless workstation is  n. Extremely pejorative hackerism for   `diskless workstation', a class of botches including the Sun 3/50   and other machines designed exclusively to network with an   expensive central disk server.  These combine all the di...
dickless workstation2 is  disadvantages of distributed personal   computers. 
dictionary flame is  [USENET] n. An attempt to sidetrack a debate   away from issues by insisting on meanings for key terms that   presuppose a desired conclusion or smuggle in an implicit premise.   A common tactic of people who prefer argument over...
diddle is  1. vt. To work with or modify in a not particularly   serious manner.  "I diddled a copy of {ADVENT} so it didn't   double-space all the time."  "Let's diddle this piece of code and   see if the problem goes away."  See {tweak} and {twiddl...
diddle2 is  See also {tweak},   {twiddle}, {frob}. 
diff is  /dif/ n. 1. A change listing, especially giving differences   between (and additions to) source code or documents (the term is   often used in the plural `diffs').  "Send me your diffs for the   Jargon File!"  Compare {vdiff}.  2. Specifical...
diff2 is  command, esp. when used as   specification input to the `patch(1)' utility (which can   actually perform the modifications; see {patch}).  This is a   common method of distributing patches and source updates in the   UNIX/C world.  See also...
digit is  n. An employee of Digital Equipment Corporation.  See also   {VAX}, {VMS}, {PDP-10}, {{TOPS-10}}, {DEChead}, {double   DECkers}, {field circus}.
dike is  vt. To remove or disable a portion of something, as a wire   from a computer or a subroutine from a program.  A standard slogan   is "When in doubt, dike it out".  (The implication is that it is   usually more effective to attack software pr...
dike2 is  increasing it.)  The word `dikes' is widely   used among mechanics and engineers to mean `diagonal cutters',   esp.  a heavy-duty metal-cutting device, but may also refer to a   kind of wire-cutters used by electronics techs.  To `dike   so...
dike3 is  remove something.   Indeed, the TMRC Dictionary defined dike as "to attack with   dikes".  Among hackers this term has been metaphorically extended   to informational objects such as sections of code. 
ding is  n.,vi. 1. Synonym for {feep}.  Usage rare among hackers,   but commoner in the {Real World}.  2. `dinged' What happens   when someone in authority gives you a minor bitching about   something, esp. something trivial.  "I was dinged for havin...
dink is  /dink/ n. Said of a machine that has the {bitty box}   nature; a machine too small to be worth bothering with --- sometimes   the system you're currently forced to work on.  First heard from an   MIT hacker (BADOB) working on a CP/M system w...
dink2 is  then from fans of 32-bit architectures about   16-bit machines.  "GNUMACS will never work on that dink machine."   Probably derived from mainstream `dinky', which isn't sufficiently   pejorative. 
dinosaur is  n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special   power.  Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast   with newer microprocessor-based machines.  In a famous quote from   the 1988 UNIX EXPO, Bill Joy compared the m...
dinosaur2 is  grazing dinosaur "with a truck outside pumping   its bodily fluids through it".  IBM was not amused.  Compare   {big iron}; see also {mainframe}.  2. [IBM] A very conservative   user; a {zipperhead}. 
dinosaur pen is  n. A traditional {mainframe} computer room complete with   raised flooring, special power, its own ultra-heavy-duty air   conditioning, and a side order of Halon fire extinguishers.  See   {boa}.
dinosaurs mating is  n. Said to occur when yet another {big iron}   merger or buyout occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that   these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the   {mainframe} industry.  In its glory days of the 1960s, it...
dinosaurs mating2 is  Control Data, General   Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac.  RCA and GE sold out   early, and it was `IBM and the Bunch' (Burroughs, Univac, NCR,   Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while.  Honeywell was bought out   by ...
dinosaurs mating3 is  Unisys (in 1984 --- this   was when the phrase `dinosaurs mating' was coined); and as this is   written AT&T is attempting to recover from a disastrously bad first   6 years in the hardware industry by absorbing NCR.  More such ...
dirty power is  n. Electrical mains voltage that is unfriendly to   the delicate innards of computers.  Spikes, {drop-outs}, average   voltage significantly higher or lower than nominal, or just plain   noise can all cause problems of varying subtlet...
Discordianism is  /dis-kor'di-*n-ism/ n. The veneration of   {Eris}, a.k.a. Discordia; widely popular among hackers.   Discordianism was popularized by Robert Anton Wilson's   `Illuminatus!' trilogy as a sort of self-subverting Dada-Zen   for Western...
Discordianism2 is  seriously but   is far more serious than most jokes.  Consider, for example, the   Fifth Commandment of the Pentabarf, from `Principia   Discordia' "A Discordian is Prohibited of Believing What he   Reads."  Discordianism is usuall...
Discordianism3 is  theory/joke involving millennia-long warfare between the   anarcho-surrealist partisans of Eris and a malevolent,   authoritarian secret society called the Illuminati.  See   appendix B, {Church of the SubGenius}, and {ha ha only  ...
disk farm is  n. (also {laundromat}) A large room or rooms filled   with disk drives (esp. {washing machine}s).
display hack is  n. A program with the same approximate purpose as a   kaleidoscope to make pretty pictures.  Famous display hacks   include {munching squares}, {smoking clover}, the BSD UNIX   `rain(6)' program, `worms(6)' on miscellaneous UNIXes,  ...
display hack2 is  hacks can also be   implemented without programming by creating text files containing   numerous escape sequences for interpretation by a video terminal;   one notable example displayed, on any VT100, a Christmas tree with   twinkli...
display hack3 is  The {hack   value} of a display hack is proportional to the esthetic value of   the images times the cleverness of the algorithm divided by the   size of the code.  Syn. {psychedelicware}. 
Dissociated Press is  [play on `Associated Press'; perhaps inspired   by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up,   Doc?"] n.  An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially   humorous garbage even more efficiently than by pass...
Dissociated Press2 is  printing any N consecutive   words (or letters) in the text.  Then at every step you search for   any random occurrence in the original text of the last N   words (or letters) already printed and then print the next word or   l...
Dissociated Press3 is  Here is a short   example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier   version of this Jargon File     wart n. A small, crocky {feature} that sticks out of     an array (C has no checks for this).  This is relatively...
Dissociated Press4 is  bent so as to be     not worth paying attention to the medium in question.   Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied   to the same source     window sysIWYG n. A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer    ...
Dissociated Press5 is  cast a     chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech     makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual     abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem!   A hackish idle pastime is to apply let...
Dissociated Press6 is  of text and {vgrep} the output in hopes of finding   an interesting new word.  (In the preceding example, `window   sysIWYG' and `informash' show some promise.)  Iterated applications   of Dissociated Press usually yield better...
Dissociated Press7 is  `travesty generators' have been employed with   considerable satirical effect to the utterances of USENET flamers;   see {pseudo}. 
distribution is  n. 1. A software source tree packaged for   distribution; but see {kit}.  2. A vague term encompassing   mailing lists and USENET newsgroups (but not {BBS} {fora}); any   topic-oriented message channel with multiple recipients.  3. A...
distribution2 is  correlated with   geography) to which propagation of a USENET message is restricted;   a much-underutilized feature. 
do protocol is  [from network protocol programming] vi. To perform an   interaction with somebody or something that follows a clearly   defined procedure.  For example, "Let's do protocol with the   check" at a restaurant means to ask for the check, ...
do protocol2 is  collect money from everybody, generate   change as necessary, and pay the bill.  See {protocol}. 
doc is  /dok/ n. Common spoken and written shorthand for   `documentation'.  Often used in the plural `docs' and in the   construction `doc file' (documentation available on-line).
doco is  /do'koh/ [orig. in-house jargon at Symbolics] n. A   documentation writer.  See also {devo} and {mango}.
documentation is  n. The multiple kilograms of macerated, pounded,   steamed, bleached, and pressed trees that accompany most modern   software or hardware products (see also {tree-killer}).  Hackers   seldom read paper documentation and (too) often ...
documentation2 is  terse and on-line.  A common comment on   this is "You can't {grep} dead trees".  See {drool-proof   paper}, {verbiage}. 
dodgy is  adj. Syn. with {flaky}.  Preferred outside the U.S.
dogcow is  /dog'kow/ n. See {Moof}.
dogwash is  /dog'wosh/ [From a quip in the `urgency' field of a very   optional software change request, ca. 1982.  It was something like   "Urgency Wash your dog first".] 1. n. A project of minimal   priority, undertaken as an escape from more serio...
dogwash2 is   Many games and much {freeware} get   written this way. 
domainist is  /doh-mayn'ist/ adj. 1. Said of an {{Internet   address}} (as opposed to a {bang path}) because the part to the   right of the `@' specifies a nested series of `domains';   for example, eric@snark.thyrsus.com specifies the machine   call...
domainist2 is  within the   top-level domain called com.  See also {big-endian}, sense 2.   2. Said of a site, mailer, or routing program which knows how to   handle domainist addresses.  3. Said of a person (esp. a site   admin) who prefers domain a...
domainist3 is  prosyletizes for domainist addressing and disdains {bang   path}s.  This is now (1991) semi-obsolete, as most sites have   converted. 
Don't do that, then! is  [from an old doctor's office joke about a   patient with a trivial complaint] Stock response to a user   complaint.  "When I type control-S, the whole system comes to a   halt for thirty seconds."  "Don't do that, then!" (or ...
dongle is  /dong'gl/ n. 1. A security or {copy-protection} device   for commercial microcomputer programs consisting of a serialized   EPROM and some drivers in a D-25 connector shell, which must be   connected to an I/O port of the computer while th...
dongle2 is  query the port at startup and at   programmed intervals thereafter, and terminate if it does not   respond with the dongle's programmed validation code.  Thus, users   can make as many copies of the program as they want but must pay   for...
dongle3 is  initially a failure, as   users disliked tying up a serial port this way.  Most dongles on   the market today (1991) will pass data through the port and monitor   for {magic} codes (and combinations of status lines) with minimal   if any ...
dongle4 is  --- this   innovation was necessary to allow daisy-chained dongles for   multiple pieces of software.  The devices are still not widely   used, as the industry has moved away from copy-protection schemes   in general.  2. By extension, an...
dongle5 is  required for a program to function.  See   {dongle-disk}. 
dongle-disk is  /don'gl disk/ n. See {dongle}; a `dongle-disk'   is a floppy disk with some coding that allows an application to   identify it uniquely.  It can therefore be used as a {dongle}.   Also called a `key disk'.
donuts is  n.obs. A collective noun for any set of memory bits.  This is   extremely archaic and may no longer be live jargon; it dates from the   days of ferrite-{core} memories in which each bit was implemented by   a doughnut-shaped magnetic flip-...
doorstop is  n. Used to describe equipment that is non-functional and   halfway expected to remain so, especially obsolete equipment kept   around for political reasons or ostensibly as a backup.  "When we   get another Wyse-50 in here, that ADM 3 wi...
dot file is  [UNIX] n. A file which is not visible to normal   directory-browsing tools (on UNIX, files named with a leading dot   are, by convention, not normally presented in directory listings).   Many programs define one or more dot files in whic...
dot file2 is  be optionally recorded; a user can   customize the program's behavior by creating the appropriate file in   the current or home directory.  See also {rc file}. 
double bucky is  adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys.  "The   command to burn all LEDs is double bucky F."   This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII keyboard, and   was later taken up by users of the {space-cadet keyboard} at   MIT.  A...
double bucky2 is  {bucky bits}   (control and meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't   enough of them; you could type only 512 different characters on a   Stanford keyboard.  An obvious way to address this was simply to   add more shifting ...
double bucky3 is  keyboard with that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists, who   don't like to move their hands away from the home position on the   keyboard.  It was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting   keys be implemented as pe...
double bucky4 is  much like playing a full pipe organ.  This idea is mentioned   in a parody of a very fine song by Jeffrey Moss called   "Rubber Duckie", which was published in `The Sesame   Street Songbook' (Simon and Schuster 1971, ISBN 671-21036-...
double bucky5 is  1978, in celebration of the   Stanford keyboard   See also {meta bit}, {cokebottle}, and {quadruple bucky}. 
double DECkers is  n. Used to describe married couples in which both   partners work for Digital Equipment Corporation.
doubled sig is  [USENET] n. A {sig block} that has been included   twice in a {USENET} article or, less commonly, in an electronic   mail message.  An article or message with a doubled sig can be   caused by improperly configured software.  More ofte...
doubled sig2 is  experience in electronic   communication.  See {BIFF}, {pseudo}. 
down is  1. adj. Not operating.  "The up escalator is down" is   considered a humorous thing to say, and "The elevator is down"   always means "The elevator isn't working" and never refers to   what floor the elevator is on.  With respect to computer...
down2 is  mainstream; the extension to other kinds   of machine is still hackish.  2. `go down' vi. To stop   functioning; usually said of the {system}.  The message from the   {console} that every hacker hates to hear from the operator is   "The sys...
down3 is  down',   `bring down' vt. To deactivate purposely, usually for repair work   or {PM}.  "I'm taking the system down to work on that bug in the   tape drive."  Occasionally one hears the word `down' by itself   used as a verb in this vt. sens...
download is  vt. To transfer data or (esp.) code from a larger `host'   system (esp. a {mainframe}) over a digital comm link to a smaller   `client' system, esp. a microcomputer or specialized peripheral.   Oppose {upload}.   However, note that groun...
download2 is  rule for this term.  Space-to-earth transmission is always download   and the reverse upload regardless of the relative size of the   computers involved.  So far the in-space machines have invariably   been smaller; thus the upload/down...
DP is  /D-P/ n. 1. Data Processing.  Listed here because,   according to hackers, use of the term marks one immediately as a   {suit}.  See {DPer}.  2. Common abbrev for {Dissociated   Press}.
DPB is  /d*-pib'/ [from the PDP-10 instruction set] vt. To plop   something down in the middle.  Usage silly.  "DPB   yourself into that couch there."  The connotation would be that   the couch is full except for one slot just big enough for you to  ...
DPB2 is  the name of a PDP-10   instruction that inserts some bits into the middle of some other   bits.  This usage has been kept alive by the Common LISP function   of the same name. 
DPer is  /dee-pee-er/ n. Data Processor.  Hackers are absolutely   amazed that {suit}s use this term self-referentially.   "*Computers* process data, not people!"  See {DP}.
dragon is  n. [MIT] A program similar to a {daemon}, except that it   is not invoked at all, but is instead used by the system to perform   various secondary tasks.  A typical example would be an accounting   program, which keeps track of who is logg...

