Amethyst

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Amethyst/Brain/Infobot/Module/Excuse.pm  view on Meta::CPAN

operation failed because: there is no message for this error (#1014)
stop bit received
internet is needed to catch the etherbunny
network down, IP packets delivered via UPS
Firmware update in the coffee machine
Temporal anomaly
Mouse has out-of-cheese-error
Borg implants are failing
Borg nanites have infested the server
error: one bad user found in front of screen
Please state the nature of the technical emergency
Internet shut down due to maintainance
Daemon escaped from pentagram
crop circles in the corn shell
sticky bit has come loose
Hot Java has gone cold
Cache miss - please take better aim next time
Hash table has woodworm
Trojan horse ran out of hay
Zombie processess detected, machine is haunted.
overflow error in /dev/null

Amethyst/Brain/Infobot/Module/Zippy.pm  view on Meta::CPAN

Uh-oh!!  I'm having TOO MUCH FUN!!
UH-OH!!  We're out of AUTOMOBILE PARTS and RUBBER GOODS!
Used staples are good with SOY SAUCE!
VICARIOUSLY experience some reason to LIVE!!
Vote for ME -- I'm well-tapered, half-cocked, ill-conceived and TAX-DEFERRED!
Wait ... is this a FUN THING or the END of LIFE in Petticoat Junction??
Was my SOY LOAF left out in th'RAIN?  It tastes REAL GOOD!!
We are now enjoying total mutual interaction in an imaginary hot tub ...
We have DIFFERENT amounts of HAIR --
We just joined the civil hair patrol!
We place two copies of PEOPLE magazine in a DARK, HUMID mobile home. 45 minutes later CYNDI LAUPER emerges wearing a BIRD CAGE on her head!
Well, here I am in AMERICA..  I LIKE it.  I HATE it.  I LIKE it.  I
HATE it.  I LIKE it.  I HATE it.  I LIKE it.  I HATE it.  I LIKE ... EMOTIONS are SWEEPING over me!!
Well, I'm a classic ANAL RETENTIVE!!  And I'm looking for a way to VICARIOUSLY experience some reason to LIVE!!
Well, I'm INVISIBLE AGAIN ... I might as well pay a visit to the LADIES  ROOM ...
Well, O.K.  I'll compromise with my principles because of EXISTENTIAL DESPAIR!
Were these parsnips CORRECTLY MARINATED in TACO SAUCE?
What a COINCIDENCE!  I'm an authorized "SNOOTS OF THE STARS" dealer!!
What GOOD is a CARDBOARD suitcase ANYWAY?
What I need is a MATURE RELATIONSHIP with a FLOPPY DISK ...
What I want to find out is -- do parrots know much about Astro-Turf?

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

Enoch => <reply> $who, An Advanced, Highly-Optimized GNU/Linux. URL: http://enoch.masslinux.com/
enprt.csh => <reply> $who, Entitled Printing from Netscape Navigator under UNIX-like OSes. URL: http://mickey.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at/enprt/
EnRus dictionary tools => <reply> $who, Tcl/Tk scripts for manipulating textual (plain or gzipped) dictionary base.. URL: http://enrus.antex.ru/indexe.html
enscript => <reply> $who, Converts ASCII files to PostScript. URL: http://www.iki.fi/~mtr/genscript/
Enscriptconfig => <reply> $who, Standalone GUI to edit the GNU enscript configuration files. URL: http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~etgold/software/
Ensemble => <reply> $who, A toolkit for constructing reliable distributed applications.. URL: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/Projects/Ensemble/index.html
Enter3D Project => <reply> $who, Large-scale multiuser persistent real-time 3D world. URL: http://www.enter3d.net
Entity => <reply> $who, Allows you to use XML and Perl/Tcl/C to build graphical user interfaces.. URL: http://entity.netidea.com/
Env::Array => <reply> $who, Perl module for treating environment variables as arrays. URL: http://www.focusresearch.com/gregor/Env-Array/index.html
Envelope printing tool => <reply> $who, A simple Perl script to print a business size envelope using Enscript.. URL: ftp://ftp.lecart.com/pub/enscript-envelope.tar.gz
envprint.pl => <reply> $who, Mail-merge and envelope printer. URL: http://www.angelfire.com/wi/spoon/
Envy => <reply> $who, Shell-independent environment variable management. URL: http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/id/JPRIT/
EO => <reply> $who, Templates-based, ANSI-C++ compliant evolutionary computation library. URL: http://geneura.ugr.es/~jmerelo/EO.html
EOS => <reply> $who, . URL: http://www.ist.org/eos/text.html
epage => <reply> $who, A small workspace changer - CDE like - pager for Enlightenment.. URL: http://sixsteps.stuph.org/stuff/
EPAN => <reply> $who, . URL: http://www.et-inf.fho-emden.de/~tobias/epan/
Epeios => <reply> $who, Collection of general purposes C++ libraries working under UNIX and Windows.. URL: http://www.epeios.org/
EPIC => <reply> $who, ANSI capable textmode IRC Client. URL: http://www.frenzy.com/~bhauber/epic/
EPIconf => <reply> $who, A GTK+ based configuration tool for EPIwm.. URL: http://www.epita.fr/~rault_s/
EPIngle => <reply> $who, GTK Builder. URL: http://www.epita.fr/~theber_s/epingle/
EPIpage3 => <reply> $who, page3.com women download perl script. URL: http://www.epita.fr/~poinde_t/page3
EPIWEB => <reply> $who, A GPL'ed web server wich will support HTTP/1.1. URL: http://epiweb.linuxbox.com/
EPIwm => <reply> $who, window manager. URL: http://www.epita.fr/epiwm/
ePlus => <reply> $who, . URL: http://slashdot.org/linux/e.shtml
Epop => <reply> $who, Erlang POP3 client/server package. URL: http://www.serc.rmit.edu.au/~tobbe/epop/
Epplet Library => <reply> $who, Library and example epplets for Enlightenment 0.16. URL: http://www.enlightenment.org/
epsmerge => <reply> $who, A Perl program for handling encapsulated postscript images. URL: http://134.219.44.207/~jens/software/epsmerge/
epsprint => <reply> $who, Epson-compatible dot matrix printer filter. URL: http://www.penguin.cz/~mhi/epsprint/
epssplit => <reply> $who, A program to split encapsulated postscript files. URL: http://134.219.44.207/~jens/software/epssplit/
eqlplus => <reply> $who, Modem Aggregator for Linux. URL: http://www.cwareco.com/eqlplus.html
Eraserhead RPG => <reply> $who, RPG/II, RPG/III Compiler. URL: http://rpg.netpedia.net
ERC => <reply> $who, Emacs IRC client. URL: ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/network/chat/irc/
erikyyyphone => <reply> $who, Internet audio conferencing application. URL: http://wwwcip.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/~inf24628/erikyyyphone/
Erlang => <reply> $who, Full-featured programming language developed at the Ericsson CS Laboratory. URL: http://www.erlang.org/
erpcd-talker => <reply> $who, A simple set of utilities to talk to an erpcd (Annex manager software). URL: http://www.luyer.net/software/erpcd-talker/
erwin => <reply> $who, GTK html editor. URL: http://www-stud.fht-esslingen.de/erwin/
esh => <reply> $who, New Unix shell. URL: http://esh.netpedia.net

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

MUGU => <reply> $who, A graphical multi-player game system written in Java. URL: http://www.mugu.org/
muh => <reply> $who, Full-featured IRC bouncing tool. URL: http://mind.riot.org
mule => <reply> $who, multilingual emacs. URL: ftp://etlport.etl.go.jp/pub/mule/
muLinux => <reply> $who, A tiny implementation of Linux, which can reside on a single floppy. URL: http://sunsite.auc.dk/mulinux/
multiforum => <reply> $who, Multiforum version of forum, a php & mysql based web forum. URL: http://www.blacknet.de/multiforum/multiforum-0.2.tar.gz
MultiMail => <reply> $who, Offline Mail Reader (QWK). URL: http://www.clark.net/pub/wmcbrine/html/multimail.html
MultiMedia Panel => <reply> $who, MultiMedia Player and Audio Mixer for linux consoles.. URL: http://wwwetu.utc.fr/~hommeymi/computing/mmp/
Multimeter => <reply> $who, read measurements from digital multimeters. URL: http://home.pages.at/linux/
Multipack => <reply> $who, Python extension modules for data analysis. URL: http://oliphant.netpedia.net/
MultiSeti => <reply> $who, Seti@Home Utility to manage multiple seti@home packets. URL: http://www.linuxsupportline.com/~kost/multiseti/
multisort => <reply> $who, small, fast C program that merges httpd logs and orders by date. URL: http://www.xach.com/multisort/
Multitrack => <reply> $who, . URL: http://rulhmpc38.leidenuniv.nl/private/multitrack/multitrack.html
Multiverse => <reply> $who, A system for building an online world/RPG. URL: http://www.innerworld.org/project/
MUMail => <reply> $who, A Java applet designed to let you read your mail from a website. URL: http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~marktop/MUMail/
muni => <reply> $who, Muni maps Chinese characters to Unicode. URL: http://www.whizkidtech.net/
Mup => <reply> $who, Music Publisher. URL: http://www.arkkra.com
musplay => <reply> $who, Allows you to play music on any Xterminal.. URL: http://www.math.upenn.edu/~vdergach/
MuTATE! => <reply> $who, Networked board game with chatrooms. URL: http://travisloyd.bizland.com/mutate/index.html
Mutt => <reply> $who, Small but very powerful text-based mail client for Unix operatingsystems. URL: http://www.mutt.org/
mvComicsMaker => <reply> $who, editor for combining bitmap and vector graphics. URL: http://members.xoom.com/miishland/9mvCM.html
MVPoly => <reply> $who, A multi-variable polynomial algebra library and command interpreter. URL: http://gamma.cbos.org/MVPoly

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

tkbabel/tclbabel => <reply> $who, Babelfish frontend - command-line and GUI. URL: http://members.home.net/sdanis/tkbabel/
tkBallistic => <reply> $who, Small arms ballistics calculator. URL: http://members.xoom.com/joshua_weage/ballistic/
TkBible => <reply> $who, GUI front-end for BRS bible study software.. URL: http://www.sover.net/~senecal/tkbible.html
tkbind => <reply> $who, tksqlbind is a perl script that will edit sqlbind zones. URL: http://milosch.net/tkbind/
TkBox => <reply> $who, MPEG remote access control client/server architecture. URL: http://caristudenti.cs.unibo.it/~carniani/altafuente/tkbox.html
TKburn => <reply> $who, TCL/TK-Frontend for creating Audio- and Data-CDs. URL: http://computer.freepage.de/linux-azubi/tools.htm
tkcd => <reply> $who, A tcl/tk interface for command line cd player, cdcd.. URL: http://lago.monkey.sbay.org/tkcd/
tkchooser => <reply> $who, . URL: http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~etgold/software/tkchooser2/
TkDesk => <reply> $who, Tk/tcl based X11 Desktop/File manager. URL: http://people.mainz.netsurf.de/~bolik/tkdesk/
tkDict => <reply> $who, Search for dictionary lookups and viewing. URL: http://www.mindspring.net/~john_mcl/tkdict/index.html
TkDiff => <reply> $who, Graphical 2-way diff/merge. URL: http://www.ede.com/free/tkdiff/
tkdpkg => <reply> $who, A front-end for dpkg and alien. URL: http://glug.mrbit.es/
TkDVI => <reply> $who, A TeX DVI previewer based on Tcl/Tk. URL: http://www.tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~lingnau/tkdvi/
TkFileman => <reply> $who, A Simple file manager written in Tcl/Tk. URL: http://www.mindspring.com/~joeja/programs.html
TkFM => <reply> $who, Tcl/Tk File Manager. URL: http://rts.ncst.ernet.in/~mayur/tkfm/
tkFTP => <reply> $who, tkFTP is an FTP client completely written with the Tcl/Tk scripting language.. URL: http://a.trevano.ch/~jermini/tkftp/
tkGinPro => <reply> $who, Tk Grab Images from NNTP (tkGin) Pro. URL: http://personal.bna.bellsouth.net/~bcwhite/tkGinPro.html
TkGnats => <reply> $who, Tcl/Tk-based front end for the GNATS bug management system. URL: http://www.cuug.ab.ca/~macdonal/tkgnats.html
tkHTML => <reply> $who, Simple HTML editor based on the Tcl script language and the Tk toolkit.. URL: http://www.cobaltgroup.com/~roland/tkHTML/tkHTML.html
TkInfo => <reply> $who, Tk script to read GNU. URL: http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/tkinfo/
tkirc => <reply> $who, A frontend for unix's ircII. URL: http://www.north.de/~atte/tkirc/

