Amethyst

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bogtk => <reply> $who, The back orifice client with a gtk interface. URL: http://www.execulink.com/~mdarling/bogtk/index.html
Bomb => <reply> $who, automatic interactive visual stimulation. URL: http://draves.org/bomb
Bomb  Bomb => <reply> $who, A high-speed clone of bomberman. URL: http://david.fauthoux.free.fr/
Bomb Squad => <reply> $who, Team17's worms like game. URL: http://members.xoom.com/kbrlek/bombs.html
Bond => <reply> $who, Distributed object system, agent framework. URL: http://bond.cs.purdue.edu/
Bookmark Daemon => <reply> $who, Bookmark server.. URL: http://www.thestuff.net/bob/projects/bookmarkd/
bookmarker => <reply> $who, WWW based bookmark manager. URL: http://renaghan.com/pcr/bookmarker.html
bookmng => <reply> $who, Turn netscape bookmarks into html files. URL: http://www.math.tau.ac.il/~sariel/misc/bookmng.html
BookShelf => <reply> $who, A how to do a automatic generated, dynamically Table Documentation. URL: http://www.delec.com/is/products/prep/examples/BookShelf/
BookStore => <reply> $who, Remote bookmark management via web on a UNIX server.. URL: http://www.arches.uga.edu/~kledford/
BOOM => <reply> $who, The World's First Linux-Only Modification For Quake 2. URL: http://fragland.net/boom/
BootLogo => <reply> $who, A bootmessage generator for Lilo-colors. URL: http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/LostEden/html/bootlogo.html
bootpc => <reply> $who, Boot protocol client. URL: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/linux/bootpc/
boscript => <reply> $who, A scriptable interface library to the Back Orifice Server. URL: http://blevins.simplenet.com/boscript
botnet => <reply> $who, Communication package for making IRC bots (or even clients). URL: http://zekiller.skytech.org
Bots => <reply> $who, . URL: http://studenti.ing.unipi.it/~s198977/bots.html
BottleRocket => <reply> $who, command-line X10 FireCracker control software. URL: http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm
boust => <reply> $who, A Tcl/Tk text reader for Linux that formats text in boustrophedon.. URL: http://www.vis.colostate.edu/~traevoli/boust/
boxes => <reply> $who, Draws any kind of box around some given text. URL: http://home.pages.de/~jensen/boxes/
BP6mon => <reply> $who, GTK app displaying temperatures, voltages and fans speed of an Abit BP6.. URL: http://goupil.linuxfr.org/downloads/
bpowerd => <reply> $who, UPS line monitor daemon for Best Patriot power supplies. URL: http://www.ccraig.org/bpowerd/

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

DDUpdate => <reply> $who, A cross-platform update client for dyndns.org's DynamicDNS Service. URL: http://www.michigannet.com/~rbb/ddupdate/
dea => <reply> $who, Encryption library and utility. URL: http://www.neuss.netsurf.de/~malteuhl/crypt/dea.html
Dead Link Check => <reply> $who, Finds information on validity of HTTP references.. URL: http://www.loria.fr/~michel/DLC/
debauch => <reply> $who, Memory debugging library that doesn't require recompiling executables. URL: http://quorum.tamu.edu/jon/gnu/
Debian GNU/Linux => <reply> $who, The Universal Operating System. URL: http://www.debian.org/
Deception Toolkit => <reply> $who, Gives defenders acouple of orders of magnitude advantage over attackers. URL: http://all.net/dtk/dtk.html
DECnet for Linux => <reply> $who, DECnet socket layer and applications. URL: http://linux.dreamtime.org/decnet/
defcon.epplet => <reply> $who, A system load monitor epplet.. URL: http://infinity.powertie.org/epplet/defcon.shtml
Defendguin => <reply> $who, A Linux-themed Defender clone.. URL: http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/defendguin/
Defkon 17 => <reply> $who, Realtime Strategy game. URL: http://members.xoom.com/p_guehring/dev_neu.019991104.tgz
defrag => <reply> $who, Filesystem defragmenter for Linux filesystems. URL: ftp://linux.dcs.ed.ac.uk/pub/linux/defrag/
Dejafilter => <reply> $who, Content-filtering CGI-based proxy script for Deja.com queries. URL: http://industrialsoftworks.com/dejafilter.php3
DejaSearch => <reply> $who, DejaSearch is a frontend to DejaNews, the leading Usenet archive. URL: http://homemade.hypermart.net/dejasearch/
Delay => <reply> $who, Delay is like sleep, but with a count of time left.. URL: http://onegeek.org/~tom/software/delay/
DeleGate => <reply> $who, Multi-purpose application level gateway (proxy). URL: http://wall.etl.go.jp/delegate/
Deliver => <reply> $who, . URL: http://www.pobox.com/~chip/
demcd => <reply> $who, CDPlayer for Linux. URL: http://demcd.virtualave.net/
dennis => <reply> $who, Automated DNS builder. URL: http://www.carumba.com/code/dennis/
Dents => <reply> $who, Well-designed nameserver which aims to be completely standards comformant. URL: http://www.dents.org/
dep.pl => <reply> $who, Check dependencies of multiple files.. URL: http://home.lonyay.edu.hu/~mhp/dep/
Deskmate! => <reply> $who, A new and improved Desktop friend to keep you company. URL: http://kijo.net/linux.shtml