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

EOU3 is  sitting in   front of a {tube} or flatscreen today. 
epoch is  [UNIX prob. from astronomical timekeeping] n. The time and   date corresponding to 0 in an operating system's clock and   timestamp values.  Under most UNIX versions the epoch is 000000   GMT, January 1, 1970.  System time is measured in se...
epoch2 is  problems may ensue when the clock   wraps around (see {wrap around}), which is not necessarily a   rare event; on systems counting 10 ticks per second, a signed   32-bit count of ticks is good only for 6.8 years.  The   1-tick-per-second c...
epoch3 is  2038, assuming word lengths don't increase by then.  See also   {wall time}. 
epsilon is  [see {delta}] 1. n. A small quantity of anything.  "The   cost is epsilon."  2. adj. Very small, negligible; less than   {marginal}.  "We can get this feature for epsilon cost."   3. `within epsilon of' close enough to be indistinguishabl...
epsilon2 is  closer than being `within   delta of'.  "That's not what I asked for, but it's within   epsilon of what I wanted."  Alternatively, it may mean not close   enough, but very little is required to get it there "My program   is within epsilo...
epsilon squared is  n. A quantity even smaller than {epsilon}, as   small in comparison to epsilon as epsilon is to something normal;   completely negligible.  If you buy a supercomputer for a million   dollars, the cost of the thousand-dollar termin...
epsilon squared2 is  of the ten-dollar cable to connect them   is epsilon squared.  Compare {lost in the underflow}, {lost   in the noise}. 
the era is  Syn. {epoch}.  Webster's Unabridged makes these words   almost synonymous, but `era' usually connotes a span of time rather   than a point in time.  The {epoch} usage is recommended.
Eric Conspiracy is  n. A shadowy group of mustachioed hackers named   Eric first pinpointed as a sinister conspiracy by an infamous   talk.bizarre posting ca. 1986; this was doubtless influenced by the   numerous `Eric' jokes in the Monty Python oeuv...
Eric Conspiracy2 is  more mustachioed Erics in hackerdom than   the frequency of these three traits can account for unless they are   correlated in some arcane way.  Well-known examples include Eric   Allman (he of the `Allman style' described under ...
Eric Conspiracy3 is  NNTP); your editor has heard from about   fourteen others by email, and the organization line `Eric   Conspiracy Secret Laboratories' now emanates regularly from more   than one site. 
Eris is  /e'ris/ n. The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion,   and Things You Know Not Of; her name was latinized to Discordia and   she was worshiped by that name in Rome.  Not a very friendly deity   in the Classical original, she was reinve...
Eris2 is  creative anarchy starting in 1959 by the   adherents of {Discordianism} and has since been a semi-serious   subject of veneration in several `fringe' cultures, including   hackerdom.  See {Discordianism}, {Church of the SubGenius}. 
erotics is  /ee-ro'tiks/ n. [Helsinki University of Technology,   Finland] n. English-language university slang for electronics.   Often used by hackers in Helsinki, maybe because good electronics   excites them and makes them warm.
essentials is  n. Things necessary to maintain a productive and secure   hacking environment.  "A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, a   20-megahertz 80386 box with 8 meg of core and a 300-megabyte disk   supporting full UNIX with source and X windows and...
essentials2 is  Internet site, and thou." 
evil is  adj. As used by hackers, implies that some system, program,   person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not   worth the bother of dealing with.  Unlike the adjectives in the   {cretinous}/{losing}/{brain-damaged} series, `e...
evil2 is  design, but rather a set of goals or   design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's.  This is   more an esthetic and engineering judgment than a moral one in the   mainstream sense.  "We thought about adding a {Blue Glue}   inter...
evil3 is   "{TECO}   is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos."   Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/. 
exa- is  /ek's*/ [SI] pref. See {{quantifiers}}.
examining the entrails is  n. The process of {grovel}ling through a   core dump or hex image in the attempt to discover the bug that   brought a program or system down.  Compare {runes},   {incantation}, {black art}, {desk check}.
EXCH is  /eks'ch*/ or /eksch/ vt. To exchange two things, each for the   other; to swap places.  If you point to two people sitting down and   say "Exch!", you are asking them to trade places.  EXCH,   meaning EXCHange, was originally the name of a P...
EXCH2 is  contents of a register and a memory location.   Many newer hackers tend to be thinking instead of the PostScript   exchange operator (which is usually written in lowercase). 
excl is  /eks'kl/ n. Abbreviation for `exclamation point'.  See   {bang}, {shriek}, {{ASCII}}.
EXE is  /eks'ee/ or /eek'see/ or /E-X-E/ n. An executable   binary file.  Some operating systems (notably MS-DOS, VMS, and   TWENEX) use the extension .EXE to mark such files.  This usage is   also occasionally found among UNIX programmers even thoug...
exec is  /eg-zek'/ vt.,n.  1. [UNIX from `execute'] Synonym for   {chain}, derives from the `exec(2)' call.  2. [from   `executive'] obs. The command interpreter for an {OS} (see   {shell}); term esp. used around mainframes, and prob. derived from   ...
exec2 is  systems.  3. At IBM,   the equivalent of a shell command file (among VM/CMS users).   The mainstream `exec' as an abbreviation for (human) executive is   *not* used.  To a hacker, an `exec' is a always a program,   never a person. 
left as an exercise is  [from technical books] Used to complete a   proof when one doesn't mind a {handwave}, or to avoid one   entirely.  The complete phrase is "The proof (or the rest) is left as   an exercise for the reader."  This comment *has* o...
left as an exercise2 is  research problems by authors possessed of   either an evil sense of humor or a vast faith in the capabilities   of their audiences. 
eyeball search is  n. To look for something in a mass of code or data   with one's own native optical sensors, as opposed to using some   sort of pattern matching software like {grep} or any other   automated search tool.  Also called a {vgrep}; comp...
eyeball search2 is  `fabricate'] v. 1. To produce chips from a   design that may have been created by someone at another company.   Fabbing chips based on the designs of others is the activity of a   {silicon foundry}.  To a hacker, `fab' is practica...
eyeball search3 is  line' the production system   (lithography, diffusion, etching, etc.) for chips at a chip   manufacturer.  Different `fab lines' are run with different   process parameters, die sizes, or technologies, or simply to   provide more ...
face time is  n. Time spent interacting with somebody face-to-face (as   opposed to via electronic links).  "Oh, yeah, I spent some face   time with him at the last Usenix."
factor is  n. See {coefficient}.
fall over is  [IBM] vi. Yet another synonym for {crash} or {lose}.   `Fall over hard' equates to {crash and burn}.
fall through is  v. (n. `fallthrough', var. `fall-through') 1. To   exit a loop by exhaustion, i.e., by having fulfilled its exit   condition rather than via a break or exception condition that exits   from the middle of it.  This usage appears to be...
fall through2 is  1950s.  2. To fail a test that would have   passed control to a subroutine or some other distant portion of code.   3. In C, `fall-through' occurs when the flow of execution in a   switch statement reaches a `case' label other than ...
fall through3 is  passing a point where one would   normally expect to find a `break'.  A trivial example   The variant spelling `/* FALL THRU */' is also common.   The effect of this code is to `do_green()' when color is   `GREEN', `do_red()' when c...
fall through4 is  other than `PINK', and   (and this is the important part) `do_pink()' *and then*   `do_red()' when color is `PINK'.  Fall-through is   {considered harmful} by some, though there are contexts (such as   the coding of state machines) ...
fall through5 is  considered good practice to include a comment   highlighting the fall-through where one would normally expect a   break. 
fandango on core is  [UNIX/C hackers, from the Mexican dance] n.   In C, a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a {core   dump}, or corrupts the `malloc(3)' {arena} in such a way as   to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said ...
fandango on core2 is  low-end personal machines without an   MMU, this can corrupt the OS itself, causing massive lossage.   Other frenetic dances such as the rhumba, cha-cha, or watusi, may   be substituted.  See {aliasing bug}, {precedence lossage}...
FAQ list is  /F-A-Q list/ [USENET] n. A compendium of accumulated   lore, posted periodically to high-volume newsgroups in an attempt   to forestall Frequently Asked Questions.  This lexicon itself   serves as a good example of a collection of one ki...
FAQ list2 is  regular posting.  Examples "What   is the proper type of NULL?"  and "What's that funny name for   the `#' character?" are both Frequently Asked Questions.   Several extant FAQ lists do (or should) make reference to the   Jargon File (t...
FAQL is  /fa'kl/ n. Syn. {FAQ list}.
farming is  [Adelaide University, Australia] n. What the heads of a   disk drive are said to do when they plow little furrows in the   magnetic media.  Associated with a {crash}.  Typically used as   follows "Oh no, the machine has just crashed; I ho...
fascist is  adj. 1. Said of a computer system with excessive or   annoying security barriers, usage limits, or access policies.  The   implication is that said policies are preventing hackers from   getting interesting work done.  The variant `fascis...
fascist2 is  poss. by analogy with   `touristic' (see {tourist}).  2. In the design of languages   and other software tools, `the fascist alternative' is the most   restrictive and structured way of capturing a particular function;   the implication ...
fascist3 is  simplify   the implementation or provide tighter error checking.  Compare   {bondage-and-discipline language}, but that term is global rather   than local. 
faulty is  adj. Non-functional; buggy.  Same denotation as   {bletcherous}, {losing}, q.v., but the connotation is much   milder.
fd leak is  /ef dee leek/ n. A kind of programming bug analogous to a   {core leak}, in which a program fails to close file descriptors   (`fd's) after file operations are completed, and thus eventually   runs out of them.  See {leak}.
fear and loathing is  [from Hunter Thompson] n. A state inspired by the   prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards   that are totally {brain-damaged} but ubiquitous --- Intel 8086s,   or {COBOL}, or {{EBCDIC}}, or any {IBM} m...
fear and loathing2 is  RS/6000).  "Ack!  They want PCs to be able to   talk to the AI machine.  Fear and loathing time!" 
feature is  n. 1. A good property or behavior (as of a program).   Whether it was intended or not is immaterial.  2. An intended   property or behavior (as of a program).  Whether it is good or not   is immaterial (but if bad, it is also a {misfeatur...
feature2 is  in particular, one that is   purposely inconsistent because it works better that way --- such an   inconsistency is therefore a {feature} and not a {bug}.  This   kind of feature is sometimes called a {miswart}; see that entry   for a cl...
feature3 is  is   gratuitous or unnecessary, though perhaps also impressive or cute.   For example, one feature of Common LISP's `format' function is   the ability to print numbers in two different Roman-numeral formats   (see {bells, whistles, and g...
feature4 is  put in to help someone else but that happens to be in your   way.  6. A bug that has been documented.  To call something a   feature sometimes means the author of the program did not consider   the particular case, and that the program r...
feature5 is  strictly incorrect.  A standard joke is that a   bug can be turned into a {feature} simply by documenting it   (then theoretically no one can complain about it because it's in   the manual), or even by simply declaring it to be good.  "T...
feature6 is  common catchphrase.  See also   {feetch feetch}, {creeping featurism}, {wart}, {green   lightning}.   The relationship among bugs, features, misfeatures, warts, and   miswarts might be clarified by the following hypothetical exchange   b...
feature7 is  seat doesn't recline."   B "That's not a bug, that's a feature.  There is an emergency   exit door built around the window behind you, and the route has to   be kept clear."   A "Oh.  Then it's a misfeature; they should have increased th...
feature8 is  if they'd increased spacing in only one section it   would have been a wart --- they would've had to make   nonstandard-length ceiling panels to fit over the displaced   seats."   A "A miswart, actually.  If they increased spacing throug...
feature9 is  of the profit margin.  So   unequal spacing would actually be the Right Thing."   B "Indeed."   {Undocumented feature} is a common, allegedly humorous euphemism   for a {bug}. 
feature creature is  [poss. fr. slang `creature feature' for a horror   movie] n. One who loves to add features to designs or programs,   perhaps at the expense of coherence, concision, or {taste}.  See   also {feeping creaturism}, {creeping featuris...
feature shock is  [from Alvin Toffler's book title `Future   Shock'] n.  A user's (or programmer's!) confusion when confronted   with a package that has too many features and poor introductory   material.
featurectomy is  /fee`ch*r-ek't*-mee/ n. The act of removing a   feature from a program.  Featurectomies come in two flavors, the   `righteous' and the `reluctant'.  Righteous featurectomies are   performed because the remover believes the program wo...
featurectomy2 is  there is already an equivalent and   better way to achieve the same end.  (This is not quite the same   thing as removing a {misfeature}.)  Reluctant featurectomies are   performed to satisfy some external constraint such as code si...
feep is  /feep/ 1. n. The soft electronic `bell' sound of a   display terminal (except for a VT-52); a beep (in fact, the   microcomputer world seems to prefer {beep}).  2. vi. To cause   the display to make a feep sound.  ASR-33s (the original TTYs)...
feep2 is  that ring.  Alternate forms   {beep}, `bleep', or just about anything suitably   onomatopoeic.  (Jeff MacNelly, in his comic strip "Shoe", uses   the word `eep' for sounds made by computer terminals and video   games; this is perhaps the cl...
feep3 is  `breedle' was sometimes heard at SAIL, where the terminal   bleepers are not particularly soft (they sound more like the   musical equivalent of a raspberry or Bronx cheer; for a close   approximation, imagine the sound of a Star Trek commu...
feep4 is  `feeper' on a VT-52 has been   compared to the sound of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears.  See also   {ding}. 
feeper is  /fee'pr/ n. The device in a terminal or workstation (usually   a loudspeaker of some kind) that makes the {feep} sound.
feeping creature is  [from {feeping creaturism}] n. An unnecessary   feature; a bit of {chrome} that, in the speaker's judgment, is   the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features.
feeping creaturism is  /fee'ping kree`ch*r-izm/ n. A deliberate   spoonerism for {creeping featurism}, meant to imply that the   system or program in question has become a misshapen creature of   hacks.  This term isn't really well defined, but it so...
feeping creaturism2 is  heard it.  It is probably reinforced   by an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their   customary noises. 
feetch feetch is  /feech feech/ interj. If someone tells you about   some new improvement to a program, you might respond "Feetch,   feetch!"  The meaning of this depends critically on vocal   inflection.  With enthusiasm, it means something like "Bo...
feetch feetch2 is  Grudgingly or with obvious doubt, it   means "I don't know; it sounds like just one more unnecessary and   complicated thing".  With a tone of resignation, it means, "Well,   I'd rather keep it simple, but I suppose it has to be do...
fence is  n. 1. A sequence of one or more distinguished   ({out-of-band}) characters (or other data items), used to   delimit a piece of data intended to be treated as a unit (the   computer-science literature calls this a `sentinel').  The NUL   (AS...
fence2 is  in C is a fence.   Hex FF is probably the most common fence character after NUL.  See   {zigamorph}.  2. [among users of optimizing compilers] Any   technique, usually exploiting knowledge about the compiler, that   blocks certain optimiza...
fence3 is  available or are overkill.  Typically a hack "I call a dummy   procedure there to force a flush of the optimizer's   register-coloring info" can be expressed by the shorter "That's a   fence procedure". 
fencepost error is  n. 1. A problem with the discrete equivalent of a   boundary condition.  Often exhibited in programs by iterative   loops.  From the following problem "If you build a fence 100 feet   long with posts 10 feet apart, how many posts ...
fencepost error2 is  answer than the obvious 10.  For   example, suppose you have a long list or array of items, and want   to process items m through n; how many items are there?  The   obvious answer is n - m, but that is off by one; the right   an...
fencepost error3 is  `obvious'   formula would have a fencepost error in it.  See also {zeroth}   and {off-by-one error}, and note that not all off-by-one errors   are fencepost errors.  The game of Musical Chairs involves a   catastrophic off-by-one...
fencepost error4 is  chairs, but it's not a fencepost error.  Fencepost   errors come from counting things rather than the spaces between   them, or vice versa, or by neglecting to consider whether one   should count one or both ends of a row.  2. Oc...
fencepost error5 is  regular spacing of inputs, which can (for   instance) screw up your hash table. 
fepped out is  /fept owt/ adj. The Symbolics 3600 Lisp Machine has a   Front-End Processor called a `FEP' (compare sense 2 of {box}).   When the main processor gets {wedged}, the FEP takes control of   the keyboard and screen.  Such a machine is said...