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

wcII-grab => <reply> $who, Image Grabber for Creative WebCam II. URL: ftp://ftp.ghostfield.cx/pub/people/madcat/
WcIIcam => <reply> $who, Experimental software to drive a CPiA parallel Webcam ( ie Creative WebCam II ). URL: ftp://brijn.nu/vision/wcIIcam0.2.tgz
wcol => <reply> $who, Prefetching proxy server.. URL: http://hayate.aist-nara.ac.jp/products/wcol/
WDDX SDK => <reply> $who, SDK for building distributed web applications. URL: http://www.wddx.org
wdm => <reply> $who, xdm replacement. URL: http://www.tuffguy.net/~wdm/
weather.PHP => <reply> $who, Get, store and subsequently display current US Cities Weather Information.. URL: http://www.programmersreference.com/php/weather/
Web Contacts => <reply> $who, A little php script that allows search of a outlook contacts exported to MySQL. URL: http://www.linuxscripts.com/
Web diary => <reply> $who, Web-based multi-user CGI diary applet. URL: http://chernabog.imagegroup.com/diary/
Web E-Mail => <reply> $who, CGI email program.. URL: http://www.execpc.com/~shaws/
Web News => <reply> $who, CGI Script that takes random announcements from a list. URL: http://www.e-nef.com/perl/cgi.html
Web Pages => <reply> $who, CGI script to merge several distributed webpages into one. URL: http://www.e-nef.com/CGI/WebPages.html
Web Photo Album => <reply> $who, Automatic web photo album.. URL: http://source.robertk.com
Web Projects => <reply> $who, author.... URL: http://www.e-nef.com/perl/cgi.html
Web Secretary => <reply> $who, Web page monitoring software. URL: http://homemade.hypermart.net/websec/
Web Tree Scanner => <reply> $who, A program to visualize the tree of a WWW server and check the links. URL: http://www.fsai.fh-trier.de/~schmitzj/Xclasses/programs.html
Web User Interface => <reply> $who, Builds a list of all available personal homepages.. URL: http://www.e-nef.com/CGI/WebLx.html
Web-4M => <reply> $who, Comprehensive collaboration/groupware environment. URL: http://www.jdhtech.com/
Web-bench => <reply> $who, Simple web server benchark.. URL: http://ncic.netmag.cz/download/#wb
web-FTP => <reply> $who, A lightweight Perl/CGI FTP client. URL: http://www.mathforum.com/~tom/web-FTP/
web500gw => <reply> $who, Connects WWW browsers to LDAP based Directories.. URL: http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~fri/web500gw/index.html
WebAccountant => <reply> $who, New open source project to develop a quality web-based accounting system.. URL: http://www.webaccountant.org/

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

xlnotice => <reply> $who, Login time public notice board for X. URL: http://www.dcc.unicamp.br/~guazzibe/XLN/
Xlockmore => <reply> $who, screen saver / locker for the X Window System. URL: http://www.tux.org/~bagleyd/xlockmore.html
Xlogmaster => <reply> $who, Tool to monitor logfiles and hardware status. URL: http://www.gnu.org/software/xlogmaster/xlogmaster.html
XLogMonitor => <reply> $who, Tool for monitoring linux log's. URL: http://members.xoom.com/chaosmaker/linux/
xls2xml => <reply> $who, A free converter from Microsoft Excel to XML, and a free C library. URL: http://arturo.directmail.org/filtersweb/
Xmahjongg => <reply> $who, Colorful X solitaire Mah Jongg game. URL: http://www.lcdf.org/xmahjongg/
XMangle => <reply> $who, X frontend for Mangle. URL: http://neptune.spaceports.com/~rvb/xmangle/
Xmap => <reply> $who, . URL: http://www.mayko.com/xmap/
Xmcd => <reply> $who, Full-featured CD Player utility package. URL: http://metalab.unc.edu/tkan/xmcd/
xmemo => <reply> $who, X Windows desktop memo.. URL: http://www.bea.hi-ho.ne.jp/abetakao/
Xmerge => <reply> $who, Xmerge merges two windows, creating a new window, with two. URL: http://xmerge.mini.dhs.org/
xmixer => <reply> $who, Soundcard mixer program for Linux. URL: http://home.pages.de/~rasca/xmixer/
XML Parser for Java => <reply> $who, XML Parser & Generator for Java. URL: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/
XML Security Suite => <reply> $who, The XML Security Suite provides security features such as digital signatures.. URL: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/
XML-RPC => <reply> $who, A remote protocol that uses XML and HTTP to connect various scripting platforms.. URL: http://www.xmlrpc.com/
XML-Template => <reply> $who, A flexible templating system using XML markup. URL: http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/XML/XML-Template-1.0.tar.gz
XML::Edifact => <reply> $who, An approach towards XML/EDI as a prototype in perl. URL: http://www.xml-edifact.org/
XML::Node => <reply> $who, Simplified interface to XML::Parser. URL: http://belmont-shores.ics.uci.edu/XML::Node/
XML::Parser => <reply> $who, XML Parser module for perl based on James Clark's expat lib. URL: http://www.netheaven.com/~coopercc/xmlparser/intro.html
XML::RSS => <reply> $who, Perl module for maintaining RSS files. URL: http://www.perlxml.com/
XML::XSLT => <reply> $who, First Perl XSL-T Parser.. URL: http://www.sci.kun.nl/sigma/Persoonlijk/egonw/xslt/

factpacks/Linux.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

Blur Scope MAX => <reply> $who, Blur Scope MAX is an offshoot of the Blur Scope that comes with XMMS. URL: http://home1.gte.net/mbardeen/blurscope/blur_scope_max-0.9.1.tar.gz
HPTalx => <reply> $who, HPTalx is a program to transfer files from/to your HP calculator. URL: 
libtiff-lzw-compression-kit => <reply> $who, LZW compression has been removed from libtiff. URL: http://www.libtiff.org/libtiff-lzw-compression-kit.tar.gz
XIPM => <reply> $who, XIPM is a package management and system maintenance utility. URL: http://www.multimania.com/xsodax/main.htm#download
PHP4-Beta3 + Japanese libgd patch => <reply> $who, The Japanese libgd patch is a simple patch to PHP4 Beta 3 to enable use of Japanese and other multibyte characters in dynamic images generated with ImagePng and friends. URL: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/l...
X-RAR => <reply> $who, X-RAR is a front-end to the archiving utility 'rar'. URL: http://twakar.fdns.net/xrar-0.2beta.tar.gz
miffmixr => <reply> $who, miffmixr is a Web-based MP3 jukebox. URL: http://9mm.com/philez/miffmixr.tar.gz
MIT Scheme => <reply> $who, MIT Scheme is an implementation of the Scheme programming language, providing an interpreter, compiler, source-code debugger, integrated Emacs-like editor, and a large runtime library. URL: http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/ftpd...
ClanMecha => <reply> $who, ClanMecha is a 2D multiplayer platform game of the mecha genre. URL: http://sourceforge.net/download.php?fileid=1042
gecco => <reply> $who, gecco (GNOME Extensible Configuration COnsole) attempts to provide a common location for system, network and application configuration functions. URL: http://members.tripod.com/veeev/download.html
dupmerge => <reply> $who, Dupmerge reads a list of files from standard input (eg., as produced by "find . URL: http://people.qualcomm.com/karn/code/dupmerge/dupmerge.c
efx => <reply> $who, EFX is a standalone program which will load XMMS effect plugins for use with Esound. URL: http://code.linuxcore.com/download.php3?id=efx&type=tgz
MP3 Player Upload and Download utilities => <reply> $who, The MP3 Player Upload and Download utilities is a collection of programs which provide support for portable MP3 players such the Diamond Rio and the Saehan MpMan under operating systems other ...
cpp1 => <reply> $who, Cpp1 is an experimental chess program written in C++. URL: http://www.keetweej.demon.nl/cpp1.tgz
rdial => <reply> $who, rdial is an extremely simple RPC server for Linux. URL: http://colorfullife.com/~manfreds/rdial/rdial.tar.gz
dclock => <reply> $who, dclock is an X11 desktop clock with a realistic LED-style display of the current time. URL: http://bach.ece.jhu.edu/~tim/programs/archive/dclock.tar.gz
gatO => <reply> $who, gatO is an interface to the UNIX command 'at'.. URL: http://www.arquired.es/users/aldelgado/proy/gato/gato-0.6.2.tgz
g3DSE => <reply> $who, g3DSE is a little tool to set the 3D Stereo Enhancement of your SoundBlaster card (if supported).. URL: http://studwww.rug.ac.be/~fcorneli/g3dse/download/g3dse-0.1.tar.gz
CAFire => <reply> $who, CAFire is a small toy that displays a burning trace after the mouse pointer in X. URL: http://home.zcu.cz/~cimrman3/cafire-latest.tgz
GPPP-Dialer => <reply> $who, GPPP-Dialer runs a connection script and shows the contents of a PPP log, and can run other programs after connecting. URL: http://www.pobox.com/~epg/software/gppp-dialer-0.1.0.tar.gz
Perlmclient => <reply> $who, Perlmclient is a Masqdialler client written in Perl. URL: http://www.vicnet.net.au/~jeremyl/perlmclient/perlmclient-0.2.tar.gz

factpacks/areacodes.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

area code 901 => Memphis, Tennessee
area code 902 => all regions, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, CANADA
area code 903 => Tyler and Texarkana, Texas
area code 904 => Jacksonville and Pensacola, Florida
area code 905 => Southern Ontario, Canada (excluding Toronto)
area code 906 => Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
area code 907 => all regions, Alaska
area code 908 => Elizabeth and New Brunswick, New Jersey
area code 909 => Riverside and San Bernardino, California
area code 910 => Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Fayetteville, North Carolina
area code 911 => the code used for Police/Fire emergencies in most areas
area code 912 => Waycross and Savannah, Georgia
area code 913 => Ottawa and Topeka, Kansas
area code 914 => Monroe, Mount Vernon and Poughkeepsie, New York
area code 915 => El Paso, Texas
area code 916 => Sacramento and South Tahoe, California
area code 917 => New York City (cellular/pager only overlaid on 212/718), New York
area code 918 => Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma
area code 919 => Greenville, Raleigh and Williamston, North Carolina
area code 941 => Avon Park, Fort Myers and Winter Haven, Florida
area code 954 => Fort Lauderdale, Florida

factpacks/html.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

html <EMBED SCR> => ( SRC="URL" ) "URL" identifies the location of the object to be embedded.
html <EMBED HEIGHT> => ( HEIGHT=number ) This specifies the height of the object, according to the UNITS attribute.
html <EMBED WIDTH> => ( WIDTH=number ) This specifies the width of the object, according to the UNITS attribute.
html <EMBED UNITS> => ( UNITS=units ) Here units is one of pixels, meaning the width and height are measured in pixels, or en, meaning the width and height are measured in en spaces.
html <EMBED NAME> => ( NAME=text ) This indicates the name used by other objects or elements to refer to this object.
html <EMBED OPTIONAL PARAMETER> => ("OPTIONAL PARAMETER"=value) This specifies any parameters that are specific to the object. Put the name of the parameter in place of "OPTIONAL PARAMETER".
html <EMBED PALETTE> => ( PALETTE=#rgb|#rgb ) Sets the foreground or background color. The first colour is the foreground.
html <FIG> => <Figure> The figure element is an improvement over the inline image used in HTML 2.0 for a variety of reasons. See: <FIG> 2, 3, & 4
html <FIG> 2 => The text used to describe the figure for non-graphical browsers can contain markup tags & a separate credit and caption will be displayed by both graphical and non-graphical browsers
html <FIG> 3 => It also makes imagemaps much easier to code & independent of the server. (See the OBJECT and MAP tags for an alternate to this tag)
html <FIG> 4 => At the moment it isn't clear whether the built-in image maps of FIG or the client-side image maps of IMG with a USEMAP attribute will emerge as the long term alternative to server side image maps.
example <FIG> => <FIG attributes> figure-content </FIG>
html <FIG attributes> => The attributes for the <FIG> tag: SRC, ALIGN, HEIGHT, WIDTH, UNITS, NOFLOW & IMAGEMAP
html <FIG SRC> => ( SRC="URL" ) "URL" identifies the image source, typically a GIF or JPEG file.
html <FIG ALIGN> => (ALIGN="alignment") "alignment" should be one of TOP, MIDDLE, or BOTTOM. This causes the top, middle, or bottom of the image to be aligned with the text on the line containing the IMG tag. See: <FIG ALIGN> 2
html <FIG ALIGN> 2 => For Netscape: "alignment" should be one of LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, TEXTTOP, MIDDLE, ABSMIDDLE, BASELINE, BOTTOM, or ABSBOTTOM.
html <FIG HEIGHT> => ( HEIGHT=number ) This specifies the height of the image, according to the UNITS attribute.
html <FIG WIDTH> => ( WIDTH=number ) This specifies the width of the image, according to the UNITS attribute.
html <FIG UNITS> => (UNITS=units ) Here units is one of pixels, meaning the width and height are measured in pixels, or en, meaning the width and height are measured in en spaces. See:<FIG> 2
html <FIG UNITS> 2 => These units are not used for the shape co-ordinates of any anchor tags in the figure.
html <FIG NOFLOW> => Stops text from flowing around the figure.

