diff --git a/entries/(TM).txt b/entries/(TM).txt index 3f48c0d..a68da03 100644 --- a/entries/(TM).txt +++ b/entries/(TM).txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ (TM) -// [Usenet] ASCII rendition of the appended to phrases that the author feels should be recorded for posterity, perhaps in future editions of this lexicon. Sometimes used ironically as a form of protest against the recent spate of software and algorithm patents and look and feel lawsuits. See also UN*X. +// [Usenet] ASCII rendition of the appended to phrases that the author feels +should be recorded for posterity, perhaps in future editions of this +lexicon. Sometimes used ironically as a form of protest against the recent +spate of software and algorithm patents and look and feel lawsuits. See also +UN*X. + diff --git a/entries/-dev-null.txt b/entries/-dev-null.txt index 091cc4b..4dfe059 100644 --- a/entries/-dev-null.txt +++ b/entries/-dev-null.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ /dev/null -/devnuhl/ , n. [from the Unix null device, used as a data sink] A notional black hole in any information space being discussed, used, or referred to. A controversial posting, for example, might end Kudos to rasputin@kremlin.org, flames to /dev/null. See bit bucket. +/devnuhl/ , n. [from the Unix null device, used as a data sink] A notional +black hole in any information space being discussed, used, or referred to. A +controversial posting, for example, might end Kudos to rasputin@kremlin.org, +flames to /dev/null. See bit bucket. + diff --git a/entries/-fu.txt b/entries/-fu.txt index ba1aa99..408b17c 100644 --- a/entries/-fu.txt +++ b/entries/-fu.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ -fu -Combining form denoting expert practice of a skill. That's going to take some serious code-fu. First sighted in connection with the GIMP's remote-scripting facility, script-fu, in 1998. +Combining form denoting expert practice of a skill. That's going to take +some serious code-fu. First sighted in connection with the GIMP's +remote-scripting facility, script-fu, in 1998. + diff --git a/entries/-me.txt b/entries/-me.txt index 7789495..5865c74 100644 --- a/entries/-me.txt +++ b/entries/-me.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ /me -// [IRC; common] Under most IRC, /me is the pose command; if you are logged on as Foonly and type /me laughs , others watching the channel will see * Joe Foonly laughs. This usage has been carried over to mail and news, where the reader is expected to perform the same expansion in his or her head. +// [IRC; common] Under most IRC, /me is the pose command; if you are logged +on as Foonly and type /me laughs , others watching the channel will see * +Joe Foonly laughs. This usage has been carried over to mail and news, where +the reader is expected to perform the same expansion in his or her head. + diff --git a/entries/-oid.txt b/entries/-oid.txt index 3f10c2c..d9298f5 100644 --- a/entries/-oid.txt +++ b/entries/-oid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ -oid -suff. [from Greek suffix -oid = in the image of ] 1. Used as in mainstream slang English to indicate a poor imitation, a counterfeit, or some otherwise slightly bogus resemblance. Hackers will happily use it with all sorts of non-Greco/Latin stem words that wouldn't keep company with it in mainstream English. For example, He's a nerdoid means that he superficially resembles a nerd but can't make the grade; a modemoid might be a 300-baud box (Real Modems run at 28.8 or up); a computeroid might be any bitty box. The word keyboid could be used to describe a chiclet keyboard , but would have to be written; spoken, it would confuse the listener as to the speaker's city of origin. 2. More specifically, an indicator for resembling an android which in the past has been confined to science-fiction fans and hackers. It too has recently (in 1991) started to go mainstream (most notably in the term trendoid for victims of terminal hipness). This is probably traceable to the popularization of the term droid in Star Wars and its sequels. (See also windoid. ) Coinages in both forms have been common in science fiction for at least fifty years, and hackers (who are often SF fans) have probably been making -oid jargon for almost that long [though GLS and I can personally confirm only that they were already common in the mid-1970s ESR]. +suff. [from Greek suffix -oid = in the image of ] 1. Used as in mainstream +slang English to indicate a poor imitation, a counterfeit, or some otherwise +slightly bogus resemblance. Hackers will happily use it with all sorts of +non-Greco/Latin stem words that wouldn't keep company with it in mainstream +English. For example, He's a nerdoid means that he superficially resembles a +nerd but can't make the grade; a modemoid might be a 300-baud box (Real +Modems run at 28.8 or up); a computeroid might be any bitty box. The word +keyboid could be used to describe a chiclet keyboard , but would have to be +written; spoken, it would confuse the listener as to the speaker's city of +origin. 2. More specifically, an indicator for resembling an android which +in the past has been confined to science-fiction fans and hackers. It too +has recently (in 1991) started to go mainstream (most notably in the term +trendoid for victims of terminal hipness). This is probably traceable to the +popularization of the term droid in Star Wars and its sequels. (See also +windoid. ) Coinages in both forms have been common in science fiction for at +least fifty years, and hackers (who are often SF fans) have probably been +making -oid jargon for almost that long [though GLS and I can personally +confirm only that they were already common in the mid-1970s ESR]. + diff --git a/entries/-ware.txt b/entries/-ware.txt index fd7adef..562bebc 100644 --- a/entries/-ware.txt +++ b/entries/-ware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ -ware -suff. [from software ] Commonly used to form jargon terms for classes of software. For examples, see annoyware , careware , crippleware , crudware , freeware , fritterware , guiltware , liveware , meatware , payware , psychedelicware , shareware , shelfware , vaporware , wetware , spyware , adware. +suff. [from software ] Commonly used to form jargon terms for classes of +software. For examples, see annoyware , careware , crippleware , crudware , +freeware , fritterware , guiltware , liveware , meatware , payware , +psychedelicware , shareware , shelfware , vaporware , wetware , spyware , +adware. + diff --git a/entries/1TBS.txt b/entries/1TBS.txt index 050800f..573e200 100644 --- a/entries/1TBS.txt +++ b/entries/1TBS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ 1TBS // , n. The One True Brace Style ; see indent style. + diff --git a/entries/404 compliant.txt b/entries/404 compliant.txt index e564cfb..c401ea4 100644 --- a/entries/404 compliant.txt +++ b/entries/404 compliant.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ 404 compliant -adj. The status of a website which has been completely removed, usually by the administrators of the hosting site as a result of net abuse by the website operators. The term is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the standard 301 compliant Murkowski Bill disclaimer used by spammers. See also: spam , spamvertize. +adj. The status of a website which has been completely removed, usually by +the administrators of the hosting site as a result of net abuse by the +website operators. The term is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the standard +301 compliant Murkowski Bill disclaimer used by spammers. See also: spam , +spamvertize. + diff --git a/entries/404.txt b/entries/404.txt index bebe2bc..acf4fdb 100644 --- a/entries/404.txt +++ b/entries/404.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ 404 -// , n. [from the HTTP error file not found on server ] Extended to humans to convey that the subject has no idea or no clue -- sapience not found. May be used reflexively; Uh, I'm 404ing means I'm drawing a blank. +// , n. [from the HTTP error file not found on server ] Extended to humans +to convey that the subject has no idea or no clue -- sapience not found. May +be used reflexively; Uh, I'm 404ing means I'm drawing a blank. + diff --git a/entries/@-party.txt b/entries/@-party.txt index b41253b..fc9ee44 100644 --- a/entries/@-party.txt +++ b/entries/@-party.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ @-party -/atpar`tee/ , n. [from the @-sign in an Internet address] (alt.: @-sign party /atsi:n par`tee/ ) A semi-closed party thrown for hackers at a science-fiction convention (esp. the annual World Science Fiction Convention or Worldcon ); one must have a network address to get in, or at least be in company with someone who does. One of the most reliable opportunities for hackers to meet face to face with people who might otherwise be represented by mere phosphor dots on their screens. Compare boink. The first recorded @-party was held at the Westercon (a U.S. western regional SF convention) over the July 4th weekend in 1980. It is not clear exactly when the canonical @-party venue shifted to the Worldcon but it had certainly become established by Constellation in 1983. Sadly, the @-party tradition has been in decline since about 1996, mainly because having an @-address no longer functions as an effective lodge pin. We are informed, however, that rec.skydiving members have maintained a tradition of formation jumps in the shape of an @. +/atpar`tee/ , n. [from the @-sign in an Internet address] (alt.: @-sign +party /atsi:n par`tee/ ) A semi-closed party thrown for hackers at a +science-fiction convention (esp. the annual World Science Fiction Convention +or Worldcon ); one must have a network address to get in, or at least be in +company with someone who does. One of the most reliable opportunities for +hackers to meet face to face with people who might otherwise be represented +by mere phosphor dots on their screens. Compare boink. The first recorded +@-party was held at the Westercon (a U.S. western regional SF convention) +over the July 4th weekend in 1980. It is not clear exactly when the +canonical @-party venue shifted to the Worldcon but it had certainly become +established by Constellation in 1983. Sadly, the @-party tradition has been +in decline since about 1996, mainly because having an @-address no longer +functions as an effective lodge pin. We are informed, however, that +rec.skydiving members have maintained a tradition of formation jumps in the +shape of an @. + diff --git a/entries/A Story About ‘Magic'.txt b/entries/A Story About ‘Magic'.txt index 82990f3..05aefe6 100644 --- a/entries/A Story About ‘Magic'.txt +++ b/entries/A Story About ‘Magic'.txt @@ -1,3 +1,52 @@ A Story About ‘Magic' -Some years ago, I (GLS) was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the MIT AI Lab's PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware hackers (no one knows who). You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labeled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words magic' and more magic'. The switch was in the more magic' position. I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side. It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the more magic position before reviving the computer. A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David Moon as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, still in the more magic position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch. The computer promptly crashed. This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time MIT hacker, who was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters and dike d it out. We then revived the computer and it has run fine ever since. We still don't know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was magic. I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I usually keep it set on more magic. 1994: Another explanation of this story has since been offered. Note that the switch body was metal. Suppose that the non-connected side of the switch was connected to the switch body (usually the body is connected to a separate earth lug, but there are exceptions). The body is connected to the computer case, which is, presumably, grounded. Now the circuit ground within the machine isn't necessarily at the same potential as the case ground, so flipping the switch connected the circuit ground to the case ground, causing a voltage drop/jump which reset the machine. This was probably discovered by someone who found out the hard way that there was a potential difference between the two, and who then wired in the switch as a joke. +Some years ago, I (GLS) was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the +MIT AI Lab's PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one +cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware +hackers (no one knows who). You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer +without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The +switch was labeled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and +scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words magic' and more +magic'. The switch was in the more magic' position. I called another hacker +over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer +examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The +other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the +computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do +anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire +connected on one side and no wire on its other side. It was clear that this +switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that +the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. +Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but +nevertheless restored the switch to the more magic position before reviving +the computer. A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David +Moon as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a +supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was +fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very +switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, +still in the more magic position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone +connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to +the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the +switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was +connected to a place that couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the +switch. The computer promptly crashed. This time we ran for Richard +Greenblatt, a long-time MIT hacker, who was close at hand. He had never +noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was +useless, got some diagonal cutters and dike d it out. We then revived the +computer and it has run fine ever since. We still don't know how the switch +crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin +was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance +enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. +But we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was +magic. I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I +usually keep it set on more magic. 1994: Another explanation of this story +has since been offered. Note that the switch body was metal. Suppose that +the non-connected side of the switch was connected to the switch body +(usually the body is connected to a separate earth lug, but there are +exceptions). The body is connected to the computer case, which is, +presumably, grounded. Now the circuit ground within the machine isn't +necessarily at the same potential as the case ground, so flipping the switch +connected the circuit ground to the case ground, causing a voltage drop/jump +which reset the machine. This was probably discovered by someone who found +out the hard way that there was a potential difference between the two, and +who then wired in the switch as a joke. + diff --git a/entries/ABEND.txt b/entries/ABEND.txt index 990e838..e88b80d 100644 --- a/entries/ABEND.txt +++ b/entries/ABEND.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ ABEND -/abend/ , /@bend/ , n. [ABnormal END] 1. Abnormal termination (of software); crash ; lossage. Derives from an error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly by hackers but seriously mainly by code grinder s. Usually capitalized, but may appear as abend. Hackers will try to persuade you that ABEND is called abend because it is what system operators do to the machine late on Friday when they want to call it a day, and hence is from the German Abend = Evening. 2. [ alt.callahans ] Absent By Enforced Net Deprivation used in the subject lines of postings warning friends of an imminent loss of Internet access. (This can be because of computer downtime, loss of provider, moving or illness.) Variants of this also appear: ABVND = Absent By Voluntary Net Deprivation and ABSEND = Absent By Self-Enforced Net Deprivation have been sighted. +/abend/ , /@bend/ , n. [ABnormal END] 1. Abnormal termination (of software); +crash ; lossage. Derives from an error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly +by hackers but seriously mainly by code grinder s. Usually capitalized, but +may appear as abend. Hackers will try to persuade you that ABEND is called +abend because it is what system operators do to the machine late on Friday +when they want to call it a day, and hence is from the German Abend = +Evening. 2. [ alt.callahans ] Absent By Enforced Net Deprivation used in the +subject lines of postings warning friends of an imminent loss of Internet +access. (This can be because of computer downtime, loss of provider, moving +or illness.) Variants of this also appear: ABVND = Absent By Voluntary Net +Deprivation and ABSEND = Absent By Self-Enforced Net Deprivation have been +sighted. + diff --git a/entries/ACK.txt b/entries/ACK.txt index e609d6d..67f9392 100644 --- a/entries/ACK.txt +++ b/entries/ACK.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ ACK -/ak/ , interj. 1. [common; from the ASCII mnemonic for 0000110] Acknowledge. Used to register one's presence (compare mainstream Yo! ). An appropriate response to ping or ENQ. 2. [from the comic strip Bloom County ] An exclamation of surprised disgust, esp. in Ack pffft! Semi-humorous. Generally this sense is not spelled in caps (ACK) and is distinguished by a following exclamation point. 3. Used to politely interrupt someone to tell them you understand their point (see NAK ). Thus, for example, you might cut off an overly long explanation with Ack. Ack. Ack. I get it now. 4. An affirmative. Think we ought to ditch that damn NT server for a Linux box? ACK! There is also a usage ACK? (from sense 1) meaning Are you there? , often used in email when earlier mail has produced no reply, or during a lull in talk mode to see if the person has gone away (the standard humorous response is of course NAK , i.e., I'm not here ). +/ak/ , interj. 1. [common; from the ASCII mnemonic for 0000110] Acknowledge. +Used to register one's presence (compare mainstream Yo! ). An appropriate +response to ping or ENQ. 2. [from the comic strip Bloom County ] An +exclamation of surprised disgust, esp. in Ack pffft! Semi-humorous. +Generally this sense is not spelled in caps (ACK) and is distinguished by a +following exclamation point. 3. Used to politely interrupt someone to tell +them you understand their point (see NAK ). Thus, for example, you might cut +off an overly long explanation with Ack. Ack. Ack. I get it now. 4. An +affirmative. Think we ought to ditch that damn NT server for a Linux box? +ACK! There is also a usage ACK? (from sense 1) meaning Are you there? , +often used in email when earlier mail has produced no reply, or during a +lull in talk mode to see if the person has gone away (the standard humorous +response is of course NAK , i.e., I'm not here ). + diff --git a/entries/ADVENT.txt b/entries/ADVENT.txt index af1ca54..16c65c8 100644 --- a/entries/ADVENT.txt +++ b/entries/ADVENT.txt @@ -1,3 +1,35 @@ ADVENT -/advent/ , n. The prototypical computer adventure game, first designed by Will Crowther on the PDP-10 in the mid-1970s as an attempt at computer-refereed fantasy gaming, and expanded into a puzzle-oriented game by Don Woods at Stanford in 1976. (Woods had been one of the authors of INTERCAL. ) Now better known as Adventure or Colossal Cave Adventure, but the TOPS-10 operating system permitted only six-letter filenames in uppercase. See also vadding , Zork , and Infocom. Figure1.Screen shot of the original ADVENT game Orange River Chamber You are in a splendid chamber thirty feet high. The walls are frozen rivers of orange stone. An awkward canyon and a good passage exit from east and west sidesof the chamber. A cheerful little bird is sitting here singing. drop rod Dropped. take bird You catch the bird in the wicker cage. take rod Taken. w At Top of Small Pit At your feet is a small pit breathing traces of white mist. A west passage ends here except for a small crack leading on. Rough stone steps lead down the pit. down In Hall of Mists You are at one end of a vast hall stretching forward out of sight to the west. There are openings to either side. Nearby, a wide stone staircase leads downward. The hall is filled with wisps of white mist swaying to and fro almost as if alive. A cold wind blows up the staircase. There is a passage at the top of a dome behind you. Rough stone steps lead up the dome. This game defined the terse, dryly humorous style since expected in text adventure games, and popularized several tag lines that have become fixtures of hacker-speak: A huge green fierce snake bars the way! I see no X here (for some noun X). You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. You are in a little maze of twisty passages, all different. The magic words xyzzy and plugh also derive from this game. Crowther, by the way, participated in the exploration of the Mammoth Flint Ridge cave system; it actually has a Colossal Cave and a Bedquilt as in the game, and the Y2 that also turns up is cavers' jargon for a map reference to a secondary entrance. ADVENT sources are available for FTP at ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/doc/misc/if-archive/games/source/advent.tar.Z. You can also play it as a Java applet. There is a good page of resources at the Colossal Cave Adventure Page. +/advent/ , n. The prototypical computer adventure game, first designed by +Will Crowther on the PDP-10 in the mid-1970s as an attempt at +computer-refereed fantasy gaming, and expanded into a puzzle-oriented game +by Don Woods at Stanford in 1976. (Woods had been one of the authors of +INTERCAL. ) Now better known as Adventure or Colossal Cave Adventure, but +the TOPS-10 operating system permitted only six-letter filenames in +uppercase. See also vadding , Zork , and Infocom. Figure1.Screen shot of the +original ADVENT game Orange River Chamber You are in a splendid chamber +thirty feet high. The walls are frozen rivers of orange stone. An awkward +canyon and a good passage exit from east and west sidesof the chamber. A +cheerful little bird is sitting here singing. drop rod Dropped. take bird +You catch the bird in the wicker cage. take rod Taken. w At Top of Small Pit +At your feet is a small pit breathing traces of white mist. A west passage +ends here except for a small crack leading on. Rough stone steps lead down +the pit. down In Hall of Mists You are at one end of a vast hall stretching +forward out of sight to the west. There are openings to either side. Nearby, +a wide stone staircase leads downward. The hall is filled with wisps of +white mist swaying to and fro almost as if alive. A cold wind blows up the +staircase. There is a passage at the top of a dome behind you. Rough stone +steps lead up the dome. This game defined the terse, dryly humorous style +since expected in text adventure games, and popularized several tag lines +that have become fixtures of hacker-speak: A huge green fierce snake bars +the way! I see no X here (for some noun X). You are in a maze of twisty +little passages, all alike. You are in a little maze of twisty passages, all +different. The magic words xyzzy and plugh also derive from this game. +Crowther, by the way, participated in the exploration of the Mammoth Flint +Ridge cave system; it actually has a Colossal Cave and a Bedquilt as in the +game, and the Y2 that also turns up is cavers' jargon for a map reference to +a secondary entrance. ADVENT sources are available for FTP at +ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/doc/misc/if-archive/games/source/advent.tar.Z. You can +also play it as a Java applet. There is a good page of resources at the +Colossal Cave Adventure Page. + diff --git a/entries/AFAIK.txt b/entries/AFAIK.txt index 5f4ee59..0d4916b 100644 --- a/entries/AFAIK.txt +++ b/entries/AFAIK.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ AFAIK -// , n. [Usenet; common] Abbrev. for As Far As I Know. There is a variant AFAICT As Far As I Can Tell ; where AFAIK suggests that the writer knows his knowledge is limited, AFAICT suggests that he feels his knowledge is as complete as anybody else's but that the best available knowledge does not support firm conclusions. +// , n. [Usenet; common] Abbrev. for As Far As I Know. There is a variant +AFAICT As Far As I Can Tell ; where AFAIK suggests that the writer knows his +knowledge is limited, AFAICT suggests that he feels his knowledge is as +complete as anybody else's but that the best available knowledge does not +support firm conclusions. + diff --git a/entries/AFJ.txt b/entries/AFJ.txt index 993762e..3fe0e43 100644 --- a/entries/AFJ.txt +++ b/entries/AFJ.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ AFJ -// , n. Written-only abbreviation for April Fool's Joke. Elaborate April Fool's hoaxes are a long-established tradition on Usenet and Internet; see kremvax for an example. In fact, April Fool's Day is the only seasonal holiday consistently marked by customary observances on Internet and other hacker networks. +// , n. Written-only abbreviation for April Fool's Joke. Elaborate April +Fool's hoaxes are a long-established tradition on Usenet and Internet; see +kremvax for an example. In fact, April Fool's Day is the only seasonal +holiday consistently marked by customary observances on Internet and other +hacker networks. + diff --git a/entries/AFK.txt b/entries/AFK.txt index 6061ee3..c55b0c0 100644 --- a/entries/AFK.txt +++ b/entries/AFK.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ AFK -Abbrev. for Away From Keyboard. Used to notify others that you will be momentarily unavailable online. eg. Let's not go kill that frost giant yet, I need to go AFK to make a phone call. Often MUDs will have a command to politely inform others of your absence when they try to talk with you. The term is not restricted to MUDs, however, and has become common in many chat situations, from IRC to Unix talk. +Abbrev. for Away From Keyboard. Used to notify others that you will be +momentarily unavailable online. eg. Let's not go kill that frost giant yet, +I need to go AFK to make a phone call. Often MUDs will have a command to +politely inform others of your absence when they try to talk with you. The +term is not restricted to MUDs, however, and has become common in many chat +situations, from IRC to Unix talk. + diff --git a/entries/AI-complete.txt b/entries/AI-complete.txt index 144a00e..5f3cb43 100644 --- a/entries/AI-complete.txt +++ b/entries/AI-complete.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ AI-complete -/AI k@mpleet'/ , adj. [MIT, Stanford: by analogy with NP-complete (see NP- )] Used to describe problems or subproblems in AI, to indicate that the solution presupposes a solution to the strong AI problem (that is, the synthesis of a human-level intelligence). A problem that is AI-complete is, in other words, just too hard. Examples of AI-complete problems are The Vision Problem (building a system that can see as well as a human) and The Natural Language Problem (building a system that can understand and speak a natural language as well as a human). These may appear to be modular, but all attempts so far (2003) to solve them have foundered on the amount of context information and intelligence they seem to require. See also gedanken. +/AI k@mpleet'/ , adj. [MIT, Stanford: by analogy with NP-complete (see NP- +)] Used to describe problems or subproblems in AI, to indicate that the +solution presupposes a solution to the strong AI problem (that is, the +synthesis of a human-level intelligence). A problem that is AI-complete is, +in other words, just too hard. Examples of AI-complete problems are The +Vision Problem (building a system that can see as well as a human) and The +Natural Language Problem (building a system that can understand and speak a +natural language as well as a human). These may appear to be modular, but +all attempts so far (2003) to solve them have foundered on the amount of +context information and intelligence they seem to require. See also +gedanken. + diff --git a/entries/AI.txt b/entries/AI.txt index 8bad453..6207b54 100644 --- a/entries/AI.txt +++ b/entries/AI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ AI -/AI/ , n. Abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence , so common that the full form is almost never written or spoken among hackers. +/AI/ , n. Abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence , so common that the full +form is almost never written or spoken among hackers. + diff --git a/entries/ANSI standard pizza.txt b/entries/ANSI standard pizza.txt index 01338ef..f944314 100644 --- a/entries/ANSI standard pizza.txt +++ b/entries/ANSI standard pizza.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ ANSI standard pizza -/ansee stand@rd peetz@/ [CMU] Pepperoni and mushroom pizza. Coined allegedly because most pizzas ordered by CMU hackers during some period leading up to mid-1990 were of that flavor. See also rotary debugger ; compare ISO standard cup of tea. +/ansee stand@rd peetz@/ [CMU] Pepperoni and mushroom pizza. Coined allegedly +because most pizzas ordered by CMU hackers during some period leading up to +mid-1990 were of that flavor. See also rotary debugger ; compare ISO +standard cup of tea. + diff --git a/entries/ANSI standard.txt b/entries/ANSI standard.txt index b8fce24..dbeb2a3 100644 --- a/entries/ANSI standard.txt +++ b/entries/ANSI standard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ ANSI standard -/ansee stand@rd/ The ANSI standard usage of ANSI standard refers to any practice which is typical or broadly done. It's most appropriately applied to things that everyone does that are not quite regulation. For example: ANSI standard shaking of a laser printer cartridge to get extra life from it, or the ANSI standard word tripling in names of usenet alt groups. This usage derives from the American National Standards Institute. ANSI, along with the International Organization for Standards (ISO), standardized the C programming language (see K R , Classic C ), and promulgates many other important software standards. +/ansee stand@rd/ The ANSI standard usage of ANSI standard refers to any +practice which is typical or broadly done. It's most appropriately applied +to things that everyone does that are not quite regulation. For example: +ANSI standard shaking of a laser printer cartridge to get extra life from +it, or the ANSI standard word tripling in names of usenet alt groups. This +usage derives from the American National Standards Institute. ANSI, along +with the International Organization for Standards (ISO), standardized the C +programming language (see K R , Classic C ), and promulgates many other +important software standards. + diff --git a/entries/AOL!.txt b/entries/AOL!.txt index 1696841..9963e94 100644 --- a/entries/AOL!.txt +++ b/entries/AOL!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ AOL! -n. [Usenet] Common synonym for Me, too! alluding to the legendary propensity of America Online users to utter contentless Me, too! postings. The number of exclamation points following varies from zero to five or so. The pseudo-HTML AOL Me, too! /AOL is also frequently seen. See also September that never ended. +n. [Usenet] Common synonym for Me, too! alluding to the legendary propensity +of America Online users to utter contentless Me, too! postings. The number +of exclamation points following varies from zero to five or so. The +pseudo-HTML AOL Me, too! /AOL is also frequently seen. See also September +that never ended. + diff --git a/entries/ARMM.txt b/entries/ARMM.txt index 8131db3..bf463c0 100644 --- a/entries/ARMM.txt +++ b/entries/ARMM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ ARMM -n. [acronym, Automated Retroactive Minimal Moderation ] A Usenet cancelbot created by Dick Depew of Munroe Falls, Ohio. ARMM was intended to automatically cancel posts from anonymous-posting sites. Unfortunately, the robot's recognizer for anonymous postings triggered on its own automatically-generated control messages! Transformed by this stroke of programming ineptitude into a monster of Frankensteinian proportions, it broke loose on the night of March 30, 1993 and proceeded to spam news.admin.policy with a recursive explosion of over 200 messages. ARMM's bug produced a recursive cascade of messages each of which mechanically added text to the ID and Subject and some other headers of its parent. This produced a flood of messages in which each header took up several screens and each message ID and subject line got longer and longer and longer. Reactions varied from amusement to outrage. The pathological messages crashed at least one mail system, and upset people paying line charges for their Usenet feeds. One poster described the ARMM debacle as instant Usenet history (also establishing the term despew ), and it has since been widely cited as a cautionary example of the havoc the combination of good intentions and incompetence can wreak on a network. The Usenet thread on the subject is archived here. Compare Great Worm ; sorcerer's apprentice mode. See also software laser , network meltdown. +n. [acronym, Automated Retroactive Minimal Moderation ] A Usenet cancelbot +created by Dick Depew of Munroe Falls, Ohio. ARMM was intended to +automatically cancel posts from anonymous-posting sites. Unfortunately, the +robot's recognizer for anonymous postings triggered on its own +automatically-generated control messages! Transformed by this stroke of +programming ineptitude into a monster of Frankensteinian proportions, it +broke loose on the night of March 30, 1993 and proceeded to spam +news.admin.policy with a recursive explosion of over 200 messages. ARMM's +bug produced a recursive cascade of messages each of which mechanically +added text to the ID and Subject and some other headers of its parent. This +produced a flood of messages in which each header took up several screens +and each message ID and subject line got longer and longer and longer. +Reactions varied from amusement to outrage. The pathological messages +crashed at least one mail system, and upset people paying line charges for +their Usenet feeds. One poster described the ARMM debacle as instant Usenet +history (also establishing the term despew ), and it has since been widely +cited as a cautionary example of the havoc the combination of good +intentions and incompetence can wreak on a network. The Usenet thread on the +subject is archived here. Compare Great Worm ; sorcerer's apprentice mode. +See also software laser , network meltdown. + diff --git a/entries/ASCII art.txt b/entries/ASCII art.txt index 9f6f1de..e27cbe7 100644 --- a/entries/ASCII art.txt +++ b/entries/ASCII art.txt @@ -1,3 +1,46 @@ ASCII art -n. The fine art of drawing diagrams using the ASCII character set (mainly | , - , / , \ , and + ). Also known as character graphics or ASCII graphics ; see also boxology. Here is a serious example: o----)||(--+--| ----+ +---------o + D O L )||( | | | C U A I )||( +-- |-+ | +-\/\/-+--o - T C N )||( | | | | P E )||( +-- |-+--)---+--|(--+-o U )||( | | | GND T o----)||(--+--| ----+----------+ A power supply consisting of a full wave rectifier circuit feeding a capacitor input filter circuit And here are some very silly examples: |\/\/\/| ____/| ___ |\_/| ___ | | \ o.O| ACK! / \_ |` '| _/ \ | | =(_)= THPHTH! / \/ \/ \ | (o)(o) U / \ C _) (__) \/\/\/\ _____ /\/\/\/ | ,___| (oo) \/ \/ | / \/-------\ U (__) /____\ || | \ /---V `v'- oo ) / \ ||---W|| * * |--| || |`. |_/\ //-o-\\ ____---=======---____ ====___\ /... .\ /___==== Klingons rule OK! // ---\__O__/--- \\ \_\ /_/ There is an important subgenre of ASCII art that puns on the standard character names in the fashion of a rebus. +--------------------------------------------------------+ | ^^^^^^^^^^^^ | | ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ | | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | | ^^^^^^^ B ^^^^^^^^^ | | ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | +--------------------------------------------------------+ A Bee in the Carrot Patch Within humorous ASCII art, there is for some reason an entire flourishing subgenre of pictures of silly cows. Four of these are reproduced in the examples above, here are three more: (__) (__) (__) (\/) ($$) (**) /-------\/ /-------\/ /-------\/ / | 666 || / |=====|| / | || * ||----|| * ||----|| * ||----|| ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ Satanic cow This cow is a Yuppie Cow in love Finally, here's a magnificent example of ASCII art depicting an Edwardian train station in Dunedin, New Zealand:. -. /___\ |___| |]_[| / I \ JL/ | \JL . -. i () | () i . -. |_|. ^. /_\ LJ=======LJ /_\ . ^. |_|. _/___\._./___\_._._._._.L_J_/.-.. -.\_L_J._._._._._/___\._./___\._._._ . , |-,-|. , L_J |_| [I] |_| L_J. , |-,-|. ,. , JL |-O-| JL L_J%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%L_J JL |-O-| JL JL IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII|_|=======H=======|_|IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII_HH_ -------[]-------[]-------[_]----\.=I=./----[_]-------[]-------[]--------[]- _/\_ ||\\_I_//|| _/\_ [_] []_/_L_J_\_[] [_] _/\_ ||\\_I_//|| _/\_ ||\ |__| ||=/_|_\=|| |__|_|_| _L_L_J_J_ |_|_|__| ||=/_|_\=|| |__| ||- |__| |||__|__||| |__[___]__--__===__--__[___]__| |||__|__||| |__| ||| IIIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIL___J__II__|_|__II__L___JIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIIII[_] \_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_[_]\II/[]\_\I/_/[]\II/[_]\_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_/ [_]. / \.L_J/ \L_J./ L_JI I[]/ \[]I IL_J \.L_J/ \L_J./ \.L_J | |L_J| |L_J| L_J| |[]| |[]| |L_J |L_J| |L_J| |L_J |_____JL_JL___JL_JL____|-|| |[]| |[]| ||-|_____JL_JL___JL_JL_____JL_J The next step beyond static tableaux in ASCII art is ASCII animation. There are not many large examples of this; perhaps the best known is the ASCII animation of the original Star Wars movie at http://www.asciimation.co.nz/. There is a newsgroup, alt.ascii-art , devoted to this genre; however, see also warlording. +n. The fine art of drawing diagrams using the ASCII character set (mainly | +, - , / , \ , and + ). Also known as character graphics or ASCII graphics ; +see also boxology. Here is a serious example: o----)||(--+--| ----+ ++---------o + D O L )||( | | | C U A I )||( +-- |-+ | +-\/\/-+--o - T C N +)||( | | | | P E )||( +-- |-+--)---+--|(--+-o U )||( | | | GND T +o----)||(--+--| ----+----------+ A power supply consisting of a full wave +rectifier circuit feeding a capacitor input filter circuit And here are some +very silly examples: |\/\/\/| ____/| ___ |\_/| ___ | | \ o.O| ACK! / \_ |` +'| _/ \ | | =(_)= THPHTH! / \/ \/ \ | (o)(o) U / \ C _) (__) \/\/\/\ _____ +/\/\/\/ | ,___| (oo) \/ \/ | / \/-------\ U (__) /____\ || | \ /---V `v'- oo +) / \ ||---W|| * * |--| || |`. |_/\ //-o-\\ ____---=======---____ ====___\ +/... .\ /___==== Klingons rule OK! // ---\__O__/--- \\ \_\ /_/ There is an +important subgenre of ASCII art that puns on the standard character names in +the fashion of a rebus. ++--------------------------------------------------------+ | ^^^^^^^^^^^^ | +| ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ | | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | | ^^^^^^^ B +^^^^^^^^^ | | ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | ++--------------------------------------------------------+ A Bee in the +Carrot Patch Within humorous ASCII art, there is for some reason an entire +flourishing subgenre of pictures of silly cows. Four of these are reproduced +in the examples above, here are three more: (__) (__) (__) (\/) ($$) (**) +/-------\/ /-------\/ /-------\/ / | 666 || / |=====|| / | || * ||----|| * +||----|| * ||----|| ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ Satanic cow This cow is a Yuppie Cow +in love Finally, here's a magnificent example of ASCII art depicting an +Edwardian train station in Dunedin, New Zealand:. -. /___\ |___| |]_[| / +I \ JL/ | \JL . -. i () | () i . -. |_|. ^. /_\ LJ=======LJ /_\ . ^. |_|. +_/___\._./___\_._._._._.L_J_/.-.. -.\_L_J._._._._._/___\._./___\._._._ . , +|-,-|. , L_J |_| [I] |_| L_J. , |-,-|. ,. , JL |-O-| JL +L_J%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%L_J JL |-O-| JL JL +IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII|_|=======H=======|_|IIIIII_HH_'-'-'_HH_IIIIII_HH_ +-------[]-------[]-------[_]----\.=I=./----[_]-------[]-------[]--------[]- +_/\_ ||\\_I_//|| _/\_ [_] []_/_L_J_\_[] [_] _/\_ ||\\_I_//|| _/\_ ||\ |__| +||=/_|_\=|| |__|_|_| _L_L_J_J_ |_|_|__| ||=/_|_\=|| |__| ||- |__| +|||__|__||| |__[___]__--__===__--__[___]__| |||__|__||| |__| ||| +IIIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIL___J__II__|_|__II__L___JIIIII[_]IIIII[_]IIIIIIII[_] +\_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_[_]\II/[]\_\I/_/[]\II/[_]\_I_/ [_]\_I_/[_] \_I_/ [_]. +/ \.L_J/ \L_J./ L_JI I[]/ \[]I IL_J \.L_J/ \L_J./ \.L_J | |L_J| |L_J| L_J| +|[]| |[]| |L_J |L_J| |L_J| |L_J |_____JL_JL___JL_JL____|-|| |[]| |[]| +||-|_____JL_JL___JL_JL_____JL_J The next step beyond static tableaux in +ASCII art is ASCII animation. There are not many large examples of this; +perhaps the best known is the ASCII animation of the original Star Wars +movie at http://www.asciimation.co.nz/. There is a newsgroup, alt.ascii-art +, devoted to this genre; however, see also warlording. + diff --git a/entries/ASCII.txt b/entries/ASCII.txt index b2e1381..d29d2c1 100644 --- a/entries/ASCII.txt +++ b/entries/ASCII.txt @@ -1,3 +1,54 @@ ASCII -/askee/ , n. [originally an acronym (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) but now merely conventional] The predominant character set encoding of present-day computers. The standard version uses 7 bits for each character, whereas most earlier codes (including early drafts of ASCII prior to June 1961) used fewer. This change allowed the inclusion of lowercase letters a major win but it did not provide for accented letters or any other letterforms not used in English (such as the German sharp-S . or the ae-ligature which is a letter in, for example, Norwegian). It could be worse, though. It could be much worse. See EBCDIC to understand how. A history of ASCII and its ancestors is at http://www.wps.com/texts/codes/index.html. Computers are much pickier and less flexible about spelling than humans; thus, hackers need to be very precise when talking about characters, and have developed a considerable amount of verbal shorthand for them. Every character has one or more names some formal, some concise, some silly. Common jargon names for ASCII characters are collected here. See also individual entries for bang , excl , open , ques , semi , shriek , splat , twiddle , and Yu-Shiang Whole Fish. This list derives from revision 2.3 of the Usenet ASCII pronunciation guide. Single characters are listed in ASCII order; character pairs are sorted in by first member. For each character, common names are given in rough order of popularity, followed by names that are reported but rarely seen; official ANSI/CCITT names are surrounded by brokets:. Square brackets mark the particularly silly names introduced by INTERCAL. The abbreviations l/r and o/c stand for left/right and open/close respectively. Ordinary parentheticals provide some usage information. ! Common: bang ; pling; excl; not; shriek; ball-bat; exclamation mark. Rare: factorial; exclam; smash; cuss; boing; yell; wow; hey; wham; eureka; [spark-spot]; soldier, control. Common: double quote; quote. Rare: literal mark; double-glitch; snakebite; quotation marks ; dieresis ; dirk; [rabbit-ears]; double prime. # Common: number sign; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp; crunch ; hex; [mesh]. Rare: grid; crosshatch; octothorpe; flash; square , pig-pen; tictactoe; scratchmark; thud; thump; splat. $ Common: dollar; dollar sign. Rare: currency symbol; buck; cash; bling; string (from BASIC); escape (when used as the echo of ASCII ESC); ding; cache; [big money]. % Common: percent; percent sign ; mod; grapes. Rare: [double-oh-seven]. Common: ampersand ; amp; amper; and, and sign. Rare: address (from C); reference (from C++); andpersand; bitand; background (from sh (1) ); pretzel. [INTERCAL called this ampersand ; what could be sillier?] ' Common: single quote; quote; apostrophe. Rare: prime; glitch; tick; irk; pop; [spark]; closing single quotation mark ; acute accent. ( ) Common: l/r paren; l/r parenthesis; left/right; open/close; paren/thesis; o/c paren; o/c parenthesis; l/r parenthesis; l/r banana. Rare: so/already; lparen/rparen; opening/closing parenthesis ; o/c round bracket, l/r round bracket, [wax/wane]; parenthisey/unparenthisey; l/r ear. * Common: star; [ splat ]; asterisk. Rare: wildcard; gear; dingle; mult; spider; aster; times; twinkle; glob (see glob ); Nathan Hale. + Common: plus ; add. Rare: cross; [intersection]. , Common: comma. Rare: cedilla ; [tail]. - Common: dash; hyphen ; minus. Rare: [worm]; option; dak; bithorpe.. Common: dot; point; period ; decimal point. Rare: radix point; full stop; [spot]. / Common: slash; stroke; slant ; forward slash. Rare: diagonal; solidus; over; slak; virgule; [slat]. +/askee/ , n. [originally an acronym (American Standard Code for Information +Interchange) but now merely conventional] The predominant character set +encoding of present-day computers. The standard version uses 7 bits for each +character, whereas most earlier codes (including early drafts of ASCII prior +to June 1961) used fewer. This change allowed the inclusion of lowercase +letters a major win but it did not provide for accented letters or any other +letterforms not used in English (such as the German sharp-S . or the +ae-ligature which is a letter in, for example, Norwegian). It could be +worse, though. It could be much worse. See EBCDIC to understand how. A +history of ASCII and its ancestors is at +http://www.wps.com/texts/codes/index.html. Computers are much pickier and +less flexible about spelling than humans; thus, hackers need to be very +precise when talking about characters, and have developed a considerable +amount of verbal shorthand for them. Every character has one or more names +some formal, some concise, some silly. Common jargon names for ASCII +characters are collected here. See also individual entries for bang , excl , +open , ques , semi , shriek , splat , twiddle , and Yu-Shiang Whole Fish. +This list derives from revision 2.3 of the Usenet ASCII pronunciation guide. +Single characters are listed in ASCII order; character pairs are sorted in +by first member. For each character, common names are given in rough order +of popularity, followed by names that are reported but rarely seen; official +ANSI/CCITT names are surrounded by brokets:. Square brackets mark the +particularly silly names introduced by INTERCAL. The abbreviations l/r and +o/c stand for left/right and open/close respectively. Ordinary +parentheticals provide some usage information. ! Common: bang ; pling; excl; +not; shriek; ball-bat; exclamation mark. Rare: factorial; exclam; smash; +cuss; boing; yell; wow; hey; wham; eureka; [spark-spot]; soldier, control. +Common: double quote; quote. Rare: literal mark; double-glitch; snakebite; +quotation marks ; dieresis ; dirk; [rabbit-ears]; double prime. # Common: +number sign; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp; crunch ; hex; [mesh]. Rare: +grid; crosshatch; octothorpe; flash; square , pig-pen; tictactoe; +scratchmark; thud; thump; splat. $ Common: dollar; dollar sign. Rare: +currency symbol; buck; cash; bling; string (from BASIC); escape (when used +as the echo of ASCII ESC); ding; cache; [big money]. % Common: percent; +percent sign ; mod; grapes. Rare: [double-oh-seven]. Common: ampersand ; +amp; amper; and, and sign. Rare: address (from C); reference (from C++); +andpersand; bitand; background (from sh (1) ); pretzel. [INTERCAL called +this ampersand ; what could be sillier?] ' Common: single quote; quote; +apostrophe. Rare: prime; glitch; tick; irk; pop; [spark]; closing single +quotation mark ; acute accent. ( ) Common: l/r paren; l/r parenthesis; +left/right; open/close; paren/thesis; o/c paren; o/c parenthesis; l/r +parenthesis; l/r banana. Rare: so/already; lparen/rparen; opening/closing +parenthesis ; o/c round bracket, l/r round bracket, [wax/wane]; +parenthisey/unparenthisey; l/r ear. * Common: star; [ splat ]; asterisk. +Rare: wildcard; gear; dingle; mult; spider; aster; times; twinkle; glob +(see glob ); Nathan Hale. + Common: plus ; add. Rare: cross; +[intersection]. , Common: comma. Rare: cedilla ; [tail]. - Common: dash; +hyphen ; minus. Rare: [worm]; option; dak; bithorpe.. Common: dot; point; +period ; decimal point. Rare: radix point; full stop; [spot]. / Common: +slash; stroke; slant ; forward slash. Rare: diagonal; solidus; over; slak; +virgule; [slat]. + diff --git a/entries/ASCIIbetical order.txt b/entries/ASCIIbetical order.txt index ccad912..55d43c3 100644 --- a/entries/ASCIIbetical order.txt +++ b/entries/ASCIIbetical order.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ ASCIIbetical order -/askeebe't@kl ordr/ , adj.,n. Used to indicate that data is sorted in ASCII collated order rather than alphabetical order. This lexicon is sorted in something close to ASCIIbetical order, but with case ignored and entries beginning with non-alphabetic characters moved to the beginning. +/askeebe't@kl ordr/ , adj.,n. Used to indicate that data is sorted in ASCII +collated order rather than alphabetical order. This lexicon is sorted in +something close to ASCIIbetical order, but with case ignored and entries +beginning with non-alphabetic characters moved to the beginning. + diff --git a/entries/AUP.txt b/entries/AUP.txt index da4a154..3bc88ea 100644 --- a/entries/AUP.txt +++ b/entries/AUP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ AUP -/AUP/ Abbreviation, Acceptable Use Policy. The policy of a given ISP which sets out what the ISP considers to be (un)acceptable uses of its Internet resources. +/AUP/ Abbreviation, Acceptable Use Policy. The policy of a given ISP which +sets out what the ISP considers to be (un)acceptable uses of its Internet +resources. + diff --git a/entries/Acme.txt b/entries/Acme.txt index 8af22a9..ab8b59b 100644 --- a/entries/Acme.txt +++ b/entries/Acme.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ Acme -n. [from Greek akme highest point of perfection or achievement] The canonical supplier of bizarre, elaborate, and non-functional gadgetry where Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson (two cartoonists who specialized in elaborate contraptions) shop. The name has been humorously expanded as A (or American) Company Making Everything. (In fact, Acme was a real brand sold from Sears Roebuck catalogs in the early 1900s.) Describing some X as an Acme X either means This is insanely great , or, more likely, This looks insanely great on paper, but in practice it's really easy to shoot yourself in the foot with it. Compare pistol. This term, specially cherished by American hackers and explained here for the benefit of our overseas brethren, comes from the Warner Brothers' series of Road-runner cartoons. In these cartoons, the famished Wile E. Coyote was forever attempting to catch up with, trap, and eat the Road-runner. His attempts usually involved one or more high-technology Rube Goldberg devices rocket jetpacks, catapults, magnetic traps, high-powered slingshots, etc. These were usually delivered in large wooden crates labeled prominently with the Acme name which, probably not by coincidence, was the trade name of a peg bar system for superimposing animation cels used by cartoonists since forever. Acme devices invariably malfunctioned in improbable and violent ways. +n. [from Greek akme highest point of perfection or achievement] The +canonical supplier of bizarre, elaborate, and non-functional gadgetry where +Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson (two cartoonists who specialized in +elaborate contraptions) shop. The name has been humorously expanded as A (or +American) Company Making Everything. (In fact, Acme was a real brand sold +from Sears Roebuck catalogs in the early 1900s.) Describing some X as an +Acme X either means This is insanely great , or, more likely, This looks +insanely great on paper, but in practice it's really easy to shoot yourself +in the foot with it. Compare pistol. This term, specially cherished by +American hackers and explained here for the benefit of our overseas +brethren, comes from the Warner Brothers' series of Road-runner cartoons. In +these cartoons, the famished Wile E. Coyote was forever attempting to catch +up with, trap, and eat the Road-runner. His attempts usually involved one or +more high-technology Rube Goldberg devices rocket jetpacks, catapults, +magnetic traps, high-powered slingshots, etc. These were usually delivered +in large wooden crates labeled prominently with the Acme name which, +probably not by coincidence, was the trade name of a peg bar system for +superimposing animation cels used by cartoonists since forever. Acme devices +invariably malfunctioned in improbable and violent ways. + diff --git a/entries/Alderson loop.txt b/entries/Alderson loop.txt index 7c55de9..e3ad6f2 100644 --- a/entries/Alderson loop.txt +++ b/entries/Alderson loop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Alderson loop -n. [Intel] A special version of an infinite loop where there is an exit condition available, but inaccessible in the current implementation of the code. Typically this is created while debugging user interface code. An example would be when there is a menu stating, Select 1-3 or 9 to quit and 9 is not allowed by the function that takes the selection from the user. This term received its name from a programmer who had coded a modal message box in MSAccess with no Ok or Cancel buttons, thereby disabling the entire program whenever the box came up. The message box had the proper code for dismissal and even was set up so that when the non-existent Ok button was pressed the proper code would be called. +n. [Intel] A special version of an infinite loop where there is an exit +condition available, but inaccessible in the current implementation of the +code. Typically this is created while debugging user interface code. An +example would be when there is a menu stating, Select 1-3 or 9 to quit and 9 +is not allowed by the function that takes the selection from the user. This +term received its name from a programmer who had coded a modal message box +in MSAccess with no Ok or Cancel buttons, thereby disabling the entire +program whenever the box came up. The message box had the proper code for +dismissal and even was set up so that when the non-existent Ok button was +pressed the proper code would be called. + diff --git a/entries/Alice and Bob.txt b/entries/Alice and Bob.txt index 6ef5b95..71a6e2e 100644 --- a/entries/Alice and Bob.txt +++ b/entries/Alice and Bob.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ Alice and Bob -n. The archetypal individuals used as examples in discussions of cryptographic protocols. Originally, theorists would say something like: A communicates with someone who claims to be B, So to be sure, A tests that B knows a secret number K. So A sends to B a random number X. B then forms Y by encrypting X under key K and sends Y back to A Because this sort of thing is quite hard to follow, theorists stopped using the unadorned letters A and B to represent the main players and started calling them Alice and Bob. So now we say Alice communicates with someone claiming to be Bob, and to be sure, Alice tests that Bob knows a secret number K. Alice sends to Bob a random number X. Bob then forms Y by encrypting X under key K and sends Y back to Alice. A whole mythology rapidly grew up around the metasyntactic names; see http://www.conceptlabs.co.uk/alicebob.html. In Bruce Schneier's definitive introductory text Applied Cryptography (2nd ed., 1996, John Wiley Sons, ISBN 0-471-11709-9) he introduced a table of dramatis personae headed by Alice and Bob. Others include Carol (a participant in three- and four-party protocols), Dave (a participant in four-party protocols), Eve (an eavesdropper), Mallory (a malicious active attacker), Trent (a trusted arbitrator), Walter (a warden), Peggy (a prover) and Victor (a verifier). These names for roles are either already standard or, given the wide popularity of the book, may be expected to quickly become so. Prev Up Next aliasing bug Home All hardware sucks, all software sucks. +n. The archetypal individuals used as examples in discussions of +cryptographic protocols. Originally, theorists would say something like: A +communicates with someone who claims to be B, So to be sure, A tests that B +knows a secret number K. So A sends to B a random number X. B then forms Y +by encrypting X under key K and sends Y back to A Because this sort of thing +is quite hard to follow, theorists stopped using the unadorned letters A and +B to represent the main players and started calling them Alice and Bob. So +now we say Alice communicates with someone claiming to be Bob, and to be +sure, Alice tests that Bob knows a secret number K. Alice sends to Bob a +random number X. Bob then forms Y by encrypting X under key K and sends Y +back to Alice. A whole mythology rapidly grew up around the metasyntactic +names; see http://www.conceptlabs.co.uk/alicebob.html. In Bruce Schneier's +definitive introductory text Applied Cryptography (2nd ed., 1996, John Wiley +Sons, ISBN 0-471-11709-9) he introduced a table of dramatis personae headed +by Alice and Bob. Others include Carol (a participant in three- and +four-party protocols), Dave (a participant in four-party protocols), Eve (an +eavesdropper), Mallory (a malicious active attacker), Trent (a trusted +arbitrator), Walter (a warden), Peggy (a prover) and Victor (a verifier). +These names for roles are either already standard or, given the wide +popularity of the book, may be expected to quickly become so. Prev Up Next +aliasing bug Home All hardware sucks, all software sucks. + diff --git a/entries/All hardware sucks, all software sucks..txt b/entries/All hardware sucks, all software sucks..txt index a4d6048..b39ce39 100644 --- a/entries/All hardware sucks, all software sucks..txt +++ b/entries/All hardware sucks, all software sucks..txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ All hardware sucks, all software sucks. -prov. [from scary devil monastery ] A general recognition of the fallibility of any computer system, ritually intoned as an attempt to quell incipient holy wars. It is a common response to any sort of bigot. When discussing Wintel systems, however, it is often snidely appended with, but some suck more than others. +prov. [from scary devil monastery ] A general recognition of the fallibility +of any computer system, ritually intoned as an attempt to quell incipient +holy wars. It is a common response to any sort of bigot. When discussing +Wintel systems, however, it is often snidely appended with, but some suck +more than others. + diff --git a/entries/Aluminum Book.txt b/entries/Aluminum Book.txt index 6d10125..f957b57 100644 --- a/entries/Aluminum Book.txt +++ b/entries/Aluminum Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Aluminum Book -n. [MIT] Common LISP: The Language , by Guy L. Steele Jr. (Digital Press, first edition 1984, second edition 1990). Note that due to a technical screwup some printings of the second edition are actually of a color the author describes succinctly as yucky green. See also book titles. +n. [MIT] Common LISP: The Language , by Guy L. Steele Jr. (Digital Press, +first edition 1984, second edition 1990). Note that due to a technical +screwup some printings of the second edition are actually of a color the +author describes succinctly as yucky green. See also book titles. + diff --git a/entries/Amiga Persecution Complex.txt b/entries/Amiga Persecution Complex.txt index 7b8fc57..e7adb63 100644 --- a/entries/Amiga Persecution Complex.txt +++ b/entries/Amiga Persecution Complex.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Amiga Persecution Complex -n. The disorder suffered by a particularly egregious variety of bigot , those who believe that the marginality of their preferred machine is the result of some kind of industry-wide conspiracy (for without a conspiracy of some kind, the eminent superiority of their beloved shining jewel of a platform would obviously win over all, market pressures be damned!) Those afflicted are prone to engaging in flame war s and calling for boycotts and mailbombings. Amiga Persecution Complex is by no means limited to Amiga users; NeXT, NeWS , OS/2 , Macintosh, LISP , and GNU users are also common victims. Linux users used to display symptoms very frequently before Linux started winning; some still do. See also newbie , troll , holy wars , weenie , Get a life!. +n. The disorder suffered by a particularly egregious variety of bigot , +those who believe that the marginality of their preferred machine is the +result of some kind of industry-wide conspiracy (for without a conspiracy of +some kind, the eminent superiority of their beloved shining jewel of a +platform would obviously win over all, market pressures be damned!) Those +afflicted are prone to engaging in flame war s and calling for boycotts and +mailbombings. Amiga Persecution Complex is by no means limited to Amiga +users; NeXT, NeWS , OS/2 , Macintosh, LISP , and GNU users are also common +victims. Linux users used to display symptoms very frequently before Linux +started winning; some still do. See also newbie , troll , holy wars , weenie +, Get a life!. + diff --git a/entries/Amiga.txt b/entries/Amiga.txt index 2c216fb..d4875ea 100644 --- a/entries/Amiga.txt +++ b/entries/Amiga.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ Amiga -n A series of personal computer models originally sold by Commodore, based on 680x0 processors, custom support chips and an operating system that combined some of the best features of Macintosh and Unix with compatibility with neither. The Amiga was released just as the personal computing world standardized on IBM-PC clones. This prevented it from gaining serious market share, despite the fact that the first Amigas had a substantial technological lead on the IBM XTs of the time. Instead, it acquired a small but zealous population of enthusiastic hackers who dreamt of one day unseating the clones (see Amiga Persecution Complex ). The traits of this culture are both spoofed and illuminated in The BLAZE Humor Viewer. The strength of the Amiga platform seeded a small industry of companies building software and hardware for the platform, especially in graphics and video applications (see video toaster ). Due to spectacular mismanagement, Commodore did hardly any R D, allowing the competition to close Amiga's technological lead. After Commodore went bankrupt in 1994 the technology passed through several hands, none of whom did much with it. However, the Amiga is still being produced in Europe under license and has a substantial number of fans, which will probably extend the platform's life considerably. +n A series of personal computer models originally sold by Commodore, based +on 680x0 processors, custom support chips and an operating system that +combined some of the best features of Macintosh and Unix with compatibility +with neither. The Amiga was released just as the personal computing world +standardized on IBM-PC clones. This prevented it from gaining serious market +share, despite the fact that the first Amigas had a substantial +technological lead on the IBM XTs of the time. Instead, it acquired a small +but zealous population of enthusiastic hackers who dreamt of one day +unseating the clones (see Amiga Persecution Complex ). The traits of this +culture are both spoofed and illuminated in The BLAZE Humor Viewer. The +strength of the Amiga platform seeded a small industry of companies building +software and hardware for the platform, especially in graphics and video +applications (see video toaster ). Due to spectacular mismanagement, +Commodore did hardly any R D, allowing the competition to close Amiga's +technological lead. After Commodore went bankrupt in 1994 the technology +passed through several hands, none of whom did much with it. However, the +Amiga is still being produced in Europe under license and has a substantial +number of fans, which will probably extend the platform's life considerably. + diff --git a/entries/Angband.txt b/entries/Angband.txt index 2d1bb68..c8a99c5 100644 --- a/entries/Angband.txt +++ b/entries/Angband.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ Angband -n. , /angband/ Like nethack , moria , and rogue , one of the large freely distributed Dungeons-and-Dragons-like simulation games, available for a wide range of machines and operating systems. The name is from Tolkien's Pits of Angband (compare elder days , elvish ). Has been described as Moria on steroids ; but, unlike Moria, many aspects of the game are customizable. This leads many hackers and would-be hackers into fooling with these instead of doing productive work. There are many Angband variants, of which the most notorious is probably the rather whimsical Zangband. In this game, when a key that does not correspond to a command is pressed, the game will display Type ? for help 50% of the time. The other 50% of the time, random error messages including An error has occurred because an error of type 42 has occurred and Windows 95 uninstalled successfully will be displayed. Zangband also allows the player to kill Santa Claus (who has some really good stuff, but also has a lot of friends), Bull Gates , and Barney the Dinosaur (but be watchful; Barney has a nasty case of halitosis). There is an official angband home page at http://thangorodrim.angband.org/ and a zangband one at http://www.zangband.org/. See also Random Number God. +n. , /angband/ Like nethack , moria , and rogue , one of the large freely +distributed Dungeons-and-Dragons-like simulation games, available for a wide +range of machines and operating systems. The name is from Tolkien's Pits of +Angband (compare elder days , elvish ). Has been described as Moria on +steroids ; but, unlike Moria, many aspects of the game are customizable. +This leads many hackers and would-be hackers into fooling with these instead +of doing productive work. There are many Angband variants, of which the most +notorious is probably the rather whimsical Zangband. In this game, when a +key that does not correspond to a command is pressed, the game will display +Type ? for help 50% of the time. The other 50% of the time, random error +messages including An error has occurred because an error of type 42 has +occurred and Windows 95 uninstalled successfully will be displayed. Zangband +also allows the player to kill Santa Claus (who has some really good stuff, +but also has a lot of friends), Bull Gates , and Barney the Dinosaur (but be +watchful; Barney has a nasty case of halitosis). There is an official +angband home page at http://thangorodrim.angband.org/ and a zangband one at +http://www.zangband.org/. See also Random Number God. + diff --git a/entries/Anthropomorphization.txt b/entries/Anthropomorphization.txt index ed7be65..9691575 100644 --- a/entries/Anthropomorphization.txt +++ b/entries/Anthropomorphization.txt @@ -1,3 +1,71 @@ Anthropomorphization -Semantically, one rich source of jargon constructions is the hackish tendency to anthropomorphize hardware and software. English purists and academic computer scientists frequently look down on others for anthropomorphizing hardware and software, considering this sort of behavior to be characteristic of naive misunderstanding. But most hackers anthropomorphize freely, frequently describing program behavior in terms of wants and desires. Thus it is common to hear hardware or software talked about as though it has homunculi talking to each other inside it, with intentions and desires. Thus, one hears The protocol handler got confused , or that programs are trying to do things, or one may say of a routine that its goal in life is to X . Or: You can't run those two cards on the same bus; they fight over interrupt 9. One even hears explanations like ... and its poor little brain couldn't understand X, and it died. Sometimes modelling things this way actually seems to make them easier to understand, perhaps because it's instinctively natural to think of anything with a really complex behavioral repertoire as like a person rather than like a thing. At first glance, to anyone who understands how these programs actually work, this seems like an absurdity. As hackers are among the people who know best how these phenomena work, it seems odd that they would use language that seems to ascribe consciousness to them. The mind-set behind this tendency thus demands examination. The key to understanding this kind of usage is that it isn't done in a naive way; hackers don't personalize their stuff in the sense of feeling empathy with it, nor do they mystically believe that the things they work on every day are alive. To the contrary: hackers who anthropomorphize are expressing not a vitalistic view of program behavior but a mechanistic view of human behavior. Almost all hackers subscribe to the mechanistic, materialistic ontology of science (this is in practice true even of most of the minority with contrary religious theories). In this view, people are biological machines consciousness is an interesting and valuable epiphenomenon, but mind is implemented in machinery which is not fundamentally different in information-processing capacity from computers. Hackers tend to take this a step further and argue that the difference between a substrate of CHON atoms and water and a substrate of silicon and metal is a relatively unimportant one; what matters, what makes a thing alive, is information and richness of pattern. This is animism from the flip side; it implies that humans and computers and dolphins and rocks are all machines exhibiting a continuum of modes of consciousness according to their information-processing capacity. Because hackers accept that a human machine can have intentions, it is therefore easy for them to ascribe consciousness and intention to other complex patterned systems such as computers. If consciousness is mechanical, it is neither more or less absurd to say that The program wants to go into an infinite loop than it is to say that I want to go eat some chocolate and even defensible to say that The stone, once dropped, wants to move towards the center of the earth . This viewpoint has respectable company in academic philosophy. Daniel Dennett organizes explanations of behavior using three stances: the physical stance (thing-to-be-explained as a physical object), the design stance (thing-to-be-explained as an artifact), and the intentional stance (thing-to-be-explained as an agent with desires and intentions). Which stances are appropriate is a matter not of abstract truth but of utility. Hackers typically view simple programs from the design stance, but more complex ones are often modelled using the intentional stance. It has also been argued that the anthropomorphization of software and hardware reflects a blurring of the boundary between the programmer and his artifacts the human qualities belong to the programmer and the code merely expresses these qualities as his/her proxy. On this view, a hacker saying a piece of code got confused is really saying that he (or she) was confused about exactly what he wanted the computer to do, the code naturally incorporated this confusion, and the code expressed the programmer's confusion when executed by crashing or otherwise misbehaving. Note that by displacing from I got confused to It got confused , the programmer is not avoiding responsibility, but rather getting some analytical distance in order to be able to consider the bug dispassionately. It has also been suggested that anthropomorphizing complex systems is actually an expression of humility, a way of acknowleging that simple rules we do understand (or that we invented) can lead to emergent behavioral complexities that we don't completely understand. All three explanations accurately model hacker psychology, and should be considered complementary rather than competing. +Semantically, one rich source of jargon constructions is the hackish +tendency to anthropomorphize hardware and software. English purists and +academic computer scientists frequently look down on others for +anthropomorphizing hardware and software, considering this sort of behavior +to be characteristic of naive misunderstanding. But most hackers +anthropomorphize freely, frequently describing program behavior in terms of +wants and desires. Thus it is common to hear hardware or software talked +about as though it has homunculi talking to each other inside it, with +intentions and desires. Thus, one hears The protocol handler got confused , +or that programs are trying to do things, or one may say of a routine that +its goal in life is to X . Or: You can't run those two cards on the same +bus; they fight over interrupt 9. One even hears explanations like ... and +its poor little brain couldn't understand X, and it died. Sometimes +modelling things this way actually seems to make them easier to understand, +perhaps because it's instinctively natural to think of anything with a +really complex behavioral repertoire as like a person rather than like a +thing. At first glance, to anyone who understands how these programs +actually work, this seems like an absurdity. As hackers are among the people +who know best how these phenomena work, it seems odd that they would use +language that seems to ascribe consciousness to them. The mind-set behind +this tendency thus demands examination. The key to understanding this kind +of usage is that it isn't done in a naive way; hackers don't personalize +their stuff in the sense of feeling empathy with it, nor do they mystically +believe that the things they work on every day are alive. To the contrary: +hackers who anthropomorphize are expressing not a vitalistic view of program +behavior but a mechanistic view of human behavior. Almost all hackers +subscribe to the mechanistic, materialistic ontology of science (this is in +practice true even of most of the minority with contrary religious +theories). In this view, people are biological machines consciousness is an +interesting and valuable epiphenomenon, but mind is implemented in machinery +which is not fundamentally different in information-processing capacity from +computers. Hackers tend to take this a step further and argue that the +difference between a substrate of CHON atoms and water and a substrate of +silicon and metal is a relatively unimportant one; what matters, what makes +a thing alive, is information and richness of pattern. This is animism from +the flip side; it implies that humans and computers and dolphins and rocks +are all machines exhibiting a continuum of modes of consciousness according +to their information-processing capacity. Because hackers accept that a +human machine can have intentions, it is therefore easy for them to ascribe +consciousness and intention to other complex patterned systems such as +computers. If consciousness is mechanical, it is neither more or less absurd +to say that The program wants to go into an infinite loop than it is to +say that I want to go eat some chocolate and even defensible to say that +The stone, once dropped, wants to move towards the center of the earth . +This viewpoint has respectable company in academic philosophy. Daniel +Dennett organizes explanations of behavior using three stances: the +physical stance (thing-to-be-explained as a physical object), the design +stance (thing-to-be-explained as an artifact), and the intentional stance +(thing-to-be-explained as an agent with desires and intentions). Which +stances are appropriate is a matter not of abstract truth but of utility. +Hackers typically view simple programs from the design stance, but more +complex ones are often modelled using the intentional stance. It has also +been argued that the anthropomorphization of software and hardware reflects +a blurring of the boundary between the programmer and his artifacts the +human qualities belong to the programmer and the code merely expresses these +qualities as his/her proxy. On this view, a hacker saying a piece of code +got confused is really saying that he (or she) was confused about exactly +what he wanted the computer to do, the code naturally incorporated this +confusion, and the code expressed the programmer's confusion when executed +by crashing or otherwise misbehaving. Note that by displacing from I got +confused to It got confused , the programmer is not avoiding +responsibility, but rather getting some analytical distance in order to be +able to consider the bug dispassionately. It has also been suggested that +anthropomorphizing complex systems is actually an expression of humility, a +way of acknowleging that simple rules we do understand (or that we invented) +can lead to emergent behavioral complexities that we don't completely +understand. All three explanations accurately model hacker psychology, and +should be considered complementary rather than competing. + diff --git a/entries/Archimedes.txt b/entries/Archimedes.txt index 12d8dd8..5ad693e 100644 --- a/entries/Archimedes.txt +++ b/entries/Archimedes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Archimedes -The world's first RISC microcomputer, available only in the British Commonwealth and europe. Built in 1987 in Great Britain by Acorn Computers, it was legendary for its use of the ARM-2 microprocessor as a CPU. Many a novice hacker in the Commonwealth first learnt his or her skills on the , since it was specifically designed for use in schools and educational institutions. Owners of machines are often still treated with awe and reverence. Familiarly, archi. +The world's first RISC microcomputer, available only in the British +Commonwealth and europe. Built in 1987 in Great Britain by Acorn Computers, +it was legendary for its use of the ARM-2 microprocessor as a CPU. Many a +novice hacker in the Commonwealth first learnt his or her skills on the , +since it was specifically designed for use in schools and educational +institutions. Owners of machines are often still treated with awe and +reverence. Familiarly, archi. + diff --git a/entries/Aunt Tillie.txt b/entries/Aunt Tillie.txt index 6d64176..2a900b6 100644 --- a/entries/Aunt Tillie.txt +++ b/entries/Aunt Tillie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Aunt Tillie -n. [linux-kernel mailing list] The archetypal non-technical user, one's elderly and scatterbrained maiden aunt. Invoked in discussions of usability for people who are not hackers and geeks; one sees references to the Aunt Tillie test. +n. [linux-kernel mailing list] The archetypal non-technical user, one's +elderly and scatterbrained maiden aunt. Invoked in discussions of usability +for people who are not hackers and geeks; one sees references to the Aunt +Tillie test. + diff --git a/entries/B1FF.txt b/entries/B1FF.txt index 383940c..40f4360 100644 --- a/entries/B1FF.txt +++ b/entries/B1FF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ B1FF -/bif/ , BIFF , n. The most famous pseudo , and the prototypical newbie. Articles from B1FF feature all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally with bangs, typos, cute misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD OLD BIFF CUZ KL DOOD AN HE RITES REEL AWESUM THINGZ 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 naivete. B1FF posts articles using his elder brother's VIC-20. B1FF's location is a mystery, as his articles appear to come from a variety of sites. However, BITNET seems to be the most frequent origin. The theory that B1FF is a denizen of BITNET is supported by B1FF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic mail address: B1FF@BIT.NET. [1993: Now It Can Be Told! My spies inform me that B1FF was originally created by Joe Talmadge jat@cup.hp.com , also the author of the infamous and much-plagiarized Flamer's Bible. The BIFF filter he wrote was later passed to Richard Sexton, who posted BIFFisms much more widely. Versions have since been posted for the amusement of the net at large. See also Jeff K. +/bif/ , BIFF , n. The most famous pseudo , and the prototypical newbie. +Articles from B1FF feature all uppercase letters sprinkled liberally with +bangs, typos, cute misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD OLD BIFF CUZ KL DOOD AN +HE RITES REEL AWESUM THINGZ 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 naivete. B1FF posts articles using his +elder brother's VIC-20. B1FF's location is a mystery, as his articles appear +to come from a variety of sites. However, BITNET seems to be the most +frequent origin. The theory that B1FF is a denizen of BITNET is supported by +B1FF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic mail address: B1FF@BIT.NET. [1993: +Now It Can Be Told! My spies inform me that B1FF was originally created by +Joe Talmadge jat@cup.hp.com , also the author of the infamous and +much-plagiarized Flamer's Bible. The BIFF filter he wrote was later passed +to Richard Sexton, who posted BIFFisms much more widely. Versions have since +been posted for the amusement of the net at large. See also Jeff K. + diff --git a/entries/B5.txt b/entries/B5.txt index ec69f5f..012d553 100644 --- a/entries/B5.txt +++ b/entries/B5.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ B5 -// [common] Abbreviation for Babylon 5 , a science-fiction TV series as revered among hackers as was the original Star Trek. +// [common] Abbreviation for Babylon 5 , a science-fiction TV series as +revered among hackers as was the original Star Trek. + diff --git a/entries/BAD.txt b/entries/BAD.txt index 9acac35..f8b0d99 100644 --- a/entries/BAD.txt +++ b/entries/BAD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ BAD -/BAD/ , adj. [IBM: acronym, Broken As Designed ] Said of a program that is bogus because of bad design and misfeatures rather than because of bugginess. See working as designed. +/BAD/ , adj. [IBM: acronym, Broken As Designed ] Said of a program that is +bogus because of bad design and misfeatures rather than because of +bugginess. See working as designed. + diff --git a/entries/BASIC.txt b/entries/BASIC.txt index ae68d04..48f55dc 100644 --- a/entries/BASIC.txt +++ b/entries/BASIC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ BASIC -/bay'sic/ , n. A programming language, originally designed for Dartmouth's experimental timesharing system in the early 1960s, which for many years was the leading cause of brain damage in proto-hackers. Edsger W. Dijkstra observed in Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective that It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration. This is another case (like Pascal ) of the cascading lossage that happens when a language deliberately designed as an educational toy gets taken too seriously. A novice can write short BASIC programs (on the order of 10-20 lines) very easily; writing anything longer (a) is very painful, and (b) encourages bad habits that will make it harder to use more powerful languages well. This wouldn't be so bad if historical accidents hadn't made BASIC so common on low-end micros in the 1980s. As it is, it probably ruined tens of thousands of potential wizards. [1995: Some languages called BASIC aren't quite this nasty any more, having acquired Pascal- and C-like procedures and control structures and shed their line numbers. ESR] BASIC stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Earlier versions of this entry claiming this was a later backronym were incorrect. +/bay'sic/ , n. A programming language, originally designed for Dartmouth's +experimental timesharing system in the early 1960s, which for many years was +the leading cause of brain damage in proto-hackers. Edsger W. Dijkstra +observed in Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective that It +is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that +have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally +mutilated beyond hope of regeneration. This is another case (like Pascal ) +of the cascading lossage that happens when a language deliberately designed +as an educational toy gets taken too seriously. A novice can write short +BASIC programs (on the order of 10-20 lines) very easily; writing anything +longer (a) is very painful, and (b) encourages bad habits that will make it +harder to use more powerful languages well. This wouldn't be so bad if +historical accidents hadn't made BASIC so common on low-end micros in the +1980s. As it is, it probably ruined tens of thousands of potential wizards. +[1995: Some languages called BASIC aren't quite this nasty any more, having +acquired Pascal- and C-like procedures and control structures and shed their +line numbers. ESR] BASIC stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic +Instruction Code. Earlier versions of this entry claiming this was a later +backronym were incorrect. + diff --git a/entries/BBS.txt b/entries/BBS.txt index effd06d..0ccaef3 100644 --- a/entries/BBS.txt +++ b/entries/BBS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ BBS -/BBS/ , n. [common; abbreviation, Bulletin Board System ] An electronic bulletin board system; that is, a message database where people can log in and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into topic group s. The term was especially applied to the thousands of local BBS systems that operated during the pre-Internet microcomputer era of roughly 1980 to 1995, typically run by amateurs for fun out of their homes on MS-DOS boxes with a single modem line each. Fans of Usenet and Internet or the big commercial timesharing bboards such as CompuServe and GEnie tended to consider local BBSes the low-rent district of the hacker culture, but they served a valuable function by knitting together lots of hackers and users in the personal-micro world who would otherwise have been unable to exchange code at all. Post-Internet, BBSs are likely to be local newsgroups on an ISP; efficiency has increased but a certain flavor has been lost. See also bboard. +/BBS/ , n. [common; abbreviation, Bulletin Board System ] An electronic +bulletin board system; that is, a message database where people can log in +and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into topic group +s. The term was especially applied to the thousands of local BBS systems +that operated during the pre-Internet microcomputer era of roughly 1980 to +1995, typically run by amateurs for fun out of their homes on MS-DOS boxes +with a single modem line each. Fans of Usenet and Internet or the big +commercial timesharing bboards such as CompuServe and GEnie tended to +consider local BBSes the low-rent district of the hacker culture, but they +served a valuable function by knitting together lots of hackers and users in +the personal-micro world who would otherwise have been unable to exchange +code at all. Post-Internet, BBSs are likely to be local newsgroups on an +ISP; efficiency has increased but a certain flavor has been lost. See also +bboard. + diff --git a/entries/BCPL.txt b/entries/BCPL.txt index b50817f..045d442 100644 --- a/entries/BCPL.txt +++ b/entries/BCPL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ BCPL -// , n. [abbreviation, Basic Combined Programming Language ) A programming language developed by Martin Richards in Cambridge in 1967. It is remarkable for its rich syntax, small size of compiler (it can be run in 16k) and extreme portability. It reached break-even point at a very early stage, and was the language in which the original hello world program was written. It has been ported to so many different systems that its creator confesses to having lost count. It has only one data type (a machine word) which can be used as an integer, a character, a floating point number, a pointer, or almost anything else, depending on context. BCPL was a precursor of C, which inherited some of its features. +// , n. [abbreviation, Basic Combined Programming Language ) A programming +language developed by Martin Richards in Cambridge in 1967. It is remarkable +for its rich syntax, small size of compiler (it can be run in 16k) and +extreme portability. It reached break-even point at a very early stage, and +was the language in which the original hello world program was written. It +has been ported to so many different systems that its creator confesses to +having lost count. It has only one data type (a machine word) which can be +used as an integer, a character, a floating point number, a pointer, or +almost anything else, depending on context. BCPL was a precursor of C, which +inherited some of its features. + diff --git a/entries/BDFL.txt b/entries/BDFL.txt index 1aa4bc5..68423ed 100644 --- a/entries/BDFL.txt +++ b/entries/BDFL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ BDFL -Benevolent Dictator For Life. Guido , considered in his role as the project leader of Python. People who are feeling temporarily cheesed off by one of his decisions sometimes leave off the B. The mental image that goes with this, of a cigar-chomping caudillo in gold braid and sunglasses, is extremely funny to anyone who has ever met Guido in person. +Benevolent Dictator For Life. Guido , considered in his role as the project +leader of Python. People who are feeling temporarily cheesed off by one of +his decisions sometimes leave off the B. The mental image that goes with +this, of a cigar-chomping caudillo in gold braid and sunglasses, is +extremely funny to anyone who has ever met Guido in person. + diff --git a/entries/BFI.txt b/entries/BFI.txt index 4298757..7dbdc03 100644 --- a/entries/BFI.txt +++ b/entries/BFI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ BFI -/BFI/ , n. See brute force and ignorance. Also encountered in the variants BFMI , brute force and massive ignorance and BFBI brute force and bloody ignorance. In some parts of the U.S. this abbreviation was probably reinforced by a company called Browning-Ferris Industries in the waste-management business; a large BFI logo in white-on-blue could be seen on the sides of garbage trucks. +/BFI/ , n. See brute force and ignorance. Also encountered in the variants +BFMI , brute force and massive ignorance and BFBI brute force and bloody +ignorance. In some parts of the U.S. this abbreviation was probably +reinforced by a company called Browning-Ferris Industries in the +waste-management business; a large BFI logo in white-on-blue could be seen +on the sides of garbage trucks. + diff --git a/entries/BI.txt b/entries/BI.txt index 59a1d2b..8625d19 100644 --- a/entries/BI.txt +++ b/entries/BI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ BI // Common written abbreviation for Breidbart Index. + diff --git a/entries/BLOB.txt b/entries/BLOB.txt index eaeaab0..428f92b 100644 --- a/entries/BLOB.txt +++ b/entries/BLOB.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ BLOB -Used by database people to refer to any random large block of bits that needs to be stored in a database, such as a picture or sound file. The essential point about a BLOB is that it's an object that cannot be interpreted within the database itself. 2. v. To mailbomb someone by sending a BLOB to him/her; esp. used as a mild threat. If that program crashes again, I'm going to BLOB the core dump to you. +Used by database people to refer to any random large block of bits that +needs to be stored in a database, such as a picture or sound file. The +essential point about a BLOB is that it's an object that cannot be +interpreted within the database itself. 2. v. To mailbomb someone by sending +a BLOB to him/her; esp. used as a mild threat. If that program crashes +again, I'm going to BLOB the core dump to you. + diff --git a/entries/BLT.txt b/entries/BLT.txt index 3a43fa7..554af2e 100644 --- a/entries/BLT.txt +++ b/entries/BLT.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ BLT -/BLT/ , /bl@t/ , /belt/ , n.,vt. Synonym for blit. This is the original form of blit and the ancestor of bitblt. It referred to any large bit-field copy or move operation (one resource-intensive memory-shuffling operation done on pre-paged versions of ITS, WAITS, and TOPS-10 was sardonically referred to as The Big BLT ). The jargon usage has outlasted the PDP-10 BLock Transfer instruction from which BLT derives; nowadays, the assembler mnemonic BLT almost always means Branch if Less Than zero. +/BLT/ , /bl@t/ , /belt/ , n.,vt. Synonym for blit. This is the original form +of blit and the ancestor of bitblt. It referred to any large bit-field copy +or move operation (one resource-intensive memory-shuffling operation done on +pre-paged versions of ITS, WAITS, and TOPS-10 was sardonically referred to +as The Big BLT ). The jargon usage has outlasted the PDP-10 BLock Transfer +instruction from which BLT derives; nowadays, the assembler mnemonic BLT +almost always means Branch if Less Than zero. + diff --git a/entries/BNF.txt b/entries/BNF.txt index 1cc017a..9b260ff 100644 --- a/entries/BNF.txt +++ b/entries/BNF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,34 @@ BNF -/BNF/ , n. 1. [techspeak] Acronym for Backus Normal Form (later retronymed to Backus-Naur Form because BNF was not in fact a normal form), a metasyntactic notation used to specify the syntax of programming languages, command sets, and the like. Widely used for language descriptions but seldom documented anywhere, so that it must usually be learned by osmosis from other hackers. Consider this BNF for a U.S. postal address: postal-address ::= name-part street-address zip-part personal-part ::= name | initial . name-part ::= personal-part last-name [ jr-part ] EOL | personal-part name-part street-address ::=[ apt ] house-num street-name EOL zip-part ::= town-name , state-code ZIP-code EOL This translates into English as: A postal-address consists of a name-part, followed by a street-address part, followed by a zip-code part. A personal-part consists of either a first name or an initial followed by a dot. A name-part consists of either: a personal-part followed by a last name followed by an optional jr-part (Jr., Sr., or dynastic number) and end-of-line, or a personal part followed by a name part (this rule illustrates the use of recursion in BNFs, covering the case of people who use multiple first and middle names and/or initials). A street address consists of an optional apartment specifier, followed by a street number, followed by a street name. A zip-part consists of a town-name, followed by a comma, followed by a state code, followed by a ZIP-code followed by an end-of-line. Note that many things (such as the format of a personal-part, apartment specifier, or ZIP-code) are left unspecified. These are presumed to be obvious from context or detailed somewhere nearby. See also parse. 2. Any of a number of variants and extensions of BNF proper, possibly containing some or all of the regexp wildcards such as * or +. In fact the example above isn't the pure form invented for the Algol-60 report; it uses [] , which was introduced a few years later in IBM's PL/I definition but is now universally recognized. 3. In science-fiction fandom , a Big-Name Fan (someone famous or notorious). Years ago a fan started handing out black-on-green BNF buttons at SF conventions; this confused the hacker contingent terribly. +/BNF/ , n. 1. [techspeak] Acronym for Backus Normal Form (later retronymed +to Backus-Naur Form because BNF was not in fact a normal form), a +metasyntactic notation used to specify the syntax of programming languages, +command sets, and the like. Widely used for language descriptions but seldom +documented anywhere, so that it must usually be learned by osmosis from +other hackers. Consider this BNF for a U.S. postal address: postal-address +::= name-part street-address zip-part personal-part ::= name | initial . +name-part ::= personal-part last-name [ jr-part ] EOL | personal-part +name-part street-address ::=[ apt ] house-num street-name EOL zip-part +::= town-name , state-code ZIP-code EOL This translates into English as: +A postal-address consists of a name-part, followed by a street-address part, +followed by a zip-code part. A personal-part consists of either a first name +or an initial followed by a dot. A name-part consists of either: a +personal-part followed by a last name followed by an optional jr-part (Jr., +Sr., or dynastic number) and end-of-line, or a personal part followed by a +name part (this rule illustrates the use of recursion in BNFs, covering the +case of people who use multiple first and middle names and/or initials). A +street address consists of an optional apartment specifier, followed by a +street number, followed by a street name. A zip-part consists of a +town-name, followed by a comma, followed by a state code, followed by a +ZIP-code followed by an end-of-line. Note that many things (such as the +format of a personal-part, apartment specifier, or ZIP-code) are left +unspecified. These are presumed to be obvious from context or detailed +somewhere nearby. See also parse. 2. Any of a number of variants and +extensions of BNF proper, possibly containing some or all of the regexp +wildcards such as * or +. In fact the example above isn't the pure form +invented for the Algol-60 report; it uses [] , which was introduced a few +years later in IBM's PL/I definition but is now universally recognized. 3. +In science-fiction fandom , a Big-Name Fan (someone famous or notorious). +Years ago a fan started handing out black-on-green BNF buttons at SF +conventions; this confused the hacker contingent terribly. + diff --git a/entries/BOF.txt b/entries/BOF.txt index 2b88c67..8bdc9a0 100644 --- a/entries/BOF.txt +++ b/entries/BOF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ BOF -/BOF/ , /bof/ , n. 1. [common] Abbreviation for the phrase Birds Of a Feather (flocking together), an informal discussion group and/or bull session scheduled on a conference program. It is not clear where or when this term originated, but it is now associated with the USENIX conferences for Unix techies and was already established there by 1984. It was used earlier than that at DECUS conferences and is reported to have been common at SHARE meetings as far back as the early 1960s. 2. Acronym, Beginning of File. +/BOF/ , /bof/ , n. 1. [common] Abbreviation for the phrase Birds Of a +Feather (flocking together), an informal discussion group and/or bull +session scheduled on a conference program. It is not clear where or when +this term originated, but it is now associated with the USENIX conferences +for Unix techies and was already established there by 1984. It was used +earlier than that at DECUS conferences and is reported to have been common +at SHARE meetings as far back as the early 1960s. 2. Acronym, Beginning of +File. + diff --git a/entries/BOFH.txt b/entries/BOFH.txt index 4f9e41c..d7b70b2 100644 --- a/entries/BOFH.txt +++ b/entries/BOFH.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ BOFH -// , n. [common] Acronym, Bastard Operator From Hell. A system administrator with absolutely no tolerance for luser s. You say you need more filespace? massive-global-delete Seems to me you have plenty left... Many BOFHs (and others who would be BOFHs if they could get away with it) hang out in the newsgroup alt.sysadmin.recovery , although there has also been created a top-level newsgroup hierarchy ( bofh.* ) of their own. Several people have written stories about BOFHs. The set usually considered canonical is by Simon Travaglia and may be found at the Bastard Home Page. BOFHs and BOFH wannabes hang out on scary devil monastery and wield LART s. +// , n. [common] Acronym, Bastard Operator From Hell. A system administrator +with absolutely no tolerance for luser s. You say you need more filespace? +massive-global-delete Seems to me you have plenty left... Many BOFHs (and +others who would be BOFHs if they could get away with it) hang out in the +newsgroup alt.sysadmin.recovery , although there has also been created a +top-level newsgroup hierarchy ( bofh.* ) of their own. Several people have +written stories about BOFHs. The set usually considered canonical is by +Simon Travaglia and may be found at the Bastard Home Page. BOFHs and BOFH +wannabes hang out on scary devil monastery and wield LART s. + diff --git a/entries/BRS.txt b/entries/BRS.txt index c5718d4..9aabf31 100644 --- a/entries/BRS.txt +++ b/entries/BRS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ BRS /BRS/ , n. Syn. Big Red Switch. This abbreviation is fairly common on-line. + diff --git a/entries/BSD.txt b/entries/BSD.txt index b056f99..baed164 100644 --- a/entries/BSD.txt +++ b/entries/BSD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ BSD -/BSD/ , n. [abbreviation for Berkeley Software Distribution ] a family of Unix versions for the DEC VAX and PDP-11 developed by Bill Joy and others at Berzerkeley starting around 1977, incorporating paged virtual memory, TCP/IP networking enhancements, and many other features. The BSD versions (4.1, 4.2, and 4.3) and the commercial versions derived from them (SunOS, ULTRIX, and Mt. Xinu) held the technical lead in the Unix world until AT T's successful standardization efforts after about 1986; descendants including Free/Open/NetBSD, BSD/OS and MacOS X are still widely popular. Note that BSD versions going back to 2.9 are often referred to by their version numbers alone, without the BSD prefix. See also Unix. +/BSD/ , n. [abbreviation for Berkeley Software Distribution ] a family of +Unix versions for the DEC VAX and PDP-11 developed by Bill Joy and others at +Berzerkeley starting around 1977, incorporating paged virtual memory, TCP/IP +networking enhancements, and many other features. The BSD versions (4.1, +4.2, and 4.3) and the commercial versions derived from them (SunOS, ULTRIX, +and Mt. Xinu) held the technical lead in the Unix world until AT T's +successful standardization efforts after about 1986; descendants including +Free/Open/NetBSD, BSD/OS and MacOS X are still widely popular. Note that BSD +versions going back to 2.9 are often referred to by their version numbers +alone, without the BSD prefix. See also Unix. + diff --git a/entries/BSOD.txt b/entries/BSOD.txt index ace5835..e711482 100644 --- a/entries/BSOD.txt +++ b/entries/BSOD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ BSOD -/BSOD/ Very common abbreviation for Blue Screen of Death. Both spoken and written. +/BSOD/ Very common abbreviation for Blue Screen of Death. Both spoken and +written. + diff --git a/entries/BUAF.txt b/entries/BUAF.txt index f6d3953..b0691d5 100644 --- a/entries/BUAF.txt +++ b/entries/BUAF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ BUAF -// , n. [abbreviation, from alt.fan.warlord ] Big Ugly ASCII Font a special form of ASCII art. Various programs exist for rendering text strings into block, bloob, and pseudo-script fonts in cells between four and six character cells on a side; this is smaller than the letters generated by older banner (sense 2) programs. These are sometimes used to render one's name in a sig block , and are critically referred to as BUAF s. See warlording. +// , n. [abbreviation, from alt.fan.warlord ] Big Ugly ASCII Font a special +form of ASCII art. Various programs exist for rendering text strings into +block, bloob, and pseudo-script fonts in cells between four and six +character cells on a side; this is smaller than the letters generated by +older banner (sense 2) programs. These are sometimes used to render one's +name in a sig block , and are critically referred to as BUAF s. See +warlording. + diff --git a/entries/BUAG.txt b/entries/BUAG.txt index 595e252..f3496a7 100644 --- a/entries/BUAG.txt +++ b/entries/BUAG.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ BUAG -// , n. [abbreviation, from alt.fan.warlord ] Big Ugly ASCII Graphic. Pejorative term for ugly ASCII art , especially as found in sig block s. For some reason, mutations of the head of Bart Simpson are particularly common in the least imaginative sig block s. See warlording. +// , n. [abbreviation, from alt.fan.warlord ] Big Ugly ASCII Graphic. +Pejorative term for ugly ASCII art , especially as found in sig block s. For +some reason, mutations of the head of Bart Simpson are particularly common +in the least imaginative sig block s. See warlording. + diff --git a/entries/BWQ.txt b/entries/BWQ.txt index 9c74b5c..047f817 100644 --- a/entries/BWQ.txt +++ b/entries/BWQ.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ BWQ -/BWQ/ , n. [IBM: abbreviation, `Buzz Word Quotient'] The percentage of buzzwords in a speech or documents. Usually roughly proportional to bogosity. See TLA. +/BWQ/ , n. [IBM: abbreviation, `Buzz Word Quotient'] The percentage of +buzzwords in a speech or documents. Usually roughly proportional to +bogosity. See TLA. + diff --git a/entries/Bad Thing.txt b/entries/Bad Thing.txt index ded8562..fa6243c 100644 --- a/entries/Bad Thing.txt +++ b/entries/Bad Thing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Bad Thing -n. [very common; always pronounced as if capitalized. Orig. fr. the 1930 Sellar Yeatman parody of British history 1066 And All That , but well-established among hackers in the U.S. as well.] Something that can't possibly result in improvement of the subject. This term is always capitalized, as in Replacing all of the DSL links with bicycle couriers would be a Bad Thing. Oppose Good Thing. British correspondents confirm that Bad Thing and Good Thing (and prob. therefore Right Thing and Wrong Thing ) come from the book referenced in the etymology, which discusses rulers who were Good Kings but Bad Things. This has apparently created a mainstream idiom on the British side of the pond. It is very common among American hackers, but not in mainstream usage in the U.S. Compare Bad and Wrong. +n. [very common; always pronounced as if capitalized. Orig. fr. the 1930 +Sellar Yeatman parody of British history 1066 And All That , but +well-established among hackers in the U.S. as well.] Something that can't +possibly result in improvement of the subject. This term is always +capitalized, as in Replacing all of the DSL links with bicycle couriers +would be a Bad Thing. Oppose Good Thing. British correspondents confirm that +Bad Thing and Good Thing (and prob. therefore Right Thing and Wrong Thing ) +come from the book referenced in the etymology, which discusses rulers who +were Good Kings but Bad Things. This has apparently created a mainstream +idiom on the British side of the pond. It is very common among American +hackers, but not in mainstream usage in the U.S. Compare Bad and Wrong. + diff --git a/entries/Bad and Wrong.txt b/entries/Bad and Wrong.txt index 399456e..e15132d 100644 --- a/entries/Bad and Wrong.txt +++ b/entries/Bad and Wrong.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Bad and Wrong -adj. [Durham, UK] Said of something that is both badly designed and wrongly executed. This common term is the prototype of, and is used by contrast with, three less common terms Bad and Right (a kludge, something ugly but functional); Good and Wrong (an overblown GUI or other attractive nuisance); and (rare praise) Good and Right. These terms entered common use at Durham c.1994 and may have been imported from elsewhere; they are also in use at Oxford, and the emphatic form Evil and Bad and Wrong (abbreviated EBW) is reported from there. There are standard abbreviations: they start with B R, a typo for Bad and Wrong. Consequently, B W is actually Bad and Right , G R = Good and Wrong , and G W = Good and Right. Compare evil and rude , Good Thing , Bad Thing. +adj. [Durham, UK] Said of something that is both badly designed and wrongly +executed. This common term is the prototype of, and is used by contrast +with, three less common terms Bad and Right (a kludge, something ugly but +functional); Good and Wrong (an overblown GUI or other attractive nuisance); +and (rare praise) Good and Right. These terms entered common use at Durham +c.1994 and may have been imported from elsewhere; they are also in use at +Oxford, and the emphatic form Evil and Bad and Wrong (abbreviated EBW) is +reported from there. There are standard abbreviations: they start with B R, +a typo for Bad and Wrong. Consequently, B W is actually Bad and Right , G R += Good and Wrong , and G W = Good and Right. Compare evil and rude , Good +Thing , Bad Thing. + diff --git a/entries/Batman factor.txt b/entries/Batman factor.txt index 7689f6f..7d5e859 100644 --- a/entries/Batman factor.txt +++ b/entries/Batman factor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Batman factor -n. 1. An integer number representing the number of items hanging from a batbelt. In most settings, a Batman factor of more than 3 is not acceptable without odd stares and whispering. This encourages the hacker in question to choose items for the batbelt carefully to avoid awkward social situations, usually amongst non-hackers. 2. A somewhat more vaguely defined index of contribution to sense 1. Devices that are especially obtrusive, such as large, older model cell phones, Pocket PC devices and walkie talkies are said to have a high batman factor. Sleeker devices such as a later-model Palm or StarTac phone are prized for their low batman factor and lessened obtrusiveness and weight. +n. 1. An integer number representing the number of items hanging from a +batbelt. In most settings, a Batman factor of more than 3 is not acceptable +without odd stares and whispering. This encourages the hacker in question to +choose items for the batbelt carefully to avoid awkward social situations, +usually amongst non-hackers. 2. A somewhat more vaguely defined index of +contribution to sense 1. Devices that are especially obtrusive, such as +large, older model cell phones, Pocket PC devices and walkie talkies are +said to have a high batman factor. Sleeker devices such as a later-model +Palm or StarTac phone are prized for their low batman factor and lessened +obtrusiveness and weight. + diff --git a/entries/Befunge.txt b/entries/Befunge.txt index 1760e76..0070512 100644 --- a/entries/Befunge.txt +++ b/entries/Befunge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Befunge -n. A worthy companion to INTERCAL ; a computer language family which escapes the quotidian limitation of linear control flow and embraces program counters flying through multiple dimensions with exotic topologies. The Befunge home page is at http://www.catseye.mb.ca/esoteric/befunge/. +n. A worthy companion to INTERCAL ; a computer language family which escapes +the quotidian limitation of linear control flow and embraces program +counters flying through multiple dimensions with exotic topologies. The +Befunge home page is at http://www.catseye.mb.ca/esoteric/befunge/. + diff --git a/entries/Berkeley Quality Software.txt b/entries/Berkeley Quality Software.txt index cd00ea1..aeefa15 100644 --- a/entries/Berkeley Quality Software.txt +++ b/entries/Berkeley Quality Software.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Berkeley Quality Software -adj. (often abbreviated BQS ) Term used in a pejorative sense to refer to software that was apparently created by rather spaced-out hackers late at night to solve some unique problem. It usually has nonexistent, incomplete, or incorrect documentation, has been tested on at least two examples, and core dumps when anyone else attempts to use it. This term was frequently applied to early versions of the dbx (1) debugger. See also Berzerkeley. Note to British and Commonwealth readers: that's /berklee/ , not /barklee/ as in British Received Pronunciation. +adj. (often abbreviated BQS ) Term used in a pejorative sense to refer to +software that was apparently created by rather spaced-out hackers late at +night to solve some unique problem. It usually has nonexistent, incomplete, +or incorrect documentation, has been tested on at least two examples, and +core dumps when anyone else attempts to use it. This term was frequently +applied to early versions of the dbx (1) debugger. See also Berzerkeley. +Note to British and Commonwealth readers: that's /berklee/ , not /barklee/ +as in British Received Pronunciation. + diff --git a/entries/Berzerkeley.txt b/entries/Berzerkeley.txt index ee61b8f..b2edc61 100644 --- a/entries/Berzerkeley.txt +++ b/entries/Berzerkeley.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Berzerkeley -/b@rzerklee/ , n. [from berserk , via the name of a now-deceased record label; poss. originated by famed columnist Herb Caen] Humorous distortion of Berkeley used esp. to refer to the practices or products of the BSD Unix hackers. See software bloat , Berkeley Quality Software. Mainstream use of this term in reference to the cultural and political peculiarities of UC Berkeley as a whole has been reported from as far back as the 1960s. +/b@rzerklee/ , n. [from berserk , via the name of a now-deceased record +label; poss. originated by famed columnist Herb Caen] Humorous distortion of +Berkeley used esp. to refer to the practices or products of the BSD Unix +hackers. See software bloat , Berkeley Quality Software. Mainstream use of +this term in reference to the cultural and political peculiarities of UC +Berkeley as a whole has been reported from as far back as the 1960s. + diff --git a/entries/BiCapitalization.txt b/entries/BiCapitalization.txt index 2299415..3e0dcb3 100644 --- a/entries/BiCapitalization.txt +++ b/entries/BiCapitalization.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ BiCapitalization -n. The act said to have been performed on trademarks (such as PostScript , NeXT, NeWS , VisiCalc, FrameMaker, TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been raised above the ruck of common coinage by nonstandard capitalization. Too many marketroid types think this sort of thing is really cute, even the 2,317th time they do it. Compare studlycaps , InterCaps. +n. The act said to have been performed on trademarks (such as PostScript , +NeXT, NeWS , VisiCalc, FrameMaker, TK!solver, EasyWriter) that have been +raised above the ruck of common coinage by nonstandard capitalization. Too +many marketroid types think this sort of thing is really cute, even the +2,317th time they do it. Compare studlycaps , InterCaps. + diff --git a/entries/Big Red Switch.txt b/entries/Big Red Switch.txt index d3e2123..b40ade2 100644 --- a/entries/Big Red Switch.txt +++ b/entries/Big Red Switch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Big Red Switch -n. [IBM] 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 !@%$% bitty box is hung again; time to hit the Big Red Switch. Sources at IBM report that, in tune with the company's passion for TLA s, this is often abbreviated as BRS (this has also become established on FidoNet and in the PC clone world). It is alleged that the emergency pull switch on an IBM 360/91 actually fired a non-conducting bolt into the main power feed; the BRSes on more recent mainframes physically drop a block into place so that they can't be pushed back in. People get fired for pulling them, especially inappropriately (see also molly-guard ). Compare power cycle , three-finger salute ; see also scram switch. +n. [IBM] The power switch on a computer, esp. the Emergency Pull switch on +an IBM mainframe or the power switch on an IBM PC where it really is large +and red. This !@%$% bitty box is hung again; time to hit the Big Red Switch. +Sources at IBM report that, in tune with the company's passion for TLA s, +this is often abbreviated 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 non-conducting bolt into the main +power feed; the BRSes on more recent mainframes 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 , three-finger salute ; see also scram switch. + diff --git a/entries/Big Room.txt b/entries/Big Room.txt index 5c743ef..56bdc7e 100644 --- a/entries/Big Room.txt +++ b/entries/Big Room.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Big Room -n. (Also Big Blue Room ) 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 right now, he's somewhere out in the Big Room. +n. (Also Big Blue Room ) 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 right now, he's somewhere out in the Big Room. + diff --git a/entries/Black Screen of Death.txt b/entries/Black Screen of Death.txt index d1980b7..548d887 100644 --- a/entries/Black Screen of Death.txt +++ b/entries/Black Screen of Death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Black Screen of Death -[prob.: related to the Floating Head of Death in a famous Far Side cartoon.] A failure mode of Microsloth Windows. On an attempt to launch a DOS box, a networked Windows system not uncommonly blanks the screen and locks up the PC so hard that it requires a cold boot to recover. This unhappy phenomenon is known as The Black Screen of Death. See also Blue Screen of Death , which has become rather more common. +[prob.: related to the Floating Head of Death in a famous Far Side cartoon.] +A failure mode of Microsloth Windows. On an attempt to launch a DOS box, a +networked Windows system not uncommonly blanks the screen and locks up the +PC so hard that it requires a cold boot to recover. This unhappy phenomenon +is known as The Black Screen of Death. See also Blue Screen of Death , which +has become rather more common. + diff --git a/entries/Bloggs Family.txt b/entries/Bloggs Family.txt index 3124131..2cc33ed 100644 --- a/entries/Bloggs Family.txt +++ b/entries/Bloggs Family.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Bloggs Family -n. An imaginary family consisting of Fred and Mary Bloggs and their children. Used as a standard example in knowledge representation to show the difference between extensional and intensional objects. For example, every occurrence of Fred Bloggs is the same unique person, whereas occurrences of person may refer to different people. Members of the Bloggs family have been known to pop up in bizarre places such as the old DEC Telephone Directory. Compare Dr. Fred Mbogo ; J. Random Hacker ; Fred Foobar. +n. An imaginary family consisting of Fred and Mary Bloggs and their +children. Used as a standard example in knowledge representation to show the +difference between extensional and intensional objects. For example, every +occurrence of Fred Bloggs is the same unique person, whereas occurrences of +person may refer to different people. Members of the Bloggs family have been +known to pop up in bizarre places such as the old DEC Telephone Directory. +Compare Dr. Fred Mbogo ; J. Random Hacker ; Fred Foobar. + diff --git a/entries/Blue Glue.txt b/entries/Blue Glue.txt index 7505b14..695f0e4 100644 --- a/entries/Blue Glue.txt +++ b/entries/Blue Glue.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Blue Glue -n. [IBM; obs.] IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture), an incredibly losing and bletcherous communications protocol once widely favored at commercial shops that didn't know any better (like other proprietary networking protocols, it became obsolete and effectively disappeared after the Internet explosion c.1994). The official IBM definition is that which binds blue boxes together. See fear and loathing. It may not be irrelevant that Blue Glue is the trade name of a 3M product that is commonly used to hold down the carpet squares to the removable panel floors common in dinosaur pen s. A correspondent at U. Minn. reports that the CS department there has about 80 bottles of the stuff hanging about, so they often refer to any messy work to be done as using the blue glue. +n. [IBM; obs.] IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture), an incredibly +losing and bletcherous communications protocol once widely favored at +commercial shops that didn't know any better (like other proprietary +networking protocols, it became obsolete and effectively disappeared after +the Internet explosion c.1994). The official IBM definition is that which +binds blue boxes together. See fear and loathing. It may not be irrelevant +that Blue Glue is the trade name of a 3M product that is commonly used to +hold down the carpet squares to the removable panel floors common in +dinosaur pen s. A correspondent at U. Minn. reports that the CS department +there has about 80 bottles of the stuff hanging about, so they often refer +to any messy work to be done as using the blue glue. + diff --git a/entries/Blue Screen of Death.txt b/entries/Blue Screen of Death.txt index ae10ceb..461a492 100644 --- a/entries/Blue Screen of Death.txt +++ b/entries/Blue Screen of Death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Blue Screen of Death -n. [common] This term is closely related to the older Black Screen of Death but much more common (many non-hackers have picked it up). Due to the extreme fragility and bugginess of Microsoft Windows, misbehaving applications can readily crash the OS (and the OS sometimes crashes itself spontaneously). The Blue Screen of Death, sometimes decorated with hex error codes, is what you get when this happens. (Commonly abbreviated BSOD. ) The following entry from the Salon Haiku Contest , seems to have predated popular use of the term: WindowsNTcrashed. IamtheBlueScreenofDeath Noonehearsyourscreams. +n. [common] This term is closely related to the older Black Screen of Death +but much more common (many non-hackers have picked it up). Due to the +extreme fragility and bugginess of Microsoft Windows, misbehaving +applications can readily crash the OS (and the OS sometimes crashes itself +spontaneously). The Blue Screen of Death, sometimes decorated with hex error +codes, is what you get when this happens. (Commonly abbreviated BSOD. ) The +following entry from the Salon Haiku Contest , seems to have predated +popular use of the term: WindowsNTcrashed. IamtheBlueScreenofDeath +Noonehearsyourscreams. + diff --git a/entries/BogoMIPS.txt b/entries/BogoMIPS.txt index bdb409e..a3e0bc2 100644 --- a/entries/BogoMIPS.txt +++ b/entries/BogoMIPS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ BogoMIPS -/bogomips/ , n. The number of million times a second a processor can do absolutely nothing. The Linux OS measures BogoMIPS at startup in order to calibrate some soft timing loops that will be used later on; details at the BogoMIPS mini-HOWTO. The name Linus chose, of course, is an ironic comment on the uselessness of all other MIPS figures. +/bogomips/ , n. The number of million times a second a processor can do +absolutely nothing. The Linux OS measures BogoMIPS at startup in order to +calibrate some soft timing loops that will be used later on; details at the +BogoMIPS mini-HOWTO. The name Linus chose, of course, is an ironic comment +on the uselessness of all other MIPS figures. + diff --git a/entries/Bohr bug.txt b/entries/Bohr bug.txt index a29291b..3445df3 100644 --- a/entries/Bohr bug.txt +++ b/entries/Bohr bug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Bohr bug -/bohr buhg/ , n. [from quantum physics] A repeatable bug ; one that manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but well-defined set of conditions. Antonym of heisenbug ; see also mandelbug , schroedinbug. +/bohr buhg/ , n. [from quantum physics] A repeatable bug ; one that +manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but well-defined set of +conditions. Antonym of heisenbug ; see also mandelbug , schroedinbug. + diff --git a/entries/Borg.txt b/entries/Borg.txt index 8747b45..ce55863 100644 --- a/entries/Borg.txt +++ b/entries/Borg.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ Borg -n. In Star Trek: The Next Generation the Borg is a species of cyborg that ruthlessly seeks to incorporate all sentient life into itself; their slogan is You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. In hacker parlance, the Borg is usually Microsoft , which is thought to be trying just as ruthlessly to assimilate all computers and the entire Internet to itself (there is a widely circulated image of Bill Gates as a Borg). Being forced to use Windows or NT is often referred to as being Borged. Interestingly, the Halloween Documents reveal that this jargon is live within Microsoft itself. See also Evil Empire , Internet Exploiter. Other companies, notably Intel and UUNet, have also occasionally been equated to the Borg. In IETF circles, where direct pressure from Microsoft is not a daily reality, the Borg is sometimes Cisco. This usage commemorates their tendency to pay any price to hire talent away from their competitors. In fact, at the Spring 1997 IETF, a large number of ex-Cisco employees, all former members of Routing Geeks, showed up with t-shirts printed with Recovering Borg. +n. In Star Trek: The Next Generation the Borg is a species of cyborg that +ruthlessly seeks to incorporate all sentient life into itself; their slogan +is You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. In hacker parlance, the +Borg is usually Microsoft , which is thought to be trying just as ruthlessly +to assimilate all computers and the entire Internet to itself (there is a +widely circulated image of Bill Gates as a Borg). Being forced to use +Windows or NT is often referred to as being Borged. Interestingly, the +Halloween Documents reveal that this jargon is live within Microsoft itself. +See also Evil Empire , Internet Exploiter. Other companies, notably Intel +and UUNet, have also occasionally been equated to the Borg. In IETF circles, +where direct pressure from Microsoft is not a daily reality, the Borg is +sometimes Cisco. This usage commemorates their tendency to pay any price to +hire talent away from their competitors. In fact, at the Spring 1997 IETF, a +large number of ex-Cisco employees, all former members of Routing Geeks, +showed up with t-shirts printed with Recovering Borg. + diff --git a/entries/Breidbart Index.txt b/entries/Breidbart Index.txt index 8764ff7..3caba23 100644 --- a/entries/Breidbart Index.txt +++ b/entries/Breidbart Index.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ Breidbart Index -/bri:dbart ind@ks/ A measurement of the severity of spam invented by long-time hacker Seth Breidbart, used for programming cancelbots. The Breidbart Index takes into account the fact that excessive multi-posting EMP is worse than excessive cross-posting ECP. The Breidbart Index is computed as follows: For each article in a spam, take the square-root of the number of newsgroups to which the article is posted. The Breidbart Index is the sum of the square roots of all of the posts in the spam. For example, one article posted to nine newsgroups and again to sixteen would have BI = sqrt(9) + sqrt(16) = 7. It is generally agreed that a spam is cancelable if the Breidbart Index exceeds 20. The Breidbart Index accumulates over a 45-day window. Ten articles yesterday and ten articles today and ten articles tomorrow add up to a 30-article spam. Spam fighters will often reset the count if you can convince them that the spam was accidental and/or you have seen the error of your ways and won't repeat it. Breidbart Index can accumulate over multiple authors. For example, the Make Money Fast pyramid scheme exceeded a BI of 20 a long time ago, and is now considered cancel on sight. +/bri:dbart ind@ks/ A measurement of the severity of spam invented by +long-time hacker Seth Breidbart, used for programming cancelbots. The +Breidbart Index takes into account the fact that excessive multi-posting EMP +is worse than excessive cross-posting ECP. The Breidbart Index is computed +as follows: For each article in a spam, take the square-root of the number +of newsgroups to which the article is posted. The Breidbart Index is the sum +of the square roots of all of the posts in the spam. For example, one +article posted to nine newsgroups and again to sixteen would have BI = +sqrt(9) + sqrt(16) = 7. It is generally agreed that a spam is cancelable if +the Breidbart Index exceeds 20. The Breidbart Index accumulates over a +45-day window. Ten articles yesterday and ten articles today and ten +articles tomorrow add up to a 30-article spam. Spam fighters will often +reset the count if you can convince them that the spam was accidental and/or +you have seen the error of your ways and won't repeat it. Breidbart Index +can accumulate over multiple authors. For example, the Make Money Fast +pyramid scheme exceeded a BI of 20 a long time ago, and is now considered +cancel on sight. + diff --git a/entries/BrokenWindows.txt b/entries/BrokenWindows.txt index bb03448..8fa8200 100644 --- a/entries/BrokenWindows.txt +++ b/entries/BrokenWindows.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ BrokenWindows -n. Abusive hackerism for the crufty and elephantine X environment on Sun machines; properly called OpenWindows. +n. Abusive hackerism for the crufty and elephantine X environment on Sun +machines; properly called OpenWindows. + diff --git a/entries/Brooks's Law.txt b/entries/Brooks's Law.txt index e086476..3c548da 100644 --- a/entries/Brooks's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Brooks's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ Brooks's Law -prov. Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later a result of the fact that the expected advantage from splitting development work among N programmers is O(N) (that is, proportional to N ), but the complexity and communications cost associated with coordinating and then merging their work is O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the square of N ). The quote is from Fred Brooks, a manager of IBM's OS/360 project and author of The Mythical Man-Month (Addison-Wesley, 1975, ISBN 0-201-00650-2), an excellent early book on software engineering. The myth in question has been most tersely expressed as Programmer time is fungible and Brooks established conclusively that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice (though it's not the whole story; see bazaar ); too often, management still does. See also creationism , second-system effect , optimism. +prov. Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later a result of +the fact that the expected advantage from splitting development work among N +programmers is O(N) (that is, proportional to N ), but the complexity and +communications cost associated with coordinating and then merging their work +is O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the square of N ). The quote is from +Fred Brooks, a manager of IBM's OS/360 project and author of The Mythical +Man-Month (Addison-Wesley, 1975, ISBN 0-201-00650-2), an excellent early +book on software engineering. The myth in question has been most tersely +expressed as Programmer time is fungible and Brooks established conclusively +that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice (though it's not the +whole story; see bazaar ); too often, management still does. See also +creationism , second-system effect , optimism. + diff --git a/entries/Bzzzt! Wrong..txt b/entries/Bzzzt! Wrong..txt index dd09582..d48c50e 100644 --- a/entries/Bzzzt! Wrong..txt +++ b/entries/Bzzzt! Wrong..txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Bzzzt! Wrong. -/bzt rong/ , excl. [common; Usenet/Internet; punctuation varies] From a Robin Williams routine in the movie Dead Poets Society spoofing radio or TV quiz programs, such as Truth or Consequences , where an incorrect answer earns one a blast from the buzzer and condolences from the interlocutor. A way of expressing mock-rude disagreement, usually immediately following an included quote from another poster. The less abbreviated *Bzzzzt*, wrong, but thank you for playing is also common; capitalization and emphasis of the buzzer sound varies. +/bzt rong/ , excl. [common; Usenet/Internet; punctuation varies] From a +Robin Williams routine in the movie Dead Poets Society spoofing radio or TV +quiz programs, such as Truth or Consequences , where an incorrect answer +earns one a blast from the buzzer and condolences from the interlocutor. A +way of expressing mock-rude disagreement, usually immediately following an +included quote from another poster. The less abbreviated *Bzzzzt*, wrong, +but thank you for playing is also common; capitalization and emphasis of the +buzzer sound varies. + diff --git a/entries/C Programmer's Disease.txt b/entries/C Programmer's Disease.txt index f330147..ab69bde 100644 --- a/entries/C Programmer's Disease.txt +++ b/entries/C Programmer's Disease.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ C Programmer's Disease -n. The tendency of the undisciplined C programmer to set arbitrary but supposedly generous static limits on table sizes (defined, if you're lucky, by constants in header files) rather than taking the trouble to do proper dynamic storage allocation. If an application user later needs to put 68 elements into a table of size 50, the afflicted programmer reasons that he or she can easily reset the table size to 68 (or even as much as 70, to allow for future expansion) and recompile. This gives the programmer the comfortable feeling of having made the effort to satisfy the user's (unreasonable) demands, and often affords the user multiple opportunities to explore the marvelous consequences of fandango on core. In severe cases of the disease, the programmer cannot comprehend why each fix of this kind seems only to further disgruntle the user. +n. The tendency of the undisciplined C programmer to set arbitrary but +supposedly generous static limits on table sizes (defined, if you're lucky, +by constants in header files) rather than taking the trouble to do proper +dynamic storage allocation. If an application user later needs to put 68 +elements into a table of size 50, the afflicted programmer reasons that he +or she can easily reset the table size to 68 (or even as much as 70, to +allow for future expansion) and recompile. This gives the programmer the +comfortable feeling of having made the effort to satisfy the user's +(unreasonable) demands, and often affords the user multiple opportunities to +explore the marvelous consequences of fandango on core. In severe cases of +the disease, the programmer cannot comprehend why each fix of this kind +seems only to further disgruntle the user. + diff --git a/entries/C++.txt b/entries/C++.txt index 55990a1..b3c5464 100644 --- a/entries/C++.txt +++ b/entries/C++.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ C++ -/C'pluhspluhs/ , n. Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup of AT T Bell Labs as a successor to C. Now one of the languages of choice , although many hackers still grumble that it is the successor to either Algol 68 or Ada (depending on generation), and a prime example of second-system effect. Almost anything that can be done in any language can be done in C++, but it requires a language lawyer to know what is and what is not legal the design is almost too large to hold in even hackers' heads. Much of the cruft results from C++'s attempt to be backward compatible with C. Stroustrup himself has said in his retrospective book The Design and Evolution of C++ (p. 207), Within C++, there is a much smaller and cleaner language struggling to get out. [Many hackers would now add Yes, and it's called Java ESR] Nowadays we say this of C++. +/C'pluhspluhs/ , n. Designed by Bjarne Stroustrup of AT T Bell Labs as a +successor to C. Now one of the languages of choice , although many hackers +still grumble that it is the successor to either Algol 68 or Ada (depending +on generation), and a prime example of second-system effect. Almost anything +that can be done in any language can be done in C++, but it requires a +language lawyer to know what is and what is not legal the design is almost +too large to hold in even hackers' heads. Much of the cruft results from +C++'s attempt to be backward compatible with C. Stroustrup himself has said +in his retrospective book The Design and Evolution of C++ (p. 207), Within +C++, there is a much smaller and cleaner language struggling to get out. +[Many hackers would now add Yes, and it's called Java ESR] Nowadays we say +this of C++. + diff --git a/entries/CDA.txt b/entries/CDA.txt index 79e4e66..e828aa0 100644 --- a/entries/CDA.txt +++ b/entries/CDA.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ CDA -/CDA/ The Communications Decency Act , passed as section 502 of a major telecommunications reform bill on February 8th, 1996 ( Black Thursday ). The CDA made it a federal crime in the USA to send a communication which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent, with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person. It also threatened with imprisonment anyone who knowingly makes accessible to minors any message that describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs. While the CDA was sold as a measure to protect minors from the putative evils of pornography, the repressive political aims of the bill were laid bare by the Hyde amendment, which intended to outlaw discussion of abortion on the Internet. To say that this direct attack on First Amendment free-speech rights was not well received on the Internet would be putting it mildly. A firestorm of protest followed, including a February 29th 1996 mass demonstration by thousands of netters who turned their home page s black for 48 hours. Several civil-rights groups and computing/telecommunications companies mounted a constitutional challenge. The CDA was demolished by a strongly-worded decision handed down in 8th-circuit Federal court and subsequently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court on 26 June 1997 ( White Thursday ). See also Exon. +/CDA/ The Communications Decency Act , passed as section 502 of a major +telecommunications reform bill on February 8th, 1996 ( Black Thursday ). The +CDA made it a federal crime in the USA to send a communication which is +obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent, with intent to annoy, abuse, +threaten, or harass another person. It also threatened with imprisonment +anyone who knowingly makes accessible to minors any message that describes, +in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, +sexual or excretory activities or organs. While the CDA was sold as a +measure to protect minors from the putative evils of pornography, the +repressive political aims of the bill were laid bare by the Hyde amendment, +which intended to outlaw discussion of abortion on the Internet. To say that +this direct attack on First Amendment free-speech rights was not well +received on the Internet would be putting it mildly. A firestorm of protest +followed, including a February 29th 1996 mass demonstration by thousands of +netters who turned their home page s black for 48 hours. Several +civil-rights groups and computing/telecommunications companies mounted a +constitutional challenge. The CDA was demolished by a strongly-worded +decision handed down in 8th-circuit Federal court and subsequently affirmed +by the U.S. Supreme Court on 26 June 1997 ( White Thursday ). See also Exon. + diff --git a/entries/CHOP.txt b/entries/CHOP.txt index 535e365..169509d 100644 --- a/entries/CHOP.txt +++ b/entries/CHOP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ CHOP /chop/ , n. [IRC] See channel op. + diff --git a/entries/CI$.txt b/entries/CI$.txt index cffecc5..8ef75fa 100644 --- a/entries/CI$.txt +++ b/entries/CI$.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ CI$ -// , n. Hackerism for CIS , CompuServe Information Service. The dollar sign refers to CompuServe's rather steep line charges. Often used in sig block s just before a CompuServe address. Syn. Compu$erve. +// , n. Hackerism for CIS , CompuServe Information Service. The dollar sign +refers to CompuServe's rather steep line charges. Often used in sig block s +just before a CompuServe address. Syn. Compu$erve. + diff --git a/entries/CLM.txt b/entries/CLM.txt index 5f8df09..82b2fe2 100644 --- a/entries/CLM.txt +++ b/entries/CLM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ CLM -/CLM/ [Sun: Career Limiting Move ] 1. n. An action endangering one's future prospects of getting plum projects and raises, and possibly one's job: His Halloween costume was a parody of his manager. He won the prize for best CLM. 2. adj. +/CLM/ [Sun: Career Limiting Move ] 1. n. An action endangering one's future +prospects of getting plum projects and raises, and possibly one's job: His +Halloween costume was a parody of his manager. He won the prize for best +CLM. 2. adj. + diff --git a/entries/COBOL fingers.txt b/entries/COBOL fingers.txt index 6f3d2f5..d0e212d 100644 --- a/entries/COBOL fingers.txt +++ b/entries/COBOL fingers.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ COBOL fingers -/kohbol finggrz/ , n. Reported from Sweden, a (hypothetical) disease one might get from coding in COBOL. The language requires code verbose beyond all reason (see candygrammar ); thus it is alleged that programming too much in COBOL causes one's fingers to wear down to stubs by the endless typing. +/kohbol finggrz/ , n. Reported from Sweden, a (hypothetical) disease one +might get from coding in COBOL. The language requires code verbose beyond +all reason (see candygrammar ); thus it is alleged that programming too much +in COBOL causes one's fingers to wear down to stubs by the endless typing. + diff --git a/entries/COBOL.txt b/entries/COBOL.txt index 13f596a..cbb0551 100644 --- a/entries/COBOL.txt +++ b/entries/COBOL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ COBOL -/kohbol/ , n. [COmmon Business-Oriented Language] (Synonymous with evil. ) A weak, verbose, and flabby language used by code grinder s to do boring mindless things on dinosaur mainframes. Hackers believe that all COBOL programmers are suit s or code grinder s, and no self-respecting hacker will ever admit to having learned the language. Its very name is seldom uttered without ritual expressions of disgust or horror. One popular one is Edsger W. Dijkstra's famous observation that The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense. (from Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective ) See also fear and loathing , software rot. +/kohbol/ , n. [COmmon Business-Oriented Language] (Synonymous with evil. ) A +weak, verbose, and flabby language used by code grinder s to do boring +mindless things on dinosaur mainframes. Hackers believe that all COBOL +programmers are suit s or code grinder s, and no self-respecting hacker will +ever admit to having learned the language. Its very name is seldom uttered +without ritual expressions of disgust or horror. One popular one is Edsger +W. Dijkstra's famous observation that The use of COBOL cripples the mind; +its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense. (from +Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective ) See also fear and +loathing , software rot. + diff --git a/entries/COME FROM.txt b/entries/COME FROM.txt index ff16e52..7f66eb0 100644 --- a/entries/COME FROM.txt +++ b/entries/COME FROM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,36 @@ COME FROM -n. A semi-mythical language construct dual to the go to ; COME FROM label would cause the referenced label to act as a sort of trapdoor, so that if the program ever reached it control would quietly and automagically be transferred to the statement following the COME FROM. COME FROM was first proposed in R. Lawrence Clark's A Linguistic Contribution to GOTO-less programming , which appeared in a 1973 Datamation issue (and was reprinted in the April 1984 issue of Communications of the ACM ). This parodied the then-raging structured programming holy wars (see considered harmful ). Mythically, some variants are the assigned COME FROM and the computed COME FROM (parodying some nasty control constructs in FORTRAN and some extended BASICs). Of course, multi-tasking (or non-determinism) could be implemented by having more than one COME FROM statement coming from the same label. In some ways the FORTRAN DO looks like a COME FROM statement. After the terminating statement number/ CONTINUE is reached, control continues at the statement following the DO. Some generous FORTRANs would allow arbitrary statements (other than CONTINUE ) for the statement, leading to examples like: DO 10 I=1,LIMIT C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the C original DO statement lost in the spaghetti... WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I) 10 FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4) in which the trapdoor is just after the statement labeled 10. (This is particularly surprising because the label doesn't appear to have anything to do with the flow of control at all!) While sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this form of COME FROM statement isn't completely general. After all, control will eventually pass to the following statement. The implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN, ca. 1975 (though a roughly similar feature existed on the IBM 7040 ten years earlier). The statement AT 100 would perform a COME FROM 100. It was intended strictly as a debugging aid, with dire consequences 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 under its own name for the first time 15 years later, in C-INTERCAL (see INTERCAL , retrocomputing ); knowledgeable observers are still reeling from the shock. +n. A semi-mythical language construct dual to the go to ; COME FROM label +would cause the referenced label to act as a sort of trapdoor, so that if +the program ever reached it control would quietly and automagically be +transferred to the statement following the COME FROM. COME FROM was first +proposed in R. Lawrence Clark's A Linguistic Contribution to GOTO-less +programming , which appeared in a 1973 Datamation issue (and was reprinted +in the April 1984 issue of Communications of the ACM ). This parodied the +then-raging structured programming holy wars (see considered harmful ). +Mythically, some variants are the assigned COME FROM and the computed COME +FROM (parodying some nasty control constructs in FORTRAN and some extended +BASICs). Of course, multi-tasking (or non-determinism) could be implemented +by having more than one COME FROM statement coming from the same label. In +some ways the FORTRAN DO looks like a COME FROM statement. After the +terminating statement number/ CONTINUE is reached, control continues at the +statement following the DO. Some generous FORTRANs would allow arbitrary +statements (other than CONTINUE ) for the statement, leading to examples +like: DO 10 I=1,LIMIT C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the C +original DO statement lost in the spaghetti... WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I) 10 +FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4) in which the trapdoor is just after the statement +labeled 10. (This is particularly surprising because the label doesn't +appear to have anything to do with the flow of control at all!) While +sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this form of COME FROM +statement isn't completely general. After all, control will eventually pass +to the following statement. The implementation of the general form was left +to Univac FORTRAN, ca. 1975 (though a roughly similar feature existed on the +IBM 7040 ten years earlier). The statement AT 100 would perform a COME FROM +100. It was intended strictly as a debugging aid, with dire consequences +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 under its own name for the first time 15 years later, in +C-INTERCAL (see INTERCAL , retrocomputing ); knowledgeable observers are +still reeling from the shock. + diff --git a/entries/CP-M.txt b/entries/CP-M.txt index 79408af..5075d53 100644 --- a/entries/CP-M.txt +++ b/entries/CP-M.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ CP/M -/CPM/ , n. [Control Program/Monitor; later retcon ned to Control Program for Microcomputers] An early microcomputer OS written by hacker Gary Kildall for 8080- and Z80-based machines, very popular in the late 1970s but virtually wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBM PC in 1981. Legend has it that Kildall's company blew its chance to write the OS for the IBM PC because Kildall decided to spend a day IBM's reps wanted to meet with him enjoying the perfect flying weather in his private plane (another variant has it that Gary's wife was much more interested in packing her suitcases for an upcoming vacation than in clinching a deal with IBM). Many of CP/M's features and conventions strongly resemble those of early DEC operating systems such as TOPS-10 , OS/8, RSTS, and RSX-11. See MS-DOS , operating system. +/CPM/ , n. [Control Program/Monitor; later retcon ned to Control Program for +Microcomputers] An early microcomputer OS written by hacker Gary Kildall for +8080- and Z80-based machines, very popular in the late 1970s but virtually +wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBM PC in 1981. Legend has it +that Kildall's company blew its chance to write the OS for the IBM PC +because Kildall decided to spend a day IBM's reps wanted to meet with him +enjoying the perfect flying weather in his private plane (another variant +has it that Gary's wife was much more interested in packing her suitcases +for an upcoming vacation than in clinching a deal with IBM). Many of CP/M's +features and conventions strongly resemble those of early DEC operating +systems such as TOPS-10 , OS/8, RSTS, and RSX-11. See MS-DOS , operating +system. + diff --git a/entries/CPU Wars.txt b/entries/CPU Wars.txt index 3ee3685..72a9d9b 100644 --- a/entries/CPU Wars.txt +++ b/entries/CPU Wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ CPU Wars -/CPU worz/ , n. A 1979 large-format comic by Chas Andres chronicling the attempts of the brainwashed androids of IPM (Impossible to Program Machines) to conquer and destroy the peaceful denizens of HEC (Human Engineered Computers). This rather transparent allegory featured many references to ADVENT and the immortal line Eat flaming death, minicomputer mongrels! (uttered, of course, by an IPM stormtrooper). The whole shebang is now available on the Web. It is alleged that the author subsequently received a letter of appreciation on IBM company stationery from the head of IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Laboratories (at that time one of the few islands of true hackerdom in the IBM archipelago). The lower loop of the B in the IBM logo, it is said, had been carefully whited out. See eat flaming death. +/CPU worz/ , n. A 1979 large-format comic by Chas Andres chronicling the +attempts of the brainwashed androids of IPM (Impossible to Program Machines) +to conquer and destroy the peaceful denizens of HEC (Human Engineered +Computers). This rather transparent allegory featured many references to +ADVENT and the immortal line Eat flaming death, minicomputer mongrels! +(uttered, of course, by an IPM stormtrooper). The whole shebang is now +available on the Web. It is alleged that the author subsequently received a +letter of appreciation on IBM company stationery from the head of IBM's +Thomas J. Watson Research Laboratories (at that time one of the few islands +of true hackerdom in the IBM archipelago). The lower loop of the B in the +IBM logo, it is said, had been carefully whited out. See eat flaming death. + diff --git a/entries/CRC handbook.txt b/entries/CRC handbook.txt index e4fd012..d7ad42e 100644 --- a/entries/CRC handbook.txt +++ b/entries/CRC handbook.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ CRC handbook -Any of the editions of the Chemical Rubber Company Handbook of Chemistry and Physics ; there are other CRC handbooks, such as the CRC Standard Mathematical Tables and Formulae , but the is the chemistry and physics reference. It is massive tome full of mathematical tables, physical constants of thousands of alloys and chemical compounds, dielectric strengths, vapor pressure, resistivity, and the like. Hackers have remarkably little actual use for these sorts of arcana, but are such information junkies that a large percentage of them acquire copies anyway and would feel vaguely bereft if they couldn't look up the magnetic susceptibility of potassium permanganate at a moment's notice. On hackers' bookshelves, the is rather likely to keep company with an unabridged Oxford English Dictionary and a good atlas. +Any of the editions of the Chemical Rubber Company Handbook of Chemistry and +Physics ; there are other CRC handbooks, such as the CRC Standard +Mathematical Tables and Formulae , but the is the chemistry and physics +reference. It is massive tome full of mathematical tables, physical +constants of thousands of alloys and chemical compounds, dielectric +strengths, vapor pressure, resistivity, and the like. Hackers have +remarkably little actual use for these sorts of arcana, but are such +information junkies that a large percentage of them acquire copies anyway +and would feel vaguely bereft if they couldn't look up the magnetic +susceptibility of potassium permanganate at a moment's notice. On hackers' +bookshelves, the is rather likely to keep company with an unabridged Oxford +English Dictionary and a good atlas. + diff --git a/entries/CTSS.txt b/entries/CTSS.txt index afbd3bf..fe06a89 100644 --- a/entries/CTSS.txt +++ b/entries/CTSS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ CTSS -/CTSS/ , n. Compatible Time-Sharing System. An early (1963) experiment in the design of interactive timesharing operating systems, ancestral to Multics , Unix , and ITS. The name ITS (Incompatible Time-sharing System) was a hack on CTSS, meant both as a joke and to express some basic differences in philosophy about the way I/O services should be presented to user programs. +/CTSS/ , n. Compatible Time-Sharing System. An early (1963) experiment in +the design of interactive timesharing operating systems, ancestral to +Multics , Unix , and ITS. The name ITS (Incompatible Time-sharing System) +was a hack on CTSS, meant both as a joke and to express some basic +differences in philosophy about the way I/O services should be presented to +user programs. + diff --git a/entries/Camel Book.txt b/entries/Camel Book.txt index 0ee98e7..696d0dd 100644 --- a/entries/Camel Book.txt +++ b/entries/Camel Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Camel Book -n. Universally recognized nickname for the book Programming Perl , by Larry Wall and Randal L. Schwartz, O'Reilly and Associates 1991, ISBN 0-937175-64-1 (second edition 1996, ISBN 1-56592-149-6; third edition 2000, 0-596-00027-8, adding as authors Tom Christiansen and Jon Orwant but dropping Randal Schwartz). The definitive reference on Perl. +n. Universally recognized nickname for the book Programming Perl , by Larry +Wall and Randal L. Schwartz, O'Reilly and Associates 1991, ISBN +0-937175-64-1 (second edition 1996, ISBN 1-56592-149-6; third edition 2000, +0-596-00027-8, adding as authors Tom Christiansen and Jon Orwant but +dropping Randal Schwartz). The definitive reference on Perl. + diff --git a/entries/Cancelmoose[tm].txt b/entries/Cancelmoose[tm].txt index acd89db..2c71590 100644 --- a/entries/Cancelmoose[tm].txt +++ b/entries/Cancelmoose[tm].txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ Cancelmoose[tm] -/kanselmoos/ [Usenet] The archetype and model of all good spam -fighters. Once upon a time, the 'Moose would send out spam-cancels and then post notice anonymously to news.admin.policy , news.admin.misc , and alt.current-events.net-abuse. The 'Moose stepped to the fore on its own initiative, at a time (mid-1994) when spam-cancels were irregular and disorganized, and behaved altogether admirably fair, even-handed, and quick to respond to comments and criticism, all without self-aggrandizement or martyrdom. Cancelmoose[tm] quickly gained near-unanimous support from the readership of all three above-mentioned groups. Nobody knows who Cancelmoose[tm] really is, and there aren't even any good rumors. However, the 'Moose now has an e-mail address ( moose@cm.org ) and a web site ( http://www.cm.org/. ) By early 1995, others had stepped into the spam-cancel business, and appeared to be comporting themselves well, after the 'Moose's manner. The 'Moose has now gotten out of the business, and is more interested in ending spam (and cancels) entirely. +/kanselmoos/ [Usenet] The archetype and model of all good spam -fighters. +Once upon a time, the 'Moose would send out spam-cancels and then post +notice anonymously to news.admin.policy , news.admin.misc , and +alt.current-events.net-abuse. The 'Moose stepped to the fore on its own +initiative, at a time (mid-1994) when spam-cancels were irregular and +disorganized, and behaved altogether admirably fair, even-handed, and quick +to respond to comments and criticism, all without self-aggrandizement or +martyrdom. Cancelmoose[tm] quickly gained near-unanimous support from the +readership of all three above-mentioned groups. Nobody knows who +Cancelmoose[tm] really is, and there aren't even any good rumors. However, +the 'Moose now has an e-mail address ( moose@cm.org ) and a web site ( +http://www.cm.org/. ) By early 1995, others had stepped into the spam-cancel +business, and appeared to be comporting themselves well, after the 'Moose's +manner. The 'Moose has now gotten out of the business, and is more +interested in ending spam (and cancels) entirely. + diff --git a/entries/Ceremonial Chemicals.txt b/entries/Ceremonial Chemicals.txt index faf4d31..6974db7 100644 --- a/entries/Ceremonial Chemicals.txt +++ b/entries/Ceremonial Chemicals.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Ceremonial Chemicals -Most hackers don't smoke tobacco, and use alcohol in moderation if at all. However, there has been something of a trend towards exotic beers since about 1995, especially among younger Linux hackers apparently influenced by Linus Torvalds's fondness for Guinness. Limited use of non-addictive psychedelic drugs, such as cannabis, LSD, psilocybin, nitrous oxide, etc., used to be relatively common and is still regarded with more tolerance than in the mainstream culture. Use of downers and opiates, on the other hand, appears to be particularly rare; hackers seem in general to dislike drugs that make them stupid. But on the gripping hand , many hackers regularly wire up on caffeine and/or sugar for all-night hacking runs. +Most hackers don't smoke tobacco, and use alcohol in moderation if at all. +However, there has been something of a trend towards exotic beers since +about 1995, especially among younger Linux hackers apparently influenced by +Linus Torvalds's fondness for Guinness. Limited use of non-addictive +psychedelic drugs, such as cannabis, LSD, psilocybin, nitrous oxide, etc., +used to be relatively common and is still regarded with more tolerance than +in the mainstream culture. Use of downers and opiates, on the other hand, +appears to be particularly rare; hackers seem in general to dislike drugs +that make them stupid. But on the gripping hand , many hackers regularly +wire up on caffeine and/or sugar for all-night hacking runs. + diff --git a/entries/Chernobyl chicken.txt b/entries/Chernobyl chicken.txt index 7a67147..0e1df25 100644 --- a/entries/Chernobyl chicken.txt +++ b/entries/Chernobyl chicken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Chernobyl chicken n. See laser chicken. + diff --git a/entries/Chernobyl packet.txt b/entries/Chernobyl packet.txt index 307a5e4..79d8e1a 100644 --- a/entries/Chernobyl packet.txt +++ b/entries/Chernobyl packet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Chernobyl packet -/chernohb@l pak'@t/ , n. A network packet that induces a broadcast storm and/or network meltdown , in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ether and IP address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being gated between. Compare Christmas tree packet. +/chernohb@l pak'@t/ , n. A network packet that induces a broadcast storm +and/or network meltdown , in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at +Chernobyl in Ukraine. The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram +that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ether and IP +address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being +gated between. Compare Christmas tree packet. + diff --git a/entries/Chinese Army technique.txt b/entries/Chinese Army technique.txt index 618ef0c..579f43b 100644 --- a/entries/Chinese Army technique.txt +++ b/entries/Chinese Army technique.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Chinese Army technique n. Syn. Mongolian Hordes technique. + diff --git a/entries/Christmas tree packet.txt b/entries/Christmas tree packet.txt index c0a1e50..23eefaf 100644 --- a/entries/Christmas tree packet.txt +++ b/entries/Christmas tree packet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Christmas tree packet -n. A packet with every single option set for whatever protocol is in use. See kamikaze packet , Chernobyl packet. (The term doubtless derives from a fanciful image of each little option bit being represented by a different-colored light bulb, all turned on.) Compare Godzillagram. +n. A packet with every single option set for whatever protocol is in use. +See kamikaze packet , Chernobyl packet. (The term doubtless derives from a +fanciful image of each little option bit being represented by a +different-colored light bulb, all turned on.) Compare Godzillagram. + diff --git a/entries/Christmas tree.txt b/entries/Christmas tree.txt index 516596c..cac3adf 100644 --- a/entries/Christmas tree.txt +++ b/entries/Christmas tree.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ Christmas tree -n. A kind of RS-232 line tester or breakout box featuring rows of blinking red and green LEDs suggestive of Christmas lights. +n. A kind of RS-232 line tester or breakout box featuring rows of blinking +red and green LEDs suggestive of Christmas lights. + diff --git a/entries/Church of the SubGenius.txt b/entries/Church of the SubGenius.txt index a3de193..4527131 100644 --- a/entries/Church of the SubGenius.txt +++ b/entries/Church of the SubGenius.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Church of the SubGenius -n. A mutant offshoot of Discordianism launched in 1981 as a spoof of fundamentalist Christianity by the Reverend Ivan Stang, a brilliant satirist with a gift for promotion. Popular among hackers as a rich source of bizarre imagery and references such as Bob the divine drilling-equipment salesman, the Benevolent Space Xists, and the Stark Fist of Removal. Much SubGenius theory is concerned with the acquisition of the mystical substance or quality of slack. There is a home page at http://www.subgenius.com/. +n. A mutant offshoot of Discordianism launched in 1981 as a spoof of +fundamentalist Christianity by the Reverend Ivan Stang, a brilliant satirist +with a gift for promotion. Popular among hackers as a rich source of bizarre +imagery and references such as Bob the divine drilling-equipment salesman, +the Benevolent Space Xists, and the Stark Fist of Removal. Much SubGenius +theory is concerned with the acquisition of the mystical substance or +quality of slack. There is a home page at http://www.subgenius.com/. + diff --git a/entries/Cinderella Book.txt b/entries/Cinderella Book.txt index d9f3c1b..4c6ca83 100644 --- a/entries/Cinderella Book.txt +++ b/entries/Cinderella Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Cinderella Book -n. [CMU] Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation , by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman, (Addison-Wesley, 1979). So called because the cover depicts a girl (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a Rube Goldberg device and holding a rope coming out of it. On the back cover, the device is in shambles after she has (inevitably) pulled on the rope. See also book titles. +n. [CMU] Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation , by +John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman, (Addison-Wesley, 1979). So called because +the cover depicts a girl (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a Rube +Goldberg device and holding a rope coming out of it. On the back cover, the +device is in shambles after she has (inevitably) pulled on the rope. See +also book titles. + diff --git a/entries/Classic C.txt b/entries/Classic C.txt index 8114883..0fd1079 100644 --- a/entries/Classic C.txt +++ b/entries/Classic C.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Classic C -/klasik C/ , n. [a play on Coke Classic ] The C programming language as defined in the first edition of K R , with some small additions. It is also known as K R C. The name came into use while C was being standardized by the ANSI X3J11 committee. Also C Classic. An analogous construction is sometimes applied elsewhere: thus, X Classic , where X = Star Trek (referring to the original TV series) or X = PC (referring to IBM's ISA-bus machines as opposed to the PS/2 series). This construction is especially used of product series in which the newer versions are considered serious losers relative to the older ones. +/klasik C/ , n. [a play on Coke Classic ] The C programming language as +defined in the first edition of K R , with some small additions. It is also +known as K R C. The name came into use while C was being standardized by the +ANSI X3J11 committee. Also C Classic. An analogous construction is sometimes +applied elsewhere: thus, X Classic , where X = Star Trek (referring to the +original TV series) or X = PC (referring to IBM's ISA-bus machines as +opposed to the PS/2 series). This construction is especially used of product +series in which the newer versions are considered serious losers relative to +the older ones. + diff --git a/entries/Code of the Geeks.txt b/entries/Code of the Geeks.txt index 263793e..c760ffe 100644 --- a/entries/Code of the Geeks.txt +++ b/entries/Code of the Geeks.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Code of the Geeks n. see geek code. + diff --git a/entries/Communication Style.txt b/entries/Communication Style.txt index bfaaec4..f2ce525 100644 --- a/entries/Communication Style.txt +++ b/entries/Communication Style.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Communication Style -See the discussions of speech and writing styles near the beginning of this File. Though hackers often have poor person-to-person communication skills, they are as a rule quite sensitive to nuances of language and very precise in their use of it. They are often better at writing than at speaking. +See the discussions of speech and writing styles near the beginning of this +File. Though hackers often have poor person-to-person communication skills, +they are as a rule quite sensitive to nuances of language and very precise +in their use of it. They are often better at writing than at speaking. + diff --git a/entries/Comparatives.txt b/entries/Comparatives.txt index 6807dbc..0b4276f 100644 --- a/entries/Comparatives.txt +++ b/entries/Comparatives.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Comparatives -Finally, note that many words in hacker jargon have to be understood as members of sets of comparatives. This is especially true of the adjectives and nouns used to describe the beauty and functional quality of code. Here is an approximately correct spectrum: monstrosity brain-damage screw bug lose misfeature crock kluge hack win feature elegance perfection The last is spoken of as a mythical absolute, approximated but never actually attained. Another similar scale is used for describing the reliability of software: broken flaky dodgy fragile brittle solid robust bulletproof armor-plated Note, however, that dodgy is primarily Commonwealth Hackish (it is rare in the U.S., where squirrelly may be more common) and may change places with flaky for some speakers. Coinages for describing lossage seem to call forth the very finest in hackish linguistic inventiveness; it has been truly said that hackers have even more words for equipment failures than Yiddish has for obnoxious people. Prev Up Next Anthropomorphization Home Chapter5. +Finally, note that many words in hacker jargon have to be understood as +members of sets of comparatives. This is especially true of the adjectives +and nouns used to describe the beauty and functional quality of code. Here +is an approximately correct spectrum: monstrosity brain-damage screw bug +lose misfeature crock kluge hack win feature elegance perfection The last is +spoken of as a mythical absolute, approximated but never actually attained. +Another similar scale is used for describing the reliability of software: +broken flaky dodgy fragile brittle solid robust bulletproof armor-plated +Note, however, that dodgy is primarily Commonwealth Hackish (it is rare in +the U.S., where squirrelly may be more common) and may change places with +flaky for some speakers. Coinages for describing lossage seem to call forth +the very finest in hackish linguistic inventiveness; it has been truly said +that hackers have even more words for equipment failures than Yiddish has +for obnoxious people. Prev Up Next Anthropomorphization Home Chapter5. + diff --git a/entries/Compu$erve.txt b/entries/Compu$erve.txt index 50276bd..2cc9c7d 100644 --- a/entries/Compu$erve.txt +++ b/entries/Compu$erve.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Compu$erve n. See CI$. Synonyms CompuSpend and Compu$pend are also reported. + diff --git a/entries/Conway's Law.txt b/entries/Conway's Law.txt index fe92736..b1b249e 100644 --- a/entries/Conway's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Conway's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ Conway's Law -prov. The rule that the organization of the software and the organization of the software team will be congruent; commonly stated as If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler. The original statement was more general, Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations. This first appeared in the April 1968 issue of Datamation. Compare SNAFU principle. The law was named after Melvin Conway, an early proto-hacker who wrote an assembler for the Burroughs 220 called SAVE. (The name SAVE didn't stand for anything; it was just that you lost fewer card decks and listings because they all had SAVE written on them.) There is also Tom Cheatham's amendment of Conway's Law: If a group of N persons implements a COBOL compiler, there will be N-1 passes. Someone in the group has to be the manager. +prov. The rule that the organization of the software and the organization of +the software team will be congruent; commonly stated as If you have four +groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler. The original +statement was more general, Organizations which design systems are +constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication +structures of these organizations. This first appeared in the April 1968 +issue of Datamation. Compare SNAFU principle. The law was named after Melvin +Conway, an early proto-hacker who wrote an assembler for the Burroughs 220 +called SAVE. (The name SAVE didn't stand for anything; it was just that you +lost fewer card decks and listings because they all had SAVE written on +them.) There is also Tom Cheatham's amendment of Conway's Law: If a group of +N persons implements a COBOL compiler, there will be N-1 passes. Someone in +the group has to be the manager. + diff --git a/entries/Core Wars.txt b/entries/Core Wars.txt index 37ff6b8..708915b 100644 --- a/entries/Core Wars.txt +++ b/entries/Core Wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Core Wars -n. A game between assembler programs in a machine or machine simulator, where the objective is to kill your opponent's program by overwriting it. Popularized in the 1980s by A. K. Dewdney's column in Scientific American magazine, but described in Software Practice And Experience a decade earlier. The game was actually devised and played by Victor Vyssotsky, Robert Morris Sr., and Doug McIlroy in the early 1960s (Dennis Ritchie is sometimes incorrectly cited as a co-author, but was not involved). Their original game was called Darwin and ran on a IBM 7090 at Bell Labs. See core. For information on the modern game, do a web search for the rec.games.corewar FAQ or surf to the King Of The Hill site. +n. A game between assembler programs in a machine or machine simulator, +where the objective is to kill your opponent's program by overwriting it. +Popularized in the 1980s by A. K. Dewdney's column in Scientific American +magazine, but described in Software Practice And Experience a decade +earlier. The game was actually devised and played by Victor Vyssotsky, +Robert Morris Sr., and Doug McIlroy in the early 1960s (Dennis Ritchie is +sometimes incorrectly cited as a co-author, but was not involved). Their +original game was called Darwin and ran on a IBM 7090 at Bell Labs. See +core. For information on the modern game, do a web search for the +rec.games.corewar FAQ or surf to the King Of The Hill site. + diff --git a/entries/CrApTeX.txt b/entries/CrApTeX.txt index 4a819ae..a5281a2 100644 --- a/entries/CrApTeX.txt +++ b/entries/CrApTeX.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ CrApTeX -/kraptekh/ , n. [University of York, England] Term of abuse used to describe TeX and LaTeX when they don't work (when used by TeXhackers), or all the time (by everyone else). The non-TeX-enthusiasts generally dislike it because it is more verbose than other formatters (e.g. troff ) and because (particularly if the standard Computer Modern fonts are used) it generates vast output files. See religious issues , TeX. +/kraptekh/ , n. [University of York, England] Term of abuse used to describe +TeX and LaTeX when they don't work (when used by TeXhackers), or all the +time (by everyone else). The non-TeX-enthusiasts generally dislike it +because it is more verbose than other formatters (e.g. troff ) and because +(particularly if the standard Computer Modern fonts are used) it generates +vast output files. See religious issues , TeX. + diff --git a/entries/DAU.txt b/entries/DAU.txt index b542c2a..73e3415 100644 --- a/entries/DAU.txt +++ b/entries/DAU.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ DAU -/dow/ , n. [German FidoNet] German acronym for Dmmster Anzunehmender User (stupidest imaginable user). From the engineering-slang GAU for Grsster Anzunehmender Unfall, worst assumable accident, esp. of a LNG tank farm plant or something with similarly disastrous consequences. In popular German, GAU is used only to refer to worst-case nuclear accidents such as a core meltdown. See cretin , fool , loser and weasel. +/dow/ , n. [German FidoNet] German acronym for Dmmster Anzunehmender User +(stupidest imaginable user). From the engineering-slang GAU for Grsster +Anzunehmender Unfall, worst assumable accident, esp. of a LNG tank farm +plant or something with similarly disastrous consequences. In popular +German, GAU is used only to refer to worst-case nuclear accidents such as a +core meltdown. See cretin , fool , loser and weasel. + diff --git a/entries/DDT.txt b/entries/DDT.txt index f9217f3..f00689a 100644 --- a/entries/DDT.txt +++ b/entries/DDT.txt @@ -1,3 +1,33 @@ DDT -/DDT/ , n. [from the insecticide para-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethene] 1. Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other programs by showing individual machine instructions in a readable symbolic form and letting the user change them. In this sense the term DDT is now archaic, having been widely displaced by debugger or names of individual programs like adb , sdb , dbx , or gdb. 2. [ITS] Under MIT's fabled ITS operating system, DDT (running under the alias HACTRN, a six-letterism for Hack Translator ) was also used as the shell or top level command language used to execute other programs. 3. Any one of several specific DDTs (sense 1) supported on early DEC hardware and CP/M. The PDP-10 Reference Handbook (1969) contained a footnote on the first page of the documentation for DDT that illuminates the origin of the term: Historical footnote: DDT was developed at MIT for the PDP-1 computer in 1961. At that time DDT stood for DEC Debugging Tape. Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging program has propagated throughout the computer industry. DDT programs are now available for all DEC computers. Since media other than tape are now frequently used, the more descriptive name Dynamic Debugging Technique has been adopted, retaining the DDT abbreviation. Confusion between DDT-10 and another well known pesticide, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane C 14 H 9 Cl 5 should be minimal since each attacks a different, and apparently mutually exclusive, class of bugs. (The tape referred to was, incidentally, not magnetic but paper.) Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions of the handbook after the suit s took over and DEC became much more businesslike. The history above is known to many old-time hackers. But there's more: Peter Samson, compiler of the original TMRC lexicon, reports that he named DDT after a similar tool on the TX-0 computer, the direct ancestor of the PDP-1 built at MIT's Lincoln Lab in 1957. The debugger on that ground-breaking machine (the first transistorized computer) rejoiced in the name FLIT (FLexowriter Interrogation Tape). Flit was for many years the trade-name of a popular insecticide. +/DDT/ , n. [from the insecticide para-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethene] 1. +Generic term for a program that assists in debugging other programs by +showing individual machine instructions in a readable symbolic form and +letting the user change them. In this sense the term DDT is now archaic, +having been widely displaced by debugger or names of individual programs +like adb , sdb , dbx , or gdb. 2. [ITS] Under MIT's fabled ITS operating +system, DDT (running under the alias HACTRN, a six-letterism for Hack +Translator ) was also used as the shell or top level command language used +to execute other programs. 3. Any one of several specific DDTs (sense 1) +supported on early DEC hardware and CP/M. The PDP-10 Reference Handbook +(1969) contained a footnote on the first page of the documentation for DDT +that illuminates the origin of the term: Historical footnote: DDT was +developed at MIT for the PDP-1 computer in 1961. At that time DDT stood for +DEC Debugging Tape. Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging program has +propagated throughout the computer industry. DDT programs are now available +for all DEC computers. Since media other than tape are now frequently used, +the more descriptive name Dynamic Debugging Technique has been adopted, +retaining the DDT abbreviation. Confusion between DDT-10 and another well +known pesticide, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane C 14 H 9 Cl 5 should be +minimal since each attacks a different, and apparently mutually exclusive, +class of bugs. (The tape referred to was, incidentally, not magnetic but +paper.) Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions of the +handbook after the suit s took over and DEC became much more businesslike. +The history above is known to many old-time hackers. But there's more: Peter +Samson, compiler of the original TMRC lexicon, reports that he named DDT +after a similar tool on the TX-0 computer, the direct ancestor of the PDP-1 +built at MIT's Lincoln Lab in 1957. The debugger on that ground-breaking +machine (the first transistorized computer) rejoiced in the name FLIT +(FLexowriter Interrogation Tape). Flit was for many years the trade-name of +a popular insecticide. + diff --git a/entries/DEADBEEF.txt b/entries/DEADBEEF.txt index 1dfcffc..54b29e9 100644 --- a/entries/DEADBEEF.txt +++ b/entries/DEADBEEF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ DEADBEEF -/dedbeef/ , n. The hexadecimal word-fill pattern for freshly allocated memory under a number of IBM environments, including the RS/6000. Some modern debugging tools deliberately fill freed memory with this value as a way of converting heisenbug s into Bohr bug s. As in Your program is DEADBEEF (meaning gone, aborted, flushed from memory); if you start from an odd half-word boundary, of course, you have BEEFDEAD. See also the anecdote under fool and dead beef attack. +/dedbeef/ , n. The hexadecimal word-fill pattern for freshly allocated +memory under a number of IBM environments, including the RS/6000. Some +modern debugging tools deliberately fill freed memory with this value as a +way of converting heisenbug s into Bohr bug s. As in Your program is +DEADBEEF (meaning gone, aborted, flushed from memory); if you start from an +odd half-word boundary, of course, you have BEEFDEAD. See also the anecdote +under fool and dead beef attack. + diff --git a/entries/DEC Wars.txt b/entries/DEC Wars.txt index aedc04d..4382d7f 100644 --- a/entries/DEC Wars.txt +++ b/entries/DEC Wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ DEC Wars -n. A 1983 Usenet posting by Alan Hastings and Steve Tarr spoofing the Star Wars movies in hackish terms. Some years later, ESR (disappointed by Hastings and Tarr's failure to exploit a great premise more thoroughly) posted a 3-times-longer complete rewrite called Unix WARS ; the two are often confused. +n. A 1983 Usenet posting by Alan Hastings and Steve Tarr spoofing the Star +Wars movies in hackish terms. Some years later, ESR (disappointed by +Hastings and Tarr's failure to exploit a great premise more thoroughly) +posted a 3-times-longer complete rewrite called Unix WARS ; the two are +often confused. + diff --git a/entries/DEC.txt b/entries/DEC.txt index 0104b97..c144857 100644 --- a/entries/DEC.txt +++ b/entries/DEC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ DEC -/dek/ , n. n. Commonly used abbreviation for Digital Equipment Corporation, later deprecated by DEC itself in favor of Digital and now entirely obsolete following the buyout by Compaq. Before the killer micro revolution of the late 1980s, hackerdom was closely symbiotic with DEC's pioneering timesharing machines. The first of the group of cultures described by this lexicon nucleated around the PDP-1 (see TMRC ). Subsequently, the PDP-6, PDP-10 , PDP-20 , PDP-11 and VAX were all foci of large and important hackerdoms, and DEC machines long dominated the ARPANET and Internet machine population. DEC was the technological leader of the minicomputer era (roughly 1967 to 1987), but its failure to embrace microcomputers and Unix early cost it heavily in profits and prestige after silicon got cheap. Nevertheless, the microprocessor design tradition owes a major debt to the PDP-11 instruction set, and every one of the major general-purpose microcomputer OSs so far (CP/M, MS-DOS, Unix, OS/2, Windows NT) was either genetically descended from a DEC OS, or incubated on DEC hardware, or both. Accordingly, DEC was for many years still regarded with a certain wry affection even among many hackers too young to have grown up on DEC machines. +/dek/ , n. n. Commonly used abbreviation for Digital Equipment Corporation, +later deprecated by DEC itself in favor of Digital and now entirely obsolete +following the buyout by Compaq. Before the killer micro revolution of the +late 1980s, hackerdom was closely symbiotic with DEC's pioneering +timesharing machines. The first of the group of cultures described by this +lexicon nucleated around the PDP-1 (see TMRC ). Subsequently, the PDP-6, +PDP-10 , PDP-20 , PDP-11 and VAX were all foci of large and important +hackerdoms, and DEC machines long dominated the ARPANET and Internet machine +population. DEC was the technological leader of the minicomputer era +(roughly 1967 to 1987), but its failure to embrace microcomputers and Unix +early cost it heavily in profits and prestige after silicon got cheap. +Nevertheless, the microprocessor design tradition owes a major debt to the +PDP-11 instruction set, and every one of the major general-purpose +microcomputer OSs so far (CP/M, MS-DOS, Unix, OS/2, Windows NT) was either +genetically descended from a DEC OS, or incubated on DEC hardware, or both. +Accordingly, DEC was for many years still regarded with a certain wry +affection even among many hackers too young to have grown up on DEC +machines. + diff --git a/entries/DED.txt b/entries/DED.txt index 99e88ce..a4080c8 100644 --- a/entries/DED.txt +++ b/entries/DED.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ DED -/DED/ , n. Dark-Emitting Diode (that is, a burned-out LED). Compare SED , LER , write-only memory. In the early 1970s both Signetics and Texas instruments released DED spec sheets as AFJ s (suggested uses included as a power-off indicator ). +/DED/ , n. Dark-Emitting Diode (that is, a burned-out LED). Compare SED , +LER , write-only memory. In the early 1970s both Signetics and Texas +instruments released DED spec sheets as AFJ s (suggested uses included as a +power-off indicator ). + diff --git a/entries/DMZ.txt b/entries/DMZ.txt index ae38366..547e4ee 100644 --- a/entries/DMZ.txt +++ b/entries/DMZ.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ DMZ -Literally, De-Militarized Zone. Figuratively, the portion of a private network that is visible through the network's firewalls (see firewall machine ). Coined in the late 1990s as jargon, this term is now borderline techspeak. +Literally, De-Militarized Zone. Figuratively, the portion of a private +network that is visible through the network's firewalls (see firewall +machine ). Coined in the late 1990s as jargon, this term is now borderline +techspeak. + diff --git a/entries/DP.txt b/entries/DP.txt index 6b12f87..8d20b59 100644 --- a/entries/DP.txt +++ b/entries/DP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ DP -/DP/ , n. 1. Data Processing. Listed here because, according to hackers, use of the term marks one immediately as a suit. See DPer. 2. Common abbrev for Dissociated Press. +/DP/ , n. 1. Data Processing. Listed here because, according to hackers, use +of the term marks one immediately as a suit. See DPer. 2. Common abbrev for +Dissociated Press. + diff --git a/entries/DPer.txt b/entries/DPer.txt index 4245492..f54e5a7 100644 --- a/entries/DPer.txt +++ b/entries/DPer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ DPer -/deepeeer/ , n. Data Processor. Hackers are absolutely amazed that suit s use this term self-referentially. Computers process data, not people! See DP. Prev Up Next DP Home Dr. +/deepeeer/ , n. Data Processor. Hackers are absolutely amazed that suit s +use this term self-referentially. Computers process data, not people! See +DP. Prev Up Next DP Home Dr. + diff --git a/entries/DRECNET.txt b/entries/DRECNET.txt index 4ad0aa0..33fe783 100644 --- a/entries/DRECNET.txt +++ b/entries/DRECNET.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ DRECNET -/dreknet/ , n. [from Yiddish/German dreck , meaning filth] Deliberate distortion of DECNET, a networking protocol used in the VMS community. So called because DEC helped write the Ethernet specification and then (either stupidly or as a malignant customer-control tactic) violated that spec in the design of DRECNET in a way that made it incompatible. See also connector conspiracy. +/dreknet/ , n. [from Yiddish/German dreck , meaning filth] Deliberate +distortion of DECNET, a networking protocol used in the VMS community. So +called because DEC helped write the Ethernet specification and then (either +stupidly or as a malignant customer-control tactic) violated that spec in +the design of DRECNET in a way that made it incompatible. See also connector +conspiracy. + diff --git a/entries/DSW.txt b/entries/DSW.txt index 0690855..e07b0e0 100644 --- a/entries/DSW.txt +++ b/entries/DSW.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ DSW -n. [alt.(sysadmin|tech-support).recovery; abbrev. for Dick Size War ] A contest between two or more people boasting about who has the faster machine, keys on (either physical or cryptographic) keyring, greyer hair, or almost anything. Salvos in a DSW are typically humorous and playful, often self-mocking. +n. [alt.(sysadmin|tech-support).recovery; abbrev. for Dick Size War ] A +contest between two or more people boasting about who has the faster +machine, keys on (either physical or cryptographic) keyring, greyer hair, or +almost anything. Salvos in a DSW are typically humorous and playful, often +self-mocking. + diff --git a/entries/DWIM.txt b/entries/DWIM.txt index c71bd75..8fb992e 100644 --- a/entries/DWIM.txt +++ b/entries/DWIM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ DWIM -/dwim/ [acronym, Do What I Mean ] 1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes even correctly, the result intended when bogus input was provided. 2. n. obs. The BBNLISP/INTERLISP function that attempted to accomplish this feat by correcting many of the more common errors. See hairy. 3. Occasionally, an interjection hurled at a balky computer, esp. when one senses one might be tripping over legalisms (see legalese ). 4. Of a person, someone whose directions are incomprehensible and vague, but who nevertheless has the expectation that you will solve the problem using the specific method he/she has in mind. Warren Teitelman originally wrote DWIM to fix his typos and spelling errors, so it was somewhat idiosyncratic to his style, and would often make hash of anyone else's typos if they were stylistically different. Some victims of DWIM thus claimed that the acronym stood for Damn Warren s Infernal Machine!'. In one notorious incident, Warren added a DWIM feature to the command interpreter used at Xerox PARC. One day another hacker there typed delete *$ to free up some disk space. (The editor there named backup files by appending $ to the original file name, so he was trying to delete any backup files left over from old editing sessions.) It happened that there weren't any editor backup files, so DWIM helpfully reported *$ not found, assuming you meant 'delete *'. It then started to delete all the files on the disk! The hacker managed to stop it with a Vulcan nerve pinch after only a half dozen or so files were lost. The disgruntled victim later said he had been sorely tempted to go to Warren's office, tie Warren down in his chair in front of his workstation, and then type delete *$ twice. DWIM is often suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex program; it is also occasionally described as the single instruction the ideal computer would have. Back when proofs of program correctness were in vogue, there were also jokes about DWIMC (Do What I Mean, Correctly). A related term, more often seen as a verb, is DTRT (Do The Right Thing); see Right Thing. +/dwim/ [acronym, Do What I Mean ] 1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes even +correctly, the result intended when bogus input was provided. 2. n. obs. The +BBNLISP/INTERLISP function that attempted to accomplish this feat by +correcting many of the more common errors. See hairy. 3. Occasionally, an +interjection hurled at a balky computer, esp. when one senses one might be +tripping over legalisms (see legalese ). 4. Of a person, someone whose +directions are incomprehensible and vague, but who nevertheless has the +expectation that you will solve the problem using the specific method he/she +has in mind. Warren Teitelman originally wrote DWIM to fix his typos and +spelling errors, so it was somewhat idiosyncratic to his style, and would +often make hash of anyone else's typos if they were stylistically different. +Some victims of DWIM thus claimed that the acronym stood for Damn Warren s +Infernal Machine!'. In one notorious incident, Warren added a DWIM feature +to the command interpreter used at Xerox PARC. One day another hacker there +typed delete *$ to free up some disk space. (The editor there named backup +files by appending $ to the original file name, so he was trying to delete +any backup files left over from old editing sessions.) It happened that +there weren't any editor backup files, so DWIM helpfully reported *$ not +found, assuming you meant 'delete *'. It then started to delete all the +files on the disk! The hacker managed to stop it with a Vulcan nerve pinch +after only a half dozen or so files were lost. The disgruntled victim later +said he had been sorely tempted to go to Warren's office, tie Warren down in +his chair in front of his workstation, and then type delete *$ twice. DWIM +is often suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex program; it is +also occasionally described as the single instruction the ideal computer +would have. Back when proofs of program correctness were in vogue, there +were also jokes about DWIMC (Do What I Mean, Correctly). A related term, +more often seen as a verb, is DTRT (Do The Right Thing); see Right Thing. + diff --git a/entries/Datamation.txt b/entries/Datamation.txt index 4f22ecf..ff21bda 100644 --- a/entries/Datamation.txt +++ b/entries/Datamation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Datamation -/day`t@maysh@n/ , n. A magazine that many hackers assume all suit s read. Used to question an unbelieved quote, as in Did you read that in Datamation?. It used to publish something hackishly funny every once in a while, like the original paper on COME FROM in 1973, and Ed Post's Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal ten years later, but for a long time after that it was much more exclusively suit -oriented and boring. Following a change of editorship in 1994, Datamation briefly tried for more the technical content and irreverent humor that marked its early days, but this did not last. +/day`t@maysh@n/ , n. A magazine that many hackers assume all suit s read. +Used to question an unbelieved quote, as in Did you read that in +Datamation?. It used to publish something hackishly funny every once in a +while, like the original paper on COME FROM in 1973, and Ed Post's Real +Programmers Don't Use Pascal ten years later, but for a long time after that +it was much more exclusively suit -oriented and boring. Following a change +of editorship in 1994, Datamation briefly tried for more the technical +content and irreverent humor that marked its early days, but this did not +last. + diff --git a/entries/Dave the Resurrector.txt b/entries/Dave the Resurrector.txt index 6936278..71a4746 100644 --- a/entries/Dave the Resurrector.txt +++ b/entries/Dave the Resurrector.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Dave the Resurrector -n. [Usenet; also abbreviated DtR] A cancelbot that cancels cancels. Dave the Resurrector originated when some spam -spewers decided to try to impede spam-fighting by wholesale cancellation of anti-spam coordination messages in the news.admin.net-abuse.usenet newsgroup. +n. [Usenet; also abbreviated DtR] A cancelbot that cancels cancels. Dave the +Resurrector originated when some spam -spewers decided to try to impede +spam-fighting by wholesale cancellation of anti-spam coordination messages +in the news.admin.net-abuse.usenet newsgroup. + diff --git a/entries/Death Square.txt b/entries/Death Square.txt index 6e71b45..99d754c 100644 --- a/entries/Death Square.txt +++ b/entries/Death Square.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Death Square -n. The corporate logo of Novell, the people who acquired USL after AT T let go of it (Novell eventually sold the Unix group to SCO). Coined by analogy with Death Star , because many people believed Novell was bungling the lead in Unix systems exactly as AT T did for many years. +n. The corporate logo of Novell, the people who acquired USL after AT T let +go of it (Novell eventually sold the Unix group to SCO). Coined by analogy +with Death Star , because many people believed Novell was bungling the lead +in Unix systems exactly as AT T did for many years. + diff --git a/entries/Death Star.txt b/entries/Death Star.txt index b5438ef..51bc3d3 100644 --- a/entries/Death Star.txt +++ b/entries/Death Star.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Death Star -n. [from the movie Star Wars ] 1. The AT T corporate logo, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star in the Star Wars movies. This usage was particularly common among partisans of BSD Unix in the 1980s, who tended to regard the AT T versions as inferior and AT T as a bad guy. Copies still circulate of a poster printed by Mt. Xinu showing a starscape with a space fighter labeled 4.2 BSD streaking away from a broken AT T logo wreathed in flames. 2. AT T's internal magazine, Focus , uses death star to describe an incorrectly done AT T logo in which the inner circle in the top left is dark instead of light a frequent result of dark-on-light logo images. +n. [from the movie Star Wars ] 1. The AT T corporate logo, which bears an +uncanny resemblance to the Death Star in the Star Wars movies. This usage +was particularly common among partisans of BSD Unix in the 1980s, who tended +to regard the AT T versions as inferior and AT T as a bad guy. Copies still +circulate of a poster printed by Mt. Xinu showing a starscape with a space +fighter labeled 4.2 BSD streaking away from a broken AT T logo wreathed in +flames. 2. AT T's internal magazine, Focus , uses death star to describe an +incorrectly done AT T logo in which the inner circle in the top left is dark +instead of light a frequent result of dark-on-light logo images. + diff --git a/entries/Death, X of.txt b/entries/Death, X of.txt index c7c12a4..e83561b 100644 --- a/entries/Death, X of.txt +++ b/entries/Death, X of.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Death, X of -A construction used to imbue the subject with campy menace, usually with intent to ridicule. The ancestor of this term is a famous Far Side cartoon from the 1980s in which a balloon with a fierce face painted on it is passed off as the Floating Head of Death. Hackers and SF fans have been using the suffix of Death ever since to label things which appear to be vastly threatening but will actually pop like a balloon if you prick them. Such constructions are properly spoken in a tone of over-exagerrated portentiousness: Behold! The Spinning - Pizza - of - Death ! See Blue Screen of Death , Ping O' Death , Spinning Pizza of Death , click of death. Compare Doom, X of. +A construction used to imbue the subject with campy menace, usually with +intent to ridicule. The ancestor of this term is a famous Far Side cartoon +from the 1980s in which a balloon with a fierce face painted on it is passed +off as the Floating Head of Death. Hackers and SF fans have been using the +suffix of Death ever since to label things which appear to be vastly +threatening but will actually pop like a balloon if you prick them. Such +constructions are properly spoken in a tone of over-exagerrated +portentiousness: Behold! The Spinning - Pizza - of - Death ! See Blue Screen +of Death , Ping O' Death , Spinning Pizza of Death , click of death. Compare +Doom, X of. + diff --git a/entries/Dejagoo.txt b/entries/Dejagoo.txt index 71d9e2a..3e8f702 100644 --- a/entries/Dejagoo.txt +++ b/entries/Dejagoo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ Dejagoo -Google newsgroups. Became common in 2001 after Google acquired Dejanews, and with it the largest on-line archive of Usenet postings. +Google newsgroups. Became common in 2001 after Google acquired Dejanews, +and with it the largest on-line archive of Usenet postings. + diff --git a/entries/Dilbert.txt b/entries/Dilbert.txt index 5a6c0a2..089c0cf 100644 --- a/entries/Dilbert.txt +++ b/entries/Dilbert.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ Dilbert -n. Name and title character of a comic strip nationally syndicated in the U.S. and enormously popular among hackers. is an archetypical engineer-nerd who works at an anonymous high-technology company; the strips present a lacerating satire of insane working conditions and idiotic management practices all too readily recognized by hackers. Adams, who spent nine years in cube 4S700R at Pacific Bell (not DEC as often reported), often remarks that he has never been able to come up with a fictional management blunder that his correspondents didn't quickly either report to have actually happened or top with a similar but even more bizarre incident. In 1996 Adams distilled his insights into the collective psychology of businesses into an even funnier book, The Principle (HarperCollins, ISBN 0-887-30787-6). See also pointy-haired , rat dance. +n. Name and title character of a comic strip nationally syndicated in the +U.S. and enormously popular among hackers. is an archetypical engineer-nerd +who works at an anonymous high-technology company; the strips present a +lacerating satire of insane working conditions and idiotic management +practices all too readily recognized by hackers. Adams, who spent nine years +in cube 4S700R at Pacific Bell (not DEC as often reported), often remarks +that he has never been able to come up with a fictional management blunder +that his correspondents didn't quickly either report to have actually +happened or top with a similar but even more bizarre incident. In 1996 Adams +distilled his insights into the collective psychology of businesses into an +even funnier book, The Principle (HarperCollins, ISBN 0-887-30787-6). See +also pointy-haired , rat dance. + diff --git a/entries/Discordianism.txt b/entries/Discordianism.txt index 9b8c3b0..867e382 100644 --- a/entries/Discordianism.txt +++ b/entries/Discordianism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Discordianism -/diskordi@nism/ , n. The veneration of Eris , a.k.a. Discordia; widely popular among hackers. Discordianism was popularized by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's novel Illuminatus! as a sort of self-subverting Dada-Zen for Westerners it should on no account be taken seriously but is far more serious than most jokes. +/diskordi@nism/ , n. The veneration of Eris , a.k.a. Discordia; widely +popular among hackers. Discordianism was popularized by Robert Shea and +Robert Anton Wilson's novel Illuminatus! as a sort of self-subverting +Dada-Zen for Westerners it should on no account be taken seriously but is +far more serious than most jokes. + diff --git a/entries/Dissociated Press.txt b/entries/Dissociated Press.txt index 8c190fb..00233d4 100644 --- a/entries/Dissociated Press.txt +++ b/entries/Dissociated Press.txt @@ -1,3 +1,26 @@ Dissociated Press -n. [play on Associated Press ; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Up, Doc? ] An algorithm for transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and then prints the next word or letter. EMACS has a handy command for this. 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 to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: n. A bit was named aften /beet@/ prefer to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, window sysIWYG and informash show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called travesty generators have been employed with considerable satirical effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo. +n. [play on Associated Press ; perhaps inspired by a reference in the 1950 +Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Up, Doc? ] An algorithm for transforming any text +into potentially humorous garbage even more efficiently than by passing it +through a marketroid. The algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive +words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step it searches for any +random occurrence in the original text of the last N words (or letters) +already printed and then prints the next word or letter. EMACS has a handy +command for this. 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 to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not +worth paying attention to the medium in question. Here is a short example of +letter-based Dissociated Press applied to the same source: window sysIWYG: +n. A bit was named aften /beet@/ prefer to use the other guy's re, +especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash +speech makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual abstractionsidered +interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! A hackish idle pastime is to apply +letter-based Dissociated Press to a random body of text and vgrep the output +in hopes of finding an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, +window sysIWYG and informash show some promise.) Iterated applications of +Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called +travesty generators have been employed with considerable satirical effect to +the utterances of Usenet flamers; see pseudo. + diff --git a/entries/DoS attack.txt b/entries/DoS attack.txt index a7aa2fb..fdca327 100644 --- a/entries/DoS attack.txt +++ b/entries/DoS attack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ DoS attack -// [Usenet,common; note that it's unrelated to DOS as name of an operating system] Abbreviation for Denial-Of-Service attack. This abbreviation is most often used of attempts to shut down newsgroups with floods of spam , or to flood network links with large amounts of traffic, or to flood network links with large amounts of traffic, often by abusing network broadcast addresses. Compare slashdot effect. +// [Usenet,common; note that it's unrelated to DOS as name of an operating +system] Abbreviation for Denial-Of-Service attack. This abbreviation is most +often used of attempts to shut down newsgroups with floods of spam , or to +flood network links with large amounts of traffic, or to flood network links +with large amounts of traffic, often by abusing network broadcast addresses. +Compare slashdot effect. + diff --git a/entries/Don't do that then!.txt b/entries/Don't do that then!.txt index 26e3b5d..ef34b7e 100644 --- a/entries/Don't do that then!.txt +++ b/entries/Don't do that then!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Don't do that then! -imp. [from an old doctor's office joke about a patient with a trivial complaint] Stock response to a user complaint. When I type control-S, the whole system comes to a halt for thirty seconds. Don't do that, then! (or So don't do that! ). Compare RTFM. Here's a classic example of Don't do that then! from Neal Stephenson's In The Beginning Was The Command Line. A friend of his built a network with a load of Macs and a few high-powered database servers. He found that from time to time the whole network would lock up for no apparent reason. The problem was eventually tracked down to MacOS's cooperative multitasking: when a user held down the mouse button for too long, the network stack wouldn't get a chance to run... +imp. [from an old doctor's office joke about a patient with a trivial +complaint] Stock response to a user complaint. When I type control-S, the +whole system comes to a halt for thirty seconds. Don't do that, then! (or So +don't do that! ). Compare RTFM. Here's a classic example of Don't do that +then! from Neal Stephenson's In The Beginning Was The Command Line. A friend +of his built a network with a load of Macs and a few high-powered database +servers. He found that from time to time the whole network would lock up for +no apparent reason. The problem was eventually tracked down to MacOS's +cooperative multitasking: when a user held down the mouse button for too +long, the network stack wouldn't get a chance to run... + diff --git a/entries/Doom, X of.txt b/entries/Doom, X of.txt index f8f8f5d..338b702 100644 --- a/entries/Doom, X of.txt +++ b/entries/Doom, X of.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Doom, X of -A construction similar to Death, X of , but derived rather from the Cracks of Doom in J.R.R. Tolkien s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The connotations are slightly different; a Foo of Death is mainly being held up to ridicule, but one would have to take a Foo of Doom a bit more seriously. +A construction similar to Death, X of , but derived rather from the Cracks +of Doom in J.R.R. Tolkien s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The connotations are +slightly different; a Foo of Death is mainly being held up to ridicule, but +one would have to take a Foo of Doom a bit more seriously. + diff --git a/entries/Dr. Fred Mbogo.txt b/entries/Dr. Fred Mbogo.txt index 7049c22..c01581f 100644 --- a/entries/Dr. Fred Mbogo.txt +++ b/entries/Dr. Fred Mbogo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ Dr. Fred Mbogo -/@mbohgoh, doktr fred/ , n. [Stanford] 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 Cleaning. The name comes from synergy between bogus and the original Dr. Mbogo, a witch doctor who was Gomez Addams' physician on the old Addams Family TV show. Interestingly enough, it turns out that under the rules for Swahili noun classes, m- is the characteristic prefix of nouns referring to human beings. As such, mbogo is quite plausible as a Swahili coinage for a person having the nature of a bogon. Actually, mbogo is indeed a Ki-Swahili word referring to the African Cape Buffalo, syncerus caffer. It is one of the big five dangerous African game animals, and many people with bush experience believe it to be the most dangerous of them. Compare Bloggs Family and J. Random Hacker ; see also Fred Foobar and fred. +/@mbohgoh, doktr fred/ , n. [Stanford] 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 +Cleaning. The name comes from synergy between bogus and the original Dr. +Mbogo, a witch doctor who was Gomez Addams' physician on the old Addams +Family TV show. Interestingly enough, it turns out that under the rules for +Swahili noun classes, m- is the characteristic prefix of nouns referring to +human beings. As such, mbogo is quite plausible as a Swahili coinage for a +person having the nature of a bogon. Actually, mbogo is indeed a Ki-Swahili +word referring to the African Cape Buffalo, syncerus caffer. It is one of +the big five dangerous African game animals, and many people with bush +experience believe it to be the most dangerous of them. Compare Bloggs +Family and J. Random Hacker ; see also Fred Foobar and fred. + diff --git a/entries/Dragon Book.txt b/entries/Dragon Book.txt index aa39a42..8432c3b 100644 --- a/entries/Dragon Book.txt +++ b/entries/Dragon Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ Dragon Book -n. The classic text Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools , by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman (Addison-Wesley 1986; ISBN 0-201-10088-6), so called because of the cover design featuring a dragon labeled complexity of compiler design and a knight bearing the lance LALR parser generator among his other trappings. This one is more specifically known as the Red Dragon Book (1986); an earlier edition, sans Sethi and titled Principles Of Compiler Design (Alfred V. Aho and Jeffrey D. Ullman; Addison-Wesley, 1977; ISBN 0-201-00022-9), was the ` reen Dragon Book (1977). (Also New Dragon Book , Old Dragon Book. ) The horsed knight and the Green Dragon were warily eying each other at a distance; now the knight is typing (wearing gauntlets!) at a terminal showing a video-game representation of the Red Dragon's head while the rest of the beast extends back in normal space. See also book titles. +n. The classic text Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools , by Alfred +V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman (Addison-Wesley 1986; ISBN +0-201-10088-6), so called because of the cover design featuring a dragon +labeled complexity of compiler design and a knight bearing the lance LALR +parser generator among his other trappings. This one is more specifically +known as the Red Dragon Book (1986); an earlier edition, sans Sethi and +titled Principles Of Compiler Design (Alfred V. Aho and Jeffrey D. Ullman; +Addison-Wesley, 1977; ISBN 0-201-00022-9), was the ` reen Dragon Book +(1977). (Also New Dragon Book , Old Dragon Book. ) The horsed knight and the +Green Dragon were warily eying each other at a distance; now the knight is +typing (wearing gauntlets!) at a terminal showing a video-game +representation of the Red Dragon's head while the rest of the beast extends +back in normal space. See also book titles. + diff --git a/entries/Dress.txt b/entries/Dress.txt index 458167b..0fd8f37 100644 --- a/entries/Dress.txt +++ b/entries/Dress.