FidoNet is  n. A worldwide hobbyist network of personal computers   which exchange mail, discussion groups, and files.  Founded in 1984   and originally consisting only of IBM PCs and compatibles, FidoNet   now includes such diverse machines as Apple...
FidoNet2 is  Though it is much younger than {USENET},   FidoNet is already (in early 1991) a significant fraction of   USENET's size at some 8000 systems. 
field circus is  [a derogatory pun on `field service'] n. The field   service organization of any hardware manufacturer, but especially   DEC.  There is an entire genre of jokes about DEC field circus   engineers     Q How can you recognize a DEC fie...
field circus2 is   A He's changing each tire to see which one is flat.     Q How can you recognize a DEC field circus engineer        who is out of gas?     A He's changing each tire to see which one is flat.   There is also the `Field Circus Cheer' ...
field circus3 is  Maynard! Maynard!     Don't mess with us!     We're mean and we're tough!     If you get us confused     We'll screw up your stuff.   (DEC's service HQ is located in Maynard, Massachusetts.) 
field servoid is  [play on `android'] /fee'ld ser'voyd/ n.   Representative of a field service organization (see {field   circus}).  This has many of the implications of {droid}.
Fight-o-net is  [FidoNet] n. Deliberate distortion of {FidoNet},   often applied after a flurry of {flamage} in a particular   {echo}, especially the SYSOP echo or Fidonews (see {'Snooze}).
File Attach is  [FidoNet] 1. n. A file sent along with a mail message   from one BBS to another.  2. vt. Sending someone a file by using   the File Attach option in a BBS mailer.
File Request is  [FidoNet] 1. n. The {FidoNet} equivalent of   {FTP}, in which one BBS system automatically dials another and   {snarf}s one or more files.  Files are often announced as being   "available for {FReq}" in the same way that files are an...
File Request2 is  FTP" on the Internet.   2. vt. The act of getting a copy of a file by using the File   Request option of the BBS mailer. 
filk is  /filk/ [from SF fandom, where a typo for `folk' was   adopted as a new word] n.,v. A `filk' is a popular or folk song   with lyrics revised or completely new lyrics, intended for humorous   effect when read and/or to be sung late at night at...
filk2 is  subgenre of these called `computer filks',   written by hackers and often containing rather sophisticated   technical humor.  See {double bucky} for an example. 
film at 11 is  [MIT in parody of TV newscasters] Used in conversation   to announce ordinary events, with a sarcastic implication that   these events are earth-shattering.  "{{ITS}} crashes; film at 11."   "Bug found in scheduler; film at 11."
filter is  [orig. {{UNIX}}, now also in {{MS-DOS}}] n. A program that   processes an input data stream into an output data stream in some   well-defined way, and does no I/O to anywhere else except possibly   on error conditions; one designed to be u...
Finagle's Law is  n. The generalized or `folk' version of   {Murphy's Law}, fully named "Finagle's Law of Dynamic   Negatives" and usually rendered "Anything that can go wrong,   will".  One variant favored among hackers is "The perversity of   the U...
Finagle's Law2 is  {Hanlon's   Razor}).  The label `Finagle's Law' was popularized by SF author   Larry Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of   asteroid miners; this `Belter' culture professed a religion   and/or running joke invol...
Finagle's Law3 is  his mad prophet Murphy. 
fine is  [WPI] adj. Good, but not good enough to be {cuspy}.  The word   `fine' is used elsewhere, of course, but without the implicit   comparison to the higher level implied by {cuspy}.
finger is  [WAITS, via BSD UNIX] 1. n. A program that displays a   particular user or all users logged on the system or a remote   system.  Typically shows full name, last login time, idle time,   terminal line, and terminal location (where applicabl...
finger2 is  the user.  2. vt. To apply finger   to a username.  3. vt. By extension, to check a human's current   state by any means.  "Foodp?"  "T!"  "OK, finger Lisa and see   if she's idle."  4. Any picture (composed of ASCII characters)   depicti...
finger3 is  component of one's   plan file to deter the curious fingerer (sense 2), it has entered   the arsenal of some {flamer}s. 
finger-pointing syndrome is  n. All-too-frequent result of bugs, esp.   in new or experimental configurations.  The hardware vendor points   a finger at the software.  The software vendor points a finger   at the hardware.  All the poor users get is ...
firebottle is  n. A large, primitive, power-hungry active electrical   device, similar in function to a FET but constructed out of glass,   metal, and vacuum.  Characterized by high cost, low density, low   reliability, high-temperature operation, an...
firebottle2 is  mistakenly called a `tube' in the U.S.   or a `valve' in England; another hackish term is {glassfet}. 
firefighting is  n. 1. What sysadmins have to do to correct sudden   operational problems.  An opposite of hacking.  "Been hacking your   new newsreader?"  "No, a power glitch hosed the network and I spent   the whole afternoon fighting fires."  2. T...
firefighting2 is  nights at a project, esp. to get it out   before deadline.  See also {gang bang}, {Mongolian Hordes   technique}; however, the term `firefighting' connotes that the   effort is going into chasing bugs rather than adding features. 
firewall code is  n. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone   switch) to make sure that the users can't do any damage. Since   users always want to be able to do everything but never want to   suffer for any mistakes, the construction of a fi...
firewall code2 is  coding but also of interface   presentation, so that users don't even get curious about those   corners of a system where they can burn themselves. 
firewall machine is  n. A dedicated gateway machine with special   security precautions on it, used to service outside network   connections and dial-in lines.  The idea is to protect a cluster of   more loosely administered machines hidden behind it...
firewall machine2 is  an inexpensive micro-based   UNIX box kept clean of critical data, with a bunch of modems and   public network ports on it but just one carefully watched   connection back to the rest of the cluster.  The special   precautions m...
firewall machine3 is  even a   complete {iron box} keyable to particular incoming IDs or   activity patterns.  Syn. {flytrap}, {Venus flytrap}. 
fireworks mode is  n. The mode a machine is sometimes said to be in when   it is performing a {crash and burn} operation.
firmy is  /fer'mee/ Syn. {stiffy} (a 3.5-inch floppy disk).
fish is  [Adelaide University, Australia] n. 1. Another metasyntactic   variable.  See {foo}.  Derived originally from the Monty Python   skit in the middle of "The Meaning of Life" entitled "Find the   Fish".  2. A pun for `microfiche'.  A microfich...
FISH queue is  [acronym, by analogy with FIFO (First In, First Out)]   n. `First In, Still Here'.  A joking way of pointing out that   processing of a particular sequence of events or requests has   stopped dead.  Also `FISH mode' and `FISHnet'; the ...

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

frob2 is  {frobnicate}.  3. [from the {MUD} world]   A command on some MUDs that changes a player's experience level   (this can be used to make wizards); also, to request {wizard}   privileges on the `professional courtesy' grounds that one is a   w...
frobnicate is  /frob'ni-kayt/ vt. [Poss. derived from {frobnitz}, and   usually abbreviated to {frob}, but `frobnicate' is recognized   as the official full form.] To manipulate or adjust, to tweak.   One frequently frobs bits or other 2-state device...
frobnicate2 is  (that is, flip it), but also   "Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it".  One also sees the   construction `to frob a frob'.  See {tweak} and {twiddle}.   Usage frob, twiddle, and tweak sometimes connote   points along a continuum....
frobnicate3 is  `twiddle' connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for   a proper setting; `tweak' connotes fine-tuning.  If someone is   turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting   it, he is probably tweaking it; ...
frobnicate4 is  screen, he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing   it because turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it.  The variant   `frobnosticate' has been recently reported. 
frobnitz is  /frob'nits/, pl. `frobnitzem' /frob'nit-zm/ or   `frobni' /frob'ni/ n. An unspecified physical object, a   widget.  Also refers to electronic black boxes.  This rare form is   usually abbreviated to `frotz', or more commonly to {frob}.  ...
frobnitz2 is  `frobule'   (/frob'yool/).  Starting perhaps in 1979, `frobozz'   /fruh-boz'/ (plural `frobbotzim' /fruh-bot'zm/) has also   become very popular, largely through its exposure as a name via   {Zork}.  These can also be applied to nonphys...
frog is  alt. `phrog' 1. interj. Term of disgust (we seem to have   a lot of them).  2. Used as a name for just about anything.  See   {foo}.  3. n. Of things, a crock.  4. n. Of people, somewhere   in between a turkey and a toad.  5. `froggy' adj. S...
frog2 is  milder.  "This froggy   program is taking forever to run!"front end n. 1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and   filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly)   machine (a `back end').  2. What you're talking to w...
frog3 is  is making replies without   paying attention.  "Look at the dancing elephants!"  "Uh-huh."   "Do you know what I just said?"  "Sorry, you were talking to the   front end."  See also {fepped out}.  3. Software that provides   an interface to...
frog4 is  as   user-friendly.  Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends (see   sense 1) that interfaced with mainframes. 
frotz  is  /frots/ 1. n. See {frobnitz}.  2. `mumble frotz' An   interjection of very mild disgust.
frotzed is  /frotst/ adj. {down} because of hardware problems.  Compare   {fried}.  A machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable   without replacing parts, but a fried machine is more seriously   damaged.
frowney is  n. (alt. `frowney face')  See {emoticon}.
fry is  1. vi. To fail.  Said especially of smoke-producing hardware   failures.  More generally, to become non-working.  Usage never   said of software, only of hardware and humans.  See {fried},   {magic smoke}.  2. vt. To cause to fail; to {roach}...
fry2 is  Never used of software or humans,   but compare {fried}. 
FTP is  /F-T-P/, *not* /fit'ip/ 1. [techspeak] n. The File   Transfer Protocol for transmitting files between systems on the   Internet.  2. vt. To {beam} a file using the File Transfer   Protocol.  3. Sometimes used as a generic even for file transf...
FTP2 is  `Wuthering   Heights' ftp'd from uunet." 
FUBAR is  n. The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX.  A good   example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the {suit}s;   see {foobar}.
fuck me harder is  excl. Sometimes uttered in response to egregious   misbehavior, esp. in software, and esp. of misbehaviors which   seem unfairly persistent (as though designed in by the imp of the   perverse).  Often theatrically elaborated "Aiigh...
fuck me harder2 is  curare-tipped wrought-iron fence   *and no lubricants*!" The phrase is sometimes heard   abbreviated `FMH' in polite company.   [This entry is an extreme example of the hackish habit of coining   elaborate and evocative terms for ...
fuck me harder3 is  parody of mainstream expletives that has become a   running gag in part of the hacker culture; it illustrates the   hackish tendency to turn any situation, even one of extreme   frustration, into an intellectual game (the point be...
fuck me harder4 is  long-winded description of the   most anatomically absurd mental image possible --- the short forms   implicitly allude to all the ridiculous long forms ever spoken).   Scatological language is actually relatively uncommon among  ...
fuck me harder5 is  whether this entry   ought to be included at all.  As it reflects a live usage   recognizably peculiar to the hacker culture, we feel it is   in the hackish spirit of truthfulness and opposition to all   forms of censorship to rec...
FUD is  /fuhd/ n. Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found   his own company "FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM   sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might   be considering [Amdahl] products."  The ide...
FUD2 is  with safe IBM gear rather than with   competitors' equipment.  This was traditionally done by promising   that Good Things would happen to people who stuck with IBM, but   Dark Shadows loomed over the future of competitors' equipment or   so...
FUD wars is  /fuhd worz/ n. [from {FUD}] Political posturing engaged in   by hardware and software vendors ostensibly committed to   standardization but actually willing to fragment the market to   protect their own shares.  The UNIX International vs...
fudge is  1. vt. To perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable   way, particularly with respect to the writing of a program.  "I   didn't feel like going through that pain and suffering, so I fudged   it --- I'll fix it later."  2. n. The res...
fudge factor is  n. A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way   to produce the desired result.  The terms `tolerance' and   {slop} are also used, though these usually indicate a one-sided   leeway, such as a buffer that is made larger than...
fudge factor2 is  how large it needs to be, and it is   better to waste a little space than to lose completely for not   having enough.  A fudge factor, on the other hand, can often be   tweaked in more than one direction.  A good example is the `fuz...
fudge factor3 is  calculations two numbers being   compared for equality must be allowed to differ by a small amount;   if that amount is too small, a computation may never terminate,   while if it is too large, results will be needlessly inaccurate....
fudge factor4 is  incorrectly by programmers   who don't fully understand their import.  See also {coefficient   of X}. 
fuel up is  vi. To eat or drink hurriedly in order to get back to   hacking.  "Food-p?"  "Yeah, let's fuel up."  "Time for a   {great-wall}!"  See also {{oriental food}}.
fuggly is  /fuhg'lee/ adj. Emphatic form of {funky}; funky +   ugly).  Unusually for hacker jargon, this may actually derive from   black street-jive.  To say it properly, the first syllable should   be growled rather than spoken.  Usage humorous.  "...
fuggly2 is  that printer driver is   *fuggly*."  See also {wonky}. 
funky is  adj. Said of something that functions, but in a slightly   strange, klugey way.  It does the job and would be difficult to   change, so its obvious non-optimality is left alone.  Often used to   describe interfaces.  The more bugs something...
funky2 is  workarounds are easier, the funkier it is.   {TECO} and UUCP are funky.  The Intel i860's exception handling is   extraordinarily funky.  Most standards acquire funkiness as they   age.  "The new mailer is installed, but is still somewhat ...
funky3 is  try resubmitting it."   "This UART is pretty funky.  The data ready line is active-high in   interrupt mode and active-low in DMA mode."  See {fuggly}. 
funny money is  n. 1. Notional `dollar' units of computing time and/or   storage handed to students at the beginning of a computer course;   also called `play money' or `purple money' (in implicit   opposition to real or `green' money).  When your fu...
funny money2 is  you needed to go to a professor to   get more.  Fortunately, the plunging cost of timesharing cycles has   made this less common.  The amounts allocated were almost   invariably too small, even for the non-hackers who wanted to slide...
funny money3 is  practice led to   small-scale black markets in bootlegged computer accounts.  2. By   extension, phantom money or quantity tickets of any kind used as a   resource-allocation hack within a system.  Antonym `real   money'. 