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

bible is  n. 1. One of a small number of fundamental source books   such as {Knuth} and {K&R}.  2. The most detailed and   authoritative reference for a particular language, operating   system, or other complex software system.
BiCapitalization is  n. The act said to have been performed on   trademarks (such as NeXT, {NeWS}, VisiCalc, FrameMaker,   TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been raised above the ruck of   common coinage by nonstandard capitalization.  Too many   {mar...
BiCapitalization2 is  really cute, even   the 2,317th time they do it.  Compare {studlycaps}. 
BIFF is  /bif/ [USENET] n. The most famous {pseudo}, and the   prototypical {newbie}.  Articles from BIFF are characterized by   all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally with bangs, typos,   `cute' misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD OLD BIFF CUZ HE"S...
BIFF2 is  IN CAPITULL LETTRS LIKE   THIS!!!), use (and often misuse) of fragments of {talk mode}   abbreviations, a long {sig block} (sometimes even a {doubled   sig}), and unbounded na"ivet'e.  BIFF posts articles using his elder   brother's VIC-20....
BIFF3 is    appear to come from a variety of sites.  However, {BITNET} seems to   be the most frequent origin.  The theory that BIFF is a denizen of   BITNET is supported by BIFF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic   mail address BIFF@BIT.NET. 
biff is  /bif/ vt. To notify someone of incoming mail.  From the   BSD utility `biff(1)', which was in turn named after the   implementor's dog (it barked whenever the mailman came).  No   relation to {BIFF}.
Big Gray Wall is  n. What faces a {VMS} user searching for   documentation.  A full VMS kit comes on a pallet, the documentation   taking up around 15 feet of shelf space before the addition of layered   products such as compilers, databases, multive...
Big Gray Wall2 is  Recent (since VMS version 5) DEC   documentation comes with gray binders; under VMS version 4 the   binders were orange (`big orange wall'), and under version 3   they were blue.  See {VMS}. 
big iron is  n. Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers.  Used generally   of {number-crunching} supercomputers such as Crays, but can include   more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes.  Term of   approval; compare {heavy metal}, oppose {di...
Big Red Switch is  [IBM] n. The power switch on a computer, esp. the   `Emergency Pull' switch on an IBM {mainframe} or the power switch   on an IBM PC where it really is large and red.  "This !@%$%   {bitty box} is hung again; time to hit the Big Re...
Big Red Switch2 is  tune with the company's passion for   {TLA}s, this is often acronymized as `BRS' (this has also   become established on FidoNet and in the PC {clone} world).  It   is alleged that the emergency pull switch on an IBM 360/91 actuall...
Big Red Switch3 is  power feed; the BRSes on   more recent machines physically drop a block into place so that   they can't be pushed back in.  People get fired for pulling them,   especially inappropriately (see also {molly-guard}).  Compare   {powe...
the Big Room is  n. The extremely large room with the blue ceiling   and intensely bright light (during the day) or black ceiling with   lots of tiny night-lights (during the night) found outside all   computer installations.  "He can't come to the p...
big win is  n. Serendipity.  "Yes, those two physicists discovered   high-temperature superconductivity in a batch of ceramic that had   been prepared incorrectly according to their experimental schedule.   Small mistake; big win!" See {win big}.
big-endian is  [From Swift's `Gulliver's Travels' via the famous   paper `On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace' by Danny Cohen,   USC/ISI IEN 137, dated April 1, 1980] adj. 1. Describes a computer   architecture in which, within a given multi-byte numer...
big-endian2 is  has the lowest address   (the word is stored `big-end-first').  Most processors, including   the IBM 370 family, the {PDP-10}, the Motorola microprocessor   families, and most of the various RISC designs current in mid-1991,   are big...
big-endian3 is  {NUXI   problem}.  2. An {{Internet address}} the wrong way round.  Most   of the world follows the Internet standard and writes email   addresses starting with the name of the computer and ending up with   the name of the country.  I...
big-endian4 is  decided to do it the other way round before the Internet domain   standard was established; e.g., me@uk.ac.wigan.cs.  Most gateway   sites have {ad-hockery} in their mailers to handle this, but can   still be confused.  In particular,...
big-endian5 is  (domain uk) or Czechoslovakia (domain cs). 
bignum is  /big'nuhm/ [orig. from MIT MacLISP] n. 1. [techspeak] A   multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers.   More generally, any very large number.  "Have you ever looked at   the United States Budget?  There's bignums f...
bignum2 is  numbers on the dice are called   `bignums', especially a roll of double fives or double sixes   (compare {moby}, sense 4).  See also {El Camino Bignum}.   Sense 1 may require some explanation.  Most computer languages   provide a kind of ...

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COME FROM7 is  all,   control will eventually pass to the following statement.  The   implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN,   ca. 1975.  The statement `AT 100' would perform a `COME   FROM 100'.  It was intended strictly as a...
COME FROM8 is  promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in   production code.  More horrible things had already been perpetrated   in production languages, however; doubters need only contemplate   the `ALTER' verb in {COBOL}.   `COME FROM' was su...
COME FROM9 is  15 years later, in C-INTERCAL (see {INTERCAL},   {retrocomputing}); knowledgeable observers are still reeling   from the shock. 
comm mode is  /kom mohd/ [ITS from the feature supporting on-line   chat; the term may spelled with one or two m's] Syn. for {talk   mode}.
command key is  [Mac users] n. The Macintosh key with the cloverleaf   graphic on its keytop; sometimes referred to as `flower',   `pretzel', `clover', `propeller', `beanie' (an apparent   reference to the major feature of a propeller beanie), or   {...
command key2 is   The   proliferation of terms for this creature may illustrate one subtle   peril of iconic interfaces. 
comment out is  vt. To surround a section of code with comment   delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment   marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted.  Often   done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but...
comment out2 is  the intent of the active code clearer;   also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass   it in order to debug some other part of the code.  Compare   {condition out}, usually the preferred technique in languages...
Commonwealth Hackish is  n. Hacker jargon as spoken outside   the U.S., esp. in the British Commonwealth.  It is reported that   Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce truncations like   `char' and `soc', etc., as spelled (/char/, /sok/),...
Commonwealth Hackish2 is  Dots in {newsgroup}   names tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot   wib'l/ rather than /sohsh wib'l/).  The prefix {meta} may be   pronounced /mee't*/; similarly, Greek letter beta is often   /bee't*/, ...
Commonwealth Hackish3 is  Preferred   metasyntactic variables include `eek', `ook',   `frodo', and `bilbo'; `wibble', `wobble', and   in emergencies `wubble'; `banana', `wombat',   `frog', {fish}, and so on and on (see {foo}, sense 4).   Alternatives...
Commonwealth Hackish4 is  `frenzy' (as in feeding frenzy), and `city' (examples "barf   city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!").  Finally, note   that the American terms `parens', `brackets', and `braces' for (),   [], and {} are uncommon; Commonw...
Commonwealth Hackish5 is  brackets', and `curly brackets'.  Also, the   use of `pling' for {bang} is common outside the United States.   See also {attoparsec}, {calculator}, {chemist}, {console   jockey}, {fish}, {go-faster stripes}, {grunge}, {haksp...
Commonwealth Hackish6 is  fixer}, {noddy},   {psychedelicware}, {plingnet}, {raster blaster}, {seggie},   {terminal junkie}, {tick-list features}, {weeble},   {weasel}, {YABA}, and notes or definitions under {Bad Thing},   {barf}, {bogus}, {bum}, {ch...
Commonwealth Hackish7 is  {crunch}, {dodgy}, {gonk}, {hamster},   {hardwarily}, {mess-dos}, {nybble}, {proglet}, {root},   {SEX}, {tweak}, and {xyzzy}. 
compact is  adj. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it   can all be apprehended at once in one's head.  This generally means   the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility   and fewer errors than an equivalent to...
compact2 is  imply triviality or lack of power; for   example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful   than FORTRAN.  Designs become non-compact through accreting   {feature}s and {cruft} that don't merge cleanly into the   overall ...
compact3 is  maintain   that ANSI C is no longer compact). 
compiler jock is  n. See {jock} (sense 2).
compress is  [UNIX] vt. When used without a qualifier, generally   refers to {crunch}ing of a file using a particular   C implementation of Lempel-Ziv compression by James A. Woods et al. and   widely circulated via {USENET}.  Use of {crunch} itself ...
Compu$erve is  n. See {CI$}.
computer confetti is  n. Syn. {chad}.  Though this term is common,   this use of the punched-card chad is not a good idea, as the pieces   are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes.  GLS   reports that he once attended a wedding at ...
computer confetti2 is  enthusiastically threw chad instead of rice. The   groom later grumbled that he and his bride had spent most of the   evening trying to get the stuff out of their hair. 
computer geek is  n. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living.  One   who fulfills all the dreariest negative stereotypes about hackers   an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the   personality of a cheese grater.  Cannot be used b...
computer geek2 is  hackers; compare black-on-black usage   of `nigger'.  A computer geek may be either a fundamentally   clueless individual or a proto-hacker in {larval stage}.  Also   called `turbo nerd', `turbo geek'.  See also   {clustergeeking},...
computron is  /kom'pyoo-tron`/ n. 1. A notional unit of computing   power combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned   roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store   times megabytes-of-mass-storage.  "That machi...
computron2 is  enough computrons!"  This usage is usually   found in metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible   commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel horsepower.  See   {bitty box}, {Get a real computer!}, {toy}, {crank}.   2. A mythi...

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digit is  n. An employee of Digital Equipment Corporation.  See also   {VAX}, {VMS}, {PDP-10}, {{TOPS-10}}, {DEChead}, {double   DECkers}, {field circus}.
dike is  vt. To remove or disable a portion of something, as a wire   from a computer or a subroutine from a program.  A standard slogan   is "When in doubt, dike it out".  (The implication is that it is   usually more effective to attack software pr...
dike2 is  increasing it.)  The word `dikes' is widely   used among mechanics and engineers to mean `diagonal cutters',   esp.  a heavy-duty metal-cutting device, but may also refer to a   kind of wire-cutters used by electronics techs.  To `dike   so...
dike3 is  remove something.   Indeed, the TMRC Dictionary defined dike as "to attack with   dikes".  Among hackers this term has been metaphorically extended   to informational objects such as sections of code. 
ding is  n.,vi. 1. Synonym for {feep}.  Usage rare among hackers,   but commoner in the {Real World}.  2. `dinged' What happens   when someone in authority gives you a minor bitching about   something, esp. something trivial.  "I was dinged for havin...
dink is  /dink/ n. Said of a machine that has the {bitty box}   nature; a machine too small to be worth bothering with --- sometimes   the system you're currently forced to work on.  First heard from an   MIT hacker (BADOB) working on a CP/M system w...
dink2 is  then from fans of 32-bit architectures about   16-bit machines.  "GNUMACS will never work on that dink machine."   Probably derived from mainstream `dinky', which isn't sufficiently   pejorative. 
dinosaur is  n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special   power.  Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast   with newer microprocessor-based machines.  In a famous quote from   the 1988 UNIX EXPO, Bill Joy compared the m...
dinosaur2 is  grazing dinosaur "with a truck outside pumping   its bodily fluids through it".  IBM was not amused.  Compare   {big iron}; see also {mainframe}.  2. [IBM] A very conservative   user; a {zipperhead}. 
dinosaur pen is  n. A traditional {mainframe} computer room complete with   raised flooring, special power, its own ultra-heavy-duty air   conditioning, and a side order of Halon fire extinguishers.  See   {boa}.
dinosaurs mating is  n. Said to occur when yet another {big iron}   merger or buyout occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that   these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the   {mainframe} industry.  In its glory days of the 1960s, it...
dinosaurs mating2 is  Control Data, General   Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac.  RCA and GE sold out   early, and it was `IBM and the Bunch' (Burroughs, Univac, NCR,   Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while.  Honeywell was bought out   by ...
dinosaurs mating3 is  Unisys (in 1984 --- this   was when the phrase `dinosaurs mating' was coined); and as this is   written AT&T is attempting to recover from a disastrously bad first   6 years in the hardware industry by absorbing NCR.  More such ...
dirty power is  n. Electrical mains voltage that is unfriendly to   the delicate innards of computers.  Spikes, {drop-outs}, average   voltage significantly higher or lower than nominal, or just plain   noise can all cause problems of varying subtlet...
Discordianism is  /dis-kor'di-*n-ism/ n. The veneration of   {Eris}, a.k.a. Discordia; widely popular among hackers.   Discordianism was popularized by Robert Anton Wilson's   `Illuminatus!' trilogy as a sort of self-subverting Dada-Zen   for Western...
Discordianism2 is  seriously but   is far more serious than most jokes.  Consider, for example, the   Fifth Commandment of the Pentabarf, from `Principia   Discordia' "A Discordian is Prohibited of Believing What he   Reads."  Discordianism is usuall...
Discordianism3 is  theory/joke involving millennia-long warfare between the   anarcho-surrealist partisans of Eris and a malevolent,   authoritarian secret society called the Illuminati.  See   appendix B, {Church of the SubGenius}, and {ha ha only  ...
disk farm is  n. (also {laundromat}) A large room or rooms filled   with disk drives (esp. {washing machine}s).
display hack is  n. A program with the same approximate purpose as a   kaleidoscope to make pretty pictures.  Famous display hacks   include {munching squares}, {smoking clover}, the BSD UNIX   `rain(6)' program, `worms(6)' on miscellaneous UNIXes,  ...
display hack2 is  hacks can also be   implemented without programming by creating text files containing   numerous escape sequences for interpretation by a video terminal;   one notable example displayed, on any VT100, a Christmas tree with   twinkli...
display hack3 is  The {hack   value} of a display hack is proportional to the esthetic value of   the images times the cleverness of the algorithm divided by the   size of the code.  Syn. {psychedelicware}. 
Dissociated Press is  [play on `Associated Press'; perhaps inspired   by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up,   Doc?"] n.  An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially   humorous garbage even more efficiently than by pass...