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ Dress -Casual, vaguely post-hippie; T-shirts, jeans, running shoes, Birk-enstocks (or bare feet). Long hair, beards, and moustaches are common. High incidence of tie-dye and intellectual or humorous slogan T-shirts. Until the mid-1990s such T-shirts were seldom computer-related, as that would have been too obvious but the hacker culture has since developed its own icons, and J. Random Hacker now often wears a Linux penguin or BSD daemon or a DeCSS protest shirt. A substantial minority prefers outdoorsy clothing hiking boots ( in case a mountain should suddenly spring up in the machine room , as one famous parody put it), khakis, lumberjack or chamois shirts, and the like. After about 1995 hacker dress styles assimilated some influence from punk, gothic, and rave subcultures. This was relatively mild and has manifested mostly as a tendency to wear a lot of black, especially when dressed up to the limit of formality. Other markers of those subcultures such as piercings, chains, and dyed hair remain relatively uncommon. Hackers appear to wear black more because it goes with everything and hides dirt than because they want to look like goths. Very few hackers actually fit the National Lampoon Nerd stereotype, though it lingers on at MIT and may have been more common before 1975. At least since the late Seventies backpacks have been more common than briefcases, and the hacker look has been more whole-earth than whole-polyester. Hackers dress for comfort, function, and minimal maintenance hassles rather than for appearance (some, perhaps unfortunately, take this to extremes and neglect personal hygiene). They have a very low tolerance of suits and other business attire; in fact, it is not uncommon for hackers to quit a job rather than conform to a dress code. When they are somehow backed into conforming to a dress code, they will find ways to subvert it, for example by wearing absurd novelty ties. Female hackers almost never wear visible makeup, and many use none at all. +Casual, vaguely post-hippie; T-shirts, jeans, running shoes, Birk-enstocks +(or bare feet). Long hair, beards, and moustaches are common. High incidence +of tie-dye and intellectual or humorous slogan T-shirts. Until the mid-1990s +such T-shirts were seldom computer-related, as that would have been too +obvious but the hacker culture has since developed its own icons, and J. +Random Hacker now often wears a Linux penguin or BSD daemon or a DeCSS +protest shirt. A substantial minority prefers outdoorsy clothing hiking +boots ( in case a mountain should suddenly spring up in the machine room , +as one famous parody put it), khakis, lumberjack or chamois shirts, and the +like. After about 1995 hacker dress styles assimilated some influence from +punk, gothic, and rave subcultures. This was relatively mild and has +manifested mostly as a tendency to wear a lot of black, especially when +dressed up to the limit of formality. Other markers of those subcultures +such as piercings, chains, and dyed hair remain relatively uncommon. Hackers +appear to wear black more because it goes with everything and hides dirt +than because they want to look like goths. Very few hackers actually fit the +National Lampoon Nerd stereotype, though it lingers on at MIT and may have +been more common before 1975. At least since the late Seventies backpacks +have been more common than briefcases, and the hacker look has been more +whole-earth than whole-polyester. Hackers dress for comfort, function, and +minimal maintenance hassles rather than for appearance (some, perhaps +unfortunately, take this to extremes and neglect personal hygiene). They +have a very low tolerance of suits and other business attire; in fact, it is +not uncommon for hackers to quit a job rather than conform to a dress code. +When they are somehow backed into conforming to a dress code, they will find +ways to subvert it, for example by wearing absurd novelty ties. Female +hackers almost never wear visible makeup, and many use none at all. + diff --git a/entries/Duff's device.txt b/entries/Duff's device.txt index b9c938d..3c479f9 100644 --- a/entries/Duff's device.txt +++ b/entries/Duff's device.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ Duff's device -n. The most dramatic use yet seen of fall through in C, invented by Tom Duff when he was at Lucasfilm. Trying to optimize all the instructions he could out of an inner loop that copied data serially onto an output port, he decided to unroll it. He then realized that the unrolled version could be implemented by interlacing the structures of a switch and a loop: register n = (count + 7) / 8; /* count 0 assumed */ switch (count % 8) { case 0: do { *to = *from++; case 7: *to = *from++; case 6: *to = *from++; case 5: *to = *from++; case 4: *to = *from++; case 3: *to = *from++; case 2: *to = *from++; case 1: *to = *from++; } while (--n 0); } Shocking though it appears to all who encounter it for the first time, the device is actually perfectly valid, legal C. C's default fall through in case statements has long been its most controversial single feature; Duff observed that This code forms some sort of argument in that debate, but I'm not sure whether it's for or against. Duff has discussed the device in detail at http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/duffs-device.html. Note that the omission of postfix ++ from *to was intentional (though confusing). Duff's device can be used to implement memory copy, but the original aim was to copy values serially into a magic IO register. +n. The most dramatic use yet seen of fall through in C, invented by Tom Duff +when he was at Lucasfilm. Trying to optimize all the instructions he could +out of an inner loop that copied data serially onto an output port, he +decided to unroll it. He then realized that the unrolled version could be +implemented by interlacing the structures of a switch and a loop: register n += (count + 7) / 8; /* count 0 assumed */ switch (count % 8) { case 0: do { +*to = *from++; case 7: *to = *from++; case 6: *to = *from++; case 5: *to = +*from++; case 4: *to = *from++; case 3: *to = *from++; case 2: *to = +*from++; case 1: *to = *from++; } while (--n 0); } Shocking though it +appears to all who encounter it for the first time, the device is actually +perfectly valid, legal C. C's default fall through in case statements has +long been its most controversial single feature; Duff observed that This +code forms some sort of argument in that debate, but I'm not sure whether +it's for or against. Duff has discussed the device in detail at +http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/duffs-device.html. Note that the omission of +postfix ++ from *to was intentional (though confusing). Duff's device can be +used to implement memory copy, but the original aim was to copy values +serially into a magic IO register. + diff --git a/entries/EBCDIC.txt b/entries/EBCDIC.txt index 0f703e1..c202863 100644 --- a/entries/EBCDIC.txt +++ b/entries/EBCDIC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ EBCDIC -/ebs@dik/ , /ebsee`dik/ , /ebk@dik/ , n. [abbreviation, Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code] An alleged character set used on IBM dinosaur s. It exists in at least six mutually incompatible versions, all featuring such delights as non-contiguous letter sequences and the absence of several ASCII punctuation characters fairly important for modern computer languages (exactly which characters are absent varies according to which version of EBCDIC you're looking at). IBM adapted EBCDIC from punched card code in the early 1960s and promulgated it as a customer-control tactic (see connector conspiracy ), spurning the already established ASCII standard. Today, IBM claims to be an open-systems company, but IBM's own description of the EBCDIC variants and how to convert between them is still internally classified top-secret, burn-before-reading. Hackers blanch at the very name of EBCDIC and consider it a manifestation of purest evil. See also fear and loathing. +/ebs@dik/ , /ebsee`dik/ , /ebk@dik/ , n. [abbreviation, Extended Binary +Coded Decimal Interchange Code] An alleged character set used on IBM +dinosaur s. It exists in at least six mutually incompatible versions, all +featuring such delights as non-contiguous letter sequences and the absence +of several ASCII punctuation characters fairly important for modern computer +languages (exactly which characters are absent varies according to which +version of EBCDIC you're looking at). IBM adapted EBCDIC from punched card +code in the early 1960s and promulgated it as a customer-control tactic (see +connector conspiracy ), spurning the already established ASCII standard. +Today, IBM claims to be an open-systems company, but IBM's own description +of the EBCDIC variants and how to convert between them is still internally +classified top-secret, burn-before-reading. Hackers blanch at the very name +of EBCDIC and consider it a manifestation of purest evil. See also fear and +loathing. + diff --git a/entries/ECP.txt b/entries/ECP.txt index 4930ee7..efc127e 100644 --- a/entries/ECP.txt +++ b/entries/ECP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ ECP /ECP/ , n. See spam and velveeta. + diff --git a/entries/ELIZA effect.txt b/entries/ELIZA effect.txt index 98bf6d2..1b0653c 100644 --- a/entries/ELIZA effect.txt +++ b/entries/ELIZA effect.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ ELIZA effect -/@li:z@ @fekt/ , n. [AI community] The tendency of humans to attach associations to terms from prior experience. For example, there is nothing magic about the symbol + that makes it well-suited to indicate addition; it's just that people associate it with addition. Using + or plus to mean addition in a computer language is taking advantage of the ELIZA effect. This term comes from the famous ELIZA program by Joseph Weizenbaum, which simulated a Rogerian psychotherapist by rephrasing many of the patient's statements as questions and posing them to the patient. It worked by simple pattern recognition and substitution of key words into canned phrases. It was so convincing, however, that there are many anecdotes about people becoming very emotionally caught up in dealing with ELIZA. All this was due to people's tendency to attach to words meanings which the computer never put there. The ELIZA effect is a Good Thing when writing a programming language, but it can blind you to serious shortcomings when analyzing an Artificial Intelligence system. Compare ad-hockery ; see also AI-complete. Sources for a clone of the original Eliza are available at ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/pub/AI_ATTIC/Programs/Classic/Eliza/Eliza.c. +/@li:z@ @fekt/ , n. [AI community] The tendency of humans to attach +associations to terms from prior experience. For example, there is nothing +magic about the symbol + that makes it well-suited to indicate addition; +it's just that people associate it with addition. Using + or plus to mean +addition in a computer language is taking advantage of the ELIZA effect. +This term comes from the famous ELIZA program by Joseph Weizenbaum, which +simulated a Rogerian psychotherapist by rephrasing many of the patient's +statements as questions and posing them to the patient. It worked by simple +pattern recognition and substitution of key words into canned phrases. It +was so convincing, however, that there are many anecdotes about people +becoming very emotionally caught up in dealing with ELIZA. All this was due +to people's tendency to attach to words meanings which the computer never +put there. The ELIZA effect is a Good Thing when writing a programming +language, but it can blind you to serious shortcomings when analyzing an +Artificial Intelligence system. Compare ad-hockery ; see also AI-complete. +Sources for a clone of the original Eliza are available at +ftp://ftp.cc.utexas.edu/pub/AI_ATTIC/Programs/Classic/Eliza/Eliza.c. + diff --git a/entries/EMACS.txt b/entries/EMACS.txt index e834b7b..1116f7a 100644 --- a/entries/EMACS.txt +++ b/entries/EMACS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ EMACS -/eemaks/ , n. [from Editing MACroS] The ne plus ultra of hacker editors, a programmable text editor with an entire LISP system inside it. It was originally written by Richard Stallman in TECO under ITS at the MIT AI lab; AI Memo 554 described it as an advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible real-time display editor. It has since been reimplemented any number of times, by various hackers, and versions exist that run under most major operating systems. Perhaps the most widely used version, also written by Stallman and now called GNU EMACS or GNUMACS , runs principally under Unix. (Its close relative XEmacs is the second most popular version.) It includes facilities to run compilation subprocesses and send and receive mail or news; many hackers spend up to 80% of their tube time inside it. Other variants include GOSMACS , CCA EMACS, UniPress EMACS, Montgomery EMACS, jove, epsilon, and MicroEMACS. (Though we use the original all-caps spelling here, it is nowadays very commonly Emacs. ) Some EMACS versions running under window managers iconify as an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest the one feature the editor does not (yet) include. Indeed, some hackers find EMACS too heavyweight and baroque for their taste, and expand the name as Escape Meta Alt Control Shift to spoof its heavy reliance on keystrokes decorated with bucky bits. Other spoof expansions include Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping (from when that was a lot of core ), Eventually malloc () s All Computer Storage , and EMACS Makes A Computer Slow (see recursive acronym ). See also vi. +/eemaks/ , n. [from Editing MACroS] The ne plus ultra of hacker editors, a +programmable text editor with an entire LISP system inside it. It was +originally written by Richard Stallman in TECO under ITS at the MIT AI lab; +AI Memo 554 described it as an advanced, self-documenting, customizable, +extensible real-time display editor. It has since been reimplemented any +number of times, by various hackers, and versions exist that run under most +major operating systems. Perhaps the most widely used version, also written +by Stallman and now called GNU EMACS or GNUMACS , runs principally under +Unix. (Its close relative XEmacs is the second most popular version.) It +includes facilities to run compilation subprocesses and send and receive +mail or news; many hackers spend up to 80% of their tube time inside it. +Other variants include GOSMACS , CCA EMACS, UniPress EMACS, Montgomery +EMACS, jove, epsilon, and MicroEMACS. (Though we use the original all-caps +spelling here, it is nowadays very commonly Emacs. ) Some EMACS versions +running under window managers iconify as an overflowing kitchen sink, +perhaps to suggest the one feature the editor does not (yet) include. +Indeed, some hackers find EMACS too heavyweight and baroque for their taste, +and expand the name as Escape Meta Alt Control Shift to spoof its heavy +reliance on keystrokes decorated with bucky bits. Other spoof expansions +include Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping (from when that was a lot of +core ), Eventually malloc () s All Computer Storage , and EMACS Makes A +Computer Slow (see recursive acronym ). See also vi. + diff --git a/entries/EMP.txt b/entries/EMP.txt index 6027f71..ee5bcb1 100644 --- a/entries/EMP.txt +++ b/entries/EMP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ EMP /EMP/ See spam. + diff --git a/entries/ENQ.txt b/entries/ENQ.txt index a75962b..256431e 100644 --- a/entries/ENQ.txt +++ b/entries/ENQ.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ ENQ -/enkw/ , /enk/ [from the ASCII mnemonic ENQuire for 0000101] An on-line convention for querying someone's availability. After opening a talk mode connection to someone apparently in heavy hack mode, one might type SYN SYN ENQ? (the SYNs representing notional synchronization bytes), and expect a return of ACK or NAK depending on whether or not the person felt interruptible. Compare ping , finger , and the usage of FOO? listed under talk mode. +/enkw/ , /enk/ [from the ASCII mnemonic ENQuire for 0000101] An on-line +convention for querying someone's availability. After opening a talk mode +connection to someone apparently in heavy hack mode, one might type SYN SYN +ENQ? (the SYNs representing notional synchronization bytes), and expect a +return of ACK or NAK depending on whether or not the person felt +interruptible. Compare ping , finger , and the usage of FOO? listed under +talk mode. + diff --git a/entries/EOD.txt b/entries/EOD.txt index 628544f..74b8567 100644 --- a/entries/EOD.txt +++ b/entries/EOD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ EOD -n. [IRC, Usenet] Abbreviation: End of Discussion. Used when the speaker believes he has stated his case and will not respond to further arguments or attacks. +n. [IRC, Usenet] Abbreviation: End of Discussion. Used when the speaker +believes he has stated his case and will not respond to further arguments or +attacks. + diff --git a/entries/EOF.txt b/entries/EOF.txt index fdd141c..31d488c 100644 --- a/entries/EOF.txt +++ b/entries/EOF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ EOF -/EOF/ , n. [abbreviation, End Of File ] 1. [techspeak] The out-of-band value returned by C's sequential character-input functions (and their equivalents in other environments) when end of file has been reached. This value is usually -1 under C libraries postdating V6 Unix, but was originally 0. DOS hackers think EOF is ^Z, and a few Amiga hackers think it's ^\. 2. [Unix] The keyboard character (usually control-D, the ASCII EOT (End Of Transmission) character) that is mapped by the terminal driver into an end-of-file condition. 3. Used by extension in non-computer contexts when a human is doing something that can be modeled as a sequential read and can't go further. Yeah, I looked for a list of 360 mnemonics to post as a joke, but I hit EOF pretty fast; all the library had was a JCL manual. See also EOL. +/EOF/ , n. [abbreviation, End Of File ] 1. [techspeak] The out-of-band value +returned by C's sequential character-input functions (and their equivalents +in other environments) when end of file has been reached. This value is +usually -1 under C libraries postdating V6 Unix, but was originally 0. DOS +hackers think EOF is ^Z, and a few Amiga hackers think it's ^\. 2. [Unix] +The keyboard character (usually control-D, the ASCII EOT (End Of +Transmission) character) that is mapped by the terminal driver into an +end-of-file condition. 3. Used by extension in non-computer contexts when a +human is doing something that can be modeled as a sequential read and can't +go further. Yeah, I looked for a list of 360 mnemonics to post as a joke, +but I hit EOF pretty fast; all the library had was a JCL manual. See also +EOL. + diff --git a/entries/EOL.txt b/entries/EOL.txt index 5692663..06b2438 100644 --- a/entries/EOL.txt +++ b/entries/EOL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ EOL -/EOL/ , n. [End Of Line] Syn. for newline , derived perhaps from the original CDC6600 Pascal. Now rare, but widely recognized and occasionally used for brevity. Used in the example entry under BNF. See also EOF. +/EOL/ , n. [End Of Line] Syn. for newline , derived perhaps from the +original CDC6600 Pascal. Now rare, but widely recognized and occasionally +used for brevity. Used in the example entry under BNF. See also EOF. + diff --git a/entries/EOU.txt b/entries/EOU.txt index 2ca6af6..a4af7f5 100644 --- a/entries/EOU.txt +++ b/entries/EOU.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ EOU -/EOU/ , n. The mnemonic of a mythical ASCII control character (End Of User) that would make an ASR-33 Teletype explode on receipt. This construction parodies the numerous obscure delimiter and control characters left in ASCII from the days when it was associated more with wire-service teletypes than computers (e.g., FS, GS, RS, US, EM, SUB, ETX, and esp. EOT). It is worth remembering that ASR-33s were big, noisy mechanical beasts with a lot of clattering parts; the notion that one might explode was nowhere near as ridiculous as it might seem to someone sitting in front of a tube or flatscreen today. +/EOU/ , n. The mnemonic of a mythical ASCII control character (End Of User) +that would make an ASR-33 Teletype explode on receipt. This construction +parodies the numerous obscure delimiter and control characters left in ASCII +from the days when it was associated more with wire-service teletypes than +computers (e.g., FS, GS, RS, US, EM, SUB, ETX, and esp. EOT). It is worth +remembering that ASR-33s were big, noisy mechanical beasts with a lot of +clattering parts; the notion that one might explode was nowhere near as +ridiculous as it might seem to someone sitting in front of a tube or +flatscreen today. + diff --git a/entries/EXCH.txt b/entries/EXCH.txt index d3e159d..c29ba3b 100644 --- a/entries/EXCH.txt +++ b/entries/EXCH.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ EXCH -/eksch@/ , /eksch/ , vt. To exchange two things, each for the other; to swap places. If you point to two people sitting down and say Exch! , you are asking them to trade places. EXCH, meaning EXCHange, was originally the name of a PDP-10 instruction that exchanged the contents of a register and a memory location. Many newer hackers are probably thinking instead of the PostScript exchange operator (which is usually written in lowercase). +/eksch@/ , /eksch/ , vt. To exchange two things, each for the other; to swap +places. If you point to two people sitting down and say Exch! , you are +asking them to trade places. EXCH, meaning EXCHange, was originally the name +of a PDP-10 instruction that exchanged the contents of a register and a +memory location. Many newer hackers are probably thinking instead of the +PostScript exchange operator (which is usually written in lowercase). + diff --git a/entries/EXE.txt b/entries/EXE.txt index d87075d..727682d 100644 --- a/entries/EXE.txt +++ b/entries/EXE.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ EXE -/eksee/ , /eeksee/ , /EXE/ , n. An executable binary file. Some operating systems (notably MS-DOS, VMS, and TWENEX) use the extension. EXE to mark such files. This usage is also occasionally found among Unix programmers even though Unix executables don't have any required suffix. +/eksee/ , /eeksee/ , /EXE/ , n. An executable binary file. Some operating +systems (notably MS-DOS, VMS, and TWENEX) use the extension. EXE to mark +such files. This usage is also occasionally found among Unix programmers +even though Unix executables don't have any required suffix. + diff --git a/entries/Easter egg.txt b/entries/Easter egg.txt index 49495e3..0af6c91 100644 --- a/entries/Easter egg.txt +++ b/entries/Easter egg.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Easter egg -n. [from the custom of the Easter Egg hunt observed in the U.S. and many parts of Europe] 1. A message hidden in the object code of a program as a joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or browsing the code. 2. A message, graphic, or sound effect emitted by a program (or, on a PC, the BIOS ROM) in response to some undocumented set of commands or keystrokes, intended as a joke or to display program credits. One well-known early Easter egg found in a couple of OSes caused them to respond to the command make love with not war?. Many personal computers have much more elaborate eggs hidden in ROM, including lists of the developers' names, political exhortations, snatches of music, and (in one case) graphics images of the entire development team. +n. [from the custom of the Easter Egg hunt observed in the U.S. and many +parts of Europe] 1. A message hidden in the object code of a program as a +joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or browsing the code. 2. +A message, graphic, or sound effect emitted by a program (or, on a PC, the +BIOS ROM) in response to some undocumented set of commands or keystrokes, +intended as a joke or to display program credits. One well-known early +Easter egg found in a couple of OSes caused them to respond to the command +make love with not war?. Many personal computers have much more elaborate +eggs hidden in ROM, including lists of the developers' names, political +exhortations, snatches of music, and (in one case) graphics images of the +entire development team. + diff --git a/entries/Easter egging.txt b/entries/Easter egging.txt index 0244f03..fecbd5f 100644 --- a/entries/Easter egging.txt +++ b/entries/Easter egging.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Easter egging -n. [IBM] The act of replacing unrelated components more or less at random in hopes that a malfunction will go away. Hackers consider this the normal operating mode of field circus techs and do not love them for it. See also the jokes under field circus. Compare shotgun debugging. +n. [IBM] The act of replacing unrelated components more or less at random in +hopes that a malfunction will go away. Hackers consider this the normal +operating mode of field circus techs and do not love them for it. See also +the jokes under field circus. Compare shotgun debugging. + diff --git a/entries/Education.txt b/entries/Education.txt index 337468c..cffc3a2 100644 --- a/entries/Education.txt +++ b/entries/Education.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Education -Nearly all hackers past their teens are either college-degreed or self-educated to an equivalent level. The self-taught hacker is often considered (at least by other hackers) to be better-motivated, and may be more respected, than his school-shaped counterpart. Academic areas from which people often gravitate into hackerdom include (besides the obvious computer science and electrical engineering) physics, mathematics, linguistics, and philosophy. +Nearly all hackers past their teens are either college-degreed or +self-educated to an equivalent level. The self-taught hacker is often +considered (at least by other hackers) to be better-motivated, and may be +more respected, than his school-shaped counterpart. Academic areas from +which people often gravitate into hackerdom include (besides the obvious +computer science and electrical engineering) physics, mathematics, +linguistics, and philosophy. + diff --git a/entries/El Camino Bignum.txt b/entries/El Camino Bignum.txt index e927c6f..0671454 100644 --- a/entries/El Camino Bignum.txt +++ b/entries/El Camino Bignum.txt @@ -1,3 +1,26 @@ El Camino Bignum -/el k@meenoh bignuhm/ , n. The road mundanely called El Camino Real, running along San Francisco peninsula. It originally extended all the way down to Mexico City; many portions of the old road are still intact. Navigation on the San Francisco peninsula is usually done relative to El Camino Real, which defines logical north and south even though it isn't really north-south in many places. El Camino Real runs right past Stanford University and so is familiar to hackers. The Spanish word real (which has two syllables: /rayahl/ ) means royal ; El Camino Real is the royal road. In the FORTRAN language, a real quantity is a number typically precise to seven significant digits, and a double precision quantity is a larger floating-point number, precise to perhaps fourteen significant digits (other languages have similar real types). When a hacker from MIT visited Stanford in 1976, he remarked what a long road El Camino Real was. Making a pun on real , he started calling it El Camino Double Precision but when the hacker was told that the road was hundreds of miles long, he renamed it El Camino Bignum , and that name has stuck. (See bignum. ) [GLS has since let slip that the unnamed hacker in this story was in fact himself ESR] In the early 1990s, the synonym El Camino Virtual was been reported as an alternate at IBM and Amdahl sites in the Valley. Mathematically literate hackers in the Valley have also been heard to refer to some major cross-street intersecting El Camino Real as El Camino Imaginary. One popular theory is that the intersection is located near Moffett Field where they keep all those complex planes. +/el k@meenoh bignuhm/ , n. The road mundanely called El Camino Real, running +along San Francisco peninsula. It originally extended all the way down to +Mexico City; many portions of the old road are still intact. Navigation on +the San Francisco peninsula is usually done relative to El Camino Real, +which defines logical north and south even though it isn't really +north-south in many places. El Camino Real runs right past Stanford +University and so is familiar to hackers. The Spanish word real (which has +two syllables: /rayahl/ ) means royal ; El Camino Real is the royal road. In +the FORTRAN language, a real quantity is a number typically precise to seven +significant digits, and a double precision quantity is a larger +floating-point number, precise to perhaps fourteen significant digits (other +languages have similar real types). When a hacker from MIT visited Stanford +in 1976, he remarked what a long road El Camino Real was. Making a pun on +real , he started calling it El Camino Double Precision but when the hacker +was told that the road was hundreds of miles long, he renamed it El Camino +Bignum , and that name has stuck. (See bignum. ) [GLS has since let slip +that the unnamed hacker in this story was in fact himself ESR] In the early +1990s, the synonym El Camino Virtual was been reported as an alternate at +IBM and Amdahl sites in the Valley. Mathematically literate hackers in the +Valley have also been heard to refer to some major cross-street intersecting +El Camino Real as El Camino Imaginary. One popular theory is that the +intersection is located near Moffett Field where they keep all those complex +planes. + diff --git a/entries/English.txt b/entries/English.txt index 41761a1..8af69a5 100644 --- a/entries/English.txt +++ b/entries/English.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ English -1. n. obs. The source code for a program, which may be in any language, as opposed to the linkable or executable binary produced from it by a compiler. The idea behind the term is that to a real hacker, a program written in his favorite programming language is at least as readable as. Usage: mostly by old-time hackers, though recognizable in context. Today the preferred shorthand is simply source. 2. The official name of the database language used by the old Pick Operating System, actually a sort of crufty, brain-damaged SQL with delusions of grandeur. The name permitted marketroid s to say Yes, and you can program our computers in ! to ignorant suit s without quite running afoul of the truth-in-advertising laws. +1. n. obs. The source code for a program, which may be in any language, as +opposed to the linkable or executable binary produced from it by a compiler. +The idea behind the term is that to a real hacker, a program written in his +favorite programming language is at least as readable as. Usage: mostly by +old-time hackers, though recognizable in context. Today the preferred +shorthand is simply source. 2. The official name of the database language +used by the old Pick Operating System, actually a sort of crufty, +brain-damaged SQL with delusions of grandeur. The name permitted marketroid +s to say Yes, and you can program our computers in ! to ignorant suit s +without quite running afoul of the truth-in-advertising laws. + diff --git a/entries/Eric Conspiracy.txt b/entries/Eric Conspiracy.txt index cc2de18..0e2dd64 100644 --- a/entries/Eric Conspiracy.txt +++ b/entries/Eric Conspiracy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Eric Conspiracy -n. A shadowy group of mustachioed hackers named Eric first pinpointed as a sinister conspiracy by an infamous talk.bizarre posting ca. 1987; this was doubtless influenced by the numerous Eric jokes in the Monty Python oeuvre. There do indeed seem to be considerably more mustachioed Erics in hackerdom than the frequency of these three traits can account for unless they are correlated in some arcane way. Well-known examples include Eric Allman (he of the Allman style described under indent style ) and Erik Fair (co-author of NNTP); your editor has heard from more than a hundred others by email, and the organization line Eric Conspiracy Secret Laboratories now emanates regularly from more than one site. See the Eric Conspiracy Web Page at http://www.catb.org/~esr/ecsl/ for full details. +n. A shadowy group of mustachioed hackers named Eric first pinpointed as a +sinister conspiracy by an infamous talk.bizarre posting ca. 1987; this was +doubtless influenced by the numerous Eric jokes in the Monty Python oeuvre. +There do indeed seem to be considerably more mustachioed Erics in hackerdom +than the frequency of these three traits can account for unless they are +correlated in some arcane way. Well-known examples include Eric Allman (he +of the Allman style described under indent style ) and Erik Fair (co-author +of NNTP); your editor has heard from more than a hundred others by email, +and the organization line Eric Conspiracy Secret Laboratories now emanates +regularly from more than one site. See the Eric Conspiracy Web Page at +http://www.catb.org/~esr/ecsl/ for full details. + diff --git a/entries/Eris.txt b/entries/Eris.txt index 56edef9..4cb9c89 100644 --- a/entries/Eris.txt +++ b/entries/Eris.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Eris -/eris/ , n. The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion, and Things You Know Not Of; her name was latinized to Discordia and she was worshiped by that name in Rome. Not a very friendly deity in the Classical original, she was reinvented as a more benign personification of creative anarchy starting in 1959 by the adherents of Discordianism and has since been a semi-serious subject of veneration in several fringe cultures, including hackerdom. See Discordianism , Church of the SubGenius. +/eris/ , n. The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion, and Things You +Know Not Of; her name was latinized to Discordia and she was worshiped by +that name in Rome. Not a very friendly deity in the Classical original, she +was reinvented as a more benign personification of creative anarchy starting +in 1959 by the adherents of Discordianism and has since been a semi-serious +subject of veneration in several fringe cultures, including hackerdom. See +Discordianism , Church of the SubGenius. + diff --git a/entries/Evil Empire.txt b/entries/Evil Empire.txt index 9a93708..e0698b2 100644 --- a/entries/Evil Empire.txt +++ b/entries/Evil Empire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Evil Empire -n. [from Ronald Reagan's famous characterization of the communist Soviet Union] Formerly IBM , now Microsoft. Functionally, the company most hackers love to hate at any given time. Hackers like to see themselves as romantic rebels against the Evil Empire, and frequently adopt this role to the point of ascribing rather more power and malice to the Empire than it actually has. See also Borg and search for Evil Empire pages on the Web. +n. [from Ronald Reagan's famous characterization of the communist Soviet +Union] Formerly IBM , now Microsoft. Functionally, the company most hackers +love to hate at any given time. Hackers like to see themselves as romantic +rebels against the Evil Empire, and frequently adopt this role to the point +of ascribing rather more power and malice to the Empire than it actually +has. See also Borg and search for Evil Empire pages on the Web. + diff --git a/entries/Exon.txt b/entries/Exon.txt index 4f1619d..ac88cb0 100644 --- a/entries/Exon.txt +++ b/entries/Exon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Exon -/ekson/ , excl. A generic obscenity that quickly entered wide use on the Internet and Usenet after the passage of the Communications Decency Act. From the last name of Senator James Exon (Democrat-Nebraska), primary author of the CDA. This usage outlasted the CDA itself, which was quashed a little over a year later by one of the most acerbic pro-free-speech opinions ever uttered by the Supreme Court. The campaign against it was led by an alliance of hackers and civil libertarians, and was the first effective political mobilization of the hacker culture. Use of Exon's name as an expletive outlived the CDA controversy itself. +/ekson/ , excl. A generic obscenity that quickly entered wide use on the +Internet and Usenet after the passage of the Communications Decency Act. +From the last name of Senator James Exon (Democrat-Nebraska), primary author +of the CDA. This usage outlasted the CDA itself, which was quashed a little +over a year later by one of the most acerbic pro-free-speech opinions ever +uttered by the Supreme Court. The campaign against it was led by an alliance +of hackers and civil libertarians, and was the first effective political +mobilization of the hacker culture. Use of Exon's name as an expletive +outlived the CDA controversy itself. + diff --git a/entries/Exploder.txt b/entries/Exploder.txt index cd3a98d..b8c00e3 100644 --- a/entries/Exploder.txt +++ b/entries/Exploder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Exploder -n. Used within Microsoft to refer to the Windows Explorer, the web-interface component of Windows 95 and WinNT 4. Our spies report that most of the heavy guns at MS came from a Unix background and use command line utilities; even they are scornful of the over-gingerbreaded WIMP environment s that they have been called upon to create. +n. Used within Microsoft to refer to the Windows Explorer, the web-interface +component of Windows 95 and WinNT 4. Our spies report that most of the heavy +guns at MS came from a Unix background and use command line utilities; even +they are scornful of the over-gingerbreaded WIMP environment s that they +have been called upon to create. + diff --git a/entries/FAQ list.txt b/entries/FAQ list.txt index 8106c26..57a6858 100644 --- a/entries/FAQ list.txt +++ b/entries/FAQ list.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ FAQ list /FAQ list/ , /fak list/ , n. [common; Usenet] Syn FAQ , sense 2. + diff --git a/entries/FAQ.txt b/entries/FAQ.txt index c38171b..061f83b 100644 --- a/entries/FAQ.txt +++ b/entries/FAQ.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ FAQ -/FAQ/ , /fak/ , n. [Usenet] 1. A Frequently Asked Question. 2. A compendium of accumulated lore, posted periodically to high-volume newsgroups in an attempt to forestall such questions. Some people prefer the term FAQ list or FAQL /fakl/ , reserving FAQ for sense 1. This lexicon itself serves as a good example of a collection of one kind of lore, although it is far too big for a regular FAQ posting. Examples: What is the proper type of NULL? and What's that funny name for the # character? are both Frequently Asked Questions. Several FAQs refer readers to the Jargon File. +/FAQ/ , /fak/ , n. [Usenet] 1. A Frequently Asked Question. 2. A compendium +of accumulated lore, posted periodically to high-volume newsgroups in an +attempt to forestall such questions. Some people prefer the term FAQ list or +FAQL /fakl/ , reserving FAQ for sense 1. This lexicon itself serves as a +good example of a collection of one kind of lore, although it is far too big +for a regular FAQ posting. Examples: What is the proper type of NULL? and +What's that funny name for the # character? are both Frequently Asked +Questions. Several FAQs refer readers to the Jargon File. + diff --git a/entries/FAQL.txt b/entries/FAQL.txt index 056eb54..145d9d3 100644 --- a/entries/FAQL.txt +++ b/entries/FAQL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ FAQL /fakl/ , n. Syn. FAQ list. + diff --git a/entries/FISH queue.txt b/entries/FISH queue.txt index cfb25b3..dc7609b 100644 --- a/entries/FISH queue.txt +++ b/entries/FISH queue.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ FISH queue -n. [acronym, by analogy with FIFO (First In, First Out)] First In, Still Here. A joking way of pointing out that processing of a particular sequence of events or requests has stopped dead. Also FISH mode and FISHnet ; the latter may be applied to any network that is running really slowly or exhibiting extreme flakiness. +n. [acronym, by analogy with FIFO (First In, First Out)] First In, Still +Here. A joking way of pointing out that processing of a particular sequence +of events or requests has stopped dead. Also FISH mode and FISHnet ; the +latter may be applied to any network that is running really slowly or +exhibiting extreme flakiness. + diff --git a/entries/FITNR.txt b/entries/FITNR.txt index bd3e7b3..f3bab31 100644 --- a/entries/FITNR.txt +++ b/entries/FITNR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ FITNR -// , adj. [Thinking Machines, Inc.] Fixed In The Next Release. A written-only notation attached to bug reports. Often wishful thinking. +// , adj. [Thinking Machines, Inc.] Fixed In The Next Release. A +written-only notation attached to bug reports. Often wishful thinking. + diff --git a/entries/FIXME.txt b/entries/FIXME.txt index 8ba962a..703c2a4 100644 --- a/entries/FIXME.txt +++ b/entries/FIXME.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ FIXME -imp. [common] A standard tag often put in C comments near a piece of code that needs work. The point of doing so is that a grep or a similar pattern-matching tool can find all such places quickly. /*FIXME:notethisiscommonin GNU code.*/ Compare XXX. +imp. [common] A standard tag often put in C comments near a piece of code +that needs work. The point of doing so is that a grep or a similar +pattern-matching tool can find all such places quickly. +/*FIXME:notethisiscommonin GNU code.*/ Compare XXX. + diff --git a/entries/FM.txt b/entries/FM.txt index 84f293f..93803c8 100644 --- a/entries/FM.txt +++ b/entries/FM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ FM -/FM/ , n. 1. [common] Not Frequency Modulation but rather an abbreviation for Fucking Manual , the back-formation from RTFM. Used to refer to the manual itself in the RTFM. Have you seen the Networking FM lately? 2. Abbreviation for Fucking Magic , used in the sense of black magic. +/FM/ , n. 1. [common] Not Frequency Modulation but rather an abbreviation +for Fucking Manual , the back-formation from RTFM. Used to refer to the +manual itself in the RTFM. Have you seen the Networking FM lately? 2. +Abbreviation for Fucking Magic , used in the sense of black magic. + diff --git a/entries/FOAF.txt b/entries/FOAF.txt index 8a64e2f..f41018b 100644 --- a/entries/FOAF.txt +++ b/entries/FOAF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ FOAF -// , n. [Usenet; common] Acronym for Friend Of A Friend. The source of an unverified, possibly untrue story. This term was not originated by hackers (it is used in Jan Brunvand's books on urban folklore), but is much better recognized on Usenet and elsewhere than in mainstream English. +// , n. [Usenet; common] Acronym for Friend Of A Friend. The source of an +unverified, possibly untrue story. This term was not originated by hackers +(it is used in Jan Brunvand's books on urban folklore), but is much better +recognized on Usenet and elsewhere than in mainstream English. + diff --git a/entries/FOD.txt b/entries/FOD.txt index 233693b..16c94dd 100644 --- a/entries/FOD.txt +++ b/entries/FOD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ FOD -/fod/ , v. [Abbreviation for Finger of Death , originally a spell-name from fantasy gaming] To terminate with extreme prejudice and with no regard for other people. From MUD s where the wizard command FOD player results in the immediate and total death of player , usually as punishment for obnoxious behavior. This usage migrated to other circumstances, such as I'm going to fod the process that is burning all the cycles. In aviation, FOD means Foreign Object Damage, e.g., what happens when a jet engine sucks up a rock on the runway or a bird in flight. Finger of Death is a distressingly apt description of what this generally does to the engine. +/fod/ , v. [Abbreviation for Finger of Death , originally a spell-name from +fantasy gaming] To terminate with extreme prejudice and with no regard for +other people. From MUD s where the wizard command FOD player results in the +immediate and total death of player , usually as punishment for obnoxious +behavior. This usage migrated to other circumstances, such as I'm going to +fod the process that is burning all the cycles. In aviation, FOD means +Foreign Object Damage, e.g., what happens when a jet engine sucks up a rock +on the runway or a bird in flight. Finger of Death is a distressingly apt +description of what this generally does to the engine. + diff --git a/entries/FRS.txt b/entries/FRS.txt index 520f24b..c488cf2 100644 --- a/entries/FRS.txt +++ b/entries/FRS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ FRS -// , n.,obs. [obs.] Abbreviation for Freely Redistributable Software which entered general use on the Internet in 1995 after years of low-level confusion over what exactly to call software written to be passed around and shared (contending terms including freeware , shareware , and sourceware were never universally felt to be satisfactory for various subtle reasons). The first formal conference on freely redistributable software was held in Cambridge, Massachussetts, in February 1996 (sponsored by the Free Software Foundation). The conference organizers used the FRS abbreviation heavily in its calls for papers and other literature during 1995. The term was in steady though not common use until 1998 and the invention of open source , after which it became swiftly obsolete. +// , n.,obs. [obs.] Abbreviation for Freely Redistributable Software which +entered general use on the Internet in 1995 after years of low-level +confusion over what exactly to call software written to be passed around and +shared (contending terms including freeware , shareware , and sourceware +were never universally felt to be satisfactory for various subtle reasons). +The first formal conference on freely redistributable software was held in +Cambridge, Massachussetts, in February 1996 (sponsored by the Free Software +Foundation). The conference organizers used the FRS abbreviation heavily in +its calls for papers and other literature during 1995. The term was in +steady though not common use until 1998 and the invention of open source , +after which it became swiftly obsolete. + diff --git a/entries/FSF.txt b/entries/FSF.txt index 62b0166..092975f 100644 --- a/entries/FSF.txt +++ b/entries/FSF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ FSF -/FSF/ , abbrev. Common abbreviation (both spoken and written) for the name of the Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit educational association formed to support the GNU project. +/FSF/ , abbrev. Common abbreviation (both spoken and written) for the name +of the Free Software Foundation, a nonprofit educational association formed +to support the GNU project. + diff --git a/entries/FUBAR.txt b/entries/FUBAR.txt index fffff01..02c5d27 100644 --- a/entries/FUBAR.txt +++ b/entries/FUBAR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ FUBAR -n. The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX. A good example of how jargon can occasionally be snuck past the suit s; see foobar , and foo for a fuller etymology. +n. The Failed UniBus Address Register in a VAX. A good example of how jargon +can occasionally be snuck past the suit s; see foobar , and foo for a fuller +etymology. + diff --git a/entries/FUD wars.txt b/entries/FUD wars.txt index 3d70c39..8c33dac 100644 --- a/entries/FUD wars.txt +++ b/entries/FUD wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ FUD wars -/fuhd worz/ , n. 1, [from FUD ] Historically, political posturing engaged in by hardware and software vendors ostensibly committed to standardization but actually willing to fragment the market to protect their own shares. The Unix International vs.: OSF conflict about Unix standards was one outstanding example; Microsoft vs. Netscape vs. W3C about HTML standards is another. 2. Since about 2000 the FUD wars have a different character; the battle over open standards has been partly replaced and partly subsumed by the argument between closed- and open source proponents. Nowadays, accordingly, the term is most likely to be used of anti-open-source propaganda emitted by Microsoft. Compare astroturfing. +/fuhd worz/ , n. 1, [from FUD ] Historically, political posturing engaged in +by hardware and software vendors ostensibly committed to standardization but +actually willing to fragment the market to protect their own shares. The +Unix International vs.: OSF conflict about Unix standards was one +outstanding example; Microsoft vs. Netscape vs. W3C about HTML standards is +another. 2. Since about 2000 the FUD wars have a different character; the +battle over open standards has been partly replaced and partly subsumed by +the argument between closed- and open source proponents. Nowadays, +accordingly, the term is most likely to be used of anti-open-source +propaganda emitted by Microsoft. Compare astroturfing. + diff --git a/entries/FUD.txt b/entries/FUD.txt index 97939ba..c8a6793 100644 --- a/entries/FUD.txt +++ b/entries/FUD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ FUD -/fuhd/ , n. Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own company: FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products. The idea, of course, was to persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather than with competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was traditionally accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of competitors' equipment or software. See IBM. After 1990 the term FUD was associated increasingly frequently with Microsoft , and has become generalized to refer to any kind of disinformation used as a competitive weapon. [In 2003, SCO sued IBM in an action which, among other things, alleged SCO's proprietary control of Linux. The SCO suit rapidly became infamous for the number and magnitude of falsehoods alleged in SCO's filings. In October 2003, SCO's lawyers filed a memorandum in which they actually had the temerity to link to the web version of this entry in furtherance of their claims. Whilst we appreciate the compliment of being treated as an authority, we can return it only by observing that SCO has become a nest of liars and thieves compared to which IBM at its historic worst looked positively angelic. Any judge or law clerk reading this should surf through to my collected resources on this topic for the appalling details. +/fuhd/ , n. Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own +company: FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people +instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering +[Amdahl] products. The idea, of course, was to persuade them to go with safe +IBM gear rather than with competitors' equipment. This implicit coercion was +traditionally accomplished by promising that Good Things would happen to +people who stuck with IBM, but Dark Shadows loomed over the future of +competitors' equipment or software. See IBM. After 1990 the term FUD was +associated increasingly frequently with Microsoft , and has become +generalized to refer to any kind of disinformation used as a competitive +weapon. [In 2003, SCO sued IBM in an action which, among other things, +alleged SCO's proprietary control of Linux. The SCO suit rapidly became +infamous for the number and magnitude of falsehoods alleged in SCO's +filings. In October 2003, SCO's lawyers filed a memorandum in which they +actually had the temerity to link to the web version of this entry in +furtherance of their claims. Whilst we appreciate the compliment of being +treated as an authority, we can return it only by observing that SCO has +become a nest of liars and thieves compared to which IBM at its historic +worst looked positively angelic. Any judge or law clerk reading this should +surf through to my collected resources on this topic for the appalling +details. + diff --git a/entries/FidoNet.txt b/entries/FidoNet.txt index 3688565..1119b51 100644 --- a/entries/FidoNet.txt +++ b/entries/FidoNet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ FidoNet -n. A worldwide hobbyist network of personal computers which exchanges mail, discussion groups, and files. Founded in 1984 and originally consisting only of IBM PCs and compatibles, FidoNet now includes such diverse machines as Apple ][s, Ataris, Amigas, and Unix systems. For years FidoNet actually grew faster than Usenet, but the advent of cheap Internet access probably means its days are numbered. FidoNet's site count has dropped from 38K nodes in 1996 through 15K nodes in 2001 to 10K nodes in late 2003, and most of those are probably single-user machines rather than the thriving BBSes of yore. +n. A worldwide hobbyist network of personal computers which exchanges mail, +discussion groups, and files. Founded in 1984 and originally consisting only +of IBM PCs and compatibles, FidoNet now includes such diverse machines as +Apple ][s, Ataris, Amigas, and Unix systems. For years FidoNet actually grew +faster than Usenet, but the advent of cheap Internet access probably means +its days are numbered. FidoNet's site count has dropped from 38K nodes in +1996 through 15K nodes in 2001 to 10K nodes in late 2003, and most of those +are probably single-user machines rather than the thriving BBSes of yore. + diff --git a/entries/Finagle's Law.txt b/entries/Finagle's Law.txt index 45f83c1..811001a 100644 --- a/entries/Finagle's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Finagle's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Finagle's Law -n. The generalized or folk version of Murphy's Law , fully named Finagle's Law of Dynamic Negatives and usually rendered Anything that can go wrong, will. May have been first published by Francis P. Chisholm in his 1963 essay The Chisholm Effect , later reprinted in the classic anthology A Stress Analysis Of A Strapless Evening Gown: And Other Essays For A Scientific Eye (Robert Baker ed, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-852608-7). The label Finagle's Law was popularized by SF author Larry Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of asteroid miners; this Belter culture professed a religion and/or running joke involving the worship of the dread god Finagle and his mad prophet Murphy. Some technical and scientific cultures (e.g., paleontologists) know it under the name Sod's Law ; this usage may be more common in Great Britain. One variant favored among hackers is The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum ; Niven specifically referred to this as O'Toole's Corollary of Finagle's Law. See also Hanlon's Razor. +n. The generalized or folk version of Murphy's Law , fully named Finagle's +Law of Dynamic Negatives and usually rendered Anything that can go wrong, +will. May have been first published by Francis P. Chisholm in his 1963 essay +The Chisholm Effect , later reprinted in the classic anthology A Stress +Analysis Of A Strapless Evening Gown: And Other Essays For A Scientific Eye +(Robert Baker ed, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-852608-7). The label Finagle's +Law was popularized by SF author Larry Niven in several stories depicting a +frontier culture of asteroid miners; this Belter culture professed a +religion and/or running joke involving the worship of the dread god Finagle +and his mad prophet Murphy. Some technical and scientific cultures (e.g., +paleontologists) know it under the name Sod's Law ; this usage may be more +common in Great Britain. One variant favored among hackers is The perversity +of the Universe tends towards a maximum ; Niven specifically referred to +this as O'Toole's Corollary of Finagle's Law. See also Hanlon's Razor. + diff --git a/entries/Flyspeck 3.txt b/entries/Flyspeck 3.txt index 1eab772..db9c275 100644 --- a/entries/Flyspeck 3.txt +++ b/entries/Flyspeck 3.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Flyspeck 3 -n. Standard name for any font that is so tiny as to be unreadable (by analogy with names like Helvetica 10 for 10-point Helvetica). Legal boilerplate is usually printed in Flyspeck 3. +n. Standard name for any font that is so tiny as to be unreadable (by +analogy with names like Helvetica 10 for 10-point Helvetica). Legal +boilerplate is usually printed in Flyspeck 3. + diff --git a/entries/Food.txt b/entries/Food.txt index 5d4eee2..a876be7 100644 --- a/entries/Food.txt +++ b/entries/Food.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ Food -Ethnic. Spicy. Oriental, esp. Chinese and most esp. Szechuan, Hunan, and Mandarin (hackers consider Cantonese vaguely dclass ). Hackers prefer the exotic; for example, the Japanese-food fans among them will eat with gusto such delicacies as fugu (poisonous pufferfish) and whale. Thai food has experienced flurries of popularity. Where available, high-quality Jewish delicatessen food is much esteemed. A visible minority of Southwestern and Pacific Coast hackers prefers Mexican. For those all-night hacks, pizza and microwaved burritos are big. Interestingly, though the mainstream culture has tended to think of hackers as incorrigible junk-food junkies, many have at least mildly health-foodist attitudes and are fairly discriminating about what they eat. This may be generational; anecdotal evidence suggests that the stereotype was more on the mark before the early 1980s. +Ethnic. Spicy. Oriental, esp. Chinese and most esp. Szechuan, Hunan, and +Mandarin (hackers consider Cantonese vaguely dclass ). Hackers prefer the +exotic; for example, the Japanese-food fans among them will eat with gusto +such delicacies as fugu (poisonous pufferfish) and whale. Thai food has +experienced flurries of popularity. Where available, high-quality Jewish +delicatessen food is much esteemed. A visible minority of Southwestern and +Pacific Coast hackers prefers Mexican. For those all-night hacks, pizza and +microwaved burritos are big. Interestingly, though the mainstream culture +has tended to think of hackers as incorrigible junk-food junkies, many have +at least mildly health-foodist attitudes and are fairly discriminating about +what they eat. This may be generational; anecdotal evidence suggests that +the stereotype was more on the mark before the early 1980s. + diff --git a/entries/Foonly.txt b/entries/Foonly.txt index 79ecf0c..82ac664 100644 --- a/entries/Foonly.txt +++ b/entries/Foonly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ Foonly -n. 1. The PDP-10 successor that was to have been built by the Super Foonly project at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory along with a new operating system. (The name itself came from FOO NLI, an error message emitted by a PDP-10 assembler at SAIL meaning FOO is Not a Legal Identifier. The intention was to leapfrog from the old DEC timesharing system SAIL was then running to a new generation, bypassing TENEX which at that time was the ARPANET standard. ARPA funding for both the Super Foonly and the new operating system was cut in 1974. Most of the design team went to DEC and contributed greatly to the design of the PDP-10 model KL10. 2. The name of the company formed by Dave Poole, one of the principal Super Foonly designers, and one of hackerdom's more colorful personalities. Many people remember the parrot which sat on Poole's shoulder and was a regular companion. 3. Any of the machines built by Poole's company. The first was the F-1 (a.k.a. Super Foonly), which was the computational engine used to create the graphics in the movie TRON. The F-1 was the fastest PDP-10 ever built, but only one was ever made. The effort drained Foonly of its financial resources, and the company turned towards building smaller, slower, and much less expensive machines. Unfortunately, these ran not the popular TOPS-20 but a TENEX variant called Foonex; this seriously limited their market. Also, the machines shipped were actually wire-wrapped engineering prototypes requiring individual attention from more than usually competent site personnel, and thus had significant reliability problems. Poole's legendary temper and unwillingness to suffer fools gladly did not help matters. By the time DEC's Jupiter Project followon to the PDP-10 was cancelled in 1983, Foonly's proposal to build another F-1 was eclipsed by the Mars , and the company never quite recovered. See the Mars entry for the continuation and moral of this story. +n. 1. The PDP-10 successor that was to have been built by the Super Foonly +project at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory along with a new +operating system. (The name itself came from FOO NLI, an error message +emitted by a PDP-10 assembler at SAIL meaning FOO is Not a Legal Identifier. +The intention was to leapfrog from the old DEC timesharing system SAIL was +then running to a new generation, bypassing TENEX which at that time was the +ARPANET standard. ARPA funding for both the Super Foonly and the new +operating system was cut in 1974. Most of the design team went to DEC and +contributed greatly to the design of the PDP-10 model KL10. 2. The name of +the company formed by Dave Poole, one of the principal Super Foonly +designers, and one of hackerdom's more colorful personalities. Many people +remember the parrot which sat on Poole's shoulder and was a regular +companion. 3. Any of the machines built by Poole's company. The first was +the F-1 (a.k.a. Super Foonly), which was the computational engine used to +create the graphics in the movie TRON. The F-1 was the fastest PDP-10 ever +built, but only one was ever made. The effort drained Foonly of its +financial resources, and the company turned towards building smaller, +slower, and much less expensive machines. Unfortunately, these ran not the +popular TOPS-20 but a TENEX variant called Foonex; this seriously limited +their market. Also, the machines shipped were actually wire-wrapped +engineering prototypes requiring individual attention from more than usually +competent site personnel, and thus had significant reliability problems. +Poole's legendary temper and unwillingness to suffer fools gladly did not +help matters. By the time DEC's Jupiter Project followon to the PDP-10 was +cancelled in 1983, Foonly's proposal to build another F-1 was eclipsed by +the Mars , and the company never quite recovered. See the Mars entry for the +continuation and moral of this story. + diff --git a/entries/Formosa's Law.txt b/entries/Formosa's Law.txt index b694472..6875e18 100644 --- a/entries/Formosa's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Formosa's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Formosa's Law -n. The truly insane have enough on their plates without us adding to it. That is, flaming someone with an obvious mental problem can't make it any better. Most often cited on alt.usenet.kooks as a reason not to issue a Kook-of the-Month Award; often cited as a companion to Godwin's Law. +n. The truly insane have enough on their plates without us adding to it. +That is, flaming someone with an obvious mental problem can't make it any +better. Most often cited on alt.usenet.kooks as a reason not to issue a +Kook-of the-Month Award; often cited as a companion to Godwin's Law. + diff --git a/entries/Fortrash.txt b/entries/Fortrash.txt index ad9fc08..28a3b69 100644 --- a/entries/Fortrash.txt +++ b/entries/Fortrash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Fortrash -/fortrash/ , n. Hackerism for the FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator) language, referring to its primitive design, gross and irregular syntax, limited control constructs, and slippery, exception-filled semantics. +/fortrash/ , n. Hackerism for the FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator) language, +referring to its primitive design, gross and irregular syntax, limited +control constructs, and slippery, exception-filled semantics. + diff --git a/entries/Frankenputer.txt b/entries/Frankenputer.txt index 3914b7c..e7d8038 100644 --- a/entries/Frankenputer.txt +++ b/entries/Frankenputer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Frankenputer -n. 1. A mostly-working computer thrown together from the spare parts of several machines out of which the magic smoke had been let. Most shops have a closet full of nonworking machines. When a new machine is needed immediately (for testing, for example) and there is no time (or budget) to requisition a new box, someone (often an intern) is tasked with building a Frankenputer. 2. Also used in referring to a machine that once was a name-brand computer, but has been upgraded long beyond its useful life, to the point at which the nameplate violates truth-in-advertising laws (e.g., a Pentium III-class machine inexplicably living in a case marked Gateway 486/66 ). +n. 1. A mostly-working computer thrown together from the spare parts of +several machines out of which the magic smoke had been let. Most shops have +a closet full of nonworking machines. When a new machine is needed +immediately (for testing, for example) and there is no time (or budget) to +requisition a new box, someone (often an intern) is tasked with building a +Frankenputer. 2. Also used in referring to a machine that once was a +name-brand computer, but has been upgraded long beyond its useful life, to +the point at which the nameplate violates truth-in-advertising laws (e.g., a +Pentium III-class machine inexplicably living in a case marked Gateway +486/66 ). + diff --git a/entries/Fred Foobar.txt b/entries/Fred Foobar.txt index afb5fbe..d058abe 100644 --- a/entries/Fred Foobar.txt +++ b/entries/Fred Foobar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Fred Foobar -n. J. Random Hacker 's cousin. Any typical human being, more or less synonymous with someone except that Fred Foobar can be backreference d by name later on. So Fred Foobar will enter his phone number into the database, and it'll be archived with the others. Months later, when Fred searches... See also Bloggs Family and Dr. +n. J. Random Hacker 's cousin. Any typical human being, more or less +synonymous with someone except that Fred Foobar can be backreference d by +name later on. So Fred Foobar will enter his phone number into the database, +and it'll be archived with the others. Months later, when Fred searches... +See also Bloggs Family and Dr. + diff --git a/entries/Full Monty.txt b/entries/Full Monty.txt index 0fdaacb..14367c4 100644 --- a/entries/Full Monty.txt +++ b/entries/Full Monty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Full Monty n. See monty , sense 2. + diff --git a/entries/GC.txt b/entries/GC.txt index 9ed1695..bbcfa4f 100644 --- a/entries/GC.txt +++ b/entries/GC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ GC -/GC/ [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. 2. vt. To recycle, reclaim, or put to another use. 3. n. An instantiation of the garbage collector process. Garbage collection is computer-science techspeak for a particular class of strategies for dynamically but transparently reallocating computer memory (i.e., without requiring explicit allocation and deallocation by higher-level software). One such strategy involves periodically scanning all the data in memory and determining what is no longer accessible; 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 the abbrev GC is more frequently used because 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. +/GC/ [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. 2. vt. To +recycle, reclaim, or put to another use. 3. n. An instantiation of the +garbage collector process. Garbage collection is computer-science techspeak +for a particular class of strategies for dynamically but transparently +reallocating computer memory (i.e., without requiring explicit allocation +and deallocation by higher-level software). One such strategy involves +periodically scanning all the data in memory and determining what is no +longer accessible; 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 the abbrev GC is more frequently used because 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. + diff --git a/entries/GCOS.txt b/entries/GCOS.txt index 4ba66ad..241613f 100644 --- a/entries/GCOS.txt +++ b/entries/GCOS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ GCOS -/jeekohs/ , 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. After the buyout of GE's 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 uninformed and snotty attitude about the 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 one permanent mark on Unix. Some early Unix systems at Bell Labs used 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 user's full name and other human-ID information. GCOS later played a major role in keeping Honeywell a dismal also-ran in the mainframe market, and was itself mostly ditched for Unix in the late 1980s when Honeywell began to retire its aging big iron designs. +/jeekohs/ , 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. After the buyout of GE's 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 uninformed and +snotty attitude about the 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 one permanent mark on Unix. Some early Unix systems +at Bell Labs used 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 user's full name and other human-ID information. GCOS later played a +major role in keeping Honeywell a dismal also-ran in the mainframe market, +and was itself mostly ditched for Unix in the late 1980s when Honeywell +began to retire its aging big iron designs. + diff --git a/entries/GECOS.txt b/entries/GECOS.txt index a066ea4..2199649 100644 --- a/entries/GECOS.txt +++ b/entries/GECOS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ GECOS /jeekohs/ , n. See GCOS. + diff --git a/entries/GIFs at 11.txt b/entries/GIFs at 11.txt index dd4b4ed..330235c 100644 --- a/entries/GIFs at 11.txt +++ b/entries/GIFs at 11.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ GIFs at 11 -Fidonet alternative to film at 11 , especially in echoes (Fidonet topic areas) where uuencoded GIFs are permitted. Other formats, especially JPEG and MPEG, may be referenced instead. +Fidonet alternative to film at 11 , especially in echoes (Fidonet topic +areas) where uuencoded GIFs are permitted. Other formats, especially JPEG +and MPEG, may be referenced instead. + diff --git a/entries/GIGO.txt b/entries/GIGO.txt index 0fb5d14..efc847b 100644 --- a/entries/GIGO.txt +++ b/entries/GIGO.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ GIGO -/gi:goh/ 1. Garbage In, Garbage Out usually said in response to luser s who complain that a program didn't do the right thing when given imperfect input or otherwise mistreated in some way. Also commonly used to describe failures in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data. 2. +/gi:goh/ 1. Garbage In, Garbage Out usually said in response to luser s who +complain that a program didn't do the right thing when given imperfect input +or otherwise mistreated in some way. Also commonly used to describe failures +in human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data. 2. + diff --git a/entries/GIPS.txt b/entries/GIPS.txt index fec1e84..c548f86 100644 --- a/entries/GIPS.txt +++ b/entries/GIPS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ GIPS -/gips/ , /jips/ , n. [analogy with MIPS ] Giga-Instructions per Second (also possibly Gillions of Instructions per Second ; see gillion ). Compare KIPS. +/gips/ , /jips/ , n. [analogy with MIPS ] Giga-Instructions per Second (also +possibly Gillions of Instructions per Second ; see gillion ). Compare KIPS. + diff --git a/entries/GIYF.txt b/entries/GIYF.txt index 3c9710f..e9b4b7c 100644 --- a/entries/GIYF.txt +++ b/entries/GIYF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ GIYF -n. Abbrev: Google Is Your Friend. Used to suggest, gently and politely, that you have just asked a question of human beings that would have been better directed to a search engine. See also STFW. +n. Abbrev: Google Is Your Friend. Used to suggest, gently and politely, that +you have just asked a question of human beings that would have been better +directed to a search engine. See also STFW. + diff --git a/entries/GNU.txt b/entries/GNU.txt index 8cde5d7..2003b05 100644 --- a/entries/GNU.txt +++ b/entries/GNU.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ GNU -/gnoo/ , not , /noo/ 1. [acronym: GNU s Not Unix!', see recursive acronym ] A Unix-workalike development effort of the Free Software Foundation headed by Richard Stallman. GNU EMACS and the GNU C compiler, two tools designed for this project, have become very popular in hackerdom and elsewhere. The GNU project was designed partly to proselytize for RMS's position that information is community property and all software source should be shared. One of its slogans is Help stamp out software hoarding! Though this remains controversial (because it implicitly denies any right of designers to own, assign, and sell the results of their labors), many hackers who disagree with RMS have nevertheless cooperated to produce large amounts of high-quality software for free redistribution under the Free Software Foundation's imprimatur. The GNU project has a web page at http://www.gnu.org/. See EMACS , copyleft , General Public Virus , Linux. 2. Noted Unix hacker John Gilmore gnu@toad.com }, founder of Usenet's anarchic alt.* hierarchy. +/gnoo/ , not , /noo/ 1. [acronym: GNU s Not Unix!', see recursive acronym ] +A Unix-workalike development effort of the Free Software Foundation headed +by Richard Stallman. GNU EMACS and the GNU C compiler, two tools designed +for this project, have become very popular in hackerdom and elsewhere. The +GNU project was designed partly to proselytize for RMS's position that +information is community property and all software source should be shared. +One of its slogans is Help stamp out software hoarding! Though this remains +controversial (because it implicitly denies any right of designers to own, +assign, and sell the results of their labors), many hackers who disagree +with RMS have nevertheless cooperated to produce large amounts of +high-quality software for free redistribution under the Free Software +Foundation's imprimatur. The GNU project has a web page at +http://www.gnu.org/. See EMACS , copyleft , General Public Virus , Linux. 2. +Noted Unix hacker John Gilmore gnu@toad.com }, founder of Usenet's anarchic +alt.* hierarchy. + diff --git a/entries/GNUMACS.txt b/entries/GNUMACS.txt index 5faf706..cb5ff01 100644 --- a/entries/GNUMACS.txt +++ b/entries/GNUMACS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ GNUMACS -/gnoomaks/ , n. [contraction of GNU EMACS ] Often-heard abbreviated name for the GNU project's flagship tool, EMACS. StallMACS , referring to Richard Stallman, is less common but also heard. Used esp. in contrast with GOSMACS and X Emacs. +/gnoomaks/ , n. [contraction of GNU EMACS ] Often-heard abbreviated name for +the GNU project's flagship tool, EMACS. StallMACS , referring to Richard +Stallman, is less common but also heard. Used esp. in contrast with GOSMACS +and X Emacs. + diff --git a/entries/GOSMACS.txt b/entries/GOSMACS.txt index 66b5615..c015a30 100644 --- a/entries/GOSMACS.txt +++ b/entries/GOSMACS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ GOSMACS -/gozmaks/ , n. [contraction of Gosling EMACS ] The first EMACS -in-C implementation, predating but now largely eclipsed by GNUMACS. Originally freeware; a commercial version was modestly popular as UniPress EMACS during the 1980s. The author, James Gosling, went on to invent NeWS and the programming language Java; the latter earned him demigod status. +/gozmaks/ , n. [contraction of Gosling EMACS ] The first EMACS -in-C +implementation, predating but now largely eclipsed by GNUMACS. Originally +freeware; a commercial version was modestly popular as UniPress EMACS during +the 1980s. The author, James Gosling, went on to invent NeWS and the +programming language Java; the latter earned him demigod status. + diff --git a/entries/GPL.txt b/entries/GPL.txt index dda7f39..0c8cbb2 100644 --- a/entries/GPL.txt +++ b/entries/GPL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ GPL -/GPL/ , n. Abbreviation for General Public License in widespread use; see copyleft , General Public Virus. Often mis-expanded as GNU Public License. +/GPL/ , n. Abbreviation for General Public License in widespread use; see +copyleft , General Public Virus. Often mis-expanded as GNU Public License. + diff --git a/entries/GPV.txt b/entries/GPV.txt index 4bcbfee..0941b66 100644 --- a/entries/GPV.txt +++ b/entries/GPV.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ GPV /GPV/ , n. Abbrev. for General Public Virus in widespread use. + diff --git a/entries/GWF.txt b/entries/GWF.txt index c7a89b5..484f6cb 100644 --- a/entries/GWF.txt +++ b/entries/GWF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ GWF -n. Common abbreviation for Goober with Firewall. A luser who has equipped his desktop computer with a hypersensitive software firewall or host intrusion detection program, and who gives its alerts absolute credence. ISP tech support and abuse desks dread hearing from such persons, who insist that every packet of abnormal traffic the software detects is a hacker (sic) and, occasionally, threatening lawsuits or prosecution. GWFs have been known to assert that they are being attacked from 127.0.0.1, and that their ISP is criminally negligent for failing to block these attacks. GWF is used similarly to ID10T error and PEBKAC to flag trouble tickets opened by such users. +n. Common abbreviation for Goober with Firewall. A luser who has equipped +his desktop computer with a hypersensitive software firewall or host +intrusion detection program, and who gives its alerts absolute credence. ISP +tech support and abuse desks dread hearing from such persons, who insist +that every packet of abnormal traffic the software detects is a hacker (sic) +and, occasionally, threatening lawsuits or prosecution. GWFs have been known +to assert that they are being attacked from 127.0.0.1, and that their ISP is +criminally negligent for failing to block these attacks. GWF is used +similarly to ID10T error and PEBKAC to flag trouble tickets opened by such +users. + diff --git a/entries/GandhiCon.txt b/entries/GandhiCon.txt index 1f016a3..c780164 100644 --- a/entries/GandhiCon.txt +++ b/entries/GandhiCon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ GandhiCon -There is a quote from Mohandas Gandhi, describing the stages of establishment resistence to a winning strategy of nonviolent activism, that partisans of open source and especially Linux have embraced as almost an explanatory framework for the behaviors they observe while trying to get corporations and other large institutions to take new ways of doing things seriously: First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. In hacker usage this quote has miscegenated with the U.S military's DefCon terminology describing defense conditions or degrees of war alert. At One, you're being ignored. At Two, opponents are laughing at you and dismissing the idea that you could ever be a threat. At Three, they're fighting you on the merits and/or attempting to discredit you. At Four, you're winning and they are arguing to save face or stave off complete collapse of their position. +There is a quote from Mohandas Gandhi, describing the stages of +establishment resistence to a winning strategy of nonviolent activism, that +partisans of open source and especially Linux have embraced as almost an +explanatory framework for the behaviors they observe while trying to get +corporations and other large institutions to take new ways of doing things +seriously: First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight +you. Then you win. In hacker usage this quote has miscegenated with the U.S +military's DefCon terminology describing defense conditions or degrees of +war alert. At One, you're being ignored. At Two, opponents are laughing at +you and dismissing the idea that you could ever be a threat. At Three, +they're fighting you on the merits and/or attempting to discredit you. At +Four, you're winning and they are arguing to save face or stave off complete +collapse of their position. + diff --git a/entries/Gang of Four.txt b/entries/Gang of Four.txt index 7c0e6bc..c5d1776 100644 --- a/entries/Gang of Four.txt +++ b/entries/Gang of Four.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Gang of Four -n. (also abbreviated GOF ) [prob. a play on the Gang Of Four who briefly ran Communist China after the death of Mao] Describes either the authors or the book Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software published in 1995 by Addison-Wesley (ISBN 0-201-63361-2). The authors forming the Gang Of Four are Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides. They are also sometimes referred to as Gamma et. al. The authors state at http://www.hillside.net/patterns/DPBook/GOF.html Why are we. .. called this? Who knows. Somehow the name just stuck. The term is also used to describe any of the design patterns that are used in the book, referring to the patterns within it as Gang Of Four Patterns. +n. (also abbreviated GOF ) [prob. a play on the Gang Of Four who briefly ran +Communist China after the death of Mao] Describes either the authors or the +book Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software +published in 1995 by Addison-Wesley (ISBN 0-201-63361-2). The authors +forming the Gang Of Four are Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and +John Vlissides. They are also sometimes referred to as Gamma et. al. The +authors state at http://www.hillside.net/patterns/DPBook/GOF.html Why are +we. .. called this? Who knows. Somehow the name just stuck. The term is also +used to describe any of the design patterns that are used in the book, +referring to the patterns within it as Gang Of Four Patterns. + diff --git a/entries/Gates's Law.txt b/entries/Gates's Law.txt index 59cce57..9dd97c5 100644 --- a/entries/Gates's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Gates's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Gates's Law -The speed of software halves every 18 months. This oft-cited law is an ironic comment on the tendency of software bloat to outpace the every-18-month doubling in hardware capacity per dollar predicted by Moore's Law. The reference is to Bill Gates; Microsoft is widely considered among the worst if not the worst of the perpetrators of bloat. +The speed of software halves every 18 months. This oft-cited law is an +ironic comment on the tendency of software bloat to outpace the +every-18-month doubling in hardware capacity per dollar predicted by Moore's +Law. The reference is to Bill Gates; Microsoft is widely considered among +the worst if not the worst of the perpetrators of bloat. + diff --git a/entries/Gender and Ethnicity.txt b/entries/Gender and Ethnicity.txt index 32a4f71..3410921 100644 --- a/entries/Gender and Ethnicity.txt +++ b/entries/Gender and Ethnicity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ Gender and Ethnicity -Hackerdom is still predominantly male. However, the percentage of women is clearly higher than the low-single-digit range typical for technical professions, and female hackers are generally respected and dealt with as equals. In the U.S., hackerdom is predominantly Caucasian with strong minorities of Jews (East Coast) and Orientals (West Coast). The Jewish contingent has exerted a particularly pervasive cultural influence (see Food , above, and note that several common jargon terms are obviously mutated Yiddish). The ethnic distribution of hackers is understood by them to be a function of which ethnic groups tend to seek and value education. Racial and ethnic prejudice is notably uncommon and tends to be met with freezing contempt. When asked, hackers often ascribe their culture's gender- and color-blindness to a positive effect of text-only network channels, and this is doubtless a powerful influence. Also, the ties many hackers have to AI research and SF literature may have helped them to develop an idea of personhood that is inclusive rather than exclusive after all, if one's imagination readily grants full human rights to future AI programs, robots, dolphins, and extraterrestrial aliens, mere color and gender can't seem very important any more. +Hackerdom is still predominantly male. However, the percentage of women is +clearly higher than the low-single-digit range typical for technical +professions, and female hackers are generally respected and dealt with as +equals. In the U.S., hackerdom is predominantly Caucasian with strong +minorities of Jews (East Coast) and Orientals (West Coast). The Jewish +contingent has exerted a particularly pervasive cultural influence (see Food +, above, and note that several common jargon terms are obviously mutated +Yiddish). The ethnic distribution of hackers is understood by them to be a +function of which ethnic groups tend to seek and value education. Racial and +ethnic prejudice is notably uncommon and tends to be met with freezing +contempt. When asked, hackers often ascribe their culture's gender- and +color-blindness to a positive effect of text-only network channels, and this +is doubtless a powerful influence. Also, the ties many hackers have to AI +research and SF literature may have helped them to develop an idea of +personhood that is inclusive rather than exclusive after all, if one's +imagination readily grants full human rights to future AI programs, robots, +dolphins, and extraterrestrial aliens, mere color and gender can't seem very +important any more. + diff --git a/entries/General Appearance.txt b/entries/General Appearance.txt index 9481e80..e92650b 100644 --- a/entries/General Appearance.txt +++ b/entries/General Appearance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ General Appearance -Intelligent. Scruffy. Intense. Abstracted. Surprisingly for a sedentary profession, more hackers run to skinny than fat; both extremes are more common than elsewhere. Tans are rare. Prev Up Next AppendixB.A Portrait of J. +Intelligent. Scruffy. Intense. Abstracted. Surprisingly for a sedentary +profession, more hackers run to skinny than fat; both extremes are more +common than elsewhere. Tans are rare. Prev Up Next AppendixB.A Portrait of +J. + diff --git a/entries/General Public Virus.txt b/entries/General Public Virus.txt index f4ded9d..b4be175 100644 --- a/entries/General Public Virus.txt +++ b/entries/General Public Virus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ 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 app s incorporating copylefted code must be source-distributed on the same anti-proprietary terms as GNU stuff. Thus it is alleged that the copyleft infects software generated with GNU tools, which may in turn infect other software that reuses any of its code. The Free Software Foundation's official position is that copyright law limits the scope of the GPL to programs textually incorporating significant amounts of GNU code , and that the infection is not passed on to third parties unless actual GNU source is transmitted. Nevertheless, widespread suspicion that the copyleft language is boobytrapped has caused many developers to avoid using GNU tools and the GPL. Changes in the language of the version 2.0 GPL did not eliminate this problem. +n. Pejorative name for some versions of the GNU project copyleft or General +Public License (GPL), which requires that any tools or app s incorporating +copylefted code must be source-distributed on the same anti-proprietary +terms as GNU stuff. Thus it is alleged that the copyleft infects software +generated with GNU tools, which may in turn infect other software that +reuses any of its code. The Free Software Foundation's official position is +that copyright law limits the scope of the GPL to programs textually +incorporating significant amounts of GNU code , and that the infection is +not passed on to third parties unless actual GNU source is transmitted. +Nevertheless, widespread suspicion that the copyleft language is +boobytrapped has caused many developers to avoid using GNU tools and the +GPL. Changes in the language of the version 2.0 GPL did not eliminate this +problem. + diff --git a/entries/Genius From Mars Technique.txt b/entries/Genius From Mars Technique.txt index a955ec2..abeb2ac 100644 --- a/entries/Genius From Mars Technique.txt +++ b/entries/Genius From Mars Technique.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Genius From Mars Technique -n. [TMRC] A visionary quality which enables one to ignore the standard approach and come up with a totally unexpected new algorithm. An attack on a problem from an offbeat angle that no one has ever thought of before, but that in retrospect makes total sense. Compare grok , zen. +n. [TMRC] A visionary quality which enables one to ignore the standard +approach and come up with a totally unexpected new algorithm. An attack on a +problem from an offbeat angle that no one has ever thought of before, but +that in retrospect makes total sense. Compare grok , zen. + diff --git a/entries/Geographical Distribution.txt b/entries/Geographical Distribution.txt index 5984430..55b7a0a 100644 --- a/entries/Geographical Distribution.txt +++ b/entries/Geographical Distribution.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Geographical Distribution -In the United States, hackerdom revolves on a Bay Area-to-Boston axis; about half of the hard core seems to live within a hundred miles of Cambridge (Massachusetts) or Berkeley (California), although there are significant contingents in Los Angeles, in the Pacific Northwest, and around Washington DC. Hackers tend to cluster around large cities, especially university towns such as the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina or Princeton, New Jersey (this may simply reflect the fact that many are students or ex-students living near their alma maters). +In the United States, hackerdom revolves on a Bay Area-to-Boston axis; about +half of the hard core seems to live within a hundred miles of Cambridge +(Massachusetts) or Berkeley (California), although there are significant +contingents in Los Angeles, in the Pacific Northwest, and around Washington +DC. Hackers tend to cluster around large cities, especially university towns +such as the Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina or Princeton, New Jersey +(this may simply reflect the fact that many are students or ex-students +living near their alma maters). + diff --git a/entries/Get a life!.txt b/entries/Get a life!.txt index d07982f..5d243c8 100644 --- a/entries/Get a life!.txt +++ b/entries/Get a life!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Get a life! -imp. Hacker-standard way of suggesting that the person to whom it is directed has succumbed to terminal geekdom (see geek ). Often heard on Usenet , esp. as a way of suggesting that the target is taking some obscure issue of theology too seriously. This exhortation was popularized by William Shatner on a 1987 Saturday Night Live episode in a speech that ended Get a life ! , but it can be traced back at least to Valley Girl slang in 1983. It was certainly in wide use among hackers for years before achieving mainstream currency via the sitcom Get A Life in 1990. +imp. Hacker-standard way of suggesting that the person to whom it is +directed has succumbed to terminal geekdom (see geek ). Often heard on +Usenet , esp. as a way of suggesting that the target is taking some obscure +issue of theology too seriously. This exhortation was popularized by William +Shatner on a 1987 Saturday Night Live episode in a speech that ended Get a +life ! , but it can be traced back at least to Valley Girl slang in 1983. It +was certainly in wide use among hackers for years before achieving +mainstream currency via the sitcom Get A Life in 1990. + diff --git a/entries/Get a real computer!.txt b/entries/Get a real computer!.txt index 2436dc5..b7b564f 100644 --- a/entries/Get a real computer!.txt +++ b/entries/Get a real computer!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Get a real computer! -imp. In 1996 when this entry first entered the File, it was the typical hacker response to news that somebody is having trouble getting work done on a system that (a) was single-tasking, (b) had no hard disk, or (c) had an address space smaller than 16 megabytes. In 2003 anything less powerful than a 500MHz Pentium with a multi-gigabyte hard disk would probably be similarly written off. The threshold for real computer rises with time. See bitty box and toy. +imp. In 1996 when this entry first entered the File, it was the typical +hacker response to news that somebody is having trouble getting work done on +a system that (a) was single-tasking, (b) had no hard disk, or (c) had an +address space smaller than 16 megabytes. In 2003 anything less powerful than +a 500MHz Pentium with a multi-gigabyte hard disk would probably be similarly +written off. The threshold for real computer rises with time. See bitty box +and toy. + diff --git a/entries/GoAT.txt b/entries/GoAT.txt index 76c9c1a..4274a1a 100644 --- a/entries/GoAT.txt +++ b/entries/GoAT.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ GoAT // [Usenet] Abbreviation: Go Away, Troll. See troll. + diff --git a/entries/Godwin's Law.txt b/entries/Godwin's Law.txt index 13d9808..6defdd9 100644 --- a/entries/Godwin's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Godwin's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Godwin's Law -prov. [Usenet] As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful. Godwin himself has discussed the subject. See also Formosa's Law. +prov. [Usenet] As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a +comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. There is a tradition in +many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever +mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in +progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper +bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- +recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order +to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful. Godwin himself has +discussed the subject. See also Formosa's Law. + diff --git a/entries/Godzillagram.txt b/entries/Godzillagram.txt index 4a97b0f..f8c3c22 100644 --- a/entries/Godzillagram.txt +++ b/entries/Godzillagram.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Godzillagram -/godzil'@gram/ , n. [from Japan's national hero] 1. A network packet that in theory is a broadcast to every machine in the universe. The typical case is an IP datagram whose destination IP address is [255.255.255.255]. Fortunately, few gateways are foolish enough to attempt to implement this case! 2. A network packet of maximum size. An IP Godzillagram has 65,535 octets. Compare super source quench , Christmas tree packet , martian. +/godzil'@gram/ , n. [from Japan's national hero] 1. A network packet that in +theory is a broadcast to every machine in the universe. The typical case is +an IP datagram whose destination IP address is [255.255.255.255]. +Fortunately, few gateways are foolish enough to attempt to implement this +case! 2. A network packet of maximum size. An IP Godzillagram has 65,535 +octets. Compare super source quench , Christmas tree packet , martian. + diff --git a/entries/Good Thing.txt b/entries/Good Thing.txt index db2455c..63c650c 100644 --- a/entries/Good Thing.txt +++ b/entries/Good Thing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Good Thing -n.,adj. [very common; always pronounced as if capitalized. Orig. fr. the 1930 Sellar Yeatman parody of British history 1066 And All That , but well-established among hackers in the U.S. as well.] 1. Self-evidently wonderful to anyone in a position to notice: A language that manages dynamic memory automatically for you is a Good Thing. 2. Something that can't possibly have any ill side-effects and may save considerable grief later: Removing the self-modifying code from that shared library would be a Good Thing. 3. When said of software tools or libraries, as in YACC is a Good Thing , specifically connotes that the thing has drastically reduced a programmer's work load. Oppose Bad Thing. +n.,adj. [very common; always pronounced as if capitalized. Orig. fr. the +1930 Sellar Yeatman parody of British history 1066 And All That , but +well-established among hackers in the U.S. as well.] 1. Self-evidently +wonderful to anyone in a position to notice: A language that manages dynamic +memory automatically for you is a Good Thing. 2. Something that can't +possibly have any ill side-effects and may save considerable grief later: +Removing the self-modifying code from that shared library would be a Good +Thing. 3. When said of software tools or libraries, as in YACC is a Good +Thing , specifically connotes that the thing has drastically reduced a +programmer's work load. Oppose Bad Thing. + diff --git a/entries/Great Internet Explosion.txt b/entries/Great Internet Explosion.txt index 147a43d..323e749 100644 --- a/entries/Great Internet Explosion.txt +++ b/entries/Great Internet Explosion.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Great Internet Explosion -The mainstreaming of the Internet in 1993-1994. Used normally in time comparatives; before the and after it were very different worlds from a hacker's point of view. Before it, Internet access was expensive and available only to an elite few through universities, research laboratories, and well-heeled corporations; after it, everybody's mother had access. +The mainstreaming of the Internet in 1993-1994. Used normally in time +comparatives; before the and after it were very different worlds from a +hacker's point of view. Before it, Internet access was expensive and +available only to an elite few through universities, research laboratories, +and well-heeled corporations; after it, everybody's mother had access. + diff --git a/entries/Great Renaming.txt b/entries/Great Renaming.txt index 4f0b7fa..1741bd1 100644 --- a/entries/Great Renaming.txt +++ b/entries/Great Renaming.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Great Renaming -n. The flag day in 1987 on which all of the non-local groups on the Usenet had their names changed from the net.- format to the current multiple-hierarchies scheme. Used esp. in discussing the history of newsgroup names. The oldest sources group is comp.sources.misc ; before the Great Renaming, it was net.sources. There is a Great Renaming FAQ on the Web. +n. The flag day in 1987 on which all of the non-local groups on the Usenet +had their names changed from the net.- format to the current +multiple-hierarchies scheme. Used esp. in discussing the history of +newsgroup names. The oldest sources group is comp.sources.misc ; before the +Great Renaming, it was net.sources. There is a Great Renaming FAQ on the +Web. + diff --git a/entries/Great Runes.txt b/entries/Great Runes.txt index 8b7f563..93e34b5 100644 --- a/entries/Great Runes.txt +++ b/entries/Great Runes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Great Runes -n. Uppercase-only text or display messages. Some archaic operating systems still emit these. See also runes , smash case , fold case. There is a widespread legend (repeated by earlier versions of this entry, though tagged as folklore) that the uppercase-only support of various old character codes and I/O equipment was chosen by a religious person in a position of power at the Teletype Company because supporting both upper and lower cases was too expensive and supporting lower case only would have made it impossible to spell God correctly. Not true; the upper-case interpretation of teleprinter codes was well established by 1870, long before Teletype was even founded. +n. Uppercase-only text or display messages. Some archaic operating systems +still emit these. See also runes , smash case , fold case. There is a +widespread legend (repeated by earlier versions of this entry, though tagged +as folklore) that the uppercase-only support of various old character codes +and I/O equipment was chosen by a religious person in a position of power at +the Teletype Company because supporting both upper and lower cases was too +expensive and supporting lower case only would have made it impossible to +spell God correctly. Not true; the upper-case interpretation of teleprinter +codes was well established by 1870, long before Teletype was even founded. + diff --git a/entries/Great Worm.txt b/entries/Great Worm.txt index fc45985..00e0360 100644 --- a/entries/Great Worm.txt +++ b/entries/Great Worm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Great Worm -n. The 1988 Internet worm perpetrated by RTM. This is a play on Tolkien (compare elvish , elder days ). In the fantasy history of his Middle Earth books, there were dragons powerful enough to lay waste to entire regions; two of these (Scatha and Glaurung) were known as the Great Worms. This usage expresses the connotation that the RTM crack was a sort of devastating watershed event in hacker history; certainly it did more to make non-hackers nervous about the Internet than anything before or since. +n. The 1988 Internet worm perpetrated by RTM. This is a play on Tolkien +(compare elvish , elder days ). In the fantasy history of his Middle Earth +books, there were dragons powerful enough to lay waste to entire regions; +two of these (Scatha and Glaurung) were known as the Great Worms. This usage +expresses the connotation that the RTM crack was a sort of devastating +watershed event in hacker history; certainly it did more to make non-hackers +nervous about the Internet than anything before or since. + diff --git a/entries/Green's Theorem.txt b/entries/Green's Theorem.txt index 59ccaf6..18b5126 100644 --- a/entries/Green's Theorem.txt +++ b/entries/Green's Theorem.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Green's Theorem -prov. [TMRC] For any story, in any group of people there will be at least one person who has not heard the story. A refinement of the theorem states that there will be exactly one person (if there were more than one, it wouldn't be as bad to re-tell the story). [The name of this theorem is a play on a fundamental theorem in calculus. +prov. [TMRC] For any story, in any group of people there will be at least +one person who has not heard the story. A refinement of the theorem states +that there will be exactly one person (if there were more than one, it +wouldn't be as bad to re-tell the story). [The name of this theorem is a +play on a fundamental theorem in calculus. + diff --git a/entries/Guido.txt b/entries/Guido.txt index 1da3335..6553e45 100644 --- a/entries/Guido.txt +++ b/entries/Guido.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Guido -/gweedo/ , /khweedo/ Without qualification, Guido van Rossum (author of Python ). Note that Guido answers to English /gweedo/ but in Dutch it's /khweedo/. Mythically, Guido's most important attribute besides Python itself is Guido's time machine, a device he is reputed to possess because of the unnerving frequency with which user requests for new features have been met with the response I just implemented that last night.... See BDFL. +/gweedo/ , /khweedo/ Without qualification, Guido van Rossum (author of +Python ). Note that Guido answers to English /gweedo/ but in Dutch it's +/khweedo/. Mythically, Guido's most important attribute besides Python +itself is Guido's time machine, a device he is reputed to possess because of +the unnerving frequency with which user requests for new features have been +met with the response I just implemented that last night.... See BDFL. + diff --git a/entries/HAKMEM.txt b/entries/HAKMEM.txt index be30599..d52d59f 100644 --- a/entries/HAKMEM.txt +++ b/entries/HAKMEM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,54 @@ HAKMEM -/hakmem/ , n. MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972). A legendary collection of neat mathematical and programming hacks contributed by many people at MIT and elsewhere. (The title of the memo really is HAKMEM , which is a 6-letterism for hacks memo. ) Some of them are very useful techniques, powerful theorems, or interesting unsolved problems, but most fall into the category of mathematical and computer trivia. Here is a sampling of the entries (with authors), slightly paraphrased: Item 41 (Gene Salamin): There are exactly 23,000 prime numbers less than 2 18. Item 46 (Rich Schroeppel): The most probable suit distribution in bridge hands is 4-4-3-2, as compared to 4-3-3-3, which is the most evenly distributed. This is because the world likes to have unequal numbers: a thermodynamic effect saying things will not be in the state of lowest energy, but in the state of lowest disordered energy. Item 81 (Rich Schroeppel): Count the magic squares of order 5 (that is, all the 5-by-5 arrangements of the numbers from 1 to 25 such that all rows, columns, and diagonals add up to the same number). There are about 320 million, not counting those that differ only by rotation and reflection. Item 154 (Bill Gosper): The myth that any given programming language is machine independent is easily exploded by computing the sum of powers of 2. If the result loops with period = 1 with sign + , you are on a sign-magnitude machine. If the result loops with period = 1 at -1 , you are on a twos-complement machine. If the result loops with period greater than 1, including the beginning, you are on a ones-complement machine. If the result loops with period greater than 1, not including the beginning, your machine isn't binary the pattern should tell you the base. If you run out of memory, you are on a string or bignum system. If arithmetic overflow is a fatal error, some fascist pig with a read-only mind is trying to enforce machine independence. But the very ability to trap overflow is machine dependent. By this strategy, consider the universe, or, more precisely, algebra: Let X = the sum of many powers of 2 =. ..111111 (base 2). Now add X to itself: X + X =. ..111110. Thus, 2X = X - 1 , so X = -1. Therefore algebra is run on a machine (the universe) that is two's-complement. Item 174 (Bill Gosper and Stuart Nelson): 21963283741 is the only number such that if you represent it on the PDP-10 as both an integer and a floating-point number, the bit patterns of the two representations are identical. Item 176 (Gosper): The banana phenomenon was encountered when processing a character string by taking the last 3 letters typed out, searching for a random occurrence of that sequence in the text, taking the letter following that occurrence, typing it out, and iterating. This ensures that every 4-letter string output occurs in the original. The program typed BANANANANANANANA.... We note an ambiguity in the phrase, the N th occurrence of. In one sense, there are five 00's in 0000000000; in another, there are nine. The editing program TECO finds five. Thus it finds only the first ANA in BANANA, and is thus obligated to type N next. By Murphy's Law, there is but one NAN, thus forcing A, and thus a loop. An option to find overlapped instances would be useful, although it would require backing up N 1 characters before seeking the next N -character string. Note: This last item refers to a Dissociated Press implementation. See also banana problem. HAKMEM also contains some rather more complicated mathematical and technical items, but these examples show some of its fun flavor. An HTML transcription of the entire document is available at http://www.inwap.com/pdp10/hbaker/hakmem/hakmem.html. +/hakmem/ , n. MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972). A legendary collection of +neat mathematical and programming hacks contributed by many people at MIT +and elsewhere. (The title of the memo really is HAKMEM , which is a +6-letterism for hacks memo. ) Some of them are very useful techniques, +powerful theorems, or interesting unsolved problems, but most fall into the +category of mathematical and computer trivia. Here is a sampling of the +entries (with authors), slightly paraphrased: Item 41 (Gene Salamin): There +are exactly 23,000 prime numbers less than 2 18. Item 46 (Rich Schroeppel): +The most probable suit distribution in bridge hands is 4-4-3-2, as compared +to 4-3-3-3, which is the most evenly distributed. This is because the world +likes to have unequal numbers: a thermodynamic effect saying things will not +be in the state of lowest energy, but in the state of lowest disordered +energy. Item 81 (Rich Schroeppel): Count the magic squares of order 5 (that +is, all the 5-by-5 arrangements of the numbers from 1 to 25 such that all +rows, columns, and diagonals add up to the same number). There are about 320 +million, not counting those that differ only by rotation and reflection. +Item 154 (Bill Gosper): The myth that any given programming language is +machine independent is easily exploded by computing the sum of powers of 2. +If the result loops with period = 1 with sign + , you are on a +sign-magnitude machine. If the result loops with period = 1 at -1 , you are +on a twos-complement machine. If the result loops with period greater than +1, including the beginning, you are on a ones-complement machine. If the +result loops with period greater than 1, not including the beginning, your +machine isn't binary the pattern should tell you the base. If you run out of +memory, you are on a string or bignum system. If arithmetic overflow is a +fatal error, some fascist pig with a read-only mind is trying to enforce +machine independence. But the very ability to trap overflow is machine +dependent. By this strategy, consider the universe, or, more precisely, +algebra: Let X = the sum of many powers of 2 =. ..111111 (base 2). Now add X +to itself: X + X =. ..111110. Thus, 2X = X - 1 , so X = -1. Therefore +algebra is run on a machine (the universe) that is two's-complement. Item +174 (Bill Gosper and Stuart Nelson): 21963283741 is the only number such +that if you represent it on the PDP-10 as both an integer and a +floating-point number, the bit patterns of the two representations are +identical. Item 176 (Gosper): The banana phenomenon was encountered when +processing a character string by taking the last 3 letters typed out, +searching for a random occurrence of that sequence in the text, taking the +letter following that occurrence, typing it out, and iterating. This ensures +that every 4-letter string output occurs in the original. The program typed +BANANANANANANANA.... We note an ambiguity in the phrase, the N th occurrence +of. In one sense, there are five 00's in 0000000000; in another, there are +nine. The editing program TECO finds five. Thus it finds only the first ANA +in BANANA, and is thus obligated to type N next. By Murphy's Law, there is +but one NAN, thus forcing A, and thus a loop. An option to find overlapped +instances would be useful, although it would require backing up N 1 +characters before seeking the next N -character string. Note: This last item +refers to a Dissociated Press implementation. See also banana problem. +HAKMEM also contains some rather more complicated mathematical and technical +items, but these examples show some of its fun flavor. An HTML transcription +of the entire document is available at +http://www.inwap.com/pdp10/hbaker/hakmem/hakmem.html. + diff --git a/entries/HAND.txt b/entries/HAND.txt index 5a58b8d..a877de3 100644 --- a/entries/HAND.txt +++ b/entries/HAND.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ HAND -// [Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: Have A Nice Day. Typically used to close a Usenet posting, but also used to informally close emails; often preceded by HTH. +// [Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: Have A Nice Day. Typically used to +close a Usenet posting, but also used to informally close emails; often +preceded by HTH. + diff --git a/entries/HCF.txt b/entries/HCF.txt index dc81fd3..89c5129 100644 --- a/entries/HCF.txt +++ b/entries/HCF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ HCF -/HCF/ , n. Mnemonic for Halt and Catch Fire , any of several undocumented and semi-mythical machine instructions with destructive side-effects, supposedly included for test purposes on several well-known architectures going as far back as the IBM 360. The MC6800 microprocessor was the first for which an HCF opcode became widely known. This instruction caused the processor to toggle a subset of the bus lines as rapidly as it could; in some configurations this could actually cause lines to burn up. Compare killer poke. +/HCF/ , n. Mnemonic for Halt and Catch Fire , any of several undocumented +and semi-mythical machine instructions with destructive side-effects, +supposedly included for test purposes on several well-known architectures +going as far back as the IBM 360. The MC6800 microprocessor was the first +for which an HCF opcode became widely known. This instruction caused the +processor to toggle a subset of the bus lines as rapidly as it could; in +some configurations this could actually cause lines to burn up. Compare +killer poke. + diff --git a/entries/HHOK.txt b/entries/HHOK.txt index cfcd093..7eb7627 100644 --- a/entries/HHOK.txt +++ b/entries/HHOK.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ HHOK See ha ha only serious. + diff --git a/entries/HHOS.txt b/entries/HHOS.txt index eecbda9..a3b4b58 100644 --- a/entries/HHOS.txt +++ b/entries/HHOS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ HHOS See ha ha only serious. + diff --git a/entries/HLL.txt b/entries/HLL.txt index 789abdb..b194783 100644 --- a/entries/HLL.txt +++ b/entries/HLL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ HLL -/HLL/ , n. [High-Level Language (as opposed to assembler)] Found primarily in email and news rather than speech. Rarely, the variants VHLL and MLL are found. VHLL stands for Very-High-Level Language and is used to describe a bondage-and-discipline language that the speaker happens to like; Prolog and Backus's FP are often called VHLLs. MLL stands for Medium-Level Language and is sometimes used half-jokingly to describe C , alluding to its structured-assembler image. See also languages of choice. +/HLL/ , n. [High-Level Language (as opposed to assembler)] Found primarily +in email and news rather than speech. Rarely, the variants VHLL and MLL are +found. VHLL stands for Very-High-Level Language and is used to describe a +bondage-and-discipline language that the speaker happens to like; Prolog and +Backus's FP are often called VHLLs. MLL stands for Medium-Level Language and +is sometimes used half-jokingly to describe C , alluding to its +structured-assembler image. See also languages of choice. + diff --git a/entries/HP-SUX.txt b/entries/HP-SUX.txt index 9d88a8b..80d123a 100644 --- a/entries/HP-SUX.txt +++ b/entries/HP-SUX.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ HP-SUX -/HP suhks/ , n. Unflattering hackerism for HP-UX, Hewlett-Packard's Unix port, which features some truly unique bogosities in the filesystem internals and elsewhere (these occasionally create portability problems). HP-UX is often referred to as hockey-pux inside HP, and one respondent claims that the proper pronunciation is /HP ukkkhhhh/ as though one were about to spit. Another such alternate spelling and pronunciation is H-PUX /H-puhks/. Hackers at HP/Apollo (the former Apollo Computers which was swallowed by HP in 1989) have been heard to complain that Mr. Packard should have pushed to have his name first, if for no other reason than the greater eloquence of the resulting acronym. See sun-stools , Slowlaris. +/HP suhks/ , n. Unflattering hackerism for HP-UX, Hewlett-Packard's Unix +port, which features some truly unique bogosities in the filesystem +internals and elsewhere (these occasionally create portability problems). +HP-UX is often referred to as hockey-pux inside HP, and one respondent +claims that the proper pronunciation is /HP ukkkhhhh/ as though one were +about to spit. Another such alternate spelling and pronunciation is H-PUX +/H-puhks/. Hackers at HP/Apollo (the former Apollo Computers which was +swallowed by HP in 1989) have been heard to complain that Mr. Packard should +have pushed to have his name first, if for no other reason than the greater +eloquence of the resulting acronym. See sun-stools , Slowlaris. + diff --git a/entries/HTH.txt b/entries/HTH.txt index 6097373..2443924 100644 --- a/entries/HTH.txt +++ b/entries/HTH.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ HTH -// [Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: Hope This Helps (e.g. following a response to a technical question). Often used just before HAND. See also YHBT. +// [Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: Hope This Helps (e.g. following a +response to a technical question). Often used just before HAND. See also +YHBT. + diff --git a/entries/Hackers (the movie).txt b/entries/Hackers (the movie).txt index 6337bb1..813b522 100644 --- a/entries/Hackers (the movie).txt +++ b/entries/Hackers (the movie).txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Hackers (the movie) -n. A notable bomb from 1995. Should have been titled Crackers , because cracking is what the movie was about. It's understandable that they didn't however; titles redolent of snack food are probably a tough sell in Hollywood. +n. A notable bomb from 1995. Should have been titled Crackers , because +cracking is what the movie was about. It's understandable that they didn't +however; titles redolent of snack food are probably a tough sell in +Hollywood. + diff --git a/entries/Hacking X for Y.txt b/entries/Hacking X for Y.txt index ced90f1..1f08c5c 100644 --- a/entries/Hacking X for Y.txt +++ b/entries/Hacking X for Y.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Hacking X for Y -n. [ITS] Ritual phrasing of part of the information which ITS made publicly available about each user. This information (the INQUIR record) was a sort of form in which the user could fill out various fields. On display, two of these fields were always combined into a project description of the form Hacking X for Y (e.g., 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). +n. [ITS] Ritual phrasing of part of the information which ITS made publicly +available about each user. This information (the INQUIR record) was a sort +of form in which the user could fill out various fields. On display, two of +these fields were always combined into a project description of the form +Hacking X for Y (e.g., 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). + diff --git a/entries/Hackintosh.txt b/entries/Hackintosh.txt index 500b89d..7ab1c9d 100644 --- a/entries/Hackintosh.txt +++ b/entries/Hackintosh.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ 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. +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. + diff --git a/entries/Halloween Documents.txt b/entries/Halloween Documents.txt index ca6a59f..28564c9 100644 --- a/entries/Halloween Documents.txt +++ b/entries/Halloween Documents.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Halloween Documents -n. A pair of Microsoft internal strategy memoranda leaked to ESR in late 1998 that confirmed everybody's paranoia about the current Evil Empire. These documents praised the technical excellence of Linux and outlined a counterstrategy of attempting to lock in customers by de-commoditizing Internet protocols and services. They were extensively cited on the Internet and in the press and proved so embarrassing that Microsoft PR barely said a word in public for six months afterwards. +n. A pair of Microsoft internal strategy memoranda leaked to ESR in late +1998 that confirmed everybody's paranoia about the current Evil Empire. +These documents praised the technical excellence of Linux and outlined a +counterstrategy of attempting to lock in customers by de-commoditizing +Internet protocols and services. They were extensively cited on the Internet +and in the press and proved so embarrassing that Microsoft PR barely said a +word in public for six months afterwards. + diff --git a/entries/Hanlon's Razor.txt b/entries/Hanlon's Razor.txt index 1c602ce..f2849c5 100644 --- a/entries/Hanlon's Razor.txt +++ b/entries/Hanlon's Razor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Hanlon's Razor -prov. A corollary of Finagle's Law , similar to Occam's Razor, that reads Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Quoted here because it seems to be a particular favorite of hackers, often showing up in sig block s, fortune cookie files and the login banners of BBS systems and commercial networks. This probably reflects the hacker's daily experience of environments created by well-intentioned but short-sighted people. Compare Sturgeon's Law , Ninety-Ninety Rule. At http://www.statusq.org/2001/11/26.html it is claimed that Hanlon's Razor was coined by one Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, PA. However, a curiously similar remark ( You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity. ) appears in Logic of Empire , a classic 1941 SF story by Robert A. Heinlein, who calls the error it indicates the devil theory of sociology. Similar epigrams have been attributed to William James and (on dubious evidence) Napoleon Bonaparte. +prov. A corollary of Finagle's Law , similar to Occam's Razor, that reads +Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by +stupidity. Quoted here because it seems to be a particular favorite of +hackers, often showing up in sig block s, fortune cookie files and the login +banners of BBS systems and commercial networks. This probably reflects the +hacker's daily experience of environments created by well-intentioned but +short-sighted people. Compare Sturgeon's Law , Ninety-Ninety Rule. At +http://www.statusq.org/2001/11/26.html it is claimed that Hanlon's Razor was +coined by one Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, PA. However, a curiously similar +remark ( You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from +stupidity. ) appears in Logic of Empire , a classic 1941 SF story by Robert +A. Heinlein, who calls the error it indicates the devil theory of sociology. +Similar epigrams have been attributed to William James and (on dubious +evidence) Napoleon Bonaparte. + diff --git a/entries/Hed Rat.txt b/entries/Hed Rat.txt index aa62ffb..7f0d45a 100644 --- a/entries/Hed Rat.txt +++ b/entries/Hed Rat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ Hed Rat -Unflattering spoonerism of Red Hat, a popular Linux distribution. Compare Macintrash. sun-stools , HP-SUX , Slowlaris. +Unflattering spoonerism of Red Hat, a popular Linux distribution. Compare +Macintrash. sun-stools , HP-SUX , Slowlaris. + diff --git a/entries/I didn't change anything!.txt b/entries/I didn't change anything!.txt index 17cdbeb..632431c 100644 --- a/entries/I didn't change anything!.txt +++ b/entries/I didn't change anything!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ I didn't change anything! -interj. An aggrieved cry often heard as bugs manifest during a regression test. The canonical reply to this assertion is Then it works just the same as it did before, doesn't it? See also one-line fix. This is also heard from applications programmers trying to blame an obvious applications problem on an unrelated systems software change, for example a divide-by-0 fault after terminals were added to a network. Usually, their statement is found to be false. Upon close questioning, they will admit some major restructuring of the program that shouldn't have broken anything, in their opinion, but which actually hosed the code completely. Prev Up Next I Home I see no X here. +interj. An aggrieved cry often heard as bugs manifest during a regression +test. The canonical reply to this assertion is Then it works just the same +as it did before, doesn't it? See also one-line fix. This is also heard from +applications programmers trying to blame an obvious applications problem on +an unrelated systems software change, for example a divide-by-0 fault after +terminals were added to a network. Usually, their statement is found to be +false. Upon close questioning, they will admit some major restructuring of +the program that shouldn't have broken anything, in their opinion, but which +actually hosed the code completely. Prev Up Next I Home I see no X here. + diff --git a/entries/I for one welcome our new X overlords.txt b/entries/I for one welcome our new X overlords.txt index 928525c..bae1811 100644 --- a/entries/I for one welcome our new X overlords.txt +++ b/entries/I for one welcome our new X overlords.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ I for one welcome our new X overlords -Variants of this phrase with various values of X came into common use in 2002-2003, generally used to suggest that whatever party referred to as the new overlords is deeply evil. In the original Simpsons episode (#96, Homer In Space ) X = insect and th line is part of a speech in which a smarmy newscaster expresses his willingness to collaborate with an invading race of giant space ants. Prev Up Next I see no X here. +Variants of this phrase with various values of X came into common use in +2002-2003, generally used to suggest that whatever party referred to as the +new overlords is deeply evil. In the original Simpsons episode (#96, Homer +In Space ) X = insect and th line is part of a speech in which a smarmy +newscaster expresses his willingness to collaborate with an invading race of +giant space ants. Prev Up Next I see no X here. + diff --git a/entries/I see no X here..txt b/entries/I see no X here..txt index add2568..9afc77e 100644 --- a/entries/I see no X here..txt +++ b/entries/I see no X here..txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ I see no X here. -Hackers (and the interactive computer games they write) traditionally favor this slightly marked usage over other possible equivalents such as There's no X here! or X is missing. or Where's the X?. This goes back to the original PDP-10 ADVENT , which would respond in this wise if you asked it to do something involving an object not present at your location in the game. +Hackers (and the interactive computer games they write) traditionally favor +this slightly marked usage over other possible equivalents such as There's +no X here! or X is missing. or Where's the X?. This goes back to the +original PDP-10 ADVENT , which would respond in this wise if you asked it to +do something involving an object not present at your location in the game. + diff --git a/entries/IANAL.txt b/entries/IANAL.txt index d727590..3697f8a 100644 --- a/entries/IANAL.txt +++ b/entries/IANAL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ IANAL // [Usenet] Abbreviation, I Am Not A Lawyer. Usually precedes legal advice. + diff --git a/entries/IBM.txt b/entries/IBM.txt index 073935c..770d824 100644 --- a/entries/IBM.txt +++ b/entries/IBM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,27 @@ IBM -/IBM/ Once upon a time, the computer company most hackers loved to hate; today, the one they are most puzzled to find themselves liking. From hackerdom's beginnings in the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, IBM was regarded with active loathing. Common expansions of the corporate name included: Inferior But Marketable; It's Better Manually; Insidious Black Magic; It's Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel Movement; and a near- infinite number of even less complimentary expansions (see also fear and loathing ). What galled hackers about most IBM machines above the PC level wasn't so much that they were underpowered and overpriced (though that counted against them), but that the designs were incredibly archaic, crufty , and elephantine. .. and you couldn't fix them source code was locked up tight, and programming tools were expensive, hard to find, and bletcherous to use once you had found them. We didn't know how good we had it back then. In the 1980s IBM had its own troubles with Microsoft and lost its strategic way, receding from the hacker community's view. Then, in the 1990s, Microsoft became more noxious and omnipresent than IBM had ever been. In the late 1990s IBM re-invented itself as a services company, began to release open-source software through its AlphaWorks group, and began shipping Linux systems and building ties to the Linux community. To the astonishment of all parties, IBM emerged as a staunch friend of the hacker community and open source development, with ironic consequences noted in the FUD entry. This lexicon includes a number of entries attributed to IBM ; these derive from some rampantly unofficial jargon lists circulated within IBM's formerly beleaguered hacker underground. +/IBM/ Once upon a time, the computer company most hackers loved to hate; +today, the one they are most puzzled to find themselves liking. From +hackerdom's beginnings in the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, IBM was regarded +with active loathing. Common expansions of the corporate name included: +Inferior But Marketable; It's Better Manually; Insidious Black Magic; It's +Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel Movement; and a near- infinite number +of even less complimentary expansions (see also fear and loathing ). What +galled hackers about most IBM machines above the PC level wasn't so much +that they were underpowered and overpriced (though that counted against +them), but that the designs were incredibly archaic, crufty , and +elephantine. .. and you couldn't fix them source code was locked up tight, +and programming tools were expensive, hard to find, and bletcherous to use +once you had found them. We didn't know how good we had it back then. In the +1980s IBM had its own troubles with Microsoft and lost its strategic way, +receding from the hacker community's view. Then, in the 1990s, Microsoft +became more noxious and omnipresent than IBM had ever been. In the late +1990s IBM re-invented itself as a services company, began to release +open-source software through its AlphaWorks group, and began shipping Linux +systems and building ties to the Linux community. To the astonishment of all +parties, IBM emerged as a staunch friend of the hacker community and open +source development, with ironic consequences noted in the FUD entry. This +lexicon includes a number of entries attributed to IBM ; these derive from +some rampantly unofficial jargon lists circulated within IBM's formerly +beleaguered hacker underground. + diff --git a/entries/ICBM address.txt b/entries/ICBM address.txt index dc986b6..acfd700 100644 --- a/entries/ICBM address.txt +++ b/entries/ICBM address.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ ICBM address -n. (Also missile address ) The form used to register a site with the Usenet mapping project, back before the day of pervasive Internet, included a blank for longitude and latitude, preferably to seconds-of-arc accuracy. This was actually used for generating geographically-correct maps of Usenet links on a plotter; however, it became traditional to refer to this as one's ICBM address or missile address , and some people include it in their sig block with that name. (A real missile address would include target elevation. +n. (Also missile address ) The form used to register a site with the Usenet +mapping project, back before the day of pervasive Internet, included a blank +for longitude and latitude, preferably to seconds-of-arc accuracy. This was +actually used for generating geographically-correct maps of Usenet links on +a plotter; however, it became traditional to refer to this as one's ICBM +address or missile address , and some people include it in their sig block +with that name. (A real missile address would include target elevation. + diff --git a/entries/ID10T error.txt b/entries/ID10T error.txt index 4cfa8e7..2df8813 100644 --- a/entries/ID10T error.txt +++ b/entries/ID10T error.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ ID10T error -/IDtenT er'@r/ Synonym for PEBKAC , e.g. The user is being an idiot. Tech-support people passing a problem report to someone higher up the food chain (and presumably better equipped to deal with idiots) may ask the user to convey that there seems to be an I-D-ten-T error. Users never twig. +/IDtenT er'@r/ Synonym for PEBKAC , e.g. The user is being an idiot. +Tech-support people passing a problem report to someone higher up the food +chain (and presumably better equipped to deal with idiots) may ask the user +to convey that there seems to be an I-D-ten-T error. Users never twig. + diff --git a/entries/IDP.txt b/entries/IDP.txt index 17be8ee..345339f 100644 --- a/entries/IDP.txt +++ b/entries/IDP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ IDP -/IDP/ , v.,n. [Usenet] Abbreviation for Internet Death Penalty. Common (probably now more so than the full form), and frequently verbed. Compare UDP. Prev Up Next idempotent Home If you want X, you know where to find it. +/IDP/ , v.,n. [Usenet] Abbreviation for Internet Death Penalty. Common +(probably now more so than the full form), and frequently verbed. Compare +UDP. Prev Up Next idempotent Home If you want X, you know where to find +it. + diff --git a/entries/IIRC.txt b/entries/IIRC.txt index 48744ce..4138a96 100644 --- a/entries/IIRC.txt +++ b/entries/IIRC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ IIRC // Common abbreviation for If I Recall Correctly. + diff --git a/entries/IMHO.txt b/entries/IMHO.txt index 414d16e..7a6ed9e 100644 --- a/entries/IMHO.txt +++ b/entries/IMHO.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ IMHO -// , abbrev. [from SF fandom via Usenet; abbreviation for In My Humble Opinion ] IMHO, mixed-case C names should be avoided, as mistyping something in the wrong case can cause hard-to-detect errors and they look too Pascalish anyhow. Also seen in variant forms such as IMNSHO (In My Not-So-Humble Opinion) and IMAO (In My Arrogant Opinion). +// , abbrev. [from SF fandom via Usenet; abbreviation for In My Humble +Opinion ] IMHO, mixed-case C names should be avoided, as mistyping something +in the wrong case can cause hard-to-detect errors and they look too +Pascalish anyhow. Also seen in variant forms such as IMNSHO (In My +Not-So-Humble Opinion) and IMAO (In My Arrogant Opinion). + diff --git a/entries/INTERCAL.txt b/entries/INTERCAL.txt index 0173295..ace9fae 100644 --- a/entries/INTERCAL.txt +++ b/entries/INTERCAL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ INTERCAL -/int@rkal/ , n. [said by the authors to stand for Compiler Language With No Pronounceable Acronym ] A computer language designed by Don Woods and James Lyons in 1972. INTERCAL is purposely different from all other computer languages in all ways but one; it is purely a written language, being totally unspeakable. An excerpt from the INTERCAL Reference Manual will make the style of the language clear: It is a well-known and oft-demonstrated fact that a person whose work is incomprehensible is held in high esteem. For example, if one were to state that the simplest way to store a value of 65536 in a 32-bit INTERCAL variable is: DO:1 -#0$#256 any sensible programmer would say that that was absurd. Since this is indeed the simplest method, the programmer would be made to look foolish in front of his boss, who would of course have happened to turn up, as bosses are wont to do. The effect would be no less devastating for the programmer having been correct. INTERCAL has many other peculiar features designed to make it even more unspeakable. The Woods-Lyons implementation was actually used by many (well, at least several) people at Princeton. The language has been recently reimplemented as C-INTERCAL and is consequently enjoying an unprecedented level of unpopularity; there is even an alt.lang.intercal newsgroup devoted to the study and. .. appreciation of the language on Usenet. Inevitably, INTERCAL has a home page on the Web: http://www.catb.org/~esr/intercal/. An extended version, implemented in (what else?) Perl and adding object-oriented features, is rumored to exist. See also Befunge. +/int@rkal/ , n. [said by the authors to stand for Compiler Language With No +Pronounceable Acronym ] A computer language designed by Don Woods and James +Lyons in 1972. INTERCAL is purposely different from all other computer +languages in all ways but one; it is purely a written language, being +totally unspeakable. An excerpt from the INTERCAL Reference Manual will make +the style of the language clear: It is a well-known and oft-demonstrated +fact that a person whose work is incomprehensible is held in high esteem. +For example, if one were to state that the simplest way to store a value of +65536 in a 32-bit INTERCAL variable is: DO:1 -#0$#256 any sensible +programmer would say that that was absurd. Since this is indeed the simplest +method, the programmer would be made to look foolish in front of his boss, +who would of course have happened to turn up, as bosses are wont to do. The +effect would be no less devastating for the programmer having been correct. +INTERCAL has many other peculiar features designed to make it even more +unspeakable. The Woods-Lyons implementation was actually used by many (well, +at least several) people at Princeton. The language has been recently +reimplemented as C-INTERCAL and is consequently enjoying an unprecedented +level of unpopularity; there is even an alt.lang.intercal newsgroup devoted +to the study and. .. appreciation of the language on Usenet. Inevitably, +INTERCAL has a home page on the Web: http://www.catb.org/~esr/intercal/. An +extended version, implemented in (what else?) Perl and adding +object-oriented features, is rumored to exist. See also Befunge. + diff --git a/entries/IRC.txt b/entries/IRC.txt index 07135cd..a75be1a 100644 --- a/entries/IRC.txt +++ b/entries/IRC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ IRC -/IRC/ , n. [Internet Relay Chat] A worldwide party line network that allows one to converse with others in real time. IRC is structured as a network of Internet servers, each of which accepts connections from client programs, one per user. The IRC community and the Usenet and MUD communities overlap to some extent, including both hackers and regular folks who have discovered the wonders of computer networks. Some Usenet jargon has been adopted on IRC, as have some conventions such as emoticon s. There is also a vigorous native jargon, represented in this lexicon by entries marked [IRC]. See also talk mode. +/IRC/ , n. [Internet Relay Chat] A worldwide party line network that allows +one to converse with others in real time. IRC is structured as a network of +Internet servers, each of which accepts connections from client programs, +one per user. The IRC community and the Usenet and MUD communities overlap +to some extent, including both hackers and regular folks who have discovered +the wonders of computer networks. Some Usenet jargon has been adopted on +IRC, as have some conventions such as emoticon s. There is also a vigorous +native jargon, represented in this lexicon by entries marked [IRC]. See also +talk mode. + diff --git a/entries/ISO standard cup of tea.txt b/entries/ISO standard cup of tea.txt index bc71a77..752468d 100644 --- a/entries/ISO standard cup of tea.txt +++ b/entries/ISO standard cup of tea.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ ISO standard cup of tea -n. [South Africa] A cup of tea with milk and one teaspoon of sugar, where the milk is poured into the cup before the tea. Variations are ISO 0, with no sugar; ISO 2, with two spoons of sugar; and so on. This may derive from the NATO standard cup of coffee and tea (milk and two sugars), military slang going back to the late 1950s and parodying NATO's relentless bureaucratic drive to standardize parts across European and U.S. militaries. Like many ISO standards, this one has a faintly alien ring in North America, where hackers generally shun the decadent British practice of adulterating perfectly good tea with dairy products and prefer instead to add a wedge of lemon, if anything. If one were feeling extremely silly, one might hypothesize an analogous ANSI standard cup of tea and wind up with a political situation distressingly similar to several that arise in much more serious technical contexts. (Milk and lemon don't mix very well.) [2000 update: There is now, in fact, an ISO standard 3103: Method for preparation of a liquor of tea for use in sensory tests. , alleged to be equivalent to British Standard BS6008: How to make a standard cup of tea. +n. [South Africa] A cup of tea with milk and one teaspoon of sugar, where +the milk is poured into the cup before the tea. Variations are ISO 0, with +no sugar; ISO 2, with two spoons of sugar; and so on. This may derive from +the NATO standard cup of coffee and tea (milk and two sugars), military +slang going back to the late 1950s and parodying NATO's relentless +bureaucratic drive to standardize parts across European and U.S. militaries. +Like many ISO standards, this one has a faintly alien ring in North America, +where hackers generally shun the decadent British practice of adulterating +perfectly good tea with dairy products and prefer instead to add a wedge of +lemon, if anything. If one were feeling extremely silly, one might +hypothesize an analogous ANSI standard cup of tea and wind up with a +political situation distressingly similar to several that arise in much more +serious technical contexts. (Milk and lemon don't mix very well.) [2000 +update: There is now, in fact, an ISO standard 3103: Method for preparation +of a liquor of tea for use in sensory tests. , alleged to be equivalent to +British Standard BS6008: How to make a standard cup of tea. + diff --git a/entries/ISP.txt b/entries/ISP.txt index b611d5d..7223fb5 100644 --- a/entries/ISP.txt +++ b/entries/ISP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ ISP -/ISP/ Common abbreviation for Internet Service Provider, a kind of company that barely existed before 1993. ISPs sell Internet access to the mass market. While the big nationwide commercial BBSs with Internet access (like America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, Netcom, etc.) are technically ISPs, the term is usually reserved for local or regional small providers (often run by hackers turned entrepreneurs) who resell Internet access cheaply without themselves being information providers or selling advertising. Compare NSP. +/ISP/ Common abbreviation for Internet Service Provider, a kind of company +that barely existed before 1993. ISPs sell Internet access to the mass +market. While the big nationwide commercial BBSs with Internet access (like +America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, Netcom, etc.) are technically ISPs, the +term is usually reserved for local or regional small providers (often run by +hackers turned entrepreneurs) who resell Internet access cheaply without +themselves being information providers or selling advertising. Compare NSP. + diff --git a/entries/ITS.txt b/entries/ITS.txt index ceb86e6..77a0336 100644 --- a/entries/ITS.txt +++ b/entries/ITS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ ITS -/ITS/ , n. 1. Incompatible Time-sharing System, an influential though highly idiosyncratic operating system written for PDP-6s and PDP-10s at MIT and long used at the MIT AI Lab. Much AI-hacker jargon derives from ITS folklore, and to have been an ITS hacker qualifies one instantly as an old-timer of the most venerable sort. ITS pioneered many important innovations, including transparent file sharing between machines and terminal-independent I/O. After about 1982, most actual work was shifted to newer machines, with the remaining ITS boxes run essentially as a hobby and service to the hacker community. The shutdown of the lab's last ITS machine in May 1990 marked the end of an era and sent old-time hackers into mourning nationwide (see high moby ). There is an ITS home page. 2. A mythical image of operating-system perfection worshiped by a bizarre, fervent retro-cult of old-time hackers and ex-users (see troglodyte , sense 2). ITS worshipers manage somehow to continue believing that an OS maintained by assembly-language hand-hacking that supported only monocase 6-character filenames in one directory per account remains superior to today's state of commercial art (their venom against Unix is particularly intense). See also holy wars , Weenix. +/ITS/ , n. 1. Incompatible Time-sharing System, an influential though highly +idiosyncratic operating system written for PDP-6s and PDP-10s at MIT and +long used at the MIT AI Lab. Much AI-hacker jargon derives from ITS +folklore, and to have been an ITS hacker qualifies one instantly as an +old-timer of the most venerable sort. ITS pioneered many important +innovations, including transparent file sharing between machines and +terminal-independent I/O. After about 1982, most actual work was shifted to +newer machines, with the remaining ITS boxes run essentially as a hobby and +service to the hacker community. The shutdown of the lab's last ITS machine +in May 1990 marked the end of an era and sent old-time hackers into mourning +nationwide (see high moby ). There is an ITS home page. 2. A mythical image +of operating-system perfection worshiped by a bizarre, fervent retro-cult of +old-time hackers and ex-users (see troglodyte , sense 2). ITS worshipers +manage somehow to continue believing that an OS maintained by +assembly-language hand-hacking that supported only monocase 6-character +filenames in one directory per account remains superior to today's state of +commercial art (their venom against Unix is particularly intense). See also +holy wars , Weenix. + diff --git a/entries/IWBNI.txt b/entries/IWBNI.txt index ec355d7..49999b2 100644 --- a/entries/IWBNI.txt +++ b/entries/IWBNI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ IWBNI // Abbreviation for It Would Be Nice If. Compare WIBNI. + diff --git a/entries/IYFEG.txt b/entries/IYFEG.txt index 67cd72d..d7ec96d 100644 --- a/entries/IYFEG.txt +++ b/entries/IYFEG.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ IYFEG -// [Usenet] Abbreviation for Insert Your Favorite Ethnic Group. Used as a meta-name when telling ethnic jokes on the net to avoid offending anyone. See JEDR. +// [Usenet] Abbreviation for Insert Your Favorite Ethnic Group. Used as a +meta-name when telling ethnic jokes on the net to avoid offending anyone. +See JEDR. + diff --git a/entries/If you want X, you know where to find it..txt b/entries/If you want X, you know where to find it..txt index 6928831..8ea2001 100644 --- a/entries/If you want X, you know where to find it..txt +++ b/entries/If you want X, you know where to find it..txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ If you want X, you know where to find it. -There is a legend that Dennis Ritchie, inventor of C , once responded to demands for features resembling those of what at the time was a much more popular language by observing If you want PL/I, you know where to find it. Ever since, this has been hackish standard form for fending off requests to alter a new design to mimic some older (and, by implication, inferior and baroque ) one. The case X = Pascal manifests semi-regularly on Usenet's comp.lang.c newsgroup. Indeed, the case X = X has been reported in discussions of graphics software (see X ). +There is a legend that Dennis Ritchie, inventor of C , once responded to +demands for features resembling those of what at the time was a much more +popular language by observing If you want PL/I, you know where to find it. +Ever since, this has been hackish standard form for fending off requests to +alter a new design to mimic some older (and, by implication, inferior and +baroque ) one. The case X = Pascal manifests semi-regularly on Usenet's +comp.lang.c newsgroup. Indeed, the case X = X has been reported in +discussions of graphics software (see X ). + diff --git a/entries/Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted!.txt b/entries/Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted!.txt index 928a74a..ebfcf79 100644 --- a/entries/Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted!.txt +++ b/entries/Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted! -prov. [Usenet] Since Usenet first got off the ground in 1980--81, it has grown exponentially, approximately doubling in size every year. On the other hand, most people feel the signal-to-noise ratio of Usenet has dropped steadily. These trends led, as far back as mid-1983, to predictions of the imminent collapse (or death) of the net. Ten years and numerous doublings later, enough of these gloomy prognostications have been confounded that the phrase Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted! has become a running joke, hauled out any time someone grumbles about the S/N ratio or the huge and steadily increasing volume, or the possible loss of a key node or link, or the potential for lawsuits when ignoramuses post copyrighted material, etc., etc., etc. +prov. [Usenet] Since Usenet first got off the ground in 1980--81, it has +grown exponentially, approximately doubling in size every year. On the other +hand, most people feel the signal-to-noise ratio of Usenet has dropped +steadily. These trends led, as far back as mid-1983, to predictions of the +imminent collapse (or death) of the net. Ten years and numerous doublings +later, enough of these gloomy prognostications have been confounded that the +phrase Imminent Death Of The Net Predicted! has become a running joke, +hauled out any time someone grumbles about the S/N ratio or the huge and +steadily increasing volume, or the possible loss of a key node or link, or +the potential for lawsuits when ignoramuses post copyrighted material, etc., +etc., etc. + diff --git a/entries/Indent-o-Meter.txt b/entries/Indent-o-Meter.txt index ad661bb..cf87f53 100644 --- a/entries/Indent-o-Meter.txt +++ b/entries/Indent-o-Meter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Indent-o-Meter -A fiendishly clever ASCII display hack that became a brief fad in 1993-1994; it used combinations of tabs and spaces to produce an analog indicator of the amount of indentation an included portion of a reply had undergone. The full story is at http://world.std.com/~mmcirvin/indent.html. +A fiendishly clever ASCII display hack that became a brief fad in 1993-1994; +it used combinations of tabs and spaces to produce an analog indicator of +the amount of indentation an included portion of a reply had undergone. The +full story is at http://world.std.com/~mmcirvin/indent.html. + diff --git a/entries/Infinite-Monkey Theorem.txt b/entries/Infinite-Monkey Theorem.txt index dff8965..dadc374 100644 --- a/entries/Infinite-Monkey Theorem.txt +++ b/entries/Infinite-Monkey Theorem.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ Infinite-Monkey Theorem -n. If you put an infinite number of monkeys at typewriters, eventually one will bash out the script for Hamlet. (One may also hypothesize a small number of monkeys and a very long period of time.) This theorem asserts nothing about the intelligence of the one random monkey that eventually comes up with the script (and note that the mob will also type out all the possible incorrect versions of Hamlet). It may be referred to semi-seriously when justifying a brute force method; the implication is that, with enough resources thrown at it, any technical challenge becomes a one-banana problem. This argument gets more respect since Linux justified the bazaar mode of development. Other hackers maintain that the Infinite-Monkey Theorem cannot be true otherwise Usenet would have reproduced the entire canon of great literature by now. In mid-2002, researchers at Plymouth Univesity in England actually put a working computer in a cage with six crested macaques. The monkeys proceeded to bash the machine with a rock, urinate on it, and type the letter S a lot (later, the letters A, J, L, and M also crept in). The results were published in a limited-edition book, Notes Towards The Complete Works of Shakespeare. A researcher reported: They were quite interested in the screen, and they saw that when they typed a letter, something happened. There was a level of intention there. Scattered field reports that there are AOL users this competent have been greeted with well-deserved skepticism. This theorem has been traced to the mathematiciamn mile Borel in 1913, and was first popularized by the astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington. It became part of the idiom of techies via the classic SF short story Inflexible Logic by Russell Maloney, and many younger hackers know it through a reference in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Some other references have been collected on the Web. On 1 April 2000 the usage acquired its own Internet standard, RFC2795 (Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite). +n. If you put an infinite number of monkeys at typewriters, eventually one +will bash out the script for Hamlet. (One may also hypothesize a small +number of monkeys and a very long period of time.) This theorem asserts +nothing about the intelligence of the one random monkey that eventually +comes up with the script (and note that the mob will also type out all the +possible incorrect versions of Hamlet). It may be referred to semi-seriously +when justifying a brute force method; the implication is that, with enough +resources thrown at it, any technical challenge becomes a one-banana +problem. This argument gets more respect since Linux justified the bazaar +mode of development. Other hackers maintain that the Infinite-Monkey Theorem +cannot be true otherwise Usenet would have reproduced the entire canon of +great literature by now. In mid-2002, researchers at Plymouth Univesity in +England actually put a working computer in a cage with six crested macaques. +The monkeys proceeded to bash the machine with a rock, urinate on it, and +type the letter S a lot (later, the letters A, J, L, and M also crept in). +The results were published in a limited-edition book, Notes Towards The +Complete Works of Shakespeare. A researcher reported: They were quite +interested in the screen, and they saw that when they typed a letter, +something happened. There was a level of intention there. Scattered field +reports that there are AOL users this competent have been greeted with +well-deserved skepticism. This theorem has been traced to the mathematiciamn +mile Borel in 1913, and was first popularized by the astronomer Sir Arthur +Eddington. It became part of the idiom of techies via the classic SF short +story Inflexible Logic by Russell Maloney, and many younger hackers know it +through a reference in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. +Some other references have been collected on the Web. On 1 April 2000 the +usage acquired its own Internet standard, RFC2795 (Infinite Monkey Protocol +Suite). + diff --git a/entries/Infocom.txt b/entries/Infocom.txt index 20416b0..dc0d5b3 100644 --- a/entries/Infocom.txt +++ b/entries/Infocom.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ Infocom -n. A now-legendary games company, active from 1979 to 1989, that commercialized the MDL parser technology used for Zork to produce a line of text adventure games that remain favorites among hackers. Infocom's games were intelligent, funny, witty, erudite, irreverent, challenging, satirical, and most thoroughly hackish in spirit. The physical game packages from Infocom are now prized collector's items. After being acquired by Activision in 1989 they did a few more modern (e.g. graphics-intensive) games which were less successful than reissues of their classics. The software, thankfully, is still extant; Infocom games were written in a kind of P-code (called, actually, z-code ) and distributed with a P-code interpreter core, and not only open-source emulators for that interpreter but an actual compiler as well have been written to permit the P-code to be run on platforms the games never originally graced. In fact, new games written in this P-code are still being written. There is a home page at http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/ , and it is even possible to play these games in your browser if it is Java-capable. +n. A now-legendary games company, active from 1979 to 1989, that +commercialized the MDL parser technology used for Zork to produce a line of +text adventure games that remain favorites among hackers. Infocom's games +were intelligent, funny, witty, erudite, irreverent, challenging, satirical, +and most thoroughly hackish in spirit. The physical game packages from +Infocom are now prized collector's items. After being acquired by Activision +in 1989 they did a few more modern (e.g. graphics-intensive) games which +were less successful than reissues of their classics. The software, +thankfully, is still extant; Infocom games were written in a kind of P-code +(called, actually, z-code ) and distributed with a P-code interpreter core, +and not only open-source emulators for that interpreter but an actual +compiler as well have been written to permit the P-code to be run on +platforms the games never originally graced. In fact, new games written in +this P-code are still being written. There is a home page at +http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Infocom/ , and it is even possible to play these games +in your browser if it is Java-capable. + diff --git a/entries/InterCaps.txt b/entries/InterCaps.txt index e6e39b1..d4c8b14 100644 --- a/entries/InterCaps.txt +++ b/entries/InterCaps.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ InterCaps Synonym for BiCapitalization. + diff --git a/entries/Internet Death Penalty.txt b/entries/Internet Death Penalty.txt index b27f7a7..957f8b9 100644 --- a/entries/Internet Death Penalty.txt +++ b/entries/Internet Death Penalty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Internet Death Penalty -(often abbreviated IDP) The ultimate sanction against spam -emitting sites complete shunning at the router level of all mail and packets, as well as Usenet messages, from the offending domain(s). Compare Usenet Death Penalty , with which it is sometimes confused. +(often abbreviated IDP) The ultimate sanction against spam -emitting sites +complete shunning at the router level of all mail and packets, as well as +Usenet messages, from the offending domain(s). Compare Usenet Death Penalty +, with which it is sometimes confused. + diff --git a/entries/Internet Exploder.txt b/entries/Internet Exploder.txt index 929c9b9..b646e55 100644 --- a/entries/Internet Exploder.txt +++ b/entries/Internet Exploder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ Internet Exploder -Pejorative hackerism for Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser (also Internet Exploiter ). Compare HP-SUX , Macintrash , sun-stools , Slowlaris. +Pejorative hackerism for Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser (also +Internet Exploiter ). Compare HP-SUX , Macintrash , sun-stools , Slowlaris. + diff --git a/entries/Internet Exploiter.txt b/entries/Internet Exploiter.txt index 20ba301..73f85e8 100644 --- a/entries/Internet Exploiter.txt +++ b/entries/Internet Exploiter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Internet Exploiter -n. Another common name-of-insult for Internet Explorer, Microsoft's overweight Web Browser; more hostile than Internet Exploder. Reflects widespread hostility to Microsoft and a sense that it is seeking to hijack, monopolize, and corrupt the Internet. Compare Exploder and the less pejorative Netscrape. +n. Another common name-of-insult for Internet Explorer, Microsoft's +overweight Web Browser; more hostile than Internet Exploder. Reflects +widespread hostility to Microsoft and a sense that it is seeking to hijack, +monopolize, and corrupt the Internet. Compare Exploder and the less +pejorative Netscrape. + diff --git a/entries/Internet.txt b/entries/Internet.txt index 9c4c79b..510a761 100644 --- a/entries/Internet.txt +++ b/entries/Internet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,46 @@ Internet -n. The mother of all networks. First incarnated beginning in 1969 as the ARPANET, a U.S. Department of Defense research testbed. Though it has been widely believed that the goal was to develop a network architecture for military command-and-control that could survive disruptions up to and including nuclear war, this is a myth; in fact, ARPANET was conceived from the start as a way to get most economical use out of then-scarce large-computer resources. Robert Herzfeld, who was director of ARPA at the time, has been at some pains to debunk the survive-a-nuclear-war myth, but it seems unkillable. As originally imagined, ARPANET's major use would have been to support what is now called remote login and more sophisticated forms of distributed computing, but the infant technology of electronic mail quickly grew to dominate actual usage. Universities, research labs and defense contractors early discovered the Internet's potential as a medium of communication between humans and linked up in steadily increasing numbers, connecting together a quirky mix of academics, techies, hippies, SF fans, hackers, and anarchists. The roots of this lexicon lie in those early years. Over the next quarter-century the Internet evolved in many ways. The typical machine/OS combination moved from DEC PDP-10 s and PDP-20 s, running TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 , to PDP-11s and VAX en and Suns running Unix , and in the 1990s to Unix on Intel microcomputers. The Internet's protocols grew more capable, most notably in the move from NCP/IP to TCP/IP in 1982 and the implementation of Domain Name Service in 1983. It was around this time that people began referring to the collection of interconnected networks with ARPANET at its core as the Internet. The ARPANET had a fairly strict set of participation guidelines -- connected institutions had to be involved with a DOD-related research project. By the mid-80s, many of the organizations clamoring to join didn't fit this profile. In 1986, the National Science Foundation built NSFnet to open up access to its five regional supercomputing centers; NSFnet became the backbone of the Internet, replacing the original ARPANET pipes (which were formally shut down in 1990). Between 1990 and late 1994 the pieces of NSFnet were sold to major telecommunications companies until the Internet backbone had gone completely commercial. That year, 1994, was also the year the mainstream culture discovered the Internet. Once again, the killer app was not the anticipated one rather, what caught the public imagination was the hypertext and multimedia features of the World Wide Web. Subsequently the Internet has seen off its only serious challenger (the OSI protocol stack favored by European telecoms monopolies) and is in the process of absorbing into itself many of the proprietary networks built during the second wave of wide-area networking after 1980. By 1996 it had become a commonplace even in mainstream media to predict that a globally-extended Internet would become the key unifying communications technology of the next century. See also the network. +n. The mother of all networks. First incarnated beginning in 1969 as the +ARPANET, a U.S. Department of Defense research testbed. Though it has been +widely believed that the goal was to develop a network architecture for +military command-and-control that could survive disruptions up to and +including nuclear war, this is a myth; in fact, ARPANET was conceived from +the start as a way to get most economical use out of then-scarce +large-computer resources. Robert Herzfeld, who was director of ARPA at the +time, has been at some pains to debunk the survive-a-nuclear-war myth, but +it seems unkillable. As originally imagined, ARPANET's major use would have +been to support what is now called remote login and more sophisticated forms +of distributed computing, but the infant technology of electronic mail +quickly grew to dominate actual usage. Universities, research labs and +defense contractors early discovered the Internet's potential as a medium of +communication between humans and linked up in steadily increasing numbers, +connecting together a quirky mix of academics, techies, hippies, SF fans, +hackers, and anarchists. The roots of this lexicon lie in those early years. +Over the next quarter-century the Internet evolved in many ways. The typical +machine/OS combination moved from DEC PDP-10 s and PDP-20 s, running TOPS-10 +and TOPS-20 , to PDP-11s and VAX en and Suns running Unix , and in the 1990s +to Unix on Intel microcomputers. The Internet's protocols grew more capable, +most notably in the move from NCP/IP to TCP/IP in 1982 and the +implementation of Domain Name Service in 1983. It was around this time that +people began referring to the collection of interconnected networks with +ARPANET at its core as the Internet. The ARPANET had a fairly strict set of +participation guidelines -- connected institutions had to be involved with a +DOD-related research project. By the mid-80s, many of the organizations +clamoring to join didn't fit this profile. In 1986, the National Science +Foundation built NSFnet to open up access to its five regional +supercomputing centers; NSFnet became the backbone of the Internet, +replacing the original ARPANET pipes (which were formally shut down in +1990). Between 1990 and late 1994 the pieces of NSFnet were sold to major +telecommunications companies until the Internet backbone had gone completely +commercial. That year, 1994, was also the year the mainstream culture +discovered the Internet. Once again, the killer app was not the anticipated +one rather, what caught the public imagination was the hypertext and +multimedia features of the World Wide Web. Subsequently the Internet has +seen off its only serious challenger (the OSI protocol stack favored by +European telecoms monopolies) and is in the process of absorbing into itself +many of the proprietary networks built during the second wave of wide-area +networking after 1980. By 1996 it had become a commonplace even in +mainstream media to predict that a globally-extended Internet would become +the key unifying communications technology of the next century. See also the +network. + diff --git a/entries/Iron Age.txt b/entries/Iron Age.txt index a7ea201..af0d96a 100644 --- a/entries/Iron Age.txt +++ b/entries/Iron Age.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Iron Age -n. In the history of computing, 1961-1971 the formative era of commercial mainframe technology, when ferrite-core dinosaur s ruled the earth. The Iron Age began, ironically enough, with the delivery of the first minicomputer (the PDP-1) and ended with the introduction of the first commercial microprocessor (the Intel 4004) in 1971. See also Stone Age ; compare elder days. +n. In the history of computing, 1961-1971 the formative era of commercial +mainframe technology, when ferrite-core dinosaur s ruled the earth. The Iron +Age began, ironically enough, with the delivery of the first minicomputer +(the PDP-1) and ended with the introduction of the first commercial +microprocessor (the Intel 4004) in 1971. See also Stone Age ; compare elder +days. + diff --git a/entries/Itanic.txt b/entries/Itanic.txt index 4ffb5f2..a6fd45c 100644 --- a/entries/Itanic.txt +++ b/entries/Itanic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Itanic -n. The Intel Itanium, so called in reference to the legendary disaster that was the Titanic. This term bubbled up in several places on the Internet in 1999 when it was beginning to become clear that the Itanium was turning into the most expensive and protracted flop in the history of the semiconductor industry. +n. The Intel Itanium, so called in reference to the legendary disaster that +was the Titanic. This term bubbled up in several places on the Internet in +1999 when it was beginning to become clear that the Itanium was turning into +the most expensive and protracted flop in the history of the semiconductor +industry. + diff --git a/entries/J. Random Hacker.txt b/entries/J. Random Hacker.txt index d0b0bf5..f90218d 100644 --- a/entries/J. Random Hacker.txt +++ b/entries/J. Random Hacker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ J. Random Hacker -/J randm hakr/ , n. [very common] A mythical figure like the Unknown Soldier; the archetypal hacker nerd. This term is one of the oldest in the jargon, apparently going back to MIT in the 1960s. See random , Suzie COBOL. This may originally have been inspired by J. Fred Muggs , a show-biz chimpanzee whose name was a household word back in the early days of TMRC , and was probably influenced by J. Presper Eckert (one of the co-inventors of the electronic computer). See also Fred Foobar. Prev Up Next J. +/J randm hakr/ , n. [very common] A mythical figure like the Unknown +Soldier; the archetypal hacker nerd. This term is one of the oldest in the +jargon, apparently going back to MIT in the 1960s. See random , Suzie COBOL. +This may originally have been inspired by J. Fred Muggs , a show-biz +chimpanzee whose name was a household word back in the early days of TMRC , +and was probably influenced by J. Presper Eckert (one of the co-inventors of +the electronic computer). See also Fred Foobar. Prev Up Next J. + diff --git a/entries/J. Random.txt b/entries/J. Random.txt index 620dc76..a7afaaf 100644 --- a/entries/J. Random.txt +++ b/entries/J. Random.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ J. Random -/J randm/ , n. [common; generalized from J. Random Hacker ] Arbitrary; ordinary; any one; any old. J. Random is often prefixed to a noun to make a name out of it. It means roughly some particular or any specific one. Would you let J. Random Loser marry your daughter? The most common uses are J. Random Hacker , J. Random Loser , and J. Random Nerd ( Should J. Random Loser be allowed to kill other peoples' processes? ), but it can be used simply as an elaborate version of random in any sense. Prev Up Next J Home J. +/J randm/ , n. [common; generalized from J. Random Hacker ] Arbitrary; +ordinary; any one; any old. J. Random is often prefixed to a noun to make a +name out of it. It means roughly some particular or any specific one. Would +you let J. Random Loser marry your daughter? The most common uses are J. +Random Hacker , J. Random Loser , and J. Random Nerd ( Should J. Random +Loser be allowed to kill other peoples' processes? ), but it can be used +simply as an elaborate version of random in any sense. Prev Up Next J Home +J. + diff --git a/entries/JCL.txt b/entries/JCL.txt index 84c5c96..3d5c8e4 100644 --- a/entries/JCL.txt +++ b/entries/JCL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ JCL -/JCL/ , n. 1. IBM's supremely rude Job Control Language. JCL is the script language used to control the execution of programs in IBM's batch systems. JCL has a very fascist syntax, and some versions will, for example, barf if two spaces appear where it expects one. Most programmers confronted with JCL simply copy a working file (or card deck), changing the file names. Someone who actually understands and generates unique JCL is regarded with the mixed respect one gives to someone who memorizes the phone book. It is reported that hackers at IBM itself sometimes sing Who's the breeder of the crud that mangles you and me? I-B-M, J-C-L, M-o-u-s-e to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club theme to express their opinion of the beast. 2. A comparative for any very rude software that a hacker is expected to use. That's as bad as JCL. As with COBOL , JCL is often used as an archetype of ugliness even by those who haven't experienced it. See also IBM , fear and loathing. A (poorly documented, naturally) shell simulating JCL syntax is available at the Retrocomputing Museum http://www.catb.org/retro/. +/JCL/ , n. 1. IBM's supremely rude Job Control Language. JCL is the script +language used to control the execution of programs in IBM's batch systems. +JCL has a very fascist syntax, and some versions will, for example, barf if +two spaces appear where it expects one. Most programmers confronted with JCL +simply copy a working file (or card deck), changing the file names. Someone +who actually understands and generates unique JCL is regarded with the mixed +respect one gives to someone who memorizes the phone book. It is reported +that hackers at IBM itself sometimes sing Who's the breeder of the crud that +mangles you and me? I-B-M, J-C-L, M-o-u-s-e to the tune of the Mickey Mouse +Club theme to express their opinion of the beast. 2. A comparative for any +very rude software that a hacker is expected to use. That's as bad as JCL. +As with COBOL , JCL is often used as an archetype of ugliness even by those +who haven't experienced it. See also IBM , fear and loathing. A (poorly +documented, naturally) shell simulating JCL syntax is available at the +Retrocomputing Museum http://www.catb.org/retro/. + diff --git a/entries/JEDR.txt b/entries/JEDR.txt index 5970e44..53f5a20 100644 --- a/entries/JEDR.txt +++ b/entries/JEDR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ JEDR -// , n. Synonymous with IYFEG. At one time, people in the Usenet newsgroup rec.humor.funny tended to use JEDR instead of IYFEG or ethnic ; this stemmed from a public attempt to suppress the group once made by a loser with initials JEDR after he was offended by an ethnic joke posted there. (The practice was retcon ned by expanding these initials as Joke Ethnic/Denomination/Race. ) After much sound and fury JEDR faded away; this term appears to be doing likewise. JEDR's only permanent effect on the net.culture was to discredit sensitivity arguments for censorship so thoroughly that more recent attempts to raise them have met with immediate and near-universal rejection. Prev Up Next JCL Home Jeff K. +// , n. Synonymous with IYFEG. At one time, people in the Usenet newsgroup +rec.humor.funny tended to use JEDR instead of IYFEG or ethnic ; this stemmed +from a public attempt to suppress the group once made by a loser with +initials JEDR after he was offended by an ethnic joke posted there. (The +practice was retcon ned by expanding these initials as Joke +Ethnic/Denomination/Race. ) After much sound and fury JEDR faded away; this +term appears to be doing likewise. JEDR's only permanent effect on the +net.culture was to discredit sensitivity arguments for censorship so +thoroughly that more recent attempts to raise them have met with immediate +and near-universal rejection. Prev Up Next JCL Home Jeff K. + diff --git a/entries/Java.txt b/entries/Java.txt index dbea6de..e575dbd 100644 --- a/entries/Java.txt +++ b/entries/Java.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ Java -An object-oriented language originally developed at Sun by James Gosling (and known by the name Oak ) with the intention of being the successor to C++ (the project was however originally sold to Sun as an embedded language for use in set-top boxes). After the great Internet explosion of 1993-1994, was hacked into a byte-interpreted language and became the focus of a relentless hype campaign by Sun, which touted it as the new language of choice for distributed applications. is indeed a stronger and cleaner design than C++ and has been embraced by many in the hacker community but it has been a considerable source of frustration to many others, for reasons ranging from uneven support on different Web browser platforms, performance issues, and some notorious deficiencies in some of the standard toolkits (AWT in particular). Microsoft 's determined attempts to corrupt the language (which it rightly sees as a threat to its OS monopoly) have not helped. As of 2003, these issues are still in the process of being resolved. Despite many attractive features and a good design, it is difficult to find people willing to praise who have tried to implement a complex, real-world system with it (but to be fair it is early days yet, and no other language has ever been forced to spend its childhood under the limelight the way has). On the other hand, has already been a big win in academic circles, where it has taken the place of Pascal as the preferred tool for teaching the basics of good programming to the next generation of hackers. +An object-oriented language originally developed at Sun by James Gosling +(and known by the name Oak ) with the intention of being the successor to +C++ (the project was however originally sold to Sun as an embedded language +for use in set-top boxes). After the great Internet explosion of 1993-1994, +was hacked into a byte-interpreted language and became the focus of a +relentless hype campaign by Sun, which touted it as the new language of +choice for distributed applications. is indeed a stronger and cleaner +design than C++ and has been embraced by many in the hacker community but it +has been a considerable source of frustration to many others, for reasons +ranging from uneven support on different Web browser platforms, performance +issues, and some notorious deficiencies in some of the standard toolkits +(AWT in particular). Microsoft 's determined attempts to corrupt the +language (which it rightly sees as a threat to its OS monopoly) have not +helped. As of 2003, these issues are still in the process of being resolved. +Despite many attractive features and a good design, it is difficult to find +people willing to praise who have tried to implement a complex, real-world +system with it (but to be fair it is early days yet, and no other language +has ever been forced to spend its childhood under the limelight the way +has). On the other hand, has already been a big win in academic circles, +where it has taken the place of Pascal as the preferred tool for teaching +the basics of good programming to the next generation of hackers. + diff --git a/entries/Jeff K..txt b/entries/Jeff K..txt index 3e11877..92c9186 100644 --- a/entries/Jeff K..txt +++ b/entries/Jeff K..txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ Jeff K. -The spiritual successor to B1FF and the archetype of script kiddies. is a sixteen-year-old suburbanite who fancies himself a l33t haX0r , although his knowledge of computers seems to be limited to the procedure for getting Quake up and running. His Web page http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/ features a number of hopelessly naive articles, essays, and rants, all filled with the kind of misspellings, studlycaps , and number-for-letter substitutions endemic to the script kiddie and warez d00dz communities. Jeff's offerings, among other things, include hardware advice (such as AMD VERSIS PENTIUM and HOW TO OVARCLOAK YOUR COMPUTAR ), his own Quake clan (Clan 40 OUNSCE), and his own comic strip (Wacky Fun Computar Comic Jokes). Like B1FF, is (fortunately) a hoax. was created by internet game journalist Richard Lowtax Kyanka, whose web site Something Awful (http://www.somethingawful.com) highlights unintentionally humorous news items and Web sites, as a parody of the kind of teenage luser who infests Quake servers, chat rooms, and other places where computer enthusiasts congregate. He is well-recognized in the PC game community and his influence has spread to hacker fora like Slashdot as well. +The spiritual successor to B1FF and the archetype of script kiddies. is a +sixteen-year-old suburbanite who fancies himself a l33t haX0r , although his +knowledge of computers seems to be limited to the procedure for getting +Quake up and running. His Web page http://www.somethingawful.com/jeffk/ +features a number of hopelessly naive articles, essays, and rants, all +filled with the kind of misspellings, studlycaps , and number-for-letter +substitutions endemic to the script kiddie and warez d00dz communities. +Jeff's offerings, among other things, include hardware advice (such as AMD +VERSIS PENTIUM and HOW TO OVARCLOAK YOUR COMPUTAR ), his own Quake clan +(Clan 40 OUNSCE), and his own comic strip (Wacky Fun Computar Comic Jokes). +Like B1FF, is (fortunately) a hoax. was created by internet game +journalist Richard Lowtax Kyanka, whose web site Something Awful +(http://www.somethingawful.com) highlights unintentionally humorous news +items and Web sites, as a parody of the kind of teenage luser who infests +Quake servers, chat rooms, and other places where computer enthusiasts +congregate. He is well-recognized in the PC game community and his influence +has spread to hacker fora like Slashdot as well. + diff --git a/entries/Jeopardy-style quoting.txt b/entries/Jeopardy-style quoting.txt index a4b4487..bf61ea8 100644 --- a/entries/Jeopardy-style quoting.txt +++ b/entries/Jeopardy-style quoting.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Jeopardy-style quoting See top-post. + diff --git a/entries/KIBO.txt b/entries/KIBO.txt index 971e4c7..737aa83 100644 --- a/entries/KIBO.txt +++ b/entries/KIBO.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ KIBO -/ki:boh/ 1. [acronym] Knowledge In, Bullshit Out. A summary of what happens whenever valid data is passed through an organization (or person) that deliberately or accidentally disregards or ignores its significance. Consider, for example, what an advertising campaign can do with a product's actual specifications. Compare GIGO ; see also SNAFU principle. 2. James Parry kibo@world.std.com , a Usenetter infamous for various surrealist net.pranks and an uncanny, machine-assisted knack for joining any thread in which his nom de guerre is mentioned. He has a website at http://www.kibo.com/. +/ki:boh/ 1. [acronym] Knowledge In, Bullshit Out. A summary of what happens +whenever valid data is passed through an organization (or person) that +deliberately or accidentally disregards or ignores its significance. +Consider, for example, what an advertising campaign can do with a product's +actual specifications. Compare GIGO ; see also SNAFU principle. 2. James +Parry kibo@world.std.com , a Usenetter infamous for various surrealist +net.pranks and an uncanny, machine-assisted knack for joining any thread in +which his nom de guerre is mentioned. He has a website at +http://www.kibo.com/. + diff --git a/entries/KIPS.txt b/entries/KIPS.txt index 2248774..b25cd95 100644 --- a/entries/KIPS.txt +++ b/entries/KIPS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ KIPS -/kips/ , n. [abbreviation, by analogy with MIPS using K ] Thousands ( not 1024s) of Instructions Per Second. Usage: rare. +/kips/ , n. [abbreviation, by analogy with MIPS using K ] Thousands ( not +1024s) of Instructions Per Second. Usage: rare. + diff --git a/entries/KISS Principle.txt b/entries/KISS Principle.txt index 0512c9d..0894e21 100644 --- a/entries/KISS Principle.txt +++ b/entries/KISS Principle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ KISS Principle -/kis prinsipl/ , n. Keep It Simple, Stupid. A maxim often invoked when discussing design to fend off creeping featurism and control development complexity. Possibly related to the marketroid maxim on sales presentations, Keep It Short and Simple. +/kis prinsipl/ , n. Keep It Simple, Stupid. A maxim often invoked when +discussing design to fend off creeping featurism and control development +complexity. Possibly related to the marketroid maxim on sales presentations, +Keep It Short and Simple. + diff --git a/entries/KLB.txt b/entries/KLB.txt index a7faecf..72fdb8d 100644 --- a/entries/KLB.txt +++ b/entries/KLB.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ KLB -n. [common among Perl hackers] Known Lazy Bastard. Used to describe somebody who perpetually asks questions which are easily answered by referring to the reference material or manual. +n. [common among Perl hackers] Known Lazy Bastard. Used to describe somebody +who perpetually asks questions which are easily answered by referring to the +reference material or manual. + diff --git a/entries/Knights of the Lambda Calculus.txt b/entries/Knights of the Lambda Calculus.txt index 873db79..21e8ec0 100644 --- a/entries/Knights of the Lambda Calculus.txt +++ b/entries/Knights of the Lambda Calculus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Knights of the Lambda Calculus -n. A semi-mythical organization of wizardly LISP and Scheme hackers. The name refers to a mathematical formalism invented by Alonzo Church, with which LISP is intimately connected. There is no enrollment list and the criteria for induction are unclear, but one well-known LISPer has been known to give out buttons and, in general, the members know who they are.... +n. A semi-mythical organization of wizardly LISP and Scheme hackers. The +name refers to a mathematical formalism invented by Alonzo Church, with +which LISP is intimately connected. There is no enrollment list and the +criteria for induction are unclear, but one well-known LISPer has been known +to give out buttons and, in general, the members know who they are.... + diff --git a/entries/Knuth.txt b/entries/Knuth.txt index ce3b483..6f44e29 100644 --- a/entries/Knuth.txt +++ b/entries/Knuth.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Knuth -/kanooth/ , n. [Donald E. Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming ] Mythically, the reference that answers all questions about data structures or algorithms. A safe answer when you do not know: I think you can find that in Knuth. Contrast the literature. See also bible. There is a Donald Knuth home page at http://Sunburn.Stanford.EDU/~knuth/. +/kanooth/ , n. [Donald E. Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming ] +Mythically, the reference that answers all questions about data structures +or algorithms. A safe answer when you do not know: I think you can find that +in Knuth. Contrast the literature. See also bible. There is a Donald Knuth +home page at http://Sunburn.Stanford.EDU/~knuth/. + diff --git a/entries/Kool-Aid.txt b/entries/Kool-Aid.txt index d9c1794..73933d1 100644 --- a/entries/Kool-Aid.txt +++ b/entries/Kool-Aid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ Kool-Aid -When someone who should know better succumbs to marketing influences and actually begins to believe the propaganda being dished out by a vendor, they are said to have drunk the Kool-Aid. Usually the decortication process is slow and almost unnoticeable until one day the victim emerges as a True Believer and begins spreading the faith himself. The term originates in the suicide of 914 followers of Jim Jones's People's Temple cult in Guyana in 1978 (there are also resonances with Ken Kesey's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests from the 1960s). What the Jonestown victims actually drank was cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid, a cheap knockoff, rather than Kool-Aid itself. There is a FAQ on this topic. This has live variants. When a suit is blithering on about their latest technology and how it will save the world, that's pouring Kool-Aid. When the suit does not violate the laws of physics, doesn't make impossible claims, and in fact says something reasonable and believable, that's pouring good Kool-Aid, usually used in the sentence He pours good Kool-Aid, doesn't he? This connotes that the speaker might be about to drink same. +When someone who should know better succumbs to marketing influences and +actually begins to believe the propaganda being dished out by a vendor, they +are said to have drunk the Kool-Aid. Usually the decortication process is +slow and almost unnoticeable until one day the victim emerges as a True +Believer and begins spreading the faith himself. The term originates in the +suicide of 914 followers of Jim Jones's People's Temple cult in Guyana in +1978 (there are also resonances with Ken Kesey's Electric Kool-Aid Acid +Tests from the 1960s). What the Jonestown victims actually drank was +cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid, a cheap knockoff, rather than Kool-Aid itself. +There is a FAQ on this topic. This has live variants. When a suit is +blithering on about their latest technology and how it will save the world, +that's pouring Kool-Aid. When the suit does not violate the laws of physics, +doesn't make impossible claims, and in fact says something reasonable and +believable, that's pouring good Kool-Aid, usually used in the sentence He +pours good Kool-Aid, doesn't he? This connotes that the speaker might be +about to drink same. + diff --git a/entries/LAN party.txt b/entries/LAN party.txt index f082c5a..c566386 100644 --- a/entries/LAN party.txt +++ b/entries/LAN party.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ LAN party -/lan partee/ An event to which several users bring their boxes and hook them up to a common LAN (Local Area Network), often for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer games, especially action games such as Quake or Unreal Tournament. This is also a good venue for people to show-off their fancy new hardware. Such events can get pretty large, several hundred people attend the annual QuakeCon in Texas. The theoretical rationale behind LAN parties is that playing over the Internet often introduces too much lag in the playing experience but just as important is the special quality of trash-talking each other across the room while playing, and the instinctive social ritual of consuming vast amounts of food and drink together. +/lan partee/ An event to which several users bring their boxes and hook them +up to a common LAN (Local Area Network), often for the purpose of playing +multiplayer computer games, especially action games such as Quake or Unreal +Tournament. This is also a good venue for people to show-off their fancy new +hardware. Such events can get pretty large, several hundred people attend +the annual QuakeCon in Texas. The theoretical rationale behind LAN parties +is that playing over the Internet often introduces too much lag in the +playing experience but just as important is the special quality of +trash-talking each other across the room while playing, and the instinctive +social ritual of consuming vast amounts of food and drink together. + diff --git a/entries/LART.txt b/entries/LART.txt index 6bf812f..26afdaf 100644 --- a/entries/LART.txt +++ b/entries/LART.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ LART -// Luser Attitude Readjustment Tool. 1. n. In the collective mythos of scary devil monastery , this is an essential item in the toolkit of every BOFH. The LART classic is a 2x4 or other large billet of wood usable as a club, to be applied upside the head of spammers and other people who cause sysadmins more grief than just naturally goes with the job. Perennial debates rage on alt.sysadmin.recovery over what constitutes the truly effective LART; knobkerries, automatic weapons, flamethrowers, and tactical nukes all have their partisans. Compare clue-by-four. 2. v. To use a LART. Some would add in malice , but some sysadmins do prefer to gently lart their users as a first (and sometimes final) warning. 3. interj. Calling for one's LART, much as a surgeon might call Scalpel!. 4. interj. [rare] Used in flame s as a rebuke. +// Luser Attitude Readjustment Tool. 1. n. In the collective mythos of scary +devil monastery , this is an essential item in the toolkit of every BOFH. +The LART classic is a 2x4 or other large billet of wood usable as a club, to +be applied upside the head of spammers and other people who cause sysadmins +more grief than just naturally goes with the job. Perennial debates rage on +alt.sysadmin.recovery over what constitutes the truly effective LART; +knobkerries, automatic weapons, flamethrowers, and tactical nukes all have +their partisans. Compare clue-by-four. 2. v. To use a LART. Some would add +in malice , but some sysadmins do prefer to gently lart their users as a +first (and sometimes final) warning. 3. interj. Calling for one's LART, much +as a surgeon might call Scalpel!. 4. interj. [rare] Used in flame s as a +rebuke. + diff --git a/entries/LER.txt b/entries/LER.txt index 1e6aa5d..c9c52f2 100644 --- a/entries/LER.txt +++ b/entries/LER.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ LER -/LER/ n. 1. [TMRC, from Light-Emitting Diode ] A light-emitting resistor (that is, one in the process of burning up). Ohm's law was broken. See also SED. 2. An incandescent light bulb (the filament emits light because it's resistively heated). +/LER/ n. 1. [TMRC, from Light-Emitting Diode ] A light-emitting resistor +(that is, one in the process of burning up). Ohm's law was broken. See also +SED. 2. An incandescent light bulb (the filament emits light because it's +resistively heated). + diff --git a/entries/LERP.txt b/entries/LERP.txt index a807e0c..5aac944 100644 --- a/entries/LERP.txt +++ b/entries/LERP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ LERP -/lerp/ , vi.,n. Quasi-acronym for Linear Interpolation, used as a verb or noun for the operation. Bresenham's algorithm lerps incrementally between the two endpoints of the line. +/lerp/ , vi.,n. Quasi-acronym for Linear Interpolation, used as a verb or +noun for the operation. Bresenham's algorithm lerps incrementally between +the two endpoints of the line. + diff --git a/entries/LISP.txt b/entries/LISP.txt index 292d6a9..e278136 100644 --- a/entries/LISP.txt +++ b/entries/LISP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ LISP -n. [from LISt Processing language , but mythically from Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses ] AI's mother tongue, a language based on the ideas of (a) variable-length lists and trees as fundamental data types, and (b) the interpretation of code as data and vice-versa. Invented by John McCarthy at MIT in the late 1950s, it is actually older than any other HLL still in use except FORTRAN. Accordingly, it has undergone considerable adaptive radiation over the years; modern variants are quite different in detail from the original LISP 1.5. The dominant HLL among hackers until the early 1980s, LISP has since shared the throne with C. Its partisans claim it is the only language that is truly beautiful. See languages of choice. All LISP functions and programs are expressions that return values; this, together with the high memory utilization of LISPs, gave rise to Alan Perlis's famous quip (itself a take on an Oscar Wilde quote) that LISP programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing. One significant application for LISP has been as a proof by example that most newer languages, such as COBOL and Ada, are full of unnecessary crock s. When the Right Thing has already been done once, there is no justification for bogosity in newer languages. We've got your numbers.... +n. [from LISt Processing language , but mythically from Lots of Irritating +Superfluous Parentheses ] AI's mother tongue, a language based on the ideas +of (a) variable-length lists and trees as fundamental data types, and (b) +the interpretation of code as data and vice-versa. Invented by John McCarthy +at MIT in the late 1950s, it is actually older than any other HLL still in +use except FORTRAN. Accordingly, it has undergone considerable adaptive +radiation over the years; modern variants are quite different in detail from +the original LISP 1.5. The dominant HLL among hackers until the early 1980s, +LISP has since shared the throne with C. Its partisans claim it is the only +language that is truly beautiful. See languages of choice. All LISP +functions and programs are expressions that return values; this, together +with the high memory utilization of LISPs, gave rise to Alan Perlis's famous +quip (itself a take on an Oscar Wilde quote) that LISP programmers know the +value of everything and the cost of nothing. One significant application for +LISP has been as a proof by example that most newer languages, such as COBOL +and Ada, are full of unnecessary crock s. When the Right Thing has already +been done once, there is no justification for bogosity in newer languages. +We've got your numbers.... + diff --git a/entries/Life is hard.txt b/entries/Life is hard.txt index d6375cf..d2355e6 100644 --- a/entries/Life is hard.txt +++ b/entries/Life is hard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Life is hard -prov. [XEROX PARC] This phrase has two possible interpretations: (1) While your suggestion may have some merit, I will behave as though I hadn't heard it. (2) While your suggestion has obvious merit, equally obvious circumstances prevent it from being seriously considered. The charm of the phrase lies precisely in this subtle but important ambiguity. +prov. [XEROX PARC] This phrase has two possible interpretations: (1) While +your suggestion may have some merit, I will behave as though I hadn't heard +it. (2) While your suggestion has obvious merit, equally obvious +circumstances prevent it from being seriously considered. The charm of the +phrase lies precisely in this subtle but important ambiguity. + diff --git a/entries/Lintel.txt b/entries/Lintel.txt index 9fc8351..f630b3b 100644 --- a/entries/Lintel.txt +++ b/entries/Lintel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Lintel -n. The emerging Linux /Intel alliance. This term began to be used in early 1999 after it became clear that the Wintel alliance was under increasing strain and Intel started taking stakes in Linux companies. +n. The emerging Linux /Intel alliance. This term began to be used in early +1999 after it became clear that the Wintel alliance was under increasing +strain and Intel started taking stakes in Linux companies. + diff --git a/entries/Linus.txt b/entries/Linus.txt index a149883..ee8860e 100644 --- a/entries/Linus.txt +++ b/entries/Linus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Linus -/leenus/ , /linus/ , /li:nus/ Linus Torvalds, the author of Linux. Nobody in the hacker culture has been as readily recognized by first name alone since ken. +/leenus/ , /linus/ , /li:nus/ Linus Torvalds, the author of Linux. Nobody in +the hacker culture has been as readily recognized by first name alone since +ken. + diff --git a/entries/Linux.txt b/entries/Linux.txt index d66912d..3526ce4 100644 --- a/entries/Linux.txt +++ b/entries/Linux.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ Linux -/leenuhks/ , /linuks/ , not , /li:nuhks/ , n. The free Unix workalike created by Linus Torvalds and friends starting about 1991. The pronunciation /linuhks/ is preferred because the name Linus has an /ee/ sound in Swedish (Linus's family is part of Finland's 6% ethnic-Swedish minority) and Linus considers English short /i/ to be closer to /ee/ than English long /i:/. This may be the most remarkable hacker project in history an entire clone of Unix for 386, 486 and Pentium micros, distributed for free with sources over the net (ports to Alpha and Sparc and many other machines are also in use). Linux is what GNU aimed to be, and it relies on the GNU toolset. But the Free Software Foundation didn't produce the kernel to go with that toolset until 1999, which was too late. Other, similar efforts like FreeBSD and NetBSD have been technically successful but never caught fire the way Linux has; as this is written in 2003, Linux has effectively swallowed all proprietary Unixes except Solaris and is seriously challenging Microsoft. It has already captured 41% of the Internet-server market and over 25% of general business servers. An earlier version of this entry opined The secret of Linux's success seems to be that Linus worked much harder early on to keep the development process open and recruit other hackers, creating a snowball effect. Truer than we knew. See bazaar. (Some people object that the name Linux should be used to refer only to the kernel, not the entire operating system. This claim is a proxy for an underlying territorial dispute; people who insist on the term GNU/Linux want the FSF to get most of the credit for Linux because RMS and friends wrote many of its user-level tools. Neither this theory nor the term GNU/Linux has gained more than minority acceptance). +/leenuhks/ , /linuks/ , not , /li:nuhks/ , n. The free Unix workalike +created by Linus Torvalds and friends starting about 1991. The pronunciation +/linuhks/ is preferred because the name Linus has an /ee/ sound in Swedish +(Linus's family is part of Finland's 6% ethnic-Swedish minority) and Linus +considers English short /i/ to be closer to /ee/ than English long /i:/. +This may be the most remarkable hacker project in history an entire clone of +Unix for 386, 486 and Pentium micros, distributed for free with sources over +the net (ports to Alpha and Sparc and many other machines are also in use). +Linux is what GNU aimed to be, and it relies on the GNU toolset. But the +Free Software Foundation didn't produce the kernel to go with that toolset +until 1999, which was too late. Other, similar efforts like FreeBSD and +NetBSD have been technically successful but never caught fire the way Linux +has; as this is written in 2003, Linux has effectively swallowed all +proprietary Unixes except Solaris and is seriously challenging Microsoft. It +has already captured 41% of the Internet-server market and over 25% of +general business servers. An earlier version of this entry opined The secret +of Linux's success seems to be that Linus worked much harder early on to +keep the development process open and recruit other hackers, creating a +snowball effect. Truer than we knew. See bazaar. (Some people object that +the name Linux should be used to refer only to the kernel, not the entire +operating system. This claim is a proxy for an underlying territorial +dispute; people who insist on the term GNU/Linux want the FSF to get most of +the credit for Linux because RMS and friends wrote many of its user-level +tools. Neither this theory nor the term GNU/Linux has gained more than +minority acceptance). + diff --git a/entries/Lions Book.txt b/entries/Lions Book.txt index fb80a45..81048ca 100644 --- a/entries/Lions Book.txt +++ b/entries/Lions Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Lions Book -n. Source Code and Commentary on Unix level 6 , by John Lions. The two parts of this book contained (1) the entire source listing of the Unix Version 6 kernel, and (2) a commentary on the source discussing the algorithms. These were circulated internally at the University of New South Wales beginning 1976--77, and were, for years after, the only detailed kernel documentation available to anyone outside Bell Labs. Because Western Electric wished to maintain trade secret status on the kernel, the Lions Book was only supposed to be distributed to affiliates of source licensees. In spite of this, it soon spread by samizdat to a good many of the early Unix hackers. [1996 update: The Lions book lives again! It was put back in print as ISBN 1-57398-013-7 from Peer-To-Peer Communications, with forewords by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson. In a neat bit of reflexivity, the page before the contents quotes this entry.] [1998 update: John Lions's death was an occasion of general mourning in the hacker community. +n. Source Code and Commentary on Unix level 6 , by John Lions. The two parts +of this book contained (1) the entire source listing of the Unix Version 6 +kernel, and (2) a commentary on the source discussing the algorithms. These +were circulated internally at the University of New South Wales beginning +1976--77, and were, for years after, the only detailed kernel documentation +available to anyone outside Bell Labs. Because Western Electric wished to +maintain trade secret status on the kernel, the Lions Book was only supposed +to be distributed to affiliates of source licensees. In spite of this, it +soon spread by samizdat to a good many of the early Unix hackers. [1996 +update: The Lions book lives again! It was put back in print as ISBN +1-57398-013-7 from Peer-To-Peer Communications, with forewords by Dennis +Ritchie and Ken Thompson. In a neat bit of reflexivity, the page before the +contents quotes this entry.] [1998 update: John Lions's death was an +occasion of general mourning in the hacker community. + diff --git a/entries/Live Free Or Die!.txt b/entries/Live Free Or Die!.txt index 09875c7..87c50a5 100644 --- a/entries/Live Free Or Die!.txt +++ b/entries/Live Free Or Die!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Live Free Or Die! -imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which appears on that state's automobile license plates. 2. A slogan associated with Unix in the romantic days when Unix aficionados saw themselves as a tiny, beleaguered underground tilting against the windmills of industry. The free referred specifically to freedom from the fascist design philosophies and crufty misfeatures common on competing operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the early Unix developers, used to give out fake license plates bearing this motto under a large Unix, all in New Hampshire colors of green and white. These are now valued collector's items. In 1994 DEC put an inferior imitation of these in circulation with a red corporate logo added. Compaq (half of which was once DEC) continued the practice. Armando Stettner's original Unix license plate. +imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which appears on that state's +automobile license plates. 2. A slogan associated with Unix in the romantic +days when Unix aficionados saw themselves as a tiny, beleaguered underground +tilting against the windmills of industry. The free referred specifically to +freedom from the fascist design philosophies and crufty misfeatures common +on competing operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the early Unix +developers, used to give out fake license plates bearing this motto under a +large Unix, all in New Hampshire colors of green and white. These are now +valued collector's items. In 1994 DEC put an inferior imitation of these in +circulation with a red corporate logo added. Compaq (half of which was once +DEC) continued the practice. Armando Stettner's original Unix license plate. + diff --git a/entries/Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology.txt b/entries/Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology.txt index 9ab400a..dc1b55d 100644 --- a/entries/Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology.txt +++ b/entries/Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology prov. There is always one more bug. + diff --git a/entries/Lumber Cartel.txt b/entries/Lumber Cartel.txt index 2c50cbc..6099b4b 100644 --- a/entries/Lumber Cartel.txt +++ b/entries/Lumber Cartel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Lumber Cartel -n. A mythical conspiracy accused by spam -spewers of funding anti-spam activism in order to force the direct-mail promotions industry back onto paper. Hackers, predictably, responded by forming a Lumber Cartel spoofing this paranoid theory; the web page is http://come.to/the.lumber.cartel/. Members often include the tag TINLC ( There Is No Lumber Cartel ) in their postings; see TINC , backbone cabal and NANA for explanation. +n. A mythical conspiracy accused by spam -spewers of funding anti-spam +activism in order to force the direct-mail promotions industry back onto +paper. Hackers, predictably, responded by forming a Lumber Cartel spoofing +this paranoid theory; the web page is http://come.to/the.lumber.cartel/. +Members often include the tag TINLC ( There Is No Lumber Cartel ) in their +postings; see TINC , backbone cabal and NANA for explanation. + diff --git a/entries/M$.txt b/entries/M$.txt index fd424fa..891d997 100644 --- a/entries/M$.txt +++ b/entries/M$.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ M$ Common net abbreviation for Microsoft, everybody's least favorite monopoly. + diff --git a/entries/MEGO.txt b/entries/MEGO.txt index 22d0ab7..80edcd2 100644 --- a/entries/MEGO.txt +++ b/entries/MEGO.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ MEGO -/megoh/ , /meegoh/ [ 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 listener does not want to admit to 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, often refers not to behavior that causes the eyes to glaze, but to the eye-glazing reaction itself, which may be triggered by the mere threat of excessive technical detail as effectively as by an actual excess of it. +/megoh/ , /meegoh/ [ 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 listener does not want to admit to 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, often refers not to behavior that causes +the eyes to glaze, but to the eye-glazing reaction itself, which may be +triggered by the mere threat of excessive technical detail as effectively as +by an actual excess of it. + diff --git a/entries/MFTL.txt b/entries/MFTL.txt index 66a814c..cfced59 100644 --- a/entries/MFTL.txt +++ b/entries/MFTL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ MFTL -/MFTL/ [abbreviation: My Favorite Toy Language ] 1. adj. Describes a talk on a programming language design that is heavy on the syntax (with lots of BNF), sometimes even talks about semantics (e.g., type systems), but rarely, if ever, has any content (see content-free ). More broadly applied to talks even when the topic is not a programming language in which the subject matter is gone into in unnecessary and meticulous detail at the sacrifice of any conceptual content. Well, it was a typical MFTL talk. 2. n. Describes a language about which the developers are passionate (often to the point of proselytic zeal) but no one else cares about. Applied to the language by those outside the originating group. He cornered me about type resolution in his MFTL. The first great goal in the mind of the designer of an MFTL is usually to write a compiler for it, then bootstrap the design away from contamination by lesser languages by writing a compiler for it in itself. Thus, the standard put-down question at an MFTL talk is Has it been used for anything besides its own compiler? On the other hand, a (compiled) language that cannot even be used to write its own compiler is beneath contempt. (The qualification has become necessary because of the increasing popularity of interpreted languages like Perl and Python. ) See break-even point. (On a related note, Doug McIlroy once proposed a test of the generality and utility of a language and the operating system under which it is compiled: Is the output of a FORTRAN program acceptable as input to the FORTRAN compiler? In other words, can you write programs that write programs? (See toolsmith. ) Alarming numbers of (language, OS) pairs fail this test, particularly when the language is FORTRAN; aficionados are quick to point out that Unix (even using FORTRAN) passes it handily. That the test could ever be failed is only surprising to those who have had the good fortune to have worked only under modern systems which lack OS-supported and -imposed file types. +/MFTL/ [abbreviation: My Favorite Toy Language ] 1. adj. Describes a talk on +a programming language design that is heavy on the syntax (with lots of +BNF), sometimes even talks about semantics (e.g., type systems), but rarely, +if ever, has any content (see content-free ). More broadly applied to talks +even when the topic is not a programming language in which the subject +matter is gone into in unnecessary and meticulous detail at the sacrifice of +any conceptual content. Well, it was a typical MFTL talk. 2. n. Describes a +language about which the developers are passionate (often to the point of +proselytic zeal) but no one else cares about. Applied to the language by +those outside the originating group. He cornered me about type resolution in +his MFTL. The first great goal in the mind of the designer of an MFTL is +usually to write a compiler for it, then bootstrap the design away from +contamination by lesser languages by writing a compiler for it in itself. +Thus, the standard put-down question at an MFTL talk is Has it been used for +anything besides its own compiler? On the other hand, a (compiled) language +that cannot even be used to write its own compiler is beneath contempt. (The +qualification has become necessary because of the increasing popularity of +interpreted languages like Perl and Python. ) See break-even point. (On a +related note, Doug McIlroy once proposed a test of the generality and +utility of a language and the operating system under which it is compiled: +Is the output of a FORTRAN program acceptable as input to the FORTRAN +compiler? In other words, can you write programs that write programs? (See +toolsmith. ) Alarming numbers of (language, OS) pairs fail this test, +particularly when the language is FORTRAN; aficionados are quick to point +out that Unix (even using FORTRAN) passes it handily. That the test could +ever be failed is only surprising to those who have had the good fortune to +have worked only under modern systems which lack OS-supported and -imposed +file types. + diff --git a/entries/MIPS.txt b/entries/MIPS.txt index 319f9d3..6d95668 100644 --- a/entries/MIPS.txt +++ b/entries/MIPS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ MIPS -/mips/ , n. [abbreviation] 1. A measure of computing speed; formally, Million Instructions Per Second (that's 10 6 per second, not 2 20 !); often rendered by hackers as Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed or in other unflattering ways, such as Meaningless Information Provided by Salesmen. This joke expresses an attitude nearly universal among hackers about the value of most benchmark claims, said attitude being one of the great cultural divides between hackers and marketroid s (see also BogoMIPS ). The singular is sometimes 1 MIP even though this is clearly etymologically wrong. See also KIPS and GIPS. 2. Computers, especially large computers, considered abstractly as sources of computron s. This is just a workstation; the heavy MIPS are hidden in the basement. 3. The corporate name of a particular RISC-chip company, later acquired by SGI. 4. Acronym for Meaningless Information per Second (a joke, prob.: from sense 1). +/mips/ , n. [abbreviation] 1. A measure of computing speed; formally, +Million Instructions Per Second (that's 10 6 per second, not 2 20 !); often +rendered by hackers as Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed or in other +unflattering ways, such as Meaningless Information Provided by Salesmen. +This joke expresses an attitude nearly universal among hackers about the +value of most benchmark claims, said attitude being one of the great +cultural divides between hackers and marketroid s (see also BogoMIPS ). The +singular is sometimes 1 MIP even though this is clearly etymologically +wrong. See also KIPS and GIPS. 2. Computers, especially large computers, +considered abstractly as sources of computron s. This is just a workstation; +the heavy MIPS are hidden in the basement. 