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

DynDNS => <reply> $who, Dynamic DNS server. URL: http://dyn.stech.net/
Dynip.expet => <reply> $who, Expect script to update a web page with your IP address.. URL: http://www.loop.com/~vipvop/dyn.html
dynipserv => <reply> $who, Dynamic IP Server. URL: http://www.my-linux.org/~doubt/
E*Reminders => <reply> $who, Web-based reminder software. URL: http://allie.alliedtours.com/~eremind/EReminder.html
E-Data => <reply> $who, . URL: http://www.adventia.com/e-data.htm
E-Grail => <reply> $who, Server-side Web Content Management Software. URL: http://www.egrail.com/
E-SETImon => <reply> $who, SETI@home progress monitor epplet. URL: http://home.dmv.com/~bcw/epplet.html
e-smith server and gateway => <reply> $who, Open-source software that converts a PC into a Linux Internet server. URL: http://www.e-smith.net/
E10-KL10 => <reply> $who, PDP-10 (KL10) emulator. URL: http://bony.umtec.com/pdp10.html
e2compr => <reply> $who, Transparent compression for ext2 filesystem. URL: http://debs.fuller.edu/e2compr/
e2defrag => <reply> $who, EXT2 filesystem defragmenter.. URL: ftp://skool.penguinpowered.com/pub/e2defrag/e2defrag-0.71.tar.gz
e2fsprogs => <reply> $who, Ext2 Filesystem Utilities. URL: http://web.mit.edu/tytso/www/linux/e2fsprogs.html
Eagle => <reply> $who, Eagle EDA Software for Linux. URL: http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
Eaglesp3 => <reply> $who, Spice3 simulation upgrade and library for the CadSoft Eagle layout system. URL: ftp://ftp.cadsoft.de/pub/userfiles/eaglesp3-0.99e.tgz
EAPSampler => <reply> $who, A driver for Aug1996 Electronics Australia Pocket Sampler Kit. URL: http://nexus.ay.com.au/junk/sampler/sampler-1.0k/
Easy TcpIp library => <reply> $who, TCP/IP developer library. URL: http://members.xoom.com/mgornstein/
Easy-Sniffer => <reply> $who, Easy dynamic sniffer. URL: http://redirect.to/mg/
EasyGTK => <reply> $who, Wrapper library for GTK. URL: http://devplanet.fastethernet.net/EasyGTK/
EasyNet => <reply> $who, Lightweight C++ TCP/IP stream class library. URL: http://www.pressenter.com/~3nelsons/joecode/
Easysoft JDBC-ODBC Bridge => <reply> $who, Provides JDBC Access for Java Applets/Applications to ODBC Data Sources. URL: http://beta.easysoft.com/
EasyStat => <reply> $who, EasyStat is a statistical application for web pages.. URL: http://www.easystat.net/

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

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}.

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

forum is  n. [USENET, GEnie CI$; pl. `fora' or `forums'] Any   discussion group accessible through a dial-in {BBS}, a   {mailing list}, or a {newsgroup} (see {network, the}).  A   forum functions much like a bulletin board; users submit   {posting}s ...
forum2 is  Contrast   real-time chat via {talk mode} or point-to-point personal   {email}. 
fossil is  n. 1. In software, a misfeature that becomes understandable   only in historical context, as a remnant of times past retained so   as not to break compatibility.  Example the retention of octal as   default base for string escapes in {C}, ...
fossil2 is  to ASCII and modern byte-addressable   architectures.  See {dusty deck}.  2. More restrictively, a   feature with past but no present utility.  Example the   force-all-caps (LCASE) bits in the V7 and {BSD} UNIX tty driver,   designed for ...
fossil3 is  of the   usual backward-compatibility goal, this functionality has actually   been expanded and renamed in some later {USG UNIX} releases as   the IUCLC and OLCUC bits.  3. The FOSSIL (Fido/Opus/Seadog   Standard Interface Level) driver s...
fossil4 is  replace the {brain-dead} routines in the IBM PC ROMs.   Fossils are used by most MS-DOS {BBS} software in lieu of   programming the {bare metal} of the serial ports, as the ROM   routines do not support interrupt-driven operation or setti...
fossil5 is  specification allows   additional functionality to be hooked in, drivers that use the   {hook} but do not provide serial-port access themselves are named   with a modifier, as in `video fossil'. 
four-color glossies is  1. Literature created by {marketroid}s   that allegedly containing technical specs but which is in fact as   superficial as possible without being totally {content-free}.   "Forget the four-color glossies, give me the tech ref...
four-color glossies2 is  superficiality even when the   material is printed on ordinary paper in black and white.   Four-color-glossy manuals are *never* useful for finding a   problem.  2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual pages that don't   con...
four-color glossies3 is  program doesn't   produce the expected or desired output. 
fragile is  adj. Syn {brittle}.
fred is  n. 1. The personal name most frequently used as a   metasyntactic variable (see {foo}).  Allegedly popular because   it's easy for a non-touch-typist to type on a standard QWERTY   keyboard.  Unlike {J. Random Hacker} or `J. Random Loser',  ...
fred2 is  (but see {Mbogo,   Dr. Fred}).  2. An acronym for `Flipping Ridiculous Electronic   Device'; other F-verbs may be substituted for `flipping'. 
frednet is  /fred'net/ n. Used to refer to some {random} and   uncommon protocol encountered on a network.  "We're implementing   bridging in our router to solve the frednet problem."
freeware is  n. Free software, often written by enthusiasts and   distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local   bulletin boards, {USENET}, or other electronic media.  At one   time, `freeware' was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the...
freeware2 is  program PC-TALK III.  It wasn't   enforced after his mysterious disappearance and presumed death   in 1984.  See {shareware}. 
freeze is  v. To lock an evolving software distribution or document   against changes so it can be released with some hope of stability.   Carries the strong implication that the item in question will   `unfreeze' at some future date.  "OK, fix that ...
freeze2 is  are more specific constructions on this.  A `feature freeze',   for example, locks out modifications intended to introduce new   features; a `code freeze' connotes no more changes at all.   At Sun Microsystems and elsewhere, one may also ...
freeze3 is  an almost-but-not-quite frozen state. 
fried is  adj. 1. Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out.   Especially used of hardware brought down by a `power glitch' (see   {glitch}), {drop-outs}, a short, or some other electrical   event.  (Sometimes this literally happens to electroni...
fried2 is  burn out and transformers can melt   down, emitting noxious smoke.  However, this term is also used   metaphorically.)  Compare {frotzed}.  2. Of people, exhausted.   Said particularly of those who continue to work in such a state.   Often...