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faulty is  adj. Non-functional; buggy.  Same denotation as   {bletcherous}, {losing}, q.v., but the connotation is much   milder.
fd leak is  /ef dee leek/ n. A kind of programming bug analogous to a   {core leak}, in which a program fails to close file descriptors   (`fd's) after file operations are completed, and thus eventually   runs out of them.  See {leak}.
fear and loathing is  [from Hunter Thompson] n. A state inspired by the   prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards   that are totally {brain-damaged} but ubiquitous --- Intel 8086s,   or {COBOL}, or {{EBCDIC}}, or any {IBM} m...
fear and loathing2 is  RS/6000).  "Ack!  They want PCs to be able to   talk to the AI machine.  Fear and loathing time!" 
feature is  n. 1. A good property or behavior (as of a program).   Whether it was intended or not is immaterial.  2. An intended   property or behavior (as of a program).  Whether it is good or not   is immaterial (but if bad, it is also a {misfeatur...
feature2 is  in particular, one that is   purposely inconsistent because it works better that way --- such an   inconsistency is therefore a {feature} and not a {bug}.  This   kind of feature is sometimes called a {miswart}; see that entry   for a cl...
feature3 is  is   gratuitous or unnecessary, though perhaps also impressive or cute.   For example, one feature of Common LISP's `format' function is   the ability to print numbers in two different Roman-numeral formats   (see {bells, whistles, and g...
feature4 is  put in to help someone else but that happens to be in your   way.  6. A bug that has been documented.  To call something a   feature sometimes means the author of the program did not consider   the particular case, and that the program r...
feature5 is  strictly incorrect.  A standard joke is that a   bug can be turned into a {feature} simply by documenting it   (then theoretically no one can complain about it because it's in   the manual), or even by simply declaring it to be good.  "T...
feature6 is  common catchphrase.  See also   {feetch feetch}, {creeping featurism}, {wart}, {green   lightning}.   The relationship among bugs, features, misfeatures, warts, and   miswarts might be clarified by the following hypothetical exchange   b...
feature7 is  seat doesn't recline."   B "That's not a bug, that's a feature.  There is an emergency   exit door built around the window behind you, and the route has to   be kept clear."   A "Oh.  Then it's a misfeature; they should have increased th...
feature8 is  if they'd increased spacing in only one section it   would have been a wart --- they would've had to make   nonstandard-length ceiling panels to fit over the displaced   seats."   A "A miswart, actually.  If they increased spacing throug...
feature9 is  of the profit margin.  So   unequal spacing would actually be the Right Thing."   B "Indeed."   {Undocumented feature} is a common, allegedly humorous euphemism   for a {bug}. 
feature creature is  [poss. fr. slang `creature feature' for a horror   movie] n. One who loves to add features to designs or programs,   perhaps at the expense of coherence, concision, or {taste}.  See   also {feeping creaturism}, {creeping featuris...
feature shock is  [from Alvin Toffler's book title `Future   Shock'] n.  A user's (or programmer's!) confusion when confronted   with a package that has too many features and poor introductory   material.
featurectomy is  /fee`ch*r-ek't*-mee/ n. The act of removing a   feature from a program.  Featurectomies come in two flavors, the   `righteous' and the `reluctant'.  Righteous featurectomies are   performed because the remover believes the program wo...
featurectomy2 is  there is already an equivalent and   better way to achieve the same end.  (This is not quite the same   thing as removing a {misfeature}.)  Reluctant featurectomies are   performed to satisfy some external constraint such as code si...
feep is  /feep/ 1. n. The soft electronic `bell' sound of a   display terminal (except for a VT-52); a beep (in fact, the   microcomputer world seems to prefer {beep}).  2. vi. To cause   the display to make a feep sound.  ASR-33s (the original TTYs)...
feep2 is  that ring.  Alternate forms   {beep}, `bleep', or just about anything suitably   onomatopoeic.  (Jeff MacNelly, in his comic strip "Shoe", uses   the word `eep' for sounds made by computer terminals and video   games; this is perhaps the cl...
feep3 is  `breedle' was sometimes heard at SAIL, where the terminal   bleepers are not particularly soft (they sound more like the   musical equivalent of a raspberry or Bronx cheer; for a close   approximation, imagine the sound of a Star Trek commu...
feep4 is  `feeper' on a VT-52 has been   compared to the sound of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears.  See also   {ding}. 

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garply is  /gar'plee/ [Stanford] n. Another meta-syntactic variable (see   {foo}); once popular among SAIL hackers.
gas is  [as in `gas chamber'] 1. interj. A term of disgust and   hatred, implying that gas should be dispensed in generous   quantities, thereby exterminating the source of irritation.  "Some   loser just reloaded the system for no reason!  Gas!"  2....
gas2 is  something ought to be flushed out of   mercy.  "The system's getting {wedged} every few minutes.   Gas!"  3. vt.  To {flush} (sense 1).  "You should gas that old   crufty software."  4. [IBM] n. Dead space in nonsequentially   organized file...
gas3 is  deleted;   the compression operation that removes it is called `degassing' (by   analogy, perhaps, with the use of the same term in vacuum   technology). 5. [IBM] n.  Empty space on a disk that has been   clandestinely allocated against futu...
gaseous is  adj. Deserving of being {gas}sed.  Disseminated by   Geoff Goodfellow while at SRI; became particularly popular after   the Moscone-Milk killings in San Francisco, when it was learned   that the defendant Dan White (a politician who had s...
gaseous2 is  chamber under Proposition 7 if   convicted of first-degree murder (he was eventually convicted of   manslaughter). 
GC is  /G-C/ [from LISP terminology; `Garbage Collect']   1. vt. To clean up and throw away useless things.  "I think I'll   GC the top of my desk today."  When said of files, this is   equivalent to {GFR}.  2. vt. To recycle, reclaim, or put to   an...
GC2 is  garbage collector   process.   `Garbage collection' is computer-science jargon for a particular   class of strategies for dynamically reallocating computer memory.   One such strategy involves periodically scanning all the data in   memory an...
GC3 is  useless data   items are then discarded so that the memory they occupy can be   recycled and used for another purpose.  Implementations of the LISP   language usually use garbage collection.   In jargon, the full phrase is sometimes heard but...
GC4 is  it is shorter.  Note that there is an   ambiguity in usage that has to be resolved by context "I'm going   to garbage-collect my desk" usually means to clean out the   drawers, but it could also mean to throw away or recycle the desk   itself...
GCOS is  /jee'kohs/ n. A {quick-and-dirty} {clone} of   System/360 DOS that emerged from GE around 1970; originally called   GECOS (the General Electric Comprehensive Operating System).  Later   kluged to support primitive timesharing and transaction...
GCOS2 is  computer division by Honeywell, the name   was changed to General Comprehensive Operating System (GCOS).   Other OS groups at Honeywell began referring to it as `God's Chosen   Operating System', allegedly in reaction to the GCOS crowd's   ...
GCOS3 is  superiority of their   product.  All this might be of zero interest, except for two facts   (1) The GCOS people won the political war, and this led in the   orphaning and eventual death of Honeywell {{Multics}}, and   (2) GECOS/GCOS left on...
GCOS4 is  systems at Bell Labs were GCOS machines for print spooling and   various other services; the field added to `/etc/passwd' to   carry GCOS ID information was called the `GECOS field' and   survives today as the `pw_gecos' member used for the...
GCOS5 is  information.  GCOS later played a   major role in keeping Honeywell a dismal also-ran in the mainframe   market, and was itself ditched for UNIX in the late 1980s when   Honeywell retired its aging {big iron} designs. 
GECOS is  /jee'kohs/ n. See {{GCOS}}.
gedanken is  /g*-don'kn/ adj. Ungrounded; impractical; not   well-thought-out; untried; untested.  `Gedanken' is a German word   for `thought'.  A thought experiment is one you carry out in your   head.  In physics, the term `gedanken experiment' is ...
gedanken2 is  impractical to carry out, but useful   to consider because you can reason about it theoretically.  (A   classic gedanken experiment of relativity theory involves thinking   about a man in an elevator accelerating through space.)  Gedank...
gedanken3 is  but you have to be careful.   It's too easy to idealize away some important aspect of the real world   in contructing your `apparatus'.   Among hackers, accordingly, the word has a pejorative connotation.   It is said of a project, espe...
gedanken4 is  research, that is written up in grand detail (typically as a Ph.D.   thesis) without ever being implemented to any great extent.  Such a   project is usually perpetrated by people who aren't very good   hackers or find programming dista...
gedanken5 is  thesis' is usually marked by an obvious lack of intuition   about what is programmable and what is not, and about what does and   does not constitute a clear specification of an algorithm.  See   also {AI-complete}, {DWIM}. 

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hack on is  vt. To {hack}; implies that the subject is some   pre-existing hunk of code that one is evolving, as opposed to   something one might {hack up}.
hack together is  vt. To throw something together so it will work.   Unlike `kluge together' or {cruft together}, this does not   necessarily have negative connotations.
hack up is  vt. To {hack}, but generally implies that the result is   a hack in sense 1 (a quick hack).  Contrast this with {hack on}.   To `hack up on' implies a {quick-and-dirty} modification to an   existing system.  Contrast {hacked up}; compare ...
hack value is  n. Often adduced as the reason or motivation for   expending effort toward a seemingly useless goal, the point being   that the accomplished goal is a hack.  For example, MacLISP had   features for reading and printing Roman numerals, ...
hack value2 is  See {display hack} for one   method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be   explained.  As a great artist once said of jazz "If you hafta ask,   you ain't never goin' to find out." 
hack-and-slay is  v. (also `hack-and-slash') 1. To play a {MUD}   or go mudding, especially with the intention of {berserking} for   pleasure.  2. To undertake an all-night programming/hacking   session, interspersed with stints of mudding as a chang...
hack-and-slay2 is  academic network amongst students   who worked nights and logged onto Essex University's MUDs during   public-access hours (2 A.M. to 7 A.M.).  Usually more   mudding than work was done in these sessions. 
hacked off is  [analogous to `pissed off'] adj. Said of system   administrators who have become annoyed, upset, or touchy owing to   suspicions that their sites have been or are going to be victimized   by crackers, or used for inappropriate, technic...
hacked off2 is  activities.  For example, having unreadable   files in your home directory called `worm', `lockpick', or `goroot'   would probably be an effective (as well as impressively obvious and   stupid) way to get your sysadmin hacked off at y...
hacked up is  adj. Sufficiently patched, kluged, and tweaked that the   surgical scars are beginning to crowd out normal tissue (compare   {critical mass}).  Not all programs that are hacked become   `hacked up'; if modifications are done with some e...
hacked up2 is  maintainability, the software may emerge better for   the experience.  Contrast {hack up}. 
hacker is  [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] n.   1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable   systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most   users, who prefer to learn only the minimum neces...
hacker2 is  (even obsessively) or who enjoys   programming rather than just theorizing about programming.  3. A   person capable of appreciating {hack value}.  4. A person who is   good at programming quickly.  5. An expert at a particular program,  ...
hacker3 is  it; as in `a UNIX   hacker'.  (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit   them congregate.)  6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind.  One   might be an astronomy hacker, for example.  7. One who enjoys the   intellectual...
hacker4 is  circumventing   limitations.  8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to   discover sensitive information by poking around.  Hence `password   hacker', `network hacker'.  See {cracker}.   It is better to be described as a hacker by ...
hacker5 is  Hackers consider themselves something of an   elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new   members are gladly welcome.  There is thus a certain ego   satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if ...
hacker6 is  quickly be labeled   {bogus}). 
hacking run is  [analogy with `bombing run' or `speed run'] n. A   hack session extended long outside normal working times, especially   one longer than 12 hours.  May cause you to `change phase the hard   way' (see {phase}).
Hacking X for Y is  [ITS] n. The information ITS made publicly   available about each user (the INQUIR record) was a sort of form in   which the user could fill out fields.  On display, two of these   fields were combined into a project description o...
Hacking X for Y2 is  `"Hacking perceptrons for   Minsky"').  This form of description became traditional and has   since been carried over to other systems with more general   facilities for self-advertisement (such as UNIX {plan file}s). 
Hackintosh is  n. 1. An Apple Lisa that has been hacked into emulating a   Macintosh (also called a `Mac XL').  2. A Macintosh assembled   from parts theoretically belonging to different models in the line.