3. The corporate name of a +particular RISC-chip company, later acquired by SGI. 4. Acronym for +Meaningless Information per Second (a joke, prob.: from sense 1). + diff --git a/entries/MMF.txt b/entries/MMF.txt index 167e373..24e8b7b 100644 --- a/entries/MMF.txt +++ b/entries/MMF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ MMF -// [Usenet; common] Abbreviation: Make Money Fast. Refers to any kind of scheme which promises participants large profits with little or no risk or effort. Typically, it is a some kind of multi-level marketing operation which involves recruiting more members, or an illegal pyramid scam. The term is also used to refer to any kind of spam which promotes this. For more information, see the Make Money Fast Myth Page. +// [Usenet; common] Abbreviation: Make Money Fast. Refers to any kind of +scheme which promises participants large profits with little or no risk or +effort. Typically, it is a some kind of multi-level marketing operation +which involves recruiting more members, or an illegal pyramid scam. The term +is also used to refer to any kind of spam which promotes this. For more +information, see the Make Money Fast Myth Page. + diff --git a/entries/MOTAS.txt b/entries/MOTAS.txt index 2988490..2b49bc6 100644 --- a/entries/MOTAS.txt +++ b/entries/MOTAS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ MOTAS -/mohtahz/ , n. [Usenet: Member Of The Appropriate Sex, after MOTOS and MOTSS ] A potential or (less often) actual sex partner. See also SO. +/mohtahz/ , n. [Usenet: Member Of The Appropriate Sex, after MOTOS and MOTSS +] A potential or (less often) actual sex partner. See also SO. + diff --git a/entries/MOTOS.txt b/entries/MOTOS.txt index 38a1269..d609ebe 100644 --- a/entries/MOTOS.txt +++ b/entries/MOTOS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ MOTOS -/mohtohs/ , n. [acronym from the 1970 U.S. census forms via Usenet: Member Of The Opposite Sex] A potential or (less often) actual sex partner. See MOTAS , MOTSS , SO. Less common than MOTSS or MOTAS , which has largely displaced it. +/mohtohs/ , n. [acronym from the 1970 U.S. census forms via Usenet: Member +Of The Opposite Sex] A potential or (less often) actual sex partner. See +MOTAS , MOTSS , SO. Less common than MOTSS or MOTAS , which has largely +displaced it. + diff --git a/entries/MOTSS.txt b/entries/MOTSS.txt index cc0a450..c6f3de4 100644 --- a/entries/MOTSS.txt +++ b/entries/MOTSS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ MOTSS -/mots/ , /MOTSS/ , n. [from the 1970 U.S. census forms via Usenet] Member Of The Same Sex, esp. one considered as a possible sexual partner. The gay-issues newsgroup on Usenet is called soc.motss. See MOTOS and MOTAS , which derive from it. See also SO. +/mots/ , /MOTSS/ , n. [from the 1970 U.S. census forms via Usenet] Member Of +The Same Sex, esp. one considered as a possible sexual partner. The +gay-issues newsgroup on Usenet is called soc.motss. See MOTOS and MOTAS , +which derive from it. See also SO. + diff --git a/entries/MS-DOS.txt b/entries/MS-DOS.txt index 7ec9dbd..17ddfa0 100644 --- a/entries/MS-DOS.txt +++ b/entries/MS-DOS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ MS-DOS -/MSdos/ , n. [MicroSoft Disk Operating System] A clone of CP/M for the 8088 crufted together in 6 weeks by hacker Tim Paterson at Seattle Computer Products, who called the original QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) and is said to have regretted it ever since. Microsoft licensed QDOS in order to have something to demo for IBM on time, and the rest is history. Numerous features, including vaguely Unix-like but rather broken support for subdirectories, I/O redirection, and pipelines, were hacked into Microsoft's 2.0 and subsequent versions; as a result, there are two or more incompatible versions of many system calls, and MS-DOS programmers can never agree on basic things like what character to use as an option switch or whether to be case-sensitive. The resulting appalling mess is now the highest-unit-volume OS in history. Often known simply as DOS, which annoys people familiar with other similarly abbreviated operating systems (the name goes back to the mid-1960s, when it was attached to IBM's first disk operating system for the 360). The name further annoys those who know what the term operating system does (or ought to) connote; DOS is more properly a set of relatively simple interrupt services. Some people like to pronounce DOS like dose , as in I don't work on dose, man! , or to compare it to a dose of brain-damaging drugs (a slogan button in wide circulation among hackers exhorts: MS-DOS: Just say No! ). See mess-dos. +/MSdos/ , n. [MicroSoft Disk Operating System] A clone of CP/M for the 8088 +crufted together in 6 weeks by hacker Tim Paterson at Seattle Computer +Products, who called the original QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) +and is said to have regretted it ever since. Microsoft licensed QDOS in +order to have something to demo for IBM on time, and the rest is history. +Numerous features, including vaguely Unix-like but rather broken support for +subdirectories, I/O redirection, and pipelines, were hacked into Microsoft's +2.0 and subsequent versions; as a result, there are two or more incompatible +versions of many system calls, and MS-DOS programmers can never agree on +basic things like what character to use as an option switch or whether to be +case-sensitive. The resulting appalling mess is now the highest-unit-volume +OS in history. Often known simply as DOS, which annoys people familiar with +other similarly abbreviated operating systems (the name goes back to the +mid-1960s, when it was attached to IBM's first disk operating system for the +360). The name further annoys those who know what the term operating system +does (or ought to) connote; DOS is more properly a set of relatively simple +interrupt services. Some people like to pronounce DOS like dose , as in I +don't work on dose, man! , or to compare it to a dose of brain-damaging +drugs (a slogan button in wide circulation among hackers exhorts: MS-DOS: +Just say No! ). See mess-dos. + diff --git a/entries/MUD.txt b/entries/MUD.txt index 087a5a5..3d3cc4f 100644 --- a/entries/MUD.txt +++ b/entries/MUD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,45 @@ MUD -/muhd/ , n. [acronym, Multi-User Dungeon; alt.: Multi-User Dimension] 1. A class of virtual reality experiments accessible via the Internet. These are real-time chat forums with structure; they have multiple locations like an adventure game, and may include combat, traps, puzzles, magic, a simple economic system, and the capability for characters to build more structure onto the database that represents the existing world. 2. vi. To play a MUD. The acronym MUD is often lowercased and/or verbed; thus, one may speak of going mudding , etc. Historically, MUDs (and their more recent progeny with names of MU- form) derive from a hack by Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw on the University of Essex's DEC-10 in the early 1980s; descendants of that game still exist today and are sometimes generically called BartleMUD s. There is a widespread myth (repeated, unfortunately, by earlier versions of this lexicon) that the name MUD was trademarked to the commercial MUD run by Bartle on British Telecom (the motto: You haven't lived 'til you've died on MUD! ); however, this is false Richard Bartle explicitly placed MUD in the public domain in 1985. BT was upset at this, as they had already printed trademark claims on some maps and posters, which were released and created the myth. Students on the European academic networks quickly improved on the MUD concept, spawning several new MUDs (VAXMUD, AberMUD, LPMUD). Many of these had associated bulletin-board systems for social interaction. Because these had an image as research they often survived administrative hostility to BBSs in general. This, together with the fact that Usenet feeds were often spotty and difficult to get in the U.K., made the MUDs major foci of hackish social interaction there. AberMUD and other variants crossed the Atlantic around 1988 and quickly gained popularity in the U.S.; they became nuclei for large hacker communities with only loose ties to traditional hackerdom (some observers see parallels with the growth of Usenet in the early 1980s). The second wave of MUDs (TinyMUD and variants) tended to emphasize social interaction, puzzles, and cooperative world-building as opposed to combat and competition (in writing, these social MUDs are sometimes referred to as MU* , with MUD implicitly reserved for the more game-oriented ones). By 1991, over 50% of MUD sites were of a third major variety, LPMUD, which synthesizes the combat/puzzle aspects of AberMUD and older systems with the extensibility of TinyMud. In 1996 the cutting edge of the technology is Pavel Curtis's MOO, even more extensible using a built-in object-oriented language. The trend toward greater programmability and flexibility will doubtless continue. The state of the art in MUD design is still moving very rapidly, with new simulation designs appearing (seemingly) every month. Around 1991 there was an unsuccessful movement to deprecate the term MUD itself, as newer designs exhibit an exploding variety of names corresponding to the different simulation styles being explored. It survived. See also bonk/oif , FOD , link-dead , mudhead , talk mode. +/muhd/ , n. [acronym, Multi-User Dungeon; alt.: Multi-User Dimension] 1. A +class of virtual reality experiments accessible via the Internet. These are +real-time chat forums with structure; they have multiple locations like an +adventure game, and may include combat, traps, puzzles, magic, a simple +economic system, and the capability for characters to build more structure +onto the database that represents the existing world. 2. vi. To play a MUD. +The acronym MUD is often lowercased and/or verbed; thus, one may speak of +going mudding , etc. Historically, MUDs (and their more recent progeny with +names of MU- form) derive from a hack by Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw on +the University of Essex's DEC-10 in the early 1980s; descendants of that +game still exist today and are sometimes generically called BartleMUD s. +There is a widespread myth (repeated, unfortunately, by earlier versions of +this lexicon) that the name MUD was trademarked to the commercial MUD run by +Bartle on British Telecom (the motto: You haven't lived 'til you've died on +MUD! ); however, this is false Richard Bartle explicitly placed MUD in the +public domain in 1985. BT was upset at this, as they had already printed +trademark claims on some maps and posters, which were released and created +the myth. Students on the European academic networks quickly improved on the +MUD concept, spawning several new MUDs (VAXMUD, AberMUD, LPMUD). Many of +these had associated bulletin-board systems for social interaction. Because +these had an image as research they often survived administrative hostility +to BBSs in general. This, together with the fact that Usenet feeds were +often spotty and difficult to get in the U.K., made the MUDs major foci of +hackish social interaction there. AberMUD and other variants crossed the +Atlantic around 1988 and quickly gained popularity in the U.S.; they became +nuclei for large hacker communities with only loose ties to traditional +hackerdom (some observers see parallels with the growth of Usenet in the +early 1980s). The second wave of MUDs (TinyMUD and variants) tended to +emphasize social interaction, puzzles, and cooperative world-building as +opposed to combat and competition (in writing, these social MUDs are +sometimes referred to as MU* , with MUD implicitly reserved for the more +game-oriented ones). By 1991, over 50% of MUD sites were of a third major +variety, LPMUD, which synthesizes the combat/puzzle aspects of AberMUD and +older systems with the extensibility of TinyMud. In 1996 the cutting edge of +the technology is Pavel Curtis's MOO, even more extensible using a built-in +object-oriented language. The trend toward greater programmability and +flexibility will doubtless continue. The state of the art in MUD design is +still moving very rapidly, with new simulation designs appearing (seemingly) +every month. Around 1991 there was an unsuccessful movement to deprecate the +term MUD itself, as newer designs exhibit an exploding variety of names +corresponding to the different simulation styles being explored. It +survived. See also bonk/oif , FOD , link-dead , mudhead , talk mode. + diff --git a/entries/Macintoy.txt b/entries/Macintoy.txt index d860027..5bc47b1 100644 --- a/entries/Macintoy.txt +++ b/entries/Macintoy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ Macintoy -/makintoy/ , n. The Apple Macintosh, considered as a toy. Less pejorative than Macintrash. +/makintoy/ , n. The Apple Macintosh, considered as a toy. Less pejorative +than Macintrash. + diff --git a/entries/Macintrash.txt b/entries/Macintrash.txt index 6d1e978..4268fe0 100644 --- a/entries/Macintrash.txt +++ b/entries/Macintrash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Macintrash -/makintrash`/ , n. The Apple Macintosh, as described by a hacker who doesn't appreciate being kept away from the real computer by the interface. The term maggotbox has been reported in regular use in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. Compare Macintoy. See also beige toaster , WIMP environment , point-and-drool interface , drool-proof paper , user-friendly. +/makintrash`/ , n. The Apple Macintosh, as described by a hacker who doesn't +appreciate being kept away from the real computer by the interface. The term +maggotbox has been reported in regular use in the Research Triangle area of +North Carolina. Compare Macintoy. See also beige toaster , WIMP environment +, point-and-drool interface , drool-proof paper , user-friendly. + diff --git a/entries/Mars.txt b/entries/Mars.txt index 607e1a7..268fceb 100644 --- a/entries/Mars.txt +++ b/entries/Mars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ Mars -n. A legendary tragic failure, the archetypal Hacker Dream Gone Wrong. Mars was the code name for a family of PDP-10-compatible computers built by Systems Concepts (now, The SC Group): the multi-processor SC-30M, the small uniprocessor SC-25, and the never-built superprocessor SC-40. These machines were marvels of engineering design; although not much slower than the unique Foonly F-1, they were physically smaller and consumed less power than the much slower DEC KS10 or Foonly F-2, F-3, or F-4 machines. They were also completely compatible with the DEC KL10, and ran all KL10 binaries (including the operating system) with no modifications at about 2--3 times faster than a KL10. When DEC cancelled the Jupiter project in 1983 (their followup to the PDP-10), Systems Concepts should have made a bundle selling their machine into shops with a lot of software investment in PDP-10s, and in fact their spring 1984 announcement generated a great deal of excitement in the PDP-10 world. TOPS-10 was running on the Mars by the summer of 1984, and TOPS-20 by early fall. Unfortunately, the hackers running Systems Concepts were much better at designing machines than at mass producing or selling them; the company allowed itself to be sidetracked by a bout of perfectionism into continually improving the design, and lost credibility as delivery dates continued to slip. They also overpriced the product ridiculously; they believed they were competing with the KL10 and VAX 8600 and failed to reckon with the likes of Sun Microsystems and other hungry startups building workstations with power comparable to the KL10 at a fraction of the price. By the time SC shipped the first SC-30M to Stanford in late 1985, most customers had already made the traumatic decision to abandon the PDP-10, usually for VMS or Unix boxes. Most of the Mars computers built ended up being purchased by CompuServe. This tale and the related saga of Foonly hold a lesson for hackers: if you want to play in the Real World , you need to learn Real World moves. +n. A legendary tragic failure, the archetypal Hacker Dream Gone Wrong. Mars +was the code name for a family of PDP-10-compatible computers built by +Systems Concepts (now, The SC Group): the multi-processor SC-30M, the small +uniprocessor SC-25, and the never-built superprocessor SC-40. These machines +were marvels of engineering design; although not much slower than the unique +Foonly F-1, they were physically smaller and consumed less power than the +much slower DEC KS10 or Foonly F-2, F-3, or F-4 machines. They were also +completely compatible with the DEC KL10, and ran all KL10 binaries +(including the operating system) with no modifications at about 2--3 times +faster than a KL10. When DEC cancelled the Jupiter project in 1983 (their +followup to the PDP-10), Systems Concepts should have made a bundle selling +their machine into shops with a lot of software investment in PDP-10s, and +in fact their spring 1984 announcement generated a great deal of excitement +in the PDP-10 world. TOPS-10 was running on the Mars by the summer of 1984, +and TOPS-20 by early fall. Unfortunately, the hackers running Systems +Concepts were much better at designing machines than at mass producing or +selling them; the company allowed itself to be sidetracked by a bout of +perfectionism into continually improving the design, and lost credibility as +delivery dates continued to slip. They also overpriced the product +ridiculously; they believed they were competing with the KL10 and VAX 8600 +and failed to reckon with the likes of Sun Microsystems and other hungry +startups building workstations with power comparable to the KL10 at a +fraction of the price. By the time SC shipped the first SC-30M to Stanford +in late 1985, most customers had already made the traumatic decision to +abandon the PDP-10, usually for VMS or Unix boxes. Most of the Mars +computers built ended up being purchased by CompuServe. This tale and the +related saga of Foonly hold a lesson for hackers: if you want to play in the +Real World , you need to learn Real World moves. + diff --git a/entries/Matrix.txt b/entries/Matrix.txt index 09ddb05..3ad863a 100644 --- a/entries/Matrix.txt +++ b/entries/Matrix.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Matrix -n. [FidoNet] 1. What the Opus BBS software and sysops call FidoNet. 2. Fanciful term for a cyberspace expected to emerge from current networking experiments (see the network ). The name of the rather good 1999 cypherpunk movie The Matrix played on this sense, which however had been established for years before. 3. The totality of present-day computer networks (popularized in this sense by John Quarterman; rare outside academic literature). +n. [FidoNet] 1. What the Opus BBS software and sysops call FidoNet. 2. +Fanciful term for a cyberspace expected to emerge from current networking +experiments (see the network ). The name of the rather good 1999 cypherpunk +movie The Matrix played on this sense, which however had been established +for years before. 3. The totality of present-day computer networks +(popularized in this sense by John Quarterman; rare outside academic +literature). + diff --git a/entries/McQuary limit.txt b/entries/McQuary limit.txt index a7d3506..bde214f 100644 --- a/entries/McQuary limit.txt +++ b/entries/McQuary limit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ McQuary limit -4 lines of at most 80 characters each, sometimes still cited on Usenet as the maximum acceptable size of a sig block. Before the great bandwidth explosion of the early 1990s, long sigs actually cost people running Usenet servers significant amounts of money. Nowadays social pressure against long sigs is intended to avoid waste of human attention rather than machine bandwidth. Accordingly, the McQuary limit should be considered a rule of thumb rather than a hard limit; it's best to avoid sigs that are large, repetitive, and distracting. See also warlording. +4 lines of at most 80 characters each, sometimes still cited on Usenet as +the maximum acceptable size of a sig block. Before the great bandwidth +explosion of the early 1990s, long sigs actually cost people running Usenet +servers significant amounts of money. Nowadays social pressure against long +sigs is intended to avoid waste of human attention rather than machine +bandwidth. Accordingly, the McQuary limit should be considered a rule of +thumb rather than a hard limit; it's best to avoid sigs that are large, +repetitive, and distracting. See also warlording. + diff --git a/entries/MiSTing.txt b/entries/MiSTing.txt index b3c41dd..0f3718e 100644 --- a/entries/MiSTing.txt +++ b/entries/MiSTing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ MiSTing -A variant of fisking patterned on the protocol of Mystery Science Theater 3000, In a MiSTing, the satire is spoken through characters purporting to be the MST3K robots or other suitably bizarre characters, such as the Roman emperors Augustus and Caligula. +A variant of fisking patterned on the protocol of Mystery Science Theater +3000, In a MiSTing, the satire is spoken through characters purporting to be +the MST3K robots or other suitably bizarre characters, such as the Roman +emperors Augustus and Caligula. + diff --git a/entries/MicroDroid.txt b/entries/MicroDroid.txt index 93dff16..bfc1838 100644 --- a/entries/MicroDroid.txt +++ b/entries/MicroDroid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ MicroDroid -n. [Usenet] A Microsoft employee, esp. one who posts to various operating-system advocacy newsgroups. MicroDroids post follow-ups to any messages critical of Microsoft's operating systems, and often end up sounding like visiting fundamentalist missionaries. See also astroturfing ; compare microserf. +n. [Usenet] A Microsoft employee, esp. one who posts to various +operating-system advocacy newsgroups. MicroDroids post follow-ups to any +messages critical of Microsoft's operating systems, and often end up +sounding like visiting fundamentalist missionaries. See also astroturfing ; +compare microserf. + diff --git a/entries/Microsloth Windows.txt b/entries/Microsloth Windows.txt index 5853cf8..8d8032e 100644 --- a/entries/Microsloth Windows.txt +++ b/entries/Microsloth Windows.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Microsloth Windows -/mi:krohsloth` windohz/ , n. (Variants combine {Microshift, Macroshaft, Microsuck} with {Windoze, WinDOS}. Hackerism(s) for Microsoft Windows. A thirty-two bit extension and graphical shell to a sixteen-bit patch to an eight-bit operating system originally coded for a four-bit microprocessor which was written by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of competition. Also just called Windoze , with the implication that you can fall asleep waiting for it to do anything; the latter term is extremely common on Usenet. See Black Screen of Death and Blue Screen of Death ; compare X , sun-stools. +/mi:krohsloth` windohz/ , n. (Variants combine {Microshift, Macroshaft, +Microsuck} with {Windoze, WinDOS}. Hackerism(s) for Microsoft Windows. A +thirty-two bit extension and graphical shell to a sixteen-bit patch to an +eight-bit operating system originally coded for a four-bit microprocessor +which was written by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of +competition. Also just called Windoze , with the implication that you can +fall asleep waiting for it to do anything; the latter term is extremely +common on Usenet. See Black Screen of Death and Blue Screen of Death ; +compare X , sun-stools. + diff --git a/entries/Microsoft.txt b/entries/Microsoft.txt index 6d85ae7..de99503 100644 --- a/entries/Microsoft.txt +++ b/entries/Microsoft.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Microsoft -The new Evil Empire (the old one was IBM ). The basic complaints are, as formerly with IBM, that (a) their system designs are horrible botches, (b) we can't get source to fix them, and (c) they throw their weight around a lot. See also Halloween Documents. +The new Evil Empire (the old one was IBM ). The basic complaints are, as +formerly with IBM, that (a) their system designs are horrible botches, (b) +we can't get source to fix them, and (c) they throw their weight around a +lot. See also Halloween Documents. + diff --git a/entries/Miscellaneous.txt b/entries/Miscellaneous.txt index 5ebb070..b14d18e 100644 --- a/entries/Miscellaneous.txt +++ b/entries/Miscellaneous.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Miscellaneous -Hackers are more likely to have cats than dogs (in fact, it is widely grokked that cats have the hacker nature). Many drive incredibly decrepit heaps and forget to wash them; richer ones drive spiffy Porsches and RX-7s and then forget to have them washed. Almost all hackers have terribly bad handwriting, and often fall into the habit of block-printing everything like junior draftsmen. Prev Up Next Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality Home AppendixC. +Hackers are more likely to have cats than dogs (in fact, it is widely +grokked that cats have the hacker nature). Many drive incredibly decrepit +heaps and forget to wash them; richer ones drive spiffy Porsches and RX-7s +and then forget to have them washed. Almost all hackers have terribly bad +handwriting, and often fall into the habit of block-printing everything like +junior draftsmen. Prev Up Next Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality Home +AppendixC. + diff --git a/entries/Mongolian Hordes technique.txt b/entries/Mongolian Hordes technique.txt index 645b211..0203eb6 100644 --- a/entries/Mongolian Hordes technique.txt +++ b/entries/Mongolian Hordes technique.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Mongolian Hordes technique -n. [poss. from the Sixties counterculture expression Mongolian clusterfuck for a public orgy] Development by gang bang. Implies that large numbers of inexperienced programmers are being put on a job better performed by a few skilled ones (but see bazaar ). Also called Chinese Army technique ; see also Brooks's Law. +n. [poss. from the Sixties counterculture expression Mongolian clusterfuck +for a public orgy] Development by gang bang. Implies that large numbers of +inexperienced programmers are being put on a job better performed by a few +skilled ones (but see bazaar ). Also called Chinese Army technique ; see +also Brooks's Law. + diff --git a/entries/Moof.txt b/entries/Moof.txt index a33edba..2933f3c 100644 --- a/entries/Moof.txt +++ b/entries/Moof.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Moof -/moof/ [Macintosh users] 1. n. The call of a semi-legendary creature, properly called the dogcow. (Some previous versions of this entry claimed, incorrectly, that Moof was the name of the creature. ) 2. adj. Used to flag software that's a hack, something untested and on the edge. On one Apple CD-ROM, certain folders such as Tools Apps (Moof!) and Development Platforms (Moof!) , are so marked to indicate that they contain software not fully tested or sanctioned by the powers that be. When you open these folders you cross the boundary into hackerland. 3. v. On the Microsoft Network, the term moof has gained popularity as a verb meaning to be suddenly disconnected by the system. One might say I got moofed. +/moof/ [Macintosh users] 1. n. The call of a semi-legendary creature, +properly called the dogcow. (Some previous versions of this entry claimed, +incorrectly, that Moof was the name of the creature. ) 2. adj. Used to flag +software that's a hack, something untested and on the edge. On one Apple +CD-ROM, certain folders such as Tools Apps (Moof!) and Development Platforms +(Moof!) , are so marked to indicate that they contain software not fully +tested or sanctioned by the powers that be. When you open these folders you +cross the boundary into hackerland. 3. v. On the Microsoft Network, the term +moof has gained popularity as a verb meaning to be suddenly disconnected by +the system. One might say I got moofed. + diff --git a/entries/Moore's Law.txt b/entries/Moore's Law.txt index 287bbb1..8372333 100644 --- a/entries/Moore's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Moore's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ Moore's Law -/morz law/ , prov. Any one of several similar folk theorems that fit computing capacity or cost to a 2 t exponential curve, with doubling time close to a year. The most common fits component density to such a curve (previous versions of this entry gave that form). Another variant asserts that the dollar cost of constant computing power decreases on the same curve. The original Moore's Law, first uttered in 1965 by semiconductor engineer Gordon Moore (who co-founded Intel four years later), spoke of the number of components on the lowest-cost silicon integrated circuits but Moore's own formulation varied somewhat over the years, and reconstructing the meaning of the terminology he used in the original turns out to be fraught with difficulties. Further variants were spawned by Intel's PR department and various journalists. It has been shown that none of the variants of Moore's Law actually fit the data very well (the price curves within DRAM generations perhaps come closest). Nevertheless, Moore's Law is constantly invoked to set up expectations about the next generation of computing technology. See also Parkinson's Law of Data and Gates's Law. +/morz law/ , prov. Any one of several similar folk theorems that fit +computing capacity or cost to a 2 t exponential curve, with doubling time +close to a year. The most common fits component density to such a curve +(previous versions of this entry gave that form). Another variant asserts +that the dollar cost of constant computing power decreases on the same +curve. The original Moore's Law, first uttered in 1965 by semiconductor +engineer Gordon Moore (who co-founded Intel four years later), spoke of the +number of components on the lowest-cost silicon integrated circuits but +Moore's own formulation varied somewhat over the years, and reconstructing +the meaning of the terminology he used in the original turns out to be +fraught with difficulties. Further variants were spawned by Intel's PR +department and various journalists. It has been shown that none of the +variants of Moore's Law actually fit the data very well (the price curves +within DRAM generations perhaps come closest). Nevertheless, Moore's Law is +constantly invoked to set up expectations about the next generation of +computing technology. See also Parkinson's Law of Data and Gates's Law. + diff --git a/entries/Multics.txt b/entries/Multics.txt index a84298f..1d211b4 100644 --- a/entries/Multics.txt +++ b/entries/Multics.txt @@ -1,3 +1,29 @@ Multics -/muhltiks/ , n. [from MULTiplexed Information and Computing Service ] An early timesharing operating system co-designed by a consortium including MIT, GE, and Bell Laboratories as a successor to CTSS. The design was first presented in 1965, planned for operation in 1967, first operational in 1969, and took several more years to achieve respectable performance and stability. Multics was very innovative for its time among other things, it provided a hierarchical file system with access control on individual files and introduced the idea of treating all devices uniformly as special files. It was also the first OS to run on a symmetric multiprocessor, and the only general-purpose system to be awarded a B2 security rating by the NSA (see Orange Book ). Bell Labs left the development effort in 1969 after judging that second-system effect had bloated Multics to the point of practical unusability. Honeywell commercialized Multics in 1972 after buying out GE's computer group, but it was never very successful: at its peak in the 1980s, there were between 75 and 100 Multics sites, each a multi-million dollar mainframe. One of the former Multics developers from Bell Labs was Ken Thompson, and Unix deliberately carried through and extended many of Multics' design ideas; indeed, Thompson described the very name Unix as a weak pun on Multics. For this and other reasons, aspects of the Multics design remain a topic of occasional debate among hackers. See also brain-damaged and GCOS. MIT ended its development association with Multics in 1977. Honeywell sold its computer business to Bull in the mid 80s, and development on Multics was stopped in 1988. Four Multics sites were known to be still in use as late as 1998, but the last one (a Canadian military site) was decommissioned in November 2000. There is a Multics page at http://www.stratus.com/pub/vos/multics/tvv/multics.html. +/muhltiks/ , n. [from MULTiplexed Information and Computing Service ] An +early timesharing operating system co-designed by a consortium including +MIT, GE, and Bell Laboratories as a successor to CTSS. The design was first +presented in 1965, planned for operation in 1967, first operational in 1969, +and took several more years to achieve respectable performance and +stability. Multics was very innovative for its time among other things, it +provided a hierarchical file system with access control on individual files +and introduced the idea of treating all devices uniformly as special files. +It was also the first OS to run on a symmetric multiprocessor, and the only +general-purpose system to be awarded a B2 security rating by the NSA (see +Orange Book ). Bell Labs left the development effort in 1969 after judging +that second-system effect had bloated Multics to the point of practical +unusability. Honeywell commercialized Multics in 1972 after buying out GE's +computer group, but it was never very successful: at its peak in the 1980s, +there were between 75 and 100 Multics sites, each a multi-million dollar +mainframe. One of the former Multics developers from Bell Labs was Ken +Thompson, and Unix deliberately carried through and extended many of +Multics' design ideas; indeed, Thompson described the very name Unix as a +weak pun on Multics. For this and other reasons, aspects of the Multics +design remain a topic of occasional debate among hackers. See also +brain-damaged and GCOS. MIT ended its development association with Multics +in 1977. Honeywell sold its computer business to Bull in the mid 80s, and +development on Multics was stopped in 1988. Four Multics sites were known to +be still in use as late as 1998, but the last one (a Canadian military site) +was decommissioned in November 2000. There is a Multics page at +http://www.stratus.com/pub/vos/multics/tvv/multics.html. + diff --git a/entries/Murphy's Law.txt b/entries/Murphy's Law.txt index 060b7a6..05acd0c 100644 --- a/entries/Murphy's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Murphy's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ Murphy's Law -prov. The correct, original Murphy's Law reads: If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it. This is a principle of defensive design, cited here because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the challenges of design for luser s. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug symmetrical and then label it THIS WAY UP ; if it matters which way it is plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical (see also the anecdote under magic smoke ). Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of McDonnell-Douglas's test engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 in a replacement set the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) mis-quoted (apparently in the more general form Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong) at a news conference a few days later. Within months Murphy's Law had spread to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, changing as they went. Most of these are variants on Anything that can go wrong, will ; this is more correctly referred to as Finagle's Law. +prov. The correct, original Murphy's Law reads: If there are two or more +ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, +then someone will do it. This is a principle of defensive design, cited here +because it is usually given in mutant forms less descriptive of the +challenges of design for luser s. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug +symmetrical and then label it THIS WAY UP ; if it matters which way it is +plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical (see also the anecdote +under magic smoke ). Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of McDonnell-Douglas's +test engineers on the rocket-sled experiments that were done by the U.S. Air +Force in 1949 to test human acceleration tolerances (USAF project MX981). +One experiment involved a set of 16 accelerometers mounted to different +parts of the subject's body. There were two ways each sensor could be glued +to its mount, and somebody methodically installed all 16 in a replacement +set the wrong way around. Murphy then made the original form of his +pronouncement, which the test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) mis-quoted +(apparently in the more general form Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong) +at a news conference a few days later. Within months Murphy's Law had spread +to various technical cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too +many years had gone by variants had passed into the popular imagination, +changing as they went. Most of these are variants on Anything that can go +wrong, will ; this is more correctly referred to as Finagle's Law. + diff --git a/entries/NAK.txt b/entries/NAK.txt index 312bfbf..4ef0474 100644 --- a/entries/NAK.txt +++ b/entries/NAK.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ NAK -/nak/ , interj. [from the ASCII mnemonic for 0010101] 1. On-line joke answer to ACK ?: I'm not here. 2. On-line answer to a request for chat: I'm not available. 3. Used to politely interrupt someone to tell them you don't understand their point or that they have suddenly stopped making sense. See ACK , sense 3. And then, after we recode the project in COBOL.... Nak, Nak, Nak! I thought I heard you say COBOL! 4. A negative answer. +/nak/ , interj. [from the ASCII mnemonic for 0010101] 1. On-line joke answer +to ACK ?: I'm not here. 2. On-line answer to a request for chat: I'm not +available. 3. Used to politely interrupt someone to tell them you don't +understand their point or that they have suddenly stopped making sense. See +ACK , sense 3. And then, after we recode the project in COBOL.... Nak, Nak, +Nak! I thought I heard you say COBOL! 4. A negative answer. + diff --git a/entries/NANA.txt b/entries/NANA.txt index f0797a2..978d8c6 100644 --- a/entries/NANA.txt +++ b/entries/NANA.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ NANA -// [Usenet] The newsgroups news.admin.net-abuse.*, devoted to fighting spam and network abuse. Each individual newsgroup is often referred to by adding a letter to NANA. For example, NANAU would refer to news.admin.net-abuse.usenet. When spam began to be a serious problem around 1995, and a loose network of anti-spammers formed to combat it, spammers immediately accused them of being the backbone cabal , or the Cabal reborn. Though this was not true, spam-fighters ironically accepted the label and the tag line There is No Cabal reappeared (later, and now commonly, abbreviated to TINC ). Nowadays the Cabal is generally understood to refer to the NANA regulars. +// [Usenet] The newsgroups news.admin.net-abuse.*, devoted to fighting spam +and network abuse. Each individual newsgroup is often referred to by adding +a letter to NANA. For example, NANAU would refer to +news.admin.net-abuse.usenet. When spam began to be a serious problem around +1995, and a loose network of anti-spammers formed to combat it, spammers +immediately accused them of being the backbone cabal , or the Cabal reborn. +Though this was not true, spam-fighters ironically accepted the label and +the tag line There is No Cabal reappeared (later, and now commonly, +abbreviated to TINC ). Nowadays the Cabal is generally understood to refer +to the NANA regulars. + diff --git a/entries/NIL.txt b/entries/NIL.txt index fc863f3..eafd15a 100644 --- a/entries/NIL.txt +++ b/entries/NIL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ NIL -/nil/ No. Used in reply to a question, particularly one asked using the -P convention. Most hackers assume this derives simply from LISP terminology for false (see also T ), but NIL as a negative reply was well-established among radio hams decades before the advent of LISP. The historical connection between early hackerdom and the ham radio world was strong enough that this may have been an influence. +/nil/ No. Used in reply to a question, particularly one asked using the -P +convention. Most hackers assume this derives simply from LISP terminology +for false (see also T ), but NIL as a negative reply was well-established +among radio hams decades before the advent of LISP. The historical +connection between early hackerdom and the ham radio world was strong enough +that this may have been an influence. + diff --git a/entries/NMI.txt b/entries/NMI.txt index 1710c62..0fd3357 100644 --- a/entries/NMI.txt +++ b/entries/NMI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ NMI -/NMI/ , n. Non-Maskable Interrupt. An IRQ 7 on the PDP-11 or 680[01234]0; the NMI line on an 80[1234]86. In contrast with a priority interrupt (which might be ignored, although that is unlikely), an NMI is never ignored. Except, that is, on clone boxes, where NMI is often ignored on the motherboard because flaky hardware can generate many spurious ones. +/NMI/ , n. Non-Maskable Interrupt. An IRQ 7 on the PDP-11 or 680[01234]0; +the NMI line on an 80[1234]86. In contrast with a priority interrupt (which +might be ignored, although that is unlikely), an NMI is never ignored. +Except, that is, on clone boxes, where NMI is often ignored on the +motherboard because flaky hardware can generate many spurious ones. + diff --git a/entries/NP-.txt b/entries/NP-.txt index 997b04d..07ffa6d 100644 --- a/entries/NP-.txt +++ b/entries/NP-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ NP- -/NP/ , pref. Extremely. Used to modify adjectives describing a level or quality of difficulty; the connotation is often more so than it should be. This is generalized from the computer-science terms NP-hard and NP-complete ; NP-complete problems all seem to be very hard, but so far no one has found a proof that they are. NP is the set of Nondeterministic-Polynomial problems, those that can be completed by a nondeterministic Turing machine in an amount of time that is a polynomial function of the size of the input; a solution for one NP-complete problem would solve all the others. Coding a BitBlt implementation to perform correctly in every case is NP-annoying. Note, however, that strictly speaking this usage is misleading; there are plenty of easy problems in class NP. NP-complete problems are hard not because they are in class NP, but because they are the hardest problems in class NP. +/NP/ , pref. Extremely. Used to modify adjectives describing a level or +quality of difficulty; the connotation is often more so than it should be. +This is generalized from the computer-science terms NP-hard and NP-complete +; NP-complete problems all seem to be very hard, but so far no one has found +a proof that they are. NP is the set of Nondeterministic-Polynomial +problems, those that can be completed by a nondeterministic Turing machine +in an amount of time that is a polynomial function of the size of the input; +a solution for one NP-complete problem would solve all the others. Coding a +BitBlt implementation to perform correctly in every case is NP-annoying. +Note, however, that strictly speaking this usage is misleading; there are +plenty of easy problems in class NP. NP-complete problems are hard not +because they are in class NP, but because they are the hardest problems in +class NP. + diff --git a/entries/NSA line eater.txt b/entries/NSA line eater.txt index b3a144f..127cc3a 100644 --- a/entries/NSA line eater.txt +++ b/entries/NSA line eater.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ NSA line eater -n. The National Security Agency trawling program sometimes assumed to be reading the net for the U.S. Government's spooks. Most hackers used to think it was mythical but believed in acting as though existed just in case. Since the mid-1990s it has gradually become known that the NSA actually does this, quite illegally, through its Echelon program. The standard countermeasure is to put loaded phrases like KGB , Uzi , nuclear materials , Palestine , cocaine , and assassination in their sig block s in a (probably futile) attempt to confuse and overload the creature. The GNU version of EMACS actually has a command that randomly inserts a bunch of insidious anarcho-verbiage into your edited text. As far back as the 1970s there was a mainstream variant of this myth involving a Trunk Line Monitor , which supposedly used speech recognition to extract words from telephone trunks. This is much harder than noticing keywords in email, and most of the people who originally propagated it had no idea of then-current technology or the storage, signal-processing, or speech recognition needs of such a project. On the basis of mass-storage costs alone it would have been cheaper to hire 50 high-school students and just let them listen in. Twenty years and several orders of technological magnitude later, however, there are clear indications that the NSA has actually deployed such filtering (again, very much against U.S. law). In 2000, the FBI wants to get into this act with its Carnivore surveillance system. +n. The National Security Agency trawling program sometimes assumed to be +reading the net for the U.S. Government's spooks. Most hackers used to think +it was mythical but believed in acting as though existed just in case. Since +the mid-1990s it has gradually become known that the NSA actually does this, +quite illegally, through its Echelon program. The standard countermeasure is +to put loaded phrases like KGB , Uzi , nuclear materials , Palestine , +cocaine , and assassination in their sig block s in a (probably futile) +attempt to confuse and overload the creature. The GNU version of EMACS +actually has a command that randomly inserts a bunch of insidious +anarcho-verbiage into your edited text. As far back as the 1970s there was a +mainstream variant of this myth involving a Trunk Line Monitor , which +supposedly used speech recognition to extract words from telephone trunks. +This is much harder than noticing keywords in email, and most of the people +who originally propagated it had no idea of then-current technology or the +storage, signal-processing, or speech recognition needs of such a project. +On the basis of mass-storage costs alone it would have been cheaper to hire +50 high-school students and just let them listen in. Twenty years and +several orders of technological magnitude later, however, there are clear +indications that the NSA has actually deployed such filtering (again, very +much against U.S. law). In 2000, the FBI wants to get into this act with its +Carnivore surveillance system. + diff --git a/entries/NSP.txt b/entries/NSP.txt index 7828538..92cf99a 100644 --- a/entries/NSP.txt +++ b/entries/NSP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ NSP -/NSP/ , n. Common abbreviation for Network Service Provider , one of the big national or regional companies that maintains a portion of the Internet backbone and resells connectivity to ISP s. In 1996, major NSPs include ANS, MCI, UUNET, and Sprint. An Internet wholesaler. +/NSP/ , n. Common abbreviation for Network Service Provider , one of the big +national or regional companies that maintains a portion of the Internet +backbone and resells connectivity to ISP s. In 1996, major NSPs include ANS, +MCI, UUNET, and Sprint. An Internet wholesaler. + diff --git a/entries/NUXI problem.txt b/entries/NUXI problem.txt index 39bed32..426e16f 100644 --- a/entries/NUXI problem.txt +++ b/entries/NUXI problem.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ NUXI problem -/nuksee probl@m/ , n. Refers to the problem of transferring data between machines with differing byte-order. The string UNIX might look like NUXI on a machine with a different byte sex (e.g., when transferring data from a little-endian to a big-endian , or vice-versa). See also middle-endian , swab , and bytesexual. +/nuksee probl@m/ , n. Refers to the problem of transferring data between +machines with differing byte-order. The string UNIX might look like NUXI on +a machine with a different byte sex (e.g., when transferring data from a +little-endian to a big-endian , or vice-versa). See also middle-endian , +swab , and bytesexual. + diff --git a/entries/Nathan Hale.txt b/entries/Nathan Hale.txt index 5d3e1cb..0f54509 100644 --- a/entries/Nathan Hale.txt +++ b/entries/Nathan Hale.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Nathan Hale -n. An asterisk (see also splat , ASCII ). Oh, you want an etymology? Notionally, from I regret that I have only one asterisk for my country! , a misquote of the famous remark uttered by Nathan Hale just before he was hanged. Hale was a (failed) spy for the rebels in the American War of Independence. +n. An asterisk (see also splat , ASCII ). Oh, you want an etymology? +Notionally, from I regret that I have only one asterisk for my country! , a +misquote of the famous remark uttered by Nathan Hale just before he was +hanged. Hale was a (failed) spy for the rebels in the American War of +Independence. + diff --git a/entries/NeWS.txt b/entries/NeWS.txt index ba0c1f4..b0336cd 100644 --- a/entries/NeWS.txt +++ b/entries/NeWS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ NeWS -/neewis/ , /n[y]oois/ , /n[y]ooz/ , n. [acronym; the Network Window System ] The road not taken in window systems, an elegant PostScript -based environment that would almost certainly have won the standards war with X if it hadn't been proprietary to Sun Microsystems. There is a lesson here that too many software vendors haven't yet heeded. Many hackers insist on the two-syllable pronunciations above as a way of distinguishing NeWS from Usenet news (the netnews software). +/neewis/ , /n[y]oois/ , /n[y]ooz/ , n. [acronym; the Network Window System ] +The road not taken in window systems, an elegant PostScript -based +environment that would almost certainly have won the standards war with X if +it hadn't been proprietary to Sun Microsystems. There is a lesson here that +too many software vendors haven't yet heeded. Many hackers insist on the +two-syllable pronunciations above as a way of distinguishing NeWS from +Usenet news (the netnews software). + diff --git a/entries/Netscrape.txt b/entries/Netscrape.txt index 193d1d2..4d7732c 100644 --- a/entries/Netscrape.txt +++ b/entries/Netscrape.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Netscrape -n. [sometimes elaborated to Netscrape Fornicator , also Nutscrape ] Standard name-of-insult for Netscape Navigator/Communicator, Netscape's overweight Web browser. Compare Internet Exploiter. +n. [sometimes elaborated to Netscrape Fornicator , also Nutscrape ] Standard +name-of-insult for Netscape Navigator/Communicator, Netscape's overweight +Web browser. Compare Internet Exploiter. + diff --git a/entries/New Jersey.txt b/entries/New Jersey.txt index cf4f94d..72eab0d 100644 --- a/entries/New Jersey.txt +++ b/entries/New Jersey.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ New Jersey -adj. [primarily Stanford/Silicon Valley] Brain-damaged or of poor design. This refers to the allegedly wretched quality of such software as C, C++, and Unix (which originated at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey). This compiler bites the bag, but what can you expect from a compiler designed in New Jersey? Compare Berkeley Quality Software. See also Unix conspiracy. +adj. [primarily Stanford/Silicon Valley] Brain-damaged or of poor design. +This refers to the allegedly wretched quality of such software as C, C++, +and Unix (which originated at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey). This +compiler bites the bag, but what can you expect from a compiler designed in +New Jersey? Compare Berkeley Quality Software. See also Unix conspiracy. + diff --git a/entries/New Testament.txt b/entries/New Testament.txt index c4f81ac..a69df14 100644 --- a/entries/New Testament.txt +++ b/entries/New Testament.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ New Testament -n. [C programmers] The second edition of K R's The C Programming Language (Prentice-Hall, 1988; ISBN 0-13-110362-8), describing ANSI Standard C. See K R ; this version is also called K R2. +n. [C programmers] The second edition of K R's The C Programming Language +(Prentice-Hall, 1988; ISBN 0-13-110362-8), describing ANSI Standard C. See K +R ; this version is also called K R2. + diff --git a/entries/Nightmare File System.txt b/entries/Nightmare File System.txt index e7f76a7..39a07ba 100644 --- a/entries/Nightmare File System.txt +++ b/entries/Nightmare File System.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ Nightmare File System -n. Pejorative hackerism for Sun's Network File System (NFS). In any nontrivial network of Suns where there is a lot of NFS cross-mounting, when one Sun goes down, the others often freeze up. Some machine tries to access the down one, and (getting no response) repeats indefinitely. This causes it to appear dead to some messages (what is actually happening is that it is locked up in what should have been a brief excursion to a higher spl level). Then another machine tries to reach either the down machine or the pseudo-down machine, and itself becomes pseudo-down. The first machine to discover the down one is now trying both to access the down one and to respond to the pseudo-down one, so it is even harder to reach. This situation snowballs very quickly, and soon the entire network of machines is frozen worst of all, the user can't even abort the file access that started the problem! Many of NFS's problems are excused by partisans as being an inevitable result of its statelessness, which is held to be a great feature (critics, of course, call it a great misfeature ). (ITS partisans are apt to cite this as proof of Unix's alleged bogosity; ITS had a working NFS-like shared file system with none of these problems in the early 1970s.) See also broadcast storm. +n. Pejorative hackerism for Sun's Network File System (NFS). In any +nontrivial network of Suns where there is a lot of NFS cross-mounting, when +one Sun goes down, the others often freeze up. Some machine tries to access +the down one, and (getting no response) repeats indefinitely. This causes it +to appear dead to some messages (what is actually happening is that it is +locked up in what should have been a brief excursion to a higher spl level). +Then another machine tries to reach either the down machine or the +pseudo-down machine, and itself becomes pseudo-down. The first machine to +discover the down one is now trying both to access the down one and to +respond to the pseudo-down one, so it is even harder to reach. This +situation snowballs very quickly, and soon the entire network of machines is +frozen worst of all, the user can't even abort the file access that started +the problem! Many of NFS's problems are excused by partisans as being an +inevitable result of its statelessness, which is held to be a great feature +(critics, of course, call it a great misfeature ). (ITS partisans are apt to +cite this as proof of Unix's alleged bogosity; ITS had a working NFS-like +shared file system with none of these problems in the early 1970s.) See also +broadcast storm. + diff --git a/entries/Ninety-Ninety Rule.txt b/entries/Ninety-Ninety Rule.txt index fae7bee..ddf4264 100644 --- a/entries/Ninety-Ninety Rule.txt +++ b/entries/Ninety-Ninety Rule.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Ninety-Ninety Rule -n. The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time. Attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs, and popularized by Jon Bentley's September 1985 Bumper-Sticker Computer Science column in Communications of the ACM. It was there called the Rule of Credibility , a name which seems not to have stuck. Other maxims in the same vein include the law attributed to the early British computer scientist Douglas Hartree: The time from now until the completion of the project tends to become constant. +n. The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development +time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the +development time. Attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs, and popularized by +Jon Bentley's September 1985 Bumper-Sticker Computer Science column in +Communications of the ACM. It was there called the Rule of Credibility , a +name which seems not to have stuck. Other maxims in the same vein include +the law attributed to the early British computer scientist Douglas Hartree: +The time from now until the completion of the project tends to become +constant. + diff --git a/entries/OP.txt b/entries/OP.txt index 14d62c2..259f7e8 100644 --- a/entries/OP.txt +++ b/entries/OP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ OP -// [Usenet; common] Abbreviation for original poster , the originator of a particular thread. +// [Usenet; common] Abbreviation for original poster , the originator of a +particular thread. + diff --git a/entries/OS and JEDGAR.txt b/entries/OS and JEDGAR.txt index 8eaaa09..1654e96 100644 --- a/entries/OS and JEDGAR.txt +++ b/entries/OS and JEDGAR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,27 @@ OS and JEDGAR -This story says a lot about the ITS ethos. On the ITS system there was a program that allowed you to see what was being printed on someone else's terminal. It spied on the other guy's output by examining the insides of the monitor system. The output spy program was called OS. Throughout the rest of the computer science world (and at IBM too) OS means operating system, but among old-time ITS hackers it almost always meant output spy. OS could work because ITS purposely had very little in the way of protection that prevented one user from trespassing on another's areas. Fair is fair, however. There was another program that would automatically notify you if anyone started to spy on your output. It worked in exactly the same way, by looking at the insides of the operating system to see if anyone else was looking at the insides that had to do with your output. This counterspy program was called JEDGAR (a six-letterism pronounced as two syllables: /jedgr/ ), in honor of the former head of the FBI. But there's more. JEDGAR would ask the user for license to kill. If the user said yes, then JEDGAR would actually gun the job of the luser who was spying. Unfortunately, people found that this made life too violent, especially when tourists learned about it. One of the systems hackers solved the problem by replacing JEDGAR with another program that only pretended to do its job. It took a long time to do this, because every copy of JEDGAR had to be patched. To this day no one knows how many people never figured out that JEDGAR had been defanged. Interestingly, there is still a security module named JEDGAR alive as of late 1999 in the Unisys MCP for large systems. It is unknown to us whether the name is tribute or independent invention. +This story says a lot about the ITS ethos. On the ITS system there was a +program that allowed you to see what was being printed on someone else's +terminal. It spied on the other guy's output by examining the insides of the +monitor system. The output spy program was called OS. Throughout the rest of +the computer science world (and at IBM too) OS means operating system, but +among old-time ITS hackers it almost always meant output spy. OS could work +because ITS purposely had very little in the way of protection that +prevented one user from trespassing on another's areas. Fair is fair, +however. There was another program that would automatically notify you if +anyone started to spy on your output. It worked in exactly the same way, by +looking at the insides of the operating system to see if anyone else was +looking at the insides that had to do with your output. This counterspy +program was called JEDGAR (a six-letterism pronounced as two syllables: +/jedgr/ ), in honor of the former head of the FBI. But there's more. JEDGAR +would ask the user for license to kill. If the user said yes, then JEDGAR +would actually gun the job of the luser who was spying. Unfortunately, +people found that this made life too violent, especially when tourists +learned about it. One of the systems hackers solved the problem by replacing +JEDGAR with another program that only pretended to do its job. It took a +long time to do this, because every copy of JEDGAR had to be patched. To +this day no one knows how many people never figured out that JEDGAR had been +defanged. Interestingly, there is still a security module named JEDGAR alive +as of late 1999 in the Unisys MCP for large systems. It is unknown to us +whether the name is tribute or independent invention. + diff --git a/entries/OS-2.txt b/entries/OS-2.txt index 5108ea3..433ab5b 100644 --- a/entries/OS-2.txt +++ b/entries/OS-2.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ OS/2 -/O S too/ , n. The anointed successor to MS-DOS for Intel 286- and 386-based micros; proof that IBM/Microsoft couldn't get it right the second time, either. Often called Half-an-OS. Mentioning it is usually good for a cheap laugh among hackers the design was so baroque , and the implementation of 1.x so bad, that three years after introduction you could still count the major app s shipping for it on the fingers of two hands in unary. The 2.x versions were said to have improved somewhat, and informed hackers rated them superior to Microsoft Windows (an endorsement which, however, could easily be construed as damning with faint praise). In the mid-1990s IBM put OS/2 on life support, refraining from killing it outright purely for internal political reasons; by 1999 the success of Linux had effectively ended any possibility of a renaissance. See monstrosity , cretinous , second-system effect. +/O S too/ , n. The anointed successor to MS-DOS for Intel 286- and 386-based +micros; proof that IBM/Microsoft couldn't get it right the second time, +either. Often called Half-an-OS. Mentioning it is usually good for a cheap +laugh among hackers the design was so baroque , and the implementation of +1.x so bad, that three years after introduction you could still count the +major app s shipping for it on the fingers of two hands in unary. The 2.x +versions were said to have improved somewhat, and informed hackers rated +them superior to Microsoft Windows (an endorsement which, however, could +easily be construed as damning with faint praise). In the mid-1990s IBM put +OS/2 on life support, refraining from killing it outright purely for +internal political reasons; by 1999 the success of Linux had effectively +ended any possibility of a renaissance. See monstrosity , cretinous , +second-system effect. + diff --git a/entries/OS.txt b/entries/OS.txt index b61d139..9f51ed7 100644 --- a/entries/OS.txt +++ b/entries/OS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ OS -/OS/ 1. [Operating System] n. An abbreviation heavily used in email, occasionally in speech. 2. n. obs. On ITS, an output spy. See OS and JEDGAR in Appendix A. +/OS/ 1. [Operating System] n. An abbreviation heavily used in email, +occasionally in speech. 2. n. obs. On ITS, an output spy. See OS and JEDGAR +in Appendix A. + diff --git a/entries/OSS.txt b/entries/OSS.txt index 9756a80..7da7b1a 100644 --- a/entries/OSS.txt +++ b/entries/OSS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ OSS -Written-only acronym for Open Source Software (see open source ). This is a rather ugly TLA , and the principals in the open-source movement don't use it, but it has (perhaps inevitably) spread through the trade press like kudzu. +Written-only acronym for Open Source Software (see open source ). This is a +rather ugly TLA , and the principals in the open-source movement don't use +it, but it has (perhaps inevitably) spread through the trade press like +kudzu. + diff --git a/entries/OT.txt b/entries/OT.txt index 0f78f56..3a4e681 100644 --- a/entries/OT.txt +++ b/entries/OT.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ OT -// [Usenet: common] Abbreviation for off-topic. This is used to respond to a question that is inappropriate for the newsgroup that the questioner posted to. Often used in an HTML-style modifier or with adverbs. See also TAN. +// [Usenet: common] Abbreviation for off-topic. This is used to respond to a +question that is inappropriate for the newsgroup that the questioner posted +to. Often used in an HTML-style modifier or with adverbs. See also TAN. + diff --git a/entries/OTOH.txt b/entries/OTOH.txt index 16d3c2b..fe643ad 100644 --- a/entries/OTOH.txt +++ b/entries/OTOH.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ OTOH // [Usenet; very common] On The Other Hand. + diff --git a/entries/Ob-.txt b/entries/Ob-.txt index ef7e1f3..a5e1891 100644 --- a/entries/Ob-.txt +++ b/entries/Ob-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Ob- -/ob/ , pref. Obligatory. A piece of netiquette acknowledging that the author has been straying from the newsgroup's charter topic. For example, if a posting in alt.sex is a response to a part of someone else's posting that has nothing particularly to do with sex, the author may append ObSex (or Obsex ) and toss off a question or vignette about some unusual erotic act. It is considered a sign of great winnitude when one's Obs are more interesting than other people's whole postings. +/ob/ , pref. Obligatory. A piece of netiquette acknowledging that the author +has been straying from the newsgroup's charter topic. For example, if a +posting in alt.sex is a response to a part of someone else's posting that +has nothing particularly to do with sex, the author may append ObSex (or +Obsex ) and toss off a question or vignette about some unusual erotic act. +It is considered a sign of great winnitude when one's Obs are more +interesting than other people's whole postings. + diff --git a/entries/Obfuscated C Contest.txt b/entries/Obfuscated C Contest.txt index 5513d64..edf7c52 100644 --- a/entries/Obfuscated C Contest.txt +++ b/entries/Obfuscated C Contest.txt @@ -1,3 +1,29 @@ Obfuscated C Contest -n. (in full, the International Obfuscated C Code Contest , or IOCCC) An annual contest run since 1984 over Usenet by Landon Curt Noll and friends. The overall winner is whoever produces the most unreadable, creative, and bizarre (but working) C program; various other prizes are awarded at the judges' whim. C's terse syntax and macro-preprocessor facilities give contestants a lot of maneuvering room. The winning programs often manage to be simultaneously (a) funny, (b) breathtaking works of art, and (c) horrible examples of how not to code in C. This relatively short and sweet entry might help convey the flavor of obfuscated C: /* * HELLO WORLD program * by Jack Applin and Robert Heckendorn, 1985 * (Note: depends on being able to modify elements of argv[], * which is not guaranteed by ANSI and often not possible.) */ main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]= Hello, world!\n) ; (!!c)[*c] (v--||--c execlp(*c,*c,c[!!c]+!!c,!c)); **c=!c)write(!!*c,*c,!!**c);} Here's another good one: /* * Program to compute an approximation of pi * by Brian Westley, 1988 * (requires pcc macro concatenation; try gcc -traditional-cpp) */ #define _ -F 00||--F-OO--; int F=00,OO=00; main(){F_OO();printf( %1.3f\n ,4.*-F/OO/OO);}F_OO() { _-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_ } Note that this program works by computing its own area. For more digits, write a bigger program. See also hello world. The IOCCC has an official home page at http://www.ioccc.org/. +n. (in full, the International Obfuscated C Code Contest , or IOCCC) An +annual contest run since 1984 over Usenet by Landon Curt Noll and friends. +The overall winner is whoever produces the most unreadable, creative, and +bizarre (but working) C program; various other prizes are awarded at the +judges' whim. C's terse syntax and macro-preprocessor facilities give +contestants a lot of maneuvering room. The winning programs often manage to +be simultaneously (a) funny, (b) breathtaking works of art, and (c) horrible +examples of how not to code in C. This relatively short and sweet entry +might help convey the flavor of obfuscated C: /* * HELLO WORLD program * by +Jack Applin and Robert Heckendorn, 1985 * (Note: depends on being able to +modify elements of argv[], * which is not guaranteed by ANSI and often not +possible.) */ main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]= Hello, world!\n) ; (!!c)[*c] +(v--||--c execlp(*c,*c,c[!!c]+!!c,!c)); **c=!c)write(!!*c,*c,!!**c);} Here's +another good one: /* * Program to compute an approximation of pi * by Brian +Westley, 1988 * (requires pcc macro concatenation; try gcc -traditional-cpp) +*/ #define _ -F 00||--F-OO--; int F=00,OO=00; main(){F_OO();printf( %1.3f\n +,4.*-F/OO/OO);}F_OO() { _-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ +_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ +_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ +_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ +_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ +_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ +_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _-_-_-_ } Note that this program +works by computing its own area. For more digits, write a bigger program. +See also hello world. The IOCCC has an official home page at +http://www.ioccc.org/. + diff --git a/entries/Objectionable-C.txt b/entries/Objectionable-C.txt index 25d0954..3eec5de 100644 --- a/entries/Objectionable-C.txt +++ b/entries/Objectionable-C.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Objectionable-C -n. Hackish take on Objective-C , the name of an object-oriented dialect of C in competition with the better-known C++ (it is used to write native applications on the NeXT machine). Objectionable-C uses a Smalltalk-like syntax, but lacks the flexibility of Smalltalk method calls, and (like many such efforts) comes frustratingly close to attaining the Right Thing without actually doing so. +n. Hackish take on Objective-C , the name of an object-oriented dialect of C +in competition with the better-known C++ (it is used to write native +applications on the NeXT machine). Objectionable-C uses a Smalltalk-like +syntax, but lacks the flexibility of Smalltalk method calls, and (like many +such efforts) comes frustratingly close to attaining the Right Thing without +actually doing so. + diff --git a/entries/Old Testament.txt b/entries/Old Testament.txt index 618fd2e..c3341da 100644 --- a/entries/Old Testament.txt +++ b/entries/Old Testament.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ Old Testament -n. [C programmers] The first edition of K R , the sacred text describing Classic C. +n. [C programmers] The first edition of K R , the sacred text describing +Classic C. + diff --git a/entries/Oracle, the.txt b/entries/Oracle, the.txt index a24ebe1..0051684 100644 --- a/entries/Oracle, the.txt +++ b/entries/Oracle, the.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Oracle, the -The all-knowing, all-wise Internet Oracle rec.humor.oracle , or one of the foreign language derivatives of same. Newbies frequently confuse the Oracle with Oracle, a database vendor. As a result, the unmoderated rec.humor.oracle.d is frequently cross-posted to by the clueless, looking for advice on SQL. +The all-knowing, all-wise Internet Oracle rec.humor.oracle , or one of the +foreign language derivatives of same. Newbies frequently confuse the Oracle +with Oracle, a database vendor. As a result, the unmoderated +rec.humor.oracle.d is frequently cross-posted to by the clueless, looking +for advice on SQL. + diff --git a/entries/Orange Book.txt b/entries/Orange Book.txt index 8e3fa72..c897a8a 100644 --- a/entries/Orange Book.txt +++ b/entries/Orange Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Orange Book -n. The U.S. Government's (now obsolete) standards document Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria, DOD standard 5200.28-STD, December, 1985 which characterize secure computing architectures and defines levels A1 (most secure) through D (least). Modern Unixes are roughly C2. See also book titles. +n. The U.S. Government's (now obsolete) standards document Trusted Computer +System Evaluation Criteria, DOD standard 5200.28-STD, December, 1985 which +characterize secure computing architectures and defines levels A1 (most +secure) through D (least). Modern Unixes are roughly C2. See also book +titles. + diff --git a/entries/Other Interests.txt b/entries/Other Interests.txt index 0d425ae..38d3578 100644 --- a/entries/Other Interests.txt +++ b/entries/Other Interests.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Other Interests -Some hobbies are widely shared and recognized as going with the culture: science fiction, music, medievalism (in the active form practiced by the Society for Creative Anachronism and similar organizations), chess, go, backgammon, wargames, and intellectual games of all kinds. (Role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons used to be extremely popular among hackers but they lost a bit of their luster as they moved into the mainstream and became heavily commercialized. More recently, Magic: The Gathering has been widely popular among hackers.) Logic puzzles. Ham radio. Other interests that seem to correlate less strongly but positively with hackerdom include linguistics and theater teching. +Some hobbies are widely shared and recognized as going with the culture: +science fiction, music, medievalism (in the active form practiced by the +Society for Creative Anachronism and similar organizations), chess, go, +backgammon, wargames, and intellectual games of all kinds. (Role-playing +games such as Dungeons and Dragons used to be extremely popular among +hackers but they lost a bit of their luster as they moved into the +mainstream and became heavily commercialized. More recently, Magic: The +Gathering has been widely popular among hackers.) Logic puzzles. Ham radio. +Other interests that seem to correlate less strongly but positively with +hackerdom include linguistics and theater teching. + diff --git a/entries/Overgeneralization.txt b/entries/Overgeneralization.txt index d18c45b..03b41f0 100644 --- a/entries/Overgeneralization.txt +++ b/entries/Overgeneralization.txt @@ -1,3 +1,64 @@ Overgeneralization -A very conspicuous feature of jargon is the frequency with which techspeak items such as names of program tools, command language primitives, and even assembler opcodes are applied to contexts outside of computing wherever hackers find amusing analogies to them. Thus (to cite one of the best-known examples) Unix hackers often grep for things rather than searching for them. Many of the lexicon entries are generalizations of exactly this kind. Hackers enjoy overgeneralization on the grammatical level as well. Many hackers love to take various words and add the wrong endings to them to make nouns and verbs, often by extending a standard rule to nonuniform cases (or vice versa). For example, because porous porosity and generous generosity, hackers happily generalize: mysterious mysteriosity ferrous ferrosity obvious obviosity dubious dubiosity Another class of common construction uses the suffix -itude to abstract a quality from just about any adjective or noun. This usage arises especially in cases where mainstream English would perform the same abstraction through -iness or -ingness. Thus: win winnitude (a common exclamation) loss lossitude cruft cruftitude lame lameitude Some hackers cheerfully reverse this transformation; they argue, for example, that the horizontal degree lines on a globe ought to be called lats after all, they're measuring latitude! Also, note that all nouns can be verbed. E.g.: All nouns can be verbed , I'll mouse it up , Hang on while I clipboard it over , I'm grepping the files . English as a whole is already heading in this direction (towards pure-positional grammar like Chinese); hackers are simply a bit ahead of the curve. The suffix -full can also be applied in generalized and fanciful ways, as in As soon as you have more than one cachefull of data, the system starts thrashing, or As soon as I have more than one headfull of ideas, I start writing it all down. A common use is screenfull , meaning the amount of text that will fit on one screen, usually in text mode where you have no choice as to character size. Another common form is bufferfull . However, hackers avoid the unimaginative verb-making techniques characteristic of marketroids, bean-counters, and the Pentagon; a hacker would never, for example, productize, prioritize, or securitize things. Hackers have a strong aversion to bureaucratic bafflegab and regard those who use it with contempt. Similarly, all verbs can be nouned. This is only a slight overgeneralization in modern English; in hackish, however, it is good form to mark them in some standard nonstandard way. Thus: win winnitude, winnage disgust disgustitude hack hackification Further, note the prevalence of certain kinds of nonstandard plural forms. Some of these go back quite a ways; the TMRC Dictionary includes an entry which implies that the plural of mouse is meeces , and notes that the defined plural of caboose is cabeese. This latter has apparently been standard (or at least a standard joke) among railfans (railroad enthusiasts) for many years On a similarly Anglo-Saxon note, almost anything ending in x may form plurals in -xen (see VAXen and boxen in the main text). Even words ending in phonetic /k/ alone are sometimes treated this way; e.g., soxen for a bunch of socks. Other funny plurals are the Hebrew-style frobbotzim for the plural of frobbozz (see frobnitz ) and Unices and Twenices (rather than Unixes and Twenexes; see Unix , TWENEX in main text). But note that Twenexen was never used, and Unixen was seldom sighted in the wild until the year 2000, thirty years after it might logically have come into use; it has been suggested that this is because -ix and -ex are Latin singular endings that attract a Latinate plural. Among Perl hackers it is reported that comma and semicolon pluralize as commata and semicola respectively. Finally, it has been suggested to general approval that the plural of mongoose ought to be polygoose. The pattern here, as with other hackish grammatical quirks, is generalization of an inflectional rule that in English is either an import or a fossil (such as the Hebrew plural ending -im, or the Anglo-Saxon plural suffix -en) to cases where it isn't normally considered to apply. This is not poor grammar, as hackers are generally quite well aware of what they are doing when they distort the language. It is grammatical creativity, a form of playfulness. It is done not to impress but to amuse, and never at the expense of clarity. +A very conspicuous feature of jargon is the frequency with which techspeak +items such as names of program tools, command language primitives, and even +assembler opcodes are applied to contexts outside of computing wherever +hackers find amusing analogies to them. Thus (to cite one of the best-known +examples) Unix hackers often grep for things rather than searching for them. +Many of the lexicon entries are generalizations of exactly this kind. +Hackers enjoy overgeneralization on the grammatical level as well. Many +hackers love to take various words and add the wrong endings to them to make +nouns and verbs, often by extending a standard rule to nonuniform cases (or +vice versa). For example, because porous porosity and generous generosity, +hackers happily generalize: mysterious mysteriosity ferrous ferrosity +obvious obviosity dubious dubiosity Another class of common construction +uses the suffix -itude to abstract a quality from just about any adjective +or noun. This usage arises especially in cases where mainstream English +would perform the same abstraction through -iness or -ingness. Thus: win +winnitude (a common exclamation) loss lossitude cruft cruftitude lame +lameitude Some hackers cheerfully reverse this transformation; they argue, +for example, that the horizontal degree lines on a globe ought to be called +lats after all, they're measuring latitude! Also, note that all nouns can +be verbed. E.g.: All nouns can be verbed , I'll mouse it up , Hang on +while I clipboard it over , I'm grepping the files . English as a whole is +already heading in this direction (towards pure-positional grammar like +Chinese); hackers are simply a bit ahead of the curve. The suffix -full +can also be applied in generalized and fanciful ways, as in As soon as you +have more than one cachefull of data, the system starts thrashing, or As +soon as I have more than one headfull of ideas, I start writing it all down. +A common use is screenfull , meaning the amount of text that will fit on +one screen, usually in text mode where you have no choice as to character +size. Another common form is bufferfull . However, hackers avoid the +unimaginative verb-making techniques characteristic of marketroids, +bean-counters, and the Pentagon; a hacker would never, for example, +productize, prioritize, or securitize things. Hackers have a strong aversion +to bureaucratic bafflegab and regard those who use it with contempt. +Similarly, all verbs can be nouned. This is only a slight overgeneralization +in modern English; in hackish, however, it is good form to mark them in some +standard nonstandard way. Thus: win winnitude, winnage disgust +disgustitude hack hackification Further, note the prevalence of certain +kinds of nonstandard plural forms. Some of these go back quite a ways; the +TMRC Dictionary includes an entry which implies that the plural of mouse is +meeces , and notes that the defined plural of caboose is cabeese. This +latter has apparently been standard (or at least a standard joke) among +railfans (railroad enthusiasts) for many years On a similarly Anglo-Saxon +note, almost anything ending in x may form plurals in -xen (see VAXen and +boxen in the main text). Even words ending in phonetic /k/ alone are +sometimes treated this way; e.g., soxen for a bunch of socks. Other funny +plurals are the Hebrew-style frobbotzim for the plural of frobbozz (see +frobnitz ) and Unices and Twenices (rather than Unixes and Twenexes; see +Unix , TWENEX in main text). But note that Twenexen was never used, and +Unixen was seldom sighted in the wild until the year 2000, thirty years +after it might logically have come into use; it has been suggested that this +is because -ix and -ex are Latin singular endings that attract a Latinate +plural. Among Perl hackers it is reported that comma and semicolon pluralize +as commata and semicola respectively. Finally, it has been suggested to +general approval that the plural of mongoose ought to be polygoose. The +pattern here, as with other hackish grammatical quirks, is generalization of +an inflectional rule that in English is either an import or a fossil (such +as the Hebrew plural ending -im, or the Anglo-Saxon plural suffix -en) to +cases where it isn't normally considered to apply. This is not poor grammar, +as hackers are generally quite well aware of what they are doing when they +distort the language. It is grammatical creativity, a form of playfulness. +It is done not to impress but to amuse, and never at the expense of clarity. + diff --git a/entries/P.O.D..txt b/entries/P.O.D..txt index 290bb93..3214a33 100644 --- a/entries/P.O.D..txt +++ b/entries/P.O.D..txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ P.O.D. -/POD/ [rare; sometimes POD without the periods] Acronym for Piece Of Data or Plain Old Data (as opposed to a code section, or a section containing mixed code and data). The latter expansion was in use by the C++ standards committee, for which it indicated a struct or class which only contains data (as in C), distinguished from one which has a constructor and member functions. There are things which you can do with a P.O.D. which you can't with a more general class. +/POD/ [rare; sometimes POD without the periods] Acronym for Piece Of Data or +Plain Old Data (as opposed to a code section, or a section containing mixed +code and data). The latter expansion was in use by the C++ standards +committee, for which it indicated a struct or class which only contains data +(as in C), distinguished from one which has a constructor and member +functions. There are things which you can do with a P.O.D. which you can't +with a more general class. + diff --git a/entries/PARC.txt b/entries/PARC.txt index 3b4933a..16401f7 100644 --- a/entries/PARC.txt +++ b/entries/PARC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ PARC n. See XEROX PARC. + diff --git a/entries/PBD.txt b/entries/PBD.txt index 4da60a0..f609c27 100644 --- a/entries/PBD.txt +++ b/entries/PBD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ PBD -/PBD/ , n. [abbrev. of Programmer Brain Damage ] Applied to bug reports revealing places where the program was obviously broken by an incompetent or short-sighted programmer. Compare UBD ; see also brain-damaged. +/PBD/ , n. [abbrev. of Programmer Brain Damage ] Applied to bug reports +revealing places where the program was obviously broken by an incompetent or +short-sighted programmer. Compare UBD ; see also brain-damaged. + diff --git a/entries/PD.txt b/entries/PD.txt index 31dc1cc..4b108f9 100644 --- a/entries/PD.txt +++ b/entries/PD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ PD -/PD/ , adj. [common] Abbreviation for public domain , applied to software distributed over Usenet and from Internet archive sites. Much of this software is not in fact public domain in the legal sense but travels under various copyrights granting reproduction and use rights to anyone who can snarf a copy. See copyleft. +/PD/ , adj. [common] Abbreviation for public domain , applied to software +distributed over Usenet and from Internet archive sites. Much of this +software is not in fact public domain in the legal sense but travels under +various copyrights granting reproduction and use rights to anyone who can +snarf a copy. See copyleft. + diff --git a/entries/PDP-10.txt b/entries/PDP-10.txt index c5bdff3..98bf38d 100644 --- a/entries/PDP-10.txt +++ b/entries/PDP-10.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ PDP-10 -n. [Programmed Data Processor model 10] The machine that made timesharing real. It looms large in hacker folklore because of its adoption in the mid-1970s by many university computing facilities and research labs, including the MIT AI Lab, Stanford, and CMU. Some aspects of the instruction set (most notably the bit-field instructions) are still considered unsurpassed. The 10 was eventually eclipsed by the VAX machines (descendants of the PDP-11 ) when DEC recognized that the 10 and VAX product lines were competing with each other and decided to concentrate its software development effort on the more profitable VAX. The machine was finally dropped from DEC's line in 1983, following the failure of the Jupiter Project at DEC to build a viable new model. (Some attempts by other companies to market clones came to nothing; see Foonly and Mars. ) This event spelled the doom of ITS and the technical cultures that had spawned the original Jargon File, but by mid-1991 it had become something of a badge of honorable old-timerhood among hackers to have cut one's teeth on a PDP-10. See TOPS-10 , ITS , BLT , DDT , EXCH , HAKMEM , pop , push. See also http://www.inwap.com/pdp10/. +n. [Programmed Data Processor model 10] The machine that made timesharing +real. It looms large in hacker folklore because of its adoption in the +mid-1970s by many university computing facilities and research labs, +including the MIT AI Lab, Stanford, and CMU. Some aspects of the instruction +set (most notably the bit-field instructions) are still considered +unsurpassed. The 10 was eventually eclipsed by the VAX machines (descendants +of the PDP-11 ) when DEC recognized that the 10 and VAX product lines were +competing with each other and decided to concentrate its software +development effort on the more profitable VAX. The machine was finally +dropped from DEC's line in 1983, following the failure of the Jupiter +Project at DEC to build a viable new model. (Some attempts by other +companies to market clones came to nothing; see Foonly and Mars. ) This +event spelled the doom of ITS and the technical cultures that had spawned +the original Jargon File, but by mid-1991 it had become something of a badge +of honorable old-timerhood among hackers to have cut one's teeth on a +PDP-10. See TOPS-10 , ITS , BLT , DDT , EXCH , HAKMEM , pop , push. See also +http://www.inwap.com/pdp10/. + diff --git a/entries/PDP-11.txt b/entries/PDP-11.txt index 6053ca4..d44ac5a 100644 --- a/entries/PDP-11.txt +++ b/entries/PDP-11.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ PDP-11 -Possibly the single most successful minicomputer design in history, a favorite of hackers for many years, and the first major Unix machine, The first s (the 11/15 and 11/20) shipped in 1970 from DEC ; the last (11/93 and 11/94) in 1990. Along the way, the 11 gave birth to the VAX , strongly influenced the design of microprocessors such as the Motorola 6800 and Intel 386, and left a permanent imprint on the C language (which has an odd preference for octal embedded in its syntax because of the way machine instructions were formatted). There is a history site. +Possibly the single most successful minicomputer design in history, a +favorite of hackers for many years, and the first major Unix machine, The +first s (the 11/15 and 11/20) shipped in 1970 from DEC ; the last (11/93 and +11/94) in 1990. Along the way, the 11 gave birth to the VAX , strongly +influenced the design of microprocessors such as the Motorola 6800 and Intel +386, and left a permanent imprint on the C language (which has an odd +preference for octal embedded in its syntax because of the way machine +instructions were formatted). There is a history site. + diff --git a/entries/PDP-20.txt b/entries/PDP-20.txt index 1d32727..b917ac6 100644 --- a/entries/PDP-20.txt +++ b/entries/PDP-20.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ PDP-20 -n. The most famous computer that never was. PDP-10 computers running the TOPS-10 operating system were labeled DECsystem-10 as a way of differentiating them from the PDP-11. Later on, those systems running TOPS-20 were labeled DECSYSTEM-20 (the block capitals being the result of a lawsuit brought against DEC by Singer, which once made a computer called system-10 ), but contrary to popular lore there was never a PDP-20 ; the only difference between a 10 and a 20 was the operating system and the color of the paint. Most (but not all) machines sold to run TOPS-10 were painted Basil Blue , whereas most TOPS-20 machines were painted Chinese Red (often mistakenly called orange). +n. The most famous computer that never was. PDP-10 computers running the +TOPS-10 operating system were labeled DECsystem-10 as a way of +differentiating them from the PDP-11. Later on, those systems running +TOPS-20 were labeled DECSYSTEM-20 (the block capitals being the result of a +lawsuit brought against DEC by Singer, which once made a computer called +system-10 ), but contrary to popular lore there was never a PDP-20 ; the +only difference between a 10 and a 20 was the operating system and the color +of the paint. Most (but not all) machines sold to run TOPS-10 were painted +Basil Blue , whereas most TOPS-20 machines were painted Chinese Red (often +mistakenly called orange). + diff --git a/entries/PEBKAC.txt b/entries/PEBKAC.txt index a25366c..118792f 100644 --- a/entries/PEBKAC.txt +++ b/entries/PEBKAC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ PEBKAC -/pebkak/ [Abbrev., Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair ] Used by support people, particularly at call centers and help desks. Not used with the public. Denotes pilot error as the cause of the crash, especially stupid errors that even a luser could figure out. Very derogatory. Usage: Did you ever figure out why that guy couldn't print? Yeah, he kept cancelling the operation before it could finish. PEBKAC. See also ID10T. Compare pilot error , UBD. +/pebkak/ [Abbrev., Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair ] Used by +support people, particularly at call centers and help desks. Not used with +the public. Denotes pilot error as the cause of the crash, especially stupid +errors that even a luser could figure out. Very derogatory. Usage: Did you +ever figure out why that guy couldn't print? Yeah, he kept cancelling the +operation before it could finish. PEBKAC. See also ID10T. Compare pilot +error , UBD. + diff --git a/entries/PFY.txt b/entries/PFY.txt index 5a1ccd1..12eefb5 100644 --- a/entries/PFY.txt +++ b/entries/PFY.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ PFY -n. [Usenet; common, originally from the BOFH mythos] Abbreviation for Pimply-Faced Youth. A BOFH in training, esp. one apprenticed to an elder BOFH aged in evil. +n. [Usenet; common, originally from the BOFH mythos] Abbreviation for +Pimply-Faced Youth. A BOFH in training, esp. one apprenticed to an elder +BOFH aged in evil. + diff --git a/entries/PHB.txt b/entries/PHB.txt index a724c3c..7746a60 100644 --- a/entries/PHB.txt +++ b/entries/PHB.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ PHB -/PHB/ [Usenet; common; rarely spoken] Abbreviation, Pointy-Haired Boss. From the Dilbert character, the archetypal halfwitted middle- management type. See also pointy-haired. +/PHB/ [Usenet; common; rarely spoken] Abbreviation, Pointy-Haired Boss. From +the Dilbert character, the archetypal halfwitted middle- management type. +See also pointy-haired. + diff --git a/entries/PM.txt b/entries/PM.txt index 63da58f..07f1c8e 100644 --- a/entries/PM.txt +++ b/entries/PM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ PM -/PM/ 1. v. (from preventive maintenance ) To bring down a machine for inspection or test purposes. See provocative maintenance ; see also scratch monkey. 2. n. Abbrev. for Presentation Manager , an elephantine OS/2 graphical user interface. +/PM/ 1. v. (from preventive maintenance ) To bring down a machine for +inspection or test purposes. See provocative maintenance ; see also scratch +monkey. 2. n. Abbrev. for Presentation Manager , an elephantine OS/2 +graphical user interface. + diff --git a/entries/POM.txt b/entries/POM.txt index 1fb6b66..48c5d74 100644 --- a/entries/POM.txt +++ b/entries/POM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ POM -/POM/ , n. Common abbreviation for phase of the moon. Usage: usually in the phrase POM-dependent , which means flaky. +/POM/ , n. Common abbreviation for phase of the moon. Usage: usually in the +phrase POM-dependent , which means flaky. + diff --git a/entries/Parkinson's Law of Data.txt b/entries/Parkinson's Law of Data.txt index bacc3f5..2372803 100644 --- a/entries/Parkinson's Law of Data.txt +++ b/entries/Parkinson's Law of Data.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Parkinson's Law of Data -prov. Data expands to fill the space available for storage ; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. (The original 1958 Parkinson's Law described the structural tendency of bureaucracies to make work for themselves.) It has been observed since the mid-1980s that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to about double once every 18 months (see Moore's Law ); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely. +prov. Data expands to fill the space available for storage ; buying more +memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. (The original +1958 Parkinson's Law described the structural tendency of bureaucracies to +make work for themselves.) It has been observed since the mid-1980s that the +memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 +months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also +tends to about double once every 18 months (see Moore's Law ); +unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue +indefinitely. + diff --git a/entries/Pascal.txt b/entries/Pascal.txt index 6a8d149..b4e4f4b 100644 --- a/entries/Pascal.txt +++ b/entries/Pascal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,39 @@ Pascal -n. An Algol-descended language designed by Niklaus Wirth on the CDC 6600 around 1967--68 as an instructional tool for elementary programming. This language, designed primarily to keep students from shooting themselves in the foot and thus extremely restrictive from a general-purpose-programming point of view, was later promoted as a general-purpose tool and, in fact, became the ancestor of a large family of languages including Modula-2 and Ada (see also bondage-and-discipline language ). The hackish point of view on Pascal was probably best summed up by a devastating (and, in its deadpan way, screamingly funny) 1981 paper by Brian Kernighan (of K R fame) entitled Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language , which was turned down by the technical journals but circulated widely via photocopies. It was eventually published in Comparing and Assessing Programming Languages , edited by Alan Feuer and Narain Gehani (Prentice-Hall, 1984). Part of his discussion is worth repeating here, because its criticisms are still apposite to Pascal itself after many years of improvement and could also stand as an indictment of many other bondage-and-discipline languages. (The entire essay is available at http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/bwk-on-pascal.html. ) At the end of a summary of the case against Pascal, Kernighan wrote: 9. There is no escape This last point is perhaps the most important. The language is inadequate but circumscribed, because there is no way to escape its limitations. There are no casts to disable the type-checking when necessary. There is no way to replace the defective run-time environment with a sensible one, unless one controls the compiler that defines the standard procedures. The language is closed. People who use Pascal for serious programming fall into a fatal trap. Because the language is impotent, it must be extended. But each group extends Pascal in its own direction, to make it look like whatever language they really want. Extensions for separate compilation, FORTRAN-like COMMON, string data types, internal static variables, initialization, octal numbers, bit operators, etc., all add to the utility of the language for one group but destroy its portability to others. I feel that it is a mistake to use Pascal for anything much beyond its original target. In its pure form, Pascal is a toy language, suitable for teaching but not for real programming. Pascal has since been entirely displaced (mainly by C ) from the niches it had acquired in serious applications and systems programming, and from its role as a teaching language by Java. +n. An Algol-descended language designed by Niklaus Wirth on the CDC 6600 +around 1967--68 as an instructional tool for elementary programming. This +language, designed primarily to keep students from shooting themselves in +the foot and thus extremely restrictive from a general-purpose-programming +point of view, was later promoted as a general-purpose tool and, in fact, +became the ancestor of a large family of languages including Modula-2 and +Ada (see also bondage-and-discipline language ). The hackish point of view +on Pascal was probably best summed up by a devastating (and, in its deadpan +way, screamingly funny) 1981 paper by Brian Kernighan (of K R fame) entitled +Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language , which was turned down +by the technical journals but circulated widely via photocopies. It was +eventually published in Comparing and Assessing Programming Languages , +edited by Alan Feuer and Narain Gehani (Prentice-Hall, 1984). Part of his +discussion is worth repeating here, because its criticisms are still +apposite to Pascal itself after many years of improvement and could also +stand as an indictment of many other bondage-and-discipline languages. (The +entire essay is available at http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/bwk-on-pascal.html. +) At the end of a summary of the case against Pascal, Kernighan wrote: 9. +There is no escape This last point is perhaps the most important. The +language is inadequate but circumscribed, because there is no way to escape +its limitations. There are no casts to disable the type-checking when +necessary. There is no way to replace the defective run-time environment +with a sensible one, unless one controls the compiler that defines the +standard procedures. The language is closed. People who use Pascal for +serious programming fall into a fatal trap. Because the language is +impotent, it must be extended. But each group extends Pascal in its own +direction, to make it look like whatever language they really want. +Extensions for separate compilation, FORTRAN-like COMMON, string data types, +internal static variables, initialization, octal numbers, bit operators, +etc., all add to the utility of the language for one group but destroy its +portability to others. I feel that it is a mistake to use Pascal for +anything much beyond its original target. In its pure form, Pascal is a toy +language, suitable for teaching but not for real programming. Pascal has +since been entirely displaced (mainly by C ) from the niches it had acquired +in serious applications and systems programming, and from its role as a +teaching language by Java. + diff --git a/entries/PascalCasing.txt b/entries/PascalCasing.txt index 544bf64..6fa3131 100644 --- a/entries/PascalCasing.txt +++ b/entries/PascalCasing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ PascalCasing -The practice of marking all word boundaries in long identifiers (such as ThisIsASampleVariable ) (including the first letter of the identifier) with uppercase. Constrasts with camelCasing , in which the first character of the identifier is left in lowercase ( thisIsASampleVariable ), and with the traditional C style of short all-lower-case names with internal word breaks marked by an underscore ( sample_var ). Where these terms are used, they usually go with advice to use for public interfaces and camelCasing for private ones. They may have originated at Microsoft, but are in more general use in ECMA standards, among Java programmers, and elsewhere. +The practice of marking all word boundaries in long identifiers (such as +ThisIsASampleVariable ) (including the first letter of the identifier) with +uppercase. Constrasts with camelCasing , in which the first character of the +identifier is left in lowercase ( thisIsASampleVariable ), and with the +traditional C style of short all-lower-case names with internal word breaks +marked by an underscore ( sample_var ). Where these terms are used, they +usually go with advice to use for public interfaces and camelCasing for +private ones. They may have originated at Microsoft, but are in more general +use in ECMA standards, among Java programmers, and elsewhere. + diff --git a/entries/Pentagram Pro.txt b/entries/Pentagram Pro.txt index a314685..6b716b2 100644 --- a/entries/Pentagram Pro.txt +++ b/entries/Pentagram Pro.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Pentagram Pro -n. A humorous corruption of Pentium Pro , with a Satanic reference, implying that the chip is inherently evil. Often used with 666 MHz ; there is a T-shirt. +n. A humorous corruption of Pentium Pro , with a Satanic reference, implying +that the chip is inherently evil. Often used with 666 MHz ; there is a +T-shirt. + diff --git a/entries/Pentium.txt b/entries/Pentium.txt index 23863e6..e6dd00d 100644 --- a/entries/Pentium.txt +++ b/entries/Pentium.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Pentium -n. The name given to Intel's P5 chip, the successor to the 80486. The name was chosen because of difficulties Intel had in trademarking a number. It suggests the number five (implying 586) while (according to Intel) conveying a meaning of strength like titanium. Among hackers, the plural is frequently pentia. See also Pentagram Pro. Intel did not stick to this convention when naming its P6 processor the Pentium Pro; many believe this is due to difficulties in selling a chip with hex or sex in its name. Successor chips have been called Pentium II , Pentium III , and Pentium IV. +n. The name given to Intel's P5 chip, the successor to the 80486. The name +was chosen because of difficulties Intel had in trademarking a number. It +suggests the number five (implying 586) while (according to Intel) conveying +a meaning of strength like titanium. Among hackers, the plural is frequently +pentia. See also Pentagram Pro. Intel did not stick to this convention when +naming its P6 processor the Pentium Pro; many believe this is due to +difficulties in selling a chip with hex or sex in its name. Successor chips +have been called Pentium II , Pentium III , and Pentium IV. + diff --git a/entries/Perl.txt b/entries/Perl.txt index 0b30e7c..7cc58d6 100644 --- a/entries/Perl.txt +++ b/entries/Perl.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ Perl -/perl/ , n. [Practical Extraction and Report Language, a.k.a. Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister] An interpreted language developed by Larry Wall, author of patch (1) and rn (1) ). Superficially resembles awk , but is much hairier, including many facilities reminiscent of sed (1) and shells and a comprehensive Unix system-call interface. Unix sysadmins, who are almost always incorrigible hackers, generally consider it one of the languages of choice , and it is by far the most widely used tool for making live web pages via CGI. Perl has been described, in a parody of a famous remark about lex (1) , as the Swiss-Army chainsaw of Unix programming. Though Perl is very useful, it would be a stretch to describe it as pretty or elegant ; people who like clean, spare design generally prefer Python. See also Camel Book , TMTOWTDI. +/perl/ , n. [Practical Extraction and Report Language, a.k.a. Pathologically +Eclectic Rubbish Lister] An interpreted language developed by Larry Wall, +author of patch (1) and rn (1) ). Superficially resembles awk , but is much +hairier, including many facilities reminiscent of sed (1) and shells and a +comprehensive Unix system-call interface. Unix sysadmins, who are almost +always incorrigible hackers, generally consider it one of the languages of +choice , and it is by far the most widely used tool for making live web +pages via CGI. Perl has been described, in a parody of a famous remark about +lex (1) , as the Swiss-Army chainsaw of Unix programming. Though Perl is +very useful, it would be a stretch to describe it as pretty or elegant ; +people who like clean, spare design generally prefer Python. See also Camel +Book , TMTOWTDI. + diff --git a/entries/Personality Characteristics.txt b/entries/Personality Characteristics.txt index a0e50f9..8320312 100644 --- a/entries/Personality Characteristics.txt +++ b/entries/Personality Characteristics.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ Personality Characteristics -Contrary to stereotype, hackers are not usually intellectually narrow; they tend to be interested in any subject that can provide mental stimulation, and can often discourse knowledgeably and even interestingly on any number of obscure subjects if you can get them to talk at all, as opposed to, say, going back to their hacking. It is noticeable (and contrary to many outsiders' expectations) that the better a hacker is at hacking, the more likely he or she is to have outside interests at which he or she is more than merely competent. Hackers are control freaks in a way that has nothing to do with the usual coercive or authoritarian connotations of the term. In the same way that children delight in making model trains go forward and back by moving a switch, hackers love making complicated things like computers do nifty stuff for them. But it has to be their nifty stuff. They don't like tedium, nondeterminism, or most of the fussy, boring, ill-defined little tasks that go with maintaining a normal existence. Accordingly, they tend to be careful and orderly in their intellectual lives and chaotic elsewhere. Their code will be beautiful, even if their desks are buried in 3 feet of crap. Hackers are generally only very weakly motivated by conventional rewards such as social approval or money. They tend to be attracted by challenges and excited by interesting toys, and to judge the interest of work or other activities in terms of the challenges offered and the toys they get to play with. In terms of Myers-Briggs and equivalent psychometric systems, hackerdom appears to concentrate the relatively rare INTJ and INTP types; that is, introverted, intuitive, and thinker types (as opposed to the extroverted-sensate personalities that predominate in the mainstream culture). +Contrary to stereotype, hackers are not usually intellectually narrow; they +tend to be interested in any subject that can provide mental stimulation, +and can often discourse knowledgeably and even interestingly on any number +of obscure subjects if you can get them to talk at all, as opposed to, say, +going back to their hacking. It is noticeable (and contrary to many +outsiders' expectations) that the better a hacker is at hacking, the more +likely he or she is to have outside interests at which he or she is more +than merely competent. Hackers are control freaks in a way that has nothing +to do with the usual coercive or authoritarian connotations of the term. In +the same way that children delight in making model trains go forward and +back by moving a switch, hackers love making complicated things like +computers do nifty stuff for them. But it has to be their nifty stuff. They +don't like tedium, nondeterminism, or most of the fussy, boring, ill-defined +little tasks that go with maintaining a normal existence. Accordingly, they +tend to be careful and orderly in their intellectual lives and chaotic +elsewhere. Their code will be beautiful, even if their desks are buried in 3 +feet of crap. Hackers are generally only very weakly motivated by +conventional rewards such as social approval or money. They tend to be +attracted by challenges and excited by interesting toys, and to judge the +interest of work or other activities in terms of the challenges offered and +the toys they get to play with. In terms of Myers-Briggs and equivalent +psychometric systems, hackerdom appears to concentrate the relatively rare +INTJ and INTP types; that is, introverted, intuitive, and thinker types (as +opposed to the extroverted-sensate personalities that predominate in the +mainstream culture). + diff --git a/entries/Physical Activity and Sports.txt b/entries/Physical Activity and Sports.txt index af05136..2ee1f0d 100644 --- a/entries/Physical Activity and Sports.txt +++ b/entries/Physical Activity and Sports.txt @@ -1,3 +1,37 @@ Physical Activity and Sports -Many (perhaps even most) hackers don't follow or do sports at all and are determinedly anti-physical. Among those who do, interest in spectator sports is low to non-existent; sports are something one does , not something one watches on TV. Further, hackers avoid most team sports like the plague. Volleyball was long a notable exception, perhaps because it's non-contact and relatively friendly; Ultimate Frisbee has become quite popular for similar reasons. Hacker sports are almost always primarily self-competitive ones involving concentration, stamina, and micromotor skills: martial arts, bicycling, auto racing, kite flying, hiking, rock climbing, aviation, target-shooting, sailing, caving, juggling, skiing, skating, skydiving, scuba diving. Hackers' delight in techno-toys also tends to draw them towards hobbies with nifty complicated equipment that they can tinker with. The popularity of martial arts in the hacker culture deserves special mention. Many observers have noted it, and the connection has grown noticeably stronger over time. In the 1970s, many hackers admired martial arts disciplines from a distance, sensing a compatible ideal in their exaltation of skill through rigorous self-discipline and concentration. As martial arts became increasingly mainstreamed in the U.S. and other western countries, hackers moved from admiring to doing in large numbers. In 1997, for example, your humble editor recalls sitting down with five strangers at the first Perl conference and discovering that four of us were in active training in some sort of martial art and, what is more interesting, nobody at the table found this high perecentage at all odd. Today (2000), martial arts seems to have become firmly established as the hacker exercise form of choice, and the martial-arts culture combining skill-centered elitism with a willingness to let anybody join seems a stronger parallel to hacker behavior than ever. Common usages in hacker slang un-ironically analogize programming to kung fu (thus, one hears talk of code-fu or in reference to specific skills like HTML-fu ). Albeit with slightly more irony, today's hackers readily analogize assimilation into the hacker culture with the plot of a Jet Li movie: the aspiring newbie studies with masters of the tradition, develops his art through deep meditation, ventures forth to perform heroic feats of hacking, and eventually becomes a master who trains the next generation of newbies in the hacker way. +Many (perhaps even most) hackers don't follow or do sports at all and are +determinedly anti-physical. Among those who do, interest in spectator sports +is low to non-existent; sports are something one does , not something one +watches on TV. Further, hackers avoid most team sports like the plague. +Volleyball was long a notable exception, perhaps because it's non-contact +and relatively friendly; Ultimate Frisbee has become quite popular for +similar reasons. Hacker sports are almost always primarily self-competitive +ones involving concentration, stamina, and micromotor skills: martial arts, +bicycling, auto racing, kite flying, hiking, rock climbing, aviation, +target-shooting, sailing, caving, juggling, skiing, skating, skydiving, +scuba diving. Hackers' delight in techno-toys also tends to draw them +towards hobbies with nifty complicated equipment that they can tinker with. +The popularity of martial arts in the hacker culture deserves special +mention. Many observers have noted it, and the connection has grown +noticeably stronger over time. In the 1970s, many hackers admired martial +arts disciplines from a distance, sensing a compatible ideal in their +exaltation of skill through rigorous self-discipline and concentration. As +martial arts became increasingly mainstreamed in the U.S. and other western +countries, hackers moved from admiring to doing in large numbers. In 1997, +for example, your humble editor recalls sitting down with five strangers at +the first Perl conference and discovering that four of us were in active +training in some sort of martial art and, what is more interesting, nobody +at the table found this high perecentage at all odd. Today (2000), martial +arts seems to have become firmly established as the hacker exercise form of +choice, and the martial-arts culture combining skill-centered elitism with a +willingness to let anybody join seems a stronger parallel to hacker behavior +than ever. Common usages in hacker slang un-ironically analogize programming +to kung fu (thus, one hears talk of code-fu or in reference to specific +skills like HTML-fu ). Albeit with slightly more irony, today's hackers +readily analogize assimilation into the hacker culture with the plot of a +Jet Li movie: the aspiring newbie studies with masters of the tradition, +develops his art through deep meditation, ventures forth to perform heroic +feats of hacking, and eventually becomes a master who trains the next +generation of newbies in the hacker way. + diff --git a/entries/Ping O' Death.txt b/entries/Ping O' Death.txt index 71f3251..2c7aac9 100644 --- a/entries/Ping O' Death.txt +++ b/entries/Ping O' Death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ Ping O' Death -n. A notorious exploit that (when first discovered) could be easily used to crash a wide variety of machines by overrunning size limits in their TCP/IP stacks. First revealed in late 1996. The open-source Unix community patched its systems to remove the vulnerability within days or weeks, the closed-source OS vendors generally took months. While the difference in response times repeated a pattern familiar from other security incidents, the accompanying glare of Web-fueled publicity proved unusually embarrassing to the OS vendors and so passed into history and myth. The term is now used to refer to any nudge delivered by network wizards over the network that causes bad things to happen on the system being nudged. For the full story on the original exploit, see http://www.insecure.org/sploits/ping-o-death.html. Compare kamikaze packet and 'Chernobyl packet. +n. A notorious exploit that (when first discovered) could be easily used to +crash a wide variety of machines by overrunning size limits in their TCP/IP +stacks. First revealed in late 1996. The open-source Unix community patched +its systems to remove the vulnerability within days or weeks, the +closed-source OS vendors generally took months. While the difference in +response times repeated a pattern familiar from other security incidents, +the accompanying glare of Web-fueled publicity proved unusually embarrassing +to the OS vendors and so passed into history and myth. The term is now used +to refer to any nudge delivered by network wizards over the network that +causes bad things to happen on the system being nudged. For the full story +on the original exploit, see +http://www.insecure.org/sploits/ping-o-death.html. Compare kamikaze packet +and 'Chernobyl packet. + diff --git a/entries/Plan 9.txt b/entries/Plan 9.txt index 53a9570..51f5843 100644 --- a/entries/Plan 9.txt +++ b/entries/Plan 9.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Plan 9 -n. In the late 1980s, researchers at Bell Labs (especially Rob Pike of Kernighan Pike fame) got bored with the limitations of UNIX and decided to reimplement the entire system. The result was called Plan 9 in the Bell Labs tradition of selecting names that make marketeers wince. The developers also wished to pay homage to the famous film, Plan 9 From Outer Space , considered by some to be the worst movie ever made. The source is available for download under open-source terms. The developers and a small fan base hang out at comp.os. +n. In the late 1980s, researchers at Bell Labs (especially Rob Pike of +Kernighan Pike fame) got bored with the limitations of UNIX and decided to +reimplement the entire system. The result was called Plan 9 in the Bell Labs +tradition of selecting names that make marketeers wince. The developers also +wished to pay homage to the famous film, Plan 9 From Outer Space , +considered by some to be the worst movie ever made. The source is available +for download under open-source terms. The developers and a small fan base +hang out at comp.os. + diff --git a/entries/Politics.txt b/entries/Politics.txt index c2eca1e..19b44e7 100644 --- a/entries/Politics.txt +++ b/entries/Politics.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Politics -Formerly vaguely liberal-moderate, more recently moderate-to-neoconservative (hackers too were affected by the collapse of socialism). There is a strong libertarian contingent which rejects conventional left-right politics entirely. The only safe generalization is that hackers tend to be rather anti-authoritarian; thus, both paleoconservatism and hard leftism are rare. Hackers are far more likely than most non-hackers to either (a) be aggressively apolitical or (b) entertain peculiar or idiosyncratic political ideas and actually try to live by them day-to-day. +Formerly vaguely liberal-moderate, more recently moderate-to-neoconservative +(hackers too were affected by the collapse of socialism). There is a strong +libertarian contingent which rejects conventional left-right politics +entirely. The only safe generalization is that hackers tend to be rather +anti-authoritarian; thus, both paleoconservatism and hard leftism are rare. +Hackers are far more likely than most non-hackers to either (a) be +aggressively apolitical or (b) entertain peculiar or idiosyncratic political +ideas and actually try to live by them day-to-day. + diff --git a/entries/PostScript.txt b/entries/PostScript.txt index a7adf86..975bd7a 100644 --- a/entries/PostScript.txt +++ b/entries/PostScript.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ PostScript -n. A page description language, based on work originally done by John Gaffney at Evans and Sutherland in 1976, evolving through JaM ( John and Martin , Martin Newell) at XEROX PARC , and finally implemented in its current form by John Warnock et al. after he and Chuck Geschke founded Adobe Systems Incorporated in 1982. PostScript gets its leverage by using a full programming language, rather than a series of low-level escape sequences, to describe an image to be printed on a laser printer or other output device (in this it parallels EMACS , which exploited a similar insight about editing tasks). It is also noteworthy for implementing on-the fly rasterization, from Bezier curve descriptions, of high-quality fonts at low (e.g. 300 dpi) resolution (it was formerly believed that hand-tuned bitmap fonts were required for this task). Hackers consider PostScript to be among the most elegant hacks of all time, and the combination of technical merits and widespread availability has made PostScript the language of choice for graphical output. +n. A page description language, based on work originally done by John +Gaffney at Evans and Sutherland in 1976, evolving through JaM ( John and +Martin , Martin Newell) at XEROX PARC , and finally implemented in its +current form by John Warnock et al. after he and Chuck Geschke founded Adobe +Systems Incorporated in 1982. PostScript gets its leverage by using a full +programming language, rather than a series of low-level escape sequences, to +describe an image to be printed on a laser printer or other output device +(in this it parallels EMACS , which exploited a similar insight about +editing tasks). It is also noteworthy for implementing on-the fly +rasterization, from Bezier curve descriptions, of high-quality fonts at low +(e.g. 300 dpi) resolution (it was formerly believed that hand-tuned bitmap +fonts were required for this task). Hackers consider PostScript to be among +the most elegant hacks of all time, and the combination of technical merits +and widespread availability has made PostScript the language of choice for +graphical output. + diff --git a/entries/Postel's Prescription.txt b/entries/Postel's Prescription.txt index a48f26e..f0292f8 100644 --- a/entries/Postel's Prescription.txt +++ b/entries/Postel's Prescription.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ Postel's Prescription -Several of the key Internet RFC s, especially 1122 and 791 contain a piece of advice due to Jon Postel, which is most often stated as: Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send. That is, a well-engineered implementation of any of the Internet protocols should be willing to deal with marginal and imperfectly-formed inputs, but should not assume that the program on the other end (that is, the program dealing with the well-engineered implementation's output) will be anything other than rigid and inflexible, and perhaps even incomplete or downright buggy. This property is valuable because a network of programs adhering to it will be much more robust in the presence of any uncertainties in the protocol specifications, or any individual implementor's failure to understand those specifications perfectly. Though the policy does tend to accommodate broken implementations it is held to more important to get the communication flowing than to immediately (but terminally) diagnose the broken implementations at the expense of the people trying to use them. The principle is a well-known one in the design of programs that handle Internet wire protocols, especially network relays and servers, and it is regularly applied by extension in any situation where two or more separately-implemented pieces of software are supposed to interoperate even though the various implementors have never talked to each other and have absolutely nothing whatsoever in common other than having all read the same protocol specification. +Several of the key Internet RFC s, especially 1122 and 791 contain a piece +of advice due to Jon Postel, which is most often stated as: Be liberal in +what you accept, and conservative in what you send. That is, a +well-engineered implementation of any of the Internet protocols should be +willing to deal with marginal and imperfectly-formed inputs, but should not +assume that the program on the other end (that is, the program dealing with +the well-engineered implementation's output) will be anything other than +rigid and inflexible, and perhaps even incomplete or downright buggy. This +property is valuable because a network of programs adhering to it will be +much more robust in the presence of any uncertainties in the protocol +specifications, or any individual implementor's failure to understand those +specifications perfectly. Though the policy does tend to accommodate broken +implementations it is held to more important to get the communication +flowing than to immediately (but terminally) diagnose the broken +implementations at the expense of the people trying to use them. The +principle is a well-known one in the design of programs that handle Internet +wire protocols, especially network relays and servers, and it is regularly +applied by extension in any situation where two or more +separately-implemented pieces of software are supposed to interoperate even +though the various implementors have never talked to each other and have +absolutely nothing whatsoever in common other than having all read the same +protocol specification. + diff --git a/entries/Programmer's Cheer.txt b/entries/Programmer's Cheer.txt index d0b7e70..03c025d 100644 --- a/entries/Programmer's Cheer.txt +++ b/entries/Programmer's Cheer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ Programmer's Cheer -Shift to the left! Shift to the right! Pop up, push down! Byte! Byte! Byte! A joke so old it has hair on it. +Shift to the left! Shift to the right! Pop up, push down! Byte! Byte! Byte! +A joke so old it has hair on it. + diff --git a/entries/Purple Book.txt b/entries/Purple Book.txt index e7facfc..eeb7cec 100644 --- a/entries/Purple Book.txt +++ b/entries/Purple Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Purple Book -n. 1. The System V Interface Definition. The covers of the first editions were an amazingly nauseating shade of off-lavender. 2. Syn. Wizard Book. Donald Lewine's POSIX Programmer's Guide (O'Reilly, 1991, ISBN 0-937175-73-0). See also book titles. +n. 1. The System V Interface Definition. The covers of the first editions +were an amazingly nauseating shade of off-lavender. 2. Syn. Wizard Book. +Donald Lewine's POSIX Programmer's Guide (O'Reilly, 1991, ISBN +0-937175-73-0). See also book titles. + diff --git a/entries/Python.txt b/entries/Python.txt index a3691e5..f4a591f 100644 --- a/entries/Python.txt +++ b/entries/Python.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Python -/pi:thon/ In the words of its author, the other scripting language (other than Perl , that is). Python's design is notably clean, elegant, and well thought through; it tends to attract the sort of programmers who find Perl grubby and exiguous. Some people revolt at its use of whitespace to define logical structure by indentation, objecting that this harks back to the horrible old fixed-field languages of the 1960s. Python's relationship with Perl is rather like the BSD community's relationship to Linux it's the smaller party in a (usually friendly) rivalry, but the average quality of its developers is generally conceded to be rather higher than in the larger community it competes with. There's a Python resource page at http://www.python.org. See also Guido , BDFL. +/pi:thon/ In the words of its author, the other scripting language (other +than Perl , that is). Python's design is notably clean, elegant, and well +thought through; it tends to attract the sort of programmers who find Perl +grubby and exiguous. Some people revolt at its use of whitespace to define +logical structure by indentation, objecting that this harks back to the +horrible old fixed-field languages of the 1960s. Python's relationship with +Perl is rather like the BSD community's relationship to Linux it's the +smaller party in a (usually friendly) rivalry, but the average quality of +its developers is generally conceded to be rather higher than in the larger +community it competes with. There's a Python resource page at +http://www.python.org. See also Guido , BDFL. + diff --git a/entries/QWERTY.txt b/entries/QWERTY.txt index 36db9e6..d2b346e 100644 --- a/entries/QWERTY.txt +++ b/entries/QWERTY.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ QWERTY -/kwertee/ , adj. [from the keycaps at the upper left] Pertaining to a standard English-language typewriter keyboard (sometimes called the Sholes keyboard after its inventor), as opposed to Dvorak or non-US-ASCII layouts or a space-cadet keyboard or APL keyboard. Historical note: The QWERTY layout is a fine example of a fossil. It is sometimes said that it was designed to slow down the typist, but this is wrong; it was designed to allow faster typing under a constraint now long obsolete. In early typewriters, fast typing using nearby type-bars jammed the mechanism. So Sholes fiddled the layout to separate the letters of many common digraphs (he did a far from perfect job, though; th , tr , ed , and er , for example, each use two nearby keys). Also, putting the letters of typewriter on one line allowed it to be typed with particular speed and accuracy for demo s. The jamming problem was essentially solved soon afterward by a suitable use of springs, but the keyboard layout lives on. The QWERTY keyboard has also spawned some unhelpful economic myths about how technical standards get and stay established; see http://www.reasonmag.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.html. +/kwertee/ , adj. [from the keycaps at the upper left] Pertaining to a +standard English-language typewriter keyboard (sometimes called the Sholes +keyboard after its inventor), as opposed to Dvorak or non-US-ASCII layouts +or a space-cadet keyboard or APL keyboard. Historical note: The QWERTY +layout is a fine example of a fossil. It is sometimes said that it was +designed to slow down the typist, but this is wrong; it was designed to +allow faster typing under a constraint now long obsolete. In early +typewriters, fast typing using nearby type-bars jammed the mechanism. So +Sholes fiddled the layout to separate the letters of many common digraphs +(he did a far from perfect job, though; th , tr , ed , and er , for example, +each use two nearby keys). Also, putting the letters of typewriter on one +line allowed it to be typed with particular speed and accuracy for demo s. +The jamming problem was essentially solved soon afterward by a suitable use +of springs, but the keyboard layout lives on. The QWERTY keyboard has also +spawned some unhelpful economic myths about how technical standards get and +stay established; see http://www.reasonmag.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.html. + diff --git a/entries/Quirk objection.txt b/entries/Quirk objection.txt index f5cde15..3c4e5ef 100644 --- a/entries/Quirk objection.txt +++ b/entries/Quirk objection.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Quirk objection -interj. [Named for Captain Gym Z. Quirk, the first to raise it.] Objection! Assumes organ not in evidence! Used in news.admin.net-abuse.email to point out that a comment assumes the presence of something whose existence has not been proven, such as a spammer's brain or gonads. This is not used to refer to things that are definitely proven not to exist, such as a spammer's ethics. It's applicable to enough postings there that a poster wishing to raise the objection often need merely say ObQuirk! , an instance of the Ob- convention. +interj. [Named for Captain Gym Z. Quirk, the first to raise it.] Objection! +Assumes organ not in evidence! Used in news.admin.net-abuse.email to point +out that a comment assumes the presence of something whose existence has not +been proven, such as a spammer's brain or gonads. This is not used to refer +to things that are definitely proven not to exist, such as a spammer's +ethics. It's applicable to enough postings there that a poster wishing to +raise the objection often need merely say ObQuirk! , an instance of the Ob- +convention. + diff --git a/entries/RBL.txt b/entries/RBL.txt index fc4892a..d9a1c26 100644 --- a/entries/RBL.txt +++ b/entries/RBL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ RBL -/RBL/ Abbreviation: Realtime Blackhole List. A service that allows people to blacklist sites for emitting spam , and makes the blacklist available in real time to electronic-mail transport programs that know how to use RBL so they can filter out mail from those sites. Drastic (and controversial) but effective. There is an RBL home page. +/RBL/ Abbreviation: Realtime Blackhole List. A service that allows people to +blacklist sites for emitting spam , and makes the blacklist available in +real time to electronic-mail transport programs that know how to use RBL so +they can filter out mail from those sites. Drastic (and controversial) but +effective. There is an RBL home page. + diff --git a/entries/RE.txt b/entries/RE.txt index 78a94c0..88556bb 100644 --- a/entries/RE.txt +++ b/entries/RE.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ RE /RE/ , n. Common spoken and written shorthand for regexp. + diff --git a/entries/README file.txt b/entries/README file.txt index b32db0f..451071c 100644 --- a/entries/README file.txt +++ b/entries/README file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ README file -n. Hacker's-eye introduction traditionally included in the top-level directory of a Unix source distribution, containing a pointer to more detailed documentation, credits, miscellaneous revision history, notes, etc. In the Mac and PC worlds, software is not usually distributed in source form, and the README is more likely to contain user-oriented material like last-minute documentation changes, error workarounds, and restrictions. When asked, hackers invariably relate the README convention to the famous scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland in which Alice confronts magic munchies labeled Eat Me and Drink Me. The file may be named README, or READ.ME, or rarely ReadMe or readme.txt or some other variant. The all-upper-case spellings, however, are universal among Unix programmers. By ancient tradition, real source files have all-lowercase names and all-uppercase is reserved for metadata, comments, and grafitti. This is functional; because 'A' sorts before 'a' in ASCII, the README will appear in directory listings before any source file. +n. Hacker's-eye introduction traditionally included in the top-level +directory of a Unix source distribution, containing a pointer to more +detailed documentation, credits, miscellaneous revision history, notes, etc. +In the Mac and PC worlds, software is not usually distributed in source +form, and the README is more likely to contain user-oriented material like +last-minute documentation changes, error workarounds, and restrictions. When +asked, hackers invariably relate the README convention to the famous scene +in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland in which Alice confronts +magic munchies labeled Eat Me and Drink Me. The file may be named README, or +READ.ME, or rarely ReadMe or readme.txt or some other variant. The +all-upper-case spellings, however, are universal among Unix programmers. By +ancient tradition, real source files have all-lowercase names and +all-uppercase is reserved for metadata, comments, and grafitti. This is +functional; because 'A' sorts before 'a' in ASCII, the README will appear in +directory listings before any source file. + diff --git a/entries/RETI.txt b/entries/RETI.txt index 4164693..d403d29 100644 --- a/entries/RETI.txt +++ b/entries/RETI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ RETI v. Syn. + diff --git a/entries/RFC.txt b/entries/RFC.txt index 3cf83a7..3c88d9b 100644 --- a/entries/RFC.txt +++ b/entries/RFC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,29 @@ RFC -/RFC/ , n. [Request For Comment] One of a long-established series of numbered Internet informational documents and standards widely followed by commercial software and freeware in the Internet and Unix communities. Perhaps the single most influential one has been RFC-822 (the Internet mail-format standard). The RFCs are unusual in that they are floated by technical experts acting on their own initiative and reviewed by the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated through an institution such as ANSI. For this reason, they remain known as RFCs even once adopted as standards. The RFC tradition of pragmatic, experience-driven, after-the-fact standard writing done by individuals or small working groups has important advantages over the more formal, committee-driven process typical of ANSI or ISO. Emblematic of some of these advantages is the existence of a flourishing tradition of joke RFCs; usually at least one a year is published, usually on April 1st. Well-known joke RFCs have included 527 ( ARPAWOCKY , R. Merryman, UCSD; 22 June 1973), 748 ( Telnet Randomly-Lose Option , Mark R. Crispin; 1 April 1978), and 1149 ( A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers , D. Waitzman, BBN STC; 1 April 1990). The first was a Lewis Carroll pastiche; the second a parody of the TCP-IP documentation style, and the third a deadpan skewering of standards-document legalese, describing protocols for transmitting Internet data packets by carrier pigeon (since actually implemented; see Appendix A). See also Infinite-Monkey Theorem. The RFCs are most remarkable for how well they work they frequently manage to have neither the ambiguities that are usually rife in informal specifications, nor the committee-perpetrated misfeatures that often haunt formal standards, and they define a network that has grown to truly worldwide proportions. +/RFC/ , n. [Request For Comment] One of a long-established series of +numbered Internet informational documents and standards widely followed by +commercial software and freeware in the Internet and Unix communities. +Perhaps the single most influential one has been RFC-822 (the Internet +mail-format standard). The RFCs are unusual in that they are floated by +technical experts acting on their own initiative and reviewed by the +Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated through an institution +such as ANSI. For this reason, they remain known as RFCs even once adopted +as standards. The RFC tradition of pragmatic, experience-driven, +after-the-fact standard writing done by individuals or small working groups +has important advantages over the more formal, committee-driven process +typical of ANSI or ISO. Emblematic of some of these advantages is the +existence of a flourishing tradition of joke RFCs; usually at least one a +year is published, usually on April 1st. Well-known joke RFCs have included +527 ( ARPAWOCKY , R. Merryman, UCSD; 22 June 1973), 748 ( Telnet +Randomly-Lose Option , Mark R. Crispin; 1 April 1978), and 1149 ( A Standard +for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers , D. Waitzman, BBN +STC; 1 April 1990). The first was a Lewis Carroll pastiche; the second a +parody of the TCP-IP documentation style, and the third a deadpan skewering +of standards-document legalese, describing protocols for transmitting +Internet data packets by carrier pigeon (since actually implemented; see +Appendix A). See also Infinite-Monkey Theorem. The RFCs are most remarkable +for how well they work they frequently manage to have neither the +ambiguities that are usually rife in informal specifications, nor the +committee-perpetrated misfeatures that often haunt formal standards, and +they define a network that has grown to truly worldwide proportions. + diff --git a/entries/RFE.txt b/entries/RFE.txt index 4486770..caaa88e 100644 --- a/entries/RFE.txt +++ b/entries/RFE.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ RFE -/RFE/ , n. 1. [techspeak] Request For Enhancement (compare RFC ). 2. [from Radio Free Europe , Bellcore and Sun] Radio Free Ethernet, a system (originated by Peter Langston) for broadcasting audio among Sun SPARCstations over the ethernet. +/RFE/ , n. 1. [techspeak] Request For Enhancement (compare RFC ). 2. [from +Radio Free Europe , Bellcore and Sun] Radio Free Ethernet, a system +(originated by Peter Langston) for broadcasting audio among Sun +SPARCstations over the ethernet. + diff --git a/entries/RL.txt b/entries/RL.txt index 1adc478..9d29ad5 100644 --- a/entries/RL.txt +++ b/entries/RL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ RL -// , n. [MUD community] Real Life. Firiss laughs in RL means that Firiss's player is laughing. Compare meatspace ; oppose VR. +// , n. [MUD community] Real Life. Firiss laughs in RL means that Firiss's +player is laughing. Compare meatspace ; oppose VR. + diff --git a/entries/RSN.txt b/entries/RSN.txt index eb7f301..8489351 100644 --- a/entries/RSN.txt +++ b/entries/RSN.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ RSN /RSN/ , adj. See Real Soon Now. + diff --git a/entries/RTBM.txt b/entries/RTBM.txt index 44f2e20..7263bc5 100644 --- a/entries/RTBM.txt +++ b/entries/RTBM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ RTBM -/RTBM/ , imp. [Unix] Commonwealth Hackish variant of RTFM ; expands to Read The Bloody Manual. RTBM is often the entire text of the first reply to a question from a newbie ; the second would escalate to RTFM. +/RTBM/ , imp. [Unix] Commonwealth Hackish variant of RTFM ; expands to Read +The Bloody Manual. RTBM is often the entire text of the first reply to a +question from a newbie ; the second would escalate to RTFM. + diff --git a/entries/RTFAQ.txt b/entries/RTFAQ.txt index 097c7ed..e4bcbeb 100644 --- a/entries/RTFAQ.txt +++ b/entries/RTFAQ.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ RTFAQ -/RTFAQ/ , imp. [Usenet: primarily written, by analogy with RTFM ] Abbrev. for Read the FAQ! , an exhortation that the person addressed ought to read the newsgroup's FAQ list before posting questions. +/RTFAQ/ , imp. [Usenet: primarily written, by analogy with RTFM ] Abbrev. +for Read the FAQ! , an exhortation that the person addressed ought to read +the newsgroup's FAQ list before posting questions. + diff --git a/entries/RTFB.txt b/entries/RTFB.txt index 1dbc8d5..6b83653 100644 --- a/entries/RTFB.txt +++ b/entries/RTFB.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ RTFB -/RTFB/ , imp. [Unix] Abbreviation for Read The Fucking Binary. Used when neither documentation nor source for the problem at hand exists, and the only thing to do is use some debugger or monitor and directly analyze the assembler or even the machine code. No source for the buggy port driver? Aaargh! I hate proprietary operating systems. Time to RTFB. Of the various RTF? forms, RTFB is the least pejorative against anyone asking a question for which RTFB is the answer; the anger here is directed at the absence of both source and adequate documentation. +/RTFB/ , imp. [Unix] Abbreviation for Read The Fucking Binary. Used when +neither documentation nor source for the problem at hand exists, and the +only thing to do is use some debugger or monitor and directly analyze the +assembler or even the machine code. No source for the buggy port driver? +Aaargh! I hate proprietary operating systems. Time to RTFB. Of the various +RTF? forms, RTFB is the least pejorative against anyone asking a question +for which RTFB is the answer; the anger here is directed at the absence of +both source and adequate documentation. + diff --git a/entries/RTFM.txt b/entries/RTFM.txt index 399628d..bbe4032 100644 --- a/entries/RTFM.txt +++ b/entries/RTFM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ RTFM -/RTFM/ , imp. [Unix] Abbreviation for Read The Fucking Manual. 1. Used by guru s to brush off questions they consider trivial or annoying. Compare Don't do that then!. 2. Used when reporting a problem to indicate that you aren't just asking out of randomness. No, I can't figure out how to interface Unix to my toaster, and yes, I have RTFM. Unlike sense 1, this use is considered polite. See also FM , RTFAQ , RTFB , RTFS , STFW , RTM , all of which mutated from RTFM, and compare UTSL. +/RTFM/ , imp. [Unix] Abbreviation for Read The Fucking Manual. 1. Used by +guru s to brush off questions they consider trivial or annoying. Compare +Don't do that then!. 2. Used when reporting a problem to indicate that you +aren't just asking out of randomness. No, I can't figure out how to +interface Unix to my toaster, and yes, I have RTFM. Unlike sense 1, this use +is considered polite. See also FM , RTFAQ , RTFB , RTFS , STFW , RTM , all +of which mutated from RTFM, and compare UTSL. + diff --git a/entries/RTFS.txt b/entries/RTFS.txt index 7ec0c42..5aade27 100644 --- a/entries/RTFS.txt +++ b/entries/RTFS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ RTFS -/RTFS/ [Unix] 1. imp. Abbreviation for Read The Fucking Source. Variant form of RTFM , used when the problem at hand is not necessarily obvious and not answerable from the manuals or the manuals are not yet written and maybe never will be. For even trickier situations, see RTFB. Unlike RTFM, the anger inherent in RTFS is not usually directed at the person asking the question, but rather at the people who failed to provide adequate documentation. 2. imp. Read The Fucking Standard ; this oath can only be used when the problem area (e.g., a language or operating system interface) has actually been codified in a ratified standards document. The existence of these standards documents (and the technically inappropriate but politically mandated compromises that they inevitably contain, and the impenetrable legalese in which they are invariably written, and the unbelievably tedious bureaucratic process by which they are produced) can be unnerving to hackers, who are used to a certain amount of ambiguity in the specifications of the systems they use. (Hackers feel that such ambiguities are acceptable as long as the Right Thing to do is obvious to any thinking observer; sadly, this casual attitude towards specifications becomes unworkable when a system becomes popular in the Real World. ) Since a hacker is likely to feel that a standards document is both unnecessary and technically deficient, the deprecation inherent in this term may be directed as much against the standard as against the person who ought to read it. +/RTFS/ [Unix] 1. imp. Abbreviation for Read The Fucking Source. Variant form +of RTFM , used when the problem at hand is not necessarily obvious and not +answerable from the manuals or the manuals are not yet written and maybe +never will be. For even trickier situations, see RTFB. Unlike RTFM, the +anger inherent in RTFS is not usually directed at the person asking the +question, but rather at the people who failed to provide adequate +documentation. 2. imp. Read The Fucking Standard ; this oath can only be +used when the problem area (e.g., a language or operating system interface) +has actually been codified in a ratified standards document. The existence +of these standards documents (and the technically inappropriate but +politically mandated compromises that they inevitably contain, and the +impenetrable legalese in which they are invariably written, and the +unbelievably tedious bureaucratic process by which they are produced) can be +unnerving to hackers, who are used to a certain amount of ambiguity in the +specifications of the systems they use. (Hackers feel that such ambiguities +are acceptable as long as the Right Thing to do is obvious to any thinking +observer; sadly, this casual attitude towards specifications becomes +unworkable when a system becomes popular in the Real World. ) Since a hacker +is likely to feel that a standards document is both unnecessary and +technically deficient, the deprecation inherent in this term may be directed +as much against the standard as against the person who ought to read it. + diff --git a/entries/RTI.txt b/entries/RTI.txt index 8161ab4..e40477e 100644 --- a/entries/RTI.txt +++ b/entries/RTI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ RTI -/RTI/ , interj. The mnemonic for the return from interrupt instruction on many computers including the 6502 and 6800. The variant RETI is found among Z80 hackers. Equivalent to Now, where was I? or used to end a conversational digression. See pop. +/RTI/ , interj. The mnemonic for the return from interrupt instruction on +many computers including the 6502 and 6800. The variant RETI is found among +Z80 hackers. Equivalent to Now, where was I? or used to end a conversational +digression. See pop. + diff --git a/entries/RTM.txt b/entries/RTM.txt index 3228561..893b835 100644 --- a/entries/RTM.txt +++ b/entries/RTM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ RTM -/RTM/ 1. [Usenet: abbreviation for Read The Manual ] Politer variant of RTFM. 2. Robert Tappan Morris, perpetrator of the great Internet worm of 1988 (see Great Worm ); villain to many, naive hacker gone wrong to a few. Morris claimed that the worm that brought the Internet to its knees was a benign experiment that got out of control as the result of a coding error. After the storm of negative publicity that followed this blunder, Morris's username on ITS was hacked from RTM to RTFM. +/RTM/ 1. [Usenet: abbreviation for Read The Manual ] Politer variant of +RTFM. 2. Robert Tappan Morris, perpetrator of the great Internet worm of +1988 (see Great Worm ); villain to many, naive hacker gone wrong to a few. +Morris claimed that the worm that brought the Internet to its knees was a +benign experiment that got out of control as the result of a coding error. +After the storm of negative publicity that followed this blunder, Morris's +username on ITS was hacked from RTM to RTFM. + diff --git a/entries/RTS.txt b/entries/RTS.txt index 2413666..35e0857 100644 --- a/entries/RTS.txt +++ b/entries/RTS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ RTS -/RTS/ , imp. Abbreviation for Read The Screen. Mainly used by hackers in the microcomputer world. Refers to what one would like to tell the suit one is forced to explain an extremely simple application to. Particularly appropriate when the suit failed to notice the Press any key to continue prompt, and wishes to know why won't it do anything. Also seen as RTFS in especially deserving cases. +/RTS/ , imp. Abbreviation for Read The Screen. Mainly used by hackers in the +microcomputer world. Refers to what one would like to tell the suit one is +forced to explain an extremely simple application to. Particularly +appropriate when the suit failed to notice the Press any key to continue +prompt, and wishes to know why won't it do anything. Also seen as RTFS in +especially deserving cases. + diff --git a/entries/Random Number God.txt b/entries/Random Number God.txt index 2ed4d30..79a598f 100644 --- a/entries/Random Number God.txt +++ b/entries/Random Number God.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Random Number God -The malign force which lurks behind the random number generator in Angband (and by extension elsewhere). A dark god that demands sacrifices and toys with its victims. I just found a really great item; I suppose the RNG is about to punish me... Apparently, Angband's random number generator occasionally gets locked in a repetition, so you get something with a 3% chance happening 8 times in a row. Improbable, but far too common to be pure chance. Compare Shub-Internet. +The malign force which lurks behind the random number generator in Angband +(and by extension elsewhere). A dark god that demands sacrifices and toys +with its victims. I just found a really great item; I suppose the RNG is +about to punish me... Apparently, Angband's random number generator +occasionally gets locked in a repetition, so you get something with a 3% +chance happening 8 times in a row. Improbable, but far too common to be pure +chance. Compare Shub-Internet. + diff --git a/entries/Reading Habits.txt b/entries/Reading Habits.txt index e9b0998..afe0b74 100644 --- a/entries/Reading Habits.txt +++ b/entries/Reading Habits.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Reading Habits -Omnivorous, but usually includes lots of science and science fiction. The typical hacker household might subscribe to Analog , Scientific American , Whole-Earth Review , and Smithsonian (most hackers ignore Wired and other self-consciously cyberpunk magazines, considering them wannabee fodder). Hackers often have a reading range that astonishes liberal arts people but tend not to talk about it as much. Many hackers spend as much of their spare time reading as the average American burns up watching TV, and often keep shelves and shelves of well-thumbed books in their homes. +Omnivorous, but usually includes lots of science and science fiction. The +typical hacker household might subscribe to Analog , Scientific American , +Whole-Earth Review , and Smithsonian (most hackers ignore Wired and other +self-consciously cyberpunk magazines, considering them wannabee fodder). +Hackers often have a reading range that astonishes liberal arts people but +tend not to talk about it as much. Many hackers spend as much of their spare +time reading as the average American burns up watching TV, and often keep +shelves and shelves of well-thumbed books in their homes. + diff --git a/entries/Real Programmer.txt b/entries/Real Programmer.txt index d86c487..bc73430 100644 --- a/entries/Real Programmer.txt +++ b/entries/Real Programmer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,27 @@ Real Programmer -n. [indirectly, from the book Real Men Don't Eat Quiche ] A particular sub-variety of hacker: one possessed of a flippant attitude toward complexity that is arrogant even when justified by experience. The archetypal Real Programmer likes to program on the bare metal and is very good at same, remembers the binary opcodes for every machine he has ever programmed, thinks that HLLs are sissy, and uses a debugger to edit his code because full-screen editors are for wimps. Real Programmers aren't satisfied with code that hasn't been tuned into a state of tense ness just short of rupture. Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation: If it was hard to write , says the Real Programmer, it should be hard to understand. Real Programmers can make machines do things that were never in their spec sheets; in fact, they are seldom really happy unless doing so. A Real Programmer's code can awe with its fiendish brilliance, even as its crockishness appalls. Real Programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other programmers because someday, somebody else might have to try to understand their code in order to change it. Their successors generally consider it a Good Thing that there aren't many Real Programmers around any more. For a famous (and somewhat more positive) portrait of a Real Programmer, see The Story of Mel' in Appendix A. The term itself was popularized by a letter to the editor in the July 1983 Datamation titled Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal by Ed Post, still circulating on Usenet and Internet in on-line form. Typing Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal into a web search engine should turn up a copy. +n. [indirectly, from the book Real Men Don't Eat Quiche ] A particular +sub-variety of hacker: one possessed of a flippant attitude toward +complexity that is arrogant even when justified by experience. The +archetypal Real Programmer likes to program on the bare metal and is very +good at same, remembers the binary opcodes for every machine he has ever +programmed, thinks that HLLs are sissy, and uses a debugger to edit his code +because full-screen editors are for wimps. Real Programmers aren't satisfied +with code that hasn't been tuned into a state of tense ness just short of +rupture. Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation: If it +was hard to write , says the Real Programmer, it should be hard to +understand. Real Programmers can make machines do things that were never in +their spec sheets; in fact, they are seldom really happy unless doing so. A +Real Programmer's code can awe with its fiendish brilliance, even as its +crockishness appalls. Real Programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang +line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other +programmers because someday, somebody else might have to try to understand +their code in order to change it. Their successors generally consider it a +Good Thing that there aren't many Real Programmers around any more. For a +famous (and somewhat more positive) portrait of a Real Programmer, see The +Story of Mel' in Appendix A. The term itself was popularized by a letter to +the editor in the July 1983 Datamation titled Real Programmers Don't Use +Pascal by Ed Post, still circulating on Usenet and Internet in on-line form. +Typing Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal into a web search engine should +turn up a copy. + diff --git a/entries/Real Soon Now.txt b/entries/Real Soon Now.txt index 2907502..e095906 100644 --- a/entries/Real Soon Now.txt +++ b/entries/Real Soon Now.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Real Soon Now -adv. [orig. from SF's fanzine community, popularized by Jerry Pournelle's column in BYTE ] 1. Supposed to be available (or fixed, or cheap, or whatever) real soon now according to somebody, but the speaker is quite skeptical. 2. When one's gods, fates, or other time commitments permit one to get to it (in other words, don't hold your breath). Often abbreviated RSN. Compare copious free time. +adv. [orig. from SF's fanzine community, popularized by Jerry Pournelle's +column in BYTE ] 1. Supposed to be available (or fixed, or cheap, or +whatever) real soon now according to somebody, but the speaker is quite +skeptical. 2. When one's gods, fates, or other time commitments permit one +to get to it (in other words, don't hold your breath). Often abbreviated +RSN. Compare copious free time. + diff --git a/entries/Real World.txt b/entries/Real World.txt index c609b31..0399a31 100644 --- a/entries/Real World.txt +++ b/entries/Real World.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ Real World -n. 1. Those institutions at which programming may be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN , COBOL , RPG , IBM , DBASE , etc. Places where programs do such commercially necessary but intellectually uninspiring things as generating payroll checks and invoices. 2. The location of non-programmers and activities not related to programming. 3. A bizarre dimension in which the standard dress is shirt and tie and in which a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5 (see code grinder ). 4. Anywhere outside a university. Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the Real World. Used pejoratively by those not in residence there. In conversation, talking of someone who has entered the Real World is not unlike speaking of a deceased person. It is also noteworthy that on the campus of Cambridge University in England, there is a gaily-painted lamp-post which bears the label REALITY CHECKPOINT. It marks the boundary between university and the Real World; check your notions of reality before passing. This joke is funnier because the Cambridge campus is actually coextensive with the center of Cambridge town. See also fear and loathing , mundane , and uninteresting. +n. 1. Those institutions at which programming may be used in the same +sentence as FORTRAN , COBOL , RPG , IBM , DBASE , etc. Places where programs +do such commercially necessary but intellectually uninspiring things as +generating payroll checks and invoices. 2. The location of non-programmers +and activities not related to programming. 3. A bizarre dimension in which +the standard dress is shirt and tie and in which a person's working hours +are defined as 9 to 5 (see code grinder ). 4. Anywhere outside a university. +Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the Real World. Used pejoratively +by those not in residence there. In conversation, talking of someone who has +entered the Real World is not unlike speaking of a deceased person. It is +also noteworthy that on the campus of Cambridge University in England, there +is a gaily-painted lamp-post which bears the label REALITY CHECKPOINT. It +marks the boundary between university and the Real World; check your notions +of reality before passing. This joke is funnier because the Cambridge campus +is actually coextensive with the center of Cambridge town. See also fear and +loathing , mundane , and uninteresting. + diff --git a/entries/Religion.txt b/entries/Religion.txt index ac5ba73..597a6bc 100644 --- a/entries/Religion.txt +++ b/entries/Religion.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ Religion -Agnostic. Atheist. Non-observant Jewish. Neo-pagan. Very commonly, three or more of these are combined in the same person. Conventional faith-holding Christianity is rare though not unknown. Even hackers who identify with a religious affiliation tend to be relaxed about it, hostile to organized religion in general and all forms of religious bigotry in particular. Many enjoy parody religions such as Discordianism and the Church of the SubGenius. Also, many hackers are influenced to varying degrees by Zen Buddhism or (less commonly) Taoism, and blend them easily with their native religions. There is a definite strain of mystical, almost Gnostic sensibility that shows up even among those hackers not actively involved with neo-paganism, Discordianism, or Zen. Hacker folklore that pays homage to wizards and speaks of incantations and demons has too much psychological truthfulness about it to be entirely a joke. +Agnostic. Atheist. Non-observant Jewish. Neo-pagan. Very commonly, three or +more of these are combined in the same person. Conventional faith-holding +Christianity is rare though not unknown. Even hackers who identify with a +religious affiliation tend to be relaxed about it, hostile to organized +religion in general and all forms of religious bigotry in particular. Many +enjoy parody religions such as Discordianism and the Church of the +SubGenius. Also, many hackers are influenced to varying degrees by Zen +Buddhism or (less commonly) Taoism, and blend them easily with their native +religions. There is a definite strain of mystical, almost Gnostic +sensibility that shows up even among those hackers not actively involved +with neo-paganism, Discordianism, or Zen. Hacker folklore that pays homage +to wizards and speaks of incantations and demons has too much psychological +truthfulness about it to be entirely a joke. + diff --git a/entries/Right Thing.txt b/entries/Right Thing.txt index 347e554..77ae8f1 100644 --- a/entries/Right Thing.txt +++ b/entries/Right Thing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Right Thing -n. That which is compellingly the correct or appropriate thing to use, do, say, etc. Often capitalized, always emphasized in speech as though capitalized. Use of this term often implies that in fact reasonable people may disagree. What's the right thing for LISP to do when it sees (mod a 0) ? Should it return a , or give a divide-by-0 error? Oppose Wrong Thing. +n. That which is compellingly the correct or appropriate thing to use, do, +say, etc. Often capitalized, always emphasized in speech as though +capitalized. Use of this term often implies that in fact reasonable people +may disagree. What's the right thing for LISP to do when it sees (mod a 0) ? +Should it return a , or give a divide-by-0 error? Oppose Wrong Thing. + diff --git a/entries/S-N ratio.txt b/entries/S-N ratio.txt index 336566c..e7cfda7 100644 --- a/entries/S-N ratio.txt +++ b/entries/S-N ratio.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ S/N ratio -// , n. (also s/n ratio , s:n ratio ). Syn. signal-to-noise ratio. Often abbreviated SNR. +// , n. (also s/n ratio , s:n ratio ). Syn. signal-to-noise ratio. Often +abbreviated SNR. + diff --git a/entries/SAIL.txt b/entries/SAIL.txt index aebbea9..c40dc88 100644 --- a/entries/SAIL.txt +++ b/entries/SAIL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ SAIL -/sayl/ , /SAIL/ , n. 1. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. An important site in the early development of LISP; with the MIT AI Lab, BBN, CMU, XEROX PARC, and the Unix community, one of the major wellsprings of technical innovation and hacker-culture traditions (see the WAITS entry for details). The SAIL machines were shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks after the MIT AI Lab's ITS cluster was officially decommissioned. 2. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language used at SAIL (sense 1). It was an Algol-60 derivative with a coroutining facility and some new data types intended for building search trees and association lists. +/sayl/ , /SAIL/ , n. 1. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. An +important site in the early development of LISP; with the MIT AI Lab, BBN, +CMU, XEROX PARC, and the Unix community, one of the major wellsprings of +technical innovation and hacker-culture traditions (see the WAITS entry for +details). The SAIL machines were shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks +after the MIT AI Lab's ITS cluster was officially decommissioned. 2. The +Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language used at SAIL (sense 1). It was an +Algol-60 derivative with a coroutining facility and some new data types +intended for building search trees and association lists. + diff --git a/entries/SCNR.txt b/entries/SCNR.txt index 69d5088..9c0d8bf 100644 --- a/entries/SCNR.txt +++ b/entries/SCNR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ SCNR -abbrev [common] Sorry, Could Not Resist. Normally used to semi-apologize for an obvious wisecrack. +abbrev [common] Sorry, Could Not Resist. Normally used to semi-apologize for +an obvious wisecrack. + diff --git a/entries/SCSI voodoo.txt b/entries/SCSI voodoo.txt index 9c334b3..a6c4d16 100644 --- a/entries/SCSI voodoo.txt +++ b/entries/SCSI voodoo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ SCSI voodoo -/skuzee voodoo/ [common among Mac users] SCSI interface hardware is notoriously fickle of temperament. Often, the SCSI bus will fail to work unless the cable order of devices is re-arranged, SCSI termination is added or removed (sometimes double-termination or no termination will fix the problem), or particular devices are given particular SCSI IDs. The skills needed to trick the naturally skittish demons of SCSI into working are collectively known as SCSI voodoo. Compare magic , deep magic , heavy wizardry , rain dance , cargo cult programming , wave a dead chicken , voodoo programming. While ordinary mortals frequently experience near-terminal frustration when attempting to configure SCSI device chains, it is said that a true master of this arcane art can (through rituals involving chicken blood, ground rhino horn, hairs of a virgin, eye of newt, etc.) hook up your personal computer with three scanners, a Zip drive, an IDE hard drive, a home weather station, a Smith-Corona typewriter, and the neighbor's garage door. +/skuzee voodoo/ [common among Mac users] SCSI interface hardware is +notoriously fickle of temperament. Often, the SCSI bus will fail to work +unless the cable order of devices is re-arranged, SCSI termination is added +or removed (sometimes double-termination or no termination will fix the +problem), or particular devices are given particular SCSI IDs. The skills +needed to trick the naturally skittish demons of SCSI into working are +collectively known as SCSI voodoo. Compare magic , deep magic , heavy +wizardry , rain dance , cargo cult programming , wave a dead chicken , +voodoo programming. While ordinary mortals frequently experience +near-terminal frustration when attempting to configure SCSI device chains, +it is said that a true master of this arcane art can (through rituals +involving chicken blood, ground rhino horn, hairs of a virgin, eye of newt, +etc.) hook up your personal computer with three scanners, a Zip drive, an +IDE hard drive, a home weather station, a Smith-Corona typewriter, and the +neighbor's garage door. + diff --git a/entries/SCSI.txt b/entries/SCSI.txt index 485cb4f..9b6606d 100644 --- a/entries/SCSI.txt +++ b/entries/SCSI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ SCSI -n. [Small Computer System Interface] A bus-independent standard for system-level interfacing between a computer and intelligent devices. Typically annotated in literature with sexy ( /seksee/ ), sissy ( /sisee/ ), and scuzzy ( /skuhzee/ ) as pronunciation guides the last being the overwhelmingly predominant form, much to the dismay of the designers and their marketing people. One can usually assume that a person who pronounces it /S-C-S-I/ is clueless. +n. [Small Computer System Interface] A bus-independent standard for +system-level interfacing between a computer and intelligent devices. +Typically annotated in literature with sexy ( /seksee/ ), sissy ( /sisee/ ), +and scuzzy ( /skuhzee/ ) as pronunciation guides the last being the +overwhelmingly predominant form, much to the dismay of the designers and +their marketing people. One can usually assume that a person who pronounces +it /S-C-S-I/ is clueless. + diff --git a/entries/SED.txt b/entries/SED.txt index a4a0698..05733ef 100644 --- a/entries/SED.txt +++ b/entries/SED.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ SED -/SED/ , n. [TMRC, from Light-Emitting Diode ] Smoke-emitting diode. A friode that lost the war. See also LER. [Not to be confused with sed (1) , the Unix stream editor. +/SED/ , n. [TMRC, from Light-Emitting Diode ] Smoke-emitting diode. A friode +that lost the war. See also LER. [Not to be confused with sed (1) , the Unix +stream editor. + diff --git a/entries/SEX.txt b/entries/SEX.txt index 952cfca..88ae32a 100644 --- a/entries/SEX.txt +++ b/entries/SEX.txt @@ -1,3 +1,29 @@ SEX -/seks/ [Sun Users' Group elsewhere] n. 1. Software EXchange. A technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow up until then. Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and others (of course, these are no longer limited to exchanges of genetic software). In general, SEX parties are a Good Thing , but unprotected SEX can propagate a virus. See also pubic directory. 2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, a machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many other architectures. The RCA 1802 chip used in the early Elf and SuperElf personal computers had a SEt X register SEX instruction, but this seems to have had little folkloric impact. The Data General instruction set also had SEX. DEC 's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used the SEX mnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once) marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change. That wasn't the last time this happened, either. The author of The Intel 8086 Primer , who was one of the original designers of the 8086, noted that there was originally a SEX instruction on that processor, too. He says that Intel management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the instruction was renamed CBW and CWD (depending on what was being extended). Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straight SEX but has logical-or and logical-and instructions ORL and ANL. The Motorola 6809, used in the Radio Shack Color Computer and in U.K.'s Dragon 32 personal computer, actually had an official SEX instruction; the 6502 in the Apple II with which it competed did not. British hackers thought this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was commonly observed, you could (on some theoretical level) have sex with a dragon, but you can't have sex with an apple. +/seks/ [Sun Users' Group elsewhere] n. 1. Software EXchange. A technique +invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of years ago to speed +up their evolution, which had been terribly slow up until then. Today, SEX +parties are popular among hackers and others (of course, these are no longer +limited to exchanges of genetic software). In general, SEX parties are a +Good Thing , but unprotected SEX can propagate a virus. See also pubic +directory. 2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, a +machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many other architectures. The +RCA 1802 chip used in the early Elf and SuperElf personal computers had a +SEt X register SEX instruction, but this seems to have had little folkloric +impact. The Data General instruction set also had SEX. DEC 's engineers +nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used the SEX mnemonic out the door at one +time, but (for once) marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change. That +wasn't the last time this happened, either. The author of The Intel 8086 +Primer , who was one of the original designers of the 8086, noted that there +was originally a SEX instruction on that processor, too. He says that Intel +management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the +instruction was renamed CBW and CWD (depending on what was being extended). +Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in IBM PC keyboards) is +also missing straight SEX but has logical-or and logical-and instructions +ORL and ANL. The Motorola 6809, used in the Radio Shack Color Computer and +in U.K.'s Dragon 32 personal computer, actually had an official SEX +instruction; the 6502 in the Apple II with which it competed did not. +British hackers thought this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was +commonly observed, you could (on some theoretical level) have sex with a +dragon, but you can't have sex with an apple. + diff --git a/entries/SIG.txt b/entries/SIG.txt index 2aa2ae9..0e6b8f6 100644 --- a/entries/SIG.txt +++ b/entries/SIG.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ SIG -/sig/ , n. (also common as a prefix in combining forms) A Special Interest Group, in one of several technical areas, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery; well-known ones include SIGPLAN (the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages), SIGARCH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Architecture) and SIGGRAPH (the Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics). Hackers, not surprisingly, like to overextend this naming convention to less formal associations like SIGBEER (at ACM conferences) and SIGFOOD (at University of Illinois). +/sig/ , n. (also common as a prefix in combining forms) A Special Interest +Group, in one of several technical areas, sponsored by the Association for +Computing Machinery; well-known ones include SIGPLAN (the Special Interest +Group on Programming Languages), SIGARCH (the Special Interest Group for +Computer Architecture) and SIGGRAPH (the Special Interest Group for Computer +Graphics). Hackers, not surprisingly, like to overextend this naming +convention to less formal associations like SIGBEER (at ACM conferences) and +SIGFOOD (at University of Illinois). + diff --git a/entries/SMOP.txt b/entries/SMOP.txt index e116e39..1b5de70 100644 --- a/entries/SMOP.txt +++ b/entries/SMOP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ SMOP -/SMOP/ , n. [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming] 1. A piece of code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly greater than its complexity. Used to refer to a program that could obviously be written, but is not worth the trouble. Also used ironically to imply that a difficult problem can be easily solved because a program can be written to do it; the irony is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be a great deal of work. It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN compiler to compile COBOL as well; it's just a SMOP. 2. Often used ironically by the intended victim when a suggestion for a program is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is obviously (to the victim) a lot of work. Compare minor detail. +/SMOP/ , n. [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming] 1. A piece of code, +not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly greater than its +complexity. Used to refer to a program that could obviously be written, but +is not worth the trouble. Also used ironically to imply that a difficult +problem can be easily solved because a program can be written to do it; the +irony is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be a great +deal of work. It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN compiler to compile COBOL as +well; it's just a SMOP. 2. Often used ironically by the intended victim when +a suggestion for a program is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is +obviously (to the victim) a lot of work. Compare minor detail. + diff --git a/entries/SNAFU principle.txt b/entries/SNAFU principle.txt index 6ff8467..abdfe0d 100644 --- a/entries/SNAFU principle.txt +++ b/entries/SNAFU principle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ SNAFU principle -/snafoo prinsipl/ , n. [from a WWII Army acronym for Situation Normal, All Fucked Up ] True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth.: a central tenet of Discordianism , often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon perfectly: Inthebeginningwastheplan, andthenthespecification; Andtheplanwaswithoutform, andthespecificationwasvoid. Anddarkness wasonthefacesoftheimplementorsthereof; Andtheyspakeuntotheirleader, saying: Itisacrockofshit, andsmellsasofasewer. Andtheleadertookpityonthem, andspoketotheprojectleader: Itisacrockofexcrement, andnonemayabidetheodorthereof. Andtheprojectleader spakeuntohissectionhead,saying: Itisacontainerofexcrement, anditisverystrong,suchthatnonemayabideit. Thesectionheadthenhurriedtohisdepartmentmanager, andinformedhimthus: Itisavesseloffertilizer, andnonemayabideitsstrength. Thedepartmentmanagercarriedthesewords tohisgeneralmanager, andspokeuntohim saying: Itcontaineththatwhichaideththegrowthofplants, anditisverystrong. Andsoitwasthatthegeneralmanagerrejoiced anddeliveredthegoodnewsuntotheVicePresident. Itpromotethgrowth, anditisverypowerful. TheVicePresidentrushedtothePresident'sside, andjoyouslyexclaimed: Thispowerfulnewsoftwareproduct willpromotethegrowthofthecompany! AndthePresidentlookedupontheproduct, andsawthatitwasverygood. After the subsequent and inevitable disaster, the suit s protect themselves by saying I was misinformed! , and the implementors are demoted or fired. Compare Conway's Law. +/snafoo prinsipl/ , n. [from a WWII Army acronym for Situation Normal, All +Fucked Up ] True communication is possible only between equals, because +inferiors are more consistently rewarded for telling their superiors +pleasant lies than for telling the truth.: a central tenet of Discordianism +, often invoked by hackers to explain why authoritarian hierarchies screw up +so reliably and systematically. The effect of the SNAFU principle is a +progressive disconnection of decision-makers from reality. This lightly +adapted version of a fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the +phenomenon perfectly: Inthebeginningwastheplan, andthenthespecification; +Andtheplanwaswithoutform, andthespecificationwasvoid. Anddarkness +wasonthefacesoftheimplementorsthereof; Andtheyspakeuntotheirleader, saying: +Itisacrockofshit, andsmellsasofasewer. Andtheleadertookpityonthem, +andspoketotheprojectleader: Itisacrockofexcrement, +andnonemayabidetheodorthereof. Andtheprojectleader +spakeuntohissectionhead,saying: Itisacontainerofexcrement, +anditisverystrong,suchthatnonemayabideit. +Thesectionheadthenhurriedtohisdepartmentmanager, andinformedhimthus: +Itisavesseloffertilizer, andnonemayabideitsstrength. +Thedepartmentmanagercarriedthesewords tohisgeneralmanager, andspokeuntohim +saying: Itcontaineththatwhichaideththegrowthofplants, anditisverystrong. +Andsoitwasthatthegeneralmanagerrejoiced +anddeliveredthegoodnewsuntotheVicePresident. Itpromotethgrowth, +anditisverypowerful. TheVicePresidentrushedtothePresident'sside, +andjoyouslyexclaimed: Thispowerfulnewsoftwareproduct +willpromotethegrowthofthecompany! AndthePresidentlookedupontheproduct, +andsawthatitwasverygood. After the subsequent and inevitable disaster, the +suit s protect themselves by saying I was misinformed! , and the +implementors are demoted or fired. Compare Conway's Law. + diff --git a/entries/SO.txt b/entries/SO.txt index a065b7d..aceae65 100644 --- a/entries/SO.txt +++ b/entries/SO.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ SO -/SO/ , n. 1. (also S.O. ) Abbrev. for Significant Other, almost invariably written abbreviated and pronounced /SO/ by hackers. Used to refer to one's primary relationship, esp. a live-in to whom one is not married. See MOTAS , MOTOS , MOTSS. 2. [techspeak] The Shift Out control character in ASCII (Control-N, 0001110). +/SO/ , n. 1. (also S.O. ) Abbrev. for Significant Other, almost invariably +written abbreviated and pronounced /SO/ by hackers. Used to refer to one's +primary relationship, esp. a live-in to whom one is not married. See MOTAS , +MOTOS , MOTSS. 2. [techspeak] The Shift Out control character in ASCII +(Control-N, 0001110). + diff --git a/entries/SPACEWAR.txt b/entries/SPACEWAR.txt index af3e0f7..079e525 100644 --- a/entries/SPACEWAR.txt +++ b/entries/SPACEWAR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ SPACEWAR -n. A space-combat simulation game, inspired by E. E. Doc Smith's Lensman books, in which two spaceships duel around a central sun, shooting torpedoes at each other and jumping through hyperspace. This game was first implemented on the PDP-1 at MIT in 1962. In 1968-69, a descendant of the game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare time on a scavenged PDP-7, the operating system that became Unix. Less than nine years after that, SPACEWAR was commercialized as one of the first video games; descendants are still feep ing in video arcades everywhere. +n. A space-combat simulation game, inspired by E. E. Doc Smith's Lensman +books, in which two spaceships duel around a central sun, shooting torpedoes +at each other and jumping through hyperspace. This game was first +implemented on the PDP-1 at MIT in 1962. In 1968-69, a descendant of the +game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare time on a scavenged +PDP-7, the operating system that became Unix. Less than nine years after +that, SPACEWAR was commercialized as one of the first video games; +descendants are still feep ing in video arcades everywhere. + diff --git a/entries/STFW.txt b/entries/STFW.txt index 87c480b..cb76377 100644 --- a/entries/STFW.txt +++ b/entries/STFW.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ STFW -imp. , /STFW/ [Usenet] Common abbreviation for Search The Fucking Web , a suggestion that what you're asking for is a query better handled by a search engine than a human being. Usage is common and exactly parallel to both senses of RTFM. A politer equivalent is GIYF. +imp. , /STFW/ [Usenet] Common abbreviation for Search The Fucking Web , a +suggestion that what you're asking for is a query better handled by a search +engine than a human being. Usage is common and exactly parallel to both +senses of RTFM. A politer equivalent is GIYF. + diff --git a/entries/STR.txt b/entries/STR.txt index e984264..378b825 100644 --- a/entries/STR.txt +++ b/entries/STR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ STR -Spot the reference. Used in scary devil monastery to mark the witticism one just uttered as a quote from some work of art or literature, the more obscure the better. Those who know where the reference comes from reply in the form You are $CHARACTER, and you owe me $ITEM , where $CHARACTER is a character from the story being referenced and $ITEM is something associated with that character. This acronym is never actually expanded to its proper meaning in the newsgroup; posters instead use obscure expansions, the most common being slurp the robot , leading to comments like I pulled my hair out, but couldn't figure out which robot you're slurping. +Spot the reference. Used in scary devil monastery to mark the witticism one +just uttered as a quote from some work of art or literature, the more +obscure the better. Those who know where the reference comes from reply in +the form You are $CHARACTER, and you owe me $ITEM , where $CHARACTER is a +character from the story being referenced and $ITEM is something associated +with that character. This acronym is never actually expanded to its proper +meaning in the newsgroup; posters instead use obscure expansions, the most +common being slurp the robot , leading to comments like I pulled my hair +out, but couldn't figure out which robot you're slurping. + diff --git a/entries/Saturday-night special.txt b/entries/Saturday-night special.txt index 3278c91..986a3f0 100644 --- a/entries/Saturday-night special.txt +++ b/entries/Saturday-night special.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Saturday-night special -n. [from police slang for a cheap handgun] A quick-and-dirty 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 sneak into a production release after insufficient review. +n. [from police slang for a cheap handgun] A quick-and-dirty 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 sneak into a production release after insufficient review. + diff --git a/entries/See figure 1.txt b/entries/See figure 1.txt index c4aa6d4..561f2af 100644 --- a/entries/See figure 1.txt +++ b/entries/See figure 1.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ See figure 1 -Metaphorically, Get stuffed. From the title of a famous parody that can easily be found with a web search on this phrase; figure 1, in fact, depicts the digitus impudicus. +Metaphorically, Get stuffed. From the title of a famous parody that can +easily be found with a web search on this phrase; figure 1, in fact, depicts +the digitus impudicus. + diff --git a/entries/September that never ended.txt b/entries/September that never ended.txt index 86bfa72..2ab9429 100644 --- a/entries/September that never ended.txt +++ b/entries/September that never ended.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ September that never ended -All time since September 1993. One of the seasonal rhythms of the Usenet used to be the annual September influx of clueless newbies who, lacking any sense of netiquette , made a general nuisance of themselves. This coincided with people starting college, getting their first internet accounts, and plunging in without bothering to learn what was acceptable. These relatively small drafts of newbies could be assimilated within a few months. But in September 1993, AOL users became able to post to Usenet, nearly overwhelming the old-timers' capacity to acculturate them; to those who nostalgically recall the period before, this triggered an inexorable decline in the quality of discussions on newsgroups. Syn. eternal September. See also AOL!. +All time since September 1993. One of the seasonal rhythms of the Usenet +used to be the annual September influx of clueless newbies who, lacking any +sense of netiquette , made a general nuisance of themselves. This coincided +with people starting college, getting their first internet accounts, and +plunging in without bothering to learn what was acceptable. These relatively +small drafts of newbies could be assimilated within a few months. But in +September 1993, AOL users became able to post to Usenet, nearly overwhelming +the old-timers' capacity to acculturate them; to those who nostalgically +recall the period before, this triggered an inexorable decline in the +quality of discussions on newsgroups. Syn. eternal September. See also AOL!. + diff --git a/entries/Sexual Habits.txt b/entries/Sexual Habits.txt index 79d09f1..5783898 100644 --- a/entries/Sexual Habits.txt +++ b/entries/Sexual Habits.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Sexual Habits -Hackerdom easily tolerates a much wider range of sexual and lifestyle variation than the mainstream culture. It includes a relatively large gay and bisexual contingent. Hackers are somewhat more likely to live in polygynous or polyandrous relationships, practice open marriage, or live in communes or group houses. In this, as in general appearance, hackerdom semi-consciously maintains counterculture values. +Hackerdom easily tolerates a much wider range of sexual and lifestyle +variation than the mainstream culture. It includes a relatively large gay +and bisexual contingent. Hackers are somewhat more likely to live in +polygynous or polyandrous relationships, practice open marriage, or live in +communes or group houses. In this, as in general appearance, hackerdom +semi-consciously maintains counterculture values. + diff --git a/entries/Share and enjoy!.txt b/entries/Share and enjoy!.txt index a4ac905..95f23da 100644 --- a/entries/Share and enjoy!.txt +++ b/entries/Share and enjoy!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Share and enjoy! -imp. 1. Commonly found at the end of software release announcements and README file s, this phrase indicates allegiance to the hacker ethic of free information sharing (see hacker ethic , sense 1). 2. The motto of the complaints division of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation (the ultimate gaggle of incompetent suit s) in Douglas Adams's Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The irony of using this as a cultural recognition signal appeals to hackers. +imp. 1. Commonly found at the end of software release announcements and +README file s, this phrase indicates allegiance to the hacker ethic of free +information sharing (see hacker ethic , sense 1). 2. The motto of the +complaints division of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation (the ultimate gaggle +of incompetent suit s) in Douglas Adams's Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. +The irony of using this as a cultural recognition signal appeals to hackers. + diff --git a/entries/Shub-Internet.txt b/entries/Shub-Internet.txt index 286086d..db0c418 100644 --- a/entries/Shub-Internet.txt +++ b/entries/Shub-Internet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ Shub-Internet -/shuhb int@rnet/ , n. [MUD: from H. P. Lovecraft's evil fictional deity Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat with a Thousand Young] The harsh personification of the Internet: Beast of a Thousand Processes, Eater of Characters, Avatar of Line Noise, and Imp of Call Waiting; the hideous multi-tendriled entity formed of all the manifold connections of the net. A sect of MUDders worships Shub-Internet, sacrificing objects and praying for good connections. To no avail its purpose is malign and evil, and it is the cause of all network slowdown. Often heard as in Freela casts a tac nuke at Shub-Internet for slowing her down. (A forged response often follows along the lines of: Shub-Internet gulps down the tac nuke and burps happily. ) Also cursed by users of the Web, FTP and telnet when the network lags. The dread name of Shub-Internet is seldom spoken aloud, as it is said that repeating it three times will cause the being to wake, deep within its lair beneath the Pentagon. Compare Random Number God. [January 1996: It develops that one of the computer administrators in the basement of the Pentagon read this entry and fell over laughing. As a result, you too can now poke Shub-Internet by ping ing shub-internet.ims.disa.mil. Compare kremvax. ESR] [April 1999: shub-internet.ims.disa.mil is no more, alas. But Shub-Internet lives, and even has a home page. +/shuhb int@rnet/ , n. [MUD: from H. P. Lovecraft's evil fictional deity +Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat with a Thousand Young] The harsh +personification of the Internet: Beast of a Thousand Processes, Eater of +Characters, Avatar of Line Noise, and Imp of Call Waiting; the hideous +multi-tendriled entity formed of all the manifold connections of the net. A +sect of MUDders worships Shub-Internet, sacrificing objects and praying for +good connections. To no avail its purpose is malign and evil, and it is the +cause of all network slowdown. Often heard as in Freela casts a tac nuke at +Shub-Internet for slowing her down. (A forged response often follows along +the lines of: Shub-Internet gulps down the tac nuke and burps happily. ) +Also cursed by users of the Web, FTP and telnet when the network lags. The +dread name of Shub-Internet is seldom spoken aloud, as it is said that +repeating it three times will cause the being to wake, deep within its lair +beneath the Pentagon. Compare Random Number God. [January 1996: It develops +that one of the computer administrators in the basement of the Pentagon read +this entry and fell over laughing. As a result, you too can now poke +Shub-Internet by ping ing shub-internet.ims.disa.mil. Compare kremvax. ESR] +[April 1999: shub-internet.ims.disa.mil is no more, alas. But Shub-Internet +lives, and even has a home page. + diff --git a/entries/Slowlaris.txt b/entries/Slowlaris.txt index 76d7937..c444d1a 100644 --- a/entries/Slowlaris.txt +++ b/entries/Slowlaris.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Slowlaris -/slo'lahris/ , n. [Usenet; poss. from the variety of prosimian called a slow loris. The variant Slowlartus is also common, related to LART ] Common hackish term for Solaris, Sun's System VR4 version of Unix that came out of the standardization wars of the early 1990s. So named because especially on older hardware, responsiveness was much less crisp than under the preceding SunOS. Early releases of Solaris (that is, Solaris 2, as some marketroid s at Sun retroactively rechristened SunOS as Solaris 1) were quite buggy, and Sun was forced by customer demand to support SunOS for quite some time. Newer versions are acknowledged to be among the best commercial Unix variants in 1998, but still lose single-processor benchmarks to Sparc Linux. Compare HP-SUX , sun-stools. +/slo'lahris/ , n. [Usenet; poss. from the variety of prosimian called a slow +loris. The variant Slowlartus is also common, related to LART ] Common +hackish term for Solaris, Sun's System VR4 version of Unix that came out of +the standardization wars of the early 1990s. So named because especially on +older hardware, responsiveness was much less crisp than under the preceding +SunOS. Early releases of Solaris (that is, Solaris 2, as some marketroid s +at Sun retroactively rechristened SunOS as Solaris 1) were quite buggy, and +Sun was forced by customer demand to support SunOS for quite some time. +Newer versions are acknowledged to be among the best commercial Unix +variants in 1998, but still lose single-processor benchmarks to Sparc Linux. +Compare HP-SUX , sun-stools. + diff --git a/entries/Some AI Koans.txt b/entries/Some AI Koans.txt index 674ba92..80fb2ae 100644 --- a/entries/Some AI Koans.txt +++ b/entries/Some AI Koans.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ Some AI Koans -Sussman attains enlightenment In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6. What are you doing? , asked Minsky. I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe Sussman replied. Why is the net wired randomly? , asked Minsky. I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play , Sussman said. Minsky then shut his eyes. Why do you close your eyes? , Sussman asked his teacher. So that the room will be empty. At that moment, Sussman was enlightened. Drescher and the toaster A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was eating his morning meal. I would like to give you this personality test , said the outsider, because I want you to be happy. Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into the toaster, saying: I wish the toaster to be happy, too. +Sussman attains enlightenment In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky +once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6. What are you doing? , +asked Minsky. I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe +Sussman replied. Why is the net wired randomly? , asked Minsky. I do not +want it to have any preconceptions of how to play , Sussman said. Minsky +then shut his eyes. Why do you close your eyes? , Sussman asked his +teacher. So that the room will be empty. At that moment, Sussman was +enlightened. Drescher and the toaster A disciple of another sect once came +to Drescher as he was eating his morning meal. I would like to give you +this personality test , said the outsider, because I want you to be happy. +Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it into the toaster, +saying: I wish the toaster to be happy, too. + diff --git a/entries/Soundalike Slang.txt b/entries/Soundalike Slang.txt index 90dea94..301e35e 100644 --- a/entries/Soundalike Slang.txt +++ b/entries/Soundalike Slang.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ Soundalike Slang -Hackers will often make rhymes or puns in order to convert an ordinary word or phrase into something more interesting. It is considered particularly flavorful if the phrase is bent so as to include some other jargon word; thus the computer hobbyist magazine Dr. Dobb's Journal is almost always referred to among hackers as Dr. Frob's Journal or simply Dr. Frob's. Terms of this kind that have been in fairly wide use include names for newspapers: Boston Herald Horrid (or Harried) Boston Globe Boston Glob Houston (or San Francisco) Chronicle the Crocknicle (or the Comical) New York Times New York Slime Wall Street Journal Wall Street Urinal However, terms like these are often made up on the spur of the moment. Standard examples include: Data General Dirty Genitals IBM 360 IBM Three-Sickly Government Property Do Not Duplicate (on keys) Government Duplicity Do Not Propagate for historical reasons for hysterical raisins Margaret Jacks Hall (the CS building at Stanford) Marginal Hacks Hall Microsoft Microsloth Internet Explorer Internet Exploiter FrontPage AffrontPage VB.NET VB Nyet Lotus Notes Lotus Bloats Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outhouse Linux Linsux FreeBSD FreeLSD C# C Flat This is not really similar to the Cockney rhyming slang it has been compared to in the past, because Cockney substitutions are opaque whereas hacker punning jargon is intentionally transparent. +Hackers will often make rhymes or puns in order to convert an ordinary word +or phrase into something more interesting. It is considered particularly +flavorful if the phrase is bent so as to include some other jargon word; +thus the computer hobbyist magazine Dr. Dobb's Journal is almost always +referred to among hackers as Dr. Frob's Journal or simply Dr. Frob's. Terms +of this kind that have been in fairly wide use include names for newspapers: +Boston Herald Horrid (or Harried) Boston Globe Boston Glob Houston (or San +Francisco) Chronicle the Crocknicle (or the Comical) New York Times New +York Slime Wall Street Journal Wall Street Urinal However, terms like these +are often made up on the spur of the moment. Standard examples include: Data +General Dirty Genitals IBM 360 IBM Three-Sickly Government Property Do +Not Duplicate (on keys) Government Duplicity Do Not Propagate for +historical reasons for hysterical raisins Margaret Jacks Hall (the CS +building at Stanford) Marginal Hacks Hall Microsoft Microsloth Internet +Explorer Internet Exploiter FrontPage AffrontPage VB.NET VB Nyet Lotus +Notes Lotus Bloats Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outhouse Linux Linsux +FreeBSD FreeLSD C# C Flat This is not really similar to the Cockney +rhyming slang it has been compared to in the past, because Cockney +substitutions are opaque whereas hacker punning jargon is intentionally +transparent. + diff --git a/entries/Spinning Pizza of Death.txt b/entries/Spinning Pizza of Death.txt index a7f8351..560d96b 100644 --- a/entries/Spinning Pizza of Death.txt +++ b/entries/Spinning Pizza of Death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Spinning Pizza of Death -n. [OS X; common] The quartered-circle busy indicator on Mac OS X versions before 10.2, after which it was replaced by a sort of rainbow pinwheel thingy. It was analogous to the Microsoft Windows hourglass, but OS X 10.0's legendary slowness under the Aqua toolkit made this term rather more evocative. See Death, X of. +n. [OS X; common] The quartered-circle busy indicator on Mac OS X versions +before 10.2, after which it was replaced by a sort of rainbow pinwheel +thingy. It was analogous to the Microsoft Windows hourglass, but OS X 10.0's +legendary slowness under the Aqua toolkit made this term rather more +evocative. See Death, X of. + diff --git a/entries/Spoken inarticulations.txt b/entries/Spoken inarticulations.txt index fd0aec6..d367fed 100644 --- a/entries/Spoken inarticulations.txt +++ b/entries/Spoken inarticulations.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Spoken inarticulations -Words such as mumble, sigh, and groan are spoken in places where their referent might more naturally be used. It has been suggested that this usage derives from the impossibility of representing such noises on a comm link or in electronic mail, MUDs, and IRC channels (interestingly, the same sorts of constructions have been showing up with increasing frequency in comic strips). +Words such as mumble, sigh, and groan are spoken in places where their +referent might more naturally be used. It has been suggested that this usage +derives from the impossibility of representing such noises on a comm link or +in electronic mail, MUDs, and IRC channels (interestingly, the same sorts of +constructions have been showing up with increasing frequency in comic +strips). + diff --git a/entries/Stanford Bunny.txt b/entries/Stanford Bunny.txt index 2b2e1c3..b970751 100644 --- a/entries/Stanford Bunny.txt +++ b/entries/Stanford Bunny.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Stanford Bunny -The successor of the Utah Teapot. The model is of a chocolate Easter bunny consisting of about 5000 polygons. It is small by 2002 standards, but is more illustrative than the teapot of of techniques such as surface radiance (e.g. radiosity) and self-reflection. There is a history page. Compare lenna. +The successor of the Utah Teapot. The model is of a chocolate Easter bunny +consisting of about 5000 polygons. It is small by 2002 standards, but is +more illustrative than the teapot of of techniques such as surface radiance +(e.g. radiosity) and self-reflection. There is a history page. Compare +lenna. + diff --git a/entries/Stone Age.txt b/entries/Stone Age.txt index 25824ea..0c3be7b 100644 --- a/entries/Stone Age.txt +++ b/entries/Stone Age.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Stone Age -n.,adj. 1. In computer folklore, an ill-defined period from ENIAC (ca. 1943) to the mid-1950s; the great age of electromechanical dinosaur s. Sometimes used for the entire period up to 1960--61 (see Iron Age ); however, it is funnier and more descriptive to characterize the latter period in terms of a Bronze Age era of transistor-logic, pre-ferrite- core machines with drum or CRT mass storage (as opposed to just mercury delay lines and/or relays). See also Iron Age. How things weren't in the Stone Age. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-07-18. The previous cartoon was 76-03-14:5-8. ) 2. More generally, a pejorative for any crufty, ancient piece of hardware or software technology. Note that this is used even by people who were there for the Stone Age (sense 1). +n.,adj. 1. In computer folklore, an ill-defined period from ENIAC (ca. 1943) +to the mid-1950s; the great age of electromechanical dinosaur s. Sometimes +used for the entire period up to 1960--61 (see Iron Age ); however, it is +funnier and more descriptive to characterize the latter period in terms of a +Bronze Age era of transistor-logic, pre-ferrite- core machines with drum or +CRT mass storage (as opposed to just mercury delay lines and/or relays). See +also Iron Age. How things weren't in the Stone Age. (The next cartoon in the +Crunchly saga is 76-07-18. The previous cartoon was 76-03-14:5-8. ) 2. More +generally, a pejorative for any crufty, ancient piece of hardware or +software technology. Note that this is used even by people who were there +for the Stone Age (sense 1). + diff --git a/entries/Stupids.txt b/entries/Stupids.txt index 57bd14a..b26897b 100644 --- a/entries/Stupids.txt +++ b/entries/Stupids.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Stupids -n. Term used by samurai for the suit s who employ them; succinctly expresses an attitude at least as common, though usually better disguised, among other subcultures of hackers. There may be intended reference here to an SF story originally published in 1952 but much anthologized since, Mark Clifton's Star, Bright. In it, a super-genius child classifies humans into a very few Brights like herself, a huge majority of Stupids , and a minority of Tweens , the merely ordinary geniuses. +n. Term used by samurai for the suit s who employ them; succinctly expresses +an attitude at least as common, though usually better disguised, among other +subcultures of hackers. There may be intended reference here to an SF story +originally published in 1952 but much anthologized since, Mark Clifton's +Star, Bright. In it, a super-genius child classifies humans into a very few +Brights like herself, a huge majority of Stupids , and a minority of Tweens +, the merely ordinary geniuses. + diff --git a/entries/Sturgeon's Law.txt b/entries/Sturgeon's Law.txt index df6e743..e0bf651 100644 --- a/entries/Sturgeon's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Sturgeon's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Sturgeon's Law -prov. Ninety percent of everything is crud. Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud. Sturgeon himself called this Sturgeon's Revelation , and it first appeared in the March 1958 issue of Venture Science Fiction ; he gave Sturgeon's Law as Nothing is always absolutely so. Oddly, when Sturgeon's Revelation is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to crap. Compare Hanlon's Razor , Ninety-Ninety Rule. Though this maxim originated in SF fandom, most hackers recognize it and are all too aware of its truth. +prov. Ninety percent of everything is crud. Derived from a quote by science +fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, Sure, 90% of science +fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud. Sturgeon himself +called this Sturgeon's Revelation , and it first appeared in the March 1958 +issue of Venture Science Fiction ; he gave Sturgeon's Law as Nothing is +always absolutely so. Oddly, when Sturgeon's Revelation is cited, the final +word is almost invariably changed to crap. Compare Hanlon's Razor , +Ninety-Ninety Rule. Though this maxim originated in SF fandom, most hackers +recognize it and are all too aware of its truth. + diff --git a/entries/Sun.txt b/entries/Sun.txt index 1d16397..868a305 100644 --- a/entries/Sun.txt +++ b/entries/Sun.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ Sun -n. Sun Microsystems. Hackers remember that the name was originally an acronym, Stanford University Network. Sun started out around 1980 with some hardware hackers (mainly) from Stanford talking to some software hackers (mainly) from UC Berkeley; Sun's original technology concept married a clever board design based on the Motorola 68000 to BSD Unix. Sun went on to lead the workstation industry through the 1980s, and for years afterwards remained an engineering-driven company and a good place for hackers to work. Though Sun drifted away from its techie origins after 1990 and has since made some strategic moves that disappointed and annoyed many hackers (especially by maintaining proprietary control of Java and rejecting Linux), it's still considered within the family in much the same way DEC was in the 1970s and early 1980s. +n. Sun Microsystems. Hackers remember that the name was originally an +acronym, Stanford University Network. Sun started out around 1980 with some +hardware hackers (mainly) from Stanford talking to some software hackers +(mainly) from UC Berkeley; Sun's original technology concept married a +clever board design based on the Motorola 68000 to BSD Unix. Sun went on to +lead the workstation industry through the 1980s, and for years afterwards +remained an engineering-driven company and a good place for hackers to work. +Though Sun drifted away from its techie origins after 1990 and has since +made some strategic moves that disappointed and annoyed many hackers +(especially by maintaining proprietary control of Java and rejecting Linux), +it's still considered within the family in much the same way DEC was in the +1970s and early 1980s. + diff --git a/entries/Suzie COBOL.txt b/entries/Suzie COBOL.txt index 0e89149..ca84430 100644 --- a/entries/Suzie COBOL.txt +++ b/entries/Suzie COBOL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Suzie COBOL -/soozee kohbol/ 1. [IBM: prob.: from Frank Zappa's Suzy Creamcheese ] n. A coder straight out of training school who knows everything except the value of comments in plain English. Also (fashionable among personkind wishing to avoid accusations of sexism) Sammy Cobol or (in some non-IBM circles) Cobol Charlie. 2. [proposed] Meta-name for any code grinder , analogous to J. Random Hacker. +/soozee kohbol/ 1. [IBM: prob.: from Frank Zappa's Suzy Creamcheese ] n. A +coder straight out of training school who knows everything except the value +of comments in plain English. Also (fashionable among personkind wishing to +avoid accusations of sexism) Sammy Cobol or (in some non-IBM circles) Cobol +Charlie. 2. [proposed] Meta-name for any code grinder , analogous to J. +Random Hacker. + diff --git a/entries/Swiss-Army chainsaw.txt b/entries/Swiss-Army chainsaw.txt index 189281e..2b7d04e 100644 --- a/entries/Swiss-Army chainsaw.txt +++ b/entries/Swiss-Army chainsaw.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Swiss-Army chainsaw -In early Unix days, a well-known technical paper analogized the lexical analyzer generator lex (1) to a Swiss-army knife; this was a comment on the remarkable variety of more general uses discovered for a program originally designed as a special-purpose code generator for writing compilers. Two decades later, well-known hacker Henry Spencer described the Perl scripting language as a Swiss-Army chainsaw , intending to convey his evaluation of the language as exceedingly powerful but ugly and noisy and prone to belch noxious fumes. This had two results: (1) Perl fans adopted the epithet as a badge of pride, and (2) it entered more general usage to describe software that is highly versatile but distressingly inelegant. +In early Unix days, a well-known technical paper analogized the lexical +analyzer generator lex (1) to a Swiss-army knife; this was a comment on the +remarkable variety of more general uses discovered for a program originally +designed as a special-purpose code generator for writing compilers. Two +decades later, well-known hacker Henry Spencer described the Perl scripting +language as a Swiss-Army chainsaw , intending to convey his evaluation of +the language as exceedingly powerful but ugly and noisy and prone to belch +noxious fumes. This had two results: (1) Perl fans adopted the epithet as a +badge of pride, and (2) it entered more general usage to describe software +that is highly versatile but distressingly inelegant. + diff --git a/entries/TAN.txt b/entries/TAN.txt index ba4bf1d..5f9899c 100644 --- a/entries/TAN.txt +++ b/entries/TAN.