Amethyst

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

cycle2 is  one speaks also of   `memory cycles'.  These are technical meanings of {cycle}.  The   jargon meaning comes from the observation that there are only so   many cycles per second, and when you are sharing a computer the   cycles get divided ...
cycle3 is  computer spends working on your program rather than someone else's,   the faster your program will run.  That's why every hacker wants   more cycles so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to   respond.  2. By extension, a notio...
cycle4 is  emphasizing that lots of things compete for the typical   hacker's think time.  "I refused to get involved with the Rubik's   Cube back when it was big.  Knew I'd burn too many cycles on it if   I let myself."  3. vt. Syn. {bounce}, {120 r...
cycle5 is  the machine again, that serial port's   still hung." 
cycle crunch is  n. A situation where the number of people trying to   use the computer simultaneously has reached the point where no one   can get enough cycles because they are spread too thin and the   system has probably begun to {thrash}.  This ...
cycle crunch2 is  applied to timesharing.  Usually the only   solution is to buy more computer.  Happily, this has rapidly become   easier in recent years, so much so that the very term `cycle   crunch' now has a faintly archaic flavor; most hackers ...
cycle crunch3 is  opposed to traditional   timesharing systems. 
cycle drought is  n. A scarcity of cycles.  It may be due to a {cycle   crunch}, but it could also occur because part of the computer is   temporarily not working, leaving fewer cycles to go around.   "The {high moby} is {down}, so we're running with...
cycle drought2 is  There will be a cycle drought   until it's fixed." 
cycle of reincarnation is  [coined by Ivan Sutherland ca. 1970] n.   Term used to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a   computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose   peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evo...
cycle of reincarnation2 is  its job, then somebody notices that   it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the   architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at   which point the cycle begins again.  Several iteratio...
cycle of reincarnation3 is  graphics-processor design, and at least   one or two in communications and floating-point processors.  Also   known as `the Wheel of Life', `the Wheel of Samsara', and other   variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theolog...
cycle server is  n. A powerful machine that exists primarily for   running large {batch} jobs.  Implies that interactive tasks such as   editing are done on other machines on the network, such as   workstations.*D.C. Power Lab n. The former site of {...
cycle server2 is  funny because the obvious connection to electrical   engineering was nonexistent --- the lab was named for a Donald C.   Power.  Compare {Marginal Hacks}. 
daemon is  /day'mn/ or /dee'mn/ [from the mythological meaning,   later rationalized as the acronym `Disk And Execution MONitor'] n.   A program that is not invoked explicitly, but lies dormant waiting   for some condition(s) to occur.  The idea is t...
daemon2 is  not be aware that a daemon is lurking (though   often a program will commit an action only because it knows that it   will implicitly invoke a daemon).  For example, under {{ITS}}   writing a file on the {LPT} spooler's directory would in...
daemon3 is  print the file.  The advantage is   that programs wanting (in this example) files printed need not   compete for access to the {LPT}.  They simply enter their   implicit requests and let the daemon decide what to do with them.   Daemons a...
daemon4 is  and may   either live forever or be regenerated at intervals.  Daemon and   {demon} are often used interchangeably, but seem to have   distinct connotations.  The term `daemon' was introduced to   computing by {CTSS} people (who pronounce...
daemon5 is  ITS called a {dragon}.  Although the   meaning and the pronunciation have drifted, we think this glossary   reflects current (1991) usage. 
dangling pointer is  n. A reference that doesn't actually lead   anywhere (in C and some other languages, a pointer that doesn't   actually point at anything valid).  Usually this is because it   formerly pointed to something that has moved or disapp...
dangling pointer2 is  of its techspeak meaning; for   example, a local phone number for a person who has since moved to the   other coast is a dangling pointer. 