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

magic number is  [UNIX/C] n. 1. In source code, some non-obvious   constant whose value is significant to the operation of a program   and that is inserted inconspicuously in-line ({hardcoded}),   rather than expanded in by a symbol set by a commente...
magic number2 is  are bad style.  2. A   number that encodes critical information used in an algorithm in   some opaque way.  The classic examples of these are the numbers   used in hash or CRC functions, or the coefficients in a linear   congruentia...
magic number3 is  sense   actually predates and was ancestral to the more common sense 1.   3. Special data located at the beginning of a binary data file to   indicate its type to a utility.  Under UNIX, the system and various   applications program...
magic number4 is  types of executable file by looking for a magic number.  Once upon   a time, these magic numbers were PDP-11 branch instructions that   skipped over header data to the start of executable code; the 0407,   for example, was octal for...
magic number5 is  {wizard} knows the spells to create magic numbers.  How do   you choose a fresh magic number of your own?  Simple --- you pick   one at random.  See?  It's magic! 
magic smoke is  n. A substance trapped inside IC packages that enables   them to function (also called `blue smoke'; this is similar to   the archaic `phlogiston' hypothesis about combustion).  Its   existence is demonstrated by what happens when a c...
magic smoke2 is  out, so it doesn't work any more.  See   {smoke test}, {let the smoke out}.   USENETter Jay Maynard tells the following story: "Once, while   hacking on a dedicated Z80 system, I was testing code by blowing   EPROMs and plugging them...
magic smoke3 is  One time, I plugged one in backwards.  I only discovered that   *after* I realized that Intel didn't put power-on lights under   the quartz windows on the tops of their EPROMs --- the die was   glowing white-hot.  Amazingly, the EPRO...
magic smoke4 is  full of zeros, then erased it again.  For all I know,   it's still in service.  Of course, this is because the magic smoke   didn't get let out."  Compare the original phrasing of {Murphy's   Law}. 
main loop is  n. Software tools are often written to perform some   actions repeatedly on whatever input is handed to them, terminating   when there is no more input or they are explicitly told to go away.   In such programs, the loop that gets and p...
mainframe is  n. This term originally referred to the cabinet   containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a   room-filling {Stone Age} batch machine.  After the emergence of   smaller `minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the   tr...
mainframe2 is  as `mainframe   computers' and eventually just as mainframes.  The term carries the   connotation of a machine designed for batch rather than interactive   use, though possibly with an interactive timesharing operating   system retrofi...
mainframe3 is  built   by IBM, Unisys, and the other great {dinosaur}s surviving from   computing's {Stone Age}.   It is common wisdom among hackers that the mainframe architectural   tradition is essentially dead (outside of the tiny market for   {n...
mainframe4 is  having been   swamped by the recent huge advances in IC technology and low-cost   personal computing.  As of 1991, corporate America hasn't quite   figured this out yet, though the wave of failures, takeovers, and   mergers among tradi...
mainframe5 is    the wind (see {dinosaurs mating}). 
management is  n. 1. Corporate power elites distinguished primarily by   their distance from actual productive work and their chronic   failure to manage (see also {suit}).  Spoken derisively, as in   "*Management* decided that ...".  2. Mythically, ...
management2 is  world's minor irritations.   Hackers' satirical public notices are often signed `The Mgt'; this   derives from the `Illuminatus' novels (see the Bibliography). 
mandelbug is  /mon'del-buhg/ [from the Mandelbrot set] n. A bug   whose underlying causes are so complex and obscure as to make its   behavior appear chaotic or even non-deterministic.  This term   implies that the speaker thinks it is a {Bohr bug}, ...
manged is  /monjd/ [probably from the French `manger' or Italian   `mangiare', to eat; perhaps influenced by English n. `mange',   `mangy'] adj. Refers to anything that is mangled or damaged,   usually beyond repair.  "The disk was manged after the e...
mangle is  vt. Used similarly to {mung} or {scribble}, but more violent   in its connotations; something that is mangled has been   irreversibly and totally trashed.
mangler is  [DEC] n. A manager.  Compare {mango}; see also   {management}.  Note that {system mangler} is somewhat different   in connotation.
mango is  /mang'go/ [orig. in-house jargon at Symbolics] n. A manager.   Compare {mangler}.  See also {devo} and {doco}.
marbles is  [from mainstream "lost all his/her marbles"] pl.n. The   minimum needed to build your way further up some hierarchy of tools   or abstractions.  After a bad system crash, you need to determine   if the machine has enough marbles to come u...
marbles2 is  rebuild from backups, or if you need to rebuild   from scratch.  "This compiler doesn't even have enough marbles to   compile `Hello World'." 
marginal is  adj. 1. Extremely small.  "A marginal increase in   {core} can decrease {GC} time drastically."  In everyday   terms, this means that it is a lot easier to clean off your desk if   you have a spare place to put some of the junk while you...
marginal2 is  merit.  "This proposed new   feature seems rather marginal to me."  3. Of extremely small   probability of {win}ning.  "The power supply was rather marginal   anyway; no wonder it fried." 
Marginal Hacks is  n. Margaret Jacks Hall, a building into which the   Stanford AI Lab was moved near the beginning of the 1980s (from the   {D. C. Power Lab}).
marginally is  adv. Slightly.  "The ravs here are only marginally   better than at Small Eating Place."  See {epsilon}.
marketroid is  /mar'k*-troyd/ alt. `marketing slime',   `marketing droid', `marketeer' n. A member of a company's   marketing department, esp. one who promises users that the next   version of a product will have features that are not actually   sche...
marketroid2 is  to implement,   and/or are in violation of the laws of physics; and/or one who   describes existing features (and misfeatures) in ebullient,   buzzword-laden adspeak.  Derogatory.  Compare {droid}.*   martian: n. A packet sent on a TC...
marketroid3 is  test loopback interface [127.0.0.1].  This means   that it will come back at you labeled with a source address that   is clearly not of this earth.  "The domain server is getting lots   of packets from Mars.  Does that gateway have a ...
massage: vt. Vague term used to describe `smooth' transformations of is    a data set into a different form, esp. transformations that do   not lose information.  Connotes less pain than {munch} or {crunch}.   "He wrote a program that massages X bitm...
math-out: [poss. from `white-out' (the blizzard variety)] n. A is    paper or presentation so encrusted with mathematical or other   formal notation as to be incomprehensible.  This may be a device   for concealing the fact that it is actually {conte...
Matrix: [FidoNet] n. 1. What the Opus BBS software and sysops call is    {FidoNet}.  2. Fanciful term for a {cyberspace} expected to   emerge from current networking experiments (see {network, the}).   Some people refer to the totality of present net...
Mbogo, Dr. Fred: /*m-boh'goh, dok'tr fred/ [Stanford] n. The is    archetypal man you don't want to see about a problem, esp. an   incompetent professional; a shyster.  "Do you know a good eye   doctor?"  "Sure, try Mbogo Eye Care and Professional Dr...
Mbogo, Dr. Fred: /*m-boh'goh, dok'tr fred/ [Stanford] n. The2 is  between {bogus} and the   original Dr. Mbogo, a witch doctor who was Gomez Addams' physician   on the old "Addams Family" TV show.  See also   {fred}. 
meatware is  n. Synonym for {wetware}.  Less common.
meeces is  /mees'*z/ [TMRC] n. Occasional furry visitors who are not   {urchin}s.  [That is, mice. This may no longer be in live use; it   clearly derives from the refrain of the early-1960s cartoon character   Mr. Jinx: "I hate meeces to *pieces*!" ...
meg is  /meg/ n. See {{quantifiers}}.
mega- is  /me'g*/ [SI] pref. See {{quantifiers}}.
megapenny is  /meg'*-pen`ee/ n. $10,000 (1 cent * 10^6).   Used semi-humorously as a unit in comparing computer cost and   performance figures.
MEGO is  /me'goh/ or /mee'goh/ [`My Eyes Glaze Over', often `Mine Eyes   Glazeth (sic) Over', attributed to the futurologist Herman Kahn]   Also `MEGO factor'.  1. n. A {handwave} intended to confuse the   listener and hopefully induce agreement beca...
MEGO2 is  not understanding what is going on.  MEGO is   usually directed at senior management by engineers and contains a   high proportion of {TLA}s.  2. excl. An appropriate response to   MEGO tactics.  3. Among non-hackers this term often refers ...
MEGO3 is  glaze, but to the eye-glazing   reaction itself, which may be triggered by the mere threat of   technical detail as effectively as by an actual excess of it. 

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

sandbox is  n. (or `sandbox, the') Common term for the   R&D department at many software and computer companies (where hackers   in commercial environments are likely to be found).  Half-derisive,   but reflects the truth that research is a form of c...
sanity check is  n. 1. The act of checking a piece of code (or   anything else, e.g., a USENET posting) for completely stupid mistakes.   Implies that the check is to make sure the author was sane when it   was written; e.g., if a piece of scientific...
sanity check2 is  was giving unexpected results, one might   first look at the nesting of parentheses or the coding of the   formula, as a {sanity check}, before looking at the more complex   I/O or data structure manipulation routines, much less the...
sanity check3 is  2. A run-time test,   either validating input or ensuring that the program hasn't screwed   up internally (producing an inconsistent value or state). 
Saturday night special is  [from police slang for a cheap handgun] n.   A program or feature kluged together during off hours, under a   deadline, and in response to pressure from a {salescritter}.   Such hacks are dangerously unreliable, but all too...
say is  vt. 1. To type to a terminal.  "To list a directory   verbosely, you have to say `ls -l'."  Tends to imply a   {newline}-terminated command (a `sentence').  2. A computer   may also be said to `say' things to you, even if it doesn't have   a ...
say2 is  terminal in response   to your commands.  Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses   {mundane}s. 
science-fiction fandom is  n. Another voluntary subculture having a   very heavy overlap with hackerdom; most hackers read SF and/or   fantasy fiction avidly, and many go to `cons' (SF conventions) or   are involved in fandom-connected activities suc...
science-fiction fandom2 is  Some hacker jargon originated in SF fandom;   see {defenestration}, {great-wall}, {cyberpunk}, {h}, {ha ha   only serious}, {IMHO}, {mundane}, {neep-neep}, {Real   Soon Now}.  Additionally, the jargon terms {cowboy},   {cy...
science-fiction fandom3 is  {virus},   {wetware}, {wirehead}, and {worm} originated in SF   stories. 
scram switch is  [from the nuclear power industry] n. An   emergency-power-off switch (see {Big Red Switch}), esp. one   positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel.  In general,   this is *not* something you {frob} lightly; these often   ini...
scram switch2 is  and are installed   in a {dinosaur pen} for use in case of electrical fire or in   case some luckless {field servoid} should put 120 volts across   himself while {Easter egging}. 
scratch is  1. [from `scratchpad'] adj. Describes a data   structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or   temporary-use purposes; one that can be {scribble}d on without   loss.  Usually in the combining forms `scratch memory',  ...
scratch2 is  tape',   `scratch volume'.  See {scratch monkey}.  2. [primarily   IBM] vt. To delete (as in a file). 
scratch monkey is  n. As in "Before testing or reconfiguring, always   mount a {scratch monkey}", a proverb used to advise caution when   dealing with irreplaceable data or devices.  Used to refer to any   scratch volume hooked to a computer during a...
scratch monkey2 is  precious resource or data that might otherwise get   trashed.   This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder   Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of   Toronto ca. 1986.  Mabel was not (...
scratch monkey3 is  university had spent years teaching her how to swim,   breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of   different gas mixtures on her physiology.  Mabel suffered an   untimely demise one day when DEC {PM}ed the PD...
scratch monkey4 is  {provocative maintainance}).   It is recorded that, after calming down an understandably irate   customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC   troubleshooter called up the {field circus} manager responsible  ...
scratch monkey5 is  all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of   the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of   certain clueless droids at the local `humane' society.  The moral   is clear When in doubt, always...
screw is  [MIT] n. A {lose}, usually in software.  Especially used for   user-visible misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature.  This use   has become quite widespread outside MIT.
screwage is  /skroo'*j/ n. Like {lossage} but connotes that the   failure is due to a designed-in misfeature rather than a simple   inadequacy or a mere bug.

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

winner2 is  {user}). "He's a real winner --- never   reports a bug till he can duplicate it and send in an   example." 
winnitude is  /win'*-t[y]ood/ n. The quality of winning (as opposed   to {winnage}, which is the result of winning).  "Guess what?   They tweaked the microcode and now the LISP interpreter runs twice   as fast as it used to." "That's really great!  B...
winnitude2 is  a half-hour's winnage on the   next run of my program."  Perhaps curiously, the obvious antonym   `lossitude' is rare. 
wired is  n. See {hardwired}.
wirehead is  /wir'hed/ n. [prob. from SF slang for an   electrical-brain-stimulation addict] 1. A hardware hacker,   especially one who concentrates on communications hardware.  2. An   expert in local-area networks.  A wirehead can be a network   so...
wirehead2 is  ability to deal with   network hardware, down to the smallest component.  Wireheads are   known for their ability to lash up an Ethernet terminator from   spare resistors, for example. 
wish list is  n. A list of desired features or bug fixes that probably   won't get done for a long time, usually because the person   responsible for the code is too busy or can't think of a clean way   to do it.  "OK, I'll add automatic filename com...
wish list2 is  interface." Compare {tick-list features}. 
within delta of is  adj. See {delta}.
within epsilon of is  adj. See {epsilon}.
wizard is  n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software   or hardware works (that is, who {grok}s it); esp. someone who   can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency.  Someone is a   {hacker} if he or she has general hacking ability, bu...
wizard2 is  if he or she has specific detailed   knowledge of that thing.  A good hacker could become a wizard for   something given the time to study it.  2. A person who is permitted   to do things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has {wheel} ...
wizard3 is  esp. a UNIX systems   programmer.  This usage is well enough established that `UNIX   Wizard' is a recognized job title at some corporations and to most   headhunters.  See {guru}, {lord high fixer}.  See also   {deep magic}, {heavy wizar...
wizard4 is  dance}, {voodoo programming}, {wave a   dead chicken}. 
Wizard Book is  n. Hal Abelson and Jerry Sussman's `Structure   and Interpretation of Computer Programs' (MIT Press, 1984; ISBN   0-262-01077-1, an excellent computer science text used in   introductory courses at MIT.  So called because of the wizar...
Wizard Book2 is  LISP/Scheme   world. 
wizard mode is  [from {rogue}] n. A special access mode of a program or   system, usually passworded, that permits some users godlike   privileges.  Generally not used for operating systems themselves   (`root mode' or `wheel mode' would be used inst...
wizardly is  adj. Pertaining to wizards.  A wizardly {feature} is one   that only a wizard could understand or use properly.
womb box is  n. 1. [TMRC] Storage space for equipment.  2. [proposed]   A variety of hard-shell equipment case with heavy interior padding   and/or shaped carrier cutouts in a foam-rubber matrix; mundanely   called a `flight case'.  Used for delicate...
WOMBAT is  [Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time] adj. Applied to problems   which are both profoundly {uninteresting} in themselves and   unlikely to benefit anyone interesting even if solved.  Often used   in fanciful constructions such as `wrestling w...
WOMBAT2 is  {SMOP}.  Also note the rather different   usage as a meta-syntactic variable in {{Commonwealth Hackish}}. 