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ TAN -adj. [Usenet, particularly rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan ] Abbrev. of tangent , as in off on a tangent , and synonym for OT. A number of hacker-humor synonyms are used for TAN in some newsgroups. Instances such as BEIGE, OFF-WHITE, BROWNISH-GRAY, and LIGHT BROWN have been observed. It is generally understood on newsgroups with this convention that any color descriptor is a TAN synonym if (a) used as the first word(s) of the topic of a Usenet post, (b) written in ALL CAPS, and (c) followed immediately by a colon. Usage: OFF-WHITE: 2000 Presidential candidates on an SF newsgroup. +adj. [Usenet, particularly rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan ] Abbrev. of +tangent , as in off on a tangent , and synonym for OT. A number of +hacker-humor synonyms are used for TAN in some newsgroups. Instances such as +BEIGE, OFF-WHITE, BROWNISH-GRAY, and LIGHT BROWN have been observed. It is +generally understood on newsgroups with this convention that any color +descriptor is a TAN synonym if (a) used as the first word(s) of the topic of +a Usenet post, (b) written in ALL CAPS, and (c) followed immediately by a +colon. Usage: OFF-WHITE: 2000 Presidential candidates on an SF newsgroup. + diff --git a/entries/TANSTAAFL.txt b/entries/TANSTAAFL.txt index 949228e..4873b54 100644 --- a/entries/TANSTAAFL.txt +++ b/entries/TANSTAAFL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ TANSTAAFL -/tanstahfl/ [acronym, from Robert Heinlein's classic SF novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. ] There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch , often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly heavyweight technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of software, or at the signal-to-noise ratio of unmoderated Usenet newsgroups. What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database back end to get my address book program to work! Well, TANSTAAFL you know. This phrase owes some of its popularity to the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political libertarians in hackerdom (see Appendix B for discussion). Outside hacker circles the variant TINSTAAFL ( There is No Such Thing... ) is apparently more common, and can be traced back to 1952 in the writings of ethicist Alvin Hansen. TANSTAAFL may well have arisen from it by mutation. +/tanstahfl/ [acronym, from Robert Heinlein's classic SF novel The Moon is a +Harsh Mistress. ] There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch , often invoked +when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly heavyweight +technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of software, or at the +signal-to-noise ratio of unmoderated Usenet newsgroups. What? Don't tell me +I have to implement a database back end to get my address book program to +work! Well, TANSTAAFL you know. This phrase owes some of its popularity to +the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political libertarians in +hackerdom (see Appendix B for discussion). Outside hacker circles the +variant TINSTAAFL ( There is No Such Thing... ) is apparently more common, +and can be traced back to 1952 in the writings of ethicist Alvin Hansen. +TANSTAAFL may well have arisen from it by mutation. + diff --git a/entries/TCB.txt b/entries/TCB.txt index 16c99e8..0fcc478 100644 --- a/entries/TCB.txt +++ b/entries/TCB.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ TCB -/TCB/ , n. [IBM] 1. Trouble Came Back. An intermittent or difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to respond to neglect or shotgun debugging. Compare heisenbug. Not to be confused with: 2. Trusted Computing Base, an official jargon term from the Orange Book. +/TCB/ , n. [IBM] 1. Trouble Came Back. An intermittent or +difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to respond to neglect or +shotgun debugging. Compare heisenbug. Not to be confused with: 2. Trusted +Computing Base, an official jargon term from the Orange Book. + diff --git a/entries/TCP-IP.txt b/entries/TCP-IP.txt index 9ddd3a4..209af10 100644 --- a/entries/TCP-IP.txt +++ b/entries/TCP-IP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ TCP/IP -/TCP IP/ , n. 1. [Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol] The wide-area-networking protocol that makes the Internet work, and the only one most hackers can speak the name of without laughing or retching. Unlike such allegedly standard competitors such as X.25, DECnet, and the ISO 7-layer stack, TCP/IP evolved primarily by actually being used , rather than being handed down from on high by a vendor or a heavily-politicized standards committee. Consequently, it (a) works, (b) actually promotes cheap cross-platform connectivity, and (c) annoys the hell out of corporate and governmental empire-builders everywhere. Hackers value all three of these properties. See creationism. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio] Formerly expanded as The Crap Phil Is Pushing. The reference is to Phil Karn, KA9Q, and the context was an ongoing technical/political war between the majority of sites still running AX.25 and the TCP/IP relays. TCP/IP won. +/TCP IP/ , n. 1. [Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol] The +wide-area-networking protocol that makes the Internet work, and the only one +most hackers can speak the name of without laughing or retching. Unlike such +allegedly standard competitors such as X.25, DECnet, and the ISO 7-layer +stack, TCP/IP evolved primarily by actually being used , rather than being +handed down from on high by a vendor or a heavily-politicized standards +committee. Consequently, it (a) works, (b) actually promotes cheap +cross-platform connectivity, and (c) annoys the hell out of corporate and +governmental empire-builders everywhere. Hackers value all three of these +properties. See creationism. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio] Formerly expanded as +The Crap Phil Is Pushing. The reference is to Phil Karn, KA9Q, and the +context was an ongoing technical/political war between the majority of sites +still running AX.25 and the TCP/IP relays. TCP/IP won. + diff --git a/entries/TECO.txt b/entries/TECO.txt index abe3f0b..68548f0 100644 --- a/entries/TECO.txt +++ b/entries/TECO.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ TECO -/teekoh/ , n.,v. obs. 1. [originally an acronym for [paper] Tape Editor and COrrector ; later, Text Editor and COrrector ] n. A text editor developed at MIT and modified by just about everybody. With all the dialects included, TECO may have been the most prolific editor in use before EMACS , to which it was directly ancestral. Noted for its powerful programming-language-like features and its unspeakably hairy syntax. It is literally the case that every string of characters is a valid TECO program (though probably not a useful one); one common game used to be mentally working out what the TECO commands corresponding to human names did. 2. vt. Originally, to edit using the TECO editor in one of its infinite variations (see below). 3. vt.,obs. To edit even when TECO is not the editor being used! This usage is rare and now primarily historical. As an example of TECO's obscurity, here is a TECO program that takes a list of names such as: Loser,J.Random Quux,TheGreat Dick,Moby sorts them alphabetically according to surname, and then puts the surname last, removing the comma, to produce the following: MobyDick J.RandomLoser TheGreatQuux The program is [1J^P$L$$ J. -Z;.,(S,$-D.)FX1@F^B$K:LI$G1L $$ (where ^B means Control-B (ASCII 0000010) and $ is actually an alt or escape (ASCII 0011011) character). In fact, this very program was used to produce the second, sorted list from the first list. +/teekoh/ , n.,v. obs. 1. [originally an acronym for [paper] Tape Editor and +COrrector ; later, Text Editor and COrrector ] n. A text editor developed at +MIT and modified by just about everybody. With all the dialects included, +TECO may have been the most prolific editor in use before EMACS , to which +it was directly ancestral. Noted for its powerful programming-language-like +features and its unspeakably hairy syntax. It is literally the case that +every string of characters is a valid TECO program (though probably not a +useful one); one common game used to be mentally working out what the TECO +commands corresponding to human names did. 2. vt. Originally, to edit using +the TECO editor in one of its infinite variations (see below). 3. vt.,obs. +To edit even when TECO is not the editor being used! This usage is rare and +now primarily historical. As an example of TECO's obscurity, here is a TECO +program that takes a list of names such as: Loser,J.Random Quux,TheGreat +Dick,Moby sorts them alphabetically according to surname, and then puts the +surname last, removing the comma, to produce the following: MobyDick +J.RandomLoser TheGreatQuux The program is [1J^P$L$$ J. +-Z;.,(S,$-D.)FX1@F^B$K:LI$G1L $$ (where ^B means Control-B (ASCII 0000010) +and $ is actually an alt or escape (ASCII 0011011) character). In fact, this +very program was used to produce the second, sorted list from the first +list. + diff --git a/entries/TINC.txt b/entries/TINC.txt index bb2783a..ae520fe 100644 --- a/entries/TINC.txt +++ b/entries/TINC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ TINC -// [Usenet] Abbreviation: There Is No Cabal. See backbone cabal and NANA , but note that this abbreviation did not enter use until long after the dispersal of the backbone cabal. +// [Usenet] Abbreviation: There Is No Cabal. See backbone cabal and NANA , +but note that this abbreviation did not enter use until long after the +dispersal of the backbone cabal. + diff --git a/entries/TINLC.txt b/entries/TINLC.txt index 91a7cef..5421c63 100644 --- a/entries/TINLC.txt +++ b/entries/TINLC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ TINLC -// Abbreviation: There Is No Lumber Cartel. See Lumber Cartel. TINLC is a takeoff on TINC. +// Abbreviation: There Is No Lumber Cartel. See Lumber Cartel. TINLC is a +takeoff on TINC. + diff --git a/entries/TLA.txt b/entries/TLA.txt index ff87d89..e300145 100644 --- a/entries/TLA.txt +++ b/entries/TLA.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ TLA -/TLA/ , n. [Three-Letter Acronym] 1. Self-describing abbreviation for a species with which computing terminology is infested. 2. Any confusing acronym. Examples include MCA, FTP, SNA, CPU, MMU, SCCS, DMU, FPU, NNTP, TLA. People who like this looser usage argue that not all TLAs have three letters, just as not all four-letter words have four letters. One also hears of ETLA (Extended Three-Letter Acronym, pronounced /ee tee el ay/ ) being used to describe four-letter acronyms; the terms SFLA (Stupid Four-Letter Acronym), LFLA (Longer Four Letter Acronym), and VLFLA (Very Long Five Letter Acronym) have also been reported. See also YABA. The self-effacing phrase TDM TLA (Too Damn Many...) is often used to bemoan the plethora of TLAs in use. In 1989, a random of the journalistic persuasion asked hacker Paul Boutin What do you think will be the biggest problem in computing in the 90s? Paul's straight-faced response: There are only 17,000 three-letter acronyms. (To be exact, there are 26^3 = 17,576. ) There is probably some karmic justice in the fact that Paul Boutin subsequently became a journalist. +/TLA/ , n. [Three-Letter Acronym] 1. Self-describing abbreviation for a +species with which computing terminology is infested. 2. Any confusing +acronym. Examples include MCA, FTP, SNA, CPU, MMU, SCCS, DMU, FPU, NNTP, +TLA. People who like this looser usage argue that not all TLAs have three +letters, just as not all four-letter words have four letters. One also hears +of ETLA (Extended Three-Letter Acronym, pronounced /ee tee el ay/ ) being +used to describe four-letter acronyms; the terms SFLA (Stupid Four-Letter +Acronym), LFLA (Longer Four Letter Acronym), and VLFLA (Very Long Five +Letter Acronym) have also been reported. See also YABA. The self-effacing +phrase TDM TLA (Too Damn Many...) is often used to bemoan the plethora of +TLAs in use. In 1989, a random of the journalistic persuasion asked hacker +Paul Boutin What do you think will be the biggest problem in computing in +the 90s? Paul's straight-faced response: There are only 17,000 three-letter +acronyms. (To be exact, there are 26^3 = 17,576. ) There is probably some +karmic justice in the fact that Paul Boutin subsequently became a +journalist. + diff --git a/entries/TMRC.txt b/entries/TMRC.txt index b88d8ac..153f9d4 100644 --- a/entries/TMRC.txt +++ b/entries/TMRC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,27 @@ TMRC -/tmerk/ , n. The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, one of the wellsprings of hacker culture. The 1959 Dictionary of the TMRC Language compiled by Peter Samson included several terms that became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see esp. foo , mung , and frob ). By 1962, TMRC's legendary layout was already a marvel of complexity and has grown in the years since. All the features described here were still present when the old layout was decommissioned in 1998 just before the demolition of MIT Building 20, and will almost certainly be retained when the old layout is rebuilt (expected in 2003). The control system alone featured about 1200 relays. There were scram switch es located at numerous places around the room that could be thwacked if something undesirable was about to occur, such as a train going full-bore at an obstruction. Another feature of the system was a digital clock on the dispatch board, which was itself something of a wonder in those bygone days before cheap LEDs and seven-segment displays. When someone hit a scram switch the clock stopped and the display was replaced with the word FOO ; at TMRC the scram switches are therefore called foo switches. Steven Levy, in his book Hackers (see the Bibliography in Appendix C), gives a stimulating account of those early years. TMRC's Signals and Power Committee included many of the early PDP-1 hackers and the people who later became the core of the MIT AI Lab staff. Thirty years later that connection is still very much alive, and this lexicon accordingly includes a number of entries from a recent revision of the TMRC dictionary. TMRC has a web page at http://tmrc-www.mit.edu/. The TMRC Dictionary is available there, at http://tmrc-www.mit.edu/dictionary.html. +/tmerk/ , n. The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, one of the wellsprings of +hacker culture. The 1959 Dictionary of the TMRC Language compiled by Peter +Samson included several terms that became basics of the hackish vocabulary +(see esp. foo , mung , and frob ). By 1962, TMRC's legendary layout was +already a marvel of complexity and has grown in the years since. All the +features described here were still present when the old layout was +decommissioned in 1998 just before the demolition of MIT Building 20, and +will almost certainly be retained when the old layout is rebuilt (expected +in 2003). The control system alone featured about 1200 relays. There were +scram switch es located at numerous places around the room that could be +thwacked if something undesirable was about to occur, such as a train going +full-bore at an obstruction. Another feature of the system was a digital +clock on the dispatch board, which was itself something of a wonder in those +bygone days before cheap LEDs and seven-segment displays. When someone hit a +scram switch the clock stopped and the display was replaced with the word +FOO ; at TMRC the scram switches are therefore called foo switches. Steven +Levy, in his book Hackers (see the Bibliography in Appendix C), gives a +stimulating account of those early years. TMRC's Signals and Power Committee +included many of the early PDP-1 hackers and the people who later became the +core of the MIT AI Lab staff. Thirty years later that connection is still +very much alive, and this lexicon accordingly includes a number of entries +from a recent revision of the TMRC dictionary. TMRC has a web page at +http://tmrc-www.mit.edu/. The TMRC Dictionary is available there, at +http://tmrc-www.mit.edu/dictionary.html. + diff --git a/entries/TMRCie.txt b/entries/TMRCie.txt index 151037d..9d4193d 100644 --- a/entries/TMRCie.txt +++ b/entries/TMRCie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ TMRCie /tmerkee/ , n. [MIT] A denizen of TMRC. + diff --git a/entries/TMTOWTDI.txt b/entries/TMTOWTDI.txt index fbdef3b..98fb24d 100644 --- a/entries/TMTOWTDI.txt +++ b/entries/TMTOWTDI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ TMTOWTDI -/timtoh'dee/ , abbrev. There's More Than One Way To Do It. This abbreviation of the official motto of Perl is frequently used on newsgroups and mailing lists related to that language. +/timtoh'dee/ , abbrev. There's More Than One Way To Do It. This abbreviation +of the official motto of Perl is frequently used on newsgroups and mailing +lists related to that language. + diff --git a/entries/TOFU.txt b/entries/TOFU.txt index ceb85b3..88c4f08 100644 --- a/entries/TOFU.txt +++ b/entries/TOFU.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ TOFU Text Over, Fullquote Under; see top-post. + diff --git a/entries/TOPS-10.txt b/entries/TOPS-10.txt index 314cf68..24aa437 100644 --- a/entries/TOPS-10.txt +++ b/entries/TOPS-10.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ TOPS-10 -/topsten/ , n. DEC 's proprietary OS for the fabled PDP-10 machines, long a favorite of hackers but now long extinct. A fountain of hacker folklore; see Appendix A. See also ITS , TOPS-20 , TWENEX , VMS , operating system. TOPS-10 was sometimes called BOTS-10 (from bottoms-ten ) as a comment on the inappropriateness of describing it as the top of anything. +/topsten/ , n. DEC 's proprietary OS for the fabled PDP-10 machines, long a +favorite of hackers but now long extinct. A fountain of hacker folklore; see +Appendix A. See also ITS , TOPS-20 , TWENEX , VMS , operating system. +TOPS-10 was sometimes called BOTS-10 (from bottoms-ten ) as a comment on the +inappropriateness of describing it as the top of anything. + diff --git a/entries/TOPS-20.txt b/entries/TOPS-20.txt index a52a556..0194f4c 100644 --- a/entries/TOPS-20.txt +++ b/entries/TOPS-20.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ TOPS-20 /topstwentee/ , n. See TWENEX. + diff --git a/entries/TOS.txt b/entries/TOS.txt index a530ec5..93fda02 100644 --- a/entries/TOS.txt +++ b/entries/TOS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ TOS -vt. [from the acronym for Terms Of Service playing on the verb toss ] 1. The act of terminating an Internet access account because the owner breached the terms of service (e.g. by spamming). 2. To successfully complain to the ISP for that reason so that they then close the account. +vt. [from the acronym for Terms Of Service playing on the verb toss ] 1. The +act of terminating an Internet access account because the owner breached the +terms of service (e.g. by spamming). 2. To successfully complain to the ISP +for that reason so that they then close the account. + diff --git a/entries/TV Typewriters: A Tale of Hackish Ingenuity.txt b/entries/TV Typewriters: A Tale of Hackish Ingenuity.txt index 1fec526..407575a 100644 --- a/entries/TV Typewriters: A Tale of Hackish Ingenuity.txt +++ b/entries/TV Typewriters: A Tale of Hackish Ingenuity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ TV Typewriters: A Tale of Hackish Ingenuity -[Antihistorical note: On September 23rd, 1992, the L.A. Times ran the following bit in Steve Harvey's Only in L.A.' column: It must have been borrowed from a museum: Solomon Waters of Altadena, a 6-year-old first-grader, came home from his first day of school and excitedly told his mother how he had written on a machine that looks like a computer--but without the TV screen. She asked him if it could have been a typewriter. Yeah! Yeah! he said. That's what it was called. I have since investigated this matter and determined that many of today's teenagers have never seen a slide rule, either.... +[Antihistorical note: On September 23rd, 1992, the L.A. Times ran the +following bit in Steve Harvey's Only in L.A.' column: It must have been +borrowed from a museum: Solomon Waters of Altadena, a 6-year-old +first-grader, came home from his first day of school and excitedly told his +mother how he had written on a machine that looks like a computer--but +without the TV screen. She asked him if it could have been a typewriter. +Yeah! Yeah! he said. That's what it was called. I have since investigated +this matter and determined that many of today's teenagers have never seen a +slide rule, either.... + diff --git a/entries/TWENEX.txt b/entries/TWENEX.txt index 3aef75a..fb2bf16 100644 --- a/entries/TWENEX.txt +++ b/entries/TWENEX.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ TWENEX -/tweneks/ , n. The TOPS-20 operating system by DEC the second proprietary OS for the PDP-10 preferred by most PDP-10 hackers over TOPS-10 (that is, by those who were not ITS or WAITS partisans). TOPS-20 began in 1969 as Bolt, Beranek Newman's TENEX operating system using special paging hardware. By the early 1970s, almost all of the systems on the ARPANET ran TENEX. DEC purchased the rights to TENEX from BBN and began work to make it their own. The first in-house code name for the operating system was VIROS (VIRtual memory Operating System); when customers started asking questions, the name was changed to SNARK so DEC could truthfully deny that there was any project called VIROS. When the name SNARK became known, the name was briefly reversed to become KRANS; this was quickly abandoned when someone objected that krans meant funeral wreath in Swedish (though some Swedish speakers have since said it means simply wreath ; this part of the story may be apocryphal). Ultimately DEC picked TOPS-20 as the name of the operating system, and it was as TOPS-20 that it was marketed. The hacker community, mindful of its origins, quickly dubbed it TWENEX (a contraction of twenty TENEX ), even though by this point very little of the original TENEX code remained (analogously to the differences between AT T V6 Unix and BSD). DEC people cringed when they heard TWENEX , but the term caught on nevertheless (the written abbreviation 20x was also used). TWENEX was successful and very popular; in fact, there was a period in the early 1980s when it commanded as fervent a culture of partisans as Unix or ITS but DEC's decision to scrap all the internal rivals to the VAX architecture and its relatively stodgy VMS OS killed the DEC-20 and put a sad end to TWENEX's brief day in the sun. DEC attempted to convince TOPS-20 users to convert to VMS , but instead, by the late 1980s, most of the TOPS-20 hackers had migrated to Unix. There is a TOPS-20 home page. +/tweneks/ , n. The TOPS-20 operating system by DEC the second proprietary OS +for the PDP-10 preferred by most PDP-10 hackers over TOPS-10 (that is, by +those who were not ITS or WAITS partisans). TOPS-20 began in 1969 as Bolt, +Beranek Newman's TENEX operating system using special paging hardware. By +the early 1970s, almost all of the systems on the ARPANET ran TENEX. DEC +purchased the rights to TENEX from BBN and began work to make it their own. +The first in-house code name for the operating system was VIROS (VIRtual +memory Operating System); when customers started asking questions, the name +was changed to SNARK so DEC could truthfully deny that there was any project +called VIROS. When the name SNARK became known, the name was briefly +reversed to become KRANS; this was quickly abandoned when someone objected +that krans meant funeral wreath in Swedish (though some Swedish speakers +have since said it means simply wreath ; this part of the story may be +apocryphal). Ultimately DEC picked TOPS-20 as the name of the operating +system, and it was as TOPS-20 that it was marketed. The hacker community, +mindful of its origins, quickly dubbed it TWENEX (a contraction of twenty +TENEX ), even though by this point very little of the original TENEX code +remained (analogously to the differences between AT T V6 Unix and BSD). DEC +people cringed when they heard TWENEX , but the term caught on nevertheless +(the written abbreviation 20x was also used). TWENEX was successful and very +popular; in fact, there was a period in the early 1980s when it commanded as +fervent a culture of partisans as Unix or ITS but DEC's decision to scrap +all the internal rivals to the VAX architecture and its relatively stodgy +VMS OS killed the DEC-20 and put a sad end to TWENEX's brief day in the sun. +DEC attempted to convince TOPS-20 users to convert to VMS , but instead, by +the late 1980s, most of the TOPS-20 hackers had migrated to Unix. There is a +TOPS-20 home page. + diff --git a/entries/TeX.txt b/entries/TeX.txt index caaa825..2006b80 100644 --- a/entries/TeX.txt +++ b/entries/TeX.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ TeX -/tekh/ , n. An extremely powerful macro -based text formatter written by Donald E. Knuth , very popular in the computer-science community (it is good enough to have displaced Unix troff , the other favored formatter, even at many Unix installations). TeX fans insist on the correct (guttural) pronunciation, and the correct spelling (all caps, squished together, with the E depressed below the baseline; the mixed-case TeX is considered an acceptable kluge on ASCII-only devices). Fans like to proliferate names from the word TeX such as TeXnician (TeX user), TeXhacker (TeX programmer), TeXmaster (competent TeX programmer), TeXhax, and TeXnique. See also CrApTeX. Knuth began TeX because he had become annoyed at the declining quality of the typesetting in volumes I--III of his monumental Art of Computer Programming (see Knuth , also bible ). In a manifestation of the typical hackish urge to solve the problem at hand once and for all, he began to design his own typesetting language. He thought he would finish it on his sabbatical in 1978; he was wrong by only about 8 years. The language was finally frozen around 1985, but volume IV of The Art of Computer Programming is not expected to appear until 2007. The impact and influence of TeX's design has been such that nobody minds this very much. Many grand hackish projects have started as a bit of toolsmith ing on the way to something else; Knuth's diversion was simply on a grander scale than most. TeX has also been a noteworthy example of free, shared, but high-quality software. Knuth offers a monetary award to anyone who found and reported bugs dating from before the 1989 code freeze; as the years wore on and the few remaining bugs were fixed (and new ones even harder to find), the bribe went up. Though well-written, TeX is so large (and so full of cutting edge technique) that it is said to have unearthed at least one bug in every Pascal system it has been compiled with. +/tekh/ , n. An extremely powerful macro -based text formatter written by +Donald E. Knuth , very popular in the computer-science community (it is good +enough to have displaced Unix troff , the other favored formatter, even at +many Unix installations). TeX fans insist on the correct (guttural) +pronunciation, and the correct spelling (all caps, squished together, with +the E depressed below the baseline; the mixed-case TeX is considered an +acceptable kluge on ASCII-only devices). Fans like to proliferate names from +the word TeX such as TeXnician (TeX user), TeXhacker (TeX programmer), +TeXmaster (competent TeX programmer), TeXhax, and TeXnique. See also +CrApTeX. Knuth began TeX because he had become annoyed at the declining +quality of the typesetting in volumes I--III of his monumental Art of +Computer Programming (see Knuth , also bible ). In a manifestation of the +typical hackish urge to solve the problem at hand once and for all, he began +to design his own typesetting language. He thought he would finish it on his +sabbatical in 1978; he was wrong by only about 8 years. The language was +finally frozen around 1985, but volume IV of The Art of Computer Programming +is not expected to appear until 2007. The impact and influence of TeX's +design has been such that nobody minds this very much. Many grand hackish +projects have started as a bit of toolsmith ing on the way to something +else; Knuth's diversion was simply on a grander scale than most. TeX has +also been a noteworthy example of free, shared, but high-quality software. +Knuth offers a monetary award to anyone who found and reported bugs dating +from before the 1989 code freeze; as the years wore on and the few remaining +bugs were fixed (and new ones even harder to find), the bribe went up. +Though well-written, TeX is so large (and so full of cutting edge technique) +that it is said to have unearthed at least one bug in every Pascal system it +has been compiled with. + diff --git a/entries/That's not a bug, that's a feature!.txt b/entries/That's not a bug, that's a feature!.txt index 0a21b51..2316ad4 100644 --- a/entries/That's not a bug, that's a feature!.txt +++ b/entries/That's not a bug, that's a feature!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ That's not a bug, that's a feature! -The canonical first parry in a debate about a purported bug. The complainant, if unconvinced, is likely to retort that the bug is then at best a misfeature. See also feature. +The canonical first parry in a debate about a purported bug. The +complainant, if unconvinced, is likely to retort that the bug is then at +best a misfeature. See also feature. + diff --git a/entries/The -P Convention.txt b/entries/The -P Convention.txt index 372c03d..4b59bbc 100644 --- a/entries/The -P Convention.txt +++ b/entries/The -P Convention.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ The -P Convention Prev Up Next Soundalike Slang Home Overgeneralization + diff --git a/entries/The Jargon File.txt b/entries/The Jargon File.txt index 789f3b2..21af267 100644 --- a/entries/The Jargon File.txt +++ b/entries/The Jargon File.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ The Jargon File -(version 4.4.7) Table of Contents Welcome to the Jargon File I. Introduction 1. Hacker Slang and Hacker Culture 2. Of Slang, Jargon, and Techspeak 3. Revision History 4. Jargon Construction Verb Doubling Soundalike Slang The -P Convention Overgeneralization Spoken inarticulations Anthropomorphization Comparatives 5. Hacker Writing Style 6. Email Quotes and Inclusion Conventions 7. Hacker Speech Style 8. International Style 9. Crackers, Phreaks, and Lamers 10. Pronunciation Guide 11. Other Lexicon Conventions 12. Format for New Entries II. The Jargon Lexicon Glossary III. Appendices A. Hacker Folklore The Meaning of Hack TV Typewriters: A Tale of Hackish Ingenuity A Story About Magic' Some AI Koans Tom Knight and the Lisp Machine Moon instructs a student Sussman attains enlightenment Drescher and the toaster OS and JEDGAR The Story of Mel B. A Portrait of J. Random Hacker General Appearance Dress Reading Habits Other Interests Physical Activity and Sports Education Things Hackers Detest and Avoid Food Politics Gender and Ethnicity Religion Ceremonial Chemicals Communication Style Geographical Distribution Sexual Habits Personality Characteristics Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality Miscellaneous C. +(version 4.4.7) Table of Contents Welcome to the Jargon File I. Introduction +1. Hacker Slang and Hacker Culture 2. Of Slang, Jargon, and Techspeak 3. +Revision History 4. Jargon Construction Verb Doubling Soundalike Slang The +-P Convention Overgeneralization Spoken inarticulations Anthropomorphization +Comparatives 5. Hacker Writing Style 6. Email Quotes and Inclusion +Conventions 7. Hacker Speech Style 8. International Style 9. Crackers, +Phreaks, and Lamers 10. Pronunciation Guide 11. Other Lexicon Conventions +12. Format for New Entries II. The Jargon Lexicon Glossary III. Appendices +A. Hacker Folklore The Meaning of Hack TV Typewriters: A Tale of Hackish +Ingenuity A Story About Magic' Some AI Koans Tom Knight and the Lisp Machine +Moon instructs a student Sussman attains enlightenment Drescher and the +toaster OS and JEDGAR The Story of Mel B. A Portrait of J. Random Hacker +General Appearance Dress Reading Habits Other Interests Physical Activity +and Sports Education Things Hackers Detest and Avoid Food Politics Gender +and Ethnicity Religion Ceremonial Chemicals Communication Style Geographical +Distribution Sexual Habits Personality Characteristics Weaknesses of the +Hacker Personality Miscellaneous C. + diff --git a/entries/The Meaning of ‘Hack’.txt b/entries/The Meaning of ‘Hack’.txt index cd2fdd2..e27cc33 100644 --- a/entries/The Meaning of ‘Hack’.txt +++ b/entries/The Meaning of ‘Hack’.txt @@ -1,3 +1,184 @@ The Meaning of ‘Hack’ -The word hack doesn't really have 69 different meanings , according to MIT hacker Phil Agre. In fact, hack has only one meaning, an extremely subtle and profound one which defies articulation. Which connotation is implied by a given use of the word depends in similarly profound ways on the context. Similar remarks apply to a couple of other hacker words, most notably random. Hacking might be characterized as an appropriate application of ingenuity. Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or a carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness that went into it. An important secondary meaning of hack is a creative practical joke. This kind of hack is easier to explain to non-hackers than the programming kind. Of course, some hacks have both natures; see the lexicon entries for pseudo and kgbvax. But here are some examples of pure practical jokes that illustrate the hacking spirit: In 1961, students from Caltech (California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena) hacked the Rose Bowl football game. One student posed as a reporter and interviewed the director of the University of Washington card stunts (such stunts involve people in the stands who hold up colored cards to make pictures). The reporter learned exactly how the stunts were operated, and also that the director would be out to dinner later. While the director was eating, the students (who called themselves the Fiendish Fourteen) picked a lock and stole a blank direction sheet for the card stunts. They then had a printer run off 2300 copies of the blank. The next day they picked the lock again and stole the master plans for the stunts large sheets of graph paper colored in with the stunt pictures. Using these as a guide, they made new instructions for three of the stunts on the duplicated blanks. Finally, they broke in once more, replacing the stolen master plans and substituting the stack of diddled instruction sheets for the original set. The result was that three of the pictures were totally different. Instead of WASHINGTON, the word CALTECH was flashed. Another stunt showed the word HUSKIES, the Washington nickname, but spelled it backwards. And what was supposed to have been a picture of a husky instead showed a beaver. (Both Caltech and MIT use the beaver nature's engineer as a mascot.) After the game, the Washington faculty athletic representative said: Some thought it ingenious; others were indignant. The Washington student body president remarked: No hard feelings, but at the time it was unbelievable. We were amazed. This is now considered a classic hack, particularly because revising the direction sheets constituted a form of programming. Here is another classic hack: On November 20, 1982, MIT hacked the Harvard-Yale football game. Just after Harvard's second touchdown against Yale, in the first quarter, a small black ball popped up out of the ground at the 40-yard line, and grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger. The letters MIT appeared all over the ball. As the players and officials stood around gawking, the ball grew to six feet in diameter and then burst with a bang and a cloud of white smoke. The Boston Globe later reported: If you want to know the truth, MIT won The Game. The prank had taken weeks of careful planning by members of MIT's Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. The device consisted of a weather balloon, a hydraulic ram powered by Freon gas to lift it out of the ground, and a vacuum-cleaner motor to inflate it. They made eight separate expeditions to Harvard Stadium between 1 and 5 AM, locating an unused 110-volt circuit in the stadium and running buried wires from the stadium circuit to the 40-yard line, where they buried the balloon device. When the time came to activate the device, two fraternity members had merely to flip a circuit breaker and push a plug into an outlet. This stunt had all the earmarks of a perfect hack: surprise, publicity, the ingenious use of technology, safety, and harmlessness. The use of manual control allowed the prank to be timed so as not to disrupt the game (it was set off between plays, so the outcome of the game would not be unduly affected). The perpetrators had even thoughtfully attached a note to the balloon explaining that the device was not dangerous and contained no explosives. Harvard president Derek Bok commented: They have an awful lot of clever people down there at MIT, and they did it again. President Paul E. Gray of MIT said: There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that I had anything to do with it, but I wish there were. The hacks above are verifiable history; they can be proved to have happened. Many other classic-hack stories from MIT and elsewhere, though retold as history, have the characteristics of what Jan Brunvand has called urban folklore (see FOAF ). Perhaps the best known of these is the legend of the infamous trolley-car hack, an alleged incident in which engineering students are said to have welded a trolley car to its tracks with thermite. Numerous versions of this have been recorded from the 1940s to the present, most set at MIT but at least one very detailed version set at CMU. Brian Leibowitz has researched MIT hacks both real and mythical extensively; the interested reader is referred to his delightful pictorial compendium The Journal of the Institute for Hacks, Tomfoolery, and Pranks (MIT Museum, 1990; ISBN 0-917027-03-5). The Institute has a World Wide Web page at http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/Gallery.html. There is a sequel entitled Is This The Way To Baker House?. The Caltech Alumni Association has published two similar books titled Legends of Caltech and More Legends of Caltech. Here is a story about one of the classic computer hacks: Back in the mid-1970s, several of the system support staff at Motorola discovered a relatively simple way to crack system security on the Xerox CP-V timesharing system. Through a simple programming strategy, it was possible for a user program to trick the system into running a portion of the program in master mode (supervisor state), in which memory protection does not apply. The program could then poke a large value into its privilege level byte (normally write-protected) and could then proceed to bypass all levels of security within the file-management system, patch the system monitor, and do numerous other interesting things. In short, the barn door was wide open. Motorola quite properly reported this problem to Xerox via an official level 1 SIDR (a bug report with an intended urgency of needs to be fixed yesterday). Because the text of each SIDR was entered into a database that could be viewed by quite a number of people, Motorola followed the approved procedure: they simply reported the problem as Security SIDR, and attached all of the necessary documentation, ways-to-reproduce, etc. The CP-V people at Xerox sat on their thumbs; they either didn't realize the severity of the problem, or didn't assign the necessary operating-system-staff resources to develop and distribute an official patch. Months passed. The Motorola guys pestered their Xerox field-support rep, to no avail. Finally they decided to take direct action, to demonstrate to Xerox management just how easily the system could be cracked and just how thoroughly the security safeguards could be subverted. They dug around in the operating-system listings and devised a thoroughly devilish set of patches. These patches were then incorporated into a pair of programs called Robin Hood and Friar Tuck. Robin Hood and Friar Tuck were designed to run as ghost jobs (daemons, in Unix terminology); they would use the existing loophole to subvert system security, install the necessary patches, and then keep an eye on one another's statuses in order to keep the system operator (in effect, the superuser) from aborting them. One fine day, the system operator on the main CP-V software development system in El Segundo was surprised by a number of unusual phenomena. These included the following: Tape drives would rewind and dismount their tapes in the middle of a job. Disk drives would seek back and forth so rapidly that they would attempt to walk across the floor (see walking drives ). The card-punch output device would occasionally start up of itself and punch a lace card (card with all positions punched). These would usually jam in the punch. The console would print snide and insulting messages from Robin Hood to Friar Tuck, or vice versa. The Xerox card reader had two output stackers; it could be instructed to stack into A, stack into B, or stack into A (unless a card was unreadable, in which case the bad card was placed into stacker B). One of the patches installed by the ghosts added some code to the card-reader driver... after reading a card, it would flip over to the opposite stacker. As a result, card decks would divide themselves in half when they were read, leaving the operator to recollate them manually. Naturally, the operator called in the operating-system developers. They found the bandit ghost jobs running, and killed them... and were once again surprised. When Robin Hood was gunned, the following sequence of events took place: !X id1 id1: Friar Tuck... I am under attack! Pray save me! id1: Off (aborted) id2: Fear not, friend Robin! I shall rout the Sheriff of Nottingham's men! id1: Thank you, my good fellow! Each ghost-job would detect the fact that the other had been killed, and would start a new copy of the recently slain program within a few milliseconds. The only way to kill both ghosts was to kill them simultaneously (very difficult) or to deliberately crash the system. Finally, the system programmers did the latter only to find that the bandits appeared once again when the system rebooted! It turned out that these two programs had patched the boot-time OS image (the kernel file, in Unix terms) and had added themselves to the list of programs that were to be started at boot time (this is similar to the way Windows viruses propagate). The Robin Hood and Friar Tuck ghosts were finally eradicated when the system staff rebooted the system from a clean boot-tape and reinstalled the monitor. Not long thereafter, Xerox released a patch for this problem. It is alleged that Xerox filed a complaint with Motorola's management about the merry-prankster actions of the two employees in question. It is not recorded that any serious disciplinary action was taken against either of them. Finally, here is a wonderful hack story for the new millennium: 1990's addition to the hallowed tradition of April Fool RFCs was RFC 1149, A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers. This sketched a method for transmitting IP packets via carrier pigeons. Eleven years later, on 28 April 2001, the Bergen Linux User's Group successfully demonstrated CPIP (Carrier Pigeon IP) between two Linux machines running on opposite sides of a small mountain in Bergen, Norway. Their network stack used printers to hex-dump packets onto paper, pigeons to transport the paper, and OCR software to read the dumps at the other end and feed them to the receiving machine's network layer. Here is the actual log of the ping command they successfully executed. Note the exceptional packet times. Script started on Sat Apr 28 11:24:09 2001 vegard@gyversalen:~$ /sbin/ifconfig tun0 tun0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol inet addr:10.0.3.2 P-t-P:10.0.3.1 Mask:255.255.255.255 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:150 Metric:1 RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 RX bytes:88 (88.0 b) TX bytes:168 (168.0 b) vegard@gyversalen:~$ ping -i 450 10.0.3.1 PING 10.0.3.1 (10.0.3.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=6165731.1 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=3211900.8 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=5124922.8 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=6388671.9 ms 10.0.3.1 ping statistics 9 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 55% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 3211900.8/5222806.6/6388671.9 ms vegard@gyversalen:~$ exit Script done on Sat Apr 28 14:14:28 2001 A web page documenting the event, with pictures, is at http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/. In the finest Internet tradition, all software involved was open-source; the custom parts are available for download from the site. While all acknowledged the magnitude of this achievement, some debate ensued over whether BLUG's implementation was properly conformant to the RFC. It seems they had not used the duct tape specified in 1149 to attach messages to pigeon legs, but instead employed other methods less objectionable to the pigeons. The debate was properly resolved when it was pointed out that the duct-tape specification was not prefixed by a MUST, and was thus a recommendation rather than a requirement. The perpetrators finished their preliminary writeup in this wise: Now, we're waiting for someone to write other implementations, so that we can do interoperability tests, and maybe we finally can get the RFC into the standards track... . The logical next step should be an implementation of RFC2549. Prev Up Next AppendixA. +The word hack doesn't really have 69 different meanings , according to MIT +hacker Phil Agre. In fact, hack has only one meaning, an extremely subtle +and profound one which defies articulation. Which connotation is implied by +a given use of the word depends in similarly profound ways on the context. +Similar remarks apply to a couple of other hacker words, most notably +random. Hacking might be characterized as an appropriate application of +ingenuity. Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or a +carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness that went +into it. An important secondary meaning of hack is a creative practical +joke. This kind of hack is easier to explain to non-hackers than the +programming kind. Of course, some hacks have both natures; see the lexicon +entries for pseudo and kgbvax. But here are some examples of pure practical +jokes that illustrate the hacking spirit: In 1961, students from Caltech +(California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena) hacked the Rose Bowl +football game. One student posed as a reporter and interviewed the director +of the University of Washington card stunts (such stunts involve people in +the stands who hold up colored cards to make pictures). The reporter learned +exactly how the stunts were operated, and also that the director would be +out to dinner later. While the director was eating, the students (who called +themselves the Fiendish Fourteen) picked a lock and stole a blank direction +sheet for the card stunts. They then had a printer run off 2300 copies of +the blank. The next day they picked the lock again and stole the master +plans for the stunts large sheets of graph paper colored in with the stunt +pictures. Using these as a guide, they made new instructions for three of +the stunts on the duplicated blanks. Finally, they broke in once more, +replacing the stolen master plans and substituting the stack of diddled +instruction sheets for the original set. The result was that three of the +pictures were totally different. Instead of WASHINGTON, the word CALTECH was +flashed. Another stunt showed the word HUSKIES, the Washington nickname, but +spelled it backwards. And what was supposed to have been a picture of a +husky instead showed a beaver. (Both Caltech and MIT use the beaver +nature's engineer as a mascot.) After the game, the Washington faculty +athletic representative said: Some thought it ingenious; others were +indignant. The Washington student body president remarked: No hard +feelings, but at the time it was unbelievable. We were amazed. This is now +considered a classic hack, particularly because revising the direction +sheets constituted a form of programming. Here is another classic hack: On +November 20, 1982, MIT hacked the Harvard-Yale football game. Just after +Harvard's second touchdown against Yale, in the first quarter, a small black +ball popped up out of the ground at the 40-yard line, and grew bigger, and +bigger, and bigger. The letters MIT appeared all over the ball. As the +players and officials stood around gawking, the ball grew to six feet in +diameter and then burst with a bang and a cloud of white smoke. The Boston +Globe later reported: If you want to know the truth, MIT won The Game. The +prank had taken weeks of careful planning by members of MIT's Delta Kappa +Epsilon fraternity. The device consisted of a weather balloon, a hydraulic +ram powered by Freon gas to lift it out of the ground, and a vacuum-cleaner +motor to inflate it. They made eight separate expeditions to Harvard Stadium +between 1 and 5 AM, locating an unused 110-volt circuit in the stadium and +running buried wires from the stadium circuit to the 40-yard line, where +they buried the balloon device. When the time came to activate the device, +two fraternity members had merely to flip a circuit breaker and push a plug +into an outlet. This stunt had all the earmarks of a perfect hack: surprise, +publicity, the ingenious use of technology, safety, and harmlessness. The +use of manual control allowed the prank to be timed so as not to disrupt the +game (it was set off between plays, so the outcome of the game would not be +unduly affected). The perpetrators had even thoughtfully attached a note to +the balloon explaining that the device was not dangerous and contained no +explosives. Harvard president Derek Bok commented: They have an awful lot +of clever people down there at MIT, and they did it again. President Paul +E. Gray of MIT said: There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that I had +anything to do with it, but I wish there were. The hacks above are +verifiable history; they can be proved to have happened. Many other +classic-hack stories from MIT and elsewhere, though retold as history, have +the characteristics of what Jan Brunvand has called urban folklore (see FOAF +). Perhaps the best known of these is the legend of the infamous trolley-car +hack, an alleged incident in which engineering students are said to have +welded a trolley car to its tracks with thermite. Numerous versions of this +have been recorded from the 1940s to the present, most set at MIT but at +least one very detailed version set at CMU. Brian Leibowitz has researched +MIT hacks both real and mythical extensively; the interested reader is +referred to his delightful pictorial compendium The Journal of the Institute +for Hacks, Tomfoolery, and Pranks (MIT Museum, 1990; ISBN 0-917027-03-5). +The Institute has a World Wide Web page at +http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/Gallery.html. There is a sequel entitled Is This +The Way To Baker House?. The Caltech Alumni Association has published two +similar books titled Legends of Caltech and More Legends of Caltech. Here is +a story about one of the classic computer hacks: Back in the mid-1970s, +several of the system support staff at Motorola discovered a relatively +simple way to crack system security on the Xerox CP-V timesharing system. +Through a simple programming strategy, it was possible for a user program to +trick the system into running a portion of the program in master mode +(supervisor state), in which memory protection does not apply. The program +could then poke a large value into its privilege level byte (normally +write-protected) and could then proceed to bypass all levels of security +within the file-management system, patch the system monitor, and do numerous +other interesting things. In short, the barn door was wide open. Motorola +quite properly reported this problem to Xerox via an official level 1 SIDR +(a bug report with an intended urgency of needs to be fixed yesterday). +Because the text of each SIDR was entered into a database that could be +viewed by quite a number of people, Motorola followed the approved +procedure: they simply reported the problem as Security SIDR, and attached +all of the necessary documentation, ways-to-reproduce, etc. The CP-V people +at Xerox sat on their thumbs; they either didn't realize the severity of the +problem, or didn't assign the necessary operating-system-staff resources to +develop and distribute an official patch. Months passed. The Motorola guys +pestered their Xerox field-support rep, to no avail. Finally they decided to +take direct action, to demonstrate to Xerox management just how easily the +system could be cracked and just how thoroughly the security safeguards +could be subverted. They dug around in the operating-system listings and +devised a thoroughly devilish set of patches. These patches were then +incorporated into a pair of programs called Robin Hood and Friar Tuck. Robin +Hood and Friar Tuck were designed to run as ghost jobs (daemons, in Unix +terminology); they would use the existing loophole to subvert system +security, install the necessary patches, and then keep an eye on one +another's statuses in order to keep the system operator (in effect, the +superuser) from aborting them. One fine day, the system operator on the main +CP-V software development system in El Segundo was surprised by a number of +unusual phenomena. These included the following: Tape drives would rewind +and dismount their tapes in the middle of a job. Disk drives would seek back +and forth so rapidly that they would attempt to walk across the floor (see +walking drives ). The card-punch output device would occasionally start up +of itself and punch a lace card (card with all positions punched). These +would usually jam in the punch. The console would print snide and insulting +messages from Robin Hood to Friar Tuck, or vice versa. The Xerox card reader +had two output stackers; it could be instructed to stack into A, stack into +B, or stack into A (unless a card was unreadable, in which case the bad card +was placed into stacker B). One of the patches installed by the ghosts added +some code to the card-reader driver... after reading a card, it would flip +over to the opposite stacker. As a result, card decks would divide +themselves in half when they were read, leaving the operator to recollate +them manually. Naturally, the operator called in the operating-system +developers. They found the bandit ghost jobs running, and killed them... and +were once again surprised. When Robin Hood was gunned, the following +sequence of events took place: !X id1 id1: Friar Tuck... I am under attack! +Pray save me! id1: Off (aborted) id2: Fear not, friend Robin! I shall rout +the Sheriff of Nottingham's men! id1: Thank you, my good fellow! Each +ghost-job would detect the fact that the other had been killed, and would +start a new copy of the recently slain program within a few milliseconds. +The only way to kill both ghosts was to kill them simultaneously (very +difficult) or to deliberately crash the system. Finally, the system +programmers did the latter only to find that the bandits appeared once +again when the system rebooted! It turned out that these two programs had +patched the boot-time OS image (the kernel file, in Unix terms) and had +added themselves to the list of programs that were to be started at boot +time (this is similar to the way Windows viruses propagate). The Robin Hood +and Friar Tuck ghosts were finally eradicated when the system staff rebooted +the system from a clean boot-tape and reinstalled the monitor. Not long +thereafter, Xerox released a patch for this problem. It is alleged that +Xerox filed a complaint with Motorola's management about the merry-prankster +actions of the two employees in question. It is not recorded that any +serious disciplinary action was taken against either of them. Finally, here +is a wonderful hack story for the new millennium: 1990's addition to the +hallowed tradition of April Fool RFCs was RFC 1149, A Standard for the +Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers. This sketched a method for +transmitting IP packets via carrier pigeons. Eleven years later, on 28 April +2001, the Bergen Linux User's Group successfully demonstrated CPIP (Carrier +Pigeon IP) between two Linux machines running on opposite sides of a small +mountain in Bergen, Norway. Their network stack used printers to hex-dump +packets onto paper, pigeons to transport the paper, and OCR software to read +the dumps at the other end and feed them to the receiving machine's network +layer. Here is the actual log of the ping command they successfully +executed. Note the exceptional packet times. Script started on Sat Apr 28 +11:24:09 2001 vegard@gyversalen:~$ /sbin/ifconfig tun0 tun0 Link +encap:Point-to-Point Protocol inet addr:10.0.3.2 P-t-P:10.0.3.1 +Mask:255.255.255.255 UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST MTU:150 Metric:1 +RX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:2 errors:0 +dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 RX bytes:88 (88.0 b) TX +bytes:168 (168.0 b) vegard@gyversalen:~$ ping -i 450 10.0.3.1 PING 10.0.3.1 +(10.0.3.1): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 +time=6165731.1 ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=3211900.8 +ms 64 bytes from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=5124922.8 ms 64 bytes +from 10.0.3.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=6388671.9 ms 10.0.3.1 ping +statistics 9 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 55% packet loss +round-trip min/avg/max = 3211900.8/5222806.6/6388671.9 ms +vegard@gyversalen:~$ exit Script done on Sat Apr 28 14:14:28 2001 A web page +documenting the event, with pictures, is at +http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/. In the finest Internet tradition, all +software involved was open-source; the custom parts are available for +download from the site. While all acknowledged the magnitude of this +achievement, some debate ensued over whether BLUG's implementation was +properly conformant to the RFC. It seems they had not used the duct tape +specified in 1149 to attach messages to pigeon legs, but instead employed +other methods less objectionable to the pigeons. The debate was properly +resolved when it was pointed out that the duct-tape specification was not +prefixed by a MUST, and was thus a recommendation rather than a requirement. +The perpetrators finished their preliminary writeup in this wise: Now, +we're waiting for someone to write other implementations, so that we can do +interoperability tests, and maybe we finally can get the RFC into the +standards track... . The logical next step should be an implementation of +RFC2549. Prev Up Next AppendixA. + diff --git a/entries/The Story of Mel.txt b/entries/The Story of Mel.txt index f581d04..7fb2bbd 100644 --- a/entries/The Story of Mel.txt +++ b/entries/The Story of Mel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ The Story of Mel -[1999 update: Mel's last name is now known. The manual for the LGP-30 refers to Mel Kaye of Royal McBee who did the bulk of the programming [... +[1999 update: Mel's last name is now known. The manual for the LGP-30 refers +to Mel Kaye of Royal McBee who did the bulk of the programming [... + diff --git a/entries/Things Hackers Detest and Avoid.txt b/entries/Things Hackers Detest and Avoid.txt index 6a0794d..5de76ed 100644 --- a/entries/Things Hackers Detest and Avoid.txt +++ b/entries/Things Hackers Detest and Avoid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Things Hackers Detest and Avoid -All the works of Microsoft. Smurfs, Ewoks, and other forms of offensive cuteness. Bureaucracies. Stupid people. Easy listening music. Television (with occasional exceptions for cartoons, movies, and good SF like Star Trek classic or Babylon 5). Business suits. Dishonesty. Incompetence. Boredom. COBOL. BASIC. Character-based menu interfaces. +All the works of Microsoft. Smurfs, Ewoks, and other forms of offensive +cuteness. Bureaucracies. Stupid people. Easy listening music. Television +(with occasional exceptions for cartoons, movies, and good SF like Star Trek +classic or Babylon 5). Business suits. Dishonesty. Incompetence. Boredom. +COBOL. BASIC. Character-based menu interfaces. + diff --git a/entries/This can't happen.txt b/entries/This can't happen.txt index 3d8b5a6..adcff06 100644 --- a/entries/This can't happen.txt +++ b/entries/This can't happen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ This can't happen Less clipped variant of can't happen. + diff --git a/entries/This time, for sure!.txt b/entries/This time, for sure!.txt index dca318c..ad175a3 100644 --- a/entries/This time, for sure!.txt +++ b/entries/This time, for sure!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ This time, for sure! -excl. Ritual affirmation frequently uttered during protracted debugging sessions involving numerous small obstacles (e.g., attempts to bring up a UUCP connection). For the proper effect, this must be uttered in a fruity imitation of Bullwinkle J. Moose. Also heard: Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat! The canonical response is, of course, But that trick never works! See hacker humor. +excl. Ritual affirmation frequently uttered during protracted debugging +sessions involving numerous small obstacles (e.g., attempts to bring up a +UUCP connection). For the proper effect, this must be uttered in a fruity +imitation of Bullwinkle J. Moose. Also heard: Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a +rabbit out of my hat! The canonical response is, of course, But that trick +never works! See hacker humor. + diff --git a/entries/Tinkerbell program.txt b/entries/Tinkerbell program.txt index 97d6190..91c12ca 100644 --- a/entries/Tinkerbell program.txt +++ b/entries/Tinkerbell program.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Tinkerbell program -n. [Great Britain] A monitoring program used to scan incoming network calls and generate alerts when calls are received from particular sites, or when logins are attempted using certain IDs. Named after Project Tinkerbell , an experimental phone-tapping program developed by British Telecom in the early 1980s. +n. [Great Britain] A monitoring program used to scan incoming network calls +and generate alerts when calls are received from particular sites, or when +logins are attempted using certain IDs. Named after Project Tinkerbell , an +experimental phone-tapping program developed by British Telecom in the early +1980s. + diff --git a/entries/Trojan horse.txt b/entries/Trojan horse.txt index 52aeccf..c6c8223 100644 --- a/entries/Trojan horse.txt +++ b/entries/Trojan horse.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Trojan horse -n. [coined by MIT-hacker-turned-NSA-spook Dan Edwards] A malicious security-breaking program that is disguised as something benign, such as a directory lister, archiver, game, or (in one notorious 1990 case on the Mac) a program to find and destroy viruses! See back door , virus , worm , phage , mockingbird. +n. [coined by MIT-hacker-turned-NSA-spook Dan Edwards] A malicious +security-breaking program that is disguised as something benign, such as a +directory lister, archiver, game, or (in one notorious 1990 case on the Mac) +a program to find and destroy viruses! See back door , virus , worm , phage +, mockingbird. + diff --git a/entries/Troll-O-Meter.txt b/entries/Troll-O-Meter.txt index 1e57b54..b2561cd 100644 --- a/entries/Troll-O-Meter.txt +++ b/entries/Troll-O-Meter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ Troll-O-Meter -n. Common Usenet jargon for a notional instrument used to measure the provocation level of a Usenet troll. Come on, everyone! If the above doesn't set off the Troll-O-Meter, we're going to have to get him to run around with a big blinking sign saying I am a troll, I m only in it for the controversy and flames', and shooting random gobs of Jell-O(tm) at us before the point is proven. Mentions of the Troll-O-Meter are often accompanied by an ASCII picture of an arrow pointing at a numeric scale. Compare bogometer , Indent-o-Meter. +n. Common Usenet jargon for a notional instrument used to measure the +provocation level of a Usenet troll. Come on, everyone! If the above doesn't +set off the Troll-O-Meter, we're going to have to get him to run around with +a big blinking sign saying I am a troll, I m only in it for the controversy +and flames', and shooting random gobs of Jell-O(tm) at us before the point +is proven. Mentions of the Troll-O-Meter are often accompanied by an ASCII +picture of an arrow pointing at a numeric scale. Compare bogometer , +Indent-o-Meter. + diff --git a/entries/Turing tar-pit.txt b/entries/Turing tar-pit.txt index 9ba9e48..e6c994e 100644 --- a/entries/Turing tar-pit.txt +++ b/entries/Turing tar-pit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Turing tar-pit -n. 1. A place where anything is possible but nothing of interest is practical. Alan Turing helped lay the foundations of computer science by showing that all machines and languages capable of expressing a certain very primitive set of operations are logically equivalent in the kinds of computations they can carry out, and in principle have capabilities that differ only in speed from those of the most powerful and elegantly designed computers. However, no machine or language exactly matching Turing's primitive set has ever been built (other than possibly as a classroom exercise), because it would be horribly slow and far too painful to use. A Turing tar-pit is any computer language or other tool that shares this property. That is, it's theoretically universal but in practice, the harder you struggle to get any real work done, the deeper its inadequacies suck you in. Compare bondage-and-discipline language. 2. The perennial holy wars over whether language A or B is the most powerful. +n. 1. A place where anything is possible but nothing of interest is +practical. Alan Turing helped lay the foundations of computer science by +showing that all machines and languages capable of expressing a certain very +primitive set of operations are logically equivalent in the kinds of +computations they can carry out, and in principle have capabilities that +differ only in speed from those of the most powerful and elegantly designed +computers. However, no machine or language exactly matching Turing's +primitive set has ever been built (other than possibly as a classroom +exercise), because it would be horribly slow and far too painful to use. A +Turing tar-pit is any computer language or other tool that shares this +property. That is, it's theoretically universal but in practice, the harder +you struggle to get any real work done, the deeper its inadequacies suck you +in. Compare bondage-and-discipline language. 2. The perennial holy wars over +whether language A or B is the most powerful. + diff --git a/entries/Tux.txt b/entries/Tux.txt index 7702389..40f0a79 100644 --- a/entries/Tux.txt +++ b/entries/Tux.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Tux -Tux the Penguin is the official emblem of Linux , This eventuated after a logo contest in 1996, during which Linus Torvalds endorsed the idea of a penguin logo in a couple of famously funny postings. Linus explained that he was once bitten by a killer penguin in Australia and has felt a special affinity for the species ever since. (Linus has since admitted that he was also thinking of Feathers McGraw, the evil-genius penguin jewel thief who appeared in a Wallace Grommit feature cartoon, The Wrong Trousers. ) Larry Ewing designed the official logo. It has proved a wise choice, amenable to hundreds of recognizable variations used as emblems of Linux-related projects, products, and user groups. In fact, has spawned an entire mythology, of which the Gospel According to and the mock-epic poem owolf are among the best-known examples. There is a real a black-footed penguin resident at the Bristol Zoo. Several friends of Linux bought a zoo sponsorship for Linus as a birthday present in 1996. +Tux the Penguin is the official emblem of Linux , This eventuated after a +logo contest in 1996, during which Linus Torvalds endorsed the idea of a +penguin logo in a couple of famously funny postings. Linus explained that he +was once bitten by a killer penguin in Australia and has felt a special +affinity for the species ever since. (Linus has since admitted that he was +also thinking of Feathers McGraw, the evil-genius penguin jewel thief who +appeared in a Wallace Grommit feature cartoon, The Wrong Trousers. ) Larry +Ewing designed the official logo. It has proved a wise choice, amenable to +hundreds of recognizable variations used as emblems of Linux-related +projects, products, and user groups. In fact, has spawned an entire +mythology, of which the Gospel According to and the mock-epic poem owolf +are among the best-known examples. There is a real a black-footed penguin +resident at the Bristol Zoo. Several friends of Linux bought a zoo +sponsorship for Linus as a birthday present in 1996. + diff --git a/entries/UBD.txt b/entries/UBD.txt index 24a7702..f3c428c 100644 --- a/entries/UBD.txt +++ b/entries/UBD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ UBD -/UBD/ , n. [abbreviation for User Brain Damage ] An abbreviation used to close out trouble reports obviously due to utter cluelessness on the user's part. Compare pilot error , PEBKAC , ID10T ; oppose PBD ; see also brain-damaged. +/UBD/ , n. [abbreviation for User Brain Damage ] An abbreviation used to +close out trouble reports obviously due to utter cluelessness on the user's +part. Compare pilot error , PEBKAC , ID10T ; oppose PBD ; see also +brain-damaged. + diff --git a/entries/UBE.txt b/entries/UBE.txt index 6762e27..fe37f22 100644 --- a/entries/UBE.txt +++ b/entries/UBE.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ UBE -// , n. [abbrev., Unsolicited Bulk Email] A widespread, more formal term for email spam. Compare UCE. The UBE term recognizes that spam is uttered by nonprofit and advocacy groups whose motives are not commercial. +// , n. [abbrev., Unsolicited Bulk Email] A widespread, more formal term for +email spam. Compare UCE. The UBE term recognizes that spam is uttered by +nonprofit and advocacy groups whose motives are not commercial. + diff --git a/entries/UCE.txt b/entries/UCE.txt index 0685c3e..5310bd7 100644 --- a/entries/UCE.txt +++ b/entries/UCE.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ UCE -n. [abbrev., Unsolicited Commercial Email] A widespread, more formal term for email spam. Compare UBE , which may be superseding it. +n. [abbrev., Unsolicited Commercial Email] A widespread, more formal term +for email spam. Compare UBE , which may be superseding it. + diff --git a/entries/UDP.txt b/entries/UDP.txt index 107baa8..4877b69 100644 --- a/entries/UDP.txt +++ b/entries/UDP.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ UDP -/UDP/ , v.,n. [Usenet] Abbreviation for Usenet Death Penalty. Common (probably now more so than the full form), and frequently verbed. Compare IDP. +/UDP/ , v.,n. [Usenet] Abbreviation for Usenet Death Penalty. Common +(probably now more so than the full form), and frequently verbed. Compare +IDP. + diff --git a/entries/UN*X.txt b/entries/UN*X.txt index 0b21d23..c952cdb 100644 --- a/entries/UN*X.txt +++ b/entries/UN*X.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ UN*X -n. Used to refer to the Unix operating system (a trademark of AT T, then of Novell, then of Unix Systems Laboratories, then of the Open Group; the source code parted company with it after Novell and was owned by SCO, which was acquired by Caldera) in writing, but avoiding the need for the ugly typography (see also (TM) ). Also used to refer to any or all varieties of Unixoid operating systems. Ironically, lawyers now say that the requirement for the trademark postfix has no legal force, but the asterisk usage is entrenched anyhow. It has been suggested that there may be a psychological connection to practice in certain religions (especially Judaism) in which the name of the deity is never written out in full, e.g., YHWH or G--d is used. See also glob and splat out. +n. Used to refer to the Unix operating system (a trademark of AT T, then of +Novell, then of Unix Systems Laboratories, then of the Open Group; the +source code parted company with it after Novell and was owned by SCO, which +was acquired by Caldera) in writing, but avoiding the need for the ugly +typography (see also (TM) ). Also used to refer to any or all varieties of +Unixoid operating systems. Ironically, lawyers now say that the requirement +for the trademark postfix has no legal force, but the asterisk usage is +entrenched anyhow. It has been suggested that there may be a psychological +connection to practice in certain religions (especially Judaism) in which +the name of the deity is never written out in full, e.g., YHWH or G--d is +used. See also glob and splat out. + diff --git a/entries/URL.txt b/entries/URL.txt index 5678c1c..915d323 100644 --- a/entries/URL.txt +++ b/entries/URL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ URL -/URL/ , /erl/ , n. Uniform Resource Locator, an address widget that identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web. This entry is here primarily to record the fact that the term is commonly pronounced both /erl/ , and /U-R-L/ (the latter predominates in more formal contexts). +/URL/ , /erl/ , n. Uniform Resource Locator, an address widget that +identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web. This entry is here +primarily to record the fact that the term is commonly pronounced both /erl/ +, and /U-R-L/ (the latter predominates in more formal contexts). + diff --git a/entries/UTSL.txt b/entries/UTSL.txt index 4bf152c..30a5c8c 100644 --- a/entries/UTSL.txt +++ b/entries/UTSL.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ UTSL -// , n. [Unix] On-line acronym for Use the Source, Luke (a pun on Obi-Wan Kenobi's Use the Force, Luke! in Star Wars ) analogous to RTFS (sense 1), but more polite. This is a common way of suggesting that someone would be better off reading the source code that supports whatever feature is causing confusion, rather than making yet another futile pass through the manuals, or broadcasting questions on Usenet that haven't attracted wizard s to answer them. Once upon a time in elder days , everyone running Unix had source. After 1978, AT T's policy tightened up, so this objurgation was in theory appropriately directed only at associates of some outfit with a Unix source license. In practice, bootlegs of Unix source code (made precisely for reference purposes) were so ubiquitous that one could utter it at almost anyone on the network without concern. Nowadays, free Unix clones have become widely enough distributed that anyone can read source legally. The most widely distributed is certainly Linux, with variants of the NET/2 and 4.4BSD distributions running second. Cheap commercial Unixes with source such as BSD/OS are accelerating this trend. +// , n. [Unix] On-line acronym for Use the Source, Luke (a pun on Obi-Wan +Kenobi's Use the Force, Luke! in Star Wars ) analogous to RTFS (sense 1), +but more polite. This is a common way of suggesting that someone would be +better off reading the source code that supports whatever feature is causing +confusion, rather than making yet another futile pass through the manuals, +or broadcasting questions on Usenet that haven't attracted wizard s to +answer them. Once upon a time in elder days , everyone running Unix had +source. After 1978, AT T's policy tightened up, so this objurgation was in +theory appropriately directed only at associates of some outfit with a Unix +source license. In practice, bootlegs of Unix source code (made precisely +for reference purposes) were so ubiquitous that one could utter it at almost +anyone on the network without concern. Nowadays, free Unix clones have +become widely enough distributed that anyone can read source legally. The +most widely distributed is certainly Linux, with variants of the NET/2 and +4.4BSD distributions running second. Cheap commercial Unixes with source +such as BSD/OS are accelerating this trend. + diff --git a/entries/UUOC.txt b/entries/UUOC.txt index f5b3dad..043026a 100644 --- a/entries/UUOC.txt +++ b/entries/UUOC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ UUOC -Stands for Useless Use of cat ; the reference is to the Unix command cat (1) , not the feline animal. As received wisdom on comp.unix.shell observes, The purpose of cat is to concatenate (or catenate ) files. If it's only one file, concatenating it with nothing at all is a waste of time, and costs you a process. Nevertheless one sees people doing catfile|some_commandanditsargs... instead of the equivalent and cheaper filesome_commandanditsargs... or (equivalently and more classically) some_commandanditsargs... file Since 1995, occasional awards for UUOC have been given out, usually by Perl luminary Randal L. Schwartz. There is a web page devoted to this and other similar awards. +Stands for Useless Use of cat ; the reference is to the Unix command cat (1) +, not the feline animal. As received wisdom on comp.unix.shell observes, The +purpose of cat is to concatenate (or catenate ) files. If it's only one +file, concatenating it with nothing at all is a waste of time, and costs you +a process. Nevertheless one sees people doing +catfile|some_commandanditsargs... instead of the equivalent and cheaper +filesome_commandanditsargs... or (equivalently and more classically) +some_commandanditsargs... file Since 1995, occasional awards for UUOC have +been given out, usually by Perl luminary Randal L. Schwartz. There is a web +page devoted to this and other similar awards. + diff --git a/entries/Unix brain damage.txt b/entries/Unix brain damage.txt index 59b81a7..12f5acb 100644 --- a/entries/Unix brain damage.txt +++ b/entries/Unix brain damage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Unix brain damage -n. Something that has to be done to break a network program (typically a mailer) on a non-Unix system so that it will interoperate with Unix systems. The hack may qualify as Unix brain damage if the program conforms to published standards and the Unix program in question does not. Unix brain damage happens because it is much easier for other (minority) systems to change their ways to match non-conforming behavior than it is to change all the hundreds of thousands of Unix systems out there. An example of Unix brain damage is a kluge in a mail server to recognize bare line feed (the Unix newline) as an equivalent form to the Internet standard newline, which is a carriage return followed by a line feed. Such things can make even a hardened jock weep. +n. Something that has to be done to break a network program (typically a +mailer) on a non-Unix system so that it will interoperate with Unix systems. +The hack may qualify as Unix brain damage if the program conforms to +published standards and the Unix program in question does not. Unix brain +damage happens because it is much easier for other (minority) systems to +change their ways to match non-conforming behavior than it is to change all +the hundreds of thousands of Unix systems out there. An example of Unix +brain damage is a kluge in a mail server to recognize bare line feed (the +Unix newline) as an equivalent form to the Internet standard newline, which +is a carriage return followed by a line feed. Such things can make even a +hardened jock weep. + diff --git a/entries/Unix conspiracy.txt b/entries/Unix conspiracy.txt index 126a1b4..6e4f9c8 100644 --- a/entries/Unix conspiracy.txt +++ b/entries/Unix conspiracy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ Unix conspiracy -n. [ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among ITS and TOPS-20 fans, Unix's growth is the result of a plot, hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT T's competitors by making them dependent upon a system whose future evolution was to be under AT T's control. This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating system that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but also relatively unreliable and insecure (so as to require continuing upgrades from AT T). This theory was lent a substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced in the back door entry. In this view, Unix was designed to be one of the first computer viruses (see virus ) but a virus spread to computers indirectly by people and market forces, rather than directly through disks and networks. Adherents of this Unix virus theory like to cite the fact that the well-known quotation Unix is snake oil was uttered by DEC president Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promoting its own family of Unix workstations. (Olsen now claims to have been misquoted.) If there was ever such a conspiracy, it got thoroughly out of the plotters' control after 1990. AT T sold its Unix operation to Novell around the same time Linux and other free-Unix distributions were beginning to make noise. +n. [ITS] According to a conspiracy theory long popular among ITS and TOPS-20 +fans, Unix's growth is the result of a plot, hatched during the 1970s at +Bell Labs, whose intent was to hobble AT T's competitors by making them +dependent upon a system whose future evolution was to be under AT T's +control. This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating system +that is apparently inexpensive and easily portable, but also relatively +unreliable and insecure (so as to require continuing upgrades from AT T). +This theory was lent a substantial impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced +in the back door entry. In this view, Unix was designed to be one of the +first computer viruses (see virus ) but a virus spread to computers +indirectly by people and market forces, rather than directly through disks +and networks. Adherents of this Unix virus theory like to cite the fact that +the well-known quotation Unix is snake oil was uttered by DEC president +Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began actively promoting its own family of +Unix workstations. (Olsen now claims to have been misquoted.) If there was +ever such a conspiracy, it got thoroughly out of the plotters' control after +1990. AT T sold its Unix operation to Novell around the same time Linux and +other free-Unix distributions were beginning to make noise. + diff --git a/entries/Unix weenie.txt b/entries/Unix weenie.txt index 2f3b42d..7aa8a7d 100644 --- a/entries/Unix weenie.txt +++ b/entries/Unix weenie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Unix weenie -n. [ITS] 1. A derogatory play on Unix wizard , common among hackers who use Unix by necessity but would prefer alternatives. The implication is that although the person in question may consider mastery of Unix arcana to be a wizardly skill, the only real skill involved is the ability to tolerate (and the bad taste to wallow in) the incoherence and needless complexity that is alleged to infest many Unix programs. This shell script tries to parse its arguments in 69 bletcherous ways. It must have been written by a real Unix weenie. 2. A derogatory term for anyone who engages in uncritical praise of Unix. Often appearing in the context stupid Unix weenie. See Weenix , Unix conspiracy. See also weenie. +n. [ITS] 1. A derogatory play on Unix wizard , common among hackers who use +Unix by necessity but would prefer alternatives. The implication is that +although the person in question may consider mastery of Unix arcana to be a +wizardly skill, the only real skill involved is the ability to tolerate (and +the bad taste to wallow in) the incoherence and needless complexity that is +alleged to infest many Unix programs. This shell script tries to parse its +arguments in 69 bletcherous ways. It must have been written by a real Unix +weenie. 2. A derogatory term for anyone who engages in uncritical praise of +Unix. Often appearing in the context stupid Unix weenie. See Weenix , Unix +conspiracy. See also weenie. + diff --git a/entries/Unix.txt b/entries/Unix.txt index 7838ed0..66dde26 100644 --- a/entries/Unix.txt +++ b/entries/Unix.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ Unix -/yooniks/ , n. [In the authors' words, A weak pun on Multics ; very early on it was UNICS ] (also UNIX ) An interactive timesharing system invented in 1969 by Ken Thompson after Bell Labs left the Multics project, originally so he could play games on his scavenged PDP-7. Dennis Ritchie, the inventor of C, is considered a co-author of the system. The turning point in Unix's history came when it was reimplemented almost entirely in C during 1972 1974, making it the first source-portable OS. Unix subsequently underwent mutations and expansions at the hands of many different people, resulting in a uniquely flexible and developer-friendly environment. By 1991, Unix had become the most widely used multiuser general-purpose operating system in the world and since 1996 the variant called Linux has been at the cutting edge of the open source movement. Many people consider the success of Unix the most important victory yet of hackerdom over industry opposition (but see Unix weenie and Unix conspiracy for an opposing point of view). See Version 7 , BSD , Linux. Archetypal hackers ken (left) and dmr (right). Some people are confused over whether this word is appropriately UNIX or Unix ; both forms are common, and used interchangeably. Dennis Ritchie says that the UNIX spelling originally happened in CACM's 1974 paper The UNIX Time-Sharing System because we had a new typesetter and troff had just been invented and we were intoxicated by being able to produce small caps. Later, dmr tried to get the spelling changed to Unix in a couple of Bell Labs papers, on the grounds that the word is not acronymic. He failed, and eventually (his words) wimped out on the issue. So, while the trademark today is UNIX , both capitalizations are grounded in ancient usage; the Jargon File uses Unix in deference to dmr's wishes. +/yooniks/ , n. [In the authors' words, A weak pun on Multics ; very early on +it was UNICS ] (also UNIX ) An interactive timesharing system invented in +1969 by Ken Thompson after Bell Labs left the Multics project, originally so +he could play games on his scavenged PDP-7. Dennis Ritchie, the inventor of +C, is considered a co-author of the system. The turning point in Unix's +history came when it was reimplemented almost entirely in C during 1972 +1974, making it the first source-portable OS. Unix subsequently underwent +mutations and expansions at the hands of many different people, resulting in +a uniquely flexible and developer-friendly environment. By 1991, Unix had +become the most widely used multiuser general-purpose operating system in +the world and since 1996 the variant called Linux has been at the cutting +edge of the open source movement. Many people consider the success of Unix +the most important victory yet of hackerdom over industry opposition (but +see Unix weenie and Unix conspiracy for an opposing point of view). See +Version 7 , BSD , Linux. Archetypal hackers ken (left) and dmr (right). Some +people are confused over whether this word is appropriately UNIX or Unix ; +both forms are common, and used interchangeably. Dennis Ritchie says that +the UNIX spelling originally happened in CACM's 1974 paper The UNIX +Time-Sharing System because we had a new typesetter and troff had just been +invented and we were intoxicated by being able to produce small caps. Later, +dmr tried to get the spelling changed to Unix in a couple of Bell Labs +papers, on the grounds that the word is not acronymic. He failed, and +eventually (his words) wimped out on the issue. So, while the trademark +today is UNIX , both capitalizations are grounded in ancient usage; the +Jargon File uses Unix in deference to dmr's wishes. + diff --git a/entries/Usenet Death Penalty.txt b/entries/Usenet Death Penalty.txt index 4366fb6..66341ca 100644 --- a/entries/Usenet Death Penalty.txt +++ b/entries/Usenet Death Penalty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Usenet Death Penalty -A sanction against sites that habitually spew Usenet spam. This can be either passive or active. A passive UDP refers to the dropping of all postings by a particular domain so as to inhibit propagation. An active UDP refers to third-party cancellation of all postings by the UDPed domain. A partial UDP is one which applies only to certain newsgroups or hierarchies in Usenet. Compare Internet Death Penalty , with which this term is sometimes confused. +A sanction against sites that habitually spew Usenet spam. This can be +either passive or active. A passive UDP refers to the dropping of all +postings by a particular domain so as to inhibit propagation. An active UDP +refers to third-party cancellation of all postings by the UDPed domain. A +partial UDP is one which applies only to certain newsgroups or hierarchies +in Usenet. Compare Internet Death Penalty , with which this term is +sometimes confused. + diff --git a/entries/Usenet.txt b/entries/Usenet.txt index 13109aa..e989957 100644 --- a/entries/Usenet.txt +++ b/entries/Usenet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ Usenet -/yoosnet/ , /yooznet/ , n. [from Users' Network ; the original spelling was USENET, but the mixed-case form is now widely preferred] A distributed bboard (bulletin board) system supported mainly by Unix machines. Originally implemented in 1979--1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and Steve Daniel at Duke University and the University of North Carolina, it has swiftly grown to become international in scope and is now probably the largest decentralized information utility in existence. As of late 2002, it hosts over 100,000 newsgroup s and an unguessably huge volume of new technical articles, news, discussion, chatter, and flamage every day (and that leaves out the graphics...). By the year the Internet hit the mainstream (1994) the original UUCP transport for Usenet was fading out of use almost all Usenet connections were over Internet links. A lot of newbies and journalists began to refer to Internet newsgroups as though Usenet was and always had been just another Internet service. This ignorance greatly annoys experienced Usenetters. +/yoosnet/ , /yooznet/ , n. [from Users' Network ; the original spelling was +USENET, but the mixed-case form is now widely preferred] A distributed +bboard (bulletin board) system supported mainly by Unix machines. Originally +implemented in 1979--1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom Truscott, and +Steve Daniel at Duke University and the University of North Carolina, it has +swiftly grown to become international in scope and is now probably the +largest decentralized information utility in existence. As of late 2002, it +hosts over 100,000 newsgroup s and an unguessably huge volume of new +technical articles, news, discussion, chatter, and flamage every day (and +that leaves out the graphics...). By the year the Internet hit the +mainstream (1994) the original UUCP transport for Usenet was fading out of +use almost all Usenet connections were over Internet links. A lot of newbies +and journalists began to refer to Internet newsgroups as though Usenet was +and always had been just another Internet service. This ignorance greatly +annoys experienced Usenetters. + diff --git a/entries/Utah teapot, the.txt b/entries/Utah teapot, the.txt index 72fd29e..5369ade 100644 --- a/entries/Utah teapot, the.txt +++ b/entries/Utah teapot, the.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Utah teapot, the -This object is historically one of the first complex 3D models to be rendered in computer graphics. It consisted of about 110 vertices, and was generated by Martin Newell in 1974 using hand-drawn Bezier curves, based on a real teapot that he and his wife had bought. This model served as a basis for comparing various 3D rendering methodologies for lighting, textures, bump-mapping, etc. By the standards of 2002, the model is trivial to render and thus is often not suited to demonstrate the complexity of modern research. Despite this, the tea pot still appears, now and then, in recent papers. More on the teapot's history lives at The History Of The Teapot. +This object is historically one of the first complex 3D models to be +rendered in computer graphics. It consisted of about 110 vertices, and was +generated by Martin Newell in 1974 using hand-drawn Bezier curves, based on +a real teapot that he and his wife had bought. This model served as a basis +for comparing various 3D rendering methodologies for lighting, textures, +bump-mapping, etc. By the standards of 2002, the model is trivial to render +and thus is often not suited to demonstrate the complexity of modern +research. Despite this, the tea pot still appears, now and then, in recent +papers. More on the teapot's history lives at The History Of The Teapot. + diff --git a/entries/V7.txt b/entries/V7.txt index d3de77e..e9bc5e2 100644 --- a/entries/V7.txt +++ b/entries/V7.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ V7 /Vseven/ , n. See Version 7. + diff --git a/entries/VAX.txt b/entries/VAX.txt index 1f74ccb..7c02fe2 100644 --- a/entries/VAX.txt +++ b/entries/VAX.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ VAX -/vaks/ , n. 1. [from Virtual Address eXtension] The most successful minicomputer design in industry history, possibly excepting its immediate ancestor, the PDP-11. Between its release in 1978 and its eclipse by killer micro s after about 1986, the VAX was probably the hacker's favorite machine of them all, esp. after the 1982 release of 4.2 BSD Unix (see BSD ). Especially noted for its large, assembler-programmer-friendly instruction set an asset that became a liability after the RISC revolution. It is worth noting that the standard plural of VAX was vaxen and that VAX system operators were sometimes referred to as vaxherds 2. A major brand of vacuum cleaner in Britain. Cited here because its sales pitch, Nothing sucks like a VAX! became a sort of battle-cry of RISC partisans. It is even sometimes claimed that DEC actually entered a cross-licensing deal with the vacuum-Vax people that allowed them to market VAX computers in the U.K. in return for not challenging the vacuum cleaner trademark in the U.S. A rival brand actually pioneered the slogan: its original form was Nothing sucks like Electrolux. It has apparently become a classic example (used in advertising textbooks) of the perils of not knowing the local idiom. But in 1996, the press manager of Electrolux AB, while confirming that the company used this slogan in the late 1960s, also tells us that their marketing people were fully aware of the possible double entendre and intended it to gain attention. And gain attention it did the VAX-vacuum-cleaner people thought the slogan a sufficiently good idea to copy it. Several British hackers report that VAX's promotions used it in 1986--1987, and we have one report from a New Zealander that the infamous slogan surfaced there in TV ads for the product in 1992. +/vaks/ , n. 1. [from Virtual Address eXtension] The most successful +minicomputer design in industry history, possibly excepting its immediate +ancestor, the PDP-11. Between its release in 1978 and its eclipse by killer +micro s after about 1986, the VAX was probably the hacker's favorite machine +of them all, esp. after the 1982 release of 4.2 BSD Unix (see BSD ). +Especially noted for its large, assembler-programmer-friendly instruction +set an asset that became a liability after the RISC revolution. It is worth +noting that the standard plural of VAX was vaxen and that VAX system +operators were sometimes referred to as vaxherds 2. A major brand of vacuum +cleaner in Britain. Cited here because its sales pitch, Nothing sucks like a +VAX! became a sort of battle-cry of RISC partisans. It is even sometimes +claimed that DEC actually entered a cross-licensing deal with the vacuum-Vax +people that allowed them to market VAX computers in the U.K. in return for +not challenging the vacuum cleaner trademark in the U.S. A rival brand +actually pioneered the slogan: its original form was Nothing sucks like +Electrolux. It has apparently become a classic example (used in advertising +textbooks) of the perils of not knowing the local idiom. But in 1996, the +press manager of Electrolux AB, while confirming that the company used this +slogan in the late 1960s, also tells us that their marketing people were +fully aware of the possible double entendre and intended it to gain +attention. And gain attention it did the VAX-vacuum-cleaner people thought +the slogan a sufficiently good idea to copy it. Several British hackers +report that VAX's promotions used it in 1986--1987, and we have one report +from a New Zealander that the infamous slogan surfaced there in TV ads for +the product in 1992. + diff --git a/entries/VAXen.txt b/entries/VAXen.txt index 7dd3f13..97716f8 100644 --- a/entries/VAXen.txt +++ b/entries/VAXen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ VAXen -/vaksn/ , n. [from oxen , perhaps influenced by vixen ] (alt.: vaxen ) The plural canonically used among hackers for the DEC VAX computers. Our installation has four PDP-10s and twenty vaxen. See boxen. +/vaksn/ , n. [from oxen , perhaps influenced by vixen ] (alt.: vaxen ) The +plural canonically used among hackers for the DEC VAX computers. Our +installation has four PDP-10s and twenty vaxen. See boxen. + diff --git a/entries/VMS.txt b/entries/VMS.txt index 7fae169..472694b 100644 --- a/entries/VMS.txt +++ b/entries/VMS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ VMS -/VMS/ , n. DEC 's proprietary operating system for its VAX minicomputer; one of the seven or so environments that loom largest in hacker folklore. Many Unix fans generously concede that VMS would probably be the hacker's favorite commercial OS if Unix didn't exist; though true, this makes VMS fans furious. One major hacker gripe with VMS concerns its slowness thus the following limerick: ThereoncewasasystemcalledVMS Ofcyclesbynomeansabstemious. It'schock-fullofhacks AndrunsonaVAX Andmakesmypoorstomachallsqueamious. TheGreatQuux See also VAX , TOPS-10 , TOPS-20 , Unix , runic. +/VMS/ , n. DEC 's proprietary operating system for its VAX minicomputer; one +of the seven or so environments that loom largest in hacker folklore. Many +Unix fans generously concede that VMS would probably be the hacker's +favorite commercial OS if Unix didn't exist; though true, this makes VMS +fans furious. One major hacker gripe with VMS concerns its slowness thus the +following limerick: ThereoncewasasystemcalledVMS +Ofcyclesbynomeansabstemious. It'schock-fullofhacks AndrunsonaVAX +Andmakesmypoorstomachallsqueamious. TheGreatQuux See also VAX , TOPS-10 , +TOPS-20 , Unix , runic. + diff --git a/entries/VR.txt b/entries/VR.txt index 090d917..58fa64b 100644 --- a/entries/VR.txt +++ b/entries/VR.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ VR // , n. On-line abbrev for virtual reality , as opposed to RL. + diff --git a/entries/Venus flytrap.txt b/entries/Venus flytrap.txt index e075cc8..cb11197 100644 --- a/entries/Venus flytrap.txt +++ b/entries/Venus flytrap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Venus flytrap n. [after the insect-eating plant] See firewall machine. + diff --git a/entries/Verb Doubling.txt b/entries/Verb Doubling.txt index e9c9cb1..442086e 100644 --- a/entries/Verb Doubling.txt +++ b/entries/Verb Doubling.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ Verb Doubling -The disk heads just crashed. Lose, lose. Mostly he talked about his latest crock. Flame, flame. Boy, what a bagbiter! Chomp, chomp! Some verb-doubled constructions have special meanings not immediately obvious from the verb. These have their own listings in the lexicon. The Usenet culture has one tripling convention unrelated to this; the names of joke topic groups often have a tripled last element. The first and paradigmatic example was alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork (a Muppet Show reference); other infamous examples have included: alt.french.captain.borg.borg.borg alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die comp.unix.internals.system.calls.brk.brk.brk sci.physics.edward.teller.boom.boom.boom alt.sadistic.dentists.drill.drill.drill These two traditions fuse in the newsgroup alt.adjective.noun.verb.verb.verb , devoted to humor based on deliberately confounding parts of speech. Several observers have noted that the contents of this group is excellently representative of the peculiarities of hacker humor. Prev Up Next Chapter4. +The disk heads just crashed. Lose, lose. Mostly he talked about his +latest crock. Flame, flame. Boy, what a bagbiter! Chomp, chomp! Some +verb-doubled constructions have special meanings not immediately obvious +from the verb. These have their own listings in the lexicon. The Usenet +culture has one tripling convention unrelated to this; the names of joke +topic groups often have a tripled last element. The first and paradigmatic +example was alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork (a Muppet Show reference); other +infamous examples have included: alt.french.captain.borg.borg.borg +alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die comp.unix.internals.system.calls.brk.brk.brk +sci.physics.edward.teller.boom.boom.boom +alt.sadistic.dentists.drill.drill.drill These two traditions fuse in the +newsgroup alt.adjective.noun.verb.verb.verb , devoted to humor based on +deliberately confounding parts of speech. Several observers have noted that +the contents of this group is excellently representative of the +peculiarities of hacker humor. Prev Up Next Chapter4. + diff --git a/entries/Version 7.txt b/entries/Version 7.txt index 6300af6..9034c06 100644 --- a/entries/Version 7.txt +++ b/entries/Version 7.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Version 7 -/vee sevn/ , n. The first widely distributed version of Unix , released unsupported by Bell Labs in 1978. The term is used adjectivally to describe Unix features and programs that date from that release, and are thus guaranteed to be present and portable in all Unix versions (this was the standard gauge of portability before the POSIX and IEEE 1003 standards). Note that this usage does not derive from the release being the seventh version of Unix ; research Unix at Bell Labs has traditionally been numbered according to the edition of the associated documentation. Indeed, only the widely-distributed Sixth and Seventh Editions are widely known as V[67]; the OS that might today be known as V10 is instead known in full as Tenth Edition Research Unix or just Tenth Edition for short. For this reason, V7 is often read by cognoscenti as Seventh Edition. See BSD , Unix. Some old-timers impatient with commercialization and kernel bloat still maintain that V7 was the Last True Unix. +/vee sevn/ , n. The first widely distributed version of Unix , released +unsupported by Bell Labs in 1978. The term is used adjectivally to describe +Unix features and programs that date from that release, and are thus +guaranteed to be present and portable in all Unix versions (this was the +standard gauge of portability before the POSIX and IEEE 1003 standards). +Note that this usage does not derive from the release being the seventh +version of Unix ; research Unix at Bell Labs has traditionally been numbered +according to the edition of the associated documentation. Indeed, only the +widely-distributed Sixth and Seventh Editions are widely known as V[67]; the +OS that might today be known as V10 is instead known in full as Tenth +Edition Research Unix or just Tenth Edition for short. For this reason, V7 +is often read by cognoscenti as Seventh Edition. See BSD , Unix. Some +old-timers impatient with commercialization and kernel bloat still maintain +that V7 was the Last True Unix. + diff --git a/entries/Visual Fred.txt b/entries/Visual Fred.txt index daec65b..8178000 100644 --- a/entries/Visual Fred.txt +++ b/entries/Visual Fred.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Visual Fred -n. Pejorative hackerism for VB.NET (Visual Basic for the. NET framework). VB.NET has been marketed by Microsoft as an updated version of the previous Visual Basic on its. NET framework, but VB.NET is really just C# with a slightly different syntax and fewer libraries. Migrating existing code from Visual Basic to VB.NET is generally impractical because VB.NET has a large number of unnecessary incompatibilities with Visual Basic. Since VB.NET has essentially nothing to do with Visual Basic, a well-known ex-Microserf suggested that VB.NET should have a completely different name Visual Fred. This rapidly caught on. +n. Pejorative hackerism for VB.NET (Visual Basic for the. NET framework). +VB.NET has been marketed by Microsoft as an updated version of the previous +Visual Basic on its. NET framework, but VB.NET is really just C# with a +slightly different syntax and fewer libraries. Migrating existing code from +Visual Basic to VB.NET is generally impractical because VB.NET has a large +number of unnecessary incompatibilities with Visual Basic. Since VB.NET has +essentially nothing to do with Visual Basic, a well-known ex-Microserf +suggested that VB.NET should have a completely different name Visual Fred. +This rapidly caught on. + diff --git a/entries/Vulcan nerve pinch.txt b/entries/Vulcan nerve pinch.txt index 1e0dc10..7aa52ef 100644 --- a/entries/Vulcan nerve pinch.txt +++ b/entries/Vulcan nerve pinch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ Vulcan nerve pinch -n. [from the old Star Trek TV series via Commodore Amiga hackers] The keyboard combination that forces a soft-boot or jump to ROM monitor (on machines that support such a feature). On Amigas this is Ctrl - Left-Amiga - Right-Amiga ; on PC clones this is Ctrl-Alt-Del; on Suns, L1-A; on Macintoshes, it is Cmd - Power switch or Cmd - Ctrl - Power ! On IRIX, Left-Ctrl Left-Shift F12 Keypad-Slash , which kills and restarts the X server, is sometimes called a vulcan nerve pinch. Also called three-finger salute and Vulcan death grip. At shops with a lot of Microsoft Windows machines, this is often called the Microsoft Maneuver because of the distressing frequency with which Microsoft's unreliable software requires it. Compare quadruple bucky. +n. [from the old Star Trek TV series via Commodore Amiga hackers] The +keyboard combination that forces a soft-boot or jump to ROM monitor (on +machines that support such a feature). On Amigas this is Ctrl - Left-Amiga - +Right-Amiga ; on PC clones this is Ctrl-Alt-Del; on Suns, L1-A; on +Macintoshes, it is Cmd - Power switch or Cmd - Ctrl - Power ! On IRIX, +Left-Ctrl Left-Shift F12 Keypad-Slash , which kills and restarts the X +server, is sometimes called a vulcan nerve pinch. Also called three-finger +salute and Vulcan death grip. At shops with a lot of Microsoft Windows +machines, this is often called the Microsoft Maneuver because of the +distressing frequency with which Microsoft's unreliable software requires +it. Compare quadruple bucky. + diff --git a/entries/WAITS.txt b/entries/WAITS.txt index 5ac9d3c..99e0730 100644 --- a/entries/WAITS.txt +++ b/entries/WAITS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ WAITS -/wayts/ , n. The mutant cousin of TOPS-10 used on a handful of systems at SAIL up to 1990. There was never an official expansion of WAITS (the name itself having been arrived at by a rather sideways process), but it was frequently glossed as West-coast Alternative to ITS. Though WAITS was less visible than ITS, there was frequent exchange of people and ideas between the two communities, and innovations pioneered at WAITS exerted enormous indirect influence. The early screen modes of EMACS , for example, were directly inspired by WAITS's E editor one of a family of editors that were the first to do real-time editing , in which the editing commands were invisible and where one typed text at the point of insertion/overwriting. The modern style of multi-region windowing is said to have originated there, and WAITS alumni at XEROX PARC and elsewhere played major roles in the developments that led to the XEROX Star, the Macintosh, and the Sun workstations. Also invented there were bucky bits thus, the ALT key on every IBM PC is a WAITS legacy. One WAITS feature very notable in pre-Web days was a news-wire interface that allowed WAITS hackers to read, store, and filter AP and UPI dispatches from their terminals; the system also featured a still-unusual level of support for what is now called multimedia computing, allowing analog audio and video signals to be switched to programming terminals. +/wayts/ , n. The mutant cousin of TOPS-10 used on a handful of systems at +SAIL up to 1990. There was never an official expansion of WAITS (the name +itself having been arrived at by a rather sideways process), but it was +frequently glossed as West-coast Alternative to ITS. Though WAITS was less +visible than ITS, there was frequent exchange of people and ideas between +the two communities, and innovations pioneered at WAITS exerted enormous +indirect influence. The early screen modes of EMACS , for example, were +directly inspired by WAITS's E editor one of a family of editors that were +the first to do real-time editing , in which the editing commands were +invisible and where one typed text at the point of insertion/overwriting. +The modern style of multi-region windowing is said to have originated there, +and WAITS alumni at XEROX PARC and elsewhere played major roles in the +developments that led to the XEROX Star, the Macintosh, and the Sun +workstations. Also invented there were bucky bits thus, the ALT key on every +IBM PC is a WAITS legacy. One WAITS feature very notable in pre-Web days was +a news-wire interface that allowed WAITS hackers to read, store, and filter +AP and UPI dispatches from their terminals; the system also featured a +still-unusual level of support for what is now called multimedia computing, +allowing analog audio and video signals to be switched to programming +terminals. + diff --git a/entries/WIBNI.txt b/entries/WIBNI.txt index 35acac8..e40d500 100644 --- a/entries/WIBNI.txt +++ b/entries/WIBNI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ WIBNI -// , n. [Bell Labs: Wouldn't It Be Nice If] What most requirements documents and specifications consist entirely of. Compare IWBNI. +// , n. [Bell Labs: Wouldn't It Be Nice If] What most requirements documents +and specifications consist entirely of. Compare IWBNI. + diff --git a/entries/WIMP environment.txt b/entries/WIMP environment.txt index 2075b10..4324950 100644 --- a/entries/WIMP environment.txt +++ b/entries/WIMP environment.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ WIMP environment -n. [acronym: Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device (or Pull-down menu) ] A graphical-user-interface environment such as X or the Macintosh interface, esp. as described by a hacker who prefers command-line interfaces for their superior flexibility and extensibility. However, it is also used without negative connotations; one must pay attention to voice tone and other signals to interpret correctly. See menuitis , user-obsequious. +n. [acronym: Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device (or Pull-down menu) ] A +graphical-user-interface environment such as X or the Macintosh interface, +esp. as described by a hacker who prefers command-line interfaces for their +superior flexibility and extensibility. However, it is also used without +negative connotations; one must pay attention to voice tone and other +signals to interpret correctly. See menuitis , user-obsequious. + diff --git a/entries/WOMBAT.txt b/entries/WOMBAT.txt index 0ef50c2..873826f 100644 --- a/entries/WOMBAT.txt +++ b/entries/WOMBAT.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ WOMBAT -/wombat/ , adj. [acronym: Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time] 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 wombat. See also crawling horror , SMOP. Also note the rather different usage as a metasyntactic variable in Commonwealth Hackish. Users of the PDP-11 database program DATATRIEVE adopted the wombat as their notional mascot; the program's help file responded to HELP WOMBAT with factual information about Real World wombats. +/wombat/ , adj. [acronym: Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time] 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 wombat. See also crawling horror , +SMOP. Also note the rather different usage as a metasyntactic variable in +Commonwealth Hackish. Users of the PDP-11 database program DATATRIEVE +adopted the wombat as their notional mascot; the program's help file +responded to HELP WOMBAT with factual information about Real World wombats. + diff --git a/entries/WYSIAYG.txt b/entries/WYSIAYG.txt index dbc024c..91c124d 100644 --- a/entries/WYSIAYG.txt +++ b/entries/WYSIAYG.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ WYSIAYG -/wizeeayg/ , adj. Describes a user interface under which What You See Is All You Get ; an unhappy variant of WYSIWYG. Visual, point-and-shoot -style interfaces tend to have easy initial learning curves, but also to lack depth; they often frustrate advanced users who would be better served by a command-style interface. When this happens, the frustrated user has a WYSIAYG problem. This term is most often used of editors, word processors, and document formatting programs. WYSIWYG desktop publishing programs, for example, are a clear win for creating small documents with lots of fonts and graphics in them, especially things like newsletters and presentation slides. When typesetting book-length manuscripts, on the other hand, scale changes the nature of the task; one quickly runs into WYSIAYG limitations, and the increased power and flexibility of a command-driven formatter like TeX or Unix's troff becomes not just desirable but a necessity. Compare YAFIYGI. +/wizeeayg/ , adj. Describes a user interface under which What You See Is All +You Get ; an unhappy variant of WYSIWYG. Visual, point-and-shoot -style +interfaces tend to have easy initial learning curves, but also to lack +depth; they often frustrate advanced users who would be better served by a +command-style interface. When this happens, the frustrated user has a +WYSIAYG problem. This term is most often used of editors, word processors, +and document formatting programs. WYSIWYG desktop publishing programs, for +example, are a clear win for creating small documents with lots of fonts and +graphics in them, especially things like newsletters and presentation +slides. When typesetting book-length manuscripts, on the other hand, scale +changes the nature of the task; one quickly runs into WYSIAYG limitations, +and the increased power and flexibility of a command-driven formatter like +TeX or Unix's troff becomes not just desirable but a necessity. Compare +YAFIYGI. + diff --git a/entries/WYSIWYG.txt b/entries/WYSIWYG.txt index a1cb06e..5b63e22 100644 --- a/entries/WYSIWYG.txt +++ b/entries/WYSIWYG.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ WYSIWYG -/wizeewig/ , /wisseewig/ , adj. [Traced to Flip Wilson's Geraldine character c.1970] Describes a user interface under which What You See Is What You Get , as opposed to one that uses more-or-less obscure commands that do not result in immediate visual feedback. True WYSIWYG in environments supporting multiple fonts or graphics is a rarely-attained ideal; there are variants of this term to express real-world manifestations including WYSIAWYG (What You See Is Almost What You Get) and WYSIMOLWYG (What You See Is More or Less What You Get). All these can be mildly derogatory, as they are often used to refer to dumbed-down user-friendly interfaces targeted at non-programmers; a hacker has no fear of obscure commands (compare WYSIAYG ). On the other hand, EMACS was one of the very first WYSIWYG editors, replacing (actually, at first overlaying) the extremely obscure, command-based TECO. See also WIMP environment. [Oddly enough, WYSIWYG made it into the 1986 supplement to the OED, in lower case yet. +/wizeewig/ , /wisseewig/ , adj. [Traced to Flip Wilson's Geraldine character +c.1970] Describes a user interface under which What You See Is What You Get +, as opposed to one that uses more-or-less obscure commands that do not +result in immediate visual feedback. True WYSIWYG in environments supporting +multiple fonts or graphics is a rarely-attained ideal; there are variants of +this term to express real-world manifestations including WYSIAWYG (What You +See Is Almost What You Get) and WYSIMOLWYG (What You See Is More or Less +What You Get). All these can be mildly derogatory, as they are often used to +refer to dumbed-down user-friendly interfaces targeted at non-programmers; a +hacker has no fear of obscure commands (compare WYSIAYG ). On the other +hand, EMACS was one of the very first WYSIWYG editors, replacing (actually, +at first overlaying) the extremely obscure, command-based TECO. See also +WIMP environment. [Oddly enough, WYSIWYG made it into the 1986 supplement to +the OED, in lower case yet. + diff --git a/entries/Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality.txt b/entries/Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality.txt index b1f6eba..1f77134 100644 --- a/entries/Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality.txt +++ b/entries/Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality.txt @@ -1,3 +1,47 @@ Weaknesses of the Hacker Personality -withdrawn, relationally incompetent, sexually frustrated, and desperately unhappy when not submerged in his or her craft. Fortunately, this extreme is far less common than mainstream folklore paints it but almost all hackers will recognize something of themselves in the unflattering paragraphs above. Hackers are often monumentally disorganized and sloppy about dealing with the physical world. Bills don't get paid on time, clutter piles up to incredible heights in homes and offices, and minor maintenance tasks get deferred indefinitely. 1994-95's fad behavioral disease was a syndrome called Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), supposedly characterized by (among other things) a combination of short attention span with an ability to hyperfocus imaginatively on interesting tasks. In 1998-1999 another syndrome that is said to overlap with many hacker traits entered popular awareness: Asperger's syndrome (AS). This disorder is also sometimes called high-function autism, though researchers are divided on whether AS is in fact a mild form of autism or a distinct syndrome with a different etiology. AS patients exhibit mild to severe deficits in interpreting facial and body-language cues and in modeling or empathizing with others' emotions. Though some AS patients exhibit mild retardation, others compensate for their deficits with high intelligence and analytical ability, and frequently seek out technical fields where problem-solving abilities are at a premium and people skills are relatively unimportant. Both syndromes are thought to relate to abnormalities in neurotransmitter chemistry, especially the brain's processing of serotonin. Many hackers have noticed that mainstream culture has shown a tendency to pathologize and medicalize normal variations in personality, especially those variations that make life more complicated for authority figures and conformists. Thus, hackers aware of the issue tend to be among those questioning whether ADD and AS actually exist; and if so whether they are really diseases rather than extremes of a normal genetic variation like having freckles or being able to taste DPT. In either case, they have a sneaking tendency to wonder if these syndromes are over-diagnosed and over-treated. After all, people in authority will always be inconvenienced by schoolchildren or workers or citizens who are prickly, intelligent individualists thus, any social system that depends on authority relationships will tend to helpfully ostracize and therapize and drug such abnormal people until they are properly docile and stupid and well-socialized. So hackers tend to believe they have good reason for skepticism about clinical explanations of the hacker personality. That being said, most would also concede that some hacker traits coincide with indicators for non-hyperactive ADD and AS the status of caffeine as a hacker beverage of choice may be connected to the fact that it bonds to the same neural receptors as Ritalin, the drug most commonly prescribed for ADD. It is probably true that boosters of both would find a rather higher rate of clinical ADD among hackers than the supposedly mainstream-normal 3-5% (AS is rarer at 0.4-0.5%). +withdrawn, relationally incompetent, sexually frustrated, and desperately +unhappy when not submerged in his or her craft. Fortunately, this extreme is +far less common than mainstream folklore paints it but almost all hackers +will recognize something of themselves in the unflattering paragraphs above. +Hackers are often monumentally disorganized and sloppy about dealing with +the physical world. Bills don't get paid on time, clutter piles up to +incredible heights in homes and offices, and minor maintenance tasks get +deferred indefinitely. 1994-95's fad behavioral disease was a syndrome +called Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), supposedly characterized by (among +other things) a combination of short attention span with an ability to +hyperfocus imaginatively on interesting tasks. In 1998-1999 another syndrome +that is said to overlap with many hacker traits entered popular awareness: +Asperger's syndrome (AS). This disorder is also sometimes called +high-function autism, though researchers are divided on whether AS is in +fact a mild form of autism or a distinct syndrome with a different etiology. +AS patients exhibit mild to severe deficits in interpreting facial and +body-language cues and in modeling or empathizing with others' emotions. +Though some AS patients exhibit mild retardation, others compensate for +their deficits with high intelligence and analytical ability, and frequently +seek out technical fields where problem-solving abilities are at a premium +and people skills are relatively unimportant. Both syndromes are thought to +relate to abnormalities in neurotransmitter chemistry, especially the +brain's processing of serotonin. Many hackers have noticed that mainstream +culture has shown a tendency to pathologize and medicalize normal variations +in personality, especially those variations that make life more complicated +for authority figures and conformists. Thus, hackers aware of the issue tend +to be among those questioning whether ADD and AS actually exist; and if so +whether they are really diseases rather than extremes of a normal genetic +variation like having freckles or being able to taste DPT. In either case, +they have a sneaking tendency to wonder if these syndromes are +over-diagnosed and over-treated. After all, people in authority will always +be inconvenienced by schoolchildren or workers or citizens who are prickly, +intelligent individualists thus, any social system that depends on +authority relationships will tend to helpfully ostracize and therapize and +drug such abnormal people until they are properly docile and stupid and +well-socialized. So hackers tend to believe they have good reason for +skepticism about clinical explanations of the hacker personality. That being +said, most would also concede that some hacker traits coincide with +indicators for non-hyperactive ADD and AS the status of caffeine as a +hacker beverage of choice may be connected to the fact that it bonds to the +same neural receptors as Ritalin, the drug most commonly prescribed for ADD. +It is probably true that boosters of both would find a rather higher rate of +clinical ADD among hackers than the supposedly mainstream-normal 3-5% (AS is +rarer at 0.4-0.5%). + diff --git a/entries/Weenix.txt b/entries/Weenix.txt index fd488f2..9ace92c 100644 --- a/entries/Weenix.txt +++ b/entries/Weenix.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ Weenix -/weeniks/ , n. 1. [ITS] A derogatory term for Unix , derived from Unix weenie. According to one noted ex-ITSer, it is the operating system preferred by Unix Weenies: typified by poor modularity, poor reliability, hard file deletion, no file version numbers, case sensitivity everywhere, and users who believe that these are all advantages. (Some ITS fans behave as though they believe Unix stole a future that rightfully belonged to them. See ITS , sense 2.) 2. [Brown University] A Unix-like OS developed for tutorial purposes at Brown University. See http://www.cs.brown.edu/courses/cs167/weenix.html. Named independently of the ITS usage. +/weeniks/ , n. 1. [ITS] A derogatory term for Unix , derived from Unix +weenie. According to one noted ex-ITSer, it is the operating system +preferred by Unix Weenies: typified by poor modularity, poor reliability, +hard file deletion, no file version numbers, case sensitivity everywhere, +and users who believe that these are all advantages. (Some ITS fans behave +as though they believe Unix stole a future that rightfully belonged to them. +See ITS , sense 2.) 2. [Brown University] A Unix-like OS developed for +tutorial purposes at Brown University. See +http://www.cs.brown.edu/courses/cs167/weenix.html. Named independently of +the ITS usage. + diff --git a/entries/Welcome to the Jargon File.txt b/entries/Welcome to the Jargon File.txt index abcb68f..702458a 100644 --- a/entries/Welcome to the Jargon File.txt +++ b/entries/Welcome to the Jargon File.txt @@ -1,3 +1,43 @@ Welcome to the Jargon File -This is the Jargon File, a comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor. This document (the Jargon File) is in the public domain, to be freely used, shared, and modified. There are (by intention) no legal restraints on what you can do with it, but there are traditions about its proper use to which many hackers are quite strongly attached. Please extend the courtesy of proper citation when you quote the File, ideally with a version number, as it will change and grow over time. (Examples of appropriate citation form: Jargon File 4.4.6 or The on-line hacker Jargon File, version 4.4.6, 4 Oct 2003. ) The Jargon File is a common heritage of the hacker culture. Over the years a number of individuals have volunteered considerable time to maintaining the File and been recognized by the net at large as editors of it. Editorial responsibilities include: to collate contributions and suggestions from others; to seek out corroborating information; to cross-reference related entries; to keep the file in a consistent format; and to announce and distribute updated versions periodically. Current volunteer editors include: Eric Raymond esr@thyrsus.com Although there is no requirement that you do so, it is considered good form to check with an editor before quoting the File in a published work or commercial product. We may have additional information that would be helpful to you and can assist you in framing your quote to reflect not only the letter of the File but its spirit as well. All contributions and suggestions about this file sent to a volunteer editor are gratefully received and will be regarded, unless otherwise labelled, as freely given donations for possible use as part of this public-domain file. From time to time a snapshot of this file has been polished, edited, and formatted for commercial publication with the cooperation of the volunteer editors and the hacker community at large. If you wish to have a bound paper copy of this file, you may find it convenient to purchase one of these. They often contain additional material not found in on-line versions. The three authorized editions so far are described in the Revision History section; there may be more in the future. The Jargon File's online rendition uses an unusually large number of special characters. This test page lists them so you can check what your browser does with each one. glyph description greek character lambda greek character Lambda greek character pi pound sterling left angle bracket right angle bracket ae ligature German sharp-s sign similarity sign circle-plus circle-times times empty set (used for APL null) micro quantifier sign right arrow horizontal double arrow trademark symbol registered-trademark symbol minus plus-or-minus slashed-O schwa acute accent medial dot Prev Up Next The Jargon File Home PartI. +This is the Jargon File, a comprehensive compendium of hacker slang +illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor. This +document (the Jargon File) is in the public domain, to be freely used, +shared, and modified. There are (by intention) no legal restraints on what +you can do with it, but there are traditions about its proper use to which +many hackers are quite strongly attached. Please extend the courtesy of +proper citation when you quote the File, ideally with a version number, as +it will change and grow over time. (Examples of appropriate citation form: +Jargon File 4.4.6 or The on-line hacker Jargon File, version 4.4.6, 4 Oct +2003. ) The Jargon File is a common heritage of the hacker culture. Over the +years a number of individuals have volunteered considerable time to +maintaining the File and been recognized by the net at large as editors of +it. Editorial responsibilities include: to collate contributions and +suggestions from others; to seek out corroborating information; to +cross-reference related entries; to keep the file in a consistent format; +and to announce and distribute updated versions periodically. Current +volunteer editors include: Eric Raymond esr@thyrsus.com Although there is no +requirement that you do so, it is considered good form to check with an +editor before quoting the File in a published work or commercial product. We +may have additional information that would be helpful to you and can assist +you in framing your quote to reflect not only the letter of the File but its +spirit as well. All contributions and suggestions about this file sent to a +volunteer editor are gratefully received and will be regarded, unless +otherwise labelled, as freely given donations for possible use as part of +this public-domain file. From time to time a snapshot of this file has been +polished, edited, and formatted for commercial publication with the +cooperation of the volunteer editors and the hacker community at large. If +you wish to have a bound paper copy of this file, you may find it convenient +to purchase one of these. They often contain additional material not found +in on-line versions. The three authorized editions so far are described in +the Revision History section; there may be more in the future. The Jargon +File's online rendition uses an unusually large number of special +characters. This test page lists them so you can check what your browser +does with each one. glyph description greek character lambda greek character +Lambda greek character pi pound sterling left angle bracket right angle +bracket ae ligature German sharp-s sign similarity sign circle-plus +circle-times times empty set (used for APL null) micro quantifier sign +right arrow horizontal double arrow trademark symbol registered-trademark +symbol minus plus-or-minus slashed-O schwa acute accent medial dot Prev +Up Next The Jargon File Home PartI. + diff --git a/entries/What's a spline?.txt b/entries/What's a spline?.txt index d0bec07..690ecb8 100644 --- a/entries/What's a spline?.txt +++ b/entries/What's a spline?.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ What's a spline? -This phrase expands to: You have just used a term that I've heard for a year and a half, and I feel I should know, but don't. My curiosity has finally overcome my guilt. The PARC lexicon adds Moral: don't hesitate to ask questions, even if they seem obvious. +This phrase expands to: You have just used a term that I've heard for a year +and a half, and I feel I should know, but don't. My curiosity has finally +overcome my guilt. The PARC lexicon adds Moral: don't hesitate to ask +questions, even if they seem obvious. + diff --git a/entries/Whorfian mind-lock.txt b/entries/Whorfian mind-lock.txt index a863244..d0ea041 100644 --- a/entries/Whorfian mind-lock.txt +++ b/entries/Whorfian mind-lock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ Whorfian mind-lock -Software designs are often restricted in unavoidable ways by the capacities of the operating system or hardware they have to work with. Sometimes they are restricted in avoidable ways by mental habits a developer has picked up from a particular language or environment (perhaps a now-obsolete one) and never discarded. When a design develops complications that are the result of a mental habit that is no longer adaptive, the developer has succumbed to Whorfian mind-lock. The design itself has been whorfed. For example, some Unix designs are whorfed by the assumption that directory searches are linear and expensive for large directories; therefore directories must be kept small. Another common way to succumb to Whorfian mind-lock is to do serial processing with a small working set rather than slurping an entire file or data structure into memory; the hidden assumption here is that not much core is available and virtual memory works poorly if at all. Detecting Whorfian mind-lock is important, because it tends to introduce unnecessary complexity and bugs. +Software designs are often restricted in unavoidable ways by the capacities +of the operating system or hardware they have to work with. Sometimes they +are restricted in avoidable ways by mental habits a developer has picked up +from a particular language or environment (perhaps a now-obsolete one) and +never discarded. When a design develops complications that are the result of +a mental habit that is no longer adaptive, the developer has succumbed to +Whorfian mind-lock. The design itself has been whorfed. For example, some +Unix designs are whorfed by the assumption that directory searches are +linear and expensive for large directories; therefore directories must be +kept small. Another common way to succumb to Whorfian mind-lock is to do +serial processing with a small working set rather than slurping an entire +file or data structure into memory; the hidden assumption here is that not +much core is available and virtual memory works poorly if at all. Detecting +Whorfian mind-lock is important, because it tends to introduce unnecessary +complexity and bugs. + diff --git a/entries/Winchester.txt b/entries/Winchester.txt index e9bdb3f..4b723f8 100644 --- a/entries/Winchester.txt +++ b/entries/Winchester.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Winchester -n. Informal generic term for sealed-enclosure magnetic-disk drives in which the read-write head planes over the disk surface on an air cushion. There is a legend that the name arose because the original 1973 engineering prototype for what later became the IBM 3340 featured two 30-megabyte volumes; 30--30 became Winchester when somebody noticed the similarity to the common term for a famous Winchester rifle (in the latter, the first 30 referred to caliber and the second to the grain weight of the charge). (It is sometimes incorrectly claimed that Winchester was the laboratory in which the technology was developed. +n. Informal generic term for sealed-enclosure magnetic-disk drives in which +the read-write head planes over the disk surface on an air cushion. There is +a legend that the name arose because the original 1973 engineering prototype +for what later became the IBM 3340 featured two 30-megabyte volumes; 30--30 +became Winchester when somebody noticed the similarity to the common term +for a famous Winchester rifle (in the latter, the first 30 referred to +caliber and the second to the grain weight of the charge). (It is sometimes +incorrectly claimed that Winchester was the laboratory in which the +technology was developed. + diff --git a/entries/Windowsitis.txt b/entries/Windowsitis.txt index efb9ca1..f08762a 100644 --- a/entries/Windowsitis.txt +++ b/entries/Windowsitis.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ Windowsitis -1. As a disease of people: the tendency of inexperienced (or Windows-experienced) Web developers have to use backslashes in URLs, rather than the correct forward slashes. 2. As a disease of programs: to be a rigid, clunky, bug-prone monstrosity, all glossy surface with a hollow interior. +1. As a disease of people: the tendency of inexperienced (or +Windows-experienced) Web developers have to use backslashes in URLs, rather +than the correct forward slashes. 2. As a disease of programs: to be a +rigid, clunky, bug-prone monstrosity, all glossy surface with a hollow +interior. + diff --git a/entries/Windoze.txt b/entries/Windoze.txt index a4b3964..dadb777 100644 --- a/entries/Windoze.txt +++ b/entries/Windoze.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ Windoze /windohz/ , n. See Microsloth Windows. (Also Losedoze. + diff --git a/entries/Wintel.txt b/entries/Wintel.txt index 19a3427..847ee20 100644 --- a/entries/Wintel.txt +++ b/entries/Wintel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Wintel -n. Microsoft Windows plus Intel the tacit alliance that dominated desktop computing in the 1990s. After 1999 it began to break up under pressure from Linux ; see Lintel. +n. Microsoft Windows plus Intel the tacit alliance that dominated desktop +computing in the 1990s. After 1999 it began to break up under pressure from +Linux ; see Lintel. + diff --git a/entries/Wintendo.txt b/entries/Wintendo.txt index 322b1ef..d8f2ec5 100644 --- a/entries/Wintendo.txt +++ b/entries/Wintendo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ Wintendo -/wintendoh/ , n. [Play on Nintendo ] A PC running the Windows operating system kept primarily for the purpose of viewing multimedia and playing games. The implication is that the speaker uses a Linux or *BSD box for everything else. +/wintendoh/ , n. [Play on Nintendo ] A PC running the Windows operating +system kept primarily for the purpose of viewing multimedia and playing +games. The implication is that the speaker uses a Linux or *BSD box for +everything else. + diff --git a/entries/Wizard Book.txt b/entries/Wizard Book.txt index 032e47f..505a834 100644 --- a/entries/Wizard Book.txt +++ b/entries/Wizard Book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Wizard Book -n. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (Hal Abelson, Jerry Sussman and Julie Sussman; MIT Press, 1984, 1996; ISBN 0-262-01153-0), an excellent computer science text used in introductory courses at MIT. So called because of the wizard on the jacket. One of the bible s of the LISP/Scheme world. Also, less commonly, known as the Purple Book. Now available on the http://mitpress.mit. +n. Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (Hal Abelson, Jerry +Sussman and Julie Sussman; MIT Press, 1984, 1996; ISBN 0-262-01153-0), an +excellent computer science text used in introductory courses at MIT. So +called because of the wizard on the jacket. One of the bible s of the +LISP/Scheme world. Also, less commonly, known as the Purple Book. Now +available on the http://mitpress.mit. + diff --git a/entries/Wrong Thing.txt b/entries/Wrong Thing.txt index 9f00047..54a51e7 100644 --- a/entries/Wrong Thing.txt +++ b/entries/Wrong Thing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Wrong Thing -n. A design, action, or decision that is clearly incorrect or inappropriate. Often capitalized; always emphasized in speech as if capitalized. The opposite of the Right Thing ; more generally, anything that is not the Right Thing. In cases where the good is the enemy of the best , the merely good although good is nevertheless the Wrong Thing. In C, the default is for module-level declarations to be visible everywhere, rather than just within the module. This is clearly the Wrong Thing. +n. A design, action, or decision that is clearly incorrect or inappropriate. +Often capitalized; always emphasized in speech as if capitalized. The +opposite of the Right Thing ; more generally, anything that is not the Right +Thing. In cases where the good is the enemy of the best , the merely good +although good is nevertheless the Wrong Thing. In C, the default is for +module-level declarations to be visible everywhere, rather than just within +the module. This is clearly the Wrong Thing. + diff --git a/entries/XEROX PARC.txt b/entries/XEROX PARC.txt index 6fd1206..9434eab 100644 --- a/entries/XEROX PARC.txt +++ b/entries/XEROX PARC.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ XEROX PARC -/zeeroks park/ , n. The famed Palo Alto Research Center. For more than a decade, from the early 1970s into the mid-1980s, PARC yielded an astonishing volume of groundbreaking hardware and software innovations. The modern mice, windows, and icons style of software interface was invented there. So was the laser printer and the local-area network; and PARC's series of D machines anticipated the powerful personal computers of the 1980s by a decade. Sadly, the prophets at PARC were without honor in their own company, so much so that it became a standard joke to describe PARC as a place that specialized in developing brilliant ideas for everyone else. The stunning shortsightedness and obtusity of XEROX's top-level suit s has been well anatomized in Fumbling The Future: How XEROX Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer by Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander (William Morrow Co., 1988, ISBN 0-688-09511-9). +/zeeroks park/ , n. The famed Palo Alto Research Center. For more than a +decade, from the early 1970s into the mid-1980s, PARC yielded an astonishing +volume of groundbreaking hardware and software innovations. The modern mice, +windows, and icons style of software interface was invented there. So was +the laser printer and the local-area network; and PARC's series of D +machines anticipated the powerful personal computers of the 1980s by a +decade. Sadly, the prophets at PARC were without honor in their own company, +so much so that it became a standard joke to describe PARC as a place that +specialized in developing brilliant ideas for everyone else. The stunning +shortsightedness and obtusity of XEROX's top-level suit s has been well +anatomized in Fumbling The Future: How XEROX Invented, Then Ignored, the +First Personal Computer by Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander (William +Morrow Co., 1988, ISBN 0-688-09511-9). + diff --git a/entries/XOFF.txt b/entries/XOFF.txt index 0a5e3e1..002e5aa 100644 --- a/entries/XOFF.txt +++ b/entries/XOFF.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ XOFF /Xof/ , n. Syn. control-S. + diff --git a/entries/XON.txt b/entries/XON.txt index 86dd46d..c682f9f 100644 --- a/entries/XON.txt +++ b/entries/XON.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ XON /Xon/ , n. Syn. control-Q. + diff --git a/entries/XXX.txt b/entries/XXX.txt index c96638b..51f81e8 100644 --- a/entries/XXX.txt +++ b/entries/XXX.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ XXX -/XXX/ , n. A marker that attention is needed. Commonly used in program comments to indicate areas that are kluged up or need to be. Some hackers liken XXX to the notional heavy-porn movie rating. Compare FIXME. +/XXX/ , n. A marker that attention is needed. Commonly used in program +comments to indicate areas that are kluged up or need to be. Some hackers +liken XXX to the notional heavy-porn movie rating. Compare FIXME. + diff --git a/entries/YA-.txt b/entries/YA-.txt index 02299aa..61e7424 100644 --- a/entries/YA-.txt +++ b/entries/YA-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ YA- -abbrev. [Yet Another] In hackish acronyms this almost invariably expands to Yet Another , following the precedent set by Unix yacc (1) (Yet Another Compiler-Compiler). See YABA. +abbrev. [Yet Another] In hackish acronyms this almost invariably expands to +Yet Another , following the precedent set by Unix yacc (1) (Yet Another +Compiler-Compiler). See YABA. + diff --git a/entries/YABA.txt b/entries/YABA.txt index d9ce960..59b3d69 100644 --- a/entries/YABA.txt +++ b/entries/YABA.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ YABA -/yab@/ , n. [Cambridge] Yet Another Bloody Acronym. Whenever some program is being named, someone invariably suggests that it be given a name that is acronymic. The response from those with a trace of originality is to remark ironically that the proposed name would then be YABA-compatible. Also used in response to questions like What is WYSIWYG? See also TLA. +/yab@/ , n. [Cambridge] Yet Another Bloody Acronym. Whenever some program is +being named, someone invariably suggests that it be given a name that is +acronymic. The response from those with a trace of originality is to remark +ironically that the proposed name would then be YABA-compatible. Also used +in response to questions like What is WYSIWYG? See also TLA. + diff --git a/entries/YAFIYGI.txt b/entries/YAFIYGI.txt index b923da6..a6ef0b0 100644 --- a/entries/YAFIYGI.txt +++ b/entries/YAFIYGI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ YAFIYGI -/yafeey@gee/ , adj. [coined in response to WYSIWYG] Describes the command-oriented ed/vi/nroff/TeX style of word processing or other user interface, the opposite of WYSIWYG. Stands for You asked for it, you got it , because what you actually asked for is often not apparent until long after it is too late to do anything about it. Used to denote perversity ( Real Programmers use YAFIYGI tools...and like it! ) or, less often, a necessary tradeoff ( Only a YAFIYGI tool can have full programmable flexibility in its interface. ). This precise sense of You asked for it, you got it seems to have first appeared in Ed Post's classic parody Real Programmers don't use Pascal (see Real Programmer s); the acronym is a more recent invention. +/yafeey@gee/ , adj. [coined in response to WYSIWYG] Describes the +command-oriented ed/vi/nroff/TeX style of word processing or other user +interface, the opposite of WYSIWYG. Stands for You asked for it, you got it +, because what you actually asked for is often not apparent until long after +it is too late to do anything about it. Used to denote perversity ( Real +Programmers use YAFIYGI tools...and like it! ) or, less often, a necessary +tradeoff ( Only a YAFIYGI tool can have full programmable flexibility in its +interface. ). This precise sense of You asked for it, you got it seems to +have first appeared in Ed Post's classic parody Real Programmers don't use +Pascal (see Real Programmer s); the acronym is a more recent invention. + diff --git a/entries/YAUN.txt b/entries/YAUN.txt index 08e75e1..a768be9 100644 --- a/entries/YAUN.txt +++ b/entries/YAUN.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ YAUN -/yawn/ , n. [Acronym for Yet Another Unix Nerd ] Reported from the San Diego Computer Society (predominantly a microcomputer users' group) as a good-natured punning insult aimed at Unix zealots. +/yawn/ , n. [Acronym for Yet Another Unix Nerd ] Reported from the San Diego +Computer Society (predominantly a microcomputer users' group) as a +good-natured punning insult aimed at Unix zealots. + diff --git a/entries/YHBT.txt b/entries/YHBT.txt index 0db763c..1ef1f75 100644 --- a/entries/YHBT.txt +++ b/entries/YHBT.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ YHBT -// [Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: You Have Been Trolled (see troll , sense 1). Especially used in YHBT. YHL. HAND. , which is widely understood to expand to You Have Been Trolled. You Have Lost. Have A Nice Day. You are quite likely to see this if you respond incautiously to a flame-provoking post that was obviously floated as sucker bait. +// [Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: You Have Been Trolled (see troll , +sense 1). Especially used in YHBT. YHL. HAND. , which is widely understood +to expand to You Have Been Trolled. You Have Lost. Have A Nice Day. You are +quite likely to see this if you respond incautiously to a flame-provoking +post that was obviously floated as sucker bait. + diff --git a/entries/YKYBHTLW.txt b/entries/YKYBHTLW.txt index a8c1457..a793d54 100644 --- a/entries/YKYBHTLW.txt +++ b/entries/YKYBHTLW.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ YKYBHTLW -// , abbrev. Abbreviation of You know you've been hacking too long when... , which became established on the Usenet group alt.folklore.computers during extended discussion of the indicated entry in the Jargon File. +// , abbrev. Abbreviation of You know you've been hacking too long when... , +which became established on the Usenet group alt.folklore.computers during +extended discussion of the indicated entry in the Jargon File. + diff --git a/entries/YMMV.txt b/entries/YMMV.txt index 5beae92..18a84b3 100644 --- a/entries/YMMV.txt +++ b/entries/YMMV.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ YMMV // , cav. Abbreviation for Your mileage may vary common on Usenet. + diff --git a/entries/Yet Another.txt b/entries/Yet Another.txt index 1841147..e03758f 100644 --- a/entries/Yet Another.txt +++ b/entries/Yet Another.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Yet Another -adj. [From Unix's yacc (1) , Yet Another Compiler-Compiler , a LALR parser generator] 1. Of your own work: A humorous allusion often used in titles to acknowledge that the topic is not original, though the content is. As in Yet Another AI Group or Yet Another Simulated Annealing Algorithm. 2. Of others' work: Describes something of which there are already far too many. See also YA- , YABA , YAUN. +adj. [From Unix's yacc (1) , Yet Another Compiler-Compiler , a LALR parser +generator] 1. Of your own work: A humorous allusion often used in titles to +acknowledge that the topic is not original, though the content is. As in Yet +Another AI Group or Yet Another Simulated Annealing Algorithm. 2. Of others' +work: Describes something of which there are already far too many. See also +YA- , YABA , YAUN. + diff --git a/entries/You are not expected to understand this.txt b/entries/You are not expected to understand this.txt index 08f7331..dd47b07 100644 --- a/entries/You are not expected to understand this.txt +++ b/entries/You are not expected to understand this.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ You are not expected to understand this -cav. [Unix] The canonical comment describing something magic or too complicated to bother explaining properly. From an infamous comment in the context-switching code of the V6 Unix kernel. Dennis Ritchie has explained this in detail. +cav. [Unix] The canonical comment describing something magic or too +complicated to bother explaining properly. From an infamous comment in the +context-switching code of the V6 Unix kernel. Dennis Ritchie has explained +this in detail. + diff --git a/entries/You know you've been hacking too long when.txt b/entries/You know you've been hacking too long when.txt index b026d29..d5dbf08 100644 --- a/entries/You know you've been hacking too long when.txt +++ b/entries/You know you've been hacking too long when.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ You know you've been hacking too long when -Prev Up Next You are not expected to understand this Home Your mileage may vary +Prev Up Next You are not expected to understand this Home Your mileage may +vary + diff --git a/entries/Your mileage may vary.txt b/entries/Your mileage may vary.txt index bc12100..11adae4 100644 --- a/entries/Your mileage may vary.txt +++ b/entries/Your mileage may vary.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ Your mileage may vary -cav. [from the standard disclaimer attached to EPA mileage ratings by American car manufacturers] 1. A ritual warning often found in Unix freeware distributions. Translates roughly as Hey, I tried to write this portably, but who knows what'll happen on your system? 2. More generally, a qualifier attached to advice. I find that sending flowers works well, but your mileage may vary. +cav. [from the standard disclaimer attached to EPA mileage ratings by +American car manufacturers] 1. A ritual warning often found in Unix freeware +distributions. Translates roughly as Hey, I tried to write this portably, +but who knows what'll happen on your system? 2. More generally, a qualifier +attached to advice. I find that sending flowers works well, but your mileage +may vary. + diff --git a/entries/Yow!.txt b/entries/Yow!.txt index afe08c7..ba85d01 100644 --- a/entries/Yow!.txt +++ b/entries/Yow!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ Yow! -/yow/ , interj. [from Zippy the Pinhead comix] A favored hacker expression of humorous surprise or emphasis. Yow! Check out what happens when you twiddle the foo option on this display hack!. +/yow/ , interj. [from Zippy the Pinhead comix] A favored hacker expression +of humorous surprise or emphasis. Yow! Check out what happens when you +twiddle the foo option on this display hack!. + diff --git a/entries/Yu-Shiang Whole Fish.txt b/entries/Yu-Shiang Whole Fish.txt index 03c1ded..871c8fe 100644 --- a/entries/Yu-Shiang Whole Fish.txt +++ b/entries/Yu-Shiang Whole Fish.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Yu-Shiang Whole Fish -/yooshyang hohl fish/ , n. obs. The character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII 0001001), which with a loop in its tail looks like a little fish swimming down the page. The term is actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a fish is cooked whole (not parse d) and covered with Yu-Shiang (or Yu-Hsiang, or in modern Pinyin transliteration yuxiang) sauce. Usage: primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine, which could display this character on the screen. Tends to elicit incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand. Yu Shiang Whole Fish is alive and well in Unicode as U+0263 LATIN SMALL LETTER GAMMA (as opposed to the actual Greek letter at U+03B3, which usually has a loopless glyph; the form of U+0263 is consistently loopy). This symbol is included in Unicode as a Latin letter because it is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet. In the IPA, gamma represents a voiced velar fricative, the sound commonly transcribed gh in Arabic or Klingon. +/yooshyang hohl fish/ , n. obs. The character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII +0001001), which with a loop in its tail looks like a little fish swimming +down the page. The term is actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a +fish is cooked whole (not parse d) and covered with Yu-Shiang (or Yu-Hsiang, +or in modern Pinyin transliteration yuxiang) sauce. Usage: primarily by +people on the MIT LISP Machine, which could display this character on the +screen. Tends to elicit incredulity from people who hear about it +second-hand. Yu Shiang Whole Fish is alive and well in Unicode as U+0263 +LATIN SMALL LETTER GAMMA (as opposed to the actual Greek letter at U+03B3, +which usually has a loopless glyph; the form of U+0263 is consistently +loopy). This symbol is included in Unicode as a Latin letter because it is +used in the International Phonetic Alphabet. In the IPA, gamma represents a +voiced velar fricative, the sound commonly transcribed gh in Arabic or +Klingon. + diff --git a/entries/Zawinski's Law.txt b/entries/Zawinski's Law.txt index f9934a3..79614de 100644 --- a/entries/Zawinski's Law.txt +++ b/entries/Zawinski's Law.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ Zawinski's Law -Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can. Coined by Jamie Zawinski (who called it the Law of Software Envelopment ) to express his belief that all truly useful programs experience pressure to evolve into toolkits and application platforms (the mailer thing, he says, is just a side effect of that). It is commonly cited, though with widely varying degrees of accuracy. +Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs +which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can. Coined by Jamie +Zawinski (who called it the Law of Software Envelopment ) to express his +belief that all truly useful programs experience pressure to evolve into +toolkits and application platforms (the mailer thing, he says, is just a +side effect of that). It is commonly cited, though with widely varying +degrees of accuracy. + diff --git a/entries/Zero-One-Infinity Rule.txt b/entries/Zero-One-Infinity Rule.txt index fb8bd49..b0963b7 100644 --- a/entries/Zero-One-Infinity Rule.txt +++ b/entries/Zero-One-Infinity Rule.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ Zero-One-Infinity Rule -prov. Allow none of foo , one of foo , or any number of foo. A rule of thumb for software design, which instructs one to not place random limits on the number of instances of a given entity (such as: windows in a window system, letters in an OS's filenames, etc.). Specifically, one should either disallow the entity entirely, allow exactly one instance (an exception ), or allow as many as the user wants address space and memory permitting. The logic behind this rule is that there are often situations where it makes clear sense to allow one of something instead of none. However, if one decides to go further and allow N (for N 1), then why not N+1? And if N+1, then why not N+2, and so on? Once above 1, there's no excuse not to allow any N; hence, infinity. Many hackers recall in this connection Isaac Asimov's SF novel The Gods Themselves in which a character announces that the number 2 is impossible if you're going to believe in more than one universe, you might as well believe in an infinite number of them. +prov. Allow none of foo , one of foo , or any number of foo. A rule of thumb +for software design, which instructs one to not place random limits on the +number of instances of a given entity (such as: windows in a window system, +letters in an OS's filenames, etc.). Specifically, one should either +disallow the entity entirely, allow exactly one instance (an exception ), or +allow as many as the user wants address space and memory permitting. The +logic behind this rule is that there are often situations where it makes +clear sense to allow one of something instead of none. However, if one +decides to go further and allow N (for N 1), then why not N+1? And if N+1, +then why not N+2, and so on? Once above 1, there's no excuse not to allow +any N; hence, infinity. Many hackers recall in this connection Isaac +Asimov's SF novel The Gods Themselves in which a character announces that +the number 2 is impossible if you're going to believe in more than one +universe, you might as well believe in an infinite number of them. + diff --git a/entries/Zork.txt b/entries/Zork.txt index f844659..446a330 100644 --- a/entries/Zork.txt +++ b/entries/Zork.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ Zork -/zork/ , n. The second of the great early experiments in computer fantasy gaming; see ADVENT. Originally written on MIT-DM during 1977-1979, later distributed with BSD Unix (as a patched, sourceless RT-11 FORTRAN binary; see retrocomputing ) and commercialized as The Zork Trilogy by Infocom. The FORTRAN source was later rewritten for portability and released to Usenet under the name Dungeon. Both FORTRAN Dungeon and translated C versions are available at many FTP sites; the commercial Zork trilogy is available at http://www.ifarchive.org/. See also grue. You can play Zork via a Java Applet. +/zork/ , n. The second of the great early experiments in computer fantasy +gaming; see ADVENT. Originally written on MIT-DM during 1977-1979, later +distributed with BSD Unix (as a patched, sourceless RT-11 FORTRAN binary; +see retrocomputing ) and commercialized as The Zork Trilogy by Infocom. The +FORTRAN source was later rewritten for portability and released to Usenet +under the name Dungeon. Both FORTRAN Dungeon and translated C versions are +available at many FTP sites; the commercial Zork trilogy is available at +http://www.ifarchive.org/. See also grue. You can play Zork via a Java +Applet. + diff --git a/entries/abbrev.txt b/entries/abbrev.txt index cab4aba..3858e61 100644 --- a/entries/abbrev.txt +++ b/entries/abbrev.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ abbrev /@breev/ , /@brev/ , n. Common abbreviation for abbreviation. + diff --git a/entries/abbreviation.txt b/entries/abbreviation.txt index 3eed7ac..fd7c31e 100644 --- a/entries/abbreviation.txt +++ b/entries/abbreviation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ abbreviation -s of metric nomenclature used in the sciences Stanford Stanford University Sun Sun Microsystems TMRC Some MITisms go back as far as the Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) at MIT c. 1960. Material marked TMRC is from An Abridged Dictionary of the TMRC Language , originally compiled by Pete Samson in 1959 UCLA University of California, Los Angeles UK the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) Usenet See the Usenet entry WPI Worcester Polytechnic Institute, site of a very active community of PDP-10 hackers during the 1970s WWW The World-Wide-Web. XEROX PARC XEROX's Palo Alto Research Center, site of much pioneering research in user interface design and networking Yale Yale University Other etymology s such as Unix and PDP-10 refer to technical cultures surrounding specific operating systems, processors, or other environments. The fact that a term is labelled with any one of these s does not necessarily mean its use is confined to that culture. In particular, many terms labelled MIT and Stanford are in quite general use. We have tried to give some indication of the distribution of speakers in the usage notes; however, a number of factors mentioned in the introduction conspire to make these indications less definite than might be desirable. A few new definitions attached to entries are marked [proposed]. These are usually generalizations suggested by editors or Usenet respondents in the process of commenting on previous definitions of those entries. These are not represented as established jargon. Prev Up Next Chapter10.Pronunciation Guide Home Chapter12. +s of metric nomenclature used in the sciences Stanford Stanford University +Sun Sun Microsystems TMRC Some MITisms go back as far as the Tech Model +Railroad Club (TMRC) at MIT c. 1960. Material marked TMRC is from An +Abridged Dictionary of the TMRC Language , originally compiled by Pete +Samson in 1959 UCLA University of California, Los Angeles UK the United +Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) Usenet See the Usenet +entry WPI Worcester Polytechnic Institute, site of a very active community +of PDP-10 hackers during the 1970s WWW The World-Wide-Web. XEROX PARC +XEROX's Palo Alto Research Center, site of much pioneering research in user +interface design and networking Yale Yale University Other etymology s such +as Unix and PDP-10 refer to technical cultures surrounding specific +operating systems, processors, or other environments. The fact that a term +is labelled with any one of these s does not necessarily mean its use is +confined to that culture. In particular, many terms labelled MIT and +Stanford are in quite general use. We have tried to give some indication of +the distribution of speakers in the usage notes; however, a number of +factors mentioned in the introduction conspire to make these indications +less definite than might be desirable. A few new definitions attached to +entries are marked [proposed]. These are usually generalizations suggested +by editors or Usenet respondents in the process of commenting on previous +definitions of those entries. These are not represented as established +jargon. Prev Up Next Chapter10.Pronunciation Guide Home Chapter12. + diff --git a/entries/accumulator.txt b/entries/accumulator.txt index 9661ba7..2cb5202 100644 --- a/entries/accumulator.txt +++ b/entries/accumulator.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ accumulator -n. obs. 1. Archaic term for a register. On-line use of it as a synonym for register is a fairly reliable indication that the user has been around for quite a while and/or that the architecture under discussion is quite old. The term in full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for example, though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in A derive from historical use of the term accumulator (and not, actually, from arithmetic ). Confusingly, though, an A register name prefix may also stand for address , as for example on the Motorola 680x0 family. 2. A register being used for arithmetic or logic (as opposed to addressing or a loop index), especially one being used to accumulate a sum or count of many items. This use is in context of a particular routine or stretch of code. The FOOBAZ routine uses A3 as an accumulator. 3. One's in-basket (esp. among old-timers who might use sense 1). You want this reviewed? Sure, just put it in the accumulator. (See stack. +n. obs. 1. Archaic term for a register. On-line use of it as a synonym for +register is a fairly reliable indication that the user has been around for +quite a while and/or that the architecture under discussion is quite old. +The term in full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for +example, though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in A +derive from historical use of the term accumulator (and not, actually, from +arithmetic ). Confusingly, though, an A register name prefix may also stand +for address , as for example on the Motorola 680x0 family. 2. A register +being used for arithmetic or logic (as opposed to addressing or a loop +index), especially one being used to accumulate a sum or count of many +items. This use is in context of a particular routine or stretch of code. +The FOOBAZ routine uses A3 as an accumulator. 3. One's in-basket (esp. among +old-timers who might use sense 1). You want this reviewed? Sure, just put it +in the accumulator. (See stack. + diff --git a/entries/ad-hockery.txt b/entries/ad-hockery.txt index 93d7bd0..3cb2b7f 100644 --- a/entries/ad-hockery.txt +++ b/entries/ad-hockery.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ ad-hockery -/adhok'@ree/ , n. [Purdue] 1. Gratuitous assumptions made inside certain programs, esp. expert systems, which lead to the appearance of semi-intelligent behavior but are in fact entirely arbitrary. For example, fuzzy-matching of input tokens that might be typing errors against a symbol table can make it look as though a program knows how to spell. 2. Special-case code to cope with some awkward input that would otherwise cause a program to choke , presuming normal inputs are dealt with in some cleaner and more regular way. Also called ad-hackery , ad-hocity ( /ad-hos'@-tee/ ), ad-crockery. See also ELIZA effect. This is ad-hockery in action. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 74-08-18. The previous one is 73-07-29. +/adhok'@ree/ , n. [Purdue] 1. Gratuitous assumptions made inside certain +programs, esp. expert systems, which lead to the appearance of +semi-intelligent behavior but are in fact entirely arbitrary. For example, +fuzzy-matching of input tokens that might be typing errors against a symbol +table can make it look as though a program knows how to spell. 2. +Special-case code to cope with some awkward input that would otherwise cause +a program to choke , presuming normal inputs are dealt with in some cleaner +and more regular way. Also called ad-hackery , ad-hocity ( /ad-hos'@-tee/ ), +ad-crockery. See also ELIZA effect. This is ad-hockery in action. (The next +cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 74-08-18. The previous one is 73-07-29. + diff --git a/entries/address harvester.txt b/entries/address harvester.txt index 9fd3346..43045a3 100644 --- a/entries/address harvester.txt +++ b/entries/address harvester.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ address harvester -n. A robot that searches web pages and/or filters netnews traffic looking for valid email addresses. Some address harvesters are benign, used only for compiling address directories. Most, unfortunately, are run by miscreants compiling address lists to spam. Address harvesters can be foiled by a teergrube. +n. A robot that searches web pages and/or filters netnews traffic looking +for valid email addresses. Some address harvesters are benign, used only for +compiling address directories. Most, unfortunately, are run by miscreants +compiling address lists to spam. Address harvesters can be foiled by a +teergrube. + diff --git a/entries/adger.txt b/entries/adger.txt index 356be7c..0d460d5 100644 --- a/entries/adger.txt +++ b/entries/adger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ adger -/ajr/ , vt. [UCLA mutant of nadger , poss. also from the middle name of an infamous tenured graduate student ] To make a bonehead move with consequences that could have been foreseen with even slight mental effort. E.g., He started removing files and promptly adgered the whole project. Compare dumbass attack. +/ajr/ , vt. [UCLA mutant of nadger , poss. also from the middle name of an +infamous tenured graduate student ] To make a bonehead move with +consequences that could have been foreseen with even slight mental effort. +E.g., He started removing files and promptly adgered the whole project. +Compare dumbass attack. + diff --git a/entries/admin.txt b/entries/admin.txt index 0c7ea64..212e7c4 100644 --- a/entries/admin.txt +++ b/entries/admin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ admin -/admin/ , n. Short for administrator ; very commonly used in speech or on-line to refer to the systems person in charge on a computer. Common constructions on this include sysadmin and site admin (emphasizing the administrator's role as a site contact for email and news) or newsadmin (focusing specifically on news). Compare postmaster , sysop , system mangler. +/admin/ , n. Short for administrator ; very commonly used in speech or +on-line to refer to the systems person in charge on a computer. Common +constructions on this include sysadmin and site admin (emphasizing the +administrator's role as a site contact for email and news) or newsadmin +(focusing specifically on news). Compare postmaster , sysop , system +mangler. + diff --git a/entries/adware.txt b/entries/adware.txt index 61139c9..729c504 100644 --- a/entries/adware.txt +++ b/entries/adware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ adware -n. Software which is free to download and use but includes pop-up banner ads somewhere. See also -ware. +n. Software which is free to download and use but includes pop-up banner +ads somewhere. See also -ware. + diff --git a/entries/airplane rule.txt b/entries/airplane rule.txt index 4009346..3dbd33f 100644 --- a/entries/airplane rule.txt +++ b/entries/airplane rule.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ airplane rule -n. Complexity increases the possibility of failure; a twin-engine airplane has twice as many engine problems as a single-engine airplane. By analogy, in both software and electronics, the rule that simplicity increases robustness. It is correspondingly argued that the right way to build reliable systems is to put all your eggs in one basket, after making sure that you've built a really good basket. See also KISS Principle , elegant. +n. Complexity increases the possibility of failure; a twin-engine airplane +has twice as many engine problems as a single-engine airplane. By analogy, +in both software and electronics, the rule that simplicity increases +robustness. It is correspondingly argued that the right way to build +reliable systems is to put all your eggs in one basket, after making sure +that you've built a really good basket. See also KISS Principle , elegant. + diff --git a/entries/aliasing bug.txt b/entries/aliasing bug.txt index fd6d4f4..07f924c 100644 --- a/entries/aliasing bug.txt +++ b/entries/aliasing bug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ aliasing bug -n. A class of subtle programming errors that can arise in code that does dynamic allocation, esp. via malloc (3) or equivalent. If several pointers address (are aliases for ) a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias and then referenced through another, which may lead to subtle (and possibly intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the allocation history of the malloc arena. Avoidable by use of allocation strategies that never alias allocated core, or by use of higher-level languages, such as LISP , which employ a garbage collector (see GC ). Also called a stale pointer bug. See also precedence lossage , smash the stack , fandango on core , memory leak , memory smash , overrun screw , spam. Historical note: Though this term is nowadays associated with C programming, it was already in use in a very similar sense in the Algol-60 and FORTRAN communities in the 1960s. +n. A class of subtle programming errors that can arise in code that does +dynamic allocation, esp. via malloc (3) or equivalent. If several pointers +address (are aliases for ) a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the +storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias and then +referenced through another, which may lead to subtle (and possibly +intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the allocation history of +the malloc arena. Avoidable by use of allocation strategies that never alias +allocated core, or by use of higher-level languages, such as LISP , which +employ a garbage collector (see GC ). Also called a stale pointer bug. See +also precedence lossage , smash the stack , fandango on core , memory leak , +memory smash , overrun screw , spam. Historical note: Though this term is +nowadays associated with C programming, it was already in use in a very +similar sense in the Algol-60 and FORTRAN communities in the 1960s. + diff --git a/entries/all your base are belong to us.txt b/entries/all your base are belong to us.txt index 3cedf5d..d2209e5 100644 --- a/entries/all your base are belong to us.txt +++ b/entries/all your base are belong to us.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ all your base are belong to us -In 2001, this amusing mistranslation spread virally through the Internet, bringing with it a slew of JPEGs and a movie of hacked photographs, each showing a street sign, store front, package label, etc. hacked to read All your base are belong to us or one of the other many supremely dopey lines from the game (such as Somebody set up usthe bomb!!! or What happen? ). When these phrases are used properly, the overall effect is both screamingly funny and somewhat chilling, reminiscent of the B movie They Live. The original has been generalized to All your X are belong to us , where X is filled in to connote a sinister takeover of some sort. Thus, When Joe signed up for his new job at Yoyodyne, he had to sign a draconian NDA. It basically said: All your code are belong to us. Has many of the connotations of Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated (see Borg ). Considered silly, and most likely to be used by the type of person that finds Jeff K. hilarious. Prev Up Next All hardware sucks, all software sucks. +In 2001, this amusing mistranslation spread virally through the Internet, +bringing with it a slew of JPEGs and a movie of hacked photographs, each +showing a street sign, store front, package label, etc. hacked to read All +your base are belong to us or one of the other many supremely dopey lines +from the game (such as Somebody set up usthe bomb!!! or What happen? ). When +these phrases are used properly, the overall effect is both screamingly +funny and somewhat chilling, reminiscent of the B movie They Live. The +original has been generalized to All your X are belong to us , where X is +filled in to connote a sinister takeover of some sort. Thus, When Joe signed +up for his new job at Yoyodyne, he had to sign a draconian NDA. It basically +said: All your code are belong to us. Has many of the connotations of +Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated (see Borg ). Considered silly, +and most likely to be used by the type of person that finds Jeff K. +hilarious. Prev Up Next All hardware sucks, all software sucks. + diff --git a/entries/alpha geek.txt b/entries/alpha geek.txt index 9710462..77a9321 100644 --- a/entries/alpha geek.txt +++ b/entries/alpha geek.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ alpha geek -n. [from animal ethologists' alpha male ] The most technically accomplished or skillful person in some implied context. Ask Larry, he's the alpha geek here. +n. [from animal ethologists' alpha male ] The most technically accomplished +or skillful person in some implied context. Ask Larry, he's the alpha geek +here. + diff --git a/entries/alpha particles.txt b/entries/alpha particles.txt index a880c93..55287d6 100644 --- a/entries/alpha particles.txt +++ b/entries/alpha particles.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ alpha particles n. See bit rot. + diff --git a/entries/alt bit.txt b/entries/alt bit.txt index 061f4a9..4b5b61c 100644 --- a/entries/alt bit.txt +++ b/entries/alt bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ alt bit /awlt bit/ , adj. See meta bit. + diff --git a/entries/alt.txt b/entries/alt.txt index 3c19044..7e14f6c 100644 --- a/entries/alt.txt +++ b/entries/alt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ alt -/awlt/ 1. n. The alt shift key on an IBM PC or clone keyboard; see bucky bits , sense 2 (though typical PC usage does not simply set the 0200 bit). 2. n. The option key on a Macintosh; use of this term usually reveals that the speaker hacked PCs before coming to the Mac (see also feature key , which is sometimes incorrectly called alt ). 3. The alt hierarchy on Usenet, the tree of newsgroups created by users without a formal vote and approval procedure. There is a myth, not entirely implausible, that alt is acronymic for anarchists, lunatics, and terrorists ; but in fact it is simply short for alternative. 4. n.,obs. Rare alternate name for the ASCII ESC character (ASCII 0011011). This use, derives, with the alt key itself, from archaic PDP-10 operating systems, especially ITS. +/awlt/ 1. n. The alt shift key on an IBM PC or clone keyboard; see bucky +bits , sense 2 (though typical PC usage does not simply set the 0200 bit). +2. n. The option key on a Macintosh; use of this term usually reveals that +the speaker hacked PCs before coming to the Mac (see also feature key , +which is sometimes incorrectly called alt ). 3. The alt hierarchy on Usenet, +the tree of newsgroups created by users without a formal vote and approval +procedure. There is a myth, not entirely implausible, that alt is acronymic +for anarchists, lunatics, and terrorists ; but in fact it is simply short +for alternative. 4. n.,obs. Rare alternate name for the ASCII ESC character +(ASCII 0011011). This use, derives, with the alt key itself, from archaic +PDP-10 operating systems, especially ITS. + diff --git a/entries/ambimouseterous.txt b/entries/ambimouseterous.txt index f9e784d..a8c14e3 100644 --- a/entries/ambimouseterous.txt +++ b/entries/ambimouseterous.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ ambimouseterous -/amb@mowsterus/ , /amb@mowstrus/ , adj [modeled on ambidextrous ] Able to use a mouse with either hand. +/amb@mowsterus/ , /amb@mowstrus/ , adj [modeled on ambidextrous ] Able to +use a mouse with either hand. + diff --git a/entries/amp off.txt b/entries/amp off.txt index 7c1e76d..c58d5b1 100644 --- a/entries/amp off.txt +++ b/entries/amp off.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ amp off vt. [Purdue] To run in background. From the Unix shell operator. + diff --git a/entries/amper.txt b/entries/amper.txt index 744bdde..5225421 100644 --- a/entries/amper.txt +++ b/entries/amper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ amper -n. Common abbreviation for the name of the ampersand ( , ASCII 0100110) character. See ASCII for other synonyms. +n. Common abbreviation for the name of the ampersand ( , ASCII 0100110) +character. See ASCII for other synonyms. + diff --git a/entries/and there was much rejoicing.txt b/entries/and there was much rejoicing.txt index 0fcb3b5..57e1555 100644 --- a/entries/and there was much rejoicing.txt +++ b/entries/and there was much rejoicing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ and there was much rejoicing -Acknowledgement of a notable accomplishment. Something long-awaited, widely desired, possibly unexpected but secretly wished-for, with a suggestion that something about the problem (and perhaps the steps necessary to make it go away) was deeply disturbing to hacker sensibilities. In person, the phrase is almost invariably pronounced with the same portentious intonation as the movie. The customary in-person (approving) response is a weak and halfhearted Yaaaay... , with one index finger raised like a flag and moved in a small circle. The reason for this, like most of the Monty Python oeuvre , cannot easily be explained outside its original context. Example: changelog entry #436: with the foo driver brain damage taken care of, finally obsoleted BROKEN_EVIL_KLUDGE. Removed from source tree. (And there was much rejoicing). +Acknowledgement of a notable accomplishment. Something long-awaited, widely +desired, possibly unexpected but secretly wished-for, with a suggestion that +something about the problem (and perhaps the steps necessary to make it go +away) was deeply disturbing to hacker sensibilities. In person, the phrase +is almost invariably pronounced with the same portentious intonation as the +movie. The customary in-person (approving) response is a weak and +halfhearted Yaaaay... , with one index finger raised like a flag and moved +in a small circle. The reason for this, like most of the Monty Python oeuvre +, cannot easily be explained outside its original context. Example: +changelog entry #436: with the foo driver brain damage taken care of, +finally obsoleted BROKEN_EVIL_KLUDGE. Removed from source tree. (And there +was much rejoicing). + diff --git a/entries/angle brackets.txt b/entries/angle brackets.txt index d809a82..0e06a4b 100644 --- a/entries/angle brackets.txt +++ b/entries/angle brackets.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ angle brackets -n. Either of the characters (ASCII 0111100) and (ASCII 0111110) (ASCII less-than or greater-than signs). Typographers in the Real World use angle brackets which are either taller and slimmer (the ISO lang and rang characters), or significantly smaller (single or double guillemets) than the less-than and greater-than signs. See broket , ASCII. +n. Either of the characters (ASCII 0111100) and (ASCII 0111110) (ASCII +less-than or greater-than signs). Typographers in the Real World use angle +brackets which are either taller and slimmer (the ISO lang and rang +characters), or significantly smaller (single or double guillemets) than the +less-than and greater-than signs. See broket , ASCII. + diff --git a/entries/angry fruit salad.txt b/entries/angry fruit salad.txt index bfead2f..b1a6e78 100644 --- a/entries/angry fruit salad.txt +++ b/entries/angry fruit salad.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ angry fruit salad -n. A bad visual-interface design that uses too many colors. (This term derives, of course, from the bizarre day-glo colors found in canned fruit salad.) Too often one sees similar effects from interface designers using color window systems such as X ; there is a tendency to create displays that are flashy and attention-getting but uncomfortable for long-term use. +n. A bad visual-interface design that uses too many colors. (This term +derives, of course, from the bizarre day-glo colors found in canned fruit +salad.) Too often one sees similar effects from interface designers using +color window systems such as X ; there is a tendency to create displays that +are flashy and attention-getting but uncomfortable for long-term use. + diff --git a/entries/annoybot.txt b/entries/annoybot.txt index 3e4a7da..b7babbf 100644 --- a/entries/annoybot.txt +++ b/entries/annoybot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ annoybot /@noybot/ , n. [IRC] See bot. + diff --git a/entries/annoyware.txt b/entries/annoyware.txt index 6152c83..f2a9590 100644 --- a/entries/annoyware.txt +++ b/entries/annoyware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ annoyware -n. A type of shareware that frequently disrupts normal program operation to display requests for payment to the author in return for the ability to disable the request messages. (Also called nagware ) The requests generally require user action to acknowledge the message before normal operation is resumed and are often tied to the most frequently used features of the software. See also careware , charityware , crippleware , freeware , FRS , guiltware , postcardware , and -ware ; compare payware. +n. A type of shareware that frequently disrupts normal program operation to +display requests for payment to the author in return for the ability to +disable the request messages. (Also called nagware ) The requests generally +require user action to acknowledge the message before normal operation is +resumed and are often tied to the most frequently used features of the +software. See also careware , charityware , crippleware , freeware , FRS , +guiltware , postcardware , and -ware ; compare payware. + diff --git a/entries/anti-idiotarianism.txt b/entries/anti-idiotarianism.txt index 56cf671..6fb1560 100644 --- a/entries/anti-idiotarianism.txt +++ b/entries/anti-idiotarianism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ anti-idiotarianism -n. [very common] Opposition to idiots of all political stripes. First coined in the blog named Little Green Footballs as part of a post expressing disgust with inane responses to post-9/11 Islamic terrorism. Anti-idiotarian wrath has focused on Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers in the Western political left, but also routinely excoriated right-wing politicians backing repressive anti-terror legislation and Christian religious figures who (in the blogosphere's view of the matter) have descended nearly to the level of jihad themselves. +n. [very common] Opposition to idiots of all political stripes. First coined +in the blog named Little Green Footballs as part of a post expressing +disgust with inane responses to post-9/11 Islamic terrorism. Anti-idiotarian +wrath has focused on Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers in the +Western political left, but also routinely excoriated right-wing +politicians backing repressive anti-terror legislation and Christian +religious figures who (in the blogosphere's view of the matter) have +descended nearly to the level of jihad themselves. + diff --git a/entries/app.txt b/entries/app.txt index 5c1a22f..6065dd4 100644 --- a/entries/app.txt +++ b/entries/app.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ app -/ap/ , n. Short for application program , as opposed to a systems program. Apps are what systems vendors are forever chasing developers to create for their environments so they can sell more boxes. Hackers tend not to think of the things they themselves run as apps; thus, in hacker parlance the term excludes compilers, program editors, games, and messaging systems, though a user would consider all those to be apps. (Broadly, an app is often a self-contained environment for performing some well-defined task such as word processing ; hackers tend to prefer more general-purpose tools.) See killer app ; oppose tool , operating system. +/ap/ , n. Short for application program , as opposed to a systems program. +Apps are what systems vendors are forever chasing developers to create for +their environments so they can sell more boxes. Hackers tend not to think of +the things they themselves run as apps; thus, in hacker parlance the term +excludes compilers, program editors, games, and messaging systems, though a +user would consider all those to be apps. (Broadly, an app is often a +self-contained environment for performing some well-defined task such as +word processing ; hackers tend to prefer more general-purpose tools.) See +killer app ; oppose tool , operating system. + diff --git a/entries/arena.txt b/entries/arena.txt index 0f4dce3..93455a4 100644 --- a/entries/arena.txt +++ b/entries/arena.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ arena -n. [common; Unix] The area of memory attached to a process by brk (2) and sbrk (2) and used by malloc (3) as dynamic storage. So named from a malloc: corrupt arena message emitted when some early versions detected an impossible value in the free block list. See overrun screw , aliasing bug , memory leak , memory smash , smash the stack. +n. [common; Unix] The area of memory attached to a process by brk (2) and +sbrk (2) and used by malloc (3) as dynamic storage. So named from a malloc: +corrupt arena message emitted when some early versions detected an +impossible value in the free block list. See overrun screw , aliasing bug , +memory leak , memory smash , smash the stack. + diff --git a/entries/arg.txt b/entries/arg.txt index 77da114..7dea1bd 100644 --- a/entries/arg.txt +++ b/entries/arg.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ arg -/arg/ , n. Abbreviation for argument (to a function), used so often as to have become a new word (like piano from pianoforte ). The sine function takes 1 arg, but the arc-tangent function can take either 1 or 2 args. Compare param , parm , var. +/arg/ , n. Abbreviation for argument (to a function), used so often as to +have become a new word (like piano from pianoforte ). The sine function +takes 1 arg, but the arc-tangent function can take either 1 or 2 args. +Compare param , parm , var. + diff --git a/entries/armor-plated.txt b/entries/armor-plated.txt index eebe593..73b4c25 100644 --- a/entries/armor-plated.txt +++ b/entries/armor-plated.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ armor-plated n. Syn. for bulletproof. + diff --git a/entries/asbestos cork award.txt b/entries/asbestos cork award.txt index 3f0cf1b..cac6e46 100644 --- a/entries/asbestos cork award.txt +++ b/entries/asbestos cork award.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ asbestos cork award -n. Once, long ago at MIT, there was a flamer so consistently obnoxious that another hacker designed, had made, and distributed posters announcing that said flamer had been nominated for the asbestos cork award. (Any reader in doubt as to the intended application of the cork should consult the etymology under flame. ) Since then, it is agreed that only a select few have risen to the heights of bombast required to earn this dubious dignity but there is no agreement on which few. +n. Once, long ago at MIT, there was a flamer so consistently obnoxious that +another hacker designed, had made, and distributed posters announcing that +said flamer had been nominated for the asbestos cork award. (Any reader in +doubt as to the intended application of the cork should consult the +etymology under flame. ) Since then, it is agreed that only a select few +have risen to the heights of bombast required to earn this dubious dignity +but there is no agreement on which few. + diff --git a/entries/asbestos longjohns.txt b/entries/asbestos longjohns.txt index 69926f1..38d0712 100644 --- a/entries/asbestos longjohns.txt +++ b/entries/asbestos longjohns.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ asbestos longjohns -n. Notional garments donned by Usenet posters just before emitting a remark they expect will elicit flamage. This is the most common of the asbestos coinages. Also asbestos underwear , asbestos overcoat , etc. +n. Notional garments donned by Usenet posters just before emitting a remark +they expect will elicit flamage. This is the most common of the asbestos +coinages. Also asbestos underwear , asbestos overcoat , etc. + diff --git a/entries/asbestos.txt b/entries/asbestos.txt index d3c33ad..814519e 100644 --- a/entries/asbestos.txt +++ b/entries/asbestos.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ asbestos -adj. [common] Used as a modifier to anything intended to protect one from flame s; also in other highly flame -suggestive usages. See, for example, asbestos longjohns and asbestos cork award. +adj. [common] Used as a modifier to anything intended to protect one from +flame s; also in other highly flame -suggestive usages. See, for example, +asbestos longjohns and asbestos cork award. + diff --git a/entries/astroturfing.txt b/entries/astroturfing.txt index 634728f..5851432 100644 --- a/entries/astroturfing.txt +++ b/entries/astroturfing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ astroturfing -n. 1. The use of paid shills to create the impression of a popular movement, through means like letters to newspapers from soi-disant concerned citizens , paid opinion pieces, and the formation of grass-roots lobbying groups that are actually funded by a PR group (AstroTurf is fake grass; hence the term). See also sock puppet , tentacle. 2. What an individual posting to a public forum under an assumed name is said to be doing. This term became common among hackers after it came to light in early 1998 that Microsoft had attempted to use such tactics to forestall the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust action against the company. The maneuver backfired horribly, angering a number of state attorneys-general enough to induce them to go public with plans to join the Federal suit. It also set anybody defending Microsoft on the net for the accusation You're just astroturfing!. +n. 1. The use of paid shills to create the impression of a popular movement, +through means like letters to newspapers from soi-disant concerned citizens +, paid opinion pieces, and the formation of grass-roots lobbying groups that +are actually funded by a PR group (AstroTurf is fake grass; hence the term). +See also sock puppet , tentacle. 2. What an individual posting to a public +forum under an assumed name is said to be doing. This term became common +among hackers after it came to light in early 1998 that Microsoft had +attempted to use such tactics to forestall the U.S. Department of Justice's +antitrust action against the company. The maneuver backfired horribly, +angering a number of state attorneys-general enough to induce them to go +public with plans to join the Federal suit. It also set anybody defending +Microsoft on the net for the accusation You're just astroturfing!. + diff --git a/entries/atomic.txt b/entries/atomic.txt index bbc2388..1de2525 100644 --- a/entries/atomic.txt +++ b/entries/atomic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ atomic -adj. [from Gk. atomos , indivisible] 1. Indivisible; cannot be split up. For example, an instruction may be said to do several things atomically , i.e., all the things are done immediately, and there is no chance of the instruction being half-completed or of another being interspersed. Used esp. to convey that an operation cannot be screwed up by interrupts. This routine locks the file and increments the file's semaphore atomically. 2. [primarily techspeak] Guaranteed to complete successfully or not at all, usu. refers to database transactions. If an error prevents a partially-performed transaction from proceeding to completion, it must be backed out , as the database must not be left in an inconsistent state. Computer usage, in either of the above senses, has none of the connotations that atomic has in mainstream English (i.e. of particles of matter, nuclear explosions etc.). +adj. [from Gk. atomos , indivisible] 1. Indivisible; cannot be split up. For +example, an instruction may be said to do several things atomically , i.e., +all the things are done immediately, and there is no chance of the +instruction being half-completed or of another being interspersed. Used esp. +to convey that an operation cannot be screwed up by interrupts. This routine +locks the file and increments the file's semaphore atomically. 2. [primarily +techspeak] Guaranteed to complete successfully or not at all, usu. refers to +database transactions. If an error prevents a partially-performed +transaction from proceeding to completion, it must be backed out , as the +database must not be left in an inconsistent state. Computer usage, in +either of the above senses, has none of the connotations that atomic has in +mainstream English (i.e. of particles of matter, nuclear explosions etc.). + diff --git a/entries/attoparsec.txt b/entries/attoparsec.txt index 9154b29..6535b72 100644 --- a/entries/attoparsec.txt +++ b/entries/attoparsec.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ attoparsec -n. About an inch. atto- is the standard SI prefix for multiplication by 10 -18. A parsec (parallax-second) is 3.26 light-years; an attoparsec is thus 3.26 10 -18 light years, or about 3.1 cm (thus, 1 attoparsec/ microfortnight equals about 1 inch/sec). This unit is reported to be in use (though probably not very seriously) among hackers in the U.K. See micro-. +n. About an inch. atto- is the standard SI prefix for multiplication by 10 +-18. A parsec (parallax-second) is 3.26 light-years; an attoparsec is thus +3.26 10 -18 light years, or about 3.1 cm (thus, 1 attoparsec/ +microfortnight equals about 1 inch/sec). This unit is reported to be in use +(though probably not very seriously) among hackers in the U.K. See micro-. + diff --git a/entries/autobogotiphobia.txt b/entries/autobogotiphobia.txt index 94efb84..4565034 100644 --- a/entries/autobogotiphobia.txt +++ b/entries/autobogotiphobia.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ autobogotiphobia /awtohbohgot`@fohbee@/ n. See bogotify. + diff --git a/entries/autoconfiscate.txt b/entries/autoconfiscate.txt index 56fd315..35d435d 100644 --- a/entries/autoconfiscate.txt +++ b/entries/autoconfiscate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ autoconfiscate -To set up or modify a source-code distribution so that it configures and builds using the GNU project's autoconf/automake/libtools suite. Among open-source hackers, a mere running binary of a program is not considered a full release; what's interesting is a source tree that can be built into binaries using standard tools. Since the mid-1990s, autoconf and friends been the standard way to adapt a distribution for portability so that it can be built on multiple operating systems without change. +To set up or modify a source-code distribution so that it configures and +builds using the GNU project's autoconf/automake/libtools suite. Among +open-source hackers, a mere running binary of a program is not considered a +full release; what's interesting is a source tree that can be built into +binaries using standard tools. Since the mid-1990s, autoconf and friends +been the standard way to adapt a distribution for portability so that it can +be built on multiple operating systems without change. + diff --git a/entries/automagically.txt b/entries/automagically.txt index bbbf3f4..ed2d4f7 100644 --- a/entries/automagically.txt +++ b/entries/automagically.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ automagically -/awtohmajiklee/ , adv. Automatically, but in a way that, for some reason (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps even too trivial), the speaker doesn't feel like explaining to you. See magic. The C-INTERCAL compiler generates C, then automagically invokes cc (1) to produce an executable. This term is quite old, going back at least to the mid-70s in jargon and probably much earlier. The word automagic occurred in advertising (for a shirt-ironing gadget) as far back as the late 1940s. +/awtohmajiklee/ , adv. Automatically, but in a way that, for some reason +(typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps even too +trivial), the speaker doesn't feel like explaining to you. See magic. The +C-INTERCAL compiler generates C, then automagically invokes cc (1) to +produce an executable. This term is quite old, going back at least to the +mid-70s in jargon and probably much earlier. The word automagic occurred in +advertising (for a shirt-ironing gadget) as far back as the late 1940s. + diff --git a/entries/avatar.txt b/entries/avatar.txt index 527eb44..5b38c94 100644 --- a/entries/avatar.txt +++ b/entries/avatar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ avatar -n. [in Hindu mythology, the incarnation of a god] 1. Among people working on virtual reality and cyberspace interfaces, an avatar is an icon or representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. The term is sometimes used on MUD s. 2. [CMU, Tektronix] root , superuser. There are quite a few Unix machines on which the name of the superuser account is avatar rather than root. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who found the terms root and superuser unimaginative, and thought avatar might better impress people with the responsibility they were accepting. +n. [in Hindu mythology, the incarnation of a god] 1. Among people working on +virtual reality and cyberspace interfaces, an avatar is an icon or +representation of a user in a shared virtual reality. The term is sometimes +used on MUD s. 2. [CMU, Tektronix] root , superuser. There are quite a few +Unix machines on which the name of the superuser account is avatar rather +than root. This quirk was originated by a CMU hacker who found the terms +root and superuser unimaginative, and thought avatar might better impress +people with the responsibility they were accepting. + diff --git a/entries/awk.txt b/entries/awk.txt index 485d32a..5fc93b6 100644 --- a/entries/awk.txt +++ b/entries/awk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ awk -/awk/ 1. n. [Unix techspeak] An interpreted language for massaging text data developed by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan (the name derives from their initials). It is characterized by C-like syntax, a declaration-free approach to variable typing and declarations, associative arrays, and field-oriented text processing. See also Perl. 2. n. Editing term for an expression awkward to manipulate through normal regexp facilities (for example, one containing a newline ). 3. vt. To process data using awk (1). +/awk/ 1. n. [Unix techspeak] An interpreted language for massaging text data +developed by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan (the name +derives from their initials). It is characterized by C-like syntax, a +declaration-free approach to variable typing and declarations, associative +arrays, and field-oriented text processing. See also Perl. 2. n. Editing +term for an expression awkward to manipulate through normal regexp +facilities (for example, one containing a newline ). 3. vt. To process data +using awk (1). + diff --git a/entries/back door.txt b/entries/back door.txt index f086800..e4b7462 100644 --- a/entries/back door.txt +++ b/entries/back door.txt @@ -1,3 +1,36 @@ back door -n. [common] A hole in the security of a system deliberately left in place by designers or maintainers. The motivation for such holes is not always sinister; some operating systems, for example, come out of the box with privileged accounts intended for use by field service technicians or the vendor's maintenance programmers. Syn. trap door ; may also be called a wormhole. See also iron box , cracker , worm , logic bomb. Historically, back doors have often lurked in systems longer than anyone expected or planned, and a few have become widely known. Ken Thompson's 1983 Turing Award lecture to the ACM admitted the existence of a back door in early Unix versions that may have qualified as the most fiendishly clever security hack of all time. In this scheme, the C compiler contained code that would recognize when the login command was being recompiled and insert some code recognizing a password chosen by Thompson, giving him entry to the system whether or not an account had been created for him. Normally such a back door could be removed by removing it from the source code for the compiler and recompiling the compiler. But to recompile the compiler, you have to use the compiler so Thompson also arranged that the compiler would recognize when it was compiling a version of itself , and insert into the recompiled compiler the code to insert into the recompiled login the code to allow Thompson entry and, of course, the code to recognize itself and do the whole thing again the next time around! And having done this once, he was then able to recompile the compiler from the original sources; the hack perpetuated itself invisibly, leaving the back door in place and active but with no trace in the sources. The Turing lecture that reported this truly moby hack was later published as Reflections on Trusting Trust , Communications of the ACM 27 , 8 (August 1984), pp. 761--763 (text available at http://www.acm.org/classics/ ). Ken Thompson has since confirmed that this hack was implemented and that the Trojan Horse code did appear in the login binary of a Unix Support group machine. Ken says the crocked compiler was never distributed. Your editor has heard two separate reports that suggest that the crocked login did make it out of Bell Labs, notably to BBN, and that it enabled at least one late-night login across the network by someone using the login name kt. +n. [common] A hole in the security of a system deliberately left in place by +designers or maintainers. The motivation for such holes is not always +sinister; some operating systems, for example, come out of the box with +privileged accounts intended for use by field service technicians or the +vendor's maintenance programmers. Syn. trap door ; may also be called a +wormhole. See also iron box , cracker , worm , logic bomb. Historically, +back doors have often lurked in systems longer than anyone expected or +planned, and a few have become widely known. Ken Thompson's 1983 Turing +Award lecture to the ACM admitted the existence of a back door in early Unix +versions that may have qualified as the most fiendishly clever security hack +of all time. In this scheme, the C compiler contained code that would +recognize when the login command was being recompiled and insert some code +recognizing a password chosen by Thompson, giving him entry to the system +whether or not an account had been created for him. Normally such a back +door could be removed by removing it from the source code for the compiler +and recompiling the compiler. But to recompile the compiler, you have to use +the compiler so Thompson also arranged that the compiler would recognize +when it was compiling a version of itself , and insert into the recompiled +compiler the code to insert into the recompiled login the code to allow +Thompson entry and, of course, the code to recognize itself and do the whole +thing again the next time around! And having done this once, he was then +able to recompile the compiler from the original sources; the hack +perpetuated itself invisibly, leaving the back door in place and active but +with no trace in the sources. The Turing lecture that reported this truly +moby hack was later published as Reflections on Trusting Trust , +Communications of the ACM 27 , 8 (August 1984), pp. 761--763 (text available +at http://www.acm.org/classics/ ). Ken Thompson has since confirmed that +this hack was implemented and that the Trojan Horse code did appear in the +login binary of a Unix Support group machine. Ken says the crocked compiler +was never distributed. Your editor has heard two separate reports that +suggest that the crocked login did make it out of Bell Labs, notably to BBN, +and that it enabled at least one late-night login across the network by +someone using the login name kt. + diff --git a/entries/backbone cabal.txt b/entries/backbone cabal.txt index e897789..f2091c7 100644 --- a/entries/backbone cabal.txt +++ b/entries/backbone cabal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ backbone cabal -n. A group of large-site administrators who pushed through the Great Renaming and reined in the chaos of Usenet during most of the 1980s. During most of its lifetime, the Cabal (as it was sometimes capitalized) steadfastly denied its own existence; it was almost obligatory for anyone privy to their secrets to respond There is no Cabal whenever the existence or activities of the group were speculated on in public. The result of this policy was an attractive aura of mystery. Even a decade after the cabal mailing list disbanded in late 1988 following a bitter internal catfight, many people believed (or claimed to believe) that it had not actually disbanded but only gone deeper underground with its power intact. This belief became a model for various paranoid theories about various Cabals with dark nefarious objectives beginning with taking over the Usenet or Internet. These paranoias were later satirized in ways that took on a life of their own. See Eric Conspiracy for one example. Part of the background for this kind of humor is that many hackers cultivate a fondness for conspiracy theory considered as a kind of surrealist art; see the bibliography entry om Illuminatus! for the novel that launched this trend. See NANA for the subsequent history of the Cabal. +n. A group of large-site administrators who pushed through the Great +Renaming and reined in the chaos of Usenet during most of the 1980s. During +most of its lifetime, the Cabal (as it was sometimes capitalized) +steadfastly denied its own existence; it was almost obligatory for anyone +privy to their secrets to respond There is no Cabal whenever the existence +or activities of the group were speculated on in public. The result of this +policy was an attractive aura of mystery. Even a decade after the cabal +mailing list disbanded in late 1988 following a bitter internal catfight, +many people believed (or claimed to believe) that it had not actually +disbanded but only gone deeper underground with its power intact. This +belief became a model for various paranoid theories about various Cabals +with dark nefarious objectives beginning with taking over the Usenet or +Internet. These paranoias were later satirized in ways that took on a life +of their own. See Eric Conspiracy for one example. Part of the background +for this kind of humor is that many hackers cultivate a fondness for +conspiracy theory considered as a kind of surrealist art; see the +bibliography entry om Illuminatus! for the novel that launched this trend. +See NANA for the subsequent history of the Cabal. + diff --git a/entries/backbone site.txt b/entries/backbone site.txt index 14e6066..3b82aca 100644 --- a/entries/backbone site.txt +++ b/entries/backbone site.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ backbone site -n.,obs. Formerly, a key Usenet and email site, one that processes a large amount of third-party traffic, especially if it is the home site of any of the regional coordinators for the Usenet maps. Notable backbone sites as of early 1993, when this sense of the term was beginning to pass out of general use due to wide availability of cheap Internet connections, included uunet and the mail machines at Rutgers University, UC Berkeley, DEC 's Western Research Laboratories, Ohio State University, and the University of Texas. Compare leaf site. [2001 update: This term has passed into history. The UUCP network world that gave it meaning is gone; everyone is on the Internet now and network traffic is distributed in very different patterns. +n.,obs. Formerly, a key Usenet and email site, one that processes a large +amount of third-party traffic, especially if it is the home site of any of +the regional coordinators for the Usenet maps. Notable backbone sites as of +early 1993, when this sense of the term was beginning to pass out of general +use due to wide availability of cheap Internet connections, included uunet +and the mail machines at Rutgers University, UC Berkeley, DEC 's Western +Research Laboratories, Ohio State University, and the University of Texas. +Compare leaf site. [2001 update: This term has passed into history. The UUCP +network world that gave it meaning is gone; everyone is on the Internet now +and network traffic is distributed in very different patterns. + diff --git a/entries/backgammon.txt b/entries/backgammon.txt index 58ea3fc..7adc6b7 100644 --- a/entries/backgammon.txt +++ b/entries/backgammon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ backgammon See bignum (sense 3), moby (sense 4), and pseudoprime. + diff --git a/entries/background.txt b/entries/background.txt index 2516f0f..3609749 100644 --- a/entries/background.txt +++ b/entries/background.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ background -n.,adj.,vt. [common] To do a task in background is to do it whenever foreground matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and to background something means to relegate it to a lower priority. For now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing problem in background. Note that this implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream back burner (which connotes benign neglect until some future resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (a tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an obstacle in creative work). Compare amp off , slopsucker. Technically, a task running in background is detached from the terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower priority); oppose foreground. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix , but it appears to have been first used in this sense on OS/360. +n.,adj.,vt. [common] To do a task in background is to do it whenever +foreground matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and to +background something means to relegate it to a lower priority. For now, +we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the +graph-printing problem in background. Note that this implies ongoing +activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream +back burner (which connotes benign neglect until some future resumption of +activity). Some people prefer to use the term for processing that they have +queued up for their unconscious minds (a tack that one can often fruitfully +take upon encountering an obstacle in creative work). Compare amp off , +slopsucker. Technically, a task running in background is detached from the +terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower priority); +oppose foreground. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix , +but it appears to have been first used in this sense on OS/360. + diff --git a/entries/backreference.txt b/entries/backreference.txt index af75925..00c0864 100644 --- a/entries/backreference.txt +++ b/entries/backreference.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ backreference -n. 1. In a regular expression or pattern match, the text which was matched within grouping parentheses 2. The part of the pattern which refers back to the matched text. 3. By extension, anything which refers back to something which has been seen or discussed before. +n. 1. In a regular expression or pattern match, the text which was matched +within grouping parentheses 2. The part of the pattern which refers back to +the matched text. 3. By extension, anything which refers back to something +which has been seen or discussed before. + diff --git a/entries/backronym.txt b/entries/backronym.txt index a3976b4..9ddb998 100644 --- a/entries/backronym.txt +++ b/entries/backronym.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ backronym -n. [portmanteau of back + acronym] A word interpreted as an acronym that was not originally so intended. This is a special case of what linguists call back formation. Examples are given under recursive acronym (Cygnus), Acme , and mung. Discovering backronyms is a common form of wordplay among hackers. Compare retcon. +n. [portmanteau of back + acronym] A word interpreted as an acronym that was +not originally so intended. This is a special case of what linguists call +back formation. Examples are given under recursive acronym (Cygnus), Acme , +and mung. Discovering backronyms is a common form of wordplay among hackers. +Compare retcon. + diff --git a/entries/backward combatability.txt b/entries/backward combatability.txt index 10a0051..e543960 100644 --- a/entries/backward combatability.txt +++ b/entries/backward combatability.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ backward combatability -/bakw@rd k@mbat'@bil'@tee/ , n. [CMU, Tektronix: from backward compatibility ] A property of hardware or software revisions in which previous protocols, formats, layouts, etc. are irrevocably discarded in favor of new and improved protocols, formats, and layouts, leaving the previous ones not merely deprecated but actively defeated. (Too often, the old and new versions cannot definitively be distinguished, such that lingering instances of the previous ones yield crashes or other infelicitous effects, as opposed to a simple version mismatch message.) A backwards compatible change, on the other hand, allows old versions to coexist without crashes or error messages, but too many major changes incorporating elaborate backwards compatibility processing can lead to extreme software bloat. See also flag day. +/bakw@rd k@mbat'@bil'@tee/ , n. [CMU, Tektronix: from backward compatibility +] A property of hardware or software revisions in which previous protocols, +formats, layouts, etc. are irrevocably discarded in favor of new and +improved protocols, formats, and layouts, leaving the previous ones not +merely deprecated but actively defeated. (Too often, the old and new +versions cannot definitively be distinguished, such that lingering instances +of the previous ones yield crashes or other infelicitous effects, as opposed +to a simple version mismatch message.) A backwards compatible change, on the +other hand, allows old versions to coexist without crashes or error +messages, but too many major changes incorporating elaborate backwards +compatibility processing can lead to extreme software bloat. See also flag +day. + diff --git a/entries/bag on the side.txt b/entries/bag on the side.txt index 6ae04f5..4eb0fbe 100644 --- a/entries/bag on the side.txt +++ b/entries/bag on the side.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ bag on the side -n. [prob. originally related to a colostomy bag] An extension to an established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the original. Usually derogatory, implying that the original was being overextended and should have been thrown away, and the new product is ugly, inelegant, or bloated. Also v. phrase, to hang a bag on the side [of]. C++? That's just a bag on the side of C. ... They want me to hang a bag on the side of the accounting system. +n. [prob. originally related to a colostomy bag] An extension to an +established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the original. +Usually derogatory, implying that the original was being overextended and +should have been thrown away, and the new product is ugly, inelegant, or +bloated. Also v. phrase, to hang a bag on the side [of]. C++? That's just a +bag on the side of C. ... They want me to hang a bag on the side of the +accounting system. + diff --git a/entries/bagbiter.txt b/entries/bagbiter.txt index a5e8ae8..b029664 100644 --- a/entries/bagbiter.txt +++ b/entries/bagbiter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ bagbiter -/bagbi:t@r/ , n. 1. Something, such as a program or a computer, that fails to work, or works in a remarkably clumsy manner. This text editor won't let me make a file with a line longer than 80 characters! What a bagbiter! 2. A person who has caused you some trouble, inadvertently or otherwise, typically by failing to program the computer properly. Synonyms: loser , cretin , chomper. 3. bite the bag vi. To fail in some manner. The computer keeps crashing every five minutes. Yes, the disk controller is really biting the bag. The original loading of these terms was almost undoubtedly obscene, possibly referring to a douche bag or the scrotum (we have reports of Bite the douche bag! being used as a taunt at MIT 1970-1976, and we have another report that Bite the bag! was in common use at least as early as 1965), but in their current usage they have become almost completely sanitized. +/bagbi:t@r/ , n. 1. Something, such as a program or a computer, that fails +to work, or works in a remarkably clumsy manner. This text editor won't let +me make a file with a line longer than 80 characters! What a bagbiter! 2. A +person who has caused you some trouble, inadvertently or otherwise, +typically by failing to program the computer properly. Synonyms: loser , +cretin , chomper. 3. bite the bag vi. To fail in some manner. The computer +keeps crashing every five minutes. Yes, the disk controller is really biting +the bag. The original loading of these terms was almost undoubtedly obscene, +possibly referring to a douche bag or the scrotum (we have reports of Bite +the douche bag! being used as a taunt at MIT 1970-1976, and we have another +report that Bite the bag! was in common use at least as early as 1965), but +in their current usage they have become almost completely sanitized. + diff --git a/entries/bagbiting.txt b/entries/bagbiting.txt index 3173dc2..1ba3abb 100644 --- a/entries/bagbiting.txt +++ b/entries/bagbiting.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ bagbiting -adj. [MIT; now rare] Having the quality of a bagbiter. This bagbiting system won't let me compute the factorial of a negative number. Compare losing , cretinous , bletcherous , barfucious (under barfulous ) and chomping (under chomp ). +adj. [MIT; now rare] Having the quality of a bagbiter. This bagbiting system +won't let me compute the factorial of a negative number. Compare losing , +cretinous , bletcherous , barfucious (under barfulous ) and chomping (under +chomp ). + diff --git a/entries/baggy pantsing.txt b/entries/baggy pantsing.txt index 515e5a3..6d07cf6 100644 --- a/entries/baggy pantsing.txt +++ b/entries/baggy pantsing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ baggy pantsing -v. [Georgia Tech] A baggy pantsing is used to reprimand hackers who incautiously leave their terminals unlocked. The affected user will come back to find a post from them on internal newsgroups discussing exactly how baggy their pants are, an accepted stand-in for unattentive user who left their work unprotected in the clusters. A properly-done baggy pantsing is highly mocking and humorous. It is considered bad form to post a baggy pantsing to off-campus newsgroups or the more technical, serious groups. A particularly nice baggy pantsing may be claimed by immediately quoting the message in full, followed by your sig block ; this has the added benefit of keeping the embarassed victim from being able to delete the post. Interesting baggy-pantsings have been done involving adding commands to login scripts to repost the message every time the unlucky user logs in; Unix boxes on the residential network, when cracked, oftentimes have their homepages replaced (after being politely backed-up to another file) with a baggy-pants message;. plan files are also occasionally targeted. Usage: Prof. Greenlee fell asleep in the Solaris cluster again; we baggy-pantsed him to git.cc.class.2430.flame. Compare derf. +v. [Georgia Tech] A baggy pantsing is used to reprimand hackers who +incautiously leave their terminals unlocked. The affected user will come +back to find a post from them on internal newsgroups discussing exactly how +baggy their pants are, an accepted stand-in for unattentive user who left +their work unprotected in the clusters. A properly-done baggy pantsing is +highly mocking and humorous. It is considered bad form to post a baggy +pantsing to off-campus newsgroups or the more technical, serious groups. A +particularly nice baggy pantsing may be claimed by immediately quoting the +message in full, followed by your sig block ; this has the added benefit of +keeping the embarassed victim from being able to delete the post. +Interesting baggy-pantsings have been done involving adding commands to +login scripts to repost the message every time the unlucky user logs in; +Unix boxes on the residential network, when cracked, oftentimes have their +homepages replaced (after being politely backed-up to another file) with a +baggy-pants message;. plan files are also occasionally targeted. Usage: +Prof. Greenlee fell asleep in the Solaris cluster again; we baggy-pantsed +him to git.cc.class.2430.flame. Compare derf. + diff --git a/entries/balloonian variable.txt b/entries/balloonian variable.txt index dbf2c6e..a913937 100644 --- a/entries/balloonian variable.txt +++ b/entries/balloonian variable.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ balloonian variable -n. [Commodore users; perh. a deliberate phonetic mangling of boolean variable ?] Any variable that doesn't actually hold or control state, but must nevertheless be declared, checked, or set. A typical balloonian variable started out as a flag attached to some environment feature that either became obsolete or was planned but never implemented. Compatibility concerns (or politics attached to same) may require that such a flag be treated as though it were live. +n. [Commodore users; perh. a deliberate phonetic mangling of boolean +variable ?] Any variable that doesn't actually hold or control state, but +must nevertheless be declared, checked, or set. A typical balloonian +variable started out as a flag attached to some environment feature that +either became obsolete or was planned but never implemented. Compatibility +concerns (or politics attached to same) may require that such a flag be +treated as though it were live. + diff --git a/entries/bamf.txt b/entries/bamf.txt index b198156..8f712e4 100644 --- a/entries/bamf.txt +++ b/entries/bamf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ bamf -/bamf/ 1. [from X-Men comics; originally bampf ] interj. Notional sound made by a person or object teleporting in or out of the hearer's vicinity. Often used in virtual reality (esp. MUD ) electronic fora when a character wishes to make a dramatic entrance or exit. 2. The sound of magical transformation, used in virtual reality fora like MUDs. 3. In MUD circles, bamf is also used to refer to the act by which a MUD server sends a special notification to the MUD client to switch its connection to another server ( I'll set up the old site to just bamf people over to our new location. ). 4. Used by MUDders on occasion in a more general sense related to sense 3, to refer to directing someone to another location or resource ( A user was asking about some technobabble so I bamfed them to http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/. +/bamf/ 1. [from X-Men comics; originally bampf ] interj. Notional sound made +by a person or object teleporting in or out of the hearer's vicinity. Often +used in virtual reality (esp. MUD ) electronic fora when a character wishes +to make a dramatic entrance or exit. 2. The sound of magical transformation, +used in virtual reality fora like MUDs. 3. In MUD circles, bamf is also used +to refer to the act by which a MUD server sends a special notification to +the MUD client to switch its connection to another server ( I'll set up the +old site to just bamf people over to our new location. ). 4. Used by MUDders +on occasion in a more general sense related to sense 3, to refer to +directing someone to another location or resource ( A user was asking about +some technobabble so I bamfed them to http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/. + diff --git a/entries/banana problem.txt b/entries/banana problem.txt index e115d39..dc3e189 100644 --- a/entries/banana problem.txt +++ b/entries/banana problem.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ banana problem -n. [from the story of the little girl who said I know how to spell banana , but I don't know when to stop ]. Not knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare fencepost error ). One may say there is a banana problem of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance , creeping featuritis ). See item 176 under HAKMEM , which describes a banana problem in a Dissociated Press implementation. Also, see one-banana problem for a superficially similar but unrelated usage. +n. [from the story of the little girl who said I know how to spell banana , +but I don't know when to stop ]. Not knowing where or when to bring a +production to a close (compare fencepost error ). One may say there is a +banana problem of an algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination +conditions, or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be +succumbing to featuritis (see also creeping elegance , creeping featuritis +). See item 176 under HAKMEM , which describes a banana problem in a +Dissociated Press implementation. Also, see one-banana problem for a +superficially similar but unrelated usage. + diff --git a/entries/bandwidth.txt b/entries/bandwidth.txt index 2b3f630..e1834e9 100644 --- a/entries/bandwidth.txt +++ b/entries/bandwidth.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ bandwidth -n. 1. [common] Used by hackers (in a generalization of its technical meaning) as the volume of information per unit time that a computer, person, or transmission medium can handle. Those are amazing graphics, but I missed some of the detail not enough bandwidth, I guess. Compare low-bandwidth ; see also brainwidth. This generalized usage began to go mainstream after the Internet population explosion of 1993-1994. 2. Attention span. 3. On Usenet , a measure of network capacity that is often wasted by people complaining about how items posted by others are a waste of bandwidth. +n. 1. [common] Used by hackers (in a generalization of its technical +meaning) as the volume of information per unit time that a computer, person, +or transmission medium can handle. Those are amazing graphics, but I missed +some of the detail not enough bandwidth, I guess. Compare low-bandwidth ; +see also brainwidth. This generalized usage began to go mainstream after the +Internet population explosion of 1993-1994. 2. Attention span. 3. On Usenet +, a measure of network capacity that is often wasted by people complaining +about how items posted by others are a waste of bandwidth. + diff --git a/entries/bang on.txt b/entries/bang on.txt index 666b378..52839cb 100644 --- a/entries/bang on.txt +++ b/entries/bang on.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bang on -vt. To stress-test a piece of hardware or software: I banged on the new version of the simulator all day yesterday and it didn't crash once. I guess it is ready for release. The term pound on is synonymous. +vt. To stress-test a piece of hardware or software: I banged on the new +version of the simulator all day yesterday and it didn't crash once. I guess +it is ready for release. The term pound on is synonymous. + diff --git a/entries/bang path.txt b/entries/bang path.txt index 88efb87..d07122b 100644 --- a/entries/bang path.txt +++ b/entries/bang path.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ bang path -n. [now historical] An old-style UUCP electronic-mail address specifying hops to get from some assumed-reachable location to the addressee, so called because each hop is signified by a bang sign. Thus, for example, the path. ..!bigsite!foovax!barbox!me directs people to route their mail to machine bigsite (presumably a well-known location accessible to everybody) and from there through the machine foovax to the account of user me on barbox. In the bad old days of not so long ago, before autorouting mailers and Internet became commonplace, people often published compound bang addresses using the { } convention (see glob ) to give paths from several big machines, in the hopes that one's correspondent might be able to get mail to one of them reliably (example:. ..!{seismo, ut-sally, ihnp4 !rice!beta!gamma!me}). Bang paths of 8 to 10 hops were not uncommon. Late-night dial-up UUCP links would cause week-long transmission times. Bang paths were often selected by both transmission time and reliability, as messages would not infrequently get lost. See the network and sitename. +n. [now historical] An old-style UUCP electronic-mail address specifying +hops to get from some assumed-reachable location to the addressee, so called +because each hop is signified by a bang sign. Thus, for example, the path. +..!bigsite!foovax!barbox!me directs people to route their mail to machine +bigsite (presumably a well-known location accessible to everybody) and from +there through the machine foovax to the account of user me on barbox. In the +bad old days of not so long ago, before autorouting mailers and Internet +became commonplace, people often published compound bang addresses using the +{ } convention (see glob ) to give paths from several big machines, in the +hopes that one's correspondent might be able to get mail to one of them +reliably (example:. ..!{seismo, ut-sally, ihnp4 !rice!beta!gamma!me}). Bang +paths of 8 to 10 hops were not uncommon. Late-night dial-up UUCP links would +cause week-long transmission times. Bang paths were often selected by both +transmission time and reliability, as messages would not infrequently get +lost. See the network and sitename. + diff --git a/entries/bang.txt b/entries/bang.txt index 29a124b..a510f09 100644 --- a/entries/bang.txt +++ b/entries/bang.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ bang -1. n. Common spoken name for ! (ASCII 0100001), especially when used in pronouncing a path in spoken hackish. In elder days this was considered a CMUish usage, with MIT and Stanford hackers preferring excl or shriek ; but the spread of Unix has carried with it (esp. via the term path ) and it is now certainly the most common spoken name for !. Note that it is used exclusively for non-emphatic written ! ; one would not say Congratulations (except possibly for humorous purposes), but if one wanted to specify the exact characters foo! one would speak Eff oh oh . See shriek , ASCII. 2. interj. An exclamation signifying roughly I have achieved enlightenment! , or The dynamite has cleared out my brain! Often used to acknowledge that one has perpetrated a thinko immediately after one has been called on it. +1. n. Common spoken name for ! (ASCII 0100001), especially when used in +pronouncing a path in spoken hackish. In elder days this was considered a +CMUish usage, with MIT and Stanford hackers preferring excl or shriek ; but +the spread of Unix has carried with it (esp. via the term path ) and it is +now certainly the most common spoken name for !. Note that it is used +exclusively for non-emphatic written ! ; one would not say Congratulations +(except possibly for humorous purposes), but if one wanted to specify the +exact characters foo! one would speak Eff oh oh . See shriek , ASCII. 2. +interj. An exclamation signifying roughly I have achieved enlightenment! , +or The dynamite has cleared out my brain! Often used to acknowledge that one +has perpetrated a thinko immediately after one has been called on it. + diff --git a/entries/banner ad.txt b/entries/banner ad.txt index a3595b4..02086bd 100644 --- a/entries/banner ad.txt +++ b/entries/banner ad.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ banner ad -n. Any of the annoying graphical advertisements that span the tops of way too many Web pages. +n. Any of the annoying graphical advertisements that span the tops of way +too many Web pages. + diff --git a/entries/banner site.txt b/entries/banner site.txt index ff0b6b2..74c2f8b 100644 --- a/entries/banner site.txt +++ b/entries/banner site.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ banner site -n. [warez d00dz] An FTP site storing pirated files where one must first click on several banners and/or subscribe to various free services, usually generating some form of revenues for the site owner, to be able to access the site. More often than not, the username/password painfully obtained by clicking on banners and subscribing to bogus services or mailing lists turns out to be non-working or gives access to a site that always responds busy. See ratio site , leech mode. +n. [warez d00dz] An FTP site storing pirated files where one must first +click on several banners and/or subscribe to various free services, usually +generating some form of revenues for the site owner, to be able to access +the site. More often than not, the username/password painfully obtained by +clicking on banners and subscribing to bogus services or mailing lists turns +out to be non-working or gives access to a site that always responds busy. +See ratio site , leech mode. + diff --git a/entries/banner.txt b/entries/banner.txt index 0b8f97c..b99a59d 100644 --- a/entries/banner.txt +++ b/entries/banner.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ banner -n. 1. A top-centered graphic on a web page. Esp. used in banner ad. 2. On interactive software, a first screen containing a logo and/or author credits and/or a copyright notice. Similar to splash screen. 3. The title page added to printouts by most print spoolers (see spool ). Typically includes user or account ID information in very large character-graphics capitals. Also called a burst page , because it indicates where to burst (tear apart) fanfold paper to separate one user's printout from the next. 4. A similar printout generated (typically on multiple pages of fan-fold paper) from user-specified text, e.g., by a program such as Unix's banner({1,6 )}. +n. 1. A top-centered graphic on a web page. Esp. used in banner ad. 2. On +interactive software, a first screen containing a logo and/or author credits +and/or a copyright notice. Similar to splash screen. 3. The title page added +to printouts by most print spoolers (see spool ). Typically includes user or +account ID information in very large character-graphics capitals. Also +called a burst page , because it indicates where to burst (tear apart) +fanfold paper to separate one user's printout from the next. 4. A similar +printout generated (typically on multiple pages of fan-fold paper) from +user-specified text, e.g., by a program such as Unix's banner({1,6 )}. + diff --git a/entries/bar.txt b/entries/bar.txt index be588fc..95442a3 100644 --- a/entries/bar.txt +++ b/entries/bar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bar -/bar/ , n. 1. [very common] The second metasyntactic variable , after foo and before baz. Suppose we have two functions: FOO and BAR. FOO calls BAR.... 2. Often appended to foo to produce foobar. +/bar/ , n. 1. [very common] The second metasyntactic variable , after foo +and before baz. Suppose we have two functions: FOO and BAR. FOO calls +BAR.... 2. Often appended to foo to produce foobar. + diff --git a/entries/bare metal.txt b/entries/bare metal.txt index 2792eed..8f38929 100644 --- a/entries/bare metal.txt +++ b/entries/bare metal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ bare metal -n. 1. [common] New computer hardware, unadorned with such snares and delusions as an operating system , an HLL , or even assembler. Commonly used in the phrase programming on the bare metal , which refers to the arduous work of bit bashing needed to create these basic tools for a new machine. Real bare-metal programming involves things like building boot proms and BIOS chips, implementing basic monitors used to test device drivers, and writing the assemblers that will be used to write the compiler back ends that will give the new machine a real development environment. 2. Programming on the bare metal is also used to describe a style of hand-hacking that relies on bit-level peculiarities of a particular hardware design, esp. tricks for speed and space optimization that rely on crocks such as overlapping instructions (or, as in the famous case described in The Story of Mel' (in Appendix A), interleaving of opcodes on a magnetic drum to minimize fetch delays due to the device's rotational latency). This sort of thing has become rare as the relative costs of programming time and machine resources have changed, but is still found in heavily constrained environments such as industrial embedded systems. See Real Programmer. +n. 1. [common] New computer hardware, unadorned with such snares and +delusions as an operating system , an HLL , or even assembler. Commonly used +in the phrase programming on the bare metal , which refers to the arduous +work of bit bashing needed to create these basic tools for a new machine. +Real bare-metal programming involves things like building boot proms and +BIOS chips, implementing basic monitors used to test device drivers, and +writing the assemblers that will be used to write the compiler back ends +that will give the new machine a real development environment. 2. +Programming on the bare metal is also used to describe a style of +hand-hacking that relies on bit-level peculiarities of a particular hardware +design, esp. tricks for speed and space optimization that rely on crocks +such as overlapping instructions (or, as in the famous case described in The +Story of Mel' (in Appendix A), interleaving of opcodes on a magnetic drum to +minimize fetch delays due to the device's rotational latency). This sort of +thing has become rare as the relative costs of programming time and machine +resources have changed, but is still found in heavily constrained +environments such as industrial embedded systems. See Real Programmer. + diff --git a/entries/barf.txt b/entries/barf.txt index 47d4d8c..65cbb8f 100644 --- a/entries/barf.txt +++ b/entries/barf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ barf -/snarfnbarf`/ , n. Under a WIMP environment , the act of grabbing a region of text and then stuffing the contents of that region into another region (or the same one) to avoid retyping a command line. In the late 1960s, this was a mainstream expression for an eat now, regret it later cheap-restaurant expedition. +/snarfnbarf`/ , n. Under a WIMP environment , the act of grabbing a region +of text and then stuffing the contents of that region into another region +(or the same one) to avoid retyping a command line. In the late 1960s, this +was a mainstream expression for an eat now, regret it later cheap-restaurant +expedition. + diff --git a/entries/barfmail.txt b/entries/barfmail.txt index 56314c7..5ff5d42 100644 --- a/entries/barfmail.txt +++ b/entries/barfmail.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ barfmail -n. Multiple bounce message s accumulating to the level of serious annoyance, or worse. The sort of thing that happens when an inter-network mail gateway goes down or wonky. +n. Multiple bounce message s accumulating to the level of serious annoyance, +or worse. The sort of thing that happens when an inter-network mail gateway +goes down or wonky. + diff --git a/entries/barfulation.txt b/entries/barfulation.txt index f4927e5..e9ae3b2 100644 --- a/entries/barfulation.txt +++ b/entries/barfulation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ barfulation -/bar`fyoolaysh@n/ , interj. Variation of barf used around the Stanford area. An exclamation, expressing disgust. +/bar`fyoolaysh@n/ , interj. Variation of barf used around the Stanford area. +An exclamation, expressing disgust. + diff --git a/entries/barfulous.txt b/entries/barfulous.txt index e46392a..6c6d6e6 100644 --- a/entries/barfulous.txt +++ b/entries/barfulous.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ barfulous -/barfyool@s/ , adj. (alt.: barfucious , /bar-fyoo-sh@s/ ) Said of something that would make anyone barf, if only for esthetic reasons. +/barfyool@s/ , adj. (alt.: barfucious , /bar-fyoo-sh@s/ ) Said of something +that would make anyone barf, if only for esthetic reasons. + diff --git a/entries/barn.txt b/entries/barn.txt index 8def107..4db1835 100644 --- a/entries/barn.txt +++ b/entries/barn.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ barn -n. [uncommon; prob. from the nuclear military] An unexpectedly large quantity of something: a unit of measurement. Why is /var/adm taking up so much space? The logs have grown to several barns. The source of this is clear: when physicists were first studying nuclear interactions, the probability was thought to be proportional to the cross-sectional area of the nucleus (this probability is still called the cross-section). Upon experimenting, they discovered the interactions were far more probable than expected; the nuclei were as big as a barn. The units for cross-sections were christened Barns, (10 -24 cm 2 ) and the book containing cross-sections has a picture of a barn on the cover. +n. [uncommon; prob. from the nuclear military] An unexpectedly large +quantity of something: a unit of measurement. Why is /var/adm taking up so +much space? The logs have grown to several barns. The source of this is +clear: when physicists were first studying nuclear interactions, the +probability was thought to be proportional to the cross-sectional area of +the nucleus (this probability is still called the cross-section). Upon +experimenting, they discovered the interactions were far more probable than +expected; the nuclei were as big as a barn. The units for cross-sections +were christened Barns, (10 -24 cm 2 ) and the book containing cross-sections +has a picture of a barn on the cover. + diff --git a/entries/barney.txt b/entries/barney.txt index 5b91fc0..00b3245 100644 --- a/entries/barney.txt +++ b/entries/barney.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ barney -n. In Commonwealth hackish, barney is to fred (sense #1) as bar is to foo. That is, people who commonly use fred as their first metasyntactic variable will often use barney second. The reference is, of course, to Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in the Flintstones cartoons. +n. In Commonwealth hackish, barney is to fred (sense #1) as bar is to foo. +That is, people who commonly use fred as their first metasyntactic variable +will often use barney second. The reference is, of course, to Fred +Flintstone and Barney Rubble in the Flintstones cartoons. + diff --git a/entries/baroque.txt b/entries/baroque.txt index a70febe..e840d98 100644 --- a/entries/baroque.txt +++ b/entries/baroque.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ baroque -adj. [common] Feature-encrusted; complex; gaudy; verging on excessive. Said of hardware or (esp.) software designs, this has many of the connotations of elephantine or monstrosity but is less extreme and not pejorative in itself. In the absence of other, more negative descriptions this term suggests that the software is trembling on the edge of bad taste but has not quite tipped over into it. Metafont even has features to introduce random variations to its letterform output. Now that is baroque! See also rococo. +adj. [common] Feature-encrusted; complex; gaudy; verging on excessive. Said +of hardware or (esp.) software designs, this has many of the connotations of +elephantine or monstrosity but is less extreme and not pejorative in itself. +In the absence of other, more negative descriptions this term suggests that +the software is trembling on the edge of bad taste but has not quite tipped +over into it. Metafont even has features to introduce random variations to +its letterform output. Now that is baroque! See also rococo. + diff --git a/entries/batbelt.txt b/entries/batbelt.txt index 8b096a3..0d850a2 100644 --- a/entries/batbelt.txt +++ b/entries/batbelt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ batbelt -n. Many hackers routinely hang numerous devices such as pagers, cell-phones, personal organizers, leatherman multitools, pocket knives, flashlights, walkie-talkies, even miniature computers from their belts. When many of these devices are worn at once, the hacker's belt somewhat resembles Batman's utility belt; hence it is referred to as a batbelt. +n. Many hackers routinely hang numerous devices such as pagers, cell-phones, +personal organizers, leatherman multitools, pocket knives, flashlights, +walkie-talkies, even miniature computers from their belts. When many of +these devices are worn at once, the hacker's belt somewhat resembles +Batman's utility belt; hence it is referred to as a batbelt. + diff --git a/entries/batch.txt b/entries/batch.txt index 4916eed..ce8d049 100644 --- a/entries/batch.txt +++ b/entries/batch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ batch -adj. 1. Non-interactive. Hackers use this somewhat more loosely than the traditional technical definitions justify; in particular, switches on a normally interactive program that prepare it to receive non-interactive command input are often referred to as batch mode switches. A batch file is a series of instructions written to be handed to an interactive program running in batch mode. 2. Performance of dreary tasks all at one sitting. I finally sat down in batch mode and wrote out checks for all those bills; I guess they'll turn the electricity back on next week... 3. +adj. 1. Non-interactive. Hackers use this somewhat more loosely than the +traditional technical definitions justify; in particular, switches on a +normally interactive program that prepare it to receive non-interactive +command input are often referred to as batch mode switches. A batch file is +a series of instructions written to be handed to an interactive program +running in batch mode. 2. Performance of dreary tasks all at one sitting. I +finally sat down in batch mode and wrote out checks for all those bills; I +guess they'll turn the electricity back on next week... 3. + diff --git a/entries/bathtub curve.txt b/entries/bathtub curve.txt index 76e0427..272e5bb 100644 --- a/entries/bathtub curve.txt +++ b/entries/bathtub curve.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ bathtub curve -n. Common term for the curve (resembling an end-to-end section of one of those claw-footed antique bathtubs) that describes the expected failure rate of electronics with time: initially high, dropping to near 0 for most of the system's lifetime, then rising again as it tires out. See also burn-in period , infant mortality. +n. Common term for the curve (resembling an end-to-end section of one of +those claw-footed antique bathtubs) that describes the expected failure rate +of electronics with time: initially high, dropping to near 0 for most of the +system's lifetime, then rising again as it tires out. See also burn-in +period , infant mortality. + diff --git a/entries/baud.txt b/entries/baud.txt index da6f8f2..e059b38 100644 --- a/entries/baud.txt +++ b/entries/baud.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ baud -/bawd/ , n. [simplified from its technical meaning] n. Bits per second. Hence kilobaud or Kbaud, thousands of bits per second. The technical meaning is level transitions per second ; this coincides with bps only for two-level modulation with no framing or stop bits. Most hackers are aware of these nuances but blithely ignore them. Historical note: baud was originally a unit of telegraph signalling speed, set at one pulse per second. It was proposed at the November, 1926 conference of the Comit Consultatif International Des Communications Tlgraphiques as an improvement on the then standard practice of referring to line speeds in terms of words per minute, and named for Jean Maurice Emile Baudot (1845-1903), a French engineer who did a lot of pioneering work in early teleprinters. +/bawd/ , n. [simplified from its technical meaning] n. Bits per second. +Hence kilobaud or Kbaud, thousands of bits per second. The technical meaning +is level transitions per second ; this coincides with bps only for two-level +modulation with no framing or stop bits. Most hackers are aware of these +nuances but blithely ignore them. Historical note: baud was originally a +unit of telegraph signalling speed, set at one pulse per second. It was +proposed at the November, 1926 conference of the Comit Consultatif +International Des Communications Tlgraphiques as an improvement on the then +standard practice of referring to line speeds in terms of words per minute, +and named for Jean Maurice Emile Baudot (1845-1903), a French engineer who +did a lot of pioneering work in early teleprinters. + diff --git a/entries/baz.txt b/entries/baz.txt index 4d1147d..7383b90 100644 --- a/entries/baz.txt +++ b/entries/baz.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ baz -/baz/ , n. 1. [common] The third metasyntactic variable Suppose we have three functions: FOO, BAR, and BAZ. FOO calls BAR, which calls BAZ.... (See also fum ) 2. interj. A term of mild annoyance. In this usage the term is often drawn out for 2 or 3 seconds, producing an effect not unlike the bleating of a sheep; /baaaaaaz/. 3. Occasionally appended to foo to produce foobaz. Earlier versions of this lexicon derived baz as a Stanford corruption of bar. However, Pete Samson (compiler of the TMRC lexicon) reports it was already current when he joined TMRC in 1958. He says It came from Pogo. Albert the Alligator, when vexed or outraged, would shout Bazz Fazz! or Rowrbazzle! The club layout was said to model the (mythical) New England counties of Rowrfolk and Bassex (Rowrbazzle mingled with (Norfolk/Suffolk/Middlesex/Essex). +/baz/ , n. 1. [common] The third metasyntactic variable Suppose we have +three functions: FOO, BAR, and BAZ. FOO calls BAR, which calls BAZ.... (See +also fum ) 2. interj. A term of mild annoyance. In this usage the term is +often drawn out for 2 or 3 seconds, producing an effect not unlike the +bleating of a sheep; /baaaaaaz/. 3. Occasionally appended to foo to produce +foobaz. Earlier versions of this lexicon derived baz as a Stanford +corruption of bar. However, Pete Samson (compiler of the TMRC lexicon) +reports it was already current when he joined TMRC in 1958. He says It came +from Pogo. Albert the Alligator, when vexed or outraged, would shout Bazz +Fazz! or Rowrbazzle! The club layout was said to model the (mythical) New +England counties of Rowrfolk and Bassex (Rowrbazzle mingled with +(Norfolk/Suffolk/Middlesex/Essex). + diff --git a/entries/bazaar.txt b/entries/bazaar.txt index 82703b3..1f46761 100644 --- a/entries/bazaar.txt +++ b/entries/bazaar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ bazaar -n.,adj. In 1997, after meditating on the success of Linux for three years, the Jargon File's own editor ESR wrote an analytical paper on hacker culture and development models titled The Cathedral and the Bazaar. The main argument of the paper was that Brooks's Law is not the whole story; given the right social machinery, debugging can be efficiently parallelized across large numbers of programmers. The title metaphor caught on (see also cathedral ), and the style of development typical in the Linux community is now often referred to as the bazaar mode. Its characteristics include releasing code early and often, and actively seeking the largest possible pool of peer reviewers. After 1998, the evident success of this way of doing things became one of the strongest arguments for open source. +n.,adj. In 1997, after meditating on the success of Linux for three years, +the Jargon File's own editor ESR wrote an analytical paper on hacker culture +and development models titled The Cathedral and the Bazaar. The main +argument of the paper was that Brooks's Law is not the whole story; given +the right social machinery, debugging can be efficiently parallelized across +large numbers of programmers. The title metaphor caught on (see also +cathedral ), and the style of development typical in the Linux community is +now often referred to as the bazaar mode. Its characteristics include +releasing code early and often, and actively seeking the largest possible +pool of peer reviewers. After 1998, the evident success of this way of doing +things became one of the strongest arguments for open source. + diff --git a/entries/bboard.txt b/entries/bboard.txt index 76b62a1..2db26c3 100644 --- a/entries/bboard.txt +++ b/entries/bboard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ bboard -/beebord/ , n. [contraction of bulletin board ] 1. Any electronic bulletin board; esp. used of BBS systems running on personal micros, less frequently of a Usenet newsgroup (in fact, use of this term for a newsgroup generally marks one either as a newbie fresh in from the BBS world or as a real old-timer predating Usenet). 2. At CMU and other colleges with similar facilities, refers to campus-wide electronic bulletin boards. 3. The term physical bboard is sometimes used to refer to an old-fashioned, non-electronic cork-and-thumbtack memo board. At CMU, it refers to a particular one outside the CS Lounge. In either of senses 1 or 2, the term is usually prefixed by the name of the intended board ( the Moonlight Casino bboard or market bboard ); however, if the context is clear, the better-read bboards may be referred to by name alone, as in (at CMU) Don't post for-sale ads on general. +/beebord/ , n. [contraction of bulletin board ] 1. Any electronic bulletin +board; esp. used of BBS systems running on personal micros, less frequently +of a Usenet newsgroup (in fact, use of this term for a newsgroup generally +marks one either as a newbie fresh in from the BBS world or as a real +old-timer predating Usenet). 2. At CMU and other colleges with similar +facilities, refers to campus-wide electronic bulletin boards. 3. The term +physical bboard is sometimes used to refer to an old-fashioned, +non-electronic cork-and-thumbtack memo board. At CMU, it refers to a +particular one outside the CS Lounge. In either of senses 1 or 2, the term +is usually prefixed by the name of the intended board ( the Moonlight Casino +bboard or market bboard ); however, if the context is clear, the better-read +bboards may be referred to by name alone, as in (at CMU) Don't post for-sale +ads on general. + diff --git a/entries/beam.txt b/entries/beam.txt index 1759388..4477017 100644 --- a/entries/beam.txt +++ b/entries/beam.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ beam -vt. [from Star Trek Classic's Beam me up, Scotty! ] 1. To transfer softcopy of a file electronically; most often in combining forms such as beam me a copy or beam that over to his site. 2. Palm Pilot users very commonly use this term for the act of exchanging bits via the infrared links on their machines (this term seems to have originated with the ill-fated Newton Message Pad). Compare blast , snarf , BLT. +vt. [from Star Trek Classic's Beam me up, Scotty! ] 1. To transfer softcopy +of a file electronically; most often in combining forms such as beam me a +copy or beam that over to his site. 2. Palm Pilot users very commonly use +this term for the act of exchanging bits via the infrared links on their +machines (this term seems to have originated with the ill-fated Newton +Message Pad). Compare blast , snarf , BLT. + diff --git a/entries/beanie key.txt b/entries/beanie key.txt index 94a547b..5457a0c 100644 --- a/entries/beanie key.txt +++ b/entries/beanie key.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ beanie key n. [Mac users] See command key. + diff --git a/entries/beep.txt b/entries/beep.txt index 58bf63c..8d64cd4 100644 --- a/entries/beep.txt +++ b/entries/beep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ beep -n.,v. Syn. feep. This term is techspeak under MS-DOS/Windows and OS/2, and seems to be generally preferred among micro hobbyists. +n.,v. Syn. feep. This term is techspeak under MS-DOS/Windows and OS/2, and +seems to be generally preferred among micro hobbyists. + diff --git a/entries/beige toaster.txt b/entries/beige toaster.txt index 16fa626..c5af44b 100644 --- a/entries/beige toaster.txt +++ b/entries/beige toaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ beige toaster -n. [obs.] An original Macintosh in the boxy beige case. See toaster ; compare Macintrash , maggotbox. +n. [obs.] An original Macintosh in the boxy beige case. See toaster ; +compare Macintrash , maggotbox. + diff --git a/entries/bells and whistles.txt b/entries/bells and whistles.txt index a36875f..3b99b8f 100644 --- a/entries/bells and whistles.txt +++ b/entries/bells and whistles.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ bells and whistles -n. [common] Features added to a program or system to make it more flavorful from a hacker's point of view, without necessarily adding to its utility for its primary function. Distinguished from chrome , which is intended to attract users. Now that we've got the basic program working, let's go back and add some bells and whistles. No one seems to know what distinguishes a bell from a whistle. The recognized emphatic form is bells, whistles, and gongs. It used to be thought that this term derived from the toyboxes on theater organs. However, the and gongs strongly suggests a different origin, at sea. Before powered horns, ships routinely used bells, whistles, and gongs to signal each other over longer distances than voice can carry. Sometimes trouble is spelled bells and whistles. .. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-06-04. The previous one is 73-05-28. +n. [common] Features added to a program or system to make it more flavorful +from a hacker's point of view, without necessarily adding to its utility for +its primary function. Distinguished from chrome , which is intended to +attract users. Now that we've got the basic program working, let's go back +and add some bells and whistles. No one seems to know what distinguishes a +bell from a whistle. The recognized emphatic form is bells, whistles, and +gongs. It used to be thought that this term derived from the toyboxes on +theater organs. However, the and gongs strongly suggests a different origin, +at sea. Before powered horns, ships routinely used bells, whistles, and +gongs to signal each other over longer distances than voice can carry. +Sometimes trouble is spelled bells and whistles. .. (The next cartoon in the +Crunchly saga is 73-06-04. The previous one is 73-05-28. + diff --git a/entries/bells whistles and gongs.txt b/entries/bells whistles and gongs.txt index 18fee73..58b3da9 100644 --- a/entries/bells whistles and gongs.txt +++ b/entries/bells whistles and gongs.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ bells whistles and gongs -n. A standard elaborated form of bells and whistles ; typically said with a pronounced and ironic accent on the gongs. +n. A standard elaborated form of bells and whistles ; typically said with a +pronounced and ironic accent on the gongs. + diff --git a/entries/benchmark.txt b/entries/benchmark.txt index 46af29e..f17ce2d 100644 --- a/entries/benchmark.txt +++ b/entries/benchmark.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ benchmark -n. [techspeak] An inaccurate measure of computer performance. In the computer industry, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and benchmarks. Well-known ones include Whetstone, Dhrystone, Rhealstone (see h ), the Gabriel LISP benchmarks, the SPECmark suite, and LINPACK. See also machoflops , MIPS , smoke and mirrors. +n. [techspeak] An inaccurate measure of computer performance. In the +computer industry, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and +benchmarks. Well-known ones include Whetstone, Dhrystone, Rhealstone (see h +), the Gabriel LISP benchmarks, the SPECmark suite, and LINPACK. See also +machoflops , MIPS , smoke and mirrors. + diff --git a/entries/beta.txt b/entries/beta.txt index d87cd0b..ba9c598 100644 --- a/entries/beta.txt +++ b/entries/beta.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ beta -/bayt@/ , /bet@/ , /beet@/ , n. 1. Mostly working, but still under test; usu. +/bayt@/ , /bet@/ , /beet@/ , n. 1. Mostly working, but still under test; +usu. + diff --git a/entries/bible.txt b/entries/bible.txt index e95e932..d17a1e8 100644 --- a/entries/bible.txt +++ b/entries/bible.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bible -n. 1. One of a small number of fundamental source books such as Knuth , K R , or the Camel Book. 2. The most detailed and authoritative reference for a particular language, operating system, or other complex software system. +n. 1. One of a small number of fundamental source books such as Knuth , K R +, or the Camel Book. 2. The most detailed and authoritative reference for a +particular language, operating system, or other complex software system. + diff --git a/entries/biff.txt b/entries/biff.txt index 271ff6f..2eb04f2 100644 --- a/entries/biff.txt +++ b/entries/biff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ biff -/bif/ , vt. [now rare] To notify someone of incoming mail. From the BSD utility biff (1) , which was in turn named after a friendly dog who used to chase frisbees in the halls at UCB while 4.2BSD was in development. There was a legend that it had a habit of barking whenever the mailman came, but the author of biff says this is not true. No relation to B1FF. +/bif/ , vt. [now rare] To notify someone of incoming mail. From the BSD +utility biff (1) , which was in turn named after a friendly dog who used to +chase frisbees in the halls at UCB while 4.2BSD was in development. There +was a legend that it had a habit of barking whenever the mailman came, but +the author of biff says this is not true. No relation to B1FF. + diff --git a/entries/big iron.txt b/entries/big iron.txt index 97727f1..c64815b 100644 --- a/entries/big iron.txt +++ b/entries/big iron.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ big iron -n. [common] Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers. Used generally of number-crunching supercomputers, but can include more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes. Term of approval; compare heavy metal , oppose dinosaur. +n. [common] Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers. Used generally of +number-crunching supercomputers, but can include more conventional big +commercial IBMish mainframes. Term of approval; compare heavy metal , oppose +dinosaur. + diff --git a/entries/big win.txt b/entries/big win.txt index 00ee716..b1f8368 100644 --- a/entries/big win.txt +++ b/entries/big win.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ big win -n. 1. [common] Major success. 2. [MIT] 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. +n. 1. [common] Major success. 2. [MIT] 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. + diff --git a/entries/big-endian.txt b/entries/big-endian.txt index 4b37758..3f62736 100644 --- a/entries/big-endian.txt +++ b/entries/big-endian.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ big-endian -adj. [common; 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] 1. Describes a computer architecture in which, within a given multi-byte numeric representation, the most significant byte 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 are big-endian. Big-endian byte order is also sometimes called network order. See little-endian , middle-endian , NUXI problem , swab. 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. In the U.K.: the Joint Academic Networking Team had decided to do it the other way round before the Internet domain standard was established. Most gateway sites have ad-hockery in their mailers to handle this, but can still be confused. In particular, the address me@uk.ac.bris.pys.as could be interpreted in JANET's big-endian way as one in the U.K. (domain uk ) or in the standard little-endian way as one in the domain as (American Samoa) on the opposite side of the world. +adj. [common; 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] 1. Describes a computer architecture in which, within a given +multi-byte numeric representation, the most significant byte 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 are big-endian. Big-endian byte order is also +sometimes called network order. See little-endian , middle-endian , NUXI +problem , swab. 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. In the +U.K.: the Joint Academic Networking Team had decided to do it the other way +round before the Internet domain standard was established. Most gateway +sites have ad-hockery in their mailers to handle this, but can still be +confused. In particular, the address me@uk.ac.bris.pys.as could be +interpreted in JANET's big-endian way as one in the U.K. (domain uk ) or in +the standard little-endian way as one in the domain as (American Samoa) on +the opposite side of the world. + diff --git a/entries/bignum.txt b/entries/bignum.txt index e56bbf2..9a2f4c2 100644 --- a/entries/bignum.txt +++ b/entries/bignum.txt @@ -1,3 +1,69 @@ bignum -/bignuhm/ , n. [common; orig. from MIT MacLISP] 1. [techspeak] A multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers. 2. More generally, any very large number. Have you ever looked at the United States Budget? There's bignums for you! 3. [Stanford] In backgammon, large numbers on the dice 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 data called integer , but such computer integers are usually very limited in size; usually they must be smaller than 2 31 (2,147,483,648). If you want to work with numbers larger than that, you have to use floating-point numbers, which are usually accurate to only six or seven decimal places. Computer languages that provide bignums can perform exact calculations on very large numbers, such as 1000! (the factorial of 1000, which is 1000 times 999 times 998 times. .. times 2 times 1). For example, this value for 1000! was computed by the MacLISP system using bignums: 40238726007709377354370243392300398571937486421071 46325437999104299385123986290205920442084869694048 00479988610197196058631666872994808558901323829669 94459099742450408707375991882362772718873251977950 59509952761208749754624970436014182780946464962910 56393887437886487337119181045825783647849977012476 63288983595573543251318532395846307555740911426241 74743493475534286465766116677973966688202912073791 43853719588249808126867838374559731746136085379534 52422158659320192809087829730843139284440328123155 86110369768013573042161687476096758713483120254785 89320767169132448426236131412508780208000261683151 02734182797770478463586817016436502415369139828126 48102130927612448963599287051149649754199093422215 66832572080821333186116811553615836546984046708975 60290095053761647584772842188967964624494516076535 34081989013854424879849599533191017233555566021394 50399736280750137837615307127761926849034352625200 01588853514733161170210396817592151090778801939317 81141945452572238655414610628921879602238389714760 88506276862967146674697562911234082439208160153780 88989396451826324367161676217916890977991190375403 12746222899880051954444142820121873617459926429565 81746628302955570299024324153181617210465832036786 90611726015878352075151628422554026517048330422614 39742869330616908979684825901254583271682264580665 26769958652682272807075781391858178889652208164348 34482599326604336766017699961283186078838615027946 59551311565520360939881806121385586003014356945272 24206344631797460594682573103790084024432438465657 24501440282188525247093519062092902313649327349756 55139587205596542287497740114133469627154228458623 77387538230483865688976461927383814900140767310446 64025989949022222176590433990188601856652648506179 97023561938970178600408118897299183110211712298459 01641921068884387121855646124960798722908519296819 37238864261483965738229112312502418664935314397013 74285319266498753372189406942814341185201580141233 44828015051399694290153483077644569099073152433278 28826986460278986432113908350621709500259738986355 42771967428222487575867657523442202075736305694988 25087968928162753848863396909959826280956121450994 87170124451646126037902930912088908694202851064018 21543994571568059418727489980942547421735824010636 77404595741785160829230135358081840096996372524230 56085590370062427124341690900415369010593398383577 79394109700277534720000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000. +/bignuhm/ , n. [common; orig. from MIT MacLISP] 1. [techspeak] A +multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers. 2. More +generally, any very large number. Have you ever looked at the United States +Budget? There's bignums for you! 3. [Stanford] In backgammon, large numbers +on the dice 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 data called integer , but such +computer integers are usually very limited in size; usually they must be +smaller than 2 31 (2,147,483,648). If you want to work with numbers larger +than that, you have to use floating-point numbers, which are usually +accurate to only six or seven decimal places. Computer languages that +provide bignums can perform exact calculations on very large numbers, such +as 1000! (the factorial of 1000, which is 1000 times 999 times 998 times. .. +times 2 times 1). For example, this value for 1000! was computed by the +MacLISP system using bignums: +40238726007709377354370243392300398571937486421071 +46325437999104299385123986290205920442084869694048 +00479988610197196058631666872994808558901323829669 +94459099742450408707375991882362772718873251977950 +59509952761208749754624970436014182780946464962910 +56393887437886487337119181045825783647849977012476 +63288983595573543251318532395846307555740911426241 +74743493475534286465766116677973966688202912073791 +43853719588249808126867838374559731746136085379534 +52422158659320192809087829730843139284440328123155 +86110369768013573042161687476096758713483120254785 +89320767169132448426236131412508780208000261683151 +02734182797770478463586817016436502415369139828126 +48102130927612448963599287051149649754199093422215 +66832572080821333186116811553615836546984046708975 +60290095053761647584772842188967964624494516076535 +34081989013854424879849599533191017233555566021394 +50399736280750137837615307127761926849034352625200 +01588853514733161170210396817592151090778801939317 +81141945452572238655414610628921879602238389714760 +88506276862967146674697562911234082439208160153780 +88989396451826324367161676217916890977991190375403 +12746222899880051954444142820121873617459926429565 +81746628302955570299024324153181617210465832036786 +90611726015878352075151628422554026517048330422614 +39742869330616908979684825901254583271682264580665 +26769958652682272807075781391858178889652208164348 +34482599326604336766017699961283186078838615027946 +59551311565520360939881806121385586003014356945272 +24206344631797460594682573103790084024432438465657 +24501440282188525247093519062092902313649327349756 +55139587205596542287497740114133469627154228458623 +77387538230483865688976461927383814900140767310446 +64025989949022222176590433990188601856652648506179 +97023561938970178600408118897299183110211712298459 +01641921068884387121855646124960798722908519296819 +37238864261483965738229112312502418664935314397013 +74285319266498753372189406942814341185201580141233 +44828015051399694290153483077644569099073152433278 +28826986460278986432113908350621709500259738986355 +42771967428222487575867657523442202075736305694988 +25087968928162753848863396909959826280956121450994 +87170124451646126037902930912088908694202851064018 +21543994571568059418727489980942547421735824010636 +77404595741785160829230135358081840096996372524230 +56085590370062427124341690900415369010593398383577 +79394109700277534720000000000000000000000000000000 +00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 +00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 +00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 +00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000. + diff --git a/entries/bigot.txt b/entries/bigot.txt index a44ec0b..886b845 100644 --- a/entries/bigot.txt +++ b/entries/bigot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ bigot -n. [common] 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 , Berkeley bigot. Real bigots can be distinguished from mere partisans or zealots by the fact that they refuse to learn alternatives even when the march of time and/or technology is threatening to obsolete the favored tool. It is truly said You can tell a bigot, but you can't tell him much. Compare weenie , Amiga Persecution Complex. +n. [common] 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 , Berkeley bigot. Real bigots can be distinguished from mere +partisans or zealots by the fact that they refuse to learn alternatives even +when the march of time and/or technology is threatening to obsolete the +favored tool. It is truly said You can tell a bigot, but you can't tell him +much. Compare weenie , Amiga Persecution Complex. + diff --git a/entries/bikeshedding.txt b/entries/bikeshedding.txt index 3fcce4c..12b01df 100644 --- a/entries/bikeshedding.txt +++ b/entries/bikeshedding.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bikeshedding -Technical disputes over minor, marginal issues conducted while more serious ones are being overlooked. The implied image is of people arguing over what color to paint the bicycle shed while the house is not finished. +Technical disputes over minor, marginal issues conducted while more serious +ones are being overlooked. The implied image is of people arguing over what +color to paint the bicycle shed while the house is not finished. + diff --git a/entries/binary four.txt b/entries/binary four.txt index aab8819..10be20b 100644 --- a/entries/binary four.txt +++ b/entries/binary four.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ binary four -n. [Usenet] The finger, in the sense of digitus impudicus. This comes from an analogy between binary and the hand, i.e. 1=00001=thumb, 2=00010=index finger, 3=00011=index and thumb, 4=00100. Considered silly. Prob. from humorous derivative of finger , sense 4. +n. [Usenet] The finger, in the sense of digitus impudicus. This comes from +an analogy between binary and the hand, i.e. 1=00001=thumb, 2=00010=index +finger, 3=00011=index and thumb, 4=00100. Considered silly. Prob. from +humorous derivative of finger , sense 4. + diff --git a/entries/bit bang.txt b/entries/bit bang.txt index a4e59f3..930c5e0 100644 --- a/entries/bit bang.txt +++ b/entries/bit bang.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ bit bang -n. Transmission of data on a serial line, when accomplished by rapidly tweaking a single output bit, in software, at the appropriate times. The technique is a simple loop with eight OUT and SHIFT instruction pairs for each byte. Input is more interesting. And full duplex (doing input and output at the same time) is one way to separate the real hackers from the wannabee s. Bit bang was used on certain early models of Prime computers, presumably when UARTs were too expensive, and on archaic Z80 micros with a Zilog PIO but no SIO. In an interesting instance of the cycle of reincarnation , this technique returned to use in the early 1990s on some RISC architectures because it consumes such an infinitesimal part of the processor that it actually makes sense not to have a UART. Compare cycle of reincarnation. Nowadays it's used to describe I2C, a serial protocol for monitoring motherboard hardware. +n. Transmission of data on a serial line, when accomplished by rapidly +tweaking a single output bit, in software, at the appropriate times. The +technique is a simple loop with eight OUT and SHIFT instruction pairs for +each byte. Input is more interesting. And full duplex (doing input and +output at the same time) is one way to separate the real hackers from the +wannabee s. Bit bang was used on certain early models of Prime computers, +presumably when UARTs were too expensive, and on archaic Z80 micros with a +Zilog PIO but no SIO. In an interesting instance of the cycle of +reincarnation , this technique returned to use in the early 1990s on some +RISC architectures because it consumes such an infinitesimal part of the +processor that it actually makes sense not to have a UART. Compare cycle of +reincarnation. Nowadays it's used to describe I2C, a serial protocol for +monitoring motherboard hardware. + diff --git a/entries/bit bashing.txt b/entries/bit bashing.txt index 7fe28b1..158c28c 100644 --- a/entries/bit bashing.txt +++ b/entries/bit bashing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ bit bashing -n. (alt.: bit diddling or bit twiddling ) Term used to describe any of several kinds of low-level programming characterized by manipulation of bit , flag , nybble , and other smaller-than-character-sized pieces of data; these include low-level device control, encryption algorithms, checksum and error-correcting codes, hash functions, some flavors of graphics programming (see bitblt ), and assembler/compiler code generation. May connote either tedium or a real technical challenge (more usually the former). The command decoding for the new tape driver looks pretty solid but the bit-bashing for the control registers still has bugs. See also mode bit. +n. (alt.: bit diddling or bit twiddling ) Term used to describe any of +several kinds of low-level programming characterized by manipulation of bit +, flag , nybble , and other smaller-than-character-sized pieces of data; +these include low-level device control, encryption algorithms, checksum and +error-correcting codes, hash functions, some flavors of graphics programming +(see bitblt ), and assembler/compiler code generation. May connote either +tedium or a real technical challenge (more usually the former). The command +decoding for the new tape driver looks pretty solid but the bit-bashing for +the control registers still has bugs. See also mode bit. + diff --git a/entries/bit bucket.txt b/entries/bit bucket.txt index 69d34db..96c4d29 100644 --- a/entries/bit bucket.txt +++ b/entries/bit bucket.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ bit bucket -n. [very common] 1. The universal data sink (originally, the mythical receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end of a register during a shift instruction). Discarded, lost, or destroyed data is said to have gone to the bit bucket. On Unix , often used for /dev/null. Sometimes amplified as the Great Bit Bucket in the Sky. 2. The place where all lost mail and news messages eventually go. The selection is performed according to Finagle's Law ; important mail is much more likely to end up in the bit bucket than junk mail, which has an almost 100% probability of getting delivered. Routing to the bit bucket is automatically performed by mail-transfer agents, news systems, and the lower layers of the network. 3. The ideal location for all unwanted mail responses: Flames about this article to the bit bucket. Such a request is guaranteed to overflow one's mailbox with flames. 4. Excuse for all mail that has not been sent. I mailed you those figures last week; they must have landed in the bit bucket. Compare black hole. This term is used purely in jest. It is based on the fanciful notion that bits are objects that are not destroyed but only misplaced. This appears to have been a mutation of an earlier term bit box , about which the same legend was current; old-time hackers also report that trainees used to be told that when the CPU stored bits into memory it was actually pulling them out of the bit box. See also chad box. Another variant of this legend has it that, as a consequence of the parity preservation law , the number of 1 bits that go to the bit bucket must equal the number of 0 bits. Any imbalance results in bits filling up the bit bucket. A qualified computer technician can empty a full bit bucket as part of scheduled maintenance. The source for all these meanings, is, historically, the fact that the chad box on a paper-tape punch was sometimes called a bit bucket. A literal bit bucket. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-02-14. The previous one is 75-10-04. +n. [very common] 1. The universal data sink (originally, the mythical +receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end of a register +during a shift instruction). Discarded, lost, or destroyed data is said to +have gone to the bit bucket. On Unix , often used for /dev/null. Sometimes +amplified as the Great Bit Bucket in the Sky. 2. The place where all lost +mail and news messages eventually go. The selection is performed according +to Finagle's Law ; important mail is much more likely to end up in the bit +bucket than junk mail, which has an almost 100% probability of getting +delivered. Routing to the bit bucket is automatically performed by +mail-transfer agents, news systems, and the lower layers of the network. 3. +The ideal location for all unwanted mail responses: Flames about this +article to the bit bucket. Such a request is guaranteed to overflow one's +mailbox with flames. 4. Excuse for all mail that has not been sent. I mailed +you those figures last week; they must have landed in the bit bucket. +Compare black hole. This term is used purely in jest. It is based on the +fanciful notion that bits are objects that are not destroyed but only +misplaced. This appears to have been a mutation of an earlier term bit box , +about which the same legend was current; old-time hackers also report that +trainees used to be told that when the CPU stored bits into memory it was +actually pulling them out of the bit box. See also chad box. Another variant +of this legend has it that, as a consequence of the parity preservation law +, the number of 1 bits that go to the bit bucket must equal the number of 0 +bits. Any imbalance results in bits filling up the bit bucket. A qualified +computer technician can empty a full bit bucket as part of scheduled +maintenance. The source for all these meanings, is, historically, the fact +that the chad box on a paper-tape punch was sometimes called a bit bucket. A +literal bit bucket. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-02-14. The +previous one is 75-10-04. + diff --git a/entries/bit decay.txt b/entries/bit decay.txt index eab69ca..28c9798 100644 --- a/entries/bit decay.txt +++ b/entries/bit decay.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bit decay -n. See bit rot. People with a physics background tend to prefer this variant for the analogy with particle decay. See also computron , quantum bogodynamics. +n. See bit rot. People with a physics background tend to prefer this variant +for the analogy with particle decay. See also computron , quantum +bogodynamics. + diff --git a/entries/bit rot.txt b/entries/bit rot.txt index 5a1f44a..15b2449 100644 --- a/entries/bit rot.txt +++ b/entries/bit rot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ bit rot -n. [common] Also bit decay. Hypothetical disease the existence of which has been deduced from the observation that unused programs or features will often stop working after sufficient time has passed, even if nothing has changed. The theory explains that bits decay as if they were radioactive. As time passes, the contents of a file or the code in a program will become increasingly garbled. There actually are physical processes that produce such effects (alpha particles generated by trace radionuclides in ceramic chip packages, for example, can change the contents of a computer memory unpredictably, and various kinds of subtle media failures can corrupt files in mass storage), but they are quite rare (and computers are built with error-detecting circuitry to compensate for them). The notion long favored among hackers that cosmic rays are among the causes of such events turns out to be a myth; see the cosmic rays entry for details. The term software rot is almost synonymous. Software rot is the effect, bit rot the notional cause. +n. [common] Also bit decay. Hypothetical disease the existence of which has +been deduced from the observation that unused programs or features will +often stop working after sufficient time has passed, even if nothing has +changed. The theory explains that bits decay as if they were radioactive. As +time passes, the contents of a file or the code in a program will become +increasingly garbled. There actually are physical processes that produce +such effects (alpha particles generated by trace radionuclides in ceramic +chip packages, for example, can change the contents of a computer memory +unpredictably, and various kinds of subtle media failures can corrupt files +in mass storage), but they are quite rare (and computers are built with +error-detecting circuitry to compensate for them). The notion long favored +among hackers that cosmic rays are among the causes of such events turns out +to be a myth; see the cosmic rays entry for details. The term software rot +is almost synonymous. Software rot is the effect, bit rot the notional +cause. + diff --git a/entries/bit twiddling.txt b/entries/bit twiddling.txt index e336b02..52b8649 100644 --- a/entries/bit twiddling.txt +++ b/entries/bit twiddling.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ bit twiddling -n. [very common] 1. (pejorative) An exercise in tuning (see tune ) in which incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little noticeable improvement, often with the result that the code becomes incomprehensible. 2. Aimless small modification to a program, esp. for some pointless goal. 3. Approx. syn. for bit bashing ; esp. used for the act of frobbing the device control register of a peripheral in an attempt to get it back to a known state. +n. [very common] 1. (pejorative) An exercise in tuning (see tune ) in which +incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little noticeable +improvement, often with the result that the code becomes incomprehensible. +2. Aimless small modification to a program, esp. for some pointless goal. 3. +Approx. syn. for bit bashing ; esp. used for the act of frobbing the device +control register of a peripheral in an attempt to get it back to a known +state. + diff --git a/entries/bit-paired keyboard.txt b/entries/bit-paired keyboard.txt index f182a42..0251597 100644 --- a/entries/bit-paired keyboard.txt +++ b/entries/bit-paired keyboard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ bit-paired keyboard -n.,obs. (alt.: bit-shift keyboard ) A non-standard keyboard layout that seems to have originated with the Teletype ASR-33 and remained common for several years on early computer equipment. The ASR-33 was a mechanical device (see EOU ), so the only way to generate the character codes from keystrokes was by some physical linkage. The design of the ASR-33 assigned each character key a basic pattern that could be modified by flipping bits if the SHIFT or the CTRL key was pressed. In order to avoid making the thing even more of a kluge than it already was, the design had to group characters that shared the same basic bit pattern on one key. Looking at the ASCII chart, we find: high low bits bits 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 010 ! # $ % ' ( ) 011 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 This is why the characters ! #$% '() appear where they do on a Teletype (thankfully, they didn't use shift-0 for space). +n.,obs. (alt.: bit-shift keyboard ) A non-standard keyboard layout that +seems to have originated with the Teletype ASR-33 and remained common for +several years on early computer equipment. The ASR-33 was a mechanical +device (see EOU ), so the only way to generate the character codes from +keystrokes was by some physical linkage. The design of the ASR-33 assigned +each character key a basic pattern that could be modified by flipping bits +if the SHIFT or the CTRL key was pressed. In order to avoid making the thing +even more of a kluge than it already was, the design had to group characters +that shared the same basic bit pattern on one key. Looking at the ASCII +chart, we find: high low bits bits 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 +1000 1001 010 ! # $ % ' ( ) 011 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 This is why the +characters ! #$% '() appear where they do on a Teletype (thankfully, they +didn't use shift-0 for space). + diff --git a/entries/bit.txt b/entries/bit.txt index bf53507..3cafbd8 100644 --- a/entries/bit.txt +++ b/entries/bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ bit -n. [from the mainstream meaning and Binary digIT ] 1. [techspeak] The unit of information; the amount of information obtained from knowing the answer to a yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes are equally probable. 2. [techspeak] A computational quantity that can take on one of two values, such as true and false or 0 and 1. 3. A mental flag: a reminder that something should be done eventually. I have a bit set for you. (I haven't seen you for a while, and I'm supposed to tell or ask you something.) 4. More generally, a (possibly incorrect) mental state of belief. I have a bit set that says that you were the last guy to hack on EMACS. (Meaning I think you were the last guy to hack on EMACS, and what I am about to say is predicated on this, so please stop me if this isn't true. ) I just need one bit from you is a polite way of indicating that you intend only a short interruption for a question that can presumably be answered yes or no. A bit is said to be set if its value is true or 1, and reset or clear if its value is false or 0. One speaks of setting and clearing bits. To toggle or invert a bit is to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0. See also flag , trit , mode bit. The term bit first appeared in print in the computer-science sense in a 1948 paper by information theorist Claude Shannon, and was there credited to the early computer scientist John Tukey (who also seems to have coined the term software ). Tukey records that bit evolved over a lunch table as a handier alternative to bigit or binit , at a conference in the winter of 1943-44. +n. [from the mainstream meaning and Binary digIT ] 1. [techspeak] The unit +of information; the amount of information obtained from knowing the answer +to a yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes are equally probable. 2. +[techspeak] A computational quantity that can take on one of two values, +such as true and false or 0 and 1. 3. A mental flag: a reminder that +something should be done eventually. I have a bit set for you. (I haven't +seen you for a while, and I'm supposed to tell or ask you something.) 4. +More generally, a (possibly incorrect) mental state of belief. I have a bit +set that says that you were the last guy to hack on EMACS. (Meaning I think +you were the last guy to hack on EMACS, and what I am about to say is +predicated on this, so please stop me if this isn't true. ) I just need one +bit from you is a polite way of indicating that you intend only a short +interruption for a question that can presumably be answered yes or no. A bit +is said to be set if its value is true or 1, and reset or clear if its value +is false or 0. One speaks of setting and clearing bits. To toggle or invert +a bit is to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0. See also flag , +trit , mode bit. The term bit first appeared in print in the +computer-science sense in a 1948 paper by information theorist Claude +Shannon, and was there credited to the early computer scientist John Tukey +(who also seems to have coined the term software ). Tukey records that bit +evolved over a lunch table as a handier alternative to bigit or binit , at a +conference in the winter of 1943-44. + diff --git a/entries/bitblt.txt b/entries/bitblt.txt index 207634c..78706cb 100644 --- a/entries/bitblt.txt +++ b/entries/bitblt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ bitblt -/bitblit/ , n. [from BLT , q.v.:] 1. [common] Any of a family of closely related algorithms for moving and copying rectangles of bits between main and display memory on a bit-mapped device, or between two areas of either main or display memory (the requirement to do the Right Thing in the case of overlapping source and destination rectangles is what makes BitBlt tricky). 2. Synonym for blit or BLT. Both uses are borderline techspeak. +/bitblit/ , n. [from BLT , q.v.:] 1. [common] Any of a family of closely +related algorithms for moving and copying rectangles of bits between main +and display memory on a bit-mapped device, or between two areas of either +main or display memory (the requirement to do the Right Thing in the case of +overlapping source and destination rectangles is what makes BitBlt tricky). +2. Synonym for blit or BLT. Both uses are borderline techspeak. + diff --git a/entries/bits.txt b/entries/bits.txt index beaa851..04e8b97 100644 --- a/entries/bits.txt +++ b/entries/bits.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ bits -pl.n. 1. Information. Examples: I need some bits about file formats. ( I need to know about file formats. ) Compare core dump , sense 4. 2. Machine-readable representation of a document, specifically as contrasted with paper: I have only a photocopy of the Jargon File; does anyone know where I can get the bits?. See softcopy , source of all good bits See also bit. +pl.n. 1. Information. Examples: I need some bits about file formats. ( I +need to know about file formats. ) Compare core dump , sense 4. 2. +Machine-readable representation of a document, specifically as contrasted +with paper: I have only a photocopy of the Jargon File; does anyone know +where I can get the bits?. See softcopy , source of all good bits See also +bit. + diff --git a/entries/bitty box.txt b/entries/bitty box.txt index 6df4a8c..118f843 100644 --- a/entries/bitty box.txt +++ b/entries/bitty box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ bitty box -/bitee boks/ , n. 1. A computer sufficiently small, primitive, or incapable as to cause a hacker acute claustrophobia at the thought of developing software on or for it. Especially used of small, obsolescent, single-tasking-only personal machines such as the Atari 800, Osborne, Sinclair, VIC-20, TRS-80, or IBM PC. 2. [Pejorative] More generally, the opposite of real computer (see Get a real computer! ). See also mess-dos , toaster , and toy. +/bitee boks/ , n. 1. A computer sufficiently small, primitive, or incapable +as to cause a hacker acute claustrophobia at the thought of developing +software on or for it. Especially used of small, obsolescent, +single-tasking-only personal machines such as the Atari 800, Osborne, +Sinclair, VIC-20, TRS-80, or IBM PC. 2. [Pejorative] More generally, the +opposite of real computer (see Get a real computer! ). See also mess-dos , +toaster , and toy. + diff --git a/entries/bixie.txt b/entries/bixie.txt index 9a8a10f..c5176c1 100644 --- a/entries/bixie.txt +++ b/entries/bixie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ bixie -/biksee/ , n. Variant emoticon s used BIX (the BIX Information eXchange); the term survived the demise of BIX itself. The most common ( smiley ) bixie is @_@ , representing two cartoon eyes and a mouth. These were originally invented in an SF fanzine called APA-L and imported to BIX by one of the earliest users. +/biksee/ , n. Variant emoticon s used BIX (the BIX Information eXchange); +the term survived the demise of BIX itself. The most common ( smiley ) bixie +is @_@ , representing two cartoon eyes and a mouth. These were originally +invented in an SF fanzine called APA-L and imported to BIX by one of the +earliest users. + diff --git a/entries/black art.txt b/entries/black art.txt index 21249b1..7142d7d 100644 --- a/entries/black art.txt +++ b/entries/black art.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ black art -n. [common] A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by implication) mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular application or systems area (compare black magic ). VLSI design and compiler code optimization were (in their beginnings) considered classic examples of black art; as theory developed they became deep magic , and once standard textbooks had been written, became merely heavy wizardry. The huge proliferation of formal and informal channels for spreading around new computer-related technologies during the last twenty years has made both the term black art and what it describes less common than formerly. See also voodoo programming. +n. [common] A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by implication) mostly +ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular application or systems area +(compare black magic ). VLSI design and compiler code optimization were (in +their beginnings) considered classic examples of black art; as theory +developed they became deep magic , and once standard textbooks had been +written, became merely heavy wizardry. The huge proliferation of formal and +informal channels for spreading around new computer-related technologies +during the last twenty years has made both the term black art and what it +describes less common than formerly. See also voodoo programming. + diff --git a/entries/black hat.txt b/entries/black hat.txt index 853eede..372ea43 100644 --- a/entries/black hat.txt +++ b/entries/black hat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ black hat -someone considering a potential business relationship with an ISP or other provider will post a query to a NANA group, asking about the provider's hat color. The term albedo has also been used to describe a provider's spam-friendliness. +someone considering a potential business relationship with an ISP or other +provider will post a query to a NANA group, asking about the provider's hat +color. The term albedo has also been used to describe a provider's +spam-friendliness. + diff --git a/entries/black hole.txt b/entries/black hole.txt index 9e32470..66aa722 100644 --- a/entries/black hole.txt +++ b/entries/black hole.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ black hole -n.,vt. [common] What data (a piece of email or netnews, or a stream of TCP/IP packets) has fallen into if it disappears mysteriously between its origin and destination sites (that is, without returning a bounce message ). I think there's a black hole at foovax ! conveys suspicion that site foovax has been dropping a lot of stuff on the floor lately (see drop on the floor ). The implied metaphor of email as interstellar travel is interesting in itself. +n.,vt. [common] What data (a piece of email or netnews, or a stream of +TCP/IP packets) has fallen into if it disappears mysteriously between its +origin and destination sites (that is, without returning a bounce message ). +I think there's a black hole at foovax ! conveys suspicion that site foovax +has been dropping a lot of stuff on the floor lately (see drop on the floor +). The implied metaphor of email as interstellar travel is interesting in +itself. + diff --git a/entries/black magic.txt b/entries/black magic.txt index 6b8b764..2f6947d 100644 --- a/entries/black magic.txt +++ b/entries/black magic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ black magic -n. [common] A technique that works, though nobody really understands why. More obscure than voodoo programming , which may be done by cookbook. Compare also black art , deep magic , and magic number (sense 2). +n. [common] A technique that works, though nobody really understands why. +More obscure than voodoo programming , which may be done by cookbook. +Compare also black art , deep magic , and magic number (sense 2). + diff --git a/entries/blammo.txt b/entries/blammo.txt index 373a114..939bf5d 100644 --- a/entries/blammo.txt +++ b/entries/blammo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ blammo -v. [Oxford Brookes University and alumni, UK] To forcibly remove someone from any interactive system, especially talker systems. The operators, who may remain hidden, may blammo a user who is misbehaving. Very similar to archaic MIT gun ; in fact, the blammo-gun is a notional device used to blammo someone. While in actual fact the only incarnation of the blammo-gun is the command used to forcibly eject a user, operators speak of different levels of blammo-gun fire; e.g., a blammo-gun to stun will temporarily remove someone, but a blammo-gun set to maim will stop someone coming back on for a while. +v. [Oxford Brookes University and alumni, UK] To forcibly remove someone +from any interactive system, especially talker systems. The operators, who +may remain hidden, may blammo a user who is misbehaving. Very similar to +archaic MIT gun ; in fact, the blammo-gun is a notional device used to +blammo someone. While in actual fact the only incarnation of the blammo-gun +is the command used to forcibly eject a user, operators speak of different +levels of blammo-gun fire; e.g., a blammo-gun to stun will temporarily +remove someone, but a blammo-gun set to maim will stop someone coming back +on for a while. + diff --git a/entries/blargh.txt b/entries/blargh.txt index 36fcd0c..ca4b307 100644 --- a/entries/blargh.txt +++ b/entries/blargh.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ blargh -/blarg/ , n. [MIT; now common] The opposite of ping , sense 5; an exclamation indicating that one has absorbed or is emitting a quantum of unhappiness. Less common than ping. +/blarg/ , n. [MIT; now common] The opposite of ping , sense 5; an +exclamation indicating that one has absorbed or is emitting a quantum of +unhappiness. Less common than ping. + diff --git a/entries/blast.txt b/entries/blast.txt index ba33c58..4c9506a 100644 --- a/entries/blast.txt +++ b/entries/blast.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ blast -Synonymous with nuke (sense 3). Sometimes the message Unable to kill all processes. Blast them (y/n)? would appear in the command window upon logout. +Synonymous with nuke (sense 3). Sometimes the message Unable to kill all +processes. Blast them (y/n)? would appear in the command window upon logout. + diff --git a/entries/blat.txt b/entries/blat.txt index c249d93..72b73bb 100644 --- a/entries/blat.txt +++ b/entries/blat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ blat n. 1. Syn. blast , sense 1. 2. See thud. + diff --git a/entries/bletch.txt b/entries/bletch.txt index fa0b2ea..1edb130 100644 --- a/entries/bletch.txt +++ b/entries/bletch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bletch -/blech/ , interj. [very common; from Yiddish/German brechen , to vomit, poss. via comic-strip exclamation blech ] Term of disgust. Often used in Ugh, bletch. Compare barf. +/blech/ , interj. [very common; from Yiddish/German brechen , to vomit, +poss. via comic-strip exclamation blech ] Term of disgust. Often used in +Ugh, bletch. Compare barf. + diff --git a/entries/bletcherous.txt b/entries/bletcherous.txt index 2108b97..20c4178 100644 --- a/entries/bletcherous.txt +++ b/entries/bletcherous.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ bletcherous -/blech'@r@s/ , adj. Disgusting in design or function; esthetically unappealing. This word is seldom used of people. This keyboard is bletcherous! (Perhaps the keys don't work very well, or are misplaced.) See losing , cretinous , bagbiting , bogus , and random. The term bletcherous applies to the esthetics of the thing so described; similarly for cretinous. By contrast, something that is losing or bagbiting may be failing to meet objective criteria. See also bogus and random , which have richer and wider shades of meaning than any of the above. +/blech'@r@s/ , adj. Disgusting in design or function; esthetically +unappealing. This word is seldom used of people. This keyboard is +bletcherous! (Perhaps the keys don't work very well, or are misplaced.) See +losing , cretinous , bagbiting , bogus , and random. The term bletcherous +applies to the esthetics of the thing so described; similarly for cretinous. +By contrast, something that is losing or bagbiting may be failing to meet +objective criteria. See also bogus and random , which have richer and wider +shades of meaning than any of the above. + diff --git a/entries/blinkenlights.txt b/entries/blinkenlights.txt index 09766a4..29e2510 100644 --- a/entries/blinkenlights.txt +++ b/entries/blinkenlights.txt @@ -1,3 +1,53 @@ blinkenlights -/blink'@nli:tz/ , n. [common] Front-panel diagnostic lights on a computer, esp. a dinosaur. Now that dinosaurs are rare, this term usually refers to status lights on a modem, network hub, or the like. This term derives from the last word of the famous blackletter-Gothic sign in mangled pseudo-German that once graced about half the computer rooms in the English-speaking world. One version ran in its entirety as follows: ACHTUNG!ALLESLOOKENSPEEPERS! Allestouristenundnon-technischenlookenpeepers! Dascomputermachineistnichtfuergefingerpokenundmittengrabben. Isteasyschnappenderspringenwerk,blowenfusenundpoppencorken mitspitzensparken.Istnichtfuergewerkenbeidasdumpkopfen. Dasrubberneckensichtseerenkeependascotten-pickenenhansindas pocketsmuss;relaxenundwatchendasblinkenlichten. This silliness dates back at least as far as 1955 at IBM and had already gone international by the early 1960s, when it was reported at London University's ATLAS computing site. There are several variants of it in circulation, some of which actually do end with the word blinkenlights. In an amusing example of turnabout-is-fair-play, German hackers have developed their own versions of the blinkenlights poster in fractured English, one of which is reproduced here: ATTENTION Thisroomisfullfilledmitspecialelectronischeequippment. Fingergrabbingandpressingthecnoeppkesfromthecomputersis allowedfordieexpertsonly!Soallthe lefthanders stayaway anddonotdisturbenthebrainstormingvonhereworking intelligencies.Otherwiseyouwillbeoutthrownandkicked anderswhere!Also:pleasekeepstillandonlywatchenastaunished theblinkenlights. See also geef. Old-time hackers sometimes get nostalgic for blinkenlights because they were so much more fun to look at than a blank panel. Sadly, very few computers still have them (the three LEDs on a PC keyboard certainly don't count). The obvious reasons (cost of wiring, cost of front-panel cutouts, almost nobody needs or wants to interpret machine-register states on the fly anymore) are only part of the story. Another part of it is that radio-frequency leakage from the lamp wiring was beginning to be a problem as far back as transistor machines. But the most fundamental fact is that there are very few signals slow enough to blink an LED these days! With slow CPUs, you could watch the bus register or instruction counter tick, but even at 33/66/150MHz (let alone gigahertz speeds) it's all a blur. Despite this, a couple of relatively recent computer designs of note have featured programmable blinkenlights that were added just because they looked cool. The Connection Machine, a 65,536-processor parallel computer designed in the mid-1980s, was a black cube with one side covered with a grid of red blinkenlights; the sales demo had them evolving life patterns. A few years later the ill-fated BeBox (a personal computer designed to run the BeOS operating system) featured twin rows of blinkenlights on the case front. When Be, Inc. decided to get out of the hardware business in 1996 and instead ported their OS to the PowerPC and later to the Intel architecture, many users suffered severely from the absence of their beloved blinkenlights. Before long an external version of the blinkenlights driven by a PC serial port became available; there is some sort of plot symmetry in the fact that it was assembled by a German. Finally, a version updated for the Internet has been seen on news.admin.net-abuse. +/blink'@nli:tz/ , n. [common] Front-panel diagnostic lights on a computer, +esp. a dinosaur. Now that dinosaurs are rare, this term usually refers to +status lights on a modem, network hub, or the like. This term derives from +the last word of the famous blackletter-Gothic sign in mangled pseudo-German +that once graced about half the computer rooms in the English-speaking +world. One version ran in its entirety as follows: +ACHTUNG!ALLESLOOKENSPEEPERS! Allestouristenundnon-technischenlookenpeepers! +Dascomputermachineistnichtfuergefingerpokenundmittengrabben. +Isteasyschnappenderspringenwerk,blowenfusenundpoppencorken +mitspitzensparken.Istnichtfuergewerkenbeidasdumpkopfen. +Dasrubberneckensichtseerenkeependascotten-pickenenhansindas +pocketsmuss;relaxenundwatchendasblinkenlichten. This silliness dates back at +least as far as 1955 at IBM and had already gone international by the early +1960s, when it was reported at London University's ATLAS computing site. +There are several variants of it in circulation, some of which actually do +end with the word blinkenlights. In an amusing example of +turnabout-is-fair-play, German hackers have developed their own versions of +the blinkenlights poster in fractured English, one of which is reproduced +here: ATTENTION Thisroomisfullfilledmitspecialelectronischeequippment. +Fingergrabbingandpressingthecnoeppkesfromthecomputersis +allowedfordieexpertsonly!Soallthe lefthanders stayaway +anddonotdisturbenthebrainstormingvonhereworking +intelligencies.Otherwiseyouwillbeoutthrownandkicked +anderswhere!Also:pleasekeepstillandonlywatchenastaunished theblinkenlights. +See also geef. Old-time hackers sometimes get nostalgic for blinkenlights +because they were so much more fun to look at than a blank panel. Sadly, +very few computers still have them (the three LEDs on a PC keyboard +certainly don't count). The obvious reasons (cost of wiring, cost of +front-panel cutouts, almost nobody needs or wants to interpret +machine-register states on the fly anymore) are only part of the story. +Another part of it is that radio-frequency leakage from the lamp wiring was +beginning to be a problem as far back as transistor machines. But the most +fundamental fact is that there are very few signals slow enough to blink an +LED these days! With slow CPUs, you could watch the bus register or +instruction counter tick, but even at 33/66/150MHz (let alone gigahertz +speeds) it's all a blur. Despite this, a couple of relatively recent +computer designs of note have featured programmable blinkenlights that were +added just because they looked cool. The Connection Machine, a +65,536-processor parallel computer designed in the mid-1980s, was a black +cube with one side covered with a grid of red blinkenlights; the sales demo +had them evolving life patterns. A few years later the ill-fated BeBox (a +personal computer designed to run the BeOS operating system) featured twin +rows of blinkenlights on the case front. When Be, Inc. decided to get out of +the hardware business in 1996 and instead ported their OS to the PowerPC and +later to the Intel architecture, many users suffered severely from the +absence of their beloved blinkenlights. Before long an external version of +the blinkenlights driven by a PC serial port became available; there is some +sort of plot symmetry in the fact that it was assembled by a German. +Finally, a version updated for the Internet has been seen on +news.admin.net-abuse. + diff --git a/entries/blit.txt b/entries/blit.txt index 6454f66..abc06aa 100644 --- a/entries/blit.txt +++ b/entries/blit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ blit -/blit/ , vt. 1. [common] To copy a large array of bits from one part of a computer's memory to another part, particularly when the memory is being used to determine what is shown on a display screen. The storage allocator picks through the table and copies the good parts up into high memory, and then blits it all back down again. See bitblt , BLT , dd , cat , blast , snarf. More generally, to perform some operation (such as toggling) on a large array of bits while moving them. 2. +/blit/ , vt. 1. [common] To copy a large array of bits from one part of a +computer's memory to another part, particularly when the memory is being +used to determine what is shown on a display screen. The storage allocator +picks through the table and copies the good parts up into high memory, and +then blits it all back down again. See bitblt , BLT , dd , cat , blast , +snarf. More generally, to perform some operation (such as toggling) on a +large array of bits while moving them. 2. + diff --git a/entries/blitter.txt b/entries/blitter.txt index 9520c2b..b40b6a3 100644 --- a/entries/blitter.txt +++ b/entries/blitter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ blitter -/blitr/ , n. [common] A special-purpose chip or hardware system built to perform blit operations, esp. used for fast implementation of bit-mapped graphics. The Commodore Amiga and a few other micros have these, but since 1990 the trend has been away from them (however, see cycle of reincarnation ). Syn. raster blaster. +/blitr/ , n. [common] A special-purpose chip or hardware system built to +perform blit operations, esp. used for fast implementation of bit-mapped +graphics. The Commodore Amiga and a few other micros have these, but since +1990 the trend has been away from them (however, see cycle of reincarnation +). Syn. raster blaster. + diff --git a/entries/blivet.txt b/entries/blivet.txt index 24d6b2d..dbfd404 100644 --- a/entries/blivet.txt +++ b/entries/blivet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ blivet -/bliv'@t/ , n. [allegedly from a World War II military term meaning ten pounds of manure in a five-pound bag ] 1. An intractable problem. 2. A crucial piece of hardware that can't be fixed or replaced if it breaks. 3. A tool that has been hacked over by so many incompetent programmers that it has become an unmaintainable tissue of hacks. 4. An out-of-control but unkillable development effort. 5. An embarrassing bug that pops up during a customer demo. 6. In the subjargon of computer security specialists, a denial-of-service attack performed by hogging limited resources that have no access controls (for example, shared spool space on a multi-user system). This term has other meanings in other technical cultures; among experimental physicists and hardware engineers of various kinds it seems to mean any random object of unknown purpose (similar to hackish use of frob ). It has also been used to describe an amusing trick-the-eye drawing resembling a three-pronged fork that appears to depict a three-dimensional object until one realizes that the parts fit together in an impossible way. +/bliv'@t/ , n. [allegedly from a World War II military term meaning ten +pounds of manure in a five-pound bag ] 1. An intractable problem. 2. A +crucial piece of hardware that can't be fixed or replaced if it breaks. 3. A +tool that has been hacked over by so many incompetent programmers that it +has become an unmaintainable tissue of hacks. 4. An out-of-control but +unkillable development effort. 5. An embarrassing bug that pops up during a +customer demo. 6. In the subjargon of computer security specialists, a +denial-of-service attack performed by hogging limited resources that have no +access controls (for example, shared spool space on a multi-user system). +This term has other meanings in other technical cultures; among experimental +physicists and hardware engineers of various kinds it seems to mean any +random object of unknown purpose (similar to hackish use of frob ). It has +also been used to describe an amusing trick-the-eye drawing resembling a +three-pronged fork that appears to depict a three-dimensional object until +one realizes that the parts fit together in an impossible way. + diff --git a/entries/bloatware.txt b/entries/bloatware.txt index aa63990..90c6de0 100644 --- a/entries/bloatware.txt +++ b/entries/bloatware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ bloatware -n. [common] Software that provides minimal functionality while requiring a disproportionate amount of diskspace and memory. Especially used for application and OS upgrades. This term is very common in the Windows/NT world. So is its cause. +n. [common] Software that provides minimal functionality while requiring a +disproportionate amount of diskspace and memory. Especially used for +application and OS upgrades. This term is very common in the Windows/NT +world. So is its cause. + diff --git a/entries/block.txt b/entries/block.txt index c4d7a30..48e8bd2 100644 --- a/entries/block.txt +++ b/entries/block.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ block -v. [common; from process scheduling terminology in OS theory] 1. vi. To delay or sit idle while waiting for something. We're blocking until everyone gets here. Compare busy-wait. 2. block on vt. To block, waiting for (something). Lunch is blocked on Phil's arrival. +v. [common; from process scheduling terminology in OS theory] 1. vi. To +delay or sit idle while waiting for something. We're blocking until everyone +gets here. Compare busy-wait. 2. block on vt. To block, waiting for +(something). Lunch is blocked on Phil's arrival. + diff --git a/entries/blog.txt b/entries/blog.txt index 4ebc1d4..6d53c21 100644 --- a/entries/blog.txt +++ b/entries/blog.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ blog -n. [common] Short for weblog , an on-line web-zine or diary (usually with facilities for reader comments and discussion threads) made accessible through the World Wide Web. This term is widespread and readily forms derivatives, of which the best known may be blogosphere. +n. [common] Short for weblog , an on-line web-zine or diary (usually with +facilities for reader comments and discussion threads) made accessible +through the World Wide Web. This term is widespread and readily forms +derivatives, of which the best known may be blogosphere. + diff --git a/entries/blogosphere.txt b/entries/blogosphere.txt index 923c75b..d89d969 100644 --- a/entries/blogosphere.txt +++ b/entries/blogosphere.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ blogosphere -The totality of all blog s. A culture heavily overlapping with but not coincident with hackerdom; a few of its key coinages ( blogrolling , fisking , anti-idiotarianism ) are recorded in this lexicon for flavor. Bloggers often divide themselves into warbloggers and techbloggers. The techbloggers write about technology and technology policy, while the warbloggers are more politically focused and tend to be preoccupied with U.S. and world response to the post-9/11 war against terrorism. The overlap with hackerdom is heaviest among the techbloggers, but several of the most prominent warbloggers are also hackers. Bloggers in general tend to be aware of and sympathetic to the hacker culture. +The totality of all blog s. A culture heavily overlapping with but not +coincident with hackerdom; a few of its key coinages ( blogrolling , fisking +, anti-idiotarianism ) are recorded in this lexicon for flavor. Bloggers +often divide themselves into warbloggers and techbloggers. The techbloggers +write about technology and technology policy, while the warbloggers are more +politically focused and tend to be preoccupied with U.S. and world response +to the post-9/11 war against terrorism. The overlap with hackerdom is +heaviest among the techbloggers, but several of the most prominent +warbloggers are also hackers. Bloggers in general tend to be aware of and +sympathetic to the hacker culture. + diff --git a/entries/blogrolling.txt b/entries/blogrolling.txt index 7ef792d..b394033 100644 --- a/entries/blogrolling.txt +++ b/entries/blogrolling.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ blogrolling -When you hotlink to other bloggers' blogs (and-or other bloggers' specific blog entries) in your blog, you are blogrolling. This is frequently reciprocal. +When you hotlink to other bloggers' blogs (and-or other bloggers' specific +blog entries) in your blog, you are blogrolling. This is frequently +reciprocal. + diff --git a/entries/blow an EPROM.txt b/entries/blow an EPROM.txt index e168bd5..02fb31f 100644 --- a/entries/blow an EPROM.txt +++ b/entries/blow an EPROM.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ blow an EPROM -/bloh @n eeprom/ , v. (alt.: blast an EPROM , burn an EPROM ) To program a read-only memory, e.g.: for use with an embedded system. This term arose because the programming process for the Programmable Read-Only Memories (PROMs) that preceded present-day Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memories (EPROMs) involved intentionally blowing tiny electrical fuses on the chip. The usage lives on (it's too vivid and expressive to discard) even though the write process on EPROMs is nondestructive. +/bloh @n eeprom/ , v. (alt.: blast an EPROM , burn an EPROM ) To program a +read-only memory, e.g.: for use with an embedded system. This term arose +because the programming process for the Programmable Read-Only Memories +(PROMs) that preceded present-day Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memories +(EPROMs) involved intentionally blowing tiny electrical fuses on the chip. +The usage lives on (it's too vivid and expressive to discard) even though +the write process on EPROMs is nondestructive. + diff --git a/entries/blow away.txt b/entries/blow away.txt index 6e84f05..6db6db1 100644 --- a/entries/blow away.txt +++ b/entries/blow away.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ blow away -vt. To remove (files and directories) from permanent storage, generally by accident. He reformatted the wrong partition and blew away last night's netnews. Oppose nuke. +vt. To remove (files and directories) from permanent storage, generally by +accident. He reformatted the wrong partition and blew away last night's +netnews. Oppose nuke. + diff --git a/entries/blow out.txt b/entries/blow out.txt index 6316ade..0754a96 100644 --- a/entries/blow out.txt +++ b/entries/blow out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ blow out -vi. [prob.: from mining and tunneling jargon] Of software, to fail spectacularly; almost as serious as crash and burn. See blow past , blow up , die horribly. +vi. [prob.: from mining and tunneling jargon] Of software, to fail +spectacularly; almost as serious as crash and burn. See blow past , blow up +, die horribly. + diff --git a/entries/blow past.txt b/entries/blow past.txt index 5c77b53..b670256 100644 --- a/entries/blow past.txt +++ b/entries/blow past.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ blow past -vt. To blow out despite a safeguard. The server blew past the 5K reserve buffer. +vt. To blow out despite a safeguard. The server blew past the 5K reserve +buffer. + diff --git a/entries/blow up.txt b/entries/blow up.txt index 8223aa4..5fbc33a 100644 --- a/entries/blow up.txt +++ b/entries/blow up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ blow up -vi. 1. [scientific computation] To become unstable. Suggests that the computation is diverging so rapidly that it will soon overflow or at least go nonlinear. 2. Syn. blow out. +vi. 1. [scientific computation] To become unstable. Suggests that the +computation is diverging so rapidly that it will soon overflow or at least +go nonlinear. 2. Syn. blow out. + diff --git a/entries/blue box.txt b/entries/blue box.txt index 7815891..954d496 100644 --- a/entries/blue box.txt +++ b/entries/blue box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ blue box -n. 1. obs. Once upon a time, before all-digital switches made it possible for the phone companies to move them out of band, one could actually hear the switching tones used to route long-distance calls. Early phreaker s built devices called es that could reproduce these tones, which could be used to commandeer portions of the phone network. (This was not as hard as it may sound; one early phreak acquired the sobriquet Captain Crunch after he proved that he could generate switching tones with a plastic whistle pulled out of a box of Captain Crunch cereal!) There were other colors of box with more specialized phreaking uses; red boxes, black boxes, silver boxes, etc. There were boxes of other colors as well, but the was the original and archetype. 2. n. An IBM machine, especially a large (non-PC) one. +n. 1. obs. Once upon a time, before all-digital switches made it possible +for the phone companies to move them out of band, one could actually hear +the switching tones used to route long-distance calls. Early phreaker s +built devices called es that could reproduce these tones, which could be +used to commandeer portions of the phone network. (This was not as hard as +it may sound; one early phreak acquired the sobriquet Captain Crunch after +he proved that he could generate switching tones with a plastic whistle +pulled out of a box of Captain Crunch cereal!) There were other colors of +box with more specialized phreaking uses; red boxes, black boxes, silver +boxes, etc. There were boxes of other colors as well, but the was the +original and archetype. 2. n. An IBM machine, especially a large (non-PC) +one. + diff --git a/entries/blue goo.txt b/entries/blue goo.txt index 4ec7001..93c108e 100644 --- a/entries/blue goo.txt +++ b/entries/blue goo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ blue goo -n. Term for police nanobot s intended to prevent gray goo , denature hazardous waste, destroy pollution, put ozone back into the stratosphere, prevent halitosis, and promote truth, justice, and the American way, etc. The term Blue Goo can be found in Dr. Seuss's Fox In Socks to refer to a substance much like bubblegum. Would you like to chew blue goo, sir?. See nanotechnology. +n. Term for police nanobot s intended to prevent gray goo , denature +hazardous waste, destroy pollution, put ozone back into the stratosphere, +prevent halitosis, and promote truth, justice, and the American way, etc. +The term Blue Goo can be found in Dr. Seuss's Fox In Socks to refer to a +substance much like bubblegum. Would you like to chew blue goo, sir?. See +nanotechnology. + diff --git a/entries/blue wire.txt b/entries/blue wire.txt index b4a3aad..080ece6 100644 --- a/entries/blue wire.txt +++ b/entries/blue wire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ blue wire -n. [IBM] Patch wires (esp. 30 AWG gauge) added to circuit boards at the factory to correct design or fabrication problems. Blue wire is not necessarily blue, the term describes function rather than color. These may be necessary if there hasn't been time to design and qualify another board version. In Great Britain this can be bodge wire , after mainstream slang bodge for a clumsy improvisation or sloppy job of work. Compare purple wire , red wire , yellow wire , pink wire. +n. [IBM] Patch wires (esp. 30 AWG gauge) added to circuit boards at the +factory to correct design or fabrication problems. Blue wire is not +necessarily blue, the term describes function rather than color. These may +be necessary if there hasn't been time to design and qualify another board +version. In Great Britain this can be bodge wire , after mainstream slang +bodge for a clumsy improvisation or sloppy job of work. Compare purple wire +, red wire , yellow wire , pink wire. + diff --git a/entries/blurgle.txt b/entries/blurgle.txt index 2baf9b4..1afdad0 100644 --- a/entries/blurgle.txt +++ b/entries/blurgle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ blurgle -/blergl/ , n. [UK] Spoken metasyntactic variable , to indicate some text that is obvious from context, or which is already known. If several words are to be replaced, blurgle may well be doubled or tripled. To look for something in several files use grep string blurgle blurgle. In each case, blurgle blurgle would be understood to be replaced by the file you wished to search. Compare mumble , sense 7. +/blergl/ , n. [UK] Spoken metasyntactic variable , to indicate some text +that is obvious from context, or which is already known. If several words +are to be replaced, blurgle may well be doubled or tripled. To look for +something in several files use grep string blurgle blurgle. In each case, +blurgle blurgle would be understood to be replaced by the file you wished to +search. Compare mumble , sense 7. + diff --git a/entries/boa.txt b/entries/boa.txt index ceec98f..a0469e9 100644 --- a/entries/boa.txt +++ b/entries/boa.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ boa -n. Any one of the fat cables that lurk under the floor in a dinosaur pen. Possibly so called because they display a ferocious life of their own when you try to lay them straight and flat after they have been coiled for some time. It is rumored within IBM that channel cables for the 370 are limited to 200 feet because beyond that length the boas get dangerous and it is worth noting that one of the major cable makers uses the trademark Anaconda. +n. Any one of the fat cables that lurk under the floor in a dinosaur pen. +Possibly so called because they display a ferocious life of their own when +you try to lay them straight and flat after they have been coiled for some +time. It is rumored within IBM that channel cables for the 370 are limited +to 200 feet because beyond that length the boas get dangerous and it is +worth noting that one of the major cable makers uses the trademark Anaconda. + diff --git a/entries/board.txt b/entries/board.txt index 9579fa5..2c7e1db 100644 --- a/entries/board.txt +++ b/entries/board.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ board -n. 1. In-context synonym for bboard ; sometimes used even for Usenet newsgroups (but see usage note under bboard , sense 1). 2. An electronic circuit board. +n. 1. In-context synonym for bboard ; sometimes used even for Usenet +newsgroups (but see usage note under bboard , sense 1). 2. An electronic +circuit board. + diff --git a/entries/boat anchor.txt b/entries/boat anchor.txt index 227b0d0..0fa8190 100644 --- a/entries/boat anchor.txt +++ b/entries/boat anchor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ boat anchor -n. [common; from ham radio] 1. Like doorstop but more severe; implies that the offending hardware is irreversibly dead or useless. That was a working motherboard once. One lightning strike later, instant boat anchor! 2. A person who just takes up space. 3. Obsolete but still working hardware, especially when used of an old, bulky, quirky system; originally a term of annoyance, but became more and more affectionate as the hardware became more and more obsolete. Auctioneers use this term for a large, undesirable object such as a washing machine; actual boating enthusiasts, however, use mooring anchor for frustrating (not actually useless) equipment. +n. [common; from ham radio] 1. Like doorstop but more severe; implies that +the offending hardware is irreversibly dead or useless. That was a working +motherboard once. One lightning strike later, instant boat anchor! 2. A +person who just takes up space. 3. Obsolete but still working hardware, +especially when used of an old, bulky, quirky system; originally a term of +annoyance, but became more and more affectionate as the hardware became more +and more obsolete. Auctioneers use this term for a large, undesirable object +such as a washing machine; actual boating enthusiasts, however, use mooring +anchor for frustrating (not actually useless) equipment. + diff --git a/entries/bob.txt b/entries/bob.txt index dc89556..b84a2fe 100644 --- a/entries/bob.txt +++ b/entries/bob.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ bob -n. At Demon Internet , all tech support personnel are called Bob. (Female support personnel have an option on Bobette ). This has nothing to do with Bob the divine drilling-equipment salesman of the Church of the SubGenius. Nor is it acronymized from Brother Of BOFH , though all parties agree it could have been. Rather, it was triggered by an unusually large draft of new tech-support people in 1995. It was observed that there would be much duplication of names. To ease the confusion, it was decided that all support techs would henceforth be known as Bob , and identity badges were created labelled Bob 1 and Bob 2. ( No, we never got any further reports a witness). The reason for Bob rather than anything else is due to a luser calling and asking to speak to Bob , despite the fact that no Bob was currently working for Tech Support. Since we all know the customer is always right , it was decided that there had to be at least one Bob on duty at all times, just in case. This sillyness snowballed inexorably. Shift leaders and managers began to refer to their groups of bobs. Whole ranks of support machines were set up (and still exist in the DNS as of 1999) as bob1 through bobN. Then came alt.tech-support.recovery , and it was filled with Demon support personnel. They all referred to themselves, and to others, as bob , and after a while it caught on. There is now a Bob Code describing the Bob nature. +n. At Demon Internet , all tech support personnel are called Bob. (Female +support personnel have an option on Bobette ). This has nothing to do with +Bob the divine drilling-equipment salesman of the Church of the SubGenius. +Nor is it acronymized from Brother Of BOFH , though all parties agree it +could have been. Rather, it was triggered by an unusually large draft of new +tech-support people in 1995. It was observed that there would be much +duplication of names. To ease the confusion, it was decided that all support +techs would henceforth be known as Bob , and identity badges were created +labelled Bob 1 and Bob 2. ( No, we never got any further reports a witness). +The reason for Bob rather than anything else is due to a luser calling and +asking to speak to Bob , despite the fact that no Bob was currently working +for Tech Support. Since we all know the customer is always right , it was +decided that there had to be at least one Bob on duty at all times, just in +case. This sillyness snowballed inexorably. Shift leaders and managers began +to refer to their groups of bobs. Whole ranks of support machines were set +up (and still exist in the DNS as of 1999) as bob1 through bobN. Then came +alt.tech-support.recovery , and it was filled with Demon support personnel. +They all referred to themselves, and to others, as bob , and after a while +it caught on. There is now a Bob Code describing the Bob nature. + diff --git a/entries/bodge.txt b/entries/bodge.txt index 877de54..78b5c35 100644 --- a/entries/bodge.txt +++ b/entries/bodge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ bodge Syn. kludge or hack (sense 1). I'll bodge this in now and fix it later. + diff --git a/entries/bogo-sort.txt b/entries/bogo-sort.txt index 1fb29a9..758a23d 100644 --- a/entries/bogo-sort.txt +++ b/entries/bogo-sort.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ bogo-sort -/boh`gohsort/ , n. (var.: stupid-sort ) The archetypical perversely awful algorithm (as opposed to bubble sort , which is merely the generic bad algorithm). Bogo-sort is equivalent to repeatedly throwing a deck of cards in the air, picking them up at random, and then testing whether they are in order. It serves as a sort of canonical example of awfulness. Looking at a program and seeing a dumb algorithm, one might say Oh, I see, this program uses bogo-sort. Esp. appropriate for algorithms with factorial or super-exponential running time in the average case and probabilistically infinite worst-case running time. Compare bogus , brute force. A spectacular variant of bogo-sort has been proposed which has the interesting property that, if the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is true, it can sort an arbitrarily large array in linear time. (In the Many-Worlds model, the result of any quantum action is to split the universe-before into a sheaf of universes-after, one for each possible way the state vector can collapse; in any one of the universes-after the result appears random.) The steps are: 1. Permute the array randomly using a quantum process, 2. If the array is not sorted, destroy the universe (checking that the list is sorted requires O(n) time). Implementation of step 2 is left as an exercise for the reader. +/boh`gohsort/ , n. (var.: stupid-sort ) The archetypical perversely awful +algorithm (as opposed to bubble sort , which is merely the generic bad +algorithm). Bogo-sort is equivalent to repeatedly throwing a deck of cards +in the air, picking them up at random, and then testing whether they are in +order. It serves as a sort of canonical example of awfulness. Looking at a +program and seeing a dumb algorithm, one might say Oh, I see, this program +uses bogo-sort. Esp. appropriate for algorithms with factorial or +super-exponential running time in the average case and probabilistically +infinite worst-case running time. Compare bogus , brute force. A spectacular +variant of bogo-sort has been proposed which has the interesting property +that, if the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics is true, it can +sort an arbitrarily large array in linear time. (In the Many-Worlds model, +the result of any quantum action is to split the universe-before into a +sheaf of universes-after, one for each possible way the state vector can +collapse; in any one of the universes-after the result appears random.) The +steps are: 1. Permute the array randomly using a quantum process, 2. If the +array is not sorted, destroy the universe (checking that the list is sorted +requires O(n) time). Implementation of step 2 is left as an exercise for the +reader. + diff --git a/entries/bogometer.txt b/entries/bogometer.txt index 7c9f728..b747995 100644 --- a/entries/bogometer.txt +++ b/entries/bogometer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bogometer -/bohgom'@ter/ , n. A notional instrument for measuring bogosity. Compare the Troll-O-Meter and the wankometer described in the wank entry; see also bogus. +/bohgom'@ter/ , n. A notional instrument for measuring bogosity. Compare the +Troll-O-Meter and the wankometer described in the wank entry; see also +bogus. + diff --git a/entries/bogon filter.txt b/entries/bogon filter.txt index 18ee03e..e456906 100644 --- a/entries/bogon filter.txt +++ b/entries/bogon filter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ bogon filter -/bohgon fil'tr/ , n. Any device, software or hardware, that limits or suppresses the flow and/or emission of bogons. Engineering hacked a bogon filter between the Cray and the VAXen, and now we're getting fewer dropped packets. See also bogosity , bogus. +/bohgon fil'tr/ , n. Any device, software or hardware, that limits or +suppresses the flow and/or emission of bogons. Engineering hacked a bogon +filter between the Cray and the VAXen, and now we're getting fewer dropped +packets. See also bogosity , bogus. + diff --git a/entries/bogon flux.txt b/entries/bogon flux.txt index e66cdc2..bdf3048 100644 --- a/entries/bogon flux.txt +++ b/entries/bogon flux.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ bogon flux -/bohgon fluhks/ , n. A measure of a supposed field of bogosity emitted by a speaker, measured by a bogometer ; as a speaker starts to wander into increasing bogosity a listener might say Warning, warning, bogon flux is rising. See quantum bogodynamics. +/bohgon fluhks/ , n. A measure of a supposed field of bogosity emitted by a +speaker, measured by a bogometer ; as a speaker starts to wander into +increasing bogosity a listener might say Warning, warning, bogon flux is +rising. See quantum bogodynamics. + diff --git a/entries/bogon.txt b/entries/bogon.txt index 3d78067..633df2d 100644 --- a/entries/bogon.txt +++ b/entries/bogon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ bogon -/bohgon/ , n. [very common; by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but doubtless reinforced after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas Adams's Vogons ; see the Bibliography in Appendix C and note that Arthur Dent actually mispronounces Vogons as Bogons at one point] 1. The elementary particle of bogosity (see quantum bogodynamics ). For instance, the Ethernet is emitting bogons again means that it is broken or acting in an erratic or bogus fashion. 2. A query packet sent from a TCP/IP domain resolver to a root server, having the reply bit set instead of the query bit. 3. Any bogus or incorrectly formed packet sent on a network. 4. By synecdoche, used to refer to any bogus thing, as in I'd like to go to lunch with you but I've got to go to the weekly staff bogon. 5. A person who is bogus or who says bogus things. This was historically the original usage, but has been overtaken by its derivative senses 1--4. See also bogosity , bogus ; compare psyton , fat electrons , magic smoke. The bogon has become the type case for a whole bestiary of nonce particle names, including the clutron or cluon (indivisible particle of cluefulness, obviously the antiparticle of the bogon) and the futon (elementary particle of randomness , or sometimes of lameness). These are not so much live usages in themselves as examples of a live meta-usage: that is, it has become a standard joke or linguistic maneuver to explain otherwise mysterious circumstances by inventing nonce particle names. And these imply nonce particle theories, with all their dignity or lack thereof (we might note parenthetically that this is a generalization from (bogus particle) theories to bogus (particle theories) !). Perhaps such particles are the modern-day equivalents of trolls and wood-nymphs as standard starting-points around which to construct explanatory myths. Of course, playing on an existing word (as in the futon ) yields additional flavor. Compare magic smoke. +/bohgon/ , n. [very common; by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but +doubtless reinforced after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas Adams's Vogons +; see the Bibliography in Appendix C and note that Arthur Dent actually +mispronounces Vogons as Bogons at one point] 1. The elementary particle of +bogosity (see quantum bogodynamics ). For instance, the Ethernet is emitting +bogons again means that it is broken or acting in an erratic or bogus +fashion. 2. A query packet sent from a TCP/IP domain resolver to a root +server, having the reply bit set instead of the query bit. 3. Any bogus or +incorrectly formed packet sent on a network. 4. By synecdoche, used to refer +to any bogus thing, as in I'd like to go to lunch with you but I've got to +go to the weekly staff bogon. 5. A person who is bogus or who says bogus +things. This was historically the original usage, but has been overtaken by +its derivative senses 1--4. See also bogosity , bogus ; compare psyton , fat +electrons , magic smoke. The bogon has become the type case for a whole +bestiary of nonce particle names, including the clutron or cluon +(indivisible particle of cluefulness, obviously the antiparticle of the +bogon) and the futon (elementary particle of randomness , or sometimes of +lameness). These are not so much live usages in themselves as examples of a +live meta-usage: that is, it has become a standard joke or linguistic +maneuver to explain otherwise mysterious circumstances by inventing nonce +particle names. And these imply nonce particle theories, with all their +dignity or lack thereof (we might note parenthetically that this is a +generalization from (bogus particle) theories to bogus (particle theories) +!). Perhaps such particles are the modern-day equivalents of trolls and +wood-nymphs as standard starting-points around which to construct +explanatory myths. Of course, playing on an existing word (as in the futon ) +yields additional flavor. Compare magic smoke. + diff --git a/entries/bogosity.txt b/entries/bogosity.txt index 23f2b3c..c91550f 100644 --- a/entries/bogosity.txt +++ b/entries/bogosity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ bogosity -/bohgos@tee/ , n. 1. [orig. CMU, now very common] The degree to which something is bogus. Bogosity is measured with a bogometer ; in a seminar, when a speaker says something bogus, a listener might raise his hand and say My bogometer just triggered. More extremely, You just pinned my bogometer means you just said or did something so outrageously bogus that it is off the scale, pinning the bogometer needle at the highest possible reading (one might also say You just redlined my bogometer ). The agreed-upon unit of bogosity is the microLenat. 2. The potential field generated by a bogon flux ; see quantum bogodynamics. See also bogon flux , bogon filter , bogus. +/bohgos@tee/ , n. 1. [orig. CMU, now very common] The degree to which +something is bogus. Bogosity is measured with a bogometer ; in a seminar, +when a speaker says something bogus, a listener might raise his hand and say +My bogometer just triggered. More extremely, You just pinned my bogometer +means you just said or did something so outrageously bogus that it is off +the scale, pinning the bogometer needle at the highest possible reading (one +might also say You just redlined my bogometer ). The agreed-upon unit of +bogosity is the microLenat. 2. The potential field generated by a bogon flux +; see quantum bogodynamics. See also bogon flux , bogon filter , bogus. + diff --git a/entries/bogotify.txt b/entries/bogotify.txt index a8b1bc6..f7249be 100644 --- a/entries/bogotify.txt +++ b/entries/bogotify.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ bogotify -/bohgot@fi:/ , vt. To make or become bogus. A program that has been changed so many times as to become completely disorganized has become bogotified. If you tighten a nut too hard and strip the threads on the bolt, the bolt has become bogotified and you had better not use it any more. This coinage led to the notional autobogotiphobia defined as the fear of becoming bogotified ; but is not clear that the latter has ever been live jargon rather than a self-conscious joke in jargon about jargon. See also bogosity , bogus. +/bohgot@fi:/ , vt. To make or become bogus. A program that has been changed +so many times as to become completely disorganized has become bogotified. If +you tighten a nut too hard and strip the threads on the bolt, the bolt has +become bogotified and you had better not use it any more. This coinage led +to the notional autobogotiphobia defined as the fear of becoming bogotified +; but is not clear that the latter has ever been live jargon rather than a +self-conscious joke in jargon about jargon. See also bogosity , bogus. + diff --git a/entries/bogue out.txt b/entries/bogue out.txt index ada72f1..2e45bdb 100644 --- a/entries/bogue out.txt +++ b/entries/bogue out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bogue out -/bohg owt/ , vi. To become bogus, suddenly and unexpectedly. His talk was relatively sane until somebody asked him a trick question; then he bogued out and did nothing but flame afterwards. See also bogosity , bogus. +/bohg owt/ , vi. To become bogus, suddenly and unexpectedly. His talk was +relatively sane until somebody asked him a trick question; then he bogued +out and did nothing but flame afterwards. See also bogosity , bogus. + diff --git a/entries/bogus.txt b/entries/bogus.txt index 1ba4ae1..d165a3d 100644 --- a/entries/bogus.txt +++ b/entries/bogus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ bogus -adj. 1. Non-functional. Your patches are bogus. 2. Useless. OPCON is a bogus program. 3. False. Your arguments are bogus. 4. Incorrect. That algorithm is bogus. 5. Unbelievable. You claim to have solved the halting problem for Turing Machines? That's totally bogus. 6. Silly. Stop writing those bogus sagas. Astrology is bogus. So is a bolt that is obviously about to break. So is someone who makes blatantly false claims to have solved a scientific problem. (This word seems to have some, but not all, of the connotations of random mostly the negative ones.) It is claimed that bogus was originally used in the hackish sense at Princeton in the late 1960s. It was spread to CMU and Yale by Michael Shamos, a migratory Princeton alumnus. A glossary of bogus words was compiled at Yale when the word was first popularized there about 1975-76. These coinages spread into hackerdom from CMU and MIT. Most of them remained wordplay objects rather than actual vocabulary items or live metaphors. Examples: amboguous (having multiple bogus interpretations); bogotissimo (in a gloriously bogus manner); bogotophile (one who is pathologically fascinated by the bogus); paleobogology (the study of primeval bogosity). Some bogowords, however, obtained sufficient live currency to be listed elsewhere in this lexicon; see bogometer , bogon , bogotify , and quantum bogodynamics and the related but unlisted Dr. Fred Mbogo. By the early 1980s bogus was also current in something like hacker usage sense in West Coast teen slang, and it had gone mainstream by 1985. A correspondent from Cambridge reports, by contrast, that these uses of bogus grate on British nerves; in Britain the word means, rather specifically, counterfeit , as in a bogus 10-pound note. According to Merriam-Webster, the word dates back to 1825 and originally referred to a counterfeiting machine. +adj. 1. Non-functional. Your patches are bogus. 2. Useless. OPCON is a bogus +program. 3. False. Your arguments are bogus. 4. Incorrect. That algorithm is +bogus. 5. Unbelievable. You claim to have solved the halting problem for +Turing Machines? That's totally bogus. 6. Silly. Stop writing those bogus +sagas. Astrology is bogus. So is a bolt that is obviously about to break. So +is someone who makes blatantly false claims to have solved a scientific +problem. (This word seems to have some, but not all, of the connotations of +random mostly the negative ones.) It is claimed that bogus was originally +used in the hackish sense at Princeton in the late 1960s. It was spread to +CMU and Yale by Michael Shamos, a migratory Princeton alumnus. A glossary of +bogus words was compiled at Yale when the word was first popularized there +about 1975-76. These coinages spread into hackerdom from CMU and MIT. Most +of them remained wordplay objects rather than actual vocabulary items or +live metaphors. Examples: amboguous (having multiple bogus interpretations); +bogotissimo (in a gloriously bogus manner); bogotophile (one who is +pathologically fascinated by the bogus); paleobogology (the study of +primeval bogosity). Some bogowords, however, obtained sufficient live +currency to be listed elsewhere in this lexicon; see bogometer , bogon , +bogotify , and quantum bogodynamics and the related but unlisted Dr. Fred +Mbogo. By the early 1980s bogus was also current in something like hacker +usage sense in West Coast teen slang, and it had gone mainstream by 1985. A +correspondent from Cambridge reports, by contrast, that these uses of bogus +grate on British nerves; in Britain the word means, rather specifically, +counterfeit , as in a bogus 10-pound note. According to Merriam-Webster, the +word dates back to 1825 and originally referred to a counterfeiting machine. + diff --git a/entries/boink.txt b/entries/boink.txt index 4c87f9e..e33261e 100644 --- a/entries/boink.txt +++ b/entries/boink.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ boink -/boynk/ 1. [Usenet: variously ascribed to the TV series Cheers , Moonlighting , and Soap ] v. To have sex with; compare bounce , sense 2. (This is mainstream slang.) In Commonwealth hackish the variant bonk is more common. 2. n. After the original Peter Korn Boinkon Usenet parties, used for almost any net social gathering, e.g., Miniboink, a small boink held by Nancy Gillett in 1988; Minniboink, a Boinkcon in Minnesota in 1989; Humpdayboinks, Wednesday get-togethers held in the San Francisco Bay Area. Compare @-party. 3. Var of bonk ; see bonk/oif. +/boynk/ 1. [Usenet: variously ascribed to the TV series Cheers , +Moonlighting , and Soap ] v. To have sex with; compare bounce , sense 2. +(This is mainstream slang.) In Commonwealth hackish the variant bonk is more +common. 2. n. After the original Peter Korn Boinkon Usenet parties, used for +almost any net social gathering, e.g., Miniboink, a small boink held by +Nancy Gillett in 1988; Minniboink, a Boinkcon in Minnesota in 1989; +Humpdayboinks, Wednesday get-togethers held in the San Francisco Bay Area. +Compare @-party. 3. Var of bonk ; see bonk/oif. + diff --git a/entries/bomb.txt b/entries/bomb.txt index 3894242..c089092 100644 --- a/entries/bomb.txt +++ b/entries/bomb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ bomb -1. v. General synonym for crash (sense 1) except that it is not used as a noun; esp. used of software or OS failures. Don't run Empire with less than 32K stack, it'll. 2. n.,v. Atari ST and Macintosh equivalents of a Unix panic or Amiga guru meditation , in which icons of little black-powder s or mushroom clouds are displayed, indicating that the system has died. On the Mac, this may be accompanied by a decimal (or occasionally hexadecimal) number indicating what went wrong, similar to the Amiga guru meditation number. MS-DOS machines tend to get locked up in this situation. +1. v. General synonym for crash (sense 1) except that it is not used as a +noun; esp. used of software or OS failures. Don't run Empire with less than +32K stack, it'll. 2. n.,v. Atari ST and Macintosh equivalents of a Unix +panic or Amiga guru meditation , in which icons of little black-powder s or +mushroom clouds are displayed, indicating that the system has died. On the +Mac, this may be accompanied by a decimal (or occasionally hexadecimal) +number indicating what went wrong, similar to the Amiga guru meditation +number. MS-DOS machines tend to get locked up in this situation. + diff --git a/entries/bondage-and-discipline language.txt b/entries/bondage-and-discipline language.txt index 8c0abfb..ef24754 100644 --- a/entries/bondage-and-discipline language.txt +++ b/entries/bondage-and-discipline language.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ bondage-and-discipline language -n. A language (such as Pascal , Ada, APL, or Prolog) that, though ostensibly general-purpose, is designed so as to enforce an author's theory of right programming even though said theory is demonstrably inadequate for systems hacking or even vanilla general-purpose programming. Often abbreviated B D ; thus, one may speak of things having the B D nature. See Pascal ; oppose languages of choice. +n. A language (such as Pascal , Ada, APL, or Prolog) that, though ostensibly +general-purpose, is designed so as to enforce an author's theory of right +programming even though said theory is demonstrably inadequate for systems +hacking or even vanilla general-purpose programming. Often abbreviated B D ; +thus, one may speak of things having the B D nature. See Pascal ; oppose +languages of choice. + diff --git a/entries/bonk-oif.txt b/entries/bonk-oif.txt index 4199dd6..f666343 100644 --- a/entries/bonk-oif.txt +++ b/entries/bonk-oif.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ bonk/oif -/bonk/ , /oyf/ , interj. In the U.S. MUD community, it has become traditional to express pique or censure by bonking the offending person. Convention holds that one should acknowledge a bonk by saying oif! and there is a myth to the effect that failing to do so upsets the cosmic bonk/oif balance, causing much trouble in the universe. Some MUDs have implemented special commands for bonking and oifing. Note: in parts of the U.K. bonk is a sexually loaded slang term; care is advised in transatlantic conversations (see boink ). Commonwealth hackers report a similar convention involving the fish/bang balance. See also talk mode. +/bonk/ , /oyf/ , interj. In the U.S. MUD community, it has become +traditional to express pique or censure by bonking the offending person. +Convention holds that one should acknowledge a bonk by saying oif! and there +is a myth to the effect that failing to do so upsets the cosmic bonk/oif +balance, causing much trouble in the universe. Some MUDs have implemented +special commands for bonking and oifing. Note: in parts of the U.K. bonk is +a sexually loaded slang term; care is advised in transatlantic conversations +(see boink ). Commonwealth hackers report a similar convention involving the +fish/bang balance. See also talk mode. + diff --git a/entries/book titles.txt b/entries/book titles.txt index 018b0ab..a1d4cbc 100644 --- a/entries/book titles.txt +++ b/entries/book titles.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ book titles -There is a tradition in hackerdom of informally tagging important textbooks and standards documents with the dominant color of their covers or with some other conspicuous feature of the cover. Many of these are described in this lexicon under their own entries. See Aluminum Book , Camel Book , Cinderella Book , daemon book , Dragon Book , Orange Book , Purple Book , Wizard Book , and bible ; see also rainbow series. Since about 1993 this tradition has gotten a boost from the popular O'Reilly and Associates line of technical books, which usually feature some kind of exotic animal on the cover and are often called by the name of that animal. +There is a tradition in hackerdom of informally tagging important textbooks +and standards documents with the dominant color of their covers or with some +other conspicuous feature of the cover. Many of these are described in this +lexicon under their own entries. See Aluminum Book , Camel Book , Cinderella +Book , daemon book , Dragon Book , Orange Book , Purple Book , Wizard Book , +and bible ; see also rainbow series. Since about 1993 this tradition has +gotten a boost from the popular O'Reilly and Associates line of technical +books, which usually feature some kind of exotic animal on the cover and are +often called by the name of that animal. + diff --git a/entries/boot.txt b/entries/boot.txt index 457dbb9..f1048ae 100644 --- a/entries/boot.txt +++ b/entries/boot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,33 @@ boot -v.,n. [techspeak; from by one's bootstraps ] To load and initialize the operating system on a machine. This usage is no longer jargon (having passed into techspeak) but has given rise to some derivatives that are still jargon. The derivative reboot implies that the machine hasn't been down for long, or that the boot is a bounce (sense 4) intended to clear some state of wedgitude. This is sometimes used of human thought processes, as in the following exchange: You've lost me. OK, reboot. Here's the theory.... This term is also found in the variants cold boot (from power-off condition) and warm boot (with the CPU and all devices already powered up, as after a hardware reset or software crash). Another variant: soft boot , reinitialization of only part of a system, under control of other software still running: If you're running the mess-dos emulator, control-alt-insert will cause a soft-boot of the emulator, while leaving the rest of the system running. Opposed to this there is hard boot , which connotes hostility towards or frustration with the machine being booted: I'll have to hard-boot this losing Sun. I recommend booting it hard. One often hard-boots by performing a power cycle. Historical note: this term derives from bootstrap loader , a short program that was read in from cards or paper tape, or toggled in from the front panel switches. This program was always very short (great efforts were expended on making it short in order to minimize the labor and chance of error involved in toggling it in), but was just smart enough to read in a slightly more complex program (usually from a card or paper tape reader), to which it handed control; this program in turn was smart enough to read the application or operating system from a magnetic tape drive or disk drive. Thus, in successive steps, the computer pulled itself up by its bootstraps to a useful operating state. Nowadays the bootstrap is usually found in ROM or EPROM, and reads the first stage in from a fixed location on the disk, called the boot block. When this program gains control, it is powerful enough to load the actual OS and hand control over to it. +v.,n. [techspeak; from by one's bootstraps ] To load and initialize the +operating system on a machine. This usage is no longer jargon (having passed +into techspeak) but has given rise to some derivatives that are still +jargon. The derivative reboot implies that the machine hasn't been down for +long, or that the boot is a bounce (sense 4) intended to clear some state of +wedgitude. This is sometimes used of human thought processes, as in the +following exchange: You've lost me. OK, reboot. Here's the theory.... This +term is also found in the variants cold boot (from power-off condition) and +warm boot (with the CPU and all devices already powered up, as after a +hardware reset or software crash). Another variant: soft boot , +reinitialization of only part of a system, under control of other software +still running: If you're running the mess-dos emulator, control-alt-insert +will cause a soft-boot of the emulator, while leaving the rest of the system +running. Opposed to this there is hard boot , which connotes hostility +towards or frustration with the machine being booted: I'll have to hard-boot +this losing Sun. I recommend booting it hard. One often hard-boots by +performing a power cycle. Historical note: this term derives from bootstrap +loader , a short program that was read in from cards or paper tape, or +toggled in from the front panel switches. This program was always very short +(great efforts were expended on making it short in order to minimize the +labor and chance of error involved in toggling it in), but was just smart +enough to read in a slightly more complex program (usually from a card or +paper tape reader), to which it handed control; this program in turn was +smart enough to read the application or operating system from a magnetic +tape drive or disk drive. Thus, in successive steps, the computer pulled +itself up by its bootstraps to a useful operating state. Nowadays the +bootstrap is usually found in ROM or EPROM, and reads the first stage in +from a fixed location on the disk, called the boot block. When this program +gains control, it is powerful enough to load the actual OS and hand control +over to it. + diff --git a/entries/borken.txt b/entries/borken.txt index ca020ed..93fc680 100644 --- a/entries/borken.txt +++ b/entries/borken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ borken adj. (also borked ) Common deliberate typo for broken. + diff --git a/entries/bot.txt b/entries/bot.txt index 0dfc106..5a9b9cf 100644 --- a/entries/bot.txt +++ b/entries/bot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ bot -n [common on IRC, MUD and among gamers; from robot ] 1. An IRC or MUD user who is actually a program. On IRC, typically the robot provides some useful service. Examples are NickServ, which tries to prevent random users from adopting nick s already claimed by others, and MsgServ, which allows one to send asynchronous messages to be delivered when the recipient signs on. Also common are annoybots , such as KissServ, which perform no useful function except to send cute messages to other people. Service bots are less common on MUDs; but some others, such as the Julia bot active in 1990--91, have been remarkably impressive Turing-test experiments, able to pass as human for as long as ten or fifteen minutes of conversation. 2. An AI-controlled player in a computer game (especially a first-person shooter such as Quake) which, unlike ordinary monsters, operates like a human-controlled player, with access to a player's weapons and abilities. An example can be found at http://www.telefragged.com/thefatal/. 3. Term used, though less commonly, for a web spider. The file for controlling spider behavior on your site is officially the Robots Exclusion File and its URL is http:// somehost /robots.txt ) Note that bots in all senses were robots when the terms first appeared in the early 1990s, but the shortened form is now habitual. +n [common on IRC, MUD and among gamers; from robot ] 1. An IRC or MUD user +who is actually a program. On IRC, typically the robot provides some useful +service. Examples are NickServ, which tries to prevent random users from +adopting nick s already claimed by others, and MsgServ, which allows one to +send asynchronous messages to be delivered when the recipient signs on. Also +common are annoybots , such as KissServ, which perform no useful function +except to send cute messages to other people. Service bots are less common +on MUDs; but some others, such as the Julia bot active in 1990--91, have +been remarkably impressive Turing-test experiments, able to pass as human +for as long as ten or fifteen minutes of conversation. 2. An AI-controlled +player in a computer game (especially a first-person shooter such as Quake) +which, unlike ordinary monsters, operates like a human-controlled player, +with access to a player's weapons and abilities. An example can be found at +http://www.telefragged.com/thefatal/. 3. Term used, though less commonly, +for a web spider. The file for controlling spider behavior on your site is +officially the Robots Exclusion File and its URL is http:// somehost +/robots.txt ) Note that bots in all senses were robots when the terms first +appeared in the early 1990s, but the shortened form is now habitual. + diff --git a/entries/bottom feeder.txt b/entries/bottom feeder.txt index cb0e978..94a13e3 100644 --- a/entries/bottom feeder.txt +++ b/entries/bottom feeder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ bottom feeder -n. 1. An Internet user that leeches off ISPs the sort you can never provide good enough services for, always complains about the price, no matter how low it may be, and will bolt off to another service the moment there is even the slimmest price difference. While most bottom feeders infest free or almost free services such as AOL, MSN, and Hotmail, too many flock to whomever happens to be the cheapest regional ISP at the time. Bottom feeders are often the classic problem user, known for unleashing spam, flamage, and other breaches of netiquette. 2. Syn. for slopsucker , derived from the fishermen's and naturalists' term for finny creatures who subsist on the primordial ooze. (This sense is older. +n. 1. An Internet user that leeches off ISPs the sort you can never provide +good enough services for, always complains about the price, no matter how +low it may be, and will bolt off to another service the moment there is even +the slimmest price difference. While most bottom feeders infest free or +almost free services such as AOL, MSN, and Hotmail, too many flock to +whomever happens to be the cheapest regional ISP at the time. Bottom feeders +are often the classic problem user, known for unleashing spam, flamage, and +other breaches of netiquette. 2. Syn. for slopsucker , derived from the +fishermen's and naturalists' term for finny creatures who subsist on the +primordial ooze. (This sense is older. + diff --git a/entries/bottom-post.txt b/entries/bottom-post.txt index 63acc17..7b79cbc 100644 --- a/entries/bottom-post.txt +++ b/entries/bottom-post.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ bottom-post -v. In a news or mail reply, to put the response to a news or email message after the quoted content from the parent message. This is correct form, and until around 2000 was so universal on the Internet that neither the term bottom-post nor its antonym top-post existed. Hackers consider that the best practice is actually to excerpt only the relevent portions of the parent message, then intersperse the poster's response in such a way that each section of response appears directly after the excerpt it applies to. This reduces message bulk, keeps thread content in a logical order, and facilitates reading. +v. In a news or mail reply, to put the response to a news or email message +after the quoted content from the parent message. This is correct form, and +until around 2000 was so universal on the Internet that neither the term +bottom-post nor its antonym top-post existed. Hackers consider that the best +practice is actually to excerpt only the relevent portions of the parent +message, then intersperse the poster's response in such a way that each +section of response appears directly after the excerpt it applies to. This +reduces message bulk, keeps thread content in a logical order, and +facilitates reading. + diff --git a/entries/bottom-up implementation.txt b/entries/bottom-up implementation.txt index d591101..623c0e1 100644 --- a/entries/bottom-up implementation.txt +++ b/entries/bottom-up implementation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ bottom-up implementation -n. Hackish opposite of the techspeak term top-down design. It has been received wisdom in most programming cultures that it is best to design from higher levels of abstraction down to lower, specifying sequences of action in increasing detail until you get to actual code. Hackers often find (especially in exploratory designs that cannot be closely specified in advance) that it works best to build things in the opposite order, by writing and testing a clean set of primitive operations and then knitting them together. Naively applied, this leads to hacked-together bottom-up implementations; a more sophisticated response is middle-out implementation , in which scratch code within primitives at the mid-level of the system is gradually replaced with a more polished version of the lowest level at the same time the structure above the midlevel is being built. +n. Hackish opposite of the techspeak term top-down design. It has been +received wisdom in most programming cultures that it is best to design from +higher levels of abstraction down to lower, specifying sequences of action +in increasing detail until you get to actual code. Hackers often find +(especially in exploratory designs that cannot be closely specified in +advance) that it works best to build things in the opposite order, by +writing and testing a clean set of primitive operations and then knitting +them together. Naively applied, this leads to hacked-together bottom-up +implementations; a more sophisticated response is middle-out implementation +, in which scratch code within primitives at the mid-level of the system is +gradually replaced with a more polished version of the lowest level at the +same time the structure above the midlevel is being built. + diff --git a/entries/bounce message.txt b/entries/bounce message.txt index 133096e..f052984 100644 --- a/entries/bounce message.txt +++ b/entries/bounce message.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ bounce message -n. [common] Notification message returned to sender by a site unable to relay email to the intended Internet address recipient or the next link in a bang path (see bounce , sense 1). Reasons might include a nonexistent or misspelled username or a down relay site. Bounce messages can themselves fail, with occasionally ugly results; see sorcerer's apprentice mode and software laser. The terms bounce mail and barfmail are also common. +n. [common] Notification message returned to sender by a site unable to +relay email to the intended Internet address recipient or the next link in a +bang path (see bounce , sense 1). Reasons might include a nonexistent or +misspelled username or a down relay site. Bounce messages can themselves +fail, with occasionally ugly results; see sorcerer's apprentice mode and +software laser. The terms bounce mail and barfmail are also common. + diff --git a/entries/bounce.txt b/entries/bounce.txt index 0fa0146..a208b3d 100644 --- a/entries/bounce.txt +++ b/entries/bounce.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ bounce -v. 1. [common; perhaps by analogy to a bouncing check] An electronic mail message that is undeliverable and returns an error notification to the sender is said to bounce. See also bounce message. 2. To engage in sexual intercourse; prob.: from the expression bouncing the mattress , but influenced by Roo's psychosexually loaded Try bouncing me, Tigger! from the Winnie-the-Pooh books. Compare boink. 3. To casually reboot a system in order to clear up a transient problem (possibly editing a configuration file in the process, if it is one that is only re-read at boot time). Reported primarily among VMS and Unix users. 4. [VM/CMS programmers] Automatic warm-start of a machine after an error. I logged on this morning and found it had bounced 7 times during the night 6. [IBM] To power cycle a peripheral in order to reset it. +v. 1. [common; perhaps by analogy to a bouncing check] An electronic mail +message that is undeliverable and returns an error notification to the +sender is said to bounce. See also bounce message. 2. To engage in sexual +intercourse; prob.: from the expression bouncing the mattress , but +influenced by Roo's psychosexually loaded Try bouncing me, Tigger! from the +Winnie-the-Pooh books. Compare boink. 3. To casually reboot a system in +order to clear up a transient problem (possibly editing a configuration file +in the process, if it is one that is only re-read at boot time). Reported +primarily among VMS and Unix users. 4. [VM/CMS programmers] Automatic +warm-start of a machine after an error. I logged on this morning and found +it had bounced 7 times during the night 6. [IBM] To power cycle a peripheral +in order to reset it. + diff --git a/entries/boustrophedon.txt b/entries/boustrophedon.txt index 067cdec..05185a1 100644 --- a/entries/boustrophedon.txt +++ b/entries/boustrophedon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ boustrophedon -n. [from a Greek word for turning like an ox while plowing] An ancient method of writing using alternate left-to-right and right-to-left lines. This term is actually philologists' techspeak and typesetters' jargon. Erudite hackers use it for an optimization performed by some computer typesetting software and moving-head printers. The adverbial form boustrophedonically is also found (hackers purely love constructions like this). +n. [from a Greek word for turning like an ox while plowing] An ancient +method of writing using alternate left-to-right and right-to-left lines. +This term is actually philologists' techspeak and typesetters' jargon. +Erudite hackers use it for an optimization performed by some computer +typesetting software and moving-head printers. The adverbial form +boustrophedonically is also found (hackers purely love constructions like +this). + diff --git a/entries/box.txt b/entries/box.txt index 7db17ba..0950c3a 100644 --- a/entries/box.txt +++ b/entries/box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ box -n. A computer; esp. in the construction foo box where foo is some functional qualifier, like graphics , or the name of an OS (thus, Unix box , Windows box , etc.) We preprocess the data on Unix boxes before handing it up to the mainframe. +n. A computer; esp. in the construction foo box where foo is some functional +qualifier, like graphics , or the name of an OS (thus, Unix box , Windows +box , etc.) We preprocess the data on Unix boxes before handing it up to the +mainframe. + diff --git a/entries/boxed comments.txt b/entries/boxed comments.txt index 680c149..eb35685 100644 --- a/entries/boxed comments.txt +++ b/entries/boxed comments.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ boxed comments -n. Comments (explanatory notes attached to program instructions) that occupy several lines by themselves; so called because in assembler and C code they are often surrounded by a box in a style something like this: /************************************************* * * This is a boxed comment in C style * *************************************************/ Common variants of this style omit the asterisks in column 2 or add a matching row of asterisks closing the right side of the box. The sparest variant omits all but the comment delimiters themselves; the box is implied. Oppose winged comments. +n. Comments (explanatory notes attached to program instructions) that occupy +several lines by themselves; so called because in assembler and C code they +are often surrounded by a box in a style something like this: +/************************************************* * * This is a boxed +comment in C style * *************************************************/ +Common variants of this style omit the asterisks in column 2 or add a +matching row of asterisks closing the right side of the box. The sparest +variant omits all but the comment delimiters themselves; the box is implied. +Oppose winged comments. + diff --git a/entries/boxen.txt b/entries/boxen.txt index 1806227..d75b523 100644 --- a/entries/boxen.txt +++ b/entries/boxen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ boxen -/boksn/ , pl.n. [very common; by analogy with VAXen ] Fanciful plural of box often encountered in the phrase Unix boxen , used to describe commodity Unix hardware. The connotation is that any two Unix boxen are interchangeable. +/boksn/ , pl.n. [very common; by analogy with VAXen ] Fanciful plural of box +often encountered in the phrase Unix boxen , used to describe commodity Unix +hardware. The connotation is that any two Unix boxen are interchangeable. + diff --git a/entries/boxology.txt b/entries/boxology.txt index c405a25..a96ae17 100644 --- a/entries/boxology.txt +++ b/entries/boxology.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ boxology -/boksol'@jee/ , n. Syn. ASCII art. This term implies a more restricted domain, that of box-and-arrow drawings. His report has a lot of boxology in it. Compare macrology. +/boksol'@jee/ , n. Syn. ASCII art. This term implies a more restricted +domain, that of box-and-arrow drawings. His report has a lot of boxology in +it. Compare macrology. + diff --git a/entries/bozotic.txt b/entries/bozotic.txt index e0fdbc7..c3a691a 100644 --- a/entries/bozotic.txt +++ b/entries/bozotic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ bozotic -/bohzohtik/ , /bohzotik/ , adj. [from the name of a TV clown even more losing than Ronald McDonald] Resembling or having the quality of a bozo; that is, clownish, ludicrously wrong, unintentionally humorous. Compare wonky , demented. Note that the noun bozo occurs in slang, but the mainstream adjectival form would be bozo-like or (in New England) bozoish. +/bohzohtik/ , /bohzotik/ , adj. [from the name of a TV clown even more +losing than Ronald McDonald] Resembling or having the quality of a bozo; +that is, clownish, ludicrously wrong, unintentionally humorous. Compare +wonky , demented. Note that the noun bozo occurs in slang, but the +mainstream adjectival form would be bozo-like or (in New England) bozoish. + diff --git a/entries/brain dump.txt b/entries/brain dump.txt index e63d499..ec1db84 100644 --- a/entries/brain dump.txt +++ b/entries/brain dump.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ brain dump -n. [common] The act of telling someone everything one knows about a particular topic or project. Typically used when someone is going to let a new party maintain a piece of code. Conceptually analogous to an operating system core dump in that it saves a lot of useful state before an exit. You'll have to give me a brain dump on FOOBAR before you start your new job at HackerCorp. See core dump (sense 4). At Sun, this is also known as TOI (transfer of information). +n. [common] The act of telling someone everything one knows about a +particular topic or project. Typically used when someone is going to let a +new party maintain a piece of code. Conceptually analogous to an operating +system core dump in that it saves a lot of useful state before an exit. +You'll have to give me a brain dump on FOOBAR before you start your new job +at HackerCorp. See core dump (sense 4). At Sun, this is also known as TOI +(transfer of information). + diff --git a/entries/brain fart.txt b/entries/brain fart.txt index 1fd3ec5..bef2ba1 100644 --- a/entries/brain fart.txt +++ b/entries/brain fart.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ brain fart -n. The actual result of a braino , as opposed to the mental glitch that is the braino itself. E.g., typing dir on a Unix box after a session with DOS. +n. The actual result of a braino , as opposed to the mental glitch that is +the braino itself. E.g., typing dir on a Unix box after a session with DOS. + diff --git a/entries/brain-damaged.txt b/entries/brain-damaged.txt index 2bec0df..2d1a9c4 100644 --- a/entries/brain-damaged.txt +++ b/entries/brain-damaged.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ brain-damaged -adj. 1. [common; generalization of Honeywell Brain Damage (HBD), a theoretical disease invented to explain certain utter cretinisms in Honeywell Multics ] adj. Obviously wrong; cretinous ; demented. There is an implication that the person responsible must have suffered brain damage, because he should have known better. Calling something brain-damaged is really bad; it also implies it is unusable, and that its failure to work is due to poor design rather than some accident. Only six monocase characters per file name? Now that's brain-damaged! 2. [esp. in the Mac world] May refer to free demonstration software that has been deliberately crippled in some way so as not to compete with the product it is intended to sell. Syn. crippleware. +adj. 1. [common; generalization of Honeywell Brain Damage (HBD), a +theoretical disease invented to explain certain utter cretinisms in +Honeywell Multics ] adj. Obviously wrong; cretinous ; demented. There is an +implication that the person responsible must have suffered brain damage, +because he should have known better. Calling something brain-damaged is +really bad; it also implies it is unusable, and that its failure to work is +due to poor design rather than some accident. Only six monocase characters +per file name? Now that's brain-damaged! 2. [esp. in the Mac world] May +refer to free demonstration software that has been deliberately crippled in +some way so as not to compete with the product it is intended to sell. Syn. +crippleware. + diff --git a/entries/brain-dead.txt b/entries/brain-dead.txt index 4c2d53f..22ca06b 100644 --- a/entries/brain-dead.txt +++ b/entries/brain-dead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ brain-dead -adj. [common] Brain-damaged in the extreme. It tends to imply terminal design failure rather than malfunction or simple stupidity. +adj. [common] Brain-damaged in the extreme. It tends to imply terminal +design failure rather than malfunction or simple stupidity. + diff --git a/entries/braino.txt b/entries/braino.txt index f471d69..383723b 100644 --- a/entries/braino.txt +++ b/entries/braino.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ braino /brayno/ , n. Syn. for thinko. See also brain fart. + diff --git a/entries/brainwidth.txt b/entries/brainwidth.txt index ad9706a..3d37362 100644 --- a/entries/brainwidth.txt +++ b/entries/brainwidth.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ brainwidth -n. [Great Britain] Analagous to bandwidth but used strictly for human capacity to process information and especially to multitask. Writing email is taking up most of my brainwidth right now, I can't look at that Flash animation. +n. [Great Britain] Analagous to bandwidth but used strictly for human +capacity to process information and especially to multitask. Writing email +is taking up most of my brainwidth right now, I can't look at that Flash +animation. + diff --git a/entries/bread crumbs.txt b/entries/bread crumbs.txt index 11accd3..a28987b 100644 --- a/entries/bread crumbs.txt +++ b/entries/bread crumbs.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ bread crumbs -n. 1. Debugging statements inserted into a program that emit output or log indicators of the program's state to a file so you can see where it dies or pin down the cause of surprising behavior. The term is probably a reference to the Hansel and Gretel story from the Brothers Grimm or the older French folktale of Thumbelina; in several variants of these, a character leaves a trail of bread crumbs so as not to get lost in the woods. 2. In user-interface design, any feature that allows some tracking of where you've been, like coloring visited links purple rather than blue in Netscape (also called footprinting ). +n. 1. Debugging statements inserted into a program that emit output or log +indicators of the program's state to a file so you can see where it dies or +pin down the cause of surprising behavior. The term is probably a reference +to the Hansel and Gretel story from the Brothers Grimm or the older French +folktale of Thumbelina; in several variants of these, a character leaves a +trail of bread crumbs so as not to get lost in the woods. 2. In +user-interface design, any feature that allows some tracking of where you've +been, like coloring visited links purple rather than blue in Netscape (also +called footprinting ). + diff --git a/entries/break-even point.txt b/entries/break-even point.txt index b6b5c64..512fa34 100644 --- a/entries/break-even point.txt +++ b/entries/break-even point.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ break-even point -n. In the process of implementing a new computer language, the point at which the language is sufficiently effective that one can implement the language in itself. That is, for a new language called, hypothetically, FOOGOL, one has reached break-even when one can write a demonstration compiler for FOOGOL in FOOGOL, discard the original implementation language, and thereafter use working versions of FOOGOL to develop newer ones. This is an important milestone; see MFTL. Since this entry was first written, several correspondents have reported that there actually was a compiler for a tiny Algol-like language called Foogol floating around on various VAXen in the early and mid-1980s. A FOOGOL implementation is available at the Retrocomputing Museum http://www.catb.org/retro/. +n. In the process of implementing a new computer language, the point at +which the language is sufficiently effective that one can implement the +language in itself. That is, for a new language called, hypothetically, +FOOGOL, one has reached break-even when one can write a demonstration +compiler for FOOGOL in FOOGOL, discard the original implementation language, +and thereafter use working versions of FOOGOL to develop newer ones. This is +an important milestone; see MFTL. Since this entry was first written, +several correspondents have reported that there actually was a compiler for +a tiny Algol-like language called Foogol floating around on various VAXen in +the early and mid-1980s. A FOOGOL implementation is available at the +Retrocomputing Museum http://www.catb.org/retro/. + diff --git a/entries/break.txt b/entries/break.txt index b1ae55e..d70103b 100644 --- a/entries/break.txt +++ b/entries/break.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ break -vi. To send an RS-232 break (two character widths of line high) over a serial comm line. 4. +vi. To send an RS-232 break (two character widths of line high) over a +serial comm line. 4. + diff --git a/entries/breath-of-life packet.txt b/entries/breath-of-life packet.txt index 7ff0c07..667c627 100644 --- a/entries/breath-of-life packet.txt +++ b/entries/breath-of-life packet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ breath-of-life packet -n. [XEROX PARC] An Ethernet packet that contains bootstrap (see boot ) code, periodically sent out from a working computer to infuse the breath of life into any computer on the network that has happened to crash. Machines depending on such packets have sufficient hardware or firmware code to wait for (or request) such a packet during the reboot process. See also dickless workstation. The notional kiss-of-death packet , with a function complementary to that of a breath-of-life packet, is recommended for dealing with hosts that consume too many network resources. Though kiss-of-death packet is usually used in jest, there is at least one documented instance of an Internet subnet with limited address-table slots in a gateway machine in which such packets were routinely used to compete for slots, rather like Christmas shoppers competing for scarce parking spaces. +n. [XEROX PARC] An Ethernet packet that contains bootstrap (see boot ) code, +periodically sent out from a working computer to infuse the breath of life +into any computer on the network that has happened to crash. Machines +depending on such packets have sufficient hardware or firmware code to wait +for (or request) such a packet during the reboot process. See also dickless +workstation. The notional kiss-of-death packet , with a function +complementary to that of a breath-of-life packet, is recommended for dealing +with hosts that consume too many network resources. Though kiss-of-death +packet is usually used in jest, there is at least one documented instance of +an Internet subnet with limited address-table slots in a gateway machine in +which such packets were routinely used to compete for slots, rather like +Christmas shoppers competing for scarce parking spaces. + diff --git a/entries/breedle.txt b/entries/breedle.txt index e63de74..2d9462b 100644 --- a/entries/breedle.txt +++ b/entries/breedle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ breedle n. See feep. + diff --git a/entries/brick.txt b/entries/brick.txt index aff6417..1bc5e34 100644 --- a/entries/brick.txt +++ b/entries/brick.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ brick -n. 1. A piece of equipment that has been programmed or configured into a hung , wedged ,unusable state. Especially used to describe what happens to devices like routers or PDAs that run from firmware when the firmware image is damaged or its settings are somehow patched to impossible values. This term usually implies irreversibility, but equipment can sometimes be unbricked by performing a hard reset or some other drastic operation. Sometimes verbed: Yeah, I bricked the router because I forgot about adding in the new access-list.. 2. An outboard power transformer of the kind associated with laptops, modems, routers and other small computing appliances, especially one of the modern type with cords on both ends, as opposed to the older and obnoxious type that plug directly into wall or barrier strip. +n. 1. A piece of equipment that has been programmed or configured into a +hung , wedged ,unusable state. Especially used to describe what happens to +devices like routers or PDAs that run from firmware when the firmware image +is damaged or its settings are somehow patched to impossible values. This +term usually implies irreversibility, but equipment can sometimes be +unbricked by performing a hard reset or some other drastic operation. +Sometimes verbed: Yeah, I bricked the router because I forgot about adding +in the new access-list.. 2. An outboard power transformer of the kind +associated with laptops, modems, routers and other small computing +appliances, especially one of the modern type with cords on both ends, as +opposed to the older and obnoxious type that plug directly into wall or +barrier strip. + diff --git a/entries/bricktext.txt b/entries/bricktext.txt index 4584897..516893c 100644 --- a/entries/bricktext.txt +++ b/entries/bricktext.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ bricktext -Text which is carefully composed to be right-justified (and sometimes to have a deliberate gutter at mid-page) without use of extra spaces, just through careful word-length choices. A minor art form. The best examples have something of the quality of imagist poetry. +Text which is carefully composed to be right-justified (and sometimes to +have a deliberate gutter at mid-page) without use of extra spaces, just +through careful word-length choices. A minor art form. The best examples +have something of the quality of imagist poetry. + diff --git a/entries/bring X to its knees.txt b/entries/bring X to its knees.txt index c3dd106..cfed7bb 100644 --- a/entries/bring X to its knees.txt +++ b/entries/bring X to its knees.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ bring X to its knees -v. [common] To present a machine, operating system, piece of software, or algorithm with a load so extreme or pathological that it grinds to a halt.: To bring a MicroVAX to its knees, try twenty users running vi or four running EMACS. Compare hog. +v. [common] To present a machine, operating system, piece of software, or +algorithm with a load so extreme or pathological that it grinds to a halt.: +To bring a MicroVAX to its knees, try twenty users running vi or four +running EMACS. Compare hog. + diff --git a/entries/brittle.txt b/entries/brittle.txt index f47f9c1..b1f92db 100644 --- a/entries/brittle.txt +++ b/entries/brittle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ brittle -adj. Said of software that is functional but easily broken by changes in operating environment or configuration, or by any minor tweak to the software itself. Also, any system that responds inappropriately and disastrously to abnormal but expected external stimuli; e.g., a file system that is usually totally scrambled by a power failure is said to be brittle. This term is often used to describe the results of a research effort that were never intended to be robust, but it can be applied to commercial software, which (due to closed-source development) displays the quality far more often than it ought to. Oppose robust. +adj. Said of software that is functional but easily broken by changes in +operating environment or configuration, or by any minor tweak to the +software itself. Also, any system that responds inappropriately and +disastrously to abnormal but expected external stimuli; e.g., a file system +that is usually totally scrambled by a power failure is said to be brittle. +This term is often used to describe the results of a research effort that +were never intended to be robust, but it can be applied to commercial +software, which (due to closed-source development) displays the quality far +more often than it ought to. Oppose robust. + diff --git a/entries/broadcast storm.txt b/entries/broadcast storm.txt index 861967b..171b1c2 100644 --- a/entries/broadcast storm.txt +++ b/entries/broadcast storm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ broadcast storm -n. [common] An incorrect packet broadcast on a network that causes most hosts to respond all at once, typically with wrong answers that start the process over again. See network meltdown ; compare mail storm. +n. [common] An incorrect packet broadcast on a network that causes most +hosts to respond all at once, typically with wrong answers that start the +process over again. See network meltdown ; compare mail storm. + diff --git a/entries/broken arrow.txt b/entries/broken arrow.txt index 4844ef6..6148cca 100644 --- a/entries/broken arrow.txt +++ b/entries/broken arrow.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ broken arrow -n. [IBM] The error code displayed on line 25 of a 3270 terminal (or a PC emulating a 3270) for various kinds of protocol violations and unexpected error conditions (including connection to a down computer). On a PC, simulated with - /_ , with the two center characters overstruck. Note: to appreciate this term fully, it helps to know that broken arrow is also military jargon for an accident involving nuclear weapons.... +n. [IBM] The error code displayed on line 25 of a 3270 terminal (or a PC +emulating a 3270) for various kinds of protocol violations and unexpected +error conditions (including connection to a down computer). On a PC, +simulated with - /_ , with the two center characters overstruck. Note: to +appreciate this term fully, it helps to know that broken arrow is also +military jargon for an accident involving nuclear weapons.... + diff --git a/entries/broken-ring network.txt b/entries/broken-ring network.txt index de053d9..ce43feb 100644 --- a/entries/broken-ring network.txt +++ b/entries/broken-ring network.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ broken-ring network -Pejorative hackerism for token-ring network , an early and very slow LAN technology from IBM that lost the standards war to Ethernet. Though token-ring survives in a few niche markets (such as factory automation) that put a high premium on resistance to electrical noise, the term is now (2000) primarily historical. +Pejorative hackerism for token-ring network , an early and very slow LAN +technology from IBM that lost the standards war to Ethernet. Though +token-ring survives in a few niche markets (such as factory automation) that +put a high premium on resistance to electrical noise, the term is now (2000) +primarily historical. + diff --git a/entries/broken.txt b/entries/broken.txt index 04703d1..12202b8 100644 --- a/entries/broken.txt +++ b/entries/broken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ broken -adj. 1. Not working according to design (of programs). This is the mainstream sense. 2. Improperly designed, This sense carries a more or less disparaging implication that the designer should have known better, while sense 1 doesn't necessarily assign blame. Which of senses 1 or 2 is intended is conveyed by context and nonverbal cues. 3. Behaving strangely; especially (when used of people) exhibiting extreme depression. +adj. 1. Not working according to design (of programs). This is the +mainstream sense. 2. Improperly designed, This sense carries a more or less +disparaging implication that the designer should have known better, while +sense 1 doesn't necessarily assign blame. Which of senses 1 or 2 is intended +is conveyed by context and nonverbal cues. 3. Behaving strangely; especially +(when used of people) exhibiting extreme depression. + diff --git a/entries/broket.txt b/entries/broket.txt index d83baaf..30d3991 100644 --- a/entries/broket.txt +++ b/entries/broket.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ broket /brohk@t/ , /brohket`/ , n. + diff --git a/entries/brown-paper-bag bug.txt b/entries/brown-paper-bag bug.txt index 51eb2ae..46416a1 100644 --- a/entries/brown-paper-bag bug.txt +++ b/entries/brown-paper-bag bug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ brown-paper-bag bug -n. A bug in a public software release that is so embarrassing that the author notionally wears a brown paper bag over his head for a while so he won't be recognized on the net. Entered popular usage after the early-1999 release of the first Linux 2.2, which had one. The phrase was used in Linus Torvalds's apology posting. +n. A bug in a public software release that is so embarrassing that the +author notionally wears a brown paper bag over his head for a while so he +won't be recognized on the net. Entered popular usage after the early-1999 +release of the first Linux 2.2, which had one. The phrase was used in Linus +Torvalds's apology posting. + diff --git a/entries/browser.txt b/entries/browser.txt index d54c065..83095dc 100644 --- a/entries/browser.txt +++ b/entries/browser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ browser -n. A program specifically designed to help users view and navigate hypertext, on-line documentation, or a database. While this general sense has been present in jargon for a long time, the proliferation of browsers for the World Wide Web after 1992 has made it much more popular and provided a central or default techspeak meaning of the word previously lacking in hacker usage. Nowadays, if someone mentions using a browser without qualification, one may assume it is a Web browser. +n. A program specifically designed to help users view and navigate +hypertext, on-line documentation, or a database. While this general sense +has been present in jargon for a long time, the proliferation of browsers +for the World Wide Web after 1992 has made it much more popular and provided +a central or default techspeak meaning of the word previously lacking in +hacker usage. Nowadays, if someone mentions using a browser without +qualification, one may assume it is a Web browser. + diff --git a/entries/brute force and ignorance.txt b/entries/brute force and ignorance.txt index 737c2e0..b625d55 100644 --- a/entries/brute force and ignorance.txt +++ b/entries/brute force and ignorance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ brute force and ignorance -n. A popular design technique at many software houses brute force coding unrelieved by any knowledge of how problems have been previously solved in elegant ways. Dogmatic adherence to design methodologies tends to encourage this sort of thing. Characteristic of early larval stage programming; unfortunately, many never outgrow it. Often abbreviated BFI: Gak, they used a bubble sort ! That's strictly from BFI. Compare bogosity. A very similar usage is said to be mainstream in Great Britain. +n. A popular design technique at many software houses brute force coding +unrelieved by any knowledge of how problems have been previously solved in +elegant ways. Dogmatic adherence to design methodologies tends to encourage +this sort of thing. Characteristic of early larval stage programming; +unfortunately, many never outgrow it. Often abbreviated BFI: Gak, they used +a bubble sort ! That's strictly from BFI. Compare bogosity. A very similar +usage is said to be mainstream in Great Britain. + diff --git a/entries/brute force.txt b/entries/brute force.txt index a4e248d..e1e8fb3 100644 --- a/entries/brute force.txt +++ b/entries/brute force.txt @@ -1,3 +1,40 @@ brute force -adj. Describes a primitive programming style, one in which the programmer relies on the computer's processing power instead of using his or her own intelligence to simplify the problem, often ignoring problems of scale and applying naive methods suited to small problems directly to large ones. The term can also be used in reference to programming style: brute-force programs are written in a heavyhanded, tedious way, full of repetition and devoid of any elegance or useful abstraction (see also brute force and ignorance ). The canonical example of a brute-force algorithm is associated with the traveling salesman problem (TSP), a classical NP- hard problem: Suppose a person is in, say, Boston, and wishes to drive to N other cities. In what order should the cities be visited in order to minimize the distance travelled? The brute-force method is to simply generate all possible routes and compare the distances; while guaranteed to work and simple to implement, this algorithm is clearly very stupid in that it considers even obviously absurd routes (like going from Boston to Houston via San Francisco and New York, in that order). For very small N it works well, but it rapidly becomes absurdly inefficient when N increases (for N = 15 , there are already 1,307,674,368,000 possible routes to consider, and for N = 1000 well, see bignum ). Sometimes, unfortunately, there is no better general solution than brute force. See also NP- and rubber-hose cryptanalysis. A more simple-minded example of brute-force programming is finding the smallest number in a large list by first using an existing program to sort the list in ascending order, and then picking the first number off the front. Whether brute-force programming should actually be considered stupid or not depends on the context; if the problem is not terribly big, the extra CPU time spent on a brute-force solution may cost less than the programmer time it would take to develop a more intelligent algorithm. Additionally, a more intelligent algorithm may imply more long-term complexity cost and bug-chasing than are justified by the speed improvement. Ken Thompson, co-inventor of Unix, is reported to have uttered the epigram When in doubt, use brute force. He probably intended this as a ha ha only serious , but the original Unix kernel's preference for simple, robust, and portable algorithms over brittle smart ones does seem to have been a significant factor in the success of that OS. Like so many other tradeoffs in software design, the choice between brute force and complex, finely-tuned cleverness is often a difficult one that requires both engineering savvy and delicate esthetic judgment. +adj. Describes a primitive programming style, one in which the programmer +relies on the computer's processing power instead of using his or her own +intelligence to simplify the problem, often ignoring problems of scale and +applying naive methods suited to small problems directly to large ones. The +term can also be used in reference to programming style: brute-force +programs are written in a heavyhanded, tedious way, full of repetition and +devoid of any elegance or useful abstraction (see also brute force and +ignorance ). The canonical example of a brute-force algorithm is associated +with the traveling salesman problem (TSP), a classical NP- hard problem: +Suppose a person is in, say, Boston, and wishes to drive to N other cities. +In what order should the cities be visited in order to minimize the distance +travelled? The brute-force method is to simply generate all possible routes +and compare the distances; while guaranteed to work and simple to implement, +this algorithm is clearly very stupid in that it considers even obviously +absurd routes (like going from Boston to Houston via San Francisco and New +York, in that order). For very small N it works well, but it rapidly becomes +absurdly inefficient when N increases (for N = 15 , there are already +1,307,674,368,000 possible routes to consider, and for N = 1000 well, see +bignum ). Sometimes, unfortunately, there is no better general solution than +brute force. See also NP- and rubber-hose cryptanalysis. A more +simple-minded example of brute-force programming is finding the smallest +number in a large list by first using an existing program to sort the list +in ascending order, and then picking the first number off the front. Whether +brute-force programming should actually be considered stupid or not depends +on the context; if the problem is not terribly big, the extra CPU time spent +on a brute-force solution may cost less than the programmer time it would +take to develop a more intelligent algorithm. Additionally, a more +intelligent algorithm may imply more long-term complexity cost and +bug-chasing than are justified by the speed improvement. Ken Thompson, +co-inventor of Unix, is reported to have uttered the epigram When in doubt, +use brute force. He probably intended this as a ha ha only serious , but the +original Unix kernel's preference for simple, robust, and portable +algorithms over brittle smart ones does seem to have been a significant +factor in the success of that OS. Like so many other tradeoffs in software +design, the choice between brute force and complex, finely-tuned cleverness +is often a difficult one that requires both engineering savvy and delicate +esthetic judgment. + diff --git a/entries/bubble sort.txt b/entries/bubble sort.txt index a32fdd9..80edf30 100644 --- a/entries/bubble sort.txt +++ b/entries/bubble sort.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ bubble sort -n. Techspeak for a particular sorting technique in which pairs of adjacent values in the list to be sorted are compared and interchanged if they are out of order; thus, list entries bubble upward in the list until they bump into one with a lower sort value. Because it is not very good relative to other methods and is the one typically stumbled on by naive and untutored programmers, hackers consider it the canonical example of a naive algorithm. (However, it's been shown by repeated experiment that below about 5000 records bubble-sort is OK anyway.) The canonical example of a really bad algorithm is bogo-sort. A bubble sort might be used out of ignorance, but any use of bogo-sort could issue only from brain damage or willful perversity. +n. Techspeak for a particular sorting technique in which pairs of adjacent +values in the list to be sorted are compared and interchanged if they are +out of order; thus, list entries bubble upward in the list until they bump +into one with a lower sort value. Because it is not very good relative to +other methods and is the one typically stumbled on by naive and untutored +programmers, hackers consider it the canonical example of a naive algorithm. +(However, it's been shown by repeated experiment that below about 5000 +records bubble-sort is OK anyway.) The canonical example of a really bad +algorithm is bogo-sort. A bubble sort might be used out of ignorance, but +any use of bogo-sort could issue only from brain damage or willful +perversity. + diff --git a/entries/bucky bits.txt b/entries/bucky bits.txt index 07d8531..35723e0 100644 --- a/entries/bucky bits.txt +++ b/entries/bucky bits.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ bucky bits -/buhkee bits/ , n. 1. [obs.] The bits produced by the CONTROL and META shift keys on a SAIL keyboard (octal 200 and 400 respectively), resulting in a 9-bit keyboard character set. The MIT AI TV (Knight) keyboards extended this with TOP and separate left and right CONTROL and META keys, resulting in a 12-bit character set; later, LISP Machines added such keys as SUPER, HYPER, and GREEK (see space-cadet keyboard ). 2. By extension, bits associated with extra shift keys on any keyboard, e.g., the ALT on an IBM PC or command and option keys on a Macintosh. It has long been rumored that bucky bits were named for Buckminster Fuller during a period when he was consulting at Stanford. Actually, bucky bits were invented by Niklaus Wirth when he was at Stanford in 1964--65; he first suggested the idea of an EDIT key to set the 8th bit of an otherwise 7-bit ASCII character). It seems that, unknown to Wirth, certain Stanford hackers had privately nicknamed him Bucky after a prominent portion of his dental anatomy, and this nickname transferred to the bit. Bucky-bit commands were used in a number of editors written at Stanford, including most notably TV-EDIT and NLS. The term spread to MIT and CMU early and is now in general use. Ironically, Wirth himself remained unaware of its derivation for nearly 30 years, until GLS dug up this history in early 1993! See double bucky , quadruple bucky. +/buhkee bits/ , n. 1. [obs.] The bits produced by the CONTROL and META shift +keys on a SAIL keyboard (octal 200 and 400 respectively), resulting in a +9-bit keyboard character set. The MIT AI TV (Knight) keyboards extended this +with TOP and separate left and right CONTROL and META keys, resulting in a +12-bit character set; later, LISP Machines added such keys as SUPER, HYPER, +and GREEK (see space-cadet keyboard ). 2. By extension, bits associated with +extra shift keys on any keyboard, e.g., the ALT on an IBM PC or command and +option keys on a Macintosh. It has long been rumored that bucky bits were +named for Buckminster Fuller during a period when he was consulting at +Stanford. Actually, bucky bits were invented by Niklaus Wirth when he was at +Stanford in 1964--65; he first suggested the idea of an EDIT key to set the +8th bit of an otherwise 7-bit ASCII character). It seems that, unknown to +Wirth, certain Stanford hackers had privately nicknamed him Bucky after a +prominent portion of his dental anatomy, and this nickname transferred to +the bit. Bucky-bit commands were used in a number of editors written at +Stanford, including most notably TV-EDIT and NLS. The term spread to MIT and +CMU early and is now in general use. Ironically, Wirth himself remained +unaware of its derivation for nearly 30 years, until GLS dug up this history +in early 1993! See double bucky , quadruple bucky. + diff --git a/entries/buffer chuck.txt b/entries/buffer chuck.txt index cedd200..61fb87d 100644 --- a/entries/buffer chuck.txt +++ b/entries/buffer chuck.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ buffer chuck n. Shorter and ruder syn. for buffer overflow. + diff --git a/entries/buffer overflow.txt b/entries/buffer overflow.txt index 465520f..9ab9f06 100644 --- a/entries/buffer overflow.txt +++ b/entries/buffer overflow.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ buffer overflow -n. What happens when you try to stuff more data into a buffer (holding area) than it can handle. This problem is commonly exploited by cracker s to get arbitrary commands executed by a program running with root permissions. This may be due to a mismatch in the processing rates of the producing and consuming processes (see overrun and firehose syndrome ), or because the buffer is simply too small to hold all the data that must accumulate before a piece of it can be processed. For example, in a text-processing tool that crunch es a line at a time, a short line buffer can result in lossage as input from a long line overflows the buffer and trashes data beyond it. Good defensive programming would check for overflow on each character and stop accepting data when the buffer is full up. The term is used of and by humans in a metaphorical sense. What time did I agree to meet you? My buffer must have overflowed. Or If I answer that phone my buffer is going to overflow. See also spam , overrun screw. +n. What happens when you try to stuff more data into a buffer (holding area) +than it can handle. This problem is commonly exploited by cracker s to get +arbitrary commands executed by a program running with root permissions. This +may be due to a mismatch in the processing rates of the producing and +consuming processes (see overrun and firehose syndrome ), or because the +buffer is simply too small to hold all the data that must accumulate before +a piece of it can be processed. For example, in a text-processing tool that +crunch es a line at a time, a short line buffer can result in lossage as +input from a long line overflows the buffer and trashes data beyond it. Good +defensive programming would check for overflow on each character and stop +accepting data when the buffer is full up. The term is used of and by humans +in a metaphorical sense. What time did I agree to meet you? My buffer must +have overflowed. Or If I answer that phone my buffer is going to overflow. +See also spam , overrun screw. + diff --git a/entries/bug-compatible.txt b/entries/bug-compatible.txt index fa1f449..f32a28b 100644 --- a/entries/bug-compatible.txt +++ b/entries/bug-compatible.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ bug-compatible -adj. [common] Said of a design or revision that has been badly compromised by a requirement to be compatible with fossil s or misfeature s in other programs or (esp.) previous releases of itself. MS-DOS 2.0 used \ as a path separator to be bug-compatible with some cretin's choice of / as an option character in 1.0. +adj. [common] Said of a design or revision that has been badly compromised +by a requirement to be compatible with fossil s or misfeature s in other +programs or (esp.) previous releases of itself. MS-DOS 2.0 used \ as a path +separator to be bug-compatible with some cretin's choice of / as an option +character in 1.0. + diff --git a/entries/bug-for-bug compatible.txt b/entries/bug-for-bug compatible.txt index 66ad1d7..a9de172 100644 --- a/entries/bug-for-bug compatible.txt +++ b/entries/bug-for-bug compatible.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ bug-for-bug compatible -n. Same as bug-compatible , with the additional implication that much tedious effort went into ensuring that each (known) bug was replicated. +n. Same as bug-compatible , with the additional implication that much +tedious effort went into ensuring that each (known) bug was replicated. + diff --git a/entries/bug-of-the-month club.txt b/entries/bug-of-the-month club.txt index b571d9a..8a3c4f7 100644 --- a/entries/bug-of-the-month club.txt +++ b/entries/bug-of-the-month club.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ bug-of-the-month club -n. [from book-of-the-month club , a time-honored mail-order-marketing technique in the U.S.] A mythical club which users of sendmail (8) (the Unix mail daemon) belong to; this was coined on the Usenet newsgroup comp.security.unix at a time when sendmail security holes, which allowed outside cracker s access to the system, were being uncovered at an alarming rate, forcing sysadmins to update very often. Also, more completely, fatal security bug-of-the-month club. See also kernel-of-the-week club. +n. [from book-of-the-month club , a time-honored mail-order-marketing +technique in the U.S.] A mythical club which users of sendmail (8) (the Unix +mail daemon) belong to; this was coined on the Usenet newsgroup +comp.security.unix at a time when sendmail security holes, which allowed +outside cracker s access to the system, were being uncovered at an alarming +rate, forcing sysadmins to update very often. Also, more completely, fatal +security bug-of-the-month club. See also kernel-of-the-week club. + diff --git a/entries/bug.txt b/entries/bug.txt index 28794b7..e657799 100644 --- a/entries/bug.txt +++ b/entries/bug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,84 @@ bug -n. An unwanted and unintended property of a program or piece of hardware, esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym of feature. Examples: There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backwards. The system crashed because of a hardware bug. Fred is a winner, but he has a few bugs (i.e., Fred is a good guy, but he has a few personality problems). Historical note: Admiral Grace Hopper (an early computing pioneer better known for inventing COBOL ) liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a glitch in the Harvard Mark II machine by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated bug in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the Annals of the History of Computing , Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1947), reads 1545 Relay #70 Panel F (moth) in relay. First actual case of bug being found. This wording establishes that the term was already in use at the time in its current specific sense and Hopper herself reports that the term bug was regularly applied to problems in radar electronics during WWII. The original bug (the caption date is incorrect) Indeed, the use of bug to mean an industrial defect was already established in Thomas Edison's time, and a more specific and rather modern use can be found in an electrical handbook from 1896 ( Hawkin's New Catechism of Electricity , Theo. Audel Co.) which says: The term bug is used to a limited extent to designate any fault or trouble in the connections or working of electric apparatus. It further notes that the term is said to have originated in quadruplex telegraphy and have been transferred to all electric apparatus. The latter observation may explain a common folk etymology of the term; that it came from telephone company usage, in which bugs in a telephone cable were blamed for noisy lines. Though this derivation seems to be mistaken, it may well be a distorted memory of a joke first current among telegraph operators more than a century ago! Or perhaps not a joke. Historians of the field inform us that the term bug was regularly used in the early days of telegraphy to refer to a variety of semi-automatic telegraphy keyers that would send a string of dots if you held them down. In fact, the Vibroplex keyers (which were among the most common of this type) even had a graphic of a beetle on them (and still do)! While the ability to send repeated dots automatically was very useful for professional morse code operators, these were also significantly trickier to use than the older manual keyers, and it could take some practice to ensure one didn't introduce extraneous dots into the code by holding the key down a fraction too long. In the hands of an inexperienced operator, a Vibroplex bug on the line could mean that a lot of garbled Morse would soon be coming your way. Further, the term bug has long been used among radio technicians to describe a device that converts electromagnetic field variations into acoustic signals. It is used to trace radio interference and look for dangerous radio emissions. Radio community usage derives from the roach-like shape of the first versions used by 19th century physicists. The first versions consisted of a coil of wire (roach body), with the two wire ends sticking out and bent back to nearly touch forming a spark gap (roach antennae). The bug is to the radio technician what the stethoscope is to the stereotypical medical doctor. This sense is almost certainly ancestral to modern use of bug for a covert monitoring device, but may also have contributed to the use of bug for the effects of radio interference itself. Actually, use of bug in the general sense of a disruptive event goes back to Shakespeare! (Henry VI, part III - Act V, Scene II: King Edward: So, lie thou there. Die thou; and die our fear; For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all. ) In the first edition of Samuel Johnson's dictionary one meaning of bug is A frightful object; a walking spectre ; this is traced to bugbear , a Welsh term for a variety of mythological monster which (to complete the circle) has recently been reintroduced into the popular lexicon through fantasy role-playing games. In any case, in jargon the word almost never refers to insects. Here is a plausible conversation that never actually happened: There is a bug in this ant farm! What do you mean? I don't see any ants in it. That's the bug. A careful discussion of the etymological issues can be found in a paper by Fred R. Shapiro, 1987, Entomology of the Computer Bug: History and Folklore , American Speech 62(4):376-378. [There has been a widespread myth that the original bug was moved to the Smithsonian, and an earlier version of this entry so asserted. A correspondent who thought to check discovered that the bug was not there. While investigating this in late 1990, your editor discovered that the NSWC still had the bug, but had unsuccessfully tried to get the Smithsonian to accept it and that the present curator of their History of American Technology Museum didn't know this and agreed that it would make a worthwhile exhibit. It was moved to the Smithsonian in mid-1991, but due to space and money constraints was not actually exhibited for years afterwards. Thus, the process of investigating the original-computer-bug bug fixed it in an entirely unexpected way, by making the myth true! ESR] It helps to remember that this dates from 1973. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-10-31. The previous cartoon was 73-07-24. +n. An unwanted and unintended property of a program or piece of hardware, +esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym of feature. Examples: +There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backwards. The system +crashed because of a hardware bug. Fred is a winner, but he has a few bugs +(i.e., Fred is a good guy, but he has a few personality problems). +Historical note: Admiral Grace Hopper (an early computing pioneer better +known for inventing COBOL ) liked to tell a story in which a technician +solved a glitch in the Harvard Mark II machine by pulling an actual insect +out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently +promulgated bug in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, +as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many +years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in +question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center +(NSWC). The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped +into it, is recorded in the Annals of the History of Computing , Vol. 3, No. +3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, +1947), reads 1545 Relay #70 Panel F (moth) in relay. First actual case of +bug being found. This wording establishes that the term was already in use +at the time in its current specific sense and Hopper herself reports that +the term bug was regularly applied to problems in radar electronics during +WWII. The original bug (the caption date is incorrect) Indeed, the use of +bug to mean an industrial defect was already established in Thomas Edison's +time, and a more specific and rather modern use can be found in an +electrical handbook from 1896 ( Hawkin's New Catechism of Electricity , +Theo. Audel Co.) which says: The term bug is used to a limited extent to +designate any fault or trouble in the connections or working of electric +apparatus. It further notes that the term is said to have originated in +quadruplex telegraphy and have been transferred to all electric apparatus. +The latter observation may explain a common folk etymology of the term; that +it came from telephone company usage, in which bugs in a telephone cable +were blamed for noisy lines. Though this derivation seems to be mistaken, it +may well be a distorted memory of a joke first current among telegraph +operators more than a century ago! Or perhaps not a joke. Historians of the +field inform us that the term bug was regularly used in the early days of +telegraphy to refer to a variety of semi-automatic telegraphy keyers that +would send a string of dots if you held them down. In fact, the Vibroplex +keyers (which were among the most common of this type) even had a graphic of +a beetle on them (and still do)! While the ability to send repeated dots +automatically was very useful for professional morse code operators, these +were also significantly trickier to use than the older manual keyers, and it +could take some practice to ensure one didn't introduce extraneous dots into +the code by holding the key down a fraction too long. In the hands of an +inexperienced operator, a Vibroplex bug on the line could mean that a lot of +garbled Morse would soon be coming your way. Further, the term bug has long +been used among radio technicians to describe a device that converts +electromagnetic field variations into acoustic signals. It is used to trace +radio interference and look for dangerous radio emissions. Radio community +usage derives from the roach-like shape of the first versions used by 19th +century physicists. The first versions consisted of a coil of wire (roach +body), with the two wire ends sticking out and bent back to nearly touch +forming a spark gap (roach antennae). The bug is to the radio technician +what the stethoscope is to the stereotypical medical doctor. This sense is +almost certainly ancestral to modern use of bug for a covert monitoring +device, but may also have contributed to the use of bug for the effects of +radio interference itself. Actually, use of bug in the general sense of a +disruptive event goes back to Shakespeare! (Henry VI, part III - Act V, +Scene II: King Edward: So, lie thou there. Die thou; and die our fear; For +Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all. ) In the first edition of Samuel +Johnson's dictionary one meaning of bug is A frightful object; a walking +spectre ; this is traced to bugbear , a Welsh term for a variety of +mythological monster which (to complete the circle) has recently been +reintroduced into the popular lexicon through fantasy role-playing games. In +any case, in jargon the word almost never refers to insects. Here is a +plausible conversation that never actually happened: There is a bug in this +ant farm! What do you mean? I don't see any ants in it. That's the bug. A +careful discussion of the etymological issues can be found in a paper by +Fred R. Shapiro, 1987, Entomology of the Computer Bug: History and Folklore +, American Speech 62(4):376-378. [There has been a widespread myth that the +original bug was moved to the Smithsonian, and an earlier version of this +entry so asserted. A correspondent who thought to check discovered that the +bug was not there. While investigating this in late 1990, your editor +discovered that the NSWC still had the bug, but had unsuccessfully tried to +get the Smithsonian to accept it and that the present curator of their +History of American Technology Museum didn't know this and agreed that it +would make a worthwhile exhibit. It was moved to the Smithsonian in +mid-1991, but due to space and money constraints was not actually exhibited +for years afterwards. Thus, the process of investigating the +original-computer-bug bug fixed it in an entirely unexpected way, by making +the myth true! ESR] It helps to remember that this dates from 1973. (The +next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-10-31. The previous cartoon was +73-07-24. + diff --git a/entries/bulletproof.txt b/entries/bulletproof.txt index 3c0591f..a51c584 100644 --- a/entries/bulletproof.txt +++ b/entries/bulletproof.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ bulletproof -adj. Used of an algorithm or implementation considered extremely robust ; lossage-resistant; capable of correctly recovering from any imaginable exception condition a rare and valued quality. Implies that the programmer has thought of all possible errors, and added code to protect against each one. Thus, in some cases, this can imply code that is too heavyweight, due to excessive paranoia on the part of the programmer. Syn. armor-plated. +adj. Used of an algorithm or implementation considered extremely robust ; +lossage-resistant; capable of correctly recovering from any imaginable +exception condition a rare and valued quality. Implies that the programmer +has thought of all possible errors, and added code to protect against each +one. Thus, in some cases, this can imply code that is too heavyweight, due +to excessive paranoia on the part of the programmer. Syn. armor-plated. + diff --git a/entries/bullschildt.txt b/entries/bullschildt.txt index 838856e..10302e8 100644 --- a/entries/bullschildt.txt +++ b/entries/bullschildt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ bullschildt -/bulshilt/ , n. [comp.lang.c on USENET] A confident, but incorrect, statement about a programming language. This immortalizes a very bad book about C , Herbert Schildt's C - The Complete Reference. One reviewer commented The naive errors in this book would be embarrassing even in a programming assignment turned in by a computer science college sophomore. +/bulshilt/ , n. [comp.lang.c on USENET] A confident, but incorrect, +statement about a programming language. This immortalizes a very bad book +about C , Herbert Schildt's C - The Complete Reference. One reviewer +commented The naive errors in this book would be embarrassing even in a +programming assignment turned in by a computer science college sophomore. + diff --git a/entries/bump.txt b/entries/bump.txt index 9de5f33..65c59f8 100644 --- a/entries/bump.txt +++ b/entries/bump.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ bump -vt. Synonym for increment. Has the same meaning as C's ++ operator. Used esp. of counter variables, pointers, and index dummies in for , while , and do-while loops. +vt. Synonym for increment. Has the same meaning as C's ++ operator. Used +esp. of counter variables, pointers, and index dummies in for , while , and +do-while loops. + diff --git a/entries/burble.txt b/entries/burble.txt index cc89a4b..c75d1ab 100644 --- a/entries/burble.txt +++ b/entries/burble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ burble -v. [from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky ] Like flame , but connotes that the source is truly clueless and ineffectual (mere flamers can be competent). A term of deep contempt. There's some guy on the phone burbling about how he got a DISK FULL error and it's all our comm software's fault. This is mainstream slang in some parts of England. +v. [from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky ] Like flame , but connotes that the +source is truly clueless and ineffectual (mere flamers can be competent). A +term of deep contempt. There's some guy on the phone burbling about how he +got a DISK FULL error and it's all our comm software's fault. This is +mainstream slang in some parts of England. + diff --git a/entries/buried treasure.txt b/entries/buried treasure.txt index 7041781..fd3ab6b 100644 --- a/entries/buried treasure.txt +++ b/entries/buried treasure.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ buried treasure -n. A surprising piece of code found in some program. While usually not wrong, it tends to vary from crufty to bletcherous , and has lain undiscovered only because it was functionally correct, however horrible it is. Used sarcastically, because what is found is anything but treasure. Buried treasure almost always needs to be dug up and removed. +n. A surprising piece of code found in some program. While usually not +wrong, it tends to vary from crufty to bletcherous , and has lain +undiscovered only because it was functionally correct, however horrible it +is. Used sarcastically, because what is found is anything but treasure. +Buried treasure almost always needs to be dug up and removed. + diff --git a/entries/burn a CD.txt b/entries/burn a CD.txt index 91ed7b7..d090e9c 100644 --- a/entries/burn a CD.txt +++ b/entries/burn a CD.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ burn a CD -v. To write a software or document distribution on a CDR. Coined from the fact that a laser is used to inscribe the information by burning small pits in the medium, and from the fact that disk comes out of the drive warm to the touch. Writable CDs can be done on a normal desk-top machine with a suitable drive (so there is no protracted release cycle associated with making them) but each one takes a long time to make, so they are not appropriate for volume production. Writable CDs are suitable for software backups and for short-turnaround-time low-volume software distribution, such as sending a beta release version to a few selected field test sites. Compare cut a tape. +v. To write a software or document distribution on a CDR. Coined from the +fact that a laser is used to inscribe the information by burning small pits +in the medium, and from the fact that disk comes out of the drive warm to +the touch. Writable CDs can be done on a normal desk-top machine with a +suitable drive (so there is no protracted release cycle associated with +making them) but each one takes a long time to make, so they are not +appropriate for volume production. Writable CDs are suitable for software +backups and for short-turnaround-time low-volume software distribution, such +as sending a beta release version to a few selected field test sites. +Compare cut a tape. + diff --git a/entries/burn-in period.txt b/entries/burn-in period.txt index bceda97..57a31d8 100644 --- a/entries/burn-in period.txt +++ b/entries/burn-in period.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ burn-in period -n. 1. A factory test designed to catch systems with marginal components before they get out the door; the theory is that burn-in will protect customers by outwaiting the steepest part of the bathtub curve (see infant mortality ). 2. A period of indeterminate length in which a person using a computer is so intensely involved in his project that he forgets basic needs such as food, drink, sleep, etc. Warning: Excessive burn-in can lead to burn-out. See hack mode , larval stage. Historical note: the origin of burn-in (sense 1) is apparently the practice of setting a new-model airplane's brakes on fire, then extinguishing the fire, in order to make them hold better. This was done on the first version of the U.S. spy-plane, the U-2. +n. 1. A factory test designed to catch systems with marginal components +before they get out the door; the theory is that burn-in will protect +customers by outwaiting the steepest part of the bathtub curve (see infant +mortality ). 2. A period of indeterminate length in which a person using a +computer is so intensely involved in his project that he forgets basic needs +such as food, drink, sleep, etc. Warning: Excessive burn-in can lead to +burn-out. See hack mode , larval stage. Historical note: the origin of +burn-in (sense 1) is apparently the practice of setting a new-model +airplane's brakes on fire, then extinguishing the fire, in order to make +them hold better. This was done on the first version of the U.S. spy-plane, +the U-2. + diff --git a/entries/burst page.txt b/entries/burst page.txt index d574555..3a94321 100644 --- a/entries/burst page.txt +++ b/entries/burst page.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ burst page n. Syn. banner , sense 1. + diff --git a/entries/busy-wait.txt b/entries/busy-wait.txt index b223c6c..39580ed 100644 --- a/entries/busy-wait.txt +++ b/entries/busy-wait.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ busy-wait -vi. Used of human behavior, conveys that the subject is busy waiting for someone or something, intends to move instantly as soon as it shows up, and thus cannot do anything else at the moment. Can't talk now, I'm busy-waiting till Bill gets off the phone. Technically, busy-wait means to wait on an event by spin ning through a tight or timed-delay loop that polls for the event on each pass, as opposed to setting up an interrupt handler and continuing execution on another part of the task. In applications this is a wasteful technique, and best avoided on timesharing systems where a busy-waiting program may hog the processor. However, it is often unavoidable in kernel programming. In the Linux world, kernel busy-waits are usually referred to as spinlocks. +vi. Used of human behavior, conveys that the subject is busy waiting for +someone or something, intends to move instantly as soon as it shows up, and +thus cannot do anything else at the moment. Can't talk now, I'm busy-waiting +till Bill gets off the phone. Technically, busy-wait means to wait on an +event by spin ning through a tight or timed-delay loop that polls for the +event on each pass, as opposed to setting up an interrupt handler and +continuing execution on another part of the task. In applications this is a +wasteful technique, and best avoided on timesharing systems where a +busy-waiting program may hog the processor. However, it is often unavoidable +in kernel programming. In the Linux world, kernel busy-waits are usually +referred to as spinlocks. + diff --git a/entries/buzz.txt b/entries/buzz.txt index c6ad095..9cbff0b 100644 --- a/entries/buzz.txt +++ b/entries/buzz.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ buzz -vi. 1. Of a program, to run with no indication of progress and perhaps without guarantee of ever finishing; esp. said of programs thought to be executing tight loops of code. A program that is buzzing appears to be catatonic , but never gets out of catatonia, while a buzzing loop may eventually end of its own accord. The program buzzes for about 10 seconds trying to sort all the names into order. See spin ; see also grovel. 2. [ETA Systems] To test a wire or printed circuit trace for continuity, esp. by applying an AC rather than DC signal. Some wire faults will pass DC tests but fail an AC buzz test. 3. To process an array or list in sequence, doing the same thing to each element. This loop buzzes through the tz array looking for a terminator type. +vi. 1. Of a program, to run with no indication of progress and perhaps +without guarantee of ever finishing; esp. said of programs thought to be +executing tight loops of code. A program that is buzzing appears to be +catatonic , but never gets out of catatonia, while a buzzing loop may +eventually end of its own accord. The program buzzes for about 10 seconds +trying to sort all the names into order. See spin ; see also grovel. 2. [ETA +Systems] To test a wire or printed circuit trace for continuity, esp. by +applying an AC rather than DC signal. Some wire faults will pass DC tests +but fail an AC buzz test. 3. To process an array or list in sequence, doing +the same thing to each element. This loop buzzes through the tz array +looking for a terminator type. + diff --git a/entries/buzzword-compliant.txt b/entries/buzzword-compliant.txt index c543009..744d818 100644 --- a/entries/buzzword-compliant.txt +++ b/entries/buzzword-compliant.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ buzzword-compliant -Used (disparagingly) of products that seem to have been specified to incorporate all of this month's trendy technologies. Key buzzwords that often show up in buzzword-compliant specifications as of 2001 include XML , Java , peer-to-peer , distributed , and open. +Used (disparagingly) of products that seem to have been specified to +incorporate all of this month's trendy technologies. Key buzzwords that +often show up in buzzword-compliant specifications as of 2001 include XML , +Java , peer-to-peer , distributed , and open. + diff --git a/entries/by hand.txt b/entries/by hand.txt index 51e0e5d..79b7a26 100644 --- a/entries/by hand.txt +++ b/entries/by hand.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ by hand -adv. 1. [common] Said of an operation (especially a repetitive, trivial, and/or tedious one) that ought to be performed automatically by the computer, but which a hacker instead has to step tediously through. My mailer doesn't have a command to include the text of the message I'm replying to, so I have to do it by hand. This does not necessarily mean the speaker has to retype a copy of the message; it might refer to, say, dropping into a subshell from the mailer, making a copy of one's mailbox file, reading that into an editor, locating the top and bottom of the message in question, deleting the rest of the file, inserting ` ' characters on each line, writing the file, leaving the editor, returning to the mailer, reading the file in, and later remembering to delete the file. Compare eyeball search. 2. [common] By extension, writing code which does something in an explicit or low-level way for which a presupplied library routine ought to have been available. This cretinous B-tree library doesn't supply a decent iterator, so I'm having to walk the trees by hand. +adv. 1. [common] Said of an operation (especially a repetitive, trivial, +and/or tedious one) that ought to be performed automatically by the +computer, but which a hacker instead has to step tediously through. My +mailer doesn't have a command to include the text of the message I'm +replying to, so I have to do it by hand. This does not necessarily mean the +speaker has to retype a copy of the message; it might refer to, say, +dropping into a subshell from the mailer, making a copy of one's mailbox +file, reading that into an editor, locating the top and bottom of the +message in question, deleting the rest of the file, inserting ` ' characters +on each line, writing the file, leaving the editor, returning to the mailer, +reading the file in, and later remembering to delete the file. Compare +eyeball search. 2. [common] By extension, writing code which does something +in an explicit or low-level way for which a presupplied library routine +ought to have been available. This cretinous B-tree library doesn't supply a +decent iterator, so I'm having to walk the trees by hand. + diff --git a/entries/byte sex.txt b/entries/byte sex.txt index 7a53300..6dfcdd8 100644 --- a/entries/byte sex.txt +++ b/entries/byte sex.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ byte sex -n. [common] The byte sex of hardware is big-endian or little-endian ; see those entries. +n. [common] The byte sex of hardware is big-endian or little-endian ; see +those entries. + diff --git a/entries/byte.txt b/entries/byte.txt index 34ad04f..bc2e8a5 100644 --- a/entries/byte.txt +++ b/entries/byte.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ byte -/bi:t/ , n. [techspeak] A unit of memory or data equal to the amount used to represent one character; on modern architectures this is invariably 8 bits. Some older architectures used byte for quantities of 6, 7, or (especially) 9 bits, and the PDP-10 supported bytes that were actually bitfields of 1 to 36 bits! These usages are now obsolete, killed off by universal adoption of power-of-2 word sizes. Historical note: The term was coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956 during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer; originally it was described as 1 to 6 bits (typical I/O equipment of the period used 6-bit chunks of information). The move to an 8-bit byte happened in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard by the System/360. The word was coined by mutating the word bite so it would not be accidentally misspelled as bit. See also nybble. +/bi:t/ , n. [techspeak] A unit of memory or data equal to the amount used to +represent one character; on modern architectures this is invariably 8 bits. +Some older architectures used byte for quantities of 6, 7, or (especially) 9 +bits, and the PDP-10 supported bytes that were actually bitfields of 1 to 36 +bits! These usages are now obsolete, killed off by universal adoption of +power-of-2 word sizes. Historical note: The term was coined by Werner +Buchholz in 1956 during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer; +originally it was described as 1 to 6 bits (typical I/O equipment of the +period used 6-bit chunks of information). The move to an 8-bit byte happened +in late 1956, and this size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard +by the System/360. The word was coined by mutating the word bite so it would +not be accidentally misspelled as bit. See also nybble. + diff --git a/entries/bytesexual.txt b/entries/bytesexual.txt index 27e6abf..1b75e8a 100644 --- a/entries/bytesexual.txt +++ b/entries/bytesexual.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ bytesexual -/bi:t`sekshu@l/ , adj. [rare] Said of hardware, denotes willingness to compute or pass data in either big-endian or little-endian format (depending, presumably, on a mode bit somewhere). See also NUXI problem. Prev Up Next byte sex Home Bzzzt! Wrong. +/bi:t`sekshu@l/ , adj. [rare] Said of hardware, denotes willingness to +compute or pass data in either big-endian or little-endian format +(depending, presumably, on a mode bit somewhere). See also NUXI problem. +Prev Up Next byte sex Home Bzzzt! Wrong. + diff --git a/entries/calculator.txt b/entries/calculator.txt index d14e22a..9f0d764 100644 --- a/entries/calculator.txt +++ b/entries/calculator.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ calculator n. Syn. for bitty box. + diff --git a/entries/camelCase.txt b/entries/camelCase.txt index 3dd6260..dac15d9 100644 --- a/entries/camelCase.txt +++ b/entries/camelCase.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ camelCase -A variable in a programming language is sait to be d when all words but the first are capitalized. This practice contrasts with the C tradition of either running syllables together or marking syllable breaks with underscores; thus, where a C programmer would write thisverylongname or this_very_long_name , the d version would be thisVeryLongName. This practice is common in certain language communities (formerly Pascal; today Java and Visual Basic) and tends to be associated with object-oriented programming. Compare BiCapitalization ; but where that practice is primarily associated with marketing, camelCasing is not aimed at impressing anybody, and hackers consider it respectable. +A variable in a programming language is sait to be d when all words but the +first are capitalized. This practice contrasts with the C tradition of +either running syllables together or marking syllable breaks with +underscores; thus, where a C programmer would write thisverylongname or +this_very_long_name , the d version would be thisVeryLongName. This practice +is common in certain language communities (formerly Pascal; today Java and +Visual Basic) and tends to be associated with object-oriented programming. +Compare BiCapitalization ; but where that practice is primarily associated +with marketing, camelCasing is not aimed at impressing anybody, and hackers +consider it respectable. + diff --git a/entries/camelCasing.txt b/entries/camelCasing.txt index 9279e05..e747f6a 100644 --- a/entries/camelCasing.txt +++ b/entries/camelCasing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ camelCasing See PascalCasing. + diff --git a/entries/can't happen.txt b/entries/can't happen.txt index fa7a414..b2c2b3a 100644 --- a/entries/can't happen.txt +++ b/entries/can't happen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ can't happen -The traditional program comment for code executed under a condition that should never be true, for example a file size computed as negative. Often, such a condition being true indicates data corruption or a faulty algorithm; it is almost always handled by emitting a fatal error message and terminating or crashing, since there is little else that can be done. Some case variant of is also often the text emitted if the impossible error actually happens! Although events are genuinely infrequent in production code, programmers wise enough to check for them habitually are often surprised at how frequently they are triggered during development and how many headaches checking for them turns out to head off. See also firewall code (sense 2). +The traditional program comment for code executed under a condition that +should never be true, for example a file size computed as negative. Often, +such a condition being true indicates data corruption or a faulty algorithm; +it is almost always handled by emitting a fatal error message and +terminating or crashing, since there is little else that can be done. Some +case variant of is also often the text emitted if the impossible error +actually happens! Although events are genuinely infrequent in production +code, programmers wise enough to check for them habitually are often +surprised at how frequently they are triggered during development and how +many headaches checking for them turns out to head off. See also firewall +code (sense 2). + diff --git a/entries/cancelbot.txt b/entries/cancelbot.txt index 9c74dc1..e80de7e 100644 --- a/entries/cancelbot.txt +++ b/entries/cancelbot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ cancelbot -/kanselbot/ [Usenet: compound, cancel + robot] 1. Mythically, a robocanceller 2. In reality, most cancelbots are manually operated by being fed lists of spam message IDs. +/kanselbot/ [Usenet: compound, cancel + robot] 1. Mythically, a +robocanceller 2. In reality, most cancelbots are manually operated by being +fed lists of spam message IDs. + diff --git a/entries/candygrammar.txt b/entries/candygrammar.txt index c4c8bba..14a01f9 100644 --- a/entries/candygrammar.txt +++ b/entries/candygrammar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ candygrammar -n. A programming-language grammar that is mostly syntactic sugar ; the term is also a play on candygram. COBOL , Apple's Hypertalk language, and a lot of the so-called 4GL database languages share this property. The usual intent of such designs is that they be as English-like as possible, on the theory that they will then be easier for unskilled people to program. This intention comes to grief on the reality that syntax isn't what makes programming hard; it's the mental effort and organization required to specify an algorithm precisely that costs. Thus the invariable result is that candygrammar languages are just as difficult to program in as terser ones, and far more painful for the experienced hacker. [The overtones from the old Chevy Chase skit on Saturday Night Live should not be overlooked. This was a Jaws parody. Someone lurking outside an apartment door tries all kinds of bogus ways to get the occupant to open up, while ominous music plays in the background. The last attempt is a half-hearted Candygram! When the door is opened, a shark bursts in and chomps the poor occupant. [There is a similar gag in Blazing Saddles ESR] There is a moral here for those attracted to candygrammars. Note that, in many circles, pretty much the same ones who remember Monty Python sketches, all it takes is the word Candygram! , suitably timed, to get people rolling on the floor. +n. A programming-language grammar that is mostly syntactic sugar ; the term +is also a play on candygram. COBOL , Apple's Hypertalk language, and a lot +of the so-called 4GL database languages share this property. The usual +intent of such designs is that they be as English-like as possible, on the +theory that they will then be easier for unskilled people to program. This +intention comes to grief on the reality that syntax isn't what makes +programming hard; it's the mental effort and organization required to +specify an algorithm precisely that costs. Thus the invariable result is +that candygrammar languages are just as difficult to program in as terser +ones, and far more painful for the experienced hacker. [The overtones from +the old Chevy Chase skit on Saturday Night Live should not be overlooked. +This was a Jaws parody. Someone lurking outside an apartment door tries all +kinds of bogus ways to get the occupant to open up, while ominous music +plays in the background. The last attempt is a half-hearted Candygram! When +the door is opened, a shark bursts in and chomps the poor occupant. [There +is a similar gag in Blazing Saddles ESR] There is a moral here for those +attracted to candygrammars. Note that, in many circles, pretty much the same +ones who remember Monty Python sketches, all it takes is the word Candygram! +, suitably timed, to get people rolling on the floor. + diff --git a/entries/canonical.txt b/entries/canonical.txt index d9fd0b5..5ab965b 100644 --- a/entries/canonical.txt +++ b/entries/canonical.txt @@ -1,3 +1,41 @@ canonical -adj. [very common; historically, according to religious law ] The usual or standard state or manner of something. This word has a somewhat more technical meaning in mathematics. Two formulas such as 9 + x and x + 9 are said to be equivalent because they mean the same thing, but the second one is in canonical form because it is written in the usual way, with the highest power of x first. Usually there are fixed rules you can use to decide whether something is in canonical form. The jargon meaning, a relaxation of the technical meaning, acquired its present loading in computer-science culture largely through its prominence in Alonzo Church's work in computation theory and mathematical logic (see Knights of the Lambda Calculus ). Compare vanilla. Non-technical academics do not use the adjective canonical in any of the senses defined above with any regularity; they do however use the nouns canon and canonicity (not **canonicalness or **canonicality). The canon of a given author is the complete body of authentic works by that author (this usage is familiar to Sherlock Holmes fans as well as to literary scholars). The canon is the body of works in a given field (e.g., works of literature, or of art, or of music) deemed worthwhile for students to study and for scholars to investigate. The word canon has an interesting history. It derives ultimately from the Greek (akin to the English cane ) referring to a reed. Reeds were used for measurement, and in Latin and later Greek the word canon meant a rule or a standard. The establishment of a canon of scriptures within Christianity was meant to define a standard or a rule for the religion. The above non-techspeak academic usages stem from this instance of a defined and accepted body of work. Alongside this usage was the promulgation of canons ( rules ) for the government of the Catholic Church. The techspeak usages ( according to religious law ) derive from this use of the Latin canon. Hackers invest this term with a playfulness that makes an ironic contrast with its historical meaning. A true story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed some annoyance at the incessant use of jargon. Over his loud objections, GLS and RMS made a point of using as much of it as possible in his presence, and eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, he used the word canonical in jargon-like fashion without thinking. Steele: Aha! We've finally got you talking jargon too! Stallman: What did he say? Steele: Bob just used canonical in the canonical way. Of course, canonicality depends on context, but it is implicitly defined as the way hackers normally expect things to be. Thus, a hacker may claim with a straight face that according to religious law is not the canonical meaning of canonical. +adj. [very common; historically, according to religious law ] The usual or +standard state or manner of something. This word has a somewhat more +technical meaning in mathematics. Two formulas such as 9 + x and x + 9 are +said to be equivalent because they mean the same thing, but the second one +is in canonical form because it is written in the usual way, with the +highest power of x first. Usually there are fixed rules you can use to +decide whether something is in canonical form. The jargon meaning, a +relaxation of the technical meaning, acquired its present loading in +computer-science culture largely through its prominence in Alonzo Church's +work in computation theory and mathematical logic (see Knights of the Lambda +Calculus ). Compare vanilla. Non-technical academics do not use the +adjective canonical in any of the senses defined above with any regularity; +they do however use the nouns canon and canonicity (not **canonicalness or +**canonicality). The canon of a given author is the complete body of +authentic works by that author (this usage is familiar to Sherlock Holmes +fans as well as to literary scholars). The canon is the body of works in a +given field (e.g., works of literature, or of art, or of music) deemed +worthwhile for students to study and for scholars to investigate. The word +canon has an interesting history. It derives ultimately from the Greek (akin +to the English cane ) referring to a reed. Reeds were used for measurement, +and in Latin and later Greek the word canon meant a rule or a standard. The +establishment of a canon of scriptures within Christianity was meant to +define a standard or a rule for the religion. The above non-techspeak +academic usages stem from this instance of a defined and accepted body of +work. Alongside this usage was the promulgation of canons ( rules ) for the +government of the Catholic Church. The techspeak usages ( according to +religious law ) derive from this use of the Latin canon. Hackers invest this +term with a playfulness that makes an ironic contrast with its historical +meaning. A true story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed +some annoyance at the incessant use of jargon. Over his loud objections, GLS +and RMS made a point of using as much of it as possible in his presence, and +eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, he used the +word canonical in jargon-like fashion without thinking. Steele: Aha! We've +finally got you talking jargon too! Stallman: What did he say? Steele: Bob +just used canonical in the canonical way. Of course, canonicality depends on +context, but it is implicitly defined as the way hackers normally expect +things to be. Thus, a hacker may claim with a straight face that according +to religious law is not the canonical meaning of canonical. + diff --git a/entries/careware.txt b/entries/careware.txt index 5a180c0..f980933 100644 --- a/entries/careware.txt +++ b/entries/careware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ careware -/keirweir/ , n. A variety of shareware for which either the author suggests that some payment be made to a nominated charity or a levy directed to charity is included on top of the distribution charge. Syn.: charityware ; compare crippleware , sense 2. +/keirweir/ , n. A variety of shareware for which either the author suggests +that some payment be made to a nominated charity or a levy directed to +charity is included on top of the distribution charge. Syn.: charityware ; +compare crippleware , sense 2. + diff --git a/entries/cargo cult programming.txt b/entries/cargo cult programming.txt index db16db5..4bd2a07 100644 --- a/entries/cargo cult programming.txt +++ b/entries/cargo cult programming.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ cargo cult programming -n. A style of (incompetent) programming dominated by ritual inclusion of code or program structures that serve no real purpose. A cargo cult programmer will usually explain the extra code as a way of working around some bug encountered in the past, but usually neither the bug nor the reason the code apparently avoided the bug was ever fully understood (compare shotgun debugging , voodoo programming ). The term cargo cult is a reference to aboriginal religions that grew up in the South Pacific after World War II. The practices of these cults center on building elaborate mockups of airplanes and military style landing strips in the hope of bringing the return of the god-like airplanes that brought such marvelous cargo during the war. Hackish usage probably derives from Richard Feynman's characterization of certain practices as cargo cult science in his book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (W. W. Norton Co, New York 1985, ISBN 0-393-01921-7). +n. A style of (incompetent) programming dominated by ritual inclusion of +code or program structures that serve no real purpose. A cargo cult +programmer will usually explain the extra code as a way of working around +some bug encountered in the past, but usually neither the bug nor the reason +the code apparently avoided the bug was ever fully understood (compare +shotgun debugging , voodoo programming ). The term cargo cult is a reference +to aboriginal religions that grew up in the South Pacific after World War +II. The practices of these cults center on building elaborate mockups of +airplanes and military style landing strips in the hope of bringing the +return of the god-like airplanes that brought such marvelous cargo during +the war. Hackish usage probably derives from Richard Feynman's +characterization of certain practices as cargo cult science in his book +Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (W. W. Norton Co, New York 1985, ISBN +0-393-01921-7). + diff --git a/entries/cascade.txt b/entries/cascade.txt index b7784ee..3c718e8 100644 --- a/entries/cascade.txt +++ b/entries/cascade.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ cascade -n. 1. A huge volume of spurious error-message output produced by a compiler with poor error recovery. Too frequently, one trivial syntax error (such as a missing ) or } ) throws the parser out of synch so that much of the remaining program text is interpreted as garbaged or ill-formed. 2. A chain of Usenet followups, each adding some trivial variation or riposte to the text of the previous one, all of which is reproduced in the new message; an include war in which the object is to create a sort of communal graffito. +n. 1. A huge volume of spurious error-message output produced by a compiler +with poor error recovery. Too frequently, one trivial syntax error (such as +a missing ) or } ) throws the parser out of synch so that much of the +remaining program text is interpreted as garbaged or ill-formed. 2. A chain +of Usenet followups, each adding some trivial variation or riposte to the +text of the previous one, all of which is reproduced in the new message; an +include war in which the object is to create a sort of communal graffito. + diff --git a/entries/case and paste.txt b/entries/case and paste.txt index d27c039..eb22abb 100644 --- a/entries/case and paste.txt +++ b/entries/case and paste.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ case and paste -n. [from cut and paste ] The addition of a new feature to an existing system by selecting the code from an existing feature and pasting it in with minor changes. Common in telephony circles because most operations in a telephone switch are selected using case statements. Leads to software bloat. In some circles of EMACS users this is called programming by Meta-W , because Meta-W is the EMACS command for copying a block of text to a kill buffer in preparation to pasting it in elsewhere. The term is condescending, implying that the programmer is acting mindlessly rather than thinking carefully about what is required to integrate the code for two similar cases. At DEC (now HP), this is sometimes called clone-and-hack coding. +n. [from cut and paste ] The addition of a new feature to an existing system +by selecting the code from an existing feature and pasting it in with minor +changes. Common in telephony circles because most operations in a telephone +switch are selected using case statements. Leads to software bloat. In some +circles of EMACS users this is called programming by Meta-W , because Meta-W +is the EMACS command for copying a block of text to a kill buffer in +preparation to pasting it in elsewhere. The term is condescending, implying +that the programmer is acting mindlessly rather than thinking carefully +about what is required to integrate the code for two similar cases. At DEC +(now HP), this is sometimes called clone-and-hack coding. + diff --git a/entries/case mod.txt b/entries/case mod.txt index 280e4e6..d5bf391 100644 --- a/entries/case mod.txt +++ b/entries/case mod.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ case mod -1. Originally a kind of hardware hack on a PC intended to support overclocking (e.g. with cutouts for oversized fans, or a freon-based or water-cooling system). 2. Nowadays, similar drastic surgery that's done just to make a machine look nifty. The commonest case mods combine acrylic case windows with LEDs to give the machine an eerie interior glow like a B-movie flying saucer. More advanced forms of case modding involve building machines into weird and unlikely shapes. The effect can be quite artistic, but one of the unwritten rules is that the machine must continue to function as a computer. +1. Originally a kind of hardware hack on a PC intended to support +overclocking (e.g. with cutouts for oversized fans, or a freon-based or +water-cooling system). 2. Nowadays, similar drastic surgery that's done just +to make a machine look nifty. The commonest case mods combine acrylic case +windows with LEDs to give the machine an eerie interior glow like a B-movie +flying saucer. More advanced forms of case modding involve building machines +into weird and unlikely shapes. The effect can be quite artistic, but one of +the unwritten rules is that the machine must continue to function as a +computer. + diff --git a/entries/casters-up mode.txt b/entries/casters-up mode.txt index cc8dff4..8bd230b 100644 --- a/entries/casters-up mode.txt +++ b/entries/casters-up mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ casters-up mode -n. [IBM, prob. fr. slang belly up ] Yet another synonym for broken or down. Usually connotes a major failure. A system (hardware or software) which is down may be already being restarted before the failure is noticed, whereas one which is casters up is usually a good excuse to take the rest of the day off (as long as you're not responsible for fixing it). +n. [IBM, prob. fr. slang belly up ] Yet another synonym for broken or down. +Usually connotes a major failure. A system (hardware or software) which is +down may be already being restarted before the failure is noticed, whereas +one which is casters up is usually a good excuse to take the rest of the day +off (as long as you're not responsible for fixing it). + diff --git a/entries/casting the runes.txt b/entries/casting the runes.txt index e155c01..84e0045 100644 --- a/entries/casting the runes.txt +++ b/entries/casting the runes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ casting the runes -n. What a guru does when you ask him or her to run a particular program and type at it because it never works for anyone else; esp. used when nobody can ever see what the guru is doing different from what J. Random Luser does. Compare incantation , runes , examining the entrails ; also see the AI koan about Tom Knight in Some AI Koans (in Appendix A). A correspondent from England tells us that one of ICL's most talented systems designers used to be called out occasionally to service machines which the field circus had given up on. Since he knew the design inside out, he could often find faults simply by listening to a quick outline of the symptoms. He used to play on this by going to some site where the field circus had just spent the last two weeks solid trying to find a fault, and spreading a diagram of the system out on a table top. He'd then shake some chicken bones and cast them over the diagram, peer at the bones intently for a minute, and then tell them that a certain module needed replacing. The system would start working again immediately upon the replacement. +n. What a guru does when you ask him or her to run a particular program and +type at it because it never works for anyone else; esp. used when nobody can +ever see what the guru is doing different from what J. Random Luser does. +Compare incantation , runes , examining the entrails ; also see the AI koan +about Tom Knight in Some AI Koans (in Appendix A). A correspondent from +England tells us that one of ICL's most talented systems designers used to +be called out occasionally to service machines which the field circus had +given up on. Since he knew the design inside out, he could often find faults +simply by listening to a quick outline of the symptoms. He used to play on +this by going to some site where the field circus had just spent the last +two weeks solid trying to find a fault, and spreading a diagram of the +system out on a table top. He'd then shake some chicken bones and cast them +over the diagram, peer at the bones intently for a minute, and then tell +them that a certain module needed replacing. The system would start working +again immediately upon the replacement. + diff --git a/entries/cat.txt b/entries/cat.txt index 6641303..fadb4ce 100644 --- a/entries/cat.txt +++ b/entries/cat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ cat -vt. [from catenate via Unix cat (1) ] 1. [techspeak] To spew an entire file to the screen or some other output sink without pause (syn. blast ). 2. By extension, to dump large amounts of data at an unprepared target or with no intention of browsing it carefully. Usage: considered silly. Rare outside Unix sites. See also dd , BLT. Among Unix fans, cat (1) is considered an excellent example of user-interface design, because it delivers the file contents without such verbosity as spacing or headers between the files, and because it does not require the files to consist of lines of text, but works with any sort of data. Among Unix haters, cat (1) is considered the canonical example of bad user-interface design, because of its woefully unobvious name. It is far more often used to blast a file to standard output than to concatenate two files. The name cat for the former operation is just as unintuitive as, say, LISP's cdr. Of such oppositions are holy wars made.... See also UUOC. +vt. [from catenate via Unix cat (1) ] 1. [techspeak] To spew an entire file +to the screen or some other output sink without pause (syn. blast ). 2. By +extension, to dump large amounts of data at an unprepared target or with no +intention of browsing it carefully. Usage: considered silly. Rare outside +Unix sites. See also dd , BLT. Among Unix fans, cat (1) is considered an +excellent example of user-interface design, because it delivers the file +contents without such verbosity as spacing or headers between the files, and +because it does not require the files to consist of lines of text, but works +with any sort of data. Among Unix haters, cat (1) is considered the +canonical example of bad user-interface design, because of its woefully +unobvious name. It is far more often used to blast a file to standard output +than to concatenate two files. The name cat for the former operation is just +as unintuitive as, say, LISP's cdr. Of such oppositions are holy wars +made.... See also UUOC. + diff --git a/entries/catatonic.txt b/entries/catatonic.txt index f68a8eb..f8a5dd8 100644 --- a/entries/catatonic.txt +++ b/entries/catatonic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ catatonic -adj. Describes a condition of suspended animation in which something is so wedged or hung that it makes no response. If you are typing on a terminal and suddenly the computer doesn't even echo the letters back to the screen as you type, let alone do what you're asking it to do, then the computer is suffering from catatonia (possibly because it has crashed). There I was in the middle of a winning game of nethack and it went catatonic on me! Aaargh! Compare buzz. +adj. Describes a condition of suspended animation in which something is so +wedged or hung that it makes no response. If you are typing on a terminal +and suddenly the computer doesn't even echo the letters back to the screen +as you type, let alone do what you're asking it to do, then the computer is +suffering from catatonia (possibly because it has crashed). There I was in +the middle of a winning game of nethack and it went catatonic on me! Aaargh! +Compare buzz. + diff --git a/entries/cathedral.txt b/entries/cathedral.txt index 9b59231..3183516 100644 --- a/entries/cathedral.txt +++ b/entries/cathedral.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ cathedral -n.,adj. [see bazaar for derivation] The classical mode of software engineering long thought to be necessarily implied by Brooks's Law. Features small teams, tight project control, and long release intervals. This term came into use after analysis of the Linux experience suggested there might be something wrong (or at least incomplete) in the classical assumptions. +n.,adj. [see bazaar for derivation] The classical mode of software +engineering long thought to be necessarily implied by Brooks's Law. Features +small teams, tight project control, and long release intervals. This term +came into use after analysis of the Linux experience suggested there might +be something wrong (or at least incomplete) in the classical assumptions. + diff --git a/entries/cd tilde.txt b/entries/cd tilde.txt index 78b1ba9..6634a55 100644 --- a/entries/cd tilde.txt +++ b/entries/cd tilde.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ cd tilde -/CD tild@/ , vi. To go home. From the Unix C-shell and Korn-shell command cd ~ , which takes one to one's $HOME ( cd with no arguments happens to do the same thing). By extension, may be used with other arguments; thus, over an electronic chat link, cd ~coffee would mean I'm going to the coffee machine. +/CD tild@/ , vi. To go home. From the Unix C-shell and Korn-shell command cd +~ , which takes one to one's $HOME ( cd with no arguments happens to do the +same thing). By extension, may be used with other arguments; thus, over an +electronic chat link, cd ~coffee would mean I'm going to the coffee machine. + diff --git a/entries/cdr.txt b/entries/cdr.txt index 14d77db..604bb7e 100644 --- a/entries/cdr.txt +++ b/entries/cdr.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ cdr -/kudr/ , /kuhdr/ , vt. [from LISP] To skip past the first item from a list of things (generalized from the LISP operation on binary tree structures, which returns a list consisting of all but the first element of its argument). In the form cdr down , to trace down a list of elements: Shall we cdr down the agenda? Usage: silly. See also loop through. Historical note: The instruction format of the IBM 704 that hosted the original LISP implementation featured two 15-bit fields called the address and decrement parts. The term cdr was originally Contents of Decrement part of Register. Similarly, car stood for Contents of Address part of Register. The cdr and car operations have since become bases for formation of compound metaphors in non-LISP contexts. GLS recalls, for example, a programming project in which strings were represented as linked lists; the get-character and skip-character operations were of course called CHAR and CHDR. +/kudr/ , /kuhdr/ , vt. [from LISP] To skip past the first item from a list +of things (generalized from the LISP operation on binary tree structures, +which returns a list consisting of all but the first element of its +argument). In the form cdr down , to trace down a list of elements: Shall we +cdr down the agenda? Usage: silly. See also loop through. Historical note: +The instruction format of the IBM 704 that hosted the original LISP +implementation featured two 15-bit fields called the address and decrement +parts. The term cdr was originally Contents of Decrement part of Register. +Similarly, car stood for Contents of Address part of Register. The cdr and +car operations have since become bases for formation of compound metaphors +in non-LISP contexts. GLS recalls, for example, a programming project in +which strings were represented as linked lists; the get-character and +skip-character operations were of course called CHAR and CHDR. + diff --git a/entries/chad box.txt b/entries/chad box.txt index b955146..cd1351f 100644 --- a/entries/chad box.txt +++ b/entries/chad box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ chad box -n. A metal box about the size of a lunchbox (or in some models a large wastebasket), for collecting the chad (sense 2) that accumulated in Iron Age card punches. You had to open the covers of the card punch periodically and empty the chad box. The bit bucket was notionally the equivalent device in the CPU enclosure, which was typically across the room in another great gray-and-blue box. +n. A metal box about the size of a lunchbox (or in some models a large +wastebasket), for collecting the chad (sense 2) that accumulated in Iron Age +card punches. You had to open the covers of the card punch periodically and +empty the chad box. The bit bucket was notionally the equivalent device in +the CPU enclosure, which was typically across the room in another great +gray-and-blue box. + diff --git a/entries/chad.txt b/entries/chad.txt index e188dfc..feb8f72 100644 --- a/entries/chad.txt +++ b/entries/chad.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ chad -/chad/ , n. 1. [common] The perforated edge strips on printer paper, after they have been separated from the printed portion. Also called selvage , perf , and ripoff. 2. The confetti-like paper bits punched out of cards or paper tape; this has also been called chaff , computer confetti , and keypunch droppings. It's reported that this was very old Army slang (associated with teletypewriters before the computer era), and has been occasionally sighted in directions for punched-card vote tabulators long after it passed out of live use among computer programmers in the late 1970s. This sense of chad returned to the mainstream during the finale of the hotly disputed U.S. presidential election in 2000 via stories about the Florida vote recounts. Note however that in the revived mainstream usage chad is not a mass noun and a chad is a single piece of the stuff. There is an urban legend that chad (sense 2) derives from the Chadless keypunch (named for its inventor), which cut little u-shaped tabs in the card to make a hole when the tab folded back, rather than punching out a circle/rectangle; it was clear that if the Chadless keypunch didn't make them, then the stuff that other keypunches made had to be chad. However, serious attempts to track down Chadless as a personal name or U.S. trademark have failed, casting doubt on this etymology and the U.S. Patent Classification System uses chadless (small c) as an adjective, suggesting that chadless derives from chad and not the other way around. There is another legend that the word was originally acronymic, standing for Card Hole Aggregate Debris , but this has all the earmarks of a backronym. It has also been noted that the word chad is Scots dialect for gravel, but nobody has proposed any plausible reason that card chaff should be thought of as gravel. None of these etymologies is really plausible. This is one way to be chad less. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 75-10-04. The previous cartoon was 74-12-29. +/chad/ , n. 1. [common] The perforated edge strips on printer paper, after +they have been separated from the printed portion. Also called selvage , +perf , and ripoff. 2. The confetti-like paper bits punched out of cards or +paper tape; this has also been called chaff , computer confetti , and +keypunch droppings. It's reported that this was very old Army slang +(associated with teletypewriters before the computer era), and has been +occasionally sighted in directions for punched-card vote tabulators long +after it passed out of live use among computer programmers in the late +1970s. This sense of chad returned to the mainstream during the finale of +the hotly disputed U.S. presidential election in 2000 via stories about the +Florida vote recounts. Note however that in the revived mainstream usage +chad is not a mass noun and a chad is a single piece of the stuff. There is +an urban legend that chad (sense 2) derives from the Chadless keypunch +(named for its inventor), which cut little u-shaped tabs in the card to make +a hole when the tab folded back, rather than punching out a +circle/rectangle; it was clear that if the Chadless keypunch didn't make +them, then the stuff that other keypunches made had to be chad. However, +serious attempts to track down Chadless as a personal name or U.S. trademark +have failed, casting doubt on this etymology and the U.S. Patent +Classification System uses chadless (small c) as an adjective, suggesting +that chadless derives from chad and not the other way around. There is +another legend that the word was originally acronymic, standing for Card +Hole Aggregate Debris , but this has all the earmarks of a backronym. It has +also been noted that the word chad is Scots dialect for gravel, but nobody +has proposed any plausible reason that card chaff should be thought of as +gravel. None of these etymologies is really plausible. This is one way to be +chad less. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 75-10-04. The previous +cartoon was 74-12-29. + diff --git a/entries/chain.txt b/entries/chain.txt index 3ee8133..8a58ba6 100644 --- a/entries/chain.txt +++ b/entries/chain.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ chain -To hand off execution to a child or successor without going through the OS command interpreter that invoked it. The state of the parent program is lost and there is no returning to it. Though this facility used to be common on memory-limited micros and is still widely supported for backward compatibility, the jargon usage is semi-obsolescent; in particular, most Unix programmers will think of this as an exec. Oppose the more modern subshell. 2. n. A series of linked data areas within an operating system or application. Chain rattling is the process of repeatedly running through the linked data areas searching for one which is of interest to the executing program. The implication is that there is a very large number of links on the chain. +To hand off execution to a child or successor without going through the OS +command interpreter that invoked it. The state of the parent program is lost +and there is no returning to it. Though this facility used to be common on +memory-limited micros and is still widely supported for backward +compatibility, the jargon usage is semi-obsolescent; in particular, most +Unix programmers will think of this as an exec. Oppose the more modern +subshell. 2. n. A series of linked data areas within an operating system or +application. Chain rattling is the process of repeatedly running through the +linked data areas searching for one which is of interest to the executing +program. The implication is that there is a very large number of links on +the chain. + diff --git a/entries/chainik.txt b/entries/chainik.txt index aa87050..0385d90 100644 --- a/entries/chainik.txt +++ b/entries/chainik.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ chainik -/chi:nik/ [Russian, literally teapot ] Almost synonymous with muggle. Implies both ignorance and a certain amount of willingness to learn, but does not necessarily imply as little experience or short exposure time as newbie and is not as derogatory as luser. Both a novice user and someone using a system for a long time without any understanding of the internals can be referred to as chainiks. Very widespread term in Russian hackish, often used in an English context by Russian-speaking hackers esp. in Israel (e.g. Our new colleague is a complete chainik ). FidoNet discussion groups often had a chainik subsection for newbies and, well, old chainiks (eg. su.asm.chainik, ru.linux.chainik, ru.html.chainik). Public projects often have a chainik mailing list to keep the chainiks off the developers' and experienced users' discussions. Today, the word is slowly slipping into mainstream Russian due to the Russian translation of the popular yellow-black covered foobar for dummies series, which (correctly) uses chainik for dummy , but its frequent (though not excessive) use is still characteristic hacker-speak. +/chi:nik/ [Russian, literally teapot ] Almost synonymous with muggle. +Implies both ignorance and a certain amount of willingness to learn, but +does not necessarily imply as little experience or short exposure time as +newbie and is not as derogatory as luser. Both a novice user and someone +using a system for a long time without any understanding of the internals +can be referred to as chainiks. Very widespread term in Russian hackish, +often used in an English context by Russian-speaking hackers esp. in Israel +(e.g. Our new colleague is a complete chainik ). FidoNet discussion groups +often had a chainik subsection for newbies and, well, old chainiks (eg. +su.asm.chainik, ru.linux.chainik, ru.html.chainik). Public projects often +have a chainik mailing list to keep the chainiks off the developers' and +experienced users' discussions. Today, the word is slowly slipping into +mainstream Russian due to the Russian translation of the popular +yellow-black covered foobar for dummies series, which (correctly) uses +chainik for dummy , but its frequent (though not excessive) use is still +characteristic hacker-speak. + diff --git a/entries/channel hopping.txt b/entries/channel hopping.txt index 52ce39d..ae3a2a3 100644 --- a/entries/channel hopping.txt +++ b/entries/channel hopping.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ channel hopping -n. [common; IRC, GEnie] To rapidly switch channels on IRC , or a GEnie chat board, just as a social butterfly might hop from one group to another at a party. This term may derive from the TV watcher's idiom, channel surfing. +n. [common; IRC, GEnie] To rapidly switch channels on IRC , or a GEnie chat +board, just as a social butterfly might hop from one group to another at a +party. This term may derive from the TV watcher's idiom, channel surfing. + diff --git a/entries/channel op.txt b/entries/channel op.txt index 9d3d271..7b525ef 100644 --- a/entries/channel op.txt +++ b/entries/channel op.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ channel op -/chanl op/ , n. [IRC] Someone who is endowed with privileges on a particular IRC channel; commonly abbreviated chanop or CHOP or just op (as of 2000 these short forms have almost crowded out the parent usage). These privileges include the right to kick users, to change various status bits, and to make others into CHOPs. +/chanl op/ , n. [IRC] Someone who is endowed with privileges on a particular +IRC channel; commonly abbreviated chanop or CHOP or just op (as of 2000 +these short forms have almost crowded out the parent usage). These +privileges include the right to kick users, to change various status bits, +and to make others into CHOPs. + diff --git a/entries/channel.txt b/entries/channel.txt index 3ce0848..6eec674 100644 --- a/entries/channel.txt +++ b/entries/channel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ channel -n. [IRC] The basic unit of discussion on IRC. Once one joins a channel, everything one types is read by others on that channel. Channels are named with strings that begin with a # sign and can have topic descriptions (which are generally irrelevant to the actual subject of discussion). Some notable channels are #initgame , #hottub , callahans , and #report. At times of international crisis, #report has hundreds of members, some of whom take turns listening to various news services and typing in summaries of the news, or in some cases, giving first-hand accounts of the action (e.g., Scud missile attacks in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War in 1991). +n. [IRC] The basic unit of discussion on IRC. Once one joins a channel, +everything one types is read by others on that channel. Channels are named +with strings that begin with a # sign and can have topic descriptions (which +are generally irrelevant to the actual subject of discussion). Some notable +channels are #initgame , #hottub , callahans , and #report. At times of +international crisis, #report has hundreds of members, some of whom take +turns listening to various news services and typing in summaries of the +news, or in some cases, giving first-hand accounts of the action (e.g., Scud +missile attacks in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War in 1991). + diff --git a/entries/chanop.txt b/entries/chanop.txt index 5be73a5..699e27e 100644 --- a/entries/chanop.txt +++ b/entries/chanop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ chanop /chan'op/ , n. [IRC] See channel op. + diff --git a/entries/char.txt b/entries/char.txt index 6f45a7f..019a84f 100644 --- a/entries/char.txt +++ b/entries/char.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ char -/keir/ , /char/ , /kar/ , n. Shorthand for character. Esp.: used by C programmers, as char is C's typename for character data. +/keir/ , /char/ , /kar/ , n. Shorthand for character. Esp.: used by C +programmers, as char is C's typename for character data. + diff --git a/entries/charityware.txt b/entries/charityware.txt index 5a8bf62..04dfeb7 100644 --- a/entries/charityware.txt +++ b/entries/charityware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ charityware /chariteeweir`/ , n. Syn. careware. + diff --git a/entries/chase pointers.txt b/entries/chase pointers.txt index bdd3ff1..a16f93c 100644 --- a/entries/chase pointers.txt +++ b/entries/chase pointers.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ chase pointers -The process of going through a core dump (sense 1), interactively or on a large piece of paper printed with hex runes , following dynamic data-structures. Used only in a debugging context. +The process of going through a core dump (sense 1), interactively or on a +large piece of paper printed with hex runes , following dynamic +data-structures. Used only in a debugging context. + diff --git a/entries/chawmp.txt b/entries/chawmp.txt index 87d0f2c..ae54d4f 100644 --- a/entries/chawmp.txt +++ b/entries/chawmp.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ chawmp -n. [University of Florida] 16 or 18 bits (half of a machine word). This term was used by FORTH hackers during the late 1970s/early 1980s; it is said to have been archaic then, and may now be obsolete. It was coined in revolt against the promiscuous use of word for anything between 16 and 32 bits; word has an additional special meaning for FORTH hacks that made the overloading intolerable. For similar reasons, /gawbl/ (spelled gawble or possibly gawbul ) was in use as a term for 32 or 48 bits (presumably a full machine word, but our sources are unclear on this). These terms are more easily understood if one thinks of them as faithful phonetic spellings of chomp and gobble pronounced in a Florida or other Southern U.S. dialect. For general discussion of similar terms, see nybble. +n. [University of Florida] 16 or 18 bits (half of a machine word). This term +was used by FORTH hackers during the late 1970s/early 1980s; it is said to +have been archaic then, and may now be obsolete. It was coined in revolt +against the promiscuous use of word for anything between 16 and 32 bits; +word has an additional special meaning for FORTH hacks that made the +overloading intolerable. For similar reasons, /gawbl/ (spelled gawble or +possibly gawbul ) was in use as a term for 32 or 48 bits (presumably a full +machine word, but our sources are unclear on this). These terms are more +easily understood if one thinks of them as faithful phonetic spellings of +chomp and gobble pronounced in a Florida or other Southern U.S. dialect. For +general discussion of similar terms, see nybble. + diff --git a/entries/check.txt b/entries/check.txt index ec0f0dc..ed3bf07 100644 --- a/entries/check.txt +++ b/entries/check.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ check -n. A hardware-detected error condition, most commonly used to refer to actual hardware failures rather than software-induced traps. E.g., a parity check is the result of a hardware-detected parity error. Recorded here because the word often humorously extended to non-technical problems. For example, the term child check has been used to refer to the problems caused by a small child who is curious to know what happens when s/he presses all the cute buttons on a computer's console (of course, this particular problem could have been prevented with molly-guard s). +n. A hardware-detected error condition, most commonly used to refer to +actual hardware failures rather than software-induced traps. E.g., a parity +check is the result of a hardware-detected parity error. Recorded here +because the word often humorously extended to non-technical problems. For +example, the term child check has been used to refer to the problems caused +by a small child who is curious to know what happens when s/he presses all +the cute buttons on a computer's console (of course, this particular problem +could have been prevented with molly-guard s). + diff --git a/entries/cheerfully.txt b/entries/cheerfully.txt index f8b46c5..f1e5db9 100644 --- a/entries/cheerfully.txt +++ b/entries/cheerfully.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ cheerfully adv. See happily. + diff --git a/entries/chemist.txt b/entries/chemist.txt index 51adf05..94bf430 100644 --- a/entries/chemist.txt +++ b/entries/chemist.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ chemist -n. [Cambridge] Someone who wastes computer time on number-crunching when you'd far rather the machine were doing something more productive, such as working out anagrams of your name or printing Snoopy calendars or running life patterns. May or may not refer to someone who actually studies chemistry. +n. [Cambridge] Someone who wastes computer time on number-crunching when +you'd far rather the machine were doing something more productive, such as +working out anagrams of your name or printing Snoopy calendars or running +life patterns. May or may not refer to someone who actually studies +chemistry. + diff --git a/entries/chicken head.txt b/entries/chicken head.txt index 9d78922..a45900a 100644 --- a/entries/chicken head.txt +++ b/entries/chicken head.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ chicken head -n. [Commodore] The Commodore Business Machines logo, which strongly resembles a poultry part (within Commodore itself the logo was always called chicken lips ). Rendered in ASCII as C=. With the arguable exception of the Amiga , Commodore's machines were notoriously crocky little bitty box es, albeit people have written multitasking Unix-like operating systems with TCP/IP networking for them. Thus, this usage may owe something to Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the basis for the movie Blade Runner ; the novel is now sold under that title), in which a chickenhead is a mutant with below-average intelligence. +n. [Commodore] The Commodore Business Machines logo, which strongly +resembles a poultry part (within Commodore itself the logo was always called +chicken lips ). Rendered in ASCII as C=. With the arguable exception of the +Amiga , Commodore's machines were notoriously crocky little bitty box es, +albeit people have written multitasking Unix-like operating systems with +TCP/IP networking for them. Thus, this usage may owe something to Philip K. +Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the basis for the movie +Blade Runner ; the novel is now sold under that title), in which a +chickenhead is a mutant with below-average intelligence. + diff --git a/entries/chickenboner.txt b/entries/chickenboner.txt index ca5e60c..7a2b601 100644 --- a/entries/chickenboner.txt +++ b/entries/chickenboner.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ chickenboner -n. [spamfighters] Derogatory term for a spammer. The image that goes with it is of an overweight redneck with bad teeth living in a trailer, hunched in semi-darkness over his computer and surrounded by rotting chicken bones in half-eaten KFC buckets and empty beer cans. See http://www.spamfaq.net/terminology.shtml#chickenboner for discussion. +n. [spamfighters] Derogatory term for a spammer. The image that goes with it +is of an overweight redneck with bad teeth living in a trailer, hunched in +semi-darkness over his computer and surrounded by rotting chicken bones in +half-eaten KFC buckets and empty beer cans. See +http://www.spamfaq.net/terminology.shtml#chickenboner for discussion. + diff --git a/entries/chiclet keyboard.txt b/entries/chiclet keyboard.txt index 2d22331..1698d4d 100644 --- a/entries/chiclet keyboard.txt +++ b/entries/chiclet keyboard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ chiclet keyboard -n. A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of chewing gum. (Chiclets is the brand name of a variety of chewing gum that does in fact resemble the keys of chiclet keyboards.) Used esp. to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop products got launched using them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more. +n. A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or +plastic keys that look like pieces of chewing gum. (Chiclets is the brand +name of a variety of chewing gum that does in fact resemble the keys of +chiclet keyboards.) Used esp. to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. +Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early +portable and laptop products got launched using them. Customers rejected the +idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on +anything larger than a digital watch any more. + diff --git a/entries/choad.txt b/entries/choad.txt index 50c66fd..c95689a 100644 --- a/entries/choad.txt +++ b/entries/choad.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ choad -/chohd/ , n. Synonym for penis used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the denizens thereof. They say: We think maybe it's from Middle English but we're all too damned lazy to check the OED. [I'm not. It isn't. ESR] This term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground comics, and to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead cartoons. Speakers of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have confirmed that choad is in fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent to fuck ; it is therefore likely to have entered English slang via the British Raj. +/chohd/ , n. Synonym for penis used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the +denizens thereof. They say: We think maybe it's from Middle English but +we're all too damned lazy to check the OED. [I'm not. It isn't. ESR] This +term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground comics, and +to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead cartoons. Speakers +of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have confirmed that choad is in +fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent to fuck ; it is therefore likely +to have entered English slang via the British Raj. + diff --git a/entries/choke.txt b/entries/choke.txt index 58a1cbd..7f6f5f8 100644 --- a/entries/choke.txt +++ b/entries/choke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ choke -v. [common] To reject input, often ungracefully. NULs make System V's lpr (1) choke. I tried building an EMACS binary to use X , but cpp (1) choked on all those #define s. See barf , vi. +v. [common] To reject input, often ungracefully. NULs make System V's lpr +(1) choke. I tried building an EMACS binary to use X , but cpp (1) choked on +all those #define s. See barf , vi. + diff --git a/entries/chomp.txt b/entries/chomp.txt index 02b3962..d246fc0 100644 --- a/entries/chomp.txt +++ b/entries/chomp.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ chomp -vi. 1. To lose ; specifically, to chew on something of which more was bitten off than one can. Probably related to gnashing of teeth. 2. To bite the bag; See bagbiter. A hand gesture commonly accompanies this. To perform it, hold the four fingers together and place the thumb against their tips. Now open and close your hand rapidly to suggest a biting action (much like what Pac-Man does in the classic video game, though this pantomime seems to predate that). The gesture alone means chomp chomp (see Verb Doubling in the Jargon Construction section of the Prependices). The hand may be pointed at the object of complaint, and for real emphasis you can use both hands at once. Doing this to a person is equivalent to saying You chomper! If you point the gesture at yourself, it is a humble but humorous admission of some failure. You might do this if someone told you that a program you had written had failed in some surprising way and you felt dumb for not having anticipated it. +vi. 1. To lose ; specifically, to chew on something of which more was bitten +off than one can. Probably related to gnashing of teeth. 2. To bite the bag; +See bagbiter. A hand gesture commonly accompanies this. To perform it, hold +the four fingers together and place the thumb against their tips. Now open +and close your hand rapidly to suggest a biting action (much like what +Pac-Man does in the classic video game, though this pantomime seems to +predate that). The gesture alone means chomp chomp (see Verb Doubling in the +Jargon Construction section of the Prependices). The hand may be pointed at +the object of complaint, and for real emphasis you can use both hands at +once. Doing this to a person is equivalent to saying You chomper! If you +point the gesture at yourself, it is a humble but humorous admission of some +failure. You might do this if someone told you that a program you had +written had failed in some surprising way and you felt dumb for not having +anticipated it. + diff --git a/entries/chomper.txt b/entries/chomper.txt index 5137615..321bc7a 100644 --- a/entries/chomper.txt +++ b/entries/chomper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ chomper -n. Someone or something that is chomping; a loser. See loser , bagbiter , chomp. +n. Someone or something that is chomping; a loser. See loser , bagbiter , +chomp. + diff --git a/entries/chrome.txt b/entries/chrome.txt index 3e9a208..4f0b5d2 100644 --- a/entries/chrome.txt +++ b/entries/chrome.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ chrome -n. [from automotive slang via wargaming] Showy features added to attract users but contributing little or nothing to the power of a system. The 3D icons in Motif are just chrome, but they certainly are pretty chrome! Distinguished from bells and whistles by the fact that the latter are usually added to gratify developers' own desires for featurefulness. Often used as a term of contempt. +n. [from automotive slang via wargaming] Showy features added to attract +users but contributing little or nothing to the power of a system. The 3D +icons in Motif are just chrome, but they certainly are pretty chrome! +Distinguished from bells and whistles by the fact that the latter are +usually added to gratify developers' own desires for featurefulness. Often +used as a term of contempt. + diff --git a/entries/chug.txt b/entries/chug.txt index 8c2e613..d39844c 100644 --- a/entries/chug.txt +++ b/entries/chug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ chug vi. To run slowly; to grind or grovel. The disk is chugging like crazy. + diff --git a/entries/clean.txt b/entries/clean.txt index 87982a5..6217aa9 100644 --- a/entries/clean.txt +++ b/entries/clean.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ clean -Used of hardware or software designs, implies elegance in the small , that is, a design or implementation that may not hold any surprises but does things in a way that is reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to comprehend from the outside. The antonym is grungy or crufty. 2. v. To remove unneeded or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter: I'm cleaning up my account. I cleaned up the garbage and now have 100 Meg free on that partition. +Used of hardware or software designs, implies elegance in the small , that +is, a design or implementation that may not hold any surprises but does +things in a way that is reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to +comprehend from the outside. The antonym is grungy or crufty. 2. v. To +remove unneeded or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter: I'm +cleaning up my account. I cleaned up the garbage and now have 100 Meg free +on that partition. + diff --git a/entries/click of death.txt b/entries/click of death.txt index ba20d6a..7b40c0c 100644 --- a/entries/click of death.txt +++ b/entries/click of death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ click of death -n. A syndrome of certain Iomega ZIP drives, named for the clicking noise that is caused by the malady. An affected drive will, after accepting a disk, will start making a clicking noise and refuse to eject the disk. A common solution for retrieving the disk is to insert the bent end of a paper clip into a small hole adjacent to the slot. Clicked disks are generally unusable after being retrieved from the drive. The clicking noise is caused by the drive's read/write head bumping against its movement stops when it fails to find track 0 on the disk, causing the head to become misaligned. This can happen when the drive has been subjected to a physical shock, or when the disk is exposed to an electromagnetic field, such as that of the CRT. Another common cause is when a package of disks is armed with an anti-theft strip at a store. When the clerk scans the product to disarm the strip, it can demagnetize the disks, wiping out track 0. There is evidence that the click of death is a communicable disease; a clicked disk can cause the read/write head of a clean drive to become misaligned. Iomega at first denied the existence of the click of death, but eventually offered to replace free of charge any drives affected by the condition. +n. A syndrome of certain Iomega ZIP drives, named for the clicking noise +that is caused by the malady. An affected drive will, after accepting a +disk, will start making a clicking noise and refuse to eject the disk. A +common solution for retrieving the disk is to insert the bent end of a paper +clip into a small hole adjacent to the slot. Clicked disks are generally +unusable after being retrieved from the drive. The clicking noise is caused +by the drive's read/write head bumping against its movement stops when it +fails to find track 0 on the disk, causing the head to become misaligned. +This can happen when the drive has been subjected to a physical shock, or +when the disk is exposed to an electromagnetic field, such as that of the +CRT. Another common cause is when a package of disks is armed with an +anti-theft strip at a store. When the clerk scans the product to disarm the +strip, it can demagnetize the disks, wiping out track 0. There is evidence +that the click of death is a communicable disease; a clicked disk can cause +the read/write head of a clean drive to become misaligned. Iomega at first +denied the existence of the click of death, but eventually offered to +replace free of charge any drives affected by the condition. + diff --git a/entries/clobber.txt b/entries/clobber.txt index c120600..d7d8bc2 100644 --- a/entries/clobber.txt +++ b/entries/clobber.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ clobber -vt. To overwrite, usually unintentionally: I walked off the end of the array and clobbered the stack. Compare mung , scribble , trash , and smash the stack. +vt. To overwrite, usually unintentionally: I walked off the end of the array +and clobbered the stack. Compare mung , scribble , trash , and smash the +stack. + diff --git a/entries/clock.txt b/entries/clock.txt index 54f9541..1fd60d1 100644 --- a/entries/clock.txt +++ b/entries/clock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ clock -The master oscillator that steps a CPU or other digital circuit through its paces. This has nothing to do with the time of day, although the software counter that keeps track of the latter may be derived from the former. 2. vt. To run a CPU or other digital circuit at a particular rate. If you clock it at 1000MHz, it gets warm.. See overclock. 3. vt. To force a digital circuit from one state to the next by applying a single clock pulse. The data must be stable 10ns before you clock the latch. +The master oscillator that steps a CPU or other digital circuit through its +paces. This has nothing to do with the time of day, although the software +counter that keeps track of the latter may be derived from the former. 2. +vt. To run a CPU or other digital circuit at a particular rate. If you clock +it at 1000MHz, it gets warm.. See overclock. 3. vt. To force a digital +circuit from one state to the next by applying a single clock pulse. The +data must be stable 10ns before you clock the latch. + diff --git a/entries/clocks.txt b/entries/clocks.txt index ea31ddd..3d12e38 100644 --- a/entries/clocks.txt +++ b/entries/clocks.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ clocks -n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each generally corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor's timing. The relative execution times of instructions on a machine are usually discussed in clocks rather than absolute fractions of a second; one good reason for this is that clock speeds for various models of the machine may increase as technology improves, and it is usually the relative times one is interested in when discussing the instruction set. Compare cycle , jiffy. +n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each generally corresponds to +one clock pulse in the processor's timing. The relative execution times of +instructions on a machine are usually discussed in clocks rather than +absolute fractions of a second; one good reason for this is that clock +speeds for various models of the machine may increase as technology +improves, and it is usually the relative times one is interested in when +discussing the instruction set. Compare cycle , jiffy. + diff --git a/entries/clone-and-hack coding.txt b/entries/clone-and-hack coding.txt index d6ebf35..33f5268 100644 --- a/entries/clone-and-hack coding.txt +++ b/entries/clone-and-hack coding.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ clone-and-hack coding n. [DEC] Syn. case and paste. + diff --git a/entries/clone.txt b/entries/clone.txt index 61fd518..fa3c26e 100644 --- a/entries/clone.txt +++ b/entries/clone.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ clone -n. 1. An exact duplicate: Our product is a clone of their product. Implies a legal reimplementation from documentation or by reverse-engineering. Also connotes lower price. 2. A shoddy, spurious copy: Their product is a clone of our product. 3. A blatant ripoff, most likely violating copyright, patent, or trade secret protections: Your product is a clone of my product. This use implies legal action is pending. 4. [obs] PC clone: a PC-BUS/ISA/EISA/PCI-compatible 80x86-based microcomputer (this use is sometimes spelled klone or PClone ). These invariably have much more bang for the buck than the IBM archetypes they resemble. This term fell out of use in the 1990s; the class of machines it describes are now simply PCs or Intel machines. 5. [obs. +n. 1. An exact duplicate: Our product is a clone of their product. Implies a +legal reimplementation from documentation or by reverse-engineering. Also +connotes lower price. 2. A shoddy, spurious copy: Their product is a clone +of our product. 3. A blatant ripoff, most likely violating copyright, +patent, or trade secret protections: Your product is a clone of my product. +This use implies legal action is pending. 4. [obs] PC clone: a +PC-BUS/ISA/EISA/PCI-compatible 80x86-based microcomputer (this use is +sometimes spelled klone or PClone ). These invariably have much more bang +for the buck than the IBM archetypes they resemble. This term fell out of +use in the 1990s; the class of machines it describes are now simply PCs or +Intel machines. 5. [obs. + diff --git a/entries/clover key.txt b/entries/clover key.txt index d9dae3d..4eddf41 100644 --- a/entries/clover key.txt +++ b/entries/clover key.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ clover key n. [Mac users] See feature key. + diff --git a/entries/clue-by-four.txt b/entries/clue-by-four.txt index 1b766a5..e3717a2 100644 --- a/entries/clue-by-four.txt +++ b/entries/clue-by-four.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ clue-by-four -The notional stick with which one whacks an aggressively clueless person. This term derives from a western American folk saying about training a mule First, you got to hit him with a two-by-four. That's to get his attention. The clue-by-four is a close relative of the LART. Syn. clue stick. +The notional stick with which one whacks an aggressively clueless person. +This term derives from a western American folk saying about training a mule +First, you got to hit him with a two-by-four. That's to get his attention. +The clue-by-four is a close relative of the LART. Syn. clue stick. + diff --git a/entries/clustergeeking.txt b/entries/clustergeeking.txt index 9c69c14..1cc5dbd 100644 --- a/entries/clustergeeking.txt +++ b/entries/clustergeeking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ clustergeeking -/kluhst@rgee`king/ , n. [CMU] Spending more time at a computer cluster doing CS homework than most people spend breathing. +/kluhst@rgee`king/ , n. [CMU] Spending more time at a computer cluster doing +CS homework than most people spend breathing. + diff --git a/entries/co-lo.txt b/entries/co-lo.txt index ee7b82d..ea9d510 100644 --- a/entries/co-lo.txt +++ b/entries/co-lo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ co-lo -/kohloh`/ , n. [very common; first heard c.1995] Short for co-location , used of a machine you own that is physically sited on the premises of an ISP in order to take advantage of the ISP's direct access to lots of network bandwidth. Often in the phrases co-lo box or co-lo machines. Co-lo boxes are typically web and FTP servers remote-administered by their owners, who may seldom or never visit the actual site. +/kohloh`/ , n. [very common; first heard c.1995] Short for co-location , +used of a machine you own that is physically sited on the premises of an ISP +in order to take advantage of the ISP's direct access to lots of network +bandwidth. Often in the phrases co-lo box or co-lo machines. Co-lo boxes are +typically web and FTP servers remote-administered by their owners, who may +seldom or never visit the actual site. + diff --git a/entries/coaster toaster.txt b/entries/coaster toaster.txt index 342fb10..9596c80 100644 --- a/entries/coaster toaster.txt +++ b/entries/coaster toaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ coaster toaster -A writer for recordable CD-Rs, especially cheap IDE models that tend to produce a high proportion of coaster s. +A writer for recordable CD-Rs, especially cheap IDE models that tend to +produce a high proportion of coaster s. + diff --git a/entries/coaster.txt b/entries/coaster.txt index db5aa75..78ea424 100644 --- a/entries/coaster.txt +++ b/entries/coaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ coaster -n. 1. Unuseable CD produced during failed attempt at writing to writeable or re-writeable CD media. Certainly related to the coaster-like shape of a CD, and the relative value of these failures. I made a lot of coasters before I got a good CD. 2. Useless CDs received in the mail from the likes of AOL, MSN, CI$, Prodigy, ad nauseam. In the U.K., beermat is often used in these senses. +n. 1. Unuseable CD produced during failed attempt at writing to writeable or +re-writeable CD media. Certainly related to the coaster-like shape of a CD, +and the relative value of these failures. I made a lot of coasters before I +got a good CD. 2. Useless CDs received in the mail from the likes of AOL, +MSN, CI$, Prodigy, ad nauseam. In the U.K., beermat is often used in these +senses. + diff --git a/entries/cobweb site.txt b/entries/cobweb site.txt index a389060..14afd57 100644 --- a/entries/cobweb site.txt +++ b/entries/cobweb site.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ cobweb site -n. A World Wide Web Site that hasn't been updated so long it has figuratively grown cobwebs. +n. A World Wide Web Site that hasn't been updated so long it has +figuratively grown cobwebs. + diff --git a/entries/code grinder.txt b/entries/code grinder.txt index 0274415..7ccb406 100644 --- a/entries/code grinder.txt +++ b/entries/code grinder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ code grinder -n. 1. A suit -wearing minion of the sort hired in legion strength by banks and insurance companies to implement payroll packages in RPG and other such unspeakable horrors. In its native habitat, the code grinder often removes the suit jacket to reveal an underplumage consisting of button-down shirt (starch optional) and a tie. In times of dire stress, the sleeves (if long) may be rolled up and the tie loosened about half an inch. It seldom helps. The code grinder 's milieu is about as far from hackerdom as one can get and still touch a computer; the term connotes pity. See Real World , suit. 2. Used of or to a hacker, a really serious slur on the person's creative ability; connotes a design style characterized by primitive technique, rule-boundedness, brute force , and utter lack of imagination. Contrast hacker , Real Programmer. +n. 1. A suit -wearing minion of the sort hired in legion strength by banks +and insurance companies to implement payroll packages in RPG and other such +unspeakable horrors. In its native habitat, the code grinder often removes +the suit jacket to reveal an underplumage consisting of button-down shirt +(starch optional) and a tie. In times of dire stress, the sleeves (if long) +may be rolled up and the tie loosened about half an inch. It seldom helps. +The code grinder 's milieu is about as far from hackerdom as one can get and +still touch a computer; the term connotes pity. See Real World , suit. 2. +Used of or to a hacker, a really serious slur on the person's creative +ability; connotes a design style characterized by primitive technique, +rule-boundedness, brute force , and utter lack of imagination. Contrast +hacker , Real Programmer. + diff --git a/entries/code monkey.txt b/entries/code monkey.txt index a48d4c1..77ec51f 100644 --- a/entries/code monkey.txt +++ b/entries/code monkey.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ code monkey -n 1. A person only capable of grinding out code, but unable to perform the higher-primate tasks of software architecture, analysis, and design. Mildly insulting. Often applied to the most junior people on a programming team. 2. Anyone who writes code for a living; a programmer. 3. A self-deprecating way of denying responsibility for a management decision, or of complaining about having to live with such decisions. As in Don't ask me why we need to write a compiler in COBOL, I'm just a code monkey. +n 1. A person only capable of grinding out code, but unable to perform the +higher-primate tasks of software architecture, analysis, and design. Mildly +insulting. Often applied to the most junior people on a programming team. 2. +Anyone who writes code for a living; a programmer. 3. A self-deprecating way +of denying responsibility for a management decision, or of complaining about +having to live with such decisions. As in Don't ask me why we need to write +a compiler in COBOL, I'm just a code monkey. + diff --git a/entries/code police.txt b/entries/code police.txt index c465ed1..5bacdba 100644 --- a/entries/code police.txt +++ b/entries/code police.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ code police -n. [by analogy with George Orwell's thought police ] A mythical team of Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst into one's office and arrest one for violating programming style rules. May be used either seriously, to underline a claim that a particular style violation is dangerous, or ironically, to suggest that the practice under discussion is condemned mainly by anal-retentive weenie s. Dike out that goto or the code police will get you! The ironic usage is perhaps more common. +n. [by analogy with George Orwell's thought police ] A mythical team of +Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst into one's office and arrest +one for violating programming style rules. May be used either seriously, to +underline a claim that a particular style violation is dangerous, or +ironically, to suggest that the practice under discussion is condemned +mainly by anal-retentive weenie s. Dike out that goto or the code police +will get you! The ironic usage is perhaps more common. + diff --git a/entries/code.txt b/entries/code.txt index 83fde9a..5752c3f 100644 --- a/entries/code.txt +++ b/entries/code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ code -1. n. The stuff that software writers write, either in source form or after translation by a compiler or assembler. Often used in opposition to data , which is the stuff that operates on. Among hackers this is a mass noun, as in How much does it take to do a bubble sort ? , or The is loaded at the high end of RAM. Among scientific programmers it is sometimes a count noun equilvalent to program ; thus they may speak of s in the plural. Anyone referring to software as the software s is probably a newbie or a suit. 2. v. To write. In this sense, always refers to source rather than compiled. I d an Emacs clone in two hours! This verb is a bit of a cultural marker associated with the Unix and minicomputer traditions (and lately Linux); people within that culture prefer v. to v. program whereas outside it the reverse is normally true. +1. n. The stuff that software writers write, either in source form or after +translation by a compiler or assembler. Often used in opposition to data , +which is the stuff that operates on. Among hackers this is a mass noun, as +in How much does it take to do a bubble sort ? , or The is loaded at the +high end of RAM. Among scientific programmers it is sometimes a count noun +equilvalent to program ; thus they may speak of s in the plural. Anyone +referring to software as the software s is probably a newbie or a suit. 2. +v. To write. In this sense, always refers to source rather than compiled. I +d an Emacs clone in two hours! This verb is a bit of a cultural marker +associated with the Unix and minicomputer traditions (and lately Linux); +people within that culture prefer v. to v. program whereas outside it the +reverse is normally true. + diff --git a/entries/codes.txt b/entries/codes.txt index 397e670..0e60b9d 100644 --- a/entries/codes.txt +++ b/entries/codes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ codes -n. [scientific computing] Programs. This usage is common in people who hack supercomputers and heavy-duty number-crunching , rare to unknown elsewhere (if you say codes to hackers outside scientific computing, their first association is likely to be and cyphers ). +n. [scientific computing] Programs. This usage is common in people who hack +supercomputers and heavy-duty number-crunching , rare to unknown elsewhere +(if you say codes to hackers outside scientific computing, their first +association is likely to be and cyphers ). + diff --git a/entries/codewalker.txt b/entries/codewalker.txt index 092cc43..bbe2af0 100644 --- a/entries/codewalker.txt +++ b/entries/codewalker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ codewalker -n. A program component that traverses other programs for a living. Compilers have codewalkers in their front ends; so do cross-reference generators and some database front ends. Other utility programs that try to do too much with source code may turn into codewalkers. As in This new vgrind feature would require a codewalker to implement. +n. A program component that traverses other programs for a living. Compilers +have codewalkers in their front ends; so do cross-reference generators and +some database front ends. Other utility programs that try to do too much +with source code may turn into codewalkers. As in This new vgrind feature +would require a codewalker to implement. + diff --git a/entries/coefficient of X.txt b/entries/coefficient of X.txt index 3c4303b..b48a496 100644 --- a/entries/coefficient of X.txt +++ b/entries/coefficient of X.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ coefficient of X -n. Hackish speech makes heavy use of pseudo-mathematical metaphors. Four particularly important ones involve the terms coefficient , factor , index of X , and quotient. They are often loosely applied to things you cannot really be quantitative about, but there are subtle distinctions among them that convey information about the way the speaker mentally models whatever he or she is describing. Foo factor and foo quotient tend to describe something for which the issue is one of presence or absence. The canonical example is fudge factor. It's not important how much you're fudging; the term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed. You might talk of liking a movie for its silliness factor. Quotient tends to imply that the property is a ratio of two opposing factors: I would have won except for my luck quotient. This could also be I would have won except for the luck factor , but using quotient emphasizes that it was bad luck overpowering good luck (or someone else's good luck overpowering your own). Foo index and coefficient of foo both tend to imply that foo is, if not strictly measurable, at least something that can be larger or smaller. Thus, you might refer to a paper or person as having a high bogosity index , whereas you would be less likely to speak of a high bogosity factor. Foo index suggests that foo is a condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane cost-of-living index; coefficient of foo suggests that foo is a fundamental quantity, as in a coefficient of friction. The choice between these terms is often one of personal preference; e.g., some people might feel that bogosity is a fundamental attribute and thus say coefficient of bogosity , whereas others might feel it is a combination of factors and thus say bogosity index. +n. Hackish speech makes heavy use of pseudo-mathematical metaphors. Four +particularly important ones involve the terms coefficient , factor , index +of X , and quotient. They are often loosely applied to things you cannot +really be quantitative about, but there are subtle distinctions among them +that convey information about the way the speaker mentally models whatever +he or she is describing. Foo factor and foo quotient tend to describe +something for which the issue is one of presence or absence. The canonical +example is fudge factor. It's not important how much you're fudging; the +term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed. You might talk of +liking a movie for its silliness factor. Quotient tends to imply that the +property is a ratio of two opposing factors: I would have won except for my +luck quotient. This could also be I would have won except for the luck +factor , but using quotient emphasizes that it was bad luck overpowering +good luck (or someone else's good luck overpowering your own). Foo index and +coefficient of foo both tend to imply that foo is, if not strictly +measurable, at least something that can be larger or smaller. Thus, you +might refer to a paper or person as having a high bogosity index , whereas +you would be less likely to speak of a high bogosity factor. Foo index +suggests that foo is a condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane +cost-of-living index; coefficient of foo suggests that foo is a fundamental +quantity, as in a coefficient of friction. The choice between these terms is +often one of personal preference; e.g., some people might feel that bogosity +is a fundamental attribute and thus say coefficient of bogosity , whereas +others might feel it is a combination of factors and thus say bogosity +index. + diff --git a/entries/cokebottle.txt b/entries/cokebottle.txt index 7b694d0..935dc47 100644 --- a/entries/cokebottle.txt +++ b/entries/cokebottle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ cokebottle -/kohkbotl/ , n. Any very unusual character, particularly one you can't type because it isn't on your keyboard. MIT people used to complain about the control-meta-cokebottle commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained right back about the escape-escape-cokebottle commands at MIT. After the demise of the space-cadet keyboard , cokebottle faded away as serious usage, but was often invoked humorously to describe an (unspecified) weird or non-intuitive keystroke command. It may be due for a second inning, however. The OSF/Motif window manager, mwm (1) , has a reserved keystroke for switching to the default set of keybindings and behavior. This keystroke is (believe it or not) control-meta-bang (see bang ). Since the exclamation point looks a lot like an upside down Coke bottle, Motif hackers have begun referring to this keystroke as cokebottle. See also quadruple bucky. +/kohkbotl/ , n. Any very unusual character, particularly one you can't type +because it isn't on your keyboard. MIT people used to complain about the +control-meta-cokebottle commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained right +back about the escape-escape-cokebottle commands at MIT. After the demise of +the space-cadet keyboard , cokebottle faded away as serious usage, but was +often invoked humorously to describe an (unspecified) weird or non-intuitive +keystroke command. It may be due for a second inning, however. The OSF/Motif +window manager, mwm (1) , has a reserved keystroke for switching to the +default set of keybindings and behavior. This keystroke is (believe it or +not) control-meta-bang (see bang ). Since the exclamation point looks a lot +like an upside down Coke bottle, Motif hackers have begun referring to this +keystroke as cokebottle. See also quadruple bucky. + diff --git a/entries/cold boot.txt b/entries/cold boot.txt index 97eb401..282ede0 100644 --- a/entries/cold boot.txt +++ b/entries/cold boot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ cold boot n. See boot. + diff --git a/entries/comm mode.txt b/entries/comm mode.txt index c176812..300717f 100644 --- a/entries/comm mode.txt +++ b/entries/comm mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ comm mode -/kom mohd/ , n. [ITS: from the feature supporting on-line chat; the first word may be spelled with one or two m's] Syn. for talk mode. +/kom mohd/ , n. [ITS: from the feature supporting on-line chat; the first +word may be spelled with one or two m's] Syn. for talk mode. + diff --git a/entries/command key.txt b/entries/command key.txt index dc781fa..fd8ac52 100644 --- a/entries/command key.txt +++ b/entries/command key.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ command key n. [Mac users] Syn. feature key. + diff --git a/entries/comment out.txt b/entries/comment out.txt index 95c95d9..1fec06c 100644 --- a/entries/comment out.txt +++ b/entries/comment out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ 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 is being left in the source to make 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 as C ) that make it possible. +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 is being left in the source to make 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 as C ) that make it +possible. + diff --git a/entries/compact.txt b/entries/compact.txt index c6920e7..277086d 100644 --- a/entries/compact.txt +++ b/entries/compact.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ 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 is not compact. Compactness does not 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 design scheme (thus, some fans of Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer 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 is not compact. Compactness does not 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 design scheme +(thus, some fans of Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer compact). + diff --git a/entries/compiler jock.txt b/entries/compiler jock.txt index b8179b8..b65110b 100644 --- a/entries/compiler jock.txt +++ b/entries/compiler jock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ compiler jock n. See jock (sense 2). + diff --git a/entries/compo.txt b/entries/compo.txt index 5a8eb34..73286d0 100644 --- a/entries/compo.txt +++ b/entries/compo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ compo -n. [ demoscene ] Finnish-originated slang for competition. Demo compos are held at a demoparty. The usual protocol is that several groups make demos for a compo, they are shown on a big screen, and then the party participants vote for the best one. Prizes (from sponsors and party entrance fees) are given. Standard compo formats include intro compos (4k or 64k demos), music compos, graphics compos, quick demo compos (build a demo within 4 hours for example), etc. +n. [ demoscene ] Finnish-originated slang for competition. Demo compos are +held at a demoparty. The usual protocol is that several groups make demos +for a compo, they are shown on a big screen, and then the party participants +vote for the best one. Prizes (from sponsors and party entrance fees) are +given. Standard compo formats include intro compos (4k or 64k demos), music +compos, graphics compos, quick demo compos (build a demo within 4 hours for +example), etc. + diff --git a/entries/compress.txt b/entries/compress.txt index aad2d89..5ce9c56 100644 --- a/entries/compress.txt +++ b/entries/compress.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ compress -vt. [Unix] When used without a qualifier, generally refers to crunch ing of a file using a particular C implementation of compression by Joseph M. Orost et al.: and widely circulated via Usenet ; use of crunch itself in this sense is rare among Unix hackers. Specifically, compress is built around the Lempel-Ziv-Welch algorithm as described in A Technique for High Performance Data Compression , Terry A. Welch, IEEE Computer , vol. 17, no. 6 (June 1984), pp. 8--19. +vt. [Unix] When used without a qualifier, generally refers to crunch ing of +a file using a particular C implementation of compression by Joseph M. Orost +et al.: and widely circulated via Usenet ; use of crunch itself in this +sense is rare among Unix hackers. Specifically, compress is built around the +Lempel-Ziv-Welch algorithm as described in A Technique for High Performance +Data Compression , Terry A. Welch, IEEE Computer , vol. 17, no. 6 (June +1984), pp. 8--19. + diff --git a/entries/computer confetti.txt b/entries/computer confetti.txt index 5fa06a5..5554126 100644 --- a/entries/computer confetti.txt +++ b/entries/computer confetti.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ computer confetti -n. Syn. chad. [obs.] Though this term was common at one time, this use of 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 which he and a few other guests 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. [2001 update: this term has passed out of use for two reasons; (1) the stuff it describes is now quite rare, and (2) the term chad , which was half-forgotten in 1990, has enjoyed a revival. +n. Syn. chad. [obs.] Though this term was common at one time, this use of +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 which he and a few other guests 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. [2001 +update: this term has passed out of use for two reasons; (1) the stuff it +describes is now quite rare, and (2) the term chad , which was +half-forgotten in 1990, has enjoyed a revival. + diff --git a/entries/computron.txt b/entries/computron.txt index 151e631..5cd2d89 100644 --- a/entries/computron.txt +++ b/entries/computron.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ computron -/kompyootron`/ , n. 1. [common] 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 run GNU Emacs, it doesn't have 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 mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of computation or information, in much the same way that an electron bears one unit of electric charge (see also bogon ). An elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons has been developed based on the physical fact that the molecules in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated. It is argued that an object melts because the molecules have lost their information about where they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons). This explains why computers get so hot and require air conditioning; they use up computrons. Conversely, it should be possible to cool down an object by placing it in the path of a computron beam. It is believed that this may also explain why machines that work at the factory fail in the computer room: the computrons there have been all used up by the other hardware. (The popularity of this theory probably owes something to the Warlock stories by Larry Niven, the best known being What Good is a Glass Dagger? , in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural resource called mana. +/kompyootron`/ , n. 1. [common] 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 run GNU Emacs, it doesn't have +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 +mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of computation or +information, in much the same way that an electron bears one unit of +electric charge (see also bogon ). An elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of +computrons has been developed based on the physical fact that the molecules +in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated. It is argued that an +object melts because the molecules have lost their information about where +they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons). This +explains why computers get so hot and require air conditioning; they use up +computrons. Conversely, it should be possible to cool down an object by +placing it in the path of a computron beam. It is believed that this may +also explain why machines that work at the factory fail in the computer +room: the computrons there have been all used up by the other hardware. (The +popularity of this theory probably owes something to the Warlock stories by +Larry Niven, the best known being What Good is a Glass Dagger? , in which +magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural resource called mana. + diff --git a/entries/con.txt b/entries/con.txt index 51677ad..de02414 100644 --- a/entries/con.txt +++ b/entries/con.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ con -n. [from SF fandom] A science-fiction convention. Not used of other sorts of conventions, such as professional meetings. This term, unlike many others imported from SF-fan slang, is widely recognized even by hackers who aren't fan s. We'd been corresponding on the net for months, then we met face-to-face at a con. +n. [from SF fandom] A science-fiction convention. Not used of other sorts of +conventions, such as professional meetings. This term, unlike many others +imported from SF-fan slang, is widely recognized even by hackers who aren't +fan s. We'd been corresponding on the net for months, then we met +face-to-face at a con. + diff --git a/entries/condition out.txt b/entries/condition out.txt index f941b1b..8cc2ade 100644 --- a/entries/condition out.txt +++ b/entries/condition out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ 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 of these directives are #if 0 (or #ifdef notdef , though some find the latter bletcherous ) and #endif in C. Compare comment 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 of these directives are #if 0 (or #ifdef notdef , though +some find the latter bletcherous ) and #endif in C. Compare comment out. + diff --git a/entries/condom.txt b/entries/condom.txt index f07a418..5637046 100644 --- a/entries/condom.txt +++ b/entries/condom.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ 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 shown to have a high failure rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk and can even fatally frustrate insertion. 2. The protective cladding on a light pipe. 3. +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 shown to have a high failure rate as drive mechanisms +attempt to access the disk and can even fatally frustrate insertion. 2. The +protective cladding on a light pipe. 3. + diff --git a/entries/confuser.txt b/entries/confuser.txt index 63d44d6..e71cb9d 100644 --- a/entries/confuser.txt +++ b/entries/confuser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ confuser -n. Common soundalike slang for computer. Usually encountered in compounds such as confuser room , personal confuser , confuser guru. Usage: silly. +n. Common soundalike slang for computer. Usually encountered in compounds +such as confuser room , personal confuser , confuser guru. Usage: silly. + diff --git a/entries/connector conspiracy.txt b/entries/connector conspiracy.txt index ff469a4..17823bd 100644 --- a/entries/connector conspiracy.txt +++ b/entries/connector conspiracy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ connector conspiracy -n. [probably came into prominence with the appearance of the KL-10 (one model of the PDP-10 ), none of whose connectors matched anything else] The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors of anything) to come up with new products that don't fit together with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive interface devices. (A closely related phenomenon, with a slightly different intent, is the habit manufacturers have of inventing new screw heads so that only Designated Persons, possessing the magic screwdrivers, can remove covers and make repairs or install options. A good 1990s example is the use of Torx screws for cable-TV set-top boxes. Older Apple Macintoshes took this one step further, requiring not only a long Torx screwdriver but a specialized case-cracking tool to open the box.) In these latter days of open-systems computing this term has fallen somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observation that Standards are great! There are so many of them to choose from! Compare backward combatability. +n. [probably came into prominence with the appearance of the KL-10 (one +model of the PDP-10 ), none of whose connectors matched anything else] The +tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors of +anything) to come up with new products that don't fit together with the old +stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive interface +devices. (A closely related phenomenon, with a slightly different intent, is +the habit manufacturers have of inventing new screw heads so that only +Designated Persons, possessing the magic screwdrivers, can remove covers and +make repairs or install options. A good 1990s example is the use of Torx +screws for cable-TV set-top boxes. Older Apple Macintoshes took this one +step further, requiring not only a long Torx screwdriver but a specialized +case-cracking tool to open the box.) In these latter days of open-systems +computing this term has fallen somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the +observation that Standards are great! There are so many of them to choose +from! Compare backward combatability. + diff --git a/entries/cons.txt b/entries/cons.txt index b5c085d..9230083 100644 --- a/entries/cons.txt +++ b/entries/cons.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ cons -/konz/ , /kons/ [from LISP] 1. vt. To add a new element to a specified list, esp. at the top. OK, cons picking a replacement for the console TTY onto the agenda. 2. +/konz/ , /kons/ [from LISP] 1. vt. To add a new element to a specified list, +esp. at the top. OK, cons picking a replacement for the console TTY onto the +agenda. 2. + diff --git a/entries/considered harmful.txt b/entries/considered harmful.txt index 6979ca5..15aec00 100644 --- a/entries/considered harmful.txt +++ b/entries/considered harmful.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ considered harmful -adj. [very common] Edsger W. Dijkstra's note in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM , Goto Statement Considered Harmful , fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars (text at http://www.acm.org/classics/ ). As it turns out , the title under which the letter appeared was actually supplied by CACM's editor, Niklaus Wirth. Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print an article taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. (Years afterwards, a contrary view was uttered in a CACM letter called, inevitably, Goto considered harmful considered harmful' '. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies have borne titles of the form X considered Y. The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realization that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke (the considered silly found at various places in this lexicon is related). +adj. [very common] Edsger W. Dijkstra's note in the March 1968 +Communications of the ACM , Goto Statement Considered Harmful , fired the +first salvo in the structured programming wars (text at +http://www.acm.org/classics/ ). As it turns out , the title under which the +letter appeared was actually supplied by CACM's editor, Niklaus Wirth. +Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful +that it will (by policy) no longer print an article taking so assertive a +position against a coding practice. (Years afterwards, a contrary view was +uttered in a CACM letter called, inevitably, Goto considered harmful +considered harmful' '. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both +serious papers and parodies have borne titles of the form X considered Y. +The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realization +that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a +persistent minor in-joke (the considered silly found at various places in +this lexicon is related). + diff --git a/entries/console jockey.txt b/entries/console jockey.txt index 565bb0d..930c25a 100644 --- a/entries/console jockey.txt +++ b/entries/console jockey.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ console jockey n. See terminal junkie. + diff --git a/entries/console.txt b/entries/console.txt index bc0eb4b..0342d92 100644 --- a/entries/console.txt +++ b/entries/console.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ console -n. 1. The operator's station of a mainframe. In times past, this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to anyone with fingers on its keys. Under Unix and other modern timesharing OSes, such privileges are guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the tty the system was booted from. Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is traditional for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from the console (on Unix, /dev/console). 2. On microcomputer Unix boxes, the main screen and keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a serial port). Typically only the console can do real graphics or run X. +n. 1. The operator's station of a mainframe. In times past, this was a +privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to anyone with fingers on +its keys. Under Unix and other modern timesharing OSes, such privileges are +guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the tty the system was +booted from. Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is traditional +for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from the console (on +Unix, /dev/console). 2. On microcomputer Unix boxes, the main screen and +keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a serial port). +Typically only the console can do real graphics or run X. + diff --git a/entries/content-free.txt b/entries/content-free.txt index a003e5a..4ba15f4 100644 --- a/entries/content-free.txt +++ b/entries/content-free.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ content-free -adj. [by analogy with techspeak context-free ] Used of a message that adds nothing to the recipient's knowledge. Though this adjective is sometimes applied to flamage , it more usually connotes derision for communication styles that exalt form over substance or are centered on concerns irrelevant to the subject ostensibly at hand. Perhaps most used with reference to speeches by company presidents and other professional manipulators. Content-free? Uh... that's anything printed on glossy paper. (See also four-color glossies. ) He gave a talk on the implications of electronic networks for postmodernism and the fin-de-siecle aesthetic. It was content-free. +adj. [by analogy with techspeak context-free ] Used of a message that adds +nothing to the recipient's knowledge. Though this adjective is sometimes +applied to flamage , it more usually connotes derision for communication +styles that exalt form over substance or are centered on concerns irrelevant +to the subject ostensibly at hand. Perhaps most used with reference to +speeches by company presidents and other professional manipulators. +Content-free? Uh... that's anything printed on glossy paper. (See also +four-color glossies. ) He gave a talk on the implications of electronic +networks for postmodernism and the fin-de-siecle aesthetic. It was +content-free. + diff --git a/entries/control-C.txt b/entries/control-C.txt index b19abdb..737b0ce 100644 --- a/entries/control-C.txt +++ b/entries/control-C.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ control-C -vi. 1. Stop whatever you are doing. From the interrupt character used on many operating systems to abort a running program. Considered silly. 2. interj. +vi. 1. Stop whatever you are doing. From the interrupt character used on +many operating systems to abort a running program. Considered silly. 2. +interj. + diff --git a/entries/control-O.txt b/entries/control-O.txt index 6efec86..96a07f9 100644 --- a/entries/control-O.txt +++ b/entries/control-O.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ control-O -vi. Stop talking. From the character used on some operating systems to abort output but allow the program to keep on running. Generally means that you are not interested in hearing anything more from that person, at least on that topic; a standard response to someone who is flaming. Considered silly. Compare control-S. +vi. Stop talking. From the character used on some operating systems to abort +output but allow the program to keep on running. Generally means that you +are not interested in hearing anything more from that person, at least on +that topic; a standard response to someone who is flaming. Considered silly. +Compare control-S. + diff --git a/entries/control-Q.txt b/entries/control-Q.txt index 3f6d03c..441f3eb 100644 --- a/entries/control-Q.txt +++ b/entries/control-Q.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ control-Q -vi. Resume. From the ASCII DC1 or XON character (the pronunciation /X-on/ is therefore also used), used to undo a previous control-S. +vi. Resume. From the ASCII DC1 or XON character (the pronunciation /X-on/ is +therefore also used), used to undo a previous control-S. + diff --git a/entries/control-S.txt b/entries/control-S.txt index a2c004e..a449265 100644 --- a/entries/control-S.txt +++ b/entries/control-S.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ control-S -vi. Stop talking for a second. From the ASCII DC3 or XOFF character (the pronunciation /X-of/ is therefore also used). Control-S differs from control-O in that the person is asked to stop talking (perhaps because you are on the phone) but will be allowed to continue when you're ready to listen to him as opposed to control-O, which has more of the meaning of Shut up. Considered silly. +vi. Stop talking for a second. From the ASCII DC3 or XOFF character (the +pronunciation /X-of/ is therefore also used). Control-S differs from +control-O in that the person is asked to stop talking (perhaps because you +are on the phone) but will be allowed to continue when you're ready to +listen to him as opposed to control-O, which has more of the meaning of Shut +up. Considered silly. + diff --git a/entries/cookbook.txt b/entries/cookbook.txt index 4271d7a..12f4045 100644 --- a/entries/cookbook.txt +++ b/entries/cookbook.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ cookbook -n. [from amateur electronics and radio] A book of small code segments that the reader can use to do various magic things in programs. Cookbooks, slavishly followed, can lead one into voodoo programming , but are useful for hackers trying to monkey up small programs in unknown languages. This function is analogous to the role of phrasebooks in human languages. +n. [from amateur electronics and radio] A book of small code segments that +the reader can use to do various magic things in programs. Cookbooks, +slavishly followed, can lead one into voodoo programming , but are useful +for hackers trying to monkey up small programs in unknown languages. This +function is analogous to the role of phrasebooks in human languages. + diff --git a/entries/cooked mode.txt b/entries/cooked mode.txt index 3f2e061..d5b4e59 100644 --- a/entries/cooked mode.txt +++ b/entries/cooked mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ cooked mode -n. [Unix, by opposition from raw mode ] The normal character-input mode, with interrupts enabled and with erase, kill and other special-character interpretations performed directly by the tty driver. Oppose raw mode , rare mode. This term is techspeak under Unix but jargon elsewhere; other operating systems often have similar mode distinctions, and the raw/rare/cooked way of describing them has spread widely along with the C language and other Unix exports. Most generally, cooked mode may refer to any mode of a system that does extensive preprocessing before presenting data to a program. +n. [Unix, by opposition from raw mode ] The normal character-input mode, +with interrupts enabled and with erase, kill and other special-character +interpretations performed directly by the tty driver. Oppose raw mode , rare +mode. This term is techspeak under Unix but jargon elsewhere; other +operating systems often have similar mode distinctions, and the +raw/rare/cooked way of describing them has spread widely along with the C +language and other Unix exports. Most generally, cooked mode may refer to +any mode of a system that does extensive preprocessing before presenting +data to a program. + diff --git a/entries/cookie bear.txt b/entries/cookie bear.txt index 6a8f98e..85984a6 100644 --- a/entries/cookie bear.txt +++ b/entries/cookie bear.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ cookie bear -n. obs. Original term, pre-Sesame-Street, for what is now universally called a cookie monster. A correspondent observes In those days, hackers were actually getting their yucks from...sit down now...Andy Williams. Yes, that Andy Williams. Seems he had a rather hip (by the standards of the day) TV variety show. One of the best parts of the show was the recurring cookie bear sketch. In these sketches, a guy in a bear suit tried all sorts of tricks to get a cookie out of Williams. The sketches would always end with Williams shrieking (and I don't mean figuratively), No cookies! Not now, not ever...NEVER!!! And the bear would fall down. Great stuff. +n. obs. Original term, pre-Sesame-Street, for what is now universally called +a cookie monster. A correspondent observes In those days, hackers were +actually getting their yucks from...sit down now...Andy Williams. Yes, that +Andy Williams. Seems he had a rather hip (by the standards of the day) TV +variety show. One of the best parts of the show was the recurring cookie +bear sketch. In these sketches, a guy in a bear suit tried all sorts of +tricks to get a cookie out of Williams. The sketches would always end with +Williams shrieking (and I don't mean figuratively), No cookies! Not now, not +ever...NEVER!!! And the bear would fall down. Great stuff. + diff --git a/entries/cookie file.txt b/entries/cookie file.txt index f2ec0dd..cbdf3ca 100644 --- a/entries/cookie file.txt +++ b/entries/cookie file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ cookie file -n. A collection of fortune cookie s in a format that facilitates retrieval by a fortune program. There are several different cookie files in public distribution, and site admins often assemble their own from various sources including this lexicon. +n. A collection of fortune cookie s in a format that facilitates retrieval +by a fortune program. There are several different cookie files in public +distribution, and site admins often assemble their own from various sources +including this lexicon. + diff --git a/entries/cookie jar.txt b/entries/cookie jar.txt index 1b2572b..60b10ff 100644 --- a/entries/cookie jar.txt +++ b/entries/cookie jar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ cookie jar -n. An area of memory set aside for storing cookie s. Most commonly heard in the Atari ST community; many useful ST programs record their presence by storing a distinctive magic number in the jar. Programs can inquire after the presence or otherwise of other programs by searching the contents of the jar. +n. An area of memory set aside for storing cookie s. Most commonly heard in +the Atari ST community; many useful ST programs record their presence by +storing a distinctive magic number in the jar. Programs can inquire after +the presence or otherwise of other programs by searching the contents of the +jar. + diff --git a/entries/cookie monster.txt b/entries/cookie monster.txt index 4b12d3e..78b3ba3 100644 --- a/entries/cookie monster.txt +++ b/entries/cookie monster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ cookie monster -n. [from the children's TV program Sesame Street ] Any of a family of early (1970s) hacks reported on TOPS-10 , ITS , Multics , and elsewhere that would lock up either the victim's terminal (on a timesharing machine) or the console (on a batch mainframe ), repeatedly demanding I WANT A COOKIE. The required responses ranged in complexity from COOKIE through HAVE A COOKIE and upward. Folklorist Jan Brunvand (see FOAF ) has described these programs as urban legends (implying they probably never existed) but they existed, all right, in several different versions. See also wabbit. Interestingly, the term cookie monster appears to be a retcon ; the original term was cookie bear. +n. [from the children's TV program Sesame Street ] Any of a family of early +(1970s) hacks reported on TOPS-10 , ITS , Multics , and elsewhere that would +lock up either the victim's terminal (on a timesharing machine) or the +console (on a batch mainframe ), repeatedly demanding I WANT A COOKIE. The +required responses ranged in complexity from COOKIE through HAVE A COOKIE +and upward. Folklorist Jan Brunvand (see FOAF ) has described these programs +as urban legends (implying they probably never existed) but they existed, +all right, in several different versions. See also wabbit. Interestingly, +the term cookie monster appears to be a retcon ; the original term was +cookie bear. + diff --git a/entries/cookie.txt b/entries/cookie.txt index de1a6fd..86f69b3 100644 --- a/entries/cookie.txt +++ b/entries/cookie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ cookie -n. A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement between cooperating programs. I give him a packet, he gives me back a cookie. The claim check you get from a dry-cleaning shop is a perfect mundane example of a cookie; the only thing it's useful for is to relate a later transaction to this one (so you get the same clothes back). Syn. magic cookie ; see also fortune cookie. Now mainstream in the specific sense of web-browser cookies. +n. A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement between cooperating +programs. I give him a packet, he gives me back a cookie. The claim check +you get from a dry-cleaning shop is a perfect mundane example of a cookie; +the only thing it's useful for is to relate a later transaction to this one +(so you get the same clothes back). Syn. magic cookie ; see also fortune +cookie. Now mainstream in the specific sense of web-browser cookies. + diff --git a/entries/copious free time.txt b/entries/copious free time.txt index 4482c84..1e59cd0 100644 --- a/entries/copious free time.txt +++ b/entries/copious free time.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ copious free time -n. [Apple; orig. fr. the intro to Tom Lehrer's song It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier ] 1. [used ironically to indicate the speaker's lack of the quantity in question] A mythical schedule slot for accomplishing tasks held to be unlikely or impossible. Sometimes used to indicate that the speaker is interested in accomplishing the task, but believes that the opportunity will not arise. I'll implement the automatic layout stuff in my copious free time. 2. [Archly] Time reserved for bogus or otherwise idiotic tasks, such as implementation of chrome , or the stroking of suit s. I'll get back to him on that feature in my copious free time. +n. [Apple; orig. fr. the intro to Tom Lehrer's song It Makes A Fellow Proud +To Be A Soldier ] 1. [used ironically to indicate the speaker's lack of the +quantity in question] A mythical schedule slot for accomplishing tasks held +to be unlikely or impossible. Sometimes used to indicate that the speaker is +interested in accomplishing the task, but believes that the opportunity will +not arise. I'll implement the automatic layout stuff in my copious free +time. 2. [Archly] Time reserved for bogus or otherwise idiotic tasks, such +as implementation of chrome , or the stroking of suit s. I'll get back to +him on that feature in my copious free time. + diff --git a/entries/copper.txt b/entries/copper.txt index fb06473..c60d4ba 100644 --- a/entries/copper.txt +++ b/entries/copper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ copper -n. Conventional electron-carrying network cable with a core conductor of copper or aluminum! Opposed to light pipe or, say, a short-range microwave link. +n. Conventional electron-carrying network cable with a core conductor of +copper or aluminum! Opposed to light pipe or, say, a short-range microwave +link. + diff --git a/entries/copy protection.txt b/entries/copy protection.txt index 1ff2428..311f23f 100644 --- a/entries/copy protection.txt +++ b/entries/copy protection.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ copy protection -n. A class of methods for preventing incompetent pirates from stealing software and legitimate customers from using it. Considered silly. +n. A class of methods for preventing incompetent pirates from stealing +software and legitimate customers from using it. Considered silly. + diff --git a/entries/copybroke.txt b/entries/copybroke.txt index 2da2177..c5045bf 100644 --- a/entries/copybroke.txt +++ b/entries/copybroke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ copybroke -/kopeebrohk/ , adj. 1. [play on copyright ] Used to describe an instance of a copy-protected program that has been broken ; that is, a copy with the copy-protection scheme disabled. Syn. copywronged. 2. Copy-protected software which is unusable because of some bit-rot or bug that has confused the anti-piracy check. See also copy protection. +/kopeebrohk/ , adj. 1. [play on copyright ] Used to describe an instance of +a copy-protected program that has been broken ; that is, a copy with the +copy-protection scheme disabled. Syn. copywronged. 2. Copy-protected +software which is unusable because of some bit-rot or bug that has confused +the anti-piracy check. See also copy protection. + diff --git a/entries/copycenter.txt b/entries/copycenter.txt index d516de1..b39a44a 100644 --- a/entries/copycenter.txt +++ b/entries/copycenter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ copycenter -n. [play on copyright and copyleft ] 1. The copyright notice carried by the various flavors of freeware BSD. According to Kirk McKusick at BSDCon 1999: The way it was characterized politically, you had copyright, which is what the big companies use to lock everything up; you had copyleft, which is free software's way of making sure they can't lock it up; and then Berkeley had what we called copycenter , which is take it down to the copy center and make as many copies as you want. +n. [play on copyright and copyleft ] 1. The copyright notice carried by the +various flavors of freeware BSD. According to Kirk McKusick at BSDCon 1999: +The way it was characterized politically, you had copyright, which is what +the big companies use to lock everything up; you had copyleft, which is free +software's way of making sure they can't lock it up; and then Berkeley had +what we called copycenter , which is take it down to the copy center and +make as many copies as you want. + diff --git a/entries/copyleft.txt b/entries/copyleft.txt index 3addc35..57a9c3b 100644 --- a/entries/copyleft.txt +++ b/entries/copyleft.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ copyleft -/kopeeleft/ , n. [play on copyright ] 1. The copyright notice ( General Public License ) carried by GNU EMACS and other Free Software Foundation software, granting reuse and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also General Public Virus ). 2. By extension, any copyright notice intended to achieve similar aims. +/kopeeleft/ , n. [play on copyright ] 1. The copyright notice ( General +Public License ) carried by GNU EMACS and other Free Software Foundation +software, granting reuse and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also +General Public Virus ). 2. By extension, any copyright notice intended to +achieve similar aims. + diff --git a/entries/copyparty.txt b/entries/copyparty.txt index 056560b..659012d 100644 --- a/entries/copyparty.txt +++ b/entries/copyparty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ copyparty -n. [C64/amiga demoscene ] A computer party organized so demosceners can meet other in real life, and to facilitate software copying (mostly pirated software). The copyparty has become less common as the Internet makes communication easier. The demoscene has gradually evolved the demoparty to replace it. +n. [C64/amiga demoscene ] A computer party organized so demosceners can meet +other in real life, and to facilitate software copying (mostly pirated +software). The copyparty has become less common as the Internet makes +communication easier. The demoscene has gradually evolved the demoparty to +replace it. + diff --git a/entries/copywronged.txt b/entries/copywronged.txt index b130c9a..2ac31fe 100644 --- a/entries/copywronged.txt +++ b/entries/copywronged.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ copywronged /kopeerongd/ , adj. [play on copyright ] Syn. for copybroke. + diff --git a/entries/core cancer.txt b/entries/core cancer.txt index ab83041..6a9de14 100644 --- a/entries/core cancer.txt +++ b/entries/core cancer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ core cancer -n. [rare] A process that exhibits a slow but inexorable resource leak like a cancer, it kills by crowding out productive tissue. +n. [rare] A process that exhibits a slow but inexorable resource leak like a +cancer, it kills by crowding out productive tissue. + diff --git a/entries/core dump.txt b/entries/core dump.txt index a173477..fcd0d75 100644 --- a/entries/core dump.txt +++ b/entries/core dump.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ core dump -n. [common Iron Age jargon, preserved by Unix] 1. [techspeak] A copy of the contents of core , produced when a process is aborted by certain kinds of internal error. 2. By extension, used for humans passing out, vomiting, or registering extreme shock. He dumped core. All over the floor. What a mess. He heard about X and dumped core. 3. Occasionally used for a human rambling on pointlessly at great length; esp. in apology: Sorry, I dumped core on you. 4. A recapitulation of knowledge (compare bits , sense 1). Hence, spewing all one knows about a topic (syn. brain dump ), esp. in a lecture or answer to an exam question. Short, concise answers are better than core dumps (from the instructions to an exam at Columbia). See core. A core dump lands our hero in hot water. (This is the last cartoon in the Crunchly saga. The previous cartoon was 76-05-01. +n. [common Iron Age jargon, preserved by Unix] 1. [techspeak] A copy of the +contents of core , produced when a process is aborted by certain kinds of +internal error. 2. By extension, used for humans passing out, vomiting, or +registering extreme shock. He dumped core. All over the floor. What a mess. +He heard about X and dumped core. 3. Occasionally used for a human rambling +on pointlessly at great length; esp. in apology: Sorry, I dumped core on +you. 4. A recapitulation of knowledge (compare bits , sense 1). Hence, +spewing all one knows about a topic (syn. brain dump ), esp. in a lecture or +answer to an exam question. Short, concise answers are better than core +dumps (from the instructions to an exam at Columbia). See core. A core dump +lands our hero in hot water. (This is the last cartoon in the Crunchly saga. +The previous cartoon was 76-05-01. + diff --git a/entries/core leak.txt b/entries/core leak.txt index a03646f..9a6ca88 100644 --- a/entries/core leak.txt +++ b/entries/core leak.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ core leak n. Syn. memory leak. + diff --git a/entries/core.txt b/entries/core.txt index 59079b6..fe38c6c 100644 --- a/entries/core.txt +++ b/entries/core.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ core -n. Main storage or RAM. Dates from the days of ferrite-core memory; now archaic as techspeak most places outside IBM, but also still used in the Unix community and by old-time hackers or those who would sound like them. Some derived idioms are quite current; in core , for example, means in memory (as opposed to on disk ), and both core dump and the core image or core file produced by one are terms in favor. Some varieties of Commonwealth hackish prefer store. +n. Main storage or RAM. Dates from the days of ferrite-core memory; now +archaic as techspeak most places outside IBM, but also still used in the +Unix community and by old-time hackers or those who would sound like them. +Some derived idioms are quite current; in core , for example, means in +memory (as opposed to on disk ), and both core dump and the core image or +core file produced by one are terms in favor. Some varieties of Commonwealth +hackish prefer store. + diff --git a/entries/cosmic rays.txt b/entries/cosmic rays.txt index 6b6af17..cf57932 100644 --- a/entries/cosmic rays.txt +++ b/entries/cosmic rays.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ cosmic rays -n. Notionally, the cause of bit rot. However, this is a semi-independent usage that may be invoked as a humorous way to handwave away any minor randomness that doesn't seem worth the bother of investigating. Hey, Eric I just got a burst of garbage on my tube , where did that come from? Cosmic rays, I guess. Compare sunspots , phase of the moon. The British seem to prefer the usage cosmic showers ; alpha particles is also heard, because stray alpha particles passing through a memory chip can cause single-bit errors (this becomes increasingly more likely as memory sizes and densities increase). Factual note: Alpha particles cause bit rot, cosmic rays do not (except occasionally in spaceborne computers). Intel could not explain random bit drops in their early chips, and one hypothesis was cosmic rays. So they created the World's Largest Lead Safe, using 25 tons of the stuff, and used two identical boards for testing. One was placed in the safe, one outside. The hypothesis was that if cosmic rays were causing the bit drops, they should see a statistically significant difference between the error rates on the two boards. They did not observe such a difference. Further investigation demonstrated conclusively that the bit drops were due to alpha particle emissions from thorium (and to a much lesser degree uranium) in the encapsulation material. Since it is impossible to eliminate these radioactives (they are uniformly distributed through the earth's crust, with the statistically insignificant exception of uranium lodes) it became obvious that one has to design memories to withstand these hits. +n. Notionally, the cause of bit rot. However, this is a semi-independent +usage that may be invoked as a humorous way to handwave away any minor +randomness that doesn't seem worth the bother of investigating. Hey, Eric I +just got a burst of garbage on my tube , where did that come from? Cosmic +rays, I guess. Compare sunspots , phase of the moon. The British seem to +prefer the usage cosmic showers ; alpha particles is also heard, because +stray alpha particles passing through a memory chip can cause single-bit +errors (this becomes increasingly more likely as memory sizes and densities +increase). Factual note: Alpha particles cause bit rot, cosmic rays do not +(except occasionally in spaceborne computers). Intel could not explain +random bit drops in their early chips, and one hypothesis was cosmic rays. +So they created the World's Largest Lead Safe, using 25 tons of the stuff, +and used two identical boards for testing. One was placed in the safe, one +outside. The hypothesis was that if cosmic rays were causing the bit drops, +they should see a statistically significant difference between the error +rates on the two boards. They did not observe such a difference. Further +investigation demonstrated conclusively that the bit drops were due to alpha +particle emissions from thorium (and to a much lesser degree uranium) in the +encapsulation material. Since it is impossible to eliminate these +radioactives (they are uniformly distributed through the earth's crust, with +the statistically insignificant exception of uranium lodes) it became +obvious that one has to design memories to withstand these hits. + diff --git a/entries/cough and die.txt b/entries/cough and die.txt index 139d374..c990d3a 100644 --- a/entries/cough and die.txt +++ b/entries/cough and die.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ cough and die -v. Syn. barf. Connotes that the program is throwing its hands up by design rather than because of a bug or oversight. The parser saw a control-A in its input where it was looking for a printable, so it coughed and died. Compare die , die horribly , scream and die. +v. Syn. barf. Connotes that the program is throwing its hands up by design +rather than because of a bug or oversight. The parser saw a control-A in its +input where it was looking for a printable, so it coughed and died. Compare +die , die horribly , scream and die. + diff --git a/entries/courier.txt b/entries/courier.txt index b8c6517..d470c35 100644 --- a/entries/courier.txt +++ b/entries/courier.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ courier -A person who distributes newly cracked warez , as opposed to a server who makes them available for download or a leech who merely downloads them. Hackers recognize this term but don't use it themselves, as the act is not part of their culture. See also warez d00dz , cracker , elite. +A person who distributes newly cracked warez , as opposed to a server who +makes them available for download or a leech who merely downloads them. +Hackers recognize this term but don't use it themselves, as the act is not +part of their culture. See also warez d00dz , cracker , elite. + diff --git a/entries/cow orker.txt b/entries/cow orker.txt index 7669c9f..b8edd7b 100644 --- a/entries/cow orker.txt +++ b/entries/cow orker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ cow orker -n. [Usenet] n. fortuitous typo for co-worker, widely used in Usenet, with perhaps a hint that orking cows is illegal. This term was popularized by Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert ) but already appears in the January 1996 version of the scary devil monastery FAQ, and has been traced back to a 1989 sig block. Compare hing , grilf , filk , newsfroup. +n. [Usenet] n. fortuitous typo for co-worker, widely used in Usenet, with +perhaps a hint that orking cows is illegal. This term was popularized by +Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert ) but already appears in the January +1996 version of the scary devil monastery FAQ, and has been traced back to a +1989 sig block. Compare hing , grilf , filk , newsfroup. + diff --git a/entries/cowboy.txt b/entries/cowboy.txt index 75a4745..d708a6d 100644 --- a/entries/cowboy.txt +++ b/entries/cowboy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ cowboy -n. [Sun, from William Gibson's cyberpunk SF] Synonym for hacker. It is reported that at Sun this word is often said with reverence. +n. [Sun, from William Gibson's cyberpunk SF] Synonym for hacker. It is +reported that at Sun this word is often said with reverence. + diff --git a/entries/crack root.txt b/entries/crack root.txt index 1b29444..d14935a 100644 --- a/entries/crack root.txt +++ b/entries/crack root.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ crack root -v. [very common] To defeat the security system of a Unix machine and gain root privileges thereby; see cracking. +v. [very common] To defeat the security system of a Unix machine and gain +root privileges thereby; see cracking. + diff --git a/entries/crack.txt b/entries/crack.txt index 1ba10e0..7b3fff7 100644 --- a/entries/crack.txt +++ b/entries/crack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ crack -1. v. To break into a system (compare cracker ). 2. v. Action of removing the copy protection from a commercial program. People who write cracks consider themselves challenged by the copy protection measures. They will often do it as much to show that they are smarter than the developer who designed the copy protection scheme than to actually copy the program. 3. n. A program, instructions or patch used to remove the copy protection of a program or to uncripple features from a demo/time limited program. 4. An exploit. +1. v. To break into a system (compare cracker ). 2. v. Action of removing +the copy protection from a commercial program. People who write cracks +consider themselves challenged by the copy protection measures. They will +often do it as much to show that they are smarter than the developer who +designed the copy protection scheme than to actually copy the program. 3. n. +A program, instructions or patch used to remove the copy protection of a +program or to uncripple features from a demo/time limited program. 4. An +exploit. + diff --git a/entries/cracker.txt b/entries/cracker.txt index 3859da4..3ae8b67 100644 --- a/entries/cracker.txt +++ b/entries/cracker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,33 @@ cracker -n. One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of hacker (q.v., sense 8). An earlier attempt to establish worm in this sense around 1981--82 on Usenet was largely a failure. Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion against the theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking rings. The neologism cracker in this sense may have been influenced not so much by the term safe-cracker as by the non-jargon term cracker , which in Middle English meant an obnoxious person (e.g., What cracker is this same that deafs our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath? Shakespeare's King John, Act II, Scene I) and in modern colloquial American English survives as a barely gentler synonym for white trash. While it is expected that any real hacker will have done some playful cracking and knows many of the basic techniques, anyone past larval stage is expected to have outgrown the desire to do so except for immediate, benign, practical reasons (for example, if it's necessary to get around some security in order to get some work done). Thus, there is far less overlap between hackerdom and crackerdom than the mundane reader misled by sensationalistic journalism might expect. Crackers tend to gather in small, tight-knit, very secretive groups that have little overlap with the huge, open poly-culture this lexicon describes; though crackers often like to describe themselves as hackers, most true hackers consider them a separate and lower form of life. An easy way for outsiders to spot the difference is that crackers use grandiose screen names that conceal their identities. Hackers never do this; they only rarely use noms de guerre at all, and when they do it is for display rather than concealment. Ethical considerations aside, hackers figure that anyone who can't imagine a more interesting way to play with their computers than breaking into someone else's has to be pretty losing. Some other reasons crackers are looked down on are discussed in the entries on cracking and phreaking. See also samurai , dark-side hacker , and hacker ethic. For a portrait of the typical teenage cracker, see warez d00dz. +n. One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers in +defense against journalistic misuse of hacker (q.v., sense 8). An earlier +attempt to establish worm in this sense around 1981--82 on Usenet was +largely a failure. Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion +against the theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking rings. The neologism +cracker in this sense may have been influenced not so much by the term +safe-cracker as by the non-jargon term cracker , which in Middle English +meant an obnoxious person (e.g., What cracker is this same that deafs our +ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath? Shakespeare's King John, +Act II, Scene I) and in modern colloquial American English survives as a +barely gentler synonym for white trash. While it is expected that any real +hacker will have done some playful cracking and knows many of the basic +techniques, anyone past larval stage is expected to have outgrown the desire +to do so except for immediate, benign, practical reasons (for example, if +it's necessary to get around some security in order to get some work done). +Thus, there is far less overlap between hackerdom and crackerdom than the +mundane reader misled by sensationalistic journalism might expect. Crackers +tend to gather in small, tight-knit, very secretive groups that have little +overlap with the huge, open poly-culture this lexicon describes; though +crackers often like to describe themselves as hackers, most true hackers +consider them a separate and lower form of life. An easy way for outsiders +to spot the difference is that crackers use grandiose screen names that +conceal their identities. Hackers never do this; they only rarely use noms +de guerre at all, and when they do it is for display rather than +concealment. Ethical considerations aside, hackers figure that anyone who +can't imagine a more interesting way to play with their computers than +breaking into someone else's has to be pretty losing. Some other reasons +crackers are looked down on are discussed in the entries on cracking and +phreaking. See also samurai , dark-side hacker , and hacker ethic. For a +portrait of the typical teenage cracker, see warez d00dz. + diff --git a/entries/cracking.txt b/entries/cracking.txt index 2270227..c384385 100644 --- a/entries/cracking.txt +++ b/entries/cracking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ cracking -n. [very common] The act of breaking into a computer system; what a cracker does. Contrary to widespread myth, this does not usually involve some mysterious leap of hackerly brilliance, but rather persistence and the dogged repetition of a handful of fairly well-known tricks that exploit common weaknesses in the security of target systems. Accordingly, most crackers are incompetent as hackers. This entry used to say 'mediocre', but the spread of rootkit and other automated cracking has depressed the average level of skill among crackers. +n. [very common] The act of breaking into a computer system; what a cracker +does. Contrary to widespread myth, this does not usually involve some +mysterious leap of hackerly brilliance, but rather persistence and the +dogged repetition of a handful of fairly well-known tricks that exploit +common weaknesses in the security of target systems. Accordingly, most +crackers are incompetent as hackers. This entry used to say 'mediocre', but +the spread of rootkit and other automated cracking has depressed the average +level of skill among crackers. + diff --git a/entries/crank.txt b/entries/crank.txt index e8a53b9..7a2913b 100644 --- a/entries/crank.txt +++ b/entries/crank.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ crank -vt. [from automotive slang] Verb used to describe the performance of a machine, especially sustained performance. This box cranks (or, cranks at) about 6 megaflops, with a burst mode of twice that on vectorized operations. +vt. [from automotive slang] Verb used to describe the performance of a +machine, especially sustained performance. This box cranks (or, cranks at) +about 6 megaflops, with a burst mode of twice that on vectorized operations. + diff --git a/entries/crapplet.txt b/entries/crapplet.txt index 6952630..474c8ae 100644 --- a/entries/crapplet.txt +++ b/entries/crapplet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ crapplet -n. [portmanteau, crap + applet] A worthless applet, esp. a Java widget attached to a web page that doesn't work or even crashes your browser. Also spelled craplet. +n. [portmanteau, crap + applet] A worthless applet, esp. a Java widget +attached to a web page that doesn't work or even crashes your browser. Also +spelled craplet. + diff --git a/entries/crash and burn.txt b/entries/crash and burn.txt index aecde14..494abfb 100644 --- a/entries/crash and burn.txt +++ b/entries/crash and burn.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ crash and burn -vi.,n. A spectacular crash, in the mode of the conclusion of the car-chase scene in the movie Bullitt and many subsequent imitators (compare die horribly ). The construction crash-and-burn machine is reported for a computer used exclusively for alpha or beta testing, or reproducing bugs (i.e., not for development). The implication is that it wouldn't be such a disaster if that machine crashed, since only the testers would be inconvenienced. +vi.,n. A spectacular crash, in the mode of the conclusion of the car-chase +scene in the movie Bullitt and many subsequent imitators (compare die +horribly ). The construction crash-and-burn machine is reported for a +computer used exclusively for alpha or beta testing, or reproducing bugs +(i.e., not for development). The implication is that it wouldn't be such a +disaster if that machine crashed, since only the testers would be +inconvenienced. + diff --git a/entries/crash.txt b/entries/crash.txt index 9021c13..be6216a 100644 --- a/entries/crash.txt +++ b/entries/crash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ crash -1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of the system (q.v., sense 1), esp. of magnetic disk drives (the term originally described what happens when the air gap of a hard disk collapses). Three luser s lost their files in last night's disk . A disk that involves the read/write heads dropping onto the surface of the disks and scraping off the oxide may also be referred to as a head , whereas the term system usually, though not always, implies that the operating system or other software was at fault. 2. v. To fail suddenly. Has the system just ed? Something ed the OS! See down. Also used transitively to indicate the cause of the (usually a person or a program, or both). Those idiots playing SPACEWAR ed the system. 3. vi. Sometimes said of people hitting the sack after a long hacking run ; see gronk out. +1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of the system +(q.v., sense 1), esp. of magnetic disk drives (the term originally described +what happens when the air gap of a hard disk collapses). Three luser s lost +their files in last night's disk . A disk that involves the read/write +heads dropping onto the surface of the disks and scraping off the oxide may +also be referred to as a head , whereas the term system usually, though +not always, implies that the operating system or other software was at +fault. 2. v. To fail suddenly. Has the system just ed? Something ed the OS! +See down. Also used transitively to indicate the cause of the (usually a +person or a program, or both). Those idiots playing SPACEWAR ed the system. +3. vi. Sometimes said of people hitting the sack after a long hacking run ; +see gronk out. + diff --git a/entries/crawling horror.txt b/entries/crawling horror.txt index 0d53211..730a003 100644 --- a/entries/crawling horror.txt +++ b/entries/crawling horror.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ crawling horror -n. Ancient crufty hardware or software that is kept obstinately alive by forces beyond the control of the hackers at a site. Like dusty deck or gonkulator , but connotes that the thing described is not just an irritation but an active menace to health and sanity. Mostly we code new stuff in C, but they pay us to maintain one big FORTRAN II application from nineteen-sixty-X that's a real crawling horror.... Compare WOMBAT. This usage is almost certainly derived from the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft may never have used the exact phrase crawling horror in his writings, but one of the fearsome Elder Gods that he wrote extensively about was Nyarlethotep, who had as an epithet The Crawling Chaos. Certainly the extreme, even melodramatic horror of his characters at the weird monsters they encounter, even to the point of going insane with fear, is what hackers are referring to with this phrase when they use it for horribly bad code. Compare cthulhic. +n. Ancient crufty hardware or software that is kept obstinately alive by +forces beyond the control of the hackers at a site. Like dusty deck or +gonkulator , but connotes that the thing described is not just an irritation +but an active menace to health and sanity. Mostly we code new stuff in C, +but they pay us to maintain one big FORTRAN II application from +nineteen-sixty-X that's a real crawling horror.... Compare WOMBAT. This +usage is almost certainly derived from the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. +Lovecraft may never have used the exact phrase crawling horror in his +writings, but one of the fearsome Elder Gods that he wrote extensively about +was Nyarlethotep, who had as an epithet The Crawling Chaos. Certainly the +extreme, even melodramatic horror of his characters at the weird monsters +they encounter, even to the point of going insane with fear, is what hackers +are referring to with this phrase when they use it for horribly bad code. +Compare cthulhic. + diff --git a/entries/creationism.txt b/entries/creationism.txt index 548e8cf..f5b3c39 100644 --- a/entries/creationism.txt +++ b/entries/creationism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ creationism -n. The (false) belief that large, innovative software designs can be completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked out of the void by the normal efforts of a team of normally talented programmers. In fact, experience has shown repeatedly that good designs arise only from evolutionary, exploratory interaction between one (or at most a small handful of) exceptionally able designer(s) and an active user population and that the first try at a big new idea is always wrong. Unfortunately, because these truths don't fit the planning models beloved of management , they are generally ignored. +n. The (false) belief that large, innovative software designs can be +completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked out of the void +by the normal efforts of a team of normally talented programmers. In fact, +experience has shown repeatedly that good designs arise only from +evolutionary, exploratory interaction between one (or at most a small +handful of) exceptionally able designer(s) and an active user population and +that the first try at a big new idea is always wrong. Unfortunately, because +these truths don't fit the planning models beloved of management , they are +generally ignored. + diff --git a/entries/creep.txt b/entries/creep.txt index 343fcd0..177050c 100644 --- a/entries/creep.txt +++ b/entries/creep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ creep -v. To advance, grow, or multiply inexorably. In hackish usage this verb has overtones of menace and silliness, evoking the creeping horrors of low-budget monster movies. +v. To advance, grow, or multiply inexorably. In hackish usage this verb has +overtones of menace and silliness, evoking the creeping horrors of +low-budget monster movies. + diff --git a/entries/creeping elegance.txt b/entries/creeping elegance.txt index 2173738..4b9fb28 100644 --- a/entries/creeping elegance.txt +++ b/entries/creeping elegance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ creeping elegance -n. Describes a tendency for parts of a design to become elegant past the point of diminishing return, something which often happens at the expense of the less interesting parts of the design, the schedule, and other things deemed important in the Real World. See also creeping featurism , second-system effect , tense. +n. Describes a tendency for parts of a design to become elegant past the +point of diminishing return, something which often happens at the expense of +the less interesting parts of the design, the schedule, and other things +deemed important in the Real World. See also creeping featurism , +second-system effect , tense. + diff --git a/entries/creeping featurism.txt b/entries/creeping featurism.txt index d4e5de8..024e1f9 100644 --- a/entries/creeping featurism.txt +++ b/entries/creeping featurism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ creeping featurism -/kreeping feechrizm/ , n. [common] 1. Describes a systematic tendency to load more chrome and feature s onto systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed when originally designed. See also feeping creaturism. You know, the main problem with BSD Unix has always been creeping featurism. 2. More generally, the tendency for anything complicated to become even more complicated because people keep saying Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature too. (See feature. ) The result is usually a patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one extra little feature to help someone. .. and then another. .. and another.... When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's like a cancer. The GNU hello program, intended to illustrate GNU command-line switch and coding conventions, is also a wonderful parody of creeping featurism; the distribution changelog is particularly funny. Usually this term is used to describe computer programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes afflicts conscious redesigns; see second-system effect. See also creeping elegance. +/kreeping feechrizm/ , n. [common] 1. Describes a systematic tendency to +load more chrome and feature s onto systems at the expense of whatever +elegance they may have possessed when originally designed. See also feeping +creaturism. You know, the main problem with BSD Unix has always been +creeping featurism. 2. More generally, the tendency for anything complicated +to become even more complicated because people keep saying Gee, it would be +even better if it had this feature too. (See feature. ) The result is +usually a patchwork because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than +being planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one +extra little feature to help someone. .. and then another. .. and +another.... When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's like a cancer. +The GNU hello program, intended to illustrate GNU command-line switch and +coding conventions, is also a wonderful parody of creeping featurism; the +distribution changelog is particularly funny. Usually this term is used to +describe computer programs, but it could also be said of the federal +government, the IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes +afflicts conscious redesigns; see second-system effect. See also creeping +elegance. + diff --git a/entries/creeping featuritis.txt b/entries/creeping featuritis.txt index 5614f9c..7597c5e 100644 --- a/entries/creeping featuritis.txt +++ b/entries/creeping featuritis.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ creeping featuritis -/kreeping fee'chri:`t@s/ , n. Variant of creeping featurism , with its own spoonerization: feeping creaturitis. Some people like to reserve this form for the disease as it actually manifests in software or hardware, as opposed to the lurking general tendency in designers' minds. (After all, -ism means condition or pursuit of , whereas -itis usually means inflammation of. +/kreeping fee'chri:`t@s/ , n. Variant of creeping featurism , with its own +spoonerization: feeping creaturitis. Some people like to reserve this form +for the disease as it actually manifests in software or hardware, as opposed +to the lurking general tendency in designers' minds. (After all, -ism means +condition or pursuit of , whereas -itis usually means inflammation of. + diff --git a/entries/cretin.txt b/entries/cretin.txt index df41225..3d7dc70 100644 --- a/entries/cretin.txt +++ b/entries/cretin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ cretin -/kretin/ , /kreetn/ , n. Congenital loser ; an obnoxious person; someone who can't do anything right. It has been observed that many American hackers tend to favor the British pronunciation /kretin/ over standard American /kreetn/ ; it is thought this may be due to the insidious phonetic influence of Monty Python's Flying Circus. +/kretin/ , /kreetn/ , n. Congenital loser ; an obnoxious person; someone who +can't do anything right. It has been observed that many American hackers +tend to favor the British pronunciation /kretin/ over standard American +/kreetn/ ; it is thought this may be due to the insidious phonetic influence +of Monty Python's Flying Circus. + diff --git a/entries/cretinous.txt b/entries/cretinous.txt index 3a60821..2c74e9e 100644 --- a/entries/cretinous.txt +++ b/entries/cretinous.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ cretinous -/kretn@s/ , /kreetn@s/ , adj. Wrong; stupid; non-functional; very poorly designed. Also used pejoratively of people. See dread high-bit disease for an example. Approximate synonyms: bletcherous , bagbiting , losing , brain-damaged. +/kretn@s/ , /kreetn@s/ , adj. Wrong; stupid; non-functional; very poorly +designed. Also used pejoratively of people. See dread high-bit disease for +an example. Approximate synonyms: bletcherous , bagbiting , losing , +brain-damaged. + diff --git a/entries/crippleware.txt b/entries/crippleware.txt index 605ea25..4a4bfd0 100644 --- a/entries/crippleware.txt +++ b/entries/crippleware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ crippleware -n. 1. [common] Software that has some important functionality deliberately removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a working version. 2. [Cambridge] Variety of guiltware that exhorts you to donate to some charity (compare careware , nagware ). 3. Hardware deliberately crippled, which can be upgraded to a more expensive model by a trivial change (e.g., cutting a jumper). An excellent example of crippleware (sense 3) is Intel's 486SX chip, which is a standard 486DX chip with the co-processor diked out (in some early versions it was present but disabled). To upgrade, you buy a complete 486DX chip with working co-processor (its identity thinly veiled by a different pinout) and plug it into the board's expansion socket. It then disables the SX, which becomes a fancy power sink. +n. 1. [common] Software that has some important functionality deliberately +removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a working version. 2. +[Cambridge] Variety of guiltware that exhorts you to donate to some charity +(compare careware , nagware ). 3. Hardware deliberately crippled, which can +be upgraded to a more expensive model by a trivial change (e.g., cutting a +jumper). An excellent example of crippleware (sense 3) is Intel's 486SX +chip, which is a standard 486DX chip with the co-processor diked out (in +some early versions it was present but disabled). To upgrade, you buy a +complete 486DX chip with working co-processor (its identity thinly veiled by +a different pinout) and plug it into the board's expansion socket. It then +disables the SX, which becomes a fancy power sink. + diff --git a/entries/critical mass.txt b/entries/critical mass.txt index 99d5600..a869a11 100644 --- a/entries/critical mass.txt +++ b/entries/critical mass.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ critical mass -n. In physics, the minimum amount of fissionable material required to sustain a chain reaction. Of a software product, describes a condition of the software such that fixing one bug introduces one plus epsilon bugs. (This malady has many causes: creeping featurism , ports to too many disparate environments, poor initial design, etc.) When software achieves critical mass, it can never be fixed; it can only be discarded and rewritten. +n. In physics, the minimum amount of fissionable material required to +sustain a chain reaction. Of a software product, describes a condition of +the software such that fixing one bug introduces one plus epsilon bugs. +(This malady has many causes: creeping featurism , ports to too many +disparate environments, poor initial design, etc.) When software achieves +critical mass, it can never be fixed; it can only be discarded and +rewritten. + diff --git a/entries/crlf.txt b/entries/crlf.txt index 108a91b..5a6f097 100644 --- a/entries/crlf.txt +++ b/entries/crlf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ crlf -/kerl@f/ , /krul@f/ , /CRLF/ , n. (often capitalized as CRLF ) A carriage return (CR, ASCII 0001101) followed by a line feed (LF, ASCII 0001010). More loosely, whatever it takes to get you from the end of one line of text to the beginning of the next line. See newline. Under Unix influence this usage has become less common (Unix uses a bare line feed as its CRLF ). +/kerl@f/ , /krul@f/ , /CRLF/ , n. (often capitalized as CRLF ) A carriage +return (CR, ASCII 0001101) followed by a line feed (LF, ASCII 0001010). More +loosely, whatever it takes to get you from the end of one line of text to +the beginning of the next line. See newline. Under Unix influence this usage +has become less common (Unix uses a bare line feed as its CRLF ). + diff --git a/entries/crock.txt b/entries/crock.txt index fc4e023..1b9a274 100644 --- a/entries/crock.txt +++ b/entries/crock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ crock -n. [from the American scatologism crock of shit ] 1. An awkward feature or programming technique that ought to be made cleaner. For example, using small integers to represent error codes without the program interpreting them to the user (as in, for example, Unix make (1) , which returns code 139 for a process that dies due to segfault ). 2. A technique that works acceptably, but which is quite prone to failure if disturbed in the least. For example, a too-clever programmer might write an assembler which mapped instruction mnemonics to numeric opcodes algorithmically, a trick which depends far too intimately on the particular bit patterns of the opcodes. (For another example of programming with a dependence on actual opcode values, see The Story of Mel' in Appendix A.) Many crocks have a tightly woven, almost completely unmodifiable structure. See kluge , brittle. The adjectives crockish and crocky , and the nouns crockishness and crockitude , are also used. +n. [from the American scatologism crock of shit ] 1. An awkward feature or +programming technique that ought to be made cleaner. For example, using +small integers to represent error codes without the program interpreting +them to the user (as in, for example, Unix make (1) , which returns code 139 +for a process that dies due to segfault ). 2. A technique that works +acceptably, but which is quite prone to failure if disturbed in the least. +For example, a too-clever programmer might write an assembler which mapped +instruction mnemonics to numeric opcodes algorithmically, a trick which +depends far too intimately on the particular bit patterns of the opcodes. +(For another example of programming with a dependence on actual opcode +values, see The Story of Mel' in Appendix A.) Many crocks have a tightly +woven, almost completely unmodifiable structure. See kluge , brittle. The +adjectives crockish and crocky , and the nouns crockishness and crockitude , +are also used. + diff --git a/entries/cross-post.txt b/entries/cross-post.txt index 56336cd..98d8400 100644 --- a/entries/cross-post.txt +++ b/entries/cross-post.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ cross-post -vi. [Usenet; very common] To post a single article simultaneously to several newsgroups. Distinguished from posting the article repeatedly, once to each newsgroup, which causes people to see it multiple times (which is very bad form). Gratuitous cross-posting without a Followup-To line directing responses to a single followup group is frowned upon, as it tends to cause followup articles to go to inappropriate newsgroups when people respond to various parts of the original posting. +vi. [Usenet; very common] To post a single article simultaneously to several +newsgroups. Distinguished from posting the article repeatedly, once to each +newsgroup, which causes people to see it multiple times (which is very bad +form). Gratuitous cross-posting without a Followup-To line directing +responses to a single followup group is frowned upon, as it tends to cause +followup articles to go to inappropriate newsgroups when people respond to +various parts of the original posting. + diff --git a/entries/crossload.txt b/entries/crossload.txt index ab96600..62387c7 100644 --- a/entries/crossload.txt +++ b/entries/crossload.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ crossload -v.,n. [proposed, by analogy with upload and download ] To move files between machines on a peer-to-peer network of nodes that act as both servers and clients for a distributed file store. Esp. appropriate for anonymized networks like Gnutella and Freenet. +v.,n. [proposed, by analogy with upload and download ] To move files between +machines on a peer-to-peer network of nodes that act as both servers and +clients for a distributed file store. Esp. appropriate for anonymized +networks like Gnutella and Freenet. + diff --git a/entries/crudware.txt b/entries/crudware.txt index f47f5cc..4f99062 100644 --- a/entries/crudware.txt +++ b/entries/crudware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ crudware -/kruhdweir/ , n. Pejorative term for the hundreds of megabytes of low-quality freeware circulated by user's groups and BBS systems in the micro-hobbyist world. +/kruhdweir/ , n. Pejorative term for the hundreds of megabytes of +low-quality freeware circulated by user's groups and BBS systems in the +micro-hobbyist world. + diff --git a/entries/cruft together.txt b/entries/cruft together.txt index 4fab86e..ad9ba75 100644 --- a/entries/cruft together.txt +++ b/entries/cruft together.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ cruft together -vt. (also cruft up ) To throw together something ugly but temporarily workable. Like vt. kluge up , but more pejorative. There isn't any program now to reverse all the lines of a file, but I can probably cruft one together in about 10 minutes. See hack together , hack up , kluge up , crufty. +vt. (also cruft up ) To throw together something ugly but temporarily +workable. Like vt. kluge up , but more pejorative. There isn't any program +now to reverse all the lines of a file, but I can probably cruft one +together in about 10 minutes. See hack together , hack up , kluge up , +crufty. + diff --git a/entries/cruft.txt b/entries/cruft.txt index 240532d..1226c06 100644 --- a/entries/cruft.txt +++ b/entries/cruft.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ cruft -/kruhft/ [very common; back-formation from crufty ] 1. n. An unpleasant substance. The dust that gathers under your bed is cruft; the TMRC Dictionary correctly noted that attacking it with a broom only produces more. 2. n. The results of shoddy construction. 3. vt. [from hand cruft , pun on hand craft ] To write assembler code for something normally (and better) done by a compiler (see hand-hacking ). 4. n. Excess; superfluous junk; used esp. of redundant or superseded code. 5. [University of Wisconsin] n. Cruft is to hackers as gaggle is to geese; that is, at UW one properly says a cruft of hackers. +/kruhft/ [very common; back-formation from crufty ] 1. n. An unpleasant +substance. The dust that gathers under your bed is cruft; the TMRC +Dictionary correctly noted that attacking it with a broom only produces +more. 2. n. The results of shoddy construction. 3. vt. [from hand cruft , +pun on hand craft ] To write assembler code for something normally (and +better) done by a compiler (see hand-hacking ). 4. n. Excess; superfluous +junk; used esp. of redundant or superseded code. 5. [University of +Wisconsin] n. Cruft is to hackers as gaggle is to geese; that is, at UW one +properly says a cruft of hackers. + diff --git a/entries/cruftsmanship.txt b/entries/cruftsmanship.txt index 00b1ac8..03a304e 100644 --- a/entries/cruftsmanship.txt +++ b/entries/cruftsmanship.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ cruftsmanship /kruhftsm@nship / , n. [from cruft ] The antithesis of craftsmanship. + diff --git a/entries/crufty.txt b/entries/crufty.txt index e126019..01521d3 100644 --- a/entries/crufty.txt +++ b/entries/crufty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ crufty -/kruhftee/ , adj. [very common; origin unknown; poss. from crusty or cruddy ] 1. Poorly built, possibly over-complex. The canonical example is This is standard old crufty DEC software. In fact, one fanciful theory of the origin of crufty holds that was originally a mutation of crusty applied to DEC software so old that the s characters were tall and skinny, looking more like f characters. 2. Unpleasant, especially to the touch, often with encrusted junk. Like spilled coffee smeared with peanut butter and catsup. 3. Generally unpleasant. 4. (sometimes spelled cruftie ) n. A small crufty object (see frob ); often one that doesn't fit well into the scheme of things. A LISP property list is a good place to store crufties (or, collectively, random cruft). This term is one of the oldest in the jargon and no one is sure of its etymology, but it is suggestive that there is a Cruft Hall at Harvard University which is part of the old physics building; it's said to have been the physics department's radar lab during WWII. To this day (early 1993) the windows appear to be full of random techno-junk. MIT or Lincoln Labs people may well have coined the term as a knock on the competition. +/kruhftee/ , adj. [very common; origin unknown; poss. from crusty or cruddy +] 1. Poorly built, possibly over-complex. The canonical example is This is +standard old crufty DEC software. In fact, one fanciful theory of the origin +of crufty holds that was originally a mutation of crusty applied to DEC +software so old that the s characters were tall and skinny, looking more +like f characters. 2. Unpleasant, especially to the touch, often with +encrusted junk. Like spilled coffee smeared with peanut butter and catsup. +3. Generally unpleasant. 4. (sometimes spelled cruftie ) n. A small crufty +object (see frob ); often one that doesn't fit well into the scheme of +things. A LISP property list is a good place to store crufties (or, +collectively, random cruft). This term is one of the oldest in the jargon +and no one is sure of its etymology, but it is suggestive that there is a +Cruft Hall at Harvard University which is part of the old physics building; +it's said to have been the physics department's radar lab during WWII. To +this day (early 1993) the windows appear to be full of random techno-junk. +MIT or Lincoln Labs people may well have coined the term as a knock on the +competition. + diff --git a/entries/crumb.txt b/entries/crumb.txt index ad7a2d8..49c0d06 100644 --- a/entries/crumb.txt +++ b/entries/crumb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ crumb -n. Two binary digits; a quad. Larger than a bit , smaller than a nybble. Considered silly. Syn. tayste. General discussion of such terms is under nybble. +n. Two binary digits; a quad. Larger than a bit , smaller than a nybble. +Considered silly. Syn. tayste. General discussion of such terms is under +nybble. + diff --git a/entries/crunch.txt b/entries/crunch.txt index 8801f21..7f66d01 100644 --- a/entries/crunch.txt +++ b/entries/crunch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ crunch -1. vi. To process, usually in a time-consuming or complicated way. Connotes an essentially trivial operation that is nonetheless painful to perform. The pain may be due to the triviality's being embedded in a loop from 1 to 1,000,000,000. FORTRAN programs do mostly number- ing. 2. vt. To reduce the size of a file by a complicated scheme that produces bit configurations completely unrelated to the original data, such as by a Huffman code. (The file ends up looking something like a paper document would if somebody ed the paper into a wad.) Since such compression usually takes more computations than simpler methods such as run-length encoding, the term is doubly appropriate. (This meaning is usually used in the construction file (ing) to distinguish it from number- ing. ) See compress. 3. n. The character #. Used at XEROX and CMU, among other places. See ASCII. 4. vt. To squeeze program source into a minimum-size representation that will still compile or execute. The term came into being specifically for a famous program on the BBC micro that ed BASIC source in order to make it run more quickly (it was a wholly interpretive BASIC, so the number of characters mattered). Obfuscated C Contest entries are often ed; see the first example under that entry. +1. vi. To process, usually in a time-consuming or complicated way. Connotes +an essentially trivial operation that is nonetheless painful to perform. The +pain may be due to the triviality's being embedded in a loop from 1 to +1,000,000,000. FORTRAN programs do mostly number- ing. 2. vt. To reduce the +size of a file by a complicated scheme that produces bit configurations +completely unrelated to the original data, such as by a Huffman code. (The +file ends up looking something like a paper document would if somebody ed +the paper into a wad.) Since such compression usually takes more +computations than simpler methods such as run-length encoding, the term is +doubly appropriate. (This meaning is usually used in the construction file +(ing) to distinguish it from number- ing. ) See compress. 3. n. The +character #. Used at XEROX and CMU, among other places. See ASCII. 4. vt. To +squeeze program source into a minimum-size representation that will still +compile or execute. The term came into being specifically for a famous +program on the BBC micro that ed BASIC source in order to make it run more +quickly (it was a wholly interpretive BASIC, so the number of characters +mattered). Obfuscated C Contest entries are often ed; see the first example +under that entry. + diff --git a/entries/cryppie.txt b/entries/cryppie.txt index 1c9af53..fde9020 100644 --- a/entries/cryppie.txt +++ b/entries/cryppie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ cryppie -/kripee/ , n. A cryptographer. One who hacks or implements cryptographic software or hardware. +/kripee/ , n. A cryptographer. One who hacks or implements cryptographic +software or hardware. + diff --git a/entries/cthulhic.txt b/entries/cthulhic.txt index ede380c..d88f010 100644 --- a/entries/cthulhic.txt +++ b/entries/cthulhic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ cthulhic -/kthoolhik/ , adj. Having the nature of a Cthulhu, the horrific tentacled green monstrosity from H.P. Lovecraft's seminal horror fiction. Cthulhu sends dreams that drive men mad, feeds on the flesh of screaming victims rent limb from limb, and is served by a cult of degenerates. Hackers think this describes large proprietary systems such as traditional mainframe s, installations of SAP and Oracle, or rooms full of Windows servers remarkably well, and the adjective is used casually. Compare Shub-Internet and crawling horror. +/kthoolhik/ , adj. Having the nature of a Cthulhu, the horrific tentacled +green monstrosity from H.P. Lovecraft's seminal horror fiction. Cthulhu +sends dreams that drive men mad, feeds on the flesh of screaming victims +rent limb from limb, and is served by a cult of degenerates. Hackers think +this describes large proprietary systems such as traditional mainframe s, +installations of SAP and Oracle, or rooms full of Windows servers remarkably +well, and the adjective is used casually. Compare Shub-Internet and crawling +horror. + diff --git a/entries/cube.txt b/entries/cube.txt index 9bf940e..8e1a494 100644 --- a/entries/cube.txt +++ b/entries/cube.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ cube -n. 1. [short for cubicle ] A module in the open-plan offices used at many programming shops. I've got the manuals in my cube. 2. A NeXT machine (which resembles a matte-black cube). +n. 1. [short for cubicle ] A module in the open-plan offices used at many +programming shops. I've got the manuals in my cube. 2. A NeXT machine (which +resembles a matte-black cube). + diff --git a/entries/cup holder.txt b/entries/cup holder.txt index 87f11df..e1029cc 100644 --- a/entries/cup holder.txt +++ b/entries/cup holder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ cup holder -n. The tray of a CD-ROM drive, or by extension the CD drive itself. So called because of a common tech support legend about the idiot who called to complain that the cup holder on his computer broke. A joke program was once distributed around the net called cupholder.exe , which when run simply extended the CD drive tray. The humor of this was of course lost on people whose drive had a slot or a caddy instead. +n. The tray of a CD-ROM drive, or by extension the CD drive itself. So +called because of a common tech support legend about the idiot who called to +complain that the cup holder on his computer broke. A joke program was once +distributed around the net called cupholder.exe , which when run simply +extended the CD drive tray. The humor of this was of course lost on people +whose drive had a slot or a caddy instead. + diff --git a/entries/cursor dipped in X.txt b/entries/cursor dipped in X.txt index 5d64c59..3d9a340 100644 --- a/entries/cursor dipped in X.txt +++ b/entries/cursor dipped in X.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ cursor dipped in X -n. There are a couple of metaphors in English of the form pen dipped in X (perhaps the most common values of X are acid , bile , and vitriol ). These map over neatly to this hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving letters behind, when one is composing on-line). +n. There are a couple of metaphors in English of the form pen dipped in X +(perhaps the most common values of X are acid , bile , and vitriol ). These +map over neatly to this hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving +letters behind, when one is composing on-line). + diff --git a/entries/cuspy.txt b/entries/cuspy.txt index 050fa5e..5692db4 100644 --- a/entries/cuspy.txt +++ b/entries/cuspy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ cuspy -/kuhspee/ , adj. [WPI: from the DEC abbreviation CUSP, for Commonly Used System Program , i.e., a utility program used by many people. Now rare.] 1. (of a program) Well-written. 2. Functionally excellent. A program that performs well and interfaces well to users is cuspy. Oppose rude. 3. [NYU] Said of an attractive woman, especially one regarded as available. Implies a certain curvaceousness. +/kuhspee/ , adj. [WPI: from the DEC abbreviation CUSP, for Commonly Used +System Program , i.e., a utility program used by many people. Now rare.] 1. +(of a program) Well-written. 2. Functionally excellent. A program that +performs well and interfaces well to users is cuspy. Oppose rude. 3. [NYU] +Said of an attractive woman, especially one regarded as available. Implies a +certain curvaceousness. + diff --git a/entries/cut a tape.txt b/entries/cut a tape.txt index c500414..f298d22 100644 --- a/entries/cut a tape.txt +++ b/entries/cut a tape.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ cut a tape -vi. To write a software or document distribution on magnetic tape for shipment. Has nothing to do with physically cutting the medium! Early versions of this lexicon claimed that one never analogously speaks of cutting a disk , but this has since been reported as live usage. Related slang usages are mainstream business's cut a check , the recording industry's cut a record , and the military's cut an order. All of these usages reflect physical processes in obsolete recording and duplication technologies. The first stage in manufacturing an old-style vinyl record involved cutting grooves in a stamping die with a precision lathe. More mundanely, the dominant technology for mass duplication of paper documents in pre-photocopying days involved cutting a stencil , punching away portions of the wax overlay on a silk screen. More directly, paper tape with holes punched in it was an important early storage medium. See also burn a CD. +vi. To write a software or document distribution on magnetic tape for +shipment. Has nothing to do with physically cutting the medium! Early +versions of this lexicon claimed that one never analogously speaks of +cutting a disk , but this has since been reported as live usage. Related +slang usages are mainstream business's cut a check , the recording +industry's cut a record , and the military's cut an order. All of these +usages reflect physical processes in obsolete recording and duplication +technologies. The first stage in manufacturing an old-style vinyl record +involved cutting grooves in a stamping die with a precision lathe. More +mundanely, the dominant technology for mass duplication of paper documents +in pre-photocopying days involved cutting a stencil , punching away portions +of the wax overlay on a silk screen. More directly, paper tape with holes +punched in it was an important early storage medium. See also burn a CD. + diff --git a/entries/cybercrud.txt b/entries/cybercrud.txt index aa59103..55410cd 100644 --- a/entries/cybercrud.txt +++ b/entries/cybercrud.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ cybercrud -/si:berkruhd/ , n. 1. [coined by Ted Nelson] Obfuscatory tech-talk. Verbiage with a high MEGO factor. The computer equivalent of bureaucratese. 2. Incomprehensible stuff embedded in email. First there were the Received headers that show how mail flows through systems, then MIME (Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions) headers and part boundaries, and now huge blocks of radix-64 for PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) or PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) digital signatures and certificates of authenticity. This stuff all serves a purpose and good user interfaces should hide it, but all too often users are forced to wade through it. +/si:berkruhd/ , n. 1. [coined by Ted Nelson] Obfuscatory tech-talk. Verbiage +with a high MEGO factor. The computer equivalent of bureaucratese. 2. +Incomprehensible stuff embedded in email. First there were the Received +headers that show how mail flows through systems, then MIME (Multi-purpose +Internet Mail Extensions) headers and part boundaries, and now huge blocks +of radix-64 for PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) or PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) +digital signatures and certificates of authenticity. This stuff all serves a +purpose and good user interfaces should hide it, but all too often users are +forced to wade through it. + diff --git a/entries/cyberpunk.txt b/entries/cyberpunk.txt index 2492c2a..869e83a 100644 --- a/entries/cyberpunk.txt +++ b/entries/cyberpunk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ cyberpunk -/si:berpuhnk/ , n.,adj. [orig. by SF writer Bruce Bethke and/or editor Gardner Dozois] A subgenre of SF launched in 1982 by William Gibson's epoch-making novel Neuromancer (though its roots go back through Vernor Vinge's True Names (see the Bibliography in Appendix C) to John Brunner's 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider ). Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly nave and tremendously stimulating. Gibson's work was widely imitated, in particular by the short-lived but innovative Max Headroom TV series. See cyberspace , ice , jack in , go flatline. Since 1990 or so, popular culture has included a movement or fashion trend that calls itself cyberpunk , associated especially with the rave/techno subculture. Hackers have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, self-described cyberpunks too often seem to be shallow trendoids in black leather who have substituted enthusiastic blathering about technology for actually learning and doing it. Attitude is no substitute for competence. On the other hand, at least cyberpunks are excited about the right things and properly respectful of hacking talent in those who have it. The general consensus is to tolerate them politely in hopes that they'll attract people who grow into being true hackers. +/si:berpuhnk/ , n.,adj. [orig. by SF writer Bruce Bethke and/or editor +Gardner Dozois] A subgenre of SF launched in 1982 by William Gibson's +epoch-making novel Neuromancer (though its roots go back through Vernor +Vinge's True Names (see the Bibliography in Appendix C) to John Brunner's +1975 novel The Shockwave Rider ). Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers +and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role +of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both +irritatingly nave and tremendously stimulating. Gibson's work was widely +imitated, in particular by the short-lived but innovative Max Headroom TV +series. See cyberspace , ice , jack in , go flatline. Since 1990 or so, +popular culture has included a movement or fashion trend that calls itself +cyberpunk , associated especially with the rave/techno subculture. Hackers +have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, self-described cyberpunks +too often seem to be shallow trendoids in black leather who have substituted +enthusiastic blathering about technology for actually learning and doing it. +Attitude is no substitute for competence. On the other hand, at least +cyberpunks are excited about the right things and properly respectful of +hacking talent in those who have it. The general consensus is to tolerate +them politely in hopes that they'll attract people who grow into being true +hackers. + diff --git a/entries/cyberspace.txt b/entries/cyberspace.txt index da42f2d..fa1770b 100644 --- a/entries/cyberspace.txt +++ b/entries/cyberspace.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ cyberspace -/si:brspays`/ , n. 1. Notional information-space loaded with visual cues and navigable with brain-computer interfaces called cyberspace decks ; a characteristic prop of cyberpunk SF. Serious efforts to construct virtual reality interfaces modeled explicitly on Gibsonian cyberspace are under way, using more conventional devices such as glove sensors and binocular TV headsets. Few hackers are prepared to deny outright the possibility of a cyberspace someday evolving out of the network (see the network ). 2. The Internet or Matrix (sense #2) as a whole, considered as a crude cyberspace (sense 1). Although this usage became widely popular in the mainstream press during 1994 when the Internet exploded into public awareness, it is strongly deprecated among hackers because the Internet does not meet the high, SF-inspired standards they have for true cyberspace technology. Thus, this use of the term usually tags a wannabee or outsider. Oppose meatspace. 3. Occasionally, the metaphoric location of the mind of a person in hack mode. Some hackers report experiencing strong synesthetic imagery when in hack mode; interestingly, independent reports from multiple sources suggest that there are common features to the experience. In particular, the dominant colors of this subjective cyberspace are often gray and silver, and the imagery often involves constellations of marching dots, elaborate shifting patterns of lines and angles, or moire patterns. +/si:brspays`/ , n. 1. Notional information-space loaded with visual cues and +navigable with brain-computer interfaces called cyberspace decks ; a +characteristic prop of cyberpunk SF. Serious efforts to construct virtual +reality interfaces modeled explicitly on Gibsonian cyberspace are under way, +using more conventional devices such as glove sensors and binocular TV +headsets. Few hackers are prepared to deny outright the possibility of a +cyberspace someday evolving out of the network (see the network ). 2. The +Internet or Matrix (sense #2) as a whole, considered as a crude cyberspace +(sense 1). Although this usage became widely popular in the mainstream press +during 1994 when the Internet exploded into public awareness, it is strongly +deprecated among hackers because the Internet does not meet the high, +SF-inspired standards they have for true cyberspace technology. Thus, this +use of the term usually tags a wannabee or outsider. Oppose meatspace. 3. +Occasionally, the metaphoric location of the mind of a person in hack mode. +Some hackers report experiencing strong synesthetic imagery when in hack +mode; interestingly, independent reports from multiple sources suggest that +there are common features to the experience. In particular, the dominant +colors of this subjective cyberspace are often gray and silver, and the +imagery often involves constellations of marching dots, elaborate shifting +patterns of lines and angles, or moire patterns. + diff --git a/entries/cycle of reincarnation.txt b/entries/cycle of reincarnation.txt index 5a6f19b..cc9e5f3 100644 --- a/entries/cycle of reincarnation.txt +++ b/entries/cycle of reincarnation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ cycle of reincarnation n. See wheel of reincarnation. + diff --git a/entries/cycle server.txt b/entries/cycle server.txt index 5bde5dc..9cb69b3 100644 --- a/entries/cycle server.txt +++ b/entries/cycle server.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ cycle server -n. A powerful machine that exists primarily for running large compute-, disk-, or memory-intensive jobs (more formally called a compute server ). Implies that interactive tasks such as editing are done on other machines on the network, such as workstations. +n. A powerful machine that exists primarily for running large compute-, +disk-, or memory-intensive jobs (more formally called a compute server ). +Implies that interactive tasks such as editing are done on other machines on +the network, such as workstations. + diff --git a/entries/cycle.txt b/entries/cycle.txt index 5d23330..08eef3f 100644 --- a/entries/cycle.txt +++ b/entries/cycle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ cycle -1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper described himself as a junkie ). One can describe an instruction as taking so many clock s. Often the computer can access its memory once on every clock , and so one speaks also of memory s. These are technical meanings of . The jargon meaning comes from the observation that there are only so many s per second, and when you are sharing a computer the s get divided up among the users. The more s the computer spends working on your program rather than someone else's, the faster your program will run. That's why every hacker wants more s: so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to respond. 2. By extension, a notional unit of human thought power, emphasizing that lots of things compete for the typical hacker's think time. I refused to get involved with the Rubik's Cube back when it was big. Knew I'd burn too many s on it if I let myself. 3. vt. Syn. bounce (sense 4), from the phrase power. Cycle the machine again, that serial port's still hung. +1. n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants more of (noted +hacker Bill Gosper described himself as a junkie ). One can describe an +instruction as taking so many clock s. Often the computer can access its +memory once on every clock , and so one speaks also of memory s. These are +technical meanings of . The jargon meaning comes from the observation that +there are only so many s per second, and when you are sharing a computer the +s get divided up among the users. The more s the computer spends working on +your program rather than someone else's, the faster your program will run. +That's why every hacker wants more s: so he can spend less time waiting for +the computer to respond. 2. By extension, a notional unit of human thought +power, emphasizing that lots of things compete for the typical hacker's +think time. I refused to get involved with the Rubik's Cube back when it was +big. Knew I'd burn too many s on it if I let myself. 3. vt. Syn. bounce +(sense 4), from the phrase power. Cycle the machine again, that serial +port's still hung. + diff --git a/entries/cypherpunk.txt b/entries/cypherpunk.txt index ae07cb0..60cec7f 100644 --- a/entries/cypherpunk.txt +++ b/entries/cypherpunk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ cypherpunk -n. [from cyberpunk ] Someone interested in the uses of encryption via electronic ciphers for enhancing personal privacy and guarding against tyranny by centralized, authoritarian power structures, especially government. There is an active cypherpunks mailing list at cypherpunks-request@toad.com coordinating work on public-key encryption freeware, privacy, and digital cash. See also tentacle. +n. [from cyberpunk ] Someone interested in the uses of encryption via +electronic ciphers for enhancing personal privacy and guarding against +tyranny by centralized, authoritarian power structures, especially +government. There is an active cypherpunks mailing list at +cypherpunks-request@toad.com coordinating work on public-key encryption +freeware, privacy, and digital cash. See also tentacle. + diff --git a/entries/daemon book.txt b/entries/daemon book.txt index 72fcf9c..d378f1e 100644 --- a/entries/daemon book.txt +++ b/entries/daemon book.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ daemon book -n. The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System , by Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael J. Karels, and John S. Quarterman (Addison-Wesley Publishers, 1989, ISBN 0-201-06196-1); or The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System by Marshall Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels and John S. Quarterman (Addison-Wesley Longman, 1996, ISBN 0-201-54979-4) Either of the standard reference books on the internals of BSD Unix. So called because the covers have a picture depicting a little demon (a visual play on daemon ) in sneakers, holding a pitchfork (referring to one of the characteristic features of Unix, the fork (2) system call). +n. The Design and Implementation of the 4.3BSD UNIX Operating System , by +Samuel J. Leffler, Marshall Kirk McKusick, Michael J. Karels, and John S. +Quarterman (Addison-Wesley Publishers, 1989, ISBN 0-201-06196-1); or The +Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System by Marshall Kirk +McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels and John S. Quarterman +(Addison-Wesley Longman, 1996, ISBN 0-201-54979-4) Either of the standard +reference books on the internals of BSD Unix. So called because the covers +have a picture depicting a little demon (a visual play on daemon ) in +sneakers, holding a pitchfork (referring to one of the characteristic +features of Unix, the fork (2) system call). + diff --git a/entries/daemon.txt b/entries/daemon.txt index 80afdb5..0403f23 100644 --- a/entries/daemon.txt +++ b/entries/daemon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ daemon -/daymn/ , /deemn/ , n. [from Maxwell's Demon, later incorrectly retronymed as Disk And Execution MONitor ] A program that is not invoked explicitly, but lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. The idea is that the perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a daemon is lurking (though often a program will commit an action only because it knows that it will implicitly invoke a daemon). For example, under ITS , writing a file on the LPT spooler's directory would invoke the spooling daemon, which would then print the file. The advantage is that programs wanting (in this example) files printed need neither compete for access to nor understand any idiosyncrasies of the LPT. They simply enter their implicit requests and let the daemon decide what to do with them. Daemons are usually spawned automatically by the system, and may either live forever or be regenerated at intervals. Daemon and demon are often used interchangeably, but seem to have distinct connotations. The term daemon was introduced to computing by CTSS people (who pronounced it /deemon/ ) and used it to refer to what ITS called a dragon ; the prototype was a program called DAEMON that automatically made tape backups of the file system. Although the meaning and the pronunciation have drifted, we think this glossary reflects current (2003) usage. +/daymn/ , /deemn/ , n. [from Maxwell's Demon, later incorrectly retronymed +as Disk And Execution MONitor ] A program that is not invoked explicitly, +but lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. The idea is that +the perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a daemon is lurking +(though often a program will commit an action only because it knows that it +will implicitly invoke a daemon). For example, under ITS , writing a file on +the LPT spooler's directory would invoke the spooling daemon, which would +then print the file. The advantage is that programs wanting (in this +example) files printed need neither compete for access to nor understand any +idiosyncrasies of the LPT. They simply enter their implicit requests and let +the daemon decide what to do with them. Daemons are usually spawned +automatically by the system, and may either live forever or be regenerated +at intervals. Daemon and demon are often used interchangeably, but seem to +have distinct connotations. The term daemon was introduced to computing by +CTSS people (who pronounced it /deemon/ ) and used it to refer to what ITS +called a dragon ; the prototype was a program called DAEMON that +automatically made tape backups of the file system. Although the meaning and +the pronunciation have drifted, we think this glossary reflects current +(2003) usage. + diff --git a/entries/dahmum.txt b/entries/dahmum.txt index 382aea0..976917b 100644 --- a/entries/dahmum.txt +++ b/entries/dahmum.