fuzzball is  [TCP/IP hackers] n. A DEC LSI-11 running a particular   suite of homebrewed software written by Dave Mills and assorted   co-conspirators, used in the early 1980s for Internet protocol   testbedding and experimentation.  These were used ...
fuzzball2 is  56KB-line days; a few are still active   on the Internet as of early 1991, doing odd jobs such as network   time service.*G [SI] pref.,suff. See {{quantifiers}}. 
gabriel is  /gay'bree-*l/ [for Dick Gabriel, SAIL LISP hacker and   volleyball fanatic] n. An unnecessary (in the opinion of the   opponent) stalling tactic, e.g., tying one's shoelaces or combing one's hair   repeatedly, asking the time, etc.  Also ...
gabriel2 is  tactics.  Also, `pulling a Gabriel',   `Gabriel mode'. 
gag is  vi. Equivalent to {choke}, but connotes more disgust. "Hey,   this is FORTRAN code.  No wonder the C compiler gagged."  See also   {barf}.
gang bang is  n. The use of large numbers of loosely coupled   programmers in an attempt to wedge a great many features into a   product in a short time.  Though there have been memorable gang   bangs (e.g., that over-the-weekend assembler port menti...
gang bang2 is  perpetrated by large   companies trying to meet deadlines and produce enormous buggy   masses of code entirely lacking in {orthogonal}ity.  When   market-driven managers make a list of all the features the   competition has and assign ...
gang bang3 is  miss the importance of maintaining a coherent design.  See   also {firefighting}, {Mongolian Hordes technique},   {Conway's Law}. 
garbage collect is  vi. (also `garbage collection', n.) See {GC}.
garply is  /gar'plee/ [Stanford] n. Another meta-syntactic variable (see   {foo}); once popular among SAIL hackers.
gas is  [as in `gas chamber'] 1. interj. A term of disgust and   hatred, implying that gas should be dispensed in generous   quantities, thereby exterminating the source of irritation.  "Some   loser just reloaded the system for no reason!  Gas!"  2....
gas2 is  something ought to be flushed out of   mercy.  "The system's getting {wedged} every few minutes.   Gas!"  3. vt.  To {flush} (sense 1).  "You should gas that old   crufty software."  4. [IBM] n. Dead space in nonsequentially   organized file...
gas3 is  deleted;   the compression operation that removes it is called `degassing' (by   analogy, perhaps, with the use of the same term in vacuum   technology). 5. [IBM] n.  Empty space on a disk that has been   clandestinely allocated against futu...
gaseous is  adj. Deserving of being {gas}sed.  Disseminated by   Geoff Goodfellow while at SRI; became particularly popular after   the Moscone-Milk killings in San Francisco, when it was learned   that the defendant Dan White (a politician who had s...
gaseous2 is  chamber under Proposition 7 if   convicted of first-degree murder (he was eventually convicted of   manslaughter). 
GC is  /G-C/ [from LISP terminology; `Garbage Collect']   1. vt. To clean up and throw away useless things.  "I think I'll   GC the top of my desk today."  When said of files, this is   equivalent to {GFR}.  2. vt. To recycle, reclaim, or put to   an...
GC2 is  garbage collector   process.   `Garbage collection' is computer-science jargon for a particular   class of strategies for dynamically reallocating computer memory.   One such strategy involves periodically scanning all the data in   memory an...
GC3 is  useless data   items are then discarded so that the memory they occupy can be   recycled and used for another purpose.  Implementations of the LISP   language usually use garbage collection.   In jargon, the full phrase is sometimes heard but...
GC4 is  it is shorter.  Note that there is an   ambiguity in usage that has to be resolved by context "I'm going   to garbage-collect my desk" usually means to clean out the   drawers, but it could also mean to throw away or recycle the desk   itself...
GCOS is  /jee'kohs/ n. A {quick-and-dirty} {clone} of   System/360 DOS that emerged from GE around 1970; originally called   GECOS (the General Electric Comprehensive Operating System).  Later   kluged to support primitive timesharing and transaction...
GCOS2 is  computer division by Honeywell, the name   was changed to General Comprehensive Operating System (GCOS).   Other OS groups at Honeywell began referring to it as `God's Chosen   Operating System', allegedly in reaction to the GCOS crowd's   ...
GCOS3 is  superiority of their   product.  All this might be of zero interest, except for two facts   (1) The GCOS people won the political war, and this led in the   orphaning and eventual death of Honeywell {{Multics}}, and   (2) GECOS/GCOS left on...
GCOS4 is  systems at Bell Labs were GCOS machines for print spooling and   various other services; the field added to `/etc/passwd' to   carry GCOS ID information was called the `GECOS field' and   survives today as the `pw_gecos' member used for the...
GCOS5 is  information.  GCOS later played a   major role in keeping Honeywell a dismal also-ran in the mainframe   market, and was itself ditched for UNIX in the late 1980s when   Honeywell retired its aging {big iron} designs. 
GECOS is  /jee'kohs/ n. See {{GCOS}}.
gedanken is  /g*-don'kn/ adj. Ungrounded; impractical; not   well-thought-out; untried; untested.  `Gedanken' is a German word   for `thought'.  A thought experiment is one you carry out in your   head.  In physics, the term `gedanken experiment' is ...
gedanken2 is  impractical to carry out, but useful   to consider because you can reason about it theoretically.  (A   classic gedanken experiment of relativity theory involves thinking   about a man in an elevator accelerating through space.)  Gedank...
gedanken3 is  but you have to be careful.   It's too easy to idealize away some important aspect of the real world   in contructing your `apparatus'.   Among hackers, accordingly, the word has a pejorative connotation.   It is said of a project, espe...
gedanken4 is  research, that is written up in grand detail (typically as a Ph.D.   thesis) without ever being implemented to any great extent.  Such a   project is usually perpetrated by people who aren't very good   hackers or find programming dista...
gedanken5 is  thesis' is usually marked by an obvious lack of intuition   about what is programmable and what is not, and about what does and   does not constitute a clear specification of an algorithm.  See   also {AI-complete}, {DWIM}. 
geef is  v. [ostensibly from `gefingerpoken'] vt. Syn. {mung}.  See   also {blinkenlights}.
geek out is  vi. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a   non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer   equipment.  Especially used when you need to do something highly   technical and don't have time to explain "Pardon m...
gen is  /jen/ n.,v. Short for {generate}, used frequently in both spoken   and written contexts.
gender mender is  n. A cable connector shell with either two male or two   female connectors on it, used to correct the mismatches that result   when some {loser} didn't understand the RS232C specification and   the distinction between DTE and DCE.  ...
gender mender2 is  original D-25 or the IBM PC's bogus D-9 format.   Also called `gender bender', `gender blender', `sex   changer', and even `homosexual adapter'; however, there appears   to be some confusion as to whether a `male homosexual adapter...
gender mender3 is  on both sides (connects two   males). 
General Public Virus is  n. Pejorative name for some versions of the   {GNU} project {copyleft} or General Public License (GPL), which   requires that any tools or {app}s incorporating copylefted code   must be source-distributed on the same counter-...
General Public Virus2 is  alleged that the copyleft `infects' software   generated with GNU tools, which may in turn infect other software   that reuses any of its code.  The Free Software Foundation's   official position as of January 1991 is that c...
General Public Virus3 is  "programs textually incorporating   significant amounts of GNU code", and that the `infection' is not   passed on to third parties unless actual GNU source is transmitted   (as in, for example, use of the Bison parser skelet...
General Public Virus4 is  the {copyleft} language   is `boobytrapped' has caused many developers to avoid using GNU   tools and the GPL.  Recent (July 1991) changes in the language of   the version 2.00 language may eliminate this problem. 
generate is  vt. To produce something according to an algorithm or   program or set of rules, or as a (possibly unintended) side effect   of the execution of an algorithm or program.  The opposite of   {parse}.  This term retains its mechanistic conn...
generate2 is  of human behavior.  "The guy is   rational most of the time, but mention nuclear energy around him   and he'll generate {infinite} flamage." 
gensym is  /jen'sim/ [from MacLISP for `generated symbol'] 1. v.   To invent a new name for something temporary, in such a way that   the name is almost certainly not in conflict with one already in   use.  2. n.  The resulting name.  The canonical f...
gensym2 is  represents a number; any LISP hacker would   recognize G0093 (for example) as a gensym.  3. A freshly generated   data structure with a gensymmed name.  These are useful for storing   or uniquely identifying crufties (see {cruft}). 
Get a life! is  imp. Hacker-standard way of suggesting that the person   to whom you are speaking has succumbed to terminal geekdom (see   {computer geek}).  Often heard on {USENET}, esp. as a way of   suggesting that the target is taking some obscur...
Get a life!2 is  exhortation was popularized by   William Shatner on a "Saturday Night Live" episode in a speech that   ended "Get a *life*!", but some respondents believe it to   have been in use before then. 
Get a real computer! is  imp. Typical hacker response to news that   somebody is having trouble getting work done on a system that   (a) is single-tasking, (b) has no hard disk, or (c) has an address   space smaller than 4 megabytes.  This is as of m...
Get a real computer!2 is  computer' rises with time, and it may well   be (for example) that machines with character-only displays will be   generally considered `unreal' in a few years (GLS points out that   they already are in some circles).  See {...
GFR is  /G-F-R/ vt. [ITS] From `Grim File Reaper', an ITS and Lisp   Machine utility.  To remove a file or files according to some   program-automated or semi-automatic manual procedure, especially   one designed to reclaim mass storage space or redu...
GFR2 is  actually moved files to tape).  Often   generalized to pieces of data below file level.  "I used to have   his phone number, but I guess I {GFR}ed it."  See also   {prowler}, {reaper}.  Compare {GC}, which discards only   provably worthless ...
gig is  /jig/ or /gig/ [SI] n. See {{quantifiers}}.
giga- is  /ji'ga/ or /gi'ga/ [SI] pref. See {{quantifiers}}.
GIGO is  /gi'goh/ [acronym] 1. `Garbage In, Garbage Out' ---   usually said in response to {luser}s who complain that a program   didn't complain about faulty data.  Also commonly used to describe   failures in human decision making due to faulty, in...
GIGO2 is  In, Gospel Out' this more recent   expansion is a sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have   to put excessive trust in `computerized' data. 
gillion is  /gil'y*n/ or /jil'y*n/ [formed from {giga-} by analogy   with mega/million and tera/trillion] n. 10^9. Same as an   American billion or a British `milliard'.  How one pronounces   this depends on whether one speaks {giga-} with a hard or ...
GIPS is  /gips/ or /jips/ [analogy with {MIPS}] n.   Giga-Instructions per Second (also possibly `Gillions of   Instructions per Second'; see {gillion}).  In 1991, this is used   of only a handful of highly parallel machines, but this is expected   t...
glark is  /glark/ vt. To figure something out from context.  "The   System III manuals are pretty poor, but you can generally glark the   meaning from context."  Interestingly, the word was originally   `glork'; the context was "This gubblick contain...
glark2 is  the overall pluggandisp can be glorked [sic]   from context" (David Moser, quoted by Douglas Hofstadter in his   "Metamagical Themas" column in the January 1981 `Scientific   American').  It is conjectured that hackish usage mutated the ve...
glark3 is  established jargon   term.  Compare {grok}, {zen}. 
glass is  [IBM] n. Synonym for {silicon}.
glass tty is  /glas T-T-Y/ or /glas ti'tee/ n. A terminal that   has a display screen but which, because of hardware or software   limitations, behaves like a teletype or some other printing   terminal, thereby combining the disadvantages of both lik...
glass tty2 is  display hacks, and like a   display terminal, it doesn't produce hard copy.  An example is the   early `dumb' version of Lear-Siegler ADM 3 (without cursor   control).  See {tube}, {tty}.  See appendix A for an   interesting true story...
glassfet is  /glas'fet/ [by analogy with MOSFET, the acronym for   `Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor'] n. Syn.   {firebottle}, a humorous way to refer to a vacuum tube.
glitch is  /glich/ [from German `glitschen' to slip, via Yiddish   `glitshen', to slide or skid] 1. n. A sudden interruption in   electric service, sanity, continuity, or program function.   Sometimes recoverable.  An interruption in electric service...
glitch2 is  This is of grave concern   because it usually crashes all the computers.  In jargon, though, a   hacker who got to the middle of a sentence and then forgot how he   or she intended to complete it might say, "Sorry, I just   glitched".  2....
glitch3 is    [Stanford] To scroll a display screen, esp. several lines at a   time.  {{WAITS}} terminals used to do this in order to avoid   continuous scrolling, which is distracting to the eye.  4. obs.   Same as {magic cookie}, sense 2.   All the...
glitch4 is  technical   meaning the term has to hardware people.  If the inputs of a   circuit change, and the outputs change to some {random} value for   some very brief time before they settle down to the correct value,   then that is called a glit...
glitch5 is  depending on what the circuit is connected to.  This term is   techspeak, found in electronics texts. 
glob is  /glob/, *not* /glohb/ [UNIX] vt.,n. To expand special   characters in a wildcarded name, or the act of so doing (the action   is also called `globbing').  The UNIX conventions for filename   wildcarding have become sufficiently pervasive tha...
glob2 is  English, especially in email or news on   technical topics.  Those commonly encountered include the following     *          wildcard for any string (see also {UN*X})       ?          wildcard for any character (generally read this way only...
glob3 is  a word)     []          delimits a wildcard matching any of the enclosed characters     {}          alternation of comma-separated alternatives; thus, `foo{baz,qux}'          would be read as `foobaz' or `fooqux'   Some examples "He said hi...
glob4 is  "I don't read talk.politics.*" (any of the   talk.politics subgroups on {USENET}).  Other examples are given   under the entry for {X}.  Compare {regexp}.   Historical note The jargon usage derives from `glob', the   name of a subprogram th...
glob5 is  versions of the UNIX shell. 
glork is  /glork/ 1. interj. Term of mild surprise, usually tinged with   outrage, as when one attempts to save the results of 2 hours of   editing and finds that the system has just crashed.  2. Used as a   name for just about anything.  See {foo}. ...
glork2 is  used reflexively.  "My program just glorked   itself."  See also {glark}. 
glue is  n. Generic term for any interface logic or protocol that   connects two component blocks.  For example,  {Blue   Glue} is IBM's SNA protocol, and hardware designers call anything   used to connect large VLSI's or circuit blocks `glue logic'.
gnarly is  /nar'lee/ adj. Both {obscure} and {hairy} in the   sense of complex.  "{Yow}! --- the tuned assembler   implementation of BitBlt is really gnarly!"  From a similar but   less specific usage in surfer slang.
GNU is  /gnoo/, *not* /noo/ 1. [acronym `GNU's Not UNIX!',   see {{recursive acronym}}] A UNIX-workalike development effort of   the Free Software Foundation headed by Richard Stallman   (rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu).  GNU EMACS and the GNU C compiler, two to...
GNU2 is  very popular in hackerdom   and elsewhere.  The GNU project was designed partly to proselytize   for RMS's position that information is community property and all   software source should be shared.  One of its slogans is "Help   stamp out s...