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

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...
bignum => /big'nuhm/ [orig. from MIT MacLISP] n. 1. [techspeak] A multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers. More generally, any very large number. "Have you ever looked at the United States Budget? There's bignums for you!" ...
bigot => n. A person who is religiously attached to a particular computer, language, operating system, editor, or other tool (see {religious issues}). Usually found with a specifier; thus, `cray bigot', {ITS bigot}, `APL bigot', `VMS bigot', {Berkele...
bit => [from the mainstream meaning and `Binary digIT'] n. 1. [techspeak] The unit of information; the amount of information obtained by asking a yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes are equally probable. 2. [techspeak] A computational quant...
bit bang => n. Transmission of data on a serial line, when accomplished by rapidly tweaking a single output bit at the appropriate times. The technique is a simple loop with eight OUT and SHIFT instruction pairs for each byte. Input is more interesti...
bit bang2 => and output at the same time) is one way to separate the real hackers from the wannabees. Bit bang was used on certain early models of Prime computers, presumably when UARTs were too expensive, and on archaic Z80 micros with a Zilog PIO b...
bit bang3 => instance of the {cycle of reincarnation}, this technique is now (1991) coming back into use on some RISC architectures because it consumes such an infinitesimal part of the processor that it actually makes sense not to have a UART. 

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

COME FROM7 => all, control will eventually pass to the following statement. The implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN, ca. 1975. The statement `AT 100' would perform a `COME FROM 100'. It was intended strictly as a debugging a...
COME FROM8 => promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in production code. More horrible things had already been perpetrated in production languages, however; doubters need only contemplate the `ALTER' verb in COBOL. `COME FROM' was supported unde...
COME FROM9 => 15 years later, in C-INTERCAL (see INTERCAL, retrocomputing); knowledgeable observers are still reeling from the shock. 
comm mode => /kom mohd/ [ITS from the feature supporting on-line chat; the term may spelled with one or two m's] Syn. for {talk mode}.
command key => [Mac users] n. The Macintosh key with the cloverleaf graphic on its keytop; sometimes referred to as `flower', `pretzel', `clover', `propeller', `beanie' (an apparent reference to the major feature of a propeller beanie), or splat. The...
command key2 => The proliferation of terms for this creature may illustrate one subtle peril of iconic interfaces. 
comment out => vt. To surround a section of code with comment delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted. Often done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but you wan...
comment out2 => the intent of the active code clearer; also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass it in order to debug some other part of the code. Compare {condition out}, usually the preferred technique in languages (such a...
Commonwealth Hackish => n. Hacker jargon as spoken outside the U.S., esp. in the British Commonwealth. It is reported that Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce truncations like `char' and `soc', etc., as spelled (/char/, /sok/), as oppo...
Commonwealth Hackish2 => Dots in newsgroup names tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot wib'l/ rather than /sohsh wib'l/). The prefix meta may be pronounced /mee't*/; similarly, Greek letter beta is often /bee't*/, zeta is often ...
Commonwealth Hackish3 => Preferred metasyntactic variables include `eek', `ook', `frodo', and `bilbo'; `wibble', `wobble', and in emergencies `wubble'; `banana', `wombat', `frog', fish, and so on and on (see foo, sense 4). Alternatives to verb doubli...
Commonwealth Hackish4 => `frenzy' (as in feeding frenzy), and `city' (examples "barf city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!"). Finally, note that the American terms `parens', `brackets', and `braces' for (), [], and {} are uncommon; Commonwealth ha...
Commonwealth Hackish5 => brackets', and `curly brackets'. Also, the use of `pling' for bang is common outside the United States. See also attoparsec, calculator, chemist, {console jockey}, fish, {go-faster stripes}, grunge, hakspek, {heavy metal}, {l...
Commonwealth Hackish6 => fixer}, noddy, psychedelicware, plingnet, {raster blaster}, seggie, {terminal junkie}, {tick-list features}, weeble, weasel, YABA, and notes or definitions under {Bad Thing}, barf, bogus, bum, {chase pointers}, {cosmic rays},...
Commonwealth Hackish7 => crunch, dodgy, gonk, hamster, hardwarily, mess-dos, nybble, proglet, root, SEX, tweak, and xyzzy. 
compact => adj. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it can all be apprehended at once in one's head. This generally means the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that ...
compiler jock => n. See jock (sense 2).
compress => [UNIX] vt. When used without a qualifier, generally refers to crunching of a file using a particular C implementation of Lempel-Ziv compression by James A. Woods et al. and widely circulated via USENET. Use of crunch itself in this sense ...
Compu$erve => n. See CI$.
computer confetti => n. Syn. chad. Though this term is common, this use of the punched-card chad is not a good idea, as the pieces are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes. GLS reports that he once attended a wedding at MIT during ...
computer confetti2 => enthusiastically threw chad instead of rice. The groom later grumbled that he and his bride had spent most of the evening trying to get the stuff out of their hair. 
computer geek => n. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living. One who fulfills all the dreariest negative stereotypes about hackers an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a cheese grater. Cannot be used by outside...
computer geek2 => hackers; compare black-on-black usage of `nigger'. A computer geek may be either a fundamentally clueless individual or a proto-hacker in {larval stage}. Also called `turbo nerd', `turbo geek'. See also clustergeeking, {geek out}, w...
computron => /kom'pyoo-tron`/ n. 1. A notional unit of computing power combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store times megabytes-of-mass-storage. "That machine can't...
condition out => vt. To prevent a section of code from being compiled by surrounding it with a conditional-compilation directive whose condition is always false. The canonical examples are `#if 0' (or `#ifdef notdef', though some find this bletcherou...
condom => n. 1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes. Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on) not only impedes the practice of SEX but has also been sh...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

dickless workstation2 => disadvantages of distributed personal computers. 
dictionary flame => [USENET] n. An attempt to sidetrack a debate away from issues by insisting on meanings for key terms that presuppose a desired conclusion or smuggle in an implicit premise. A common tactic of people who prefer argument over defini...
diddle => 1. vt. To work with or modify in a not particularly serious manner. "I diddled a copy of ADVENT so it didn't double-space all the time." "Let's diddle this piece of code and see if the problem goes away." See tweak and twiddle. 2. n. The ac...
diff => /dif/ n. 1. A change listing, especially giving differences between (and additions to) source code or documents (the term is often used in the plural `diffs'). "Send me your diffs for the Jargon File!" Compare vdiff. 2. Specifically, such a l...
digit => n. An employee of Digital Equipment Corporation. See also VAX, VMS, PDP-10, {TOPS-10}, DEChead, {double DECkers}, {field circus}.
dike => vt. To remove or disable a portion of something, as a wire from a computer or a subroutine from a program. A standard slogan is "When in doubt, dike it out". (The implication is that it is usually more effective to attack software problems by...
ding => n.,vi. 1. Synonym for feep. Usage rare among hackers, but commoner in the {Real World}. 2. `dinged' What happens when someone in authority gives you a minor bitching about something, esp. something trivial. "I was dinged for having a messy de...
dink => /dink/ n. Said of a machine that has the {bitty box} nature; a machine too small to be worth bothering with --- sometimes the system you're currently forced to work on. First heard from an MIT hacker (BADOB) working on a CP/M system with 64K,...
dinosaur => n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special power. Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast with newer microprocessor-based machines. In a famous quote from the 1988 UNIX EXPO, Bill Joy compared the mainframe ...
dinosaur pen => n. A traditional mainframe computer room complete with raised flooring, special power, its own ultra-heavy-duty air conditioning, and a side order of Halon fire extinguishers. See boa.
dinosaurs mating => n. Said to occur when yet another {big iron} merger or buyout occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the mainframe industry. In its glory days of the 1960s, it was `IBM ...
dinosaurs mating2 => Control Data, General Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac. RCA and GE sold out early, and it was `IBM and the Bunch' (Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while. Honeywell was bought out by Bull; Burro...
dinosaurs mating3 => Unisys (in 1984 --- this was when the phrase `dinosaurs mating' was coined); and as this is written AT&T is attempting to recover from a disastrously bad first 6 years in the hardware industry by absorbing NCR. More such earth-sh...
dirty power => n. Electrical mains voltage that is unfriendly to the delicate innards of computers. Spikes, drop-outs, average voltage significantly higher or lower than nominal, or just plain noise can all cause problems of varying subtlety and seve...
Discordianism => /dis-kor'di-*n-ism/ n. The veneration of Eris, a.k.a. Discordia; widely popular among hackers. Discordianism was popularized by Robert Anton Wilson's `Illuminatus!' trilogy as a sort of self-subverting Dada-Zen for Westerners --- it ...
disk farm => n. (also laundromat) A large room or rooms filled with disk drives (esp. {washing machine}s).
display hack => n. A program with the same approximate purpose as a kaleidoscope to make pretty pictures. Famous display hacks include {munching squares}, {smoking clover}, the BSD UNIX `rain(6)' program, `worms(6)' on miscellaneous UNIXes, and the X...
display hack2 => hacks can also be implemented without programming by creating text files containing numerous escape sequences for interpretation by a video terminal; one notable example displayed, on any VT100, a Christmas tree with twinkling lights...
display hack3 => The {hack value} of a display hack is proportional to the esthetic value of the images times the cleverness of the algorithm divided by the size of the code. Syn. psychedelicware. 
Dissociated Press => [play on `Associated Press'; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1949 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] n. An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it t...
Dissociated Press2 => printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step you search for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then print the next word or letter. EMA...
Dissociated Press3 => Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press applied to an earlier version of this Jargon File wart n. A small, crocky feature that sticks out of an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

fandango on core2 => low-end personal machines without an MMU, this can corrupt the OS itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic dances such as the rhumba, cha-cha, or watusi, may be substituted. See {aliasing bug}, {precedence lossage}, {smash...
FAQ list => /F-A-Q list/ [USENET] n. A compendium of accumulated lore, posted periodically to high-volume newsgroups in an attempt to forestall Frequently Asked Questions. This lexicon itself serves as a good example of a collection of one kind of lo...
FAQ list2 => regular posting. Examples "What is the proper type of NULL?" and "What's that funny name for the `#' character?" are both Frequently Asked Questions. Several extant FAQ lists do (or should) make reference to the Jargon File (the on-line ...
FAQL => /fa'kl/ n. Syn. {FAQ list}.
farming => [Adelaide University, Australia] n. What the heads of a disk drive are said to do when they plow little furrows in the magnetic media. Associated with a crash. Typically used as follows "Oh no, the machine has just crashed; I hope the hard...
fascist => adj. 1. Said of a computer system with excessive or annoying security barriers, usage limits, or access policies. The implication is that said policies are preventing hackers from getting interesting work done. The variant `fascistic' seem...
faulty => adj. Non-functional; buggy. Same denotation as bletcherous, losing, q.v., but the connotation is much milder.
fd leak => /ef dee leek/ n. A kind of programming bug analogous to a {core leak}, in which a program fails to close file descriptors (`fd's) after file operations are completed, and thus eventually runs out of them. See leak.
fear and loathing => [from Hunter Thompson] n. A state inspired by the prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards that are totally brain-damaged but ubiquitous --- Intel 8086s, or COBOL, or {EBCDIC}, or any IBM machine except t...
fear and loathing2 => RS/6000). "Ack! They want PCs to be able to talk to the AI machine. Fear and loathing time!" 
feature => n. 1. A good property or behavior (as of a program). Whether it was intended or not is immaterial. 2. An intended property or behavior (as of a program). Whether it is good or not is immaterial (but if bad, it is also a misfeature). 3. A s...
feature creature => [poss. fr. slang `creature feature' for a horror movie] n. One who loves to add features to designs or programs, perhaps at the expense of coherence, concision, or taste. See also {feeping creaturism}, {creeping featurism}.
feature shock => [from Alvin Toffler's book title `Future Shock'] n. A user's (or programmer's!) confusion when confronted with a package that has too many features and poor introductory material.
featurectomy => /fee`ch*r-ek't*-mee/ n. The act of removing a feature from a program. Featurectomies come in two flavors, the `righteous' and the `reluctant'. Righteous featurectomies are performed because the remover believes the program would be mo...
feep => /feep/ 1. n. The soft electronic `bell' sound of a display terminal (except for a VT-52); a beep (in fact, the microcomputer world seems to prefer beep). 2. vi. To cause the display to make a feep sound. ASR-33s (the original TTYs) do not fee...
feeper => /fee'pr/ n. The device in a terminal or workstation (usually a loudspeaker of some kind) that makes the feep sound.
feeping creature => [from {feeping creaturism}] n. An unnecessary feature; a bit of chrome that, in the speaker's judgment, is the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features.
feeping creaturism => /fee'ping kree`ch*r-izm/ n. A deliberate spoonerism for {creeping featurism}, meant to imply that the system or program in question has become a misshapen creature of hacks. This term isn't really well defined, but it sounds so ...
feeping creaturism2 => heard it. It is probably reinforced by an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their customary noises. 
feetch feetch => /feech feech/ interj. If someone tells you about some new improvement to a program, you might respond "Feetch, feetch!" The meaning of this depends critically on vocal inflection. With enthusiasm, it means something like "Boy, that's...
feetch feetch2 => Grudgingly or with obvious doubt, it means "I don't know; it sounds like just one more unnecessary and complicated thing". With a tone of resignation, it means, "Well, I'd rather keep it simple, but I suppose it has to be done". 