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

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 ...

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

LISP2 is  vice-versa.  Invented by John   McCarthy at MIT in the late 1950s, it is actually older than any   other {HLL} still in use except FORTRAN.  Accordingly, it has   undergone considerable adaptive radiation over the years; modern   variants a...
LISP3 is  LISP 1.5.   The dominant HLL among hackers until the early 1980s, LISP now   shares the throne with {C}.  See {languages of choice}.   All LISP functions and programs are expressions that return   values; this, together with the high memory...
LISP4 is  Perlis's famous quip (itself a take on an Oscar   Wilde quote) that "LISP programmers know the value of everything   and the cost of nothing".   One significant application for LISP has been as a proof by example   that most newer languages...
LISP5 is  unnecessary {crock}s.  When the {Right Thing} has already   been done once, there is no justification for {bogosity} in newer   languages. 
literature, the is  n. Computer-science journals and other   publications, vaguely gestured at to answer a question that the   speaker believes is {trivial}.  Thus, one might answer an   annoying question by saying "It's in the literature."  Oppose  ...
little-endian is  adj. Describes a computer architecture in which,   within a given 16- or 32-bit word, bytes at lower addresses have   lower significance (the word is stored `little-end-first').  The   PDP-11 and VAX families of computers and Intel ...
little-endian2 is  and networking hardware are little-endian.   See {big-endian}, {middle-endian}, {NUXI problem}.  The term   is sometimes used to describe the ordering of units other than   bytes; most often these are bits within a byte. 
live data is  n. 1. Data that is written to be interpreted and takes   over program flow when triggered by some un-obvious operation, such   as viewing it.  One use of such hacks is to break security.  For   example, some smart terminals have command...
live data2 is  program keys; this can be used to write live   data that, when listed to the terminal, infects it with a   security-breaking {virus} that is triggered the next time a   hapless user strikes that key.  For another, there are some   well...
live data3 is  send   arbitrary commands back to the machine when they are simply viewed.   2. In C code, data that includes pointers to function {hook}s   (executable code).  3. An object, such as a {trampoline}, that is   constructed on the fly by ...
live data4 is  code. 4. Actual real-world data, as opposed to `test data'.   For example, "I think I have the record deletion module   finished."  "Have you tried it out on live data?"  It usually   carries the connotation that live data is more frag...
live data5 is  things will happen.  So a possible alternate   response to the above claim might be "Well, make sure it works   perfectly before we throw live data at it."  The implication here   is that record deletion is something pretty significant...
live data6 is  running amok on live data would   cause great harm and probably require restoring from backups. 
Live Free Or Die! is  imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which   appears on that state's automobile license plates.  2. A slogan   associated with UNIX in the romantic days when UNIX aficionados saw   themselves as a tiny, beleaguered undergro...
Live Free Or Die!2 is  industry.  The "free" referred specifically to   freedom from the {fascist} design philosophies and crufty   misfeatures common on commercial operating systems.  Armando   Stettner, one of the early UNIX developers, used to giv...
Live Free Or Die!3 is  under a large UNIX, all in New   Hampshire colors of green and white.  These are now valued   collector's items. 
livelock is  /liv'lok/ n. A situation in which some critical stage   of a task is unable to finish because its clients perpetually   create more work for it to do after they have been serviced but   before it can clear its queue.  Differs from {deadl...
livelock2 is  waiting for anything, but has a   virtually infinite amount of work to do and can never catch up. 
liveware is  /liv'weir/ n. 1. Synonym for {wetware}.  Less   common.  2. [Cambridge] Vermin. "Waiter, there's some liveware in my   salad..."
lobotomy is  n. 1. What a hacker subjected to formal management   training is said to have undergone.  At IBM and elsewhere this term   is used by both hackers and low-level management; the latter   doubtless intend it as a joke.  2. The act of remov...
lobotomy2 is  order to replace or upgrade it.   Some very cheap {clone} systems are sold in `lobotomized' form   --- everything but the brain. 

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

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...
misfeature2 is  involved.  A misfeature is different   from a simple unforeseen side effect; the term implies that the   misfeature was actually carefully planned to be that way, but   its future consequences or circumstances just weren't predicted  ...
misfeature3 is  having thought ahead   about it at all.  Many misfeatures (especially in user-interface   design) arise because the designers/implementors mistook their   personal tastes for laws of nature.  Often a former feature becomes   a misfeat...
misfeature4 is  parameters   subsequently changed (possibly only in the judgment of the   implementors).  "Well, yeah, it is kind of a misfeature that file   names are limited to 6 characters, but the original implementors   wanted to save directory ...