GNU3 is  controversial   (because it implicitly denies any right of designers to own,   assign, and sell the results of their labors), many hackers who   disagree with RMS have nevertheless cooperated to produce large   amounts of high-quality softwa...

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

green lightning2 is  That, it certainly does.  Later   microprocessor-driven IBM color graphics displays were actually   *programmed* to produce green lightning!  2. [proposed] Any   bug perverted into an alleged feature by adroit rationalization or ...
green lightning3 is  the 88000   architecture `compatibility logic', but I call it green   lightning".  See also {feature}. 
green machine is  n. A computer or peripheral device that has been   designed and built to military specifications for field equipment   (that is, to withstand mechanical shock, extremes of temperature   and humidity, and so forth).  Comes from the o...
Green's Theorem is  [TMRC] prov. For any story, in any group of people   there will be at least one person who has not heard the story.   [The name of this theorem is a play on a fundamental theorem in   calculus. --- ESR]
grep is  /grep/ [from the qed/ed editor idiom g/re/p , where   re stands for a regular expression, to Globally search for the   Regular Expression and Print the lines containing matches to it,   via {{UNIX}} `grep(1)'] vt. To rapidly scan a file or f...
grep2 is  pattern.  By extension, to look   for something by pattern.  "Grep the bulletin board for the system   backup schedule, would you?"  See also {vgrep}. 
grind is  vt. 1. [MIT and Berkeley] To format code, especially LISP   code, by indenting lines so that it looks pretty.  This usage was   associated with the MacLISP community and is now rare;   {prettyprint} was and is the generic term for such   op...
grind2 is  version of a   document from the nroff, troff, TeX, or Scribe source.  The BSD   program `vgrind(1)' grinds code for printing on a Versatec   bitmapped printer.  3. To run seemingly interminably, esp. (but   not necessarily) if performing ...
grind3 is  Similar to {crunch} or {grovel}.  Grinding has a   connotation of using a lot of CPU time, but it is possible to grind   a disk, network, etc.  See also {hog}.  4. To make the whole   system slow.  "Troff really grinds a PDP-11."  5. `grin...
grind crank is  n. A mythical accessory to a terminal.  A crank on the   side of a monitor, which when operated makes a zizzing noise and   causes the computer to run faster.  Usually one does not refer to a   grind crank out loud, but merely makes t...
grind crank2 is  {grind} and {wugga wugga}.   Historical note At least one real machine actually had a grind   crank --- the R1, a research machine built toward the end of the   days of the great vacuum tube computers, in 1959.  R1 (also known as   `...
grind crank3 is  as `The Rice   University Computer' (TRUC)) had a single-step/free-run switch for   use when debugging programs.  Since single-stepping through a large   program was rather tedious, there was also a crank with a cam and   gear arrang...
grind crank4 is  button.   This allowed one to `crank' through a lot of code, then slow down   to single-step for a bit when you got near the code of interest, poke   at some registers using the console typewriter, and then keep on   cranking. 
gritch is  /grich/ 1. n. A complaint (often caused by a {glitch}).   2. vi. To complain.  Often verb-doubled "Gritch gritch".  3. A   synonym for {glitch} (as verb or noun).
grok is  /grok/, var. /grohk/ [from the novel `Stranger in   a Strange Land', by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word   meaning literally `to drink' and metaphorically `to be one   with'] vt. 1. To understand, usually in a global sense.  Co...
grok2 is  Contrast {zen}, similar   supernal understanding as a single brief flash.  See also   {glark}.  2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient   understanding.  "Almost all C compilers grok the `void' type   these days." 
gronk is  /gronk/ [popularized by Johnny Hart's comic strip   "B.C." but the word apparently predates that] vt. 1. To   clear the state of a wedged device and restart it.  More severe   than `to {frob}'.  2. [TMRC] To cut, sever, smash, or   similarl...
gronk2 is  diskette   drives.  In particular, the microfloppies on a Commodore Amiga go   "grink, gronk". 
gronk out is  vi. To cease functioning.  Of people, to go home and go   to sleep.  "I guess I'll gronk out now; see you all tomorrow."
gronked is  adj. 1. Broken.  "The teletype scanner was gronked, so   we took the system down."  2. Of people, the condition of feeling   very tired or (less commonly) sick.  "I've been chasing that bug   for 17 hours now and I am thoroughly gronked!"...
gronked2 is  same as {gronk} used of   hardware, but connotes depression or mental/emotional problems in   people. 
grovel is  vi. 1. To work interminably and without apparent progress.   Often used transitively with `over' or `through'.  "The file   scavenger has been groveling through the file directories for 10   minutes now."  Compare {grind} and {crunch}.  Em...
grovel2 is  examine minutely or in complete detail.   "The compiler grovels over the entire source program before   beginning to translate it."  "I grovelled through all the   documentation, but I still couldn't find the command I wanted." 
grunge is  /gruhnj/ n. 1. That which is grungy, or that which makes   it so.  2. [Cambridge] Code which is inaccessible due to changes in   other parts of the program.  The preferred term in North America is   {dead code}.
gubbish is  /guhb'*sh/ [a portmanteau of `garbage' and `rubbish'?]   n. Garbage; crap; nonsense.  "What is all this gubbish?"  The   opposite portmanteau `rubbage' is also reported.
guiltware is  /gilt'weir/ n. 1. A piece of {freeware} decorated   with a message telling one how long and hard the author worked on   it and intimating that one is a no-good freeloader if one does not   immediately send the poor suffering martyr gobs...
gumby is  /guhm'bee/ [from a class of Monty Python characters, poss.   themselves named after the 1960s claymation character] n. An act of   minor but conspicuous stupidity, often in `gumby maneuver' or   `pull a gumby'.
gun is  [ITS from the `GUN' command] vt. To forcibly   terminate a program or job (computer, not career).  "Some idiot   left a background process running soaking up half the cycles, so I   gunned it."  Compare {can}.
gunch is  /guhnch/ [TMRC] vt. To push, prod, or poke at a device   that has almost produced the desired result.  Implies a threat to   {mung}.
gurfle is  /ger'fl/ interj. An expression of shocked disbelief.  "He   said we have to recode this thing in FORTRAN by next week.   Gurfle!"  Compare {weeble}.
guru is  n. 1. [UNIX] An expert.  Implies not only {wizard} skill   but also a history of being a knowledge resource for others.  Less   often, used (with a qualifier) for other experts on other systems,   as in `VMS guru'.  See {source of all good b...
guru2 is  UNIX.  When the system crashes, a   cryptic message "GURU MEDITATION #XXXXXXXX.YYYYYYYY" appears,   indicating what the problem was.  An Amiga guru can figure things   out from the numbers.  Generally a {guru} event must be followed   by a ...
guru3 is  A method of `marking' common words,   i.e., calling attention to the fact that they are being used in a   nonstandard, ironic, or humorous way.  Originated in the fannish   catchphrase "Bheer is the One True Ghod!" from decades ago.   H-inf...
guru4 is  into the 1960s   counterculture via underground comix, and into early hackerdom   either from the counterculture or from SF fandom (the three overlapped   heavily at the time).  More recently, the h infix has become an   expected feature of...
guru5 is  etc.); this is prob. patterning on the original Whetstone (the name   of a laboratory) but influenced by the fannish/counterculture   h infix. 
ha ha only serious is  [from SF fandom, orig. as mutation of HHOK,   `Ha Ha Only Kidding'] A phrase (often seen abbreviated as HHOS)   that aptly captures the flavor of much hacker discourse.  Applied   especially to parodies, absurdities, and ironic...
ha ha only serious2 is  to contain a possibly disquieting amount of   truth, or truths that are constructed on in-joke and self-parody.   This lexicon contains many examples of ha-ha-only-serious in both   form and content.  Indeed, the entirety of h...
ha ha only serious3 is  ha-ha-only-serious by hackers themselves; to take it   either too lightly or too seriously marks a person as an outsider,   a {wannabee}, or in {larval stage}.  For further   enlightenment on this subject, consult any Zen mast...
hack is  1. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed,   but not well.  2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very   time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed.   3. vt. To bear emotionally or physically.  "I can...
hack2 is  something (typically a program).  In an   immediate sense "What are you doing?"  "I'm hacking TECO."   In a general (time-extended) sense "What do you do around here?"   "I hack TECO."  More generally, "I hack `foo'" is roughly   equivalent...
hack3 is  "I   hack solid-state physics."  5. vt. To pull a prank on.  See   sense 2 and {hacker} (sense 5).  6. vi. To interact with a   computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed   way.  "Whatcha up to?"  "Oh, just hacking."  7...
hack4 is  Constructions on this term abound.  They include `happy   hacking' (a farewell), `how's hacking?' (a friendly greeting   among hackers) and `hack, hack' (a fairly content-free but   friendly comment, often used as a temporary farewell).  Fo...
hack5 is   See also {neat hack},   {real hack}. 
hack attack is  [poss. by analogy with `Big Mac Attack' from ads   for the McDonald's fast-food chain; the variant `big hack attack'   is reported] n. Nearly synonymous with {hacking run}, though the   latter more strongly implies an all-nighter.
hack mode is  n. 1. What one is in when hacking, of course.  2. More   specifically, a Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem that   may be achieved when one is hacking (this is why every good hacker   is part mystic).  Ability to enter such co...
hack mode2 is  wizardliness; it is one of the most   important skills learned during {larval stage}.  Sometimes   amplified as `deep hack mode'.   Being yanked out of hack mode (see {priority interrupt}) may be   experienced as a physical shock, and ...
hack mode3 is  little habituating.  The intensity of this   experience is probably by itself sufficient explanation for the   existence of hackers, and explains why many resist being promoted   out of positions where they can code.  See also {cybersp...
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...

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

lose lose is  interj. A reply to or comment on an undesirable   situation.  "I accidentally deleted all my files!"  "Lose,   lose."
loser is  n. An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or   person.  Someone who habitually loses.  (Even winners can lose   occasionally.)  Someone who knows not and knows not that he knows   not.  Emphatic forms are `real loser', `total l...
loser2 is  loser', which would be a   contradiction in terms).  See {luser}. 
losing is  adj. Said of anything that is or causes a {lose} or   {lossage}.
loss is  n. Something (not a person) that loses; a situation in which   something is losing.  Emphatic forms include `moby loss', and   `total loss', `complete loss'.  Common interjections are   "What a loss!"  and "What a moby loss!"  Note that `mob...
loss2 is  not used; applied to an abstract   noun, moby is simply a magnifier, whereas when applied to a person   it implies substance and has positive connotations.  Compare   {lossage}. 
lossage is  /los'*j/ n. The result of a bug or malfunction.  This   is a mass or collective noun.  "What a loss!" and "What   lossage!"  are nearly synonymous.  The former is slightly more   particular to the speaker's present circumstances; the latt...
lossage2 is  speaker is currently   a victim.  Thus (for example) a temporary hardware failure is a loss,   but bugs in an important tool (like a compiler) are serious   lossage. 
lost in the noise is  adj. Syn. {lost in the underflow}.  This term   is from signal processing, where signals of very small amplitude   cannot be separated from low-intensity noise in the system.  Though   popular among hackers, it is not confined t...
lost in the noise2 is  astronomers, and statisticians all use it. 
lost in the underflow is  adj. Too small to be worth considering;   more specifically, small beyond the limits of accuracy or   measurement.  This is a reference to `floating underflow', a   condition that can occur when a floating-point arithmetic p...
lost in the underflow2 is  than its limit of magnitude.  It   is also a pun on `undertow' (a kind of fast, cold current that   sometimes runs just offshore and can be dangerous to swimmers).   "Well, sure, photon pressure from the stadium lights alte...
lost in the underflow3 is  effect gets lost in the   underflow."  See also {overflow bit}. 
lots of MIPS but no I/O is  adj. Used to describe a person who is   technically brilliant but can't seem to communicate with human   beings effectively.  Technically it describes a machine that has   lots of processing power but is bottlenecked on in...
lots of MIPS but no I/O2 is  RS/6000, is a notorious recent   example). 
low-bandwidth is  [from communication theory] adj. Used to indicate a   talk that, although not {content-free}, was not terribly   informative.  "That was a low-bandwidth talk, but what can you   expect for an audience of {suit}s!"  Compare {zero-con...
LPT is  /L-P-T/ or /lip'it/ or /lip-it'/ [MIT, via DEC] n.  Line   printer, of course.  Rare under UNIX, commoner in hackers with   MS-DOS or CP/M background.  The printer device is called   `LPT' on those systems that, like ITS, were strongly   infl...
lunatic fringe is  [IBM] n. Customers who can be relied upon to accept   release 1 versions of software.
lurker is  n. One of the `silent majority' in a electronic forum;   one who posts occasionally or not at all but is known to read the   group's postings regularly.  This term is not pejorative and indeed   is casually used reflexively "Oh, I'm just l...
lurker2 is  hypothetical audience for the group's   {flamage}-emitting regulars. 
luser is  /loo'zr/ n. A {user}; esp. one who is also a {loser}.   ({luser} and {loser} are pronounced identically.)  This word   was coined around 1975 at MIT.  Under ITS, when you first walked up   to a terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z to get the...
luser2 is  status information, including how   many people were already using the computer; it might print   "14 users", for example.  Someone thought it would be a great joke to   patch the system to print "14 losers" instead.  There ensued a   grea...
luser3 is  particularly want to   be called losers to their faces every time they used the computer.   For a while several hackers struggled covertly, each changing the   message behind the back of the others; any time you logged into the   computer ...
luser4 is  or   "losers".  Finally, someone tried the compromise "lusers", and it   stuck.  Later one of the ITS machines supported `luser' as a   request-for-help command.  ITS died the death in mid-1990, except   as a museum piece; the usage lives ...
luser5 is  seen in program comments.*M [SI] pref. (on units) suff. (on numbers) See {{quantifiers}}. 
macdink is  /mak'dink/ [from the Apple Macintosh, which is said to   encourage such behavior] vt. To make many incremental and   unnecessary cosmetic changes to a program or file.  Often the   subject of the macdinking would be better off without the...
macdink2 is  was still macdinking the   slides for his presentation."  See also {fritterware}. 
machinable is  adj. Machine-readable.  Having the {softcopy} nature.
machoflops is  /mach'oh-flops/ [pun on `megaflops', a coinage for   `millions of FLoating-point Operations Per Second'] n. Refers to   artificially inflated performance figures often quoted by computer   manufacturers.  Real applications are lucky to...
machoflops2 is  mileage may vary}, {benchmark}. 
Macintoy is  /mak'in-toy/ n. The Apple Macintosh, considered as a   {toy}.  Less pejorative than {Macintrash}.
Macintrash is  /mak'in-trash`/ n. The Apple Macintosh, as described   by a hacker who doesn't appreciate being kept away from the   *real computer* by the interface.  The term {maggotbox} has   been reported in regular use in the Research Triangle ar...