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

gabriel => /gay'bree-*l/ [for Dick Gabriel, SAIL LISP hacker and volleyball fanatic] n. An unnecessary (in the opinion of the opponent) stalling tactic, e.g., tying one's shoelaces or combing one's hair repeatedly, asking the time, etc. Also used to ...
gag => vi. Equivalent to choke, but connotes more disgust. "Hey, this is FORTRAN code. No wonder the C compiler gagged." See also barf.
gang bang => n. The use of large numbers of loosely coupled programmers in an attempt to wedge a great many features into a product in a short time. Though there have been memorable gang bangs (e.g., that over-the-weekend assembler port mentioned in ...
gang bang2 => perpetrated by large companies trying to meet deadlines and produce enormous buggy masses of code entirely lacking in orthogonality. When market-driven managers make a list of all the features the competition has and assign one programm...
gang bang3 => miss the importance of maintaining a coherent design. See also firefighting, {Mongolian Hordes technique}, {Conway's Law}. 
garbage collect => vi. (also `garbage collection', n.) See GC.
garply => /gar'plee/ [Stanford] n. Another meta-syntactic variable (see foo); once popular among SAIL hackers.
gas => [as in `gas chamber'] 1. interj. A term of disgust and hatred, implying that gas should be dispensed in generous quantities, thereby exterminating the source of irritation. "Some loser just reloaded the system for no reason! Gas!" 2. interj. A...
gaseous => adj. Deserving of being gassed. Disseminated by Geoff Goodfellow while at SRI; became particularly popular after the Moscone-Milk killings in San Francisco, when it was learned that the defendant Dan White (a politician who had supported P...
GC => /G-C/ [from LISP terminology; `Garbage Collect'] 1. vt. To clean up and throw away useless things. "I think I'll GC the top of my desk today." When said of files, this is equivalent to GFR. 2. vt. To recycle, reclaim, or put to another use. 3. ...
GCOS => /jee'kohs/ n. A quick-and-dirty clone of System/360 DOS that emerged from GE around 1970; originally called GECOS (the General Electric Comprehensive Operating System). Later kluged to support primitive timesharing and transaction processing....
GECOS => /jee'kohs/ n. See {GCOS}.
gedanken => /g*-don'kn/ adj. Ungrounded; impractical; not well-thought-out; untried; untested. `Gedanken' is a German word for `thought'. A thought experiment is one you carry out in your head. In physics, the term `gedanken experiment' is used to re...
geef => v. [ostensibly from `gefingerpoken'] vt. Syn. mung. See also blinkenlights.
geek out => vi. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer equipment. Especially used when you need to do something highly technical and don't have time to explain "Pardon me while ...
gen => /jen/ n.,v. Short for generate, used frequently in both spoken and written contexts.
gender mender => n. A cable connector shell with either two male or two female connectors on it, used to correct the mismatches that result when some loser didn't understand the RS232C specification and the distinction between DTE and DCE. Used esp. ...
gender mender2 => original D-25 or the IBM PC's bogus D-9 format. Also called `gender bender', `gender blender', `sex changer', and even `homosexual adapter'; however, there appears to be some confusion as to whether a `male homosexual adapter' has p...
gender mender3 => on both sides (connects two males). 
General Public Virus => n. Pejorative name for some versions of the GNU project copyleft or General Public License (GPL), which requires that any tools or apps incorporating copylefted code must be source-distributed on the same counter-commercial te...
General Public Virus2 => alleged that the copyleft `infects' software generated with GNU tools, which may in turn infect other software that reuses any of its code. The Free Software Foundation's official position as of January 1991 is that copyright...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

hack mode6 => your head, and you dare not swap that context out until you have reached a good point to pause. See also {juggling eggs}. 
hack on => vt. To hack; implies that the subject is some pre-existing hunk of code that one is evolving, as opposed to something one might {hack up}.
hack together => vt. To throw something together so it will work. Unlike `kluge together' or {cruft together}, this does not necessarily have negative connotations.
hack up => vt. To hack, but generally implies that the result is a hack in sense 1 (a quick hack). Contrast this with {hack on}. To `hack up on' implies a quick-and-dirty modification to an existing system. Contrast {hacked up}; compare {kluge up}, {...
hack value => n. Often adduced as the reason or motivation for expending effort toward a seemingly useless goal, the point being that the accomplished goal is a hack. For example, MacLISP had features for reading and printing Roman numerals, which we...
hack value2 => See {display hack} for one method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be explained. As a great artist once said of jazz "If you hafta ask, you ain't never goin' to find out." 
hack-and-slay => v. (also `hack-and-slash') 1. To play a MUD or go mudding, especially with the intention of berserking for pleasure. 2. To undertake an all-night programming/hacking session, interspersed with stints of mudding as a change of pace. T...
hacked off => [analogous to `pissed off'] adj. Said of system administrators who have become annoyed, upset, or touchy owing to suspicions that their sites have been or are going to be victimized by crackers, or used for inappropriate, technically il...
hacked off2 => activities. For example, having unreadable files in your home directory called `worm', `lockpick', or `goroot' would probably be an effective (as well as impressively obvious and stupid) way to get your sysadmin hacked off at you. 
hacked up => adj. Sufficiently patched, kluged, and tweaked that the surgical scars are beginning to crowd out normal tissue (compare {critical mass}). Not all programs that are hacked become `hacked up'; if modifications are done with some eye to co...
hacked up2 => maintainability, the software may emerge better for the experience. Contrast {hack up}. 
hacker => [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] n. 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2...
hacking run => [analogy with `bombing run' or `speed run'] n. A hack session extended long outside normal working times, especially one longer than 12 hours. May cause you to `change phase the hard way' (see phase).
Hacking X for Y => [ITS] n. The information ITS made publicly available about each user (the INQUIR record) was a sort of form in which the user could fill out fields. On display, two of these fields were combined into a project description of the fo...
Hacking X for Y2 => `"Hacking perceptrons for Minsky"'). This form of description became traditional and has since been carried over to other systems with more general facilities for self-advertisement (such as UNIX {plan file}s). 
Hackintosh => n. 1. An Apple Lisa that has been hacked into emulating a Macintosh (also called a `Mac XL'). 2. A Macintosh assembled from parts theoretically belonging to different models in the line.
hackish => /hak'ish/ adj. (also hackishness n.) 1. Said of something that is or involves a hack. 2. Of or pertaining to hackers or the hacker subculture. See also true-hacker.
hackishness => n. The quality of being or involving a hack. This term is considered mildly silly. Syn. hackitude.
hackitude => n. Syn. hackishness; this word is considered sillier.
hair => [back-formation from hairy] n. The complications that make something hairy. "Decoding TECO commands requires a certain amount of hair." Often seen in the phrase `infinite hair', which connotes extreme complexity. Also in `hairiferous' (tendin...
hairy => adj. 1. Annoyingly complicated. "DWIM is incredibly hairy." 2. Incomprehensible. "DWIM is incredibly hairy." 3. Of people, high-powered, authoritative, rare, expert, and/or incomprehensible. Hard to explain except in context "He knows this h...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

magic number => [UNIX/C] n. 1. In source code, some non-obvious constant whose value is significant to the operation of a program and that is inserted inconspicuously in-line (hardcoded), rather than expanded in by a symbol set by a commented `#defin...
magic number2 => are bad style. 2. A number that encodes critical information used in an algorithm in some opaque way. The classic examples of these are the numbers used in hash or CRC functions, or the coefficients in a linear congruential generator...
magic number3 => sense actually predates and was ancestral to the more common sense 1. 3. Special data located at the beginning of a binary data file to indicate its type to a utility. Under UNIX, the system and various applications programs (especia...
magic number4 => types of executable file by looking for a magic number. Once upon a time, these magic numbers were PDP-11 branch instructions that skipped over header data to the start of executable code; the 0407, for example, was octal for `branch...
magic number5 => wizard knows the spells to create magic numbers. How do you choose a fresh magic number of your own? Simple --- you pick one at random. See? It's magic! 
magic smoke => n. A substance trapped inside IC packages that enables them to function (also called `blue smoke'; this is similar to the archaic `phlogiston' hypothesis about combustion). Its existence is demonstrated by what happens when a chip burn...
magic smoke2 => out, so it doesn't work any more. See {smoke test}, {let the smoke out}. USENETter Jay Maynard tells the following story: "Once, while hacking on a dedicated Z80 system, I was testing code by blowing EPROMs and plugging them in the sy...
magic smoke3 => One time, I plugged one in backwards. I only discovered that *after* I realized that Intel didn't put power-on lights under the quartz windows on the tops of their EPROMs --- the die was glowing white-hot. Amazingly, the EPROM worked ...
magic smoke4 => full of zeros, then erased it again. For all I know, it's still in service. Of course, this is because the magic smoke didn't get let out." Compare the original phrasing of {Murphy's Law}. 
main loop => n. Software tools are often written to perform some actions repeatedly on whatever input is handed to them, terminating when there is no more input or they are explicitly told to go away. In such programs, the loop that gets and processe...
mainframe => n. This term originally referred to the cabinet containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a room-filling {Stone Age} batch machine. After the emergence of smaller `minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the traditional ...
management => n. 1. Corporate power elites distinguished primarily by their distance from actual productive work and their chronic failure to manage (see also suit). Spoken derisively, as in "*Management* decided that ...". 2. Mythically, a vast bure...
mandelbug => /mon'del-buhg/ [from the Mandelbrot set] n. A bug whose underlying causes are so complex and obscure as to make its behavior appear chaotic or even non-deterministic. This term implies that the speaker thinks it is a {Bohr bug}, rather t...
manged => /monjd/ [probably from the French `manger' or Italian `mangiare', to eat; perhaps influenced by English n. `mange', `mangy'] adj. Refers to anything that is mangled or damaged, usually beyond repair. "The disk was manged after the electrica...
mangle => vt. Used similarly to mung or scribble, but more violent in its connotations; something that is mangled has been irreversibly and totally trashed.
mangler => [DEC] n. A manager. Compare mango; see also management. Note that {system mangler} is somewhat different in connotation.
mango => /mang'go/ [orig. in-house jargon at Symbolics] n. A manager. Compare mangler. See also devo and doco.
marbles => [from mainstream "lost all his/her marbles"] pl.n. The minimum needed to build your way further up some hierarchy of tools or abstractions. After a bad system crash, you need to determine if the machine has enough marbles to come up on its...
marginal => adj. 1. Extremely small. "A marginal increase in core can decrease GC time drastically." In everyday terms, this means that it is a lot easier to clean off your desk if you have a spare place to put some of the junk while you sort through...
Marginal Hacks => n. Margaret Jacks Hall, a building into which the Stanford AI Lab was moved near the beginning of the 1980s (from the {D. C. Power Lab}).
marginally => adv. Slightly. "The ravs here are only marginally better than at Small Eating Place." See epsilon.
marketroid => /mar'k*-troyd/ alt. `marketing slime', `marketing droid', `marketeer' n. A member of a company's marketing department, esp. one who promises users that the next version of a product will have features that are not actually scheduled for...
massage: vt. Vague term used to describe `smooth' transformations of => a data set into a different form, esp. transformations that do not lose information. Connotes less pain than munch or crunch. "He wrote a program that massages X bitmap files int...
math-out: [poss. from `white-out' (the blizzard variety)] n. A => paper or presentation so encrusted with mathematical or other formal notation as to be incomprehensible. This may be a device for concealing the fact that it is actually content-free. ...
Matrix: [FidoNet] n. 1. What the Opus BBS software and sysops call => FidoNet. 2. Fanciful term for a cyberspace expected to emerge from current networking experiments (see {network, the}). Some people refer to the totality of present networks this w...
Mbogo, Dr. Fred: /*m-boh'goh, dok'tr fred/ [Stanford] n. The => archetypal man you don't want to see about a problem, esp. an incompetent professional; a shyster. "Do you know a good eye doctor?" "Sure, try Mbogo Eye Care and Professional Dry Cleanin...
Mbogo, Dr. Fred: /*m-boh'goh, dok'tr fred/ [Stanford] n. The2 => between bogus and the original Dr. Mbogo, a witch doctor who was Gomez Addams' physician on the old "Addams Family" TV show. See also fred. 
meatware => n. Synonym for wetware. Less common.
meeces => /mees'*z/ [TMRC] n. Occasional furry visitors who are not urchins. [That is, mice. This may no longer be in live use; it clearly derives from the refrain of the early-1960s cartoon character Mr. Jinx: "I hate meeces to *pieces*!" --- ESR]
meg => /meg/ n. See {quantifiers}.
mega- => /me'g*/ [SI] pref. See {quantifiers}.
megapenny => /meg'*-pen`ee/ n. $10,000 (1 cent * 10^6). Used semi-humorously as a unit in comparing computer cost and performance figures.
MEGO => /me'goh/ or /mee'goh/ [`My Eyes Glaze Over', often `Mine Eyes Glazeth (sic) Over', attributed to the futurologist Herman Kahn] Also `MEGO factor'. 1. n. A handwave intended to confuse the listener and hopefully induce agreement because the li...
meltdown, network => n. See {network meltdown}.
meme => /meem/ [coined on analogy with `gene' by Richard Dawkins] n. An idea considered as a replicator, esp. with the connotation that memes parasitize people into propagating them much as viruses do. Used esp. in the phrase `meme complex' denoting ...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