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

social science number2 is  considerably worse.  {Management}   loves them.  See also {numbers}, {math-out}, {pretty   pictures}. 
soft boot is  n. See {boot}.
softcopy is  /soft'ko-pee/ n. [by analogy with `hardcopy'] A   machine-readable form of corresponding hardcopy.  See {bits},   {machinable}.
software bloat is  n. The results of {second-system effect} or   {creeping featuritis}.  Commonly cited examples include   `ls(1)', {X}, {BSD}, {Missed'em-five}, and {OS/2}.
software rot is  n. Term used to describe the tendency of software   that has not been used in a while to {lose}; such failure may be   semi-humorously ascribed to {bit rot}.  More commonly,   `software rot' strikes when a program's assumptions becom...
software rot2 is  insufficiently {robust}, this may   cause it to fail in mysterious ways.   For example, owing to endemic shortsightedness in the design of   COBOL programs, most will succumb to software rot when their   2-digit year counters {wrap ...
software rot3 is  Actually, related lossages often afflict centenarians   who have to deal with computer software designed by unimaginative   clods.  One such incident became the focus of a minor public flap   in 1990, when a gentleman born in 1889 a...
software rot4 is  Raleigh, North Carolina.  The new system   refused to issue the card, probably because with 2-digit years the   ages 101 and 1 cannot be distinguished.   Historical note Software rot in an even funnier sense than the   mythical one ...
software rot5 is  (e.g.,   the R1; see {grind crank}).  If a program that depended on a   peculiar instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user   might discover that the opcodes no longer did the same things they   once did.  ("Hey, so-and-...
software rot6 is  We can {snarf} this opcode, right?  No one uses   it.")   Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT hacker   found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump   instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched ...
software rot7 is  fragile timing software in a music-playing program,   throwing its output out of tune.  This was fixed by adding a   defensive initialization routine to compare the speed of a timing   loop with the real-time clock; in other words, ...
software rot8 is  day, and corrected appropriately.   Compare {bit rot}. 
softwarily is  /soft-weir'i-lee/ adv. In a way pertaining to software.   "The system is softwarily unreliable."  The adjective   `softwary' is *not* used.  See {hardwarily}.
softy is  [IBM] n. Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who   is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware.
some random X is  adj. Used to indicate a member of class X, with the   implication that Xs are interchangeable.  "I think some random   cracker tripped over the guest timeout last night."  See also   {J. Random}.
sorcerer's apprentice mode is  [from the film "Fantasia"] n. A bug in a   protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message   causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, when   received, triggers the same bug.  Used esp. of s...
sorcerer's apprentice mode2 is  loops in {email} software.  Compare   {broadcast storm}, {network meltdown}. 
SOS is  n.,obs. /S-O-S/ 1. An infamously {losing} text editor.   Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for the   PDP-6, a hacker crufted together a {quick-and-dirty} `stopgap   editor' to be used until a better one was written.  Unfo...
SOS2 is  discarded when new ones (in   particular, {TECO}) came along.  SOS is a descendant (`Son of   Stopgap') of that editor, and many PDP-10 users gained the dubious   pleasure of its acquaintance.  Since then other programs similar in   style to...
SOS3 is  editor BILOS   /bye'lohs/, the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap (the alternate expansion   `Bastard Issue, Loins of Stopgap' has been proposed).  2. /sos/   n. To decrease; inverse of {AOS}, from the PDP-10 instruction   set. 
source of all good bits is  n. A person from whom (or a place from   which) useful information may be obtained.  If you need to know   about a program, a {guru} might be the source of all good bits.   The title is often applied to a particularly comp...

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UNIX conspiracy is  [ITS] n. According to a conspiracy theory long   popular among {{ITS}} and {{TOPS-20}} fans, UNIX's growth is the   result of a plot, hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose   intent was to hobble AT&T's competitors by making...
UNIX conspiracy2 is  evolution was to be under AT&T's   control.  This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating   system that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but also   relatively unreliable and insecure (so as to require co...
UNIX conspiracy3 is  was lent a substantial impetus   in 1984 by the paper referenced in the {back door} entry.   In this view, UNIX was designed to be one of the first computer   viruses (see {virus}) --- but a virus spread to computers indirectly  ...
UNIX conspiracy4 is  directly through disks and   networks.  Adherents of this `UNIX virus' theory like to cite the   fact that the well-known quotation "UNIX is snake oil" was   uttered by DEC president Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began   activ...
UNIX conspiracy5 is  workstations.  (Olsen now   claims to have been misquoted.) 
UNIX weenie is  [ITS] n. 1. A derogatory play on `UNIX wizard', common   among hackers who use UNIX by necessity but would prefer   alternatives.  The implication is that although the person in question   may consider mastery of UNIX arcana to be a w...
UNIX weenie2 is  is the ability to tolerate (and the bad   taste to wallow in) the incoherence and needless complexity that is   alleged to infest many UNIX programs.  "This shell script tries to   parse its arguments in 69 bletcherous ways.  It must...
UNIX weenie3 is  2. A derogatory term for anyone   who engages in uncritical praise of UNIX.  Often appearing in the   context "stupid UNIX weenie".  See {Weenix}, {UNIX   conspiracy}.  See also {weenie}. 
unixism is  n. A piece of code or a coding technique that depends on the   protected multi-tasking environment with relatively low   process-spawn overhead that exists on virtual-memory UNIX systems.   Common {unixism}s include gratuitous use of `for...
unixism2 is  undocumented but well-known features of   UNIX libraries such as `stdio(3)' are supported elsewhere;   reliance on {obscure} side-effects of system calls (use of   `sleep(2)' with a 0 argument to clue the scheduler that   you're willing ...
unixism3 is  assumption that freshly allocated memory is zeroed; and the assumption   that fragmentation problems won't arise from never `free()'ing   memory.  Compare {vaxocentrism}; see also {New Jersey}. 
unswizzle is  v. See {swizzle}.
unwind the stack is  vi. 1. [techspeak] During the execution of a   procedural language, one is said to `unwind the stack' from a   called procedure up to a caller when one discards the stack frame   and any number of frames above it, popping back up...
unwind the stack2 is  this is done with   `longjmp'/`setjmp', in LISP with `throw/catch'.   See also {smash the stack}.  2. People can unwind the stack as   well, by quickly dealing with a bunch of problems "Oh heck, let's   do lunch.  Just a second ...
unwind-protect is  [MIT from the name of a LISP operator] n. A task you   must remember to perform before you leave a place or finish a   project.  "I have an unwind-protect to call my advisor."
up is  adj. 1. Working, in order.  "The down escalator is up."   Oppose {down}.  2. `bring up' vt. To create a working   version and start it.  "They brought up a down system."    3. `come up' vi. To become ready for production use.
upload is  /uhp'lohd/ v. 1. [techspeak] To transfer programs or data   over a digital communications link from a smaller or peripheral   `client' system to a larger or central `host' one.  A transfer in   the other direction is, of course, called a {...
upload2 is  ground-to-space comm under that entry).   2. [speculatively] To move the essential patterns and algorithms   that make up one's mind from one's brain into a computer.  Only   those who are convinced that such patterns and algorithms captu...
upload3 is  prospect with   gusto. 
upthread is  adv. Earlier in the discussion (see {thread}), i.e.,   `above'. "As Joe pointed out upthread, ..."  See also   {followup}.
urchin is  n. See {munchkin}.