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

thread is  n. [USENET, GEnie, CompuServe] Common abbreviation of   `topic thread, a more or less continuous chain of postings on a   single topic.
three-finger salute is  n. Syn. {Vulcan nerve pinch}.
thud is  n. 1. Yet another meta-syntactic variable (see {foo}).   It is reported that at CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of   these was `foo, `bar, `thud, `blat.  2. Rare term   for the hash character, `# (ASCII 0100011).  See {ASCII} for...
thunk is  /thuhnk/ n. 1. "A piece of coding which provides an   address", according to P. Z. Ingerman, who invented thunks   in 1961 as a way of binding actual parameters to their formal   definitions in Algol-60 procedure calls.  If a procedure is c...
thunk2 is  formal parameter, the compiler   generates a {thunk} to compute the expression and leave the   address of the result in some standard location.  2. Later   generalized into an expression, frozen together with its   environment, for later e...
thunk3 is  in techspeak is called a `closure).  The process of   unfreezing these thunks is called `forcing.  3. A   {stubroutine}, in an overlay programming environment, that loads   and jumps to the correct overlay.  Compare {trampoline}.   4. Peop...
thunk4 is  manner.  "It   occurred to me the other day that I am rather accurately modeled by   a thunk --- I frequently need to be forced to completion." ---   paraphrased from a {plan file}.   Historical note There are a couple of onomatopoeic myth...
thunk5 is  The most common is that   it is the sound made by data hitting the stack; another holds that   the sound is that of the data hitting an accumulator.  Yet another   holds that it is the sound of the expression being unfrozen at   argument-e...
thunk6 is  inventors, it   was coined after they realized (in the wee hours after hours of   discussion) that the type of an argument in Algol-60 could be   figured out in advance with a little compile-time thought,   simplifying the evaluation machi...
thunk7 is  thought of; thus it was christened a `thunk,   which is "the past tense of `think at two in the morning". 
tick is  n. 1. A {jiffy} (sense 1).  2. In simulations, the   discrete unit of time that passes between iterations of the   simulation mechanism.  In AI applications, this amount of time is   often left unspecified, since the only constraint of inter...
tick2 is  AI simulation is often   pejoratively referred to as `tick-tick-tick simulation,   especially when the issue of simultaneity of events with long,   independent chains of causes is {handwave}d. 3. In the FORTH   language, a single quote char...
tick-list features is  [Acorn Computers] n. Features in software or   hardware that customers insist on but never use (calculators in   desktop TSRs and that sort of thing).  The American equivalent   would be `checklist features, but this jargon sen...
tickle a bug is  vt. To cause a normally hidden bug to manifest   through some known series of inputs or operations.  "You can   tickle the bug in the Paradise VGA cards highlight handling by   trying to set bright yellow reverse video."
tiger team is  [U.S. military jargon] n. A team whose purpose is to   penetrate security, and thus test security measures.  These people   are paid professionals who do hacker-type tricks, e.g., leave   cardboard signs saying "bomb" in critical defen...
tiger team2 is  "Your codebooks have been stolen"   (they usually havent been) inside safes, etc.  After a successful   penetration, some high-ranking security type shows up the next   morning for a `security review and finds the sign, note, etc.,   ...
tiger team3 is  of tiger teams   sometimes lead to early retirement for base commanders and security   officers (see the {patch} entry for an example).   A subset of tiger teams are professional {cracker}s, testing the   security of military computer...
tiger team4 is  via networks or supposedly `secure comm channels.  Some of   their escapades, if declassified, would probably rank among the   greatest hacks of all times.  The term has been adopted in   commercial computer-security circles in this m...
time sink is  [poss. by analogy with `heat sink or `current sink] n.   A project that consumes unbounded amounts of time.
time T is  /tim T/ n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood   time, often used in conjunction with a later time T+1.   "Well meet on campus at time T or at Louies at   time T+1" means, in the context of going out for dinner   "We can meet on ...
time T2 is  Louies   itself a bit later."  (Louies is a Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto   that is a favorite with hackers.)  Had the number 30 been used instead   of the number 1, it would have implied that the travel time from   campus to Louies is ...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