Macintrash2 is  See also {beige toaster},   {WIMP environment}, {drool-proof paper}, {user-friendly}. 
macro is  /mak'roh/ [techspeak] n. A name (possibly followed by a   formal {arg} list) that is equated to a text or symbolic   expression to which it is to be expanded (possibly with the   substitution of actual arguments) by a macro expander.  This ...
macro2 is  dictionary; what those   won't tell you is how the hackish connotations of the term have   changed over time.   The term `macro' originated in early assemblers, which encouraged   the use of macros as a structuring and information-hiding d...
macro3 is  assemblers became ubiquitous, and   sometimes quite as powerful and expensive as {HLL}s, only to fall   from favor as improving compiler technology marginalized assembler   programming (see {languages of choice}).  Nowadays the term is   m...
macro4 is  preprocessor, LISP, or one   of several special-purpose languages built around a macro-expansion   facility (such as TeX or UNIX's [nt]roff suite).   Indeed, the meaning has drifted enough that the collective   `macros' is now sometimes us...
macro5 is  application control language (whether or not the language is   actually translated by text expansion), and for macro-like entities   such as the `keyboard macros' supported in some text editors   (and PC TSR or Macintosh INIT/CDEV keyboard...
macro- is  pref. Large.  Opposite of {micro-}.  In the mainstream   and among other technical cultures (for example, medical people)   this competes with the prefix {mega-}, but hackers tend to   restrict the latter to quantification.
macrology is  /mak-rol'*-jee/ n. 1. Set of usually complex or crufty   macros, e.g., as part of a large system written in {LISP},   {TECO}, or (less commonly) assembler.  2. The art and science   involved in comprehending a macrology in sense 1.  Som...
macrology2 is  not unlike archeology,   ecology, or {theology}, hence the sound-alike construction.  See   also {boxology}. 
macrotape is  /ma'kroh-tayp/ n. An industry-standard reel of tape, as   opposed to a {microtape}.
maggotbox is  /mag'*t-boks/ n. See {Macintrash}.  This is even   more derogatory.
magic is  adj. 1. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain;   compare {automagically} and (Arthur C.) Clarke's Third Law:   "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from   magic."  "TTY echoing is controlled by a large numb...
magic2 is  computes the parity of an 8-bit   byte in three instructions."  2. Characteristic of something that   works although no one really understands why (this is especially called   {black magic}).  3. [Stanford] A feature not generally   public...
magic3 is  impossible, or a feature   formerly in that category but now unveiled.  Compare {black   magic}, {wizardly}, {deep magic}, {heavy wizardry}.   For more about hackish `magic', see appendix A. 
magic cookie is  [UNIX] n. 1. Something passed between routines or   programs that enables the receiver to perform some operation; a   capability ticket or opaque identifier.  Especially used of small   data objects that contain data encoded in a str...
magic cookie2 is   E.g., on non-UNIX OSes with a   non-byte-stream model of files, the result of `ftell(3)' may   be a magic cookie rather than a byte offset; it can be passed to   `fseek(3)', but not operated on in any meaningful way.  The   phrase ...
magic cookie3 is  a result   whose contents are not defined but which can be passed back to the   same or some other program later.  2. An in-band code for   changing graphic rendition (e.g., inverse video or underlining) or   performing other contro...
magic cookie4 is  leave a blank on the screen corresponding to mode-change magic   cookies; this was also called a {glitch}.  See also {cookie}. 
magic number is  [UNIX/C] n. 1. In source code, some non-obvious   constant whose value is significant to the operation of a program   and that is inserted inconspicuously in-line ({hardcoded}),   rather than expanded in by a symbol set by a commente...
magic number2 is  are bad style.  2. A   number that encodes critical information used in an algorithm in   some opaque way.  The classic examples of these are the numbers   used in hash or CRC functions, or the coefficients in a linear   congruentia...
magic number3 is  sense   actually predates and was ancestral to the more common sense 1.   3. Special data located at the beginning of a binary data file to   indicate its type to a utility.  Under UNIX, the system and various   applications program...
magic number4 is  types of executable file by looking for a magic number.  Once upon   a time, these magic numbers were PDP-11 branch instructions that   skipped over header data to the start of executable code; the 0407,   for example, was octal for...
magic number5 is  {wizard} knows the spells to create magic numbers.  How do   you choose a fresh magic number of your own?  Simple --- you pick   one at random.  See?  It's magic! 
magic smoke is  n. A substance trapped inside IC packages that enables   them to function (also called `blue smoke'; this is similar to   the archaic `phlogiston' hypothesis about combustion).  Its   existence is demonstrated by what happens when a c...
magic smoke2 is  out, so it doesn't work any more.  See   {smoke test}, {let the smoke out}.   USENETter Jay Maynard tells the following story: "Once, while   hacking on a dedicated Z80 system, I was testing code by blowing   EPROMs and plugging them...
magic smoke3 is  One time, I plugged one in backwards.  I only discovered that   *after* I realized that Intel didn't put power-on lights under   the quartz windows on the tops of their EPROMs --- the die was   glowing white-hot.  Amazingly, the EPRO...
magic smoke4 is  full of zeros, then erased it again.  For all I know,   it's still in service.  Of course, this is because the magic smoke   didn't get let out."  Compare the original phrasing of {Murphy's   Law}. 
main loop is  n. Software tools are often written to perform some   actions repeatedly on whatever input is handed to them, terminating   when there is no more input or they are explicitly told to go away.   In such programs, the loop that gets and p...
mainframe is  n. This term originally referred to the cabinet   containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a   room-filling {Stone Age} batch machine.  After the emergence of   smaller `minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the   tr...
mainframe2 is  as `mainframe   computers' and eventually just as mainframes.  The term carries the   connotation of a machine designed for batch rather than interactive   use, though possibly with an interactive timesharing operating   system retrofi...
mainframe3 is  built   by IBM, Unisys, and the other great {dinosaur}s surviving from   computing's {Stone Age}.   It is common wisdom among hackers that the mainframe architectural   tradition is essentially dead (outside of the tiny market for   {n...
mainframe4 is  having been   swamped by the recent huge advances in IC technology and low-cost   personal computing.  As of 1991, corporate America hasn't quite   figured this out yet, though the wave of failures, takeovers, and   mergers among tradi...
mainframe5 is    the wind (see {dinosaurs mating}). 
management is  n. 1. Corporate power elites distinguished primarily by   their distance from actual productive work and their chronic   failure to manage (see also {suit}).  Spoken derisively, as in   "*Management* decided that ...".  2. Mythically, ...
management2 is  world's minor irritations.   Hackers' satirical public notices are often signed `The Mgt'; this   derives from the `Illuminatus' novels (see the Bibliography). 
mandelbug is  /mon'del-buhg/ [from the Mandelbrot set] n. A bug   whose underlying causes are so complex and obscure as to make its   behavior appear chaotic or even non-deterministic.  This term   implies that the speaker thinks it is a {Bohr bug}, ...
manged is  /monjd/ [probably from the French `manger' or Italian   `mangiare', to eat; perhaps influenced by English n. `mange',   `mangy'] adj. Refers to anything that is mangled or damaged,   usually beyond repair.  "The disk was manged after the e...
mangle is  vt. Used similarly to {mung} or {scribble}, but more violent   in its connotations; something that is mangled has been   irreversibly and totally trashed.
mangler is  [DEC] n. A manager.  Compare {mango}; see also   {management}.  Note that {system mangler} is somewhat different   in connotation.
mango is  /mang'go/ [orig. in-house jargon at Symbolics] n. A manager.   Compare {mangler}.  See also {devo} and {doco}.
marbles is  [from mainstream "lost all his/her marbles"] pl.n. The   minimum needed to build your way further up some hierarchy of tools   or abstractions.  After a bad system crash, you need to determine   if the machine has enough marbles to come u...
marbles2 is  rebuild from backups, or if you need to rebuild   from scratch.  "This compiler doesn't even have enough marbles to   compile `Hello World'." 
marginal is  adj. 1. Extremely small.  "A marginal increase in   {core} can decrease {GC} time drastically."  In everyday   terms, this means that it is a lot easier to clean off your desk if   you have a spare place to put some of the junk while you...
marginal2 is  merit.  "This proposed new   feature seems rather marginal to me."  3. Of extremely small   probability of {win}ning.  "The power supply was rather marginal   anyway; no wonder it fried." 
Marginal Hacks is  n. Margaret Jacks Hall, a building into which the   Stanford AI Lab was moved near the beginning of the 1980s (from the   {D. C. Power Lab}).
marginally is  adv. Slightly.  "The ravs here are only marginally   better than at Small Eating Place."  See {epsilon}.
marketroid is  /mar'k*-troyd/ alt. `marketing slime',   `marketing droid', `marketeer' n. A member of a company's   marketing department, esp. one who promises users that the next   version of a product will have features that are not actually   sche...
marketroid2 is  to implement,   and/or are in violation of the laws of physics; and/or one who   describes existing features (and misfeatures) in ebullient,   buzzword-laden adspeak.  Derogatory.  Compare {droid}.*   martian: n. A packet sent on a TC...
marketroid3 is  test loopback interface [127.0.0.1].  This means   that it will come back at you labeled with a source address that   is clearly not of this earth.  "The domain server is getting lots   of packets from Mars.  Does that gateway have a ...
massage: vt. Vague term used to describe `smooth' transformations of is    a data set into a different form, esp. transformations that do   not lose information.  Connotes less pain than {munch} or {crunch}.   "He wrote a program that massages X bitm...
math-out: [poss. from `white-out' (the blizzard variety)] n. A is    paper or presentation so encrusted with mathematical or other   formal notation as to be incomprehensible.  This may be a device   for concealing the fact that it is actually {conte...
Matrix: [FidoNet] n. 1. What the Opus BBS software and sysops call is    {FidoNet}.  2. Fanciful term for a {cyberspace} expected to   emerge from current networking experiments (see {network, the}).   Some people refer to the totality of present net...
Mbogo, Dr. Fred: /*m-boh'goh, dok'tr fred/ [Stanford] n. The is    archetypal man you don't want to see about a problem, esp. an   incompetent professional; a shyster.  "Do you know a good eye   doctor?"  "Sure, try Mbogo Eye Care and Professional Dr...
Mbogo, Dr. Fred: /*m-boh'goh, dok'tr fred/ [Stanford] n. The2 is  between {bogus} and the   original Dr. Mbogo, a witch doctor who was Gomez Addams' physician   on the old "Addams Family" TV show.  See also   {fred}. 
meatware is  n. Synonym for {wetware}.  Less common.
meeces is  /mees'*z/ [TMRC] n. Occasional furry visitors who are not   {urchin}s.  [That is, mice. This may no longer be in live use; it   clearly derives from the refrain of the early-1960s cartoon character   Mr. Jinx: "I hate meeces to *pieces*!" ...
meg is  /meg/ n. See {{quantifiers}}.
mega- is  /me'g*/ [SI] pref. See {{quantifiers}}.
megapenny is  /meg'*-pen`ee/ n. $10,000 (1 cent * 10^6).   Used semi-humorously as a unit in comparing computer cost and   performance figures.
MEGO is  /me'goh/ or /mee'goh/ [`My Eyes Glaze Over', often `Mine Eyes   Glazeth (sic) Over', attributed to the futurologist Herman Kahn]   Also `MEGO factor'.  1. n. A {handwave} intended to confuse the   listener and hopefully induce agreement beca...
MEGO2 is  not understanding what is going on.  MEGO is   usually directed at senior management by engineers and contains a   high proportion of {TLA}s.  2. excl. An appropriate response to   MEGO tactics.  3. Among non-hackers this term often refers ...
MEGO3 is  glaze, but to the eye-glazing   reaction itself, which may be triggered by the mere threat of   technical detail as effectively as by an actual excess of it. 
meltdown, network is  n.  See {network meltdown}.
meme is  /meem/ [coined on analogy with `gene' by Richard   Dawkins] n. An idea considered as a {replicator}, esp. with   the connotation that memes parasitize people into propagating them   much as viruses do.  Used esp. in the phrase `meme complex'...
meme2 is  memes that form an   organized belief system, such as a religion.  This lexicon is an   (epidemiological) vector of the `hacker subculture' meme complex;   each entry might be considered a meme.  However, `meme' is often   misused to mean `...
meme3 is  acceptance of the idea that in humans (and presumably other tool-   and language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of   adaptive ideas has superseded biological evolution by selection of   hereditary traits.  Hackers find this...
meme plague is  n. The spread of a successful but pernicious {meme},   esp. one that parasitizes the victims into giving their all to   propagate it.  Astrology, BASIC, and the other guy's religion are   often considered to be examples.  This usage i...
meme plague2 is  `joiner' ideologies like Naziism or various   forms of millennarian Christianity have exhibited plague-like cycles   of exponential growth followed by collapses to small reservoir   populations. 
memetics is  /me-met'iks/ [from {meme}] The study of memes.  As of   mid-1991, this is still an extremely informal and speculative   endeavor, though the first steps towards at least statistical rigor   have been made by H. Keith Henson and others.  ...
memetics2 is  among hackers, who like to see   themselves as the architects of the new information ecologies in   which memes live and replicate. 
memory leak is  n. An error in a program's dynamic-store allocation   logic that causes it to fail to reclaim discarded memory, leading   to eventual collapse due to memory exhaustion.  Also (esp. at   CMU) called {core leak}.  See {aliasing bug}, {f...
memory leak2 is  {precedence lossage}, {overrun   screw}, {leaky heap}, {leak}. 
menuitis is  /men`yoo-i:'tis/ n. Notional disease suffered by software   with an obsessively simple-minded menu interface and no escape.   Hackers find this intensely irritating and much prefer the   flexibility of command-line or language-style inte...
menuitis2 is  macros or a special-purpose   language in which one can encode useful hacks.  See   {user-obsequious}, {drool-proof paper}, {WIMP environment},   {for the rest of us}. 
mess-dos is  /mes-dos/ n. Derisory term for MS-DOS.  Often followed   by the ritual banishing "Just say No!"  See {{MS-DOS}}.  Most   hackers (even many MS-DOS hackers) loathe MS-DOS for its   single-tasking nature, its limits on application size, it...
mess-dos2 is  IBMness (see {fear and   loathing}).  Also `mess-loss', `messy-dos', `mess-dog',   `mess-dross', `mush-dos', and various combinations thereof.  In   Ireland and the U.K. it is even sometimes called `Domestos' after a   brand of toilet c...
meta is  /me't*/ or /may't*/ or (Commonwealth) /mee't*/ [from   analytic philosophy] adj.,pref. One level of description up.   A meta-syntactic variable is a variable in notation used to describe   syntax, and meta-language is language used to descri...
meta2 is  briefly, but much hacker humor turns   on deliberate confusion between meta-levels.  See {{Humor,   Hacker}}. 
meta bit is  n. The top bit of an 8-bit character, which is on in   character values 128--255.  Also called {high bit}, {alt bit},   or {hobbit}.  Some terminals and consoles (see {space-cadet   keyboard}) have a META shift key.  Others (including,  ...
meta bit2 is  machines) have an   ALT key.  See also {bucky bits}. 