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ dahmum -/dahmum/ , n. [Usenet] The material of which protracted flame war s, especially those about operating systems, is composed. Homeomorphic to spam. The term dahmum is derived from the name of a militant OS/2 advocate, and originated when an extensively cross-posted OS/2-versus- Linux debate was fed through Dissociated Press. +/dahmum/ , n. [Usenet] The material of which protracted flame war s, +especially those about operating systems, is composed. Homeomorphic to spam. +The term dahmum is derived from the name of a militant OS/2 advocate, and +originated when an extensively cross-posted OS/2-versus- Linux debate was +fed through Dissociated Press. + diff --git a/entries/dancing frog.txt b/entries/dancing frog.txt index 86ac560..7361761 100644 --- a/entries/dancing frog.txt +++ b/entries/dancing frog.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ dancing frog -n. [Vancouver area] A problem that occurs on a computer that will not reappear while anyone else is watching. From the classic Warner Brothers cartoon One Froggy Evening , featuring a dancing and singing Michigan J. Frog that just croaks when anyone else is around (now the WB network mascot). +n. [Vancouver area] A problem that occurs on a computer that will not +reappear while anyone else is watching. From the classic Warner Brothers +cartoon One Froggy Evening , featuring a dancing and singing Michigan J. +Frog that just croaks when anyone else is around (now the WB network +mascot). + diff --git a/entries/dangling pointer.txt b/entries/dangling pointer.txt index 27688a3..83be571 100644 --- a/entries/dangling pointer.txt +++ b/entries/dangling pointer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ dangling pointer -n. [common] A reference that doesn't actually lead anywhere (in C and some other languages, a pointer that doesn't actually point at anything valid). Usually this happens because it formerly pointed to something that has moved or disappeared. Used as jargon in a generalization of its techspeak meaning; for example, a local phone number for a person who has since moved to the other coast is a dangling pointer. +n. [common] A reference that doesn't actually lead anywhere (in C and some +other languages, a pointer that doesn't actually point at anything valid). +Usually this happens because it formerly pointed to something that has moved +or disappeared. Used as jargon in a generalization of its techspeak meaning; +for example, a local phone number for a person who has since moved to the +other coast is a dangling pointer. + diff --git a/entries/dark-side hacker.txt b/entries/dark-side hacker.txt index 1e901e0..6ae742d 100644 --- a/entries/dark-side hacker.txt +++ b/entries/dark-side hacker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ dark-side hacker -n. A criminal or malicious hacker; a cracker. From George Lucas's Darth Vader, seduced by the dark side of the Force. The implication that hackers form a sort of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended. Oppose samurai. +n. A criminal or malicious hacker; a cracker. From George Lucas's Darth +Vader, seduced by the dark side of the Force. The implication that hackers +form a sort of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended. Oppose +samurai. + diff --git a/entries/day mode.txt b/entries/day mode.txt index b4832d6..05275ed 100644 --- a/entries/day mode.txt +++ b/entries/day mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ day mode n. See phase (sense 1). Used of people only. + diff --git a/entries/dd.txt b/entries/dd.txt index c33629f..5840de9 100644 --- a/entries/dd.txt +++ b/entries/dd.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ dd -/deedee/ , vt. [Unix: from IBM JCL ] Equivalent to cat or BLT. Originally the name of a Unix copy command with special options suitable for block-oriented devices; it was often used in heavy-handed system maintenance, as in Let's dd the root partition onto a tape, then use the boot PROM to load it back on to a new disk. The Unix dd (1) was designed with a weird, distinctly non-Unixy keyword option syntax reminiscent of IBM System/360 JCL (which had an elaborate DD Dataset Definition specification for I/O devices); though the command filled a need, the interface design was clearly a prank. The jargon usage is now very rare outside Unix sites and now nearly obsolete even there, as dd (1) has been deprecated for a long time (though it has no exact replacement). The term has been displaced by BLT or simple English copy. +/deedee/ , vt. [Unix: from IBM JCL ] Equivalent to cat or BLT. Originally +the name of a Unix copy command with special options suitable for +block-oriented devices; it was often used in heavy-handed system +maintenance, as in Let's dd the root partition onto a tape, then use the +boot PROM to load it back on to a new disk. The Unix dd (1) was designed +with a weird, distinctly non-Unixy keyword option syntax reminiscent of IBM +System/360 JCL (which had an elaborate DD Dataset Definition specification +for I/O devices); though the command filled a need, the interface design was +clearly a prank. The jargon usage is now very rare outside Unix sites and +now nearly obsolete even there, as dd (1) has been deprecated for a long +time (though it has no exact replacement). The term has been displaced by +BLT or simple English copy. + diff --git a/entries/de-rezz.txt b/entries/de-rezz.txt index 60b3286..5d9ebd5 100644 --- a/entries/de-rezz.txt +++ b/entries/de-rezz.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ de-rezz -/deerez/ [from de-resolve via the movie Tron ] (also derez ) 1. vi. To disappear or dissolve; the image that goes with it is of an object breaking up into raster lines and static and then dissolving. Occasionally used of a person who seems to have suddenly fuzzed out mentally rather than physically. Usage: extremely silly, also rare. This verb was actually invented as fictional hacker jargon, and adopted in a spirit of irony by real hackers years after the fact. 2. vt. The Macintosh resource decompiler. On a Macintosh, many program structures (including the code itself) are managed in small segments of the program file known as resources ; Rez and DeRez are a pair of utilities for compiling and decompiling resource files. Thus, decompiling a resource is derezzing. Usage: very common. +/deerez/ [from de-resolve via the movie Tron ] (also derez ) 1. vi. To +disappear or dissolve; the image that goes with it is of an object breaking +up into raster lines and static and then dissolving. Occasionally used of a +person who seems to have suddenly fuzzed out mentally rather than +physically. Usage: extremely silly, also rare. This verb was actually +invented as fictional hacker jargon, and adopted in a spirit of irony by +real hackers years after the fact. 2. vt. The Macintosh resource decompiler. +On a Macintosh, many program structures (including the code itself) are +managed in small segments of the program file known as resources ; Rez and +DeRez are a pair of utilities for compiling and decompiling resource files. +Thus, decompiling a resource is derezzing. Usage: very common. + diff --git a/entries/dead beef attack.txt b/entries/dead beef attack.txt index 0510af9..11472a0 100644 --- a/entries/dead beef attack.txt +++ b/entries/dead beef attack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ dead beef attack -n. [cypherpunks list, 1996] An attack on a public-key cryptosystem consisting of publishing a key having the same ID as another key (thus making it possible to spoof a user's identity if recipients aren't careful about verifying keys). In PGP and GPG the key ID is the last eight hex digits of (for RSA keys) the product of two primes. The attack was demonstrated by creating a key whose ID was 0xdeadbeef (see DEADBEEF ). +n. [cypherpunks list, 1996] An attack on a public-key cryptosystem +consisting of publishing a key having the same ID as another key (thus +making it possible to spoof a user's identity if recipients aren't careful +about verifying keys). In PGP and GPG the key ID is the last eight hex +digits of (for RSA keys) the product of two primes. The attack was +demonstrated by creating a key whose ID was 0xdeadbeef (see DEADBEEF ). + diff --git a/entries/dead code.txt b/entries/dead code.txt index a6623e7..dd766e0 100644 --- a/entries/dead code.txt +++ b/entries/dead code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ dead code -n. Routines that can never be accessed because all calls to them have been removed, or code that cannot be reached because it is guarded by a control structure that provably must always transfer control somewhere else. The presence of dead code may reveal either logical errors due to alterations in the program or significant changes in the assumptions and environment of the program (see also software rot ); a good compiler should report dead code so a maintainer can think about what it means. (Sometimes it simply means that an extremely defensive programmer has inserted can't happen tests which really can't happen yet.) Syn. grunge. See also dead , and The Story of Mel'. +n. Routines that can never be accessed because all calls to them have been +removed, or code that cannot be reached because it is guarded by a control +structure that provably must always transfer control somewhere else. The +presence of dead code may reveal either logical errors due to alterations in +the program or significant changes in the assumptions and environment of the +program (see also software rot ); a good compiler should report dead code so +a maintainer can think about what it means. (Sometimes it simply means that +an extremely defensive programmer has inserted can't happen tests which +really can't happen yet.) Syn. grunge. See also dead , and The Story of +Mel'. + diff --git a/entries/dead-tree version.txt b/entries/dead-tree version.txt index b5ba8d5..59ab618 100644 --- a/entries/dead-tree version.txt +++ b/entries/dead-tree version.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ dead-tree version -A paper version of an on-line document; one printed on dead trees. In this context, dead trees always refers to paper. See also tree-killer. +A paper version of an on-line document; one printed on dead trees. In this +context, dead trees always refers to paper. See also tree-killer. + diff --git a/entries/dead.txt b/entries/dead.txt index ddfc948..852b397 100644 --- a/entries/dead.txt +++ b/entries/dead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ dead -adj. 1. Non-functional; down ; crash ed. Especially used of hardware. 2. At XEROX PARC, software that is working but not undergoing continued development and support. 3. Useless; inaccessible. Antonym: live. Compare dead code. +adj. 1. Non-functional; down ; crash ed. Especially used of hardware. 2. At +XEROX PARC, software that is working but not undergoing continued +development and support. 3. Useless; inaccessible. Antonym: live. Compare +dead code. + diff --git a/entries/deadlock.txt b/entries/deadlock.txt index d085ec3..07023cd 100644 --- a/entries/deadlock.txt +++ b/entries/deadlock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ deadlock -n. 1. [techspeak] A situation wherein two or more processes are unable to proceed because each is waiting for one of the others to do something. A common example is a program communicating to a server, which may find itself waiting for output from the server before sending anything more to it, while the server is similarly waiting for more input from the controlling program before outputting anything. (It is reported that this particular flavor of deadlock is sometimes called a starvation deadlock , though the term starvation is more properly used for situations where a program can never run simply because it never gets high enough priority. Another common flavor is constipation , in which each process is trying to send stuff to the other but all buffers are full because nobody is reading anything.) See deadly embrace. 2. Also used of deadlock-like interactions between humans, as when two people meet in a narrow corridor, and each tries to be polite by moving aside to let the other pass, but they end up swaying from side to side without making any progress because they always move the same way at the same time. +n. 1. [techspeak] A situation wherein two or more processes are unable to +proceed because each is waiting for one of the others to do something. A +common example is a program communicating to a server, which may find itself +waiting for output from the server before sending anything more to it, while +the server is similarly waiting for more input from the controlling program +before outputting anything. (It is reported that this particular flavor of +deadlock is sometimes called a starvation deadlock , though the term +starvation is more properly used for situations where a program can never +run simply because it never gets high enough priority. Another common flavor +is constipation , in which each process is trying to send stuff to the other +but all buffers are full because nobody is reading anything.) See deadly +embrace. 2. Also used of deadlock-like interactions between humans, as when +two people meet in a narrow corridor, and each tries to be polite by moving +aside to let the other pass, but they end up swaying from side to side +without making any progress because they always move the same way at the +same time. + diff --git a/entries/deadly embrace.txt b/entries/deadly embrace.txt index 2b75850..bf0ecd6 100644 --- a/entries/deadly embrace.txt +++ b/entries/deadly embrace.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ deadly embrace -n. Same as deadlock , though usually used only when exactly two processes are involved. This is the more popular term in Europe, while deadlock predominates in the United States. +n. Same as deadlock , though usually used only when exactly two processes +are involved. This is the more popular term in Europe, while deadlock +predominates in the United States. + diff --git a/entries/death code.txt b/entries/death code.txt index 3927c2f..ae4d184 100644 --- a/entries/death code.txt +++ b/entries/death code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ death code -n. A routine whose job is to set everything in the computer registers, memory, flags, everything to zero, including that portion of memory where it is running; its last act is to stomp on its own store zero instruction. Death code isn't very useful, but writing it is an interesting hacking challenge on architectures where the instruction set makes it possible, such as the PDP-8 (it has also been done on the DG Nova). Perhaps the ultimate death code is on the TI 990 series, where all registers are actually in RAM, and the instruction store immediate 0 has the opcode 0. The PC will immediately wrap around core as many times as it can until a user hits HALT. Any empty memory location is death code. Worse, the manufacturer recommended use of this instruction in startup code (which would be in ROM and therefore survive). +n. A routine whose job is to set everything in the computer registers, +memory, flags, everything to zero, including that portion of memory where it +is running; its last act is to stomp on its own store zero instruction. +Death code isn't very useful, but writing it is an interesting hacking +challenge on architectures where the instruction set makes it possible, such +as the PDP-8 (it has also been done on the DG Nova). Perhaps the ultimate +death code is on the TI 990 series, where all registers are actually in RAM, +and the instruction store immediate 0 has the opcode 0. The PC will +immediately wrap around core as many times as it can until a user hits HALT. +Any empty memory location is death code. Worse, the manufacturer recommended +use of this instruction in startup code (which would be in ROM and therefore +survive). + diff --git a/entries/decay.txt b/entries/decay.txt index 0688f6f..96d43c1 100644 --- a/entries/decay.txt +++ b/entries/decay.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ decay -n.,vi [from nuclear physics] An automatic conversion which is applied to most array-valued expressions in C ; they decay into pointer-valued expressions pointing to the array's first element. This term is borderline techspeak, but is not used in the official standard for the language. +n.,vi [from nuclear physics] An automatic conversion which is applied to +most array-valued expressions in C ; they decay into pointer-valued +expressions pointing to the array's first element. This term is borderline +techspeak, but is not used in the official standard for the language. + diff --git a/entries/deckle.txt b/entries/deckle.txt index 20bf35f..9b416cf 100644 --- a/entries/deckle.txt +++ b/entries/deckle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ deckle -/dekl/ , n. [from dec- and nybble ; the original spelling seems to have been decle ] Two nickle s; 10 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI 1600 (the Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but 10-bit-wide ROM. See nybble for other such terms. +/dekl/ , n. [from dec- and nybble ; the original spelling seems to have been +decle ] Two nickle s; 10 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI +1600 (the Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but +10-bit-wide ROM. See nybble for other such terms. + diff --git a/entries/deep hack mode.txt b/entries/deep hack mode.txt index dfbff00..c2bb070 100644 --- a/entries/deep hack mode.txt +++ b/entries/deep hack mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ deep hack mode n. See hack mode. + diff --git a/entries/deep magic.txt b/entries/deep magic.txt index 8a889d0..d7b9747 100644 --- a/entries/deep magic.txt +++ b/entries/deep magic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ deep magic -n. [poss. from C. S. Lewis's Narnia books] An awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system, esp. one neither generally published nor available to hackers at large (compare black art ); one that could only have been composed by a true wizard. Compiler optimization techniques and many aspects of OS design used to be deep magic ; many techniques in cryptography, signal processing, graphics, and AI still are. Compare heavy wizardry. Esp.: found in comments of the form Deep magic begins here.... Compare voodoo programming. +n. [poss. from C. S. Lewis's Narnia books] An awesomely arcane technique +central to a program or system, esp. one neither generally published nor +available to hackers at large (compare black art ); one that could only have +been composed by a true wizard. Compiler optimization techniques and many +aspects of OS design used to be deep magic ; many techniques in +cryptography, signal processing, graphics, and AI still are. Compare heavy +wizardry. Esp.: found in comments of the form Deep magic begins here.... +Compare voodoo programming. + diff --git a/entries/deep space.txt b/entries/deep space.txt index b79a080..39f0e52 100644 --- a/entries/deep space.txt +++ b/entries/deep space.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ deep space -n. 1. Describes the notional location of any program that has gone off the trolley. Esp.: used of programs that just sit there silently grinding long after either failure or some output is expected. Uh oh. I should have gotten a prompt ten seconds ago. The program's in deep space somewhere. Compare buzz , catatonic , hyperspace. 2. The metaphorical location of a human so dazed and/or confused or caught up in some esoteric form of bogosity that he or she no longer responds coherently to normal communication. Compare page out. +n. 1. Describes the notional location of any program that has gone off the +trolley. Esp.: used of programs that just sit there silently grinding long +after either failure or some output is expected. Uh oh. I should have gotten +a prompt ten seconds ago. The program's in deep space somewhere. Compare +buzz , catatonic , hyperspace. 2. The metaphorical location of a human so +dazed and/or confused or caught up in some esoteric form of bogosity that he +or she no longer responds coherently to normal communication. Compare page +out. + diff --git a/entries/defenestration.txt b/entries/defenestration.txt index 25a2265..793368f 100644 --- a/entries/defenestration.txt +++ b/entries/defenestration.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ defenestration -n. [mythically from a traditional Bohemian assassination method, via SF fandom] 1. Proper karmic retribution for an incorrigible punster. Oh, ghod, that was awful ! Quick! Defenestrate him! 2. The act of completely removing Micro$oft Windows from a PC in favor of a better OS (typically Linux). 3. The act of discarding something under the assumption that it will improve matters. I don't have any disk space left. Well, why don't you defenestrate that 100 megs worth of old core dumps? 4. Under a GUI, the act of dragging something out of a window (onto the screen). Next, defenestrate the MugWump icon. 5. [obs.] The act of exiting a window system in order to get better response time from a full-screen program. This comes from the dictionary meaning of defenestrate , which is to throw something out a window. +n. [mythically from a traditional Bohemian assassination method, via SF +fandom] 1. Proper karmic retribution for an incorrigible punster. Oh, ghod, +that was awful ! Quick! Defenestrate him! 2. The act of completely removing +Micro$oft Windows from a PC in favor of a better OS (typically Linux). 3. +The act of discarding something under the assumption that it will improve +matters. I don't have any disk space left. Well, why don't you defenestrate +that 100 megs worth of old core dumps? 4. Under a GUI, the act of dragging +something out of a window (onto the screen). Next, defenestrate the MugWump +icon. 5. [obs.] The act of exiting a window system in order to get better +response time from a full-screen program. This comes from the dictionary +meaning of defenestrate , which is to throw something out a window. + diff --git a/entries/defined as.txt b/entries/defined as.txt index 59de76f..56f599d 100644 --- a/entries/defined as.txt +++ b/entries/defined as.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ defined as -adj. In the role of, usually in an organization-chart sense. Pete is currently defined as bug prioritizer. Compare logical. +adj. In the role of, usually in an organization-chart sense. Pete is +currently defined as bug prioritizer. Compare logical. + diff --git a/entries/deflicted.txt b/entries/deflicted.txt index e2cca7e..dd8e76e 100644 --- a/entries/deflicted.txt +++ b/entries/deflicted.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ deflicted -Term used of hardware that is broken due to poor design or shoddy manufacturing or (especially) both; less frequently used of software and rarely of people. This term is normally employed in a tone of weary contempt by technicians who have seen the specific failure in the trouble report before and are cynically confident they'll see it again. Ultimately this may derive from Frank Zappa's 1974 album Apostrophe , on which the Fur Trapper infamously rubs his deflicted eyes... +Term used of hardware that is broken due to poor design or shoddy +manufacturing or (especially) both; less frequently used of software and +rarely of people. This term is normally employed in a tone of weary contempt +by technicians who have seen the specific failure in the trouble report +before and are cynically confident they'll see it again. Ultimately this may +derive from Frank Zappa's 1974 album Apostrophe , on which the Fur Trapper +infamously rubs his deflicted eyes... + diff --git a/entries/dehose.txt b/entries/dehose.txt index 9c5e6a9..85c3d41 100644 --- a/entries/dehose.txt +++ b/entries/dehose.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ dehose /deehohz/ , vt. To clear a hosed condition. + diff --git a/entries/deletia.txt b/entries/deletia.txt index e898fab..c2855fe 100644 --- a/entries/deletia.txt +++ b/entries/deletia.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ deletia -n. , /d@leesha/ [USENET; common] In an email reply, material omitted from the quote of the original. Usually written rather than spoken; often appears as a pseudo-tag or ellipsis in the body of the reply, as [deletia] or deletia or snip. +n. , /d@leesha/ [USENET; common] In an email reply, material omitted from +the quote of the original. Usually written rather than spoken; often appears +as a pseudo-tag or ellipsis in the body of the reply, as [deletia] or +deletia or snip. + diff --git a/entries/deliminator.txt b/entries/deliminator.txt index 295a644..f29f822 100644 --- a/entries/deliminator.txt +++ b/entries/deliminator.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ deliminator -/delim'inayt@r/ , n. [portmanteau, delimiter + eliminate] A string or pattern used to delimit text into fields, but which is itself eliminated from the resulting list of fields. This jargon seems to have originated among Perl hackers in connection with the Perl split() function; however, it has been sighted in live use among Java and even Visual Basic programmers. +/delim'inayt@r/ , n. [portmanteau, delimiter + eliminate] A string or +pattern used to delimit text into fields, but which is itself eliminated +from the resulting list of fields. This jargon seems to have originated +among Perl hackers in connection with the Perl split() function; however, it +has been sighted in live use among Java and even Visual Basic programmers. + diff --git a/entries/delint.txt b/entries/delint.txt index b7117c6..27f3fc5 100644 --- a/entries/delint.txt +++ b/entries/delint.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ delint -/deelint/ , v. obs. To modify code to remove problems detected when lint ing. Confusingly, this process is also referred to as linting code. This term is no longer in general use because ANSI C compilers typically issue compile-time warnings almost as detailed as lint warnings. +/deelint/ , v. obs. To modify code to remove problems detected when lint +ing. Confusingly, this process is also referred to as linting code. This +term is no longer in general use because ANSI C compilers typically issue +compile-time warnings almost as detailed as lint warnings. + diff --git a/entries/delta.txt b/entries/delta.txt index fd6ea24..bdcd9d7 100644 --- a/entries/delta.txt +++ b/entries/delta.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ delta -n. 1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a small or incremental one (this use is general in physics and engineering). I just doubled the speed of my program! What was the delta on program size? About 30 percent. (He doubled the speed of his program, but increased its size by only 30 percent.) 2. [Unix] A diff , especially a diff stored under the set of version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code Control System) or RCS (Revision Control System). 3. n. A small quantity, but not as small as epsilon. The jargon usage of delta and epsilon stems from the traditional use of these letters in mathematics for very small numerical quantities, particularly in epsilon-delta proofs in limit theory (as in the differential calculus). The term delta is often used, once epsilon has been mentioned, to mean a quantity that is slightly bigger than epsilon but still very small. The cost isn't epsilon, but it's delta means that the cost isn't totally negligible, but it is nevertheless very small. +n. 1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a small or incremental +one (this use is general in physics and engineering). I just doubled the +speed of my program! What was the delta on program size? About 30 percent. +(He doubled the speed of his program, but increased its size by only 30 +percent.) 2. [Unix] A diff , especially a diff stored under the set of +version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code Control System) or RCS +(Revision Control System). 3. n. A small quantity, but not as small as +epsilon. The jargon usage of delta and epsilon stems from the traditional +use of these letters in mathematics for very small numerical quantities, +particularly in epsilon-delta proofs in limit theory (as in the differential +calculus). The term delta is often used, once epsilon has been mentioned, to +mean a quantity that is slightly bigger than epsilon but still very small. +The cost isn't epsilon, but it's delta means that the cost isn't totally +negligible, but it is nevertheless very small. + diff --git a/entries/demented.txt b/entries/demented.txt index c864a6f..d532864 100644 --- a/entries/demented.txt +++ b/entries/demented.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ demented -adj. Yet another term of disgust used to describe a malfunctioning program. The connotation in this case is that the program works as designed, but the design is bad. Said, for example, of a program that generates large numbers of meaningless error messages, implying that it is on the brink of imminent collapse. Compare wonky , brain-damaged , bozotic. +adj. Yet another term of disgust used to describe a malfunctioning program. +The connotation in this case is that the program works as designed, but the +design is bad. Said, for example, of a program that generates large numbers +of meaningless error messages, implying that it is on the brink of imminent +collapse. Compare wonky , brain-damaged , bozotic. + diff --git a/entries/demigod.txt b/entries/demigod.txt index b6af81d..5cda370 100644 --- a/entries/demigod.txt +++ b/entries/demigod.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ demigod -n. A hacker with years of experience, a world-wide reputation, and a major role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used by or known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine demigod, the person must recognizably identify with the hacker community and have helped shape it. Major demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (co-inventors of Unix and C ), Richard M. Stallman (inventor of EMACS ), Larry Wall (inventor of Perl ), Linus Torvalds (inventor of Linux ), and most recently James Gosling (inventor of Java, NeWS , and GOSMACS ) and Guido van Rossum (inventor of Python ). In their hearts of hearts, most hackers dream of someday becoming demigods themselves, and more than one major software project has been driven to completion by the author's veiled hopes of apotheosis. See also net.god , true-hacker , ubergeek. Since 1995 or so this term has been gradually displaced by ubergeek. +n. A hacker with years of experience, a world-wide reputation, and a major +role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used by or +known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine +demigod, the person must recognizably identify with the hacker community and +have helped shape it. Major demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie +(co-inventors of Unix and C ), Richard M. Stallman (inventor of EMACS ), +Larry Wall (inventor of Perl ), Linus Torvalds (inventor of Linux ), and +most recently James Gosling (inventor of Java, NeWS , and GOSMACS ) and +Guido van Rossum (inventor of Python ). In their hearts of hearts, most +hackers dream of someday becoming demigods themselves, and more than one +major software project has been driven to completion by the author's veiled +hopes of apotheosis. See also net.god , true-hacker , ubergeek. Since 1995 +or so this term has been gradually displaced by ubergeek. + diff --git a/entries/demo mode.txt b/entries/demo mode.txt index 4da17b6..d55c313 100644 --- a/entries/demo mode.txt +++ b/entries/demo mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ demo mode -n. 1. [Sun] The state of being heads down in order to finish code in time for a demo , usually due yesterday. 2. A mode in which video games sit by themselves running through a portion of the game, also known as attract mode. Some serious app s have a demo mode they use as a screen saver, or may go through a demo mode on startup (for example, the Microsoft Windows opening screen which lets you impress your neighbors without actually having to put up with Microsloth Windows ). +n. 1. [Sun] The state of being heads down in order to finish code in time +for a demo , usually due yesterday. 2. A mode in which video games sit by +themselves running through a portion of the game, also known as attract +mode. Some serious app s have a demo mode they use as a screen saver, or may +go through a demo mode on startup (for example, the Microsoft Windows +opening screen which lets you impress your neighbors without actually having +to put up with Microsloth Windows ). + diff --git a/entries/demo.txt b/entries/demo.txt index beec209..d29822b 100644 --- a/entries/demo.txt +++ b/entries/demo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ demo -/demoh/ [short for demonstration ] 1. v. To demonstrate a product or prototype. A far more effective way of inducing bugs to manifest than any number of test runs, especially when important people are watching. 2. n. The act of demoing. I've gotta give a demo of the drool-proof interface; how does it work again? 3. n. Esp. as demo version , can refer either to an early, barely-functional version of a program which can be used for demonstration purposes as long as the operator uses exactly the right commands and skirts its numerous bugs, deficiencies, and unimplemented portions, or to a special version of a program (frequently with some features crippled) which is distributed at little or no cost to the user for enticement purposes. 4. [ demoscene ] A sequence of demoeffect s (usually) combined with self-composed music and hand-drawn ( pixelated ) graphics. These days (1997) usually built to attend a compo. Often called eurodemos outside Europe, as most of the demoscene activity seems to have gathered in northern Europe and especially Scandinavia. See also intro , dentro. +/demoh/ [short for demonstration ] 1. v. To demonstrate a product or +prototype. A far more effective way of inducing bugs to manifest than any +number of test runs, especially when important people are watching. 2. n. +The act of demoing. I've gotta give a demo of the drool-proof interface; how +does it work again? 3. n. Esp. as demo version , can refer either to an +early, barely-functional version of a program which can be used for +demonstration purposes as long as the operator uses exactly the right +commands and skirts its numerous bugs, deficiencies, and unimplemented +portions, or to a special version of a program (frequently with some +features crippled) which is distributed at little or no cost to the user for +enticement purposes. 4. [ demoscene ] A sequence of demoeffect s (usually) +combined with self-composed music and hand-drawn ( pixelated ) graphics. +These days (1997) usually built to attend a compo. Often called eurodemos +outside Europe, as most of the demoscene activity seems to have gathered in +northern Europe and especially Scandinavia. See also intro , dentro. + diff --git a/entries/demoeffect.txt b/entries/demoeffect.txt index c8c01d6..ccb60eb 100644 --- a/entries/demoeffect.txt +++ b/entries/demoeffect.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ demoeffect -n. [ demoscene ] 1. What among hackers is called a display hack. Classical effects include plasma (colorful mess), keftales ( x*x+y*y and other similar patterns, usually combined with color-cycling), realtime fractals, realtime 3d graphics, etc. Historically, demo effects have cheated as much as possible to gain more speed and more complexity, using low-precision math and masses of assembler code and building animation realtime are three common tricks, but use of special hardware to fake effects is a Good Thing on the demoscene (though this is becoming less common as platforms like the Amiga fade away). 2. [Finland] Opposite of dancing frog. The crash that happens when you demonstrate a perfectly good prototype to a client. Plagues most often CS students and small businesses, but there is a well-known case involving Bill Gates demonstrating a brand new version of a major operating system. +n. [ demoscene ] 1. What among hackers is called a display hack. Classical +effects include plasma (colorful mess), keftales ( x*x+y*y and other similar +patterns, usually combined with color-cycling), realtime fractals, realtime +3d graphics, etc. Historically, demo effects have cheated as much as +possible to gain more speed and more complexity, using low-precision math +and masses of assembler code and building animation realtime are three +common tricks, but use of special hardware to fake effects is a Good Thing +on the demoscene (though this is becoming less common as platforms like the +Amiga fade away). 2. [Finland] Opposite of dancing frog. The crash that +happens when you demonstrate a perfectly good prototype to a client. Plagues +most often CS students and small businesses, but there is a well-known case +involving Bill Gates demonstrating a brand new version of a major operating +system. + diff --git a/entries/demogroup.txt b/entries/demogroup.txt index 6812c4c..b70c6c0 100644 --- a/entries/demogroup.txt +++ b/entries/demogroup.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ demogroup -n. [ demoscene ] A group of demo (sense 4) composers. Job titles within a group include coders (the ones who write programs), graphicians (the ones who painstakingly pixelate the fine art), musicians (the music composers), sysop s, traders/swappers (the ones who do the trading and other PR), and organizers (in larger groups). It is not uncommon for one person to do multiple jobs, but it has been observed that good coders are rarely good composers and vice versa. [How odd. +n. [ demoscene ] A group of demo (sense 4) composers. Job titles within a +group include coders (the ones who write programs), graphicians (the ones +who painstakingly pixelate the fine art), musicians (the music composers), +sysop s, traders/swappers (the ones who do the trading and other PR), and +organizers (in larger groups). It is not uncommon for one person to do +multiple jobs, but it has been observed that good coders are rarely good +composers and vice versa. [How odd. + diff --git a/entries/demon dialer.txt b/entries/demon dialer.txt index 1def52d..795772c 100644 --- a/entries/demon dialer.txt +++ b/entries/demon dialer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ demon dialer -n. A program which repeatedly calls the same telephone number. Demon dialing may be benign (as when a number of communications programs contend for legitimate access to a BBS line) or malign (that is, used as a prank or denial-of-service attack). This term dates from the blue box days of the 1970s and early 1980s and is now semi-obsolescent among phreaker s; see war dialer for its contemporary progeny. +n. A program which repeatedly calls the same telephone number. Demon dialing +may be benign (as when a number of communications programs contend for +legitimate access to a BBS line) or malign (that is, used as a prank or +denial-of-service attack). This term dates from the blue box days of the +1970s and early 1980s and is now semi-obsolescent among phreaker s; see war +dialer for its contemporary progeny. + diff --git a/entries/demon.txt b/entries/demon.txt index c7f58f1..1943cd1 100644 --- a/entries/demon.txt +++ b/entries/demon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ demon -n. 1. Often used equivalently to daemon especially in the Unix world, where the latter spelling and pronunciation is considered mildly archaic. 2. [MIT; now probably obsolete] A portion of a program that is not invoked explicitly, but that lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. See daemon. The distinction is that demons are usually processes within a program, while daemons are usually programs running on an operating system. Demons in sense 2 are particularly common in AI programs. For example, a knowledge-manipulation program might implement inference rules as demons. Whenever a new piece of knowledge was added, various demons would activate (which demons depends on the particular piece of data) and would create additional pieces of knowledge by applying their respective inference rules to the original piece. These new pieces could in turn activate more demons as the inferences filtered down through chains of logic. Meanwhile, the main program could continue with whatever its primary task was. +n. 1. Often used equivalently to daemon especially in the Unix world, where +the latter spelling and pronunciation is considered mildly archaic. 2. [MIT; +now probably obsolete] A portion of a program that is not invoked +explicitly, but that lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. +See daemon. The distinction is that demons are usually processes within a +program, while daemons are usually programs running on an operating system. +Demons in sense 2 are particularly common in AI programs. For example, a +knowledge-manipulation program might implement inference rules as demons. +Whenever a new piece of knowledge was added, various demons would activate +(which demons depends on the particular piece of data) and would create +additional pieces of knowledge by applying their respective inference rules +to the original piece. These new pieces could in turn activate more demons +as the inferences filtered down through chains of logic. Meanwhile, the main +program could continue with whatever its primary task was. + diff --git a/entries/demoparty.txt b/entries/demoparty.txt index bfcfb4e..4ce1205 100644 --- a/entries/demoparty.txt +++ b/entries/demoparty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ demoparty -n. [ demoscene ] Aboveground descendant of the copyparty , with emphasis shifted away from software piracy and towards compo s. Smaller demoparties, for 100 persons or less, are held quite often, sometimes even once a month, and usually last for one to two days. On the other end of the scale, huge demo parties are held once a year (and four of these have grown very large and occur annually Assembly in Finland, The Party in Denmark, The Gathering in Norway, and NAID somewhere in north America). These parties usually last for three to five days, have room for 3000-5000 people, and have a party network with connection to the internet. +n. [ demoscene ] Aboveground descendant of the copyparty , with emphasis +shifted away from software piracy and towards compo s. Smaller demoparties, +for 100 persons or less, are held quite often, sometimes even once a month, +and usually last for one to two days. On the other end of the scale, huge +demo parties are held once a year (and four of these have grown very large +and occur annually Assembly in Finland, The Party in Denmark, The Gathering +in Norway, and NAID somewhere in north America). These parties usually last +for three to five days, have room for 3000-5000 people, and have a party +network with connection to the internet. + diff --git a/entries/demoscene.txt b/entries/demoscene.txt index f9b6b3e..d42f10e 100644 --- a/entries/demoscene.txt +++ b/entries/demoscene.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ demoscene -/demohseen/ [also demo scene ] A culture of multimedia hackers located primarily in Scandinavia and northern Europe. Demoscene folklore recounts that when old-time warez d00dz cracked some piece of software they often added an advertisement in the beginning, usually containing colorful display hack s with greetings to other cracking groups. The demoscene was born among people who decided building these display hacks is more interesting than hacking or anyway safer. Around 1990 there began to be very serious police pressure on cracking groups, including raids with SWAT teams crashing into bedrooms to confiscate computers. Whether in response to this or for esthetic reasons, crackers of that period began to build self-contained display hacks of considerable elaboration and beauty (within the culture such a hack is called a demo ). As more of these demogroup s emerged, they started to have compo s at copying parties (see copyparty ), which later evolved to standalone events (see demoparty ). The demoscene has retained some traits from the warez d00dz , including their style of handles and group names and some of their jargon. Traditionally demos were written in assembly language, with lots of smart tricks, self-modifying code, undocumented op-codes and the like. Some time around 1995, people started coding demos in C, and a couple of years after that, they also started using Java. Ten years on (in 1998-1999), the demoscene is changing as its original platforms (C64, Amiga, Spectrum, Atari ST, IBM PC under DOS) die out and activity shifts towards Windows, Linux, and the Internet. While deeply underground in the past, demoscene is trying to get into the mainstream as accepted art form, and one symptom of this is the commercialization of bigger demoparties. Older demosceners frown at this, but the majority think it's a good direction. Many demosceners end up working in the computer game industry. Demoscene resource pages are available at http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained/ and http://www.scene.org/. +/demohseen/ [also demo scene ] A culture of multimedia hackers located +primarily in Scandinavia and northern Europe. Demoscene folklore recounts +that when old-time warez d00dz cracked some piece of software they often +added an advertisement in the beginning, usually containing colorful display +hack s with greetings to other cracking groups. The demoscene was born among +people who decided building these display hacks is more interesting than +hacking or anyway safer. Around 1990 there began to be very serious police +pressure on cracking groups, including raids with SWAT teams crashing into +bedrooms to confiscate computers. Whether in response to this or for +esthetic reasons, crackers of that period began to build self-contained +display hacks of considerable elaboration and beauty (within the culture +such a hack is called a demo ). As more of these demogroup s emerged, they +started to have compo s at copying parties (see copyparty ), which later +evolved to standalone events (see demoparty ). The demoscene has retained +some traits from the warez d00dz , including their style of handles and +group names and some of their jargon. Traditionally demos were written in +assembly language, with lots of smart tricks, self-modifying code, +undocumented op-codes and the like. Some time around 1995, people started +coding demos in C, and a couple of years after that, they also started using +Java. Ten years on (in 1998-1999), the demoscene is changing as its original +platforms (C64, Amiga, Spectrum, Atari ST, IBM PC under DOS) die out and +activity shifts towards Windows, Linux, and the Internet. While deeply +underground in the past, demoscene is trying to get into the mainstream as +accepted art form, and one symptom of this is the commercialization of +bigger demoparties. Older demosceners frown at this, but the majority think +it's a good direction. Many demosceners end up working in the computer game +industry. Demoscene resource pages are available at +http://www.oldskool.org/demos/explained/ and http://www.scene.org/. + diff --git a/entries/dentro.txt b/entries/dentro.txt index 5851421..21e302a 100644 --- a/entries/dentro.txt +++ b/entries/dentro.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ dentro -/dentroh/ [ demoscene ] Combination of demo (sense 4) and intro. Other name mixings include intmo, dentmo etc. and are used usually when the authors are not quite sure whether the program is a demo or an intro. Special-purpose coinages like wedtro (some member of a group got married), invtro (invitation intro) etc. have also been sighted. +/dentroh/ [ demoscene ] Combination of demo (sense 4) and intro. Other name +mixings include intmo, dentmo etc. and are used usually when the authors are +not quite sure whether the program is a demo or an intro. Special-purpose +coinages like wedtro (some member of a group got married), invtro +(invitation intro) etc. have also been sighted. + diff --git a/entries/depeditate.txt b/entries/depeditate.txt index d4d972b..ccfd642 100644 --- a/entries/depeditate.txt +++ b/entries/depeditate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ depeditate -/deeped'@tayt/ , n. [by (faulty) analogy with decapitate ] Humorously, to cut off the feet of. When one is using some computer-aided typesetting tools, careless placement of text blocks within a page or above a rule can result in chopped-off letter descenders. Such letters are said to have been depeditated. +/deeped'@tayt/ , n. [by (faulty) analogy with decapitate ] Humorously, to +cut off the feet of. When one is using some computer-aided typesetting +tools, careless placement of text blocks within a page or above a rule can +result in chopped-off letter descenders. Such letters are said to have been +depeditated. + diff --git a/entries/deprecated.txt b/entries/deprecated.txt index 7a17797..3501cb6 100644 --- a/entries/deprecated.txt +++ b/entries/deprecated.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ deprecated -adj. Said of a program or feature that is considered obsolescent and in the process of being phased out, usually in favor of a specified replacement. Deprecated features can, unfortunately, linger on for many years. This term appears with distressing frequency in standards documents when the committees writing the documents realize that large amounts of extant (and presumably happily working) code depend on the feature(s) that have passed out of favor. See also dusty deck. [Usage note: don't confuse this word with depreciated , or the verb form deprecate with depreciate. They are different words; see any dictionary for discussion. +adj. Said of a program or feature that is considered obsolescent and in the +process of being phased out, usually in favor of a specified replacement. +Deprecated features can, unfortunately, linger on for many years. This term +appears with distressing frequency in standards documents when the +committees writing the documents realize that large amounts of extant (and +presumably happily working) code depend on the feature(s) that have passed +out of favor. See also dusty deck. [Usage note: don't confuse this word with +depreciated , or the verb form deprecate with depreciate. They are different +words; see any dictionary for discussion. + diff --git a/entries/derf.txt b/entries/derf.txt index 0b8225c..4f8ce7d 100644 --- a/entries/derf.txt +++ b/entries/derf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ derf -/derf/ [PLATO] 1. v. The act of exploiting a terminal which someone else has absentmindedly left logged on, to use that person's account, especially to post articles intended to make an ass of the victim you're impersonating. It has been alleged that the term originated as a reversal of the name of the gentleman who most usually left himself vulnerable to it, who also happened to be the head of the department that handled PLATO at the University of Delaware. Compare baggy pantsing. 2. n. The victim of an act of derfing, sense 1. The most typical posting from a derfed account read I am a derf.. +/derf/ [PLATO] 1. v. The act of exploiting a terminal which someone else has +absentmindedly left logged on, to use that person's account, especially to +post articles intended to make an ass of the victim you're impersonating. It +has been alleged that the term originated as a reversal of the name of the +gentleman who most usually left himself vulnerable to it, who also happened +to be the head of the department that handled PLATO at the University of +Delaware. Compare baggy pantsing. 2. n. The victim of an act of derfing, +sense 1. The most typical posting from a derfed account read I am a derf.. + diff --git a/entries/deserves to lose.txt b/entries/deserves to lose.txt index 026fc4d..c5b2078 100644 --- a/entries/deserves to lose.txt +++ b/entries/deserves to lose.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ deserves to lose -adj. [common] Said of someone who willfully does the Wrong Thing ; humorously, if one uses a feature known to be marginal. What is meant is that one deserves the consequences of one's losing actions. Boy, anyone who tries to use mess-dos deserves to lose ! ( ITS fans used to say the same thing of Unix ; many still do.) See also screw , chomp , bagbiter. +adj. [common] Said of someone who willfully does the Wrong Thing ; +humorously, if one uses a feature known to be marginal. What is meant is +that one deserves the consequences of one's losing actions. Boy, anyone who +tries to use mess-dos deserves to lose ! ( ITS fans used to say the same +thing of Unix ; many still do.) See also screw , chomp , bagbiter. + diff --git a/entries/despew.txt b/entries/despew.txt index 1c2302d..7e78514 100644 --- a/entries/despew.txt +++ b/entries/despew.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ despew -/d@spyoo/ , v. [Usenet] To automatically generate a large amount of garbage to the net, esp. from an automated posting program gone wild. See ARMM. +/d@spyoo/ , v. [Usenet] To automatically generate a large amount of garbage +to the net, esp. from an automated posting program gone wild. See ARMM. + diff --git a/entries/dickless workstation.txt b/entries/dickless workstation.txt index 82dcc59..39dccbc 100644 --- a/entries/dickless workstation.txt +++ b/entries/dickless workstation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ dickless workstation -n. Extremely pejorative hackerism for diskless workstation , a class of botches including the Sun 3/50 and other machines designed exclusively to network with an expensive central disk server. These combine all the disadvantages of timesharing with all the disadvantages of distributed personal computers; typically, they cannot even boot themselves without help (in the form of some kind of breath-of-life packet ) from the server. +n. Extremely pejorative hackerism for diskless workstation , a class of +botches including the Sun 3/50 and other machines designed exclusively to +network with an expensive central disk server. These combine all the +disadvantages of timesharing with all the disadvantages of distributed +personal computers; typically, they cannot even boot themselves without help +(in the form of some kind of breath-of-life packet ) from the server. + diff --git a/entries/dictionary flame.txt b/entries/dictionary flame.txt index 0d633f3..03010e9 100644 --- a/entries/dictionary flame.txt +++ b/entries/dictionary flame.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ dictionary flame -n. [Usenet] 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 definitions to disputes about reality. Compare spelling flame. +n. [Usenet] 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 +definitions to disputes about reality. Compare spelling flame. + diff --git a/entries/diddle.txt b/entries/diddle.txt index 381d375..d417a2a 100644 --- a/entries/diddle.txt +++ b/entries/diddle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ diddle -1. vt. To work with or modify in a not-particularly-serious manner. I d a copy of ADVENT so it didn't double-space all the time. Let's this piece of code and see if the problem goes away. See tweak and twiddle. 2. n. The action or result of diddling. See also tweak , twiddle , frob. +1. vt. To work with or modify in a not-particularly-serious manner. I d a +copy of ADVENT so it didn't double-space all the time. Let's this piece of +code and see if the problem goes away. See tweak and twiddle. 2. n. The +action or result of diddling. See also tweak , twiddle , frob. + diff --git a/entries/die horribly.txt b/entries/die horribly.txt index c513abd..fb63a0c 100644 --- a/entries/die horribly.txt +++ b/entries/die horribly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ die horribly -v. The software equivalent of crash and burn , and the preferred emphatic form of die. The converter choked on an FF in its input and died horribly. +v. The software equivalent of crash and burn , and the preferred emphatic +form of die. The converter choked on an FF in its input and died horribly. + diff --git a/entries/die.txt b/entries/die.txt index 1b9ffa2..89fe7b0 100644 --- a/entries/die.txt +++ b/entries/die.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ die -v. Syn. crash. Unlike crash , which is used primarily of hardware, this verb is used of both hardware and software. See also go flatline , casters-up mode. +v. Syn. crash. Unlike crash , which is used primarily of hardware, this verb +is used of both hardware and software. See also go flatline , casters-up +mode. + diff --git a/entries/diff.txt b/entries/diff.txt index 1e0ec49..439eb0f 100644 --- a/entries/diff.txt +++ b/entries/diff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ 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 listing produced by the diff (1) command, esp. when used as specification input to the patch (1) utility (which can actually perform the modifications; see patch ). This is a common method of distributing patches and source updates in the Unix/C world. 3. v. To compare (whether or not by use of automated tools on machine-readable files); see also vdiff , mod. +/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 listing produced by the diff (1) command, esp. when +used as specification input to the patch (1) utility (which can actually +perform the modifications; see patch ). This is a common method of +distributing patches and source updates in the Unix/C world. 3. v. To +compare (whether or not by use of automated tools on machine-readable +files); see also vdiff , mod. + diff --git a/entries/dike.txt b/entries/dike.txt index f07d74d..dea5e69 100644 --- a/entries/dike.txt +++ b/entries/dike.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ 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 reducing complexity than by increasing it.) The word dikes is widely used to mean diagonal cutters , a kind of wire cutter. To dike something out means to use such cutters to 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. +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 reducing complexity than by increasing it.) The word +dikes is widely used to mean diagonal cutters , a kind of wire cutter. To +dike something out means to use such cutters to 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. + diff --git a/entries/ding.txt b/entries/ding.txt index 35506bb..74f7178 100644 --- a/entries/ding.txt +++ b/entries/ding.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ ding -n.,vi. 1. Synonym for feep. Usage: rare among hackers, but more common in the Real World. 2. +n.,vi. 1. Synonym for feep. Usage: rare among hackers, but more common in +the Real World. 2. + diff --git a/entries/dink.txt b/entries/dink.txt index 3de09bd..18e5600 100644 --- a/entries/dink.txt +++ b/entries/dink.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ dink -/dink/ , adj. 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 working on a CP/M system with 64K, in reference to any 6502 system, 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. See macdink. +/dink/ , adj. 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 working on a CP/M system +with 64K, in reference to any 6502 system, 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. See macdink. + diff --git a/entries/dinosaur pen.txt b/entries/dinosaur pen.txt index 4ca7db5..821d93c 100644 --- a/entries/dinosaur pen.txt +++ b/entries/dinosaur pen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ 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. +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. + diff --git a/entries/dinosaur.txt b/entries/dinosaur.txt index 9d090ce..b25937b 100644 --- a/entries/dinosaur.txt +++ b/entries/dinosaur.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ 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 1998 Unix EXPO, Bill Joy compared the liquid-cooled mainframe in the massive IBM display with a 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. +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 1998 Unix EXPO, +Bill Joy compared the liquid-cooled mainframe in the massive IBM display +with a 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. + diff --git a/entries/dinosaurs mating.txt b/entries/dinosaurs mating.txt index 0851d80..004681a 100644 --- a/entries/dinosaurs mating.txt +++ b/entries/dinosaurs mating.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ dinosaurs mating -n. Said to occur when yet another big iron merger or buyout occurs; originally reflected a perception by hackers that these signal another stage in the long, slow dying of the mainframe industry. +n. Said to occur when yet another big iron merger or buyout occurs; +originally reflected a perception by hackers that these signal another stage +in the long, slow dying of the mainframe industry. + diff --git a/entries/dirtball.txt b/entries/dirtball.txt index 9ed60be..507b116 100644 --- a/entries/dirtball.txt +++ b/entries/dirtball.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ dirtball -n. [XEROX PARC] A small, perhaps struggling outsider; not in the major or even the minor leagues. For example, Xerox is not a dirtball company. [Outsiders often observe in the PARC culture an institutional arrogance which usage of this term exemplifies. The brilliance and scope of PARC's contributions to computer science have been such that this superior attitude is not much resented. +n. [XEROX PARC] A small, perhaps struggling outsider; not in the major or +even the minor leagues. For example, Xerox is not a dirtball company. +[Outsiders often observe in the PARC culture an institutional arrogance +which usage of this term exemplifies. The brilliance and scope of PARC's +contributions to computer science have been such that this superior attitude +is not much resented. + diff --git a/entries/dirty power.txt b/entries/dirty power.txt index b858a47..dbca872 100644 --- a/entries/dirty power.txt +++ b/entries/dirty power.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ 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 severity (these are collectively known as power hit s). +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 severity (these are collectively known as power hit s). + diff --git a/entries/disclaimer.txt b/entries/disclaimer.txt index 7983115..e22772a 100644 --- a/entries/disclaimer.txt +++ b/entries/disclaimer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ disclaimer -n. [Usenet] Statement ritually appended to many Usenet postings (sometimes automatically, by the posting software) reiterating the fact (which should be obvious, but is easily forgotten) that the article reflects its author's opinions and not necessarily those of the organization running the machine through which the article entered the network. +n. [Usenet] Statement ritually appended to many Usenet postings (sometimes +automatically, by the posting software) reiterating the fact (which should +be obvious, but is easily forgotten) that the article reflects its author's +opinions and not necessarily those of the organization running the machine +through which the article entered the network. + diff --git a/entries/disemvowel.txt b/entries/disemvowel.txt index ef0aeeb..d53177c 100644 --- a/entries/disemvowel.txt +++ b/entries/disemvowel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ disemvowel v. [USENET: play on disembowel ] Less common synonym for splat out. + diff --git a/entries/disk farm.txt b/entries/disk farm.txt index 6ba40c9..d882af5 100644 --- a/entries/disk farm.txt +++ b/entries/disk farm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ disk farm -n. A large room or rooms filled with disk drives (esp. washing machine s). This term was well established by 1990, and generalized by about ten years later; see farm. It has become less common as disk strange densities reached livels where terabytes of storage can easily be fit in a single rack. +n. A large room or rooms filled with disk drives (esp. washing machine s). +This term was well established by 1990, and generalized by about ten years +later; see farm. It has become less common as disk strange densities reached +livels where terabytes of storage can easily be fit in a single rack. + diff --git a/entries/display hack.txt b/entries/display hack.txt index 719906e..3cd5cb7 100644 --- a/entries/display hack.txt +++ b/entries/display hack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ 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 kaleid (1) program. Display hacks can also be implemented 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 and a toy train circling its base. 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. +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 kaleid (1) program. Display hacks can also be implemented 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 and a toy train circling its base. 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. + diff --git a/entries/dispress.txt b/entries/dispress.txt index e0d3bd3..71aefe9 100644 --- a/entries/dispress.txt +++ b/entries/dispress.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ dispress -vt. [contraction of Dissociated Press due to eight-character MS-DOS filenames] To apply the Dissociated Press algorithm to a block of text. The resultant output is also referred to as a 'dispression'. +vt. [contraction of Dissociated Press due to eight-character MS-DOS +filenames] To apply the Dissociated Press algorithm to a block of text. The +resultant output is also referred to as a 'dispression'. + diff --git a/entries/distribution.txt b/entries/distribution.txt index 1d1129b..ab675bd 100644 --- a/entries/distribution.txt +++ b/entries/distribution.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ distribution -n. 1. A software source tree packaged for distribution; but see kit. Since about 1996 unqualified use of this term often implies Linux distribution. The short form distro is often used for this sense. 2. A vague term encompassing mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups (but not BBS fora ); any topic-oriented message channel with multiple recipients. 3. An information-space domain (usually loosely correlated with geography) to which propagation of a Usenet message is restricted; a much-underutilized feature. +n. 1. A software source tree packaged for distribution; but see kit. Since +about 1996 unqualified use of this term often implies Linux distribution. +The short form distro is often used for this sense. 2. A vague term +encompassing mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups (but not BBS fora ); any +topic-oriented message channel with multiple recipients. 3. An +information-space domain (usually loosely correlated with geography) to +which propagation of a Usenet message is restricted; a much-underutilized +feature. + diff --git a/entries/distro.txt b/entries/distro.txt index 0289a22..4f9feaf 100644 --- a/entries/distro.txt +++ b/entries/distro.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ distro n. Synonym for distribution , sense 1. + diff --git a/entries/disusered.txt b/entries/disusered.txt index d6f5ce6..26753bc 100644 --- a/entries/disusered.txt +++ b/entries/disusered.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ disusered -adj. [Usenet] Said of a person whose account on a computer has been removed, esp. for cause rather than through normal attrition. He got disusered when they found out he'd been cracking through the school's Internet access. The verbal form disuser is live but less common. Both usages probably derive from the DISUSER account status flag on VMS; setting it disables the account. Compare star out. +adj. [Usenet] Said of a person whose account on a computer has been removed, +esp. for cause rather than through normal attrition. He got disusered when +they found out he'd been cracking through the school's Internet access. The +verbal form disuser is live but less common. Both usages probably derive +from the DISUSER account status flag on VMS; setting it disables the +account. Compare star out. + diff --git a/entries/do protocol.txt b/entries/do protocol.txt index 23ae429..ec39668 100644 --- a/entries/do protocol.txt +++ b/entries/do protocol.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ do protocol -vi. [from network protocol programming] To perform an interaction with somebody or something that follows a clearly defined procedure. For example, Let's do protocol with the check at a restaurant means to ask for the check, calculate the tip and everybody's share, collect money from everybody, generate change as necessary, and pay the bill. See protocol. +vi. [from network protocol programming] To perform an interaction with +somebody or something that follows a clearly defined procedure. For example, +Let's do protocol with the check at a restaurant means to ask for the check, +calculate the tip and everybody's share, collect money from everybody, +generate change as necessary, and pay the bill. See protocol. + diff --git a/entries/doc.txt b/entries/doc.txt index 04e4a11..43ae583 100644 --- a/entries/doc.txt +++ b/entries/doc.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ doc -/dok/ , n. Common spoken and written shorthand for documentation. Often used in the plural docs and in the construction doc file (i.e., documentation available on-line). +/dok/ , n. Common spoken and written shorthand for documentation. Often used +in the plural docs and in the construction doc file (i.e., documentation +available on-line). + diff --git a/entries/documentation.txt b/entries/documentation.txt index a1303a4..5d21560 100644 --- a/entries/documentation.txt +++ b/entries/documentation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ documentation -n. The multiple kilograms of macerated, pounded, steamed, bleached, and pressed trees that accompany most modern software or hardware products (see also tree-killer ). Hackers seldom read paper documentation and (too) often resist writing it; they prefer theirs to be terse and on-line. A common comment on this predilection is You can't grep dead trees. See drool-proof paper , verbiage , treeware. +n. The multiple kilograms of macerated, pounded, steamed, bleached, and +pressed trees that accompany most modern software or hardware products (see +also tree-killer ). Hackers seldom read paper documentation and (too) often +resist writing it; they prefer theirs to be terse and on-line. A common +comment on this predilection is You can't grep dead trees. See drool-proof +paper , verbiage , treeware. + diff --git a/entries/dodgy.txt b/entries/dodgy.txt index 9c5a7a1..f65821f 100644 --- a/entries/dodgy.txt +++ b/entries/dodgy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ dodgy adj. Syn. with flaky. Preferred outside the U.S. + diff --git a/entries/dogcow.txt b/entries/dogcow.txt index 865c84c..1a1de9f 100644 --- a/entries/dogcow.txt +++ b/entries/dogcow.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ dogcow -/dogkow/ , n. See Moof. The dogcow is a semi-legendary creature that lurks in the depths of the Macintosh Technical Notes Hypercard stack V3.1. The full story of the dogcow is told in technical note #31 (the particular dogcow illustrated is properly named Clarus ). Option-shift-click will cause it to emit a characteristic Moof! or !fooM sound. Getting to tech note 31 is the hard part; to discover how to do that, one must needs examine the stack script with a hackerly eye. Clue: rot13 is involved. A dogcow also appears if you choose Page Setup... with a LaserWriter selected and click on the Options button. It also lurks in other Mac printer drivers, notably those for the now-discontinued Style Writers. See http://developer.apple.com/products/techsupport/dogcow/tn31.html. +/dogkow/ , n. See Moof. The dogcow is a semi-legendary creature that lurks +in the depths of the Macintosh Technical Notes Hypercard stack V3.1. The +full story of the dogcow is told in technical note #31 (the particular +dogcow illustrated is properly named Clarus ). Option-shift-click will cause +it to emit a characteristic Moof! or !fooM sound. Getting to tech note 31 is +the hard part; to discover how to do that, one must needs examine the stack +script with a hackerly eye. Clue: rot13 is involved. A dogcow also appears +if you choose Page Setup... with a LaserWriter selected and click on the +Options button. It also lurks in other Mac printer drivers, notably those +for the now-discontinued Style Writers. See +http://developer.apple.com/products/techsupport/dogcow/tn31.html. + diff --git a/entries/dogfood.txt b/entries/dogfood.txt index e5ae99d..2ceba96 100644 --- a/entries/dogfood.txt +++ b/entries/dogfood.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ dogfood -n. [Microsoft, Netscape] Interim software used internally for testing. To eat one's own dogfood (from which the slang noun derives) means to use the software one is developing, as part of one's everyday development environment (the phrase is used outside Microsoft and Netscape). The practice is normal in the Linux community and elsewhere, but the term dogfood is seldom used as open-source betas tend to be quite tasty and nourishing. The idea is that developers who are using their own software will quickly learn what's missing or broken. Dogfood is typically not even of beta quality. +n. [Microsoft, Netscape] Interim software used internally for testing. To +eat one's own dogfood (from which the slang noun derives) means to use the +software one is developing, as part of one's everyday development +environment (the phrase is used outside Microsoft and Netscape). The +practice is normal in the Linux community and elsewhere, but the term +dogfood is seldom used as open-source betas tend to be quite tasty and +nourishing. The idea is that developers who are using their own software +will quickly learn what's missing or broken. Dogfood is typically not even +of beta quality. + diff --git a/entries/dogpile.txt b/entries/dogpile.txt index a75e285..752fbff 100644 --- a/entries/dogpile.txt +++ b/entries/dogpile.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ dogpile -v. [Usenet: prob. fr. mainstream puppy pile ] When many people post unfriendly responses in short order to a single posting, they are sometimes said to dogpile or dogpile on the person to whom they're responding. For example, when a religious missionary posts a simplistic appeal to alt.atheism , he can expect to be dogpiled. It has been suggested that this derives from U.S. football slang for a tackle involving three or more people; among hackers, it seems at least as likely to derive from an autobiographical Bugs Bunny cartoon in which a gang of attacking canines actually yells Dogpile on the rabbit!. +v. [Usenet: prob. fr. mainstream puppy pile ] When many people post +unfriendly responses in short order to a single posting, they are sometimes +said to dogpile or dogpile on the person to whom they're responding. For +example, when a religious missionary posts a simplistic appeal to +alt.atheism , he can expect to be dogpiled. It has been suggested that this +derives from U.S. football slang for a tackle involving three or more +people; among hackers, it seems at least as likely to derive from an +autobiographical Bugs Bunny cartoon in which a gang of attacking canines +actually yells Dogpile on the rabbit!. + diff --git a/entries/dogwash.txt b/entries/dogwash.txt index 549c45e..05c02f4 100644 --- a/entries/dogwash.txt +++ b/entries/dogwash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ dogwash -/dogwosh/ [From a quip in the urgency field of a very optional software change request, ca.: 1982. It was something like Urgency: Wash your dog first. ] 1. n. A project of minimal priority, undertaken as an escape from more serious work. 2. v. To engage in such a project. Many games and much freeware get written this way. +/dogwosh/ [From a quip in the urgency field of a very optional software +change request, ca.: 1982. It was something like Urgency: Wash your dog +first. ] 1. n. A project of minimal priority, undertaken as an escape from +more serious work. 2. v. To engage in such a project. Many games and much +freeware get written this way. + diff --git a/entries/dongle-disk.txt b/entries/dongle-disk.txt index ee7ead5..1f2af93 100644 --- a/entries/dongle-disk.txt +++ b/entries/dongle-disk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ dongle-disk -/dongl disk/ , n. A special floppy disk that is required in order to perform some task. Some contain special coding that allows an application to identify it uniquely, others are special code that does something that normally-resident programs don't or can't. (For example, AT T's Unix PC would only come up in root mode with a special boot disk.) Also called a key disk. See dongle. +/dongl disk/ , n. A special floppy disk that is required in order to perform +some task. Some contain special coding that allows an application to +identify it uniquely, others are special code that does something that +normally-resident programs don't or can't. (For example, AT T's Unix PC +would only come up in root mode with a special boot disk.) Also called a key +disk. See dongle. + diff --git a/entries/dongle.txt b/entries/dongle.txt index b7612fa..2231d32 100644 --- a/entries/dongle.txt +++ b/entries/dongle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ dongle -/donggl/ , n. 1. [now obs.] A security or copy protection device for proprietary software consisting of a serialized EPROM and some drivers in a D-25 connector shell, which must be connected to an I/O port of the computer while the program is run. Programs that use a dongle query the port at startup and at programmed intervals thereafter, and terminate if it does not respond with the dongle's programmed validation code. Thus, users can make as many copies of the program as they want but must pay for each dongle. The first sighting of a dongle was in 1984, associated with a software product called PaperClip. The idea was clever, but it was initially a failure, as users disliked tying up a serial port this way. By 1993, dongles would typically pass data through the port and monitor for magic codes (and combinations of status lines) with minimal if any interference with devices further down the line this innovation was necessary to allow daisy-chained dongles for multiple pieces of software. These devices have become rare as the industry has moved away from copy-protection schemes in general. 2. By extension, any physical electronic key or transferable ID required for a program to function. Common variations on this theme have used parallel or even joystick ports. See dongle-disk. 3. An adaptor cable mating a special edge-type connector on a PCMCIA or on-board Ethernet card to a standard 8p8c Ethernet jack. This usage seems to have surfaced in 1999 and is now dominant. Laptop owners curse these things because they're notoriously easy to lose and the vendors commonly charge extortionate prices for replacements. [Note: in early 1992, advertising copy from Rainbow Technologies (a manufacturer of dongles) included a claim that the word derived from Don Gall , allegedly the inventor of the device. The company's receptionist will cheerfully tell you that the story is a myth invented for the ad copy. Nevertheless, I expect it to haunt my life as a lexicographer for at least the next ten years. +/donggl/ , n. 1. [now obs.] A security or copy protection device for +proprietary software consisting of a serialized EPROM and some drivers in a +D-25 connector shell, which must be connected to an I/O port of the computer +while the program is run. Programs that use a dongle query the port at +startup and at programmed intervals thereafter, and terminate if it does not +respond with the dongle's programmed validation code. Thus, users can make +as many copies of the program as they want but must pay for each dongle. The +first sighting of a dongle was in 1984, associated with a software product +called PaperClip. The idea was clever, but it was initially a failure, as +users disliked tying up a serial port this way. By 1993, dongles would +typically pass data through the port and monitor for magic codes (and +combinations of status lines) with minimal if any interference with devices +further down the line this innovation was necessary to allow daisy-chained +dongles for multiple pieces of software. These devices have become rare as +the industry has moved away from copy-protection schemes in general. 2. By +extension, any physical electronic key or transferable ID required for a +program to function. Common variations on this theme have used parallel or +even joystick ports. See dongle-disk. 3. An adaptor cable mating a special +edge-type connector on a PCMCIA or on-board Ethernet card to a standard 8p8c +Ethernet jack. This usage seems to have surfaced in 1999 and is now +dominant. Laptop owners curse these things because they're notoriously easy +to lose and the vendors commonly charge extortionate prices for +replacements. [Note: in early 1992, advertising copy from Rainbow +Technologies (a manufacturer of dongles) included a claim that the word +derived from Don Gall , allegedly the inventor of the device. The company's +receptionist will cheerfully tell you that the story is a myth invented for +the ad copy. Nevertheless, I expect it to haunt my life as a lexicographer +for at least the next ten years. + diff --git a/entries/doorstop.txt b/entries/doorstop.txt index 5fd6c33..60b6f1b 100644 --- a/entries/doorstop.txt +++ b/entries/doorstop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ doorstop -n. Used to describe equipment that is non-functional and halfway expected to remain so, especially obsolete equipment kept around for political reasons or ostensibly as a backup. Compare boat anchor. +n. Used to describe equipment that is non-functional and halfway expected to +remain so, especially obsolete equipment kept around for political reasons +or ostensibly as a backup. Compare boat anchor. + diff --git a/entries/dot file.txt b/entries/dot file.txt index a02353a..4456a48 100644 --- a/entries/dot file.txt +++ b/entries/dot file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ dot file -n. A file that is not visible by default to normal directory-browsing tools (on Unix, files named with a leading dot are, by convention, not normally presented in directory listings). Many programs define one or more dot files in which startup or configuration information may be optionally recorded; a user can customize the program's behavior by creating the appropriate file in the current or home directory. (Therefore, dot files tend to creep with every nontrivial application program defining at least one, a user's home directory can be filled with scores of dot files, of course without the user's really being aware of it.) See also profile (sense 1), rc file. +n. A file that is not visible by default to normal directory-browsing tools +(on Unix, files named with a leading dot are, by convention, not normally +presented in directory listings). Many programs define one or more dot files +in which startup or configuration information may be optionally recorded; a +user can customize the program's behavior by creating the appropriate file +in the current or home directory. (Therefore, dot files tend to creep with +every nontrivial application program defining at least one, a user's home +directory can be filled with scores of dot files, of course without the +user's really being aware of it.) See also profile (sense 1), rc file. + diff --git a/entries/double bucky.txt b/entries/double bucky.txt index 71e15a3..276367b 100644 --- a/entries/double bucky.txt +++ b/entries/double bucky.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ double bucky -adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. The command to burn all LEDs is double bucky F. This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII keyboard, and was later taken up by users of the space-cadet keyboard at MIT. A typical MIT comment was that the Stanford bucky bits (control and meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't enough of them; you could type only 512 different characters on a Stanford keyboard. An obvious way to address this was simply to add more shifting keys, and this was eventually done; but a keyboard with that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists, who don't like to move their hands away from the home position on the keyboard. It was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting keys be implemented as pedals; typing on such a keyboard would be very much like playing a full pipe organ. This idea is mentioned in a parody of a very fine song by Jeffrey Moss called Rubber Duckie , which was published in The Sesame Street Songbook (Simon and Schuster 1971, ISBN 0-671-21036-X). These lyrics were written on May 27, 1978, in celebration of the Stanford keyboard: DoubleBucky Doublebucky,you'retheone! Youmakemykeyboardlotsoffun. Doublebucky,anadditionalbitortwo: (Vo-vo-de-o!) Controlandmeta,sidebyside, AugmentedASCII,ninebitswide! Doublebucky!Halfathousandglyphs,plusafew! Oh, IsurewishthatI Hadacoupleof Bitsmore! Perhapsa Setofpedalsto Makethenumberof Bitsfour: Doubledoublebucky! Doublebucky,leftandright OR'dtogether,outtasight! Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordof Doublebucky,I'mhappyIheardof Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordofyou! TheGreatQuux(withapologiestoJeffreyMoss) [This, by the way, is an excellent example of computer filk ESR] See also meta bit , cokebottle , and quadruple bucky. +adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. The command to burn all LEDs is +double bucky F. This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII +keyboard, and was later taken up by users of the space-cadet keyboard at +MIT. A typical MIT comment was that the Stanford bucky bits (control and +meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't enough of them; you could +type only 512 different characters on a Stanford keyboard. An obvious way to +address this was simply to add more shifting keys, and this was eventually +done; but a keyboard with that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists, +who don't like to move their hands away from the home position on the +keyboard. It was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting keys be +implemented as pedals; typing on such a keyboard would be very much like +playing a full pipe organ. This idea is mentioned in a parody of a very fine +song by Jeffrey Moss called Rubber Duckie , which was published in The +Sesame Street Songbook (Simon and Schuster 1971, ISBN 0-671-21036-X). These +lyrics were written on May 27, 1978, in celebration of the Stanford +keyboard: DoubleBucky Doublebucky,you'retheone! Youmakemykeyboardlotsoffun. +Doublebucky,anadditionalbitortwo: (Vo-vo-de-o!) Controlandmeta,sidebyside, +AugmentedASCII,ninebitswide! Doublebucky!Halfathousandglyphs,plusafew! Oh, +IsurewishthatI Hadacoupleof Bitsmore! Perhapsa Setofpedalsto Makethenumberof +Bitsfour: Doubledoublebucky! Doublebucky,leftandright +OR'dtogether,outtasight! Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordof +Doublebucky,I'mhappyIheardof Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordofyou! +TheGreatQuux(withapologiestoJeffreyMoss) [This, by the way, is an excellent +example of computer filk ESR] See also meta bit , cokebottle , and quadruple +bucky. + diff --git a/entries/doubled sig.txt b/entries/doubled sig.txt index c17d346..00c0af7 100644 --- a/entries/doubled sig.txt +++ b/entries/doubled sig.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ doubled sig -n. A sig block that has been included twice in a Usenet article or, less commonly, in an electronic mail message. An article or message with a doubled sig can be caused by improperly configured software. More often, however, it reveals the author's lack of experience in electronic communication. See B1FF , pseudo. +n. A sig block that has been included twice in a Usenet article or, less +commonly, in an electronic mail message. An article or message with a +doubled sig can be caused by improperly configured software. More often, +however, it reveals the author's lack of experience in electronic +communication. See B1FF , pseudo. + diff --git a/entries/down.txt b/entries/down.txt index b954679..492ce4e 100644 --- a/entries/down.txt +++ b/entries/down.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ down -Not operating. The up escalator is down is considered a humorous thing to say (unless of course you were expecting to use it), and The elevator is down always means The elevator isn't working and never refers to what floor the elevator is on. With respect to computers, this term has passed into the mainstream; the extension to other kinds of machine is still confined to techies (e.g. boiler mechanics may speak of a boiler being down). 2. go down vi. To stop functioning; usually said of the system. The message from the console that every hacker hates to hear from the operator is System going down in 5 minutes. 3. take down , bring down vt. To deactivate purposely, usually for repair work or PM. I'm taking the system down to work on that bug in the tape drive. Occasionally one hears the word down by itself used as a verb in this vt. sense. See crash ; oppose up. +Not operating. The up escalator is down is considered a humorous thing to +say (unless of course you were expecting to use it), and The elevator is +down always means The elevator isn't working and never refers to what floor +the elevator is on. With respect to computers, this term has passed into the +mainstream; the extension to other kinds of machine is still confined to +techies (e.g. boiler mechanics may speak of a boiler being down). 2. go down +vi. To stop functioning; usually said of the system. The message from the +console that every hacker hates to hear from the operator is System going +down in 5 minutes. 3. take down , bring down vt. To deactivate purposely, +usually for repair work or PM. I'm taking the system down to work on that +bug in the tape drive. Occasionally one hears the word down by itself used +as a verb in this vt. sense. See crash ; oppose up. + diff --git a/entries/download.txt b/entries/download.txt index 993c6ed..fa3224c 100644 --- a/entries/download.txt +++ b/entries/download.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ download -vt. To transfer data or (esp.) code from a far-away system (especially a larger host system) over a digital communications link to a nearby system (especially a smaller client system. Oppose upload. Historical use of these terms was at one time associated with transfers from large timesharing machines to PCs or peripherals (download) and vice-versa (upload). The modern usage relative to the speaker (rather than as an indicator of the size and role of the machines) evolved as machine categories lost most of their former functional importance. +vt. To transfer data or (esp.) code from a far-away system (especially a +larger host system) over a digital communications link to a nearby system +(especially a smaller client system. Oppose upload. Historical use of these +terms was at one time associated with transfers from large timesharing +machines to PCs or peripherals (download) and vice-versa (upload). The +modern usage relative to the speaker (rather than as an indicator of the +size and role of the machines) evolved as machine categories lost most of +their former functional importance. + diff --git a/entries/dragon.txt b/entries/dragon.txt index 6fe339b..38a461e 100644 --- a/entries/dragon.txt +++ b/entries/dragon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ dragon -n. [MIT] A program similar to a daemon , except that it is not invoked at all, but is instead used by the system to perform various secondary tasks. A typical example would be an accounting program, which keeps track of who is logged in, accumulates load-average statistics, etc. Under ITS, many terminals displayed a list of people logged in, where they were, what they were running, etc., along with some random picture (such as a unicorn, Snoopy, or the Enterprise), which was generated by the name dragon. Usage: rare outside MIT under Unix and most other OSes this would be called a background demon or daemon. The best-known Unix example of a dragon is cron (1). At SAIL, they called this sort of thing a phantom. Prev Up Next Dr. +n. [MIT] A program similar to a daemon , except that it is not invoked at +all, but is instead used by the system to perform various secondary tasks. A +typical example would be an accounting program, which keeps track of who is +logged in, accumulates load-average statistics, etc. Under ITS, many +terminals displayed a list of people logged in, where they were, what they +were running, etc., along with some random picture (such as a unicorn, +Snoopy, or the Enterprise), which was generated by the name dragon. Usage: +rare outside MIT under Unix and most other OSes this would be called a +background demon or daemon. The best-known Unix example of a dragon is cron +(1). At SAIL, they called this sort of thing a phantom. Prev Up Next Dr. + diff --git a/entries/drain.txt b/entries/drain.txt index 0110d1c..de52ec2 100644 --- a/entries/drain.txt +++ b/entries/drain.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ drain -v. [IBM] Syn. for flush (sense 2). Has a connotation of finality about it; one speaks of draining a device before taking it offline. +v. [IBM] Syn. for flush (sense 2). Has a connotation of finality about it; +one speaks of draining a device before taking it offline. + diff --git a/entries/dread high-bit disease.txt b/entries/dread high-bit disease.txt index e01c912..ff959c3 100644 --- a/entries/dread high-bit disease.txt +++ b/entries/dread high-bit disease.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ dread high-bit disease -n. A condition endemic to some now-obsolete computers and peripherals (including ASR-33 teletypes and PRIME minicomputers) that results in all characters having their high (0x80) bit forced on. This of course makes transporting files to other systems much more difficult, not to mention the problems these machines have talking with true 8-bit devices. This term was originally used specifically of PRIME (a.k.a. PR1ME) minicomputers. Folklore has it that PRIME adopted the reversed-8-bit convention in order to save 25 cents per serial line per machine; PRIME old-timers, on the other hand, claim they inherited the disease from Honeywell via customer NASA's compatibility requirements and struggled heroically to cure it. Whoever was responsible, this probably qualifies as one of the most cretinous design tradeoffs ever made. See meta bit. +n. A condition endemic to some now-obsolete computers and peripherals +(including ASR-33 teletypes and PRIME minicomputers) that results in all +characters having their high (0x80) bit forced on. This of course makes +transporting files to other systems much more difficult, not to mention the +problems these machines have talking with true 8-bit devices. This term was +originally used specifically of PRIME (a.k.a. PR1ME) minicomputers. Folklore +has it that PRIME adopted the reversed-8-bit convention in order to save 25 +cents per serial line per machine; PRIME old-timers, on the other hand, +claim they inherited the disease from Honeywell via customer NASA's +compatibility requirements and struggled heroically to cure it. Whoever was +responsible, this probably qualifies as one of the most cretinous design +tradeoffs ever made. See meta bit. + diff --git a/entries/dread questionmark disease.txt b/entries/dread questionmark disease.txt index 74ef1e4..4e1c887 100644 --- a/entries/dread questionmark disease.txt +++ b/entries/dread questionmark disease.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ dread questionmark disease -n. The result of saving HTML from Microsoft Word or some other program that uses the nonstandard Microsoft variant of Latin-1; the symptom is that various of those nonstandard characters in positions 128-160 show up as questionmarks. The usual culprit is the misnamed smart quotes feature in Microsoft Word. For more details (and a program called demoroniser that cleans up the mess) see http://www.fourmilab.ch/webtools/demoroniser/. +n. The result of saving HTML from Microsoft Word or some other program that +uses the nonstandard Microsoft variant of Latin-1; the symptom is that +various of those nonstandard characters in positions 128-160 show up as +questionmarks. The usual culprit is the misnamed smart quotes feature in +Microsoft Word. For more details (and a program called demoroniser that +cleans up the mess) see http://www.fourmilab.ch/webtools/demoroniser/. + diff --git a/entries/driver.txt b/entries/driver.txt index 6e456a1..31085e5 100644 --- a/entries/driver.txt +++ b/entries/driver.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ driver -n. 1. The main loop of an event-processing program; the code that gets commands and dispatches them for execution. 2. [techspeak] In device driver , code designed to handle a particular peripheral device such as a magnetic disk or tape unit. 3. In the TeX world and the computerized typesetting world in general, a program that translates some device-independent or other common format to something a real device can actually understand. +n. 1. The main loop of an event-processing program; the code that gets +commands and dispatches them for execution. 2. [techspeak] In device driver +, code designed to handle a particular peripheral device such as a magnetic +disk or tape unit. 3. In the TeX world and the computerized typesetting +world in general, a program that translates some device-independent or other +common format to something a real device can actually understand. + diff --git a/entries/droid.txt b/entries/droid.txt index 3d83938..3fd81ef 100644 --- a/entries/droid.txt +++ b/entries/droid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ droid -n. [from android , SF terminology for a humanoid robot of essentially biological (as opposed to mechanical/electronic) construction] A person (esp. a low-level bureaucrat or service-business employee) exhibiting most of the following characteristics: (a) naive trust in the wisdom of the parent organization or the system ; (b) a blind-faith propensity to believe obvious nonsense emitted by authority figures (or computers!); (c) a rule-governed mentality, one unwilling or unable to look beyond the letter of the law in exceptional situations; (d) a paralyzing fear of official reprimand or worse if Procedures are not followed No Matter What; and (e) no interest in doing anything above or beyond the call of a very narrowly-interpreted duty, or in particular in fixing that which is broken; an It's not my job, man attitude. Typical droid positions include supermarket checkout assistant and bank clerk; the syndrome is also endemic in low-level government employees. The implication is that the rules and official procedures constitute software that the droid is executing; problems arise when the software has not been properly debugged. The term droid mentality is also used to describe the mindset behind this behavior. Compare suit , marketroid ; see -oid. In England there is equivalent mainstream slang; a jobsworth is an obstructive, rule-following bureaucrat, often of the uniformed or suited variety. Named for the habit of denying a reasonable request by sucking his teeth and saying Oh no, guv, sorry I can't help you: that's more than my job's worth. +n. [from android , SF terminology for a humanoid robot of essentially +biological (as opposed to mechanical/electronic) construction] A person +(esp. a low-level bureaucrat or service-business employee) exhibiting most +of the following characteristics: (a) naive trust in the wisdom of the +parent organization or the system ; (b) a blind-faith propensity to believe +obvious nonsense emitted by authority figures (or computers!); (c) a +rule-governed mentality, one unwilling or unable to look beyond the letter +of the law in exceptional situations; (d) a paralyzing fear of official +reprimand or worse if Procedures are not followed No Matter What; and (e) no +interest in doing anything above or beyond the call of a very +narrowly-interpreted duty, or in particular in fixing that which is broken; +an It's not my job, man attitude. Typical droid positions include +supermarket checkout assistant and bank clerk; the syndrome is also endemic +in low-level government employees. The implication is that the rules and +official procedures constitute software that the droid is executing; +problems arise when the software has not been properly debugged. The term +droid mentality is also used to describe the mindset behind this behavior. +Compare suit , marketroid ; see -oid. In England there is equivalent +mainstream slang; a jobsworth is an obstructive, rule-following bureaucrat, +often of the uniformed or suited variety. Named for the habit of denying a +reasonable request by sucking his teeth and saying Oh no, guv, sorry I can't +help you: that's more than my job's worth. + diff --git a/entries/drone.txt b/entries/drone.txt index 57ebb0e..07e9e41 100644 --- a/entries/drone.txt +++ b/entries/drone.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ drone -n. Ignorant sales or customer service personnel in computer or electronics superstores. Characterized by a lack of even superficial knowledge about the products they sell, yet possessed of the conviction that they are more competent than their hacker customers. Usage: That video board probably sucks, it was recommended by a drone at Fry's In the year 2000, their natural habitats include Fry's Electronics, Best Buy, and CompUSA. +n. Ignorant sales or customer service personnel in computer or electronics +superstores. Characterized by a lack of even superficial knowledge about the +products they sell, yet possessed of the conviction that they are more +competent than their hacker customers. Usage: That video board probably +sucks, it was recommended by a drone at Fry's In the year 2000, their +natural habitats include Fry's Electronics, Best Buy, and CompUSA. + diff --git a/entries/drool-proof paper.txt b/entries/drool-proof paper.txt index 5f23cc2..274253b 100644 --- a/entries/drool-proof paper.txt +++ b/entries/drool-proof paper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ drool-proof paper -n. Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed down , to the point where only a cretin could bear to read it, is said to have succumbed to the drool-proof paper syndrome or to have been written on drool-proof paper. For example, this is an actual quote from Apple's LaserWriter manual: Do not expose your LaserWriter to open fire or flame. The SGI Indy manual included the line [Do not] dangle the mouse by the cord or throw it at coworkers. +n. Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed down , to the point where +only a cretin could bear to read it, is said to have succumbed to the +drool-proof paper syndrome or to have been written on drool-proof paper. For +example, this is an actual quote from Apple's LaserWriter manual: Do not +expose your LaserWriter to open fire or flame. The SGI Indy manual included +the line [Do not] dangle the mouse by the cord or throw it at coworkers. + diff --git a/entries/drop on the floor.txt b/entries/drop on the floor.txt index 197222e..4bf2289 100644 --- a/entries/drop on the floor.txt +++ b/entries/drop on the floor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ drop on the floor -vt. To react to an error condition by silently discarding messages or other valuable data. The gateway ran out of memory, so it just started dropping packets on the floor. Also frequently used of faulty mail and netnews relay sites that lose messages. See also black hole , bit bucket. +vt. To react to an error condition by silently discarding messages or other +valuable data. The gateway ran out of memory, so it just started dropping +packets on the floor. Also frequently used of faulty mail and netnews relay +sites that lose messages. See also black hole , bit bucket. + diff --git a/entries/drop-ins.txt b/entries/drop-ins.txt index 204613d..3746e70 100644 --- a/entries/drop-ins.txt +++ b/entries/drop-ins.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ drop-ins -n. [prob.: by analogy with drop-outs ] Spurious characters appearing on a terminal or console as a result of line noise or a system malfunction of some sort. Esp.: used when these are interspersed with one's own typed input. Compare drop-outs , sense 2. +n. [prob.: by analogy with drop-outs ] Spurious characters appearing on a +terminal or console as a result of line noise or a system malfunction of +some sort. Esp.: used when these are interspersed with one's own typed +input. Compare drop-outs , sense 2. + diff --git a/entries/drop-outs.txt b/entries/drop-outs.txt index 6d7f39c..5b6c6a5 100644 --- a/entries/drop-outs.txt +++ b/entries/drop-outs.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ drop-outs -n. 1. A variety of power glitch (see glitch ); momentary 0 voltage on the electrical mains. 2. Missing characters in typed input due to software malfunction or system saturation (one cause of such behavior under Unix when a bad connection to a modem swamps the processor with spurious character interrupts; see screaming tty ). 3. Mental glitches; used as a way of describing those occasions when the mind just seems to shut down for a couple of beats. See glitch , fried. A really serious case of drop-outs. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-05-21. The previous one is 73-05-19. +n. 1. A variety of power glitch (see glitch ); momentary 0 voltage on the +electrical mains. 2. Missing characters in typed input due to software +malfunction or system saturation (one cause of such behavior under Unix when +a bad connection to a modem swamps the processor with spurious character +interrupts; see screaming tty ). 3. Mental glitches; used as a way of +describing those occasions when the mind just seems to shut down for a +couple of beats. See glitch , fried. A really serious case of drop-outs. +(The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-05-21. The previous one is +73-05-19. + diff --git a/entries/drugged.txt b/entries/drugged.txt index bb365ec..ef84566 100644 --- a/entries/drugged.txt +++ b/entries/drugged.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ drugged -adj. (also on drugs ) 1. Conspicuously stupid, heading toward brain-damaged. Often accompanied by a pantomime of toking a joint. 2. Of hardware, very slow relative to normal performance. +adj. (also on drugs ) 1. Conspicuously stupid, heading toward brain-damaged. +Often accompanied by a pantomime of toking a joint. 2. Of hardware, very +slow relative to normal performance. + diff --git a/entries/drum.txt b/entries/drum.txt index c2ad374..e120bc8 100644 --- a/entries/drum.txt +++ b/entries/drum.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ drum -n. Ancient techspeak term referring to slow, cylindrical magnetic media that were once state-of-the-art storage devices. Under some versions of BSD Unix the disk partition used for swapping is still called /dev/drum ; this has led to considerable humor and not a few straight-faced but utterly bogus explanations getting foisted on newbie s. See also The Story of Mel' in Appendix A. +n. Ancient techspeak term referring to slow, cylindrical magnetic media that +were once state-of-the-art storage devices. Under some versions of BSD Unix +the disk partition used for swapping is still called /dev/drum ; this has +led to considerable humor and not a few straight-faced but utterly bogus +explanations getting foisted on newbie s. See also The Story of Mel' in +Appendix A. + diff --git a/entries/drunk mouse syndrome.txt b/entries/drunk mouse syndrome.txt index 4a4977a..b764567 100644 --- a/entries/drunk mouse syndrome.txt +++ b/entries/drunk mouse syndrome.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ drunk mouse syndrome -n. (also mouse on drugs ) A malady exhibited by the mouse pointing device of some computers. The typical symptom is for the mouse cursor on the screen to move in random directions and not in sync with the motion of the actual mouse. Can usually be corrected by unplugging the mouse and plugging it back again. Another recommended fix for optical mice is to rotate your mouse pad 90 degrees. At Xerox PARC in the 1970s, most people kept a can of copier cleaner (isopropyl alcohol) at their desks. When the steel ball on the mouse had picked up enough cruft to be unreliable, the mouse was doused in cleaner, which restored it for a while. However, this operation left a fine residue that accelerated the accumulation of cruft, so the dousings became more and more frequent. Finally, the mouse was declared alcoholic and sent to the clinic to be dried out in a CFC ultrasonic bath. +n. (also mouse on drugs ) A malady exhibited by the mouse pointing device of +some computers. The typical symptom is for the mouse cursor on the screen to +move in random directions and not in sync with the motion of the actual +mouse. Can usually be corrected by unplugging the mouse and plugging it back +again. Another recommended fix for optical mice is to rotate your mouse pad +90 degrees. At Xerox PARC in the 1970s, most people kept a can of copier +cleaner (isopropyl alcohol) at their desks. When the steel ball on the mouse +had picked up enough cruft to be unreliable, the mouse was doused in +cleaner, which restored it for a while. However, this operation left a fine +residue that accelerated the accumulation of cruft, so the dousings became +more and more frequent. Finally, the mouse was declared alcoholic and sent +to the clinic to be dried out in a CFC ultrasonic bath. + diff --git a/entries/dub dub dub.txt b/entries/dub dub dub.txt index 0c96164..bf2ea67 100644 --- a/entries/dub dub dub.txt +++ b/entries/dub dub dub.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ dub dub dub -Spoken-only shorthand for the www (double-u double-u double-u) in many web host names. Nothing to do with the style of reggae music called dub. +Spoken-only shorthand for the www (double-u double-u double-u) in many web +host names. Nothing to do with the style of reggae music called dub. + diff --git a/entries/dumb terminal.txt b/entries/dumb terminal.txt index 394b944..bc091bf 100644 --- a/entries/dumb terminal.txt +++ b/entries/dumb terminal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ dumb terminal -n. A terminal that is one step above a glass tty , having a minimally addressable cursor but no on-screen editing or other features normally supported by a smart terminal. Once upon a time, when glass ttys were common and addressable cursors were something special, what is now called a dumb terminal could pass for a smart terminal. +n. A terminal that is one step above a glass tty , having a minimally +addressable cursor but no on-screen editing or other features normally +supported by a smart terminal. Once upon a time, when glass ttys were common +and addressable cursors were something special, what is now called a dumb +terminal could pass for a smart terminal. + diff --git a/entries/dumbass attack.txt b/entries/dumbass attack.txt index 7a621cb..9a0e8ad 100644 --- a/entries/dumbass attack.txt +++ b/entries/dumbass attack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ dumbass attack -/duhmas @tak/ , n. [Purdue] Notional cause of a novice's mistake made by the experienced, especially one made while running as root under Unix, e.g., typing rm -r * or mkfs on a mounted file system. Compare adger. +/duhmas @tak/ , n. [Purdue] Notional cause of a novice's mistake made by the +experienced, especially one made while running as root under Unix, e.g., +typing rm -r * or mkfs on a mounted file system. Compare adger. + diff --git a/entries/dumbed down.txt b/entries/dumbed down.txt index e0fd58a..4758592 100644 --- a/entries/dumbed down.txt +++ b/entries/dumbed down.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ dumbed down -adj. Simplified, with a strong connotation of over simplified. Often, a marketroid will insist that the interfaces and documentation of software be dumbed down after the designer has burned untold gallons of midnight oil making it smart. This creates friction. See user-friendly. +adj. Simplified, with a strong connotation of over simplified. Often, a +marketroid will insist that the interfaces and documentation of software be +dumbed down after the designer has burned untold gallons of midnight oil +making it smart. This creates friction. See user-friendly. + diff --git a/entries/dump.txt b/entries/dump.txt index dfec0d2..005aa54 100644 --- a/entries/dump.txt +++ b/entries/dump.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ dump -n. 1. An undigested and voluminous mass of information about a problem or the state of a system, especially one routed to the slowest available output device (compare core dump ), and most especially one consisting of hex or octal runes describing the byte-by-byte state of memory, mass storage, or some file. In elder days , debugging was generally done by groveling over a dump (see grovel ); increasing use of high-level languages and interactive debuggers has made such tedium uncommon, and the term dump now has a faintly archaic flavor. 2. A backup. This usage is typical only at large timesharing installations. +n. 1. An undigested and voluminous mass of information about a problem or +the state of a system, especially one routed to the slowest available output +device (compare core dump ), and most especially one consisting of hex or +octal runes describing the byte-by-byte state of memory, mass storage, or +some file. In elder days , debugging was generally done by groveling over a +dump (see grovel ); increasing use of high-level languages and interactive +debuggers has made such tedium uncommon, and the term dump now has a faintly +archaic flavor. 2. A backup. This usage is typical only at large timesharing +installations. + diff --git a/entries/dumpster diving.txt b/entries/dumpster diving.txt index 7de614f..35b54fa 100644 --- a/entries/dumpster diving.txt +++ b/entries/dumpster diving.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ dumpster diving -/dump'ster di:ving/ , n. 1. The practice of sifting refuse from an office or technical installation to extract confidential data, especially security-compromising information ( dumpster is an Americanism for what is elsewhere called a skip ). Back in AT T's monopoly days, before paper shredders became common office equipment, phone phreaks (see phreaking ) used to organize regular dumpster runs against phone company plants and offices. Discarded and damaged copies of AT T internal manuals taught them much. The technique is still rumored to be a favorite of crackers operating against careless targets. 2. The practice of raiding the dumpsters behind buildings where producers and/or consumers of high-tech equipment are located, with the expectation (usually justified) of finding discarded but still-valuable equipment to be nursed back to health in some hacker's den. Experienced dumpster-divers not infrequently accumulate basements full of moldering (but still potentially useful) cruft. +/dump'ster di:ving/ , n. 1. The practice of sifting refuse from an office or +technical installation to extract confidential data, especially +security-compromising information ( dumpster is an Americanism for what is +elsewhere called a skip ). Back in AT T's monopoly days, before paper +shredders became common office equipment, phone phreaks (see phreaking ) +used to organize regular dumpster runs against phone company plants and +offices. Discarded and damaged copies of AT T internal manuals taught them +much. The technique is still rumored to be a favorite of crackers operating +against careless targets. 2. The practice of raiding the dumpsters behind +buildings where producers and/or consumers of high-tech equipment are +located, with the expectation (usually justified) of finding discarded but +still-valuable equipment to be nursed back to health in some hacker's den. +Experienced dumpster-divers not infrequently accumulate basements full of +moldering (but still potentially useful) cruft. + diff --git a/entries/dusty deck.txt b/entries/dusty deck.txt index 3a32aec..fbfcdbe 100644 --- a/entries/dusty deck.txt +++ b/entries/dusty deck.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ dusty deck -n. Old software (especially applications) which one is obliged to remain compatible with, or to maintain ( DP types call this legacy code , a term hackers consider smarmy and excessively reverent). The term implies that the software in question is a holdover from card-punch days. Used esp. when referring to old scientific and number-crunching software, much of which was written in FORTRAN and very poorly documented but is believed to be too expensive to replace. See fossil ; compare crawling horror. +n. Old software (especially applications) which one is obliged to remain +compatible with, or to maintain ( DP types call this legacy code , a term +hackers consider smarmy and excessively reverent). The term implies that the +software in question is a holdover from card-punch days. Used esp. when +referring to old scientific and number-crunching software, much of which was +written in FORTRAN and very poorly documented but is believed to be too +expensive to replace. See fossil ; compare crawling horror. + diff --git a/entries/dynner.txt b/entries/dynner.txt index 9911bfd..887b32b 100644 --- a/entries/dynner.txt +++ b/entries/dynner.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ dynner -/dinr/ , n. 32 bits, by analogy with nybble and byte. Usage: rare and extremely silly. See also playte , tayste , crumb. General discussion of such terms is under nybble. +/dinr/ , n. 32 bits, by analogy with nybble and byte. Usage: rare and +extremely silly. See also playte , tayste , crumb. General discussion of +such terms is under nybble. + diff --git a/entries/eat flaming death.txt b/entries/eat flaming death.txt index c000571..e9104f0 100644 --- a/entries/eat flaming death.txt +++ b/entries/eat flaming death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ eat flaming death -imp. A construction popularized among hackers by the infamous CPU Wars comic; supposedly derived from a famously turgid line in a WWII-era anti-Nazi propaganda comic that ran Eat flaming death, non-Aryan mongrels! or something of the sort (however, it is also reported that on the Firesign Theatre's 1975 album In The Next World, You're On Your Own a character won the right to scream Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs in the middle of Oscar night on a game show; this may have been an influence). Used in humorously overblown expressions of hostility. Eat flaming death, EBCDIC users! IPM tells us to eat flaming death. +imp. A construction popularized among hackers by the infamous CPU Wars +comic; supposedly derived from a famously turgid line in a WWII-era +anti-Nazi propaganda comic that ran Eat flaming death, non-Aryan mongrels! +or something of the sort (however, it is also reported that on the Firesign +Theatre's 1975 album In The Next World, You're On Your Own a character won +the right to scream Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs in the middle of +Oscar night on a game show; this may have been an influence). Used in +humorously overblown expressions of hostility. Eat flaming death, EBCDIC +users! IPM tells us to eat flaming death. + diff --git a/entries/ed.txt b/entries/ed.txt index 6d87f5a..7b2a329 100644 --- a/entries/ed.txt +++ b/entries/ed.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ ed -n. ed is the standard text editor. Line taken from the original Unix manual page on ed, an ancient line-oriented editor that is by now used only by a few Real Programmer s, and even then only for batch operations. The original line is sometimes uttered near the beginning of an emacs vs. vi holy war on Usenet , with the (vain) hope to quench the discussion before it really takes off. Often followed by a standard text describing the many virtues of ed (such as the small memory footprint on a Timex Sinclair, and the consistent (because nearly non-existent) user interface). +n. ed is the standard text editor. Line taken from the original Unix manual +page on ed, an ancient line-oriented editor that is by now used only by a +few Real Programmer s, and even then only for batch operations. The original +line is sometimes uttered near the beginning of an emacs vs. vi holy war on +Usenet , with the (vain) hope to quench the discussion before it really +takes off. Often followed by a standard text describing the many virtues of +ed (such as the small memory footprint on a Timex Sinclair, and the +consistent (because nearly non-existent) user interface). + diff --git a/entries/egg.txt b/entries/egg.txt index ef5d35c..d0134a8 100644 --- a/entries/egg.txt +++ b/entries/egg.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ egg -n. The binary code that is the payload for buffer overflow and format string attacks. Typically, an egg written in assembly and designed to enable remote access or escalate privileges from an ordinary user account to administrator level when it hatches. Also known as shellcode. The name comes from a particular buffer-overflow exploit that was co-written by a cracker named eggplant. The variable name egg was used to store the payload. The usage spread from people who saw and analyzed the code. +n. The binary code that is the payload for buffer overflow and format string +attacks. Typically, an egg written in assembly and designed to enable remote +access or escalate privileges from an ordinary user account to administrator +level when it hatches. Also known as shellcode. The name comes from a +particular buffer-overflow exploit that was co-written by a cracker named +eggplant. The variable name egg was used to store the payload. The usage +spread from people who saw and analyzed the code. + diff --git a/entries/egosurf.txt b/entries/egosurf.txt index 893b8ff..ad14c93 100644 --- a/entries/egosurf.txt +++ b/entries/egosurf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ egosurf -vi. To search the net for your name or links to your web pages. Perhaps connected to long-established SF-fan slang egoscan , to search for one's name in a fanzine. +vi. To search the net for your name or links to your web pages. Perhaps +connected to long-established SF-fan slang egoscan , to search for one's +name in a fanzine. + diff --git a/entries/eighty-column mind.txt b/entries/eighty-column mind.txt index 5f0ae15..39feb36 100644 --- a/entries/eighty-column mind.txt +++ b/entries/eighty-column mind.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ eighty-column mind -n. [IBM] The sort said to be possessed by persons for whom the transition from punched card to tape was traumatic (nobody has dared tell them about disks yet). It is said that these people, including (according to an old joke) the founder of IBM, will be buried face down, 9-edge first (the 9-edge being the bottom of the card). This directive is inscribed on IBM's 1402 and 1622 card readers and is referenced in a famous bit of doggerel called The Last Bug , the climactic lines of which are as follows: Hediedattheconsole Ofhungerandthirst. Nextdayhewasburied, Facedown,9-edgefirst. The eighty-column mind was thought by most hackers to dominate IBM's customer base and its thinking. This only began to change in the mid-1990s when IBM began to reinvent itself after the triumph of the killer micro. See IBM , fear and loathing , code grinder. A copy of The Last Bug lives on the the GNU site at http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/last.bug.html. +n. [IBM] The sort said to be possessed by persons for whom the transition +from punched card to tape was traumatic (nobody has dared tell them about +disks yet). It is said that these people, including (according to an old +joke) the founder of IBM, will be buried face down, 9-edge first (the 9-edge +being the bottom of the card). This directive is inscribed on IBM's 1402 and +1622 card readers and is referenced in a famous bit of doggerel called The +Last Bug , the climactic lines of which are as follows: Hediedattheconsole +Ofhungerandthirst. Nextdayhewasburied, Facedown,9-edgefirst. The +eighty-column mind was thought by most hackers to dominate IBM's customer +base and its thinking. This only began to change in the mid-1990s when IBM +began to reinvent itself after the triumph of the killer micro. See IBM , +fear and loathing , code grinder. A copy of The Last Bug lives on the the +GNU site at http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/last.bug.html. + diff --git a/entries/elder days.txt b/entries/elder days.txt index a17e050..089d55d 100644 --- a/entries/elder days.txt +++ b/entries/elder days.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ elder days -n. The heroic age of hackerdom (roughly, pre-1980); the era of the PDP-10 , TECO , ITS , and the ARPANET. This term has been rather consciously adopted from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings. Compare Iron Age ; see also elvish and Great Worm. +n. The heroic age of hackerdom (roughly, pre-1980); the era of the PDP-10 , +TECO , ITS , and the ARPANET. This term has been rather consciously adopted +from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings. Compare Iron Age +; see also elvish and Great Worm. + diff --git a/entries/elegant.txt b/entries/elegant.txt index 4298871..cb08a78 100644 --- a/entries/elegant.txt +++ b/entries/elegant.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ elegant -adj. [common; from mathematical usage] Combining simplicity, power, and a certain ineffable grace of design. Higher praise than clever , winning , or even cuspy. The French aviator, adventurer, and author Antoine de Saint-Exupry, probably best known for his classic children's book The Little Prince , was also an aircraft designer. He gave us perhaps the best definition of engineering elegance when he said A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. +adj. [common; from mathematical usage] Combining simplicity, power, and a +certain ineffable grace of design. Higher praise than clever , winning , or +even cuspy. The French aviator, adventurer, and author Antoine de +Saint-Exupry, probably best known for his classic children's book The Little +Prince , was also an aircraft designer. He gave us perhaps the best +definition of engineering elegance when he said A designer knows he has +achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is +nothing left to take away. + diff --git a/entries/elephantine.txt b/entries/elephantine.txt index 6d18062..e2f9959 100644 --- a/entries/elephantine.txt +++ b/entries/elephantine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ elephantine -adj. Used of programs or systems that are both conspicuous hog s (owing perhaps to poor design founded on brute force and ignorance ) and exceedingly hairy in source form. An elephantine program may be functional and even friendly, but (as in the old joke about being in bed with an elephant) it's tough to have around all the same (and, like a pachyderm, difficult to maintain). In extreme cases, hackers have been known to make trumpeting sounds or perform expressive proboscatory mime at the mention of the offending program. Usage: semi-humorous. Compare has the elephant nature and the somewhat more pejorative monstrosity. See also second-system effect and baroque. +adj. Used of programs or systems that are both conspicuous hog s (owing +perhaps to poor design founded on brute force and ignorance ) and +exceedingly hairy in source form. An elephantine program may be functional +and even friendly, but (as in the old joke about being in bed with an +elephant) it's tough to have around all the same (and, like a pachyderm, +difficult to maintain). In extreme cases, hackers have been known to make +trumpeting sounds or perform expressive proboscatory mime at the mention of +the offending program. Usage: semi-humorous. Compare has the elephant nature +and the somewhat more pejorative monstrosity. See also second-system effect +and baroque. + diff --git a/entries/elevator controller.txt b/entries/elevator controller.txt index 2a3c214..e54331a 100644 --- a/entries/elevator controller.txt +++ b/entries/elevator controller.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ elevator controller -n. An archetypal dumb embedded-systems application, like toaster (which superseded it). During one period (1983--84) in the deliberations of ANSI X3J11 (the C standardization committee) this was the canonical example of a really stupid, memory-limited computation environment. You can't require printf (3) to be part of the default runtime library what if you're targeting an elevator controller? Elevator controllers became important rhetorical weapons on both sides of several holy wars. +n. An archetypal dumb embedded-systems application, like toaster (which +superseded it). During one period (1983--84) in the deliberations of ANSI +X3J11 (the C standardization committee) this was the canonical example of a +really stupid, memory-limited computation environment. You can't require +printf (3) to be part of the default runtime library what if you're +targeting an elevator controller? Elevator controllers became important +rhetorical weapons on both sides of several holy wars. + diff --git a/entries/elite.txt b/entries/elite.txt index 6f23f24..06aa3ee 100644 --- a/entries/elite.txt +++ b/entries/elite.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ elite -adj. Clueful. Plugged-in. One of the cognoscenti. Also used as a general positive adjective. This term is not actually native hacker slang; it is used primarily by crackers and warez d00dz , for which reason hackers use it only with heavy irony. The term used to refer to the folks allowed in to the hidden or privileged sections of BBSes in the early 1980s (which, typically, contained pirated software). Frequently, early boards would only let you post, or even see, a certain subset of the sections (or boards ) on a BBS. Those who got to the frequently legendary triple super secret boards were elite. Misspellings of this term in warez d00dz style abound; the forms l337 eleet , and 31337 (among others) have been sighted. A true hacker would be more likely to use wizardly. Oppose lamer. +adj. Clueful. Plugged-in. One of the cognoscenti. Also used as a general +positive adjective. This term is not actually native hacker slang; it is +used primarily by crackers and warez d00dz , for which reason hackers use it +only with heavy irony. The term used to refer to the folks allowed in to the +hidden or privileged sections of BBSes in the early 1980s (which, typically, +contained pirated software). Frequently, early boards would only let you +post, or even see, a certain subset of the sections (or boards ) on a BBS. +Those who got to the frequently legendary triple super secret boards were +elite. Misspellings of this term in warez d00dz style abound; the forms l337 +eleet , and 31337 (among others) have been sighted. A true hacker would be +more likely to use wizardly. Oppose lamer. + diff --git a/entries/elvish.txt b/entries/elvish.txt index 7267bae..98b31cb 100644 --- a/entries/elvish.txt +++ b/entries/elvish.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ elvish -n. 1. The Tengwar of Feanor, a table of letterforms resembling the beautiful Celtic half-uncial hand of the Book of Kells. Invented and described by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of The Rings as an orthography for his fictional elvish languages, this system (which is both visually and phonetically elegant ) has long fascinated hackers (who tend to be intrigued by artificial languages in general). It is traditional for graphics printers, plotters, window systems, and the like to support a Feanorian typeface as one of their demo items. See also elder days. 2. By extension, any odd or unreadable typeface produced by a graphics device. 3. The typeface mundanely called Bcklin , an art-Noveau display font. +n. 1. The Tengwar of Feanor, a table of letterforms resembling the beautiful +Celtic half-uncial hand of the Book of Kells. Invented and described by J. +R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of The Rings as an orthography for his fictional +elvish languages, this system (which is both visually and phonetically +elegant ) has long fascinated hackers (who tend to be intrigued by +artificial languages in general). It is traditional for graphics printers, +plotters, window systems, and the like to support a Feanorian typeface as +one of their demo items. See also elder days. 2. By extension, any odd or +unreadable typeface produced by a graphics device. 3. The typeface mundanely +called Bcklin , an art-Noveau display font. + diff --git a/entries/email.txt b/entries/email.txt index 63ca3b3..d3fe0f2 100644 --- a/entries/email.txt +++ b/entries/email.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ email -/eemayl/ (also written e-mail and E-mail ) 1. n. Electronic mail automatically passed through computer networks and/or via modems over common-carrier lines. Contrast snail-mail , paper-net , voice-net. See network address. 2. vt. To send electronic mail. Oddly enough, the word emailed is actually listed in the OED; it means embossed (with a raised pattern) or perh. arranged in a net or open work. A use from 1480 is given. The word is probably derived from French maill (enameled) and related to Old French emmaillere (network). A French correspondent tells us that in modern French, email is a hard enamel obtained by heating special paints in a furnace; an emailleur (no final e) is a craftsman who makes email (he generally paints some objects (like, say, jewelry) and cooks them in a furnace). There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet traffic up to 1995, email predominates, e-mail runs a not-too-distant second, and E-mail and Email are a distant third and fourth. +/eemayl/ (also written e-mail and E-mail ) 1. n. Electronic mail +automatically passed through computer networks and/or via modems over +common-carrier lines. Contrast snail-mail , paper-net , voice-net. See +network address. 2. vt. To send electronic mail. Oddly enough, the word +emailed is actually listed in the OED; it means embossed (with a raised +pattern) or perh. arranged in a net or open work. A use from 1480 is given. +The word is probably derived from French maill (enameled) and related to Old +French emmaillere (network). A French correspondent tells us that in modern +French, email is a hard enamel obtained by heating special paints in a +furnace; an emailleur (no final e) is a craftsman who makes email (he +generally paints some objects (like, say, jewelry) and cooks them in a +furnace). There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet +traffic up to 1995, email predominates, e-mail runs a not-too-distant +second, and E-mail and Email are a distant third and fourth. + diff --git a/entries/emoticon.txt b/entries/emoticon.txt index 7d8aafa..922dd35 100644 --- a/entries/emoticon.txt +++ b/entries/emoticon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,29 @@ emoticon -/eemohtikon/ , n. [common] An ASCII glyph used to indicate an emotional state in email or news. Although originally intended mostly as jokes, emoticons (or some other explicit humor indication) are virtually required under certain circumstances in high-volume text-only communication forums such as Usenet; the lack of verbal and visual cues can otherwise cause what were intended to be humorous, sarcastic, ironic, or otherwise non-100%-serious comments to be badly misinterpreted (not always even by newbie s), resulting in arguments and flame war s. Hundreds of emoticons have been proposed, but only a few are in common use. These include: :-) smiley face (for humor, laughter, friendliness, occasionally sarcasm) :-( frowney face (for sadness, anger, or upset) ;-) half-smiley ( ha ha only serious ); also known as semi-smiley or winkey face. :-/ wry face (These may become more comprehensible if you tilt your head sideways, to the left.) The first two listed are by far the most frequently encountered. Hyphenless forms of them are common on CompuServe, GEnie, and BIX; see also bixie. On Usenet , smiley is often used as a generic term synonymous with emoticon , as well as specifically for the happy-face emoticon. The invention of the original smiley and frowney emoticons is generally credited to Scott Fahlman at CMU in 1982. He later wrote: I wish I had saved the original post, or at least recorded the date for posterity, but I had no idea that I was starting something that would soon pollute all the world's communication channels. In September 2002 the original post was recovered. There is a rival claim by one Kevin McKenzie, who seems to have proposed the smiley on the MsgGroup mailing list, April 12 1979. It seems likely these two inventions were independent. Users of the PLATO educational system report using emoticons composed from overlaid dot-matrix graphics in the 1970s. +/eemohtikon/ , n. [common] An ASCII glyph used to indicate an emotional +state in email or news. Although originally intended mostly as jokes, +emoticons (or some other explicit humor indication) are virtually required +under certain circumstances in high-volume text-only communication forums +such as Usenet; the lack of verbal and visual cues can otherwise cause what +were intended to be humorous, sarcastic, ironic, or otherwise +non-100%-serious comments to be badly misinterpreted (not always even by +newbie s), resulting in arguments and flame war s. Hundreds of emoticons +have been proposed, but only a few are in common use. These include: :-) +smiley face (for humor, laughter, friendliness, occasionally sarcasm) :-( +frowney face (for sadness, anger, or upset) ;-) half-smiley ( ha ha only +serious ); also known as semi-smiley or winkey face. :-/ wry face (These may +become more comprehensible if you tilt your head sideways, to the left.) The +first two listed are by far the most frequently encountered. Hyphenless +forms of them are common on CompuServe, GEnie, and BIX; see also bixie. On +Usenet , smiley is often used as a generic term synonymous with emoticon , +as well as specifically for the happy-face emoticon. The invention of the +original smiley and frowney emoticons is generally credited to Scott Fahlman +at CMU in 1982. He later wrote: I wish I had saved the original post, or at +least recorded the date for posterity, but I had no idea that I was starting +something that would soon pollute all the world's communication channels. In +September 2002 the original post was recovered. There is a rival claim by +one Kevin McKenzie, who seems to have proposed the smiley on the MsgGroup +mailing list, April 12 1979. It seems likely these two inventions were +independent. Users of the PLATO educational system report using emoticons +composed from overlaid dot-matrix graphics in the 1970s. + diff --git a/entries/empire.txt b/entries/empire.txt index 9e687b1..46738f5 100644 --- a/entries/empire.txt +++ b/entries/empire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ empire -n. Any of a family of military simulations derived from a game written by Peter Langston many years ago. A number of multi-player variants of varying degrees of sophistication exist, and one single-player version implemented for both Unix and VMS; the latter is even available as MS-DOS/Windows freeware. All are notoriously addictive. Of various commercial derivatives the best known is probably Empire Deluxe on PCs and Amigas. Modern empire is a real-time wargame played over the internet by up to 120 players. Typical games last from 24 hours (blitz) to a couple of months (long term). The amount of sleep you can get while playing is a function of the rate at which updates occur and the number of co-rulers of your country. Empire server software is available for Unix-like machines, and clients for Unix and other platforms. A comprehensive history of the game is available at http://www.empire.cx/infopages/History.html. The Empire resource site is at http://www.empire.cx/. +n. Any of a family of military simulations derived from a game written by +Peter Langston many years ago. A number of multi-player variants of varying +degrees of sophistication exist, and one single-player version implemented +for both Unix and VMS; the latter is even available as MS-DOS/Windows +freeware. All are notoriously addictive. Of various commercial derivatives +the best known is probably Empire Deluxe on PCs and Amigas. Modern empire is +a real-time wargame played over the internet by up to 120 players. Typical +games last from 24 hours (blitz) to a couple of months (long term). The +amount of sleep you can get while playing is a function of the rate at which +updates occur and the number of co-rulers of your country. Empire server +software is available for Unix-like machines, and clients for Unix and other +platforms. A comprehensive history of the game is available at +http://www.empire.cx/infopages/History.html. The Empire resource site is at +http://www.empire.cx/. + diff --git a/entries/engine.txt b/entries/engine.txt index 7821b4e..38dc26f 100644 --- a/entries/engine.txt +++ b/entries/engine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ engine -n. 1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function but can't be used without some kind of front end. +n. 1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function but can't be used +without some kind of front end. + diff --git a/entries/enhancement.txt b/entries/enhancement.txt index 7ca19bd..5cd5381 100644 --- a/entries/enhancement.txt +++ b/entries/enhancement.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ enhancement -n. Common marketroid -speak for a bug fix. This abuse of language is a popular and time-tested way to turn incompetence into increased revenue. A hacker being ironic would instead call the fix a feature or perhaps save some effort by declaring the bug itself to be a feature. +n. Common marketroid -speak for a bug fix. This abuse of language is a +popular and time-tested way to turn incompetence into increased revenue. A +hacker being ironic would instead call the fix a feature or perhaps save +some effort by declaring the bug itself to be a feature. + diff --git a/entries/epoch.txt b/entries/epoch.txt index b741136..739a78d 100644 --- a/entries/epoch.txt +++ b/entries/epoch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ epoch -n. [Unix: prob.: from astronomical timekeeping] The time and date corresponding to 0 in an operating system's clock and timestamp values. Under most Unix versions the epoch is 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970; under VMS, it's 00:00:00 of November 17, 1858 (base date of the U.S. Naval Observatory's ephemerides); on a Macintosh, it's the midnight beginning January 1 1904. System time is measured in seconds or tick s past the epoch. Weird problems may ensue when the clock wraps around (see wrap around ), which is not necessarily a rare event; on systems counting 10 ticks per second, a signed 32-bit count of ticks is good only for 6.8 years. The 1-tick-per-second clock of Unix is good only until January 18, 2038, assuming at least some software continues to consider it signed and that word lengths don't increase by then. See also wall time. Microsoft Windows, on the other hand, has an epoch problem every 49.7 days but this is seldom noticed as Windows is almost incapable of staying up continuously for that long. +n. [Unix: prob.: from astronomical timekeeping] The time and date +corresponding to 0 in an operating system's clock and timestamp values. +Under most Unix versions the epoch is 00:00:00 GMT, January 1, 1970; under +VMS, it's 00:00:00 of November 17, 1858 (base date of the U.S. Naval +Observatory's ephemerides); on a Macintosh, it's the midnight beginning +January 1 1904. System time is measured in seconds or tick s past the epoch. +Weird problems may ensue when the clock wraps around (see wrap around ), +which is not necessarily a rare event; on systems counting 10 ticks per +second, a signed 32-bit count of ticks is good only for 6.8 years. The +1-tick-per-second clock of Unix is good only until January 18, 2038, +assuming at least some software continues to consider it signed and that +word lengths don't increase by then. See also wall time. Microsoft Windows, +on the other hand, has an epoch problem every 49.7 days but this is seldom +noticed as Windows is almost incapable of staying up continuously for that +long. + diff --git a/entries/epsilon squared.txt b/entries/epsilon squared.txt index 607738d..0b9e1fb 100644 --- a/entries/epsilon squared.txt +++ b/entries/epsilon squared.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ epsilon squared -n. A quantity even smaller than epsilon , as small in comparison to epsilon as epsilon is to something normal; completely negligible. If you buy a supercomputer for a million dollars, the cost of the thousand-dollar terminal to go with it is epsilon , and the cost of the ten-dollar cable to connect them is epsilon squared. Compare lost in the underflow , lost in the noise. +n. A quantity even smaller than epsilon , as small in comparison to epsilon +as epsilon is to something normal; completely negligible. If you buy a +supercomputer for a million dollars, the cost of the thousand-dollar +terminal to go with it is epsilon , and the cost of the ten-dollar cable to +connect them is epsilon squared. Compare lost in the underflow , lost in the +noise. + diff --git a/entries/epsilon.txt b/entries/epsilon.txt index 2ea39c0..13e917f 100644 --- a/entries/epsilon.txt +++ b/entries/epsilon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ epsilon -close enough to be indistinguishable for all practical purposes, even closer than being within delta of. That's not what I asked for, but it's within epsilon of what I wanted. Alternatively, it may mean not close enough, but very little is required to get it there: My program is within epsilon of working. +close enough to be indistinguishable for all practical purposes, even closer +than being within delta of. That's not what I asked for, but it's within +epsilon of what I wanted. Alternatively, it may mean not close enough, but +very little is required to get it there: My program is within epsilon of +working. + diff --git a/entries/era.txt b/entries/era.txt index b3325d9..ee58cc1 100644 --- a/entries/era.txt +++ b/entries/era.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ era -n. Syn. epoch. Webster's Unabridged makes these words almost synonymous, but era more often connotes a span of time rather than a point in time, whereas the reverse is true for epoch. The epoch usage is recommended. +n. Syn. epoch. Webster's Unabridged makes these words almost synonymous, but +era more often connotes a span of time rather than a point in time, whereas +the reverse is true for epoch. The epoch usage is recommended. + diff --git a/entries/erotics.txt b/entries/erotics.txt index c958dc6..3b2de61 100644 --- a/entries/erotics.txt +++ b/entries/erotics.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ erotics -/eerotiks/ , n. [Helsinki University of Technology, Finland] n. English-language university slang for electronics. Often used by hackers in Helsinki, maybe because good electronics excites them and makes them warm. +/eerotiks/ , n. [Helsinki University of Technology, Finland] n. +English-language university slang for electronics. Often used by hackers in +Helsinki, maybe because good electronics excites them and makes them warm. + diff --git a/entries/error 33.txt b/entries/error 33.txt index 52b6d63..d368c76 100644 --- a/entries/error 33.txt +++ b/entries/error 33.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ error 33 -n. 1. [XEROX PARC] Predicating one research effort upon the success of another. 2. Allowing your own research effort to be placed on the critical path of some other project (be it a research effort or not). +n. 1. [XEROX PARC] Predicating one research effort upon the success of +another. 2. Allowing your own research effort to be placed on the critical +path of some other project (be it a research effort or not). + diff --git a/entries/eurodemo.txt b/entries/eurodemo.txt index a820709..3f394d8 100644 --- a/entries/eurodemo.txt +++ b/entries/eurodemo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ eurodemo /yoorodem`o/ a demo , sense 4 Prev Up Next error 33 Home evil + diff --git a/entries/evil and rude.txt b/entries/evil and rude.txt index 6cbb7f5..544c1c0 100644 --- a/entries/evil and rude.txt +++ b/entries/evil and rude.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ evil and rude -adj. Both evil and rude , but with the additional connotation that the rudeness was due to malice rather than incompetence. Thus, for example: Microsoft's Windows NT is evil because it's a competent implementation of a bad design; it's rude because it's gratuitously incompatible with Unix in places where compatibility would have been as easy and effective to do; but it's evil and rude because the incompatibilities are apparently there not to fix design bugs in Unix but rather to lock hapless customers and developers into the Microsoft way. Hackish evil and rude is close to the mainstream sense of evil. +adj. Both evil and rude , but with the additional connotation that the +rudeness was due to malice rather than incompetence. Thus, for example: +Microsoft's Windows NT is evil because it's a competent implementation of a +bad design; it's rude because it's gratuitously incompatible with Unix in +places where compatibility would have been as easy and effective to do; but +it's evil and rude because the incompatibilities are apparently there not to +fix design bugs in Unix but rather to lock hapless customers and developers +into the Microsoft way. Hackish evil and rude is close to the mainstream +sense of evil. + diff --git a/entries/evil.txt b/entries/evil.txt index 3a42438..b7f8da8 100644 --- a/entries/evil.txt +++ b/entries/evil.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ evil -adj. As used by hackers, implies that some system, program, person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in the cretinous / losing / brain-damaged series, evil does not imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's. This usage is more an esthetic and engineering judgment than a moral one in the mainstream sense. We thought about adding a Blue Glue interface but decided it was too evil to deal with. TECO is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos. Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/. Compare evil and rude. +adj. As used by hackers, implies that some system, program, person, or +institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not worth the bother of +dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in the cretinous / losing / +brain-damaged series, evil does not imply incompetence or bad design, but +rather a set of goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the +speaker's. This usage is more an esthetic and engineering judgment than a +moral one in the mainstream sense. We thought about adding a Blue Glue +interface but decided it was too evil to deal with. TECO is neat, but it can +be pretty evil if you're prone to typos. Often pronounced with the first +syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/. Compare evil and rude. + diff --git a/entries/exa-.txt b/entries/exa-.txt index 7fef523..f0f1b85 100644 --- a/entries/exa-.txt +++ b/entries/exa-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ exa- /eks@/ , pref. [SI] See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/examining the entrails.txt b/entries/examining the entrails.txt index a1db890..9d28fc4 100644 --- a/entries/examining the entrails.txt +++ b/entries/examining the entrails.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ examining the entrails -n. The process of grovel ling through a core dump or hex image in an attempt to discover the bug that brought a program or system down. The reference is to divination from the entrails of a sacrificed animal. Compare runes , incantation , black art. +n. The process of grovel ling through a core dump or hex image in an attempt +to discover the bug that brought a program or system down. The reference is +to divination from the entrails of a sacrificed animal. Compare runes , +incantation , black art. + diff --git a/entries/excl.txt b/entries/excl.txt index 1485a07..1bc2b50 100644 --- a/entries/excl.txt +++ b/entries/excl.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ excl /ekskl/ , n. Abbreviation for exclamation point. See bang , shriek , ASCII. + diff --git a/entries/exec.txt b/entries/exec.txt index 510c363..ed12ff0 100644 --- a/entries/exec.txt +++ b/entries/exec.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ exec -/egzek/ , /eksek/ , n. 1. [Unix: from execute ] Synonym for chain , derives from the exec (2) call. 2. [from executive ] obs. The command interpreter for an OS (see shell ); term esp. used around mainframes, and prob.: derived from UNIVAC's archaic EXEC 2 and EXEC 8 operating systems. 3. At IBM and VM/CMS shops, the equivalent of a shell command file (among VM/CMS users). The mainstream exec as an abbreviation for (human) executive is not used. To a hacker, an exec is always a program, never a person. +/egzek/ , /eksek/ , n. 1. [Unix: from execute ] Synonym for chain , derives +from the exec (2) call. 2. [from executive ] obs. The command interpreter +for an OS (see shell ); term esp. used around mainframes, and prob.: derived +from UNIVAC's archaic EXEC 2 and EXEC 8 operating systems. 3. At IBM and +VM/CMS shops, the equivalent of a shell command file (among VM/CMS users). +The mainstream exec as an abbreviation for (human) executive is not used. To +a hacker, an exec is always a program, never a person. + diff --git a/entries/exercise, left as an.txt b/entries/exercise, left as an.txt index 89b6963..a213273 100644 --- a/entries/exercise, left as an.txt +++ b/entries/exercise, left as an.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ exercise, left as an -adj. [from technical books] Used to complete a proof when one doesn't mind a handwave , or to avoid one entirely. The complete phrase is: The proof [or the rest ] is left as an exercise for the reader. This comment has occasionally been attached to unsolved research problems by authors possessed of either an evil sense of humor or a vast faith in the capabilities of their audiences. +adj. [from technical books] Used to complete a proof when one doesn't mind a +handwave , or to avoid one entirely. The complete phrase is: The proof [or +the rest ] is left as an exercise for the reader. This comment has +occasionally been attached to unsolved research problems by authors +possessed of either an evil sense of humor or a vast faith in the +capabilities of their audiences. + diff --git a/entries/exploit.txt b/entries/exploit.txt index 40243f8..c10565f 100644 --- a/entries/exploit.txt +++ b/entries/exploit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ exploit -n. [originally cracker slang] 1. A vulnerability in software that can be used for breaking security or otherwise attacking an Internet host over the network. The Ping O' Death is a famous exploit. 2. More grammatically, a program that exploits an exploit in sense 1. +n. [originally cracker slang] 1. A vulnerability in software that can be +used for breaking security or otherwise attacking an Internet host over the +network. The Ping O' Death is a famous exploit. 2. More grammatically, a +program that exploits an exploit in sense 1. + diff --git a/entries/external memory.txt b/entries/external memory.txt index 3794c65..60b4f00 100644 --- a/entries/external memory.txt +++ b/entries/external memory.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ external memory -n. A memo pad, palmtop computer, or written notes. Hold on while I write that to external memory. The analogy is with store or DRAM versus nonvolatile disk storage on computers. +n. A memo pad, palmtop computer, or written notes. Hold on while I write +that to external memory. The analogy is with store or DRAM versus +nonvolatile disk storage on computers. + diff --git a/entries/eye candy.txt b/entries/eye candy.txt index fc20464..88242f7 100644 --- a/entries/eye candy.txt +++ b/entries/eye candy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ eye candy -/i: kand`ee/ , n. [from mainstream slang ear candy ] A display of some sort that's presented to luser s to keep them distracted while the program performs necessary background tasks. Give 'em some eye candy while the back-end slurp s that BLOB into core. Reported as mainstream usage among players of graphics-heavy computer games. We're also told this term is mainstream slang for soft pornography, but that sense does not appear to be live among hackers. +/i: kand`ee/ , n. [from mainstream slang ear candy ] A display of some sort +that's presented to luser s to keep them distracted while the program +performs necessary background tasks. Give 'em some eye candy while the +back-end slurp s that BLOB into core. Reported as mainstream usage among +players of graphics-heavy computer games. We're also told this term is +mainstream slang for soft pornography, but that sense does not appear to be +live among hackers. + diff --git a/entries/eyeball search.txt b/entries/eyeball search.txt index e482ce4..ff50d80 100644 --- a/entries/eyeball search.txt +++ b/entries/eyeball search.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ eyeball search -n.,v. To look for something in a mass of code or data with one's own native optical sensors, as opposed to using some sort of pattern matching software like grep or any other automated search tool. Also called a vgrep ; compare vdiff. +n.,v. To look for something in a mass of code or data with one's own native +optical sensors, as opposed to using some sort of pattern matching software +like grep or any other automated search tool. Also called a vgrep ; compare +vdiff. + diff --git a/entries/face time.txt b/entries/face time.txt index 6858e17..37ee106 100644 --- a/entries/face time.txt +++ b/entries/face time.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ face time -n. [common] Time spent interacting with somebody face-to-face (as opposed to via electronic links). Oh, yeah, I spent some face time with him at the last Usenix. +n. [common] Time spent interacting with somebody face-to-face (as opposed to +via electronic links). Oh, yeah, I spent some face time with him at the last +Usenix. + diff --git a/entries/factor.txt b/entries/factor.txt index 7fb7330..2d3e58e 100644 --- a/entries/factor.txt +++ b/entries/factor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ factor n. See coefficient of X. + diff --git a/entries/fairings.txt b/entries/fairings.txt index 868b85a..53404c4 100644 --- a/entries/fairings.txt +++ b/entries/fairings.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ fairings -n. , /feringz/ [FreeBSD; orig. a typo for fairness ] A term thrown out in discussion whenever a completely and transparently nonsensical argument in one's favor(?) seems called for, e,g. at the end of a really long thread for which the outcome is no longer even cared about since everyone is now so sick of it; or in rebuttal to another nonsensical argument ( Change the loader to look for /kernel. +n. , /feringz/ [FreeBSD; orig. a typo for fairness ] A term thrown out in +discussion whenever a completely and transparently nonsensical argument in +one's favor(?) seems called for, e,g. at the end of a really long thread for +which the outcome is no longer even cared about since everyone is now so +sick of it; or in rebuttal to another nonsensical argument ( Change the +loader to look for /kernel. + diff --git a/entries/fall over.txt b/entries/fall over.txt index 1e62691..01b12a2 100644 --- a/entries/fall over.txt +++ b/entries/fall over.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ fall over -vi. [IBM] Yet another synonym for crash or lose. Fall over hard equates to crash and burn. +vi. [IBM] Yet another synonym for crash or lose. Fall over hard equates to +crash and burn. + diff --git a/entries/fall through.txt b/entries/fall through.txt index 226068a..1edd5a9 100644 --- a/entries/fall through.txt +++ b/entries/fall through.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ fall through -v. (n. fallthrough , var.: fall-through ) 1. To exit a loop by exhaustion, i.e., by having fulfilled its exit condition rather than via a break or exception condition that exits from the middle of it. This usage appears to be really old, dating from the 1940s and 1950s. 2. To fail a test that would have passed control to a subroutine or some other distant portion of code. 3. In C, fall-through occurs when the flow of execution in a switch statement reaches a case label other than by jumping there from the switch header, passing a point where one would normally expect to find a break. A trivial example: switch(color) { caseGREEN: do_green(); break; casePINK: do_pink(); /*FALLTHROUGH*/ caseRED: do_red(); break; default: do_blue(); break; } The variant spelling /* FALL THRU */ is also common. The effect of the above code is to do_green () when color is GREEN , do_red () when color is RED , do_blue () on any other color other than PINK , and (and this is the important part) do_pink () and then do_red () when color is PINK. Fall-through is considered harmful by some, though there are contexts (such as the coding of state machines) in which it is natural; it is generally considered good practice to include a comment highlighting the fall-through where one would normally expect a break. See also Duff's device. +v. (n. fallthrough , var.: fall-through ) 1. To exit a loop by exhaustion, +i.e., by having fulfilled its exit condition rather than via a break or +exception condition that exits from the middle of it. This usage appears to +be really old, dating from the 1940s and 1950s. 2. To fail a test that would +have passed control to a subroutine or some other distant portion of code. +3. In C, fall-through occurs when the flow of execution in a switch +statement reaches a case label other than by jumping there from the switch +header, passing a point where one would normally expect to find a break. A +trivial example: switch(color) { caseGREEN: do_green(); break; casePINK: +do_pink(); /*FALLTHROUGH*/ caseRED: do_red(); break; default: do_blue(); +break; } The variant spelling /* FALL THRU */ is also common. The effect of +the above code is to do_green () when color is GREEN , do_red () when color +is RED , do_blue () on any other color other than PINK , and (and this is +the important part) do_pink () and then do_red () when color is PINK. +Fall-through is considered harmful by some, though there are contexts (such +as the coding of state machines) in which it is natural; it is generally +considered good practice to include a comment highlighting the fall-through +where one would normally expect a break. See also Duff's device. + diff --git a/entries/fan.txt b/entries/fan.txt index 1e3b100..8f3a614 100644 --- a/entries/fan.txt +++ b/entries/fan.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ fan -n. Without qualification, indicates a fan of science fiction, especially one who goes to con s and tends to hang out with other fans. Many hackers are fans, so this term has been imported from fannish slang; however, unlike much fannish slang it is recognized by most non-fannish hackers. Among SF fans the plural is correctly fen , but this usage is not automatic to hackers. Laura reads the stuff occasionally but isn't really a fan. +n. Without qualification, indicates a fan of science fiction, especially one +who goes to con s and tends to hang out with other fans. Many hackers are +fans, so this term has been imported from fannish slang; however, unlike +much fannish slang it is recognized by most non-fannish hackers. Among SF +fans the plural is correctly fen , but this usage is not automatic to +hackers. Laura reads the stuff occasionally but isn't really a fan. + diff --git a/entries/fandango on core.txt b/entries/fandango on core.txt index 09a5b0f..c73b74d 100644 --- a/entries/fandango on core.txt +++ b/entries/fandango on core.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ fandango on core -n. [Unix/C hackers, from the Iberian dance] In C, a wild pointer that runs out of bounds, causing a core dump , or corrupts the malloc (3) arena in such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to have done a fandango on core. On low-end personal machines without an MMU (or Windows boxes, which have an MMU but use it incompetently), this can corrupt the OS itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic dances, such as the cha-cha or the watusi, may be substituted. See aliasing bug , precedence lossage , smash the stack , memory leak , memory smash , overrun screw , core. +n. [Unix/C hackers, from the Iberian dance] In C, a wild pointer that runs +out of bounds, causing a core dump , or corrupts the malloc (3) arena in +such a way as to cause mysterious failures later on, is sometimes said to +have done a fandango on core. On low-end personal machines without an MMU +(or Windows boxes, which have an MMU but use it incompetently), this can +corrupt the OS itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic dances, such +as the cha-cha or the watusi, may be substituted. See aliasing bug , +precedence lossage , smash the stack , memory leak , memory smash , overrun +screw , core. + diff --git a/entries/faradize.txt b/entries/faradize.txt index 8e62352..28c4d7a 100644 --- a/entries/faradize.txt +++ b/entries/faradize.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ faradize -/far'@di:z/ , v. [US Geological Survey] To start any hyper-addictive process or trend, or to continue adding current to such a trend. Telling one user about a new octo-tetris game you compiled would be a faradizing act in two weeks you might find your entire department playing the faradic game. +/far'@di:z/ , v. [US Geological Survey] To start any hyper-addictive process +or trend, or to continue adding current to such a trend. Telling one user +about a new octo-tetris game you compiled would be a faradizing act in two +weeks you might find your entire department playing the faradic game. + diff --git a/entries/farkled.txt b/entries/farkled.txt index 9f153a9..68cd4cc 100644 --- a/entries/farkled.txt +++ b/entries/farkled.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ farkled -/farkld/ , adj. [DeVry Institute of Technology, Atlanta] Syn. hosed. Poss. owes something to Yiddish farblondjet and/or the Farkle Family skits on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In , a popular comedy show of the late 1960s. +/farkld/ , adj. [DeVry Institute of Technology, Atlanta] Syn. hosed. Poss. +owes something to Yiddish farblondjet and/or the Farkle Family skits on +Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In , a popular comedy show of the late 1960s. + diff --git a/entries/farm.txt b/entries/farm.txt index 68e1b09..fe1292d 100644 --- a/entries/farm.txt +++ b/entries/farm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ farm -n. A group of machines, especially a large group of near-identical machines running load-balancing software, dedicated to a single task. Historically the term server farm , used especially for a group of web servers, seems to have been coined by analogy with earlier disk farm in the early 1990s; generalization began with render farm for a group of machines dedicated to rendering computer animations (this term appears to have been popularized by publicity about the pioneering Linux render farm used to produce the movie Titanic ). By 2001 other combinations such as compile farm and compute farm were increasingly common, and arguably borderline techspeak. More jargon uses seem likely to arise (and be absorbed into techspeak over time) as new uses are discovered for networked machine clusters. Compare link farm. +n. A group of machines, especially a large group of near-identical machines +running load-balancing software, dedicated to a single task. Historically +the term server farm , used especially for a group of web servers, seems to +have been coined by analogy with earlier disk farm in the early 1990s; +generalization began with render farm for a group of machines dedicated to +rendering computer animations (this term appears to have been popularized by +publicity about the pioneering Linux render farm used to produce the movie +Titanic ). By 2001 other combinations such as compile farm and compute farm +were increasingly common, and arguably borderline techspeak. More jargon +uses seem likely to arise (and be absorbed into techspeak over time) as new +uses are discovered for networked machine clusters. Compare link farm. + diff --git a/entries/fascist.txt b/entries/fascist.txt index 347391e..c692d0b 100644 --- a/entries/fascist.txt +++ b/entries/fascist.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ fascist -adj. 1. [common] 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 seems to have been preferred at MIT, poss. by analogy with touristic (see tourist or under the influence of German/Yiddish faschistisch ). 2. In the design of languages and other software tools, the fascist alternative is the most restrictive and structured way of capturing a particular function; the implication is that this may be desirable in order to simplify the implementation or provide tighter error checking. Compare bondage-and-discipline language , although that term is global rather than local. Fascist security strikes again. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-05-28. The previous one is 73-05-20. +adj. 1. [common] 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 seems to have been preferred at MIT, poss. by analogy with +touristic (see tourist or under the influence of German/Yiddish faschistisch +). 2. In the design of languages and other software tools, the fascist +alternative is the most restrictive and structured way of capturing a +particular function; the implication is that this may be desirable in order +to simplify the implementation or provide tighter error checking. Compare +bondage-and-discipline language , although that term is global rather than +local. Fascist security strikes again. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly +saga is 73-05-28. The previous one is 73-05-20. + diff --git a/entries/fat electrons.txt b/entries/fat electrons.txt index 8e4c275..5d2fedc 100644 --- a/entries/fat electrons.txt +++ b/entries/fat electrons.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ fat electrons -n. Old-time hacker David Cargill's theory on the causation of computer glitches. Your typical electric utility draws its line current out of the big generators with a pair of coil taps located near the top of the dynamo. When the normal tap brushes get dirty, they take them off line to clean them up, and use special auxiliary taps on the bottom of the coil. Now, this is a problem, because when they do that they get not ordinary or thin electrons, but the fat'n'sloppy electrons that are heavier and so settle to the bottom of the generator. These flow down ordinary wires just fine, but when they have to turn a sharp corner (as in an integrated-circuit via), they're apt to get stuck. This is what causes computer glitches. [Fascinating. Obviously, fat electrons must gain mass by bogon absorption ESR] Compare bogon , magic smoke. +n. Old-time hacker David Cargill's theory on the causation of computer +glitches. Your typical electric utility draws its line current out of the +big generators with a pair of coil taps located near the top of the dynamo. +When the normal tap brushes get dirty, they take them off line to clean them +up, and use special auxiliary taps on the bottom of the coil. Now, this is a +problem, because when they do that they get not ordinary or thin electrons, +but the fat'n'sloppy electrons that are heavier and so settle to the bottom +of the generator. These flow down ordinary wires just fine, but when they +have to turn a sharp corner (as in an integrated-circuit via), they're apt +to get stuck. This is what causes computer glitches. [Fascinating. +Obviously, fat electrons must gain mass by bogon absorption ESR] Compare +bogon , magic smoke. + diff --git a/entries/fat pipe.txt b/entries/fat pipe.txt index 1308e2b..a598ad2 100644 --- a/entries/fat pipe.txt +++ b/entries/fat pipe.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ fat pipe -A high-bandwidth connection to the Internet. When the term gained currency in the mid-1990s, a T-1 (at 1.5 Mbits/second) was considered a fat pipe, but the standard has risen. Now it suggests multiple T3s. +A high-bandwidth connection to the Internet. When the term gained currency +in the mid-1990s, a T-1 (at 1.5 Mbits/second) was considered a fat pipe, but +the standard has risen. Now it suggests multiple T3s. + diff --git a/entries/fat-finger.txt b/entries/fat-finger.txt index f074f07..60bdc79 100644 --- a/entries/fat-finger.txt +++ b/entries/fat-finger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ fat-finger -vt. 1. To introduce a typo while editing in such a way that the resulting manglification of a configuration file does something useless, damaging, or wildly unexpected. NSI fat-fingered their DNS zone file and took half the net down again. 2. More generally, any typo that produces dramatically bad results. +vt. 1. To introduce a typo while editing in such a way that the resulting +manglification of a configuration file does something useless, damaging, or +wildly unexpected. NSI fat-fingered their DNS zone file and took half the +net down again. 2. More generally, any typo that produces dramatically bad +results. + diff --git a/entries/faulty.txt b/entries/faulty.txt index 19f31ea..2dd4d7d 100644 --- a/entries/faulty.txt +++ b/entries/faulty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ faulty -adj. Non-functional; buggy. Same denotation as bletcherous , losing , q.v., but the connotation is much milder. +adj. Non-functional; buggy. Same denotation as bletcherous , losing , q.v., +but the connotation is much milder. + diff --git a/entries/fear and loathing.txt b/entries/fear and loathing.txt index b66bf5c..b6abb77 100644 --- a/entries/fear and loathing.txt +++ b/entries/fear and loathing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ fear and loathing -n. [from Hunter S. Thompson] 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 bigger than a workstation. Ack! They want PCs to be able to talk to the AI machine. +n. [from Hunter S. Thompson] 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 bigger +than a workstation. Ack! They want PCs to be able to talk to the AI machine. + diff --git a/entries/feature creature.txt b/entries/feature creature.txt index f17c142..70af415 100644 --- a/entries/feature creature.txt +++ b/entries/feature creature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ feature creature -n. [poss. fr. slang creature feature for a horror movie] 1. One who loves to add features to designs or programs, perhaps at the expense of coherence, concision, or taste. 2. Alternately, a mythical being that induces otherwise rational programmers to perpetrate such crocks. See also feeping creaturism , creeping featurism. +n. [poss. fr. slang creature feature for a horror movie] 1. One who loves to +add features to designs or programs, perhaps at the expense of coherence, +concision, or taste. 2. Alternately, a mythical being that induces otherwise +rational programmers to perpetrate such crocks. See also feeping creaturism +, creeping featurism. + diff --git a/entries/feature creep.txt b/entries/feature creep.txt index 1ee438b..9c37995 100644 --- a/entries/feature creep.txt +++ b/entries/feature creep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ feature creep -n. [common] The result of creeping featurism , as in Emacs has a bad case of feature creep. +n. [common] The result of creeping featurism , as in Emacs has a bad case of +feature creep. + diff --git a/entries/feature key.txt b/entries/feature key.txt index 07bd7ef..80411df 100644 --- a/entries/feature key.txt +++ b/entries/feature key.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ feature key -n. [common] 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), splat , open-apple or (officially, in Mac documentation) the command key. In French, the term papillon (butterfly) has been reported. The proliferation of terms for this creature may illustrate one subtle peril of iconic interfaces. Many people have been mystified by the cloverleaf-like symbol that appears on the feature key. Its oldest name is cross of St. Hannes , but it occurs in pre-Christian Viking art as a decorative motif. Throughout Scandinavia today the road agencies use it to mark sites of historical interest. Apple picked up the symbol from an early Mac developer who happened to be Swedish. Apple documentation gives the translation interesting feature ! There is some dispute as to the proper (Swedish) name of this symbol. It technically stands for the word sevrdhet (thing worth seeing); many of these are old churches. Some Swedes report as an idiom for the sign the word kyrka , cognate to English church and pronounced (roughly) /churka/ in modern Swedish. Others say this is nonsense. Other idioms reported for the sign are runa (rune) or runsten /roonstn/ (runestone), derived from the fact that many of the interesting features are Viking rune-stones. The term fornminne /foornmin'@/ (relic of antiquity, ancient monument) is also reported, especially among those who think that the Mac itself is a relic of antiquity. +n. [common] 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), splat , +open-apple or (officially, in Mac documentation) the command key. In French, +the term papillon (butterfly) has been reported. The proliferation of terms +for this creature may illustrate one subtle peril of iconic interfaces. Many +people have been mystified by the cloverleaf-like symbol that appears on the +feature key. Its oldest name is cross of St. Hannes , but it occurs in +pre-Christian Viking art as a decorative motif. Throughout Scandinavia today +the road agencies use it to mark sites of historical interest. Apple picked +up the symbol from an early Mac developer who happened to be Swedish. Apple +documentation gives the translation interesting feature ! There is some +dispute as to the proper (Swedish) name of this symbol. It technically +stands for the word sevrdhet (thing worth seeing); many of these are old +churches. Some Swedes report as an idiom for the sign the word kyrka , +cognate to English church and pronounced (roughly) /churka/ in modern +Swedish. Others say this is nonsense. Other idioms reported for the sign are +runa (rune) or runsten /roonstn/ (runestone), derived from the fact that +many of the interesting features are Viking rune-stones. The term fornminne +/foornmin'@/ (relic of antiquity, ancient monument) is also reported, +especially among those who think that the Mac itself is a relic of +antiquity. + diff --git a/entries/feature shock.txt b/entries/feature shock.txt index eeda6c6..21e8c7c 100644 --- a/entries/feature shock.txt +++ b/entries/feature shock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ feature shock -n. [from Alvin Toffler's book title Future Shock ] A user's (or programmer's!) confusion when confronted with a package that has too many features and poor introductory material. +n. [from Alvin Toffler's book title Future Shock ] A user's (or +programmer's!) confusion when confronted with a package that has too many +features and poor introductory material. + diff --git a/entries/feature.txt b/entries/feature.txt index 823d90f..fc69508 100644 --- a/entries/feature.txt +++ b/entries/feature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,38 @@ feature -n. 1. [common] A good property or behavior (as of a program). Whether it was intended or not is immaterial. 2. [common] 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 surprising property or behavior; 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 classic example. 4. A property or behavior that 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 gongs ). 5. A property or behavior that was put in to help someone else but that happens to be in your way. 6. [common] 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 responded in a way that was unexpected but not 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. That's not a bug, that's a feature! is a 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 between two hackers on an airliner: A: This 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 the spacing between rows here. B: Yes. But 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 throughout they'd lose several rows and a chunk out 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. There's a related joke that is sometimes referred to as the one-question geek test. You say to someone I saw a Volkswagen Beetle today with a vanity license plate that read FEATURE. If he/she laughs, he/she is a geek. +n. 1. [common] A good property or behavior (as of a program). Whether it was +intended or not is immaterial. 2. [common] 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 surprising property or behavior; 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 classic example. 4. A +property or behavior that 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 gongs ). 5. A property or behavior that was +put in to help someone else but that happens to be in your way. 6. [common] +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 responded in a way that was unexpected but not 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. That's not a bug, +that's a feature! is a 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 between two hackers on an airliner: A: This 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 the +spacing between rows here. B: Yes. But 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 throughout they'd lose several +rows and a chunk out 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. There's a related joke that is sometimes +referred to as the one-question geek test. You say to someone I saw a +Volkswagen Beetle today with a vanity license plate that read FEATURE. If +he/she laughs, he/she is a geek. + diff --git a/entries/featurectomy.txt b/entries/featurectomy.txt index 1e5103e..c2fb03d 100644 --- a/entries/featurectomy.txt +++ b/entries/featurectomy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ featurectomy -/fee`ch@rekt@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 more elegant without the feature, or there is already an equivalent and better way to achieve the same end. (Doing so is not quite the same thing as removing a misfeature. ) Reluctant featurectomies are performed to satisfy some external constraint such as code size or execution speed. +/fee`ch@rekt@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 more elegant without the feature, or there is already an +equivalent and better way to achieve the same end. (Doing so is not quite +the same thing as removing a misfeature. ) Reluctant featurectomies are +performed to satisfy some external constraint such as code size or execution +speed. + diff --git a/entries/feep.txt b/entries/feep.txt index 9ca5f2c..ee2e232 100644 --- a/entries/feep.txt +++ b/entries/feep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ 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 feep; they have mechanical bells 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 closest written approximation yet.) The term 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 communicator's beep lasting for five seconds). The feeper on a VT-52 has been compared to the sound of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears. See also ding. +/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 feep; they have mechanical bells 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 closest written approximation +yet.) The term 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 communicator's beep lasting for five seconds). The +feeper on a VT-52 has been compared to the sound of a '52 Chevy stripping +its gears. See also ding. + diff --git a/entries/feeper.txt b/entries/feeper.txt index 625bfed..ab4b4d7 100644 --- a/entries/feeper.txt +++ b/entries/feeper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ feeper -/feepr/ , n. The device in a terminal or workstation (usually a loudspeaker of some kind) that makes the feep sound. +/feepr/ , n. The device in a terminal or workstation (usually a loudspeaker +of some kind) that makes the feep sound. + diff --git a/entries/feeping creature.txt b/entries/feeping creature.txt index 578ac64..d25fc69 100644 --- a/entries/feeping creature.txt +++ b/entries/feeping creature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ feeping creature -n. [from feeping creaturism ] 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. +n. [from feeping creaturism ] 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. + diff --git a/entries/feeping creaturism.txt b/entries/feeping creaturism.txt index cefd019..be3a9f4 100644 --- a/entries/feeping creaturism.txt +++ b/entries/feeping creaturism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ feeping creaturism -/feeping kree`ch@rizm/ , 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 neat that most hackers have said or heard it. It is probably reinforced by an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their customary noises. +/feeping kree`ch@rizm/ , 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 +neat that most hackers have said or heard it. It is probably reinforced by +an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their customary +noises. + diff --git a/entries/feetch feetch.txt b/entries/feetch feetch.txt index 199045a..6d47b8d 100644 --- a/entries/feetch feetch.txt +++ b/entries/feetch feetch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ 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 great! What a great hack! 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. +/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 great! What a great hack! 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. + diff --git a/entries/fence.txt b/entries/fence.txt index 3217d22..bfe1040 100644 --- a/entries/fence.txt +++ b/entries/fence.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ fence -Any technique, usually exploiting knowledge about the compiler, that blocks certain optimizations. Used when explicit mechanisms are not available or are overkill. Typically a hack: I call a dummy procedure there to force a flush of the optimizer's register-coloring info can be expressed by the shorter That's a fence procedure. +Any technique, usually exploiting knowledge about the compiler, that blocks +certain optimizations. Used when explicit mechanisms are not available or +are overkill. Typically a hack: I call a dummy procedure there to force a +flush of the optimizer's register-coloring info can be expressed by the +shorter That's a fence procedure. + diff --git a/entries/fencepost error.txt b/entries/fencepost error.txt index 47841ec..b9abcb2 100644 --- a/entries/fencepost error.txt +++ b/entries/fencepost error.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ fencepost error -n. 1. [common] A problem with the discrete equivalent of a boundary condition, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops. From the following problem: If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10 feet apart, how many posts do you need? (Either 9 or 11 is a better answer than the obvious 10.) For example, suppose you have a long list or array of items, and want to process items m through n ; how many items are there? The obvious answer is n - m , but that is off by one; the right answer is n - m + 1. A program that used the obvious formula would have a fencepost error in it. See also zeroth and off-by-one error , and note that not all off-by-one errors are fencepost errors. The game of Musical Chairs involves a catastrophic off-by-one error where N people try to sit in N - 1 chairs, but it's not a fencepost error. Fencepost errors come from counting things rather than the spaces between them, or vice versa, or by neglecting to consider whether one should count one or both ends of a row. 2. [rare] An error induced by unexpected regularities in input values, which can (for instance) completely thwart a theoretically efficient binary tree or hash table implementation. (The error here involves the difference between expected and worst case behaviors of an algorithm. +n. 1. [common] A problem with the discrete equivalent of a boundary +condition, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops. From the +following problem: If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10 feet +apart, how many posts do you need? (Either 9 or 11 is a better answer than +the obvious 10.) For example, suppose you have a long list or array of +items, and want to process items m through n ; how many items are there? The +obvious answer is n - m , but that is off by one; the right answer is n - m ++ 1. A program that used the obvious formula would have a fencepost error in +it. See also zeroth and off-by-one error , and note that not all off-by-one +errors are fencepost errors. The game of Musical Chairs involves a +catastrophic off-by-one error where N people try to sit in N - 1 chairs, but +it's not a fencepost error. Fencepost errors come from counting things +rather than the spaces between them, or vice versa, or by neglecting to +consider whether one should count one or both ends of a row. 2. [rare] An +error induced by unexpected regularities in input values, which can (for +instance) completely thwart a theoretically efficient binary tree or hash +table implementation. (The error here involves the difference between +expected and worst case behaviors of an algorithm. + diff --git a/entries/fiber-seeking backhoe.txt b/entries/fiber-seeking backhoe.txt index f6cb899..62ec02f 100644 --- a/entries/fiber-seeking backhoe.txt +++ b/entries/fiber-seeking backhoe.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ fiber-seeking backhoe -Any of a genus of large, disruptive machines which routinely cut critical backbone links, creating Internet outages and packet over air problems. +Any of a genus of large, disruptive machines which routinely cut critical +backbone links, creating Internet outages and packet over air problems. + diff --git a/entries/field circus.txt b/entries/field circus.txt index ca06dfd..320accb 100644 --- a/entries/field circus.txt +++ b/entries/field circus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ field circus -n. [a derogatory pun on field service ] The field service organization of any hardware manufacturer, but originally DEC. There is an entire genre of jokes about field circus engineers: Q:Howcanyourecognizeafieldcircusengineer withaflattire? A:He'schangingonetireatatimetoseewhichoneisflat. Q:Howcanyourecognizeafieldcircusengineer whoisoutofgas? A:He'schangingonetireatatimetoseewhichoneisflat. Q:Howcanyoutellit's your fieldcircusengineer? A:Thespareisflat,too. [See Easter egging for additional insight on these jokes.] There is also the Field Circus Cheer (from the old plan file for DEC on MIT-AI): Maynard!Maynard! Don'tmesswithus! We'remeanandwe'retough! Ifyougetusconfused We'llscrewupyourstuff. (DEC's service HQ, still extant under the HP regime, is located in Maynard, Massachusetts. +n. [a derogatory pun on field service ] The field service organization of +any hardware manufacturer, but originally DEC. There is an entire genre of +jokes about field circus engineers: Q:Howcanyourecognizeafieldcircusengineer +withaflattire? A:He'schangingonetireatatimetoseewhichoneisflat. +Q:Howcanyourecognizeafieldcircusengineer whoisoutofgas? +A:He'schangingonetireatatimetoseewhichoneisflat. Q:Howcanyoutellit's your +fieldcircusengineer? A:Thespareisflat,too. [See Easter egging for additional +insight on these jokes.] There is also the Field Circus Cheer (from the old +plan file for DEC on MIT-AI): Maynard!Maynard! Don'tmesswithus! +We'remeanandwe'retough! Ifyougetusconfused We'llscrewupyourstuff. (DEC's +service HQ, still extant under the HP regime, is located in Maynard, +Massachusetts. + diff --git a/entries/field servoid.txt b/entries/field servoid.txt index d8f8945..6c44bbb 100644 --- a/entries/field servoid.txt +++ b/entries/field servoid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ field servoid -/feeld servoyd/ , n. [play on android ] Representative of a field service organization (see field circus ). This has many of the implications of droid. +/feeld servoyd/ , n. [play on android ] Representative of a field service +organization (see field circus ). This has many of the implications of +droid. + diff --git a/entries/file signature.txt b/entries/file signature.txt index dd854f2..1597c5b 100644 --- a/entries/file signature.txt +++ b/entries/file signature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ file signature n. A magic number , sense 3. + diff --git a/entries/filk.txt b/entries/filk.txt index 1c8a136..9c3a0ca 100644 --- a/entries/filk.txt +++ b/entries/filk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ filk -/filk/ , n.,v. [from SF fandom, where a typo for folk was adopted as a new word] Originally, a popular or folk song with lyrics revised or completely new lyrics and/or music, intended for humorous effect when read, and/or to be sung late at night at SF conventions. More recently (especially since the late 1980s), filk has come to include a great deal of originally-composed music on SFnal or fantasy themes and a range of moods wider than simple parody or humor. Worthy of mention here because there is a flourishing subgenre of filks called computer filks , written by hackers and often containing rather sophisticated technical humor. See double bucky for an example. Compare grilf , hing , pr0n , and newsfroup. +/filk/ , n.,v. [from SF fandom, where a typo for folk was adopted as a new +word] Originally, a popular or folk song with lyrics revised or completely +new lyrics and/or music, intended for humorous effect when read, and/or to +be sung late at night at SF conventions. More recently (especially since the +late 1980s), filk has come to include a great deal of originally-composed +music on SFnal or fantasy themes and a range of moods wider than simple +parody or humor. Worthy of mention here because there is a flourishing +subgenre of filks called computer filks , written by hackers and often +containing rather sophisticated technical humor. See double bucky for an +example. Compare grilf , hing , pr0n , and newsfroup. + diff --git a/entries/film at 11.txt b/entries/film at 11.txt index a482e0b..2519027 100644 --- a/entries/film at 11.txt +++ b/entries/film at 11.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ film at 11 -1. Used in conversation to announce ordinary events, with a sarcastic implication that these events are earth-shattering. ITS crashes; film at 11. Bug found in scheduler; film at 11. 2. Also widely used outside MIT to indicate that additional information will be available at some future time, without the implication of anything particularly ordinary about the referenced event. For example, The mail file server died this morning; we found garbage all over the root directory. Film at 11. would indicate that a major failure had occurred but that the people working on it have no additional information about it as yet; use of the phrase in this way suggests gently that the problem is liable to be fixed more quickly if the people doing the fixing can spend time doing the fixing rather than responding to questions, the answers to which will appear on the normal 11:00 news , if people will just be patient. The variant MPEGs at 11 has recently been cited (MPEG is a digital-video format. +1. Used in conversation to announce ordinary events, with a sarcastic +implication that these events are earth-shattering. ITS crashes; film at 11. +Bug found in scheduler; film at 11. 2. Also widely used outside MIT to +indicate that additional information will be available at some future time, +without the implication of anything particularly ordinary about the +referenced event. For example, The mail file server died this morning; we +found garbage all over the root directory. Film at 11. would indicate that a +major failure had occurred but that the people working on it have no +additional information about it as yet; use of the phrase in this way +suggests gently that the problem is liable to be fixed more quickly if the +people doing the fixing can spend time doing the fixing rather than +responding to questions, the answers to which will appear on the normal +11:00 news , if people will just be patient. The variant MPEGs at 11 has +recently been cited (MPEG is a digital-video format. + diff --git a/entries/filter.txt b/entries/filter.txt index e835184..6a2c599 100644 --- a/entries/filter.txt +++ b/entries/filter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ filter -n. [very common; orig. Unix ] A program that processes an input data stream into an output data stream in some well-defined way, and does no I/O to anywhere else except possibly on error conditions; one designed to be used as a stage in a pipeline (see plumbing ). Compare sponge. +n. [very common; orig. Unix ] A program that processes an input data stream +into an output data stream in some well-defined way, and does no I/O to +anywhere else except possibly on error conditions; one designed to be used +as a stage in a pipeline (see plumbing ). Compare sponge. + diff --git a/entries/fine.txt b/entries/fine.txt index dbebb09..e8bc590 100644 --- a/entries/fine.txt +++ b/entries/fine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ fine -adj. [WPI] Good, but not good enough to be cuspy. The word fine is used elsewhere, of course, but without the implicit comparison to the higher level implied by cuspy. +adj. [WPI] Good, but not good enough to be cuspy. The word fine is used +elsewhere, of course, but without the implicit comparison to the higher +level implied by cuspy. + diff --git a/entries/finger trouble.txt b/entries/finger trouble.txt index 6bdc444..75609f7 100644 --- a/entries/finger trouble.txt +++ b/entries/finger trouble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ finger trouble -n. Mistyping, typos, or generalized keyboard incompetence (this is surprisingly common among hackers, given the amount of time they spend at keyboards). I keep putting colons at the end of statements instead of semicolons , Finger trouble again, eh?. +n. Mistyping, typos, or generalized keyboard incompetence (this is +surprisingly common among hackers, given the amount of time they spend at +keyboards). I keep putting colons at the end of statements instead of +semicolons , Finger trouble again, eh?. + diff --git a/entries/finger-pointing syndrome.txt b/entries/finger-pointing syndrome.txt index 3b327a4..8c00b5e 100644 --- a/entries/finger-pointing syndrome.txt +++ b/entries/finger-pointing syndrome.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ finger-pointing syndrome -n. All-too-frequent result of bugs, esp. in new or experimental configurations. The hardware vendor points a finger at the software. The software vendor points a finger at the hardware. All the poor users get is the finger. +n. All-too-frequent result of bugs, esp. in new or experimental +configurations. The hardware vendor points a finger at the software. The +software vendor points a finger at the hardware. All the poor users get is +the finger. + diff --git a/entries/finger.txt b/entries/finger.txt index 9eb028d..ffa5a8f 100644 --- a/entries/finger.txt +++ b/entries/finger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ finger -1. n. A program that displays information about a particular user or all users logged on the system, or a remote system. Typically shows full name, last login time, idle time, terminal line, and terminal location (where applicable). May also display a plan file left by the user (see also Hacking X for Y ). 2. vt. To apply finger to a username. 3. vt. By extension, to check a human's current state by any means. Foodp? T! OK, finger Lisa and see if she's idle. 4. Any picture (composed of ASCII characters) depicting the finger , see See figure 1. Originally a humorous component of one's plan file to deter the curious fingerer (sense 2), it has entered the arsenal of some flamer s. +1. n. A program that displays information about a particular user or all +users logged on the system, or a remote system. Typically shows full name, +last login time, idle time, terminal line, and terminal location (where +applicable). May also display a plan file left by the user (see also Hacking +X for Y ). 2. vt. To apply finger to a username. 3. vt. By extension, to +check a human's current state by any means. Foodp? T! OK, finger Lisa and +see if she's idle. 4. Any picture (composed of ASCII characters) depicting +the finger , see See figure 1. Originally a humorous component of one's plan +file to deter the curious fingerer (sense 2), it has entered the arsenal of +some flamer s. + diff --git a/entries/finn.txt b/entries/finn.txt index 231c8d5..0e5cd6f 100644 --- a/entries/finn.txt +++ b/entries/finn.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ finn -v. [IRC] To pull rank on somebody based on the amount of time one has spent on IRC. The term derives from the fact that IRC was originally written in Finland in 1987. +v. [IRC] To pull rank on somebody based on the amount of time one has spent +on IRC. The term derives from the fact that IRC was originally written in +Finland in 1987. + diff --git a/entries/firebottle.txt b/entries/firebottle.txt index f27d9fe..74605ef 100644 --- a/entries/firebottle.txt +++ b/entries/firebottle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ firebottle -n.obs. A large, primitive, power-hungry active electrical device, similar in function to a FET but constructed out of glass, metal, and vacuum. Characterized by high cost, low density, low reliability, high-temperature operation, and high power dissipation. Sometimes mistakenly called a tube in the U.S. or a valve in England; another hackish term is glassfet. +n.obs. A large, primitive, power-hungry active electrical device, similar in +function to a FET but constructed out of glass, metal, and vacuum. +Characterized by high cost, low density, low reliability, high-temperature +operation, and high power dissipation. Sometimes mistakenly called a tube in +the U.S. or a valve in England; another hackish term is glassfet. + diff --git a/entries/firefighting.txt b/entries/firefighting.txt index 6cb2f41..02f5ce5 100644 --- a/entries/firefighting.txt +++ b/entries/firefighting.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ firefighting -n. 1. What sysadmins have to do to correct sudden operational problems. An opposite of hacking. Been hacking your new newsreader? No, a power glitch hosed the network and I spent the whole afternoon fighting fires. 2. The act of throwing lots of manpower and late nights at a project, esp. to get it out before deadline. See also gang bang , Mongolian Hordes technique ; however, the term firefighting connotes that the effort is going into chasing bugs rather than adding features. +n. 1. What sysadmins have to do to correct sudden operational problems. An +opposite of hacking. Been hacking your new newsreader? No, a power glitch +hosed the network and I spent the whole afternoon fighting fires. 2. The act +of throwing lots of manpower and late nights at a project, esp. to get it +out before deadline. See also gang bang , Mongolian Hordes technique ; +however, the term firefighting connotes that the effort is going into +chasing bugs rather than adding features. + diff --git a/entries/firehose syndrome.txt b/entries/firehose syndrome.txt index faa4438..fe9b6a2 100644 --- a/entries/firehose syndrome.txt +++ b/entries/firehose syndrome.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ firehose syndrome -n. In mainstream folklore it is observed that trying to drink from a firehose can be a good way to rip your lips off. On computer networks, the absence or failure of flow control mechanisms can lead to situations in which the sending system sprays a massive flood of packets at an unfortunate receiving system, more than it can handle. Compare overrun , buffer overflow. +n. In mainstream folklore it is observed that trying to drink from a +firehose can be a good way to rip your lips off. On computer networks, the +absence or failure of flow control mechanisms can lead to situations in +which the sending system sprays a massive flood of packets at an unfortunate +receiving system, more than it can handle. Compare overrun , buffer +overflow. + diff --git a/entries/firewall code.txt b/entries/firewall code.txt index d6b7367..67bbf08 100644 --- a/entries/firewall code.txt +++ b/entries/firewall code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ firewall code -n. 1. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone switch) to make sure that the users can't do any damage. Since users always want to be able to do everything but never want to suffer for any mistakes, the construction of a firewall is a question not only of defensive coding but also of interface presentation, so that users don't even get curious about those corners of a system where they can burn themselves. 2. Any sanity check inserted to catch a can't happen error. Wise programmers often change code to fix a bug twice: once to fix the bug, and once to insert a firewall which would have arrested the bug before it did quite as much damage. +n. 1. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone switch) to make sure +that the users can't do any damage. Since users always want to be able to do +everything but never want to suffer for any mistakes, the construction of a +firewall is a question not only of defensive coding but also of interface +presentation, so that users don't even get curious about those corners of a +system where they can burn themselves. 2. Any sanity check inserted to catch +a can't happen error. Wise programmers often change code to fix a bug twice: +once to fix the bug, and once to insert a firewall which would have arrested +the bug before it did quite as much damage. + diff --git a/entries/firewall machine.txt b/entries/firewall machine.txt index 91256ce..c04abd4 100644 --- a/entries/firewall machine.txt +++ b/entries/firewall machine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ firewall machine -n. A dedicated gateway machine with special security precautions on it, used to service outside network connections and dial-in lines. The idea is to protect a cluster of more loosely administered machines hidden behind it from cracker s. The typical firewall is an inexpensive micro-based Unix box kept clean of critical data, with a bunch of modems and public network ports on it but just one carefully watched connection back to the rest of the cluster. The special precautions may include threat monitoring, callback, and even a complete iron box keyable to particular incoming IDs or activity patterns. Syn. flytrap , Venus flytrap. See also wild side. [When first coined in the mid-1980s this term was pure jargon. +n. A dedicated gateway machine with special security precautions on it, used +to service outside network connections and dial-in lines. The idea is to +protect a cluster of more loosely administered machines hidden behind it +from cracker s. The typical firewall is an inexpensive micro-based Unix box +kept clean of critical data, with a bunch of modems and public network ports +on it but just one carefully watched connection back to the rest of the +cluster. The special precautions may include threat monitoring, callback, +and even a complete iron box keyable to particular incoming IDs or activity +patterns. Syn. flytrap , Venus flytrap. See also wild side. [When first +coined in the mid-1980s this term was pure jargon. + diff --git a/entries/fireworks mode.txt b/entries/fireworks mode.txt index b36dbac..738d94f 100644 --- a/entries/fireworks mode.txt +++ b/entries/fireworks mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ fireworks mode -n. 1. The mode a machine is sometimes said to be in when it is performing a crash and burn operation. 2. There is (or was) a more specific meaning of this term in the Amiga community. The word fireworks described the effects of a particularly serious crash which prevented the video pointer(s) from getting reset at the start of the vertical blank. This caused the DAC to scroll through the entire contents of CHIP (video or video+CPU) memory. Since each bit plane would scroll separately this was quite a spectacular effect. +n. 1. The mode a machine is sometimes said to be in when it is performing a +crash and burn operation. 2. There is (or was) a more specific meaning of +this term in the Amiga community. The word fireworks described the effects +of a particularly serious crash which prevented the video pointer(s) from +getting reset at the start of the vertical blank. This caused the DAC to +scroll through the entire contents of CHIP (video or video+CPU) memory. +Since each bit plane would scroll separately this was quite a spectacular +effect. + diff --git a/entries/firmware.txt b/entries/firmware.txt index 65dc923..0c647b5 100644 --- a/entries/firmware.txt +++ b/entries/firmware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ firmware -/fermweir/ , n. Embedded software contained in EPROM or flash memory. It isn't quite hardware, but at least doesn't have to be loaded from a disk like regular software. Hacker usage differs from straight techspeak in that hackers don't normally apply it to stuff that you can't possibly get at, such as the program that runs a pocket calculator. Instead, it implies that the firmware could be changed, even if doing so would mean opening a box and plugging in a new chip. A computer's BIOS is the classic example, although nowadays there is firmware in disk controllers, modems, video cards and even CD-ROM drives. +/fermweir/ , n. Embedded software contained in EPROM or flash memory. It +isn't quite hardware, but at least doesn't have to be loaded from a disk +like regular software. Hacker usage differs from straight techspeak in that +hackers don't normally apply it to stuff that you can't possibly get at, +such as the program that runs a pocket calculator. Instead, it implies that +the firmware could be changed, even if doing so would mean opening a box and +plugging in a new chip. A computer's BIOS is the classic example, although +nowadays there is firmware in disk controllers, modems, video cards and even +CD-ROM drives. + diff --git a/entries/fish.txt b/entries/fish.txt index 8610b53..7edd8cc 100644 --- a/entries/fish.txt +++ b/entries/fish.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ fish -n. [Adelaide University, Australia] 1. Another metasyntactic variable. See foo. Derived originally from the Monty Python skit in the middle of The Meaning of Life entitled Find the Fish. 2. A pun for microfiche. A microfiche file cabinet may be referred to as a fish tank. +n. [Adelaide University, Australia] 1. Another metasyntactic variable. See +foo. Derived originally from the Monty Python skit in the middle of The +Meaning of Life entitled Find the Fish. 2. A pun for microfiche. A +microfiche file cabinet may be referred to as a fish tank. + diff --git a/entries/fisking.txt b/entries/fisking.txt index 0131866..719e5a6 100644 --- a/entries/fisking.txt +++ b/entries/fisking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ fisking -n. [blogosphere; very common] A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form. Named after Robert Fisk, a British journalist who was a frequent (and deserving) early target of such treatment. +n. [blogosphere; very common] A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or +(especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, +sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor +form. Named after Robert Fisk, a British journalist who was a frequent (and +deserving) early target of such treatment. + diff --git a/entries/fix.txt b/entries/fix.txt index 35802c4..6d04d2f 100644 --- a/entries/fix.txt +++ b/entries/fix.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ fix -n.,v. What one does when a problem has been reported too many times to be ignored. +n.,v. What one does when a problem has been reported too many times to be +ignored. + diff --git a/entries/flag day.txt b/entries/flag day.txt index 078a507..b025b50 100644 --- a/entries/flag day.txt +++ b/entries/flag day.