cybercrud => /si'ber-kruhd/ [coined by Ted Nelson] n. Obfuscatory tech-talk. Verbiage with a high MEGO factor. The computer equivalent of bureaucratese.
cyberpunk => /si'ber-puhnk/ [orig. by SF writer Bruce Bethke and/or editor Gardner Dozois] n.,adj. A subgenre of SF launched in 1982 by William Gibson's epoch-making novel `Neuromancer' (though its roots go back through Vernor Vinge's `True Names' (s...
cyberspace => /si'ber-spays/ n. 1. Notional `information-space' loaded with visual cues and navigable with brain-computer interfaces called `cyberspace decks'; a characteristic prop of cyberpunk SF. At the time of this writing (mid-1991), serious eff...
cycle => 1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper describes himself as a "cycle junkie"). One can describe an instruction as taking so many `clock cycles'. Often the computer can access its memory...
cycle crunch => n. A situation where the number of people trying to use the computer simultaneously has reached the point where no one can get enough cycles because they are spread too thin and the system has probably begun to thrash. This is an inev...
cycle crunch2 => applied to timesharing. Usually the only solution is to buy more computer. Happily, this has rapidly become easier in recent years, so much so that the very term `cycle crunch' now has a faintly archaic flavor; most hackers now use w...
cycle crunch3 => opposed to traditional timesharing systems. 
cycle drought => n. A scarcity of cycles. It may be due to a {cycle crunch}, but it could also occur because part of the computer is temporarily not working, leaving fewer cycles to go around. "The {high moby} is down, so we're running with only half...
cycle drought2 => There will be a cycle drought until it's fixed." 
cycle of reincarnation => [coined by Ivan Sutherland ca. 1970] n. Term used to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves to...
cycle of reincarnation2 => its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of th...
cycle of reincarnation3 => graphics-processor design, and at least one or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as `the Wheel of Life', `the Wheel of Samsara', and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological ide...
cycle server => n. A powerful machine that exists primarily for running large batch jobs. Implies that interactive tasks such as editing are done on other machines on the network, such as workstations.*D.C. Power Lab n. The former site of {SAIL}. Hac...
cycle server2 => funny because the obvious connection to electrical engineering was nonexistent --- the lab was named for a Donald C. Power. Compare {Marginal Hacks}. 
daemon => /day'mn/ or /dee'mn/ [from the mythological meaning, later rationalized as the acronym `Disk And Execution MONitor'] n. A program that is not invoked explicitly, but lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. The idea is that the ...
dangling pointer => n. A reference that doesn't actually lead anywhere (in C and some other languages, a pointer that doesn't actually point at anything valid). Usually this is because it formerly pointed to something that has moved or disappeared. U...
dangling pointer2 => of its techspeak meaning; for example, a local phone number for a person who has since moved to the other coast is a dangling pointer. 
Datamation => /day`t*-may'sh*n/ n. A magazine that many hackers assume all suits read. Used to question an unbelieved quote, as in "Did you read that in `Datamation?'" It used to publish something hackishly funny every once in a while, like the origi...
day mode => n. See phase (sense 1). Used of people only.
dd => /dee-dee/ [UNIX from IBM JCL] vt. Equivalent to cat or BLT. This was originally the name of a UNIX copy command with special options suitable for block-oriented devices. Often used in heavy-handed system maintenance, as in "Let's dd the root pa...
DDT => /D-D-T/ n. 1. Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other programs by showing individual machine instructions in a readable symbolic form and letting the user change them. In this sense the term DDT is now archaic, having been w...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

theology => n. 1. Ironically or humorously used to refer to {religious issues}. 2. Technical fine points of an abstruse nature, esp. those where the resolution is of theoretical interest but is relatively marginal with respect to actual use of a desi...
theory => n. The consensus, idea, plan, story, or set of rules that is currently being used to inform a behavior. This is a generalization and abuse of the technical meaning. "Whats the theory on fixing this TECO loss?" "Whats the theory on dinner to...
thinko => /thingkoh/ [by analogy with `typo] n. A momentary, correctable glitch in mental processing, especially one involving recall of information learned by rote; a bubble in the stream of consciousness. Syn. braino. Compare mouso.
This time, for sure! => excl. Ritual affirmation frequently uttered during protracted debugging sessions involving numerous small obstacles (e.g., attempts to bring up a UUCP connection). For the proper effect, this must be uttered in a fruity imitat...
This time, for sure!2 => heard "Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!" The canonical response is, of course, "But that trick *never* works!" See {{Humor, Hacker}}. 
thrash => vi. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything useful. Paging or swapping systems that are overloaded waste most of their time moving data into and out of core (rather than performing useful computation) and are therefore s...
thread => n. [USENET, GEnie, CompuServe] Common abbreviation of `topic thread, a more or less continuous chain of postings on a single topic.
three-finger salute => n. Syn. {Vulcan nerve pinch}.
thud => n. 1. Yet another meta-syntactic variable (see foo). It is reported that at CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of these was `foo, `bar, `thud, `blat. 2. Rare term for the hash character, `# (ASCII 0100011). See ASCII for other synony...
thunk => /thuhnk/ n. 1. "A piece of coding which provides an address", according to P. Z. Ingerman, who invented thunks in 1961 as a way of binding actual parameters to their formal definitions in Algol-60 procedure calls. If a procedure is called wi...
tick => n. 1. A jiffy (sense 1). 2. In simulations, the discrete unit of time that passes between iterations of the simulation mechanism. In AI applications, this amount of time is often left unspecified, since the only constraint of interest is the ...
tick-list features => [Acorn Computers] n. Features in software or hardware that customers insist on but never use (calculators in desktop TSRs and that sort of thing). The American equivalent would be `checklist features, but this jargon sense of th...
tickle a bug => vt. To cause a normally hidden bug to manifest through some known series of inputs or operations. "You can tickle the bug in the Paradise VGA cards highlight handling by trying to set bright yellow reverse video."
tiger team => [U.S. military jargon] n. A team whose purpose is to penetrate security, and thus test security measures. These people are paid professionals who do hacker-type tricks, e.g., leave cardboard signs saying "bomb" in critical defense insta...
tiger team2 => "Your codebooks have been stolen" (they usually havent been) inside safes, etc. After a successful penetration, some high-ranking security type shows up the next morning for a `security review and finds the sign, note, etc., and all he...
tiger team3 => of tiger teams sometimes lead to early retirement for base commanders and security officers (see the patch entry for an example). A subset of tiger teams are professional crackers, testing the security of military computer installation...
tiger team4 => via networks or supposedly `secure comm channels. Some of their escapades, if declassified, would probably rank among the greatest hacks of all times. The term has been adopted in commercial computer-security circles in this more speci...
time sink => [poss. by analogy with `heat sink or `current sink] n. A project that consumes unbounded amounts of time.
time T => /tim T/ n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood time, often used in conjunction with a later time T+1. "Well meet on campus at time T or at Louies at time T+1" means, in the context of going out for dinner "We can meet on campus an...
time T2 => Louies itself a bit later." (Louies is a Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto that is a favorite with hackers.) Had the number 30 been used instead of the number 1, it would have implied that the travel time from campus to Louies is 30 minutes;...
time T3 => hasnt been decided on yet), you can meet half an hour later at Louies than you could on campus and end up eating at the same time. See also {since time T equals minus infinity}. 