MFTL is  /M-F-T-L/ [acronym: `My Favorite Toy Language'] 1. adj.   Describes a talk on a programming language design that is heavy on   the syntax (with lots of BNF), sometimes even talks about semantics   (e.g., type systems), but rarely, if ever, h...
MFTL2 is  broadly applied to talks --- even when   the topic is not a programming language --- in which the subject   matter is gone into in unnecessary and meticulous detail at the   sacrifice of any conceptual content.  "Well, it was a typical MFTL...
MFTL3 is  which the developers are   passionate (often to the point of prosyletic zeal) but no one else   cares about.  Applied to the language by those outside the   originating group.  "He cornered me about type resolution in his   MFTL."   The fir...
MFTL4 is  MFTL is   usually to write a compiler for it, then bootstrap the design away   from contamination by lesser languages by writing a compiler for it   in itself.  Thus, the standard put-down question at an MFTL talk is   "Has it been used for...
MFTL5 is  other hand, a language that *cannot* be used to write   its own compiler is beneath contempt... 
mickey is  n. The resolution unit of mouse movement.  It has been   suggested that the `disney' will become a benchmark unit for   animation graphics performance.
mickey mouse program is  n. North American equivalent of a {noddy}   (that is, trivial) program.  Doesn't necessarily have the   belittling connotations of mainstream slang "Oh, that's just   mickey mouse stuff!"; sometimes trivial programs can be ve...
micro- is  pref. 1. Very small; this is the root of its use as a   quantifier prefix.  2. A quantifier prefix, calling for   multiplication by 10^{-6} (see {{quantifiers}}).  Neither   of these uses is peculiar to hackers, but hackers tend to fling  ...
micro-2 is  countenanced in   standard English.  It is recorded, for example, that one   CS professor used to characterize the standard length of his   lectures as a microcentury --- that is, about 52.6 minutes (see   also {attoparsec}, {nanoacre}, a...
micro-3 is  or human-scale --- that is,   capable of being maintained or comprehended or manipulated by one   human being.  This sense is generalized from `microcomputer',   and is esp. used in contrast with `macro-' (the corresponding   Greek prefix...
micro-4 is  global (or   {macro-}).  Thus a hacker might say that buying a smaller car to   reduce pollution only solves a microproblem; the macroproblem of   getting to work might be better solved by using mass transit,   moving to within walking di...
micro-5 is  microfloppies n. 3.5-inch floppies, as opposed to 5.25-inch   {vanilla} or mini-floppies and the now-obsolete 8-inch variety.   This term may be headed for obsolescence as 5.25-inchers pass out   of use, only to be revived if anybody floa...
micro-6 is  {stiffy}, {minifloppies}. 
microfortnight is  n. About 1.2 sec. The VMS operating system has a   lot of tuning parameters that you can set with the SYSGEN utility,   and one of these is TIMEPROMPTWAIT, the time the system will wait   for an operator to set the correct date and...
microfortnight2 is  current value is bogus.  This time is specified   in microfortnights! 
microLenat is  /mi:-kroh-len'-*t/ n. See {bogosity}.
microReid is  /mi:'kroh-reed/ n. See {bogosity}.
Microsloth Windows is  /mi:'kroh-sloth` win'dohz/ n. Hackerism for   `Microsoft Windows', a windowing system for the IBM-PC which is so   limited by bug-for-bug compatibility with {mess-dos} that it is   agonizingly slow on anything less than a fast ...
microtape is  /mi:'kroh-tayp/ n. Occasionally used to mean a   DECtape, as opposed to a {macrotape}.  A DECtape is a small   reel, about 4 inches in diameter, of magnetic tape about an inch   wide.  Unlike drivers for today's {macrotape}s, microtape ...
microtape2 is  therefore could be   used to support file systems and even for swapping (this was   generally done purely for {hack value}, as they were far too   slow for practical use).  In their heyday they were used in pretty   much the same ways ...
microtape3 is  portable way to save and transport files and programs.  Apparently   the term `microtape' was actually the official term used within   DEC for these tapes until someone coined the word `DECtape',   which, of course, sounded sexier to t...
middle-endian is  adj. Not {big-endian} or {little-endian}.   Used of perverse byte orders such as 3-4-1-2 or 2-1-4-3,   occasionally found in the packed-decimal formats of minicomputer   manufacturers who shall remain nameless.  See {NUXI problem}.
milliLampson is  /mil'*-lamp`sn/ n. A unit of talking speed,   abbreviated mL.  Most people run about 200 milliLampsons.  Butler   Lampson (a CS theorist and systems implementor highly regarded   among hackers) goes at 1000.  A few people speak faste...
milliLampson2 is  the (sometimes widely disparate) rates   at which people can generate ideas and actually emit them in   speech.  For example, noted computer architect C. Gordon Bell   (designer of the PDP-11) is said, with some awe, to think at abo...
milliLampson3 is  frequently reduced to   fragments of sentences as his mouth tries to keep up with his   speeding brain. 
minifloppies is  n. 5.25-inch {vanilla} floppy disks, as opposed to   3.5-inch or {microfloppies} and the now-obsolescent 8-inch   variety.  At one time, this term was a trademark of Shugart   Associates for their SA-400 minifloppy drive.  Nobody pai...
MIPS is  /mips/ [acronym] n. 1. A measure of computing speed;   formally, `Million Instructions Per Second' (that's 10^6   per second, not 2^{20}!); often rendered by hackers as   `Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed' or in other   unflattering...
MIPS2 is  attitude   about the value of most {benchmark} claims, said attitude being   one of the great cultural divides between hackers and   {marketroid}s.  The singular is sometimes `1 MIP' even though   this is clearly etymologically wrong.  See ...
MIPS3 is  especially large computers, considered   abstractly as sources of {computron}s.  "This is just a   workstation; the heavy MIPS are hidden in the basement."  3. The   corporate name of a particular RISC-chip company; among other   things, th...
MIPS4 is  3100   workstation series.  4. Acronym for `Meaningless Information per   Second' (a joke, prob. from sense 1). 
misbug is  /mis-buhg/ [MIT] n. An unintended property of a program   that turns out to be useful; something that should have been a   {bug} but turns out to be a {feature}.  Usage: rare.  Compare   {green lightning}. See {miswart}.
misfeature is  /mis-fee'chr/ or /mis'fee`chr/ n. A feature that   eventually causes lossage, possibly because it is not adequate for   a new situation which has evolved.  It is not the same as a bug,   because fixing it involves a substantial philoso...

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

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...
semi2 is  "Semi-immediately." (That is, maybe not for an hour.)  "We did   consider that possibility semi-seriously."  See also   {infinite}. 
semi-infinite is  n. See {infinite}.
senior bit is  [IBM] n. Syn. {meta bit}.
server is  n. A kind of {daemon} that performs a service for the   requester and which often runs on a computer other than the one on   which the server runs.  A particularly common term on the Internet,   which is rife with `name servers', `domain s...
SEX is  /seks/ [Sun Users' Group & elsewhere] n. 1. Software   EXchange.  A technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of   millions of years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been   terribly slow up until then.  Today, SEX parties ...
SEX2 is  course, these are no longer limited to   exchanges of genetic software).  In general, SEX parties are a   {Good Thing}, but unprotected SEX can propagate a {virus}.   See also {pubic directory}.  2. The rather Freudian mnemonic   often used ...
SEX3 is  the   PDP-11 and many other architectures.   DEC's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used the   `SEX' mnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once)   marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change.  That wasn't the last   time th...
SEX4 is  8086   Primer', who was one of the original designers of the 8086, noted   that there was originally a `SEX' instruction on that   processor, too.  He says that Intel management got cold feet and   decreed that it be changed, and thus the in...
SEX5 is  (depending on what was being extended).   Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in IBM PC   keyboards) is also missing straight `SEX' but has logical-or   and logical-and instructions `ORL' and `ANL'.   The Motorola 6809, used ...
SEX6 is  actually had an official `SEX' instruction; the 6502   in the Apple II it competed with did not.  British hackers thought   this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was commonly   observed, you could have sex with a dragon, but you can'...
sex changer is  n. Syn. {gender mender}.
shareware is  /sheir'weir/ n. {Freeware} (sense 1) for which the   author requests some payment, usually in the accompanying   documentation files or in an announcement made by the software   itself.  Such payment may or may not buy additional suppor...
shelfware is  /shelfweir/ n. Software purchased on a whim (by an   individual user) or in accordance with policy (by a corporation or   government agency), but not actually required for any particular use.   Therefore, it often ends up on some shelf.
shell is  [orig. {{Multics}} techspeak, widely propagated via UNIX] n.   1. [techspeak] The command interpreter used to pass commands to an   operating system; so called because it is the part of the operating   system that interfaces with the outsid...
shell2 is  program that mediates access to a special resource   or {server} for convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for   this meaning, the usage is usually `a shell around' whatever.   This sort of program is also called a `wrapper'. 
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}.

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

wave a dead chicken is  v. To perform a ritual in the direction of   crashed software or hardware that one believes to be futile but   is nevertheless necessary so that others are satisfied that an   appropriate degree of effort has been expended.  "...
wave a dead chicken2 is  code, but I really think we've run into an   OS bug."  Compare {voodoo programming}, {rain dance}. 
weasel is  n. [Cambridge] A na"ive user, one who deliberately or   accidentally does things that are stupid or ill-advised.  Roughly   synonymous with {loser}.
wedged is  [from a common description of recto-cranial inversion] adj.   1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding without help.  This is   different from having crashed.  If the system has crashed, then it   has become totally non-functioning.  If the...
wedged2 is  something but cannot make progress; it may be capable   of doing a few things, but not be fully operational.  For example,   a process may become wedged if it {deadlock}s with another (but   not all instances of wedging are deadlocks).  B...
wedged3 is  {hung}.  See also {gronk}, {locked   up}, {hosed}.  Describes a {deadlock}ed condition.  2. Often   refers to humans suffering misconceptions.  "He's totally wedged   --- he's convinced that he can levitate through meditation."   3. [UNIX...
wedged4 is  TTY left in   a losing state by abort of a screen-oriented program or one that   has messed with the line discipline in some obscure way. 
wedgie is  [Fairchild] n. A bug.  Prob. related to {wedged}.
wedgitude is  /wedj'i-t[y]ood/ n. The quality or state of being   {wedged}.
weeble is  /weeb'l/ [Cambridge] interj. Used to denote frustration,   usually at amazing stupidity.  "I stuck the disk in upside down."   "Weeble...." Compare {gurfle}.
weeds is  n. 1. Refers to development projects or algorithms that have   no possible relevance or practical application.  Comes from `off in   the weeds'.  Used in phrases like "lexical analysis for microcode   is serious weeds...."  2. At CDC/ETA be...
weeds2 is  weeds' was equivalent to IBM's {branch to   Fishkill} and mainstream hackerdom's {jump off into never-never   land}. 
weenie is  n. 1. When used with a qualifier (for example, as in   {UNIX weenie}, VMS weenie, IBM weenie) this can be either an   insult or a term of praise, depending on context, tone of voice,   and whether or not it is applied by a person who consi...
weenie2 is  weenie.  Implies that the weenie   has put a major investment of time, effort, and concentration into   the area indicated; whether this is positive or negative depends on   the hearer's judgment of how the speaker feels about that area. ...
weenie3 is  character, `;' (ASCII   0111011). 
Weenix is  /wee'niks/ [ITS] n. A derogatory term for {{UNIX}},   derived from {UNIX weenie}.  According to one noted ex-ITSer, it   is "the operating system preferred by Unix Weenies typified by   poor modularity, poor reliability, hard file deletion...
Weenix2 is  everywhere, and users who believe   that these are all advantages".  Some ITS fans behave as though   they believe UNIX stole a future that rightfully belonged to them.   See {{ITS}}, sense 2. 
well-behaved is  adj. 1. [primarily {{MS-DOS}}] Said of software   conforming to system interface guidelines and standards.   Well-behaved software uses the operating system to do chores such   as keyboard input, allocating memory and drawing graphic...
well-behaved2 is  does its job quietly and   without counterintuitive effects.  Esp. said of software having   an interface spec sufficiently simple and well-defined that it can   be used as a {tool} by other software. See {cat}. 
well-connected is  adj. Said of a computer installation, this means   that it has reliable email links with {the network} and/or that   it relays a large fraction of available {USENET} newsgroups.   `Well-known' can be almost synonymous, but also imp...
well-connected2 is  many (due perhaps to an archive service   or active USENET users). 
wetware is  /wet'weir/ [prob. from the novels of Rudy Rucker] n.   1. The human nervous system, as opposed to computer hardware or   software.  "Wetware has 7 plus or minus 2 temporary registers."   2. Human beings (programmers, operators, administra...
wetware2 is  opposed to the system's hardware or   software.  See {liveware}, {meatware}. 
whacker is  [University of Maryland from {hacker}] n. 1. A person,   similar to a {hacker}, who enjoys exploring the details of   programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities.   Whereas a hacker tends to produce great hacks, a whacker o...
whacker2 is  in question.  Whackers are often   quite egotistical and eager to claim {wizard} status,   regardless of the views of their peers.  2. A person who is good at   programming quickly, though rather poorly and ineptly. 
whales is  n. See {like kicking dead whales down the beach}.
wheel is  [from slang `big wheel' for a powerful person] n. A   person who has an active a {wheel bit}.  "We need to find a   wheel to un{wedge} the hung tape drives."
wheel bit is  n. A privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform   some restricted operation on a timesharing system, such as read or   write any file on the system regardless of protections, change or   look at any address in the running monito...
wheel bit2 is  create jobs and user accounts.  The term was   invented on the TENEX operating system, and carried over to   TOPS-20, XEROX-IFS, and others.  The state of being in a privileged   logon is sometimes called `wheel mode'.  This term enter...
wheel bit3 is  mid-1980s and has been gaining   popularity there (esp. at university sites).  See also {root}. 
wheel wars is  [Stanford University] A period in {larval stage}   during which student hackers hassle each other by attempting to log   each other out of the system, delete each other's files, and   otherwise wreak havoc, usually at the expense of th...
White Book is  n. Syn. {K&R}.
whizzy is  [Sun] adj. (alt. `wizzy') Describes a {cuspy} program;   one that is feature-rich and well presented.
WIBNI is  // [Bell Labs Wouldn't It Be Nice If] n. What most   requirements documents and specifications consist entirely of.   Compare {IWBNI}.
widget is  n. 1. A meta-thing.  Used to stand for a real object in   didactic examples (especially database tutorials).  Legend has it   that the original widgets were holders for buggy whips.  "But   suppose the parts list for a widget has 52 entrie...
widget2 is  user interface object in   {X} graphical user interfaces. 
wiggles is  n. [scientific computation] In solving partial differential   equations by finite difference and similar methods, wiggles are   sawtooth (up-down-up-down) oscillations at the shortest wavelength   representable on the grid.  If an algorit...
wiggles2 is  unstable waveform, so it grows to dominate the   solution.  Alternatively, stable (though inaccurate) wiggles can be   generated near a discontinuity by a Gibbs phenomenon. 