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benchmark => [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 Gabriel LISP b...
Berkeley Quality Software => 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, incomple...
Berkeley Quality Software2 => 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 => /berk'liks/ n.,adj. [contraction of `Berkeley UNIX'] See BSD. Not used at Berkeley itself. May be more common among suits attempting to sound like cognoscenti than among hackers, who usually just say `BSD'.
berserking => 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 other cha...
Berzerkeley => /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, {Berkeley ...
beta => /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 experimental is in...
BFI => /B-F-I/ n. See {brute force and ignorance}. Also encountered in the variant `BFMI', `brute force and *massive* ignorance'.
bible => 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 => 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 marketroid types...
BIFF => /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 A K00L DOOD...
biff => /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 => 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, multivendor netwo...
Big Gray Wall2 => 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 => 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 dinosaur.
Big Red Switch => [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 Red Switch."...
Big Red Switch2 => tune with the company's passion for TLAs, 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 actually fired a no...
Big Red Switch3 => 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 {power cycle}, {th...
the Big Room => 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 phone rig...
big win => 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 => [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 numeric repr...

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fora => pl.n. Plural of forum.
foreground => [UNIX] vt. To foreground a task is to bring it to the top of one's stack for immediate processing, and hackers often use it in this sense for non-computer tasks. "If your presentation is due next week, I guess I'd better foreground writ...
forked => [UNIX; prob. influenced by a mainstream expletive] adj. Terminally slow, or dead. Originated when one system slowed to incredibly bad speeds because of a process recursively spawning copies of itself (using the UNIX system call `fork(2)') a...
Fortrash => /for'trash/ n. Hackerism for the FORTRAN language, referring to its primitive design, gross and irregular syntax, limited control constructs, and slippery, exception-filled semantics.
fortune cookie => [UNIX] n. A random quote, item of trivia, joke, or maxim printed to the user's tty at login time or (less commonly) at logout time. Items from this lexicon have often been used as fortune cookies. See {cookie file}.
forum => n. [USENET, GEnie CI$; pl. `fora' or `forums'] Any discussion group accessible through a dial-in BBS, a {mailing list}, or a newsgroup (see {network, the}). A forum functions much like a bulletin board; users submit postings for all to read ...
fossil => n. 1. In software, a misfeature that becomes understandable only in historical context, as a remnant of times past retained so as not to break compatibility. Example the retention of octal as default base for string escapes in C, in spite o...
four-color glossies => 1. Literature created by marketroids that allegedly containing technical specs but which is in fact as superficial as possible without being totally content-free. "Forget the four-color glossies, give me the tech ref manuals." ...
four-color glossies2 => superficiality even when the material is printed on ordinary paper in black and white. Four-color-glossy manuals are *never* useful for finding a problem. 2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual pages that don't contain enoug...
four-color glossies3 => program doesn't produce the expected or desired output. 
fragile => adj. Syn brittle.
fred => n. 1. The personal name most frequently used as a metasyntactic variable (see foo). Allegedly popular because it's easy for a non-touch-typist to type on a standard QWERTY keyboard. Unlike {J. Random Hacker} or `J. Random Loser', this name ha...
frednet => /fred'net/ n. Used to refer to some random and uncommon protocol encountered on a network. "We're implementing bridging in our router to solve the frednet problem."
freeware => n. Free software, often written by enthusiasts and distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local bulletin boards, USENET, or other electronic media. At one time, `freeware' was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of...
freeze => v. To lock an evolving software distribution or document against changes so it can be released with some hope of stability. Carries the strong implication that the item in question will `unfreeze' at some future date. "OK, fix that bug and ...
fried => adj. 1. Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. Especially used of hardware brought down by a `power glitch' (see glitch), drop-outs, a short, or some other electrical event. (Sometimes this literally happens to electronic circuits! ...
friode => /fri'ohd/ [TMRC] n. A reversible (that is, fused or blown) diode. Compare fried.
fritterware => n. An excess of capability that serves no productive end. The canonical example is font-diddling software on the Mac (see macdink); the term describes anything that eats huge amounts of time for quite marginal gains in function but sed...
frob => /frob/ 1. n. [MIT] The TMRC definition was "FROB = a protruding arm or trunnion"; by metaphoric extension, a `frob' is any random small thing; an object that you can comfortably hold in one hand; something you can frob. See frobnitz. 2. vt. A...
frobnicate => /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 devices. Thus "Pl...
frobnitz => /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. Also used ar...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