factpacks/security.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

security specifications => A detailed description of the safeguards required to protect a system.
security target => (1) A specification of the security required of a target of evaluation, used as a baseline for evaluation. The security target will specify the security-enforcing functions of the target of evaluation. It will also specify the secu...
security testing => A process used to determine that the security features of a system are implemented as designed.  This includes hands-on functional testing, penetration testing, and verification. 
sensitive information => Any information, the loss, misuse, modification of, or unauthorized access to, could affect the national interest or the conduct of Federal programs, or the privacy to which individuals are entitled under  Section 552a of Tit...
shall => Indication that a requirement must be met unless a justification of why it cannot be met is given and accepted.
should => Indication of an objective requirement that requires less justification for non-con- formancy and should be more readily approved. Note: Should is often used when a specific requirement is not feasible in some situations or with common curr...
simple security condition => A Bell-LaPadula security model rule allowing a subject read access to an object only if the security level of the subject dominates the security level of the object.
simple security property => A Bell-La Padula security model rule allowing a subject read access to an object only if the security level of the subject dominates the security level of the object.  Synonymous with simple security condition.
single level device => A device that is used to process data of a single security level at any one time.  Since the device need not be trusted to separate data of different security levels, sensitivity labels do not have to be stored with the data be...
site certification => The comprehensive assessment of the technical and nontechnical security functions of an IT (information technology) system in its  operational environment to establish the extent to which the system meets a set of specified secu...
skipjack =>  A classified 64-bit block encryption, or secret key encryption,algorithm. The algorithm uses 80-bit keys (compared with 56 for DES) and has 32 computational rounds or iterations (compared with 16 for DES)=2E Skipjack supports all DES mod...
software security => General purpose (executive, utility or software development tools) and applications programs or routines that protect data handled by a system.
sponsor => the person or organisation that requests an evaluation.
spoofing => An attempt to gain access to a system by posing as an authorized user. (Synonymous with impersonating, masquerading, and mimicking.)
state delta verification system => A system designed to give high confidence regarding microcode performance by using formulas that represent isolated states of a computation to check proofs concerning the course of that computation.
state variable => A variable that represents either the state of the system or the state of some system resource. 
state => Give required information with no attempted or implied requirement, to justify the information presented.
storage object => An object that supports both read and write accesses.
SAISS => Subcommittee on Automated Information Systems Security  - authorizes and directs the establishment, under the NTISSC, of a permanent Subcommittee on Automated Information Systems Security.  The SAISS is composed of one voting member from eac...
subject => Active entity in an IT product or AIS, generally in the form of a process or device, that causes information to flow among objects or changes the system state.
system => an assembly of computer and/or communications hardware, software, and firmware configured for the purpose of classifying, sorting, calculating, computing, summarizing, transmitting and receiving, storing and retrieving data with the purpose...