WIMP environment is  n. [acronymic from `Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing   device (or Pull-down menu)'] A graphical-user-interface-based   environment such as {X} or the Macintosh interface, as described   by a hacker who prefers command-line interfaces...
WIMP environment2 is  extensibility.  See {menuitis},   {user-obsequious}. 
win is  [MIT] 1. vi. To succeed.  A program wins if no unexpected   conditions arise, or (especially) if it sufficiently {robust} to   take exceptions in stride.  2. n. Success, or a specific instance   thereof.  A pleasing outcome.  A {feature}.  Em...
win2 is  `hyper-win' (often used   interjectively as a reply).  For some reason `suitable win' is   also common at MIT, usually in reference to a satisfactory solution   to a problem.  Oppose {lose}; see also {big win}, which isn't   quite just an in...
win big is  vi. To experience serendipity.  "I went shopping and won   big; there was a 2-for-1 sale." See {big win}.
win win is  interj. Expresses pleasure at a {win}.
Winchester is  n. Informal generic term for `floating-head'   magnetic-disk drives in which the read-write head planes over the   disk surface on an air cushion.  The name arose because the   original 1973 engineering prototype for what later became ...
Winchester2 is  volumes; 30--30 became   `Winchester' when somebody noticed the similarity to the common   term for a famous Winchester rifle (in the latter, the first 30   referred to caliber and the second to the grain weight of the   charge). 
winged comments is  n. Comments set on the same line as code, as   opposed to {boxed comments}.  In C, for example     d = sqrt(x*x + y*y);  /* distance from origin */   Generally these refer only to the action(s) taken on that line.
winkey is  n. (alt. `winkey face')  See {emoticon}.
winnage is  /win'*j/ n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or   when something is winning.
winner is  1. n. An unexpectedly good situation, program, programmer,   or person.  "So it turned out I could use a {lexer} generator   instead of hand-coding my own pattern recognizer.  What a win!"   2. `real winner' Often sarcastic, but also used ...
winner2 is  {user}). "He's a real winner --- never   reports a bug till he can duplicate it and send in an   example." 
winnitude is  /win'*-t[y]ood/ n. The quality of winning (as opposed   to {winnage}, which is the result of winning).  "Guess what?   They tweaked the microcode and now the LISP interpreter runs twice   as fast as it used to." "That's really great!  B...
winnitude2 is  a half-hour's winnage on the   next run of my program."  Perhaps curiously, the obvious antonym   `lossitude' is rare. 
wired is  n. See {hardwired}.
wirehead is  /wir'hed/ n. [prob. from SF slang for an   electrical-brain-stimulation addict] 1. A hardware hacker,   especially one who concentrates on communications hardware.  2. An   expert in local-area networks.  A wirehead can be a network   so...
wirehead2 is  ability to deal with   network hardware, down to the smallest component.  Wireheads are   known for their ability to lash up an Ethernet terminator from   spare resistors, for example. 
wish list is  n. A list of desired features or bug fixes that probably   won't get done for a long time, usually because the person   responsible for the code is too busy or can't think of a clean way   to do it.  "OK, I'll add automatic filename com...
wish list2 is  interface." Compare {tick-list features}. 
within delta of is  adj. See {delta}.
within epsilon of is  adj. See {epsilon}.
wizard is  n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software   or hardware works (that is, who {grok}s it); esp. someone who   can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency.  Someone is a   {hacker} if he or she has general hacking ability, bu...
wizard2 is  if he or she has specific detailed   knowledge of that thing.  A good hacker could become a wizard for   something given the time to study it.  2. A person who is permitted   to do things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has {wheel} ...
wizard3 is  esp. a UNIX systems   programmer.  This usage is well enough established that `UNIX   Wizard' is a recognized job title at some corporations and to most   headhunters.  See {guru}, {lord high fixer}.  See also   {deep magic}, {heavy wizar...
wizard4 is  dance}, {voodoo programming}, {wave a   dead chicken}. 
Wizard Book is  n. Hal Abelson and Jerry Sussman's `Structure   and Interpretation of Computer Programs' (MIT Press, 1984; ISBN   0-262-01077-1, an excellent computer science text used in   introductory courses at MIT.  So called because of the wizar...
Wizard Book2 is  LISP/Scheme   world. 
wizard mode is  [from {rogue}] n. A special access mode of a program or   system, usually passworded, that permits some users godlike   privileges.  Generally not used for operating systems themselves   (`root mode' or `wheel mode' would be used inst...
wizardly is  adj. Pertaining to wizards.  A wizardly {feature} is one   that only a wizard could understand or use properly.
womb box is  n. 1. [TMRC] Storage space for equipment.  2. [proposed]   A variety of hard-shell equipment case with heavy interior padding   and/or shaped carrier cutouts in a foam-rubber matrix; mundanely   called a `flight case'.  Used for delicate...
WOMBAT is  [Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time] adj. Applied to problems   which are both profoundly {uninteresting} in themselves and   unlikely to benefit anyone interesting even if solved.  Often used   in fanciful constructions such as `wrestling w...
WOMBAT2 is  {SMOP}.  Also note the rather different   usage as a meta-syntactic variable in {{Commonwealth Hackish}}. 
wonky is  /wong'kee/ [from Australian slang] adj. Yet another   approximate synonym for {broken}.  Specifically connotes a   malfunction that produces behavior seen as crazy, humorous, or   amusingly perverse.  "That was the day the printer's font lo...
wonky2 is  out in Tengwar."  Also in   `wonked out'.  See {funky}, {demented}, {bozotic}. 
workaround is  n. A temporary {kluge} inserted in a system under   development or test in order to avoid the effects of a {bug} or   {misfeature} so that work can continue.  Theoretically,   workarounds are always replaced by {fix}es; in practice,   ...
workaround2 is  workarounds in the   first couple of releases.  "The code died on NUL characters in the   input, so I fixed it to interpret them as spaces."  "That's not a   fix, that's a workaround!" 
working as designed is  [IBM] adj. 1. In conformance to a wrong or   inappropriate specification; useful, but misdesigned.   2. Frequently used as a sardonic comment on a program's utility.   3. Unfortunately also used as a bogus reason for not accep...
working as designed2 is  this sense is used in   official documents!  See {BAD}. 
worm is  [from `tapeworm' in John Brunner's novel `The   Shockwave Rider', via XEROX PARC] n. A program that propagates   itself over a network, reproducing itself as it goes.  Compare   {virus}.  Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it is...
worm2 is  Perhaps the   best-known example was Robert T. Morris's `Internet Worm' of 1988,   a `benign' one that got out of control and hogged hundreds of   Suns and VAXen across the U.S.  See also {cracker}, {RTM},   {Trojan horse}, {ice}. 
wound around the axle is  adj. In an infinite loop.  Often used by older   computer types.
wrap around is  vi. (also n. `wraparound' and v. shorthand `wrap')   1. [techspeak] The action of a counter that starts over at zero or at   `minus infinity' (see {infinity}) after its maximum value has   been reached, and continues incrementing, eit...
wrap around2 is  because of an overflow (as when a car's   odometer starts over at 0).  2. To change {phase} gradually and   continuously by maintaining a steady wake-sleep cycle somewhat   longer than 24 hours, e.g., living six long (28-hour) days i...
wrap around3 is  rate of 10 microhertz). 
write-only code is  [a play on `read-only memory'] n. Code so   arcane, complex, or ill-structured that it cannot be modified or   even comprehended by anyone but its author, and possibly not even   by him/her.  A {Bad Thing}.
write-only language is  n. A language with syntax (or semantics)   sufficiently dense and bizarre that any routine of significant size   is {write-only code}.  A sobriquet applied occasionally to C and   often to APL, though {INTERCAL} and {TECO} cer...
write-only memory is  n. The obvious antonym to `read-only   memory'.  Out of frustration with the long and seemingly useless   chain of approvals required of component specifications, during   which no actual checking seemed to occur, an engineer at...
write-only memory2 is  a write-only memory and included   it with a bunch of other specifications to be approved.  This   inclusion came to the attention of Signetics {management} only   when regular customers started calling and asking for pricing  ...
write-only memory3 is  edition of the data   book and requested the return of the `erroneous' ones.  Later,   around 1974, Signetics bought a double-page spread in `Electronics'   magazine's April issue and used the spec as an April Fools' Day   joke...
write-only memory4 is  characteristic curves, the   25120 "fully encoded, 9046 x N, Random Access, write-only-memory"   data sheet included diagrams of "bit capacity vs. Temp.",   "Iff vs. Vff", "Number of pins remaining vs. number of socket   insert...
write-only memory5 is  required a   6.3 VAC VFF supply, a +10V VCC, and VDD of 0V,   +/- 2%. 
Wrong Thing is  n. A design, action, or decision that is clearly   incorrect or inappropriate.  Often capitalized; always emphasized   in speech as if capitalized.  The opposite of the {Right Thing};   more generally, anything that is not the Right T...
Wrong Thing2 is  of the best', the merely good --- although   good --- is nevertheless the Wrong Thing. "In C, the default is for   module-level declarations to be visible everywhere, rather than   just within the module.  This is clearly the Wrong T...
wugga wugga is  /wuh'g* wuh'g*/ n. Imaginary sound that a computer   program makes as it labors with a tedious or difficult task.   Compare {cruncha cruncha cruncha}, {grind} (sense 4).
WYSIWYG is  /wiz'ee-wig/ adj. Describes a user interface under which   "What You See Is What You Get", as opposed to one that uses   more-or-less obscure commands which do not result in immediate   visual feedback.  The term can be mildly derogatory,...
WYSIWYG2 is  {user-friendly} interfaces targeted   at non-programmers; a hacker has no fear of obscure commands.   On the other hand, EMACS was one of the very first WYSIWYG editors,   replacing (actually, at first overlaying) the extremely obscure, ...
WYSIWYG3 is  environment}.  [Oddly   enough, this term has already made it into the OED. --- ESR]*X /X/ n. 1. Used in various speech and writing contexts (also   in lowercase) in roughly its algebraic sense of `unknown within a   set defined by conte...
WYSIWYG4 is  680x0 stands for 68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, or 68040, and 80x86   stands for 80186, 80286 80386 or 80486 (note that a UNIX hacker   might write these as 680[0-4]0 and 80[1-4]86 or 680?0 and 80?86   respectively; see {glob}).  2. [after ...
WYSIWYG5 is  `W'] An over-sized, over-featured,   over-engineered and incredibly over-complicated window system   developed at MIT and widely used on UNIX systems. 
XOFF is  /X'of/ n. Syn. {control-s}.
xor is  /X'or/, /kzor/ conj. Exclusive or.  `A xor B' means   `A or B, but not both'.  "I want to get cherry pie xor a   banana split."  This derives from the technical use of the term as   a function on truth-values that is true if exactly one of it...
xref is  /X'ref/ vt., n. Hackish standard abbreviation for   `cross-reference'.
XXX is  /X-X-X/ n. A marker that attention is needed.   Commonly used in program comments to indicate areas that are kluged   up or need to be.  Some hackers liken `XXX' to the notional   heavy-porn movie rating.
xyzzy is  /X-Y-Z-Z-Y/, /X-Y-ziz'ee/, /ziz'ee/, or /ik-ziz'ee/   [from the ADVENT game] adj.  The {canonical} `magic word'.   This comes from {ADVENT}, in which the idea is to explore an   underground cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures ...
xyzzy2 is  appropriate time, you can   move instantly between two otherwise distant points.  If, therefore,   you encounter some bit of {magic}, you might remark on this   quite succinctly by saying simply "Xyzzy!"  "Ordinarily you   can't look at so...
xyzzy3 is  if   you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system will let you do it   anyway."  "Xyzzy!"  Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an   undocumented no-op command on several OSes; in Data General's   AOS/VS, for example, it would typically res...
xyzzy4 is  if the magic was invoked at the   wrong spot or before a player had performed the action that enabled   the word.  See also {plugh}. 
YA- is  [Yet Another] abbrev. In hackish acronyms this almost   invariably expands to {Yet Another}, following the precedent set   by UNIX `yacc(1)'.  See {YABA}.
YABA is  /ya'b*/ [Cambridge] n. Yet Another Bloody Acronym.  Whenever   some program is being named, someone invariably suggests that it be   given a name that is acronymic.  The response from those with a   trace of originality is to remark ironical...
YABA2 is  `YABA-compatible'.  Also used in response to questions   like "What is WYSIWYG?"  See also {TLA}. 
YAUN is  /yawn/ [Acronym for `Yet Another UNIX Nerd'] n. Reported   from the San Diego Computer Society (predominantly a microcomputer   users' group) as a good-natured punning insult aimed at UNIX   zealots.
Yellow Book is  [proposed] n. The print version of this Jargon File;   `The New Hacker's Dictionary', forthcoming from MIT Press,   1991.  Includes all the material in the File, plus a Foreword by   Guy L.  Steele and a Preface by Eric S. Raymond.  M...
Yellow Book2 is  typeset and includes almost all of the   infamous Crunchly cartoons by the Great Quux, each attached to an   appropriate entry. 
Yet Another is  adj. [From UNIX's `yacc(1)', `Yet Another Compiler-   Compiler', a LALR parser generator]  1. Of your own work A humorous   allusion often used in titles to acknowledge that the topic is not   original, though the content is.  As in `...
Yet Another2 is  Simulated Annealing Algorithm'.  2. Of others'   work Describes something of which there are far too many.  See   also {YA-}, {YABA}, {YAUN}. 
You are not expected to understand this is  cav. [UNIX] The canonical   comment describing something {magic} or too complicated to   bother explaining properly.  From an infamous comment in the   context-switching code of the V6 UNIX kernel.
You know you've been hacking too long when... is  The set-up line   for a genre of one-liners told by hackers about themselves.  These   include the following   * not only do you check your email more often than your paper     mail, but you remember ...
You know you've been hacking too long when...2 is  postal one.   * your {SO} kisses you on the neck and the first thing you     think is "Uh, oh, {priority interrupt}."   * you go to balance your checkbook and discover that you're     doing it in oct...
You know you've been hacking too long when...3 is  value than your car.   * in your universe, `round numbers' are powers of 2, not 10.   * more than once, you have woken up recalling a dream in     some programming language.   * you realize you have ...
You know you've been hacking too long when...4 is  early version of this entry said "All but one of these   have been reliably reported as hacker traits (some of them quite   often).  Even hackers may have trouble spotting the ringer."  The   ringer ...
You know you've been hacking too long when...5 is  made up out   of whole cloth.  Although more respondents picked that one   out as fiction than any of the others, I also received multiple   independent reports of its actually happening. --- ESR] 
Your mileage may vary is  cav. [from the standard disclaimer attached   to EPA mileage ratings by American car manufacturers] 1. A ritual   warning often found in UNIX freeware distributions.  Translates   roughly as "Hey, I tried to write this porta...