frowney => n. (alt. `frowney face') See emoticon.
fry => 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, toast, or hose...
FTP => /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 transfers not usi...
FUBAR => n. The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX. A good example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the suits; see foobar.
fuck me harder => 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 "Aiighhh! Fuck...
fuck me harder2 => 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 lossage. ...
fuck me harder3 => 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 being, in...
fuck me harder4 => 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 hackers,...
fuck me harder5 => 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 record it her...
FUD => /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 idea, of co...
FUD wars => /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. OSF conf...
fudge => 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 resulting co...
fudge factor => 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 necessary...
fudge factor2 => 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 `fuzz' typica...
fudge factor3 => 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 ...
fudge factor4 => incorrectly by programmers who don't fully understand their import. See also {coefficient of X}. 
fuel up => 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 => /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. "Man, the {ASC...
funky => 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 has that ...
funny money => 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 funny mone...
funny money2 => 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 by with ...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

lion food2 => overweight. The thin one says "How did you manage? I ate a human just once and they turned out a small army to chase me --- guns, nets, it was terrible. Since then I've been reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass." The fat one repl...
lion food3 => office and ate a manager a day. And nobody even noticed!"Lions Book n. `Source Code and Commentary on UNIX level 6', by John Lions. The two parts of this book contained (1) the entire source listing of the UNIX Version 6 kernel, and (2)...
lion food4 => discussing the algorithms. These were circulated internally at the University of New South Wales beginning 1976--77, and were for years after the *only* detailed kernel documentation available to anyone outside Bell Labs. Because Wester...
lion food5 => secret status on the kernel, the Lions book was never formally published and was only supposed to be distributed to affiliates of source licensees. In spite of this, it soon spread by samizdat to a good many of the early UNIX hackers. 
LISP => [from `LISt Processing language', but mythically from `Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses'] n. The name of AI's mother tongue, a language based on the ideas of (a) variable-length lists and trees as fundamental data types, and (b) the...
literature, the => n. Computer-science journals and other publications, vaguely gestured at to answer a question that the speaker believes is trivial. Thus, one might answer an annoying question by saying "It's in the literature." Oppose Knuth, which...
little-endian => adj. Describes a computer architecture in which, within a given 16- or 32-bit word, bytes at lower addresses have lower significance (the word is stored `little-end-first'). The PDP-11 and VAX families of computers and Intel micropro...
live data => n. 1. Data that is written to be interpreted and takes over program flow when triggered by some un-obvious operation, such as viewing it. One use of such hacks is to break security. For example, some smart terminals have commands that al...
live data2 => program keys; this can be used to write live data that, when listed to the terminal, infects it with a security-breaking virus that is triggered the next time a hapless user strikes that key. For another, there are some well-known bugs ...
live data3 => send arbitrary commands back to the machine when they are simply viewed. 2. In C code, data that includes pointers to function hooks (executable code). 3. An object, such as a trampoline, that is constructed on the fly by a program and ...
live data4 => code. 4. Actual real-world data, as opposed to `test data'. For example, "I think I have the record deletion module finished." "Have you tried it out on live data?" It usually carries the connotation that live data is more fragile and m...
live data5 => things will happen. So a possible alternate response to the above claim might be "Well, make sure it works perfectly before we throw live data at it." The implication here is that record deletion is something pretty significant, and a h...
live data6 => running amok on live data would cause great harm and probably require restoring from backups. 
Live Free Or Die! => imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which appears on that state's automobile license plates. 2. A slogan associated with UNIX in the romantic days when UNIX aficionados saw themselves as a tiny, beleaguered underground tilt...
Live Free Or Die!2 => industry. The "free" referred specifically to freedom from the fascist design philosophies and crufty misfeatures common on commercial operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the early UNIX developers, used to give out fake ...
Live Free Or Die!3 => under a large UNIX, all in New Hampshire colors of green and white. These are now valued collector's items. 
livelock => /liv'lok/ n. A situation in which some critical stage of a task is unable to finish because its clients perpetually create more work for it to do after they have been serviced but before it can clear its queue. Differs from deadlock in th...
liveware => /liv'weir/ n. 1. Synonym for wetware. Less common. 2. [Cambridge] Vermin. "Waiter, there's some liveware in my salad..."
lobotomy => n. 1. What a hacker subjected to formal management training is said to have undergone. At IBM and elsewhere this term is used by both hackers and low-level management; the latter doubtless intend it as a joke. 2. The act of removing the p...
locked and loaded => [from military slang for an M-16 rifle with magazine inserted and prepared for firing] adj. Said of a removable disk volume properly prepared for use --- that is, locked into the drive and with the heads loaded. Ironically, becau...
locked and loaded2 => the power is up, this description is never used of {Winchester} drives (which are named after a rifle). 

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

MFTL => /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, has any ...
mickey => 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 => 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 very useful.
micro- => 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 them both arou...
microfortnight => 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 time a...
microLenat => /mi:-kroh-len'-*t/ n. See bogosity.
microReid => /mi:'kroh-reed/ n. See bogosity.
Microsloth Windows => /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 386. Comp...
microtape => /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 macrotapes, microtape drivers allow...
middle-endian => 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 => /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 faster. This un...
minifloppies => 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 paid any attenti...
MIPS => /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 ways. This...
misbug => /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 => /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 philosophical c...
Missed'em-five => n. Pejorative hackerism for AT&T System V UNIX, generally used by BSD partisans in a bigoted mood. (The synonym `SysVile' is also encountered.) See {software bloat}, Berzerkeley.
miswart => /mis-wort/ [from wart by analogy with misbug] n. A feature that superficially appears to be a wart but has been determined to be the {Right Thing}. For example, in some versions of the EMACS text editor, the `transpose characters' command ...
mod => vt.,n. 1. Short for `modify' or `modification'. Very commonly used --- in fact the full terms are considered markers that one is being formal. The plural `mods' is used esp. with reference to bug fixes or minor design changes in hardware or so...
mode => n. A general state, usually used with an adjective describing the state. Use of the word `mode' rather than `state' implies that the state is extended over time, and probably also that some activity characteristic of that state is being carri...
mode bit => n. A flag, usually in hardware, that selects between two (usually quite different) modes of operation. The connotations are different from flag bit in that mode bits are mainly written during a boot or set-up phase, are seldom explicitly ...
mode bit2 => lifetime of an ordinary program. The classic example was the EBCDIC-vs.-ASCII bit (#12) of the Program Status Word of the IBM 360. Another was the bit on a PDP-12 that controlled whether it ran the PDP-8 or the LINC instruction set. 