sandbender => [IBM] n. A person involved with silicon lithography and the physical design of chips. Compare ironmonger, {polygon pusher}.
sandbox => n. (or `sandbox, the') Common term for the R&D department at many software and computer companies (where hackers in commercial environments are likely to be found). Half-derisive, but reflects the truth that research is a form of creative ...
sanity check => n. 1. The act of checking a piece of code (or anything else, e.g., a USENET posting) for completely stupid mistakes. Implies that the check is to make sure the author was sane when it was written; e.g., if a piece of scientific softwa...
sanity check2 => was giving unexpected results, one might first look at the nesting of parentheses or the coding of the formula, as a {sanity check}, before looking at the more complex I/O or data structure manipulation routines, much less the algori...
sanity check3 => 2. A run-time test, either validating input or ensuring that the program hasn't screwed up internally (producing an inconsistent value or state). 
Saturday night special => [from police slang for a cheap handgun] n. A program or feature kluged together during off hours, under a deadline, and in response to pressure from a salescritter. Such hacks are dangerously unreliable, but all too often sn...
say => vt. 1. To type to a terminal. "To list a directory verbosely, you have to say `ls -l'." Tends to imply a newline-terminated command (a `sentence'). 2. A computer may also be said to `say' things to you, even if it doesn't have a speech synthes...
science-fiction fandom => n. Another voluntary subculture having a very heavy overlap with hackerdom; most hackers read SF and/or fantasy fiction avidly, and many go to `cons' (SF conventions) or are involved in fandom-connected activities such as th...
science-fiction fandom2 => Some hacker jargon originated in SF fandom; see defenestration, great-wall, cyberpunk, h, {ha ha only serious}, IMHO, mundane, neep-neep, {Real Soon Now}. Additionally, the jargon terms cowboy, cyberspace, de-rezz, {go flat...
science-fiction fandom3 => virus, wetware, wirehead, and worm originated in SF stories. 
scram switch => [from the nuclear power industry] n. An emergency-power-off switch (see {Big Red Switch}), esp. one positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel. In general, this is *not* something you frob lightly; these often initiate expens...
scram switch2 => and are installed in a {dinosaur pen} for use in case of electrical fire or in case some luckless {field servoid} should put 120 volts across himself while {Easter egging}. 
scratch => 1. [from `scratchpad'] adj. Describes a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary-use purposes; one that can be scribbled on without loss. Usually in the combining forms `scratch memory', `scratch re...
scratch monkey => n. As in "Before testing or reconfiguring, always mount a {scratch monkey}", a proverb used to advise caution when dealing with irreplaceable data or devices. Used to refer to any scratch volume hooked to a computer during any risky...
scratch monkey2 => precious resource or data that might otherwise get trashed. This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of Toronto ca. 1986. Mabel was not (so the leg...
scratch monkey3 => university had spent years teaching her how to swim, breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of different gas mixtures on her physiology. Mabel suffered an untimely demise one day when DEC PMed the PDP-11 contr...
scratch monkey4 => {provocative maintainance}). It is recorded that, after calming down an understandably irate customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC troubleshooter called up the {field circus} manager responsible and aske...
scratch monkey5 => all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of certain clueless droids at the local `humane' society. The moral is clear When in doubt, always mount a...
screw => [MIT] n. A lose, usually in software. Especially used for user-visible misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature. This use has become quite widespread outside MIT.
screwage => /skroo'*j/ n. Like lossage but connotes that the failure is due to a designed-in misfeature rather than a simple inadequacy or a mere bug.
scribble => n. To modify a data structure in a random and unintentionally destructive way. "Bletch! Somebody's disk-compactor program went berserk and scribbled on the i-node table." "It was working fine until one of the allocation routines scribbled...

factpacks/jargon.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

winkey => n. (alt. `winkey face') See emoticon.
winnage => /win'*j/ n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or when something is winning.
winner => 1. n. An unexpectedly good situation, program, programmer, or person. "So it turned out I could use a lexer generator instead of hand-coding my own pattern recognizer. What a win!" 2. `real winner' Often sarcastic, but also used as high pra...
winnitude => /win'*-t[y]ood/ n. The quality of winning (as opposed to winnage, which is the result of winning). "Guess what? They tweaked the microcode and now the LISP interpreter runs twice as fast as it used to." "That's really great! Boy, what wi...
wired => n. See hardwired.
wirehead => /wir'hed/ n. [prob. from SF slang for an electrical-brain-stimulation addict] 1. A hardware hacker, especially one who concentrates on communications hardware. 2. An expert in local-area networks. A wirehead can be a network software wiza...
wish list => n. A list of desired features or bug fixes that probably won't get done for a long time, usually because the person responsible for the code is too busy or can't think of a clean way to do it. "OK, I'll add automatic filename completion ...
wish list2 => interface." Compare {tick-list features}. 
within delta of => adj. See delta.
within epsilon of => adj. See epsilon.
wizard => n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or hardware works (that is, who groks it); esp. someone who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. Someone is a hacker if he or she has general hacking ability, but is a wizar...
Wizard Book => n. Hal Abelson and Jerry Sussman's `Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs' (MIT Press, 1984; ISBN 0-262-01077-1, an excellent computer science text used in introductory courses at MIT. So called because of the wizard on the...
Wizard Book2 => LISP/Scheme world. 
wizard mode => [from rogue] n. A special access mode of a program or system, usually passworded, that permits some users godlike privileges. Generally not used for operating systems themselves (`root mode' or `wheel mode' would be used instead).
wizardly => adj. Pertaining to wizards. A wizardly feature is one that only a wizard could understand or use properly.
womb box => n. 1. [TMRC] Storage space for equipment. 2. [proposed] A variety of hard-shell equipment case with heavy interior padding and/or shaped carrier cutouts in a foam-rubber matrix; mundanely called a `flight case'. Used for delicate test equ...
WOMBAT => [Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time] adj. Applied to problems which are both profoundly uninteresting in themselves and unlikely to benefit anyone interesting even if solved. Often used in fanciful constructions such as `wrestling with a womb...
wonky => /wong'kee/ [from Australian slang] adj. Yet another approximate synonym for broken. Specifically connotes a malfunction that produces behavior seen as crazy, humorous, or amusingly perverse. "That was the day the printer's font logic went wo...
workaround => n. A temporary kluge inserted in a system under development or test in order to avoid the effects of a bug or misfeature so that work can continue. Theoretically, workarounds are always replaced by fixes; in practice, customers often fi...
working as designed => [IBM] adj. 1. In conformance to a wrong or inappropriate specification; useful, but misdesigned. 2. Frequently used as a sardonic comment on a program's utility. 3. Unfortunately also used as a bogus reason for not accepting a ...
working as designed2 => this sense is used in official documents! See BAD. 

factpacks/ports.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

port 523 => ibm-db2 - IBM-DB2 
port 524 => ncp - NCP 
port 525 => timed - timeserver 
port 526 => tempo - newdate 
port 527 => stx - Stock IXChange 
port 528 => custix - Customer IXChange 
port 529 => irc-serv - IRC-SERV 
port 530 => courier - rpc 
port 531 => conference - chat 
port 532 => netnews - readnews 
port 533 => netwall - for emergency broadcasts 
port 534 => mm-admin - MegaMedia Admin 
port 535 => iiop - iiop 
port 536 => opalis-rdv - opalis-rdv 
port 537 => nmsp - Networked Media Streaming Protocol 
port 538 => gdomap - gdomap 
port 539 => apertus-ldp - Apertus Technologies Load Determination 
port 540 => uucp - uucpd		 
port 541 => uucp-rlogin - uucp-rlogin 
port 542 => commerce - commerce 
port 543 => klogin - klogin 

factpacks/ports.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

port 1765 => cft-4 - cft-4 
port 1766 => cft-5 - cft-5 
port 1767 => cft-6 - cft-6 
port 1768 => cft-7 - cft-7 
port 1769 => bmc-net-adm - bmc-net-adm 
port 1770 => bmc-net-svc - bmc-net-svc 
port 1771 => vaultbase - vaultbase 
port 1772 => essweb-gw - EssWeb Gateway 
port 1773 => kmscontrol - KMSControl 
port 1774 => global-dtserv - global-dtserv 
port 1776 => femis - Federal Emergency Management Information System 
port 1777 => powerguardian - powerguardian 
port 1778 => prodigy-intrnet - prodigy-internet 
port 1779 => pharmasoft - pharmasoft 
port 1780 => dpkeyserv - dpkeyserv 
port 1781 => answersoft-lm - answersoft-lm 
port 1782 => hp-hcip - hp-hcip 
port 1783 => fjris - Fujitsu Remote Install Service 
port 1784 => finle-lm - Finle License Manager 
port 1785 => windlm - Wind River Systems License Manager 
port 1786 => funk-logger - funk-logger 

factpacks/security.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

confinement => The prevention of the leaking of sensitive data from a program.
confinement channel => Synonymous with covert channel.
confinement property => Synonymous with star property (*-property).
connection => a liaison, in the sense of a network interrelationship, between two hosts for a period of time. The liaison is established (by an initiating host) for the purpose of information transfer (with the associated host); the period of time is...
constrained => A qualifier implying: within the TSF Scope of Control
construction => the process of creating a Target of Evaluation.
consumers => Individuals or groups responsible for specifying requirements for IT product security (e.g., policy makers and regulatory officials, system architects, integrators, acquisition managers, product purchasers, and end users.
contamination => The intermixing of data at different sensitivity and need-to-know levels.  The lower level data is said to be contaminated by the higher level data; thus, the contaminating (higher level) data may not receive the required level of pr...
content-dependent access control => Access control in which access is determined by the value of the data to be accessed.
context-dependent access control => Access control in which access is determined by the specific circumstances under which the data is being accessed.
contingency plan => A plan for emergency response, backup operations, and post-disaster recovery maintained by an activity as a part of its security program that will ensure the availability of critical resources and facilitate the continuity of oper...
control objective => Required result of protecting information within an IT product and its immediate environment.
control zone => The space, expressed in feet of radius, surrounding equipment processing sensitive information, that is under sufficient physical and technical control to preclude an unauthorized entry or compromise.
controlled access => See access control.
controlled sharing => The condition that exists when access control is applied to all users and components of a system.
corporate security policy => The set of laws, rules and practices that regulate how assets including sensitive information are managed, protected and distributed within a user organisation.
correctness => In security evaluation, the preservation of relevant properties between successive levels of representations. Examples of representations could be: top-level functional specification, detailed design specification, actual implementatio...
cost-risk analysis => The assessment of the costs of providing data protection for a system versus the cost of losing or compromising the data.
countermeasure => Action, device, procedure, technique, or other measure that reduces the vulnerability of an AIS.
covert channel => A communication channel that allows a process to transfer information in a manner that violates the system's security policy.  See also: Covert Storage Channel, Covert Timing Channel.
covert storage channel => A covert channel that involves the direct or indirect writing of a storage location by one process and the direct or indirect reading of the storage location by another process.  Covert storage channels typically involve a f...

factpacks/security.fact  view on Meta::CPAN

DAC => Discretionary Access Control - a means of restricting access to objects based on the identity of subjects and/or groups to which they belong. The controls are discretionary in the sense that: (a) A subject with a certain access permission is c...
documentation => the written (or otherwise recorded) information about a Target of Evaluation required for an evaluation. This information may, but need not, be contained within a single document produced for the specified purpose.
TCSEC => DoD Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria - A document published by the National Computer Security Center containing a uniform set of basic requirements and evaluation classes for assessing degrees of assurance in the effectiveness of ...
domain => The unique context (for example, access control parameters) in which a program is operating - in effect, the set of objects that a subject has the ability to access. Note: A subject's domain determines which access control attributes an obj...
dominate => Security level S1 is said to dominate security level S2 if the hierarchical classification of S1 is greater than or equal to that of S2 and the non-hierarchical categories of S1 include all those of S2 as a subset.
ease of use => an aspect of the assessment of the effectiveness of a Target of Evaluation, namely that it cannot be configured or used in a manner which is insecure but which an administrator or end-user would reasonably believe to be secure.
effectiveness => In security evaluations, an aspect of assurance assessing how well the applied security functions and mechanisms working together will actually satisfy the security requirements.
element => An indivisible security requirement which is to be satisfied during an evaluation.
emanations => See compromising emanations.
embedded system => A system that performs or controls a function, either in whole or in part, as an integral element of a larger system or subsystem.
emergency plan => Synonymous with contingency plan.
emission security => The protection resulting from all measures taken to deny unauthorized persons information of value that might be derived from intercept and from an analysis of compromising emanations from systems=2E
encryption => The process of making information indecipherable to protect it from unauthorized viewing or use, especially during transmission or storage. Encryption is based on an algorithm and at least one key. Even if the algorithm is known, the in...
end user => A person in contact with a target of evaluation who makes use only of its operational capability.
end to end encryption => The protection of information passed in a telecommunications system by cryptographic means, from point of origin to point of destination.
ETL => Endorsed Tools List - The list of formal verification tools endorsed by the NCSC for the development of systems with high levels of trust=2E
environment => (1) All entities - users, procedures, conditions, objects, AISs (automated information systems), and other IT (information technology) products - that interact with (affect the development, operation, and maintenance of) an IT product....
erasure => A process by which a signal recorded on magnetic media is removed. Erasure is accomplished in two ways: (1) by alternating current erasure, by which the information is destroyed by applying an alternating high and low magnetic field to the...
evaluation => Technical assessment of a component's, product's, subsystem's, or system's security properties that establishes whether or not the component, product, subsystem, or system meets a specific set of requirements. Note: Evaluation is a term...
evaluation assurance => Source of IT product assurance based on the kind and intensity of the evaluation analysis performed on the product.
ealuation assurance Component => Fundamental building block, specifying the type and the rigor of required evaluation activities, from which evaluation assurance requirements are assembled.