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

social science number2 => considerably worse. Management loves them. See also numbers, math-out, {pretty pictures}. 
soft boot => n. See boot.
softcopy => /soft'ko-pee/ n. [by analogy with `hardcopy'] A machine-readable form of corresponding hardcopy. See bits, machinable.
software bloat => n. The results of {second-system effect} or {creeping featuritis}. Commonly cited examples include `ls(1)', X, BSD, Missed'em-five, and OS/2.
software rot => n. Term used to describe the tendency of software that has not been used in a while to lose; such failure may be semi-humorously ascribed to {bit rot}. More commonly, `software rot' strikes when a program's assumptions become out of d...
software rot2 => insufficiently robust, this may cause it to fail in mysterious ways. For example, owing to endemic shortsightedness in the design of COBOL programs, most will succumb to software rot when their 2-digit year counters {wrap around} at ...
software rot3 => Actually, related lossages often afflict centenarians who have to deal with computer software designed by unimaginative clods. One such incident became the focus of a minor public flap in 1990, when a gentleman born in 1889 applied f...
software rot4 => Raleigh, North Carolina. The new system refused to issue the card, probably because with 2-digit years the ages 101 and 1 cannot be distinguished. Historical note Software rot in an even funnier sense than the mythical one was a real...
software rot5 => (e.g., the R1; see {grind crank}). If a program that depended on a peculiar instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user might discover that the opcodes no longer did the same things they once did. ("Hey, so-and-so needs an...
software rot6 => We can snarf this opcode, right? No one uses it.") Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT hacker found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched the hardware...
software rot7 => fragile timing software in a music-playing program, throwing its output out of tune. This was fixed by adding a defensive initialization routine to compare the speed of a timing loop with the real-time clock; in other words, it figur...
software rot8 => day, and corrected appropriately. Compare {bit rot}. 
softwarily => /soft-weir'i-lee/ adv. In a way pertaining to software. "The system is softwarily unreliable." The adjective `softwary' is *not* used. See hardwarily.
softy => [IBM] n. Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware.
some random X => adj. Used to indicate a member of class X, with the implication that Xs are interchangeable. "I think some random cracker tripped over the guest timeout last night." See also {J. Random}.
sorcerer's apprentice mode => [from the film "Fantasia"] n. A bug in a protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, when received, triggers the same bug. Used esp. of such beha...
sorcerer's apprentice mode2 => loops in email software. Compare {broadcast storm}, {network meltdown}. 
SOS => n.,obs. /S-O-S/ 1. An infamously losing text editor. Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for the PDP-6, a hacker crufted together a quick-and-dirty `stopgap editor' to be used until a better one was written. Unfortunately, t...
source of all good bits => n. A person from whom (or a place from which) useful information may be obtained. If you need to know about a program, a guru might be the source of all good bits. The title is often applied to a particularly competent secr...
space-cadet keyboard => n. The Knight keyboard, a now-legendary device used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired several still-current jargon terms and influenced the design of EMACS. It was inspired by the Stanford keyboard and equipped with no fewe...
space-cadet keyboard2 => keys for {bucky bits} (`control', `meta', `hyper', and `super') and three like regular shift keys, called `shift', `top', and `front'. Many keys had three symbols on them a letter and a symbol on the top, and a Greek letter o...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

UNIX brain damage2 => question does not. UNIX brain damage happens because it is much easier for other (minority) systems to change their ways to match non-conforming behavior than it is to change all the hundreds of thousands of UNIX systems out the...
UNIX brain damage3 => is a kluge in a mail server to recognize bare line feed (the UNIX newline) as an equivalent form to the Internet standard newline, which is a carriage return followed by a line feed. Such things can make even a hardened jock wee...
UNIX conspiracy => [ITS] n. According to a conspiracy theory long popular among {ITS} and {TOPS-20} fans, UNIX's growth is the result of a plot, hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT&T's competitors by making them depen...
UNIX conspiracy2 => evolution was to be under AT&T's control. This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating system that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but also relatively unreliable and insecure (so as to require continuing...
UNIX conspiracy3 => was lent a substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced in the {back door} entry. In this view, UNIX was designed to be one of the first computer viruses (see virus) --- but a virus spread to computers indirectly by people ...
UNIX conspiracy4 => directly through disks and networks. Adherents of this `UNIX virus' theory like to cite the fact that the well-known quotation "UNIX is snake oil" was uttered by DEC president Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promot...
UNIX conspiracy5 => workstations. (Olsen now claims to have been misquoted.) 
UNIX weenie => [ITS] n. 1. A derogatory play on `UNIX wizard', common among hackers who use UNIX by necessity but would prefer alternatives. The implication is that although the person in question may consider mastery of UNIX arcana to be a wizardly ...
UNIX weenie2 => is the ability to tolerate (and the bad taste to wallow in) the incoherence and needless complexity that is alleged to infest many UNIX programs. "This shell script tries to parse its arguments in 69 bletcherous ways. It must have bee...
UNIX weenie3 => 2. A derogatory term for anyone who engages in uncritical praise of UNIX. Often appearing in the context "stupid UNIX weenie". See Weenix, {UNIX conspiracy}. See also weenie. 
unixism => n. A piece of code or a coding technique that depends on the protected multi-tasking environment with relatively low process-spawn overhead that exists on virtual-memory UNIX systems. Common unixisms include gratuitous use of `fork(2)'; th...
unswizzle => v. See swizzle.
unwind the stack => vi. 1. [techspeak] During the execution of a procedural language, one is said to `unwind the stack' from a called procedure up to a caller when one discards the stack frame and any number of frames above it, popping back up to the...
unwind the stack2 => this is done with `longjmp'/`setjmp', in LISP with `throw/catch'. See also {smash the stack}. 2. People can unwind the stack as well, by quickly dealing with a bunch of problems "Oh heck, let's do lunch. Just a second while I unw...
unwind-protect => [MIT from the name of a LISP operator] n. A task you must remember to perform before you leave a place or finish a project. "I have an unwind-protect to call my advisor."
up => adj. 1. Working, in order. "The down escalator is up." Oppose down. 2. `bring up' vt. To create a working version and start it. "They brought up a down system." 3. `come up' vi. To become ready for production use.
upload => /uhp'lohd/ v. 1. [techspeak] To transfer programs or data over a digital communications link from a smaller or peripheral `client' system to a larger or central `host' one. A transfer in the other direction is, of course, called a download ...
upthread => adv. Earlier in the discussion (see thread), i.e., `above'. "As Joe pointed out upthread, ..." See also followup.
urchin => n. See munchkin.
USENET => /yoos'net/ or /yooz'net/ [from `Users' Network'] n. A distributed bboard (bulletin board) system supported mainly by UNIX machines. Originally implemented in 1979-1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and Steve Daniel at Duke Uni...
user => n. 1. Someone doing `real work' with the computer, using it as a means rather than an end. Someone who pays to use a computer. See {real user}. 2. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who asks silly questions. [GLS observe...

factpacks/old_test_meanings.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

Uzai => he
Uzal => wandering
Uzzah => strength; goat
Uzzen-sherah => ear of the flesh
Uzzi => my strength; my kid
Uzziah => Uzziel , the strength , or kid , of the Lord
Vajezatha => sprinkling the chamber
Vaniah => nourishment , or weapons , of the Lord
Vashni => the second; changed; a tooth
Vashti => that drinks; thread
Vophsi => fragrant; diminution
Zaanannim => movings; a person asleep
Zaavan => trembling
Zabad => dowry; endowed
Zabbai => flowing
Zabdi => same as Zabad
Zaccai => pure meat; just
Zaccheus => pure; clean; just
Zaccur => of the male kind; mindful
Zachariah => memory of the Lord
Zadok => just; justified

factpacks/techdict.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

Firewire => An up and coming serial technology that promises to speed data at 200 => 400 Mbps. This standard may eventually replace your serial ports, parallel ports, game ports, USB and maybe even SCSI.
FishNet => This is a type of stocking material that Joel likes to wear under his pants.
Flash BIOS => This BIOS contains a flash ROM chip that can be updated under certain conditions, but is otherwise static.
Flash ROM => A rewriteable ROM that doesn't lose its info when the power turns off.
Flat Screen => A CRT that is made more flat than a standard tube by using more than one electron gun. It is most useful to professionals who rely on the precision of their monitors. It is also better for the standard user because a straight light acr...
Flat Shading => This is the most basic shading technique. The entire triangle is only one color. This causes the image to appear blocky.
FM synthesis => This is a method of creating music using frequencies to represent instruments.
Fortran => This is a high-level programming language, a bit more advanced than BASIC, but not quite as complex as C. This language refuses to die because it is so huge in the scientific research community. It's not a tough language to learn and it's ...
Fractional T1 => This term refers to using a theoretical "piece" of a T1 line, such as 128 Kbps, 256 Kbps or 512 Kbps worth of the 1.5 Mbps T1 line. Many ISPs offer fractional T1 as a lower-cost alternative to a full T1, and a higher-cost alternative...
Frame Relay => A method of communication that can go from the speed of an ISDN to the speed of a T1 in increments. It has a flat rate billing instead of a per time usage. It connects by using the telephone company's network.
Free text search => This type of search allows you to give a fragment of a word and have it found in any part of that word. For example, doing a free text search for "the" could return "Thesis", "Blithe", and "Diphtheria."
FTP => (File Transfer Protocol) This is the method of moving files from system to system using TCP/IP.
Full parity => This refers to the ability to send and receive a signal at the same time. It can effectively double bandwidth, assuming that you can benefit from sending and receiving data at the same time. Most of the time, this doesn't happen, since...
Gate => A gate is a tiny electronic switch. These switches, when linked together, can perform logical functions.
Gateway => The computer or device onto which the first hop needs to go to get out of your network. As you know a TCP/IP route uses many hops to get from here to there.
GDI => (see Graphics Device Interface) see Graphics Device Interface
GIF => (Graphical Interface Format) Invented by CompuServe for efficient transmission of graphics. The format can only support 256 colors, or 8 bits. The newer revision, 89a, allows for multiple images in one file to simulate animation.
Gigabyte => (1 billion bytes) There are a few different ways of getting to this number. No one uses the same exact number, but they are all around 1 billion. One way of deriving the number is by multiplying 1 byte by 1024 for 1 KB then again by 1024 ...
GIS => (Geographic Information System) This is a system for capturing and manipulating data relating to the Earth.
GlidePad => A touch-sensitive pad about 2" x 2" that will track the touch of a finger. It is not a pressure sensor so there is no need to press down, only to touch. This device acts like a mouse for pointing.
Gouraud Shading => This method analyzes the color at each corner of the triangle and takes an average of the colors where the corners meet. This causes the triangles to "bleed" together, making for a smoother, clearer, more colorful image.