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ flag day -n. A software change that is neither forward- nor backward-compatible, and which is costly to make and costly to reverse. Can we install that without causing a flag day for all users? This term has nothing to do with the use of the word flag to mean a variable that has two values. It came into use when a change was made to the definition of the ASCII character set during the development of Multics. The change was scheduled for Flag Day (a U.S. holiday), June 14, 1966. The change altered the Multics definition of ASCII from the short-lived 1965 version of the ASCII code to the 1967 version (in draft at the time); this moved code points for braces, vertical bar, and circumflex. See also backward combatability. The Great Renaming was a flag day. [Most of the changes were made to files stored on CTSS , the system used to support Multics development before it became self-hosting. +n. A software change that is neither forward- nor backward-compatible, and +which is costly to make and costly to reverse. Can we install that without +causing a flag day for all users? This term has nothing to do with the use +of the word flag to mean a variable that has two values. It came into use +when a change was made to the definition of the ASCII character set during +the development of Multics. The change was scheduled for Flag Day (a U.S. +holiday), June 14, 1966. The change altered the Multics definition of ASCII +from the short-lived 1965 version of the ASCII code to the 1967 version (in +draft at the time); this moved code points for braces, vertical bar, and +circumflex. See also backward combatability. The Great Renaming was a flag +day. [Most of the changes were made to files stored on CTSS , the system +used to support Multics development before it became self-hosting. + diff --git a/entries/flag.txt b/entries/flag.txt index 82df7fd..fb6e78c 100644 --- a/entries/flag.txt +++ b/entries/flag.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ flag -n. [very common] A variable or quantity that can take on one of two values; a bit, particularly one that is used to indicate one of two outcomes or is used to control which of two things is to be done. This flag controls whether to clear the screen before printing the message. The program status word contains several flag bits. Used of humans analogously to bit. See also hidden flag , mode bit. +n. [very common] A variable or quantity that can take on one of two values; +a bit, particularly one that is used to indicate one of two outcomes or is +used to control which of two things is to be done. This flag controls +whether to clear the screen before printing the message. The program status +word contains several flag bits. Used of humans analogously to bit. See also +hidden flag , mode bit. + diff --git a/entries/flaky.txt b/entries/flaky.txt index cf4ea95..28cb947 100644 --- a/entries/flaky.txt +++ b/entries/flaky.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ flaky -adj. (var sp. flakey ) Subject to frequent lossage. This use is of course related to the common slang use of the word to describe a person as eccentric, crazy, or just unreliable. A system that is flaky is working, sort of enough that you are tempted to try to use it but fails frequently enough that the odds in favor of finishing what you start are low. Commonwealth hackish prefers dodgy or wonky. +adj. (var sp. flakey ) Subject to frequent lossage. This use is of course +related to the common slang use of the word to describe a person as +eccentric, crazy, or just unreliable. A system that is flaky is working, +sort of enough that you are tempted to try to use it but fails frequently +enough that the odds in favor of finishing what you start are low. +Commonwealth hackish prefers dodgy or wonky. + diff --git a/entries/flamage.txt b/entries/flamage.txt index bb3822d..1e665b6 100644 --- a/entries/flamage.txt +++ b/entries/flamage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ flamage -/flay'm@j/ , n. [very common] Flaming verbiage, esp. high-noise, low-signal postings to Usenet or other electronic fora. Often in the phrase the usual flamage. Flaming is the act itself; flamage the content; a flame is a single flaming message. See flame , also dahmum. +/flay'm@j/ , n. [very common] Flaming verbiage, esp. high-noise, low-signal +postings to Usenet or other electronic fora. Often in the phrase the usual +flamage. Flaming is the act itself; flamage the content; a flame is a single +flaming message. See flame , also dahmum. + diff --git a/entries/flame bait.txt b/entries/flame bait.txt index 16decda..d96987c 100644 --- a/entries/flame bait.txt +++ b/entries/flame bait.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ flame bait -n. [common] A posting intended to trigger a flame war , or one that invites flames in reply. See also troll. +n. [common] A posting intended to trigger a flame war , or one that invites +flames in reply. See also troll. + diff --git a/entries/flame on.txt b/entries/flame on.txt index 4359aac..83b1ab5 100644 --- a/entries/flame on.txt +++ b/entries/flame on.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ flame on -interj. 1. To begin to flame. The punning reference to Marvel Comics's Human Torch is no longer widely recognized. 2. To continue to flame. See rave , burble. +interj. 1. To begin to flame. The punning reference to Marvel Comics's Human +Torch is no longer widely recognized. 2. To continue to flame. See rave , +burble. + diff --git a/entries/flame war.txt b/entries/flame war.txt index 351ea75..0feb354 100644 --- a/entries/flame war.txt +++ b/entries/flame war.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ flame war -n. [common] (var.: flamewar ) An acrimonious dispute, especially when conducted on a public electronic forum such as Usenet. +n. [common] (var.: flamewar ) An acrimonious dispute, especially when +conducted on a public electronic forum such as Usenet. + diff --git a/entries/flame.txt b/entries/flame.txt index 64d52e3..18a3e4a 100644 --- a/entries/flame.txt +++ b/entries/flame.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ flame -1. vi. To post an email message intended to insult and provoke. 2. vi. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude. 3. vt. Either of senses 1 or 2, directed with hostility at a particular person or people. 4. n. An instance of flaming. When a discussion degenerates into useless controversy, one might tell the participants Now you're just flaming or Stop all that flamage! to try to get them to cool down (so to speak). The term may have been independently invented at several different places. It has been reported from MIT, Carleton College and RPI (among many other places) from as far back as 1969, and from the University of Virginia in the early 1960s. It is possible that the hackish sense of flame is much older than that. The poet Chaucer was also what passed for a wizard hacker in his time; he wrote a treatise on the astrolabe, the most advanced computing device of the day. In Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida , Cressida laments her inability to grasp the proof of a particular mathematical theorem; her uncle Pandarus then observes that it's called the fleminge of wrecches. This phrase seems to have been intended in context as that which puts the wretches to flight but was probably just as ambiguous in Middle English as the flaming of wretches would be today. One suspects that Chaucer would feel right at home on Usenet. +1. vi. To post an email message intended to insult and provoke. 2. vi. To +speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or +with a patently ridiculous attitude. 3. vt. Either of senses 1 or 2, +directed with hostility at a particular person or people. 4. n. An instance +of flaming. When a discussion degenerates into useless controversy, one +might tell the participants Now you're just flaming or Stop all that +flamage! to try to get them to cool down (so to speak). The term may have +been independently invented at several different places. It has been +reported from MIT, Carleton College and RPI (among many other places) from +as far back as 1969, and from the University of Virginia in the early 1960s. +It is possible that the hackish sense of flame is much older than that. The +poet Chaucer was also what passed for a wizard hacker in his time; he wrote +a treatise on the astrolabe, the most advanced computing device of the day. +In Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida , Cressida laments her inability to grasp +the proof of a particular mathematical theorem; her uncle Pandarus then +observes that it's called the fleminge of wrecches. This phrase seems to +have been intended in context as that which puts the wretches to flight but +was probably just as ambiguous in Middle English as the flaming of wretches +would be today. One suspects that Chaucer would feel right at home on +Usenet. + diff --git a/entries/flamer.txt b/entries/flamer.txt index f453c96..16b0a7f 100644 --- a/entries/flamer.txt +++ b/entries/flamer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ flamer -n. [common] One who habitually flame s. Said esp. of obnoxious Usenet personalities. +n. [common] One who habitually flame s. Said esp. of obnoxious Usenet +personalities. + diff --git a/entries/flap.txt b/entries/flap.txt index 2112589..5828d4b 100644 --- a/entries/flap.txt +++ b/entries/flap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ flap -vt. 1. [obs.] To unload a DECtape (so it goes flap, flap, flap...). Old-time hackers at MIT tell of the days when the disk was device 0 and DEC microtapes were 1, 2,... and attempting to flap device 0 would instead start a motor banging inside a cabinet near the disk. 2. By extension, to unload any magnetic tape. Modern cartridge tapes no longer actually flap, but the usage has remained. (The term could well be re-applied to DEC's TK50 cartridge tape drive, a spectacularly misengineered contraption which makes a loud flapping sound, almost like an old reel-type lawnmower, in one of its many tape-eating failure modes. +vt. 1. [obs.] To unload a DECtape (so it goes flap, flap, flap...). Old-time +hackers at MIT tell of the days when the disk was device 0 and DEC +microtapes were 1, 2,... and attempting to flap device 0 would instead start +a motor banging inside a cabinet near the disk. 2. By extension, to unload +any magnetic tape. Modern cartridge tapes no longer actually flap, but the +usage has remained. (The term could well be re-applied to DEC's TK50 +cartridge tape drive, a spectacularly misengineered contraption which makes +a loud flapping sound, almost like an old reel-type lawnmower, in one of its +many tape-eating failure modes. + diff --git a/entries/flarp.txt b/entries/flarp.txt index 02469c1..18df30f 100644 --- a/entries/flarp.txt +++ b/entries/flarp.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ flarp -/flarp/ , n. [Rutgers University] Yet another metasyntactic variable (see foo ). Among those who use it, it is associated with a legend that any program not containing the word flarp somewhere will not work. The legend is discreetly silent on the reliability of programs which do contain the magic word. +/flarp/ , n. [Rutgers University] Yet another metasyntactic variable (see +foo ). Among those who use it, it is associated with a legend that any +program not containing the word flarp somewhere will not work. The legend is +discreetly silent on the reliability of programs which do contain the magic +word. + diff --git a/entries/flash crowd.txt b/entries/flash crowd.txt index 75d1753..f720585 100644 --- a/entries/flash crowd.txt +++ b/entries/flash crowd.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ flash crowd -Larry Niven's 1973 SF short story Flash Crowd predicted that one consequence of cheap teleportation would be huge crowds materializing almost instantly at the sites of interesting news stories. Twenty years later the term passed into common use on the Internet to describe exponential spikes in website or server usage when one passes a certain threshold of popular interest (what this does to the server may also be called slashdot effect ). It has been pointed out that the effect was anticipated years earlier in Alfred Bester's 1956 The Stars My Destination. +Larry Niven's 1973 SF short story Flash Crowd predicted that one consequence +of cheap teleportation would be huge crowds materializing almost instantly +at the sites of interesting news stories. Twenty years later the term passed +into common use on the Internet to describe exponential spikes in website or +server usage when one passes a certain threshold of popular interest (what +this does to the server may also be called slashdot effect ). It has been +pointed out that the effect was anticipated years earlier in Alfred Bester's +1956 The Stars My Destination. + diff --git a/entries/flat-ASCII.txt b/entries/flat-ASCII.txt index 89f9998..7d48607 100644 --- a/entries/flat-ASCII.txt +++ b/entries/flat-ASCII.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ flat-ASCII -adj. [common] Said of a text file that contains only 7-bit ASCII characters and uses only ASCII-standard control characters (that is, has no embedded codes specific to a particular text formatter markup language, or output device, and no meta -characters). Syn. plain-ASCII. Compare flat-file. +adj. [common] Said of a text file that contains only 7-bit ASCII characters +and uses only ASCII-standard control characters (that is, has no embedded +codes specific to a particular text formatter markup language, or output +device, and no meta -characters). Syn. plain-ASCII. Compare flat-file. + diff --git a/entries/flat-file.txt b/entries/flat-file.txt index ed61dc4..45ae65e 100644 --- a/entries/flat-file.txt +++ b/entries/flat-file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ flat-file -adj. A flatten ed representation of some database or tree or network structure as a single file from which the structure could implicitly be rebuilt, esp. one in flat-ASCII form. See also sharchive. +adj. A flatten ed representation of some database or tree or network +structure as a single file from which the structure could implicitly be +rebuilt, esp. one in flat-ASCII form. See also sharchive. + diff --git a/entries/flat.txt b/entries/flat.txt index c54a289..3099357 100644 --- a/entries/flat.txt +++ b/entries/flat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ flat -adj. 1. [common] Lacking any complex internal structure. That bitty box has only a flat filesystem, not a hierarchical one. The verb form is flatten. 2. Said of a memory architecture (like that of the VAX or 680x0) that is one big linear address space (typically with each possible value of a processor register corresponding to a unique core address), as opposed to a segmented architecture (like that of the 80x86) in which addresses are composed from a base-register/offset pair (segmented designs are generally considered cretinous ). Note that sense 1 (at least with respect to filesystems) is usually used pejoratively, while sense 2 is a Good Thing. +adj. 1. [common] Lacking any complex internal structure. That bitty box has +only a flat filesystem, not a hierarchical one. The verb form is flatten. 2. +Said of a memory architecture (like that of the VAX or 680x0) that is one +big linear address space (typically with each possible value of a processor +register corresponding to a unique core address), as opposed to a segmented +architecture (like that of the 80x86) in which addresses are composed from a +base-register/offset pair (segmented designs are generally considered +cretinous ). Note that sense 1 (at least with respect to filesystems) is +usually used pejoratively, while sense 2 is a Good Thing. + diff --git a/entries/flatten.txt b/entries/flatten.txt index 07ce676..f89d901 100644 --- a/entries/flatten.txt +++ b/entries/flatten.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ flatten -vt. [common] To remove structural information, esp. to filter something with an implicit tree structure into a simple sequence of leaves; also tends to imply mapping to flat-ASCII. This code flattens an expression with parentheses into an equivalent canonical form. +vt. [common] To remove structural information, esp. to filter something with +an implicit tree structure into a simple sequence of leaves; also tends to +imply mapping to flat-ASCII. This code flattens an expression with +parentheses into an equivalent canonical form. + diff --git a/entries/flavor.txt b/entries/flavor.txt index 5aa6ec8..f36895d 100644 --- a/entries/flavor.txt +++ b/entries/flavor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ flavor -n. 1. [common] Variety, type, kind. DDT commands come in two flavors. These lights come in two flavors, big red ones and small green ones. Linux is a flavor of Unix See vanilla. 2. The attribute that causes something to be flavorful. Usually used in the phrase yields additional flavor. This convention yields additional flavor by allowing one to print text either right-side-up or upside-down. See vanilla. This usage was certainly reinforced by the terminology of quantum chromodynamics, in which quarks (the constituents of, e.g., protons) come in six flavors (up, down, strange, charm, top, bottom) and three colors (red, blue, green) however, hackish use of flavor at MIT predated QCD. 3. The term for class (in the object-oriented sense) in the LISP Machine Flavors system. Though the Flavors design has been superseded (notably by the Common LISP CLOS facility), the term flavor is still used as a general synonym for class by some LISP hackers. +n. 1. [common] Variety, type, kind. DDT commands come in two flavors. These +lights come in two flavors, big red ones and small green ones. Linux is a +flavor of Unix See vanilla. 2. The attribute that causes something to be +flavorful. Usually used in the phrase yields additional flavor. This +convention yields additional flavor by allowing one to print text either +right-side-up or upside-down. See vanilla. This usage was certainly +reinforced by the terminology of quantum chromodynamics, in which quarks +(the constituents of, e.g., protons) come in six flavors (up, down, strange, +charm, top, bottom) and three colors (red, blue, green) however, hackish use +of flavor at MIT predated QCD. 3. The term for class (in the object-oriented +sense) in the LISP Machine Flavors system. Though the Flavors design has +been superseded (notably by the Common LISP CLOS facility), the term flavor +is still used as a general synonym for class by some LISP hackers. + diff --git a/entries/flavorful.txt b/entries/flavorful.txt index ba5966d..51d7d26 100644 --- a/entries/flavorful.txt +++ b/entries/flavorful.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ flavorful -adj. Full of flavor (sense 2); esthetically pleasing. See random and losing for antonyms. See also the entries for taste and elegant. +adj. Full of flavor (sense 2); esthetically pleasing. See random and losing +for antonyms. See also the entries for taste and elegant. + diff --git a/entries/flippy.txt b/entries/flippy.txt index dcd0662..88409df 100644 --- a/entries/flippy.txt +++ b/entries/flippy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ flippy -/flipee/ , n. A single-sided floppy disk altered for double-sided use by addition of a second write-notch, so called because it must be flipped over for the second side to be accessible. No longer common. +/flipee/ , n. A single-sided floppy disk altered for double-sided use by +addition of a second write-notch, so called because it must be flipped over +for the second side to be accessible. No longer common. + diff --git a/entries/flood.txt b/entries/flood.txt index c4c6015..2ef38da 100644 --- a/entries/flood.txt +++ b/entries/flood.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ flood -v. [common] 1. To overwhelm a network channel with mechanically-generated traffic; especially used of IP, TCP/IP, UDP, or ICMP denial-of-service attacks. 2. To dump large amounts of text onto an IRC channel. This is especially rude when the text is uninteresting and the other users are trying to carry on a serious conversation. Also used in a similar sense on Usenet. 3. [Usenet] To post an unusually large number or volume of files on a related topic. +v. [common] 1. To overwhelm a network channel with mechanically-generated +traffic; especially used of IP, TCP/IP, UDP, or ICMP denial-of-service +attacks. 2. To dump large amounts of text onto an IRC channel. This is +especially rude when the text is uninteresting and the other users are +trying to carry on a serious conversation. Also used in a similar sense on +Usenet. 3. [Usenet] To post an unusually large number or volume of files on +a related topic. + diff --git a/entries/flowchart.txt b/entries/flowchart.txt index 91d41bf..ead2a95 100644 --- a/entries/flowchart.txt +++ b/entries/flowchart.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ flowchart -n. [techspeak] An archaic form of visual control-flow specification employing arrows and speech balloons of various shapes. Hackers never use flowcharts, consider them extremely silly, and associate them with COBOL programmers, code grinder s, and other lower forms of life. This attitude follows from the observations that flowcharts (at least from a hacker's point of view) are no easier to read than code, are less precise, and tend to fall out of sync with the code (so that they either obfuscate it rather than explaining it, or require extra maintenance effort that doesn't improve the code). +n. [techspeak] An archaic form of visual control-flow specification +employing arrows and speech balloons of various shapes. Hackers never use +flowcharts, consider them extremely silly, and associate them with COBOL +programmers, code grinder s, and other lower forms of life. This attitude +follows from the observations that flowcharts (at least from a hacker's +point of view) are no easier to read than code, are less precise, and tend +to fall out of sync with the code (so that they either obfuscate it rather +than explaining it, or require extra maintenance effort that doesn't improve +the code). + diff --git a/entries/flower key.txt b/entries/flower key.txt index 21b47e4..86dcb73 100644 --- a/entries/flower key.txt +++ b/entries/flower key.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ flower key n. [Mac users] See feature key. + diff --git a/entries/flush.txt b/entries/flush.txt index 7b89b5a..373f1f1 100644 --- a/entries/flush.txt +++ b/entries/flush.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ flush -v. 1. [common] To delete something, usually superfluous, or to abort an operation. All that nonsense has been flushed. 2. [Unix/C] To force buffered I/O to disk, as with an fflush (3) call. This is not an abort or deletion as in sense 1, but a demand for early completion! 3. To leave at the end of a day's work (as opposed to leaving for a meal). I'm going to flush now. Time to flush. 4. To exclude someone from an activity, or to ignore a person. Flush was standard ITS terminology for aborting an output operation; one spoke of the text that would have been printed, but was not, as having been flushed. It is speculated that this term arose from a vivid image of flushing unwanted characters by hosing down the internal output buffer, washing the characters away before they could be printed. The Unix/C usage, on the other hand, was propagated by the fflush (3) call in C's standard I/O library (though it is reported to have been in use among BLISS programmers at DEC and on Honeywell and IBM machines as far back as 1965). Unix/C hackers found the ITS usage confusing, and vice versa. Crunchly gets flush ed. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-05-01. The previous cartoon was 76-02-20:2. +v. 1. [common] To delete something, usually superfluous, or to abort an +operation. All that nonsense has been flushed. 2. [Unix/C] To force buffered +I/O to disk, as with an fflush (3) call. This is not an abort or deletion as +in sense 1, but a demand for early completion! 3. To leave at the end of a +day's work (as opposed to leaving for a meal). I'm going to flush now. Time +to flush. 4. To exclude someone from an activity, or to ignore a person. +Flush was standard ITS terminology for aborting an output operation; one +spoke of the text that would have been printed, but was not, as having been +flushed. It is speculated that this term arose from a vivid image of +flushing unwanted characters by hosing down the internal output buffer, +washing the characters away before they could be printed. The Unix/C usage, +on the other hand, was propagated by the fflush (3) call in C's standard I/O +library (though it is reported to have been in use among BLISS programmers +at DEC and on Honeywell and IBM machines as far back as 1965). Unix/C +hackers found the ITS usage confusing, and vice versa. Crunchly gets flush +ed. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-05-01. The previous cartoon +was 76-02-20:2. + diff --git a/entries/flypage.txt b/entries/flypage.txt index 694486c..ccf962f 100644 --- a/entries/flypage.txt +++ b/entries/flypage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ flypage /fli:payj/ , n. (alt.: fly page ) A banner , sense 1. + diff --git a/entries/flytrap.txt b/entries/flytrap.txt index c6e21f1..3153fe4 100644 --- a/entries/flytrap.txt +++ b/entries/flytrap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ flytrap n. [rare] See firewall machine. + diff --git a/entries/fnord.txt b/entries/fnord.txt index 80600b9..11e4c39 100644 --- a/entries/fnord.txt +++ b/entries/fnord.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ fnord -n. [from the Illuminatus Trilogy ] 1. A word used in email and news postings to tag utterances as surrealist mind-play or humor, esp. in connection with Discordianism and elaborate conspiracy theories. I heard that David Koresh is sharing an apartment in Argentina with Hitler. (Fnord.) Where can I fnord get the Principia Discordia from? 2. A metasyntactic variable , commonly used by hackers with ties to Discordianism or the Church of the SubGenius. +n. [from the Illuminatus Trilogy ] 1. A word used in email and news postings +to tag utterances as surrealist mind-play or humor, esp. in connection with +Discordianism and elaborate conspiracy theories. I heard that David Koresh +is sharing an apartment in Argentina with Hitler. (Fnord.) Where can I fnord +get the Principia Discordia from? 2. A metasyntactic variable , commonly +used by hackers with ties to Discordianism or the Church of the SubGenius. + diff --git a/entries/fold case.txt b/entries/fold case.txt index d8d1f44..6bb1ffe 100644 --- a/entries/fold case.txt +++ b/entries/fold case.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ fold case -v. See smash case. This term tends to be used more by people who don't mind that their tools smash case. It also connotes that case is ignored but case distinctions in data processed by the tool in question aren't destroyed. +v. See smash case. This term tends to be used more by people who don't mind +that their tools smash case. It also connotes that case is ignored but case +distinctions in data processed by the tool in question aren't destroyed. + diff --git a/entries/followup.txt b/entries/followup.txt index 0b86f0b..32273a6 100644 --- a/entries/followup.txt +++ b/entries/followup.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ followup -n. [common] On Usenet, a posting generated in response to another posting (as opposed to a reply , which goes by email rather than being broadcast). Followups include the ID of the parent message in their headers; smart news-readers can use this information to present Usenet news in conversation sequence rather than order-of-arrival. See thread. +n. [common] On Usenet, a posting generated in response to another posting +(as opposed to a reply , which goes by email rather than being broadcast). +Followups include the ID of the parent message in their headers; smart +news-readers can use this information to present Usenet news in conversation +sequence rather than order-of-arrival. See thread. + diff --git a/entries/fontology.txt b/entries/fontology.txt index dfb9c8c..3d8b449 100644 --- a/entries/fontology.txt +++ b/entries/fontology.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ fontology -n. [XEROX PARC] The body of knowledge dealing with the construction and use of new fonts (e.g., for window systems and typesetting software). It has been said that fontology recapitulates file-ogeny. [Unfortunately, this reference to the embryological dictum that Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny is not merely a joke. +n. [XEROX PARC] The body of knowledge dealing with the construction and use +of new fonts (e.g., for window systems and typesetting software). It has +been said that fontology recapitulates file-ogeny. [Unfortunately, this +reference to the embryological dictum that Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny +is not merely a joke. + diff --git a/entries/foo.txt b/entries/foo.txt index aa14fca..a8a4b17 100644 --- a/entries/foo.txt +++ b/entries/foo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,79 @@ foo -/foo/ 1. interj. Term of disgust. 2. [very common] Used very generally as a sample name for absolutely anything, esp. programs and files (esp. scratch files). 3. First on the standard list of metasyntactic variable s used in syntax examples. See also bar , baz , qux , quux , garply , waldo , fred , plugh , xyzzy , thud. When foo is used in connection with bar it has generally traced to the WWII-era Army slang acronym FUBAR ( Fucked Up Beyond All Repair or Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition ), later modified to foobar. Early versions of the Jargon File interpreted this change as a post-war bowdlerization, but it it now seems more likely that FUBAR was itself a derivative of foo perhaps influenced by German furchtbar (terrible) foobar may actually have been the original form. For, it seems, the word foo itself had an immediate prewar history in comic strips and cartoons. The earliest documented uses were in the Smokey Stover comic strip published from about 1930 to about 1952. Bill Holman, the author of the strip, filled it with odd jokes and personal contrivances, including other nonsense phrases such as Notary Sojac and 1506 nix nix. The word foo frequently appeared on license plates of cars, in nonsense sayings in the background of some frames (such as He who foos last foos best or Many smoke but foo men chew ), and Holman had Smokey say Where there's foo, there's fire. According to the Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion Holman claimed to have found the word foo on the bottom of a Chinese figurine. This is plausible; Chinese statuettes often have apotropaic inscriptions, and this one was almost certainly the Mandarin Chinese word fu (sometimes transliterated foo ), which can mean happiness or prosperity when spoken with the rising tone (the lion-dog guardians flanking the steps of many Chinese restaurants are properly called fu dogs ). English speakers' reception of Holman's foo nonsense word was undoubtedly influenced by Yiddish feh and English fooey and fool. Holman's strip featured a firetruck called the Foomobile that rode on two wheels. The comic strip was tremendously popular in the late 1930s, and legend has it that a manufacturer in Indiana even produced an operable version of Holman's Foomobile. According to the Encyclopedia of American Comics, Foo fever swept the U.S., finding its way into popular songs and generating over 500 Foo Clubs. The fad left foo references embedded in popular culture (including a couple of appearances in Warner Brothers cartoons of 1938-39; notably in Robert Clampett's Daffy Doc of 1938, in which a very early version of Daffy Duck holds up a sign saying SILENCE IS FOO! ) When the fad faded, the origin of foo was forgotten. One place foo is known to have remained live is in the U.S. military during the WWII years. In 1944-45, the term foo fighters was in use by radar operators for the kind of mysterious or spurious trace that would later be called a UFO (the older term resurfaced in popular American usage in 1995 via the name of one of the better grunge-rock bands). Because informants connected the term directly to the Smokey Stover strip, the folk etymology that connects it to French feu (fire) can be gently dismissed. The U.S. and British militaries frequently swapped slang terms during the war (see kluge and kludge for another important example) Period sources reported that FOO became a semi-legendary subject of WWII British-army graffiti more or less equivalent to the American Kilroy. Where British troops went, the graffito FOO was here or something similar showed up. Several slang dictionaries aver that FOO probably came from Forward Observation Officer, but this (like the contemporaneous FUBAR ) was probably a backronym. Forty years later, Paul Dickson's excellent book Words (Dell, 1982, ISBN 0-440-52260-7) traced Foo to an unspecified British naval magazine in 1946, quoting as follows: Mr. Foo is a mysterious Second World War product, gifted with bitter omniscience and sarcasm. Earlier versions of this entry suggested the possibility that hacker usage actually sprang from FOO, Lampoons and Parody , the title of a comic book first issued in September 1958, a joint project of Charles and Robert Crumb. Though Robert Crumb (then in his mid-teens) later became one of the most important and influential artists in underground comics, this venture was hardly a success; indeed, the brothers later burned most of the existing copies in disgust. The title FOO was featured in large letters on the front cover. However, very few copies of this comic actually circulated, and students of Crumb's oeuvre have established that this title was a reference to the earlier Smokey Stover comics. The Crumbs may also have been influenced by a short-lived Canadian parody magazine named Foo published in 1951-52. An old-time member reports that in the 1959 Dictionary of the TMRC Language , compiled at TMRC , there was an entry that went something like this: FOO: The first syllable of the sacred chant phrase FOO MANE PADME HUM. Our first obligation is to keep the foo counters turning. (For more about the legendary foo counters, see TMRC. ) This definition used Bill Holman's nonsense word, then only two decades old and demonstrably still live in popular culture and slang, to a ha ha only serious analogy with esoteric Tibetan Buddhism. Today's hackers would find it difficult to resist elaborating a joke like that, and it is not likely 1959's were any less susceptible. Almost the entire staff of what later became the MIT AI Lab was involved with TMRC, and the word spread from there. +/foo/ 1. interj. Term of disgust. 2. [very common] Used very generally as a +sample name for absolutely anything, esp. programs and files (esp. scratch +files). 3. First on the standard list of metasyntactic variable s used in +syntax examples. See also bar , baz , qux , quux , garply , waldo , fred , +plugh , xyzzy , thud. When foo is used in connection with bar it has +generally traced to the WWII-era Army slang acronym FUBAR ( Fucked Up Beyond +All Repair or Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition ), later modified to foobar. +Early versions of the Jargon File interpreted this change as a post-war +bowdlerization, but it it now seems more likely that FUBAR was itself a +derivative of foo perhaps influenced by German furchtbar (terrible) foobar +may actually have been the original form. For, it seems, the word foo itself +had an immediate prewar history in comic strips and cartoons. The earliest +documented uses were in the Smokey Stover comic strip published from about +1930 to about 1952. Bill Holman, the author of the strip, filled it with odd +jokes and personal contrivances, including other nonsense phrases such as +Notary Sojac and 1506 nix nix. The word foo frequently appeared on license +plates of cars, in nonsense sayings in the background of some frames (such +as He who foos last foos best or Many smoke but foo men chew ), and Holman +had Smokey say Where there's foo, there's fire. According to the Warner +Brothers Cartoon Companion Holman claimed to have found the word foo on the +bottom of a Chinese figurine. This is plausible; Chinese statuettes often +have apotropaic inscriptions, and this one was almost certainly the Mandarin +Chinese word fu (sometimes transliterated foo ), which can mean happiness or +prosperity when spoken with the rising tone (the lion-dog guardians flanking +the steps of many Chinese restaurants are properly called fu dogs ). English +speakers' reception of Holman's foo nonsense word was undoubtedly influenced +by Yiddish feh and English fooey and fool. Holman's strip featured a +firetruck called the Foomobile that rode on two wheels. The comic strip was +tremendously popular in the late 1930s, and legend has it that a +manufacturer in Indiana even produced an operable version of Holman's +Foomobile. According to the Encyclopedia of American Comics, Foo fever swept +the U.S., finding its way into popular songs and generating over 500 Foo +Clubs. The fad left foo references embedded in popular culture (including a +couple of appearances in Warner Brothers cartoons of 1938-39; notably in +Robert Clampett's Daffy Doc of 1938, in which a very early version of Daffy +Duck holds up a sign saying SILENCE IS FOO! ) When the fad faded, the origin +of foo was forgotten. One place foo is known to have remained live is in the +U.S. military during the WWII years. In 1944-45, the term foo fighters was +in use by radar operators for the kind of mysterious or spurious trace that +would later be called a UFO (the older term resurfaced in popular American +usage in 1995 via the name of one of the better grunge-rock bands). Because +informants connected the term directly to the Smokey Stover strip, the folk +etymology that connects it to French feu (fire) can be gently dismissed. The +U.S. and British militaries frequently swapped slang terms during the war +(see kluge and kludge for another important example) Period sources reported +that FOO became a semi-legendary subject of WWII British-army graffiti more +or less equivalent to the American Kilroy. Where British troops went, the +graffito FOO was here or something similar showed up. Several slang +dictionaries aver that FOO probably came from Forward Observation Officer, +but this (like the contemporaneous FUBAR ) was probably a backronym. Forty +years later, Paul Dickson's excellent book Words (Dell, 1982, ISBN +0-440-52260-7) traced Foo to an unspecified British naval magazine in 1946, +quoting as follows: Mr. Foo is a mysterious Second World War product, gifted +with bitter omniscience and sarcasm. Earlier versions of this entry +suggested the possibility that hacker usage actually sprang from FOO, +Lampoons and Parody , the title of a comic book first issued in September +1958, a joint project of Charles and Robert Crumb. Though Robert Crumb (then +in his mid-teens) later became one of the most important and influential +artists in underground comics, this venture was hardly a success; indeed, +the brothers later burned most of the existing copies in disgust. The title +FOO was featured in large letters on the front cover. However, very few +copies of this comic actually circulated, and students of Crumb's oeuvre +have established that this title was a reference to the earlier Smokey +Stover comics. The Crumbs may also have been influenced by a short-lived +Canadian parody magazine named Foo published in 1951-52. An old-time member +reports that in the 1959 Dictionary of the TMRC Language , compiled at TMRC +, there was an entry that went something like this: FOO: The first syllable +of the sacred chant phrase FOO MANE PADME HUM. Our first obligation is to +keep the foo counters turning. (For more about the legendary foo counters, +see TMRC. ) This definition used Bill Holman's nonsense word, then only two +decades old and demonstrably still live in popular culture and slang, to a +ha ha only serious analogy with esoteric Tibetan Buddhism. Today's hackers +would find it difficult to resist elaborating a joke like that, and it is +not likely 1959's were any less susceptible. Almost the entire staff of what +later became the MIT AI Lab was involved with TMRC, and the word spread from +there. + diff --git a/entries/foobar.txt b/entries/foobar.txt index b23e73c..e30df47 100644 --- a/entries/foobar.txt +++ b/entries/foobar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ foobar -n. [very common] Another widely used metasyntactic variable ; see foo for etymology. Probably originally propagated through DECsystem manuals by Digital Equipment Corporation ( DEC ) in 1960s and early 1970s; confirmed sightings there go back to 1972. Hackers do not generally use this to mean FUBAR in either the slang or jargon sense. See also Fred Foobar. In RFC1639, FOOBAR was made an abbreviation for FTP Operation Over Big Address Records , but this was an obvious backronym. It has been plausibly suggested that foobar spread among early computer engineers partly because of FUBAR and partly because foo bar parses in electronics techspeak as an inverted foo signal; if a digital signal is active low (so a negative or zero-voltage condition represents a 1 ) then a horizontal bar is commonly placed over the signal label. +n. [very common] Another widely used metasyntactic variable ; see foo for +etymology. Probably originally propagated through DECsystem manuals by +Digital Equipment Corporation ( DEC ) in 1960s and early 1970s; confirmed +sightings there go back to 1972. Hackers do not generally use this to mean +FUBAR in either the slang or jargon sense. See also Fred Foobar. In RFC1639, +FOOBAR was made an abbreviation for FTP Operation Over Big Address Records , +but this was an obvious backronym. It has been plausibly suggested that +foobar spread among early computer engineers partly because of FUBAR and +partly because foo bar parses in electronics techspeak as an inverted foo +signal; if a digital signal is active low (so a negative or zero-voltage +condition represents a 1 ) then a horizontal bar is commonly placed over the +signal label. + diff --git a/entries/fool file.txt b/entries/fool file.txt index 114a567..dc6c811 100644 --- a/entries/fool file.txt +++ b/entries/fool file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ fool file -n. [Usenet] A notional repository of all the most dramatically and abysmally stupid utterances ever. An entire subgenre of sig block s consists of the header From the fool file: followed by some quote the poster wishes to represent as an immortal gem of dimwittery; for this usage to be really effective, the quote has to be so obviously wrong as to be laughable. More than one Usenetter has achieved an unwanted notoriety by being quoted in this way. +n. [Usenet] A notional repository of all the most dramatically and abysmally +stupid utterances ever. An entire subgenre of sig block s consists of the +header From the fool file: followed by some quote the poster wishes to +represent as an immortal gem of dimwittery; for this usage to be really +effective, the quote has to be so obviously wrong as to be laughable. More +than one Usenetter has achieved an unwanted notoriety by being quoted in +this way. + diff --git a/entries/fool.txt b/entries/fool.txt index 4058201..d80f7f7 100644 --- a/entries/fool.txt +++ b/entries/fool.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ fool -n. As used by hackers, specifically describes a person who habitually reasons from obviously or demonstrably incorrect premises and cannot be persuaded by evidence to do otherwise; it is not generally used in its other senses, i.e., to describe a person with a native incapacity to reason correctly, or a clown. Indeed, in hackish experience many fools are capable of reasoning all too effectively in executing their errors. See also cretin , loser , fool file. The Algol 68-R compiler used to initialize its storage to the character string F00LF00LF00LF00L... because as a pointer or as a floating point number it caused a crash, and as an integer or a character string it was very recognizable in a dump. Sadly, one day a very senior professor at Nottingham University wrote a program that called him a fool. He proceeded to demonstrate the correctness of this assertion by lobbying the university (not quite successfully) to forbid the use of Algol on its computers. See also DEADBEEF. +n. As used by hackers, specifically describes a person who habitually +reasons from obviously or demonstrably incorrect premises and cannot be +persuaded by evidence to do otherwise; it is not generally used in its other +senses, i.e., to describe a person with a native incapacity to reason +correctly, or a clown. Indeed, in hackish experience many fools are capable +of reasoning all too effectively in executing their errors. See also cretin +, loser , fool file. The Algol 68-R compiler used to initialize its storage +to the character string F00LF00LF00LF00L... because as a pointer or as a +floating point number it caused a crash, and as an integer or a character +string it was very recognizable in a dump. Sadly, one day a very senior +professor at Nottingham University wrote a program that called him a fool. +He proceeded to demonstrate the correctness of this assertion by lobbying +the university (not quite successfully) to forbid the use of Algol on its +computers. See also DEADBEEF. + diff --git a/entries/footprint.txt b/entries/footprint.txt index 4ae37e8..580d768 100644 --- a/entries/footprint.txt +++ b/entries/footprint.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ footprint -n. 1. The floor or desk area taken up by a piece of hardware. 2. [IBM] The audit trail (if any) left by a crashed program (often in plural, footprints ). See also toeprint. 3. +n. 1. The floor or desk area taken up by a piece of hardware. 2. [IBM] The +audit trail (if any) left by a crashed program (often in plural, footprints +). See also toeprint. 3. + diff --git a/entries/for free.txt b/entries/for free.txt index 454b16b..98a7208 100644 --- a/entries/for free.txt +++ b/entries/for free.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ for free -adj. [common] Said of a capability of a programming language or hardware that is available by its design without needing cleverness to implement: In APL, we get the matrix operations for free. And owing to the way revisions are stored in this system, you get revision trees for free. The term usually refers to a serendipitous feature of doing things a certain way (compare big win ), but it may refer to an intentional but secondary feature. +adj. [common] Said of a capability of a programming language or hardware +that is available by its design without needing cleverness to implement: In +APL, we get the matrix operations for free. And owing to the way revisions +are stored in this system, you get revision trees for free. The term usually +refers to a serendipitous feature of doing things a certain way (compare big +win ), but it may refer to an intentional but secondary feature. + diff --git a/entries/for the rest of us.txt b/entries/for the rest of us.txt index 30fcbe2..10cbc14 100644 --- a/entries/for the rest of us.txt +++ b/entries/for the rest of us.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ for the rest of us -adj. [from the Mac slogan The computer for the rest of us ] 1. Used to describe a spiffy product whose affordability shames other comparable products, or (more often) used sarcastically to describe spiffy but very overpriced products. 2. Describes a program with a limited interface, deliberately limited capabilities, non-orthogonality, inability to compose primitives, or any other limitation designed to not confuse a naive user. This places an upper bound on how far that user can go before the program begins to get in the way of the task instead of helping accomplish it. Used in reference to Macintosh software which doesn't provide obvious capabilities because it is thought that the poor lusers might not be able to handle them. Becomes the rest of them when used in third-party reference; thus, Yes, it is an attractive program, but it's designed for The Rest Of Them means a program that superficially looks neat but has no depth beyond the surface flash. See also WIMP environment , Macintrash , point-and-drool interface , user-friendly. +adj. [from the Mac slogan The computer for the rest of us ] 1. Used to +describe a spiffy product whose affordability shames other comparable +products, or (more often) used sarcastically to describe spiffy but very +overpriced products. 2. Describes a program with a limited interface, +deliberately limited capabilities, non-orthogonality, inability to compose +primitives, or any other limitation designed to not confuse a naive user. +This places an upper bound on how far that user can go before the program +begins to get in the way of the task instead of helping accomplish it. Used +in reference to Macintosh software which doesn't provide obvious +capabilities because it is thought that the poor lusers might not be able to +handle them. Becomes the rest of them when used in third-party reference; +thus, Yes, it is an attractive program, but it's designed for The Rest Of +Them means a program that superficially looks neat but has no depth beyond +the surface flash. See also WIMP environment , Macintrash , point-and-drool +interface , user-friendly. + diff --git a/entries/for values of.txt b/entries/for values of.txt index b086257..686bdc7 100644 --- a/entries/for values of.txt +++ b/entries/for values of.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ for values of -A common rhetorical maneuver at MIT is to use any of the canonical random numbers as placeholders for variables. The max function takes 42 arguments, for arbitrary values of 42.: There are 69 ways to leave your lover, for 69 = 50. This is especially likely when the speaker has uttered a random number and realizes that it was not recognized as such, but even non-random numbers are occasionally used in this fashion. A related joke is that equals 3 for small values of and large values of 3. Historical note: at MIT this usage has traditionally been traced to the programming language MAD (Michigan Algorithm Decoder), an Algol-58-like language that was the most common choice among mainstream (non-hacker) users at MIT in the mid-60s. It inherited from Algol-58 a control structure FOR VALUES OF X = 3, 7, 99 DO. .. that would repeat the indicated instructions for each value in the list (unlike the usual FOR that only works for arithmetic sequences of values). MAD is long extinct, but similar for-constructs still flourish (e.g., in Unix's shell languages). +A common rhetorical maneuver at MIT is to use any of the canonical random +numbers as placeholders for variables. The max function takes 42 arguments, +for arbitrary values of 42.: There are 69 ways to leave your lover, for 69 = +50. This is especially likely when the speaker has uttered a random number +and realizes that it was not recognized as such, but even non-random numbers +are occasionally used in this fashion. A related joke is that equals 3 for +small values of and large values of 3. Historical note: at MIT this usage +has traditionally been traced to the programming language MAD (Michigan +Algorithm Decoder), an Algol-58-like language that was the most common +choice among mainstream (non-hacker) users at MIT in the mid-60s. It +inherited from Algol-58 a control structure FOR VALUES OF X = 3, 7, 99 DO. +.. that would repeat the indicated instructions for each value in the list +(unlike the usual FOR that only works for arithmetic sequences of values). +MAD is long extinct, but similar for-constructs still flourish (e.g., in +Unix's shell languages). + diff --git a/entries/fora.txt b/entries/fora.txt index 5a67c0e..fa67408 100644 --- a/entries/fora.txt +++ b/entries/fora.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ fora pl.n. Plural of forum. + diff --git a/entries/foreground.txt b/entries/foreground.txt index 34b0656..b8704d9 100644 --- a/entries/foreground.txt +++ b/entries/foreground.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ foreground -vt. [Unix; common] To bring a task to the top of one's stack for immediate processing, and hackers often use it in this sense for non-computer tasks. If your presentation is due next week, I guess I'd better foreground writing up the design document. Technically, on a timesharing system, a task executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output to the user; oppose background. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix , but it appears first to have been used in this sense on OS/360. Normally, there is only one foreground task per terminal (or terminal window); having multiple processes simultaneously reading the keyboard is a good way to lose. +vt. [Unix; common] To bring a task to the top of one's stack for immediate +processing, and hackers often use it in this sense for non-computer tasks. +If your presentation is due next week, I guess I'd better foreground writing +up the design document. Technically, on a timesharing system, a task +executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output +to the user; oppose background. Nowadays this term is primarily associated +with Unix , but it appears first to have been used in this sense on OS/360. +Normally, there is only one foreground task per terminal (or terminal +window); having multiple processes simultaneously reading the keyboard is a +good way to lose. + diff --git a/entries/fork bomb.txt b/entries/fork bomb.txt index ad89b75..890b448 100644 --- a/entries/fork bomb.txt +++ b/entries/fork bomb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ fork bomb -n. [Unix] A particular species of wabbit that can be written in one line of C ( main() {for(;;)fork(); }) or shell ( $0 $0 ) on any Unix system, or occasionally created by an egregious coding bug. A fork bomb process explodes by recursively spawning copies of itself (using the Unix system call fork (2) ). Eventually it eats all the process table entries and effectively wedges the system. Fortunately, fork bombs are relatively easy to spot and kill, so creating one deliberately seldom accomplishes more than to bring the just wrath of the gods down upon the perpetrator. Also called a fork bunny. See also logic bomb. +n. [Unix] A particular species of wabbit that can be written in one line of +C ( main() {for(;;)fork(); }) or shell ( $0 $0 ) on any Unix system, or +occasionally created by an egregious coding bug. A fork bomb process +explodes by recursively spawning copies of itself (using the Unix system +call fork (2) ). Eventually it eats all the process table entries and +effectively wedges the system. Fortunately, fork bombs are relatively easy +to spot and kill, so creating one deliberately seldom accomplishes more than +to bring the just wrath of the gods down upon the perpetrator. Also called a +fork bunny. See also logic bomb. + diff --git a/entries/fork.txt b/entries/fork.txt index 9cfa78c..46d6011 100644 --- a/entries/fork.txt +++ b/entries/fork.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ fork -In the open-source community, a is what occurs when two (or more) versions of a software package's source code are being developed in parallel which once shared a common code base, and these multiple versions of the source code have irreconcilable differences between them. This should not be confused with a development branch, which may later be folded back into the original source code base. Nor should it be confused with what happens when a new distribution of Linux or some other distribution is created, because that largely assembles pieces than can and will be used in other distributions without conflict. Forking is uncommon; in fact, it is so uncommon that individual instances loom large in hacker folklore. Notable in this class were the Emacs/XEmacs , the GCC/EGCS (later healed by a merger) and the s among the FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD operating systems. +In the open-source community, a is what occurs when two (or more) versions +of a software package's source code are being developed in parallel which +once shared a common code base, and these multiple versions of the source +code have irreconcilable differences between them. This should not be +confused with a development branch, which may later be folded back into the +original source code base. Nor should it be confused with what happens when +a new distribution of Linux or some other distribution is created, because +that largely assembles pieces than can and will be used in other +distributions without conflict. Forking is uncommon; in fact, it is so +uncommon that individual instances loom large in hacker folklore. Notable in +this class were the Emacs/XEmacs , the GCC/EGCS (later healed by a merger) +and the s among the FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD operating systems. + diff --git a/entries/forked.txt b/entries/forked.txt index 6c5c9f6..1fc3a38 100644 --- a/entries/forked.txt +++ b/entries/forked.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ forked -adj.,vi. 1. [common after 1997, esp. in the Linux community] An open-source software project is said to have forked or be forked when the project group fissions into two or more parts pursuing separate lines of development (or, less commonly, when a third party unconnected to the project group begins its own line of development). Forking is considered a Bad Thing not merely because it implies a lot of wasted effort in the future, but because forks tend to be accompanied by a great deal of strife and acrimony between the successor groups over issues of legitimacy, succession, and design direction. There is serious social pressure against forking. As a result, major forks (such as the Gnu-Emacs/XEmacs split, the fissionings of the 386BSD group into three daughter projects, and the short-lived GCC/EGCS split) are rare enough that they are remembered individually in hacker folklore. 2. [Unix; uncommon; prob.: influenced by a mainstream expletive] Terminally slow, or dead. Originated when one system was slowed to a snail's pace by an inadvertent fork bomb. +adj.,vi. 1. [common after 1997, esp. in the Linux community] An open-source +software project is said to have forked or be forked when the project group +fissions into two or more parts pursuing separate lines of development (or, +less commonly, when a third party unconnected to the project group begins +its own line of development). Forking is considered a Bad Thing not merely +because it implies a lot of wasted effort in the future, but because forks +tend to be accompanied by a great deal of strife and acrimony between the +successor groups over issues of legitimacy, succession, and design +direction. There is serious social pressure against forking. As a result, +major forks (such as the Gnu-Emacs/XEmacs split, the fissionings of the +386BSD group into three daughter projects, and the short-lived GCC/EGCS +split) are rare enough that they are remembered individually in hacker +folklore. 2. [Unix; uncommon; prob.: influenced by a mainstream expletive] +Terminally slow, or dead. Originated when one system was slowed to a snail's +pace by an inadvertent fork bomb. + diff --git a/entries/fortune cookie.txt b/entries/fortune cookie.txt index 0cc5c7a..da16b16 100644 --- a/entries/fortune cookie.txt +++ b/entries/fortune cookie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ fortune cookie -n. [WAITS, via Unix; common] A random quote, item of trivia, joke, or maxim printed to the user's tty at login time or (less commonly) at logout time. Items from this lexicon have often been used as fortune cookies. See cookie file. +n. [WAITS, via Unix; common] A random quote, item of trivia, joke, or maxim +printed to the user's tty at login time or (less commonly) at logout time. +Items from this lexicon have often been used as fortune cookies. See cookie +file. + diff --git a/entries/forum.txt b/entries/forum.txt index f70a512..53e3e01 100644 --- a/entries/forum.txt +++ b/entries/forum.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ forum -n. [Usenet, GEnie, CI$; pl. fora or forums ] Any discussion group accessible through a dial-in BBS , a mailing list , or a newsgroup (see the network ). A forum functions much like a bulletin board; users submit posting s for all to read and discussion ensues. Contrast real-time chat via talk mode or point-to-point personal email. +n. [Usenet, GEnie, CI$; pl. fora or forums ] Any discussion group accessible +through a dial-in BBS , a mailing list , or a newsgroup (see the network ). +A forum functions much like a bulletin board; users submit posting s for all +to read and discussion ensues. Contrast real-time chat via talk mode or +point-to-point personal email. + diff --git a/entries/fossil.txt b/entries/fossil.txt index ee6606b..3cb8d21 100644 --- a/entries/fossil.txt +++ b/entries/fossil.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ fossil -n. 1. In software, a misfeature that becomes understandable only in historical context, as a remnant of times past retained so as not to break compatibility. Example: the retention of octal as default base for string escapes in C , in spite of the better match of hexadecimal to ASCII and modern byte-addressable architectures. See dusty deck. 2. More restrictively, a feature with past but no present utility. Example: the force-all-caps (LCASE) bits in the V7 and BSD Unix tty driver, designed for use with monocase terminals. (In a perversion of the usual backward-compatibility goal, this functionality has actually been expanded and renamed in some later USG Unix releases as the IUCLC and OLCUC bits. +n. 1. In software, a misfeature that becomes understandable only in +historical context, as a remnant of times past retained so as not to break +compatibility. Example: the retention of octal as default base for string +escapes in C , in spite of the better match of hexadecimal to ASCII and +modern byte-addressable architectures. See dusty deck. 2. More +restrictively, a feature with past but no present utility. Example: the +force-all-caps (LCASE) bits in the V7 and BSD Unix tty driver, designed for +use with monocase terminals. (In a perversion of the usual +backward-compatibility goal, this functionality has actually been expanded +and renamed in some later USG Unix releases as the IUCLC and OLCUC bits. + diff --git a/entries/four-color glossies.txt b/entries/four-color glossies.txt index a42489b..fa1751d 100644 --- a/entries/four-color glossies.txt +++ b/entries/four-color glossies.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ four-color glossies -n. 1. Literature created by marketroid s that allegedly contains technical specs but which is in fact as superficial as possible without being totally content-free. Forget the four-color glossies, give me the tech ref manuals. Often applied as an indication of superficiality even when the material is printed on ordinary paper in black and white. Four-color-glossy manuals are never useful for solving a problem. 2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual pages that don't contain enough information to diagnose why the program doesn't produce the expected or desired output. +n. 1. Literature created by marketroid s that allegedly contains technical +specs but which is in fact as superficial as possible without being totally +content-free. Forget the four-color glossies, give me the tech ref manuals. +Often applied as an indication of superficiality even when the material is +printed on ordinary paper in black and white. Four-color-glossy manuals are +never useful for solving a problem. 2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual +pages that don't contain enough information to diagnose why the program +doesn't produce the expected or desired output. + diff --git a/entries/frag.txt b/entries/frag.txt index d1169bb..fcf6de3 100644 --- a/entries/frag.txt +++ b/entries/frag.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ frag -n.,v. [from Vietnam-era U.S. military slang via the games Doom and Quake] 1. To kill another player's avatar in a multiuser game. I hold the office Quake record with 40 frags. 2. To completely ruin something. Forget that power supply, the lightning strike fragged it. See also gib. +n.,v. [from Vietnam-era U.S. military slang via the games Doom and Quake] 1. +To kill another player's avatar in a multiuser game. I hold the office Quake +record with 40 frags. 2. To completely ruin something. Forget that power +supply, the lightning strike fragged it. See also gib. + diff --git a/entries/fragile.txt b/entries/fragile.txt index 54d3e38..1590bc8 100644 --- a/entries/fragile.txt +++ b/entries/fragile.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ fragile adj. Syn brittle. + diff --git a/entries/fred.txt b/entries/fred.txt index e79c8d0..9112401 100644 --- a/entries/fred.txt +++ b/entries/fred.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ fred -n. 1. The personal name most frequently used as a metasyntactic variable (see foo ). Allegedly popular because it's easy for a non-touch-typist to type on a standard QWERTY keyboard. In Great Britain, fred , jim and sheila are common metasyntactic variables because their uppercase versions were official names given to the 3 memory areas that held I/O status registers on the lovingly-remembered BBC Microcomputer! (It is reported that SHEILA was poked the most often.) Unlike J. Random Hacker or J. Random Loser , the name fred has no positive or negative loading (but see Dr. Fred Mbogo ). See also barney. 2. An acronym for Flipping Ridiculous Electronic Device ; other F-verbs may be substituted for flipping. +n. 1. The personal name most frequently used as a metasyntactic variable +(see foo ). Allegedly popular because it's easy for a non-touch-typist to +type on a standard QWERTY keyboard. In Great Britain, fred , jim and sheila +are common metasyntactic variables because their uppercase versions were +official names given to the 3 memory areas that held I/O status registers on +the lovingly-remembered BBC Microcomputer! (It is reported that SHEILA was +poked the most often.) Unlike J. Random Hacker or J. Random Loser , the name +fred has no positive or negative loading (but see Dr. Fred Mbogo ). See also +barney. 2. An acronym for Flipping Ridiculous Electronic Device ; other +F-verbs may be substituted for flipping. + diff --git a/entries/frednet.txt b/entries/frednet.txt index 185c2e8..ed2a648 100644 --- a/entries/frednet.txt +++ b/entries/frednet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ frednet -/frednet/ , n. Used to refer to some random and uncommon protocol encountered on a network. We're implementing bridging in our router to solve the frednet problem. +/frednet/ , n. Used to refer to some random and uncommon protocol +encountered on a network. We're implementing bridging in our router to solve +the frednet problem. + diff --git a/entries/free software.txt b/entries/free software.txt index f2c13d8..615f633 100644 --- a/entries/free software.txt +++ b/entries/free software.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ free software -n. As defined by Richard M. Stallman and used by the Free Software movement, this means software that gives users enough freedom to be used by the free software community. Specifically, users must be free to modify the software for their private use, and free to redistribute it either with or without modifications, either commercially or noncommercially, either gratis or charging a distribution fee. Free software has existed since the dawn of computing; Free Software as a movement began in 1984 with the GNU Project. RMS observes that the English word free can refer either to liberty (where it means the same as the Spanish or French libre ) or to price (where it means the same as the Spanish gratis or French gratuit ). RMS and other people associated with the FSF like to explain the word free in free software by saying Free as in speech, not as in beer. See also open source. Hard-core proponents of the term free software sometimes reject this newer term, claiming that the style of argument associated with it ignores or downplays the moral imperative at the heart of free software. +n. As defined by Richard M. Stallman and used by the Free Software movement, +this means software that gives users enough freedom to be used by the free +software community. Specifically, users must be free to modify the software +for their private use, and free to redistribute it either with or without +modifications, either commercially or noncommercially, either gratis or +charging a distribution fee. Free software has existed since the dawn of +computing; Free Software as a movement began in 1984 with the GNU Project. +RMS observes that the English word free can refer either to liberty (where +it means the same as the Spanish or French libre ) or to price (where it +means the same as the Spanish gratis or French gratuit ). RMS and other +people associated with the FSF like to explain the word free in free +software by saying Free as in speech, not as in beer. See also open source. +Hard-core proponents of the term free software sometimes reject this newer +term, claiming that the style of argument associated with it ignores or +downplays the moral imperative at the heart of free software. + diff --git a/entries/freeware.txt b/entries/freeware.txt index d44d24d..ea8dea7 100644 --- a/entries/freeware.txt +++ b/entries/freeware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ freeware -n. [common] Freely-redistributable software, often written by enthusiasts and distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local bulletin boards, Usenet , or other electronic media. As the culture of the Internet has displaced the older BBS world, this term has lost ground to both open source and free software ; it has increasingly tended to be restricted to software distributed in binary rather than source-code form. At one time, freeware was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of the well-known MS-DOS comm program PC-TALK III. It wasn't enforced after his mysterious disappearance and presumed death in 1984. See shareware , FRS. +n. [common] Freely-redistributable software, often written by enthusiasts +and distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local bulletin +boards, Usenet , or other electronic media. As the culture of the Internet +has displaced the older BBS world, this term has lost ground to both open +source and free software ; it has increasingly tended to be restricted to +software distributed in binary rather than source-code form. At one time, +freeware was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of the well-known +MS-DOS comm program PC-TALK III. It wasn't enforced after his mysterious +disappearance and presumed death in 1984. See shareware , FRS. + diff --git a/entries/freeze.txt b/entries/freeze.txt index a484090..bfe8936 100644 --- a/entries/freeze.txt +++ b/entries/freeze.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ freeze -v. To lock an evolving software distribution or document against changes so it can be released with some hope of stability. Carries the strong implication that the item in question will unfreeze at some future date. OK, fix that bug and we'll freeze for release. There are more specific constructions on this term. A feature freeze , for example, locks out modifications intended to introduce new features but still allows bugfixes and completion of existing features; a code freeze connotes no more changes at all. At Sun Microsystems and elsewhere, one may also hear references to code slush that is, an almost-but-not-quite frozen state. +v. To lock an evolving software distribution or document against changes so +it can be released with some hope of stability. Carries the strong +implication that the item in question will unfreeze at some future date. OK, +fix that bug and we'll freeze for release. There are more specific +constructions on this term. A feature freeze , for example, locks out +modifications intended to introduce new features but still allows bugfixes +and completion of existing features; a code freeze connotes no more changes +at all. At Sun Microsystems and elsewhere, one may also hear references to +code slush that is, an almost-but-not-quite frozen state. + diff --git a/entries/fried.txt b/entries/fried.txt index 932634d..e59614a 100644 --- a/entries/fried.txt +++ b/entries/fried.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ fried -adj. 1. [common] Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. Especially used of hardware brought down by a power glitch (see glitch ), drop-outs , a short, or some other electrical event. (Sometimes this literally happens to electronic circuits! In particular, resistors can burn out and transformers can melt down, emitting noxious smoke see friode , SED and LER. However, this term is also used metaphorically.) Compare frotzed. 2. [common] Of people, exhausted. Said particularly of those who continue to work in such a state. Often used as an explanation or excuse. Yeah, I know that fix destroyed the file system, but I was fried when I put it in. Esp. +adj. 1. [common] Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. Especially +used of hardware brought down by a power glitch (see glitch ), drop-outs , a +short, or some other electrical event. (Sometimes this literally happens to +electronic circuits! In particular, resistors can burn out and transformers +can melt down, emitting noxious smoke see friode , SED and LER. However, +this term is also used metaphorically.) Compare frotzed. 2. [common] Of +people, exhausted. Said particularly of those who continue to work in such a +state. Often used as an explanation or excuse. Yeah, I know that fix +destroyed the file system, but I was fried when I put it in. Esp. + diff --git a/entries/frink.txt b/entries/frink.txt index 523c870..b756707 100644 --- a/entries/frink.txt +++ b/entries/frink.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ frink -/frink/ , v. The unknown ur-verb, fill in your own meaning. Found esp. on the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.lemurs , where it is said that the lemurs know what frink means, but they aren't telling. Compare gorets. +/frink/ , v. The unknown ur-verb, fill in your own meaning. Found esp. on +the Usenet newsgroup alt.fan.lemurs , where it is said that the lemurs know +what frink means, but they aren't telling. Compare gorets. + diff --git a/entries/friode.txt b/entries/friode.txt index b4b90cb..3fae74c 100644 --- a/entries/friode.txt +++ b/entries/friode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ friode -/fri:ohd/ , n. [TMRC] A reversible (that is, fused or blown) diode. Compare fried ; see also SED , LER. +/fri:ohd/ , n. [TMRC] A reversible (that is, fused or blown) diode. Compare +fried ; see also SED , LER. + diff --git a/entries/fritterware.txt b/entries/fritterware.txt index b5ad1c8..2d53130 100644 --- a/entries/fritterware.txt +++ b/entries/fritterware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ fritterware -n. An excess of capability that serves no productive end. The canonical example is font-diddling software on the Mac (see macdink ); the term describes anything that eats huge amounts of time for quite marginal gains in function but seduces people into using it anyway. See also window shopping. +n. An excess of capability that serves no productive end. The canonical +example is font-diddling software on the Mac (see macdink ); the term +describes anything that eats huge amounts of time for quite marginal gains +in function but seduces people into using it anyway. See also window +shopping. + diff --git a/entries/frob.txt b/entries/frob.txt index 1202e47..252666c 100644 --- a/entries/frob.txt +++ b/entries/frob.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ frob -/frob/ 1. n. [MIT; very common] The TMRC definition was FROB = a protruding arm or trunnion ; by metaphoric extension, a frob is any random small thing; an object that you can comfortably hold in one hand; something you can frob (sense 2). See frobnitz. 2. vt. Abbreviated form of frobnicate. 3. [from the MUD world] A command on some MUDs that changes a player's experience level (this can be used to make wizards); also, to request wizard privileges on the professional courtesy grounds that one is a wizard elsewhere. The command is actually frobnicate but is universally abbreviated to the shorter form. +/frob/ 1. n. [MIT; very common] The TMRC definition was FROB = a protruding +arm or trunnion ; by metaphoric extension, a frob is any random small thing; +an object that you can comfortably hold in one hand; something you can frob +(sense 2). See frobnitz. 2. vt. Abbreviated form of frobnicate. 3. [from the +MUD world] A command on some MUDs that changes a player's experience level +(this can be used to make wizards); also, to request wizard privileges on +the professional courtesy grounds that one is a wizard elsewhere. The +command is actually frobnicate but is universally abbreviated to the shorter +form. + diff --git a/entries/frobnicate.txt b/entries/frobnicate.txt index 90b97ae..bc03155 100644 --- a/entries/frobnicate.txt +++ b/entries/frobnicate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ frobnicate -/frobnikayt/ , vt. [Poss. derived from frobnitz , and usually abbreviated to frob , but frobnicate is recognized as the official full form.:] To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or other 2-state devices. Thus: Please frob the light switch (that is, flip it), but also Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it. One also sees the construction to frob a frob. See tweak and twiddle. Usage: frob, twiddle, and tweak sometimes connote points along a continuum. Frob connotes aimless manipulation; twiddle connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for a proper setting; tweak connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it, he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the screen, he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it. The variant frobnosticate has been recently reported. +/frobnikayt/ , vt. [Poss. derived from frobnitz , and usually abbreviated to +frob , but frobnicate is recognized as the official full form.:] To +manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or other 2-state +devices. Thus: Please frob the light switch (that is, flip it), but also +Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it. One also sees the construction to +frob a frob. See tweak and twiddle. Usage: frob, twiddle, and tweak +sometimes connote points along a continuum. Frob connotes aimless +manipulation; twiddle connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for +a proper setting; tweak connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob +on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it, he is probably +tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the screen, he is +probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because turning a knob is +fun, he's frobbing it. The variant frobnosticate has been recently reported. + diff --git a/entries/frobnitz.txt b/entries/frobnitz.txt index 790124c..5e3664d 100644 --- a/entries/frobnitz.txt +++ b/entries/frobnitz.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ frobnitz -/frobnits/ , pl. , frobnitzem , /frobnitzm/ , frobni , /frob'ni:/ , n. [TMRC] An unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to electronic black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to frotz , or more commonly to frob. Also used are frobnule ( /frobn[y]ool/ ) and frobule ( /frobyool/ ). Starting perhaps in 1979, frobozz /fr@-boz/ (plural: frobbotzim /fr@-botzm/ ) has also become very popular, largely through its exposure as a name via Zork. These variants can also be applied to nonphysical objects, such as data structures. For related amusement, see the Encyclopedia Frobozzica. Pete Samson, compiler of the original TMRC lexicon, adds, Under the TMRC [railroad] layout were many storage boxes, managed (in 1958) by David R. Sawyer. Several had fanciful designations written on them, such as Frobnitz Coil Oil. Perhaps DRS intended Frobnitz to be a proper name, but the name was quickly taken for the thing. This was almost certainly the origin of the term. +/frobnits/ , pl. , frobnitzem , /frobnitzm/ , frobni , /frob'ni:/ , n. +[TMRC] An unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to electronic +black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to frotz , or more +commonly to frob. Also used are frobnule ( /frobn[y]ool/ ) and frobule ( +/frobyool/ ). Starting perhaps in 1979, frobozz /fr@-boz/ (plural: +frobbotzim /fr@-botzm/ ) has also become very popular, largely through its +exposure as a name via Zork. These variants can also be applied to +nonphysical objects, such as data structures. For related amusement, see the +Encyclopedia Frobozzica. Pete Samson, compiler of the original TMRC lexicon, +adds, Under the TMRC [railroad] layout were many storage boxes, managed (in +1958) by David R. Sawyer. Several had fanciful designations written on them, +such as Frobnitz Coil Oil. Perhaps DRS intended Frobnitz to be a proper +name, but the name was quickly taken for the thing. This was almost +certainly the origin of the term. + diff --git a/entries/frog.txt b/entries/frog.txt index 98aef98..f14717c 100644 --- a/entries/frog.txt +++ b/entries/frog.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ frog -phrog 1. interj. Term of disgust (we seem to have a lot of them). 2. Used as a name for just about anything. See foo. 3. n. Of things, a crock. 4. n. Of people, somewhere in between a turkey and a toad. 5. +phrog 1. interj. Term of disgust (we seem to have a lot of them). 2. Used as +a name for just about anything. See foo. 3. n. Of things, a crock. 4. n. Of +people, somewhere in between a turkey and a toad. 5. + diff --git a/entries/frogging.txt b/entries/frogging.txt index 99d9fbd..b5c1599 100644 --- a/entries/frogging.txt +++ b/entries/frogging.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ frogging -v. 1. Partial corruption of a text file or input stream by some bug or consistent glitch, as opposed to random events like line noise or media failures. Might occur, for example, if one bit of each incoming character on a tty were stuck, so that some characters were correct and others were not. See dread high-bit disease. 2. By extension, accidental display of text in a mode where the output device emits special symbols or mnemonics rather than conventional ASCII. This often happens, for example, when using a terminal or comm program on a device like an IBM PC with a special high-half character set and with the bit-parity assumption wrong. A hacker sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the display anyway. +v. 1. Partial corruption of a text file or input stream by some bug or +consistent glitch, as opposed to random events like line noise or media +failures. Might occur, for example, if one bit of each incoming character on +a tty were stuck, so that some characters were correct and others were not. +See dread high-bit disease. 2. By extension, accidental display of text in a +mode where the output device emits special symbols or mnemonics rather than +conventional ASCII. This often happens, for example, when using a terminal +or comm program on a device like an IBM PC with a special high-half +character set and with the bit-parity assumption wrong. A hacker +sufficiently familiar with ASCII bit patterns might be able to read the +display anyway. + diff --git a/entries/front end.txt b/entries/front end.txt index aa7b7ac..3287f2f 100644 --- a/entries/front end.txt +++ b/entries/front end.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ front end -n. 1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and filtering for another (usually more powerful but less friendly) machine (a back end ). 2. What you're talking to when you have a conversation with someone who is making replies without paying attention. Look at the dancing elephants! Uh-huh. Do you know what I just said? Sorry, you were talking to the front end. 3. Software that provides an interface to another program behind it, which may not be as user-friendly. Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends (see sense 1) that interfaced with mainframes. +n. 1. An intermediary computer that does set-up and filtering for another +(usually more powerful but less friendly) machine (a back end ). 2. What +you're talking to when you have a conversation with someone who is making +replies without paying attention. Look at the dancing elephants! Uh-huh. Do +you know what I just said? Sorry, you were talking to the front end. 3. +Software that provides an interface to another program behind it, which may +not be as user-friendly. Probably from analogy with hardware front-ends (see +sense 1) that interfaced with mainframes. + diff --git a/entries/frotz.txt b/entries/frotz.txt index 73b05cc..710b3f4 100644 --- a/entries/frotz.txt +++ b/entries/frotz.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ frotz /frots/ 1. n. See frobnitz. 2. + diff --git a/entries/frotzed.txt b/entries/frotzed.txt index fda7930..f234c8c 100644 --- a/entries/frotzed.txt +++ b/entries/frotzed.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ frotzed -/frotst/ , adj. To be down because of hardware problems. Compare fried. A machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable without replacing parts, but a fried machine is more seriously damaged. +/frotst/ , adj. To be down because of hardware problems. Compare fried. A +machine that is merely frotzed may be fixable without replacing parts, but a +fried machine is more seriously damaged. + diff --git a/entries/frowney.txt b/entries/frowney.txt index 11b6603..7852e48 100644 --- a/entries/frowney.txt +++ b/entries/frowney.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ frowney n. (alt.: frowney face ) See emoticon. + diff --git a/entries/fry.txt b/entries/fry.txt index 65ad94b..999ecc5 100644 --- a/entries/fry.txt +++ b/entries/fry.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ fry -1. vi. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of hardware and humans. See fried , magic smoke. 2. vt. To cause to fail; to roach , toast , or hose a piece of hardware. Never used of software or humans, but compare fried. +1. vi. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More +generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of +hardware and humans. See fried , magic smoke. 2. vt. To cause to fail; to +roach , toast , or hose a piece of hardware. Never used of software or +humans, but compare fried. + diff --git a/entries/fscking.txt b/entries/fscking.txt index 29dc0d7..146af11 100644 --- a/entries/fscking.txt +++ b/entries/fscking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ fscking -/fus'king/ , /eff'seeking/ , adj. [Usenet; very common] Fucking, in the expletive sense (it refers to the Unix filesystem-repair command fsck (8) , of which it can be said that if you have to use it at all you are having a bad day). Originated on scary devil monastery and the bofh.net newsgroups, but became much more widespread following the passage of CDA. +/fus'king/ , /eff'seeking/ , adj. [Usenet; very common] Fucking, in the +expletive sense (it refers to the Unix filesystem-repair command fsck (8) , +of which it can be said that if you have to use it at all you are having a +bad day). Originated on scary devil monastery and the bofh.net newsgroups, +but became much more widespread following the passage of CDA. + diff --git a/entries/fuck me harder.txt b/entries/fuck me harder.txt index 713569c..147efe7 100644 --- a/entries/fuck me harder.txt +++ b/entries/fuck me harder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ fuck me harder -excl. Sometimes uttered in response to egregious misbehavior, esp. in software, and esp. of misbehaviors which seem unfairly persistent (as though designed in by the imp of the perverse). Often theatrically elaborated: Aiighhh! Fuck me with a piledriver and 16 feet of curare-tipped wrought-iron fence and no lubricants ! The phrase is sometimes heard abbreviated FMH in polite company. [This entry is an extreme example of the hackish habit of coining elaborate and evocative terms for lossage. Here we see a quite self-conscious parody of mainstream expletives that has become a running gag in part of the hacker culture; it illustrates the hackish tendency to turn any situation, even one of extreme frustration, into an intellectual game (the point being, in this case, to creatively produce a long-winded description of the most anatomically absurd mental image possible the short forms implicitly allude to all the ridiculous long forms ever spoken). Scatological language is actually relatively uncommon among hackers, and there was some controversy over whether this entry ought to be included at all. As it reflects a live usage recognizably peculiar to the hacker culture, we feel it is in the hackish spirit of truthfulness and opposition to all forms of censorship to record it here. +excl. Sometimes uttered in response to egregious misbehavior, esp. in +software, and esp. of misbehaviors which seem unfairly persistent (as though +designed in by the imp of the perverse). Often theatrically elaborated: +Aiighhh! Fuck me with a piledriver and 16 feet of curare-tipped wrought-iron +fence and no lubricants ! The phrase is sometimes heard abbreviated FMH in +polite company. [This entry is an extreme example of the hackish habit of +coining elaborate and evocative terms for lossage. Here we see a quite +self-conscious parody of mainstream expletives that has become a running gag +in part of the hacker culture; it illustrates the hackish tendency to turn +any situation, even one of extreme frustration, into an intellectual game +(the point being, in this case, to creatively produce a long-winded +description of the most anatomically absurd mental image possible the short +forms implicitly allude to all the ridiculous long forms ever spoken). +Scatological language is actually relatively uncommon among hackers, and +there was some controversy over whether this entry ought to be included at +all. As it reflects a live usage recognizably peculiar to the hacker +culture, we feel it is in the hackish spirit of truthfulness and opposition +to all forms of censorship to record it here. + diff --git a/entries/fudge factor.txt b/entries/fudge factor.txt index d7a542c..c29cdd7 100644 --- a/entries/fudge factor.txt +++ b/entries/fudge factor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ fudge factor -n. [common] A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way to produce the desired result. The terms tolerance and slop are also used, though these usually indicate a one-sided leeway, such as a buffer that is made larger than necessary because one isn't sure exactly how large it needs to be, and it is better to waste a little space than to lose completely for not having enough. A fudge factor, on the other hand, can often be tweaked in more than one direction. A good example is the fuzz typically allowed in floating-point calculations: two numbers being compared for equality must be allowed to differ by a small amount; if that amount is too small, a computation may never terminate, while if it is too large, results will be needlessly inaccurate. Fudge factors are frequently adjusted incorrectly by programmers who don't fully understand their import. See also coefficient of X. +n. [common] A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way to produce +the desired result. The terms tolerance and slop are also used, though these +usually indicate a one-sided leeway, such as a buffer that is made larger +than necessary because one isn't sure exactly how large it needs to be, and +it is better to waste a little space than to lose completely for not having +enough. A fudge factor, on the other hand, can often be tweaked in more than +one direction. A good example is the fuzz typically allowed in +floating-point calculations: two numbers being compared for equality must be +allowed to differ by a small amount; if that amount is too small, a +computation may never terminate, while if it is too large, results will be +needlessly inaccurate. Fudge factors are frequently adjusted incorrectly by +programmers who don't fully understand their import. See also coefficient of +X. + diff --git a/entries/fudge.txt b/entries/fudge.txt index 73fcecb..568e53d 100644 --- a/entries/fudge.txt +++ b/entries/fudge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ fudge -1. vt. To perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable way, particularly with respect to the writing of a program. I didn't feel like going through that pain and suffering, so I d it I'll fix it later. 2. n. The resulting code. +1. vt. To perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable way, +particularly with respect to the writing of a program. I didn't feel like +going through that pain and suffering, so I d it I'll fix it later. 2. n. +The resulting code. + diff --git a/entries/fuel up.txt b/entries/fuel up.txt index 412f5a4..8ffb344 100644 --- a/entries/fuel up.txt +++ b/entries/fuel up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ fuel up -vi. To eat or drink hurriedly in order to get back to hacking. Food-p? Yeah, let's fuel up. Time for a great-wall ! See also oriental food. +vi. To eat or drink hurriedly in order to get back to hacking. Food-p? Yeah, +let's fuel up. Time for a great-wall ! See also oriental food. + diff --git a/entries/fum.txt b/entries/fum.txt index c5b6dda..c70c43c 100644 --- a/entries/fum.txt +++ b/entries/fum.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ fum -n. [XEROX PARC] At PARC, often the third of the standard metasyntactic variable s (after foo and bar ). Competes with baz , which is more common outside PARC. +n. [XEROX PARC] At PARC, often the third of the standard metasyntactic +variable s (after foo and bar ). Competes with baz , which is more common +outside PARC. + diff --git a/entries/functino.txt b/entries/functino.txt index 32a24fa..22e98c2 100644 --- a/entries/functino.txt +++ b/entries/functino.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ functino -n. [uncommon, U.K.; originally a serendipitous typo in 1994] A pointer to a function in C and C++. By association with sub-atomic particles such as the neutrino, it accurately conveys an impression of smallness (one pointer is four bytes on most systems) and speed (hackers can and do use arrays of functinos to replace a switch() statement). +n. [uncommon, U.K.; originally a serendipitous typo in 1994] A pointer to a +function in C and C++. By association with sub-atomic particles such as the +neutrino, it accurately conveys an impression of smallness (one pointer is +four bytes on most systems) and speed (hackers can and do use arrays of +functinos to replace a switch() statement). + diff --git a/entries/funky.txt b/entries/funky.txt index 35a3ba1..ac2f40e 100644 --- a/entries/funky.txt +++ b/entries/funky.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ funky -adj. Said of something that functions, but in a slightly strange, klugey way. It does the job and would be difficult to change, so its obvious non-optimality is left alone. Often used to describe interfaces. The more bugs something has that nobody has bothered to fix because workarounds are easier, the funkier it is. TECO and UUCP are funky. The Intel i860's exception handling is extraordinarily funky. Most standards acquire funkiness as they age. The new mailer is installed, but is still somewhat funky; if it bounces your mail for no reason, try resubmitting it. This UART is pretty funky. The data ready line is active-high in interrupt mode and active-low in DMA mode. +adj. Said of something that functions, but in a slightly strange, klugey +way. It does the job and would be difficult to change, so its obvious +non-optimality is left alone. Often used to describe interfaces. The more +bugs something has that nobody has bothered to fix because workarounds are +easier, the funkier it is. TECO and UUCP are funky. The Intel i860's +exception handling is extraordinarily funky. Most standards acquire +funkiness as they age. The new mailer is installed, but is still somewhat +funky; if it bounces your mail for no reason, try resubmitting it. This UART +is pretty funky. The data ready line is active-high in interrupt mode and +active-low in DMA mode. + diff --git a/entries/funny money.txt b/entries/funny money.txt index 06ee74a..b8b97c1 100644 --- a/entries/funny money.txt +++ b/entries/funny money.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ funny money -n. 1. Notional dollar units of computing time and/or storage handed to students at the beginning of a computer course; also called play money or purple money (in implicit opposition to real or green money). In New Zealand and Germany the odd usage paper money has been recorded; in Germany, the particularly amusing synonym transfer ruble commemorates the funny money used for trade between COMECON countries back when the Soviet Bloc still existed. When your funny money ran out, your account froze and you needed to go to a professor to get more. Fortunately, the plunging cost of timesharing cycles has made this less common. The amounts allocated were almost invariably too small, even for the non-hackers who wanted to slide by with minimum work. In extreme cases, the practice led to small-scale black markets in bootlegged computer accounts. 2. By extension, phantom money or quantity tickets of any kind used as a resource-allocation hack within a system. Antonym: real money. +n. 1. Notional dollar units of computing time and/or storage handed to +students at the beginning of a computer course; also called play money or +purple money (in implicit opposition to real or green money). In New Zealand +and Germany the odd usage paper money has been recorded; in Germany, the +particularly amusing synonym transfer ruble commemorates the funny money +used for trade between COMECON countries back when the Soviet Bloc still +existed. When your funny money ran out, your account froze and you needed to +go to a professor to get more. Fortunately, the plunging cost of timesharing +cycles has made this less common. The amounts allocated were almost +invariably too small, even for the non-hackers who wanted to slide by with +minimum work. In extreme cases, the practice led to small-scale black +markets in bootlegged computer accounts. 2. By extension, phantom money or +quantity tickets of any kind used as a resource-allocation hack within a +system. Antonym: real money. + diff --git a/entries/furrfu.txt b/entries/furrfu.txt index 834b2ef..74c00fd 100644 --- a/entries/furrfu.txt +++ b/entries/furrfu.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ furrfu -excl. [Usenet; written, only rarely spoken] Written-only equivalent of Sheesh! ; it is, in fact, sheesh modified by rot13. Evolved in mid-1992 as a response to notably silly postings repeating urban myths on the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban , after some posters complained that Sheesh! as a response to newbie s was being overused. See also FOAF. +excl. [Usenet; written, only rarely spoken] Written-only equivalent of +Sheesh! ; it is, in fact, sheesh modified by rot13. Evolved in mid-1992 as a +response to notably silly postings repeating urban myths on the Usenet +newsgroup alt.folklore.urban , after some posters complained that Sheesh! as +a response to newbie s was being overused. See also FOAF. + diff --git a/entries/gang bang.txt b/entries/gang bang.txt index ca6c033..99aab77 100644 --- a/entries/gang bang.txt +++ b/entries/gang bang.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ 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 Steven Levy's Hackers ), and large numbers of loosely-coupled programmers operating in bazaar mode can do very useful work when they're not on a deadline, most are perpetrated by large companies trying to meet unrealistic deadlines; the inevitable result is enormous buggy masses of code entirely lacking in orthogonal ity. When market-driven managers make a list of all the features the competition has and assign one programmer to implement each, the probability of maintaining a coherent (or even functional) design goes to epsilon. See also firefighting , Mongolian Hordes technique , Conway's Law. +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 Steven Levy's Hackers ), and large numbers of loosely-coupled +programmers operating in bazaar mode can do very useful work when they're +not on a deadline, most are perpetrated by large companies trying to meet +unrealistic deadlines; the inevitable result is enormous buggy masses of +code entirely lacking in orthogonal ity. When market-driven managers make a +list of all the features the competition has and assign one programmer to +implement each, the probability of maintaining a coherent (or even +functional) design goes to epsilon. See also firefighting , Mongolian Hordes +technique , Conway's Law. + diff --git a/entries/garbage collect.txt b/entries/garbage collect.txt index 5eea23c..bf8d1b3 100644 --- a/entries/garbage collect.txt +++ b/entries/garbage collect.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ garbage collect vi. (also garbage collection , n.) See GC. + diff --git a/entries/garply.txt b/entries/garply.txt index 3883f6e..93987fb 100644 --- a/entries/garply.txt +++ b/entries/garply.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ garply -/garplee/ , n. [Stanford] Another metasyntactic variable (see foo ); once popular among SAIL hackers. +/garplee/ , n. [Stanford] Another metasyntactic variable (see foo ); once +popular among SAIL hackers. + diff --git a/entries/gas.txt b/entries/gas.txt index eab72f6..1ad08d8 100644 --- a/entries/gas.txt +++ b/entries/gas.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ gas -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 suggestion that someone or 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. +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 suggestion that someone or 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. + diff --git a/entries/gawble.txt b/entries/gawble.txt index 63b00f2..6239715 100644 --- a/entries/gawble.txt +++ b/entries/gawble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ gawble /gawbl/ , n. See chawmp. + diff --git a/entries/gedanken.txt b/entries/gedanken.txt index d91ad74..22b31e8 100644 --- a/entries/gedanken.txt +++ b/entries/gedanken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ gedanken -/g@dahnkn/ , 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 refer to an experiment that is impractical to carry out, but useful to consider because it can be reasoned about theoretically. (A classic gedanken experiment of relativity theory involves thinking about a man in an elevator accelerating through space.) Gedanken experiments are very useful in physics, but must be used with care. It's too easy to idealize away some important aspect of the real world in constructing the apparatus. Among hackers, accordingly, the word has a pejorative connotation. It is typically used of a project, especially one in artificial intelligence 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 distasteful or are just in a hurry. A gedanken 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. +/g@dahnkn/ , 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 refer to an experiment that is impractical to carry out, but useful to +consider because it can be reasoned about theoretically. (A classic gedanken +experiment of relativity theory involves thinking about a man in an elevator +accelerating through space.) Gedanken experiments are very useful in +physics, but must be used with care. It's too easy to idealize away some +important aspect of the real world in constructing the apparatus. Among +hackers, accordingly, the word has a pejorative connotation. It is typically +used of a project, especially one in artificial intelligence 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 distasteful or +are just in a hurry. A gedanken 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. + diff --git a/entries/geef.txt b/entries/geef.txt index caa7cda..d00557c 100644 --- a/entries/geef.txt +++ b/entries/geef.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ geef v. [ostensibly from gefingerpoken ] vt. Syn. mung. See also blinkenlights. + diff --git a/entries/geek code.txt b/entries/geek code.txt index f9598f7..804ba46 100644 --- a/entries/geek code.txt +++ b/entries/geek code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ geek code -n. (also Code of the Geeks ). A set of codes commonly used in sig block s to broadcast the interests, skills, and aspirations of the poster. Features a G at the left margin followed by numerous letter codes, often suffixed with plusses or minuses. Because many net users are involved in computer science, the most common prefix is GCS. To see a copy of the current code, browse http://www.geekcode.com/. Here is a sample geek code (that of Robert Hayden, the code's inventor) from that page: -----BEGINGEEKCODEBLOCK----- Version:3.1 GED/Jd--s:++ :a-C++(++++)$ULUO++P+ +++L++!E----W+(---)N+++ o+K+++w+(---)O-M+$ ++V--PS++(+++) $PE++(+) $Y++PGP++t-5+++ X++R+++ $tv+b+DI+++D+++G+++++ $e++$ ++++hr--y+** ------ENDGEEKCODEBLOCK------ The geek code originated in 1993; it was inspired (according to the inventor) by previous bear , smurf and twink style-and-sexual-preference codes from lesbian and gay newsgroup s. It has in turn spawned imitators; there is now even a Saturn geek code for owners of the Saturn car. See also geek. +n. (also Code of the Geeks ). A set of codes commonly used in sig block s to +broadcast the interests, skills, and aspirations of the poster. Features a G +at the left margin followed by numerous letter codes, often suffixed with +plusses or minuses. Because many net users are involved in computer science, +the most common prefix is GCS. To see a copy of the current code, browse +http://www.geekcode.com/. Here is a sample geek code (that of Robert Hayden, +the code's inventor) from that page: -----BEGINGEEKCODEBLOCK----- +Version:3.1 GED/Jd--s:++ :a-C++(++++)$ULUO++P+ +++L++!E----W+(---)N+++ +o+K+++w+(---)O-M+$ ++V--PS++(+++) $PE++(+) $Y++PGP++t-5+++ X++R+++ +$tv+b+DI+++D+++G+++++ $e++$ ++++hr--y+** ------ENDGEEKCODEBLOCK------ The +geek code originated in 1993; it was inspired (according to the inventor) by +previous bear , smurf and twink style-and-sexual-preference codes from +lesbian and gay newsgroup s. It has in turn spawned imitators; there is now +even a Saturn geek code for owners of the Saturn car. See also geek. + diff --git a/entries/geek out.txt b/entries/geek out.txt index 9d95686..408318b 100644 --- a/entries/geek out.txt +++ b/entries/geek out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ 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 or say something highly technical and don't have time to explain: Pardon me while I geek out for a moment. See geek ; see also propeller head. +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 or say something highly technical and don't have time to +explain: Pardon me while I geek out for a moment. See geek ; see also +propeller head. + diff --git a/entries/geek.txt b/entries/geek.txt index 65f94f9..d0b89c8 100644 --- a/entries/geek.txt +++ b/entries/geek.txt @@ -1,3 +1,26 @@ geek -n. A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia. Most geeks are adept with computers and treat hacker as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves and some who are in fact hackers normally call themselves geeks anyway, because they (quite properly) regard hacker as a label that should be bestowed by others rather than self-assumed. One description accurately if a little breathlessly enumerates gamers, ravers, science fiction fans, punks, perverts, programmers, nerds, subgenii, and trekkies. These are people who did not go to their high school proms, and many would be offended by the suggestion that they should have even wanted to. Originally, a geek was a carnival performer who bit the heads off chickens. (In early 20th-century Scotland a geek was an immature coley, a type of fish.) Before about 1990 usage of this term was rather negative. Earlier versions of this lexicon defined a computer geek as one who eats (computer) bugs for a living an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a cheese grater. This is often still the way geeks are regarded by non-geeks, but as the mainstream culture becomes more dependent on technology and technical skill mainstream attitudes have tended to shift towards grudging respect. Correspondingly, there are now geek pride festivals (the implied reference to gay pride is not accidental). See also propeller head , clustergeeking , geek out , wannabee , terminal junkie , spod , weenie , geek code , alpha geek. +n. A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who +pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream +social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of neophilia. Most geeks +are adept with computers and treat hacker as a term of respect, but not all +are hackers themselves and some who are in fact hackers normally call +themselves geeks anyway, because they (quite properly) regard hacker as a +label that should be bestowed by others rather than self-assumed. One +description accurately if a little breathlessly enumerates gamers, ravers, +science fiction fans, punks, perverts, programmers, nerds, subgenii, and +trekkies. These are people who did not go to their high school proms, and +many would be offended by the suggestion that they should have even wanted +to. Originally, a geek was a carnival performer who bit the heads off +chickens. (In early 20th-century Scotland a geek was an immature coley, a +type of fish.) Before about 1990 usage of this term was rather negative. +Earlier versions of this lexicon defined a computer geek as one who eats +(computer) bugs for a living an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac +with all the personality of a cheese grater. This is often still the way +geeks are regarded by non-geeks, but as the mainstream culture becomes more +dependent on technology and technical skill mainstream attitudes have tended +to shift towards grudging respect. Correspondingly, there are now geek pride +festivals (the implied reference to gay pride is not accidental). See also +propeller head , clustergeeking , geek out , wannabee , terminal junkie , +spod , weenie , geek code , alpha geek. + diff --git a/entries/geekasm.txt b/entries/geekasm.txt index 44195a8..19270d0 100644 --- a/entries/geekasm.txt +++ b/entries/geekasm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ geekasm -Originally from a quote on the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers (week of May 21st 2002) by MIT professor Alex Slocum: When they build a machine, if they do the calculations right, the machine works and you get this intense. .. uhh. .. just like a , from knowing that what you created in your mind and on the computer is actually doing what you told it to do. Unsurprisingly, this usage went live on the Web almost instantly. Every hacker knows this feeling. Compare earlier progasm. +Originally from a quote on the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers (week +of May 21st 2002) by MIT professor Alex Slocum: When they build a machine, +if they do the calculations right, the machine works and you get this +intense. .. uhh. .. just like a , from knowing that what you created in +your mind and on the computer is actually doing what you told it to do. +Unsurprisingly, this usage went live on the Web almost instantly. Every +hacker knows this feeling. Compare earlier progasm. + diff --git a/entries/gen.txt b/entries/gen.txt index 83ac096..c221545 100644 --- a/entries/gen.txt +++ b/entries/gen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ gen -/jen/ , n.,v. Short for generate , used frequently in both spoken and written contexts. +/jen/ , n.,v. Short for generate , used frequently in both spoken and +written contexts. + diff --git a/entries/gender mender.txt b/entries/gender mender.txt index c31a166..0b724dd 100644 --- a/entries/gender mender.txt +++ b/entries/gender mender.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ gender mender -n. [common] 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. for RS-232C parts in either the 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 pins on both sides (is doubly male) or sockets on both sides (connects two males). +n. [common] 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. for RS-232C parts in either the 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 pins on both sides (is +doubly male) or sockets on both sides (connects two males). + diff --git a/entries/generate.txt b/entries/generate.txt index d932378..efed0a3 100644 --- a/entries/generate.txt +++ b/entries/generate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ generate -vt. To produce something according to an algorithm or program or set of rules, or as a (possibly unintended) side effect of the execution of an algorithm or program. The opposite of parse. This term retains its mechanistic connotations (though often humorously) when used of human behavior. The guy is rational most of the time, but mention nuclear energy around him and he'll generate infinite flamage. +vt. To produce something according to an algorithm or program or set of +rules, or as a (possibly unintended) side effect of the execution of an +algorithm or program. The opposite of parse. This term retains its +mechanistic connotations (though often humorously) when used of human +behavior. The guy is rational most of the time, but mention nuclear energy +around him and he'll generate infinite flamage. + diff --git a/entries/gensym.txt b/entries/gensym.txt index dcc5752..3952182 100644 --- a/entries/gensym.txt +++ b/entries/gensym.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ gensym -/jensim/ [from MacLISP for generated symbol ] 1. v. To invent a new name for something temporary, in such a way that the name is almost certainly not in conflict with one already in use. 2. n. The resulting name. The canonical form of a gensym is Gnnnn where nnnn represents a number; any LISP hacker would recognize G0093 (for example) as a gensym. 3. A freshly generated data structure with a gensymmed name. Gensymmed names are useful for storing or uniquely identifying crufties (see cruft ). +/jensim/ [from MacLISP for generated symbol ] 1. v. To invent a new name for +something temporary, in such a way that the name is almost certainly not in +conflict with one already in use. 2. n. The resulting name. The canonical +form of a gensym is Gnnnn where nnnn represents a number; any LISP hacker +would recognize G0093 (for example) as a gensym. 3. A freshly generated data +structure with a gensymmed name. Gensymmed names are useful for storing or +uniquely identifying crufties (see cruft ). + diff --git a/entries/gib.txt b/entries/gib.txt index 1f343ed..4f9f6b9 100644 --- a/entries/gib.txt +++ b/entries/gib.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ gib -/jib/ 1. vi. To destroy utterly. Like frag , but much more violent and final. There's no trace left. You definitely gibbed that bug. 2. n. Remnants after total obliteration. Originated first by id software in the game Quake. It's short for giblets (thus pronounced jib ), and referred to the bloody remains of slain opponents. Eventually the word was verbed, and leaked into general usage afterward. +/jib/ 1. vi. To destroy utterly. Like frag , but much more violent and +final. There's no trace left. You definitely gibbed that bug. 2. n. Remnants +after total obliteration. Originated first by id software in the game Quake. +It's short for giblets (thus pronounced jib ), and referred to the bloody +remains of slain opponents. Eventually the word was verbed, and leaked into +general usage afterward. + diff --git a/entries/gig.txt b/entries/gig.txt index ef8b8b0..f6c2752 100644 --- a/entries/gig.txt +++ b/entries/gig.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ gig /jig/ , /gig/ , n. [SI] See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/giga-.txt b/entries/giga-.txt index cedfdd2..6becbc7 100644 --- a/entries/giga-.txt +++ b/entries/giga-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ giga- /jiga/ , /giga/ , pref. [SI] See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/gilley.txt b/entries/gilley.txt index ce7d6f9..f7c3f99 100644 --- a/entries/gilley.txt +++ b/entries/gilley.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ gilley -n. [Usenet] The unit of analogical bogosity. According to its originator, the standard for one gilley was the act of bogotoficiously comparing the shutting down of 1000 machines for a day with the killing of one person. The milligilley has been found to suffice for most normal conversational exchanges. +n. [Usenet] The unit of analogical bogosity. According to its originator, +the standard for one gilley was the act of bogotoficiously comparing the +shutting down of 1000 machines for a day with the killing of one person. The +milligilley has been found to suffice for most normal conversational +exchanges. + diff --git a/entries/gillion.txt b/entries/gillion.txt index 1ab35a0..915e011 100644 --- a/entries/gillion.txt +++ b/entries/gillion.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ gillion -/gily@n/ , /jily@n/ , n. [formed from giga- by analogy with mega/million and tera/trillion] 10^9. Same as an American billion or a British milliard. How one pronounces this depends on whether one speaks giga- with a hard or soft g. +/gily@n/ , /jily@n/ , n. [formed from giga- by analogy with mega/million and +tera/trillion] 10^9. Same as an American billion or a British milliard. How +one pronounces this depends on whether one speaks giga- with a hard or soft +g. + diff --git a/entries/ginger.txt b/entries/ginger.txt index 8de358d..8436e91 100644 --- a/entries/ginger.txt +++ b/entries/ginger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ ginger n. See saga. + diff --git a/entries/glark.txt b/entries/glark.txt index be9b4ee..2a7f58d 100644 --- a/entries/glark.txt +++ b/entries/glark.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ glark -/glark/ , vt. To figure something out from context. The System III manuals are pretty poor, but you can generally glark the meaning from context. Interestingly, the word was originally glork ; the context was This gubblick contains many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be glorked [sic] from context (David Moser, quoted by Douglas Hofstadter in his Metamagical Themas column in the January 1981 Scientific American ). It is conjectured that hacker usage mutated the verb to glark because glork was already an established jargon term (some hackers do report using the original term). Compare grok , zen. +/glark/ , vt. To figure something out from context. The System III manuals +are pretty poor, but you can generally glark the meaning from context. +Interestingly, the word was originally glork ; the context was This gubblick +contains many nonsklarkish English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp +can be glorked [sic] from context (David Moser, quoted by Douglas Hofstadter +in his Metamagical Themas column in the January 1981 Scientific American ). +It is conjectured that hacker usage mutated the verb to glark because glork +was already an established jargon term (some hackers do report using the +original term). Compare grok , zen. + diff --git a/entries/glass tty.txt b/entries/glass tty.txt index f8d4631..993e9d7 100644 --- a/entries/glass tty.txt +++ b/entries/glass tty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ glass tty -/glas TTY/ , /glas titee/ , n. [obs.] A terminal that has a display screen but which, because of hardware or software limitations, behaves like a teletype or some other printing terminal, thereby combining the disadvantages of both: like a printing terminal, it can't do fancy display hacks, and like a display terminal, it doesn't produce hard copy. An example is the early dumb version of Lear-Siegler ADM 3 (without cursor control). See tube , tty ; compare dumb terminal. See TV Typewriters (Appendix A) for an interesting true story about a glass tty. +/glas TTY/ , /glas titee/ , n. [obs.] A terminal that has a display screen +but which, because of hardware or software limitations, behaves like a +teletype or some other printing terminal, thereby combining the +disadvantages of both: like a printing terminal, it can't do fancy display +hacks, and like a display terminal, it doesn't produce hard copy. An example +is the early dumb version of Lear-Siegler ADM 3 (without cursor control). +See tube , tty ; compare dumb terminal. See TV Typewriters (Appendix A) for +an interesting true story about a glass tty. + diff --git a/entries/glass.txt b/entries/glass.txt index e04fe70..caa7964 100644 --- a/entries/glass.txt +++ b/entries/glass.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ glass n. [IBM] Synonym for silicon. + diff --git a/entries/glassfet.txt b/entries/glassfet.txt index ce87d1f..998c57f 100644 --- a/entries/glassfet.txt +++ b/entries/glassfet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ glassfet -/glasfet/ , n. [by analogy with MOSFET, the acronym for Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor ] Syn. firebottle , a humorous way to refer to a vacuum tube. +/glasfet/ , n. [by analogy with MOSFET, the acronym for +Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor ] Syn. firebottle , a +humorous way to refer to a vacuum tube. + diff --git a/entries/glitch.txt b/entries/glitch.txt index 233b9d1..0586c3a 100644 --- a/entries/glitch.txt +++ b/entries/glitch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ glitch -/glich/ [very common; from German glitschig slippery, via Yiddish glitshen , to slide or skid] 1. n. A sudden interruption in electric service, sanity, continuity, or program function. Sometimes recoverable. An interruption in electric service is specifically called a power glitch (also power hit ), of grave concern because it usually crashes all the computers. In jargon, though, a hacker who got to the middle of a sentence and then forgot how he or she intended to complete it might say, Sorry, I just glitched. 2. vi. To commit a glitch. See gritch. 3. vt. [Stanford] To scroll a display screen, esp. several lines at a time. WAITS terminals used to do this in order to avoid continuous scrolling, which is distracting to the eye. 4. obs. Same as magic cookie , sense 2. All these uses of glitch derive from the specific technical meaning the term has in the electronic hardware world, where it is now techspeak. A glitch can occur when the inputs of a circuit change, and the outputs change to some random value for some very brief time before they settle down to the correct value. If another circuit inspects the output at just the wrong time, reading the random value, the results can be very wrong and very hard to debug (a glitch is one of many causes of electronic heisenbug s). Coping with a hydraulic glitch. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-07-24. The previous one is 73-05-28. +/glich/ [very common; from German glitschig slippery, via Yiddish glitshen , +to slide or skid] 1. n. A sudden interruption in electric service, sanity, +continuity, or program function. Sometimes recoverable. An interruption in +electric service is specifically called a power glitch (also power hit ), of +grave concern because it usually crashes all the computers. In jargon, +though, a hacker who got to the middle of a sentence and then forgot how he +or she intended to complete it might say, Sorry, I just glitched. 2. vi. To +commit a glitch. See gritch. 3. vt. [Stanford] To scroll a display screen, +esp. several lines at a time. WAITS terminals used to do this in order to +avoid continuous scrolling, which is distracting to the eye. 4. obs. Same as +magic cookie , sense 2. All these uses of glitch derive from the specific +technical meaning the term has in the electronic hardware world, where it is +now techspeak. A glitch can occur when the inputs of a circuit change, and +the outputs change to some random value for some very brief time before they +settle down to the correct value. If another circuit inspects the output at +just the wrong time, reading the random value, the results can be very wrong +and very hard to debug (a glitch is one of many causes of electronic +heisenbug s). Coping with a hydraulic glitch. (The next cartoon in the +Crunchly saga is 73-07-24. The previous one is 73-05-28. + diff --git a/entries/glob.txt b/entries/glob.txt index 23d691d..a7d54b6 100644 --- a/entries/glob.txt +++ b/entries/glob.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ glob -/glob/ , not , /glohb/ , v.,n. [Unix; common] To expand special characters in a wildcarded name, or the act of so doing (the action is also called globbing ). The Unix conventions for filename wildcarding have become sufficiently pervasive that many hackers use some of them in written English, especially in email or news on technical topics. Those commonly encountered include the following: * wildcard for any string (see also UN*X ) ? wildcard for any single character (generally read this way only at the beginning or in the middle of a word) [] delimits a wildcard matching any of the enclosed characters {} alternation of comma-separated alternatives; thus, foo{baz,qux} would be read as foobaz or fooqux Some examples: He said his name was [KC]arl (expresses ambiguity). I don't read talk.politics.* (any of the talk.politics subgroups on Usenet ). Other examples are given under the entry for X. Note that glob patterns are similar, but not identical, to those used in regexp s. Historical note: The jargon usage derives from glob , the name of a subprogram that expanded wildcards in archaic pre-Bourne versions of the Unix shell. +/glob/ , not , /glohb/ , v.,n. [Unix; common] To expand special characters +in a wildcarded name, or the act of so doing (the action is also called +globbing ). The Unix conventions for filename wildcarding have become +sufficiently pervasive that many hackers use some of them in written +English, especially in email or news on technical topics. Those commonly +encountered include the following: * wildcard for any string (see also UN*X +) ? wildcard for any single character (generally read this way only at the +beginning or in the middle of a word) [] delimits a wildcard matching any of +the enclosed characters {} alternation of comma-separated alternatives; +thus, foo{baz,qux} would be read as foobaz or fooqux Some examples: He said +his name was [KC]arl (expresses ambiguity). I don't read talk.politics.* +(any of the talk.politics subgroups on Usenet ). Other examples are given +under the entry for X. Note that glob patterns are similar, but not +identical, to those used in regexp s. Historical note: The jargon usage +derives from glob , the name of a subprogram that expanded wildcards in +archaic pre-Bourne versions of the Unix shell. + diff --git a/entries/glork.txt b/entries/glork.txt index 403c95e..15c89e2 100644 --- a/entries/glork.txt +++ b/entries/glork.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ glork -/glork/ 1. interj. Term of mild surprise, usually tinged with outrage, as when one attempts to save the results of two hours of editing and finds that the system has just crashed. 2. Used as a name for just about anything. See foo. 3. vt. Similar to glitch , but usually used reflexively. My program just glorked itself. 4. Syn. for glark , which see. +/glork/ 1. interj. Term of mild surprise, usually tinged with outrage, as +when one attempts to save the results of two hours of editing and finds that +the system has just crashed. 2. Used as a name for just about anything. See +foo. 3. vt. Similar to glitch , but usually used reflexively. My program +just glorked itself. 4. Syn. for glark , which see. + diff --git a/entries/glue.txt b/entries/glue.txt index 8a08b8e..28674a1 100644 --- a/entries/glue.txt +++ b/entries/glue.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ glue -n. Generic term for any interface logic or protocol that connects two component blocks. For example, Blue Glue is IBM's SNA protocol, and hardware designers call anything used to connect large VLSI's or circuit blocks glue logic. +n. Generic term for any interface logic or protocol that connects two +component blocks. For example, Blue Glue is IBM's SNA protocol, and hardware +designers call anything used to connect large VLSI's or circuit blocks glue +logic. + diff --git a/entries/gnarly.txt b/entries/gnarly.txt index a2896c0..d3e349f 100644 --- a/entries/gnarly.txt +++ b/entries/gnarly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ gnarly -/narlee/ , adj. Both obscure and hairy (sense 1). Yow! the tuned assembler implementation of BitBlt is really gnarly! From a similar but less specific usage in surfer slang. +/narlee/ , adj. Both obscure and hairy (sense 1). Yow! the tuned assembler +implementation of BitBlt is really gnarly! From a similar but less specific +usage in surfer slang. + diff --git a/entries/gnubie.txt b/entries/gnubie.txt index 2e509ab..eb8627a 100644 --- a/entries/gnubie.txt +++ b/entries/gnubie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ gnubie -/noobee/ , n. Written-only variant of newbie in common use on IRC channels, which implies specifically someone who is new to the Linux/open-source/free-software world. +/noobee/ , n. Written-only variant of newbie in common use on IRC channels, +which implies specifically someone who is new to the +Linux/open-source/free-software world. + diff --git a/entries/go flatline.txt b/entries/go flatline.txt index 9a132a1..90a3690 100644 --- a/entries/go flatline.txt +++ b/entries/go flatline.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ go flatline -v. [from cyberpunk SF, refers to flattening of EEG traces upon brain-death] (also adjectival flatlined ). 1. To die , terminate, or fail, esp. irreversibly. In hacker parlance, this is used of machines only, human death being considered somewhat too serious a matter to employ jargon-jokes about. 2. To go completely quiescent; said of machines undergoing controlled shutdown. You can suffer file damage if you shut down Unix but power off before the system has gone flatline. 3. Of a video tube, to fail by losing vertical scan, so all one sees is a bright horizontal line bisecting the screen. +v. [from cyberpunk SF, refers to flattening of EEG traces upon brain-death] +(also adjectival flatlined ). 1. To die , terminate, or fail, esp. +irreversibly. In hacker parlance, this is used of machines only, human death +being considered somewhat too serious a matter to employ jargon-jokes about. +2. To go completely quiescent; said of machines undergoing controlled +shutdown. You can suffer file damage if you shut down Unix but power off +before the system has gone flatline. 3. Of a video tube, to fail by losing +vertical scan, so all one sees is a bright horizontal line bisecting the +screen. + diff --git a/entries/go gold.txt b/entries/go gold.txt index 9edab51..c5171ae 100644 --- a/entries/go gold.txt +++ b/entries/go gold.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ go gold v. [common] See golden. + diff --git a/entries/go root.txt b/entries/go root.txt index 1f983f5..28c96b5 100644 --- a/entries/go root.txt +++ b/entries/go root.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ go root -vi. [Unix; common] To temporarily enter root mode in order to perform a privileged operation. This use is deprecated in Australia, where v. root is a synonym for fuck. +vi. [Unix; common] To temporarily enter root mode in order to perform a +privileged operation. This use is deprecated in Australia, where v. root is +a synonym for fuck. + diff --git a/entries/go-faster stripes.txt b/entries/go-faster stripes.txt index 444eba7..1f5786c 100644 --- a/entries/go-faster stripes.txt +++ b/entries/go-faster stripes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ go-faster stripes n. [UK] Syn. chrome. Mainstream in some parts of UK. + diff --git a/entries/goat file.txt b/entries/goat file.txt index 882728f..6c59777 100644 --- a/entries/goat file.txt +++ b/entries/goat file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ goat file -A sacrificial file used to test a computer virus, i.e. a dummy executable that carries a sample of the virus, isolated so it can be studied. Not common among hackers, since the Unix systems most use basically don't get viruses. +A sacrificial file used to test a computer virus, i.e. a dummy executable +that carries a sample of the virus, isolated so it can be studied. Not +common among hackers, since the Unix systems most use basically don't get +viruses. + diff --git a/entries/gobble.txt b/entries/gobble.txt index 6257f2a..983ea78 100644 --- a/entries/gobble.txt +++ b/entries/gobble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ gobble -vt. 1. To consume, usu.: used with up. The output spy gobbles characters out of a tty output buffer. 2. To obtain, usu.: used with down. I guess I'll gobble down a copy of the documentation tomorrow. See also snarf. +vt. 1. To consume, usu.: used with up. The output spy gobbles characters out +of a tty output buffer. 2. To obtain, usu.: used with down. I guess I'll +gobble down a copy of the documentation tomorrow. See also snarf. + diff --git a/entries/golden.txt b/entries/golden.txt index 70bc47c..dcd18af 100644 --- a/entries/golden.txt +++ b/entries/golden.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ golden -adj. [prob.: from folklore's golden egg ] When used to describe a magnetic medium (e.g., golden disk , golden tape ), describes one containing a tested, up-to-spec, ready-to-ship software version. Compare platinum-iridium. One may also go gold , which is the act of releasing a golden version. The gold color of many CDROMs is a coincidence; this term was well established a decade before CDROM distribution become common in the mid-1990s. +adj. [prob.: from folklore's golden egg ] When used to describe a magnetic +medium (e.g., golden disk , golden tape ), describes one containing a +tested, up-to-spec, ready-to-ship software version. Compare +platinum-iridium. One may also go gold , which is the act of releasing a +golden version. The gold color of many CDROMs is a coincidence; this term +was well established a decade before CDROM distribution become common in the +mid-1990s. + diff --git a/entries/golf-ball printer.txt b/entries/golf-ball printer.txt index 18abcca..ebfd7e1 100644 --- a/entries/golf-ball printer.txt +++ b/entries/golf-ball printer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ golf-ball printer -n. obs. The IBM 2741, a slow but letter-quality printing device and terminal based on the IBM Selectric typewriter. The golf ball was a little spherical frob bearing reversed embossed images of 88 different characters arranged on four parallels of latitude; one could change the font by swapping in a different golf ball. The print element spun and jerked alarmingly in action and when in motion was sometimes described as an infuriated golf ball. This was the technology that enabled APL to use a non-EBCDIC, non-ASCII, and in fact completely non-standard character set. This put it 10 years ahead of its time where it stayed, firmly rooted, for the next 20, until character displays gave way to programmable bit-mapped devices with the flexibility to support other character sets. +n. obs. The IBM 2741, a slow but letter-quality printing device and terminal +based on the IBM Selectric typewriter. The golf ball was a little spherical +frob bearing reversed embossed images of 88 different characters arranged on +four parallels of latitude; one could change the font by swapping in a +different golf ball. The print element spun and jerked alarmingly in action +and when in motion was sometimes described as an infuriated golf ball. This +was the technology that enabled APL to use a non-EBCDIC, non-ASCII, and in +fact completely non-standard character set. This put it 10 years ahead of +its time where it stayed, firmly rooted, for the next 20, until character +displays gave way to programmable bit-mapped devices with the flexibility to +support other character sets. + diff --git a/entries/gonk.txt b/entries/gonk.txt index 33a07e3..4815e3b 100644 --- a/entries/gonk.txt +++ b/entries/gonk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ gonk -/gonk/ , vi.,n. 1. [prob. back-formed from gonkulator. ] To prevaricate or to embellish the truth beyond any reasonable recognition. In German the term is (mythically) gonken ; in Spanish the verb becomes gonkar. You're gonking me. That story you just told me is a bunch of gonk. In German, for example, Du gonkst mich (You're pulling my leg). See also gonkulator. 2. [British] To grab some sleep at an odd time; compare gronk out. +/gonk/ , vi.,n. 1. [prob. back-formed from gonkulator. ] To prevaricate or +to embellish the truth beyond any reasonable recognition. In German the term +is (mythically) gonken ; in Spanish the verb becomes gonkar. You're gonking +me. That story you just told me is a bunch of gonk. In German, for example, +Du gonkst mich (You're pulling my leg). See also gonkulator. 2. [British] To +grab some sleep at an odd time; compare gronk out. + diff --git a/entries/gonkulator.txt b/entries/gonkulator.txt index 8e86a5c..aa20d08 100644 --- a/entries/gonkulator.txt +++ b/entries/gonkulator.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ gonkulator -/gonkyoolaytr/ , n. [common; from the 1960s Hogan's Heroes TV series] A pretentious piece of equipment that actually serves no useful purpose. Usually used to describe one's least favorite piece of computer hardware. See gonk. +/gonkyoolaytr/ , n. [common; from the 1960s Hogan's Heroes TV series] A +pretentious piece of equipment that actually serves no useful purpose. +Usually used to describe one's least favorite piece of computer hardware. +See gonk. + diff --git a/entries/gonzo.txt b/entries/gonzo.txt index cb81c6e..2bbcce0 100644 --- a/entries/gonzo.txt +++ b/entries/gonzo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ gonzo -/gonzoh/ , adj. [from Hunter S. Thompson] 1. With total commitment, total concentration, and a mad sort of panache. (Thompson's original sense.) 2. More loosely: Overwhelming; outrageous; over the top; very large, esp. used of collections of source code, source files, or individual functions. Has some of the connotations of moby and hairy , but without the implication of obscurity or complexity. +/gonzoh/ , adj. [from Hunter S. Thompson] 1. With total commitment, total +concentration, and a mad sort of panache. (Thompson's original sense.) 2. +More loosely: Overwhelming; outrageous; over the top; very large, esp. used +of collections of source code, source files, or individual functions. Has +some of the connotations of moby and hairy , but without the implication of +obscurity or complexity. + diff --git a/entries/google juice.txt b/entries/google juice.txt index 914777a..48f7567 100644 --- a/entries/google juice.txt +++ b/entries/google juice.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ google juice -n. A hypothetical substance which attracts the index bots of Google.com. In common usage, a web page or web site with high placement in the results of a particular search on Google or frequent placement in the results of a various searches is said to have a lot of google juice or good google juice. Also used to compare web pages or web sites, for example CrackMonkey has more google juice than KPMG. See also juice , kilogoogle. +n. A hypothetical substance which attracts the index bots of Google.com. In +common usage, a web page or web site with high placement in the results of a +particular search on Google or frequent placement in the results of a +various searches is said to have a lot of google juice or good google juice. +Also used to compare web pages or web sites, for example CrackMonkey has +more google juice than KPMG. See also juice , kilogoogle. + diff --git a/entries/google.txt b/entries/google.txt index f3e6613..46db2a1 100644 --- a/entries/google.txt +++ b/entries/google.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ google -v. [common] To search the Web using the Google search engine, http://www.google.com. Google is highly esteemed among hackers for its significance ranking system, which is so uncannily effective that many hackers consider it to have rendered other search engines effectively irrelevant. The name google has additional flavor for hackers because most know that it was copied from a mathematical term for ten to the 100th power, famously first uttered as googol by a mathematician's nine-year-old nephew. +v. [common] To search the Web using the Google search engine, +http://www.google.com. Google is highly esteemed among hackers for its +significance ranking system, which is so uncannily effective that many +hackers consider it to have rendered other search engines effectively +irrelevant. The name google has additional flavor for hackers because most +know that it was copied from a mathematical term for ten to the 100th power, +famously first uttered as googol by a mathematician's nine-year-old nephew. + diff --git a/entries/gopher hole.txt b/entries/gopher hole.txt index c21d8ee..e82eafe 100644 --- a/entries/gopher hole.txt +++ b/entries/gopher hole.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ gopher hole -n. 1. Any access to a gopher. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio] The terrestrial analog of a wormhole (sense 2), from which this term was coined. A gopher hole links two amateur packet relays through some non-ham radio medium. +n. 1. Any access to a gopher. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio] The terrestrial +analog of a wormhole (sense 2), from which this term was coined. A gopher +hole links two amateur packet relays through some non-ham radio medium. + diff --git a/entries/gopher.txt b/entries/gopher.txt index 5334430..c474a1f 100644 --- a/entries/gopher.txt +++ b/entries/gopher.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ gopher -n. [obs.] A type of Internet service first floated around 1991 and obsolesced around 1995 by the World Wide Web. Gopher presents a menuing interface to a tree or graph of links; the links can be to documents, runnable programs, or other gopher menus arbitrarily far across the net. Some claim that the gopher software, which was originally developed at the University of Minnesota, was named after the Minnesota Gophers (a sports team). Others claim the word derives from American slang gofer (from go for , dialectal go fer ), one whose job is to run and fetch things. Finally, observe that gophers dig long tunnels, and the idea of tunneling through the net to find information was a defining metaphor for the developers. Probably all three things were true, but with the first two coming first and the gopher-tunnel metaphor serendipitously adding flavor and impetus to the project as it developed out of its concept stage. +n. [obs.] A type of Internet service first floated around 1991 and +obsolesced around 1995 by the World Wide Web. Gopher presents a menuing +interface to a tree or graph of links; the links can be to documents, +runnable programs, or other gopher menus arbitrarily far across the net. +Some claim that the gopher software, which was originally developed at the +University of Minnesota, was named after the Minnesota Gophers (a sports +team). Others claim the word derives from American slang gofer (from go for +, dialectal go fer ), one whose job is to run and fetch things. Finally, +observe that gophers dig long tunnels, and the idea of tunneling through the +net to find information was a defining metaphor for the developers. Probably +all three things were true, but with the first two coming first and the +gopher-tunnel metaphor serendipitously adding flavor and impetus to the +project as it developed out of its concept stage. + diff --git a/entries/gorets.txt b/entries/gorets.txt index 35c2838..1e10dc7 100644 --- a/entries/gorets.txt +++ b/entries/gorets.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ gorets -/gorets/ , n. The unknown ur-noun, fill in your own meaning. Found esp. on the Usenet newsgroup alt.gorets , which seems to be a running contest to redefine the word by implication in the funniest and most peculiar way, with the understanding that no definition is ever final. [A correspondent from the former Soviet Union informs me that gorets is Russian for mountain dweller. Another from France informs me that goret is archaic French for a young pig ESR] Compare frink. +/gorets/ , n. The unknown ur-noun, fill in your own meaning. Found esp. on +the Usenet newsgroup alt.gorets , which seems to be a running contest to +redefine the word by implication in the funniest and most peculiar way, with +the understanding that no definition is ever final. [A correspondent from +the former Soviet Union informs me that gorets is Russian for mountain +dweller. Another from France informs me that goret is archaic French for a +young pig ESR] Compare frink. + diff --git a/entries/gorilla arm.txt b/entries/gorilla arm.txt index 6667e0f..e638863 100644 --- a/entries/gorilla arm.txt +++ b/entries/gorilla arm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ gorilla arm -n. The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a mainstream input technology despite a promising start in the early 1980s. It seems the designers of all those spiffy touch-menu systems failed to notice that humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of their faces making small motions. After more than a very few selections, the arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and oversized the operator looks like a gorilla while using the touch screen and feels like one afterwards. This is now considered a classic cautionary tale to human-factors designers; Remember the gorilla arm! is shorthand for How is this going to fly in real use?. +n. The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a mainstream input +technology despite a promising start in the early 1980s. It seems the +designers of all those spiffy touch-menu systems failed to notice that +humans aren't designed to hold their arms in front of their faces making +small motions. After more than a very few selections, the arm begins to feel +sore, cramped, and oversized the operator looks like a gorilla while using +the touch screen and feels like one afterwards. This is now considered a +classic cautionary tale to human-factors designers; Remember the gorilla +arm! is shorthand for How is this going to fly in real use?. + diff --git a/entries/gorp.txt b/entries/gorp.txt index 8a383f4..a8a15d9 100644 --- a/entries/gorp.txt +++ b/entries/gorp.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ gorp -/gorp/ , n. [CMU: perhaps from the canonical hiker's food, Good Old Raisins and Peanuts] Another metasyntactic variable , like foo and bar. +/gorp/ , n. [CMU: perhaps from the canonical hiker's food, Good Old Raisins +and Peanuts] Another metasyntactic variable , like foo and bar. + diff --git a/entries/gotcha.txt b/entries/gotcha.txt index 6416bdf..5553703 100644 --- a/entries/gotcha.txt +++ b/entries/gotcha.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ gotcha -n. A misfeature of a system, especially a programming language or environment, that tends to breed bugs or mistakes because it is both enticingly easy to invoke and completely unexpected and/or unreasonable in its outcome. For example, a classic gotcha in C is the fact that if (a=b) {code; } is syntactically valid and sometimes even correct. It puts the value of b into a and then executes code if a is non-zero. What the programmer probably meant was if (a==b) {code; }, which executes code if a and b are equal. +n. A misfeature of a system, especially a programming language or +environment, that tends to breed bugs or mistakes because it is both +enticingly easy to invoke and completely unexpected and/or unreasonable in +its outcome. For example, a classic gotcha in C is the fact that if (a=b) +{code; } is syntactically valid and sometimes even correct. It puts the +value of b into a and then executes code if a is non-zero. What the +programmer probably meant was if (a==b) {code; }, which executes code if a +and b are equal. + diff --git a/entries/gray goo.txt b/entries/gray goo.txt index a39b62c..c7b614f 100644 --- a/entries/gray goo.txt +++ b/entries/gray goo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ gray goo -n. A hypothetical substance composed of sagan s of sub-micron-sized self-replicating robots programmed to make copies of themselves out of whatever is available. The image that goes with the term is one of the entire biosphere of Earth being eventually converted to robot goo. This is the simplest of the nanotechnology disaster scenarios, easily refuted by arguments from energy requirements and elemental abundances. Compare blue goo. +n. A hypothetical substance composed of sagan s of sub-micron-sized +self-replicating robots programmed to make copies of themselves out of +whatever is available. The image that goes with the term is one of the +entire biosphere of Earth being eventually converted to robot goo. This is +the simplest of the nanotechnology disaster scenarios, easily refuted by +arguments from energy requirements and elemental abundances. Compare blue +goo. + diff --git a/entries/gray hat.txt b/entries/gray hat.txt index 1ff3f63..521d0ad 100644 --- a/entries/gray hat.txt +++ b/entries/gray hat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ gray hat See black hat. + diff --git a/entries/great-wall.txt b/entries/great-wall.txt index 4a85699..47dcbdf 100644 --- a/entries/great-wall.txt +++ b/entries/great-wall.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ great-wall -vi.,n. [from SF fandom] A mass expedition to an oriental restaurant, esp. one where food is served family-style and shared. There is a common heuristic about the amount of food to order, expressed as Get N - 1 entrees ; the value of N , which is the number of people in the group, can be inferred from context (see N ). See oriental food , ravs , stir-fried random. +vi.,n. [from SF fandom] A mass expedition to an oriental restaurant, esp. +one where food is served family-style and shared. There is a common +heuristic about the amount of food to order, expressed as Get N - 1 entrees +; the value of N , which is the number of people in the group, can be +inferred from context (see N ). See oriental food , ravs , stir-fried +random. + diff --git a/entries/green bytes.txt b/entries/green bytes.txt index 0bb0aaa..a106232 100644 --- a/entries/green bytes.txt +++ b/entries/green bytes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ green bytes -n. (also green words ) 1. Meta-information embedded in a file, such as the length of the file or its name; as opposed to keeping such information in a separate description file or record. The term comes from an IBM user's group meeting (ca. 1962) at which these two approaches were being debated and the diagram of the file on the blackboard had the green bytes drawn in green. 2. By extension, the non-data bits in any self-describing format. A GIF file contains, among other things, green bytes describing the packing method for the image. Compare out-of-band , zigamorph , fence (sense 1). +n. (also green words ) 1. Meta-information embedded in a file, such as the +length of the file or its name; as opposed to keeping such information in a +separate description file or record. The term comes from an IBM user's group +meeting (ca. 1962) at which these two approaches were being debated and the +diagram of the file on the blackboard had the green bytes drawn in green. 2. +By extension, the non-data bits in any self-describing format. A GIF file +contains, among other things, green bytes describing the packing method for +the image. Compare out-of-band , zigamorph , fence (sense 1). + diff --git a/entries/green card.txt b/entries/green card.txt index 3ec4e41..e20df50 100644 --- a/entries/green card.txt +++ b/entries/green card.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ green card -n. [after the IBM System/360 Reference Data card] A summary of an assembly language, even if the color is not green and not a card. Less frequently used now because of the decrease in the use of assembly language. I'll go get my green card so I can check the addressing mode for that instruction. The original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 was introduced, and later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM refers to a scene that took place in a programmers' terminal room at Yorktown in 1978. A luser overheard one of the programmers ask another Do you have a green card? The other grunted and passed the first a thick yellow booklet. At this point the luser turned a delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never to return. In fall 2000 it was reported from Electronic Data Systems that the green card for 370 machines has been a blue-green booklet since 1989. +n. [after the IBM System/360 Reference Data card] A summary of an assembly +language, even if the color is not green and not a card. Less frequently +used now because of the decrease in the use of assembly language. I'll go +get my green card so I can check the addressing mode for that instruction. +The original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 was +introduced, and later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM refers to a +scene that took place in a programmers' terminal room at Yorktown in 1978. A +luser overheard one of the programmers ask another Do you have a green card? +The other grunted and passed the first a thick yellow booklet. At this point +the luser turned a delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never +to return. In fall 2000 it was reported from Electronic Data Systems that +the green card for 370 machines has been a blue-green booklet since 1989. + diff --git a/entries/green lightning.txt b/entries/green lightning.txt index 5f74c83..172dc87 100644 --- a/entries/green lightning.txt +++ b/entries/green lightning.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ green lightning -n. [IBM] 1. Apparently random flashing streaks on the face of 3278-9 terminals while a new symbol set is being downloaded. This hardware bug was left deliberately unfixed, as some genius within IBM suggested it would let the user know that something is happening. That, it certainly does. Later microprocessor-driven IBM color graphics displays were actually programmed to produce green lightning! 2. [proposed] Any bug perverted into an alleged feature by adroit rationalization or marketing. Motorola calls the CISC cruft in the 88000 architecture compatibility logic , but I call it green lightning. See also feature (sense 6). +n. [IBM] 1. Apparently random flashing streaks on the face of 3278-9 +terminals while a new symbol set is being downloaded. This hardware bug was +left deliberately unfixed, as some genius within IBM suggested it would let +the user know that something is happening. That, it certainly does. Later +microprocessor-driven IBM color graphics displays were actually programmed +to produce green lightning! 2. [proposed] Any bug perverted into an alleged +feature by adroit rationalization or marketing. Motorola calls the CISC +cruft in the 88000 architecture compatibility logic , but I call it green +lightning. See also feature (sense 6). + diff --git a/entries/green machine.txt b/entries/green machine.txt index 37460ac..021bb3a 100644 --- a/entries/green machine.txt +++ b/entries/green machine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ green machine -n. A computer or peripheral device that has been designed and built to military specifications for field equipment (that is, to withstand mechanical shock, extremes of temperature and humidity, and so forth). Comes from the olive-drab uniform paint used for military equipment. +n. A computer or peripheral device that has been designed and built to +military specifications for field equipment (that is, to withstand +mechanical shock, extremes of temperature and humidity, and so forth). Comes +from the olive-drab uniform paint used for military equipment. + diff --git a/entries/greenbar.txt b/entries/greenbar.txt index 7dde2ee..7783971 100644 --- a/entries/greenbar.txt +++ b/entries/greenbar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ greenbar -n. A style of fanfolded continuous-feed paper with alternating green and white bars on it, especially used in old-style line printers. This slang almost certainly dates way back to mainframe days. +n. A style of fanfolded continuous-feed paper with alternating green and +white bars on it, especially used in old-style line printers. This slang +almost certainly dates way back to mainframe days. + diff --git a/entries/grep.txt b/entries/grep.txt index a58b7ee..daeba8f 100644 --- a/entries/grep.txt +++ b/entries/grep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ grep -/grep/ , vi. [from the qed/ed editor idiom g/ re /p, where re stands for a regular expression, to Globally search for the Regular Expression and Print the lines containing matches to it, via Unix grep (1) ] To rapidly scan a file or set of files looking for a particular string or pattern (when browsing through a large set of files, one may speak of grepping around ). By extension, to look for something by pattern. Grep the bulletin board for the system backup schedule, would you? See also vgrep. +/grep/ , vi. [from the qed/ed editor idiom g/ re /p, where re stands for a +regular expression, to Globally search for the Regular Expression and Print +the lines containing matches to it, via Unix grep (1) ] To rapidly scan a +file or set of files looking for a particular string or pattern (when +browsing through a large set of files, one may speak of grepping around ). +By extension, to look for something by pattern. Grep the bulletin board for +the system backup schedule, would you? See also vgrep. + diff --git a/entries/gribble.txt b/entries/gribble.txt index 743ae94..409e44b 100644 --- a/entries/gribble.txt +++ b/entries/gribble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ gribble -n. Random binary data rendered as unreadable text. Noise characters in a data stream are displayed as gribble. Dumping a binary file to the screen is an excellent source of gribble, and (if the bell/speaker is active) headaches. +n. Random binary data rendered as unreadable text. Noise characters in a +data stream are displayed as gribble. Dumping a binary file to the screen is +an excellent source of gribble, and (if the bell/speaker is active) +headaches. + diff --git a/entries/grilf.txt b/entries/grilf.txt index f033670..49e9149 100644 --- a/entries/grilf.txt +++ b/entries/grilf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ grilf -// , n. Girlfriend. Like newsfroup and filk , a typo reincarnated as a new word. Seems to have originated sometime in 1990 on Usenet. [A friend tells me there was a Lloyd Biggle SF novel Watchers Of The Dark , in which alien species after species goes insane and begins to chant Grilf! Grilf!. A human detective eventually determines that the word means Liar! I hope this has nothing to do with the popularity of the Usenet term. +// , n. Girlfriend. Like newsfroup and filk , a typo reincarnated as a new +word. Seems to have originated sometime in 1990 on Usenet. [A friend tells +me there was a Lloyd Biggle SF novel Watchers Of The Dark , in which alien +species after species goes insane and begins to chant Grilf! Grilf!. A human +detective eventually determines that the word means Liar! I hope this has +nothing to do with the popularity of the Usenet term. + diff --git a/entries/grind crank.txt b/entries/grind crank.txt index 1426c8e..30caf21 100644 --- a/entries/grind crank.txt +++ b/entries/grind crank.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ grind crank -n. , // A mythical accessory to a terminal. A crank on the side of a monitor, which when operated makes a zizzing noise and causes the computer to run faster. Usually one does not refer to a grind crank out loud, but merely makes the appropriate gesture and noise. See grind. Historical note: At least one real machine actually had a grind crank the R1, a research machine built toward the end of the days of the great vacuum tube computers, in 1959. R1 (also known as The Rice Institute Computer (TRIC) and later as The Rice University Computer (TRUC)) had a single-step/free-run switch for use when debugging programs. Since single-stepping through a large program was rather tedious, there was also a crank with a cam and gear arrangement that repeatedly pushed the single-step button. This allowed one to crank through a lot of code, then slow down to single-step for a bit when you got near the code of interest, poke at some registers using the console typewriter, and then keep on cranking. See http://www.cs.rice.edu/History/R1/. +n. , // A mythical accessory to a terminal. A crank on the side of a +monitor, which when operated makes a zizzing noise and causes the computer +to run faster. Usually one does not refer to a grind crank out loud, but +merely makes the appropriate gesture and noise. See grind. Historical note: +At least one real machine actually had a grind crank the R1, a research +machine built toward the end of the days of the great vacuum tube computers, +in 1959. R1 (also known as The Rice Institute Computer (TRIC) and later as +The Rice University Computer (TRUC)) had a single-step/free-run switch for +use when debugging programs. Since single-stepping through a large program +was rather tedious, there was also a crank with a cam and gear arrangement +that repeatedly pushed the single-step button. This allowed one to crank +through a lot of code, then slow down to single-step for a bit when you got +near the code of interest, poke at some registers using the console +typewriter, and then keep on cranking. See +http://www.cs.rice.edu/History/R1/. + diff --git a/entries/grind.txt b/entries/grind.txt index 97b8f84..f8baa11 100644 --- a/entries/grind.txt +++ b/entries/grind.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ grind -vt. 1. [MIT and Berkeley; now rare] To prettify hardcopy of code, especially LISP code, by reindenting lines, printing keywords and comments in distinct fonts (if available), etc. This usage was associated with the MacLISP community and is now rare; prettyprint was and is the generic term for such operations. 2. [Unix] To generate the formatted version of a document from the troff , TeX , or Scribe source. 3. [common] To run seemingly interminably, esp. (but not necessarily) if performing some tedious and inherently useless task. Similar to crunch or grovel. Grinding has a connotation of using a lot of CPU time, but it is possible to grind a disk, network, etc. See also hog. 4. To make the whole system slow. Troff really grinds a PDP-11. 5. grind grind excl. +vt. 1. [MIT and Berkeley; now rare] To prettify hardcopy of code, especially +LISP code, by reindenting lines, printing keywords and comments in distinct +fonts (if available), etc. This usage was associated with the MacLISP +community and is now rare; prettyprint was and is the generic term for such +operations. 2. [Unix] To generate the formatted version of a document from +the troff , TeX , or Scribe source. 3. [common] To run seemingly +interminably, esp. (but not necessarily) if performing some tedious and +inherently useless task. Similar to crunch or grovel. Grinding has a +connotation of using a lot of CPU time, but it is possible to grind a disk, +network, etc. See also hog. 4. To make the whole system slow. Troff really +grinds a PDP-11. 5. grind grind excl. + diff --git a/entries/gritch.txt b/entries/gritch.txt index 599a1ee..8334e2b 100644 --- a/entries/gritch.txt +++ b/entries/gritch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ gritch -/grich/ [MIT] 1. n. A complaint (often caused by a glitch ). 2. vi. To complain. Often verb-doubled: Gritch gritch. 3. A synonym for glitch (as verb or noun). Interestingly, this word seems to have a separate history from glitch , with which it is often confused. Back in the early 1960s, when glitch was strictly a hardware-tech's term of art, the Burton House dorm at M.I.T. maintained a Gritch Book , a blank volume, into which the residents hand-wrote complaints, suggestions, and witticisms. Previous years' volumes of this tradition were maintained, dating back to antiquity. The word gritch was described as a portmanteau of gripe and bitch. Thus, sense 3 above is at least historically incorrect. +/grich/ [MIT] 1. n. A complaint (often caused by a glitch ). 2. vi. To +complain. Often verb-doubled: Gritch gritch. 3. A synonym for glitch (as +verb or noun). Interestingly, this word seems to have a separate history +from glitch , with which it is often confused. Back in the early 1960s, when +glitch was strictly a hardware-tech's term of art, the Burton House dorm at +M.I.T. maintained a Gritch Book , a blank volume, into which the residents +hand-wrote complaints, suggestions, and witticisms. Previous years' volumes +of this tradition were maintained, dating back to antiquity. The word gritch +was described as a portmanteau of gripe and bitch. Thus, sense 3 above is at +least historically incorrect. + diff --git a/entries/grok.txt b/entries/grok.txt index 08541e9..f895e82 100644 --- a/entries/grok.txt +++ b/entries/grok.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ grok -/grok/ , /grohk/ , vt. [common; from the novel Stranger in a Strange Land , by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning literally to drink and metaphorically to be one with ] The emphatic form is grok in fullness. 1. To understand. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. When you claim to grok some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part of you, part of your identity. For example, to say that you know LISP is simply to assert that you can code in it if necessary but to say you grok LISP is to claim that you have deeply entered the world-view and spirit of the language, with the implication that it has transformed your view of programming. Contrast zen , which is similar supernal understanding experienced as a single brief flash. See also glark. 2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding. Almost all C compilers grok the void type these days. +/grok/ , /grohk/ , vt. [common; from the novel Stranger in a Strange Land , +by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning literally to drink +and metaphorically to be one with ] The emphatic form is grok in fullness. +1. To understand. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. When you claim +to grok some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that you have not +merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that it has become part +of you, part of your identity. For example, to say that you know LISP is +simply to assert that you can code in it if necessary but to say you grok +LISP is to claim that you have deeply entered the world-view and spirit of +the language, with the implication that it has transformed your view of +programming. Contrast zen , which is similar supernal understanding +experienced as a single brief flash. See also glark. 2. Used of programs, +may connote merely sufficient understanding. Almost all C compilers grok the +void type these days. + diff --git a/entries/gronk out.txt b/entries/gronk out.txt index 779c4be..cfc0276 100644 --- a/entries/gronk out.txt +++ b/entries/gronk out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ gronk out -vi. To cease functioning. Of people, to go home and go to sleep. I guess I'll gronk out now; see you all tomorrow. +vi. To cease functioning. Of people, to go home and go to sleep. I guess +I'll gronk out now; see you all tomorrow. + diff --git a/entries/gronk.txt b/entries/gronk.txt index d9fd034..5170a94 100644 --- a/entries/gronk.txt +++ b/entries/gronk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ gronk -/gronk/ , vt. [popularized by Johnny Hart's comic strip B.C.: but the word apparently predates that] 1. To clear the state of a wedged device and restart it. More severe than to frob (sense 2). 2. [TMRC] To cut, sever, smash, or similarly disable. 3. The sound made by many 3.5-inch diskette drives. In particular, the microfloppies on a Commodore Amiga go grink, gronk. +/gronk/ , vt. [popularized by Johnny Hart's comic strip B.C.: but the word +apparently predates that] 1. To clear the state of a wedged device and +restart it. More severe than to frob (sense 2). 2. [TMRC] To cut, sever, +smash, or similarly disable. 3. The sound made by many 3.5-inch diskette +drives. In particular, the microfloppies on a Commodore Amiga go grink, +gronk. + diff --git a/entries/gronked.txt b/entries/gronked.txt index b22aebc..18a619f 100644 --- a/entries/gronked.txt +++ b/entries/gronked.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ gronked -adj. 1. Broken. The teletype scanner was gronked, so we took the system down. 2. Of people, the condition of feeling very tired or (less commonly) sick. I've been chasing that bug for 17 hours now and I am thoroughly gronked! Compare broken , which means about the same as gronk used of hardware, but connotes depression or mental/emotional problems in people. +adj. 1. Broken. The teletype scanner was gronked, so we took the system +down. 2. Of people, the condition of feeling very tired or (less commonly) +sick. I've been chasing that bug for 17 hours now and I am thoroughly +gronked! Compare broken , which means about the same as gronk used of +hardware, but connotes depression or mental/emotional problems in people. + diff --git a/entries/grovel.txt b/entries/grovel.txt index 3c9301f..09d0117 100644 --- a/entries/grovel.txt +++ b/entries/grovel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ grovel -vi. 1. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often used transitively with over or through. The file scavenger has been groveling through the /usr directories for 10 minutes now. Compare grind and crunch. Emphatic form: grovel obscenely. 2. To examine minutely or in complete detail. The compiler grovels over the entire source program before beginning to translate it. I grovelled through all the documentation, but I still couldn't find the command I wanted. +vi. 1. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often used +transitively with over or through. The file scavenger has been groveling +through the /usr directories for 10 minutes now. Compare grind and crunch. +Emphatic form: grovel obscenely. 2. To examine minutely or in complete +detail. The compiler grovels over the entire source program before beginning +to translate it. I grovelled through all the documentation, but I still +couldn't find the command I wanted. + diff --git a/entries/grue.txt b/entries/grue.txt index e254ac3..f368f69 100644 --- a/entries/grue.txt +++ b/entries/grue.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ grue -n. [from archaic English verb for shudder , as with fear] The grue was originated in the game Zork (Dave Lebling took the name from Jack Vance's Dying Earth fantasies) and used in several other Infocom games as a hint that you should perhaps look for a lamp, torch or some type of light source. Wandering into a dark area would cause the game to prompt you, It is very dark. If you continue you are likely to be eaten by a grue. If you failed to locate a light source within the next couple of moves this would indeed be the case. The grue, according to scholars of the Great Underground Empire, is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is either adventurers or enchanters, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its extreme fear of light. No grues have ever been seen by the light of day, and only a few have been observed in their underground lairs. Of those who have seen grues, few have survived their fearsome jaws to tell the tale. Grues have sickly glowing fur, fish-mouthed faces, sharp claws and fangs, and an uncontrollable tendency to slaver and gurgle. They are certainly the most evil-tempered of all creatures; to say they are touchy is a dangerous understatement. Sour as a grue is a common expression, even among grues themselves. All this folklore is widely known among hackers. +n. [from archaic English verb for shudder , as with fear] The grue was +originated in the game Zork (Dave Lebling took the name from Jack Vance's +Dying Earth fantasies) and used in several other Infocom games as a hint +that you should perhaps look for a lamp, torch or some type of light source. +Wandering into a dark area would cause the game to prompt you, It is very +dark. If you continue you are likely to be eaten by a grue. If you failed to +locate a light source within the next couple of moves this would indeed be +the case. The grue, according to scholars of the Great Underground Empire, +is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its +favorite diet is either adventurers or enchanters, but its insatiable +appetite is tempered by its extreme fear of light. No grues have ever been +seen by the light of day, and only a few have been observed in their +underground lairs. Of those who have seen grues, few have survived their +fearsome jaws to tell the tale. Grues have sickly glowing fur, fish-mouthed +faces, sharp claws and fangs, and an uncontrollable tendency to slaver and +gurgle. They are certainly the most evil-tempered of all creatures; to say +they are touchy is a dangerous understatement. Sour as a grue is a common +expression, even among grues themselves. All this folklore is widely known +among hackers. + diff --git a/entries/grunge.txt b/entries/grunge.txt index 06b6f38..0e3620e 100644 --- a/entries/grunge.txt +++ b/entries/grunge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ grunge -/gruhnj/ , n. 1. That which is grungy, or that which makes it so. 2. [Cambridge] Code which is inaccessible due to changes in other parts of the program. The preferred term in North America is dead code. +/gruhnj/ , n. 1. That which is grungy, or that which makes it so. 2. +[Cambridge] Code which is inaccessible due to changes in other parts of the +program. The preferred term in North America is dead code. + diff --git a/entries/gubbish.txt b/entries/gubbish.txt index faf81e8..c6e47a9 100644 --- a/entries/gubbish.txt +++ b/entries/gubbish.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ gubbish -/guhb'@sh/ , n. [a portmanteau of garbage and rubbish ; may have originated with SF author Philip K. Dick] Garbage; crap; nonsense. What is all this gubbish? The opposite portmanteau rubbage is also reported; in fact, it was British slang during the 19th century and appears in Dickens. +/guhb'@sh/ , n. [a portmanteau of garbage and rubbish ; may have originated +with SF author Philip K. Dick] Garbage; crap; nonsense. What is all this +gubbish? The opposite portmanteau rubbage is also reported; in fact, it was +British slang during the 19th century and appears in Dickens. + diff --git a/entries/guiltware.txt b/entries/guiltware.txt index 02a28a3..81699c5 100644 --- a/entries/guiltware.txt +++ b/entries/guiltware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ guiltware -/giltweir/ , n. 1. A piece of freeware decorated with a message telling one how long and hard the author worked on it and intimating that one is a no-good freeloader if one does not immediately send the poor suffering martyr gobs of money. 2. A piece of shareware that works. +/giltweir/ , n. 1. A piece of freeware decorated with a message telling one +how long and hard the author worked on it and intimating that one is a +no-good freeloader if one does not immediately send the poor suffering +martyr gobs of money. 2. A piece of shareware that works. + diff --git a/entries/gumby.txt b/entries/gumby.txt index a7f8dde..e23022f 100644 --- a/entries/gumby.txt +++ b/entries/gumby.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ gumby -/guhmbee/ , n. [from a class of Monty Python characters, poss. with some influence from the 1960s claymation character] 1. An act of minor but conspicuous stupidity, often in gumby maneuver or pull a gumby. 2. [NRL] n. A bureaucrat, or other technical incompetent who impedes the progress of real work. 3. adj. Relating to things typically associated with people in sense 2. (e.g. Ran would be writing code, but Richard gave him gumby work that's due on Friday , or, Dammit! Travel screwed up my plane tickets. I have to go out on gumby patrol. +/guhmbee/ , n. [from a class of Monty Python characters, poss. with some +influence from the 1960s claymation character] 1. An act of minor but +conspicuous stupidity, often in gumby maneuver or pull a gumby. 2. [NRL] n. +A bureaucrat, or other technical incompetent who impedes the progress of +real work. 3. adj. Relating to things typically associated with people in +sense 2. (e.g. Ran would be writing code, but Richard gave him gumby work +that's due on Friday , or, Dammit! Travel screwed up my plane tickets. I +have to go out on gumby patrol. + diff --git a/entries/gunch.txt b/entries/gunch.txt index fec5107..f79ae9a 100644 --- a/entries/gunch.txt +++ b/entries/gunch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ gunch -/guhnch/ , vt. [TMRC] To push, prod, or poke at a device that has almost (but not quite) produced the desired result. Implies a threat to mung. +/guhnch/ , vt. [TMRC] To push, prod, or poke at a device that has almost +(but not quite) produced the desired result. Implies a threat to mung. + diff --git a/entries/gunpowder chicken.txt b/entries/gunpowder chicken.txt index bb38297..ddc3a4d 100644 --- a/entries/gunpowder chicken.txt +++ b/entries/gunpowder chicken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ gunpowder chicken n. Same as laser chicken. + diff --git a/entries/guru meditation.txt b/entries/guru meditation.txt index 506f053..fb65e3c 100644 --- a/entries/guru meditation.txt +++ b/entries/guru meditation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ guru meditation -n. Amiga equivalent of panic in Unix (sometimes just called a guru or guru event ). When the system crashes, a cryptic message of the form GURU MEDITATION #XXXXXXXX.YYYYYYYY may appear, indicating what the problem was. An Amiga guru can figure things out from the numbers. Sometimes a guru event must be followed by a Vulcan nerve pinch. This term is (no surprise) an in-joke from the earliest days of the Amiga. An earlier product of the Amiga corporation was a device called a Joyboard which was basically a plastic board built onto a joystick-like device; it was sold with a skiing game cartridge for the Atari game machine. It is said that whenever the prototype OS crashed, the system programmer responsible would calm down by concentrating on a solution while sitting cross-legged on a Joyboard trying to keep the board in balance. This position resembled that of a meditating guru. Sadly, the joke was removed fairly early on (but there's a well-known patch to restore it in more recent versions). +n. Amiga equivalent of panic in Unix (sometimes just called a guru or guru +event ). When the system crashes, a cryptic message of the form GURU +MEDITATION #XXXXXXXX.YYYYYYYY may appear, indicating what the problem was. +An Amiga guru can figure things out from the numbers. Sometimes a guru event +must be followed by a Vulcan nerve pinch. This term is (no surprise) an +in-joke from the earliest days of the Amiga. An earlier product of the Amiga +corporation was a device called a Joyboard which was basically a plastic +board built onto a joystick-like device; it was sold with a skiing game +cartridge for the Atari game machine. It is said that whenever the prototype +OS crashed, the system programmer responsible would calm down by +concentrating on a solution while sitting cross-legged on a Joyboard trying +to keep the board in balance. This position resembled that of a meditating +guru. Sadly, the joke was removed fairly early on (but there's a well-known +patch to restore it in more recent versions). + diff --git a/entries/guru.txt b/entries/guru.txt index 7d47ad9..9f25301 100644 --- a/entries/guru.txt +++ b/entries/guru.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ guru -n. [Unix] An expert. Implies not only wizard skill but also a history of being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used (with a qualifier) for other experts on other systems, as in VMS guru. See source of all good bits. +n. [Unix] An expert. Implies not only wizard skill but also a history of +being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used (with a qualifier) +for other experts on other systems, as in VMS guru. See source of all good +bits. + diff --git a/entries/gweep.txt b/entries/gweep.txt index 65d6bb8..1dab787 100644 --- a/entries/gweep.txt +++ b/entries/gweep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ gweep -/gweep/ [WPI] 1. v. To hack , usually at night. At WPI, from 1975 onwards, one who gweeped could often be found at the College Computing Center punching cards or crashing the PDP-10 or, later, the DEC-20. A correspondent who was there at the time opines that the term was originally onomatopoetic, describing the keyclick sound of the Datapoint terminals long connected to the PDP-10; others allege that gweep was the sound of the Datapoint's bell (compare feep ). The term has survived the demise of those technologies, however, and was still alive in early 1999. I'm going to go gweep for a while. See you in the morning. I gweep from 8 PM till 3 AM during the week. 2. n. One who habitually gweeps in sense 1; a hacker. He's a hard-core gweep, mumbles code in his sleep. Around 1979 this was considered derogatory and not used in self-reference; it has since been proudly claimed in much the same way as geek. +/gweep/ [WPI] 1. v. To hack , usually at night. At WPI, from 1975 onwards, +one who gweeped could often be found at the College Computing Center +punching cards or crashing the PDP-10 or, later, the DEC-20. A correspondent +who was there at the time opines that the term was originally onomatopoetic, +describing the keyclick sound of the Datapoint terminals long connected to +the PDP-10; others allege that gweep was the sound of the Datapoint's bell +(compare feep ). The term has survived the demise of those technologies, +however, and was still alive in early 1999. I'm going to go gweep for a +while. See you in the morning. I gweep from 8 PM till 3 AM during the week. +2. n. One who habitually gweeps in sense 1; a hacker. He's a hard-core +gweep, mumbles code in his sleep. Around 1979 this was considered derogatory +and not used in self-reference; it has since been proudly claimed in much +the same way as geek. + diff --git a/entries/ha ha only serious.txt b/entries/ha ha only serious.txt index ce5e2ad..e954ec8 100644 --- a/entries/ha ha only serious.txt +++ b/entries/ha ha only serious.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ ha ha only serious -A phrase (often seen abbreviated as HHOS) that aptly captures the flavor of much hacker discourse. Applied especially to parodies, absurdities, and ironic jokes that are both intended and perceived to contain a possibly disquieting amount of truth, or truths that are constructed on in-joke and self-parody. This lexicon contains many examples of ha-ha-only-serious in both form and content. Indeed, the entirety of hacker culture is often perceived as ha-ha-only-serious by hackers themselves; to take it either too lightly or too seriously marks a person as an outsider, a wannabee , or in larval stage. For further enlightenment on this subject, consult any Zen master. See also hacker humor , and koan. +A phrase (often seen abbreviated as HHOS) that aptly captures the flavor of +much hacker discourse. Applied especially to parodies, absurdities, and +ironic jokes that are both intended and perceived to contain a possibly +disquieting amount of truth, or truths that are constructed on in-joke and +self-parody. This lexicon contains many examples of ha-ha-only-serious in +both form and content. Indeed, the entirety of hacker culture is often +perceived as ha-ha-only-serious by hackers themselves; to take it either too +lightly or too seriously marks a person as an outsider, a wannabee , or in +larval stage. For further enlightenment on this subject, consult any Zen +master. See also hacker humor , and koan. + diff --git a/entries/hack attack.txt b/entries/hack attack.txt index 97d41bf..a66a1c3 100644 --- a/entries/hack attack.txt +++ b/entries/hack attack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hack attack -n. [poss. by analogy with Big Mac Attack from ads for the McDonald's fast-food chain; the variant big hack attack is reported] Nearly synonymous with hacking run , though the latter more strongly implies an all-nighter. +n. [poss. by analogy with Big Mac Attack from ads for the McDonald's +fast-food chain; the variant big hack attack is reported] Nearly synonymous +with hacking run , though the latter more strongly implies an all-nighter. + diff --git a/entries/hack mode.txt b/entries/hack mode.txt index bb9ed3b..83dc042 100644 --- a/entries/hack mode.txt +++ b/entries/hack mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ hack mode -n. 1. What one is in when hacking, of course. 2. More specifically, a Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem that may be achieved when one is hacking (this is why every good hacker is part mystic). Ability to enter such concentration at will correlates strongly with wizardliness; it is one of the most important skills learned during larval stage. Sometimes amplified as deep hack mode. Being yanked out of hack mode (see priority interrupt ) may be experienced as a physical shock, and the sensation of being in hack mode is more than a little habituating. The intensity of this experience is probably by itself sufficient explanation for the existence of hackers, and explains why many resist being promoted out of positions where they can code. See also cyberspace (sense 3). Some aspects of hacker etiquette will appear quite odd to an observer unaware of the high value placed on hack mode. For example, if someone appears at your door, it is perfectly okay to hold up a hand (without turning one's eyes away from the screen) to avoid being interrupted. One may read, type, and interact with the computer for quite some time before further acknowledging the other's presence (of course, he or she is reciprocally free to leave without a word). The understanding is that you might be in hack mode with a lot of delicate state (sense 2) in your head, and you dare not swap that context out until you have reached a good point to pause. See also juggling eggs. +n. 1. What one is in when hacking, of course. 2. More specifically, a +Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem that may be achieved when one +is hacking (this is why every good hacker is part mystic). Ability to enter +such concentration at will correlates strongly with wizardliness; it is one +of the most important skills learned during larval stage. Sometimes +amplified as deep hack mode. Being yanked out of hack mode (see priority +interrupt ) may be experienced as a physical shock, and the sensation of +being in hack mode is more than a little habituating. The intensity of this +experience is probably by itself sufficient explanation for the existence of +hackers, and explains why many resist being promoted out of positions where +they can code. See also cyberspace (sense 3). Some aspects of hacker +etiquette will appear quite odd to an observer unaware of the high value +placed on hack mode. For example, if someone appears at your door, it is +perfectly okay to hold up a hand (without turning one's eyes away from the +screen) to avoid being interrupted. One may read, type, and interact with +the computer for quite some time before further acknowledging the other's +presence (of course, he or she is reciprocally free to leave without a +word). The understanding is that you might be in hack mode with a lot of +delicate state (sense 2) in your head, and you dare not swap that context +out until you have reached a good point to pause. See also juggling eggs. + diff --git a/entries/hack on.txt b/entries/hack on.txt index 0e30d28..5394ab4 100644 --- a/entries/hack on.txt +++ b/entries/hack on.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hack on -vt. [very common] 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. +vt. [very common] 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. + diff --git a/entries/hack together.txt b/entries/hack together.txt index 7978880..6684260 100644 --- a/entries/hack together.txt +++ b/entries/hack together.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hack together -vt. [common] To throw something together so it will work. Unlike kluge together or cruft together , this does not necessarily have negative connotations. +vt. [common] To throw something together so it will work. Unlike kluge +together or cruft together , this does not necessarily have negative +connotations. + diff --git a/entries/hack up.txt b/entries/hack up.txt index bb6ba16..6e0a656 100644 --- a/entries/hack up.txt +++ b/entries/hack up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ 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 , monkey up , cruft together. +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 , monkey up , cruft together. + diff --git a/entries/hack value.txt b/entries/hack value.txt index 923cc98..b0fdcc4 100644 --- a/entries/hack value.txt +++ b/entries/hack value.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ 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 were installed purely for hack value. See display hack for one method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be explained, only experienced. As Louis Armstrong once said when asked to explain jazz: Man, if you gotta ask you'll never know. (Feminists please note Fats Waller's explanation of rhythm: Lady, if you got to ask, you ain't got it. +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 were installed purely for hack value. See display hack for +one method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be explained, +only experienced. As Louis Armstrong once said when asked to explain jazz: +Man, if you gotta ask you'll never know. (Feminists please note Fats +Waller's explanation of rhythm: Lady, if you got to ask, you ain't got it. + diff --git a/entries/hack.txt b/entries/hack.txt index 7b06a1d..9cdfc27 100644 --- a/entries/hack.txt +++ b/entries/hack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ hack -1. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well. 2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed. 3. vt. To bear emotionally or physically. I can't hack this heat! 4. vt. To work on something (typically a program). In an immediate sense: What are you doing? I'm hacking TECO. In a general (time-extended) sense: What do you do around here? I hack TECO. More generally, I hack foo is roughly equivalent to foo is my major interest (or project). I hack solid-state physics. See Hacking X for Y. 5. vt. To pull a prank on. See sense 2 and hacker (sense 5). 6. vi. To interact with a computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way. Whatcha up to? Oh, just hacking. 7. n. Short for hacker. 8. See nethack. 9. +1. n. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well. 2. +n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that +produces exactly what is needed. 3. vt. To bear emotionally or physically. I +can't hack this heat! 4. vt. To work on something (typically a program). In +an immediate sense: What are you doing? I'm hacking TECO. In a general +(time-extended) sense: What do you do around here? I hack TECO. More +generally, I hack foo is roughly equivalent to foo is my major interest (or +project). I hack solid-state physics. See Hacking X for Y. 5. vt. To pull a +prank on. See sense 2 and hacker (sense 5). 6. vi. To interact with a +computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way. Whatcha +up to? Oh, just hacking. 7. n. Short for hacker. 8. See nethack. 9. + diff --git a/entries/hacked off.txt b/entries/hacked off.txt index 8ce94ed..240307a 100644 --- a/entries/hacked off.txt +++ b/entries/hacked off.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ hacked off -adj. [analogous to pissed off ] 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 illegal, or even overtly criminal 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. It has been pointed out that there is precedent for this usage in U.S. Navy slang, in which officers under discipline are sometimes said to be in hack and one may speak of hacking off the C.O.. +adj. [analogous to pissed off ] 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 illegal, or even overtly criminal 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. It has been pointed out +that there is precedent for this usage in U.S. Navy slang, in which officers +under discipline are sometimes said to be in hack and one may speak of +hacking off the C.O.. + diff --git a/entries/hacked up.txt b/entries/hacked up.txt index 92e2b71..afcbb0d 100644 --- a/entries/hacked up.txt +++ b/entries/hacked up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ 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 coherence and continued maintainability, the software may emerge better for the experience. Contrast hack 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 coherence and continued maintainability, the software may emerge +better for the experience. Contrast hack up. + diff --git a/entries/hacker ethic.txt b/entries/hacker ethic.txt index 32d3300..d39daa2 100644 --- a/entries/hacker ethic.txt +++ b/entries/hacker ethic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ hacker ethic -n. 1. The belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing open-source code and facilitating access to information and to computing resources wherever possible. 2. The belief that system-cracking for fun and exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality. Both of these normative ethical principles are widely, but by no means universally, accepted among hackers. Most hackers subscribe to the hacker ethic in sense 1, and many act on it by writing and giving away open-source software. A few go further and assert that all information should be free and any proprietary control of it is bad; this is the philosophy behind the GNU project. Sense 2 is more controversial: some people consider the act of cracking itself to be unethical, like breaking and entering. But the belief that ethical cracking excludes destruction at least moderates the behavior of people who see themselves as benign crackers (see also samurai , gray hat ). On this view, it may be one of the highest forms of hackerly courtesy to (a) break into a system, and then (b) explain to the sysop, preferably by email from a superuser account, exactly how it was done and how the hole can be plugged acting as an unpaid (and unsolicited) tiger team. The most reliable manifestation of either version of the hacker ethic is that almost all hackers are actively willing to share technical tricks, software, and (where possible) computing resources with other hackers. Huge cooperative networks such as Usenet , FidoNet and the Internet itself can function without central control because of this trait; they both rely on and reinforce a sense of community that may be hackerdom's most valuable intangible asset. +n. 1. The belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and +that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing +open-source code and facilitating access to information and to computing +resources wherever possible. 2. The belief that system-cracking for fun and +exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, +vandalism, or breach of confidentiality. Both of these normative ethical +principles are widely, but by no means universally, accepted among hackers. +Most hackers subscribe to the hacker ethic in sense 1, and many act on it by +writing and giving away open-source software. A few go further and assert +that all information should be free and any proprietary control of it is +bad; this is the philosophy behind the GNU project. Sense 2 is more +controversial: some people consider the act of cracking itself to be +unethical, like breaking and entering. But the belief that ethical cracking +excludes destruction at least moderates the behavior of people who see +themselves as benign crackers (see also samurai , gray hat ). On this view, +it may be one of the highest forms of hackerly courtesy to (a) break into a +system, and then (b) explain to the sysop, preferably by email from a +superuser account, exactly how it was done and how the hole can be plugged +acting as an unpaid (and unsolicited) tiger team. The most reliable +manifestation of either version of the hacker ethic is that almost all +hackers are actively willing to share technical tricks, software, and (where +possible) computing resources with other hackers. Huge cooperative networks +such as Usenet , FidoNet and the Internet itself can function without +central control because of this trait; they both rely on and reinforce a +sense of community that may be hackerdom's most valuable intangible asset. + diff --git a/entries/hacker humor.txt b/entries/hacker humor.txt index bac0723..7c6a01b 100644 --- a/entries/hacker humor.txt +++ b/entries/hacker humor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,26 @@ hacker humor -A distinctive style of shared intellectual humor found among hackers, having the following marked characteristics: 1. Fascination with form-vs.-content jokes, paradoxes, and humor having to do with confusion of metalevels (see meta ). One way to make a hacker laugh: hold a red index card in front of him/her with GREEN written on it, or vice-versa (note, however, that this is funny only the first time). 2. Elaborate deadpan parodies of large intellectual constructs, such as specifications (see write-only memory ), standards documents, language descriptions (see INTERCAL ), and even entire scientific theories (see quantum bogodynamics , computron ). 3. Jokes that involve screwily precise reasoning from bizarre, ludicrous, or just grossly counter-intuitive premises. 4. Fascination with puns and wordplay. 5. A fondness for apparently mindless humor with subversive currents of intelligence in it for example, old Warner Brothers and Rocky Bullwinkle cartoons, the Marx brothers, the early B-52s, and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Humor that combines this trait with elements of high camp and slapstick is especially favored. 6. References to the symbol-object antinomies and associated ideas in Zen Buddhism and (less often) Taoism. See has the X nature , Discordianism , zen , ha ha only serious , koan. See also filk , retrocomputing , and the Portrait of J. Random Hacker in Appendix B. If you have an itchy feeling that all six of these traits are really aspects of one thing that is incredibly difficult to talk about exactly, you are (a) correct and (b) responding like a hacker. These traits are also recognizable (though in a less marked form) throughout science-fiction fandom. +A distinctive style of shared intellectual humor found among hackers, having +the following marked characteristics: 1. Fascination with form-vs.-content +jokes, paradoxes, and humor having to do with confusion of metalevels (see +meta ). One way to make a hacker laugh: hold a red index card in front of +him/her with GREEN written on it, or vice-versa (note, however, that this is +funny only the first time). 2. Elaborate deadpan parodies of large +intellectual constructs, such as specifications (see write-only memory ), +standards documents, language descriptions (see INTERCAL ), and even entire +scientific theories (see quantum bogodynamics , computron ). 3. Jokes that +involve screwily precise reasoning from bizarre, ludicrous, or just grossly +counter-intuitive premises. 4. Fascination with puns and wordplay. 5. A +fondness for apparently mindless humor with subversive currents of +intelligence in it for example, old Warner Brothers and Rocky Bullwinkle +cartoons, the Marx brothers, the early B-52s, and Monty Python's Flying +Circus. Humor that combines this trait with elements of high camp and +slapstick is especially favored. 6. References to the symbol-object +antinomies and associated ideas in Zen Buddhism and (less often) Taoism. See +has the X nature , Discordianism , zen , ha ha only serious , koan. See also +filk , retrocomputing , and the Portrait of J. Random Hacker in Appendix B. +If you have an itchy feeling that all six of these traits are really aspects +of one thing that is incredibly difficult to talk about exactly, you are (a) +correct and (b) responding like a hacker. These traits are also recognizable +(though in a less marked form) throughout science-fiction fandom. + diff --git a/entries/hacker.txt b/entries/hacker.txt index 7e87882..3642bbc 100644 --- a/entries/hacker.txt +++ b/entries/hacker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,33 @@ hacker -n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 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. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary , usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (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, or one who frequently does work using it or on 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 challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker , network hacker. The correct term for this sense is cracker. The term hacker also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network. For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic ). It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. 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 you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled bogus ). See also geek , wannabee. This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s. +n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 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. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary , usefully +amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding +of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in +particular. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (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, or one who +frequently does work using it or on 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 challenge of creatively overcoming or +circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to +discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker , +network hacker. The correct term for this sense is cracker. The term hacker +also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net +(see the network. For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see +the How To Become A Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is +seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic ). +It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself +that way. 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 you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled +bogus ). See also geek , wannabee. This term seems to have been first +adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and +the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this +entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s. + diff --git a/entries/hacking run.txt b/entries/hacking run.txt index a6527e7..28d658d 100644 --- a/entries/hacking run.txt +++ b/entries/hacking run.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hacking run -n. [analogy with bombing run or speed run ] 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 ). +n. [analogy with bombing run or speed run ] 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 ). + diff --git a/entries/hackish.txt b/entries/hackish.txt index 17a7272..5702008 100644 --- a/entries/hackish.txt +++ b/entries/hackish.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hackish -/hakish/ , 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. +/hakish/ , 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. + diff --git a/entries/hackishness.txt b/entries/hackishness.txt index 455dac9..347dc1b 100644 --- a/entries/hackishness.txt +++ b/entries/hackishness.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ hackishness -n. The quality of being or involving a hack. This term is considered mildly silly. Syn. hackitude. +n. The quality of being or involving a hack. This term is considered mildly +silly. Syn. hackitude. + diff --git a/entries/hackitude.txt b/entries/hackitude.txt index 1ffcd38..6142978 100644 --- a/entries/hackitude.txt +++ b/entries/hackitude.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hackitude n. Syn. hackishness ; this word is considered sillier. + diff --git a/entries/hair.txt b/entries/hair.txt index 696cb8d..1995a75 100644 --- a/entries/hair.txt +++ b/entries/hair.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ hair -n. [back-formation from hairy ] 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 (tending to promote hair growth): GNUMACS elisp encourages lusers to write complex editing modes. Yeah, it's pretty hairiferous all right. +n. [back-formation from hairy ] 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 (tending to promote hair growth): GNUMACS elisp encourages +lusers to write complex editing modes. Yeah, it's pretty hairiferous all +right. + diff --git a/entries/hairball.txt b/entries/hairball.txt index 8db2e1c..97f50fa 100644 --- a/entries/hairball.txt +++ b/entries/hairball.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ hairball -n. 1. [Fidonet] A large batch of messages that a store-and-forward network is failing to forward when it should. Often used in the phrase Fido coughed up a hairball today , meaning that the stuck messages have just come unstuck, producing a flood of mail where there had previously been drought. 2. An unmanageably huge mass of source code. JWZ thought the Mozilla effort bogged down because the code was a huge hairball. 3. Any large amount of garbage coming out suddenly. Sendmail is coughing up a hairball, so expect some slowness accessing the Internet. +n. 1. [Fidonet] A large batch of messages that a store-and-forward network +is failing to forward when it should. Often used in the phrase Fido coughed +up a hairball today , meaning that the stuck messages have just come +unstuck, producing a flood of mail where there had previously been drought. +2. An unmanageably huge mass of source code. JWZ thought the Mozilla effort +bogged down because the code was a huge hairball. 3. Any large amount of +garbage coming out suddenly. Sendmail is coughing up a hairball, so expect +some slowness accessing the Internet. + diff --git a/entries/hairy.txt b/entries/hairy.txt index 8e1e4ba..519787d 100644 --- a/entries/hairy.txt +++ b/entries/hairy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ 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 hairy lawyer who says there's nothing to worry about. See also hirsute. There is a theorem in simplicial homology theory which states that any continuous tangent field on a 2-sphere is null at least in a point. Mathematically literate hackers tend to associate the term hairy with the informal version of this theorem; You can't comb a hairy ball smooth. (Previous versions of this entry associating the above informal statement with the Brouwer fixed-point theorem were incorrect.) The adjective long-haired is well-attested to have been in slang use among scientists and engineers during the early 1950s; it was equivalent to modern hairy senses 1 and 2, and was very likely ancestral to the hackish use. In fact the noun long-hair was at the time used to describe a person satisfying sense 3. Both senses probably passed out of use when long hair was adopted as a signature trait by the 1960s counterculture, leaving hackish hairy as a sort of stunted mutant relic. In British mainstream use, hairy means dangerous , and consequently, in British programming terms, hairy may be used to denote complicated and/or incomprehensible code, but only if that complexity or incomprehesiveness is also considered dangerous. +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 hairy lawyer who says there's nothing to worry +about. See also hirsute. There is a theorem in simplicial homology theory +which states that any continuous tangent field on a 2-sphere is null at +least in a point. Mathematically literate hackers tend to associate the term +hairy with the informal version of this theorem; You can't comb a hairy ball +smooth. (Previous versions of this entry associating the above informal +statement with the Brouwer fixed-point theorem were incorrect.) The +adjective long-haired is well-attested to have been in slang use among +scientists and engineers during the early 1950s; it was equivalent to modern +hairy senses 1 and 2, and was very likely ancestral to the hackish use. In +fact the noun long-hair was at the time used to describe a person satisfying +sense 3. Both senses probably passed out of use when long hair was adopted +as a signature trait by the 1960s counterculture, leaving hackish hairy as a +sort of stunted mutant relic. In British mainstream use, hairy means +dangerous , and consequently, in British programming terms, hairy may be +used to denote complicated and/or incomprehensible code, but only if that +complexity or incomprehesiveness is also considered dangerous. + diff --git a/entries/hakspek.txt b/entries/hakspek.txt index 843a8a9..b472eee 100644 --- a/entries/hakspek.txt +++ b/entries/hakspek.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ hakspek -/hakspeek/ , n. A shorthand method of spelling found on many British academic bulletin boards and talker system s. Syllables and whole words in a sentence are replaced by single ASCII characters the names of which are phonetically similar or equivalent, while multiple letters are usually dropped. Hence, for becomes 4 ; two , too , and to become 2 ; ck becomes k. Before I see you tomorrow becomes b4 i c u 2moro. First appeared in London about 1986, and was probably caused by the slowness of available talker systems, which operated on archaic machines with outdated operating systems and no standard methods of communication. Hakspek almost disappeared after the great bandwidth explosion of the early 1990s, as fast Internet links wiped out the old-style talker systems. However, it has enjoyed a revival in another medium the Short Message Service (SMS) associated with GSM cellphones. SMS sends are limited to a maximum of 160 characters, and typing on a cellphone keypad is difficult and slow anyway. There are now even published paper dictionaries for SMS users to help them do hakspek-to-English and vice-versa. See also talk mode. +/hakspeek/ , n. A shorthand method of spelling found on many British +academic bulletin boards and talker system s. Syllables and whole words in a +sentence are replaced by single ASCII characters the names of which are +phonetically similar or equivalent, while multiple letters are usually +dropped. Hence, for becomes 4 ; two , too , and to become 2 ; ck becomes k. +Before I see you tomorrow becomes b4 i c u 2moro. First appeared in London +about 1986, and was probably caused by the slowness of available talker +systems, which operated on archaic machines with outdated operating systems +and no standard methods of communication. Hakspek almost disappeared after +the great bandwidth explosion of the early 1990s, as fast Internet links +wiped out the old-style talker systems. However, it has enjoyed a revival in +another medium the Short Message Service (SMS) associated with GSM +cellphones. SMS sends are limited to a maximum of 160 characters, and typing +on a cellphone keypad is difficult and slow anyway. There are now even +published paper dictionaries for SMS users to help them do +hakspek-to-English and vice-versa. See also talk mode. + diff --git a/entries/ham.txt b/entries/ham.txt index c053e73..c9732c6 100644 --- a/entries/ham.txt +++ b/entries/ham.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ ham -The opposite of spam , sense 3; that is, incoming mail that the user actually wants to see. +The opposite of spam , sense 3; that is, incoming mail that the user +actually wants to see. + diff --git a/entries/hammer.txt b/entries/hammer.txt index 8af5401..9bca743 100644 --- a/entries/hammer.txt +++ b/entries/hammer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hammer vt. Commonwealth hackish syn. for bang on. + diff --git a/entries/hamster.txt b/entries/hamster.txt index c3d2884..398c22a 100644 --- a/entries/hamster.txt +++ b/entries/hamster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ hamster -n. 1. [Fairchild] A particularly slick little piece of code that does one thing well; a small, self-contained hack. The image is of a hamster happily spinning its exercise wheel. 2. A tailless mouse; that is, one with an infrared link to a receiver on the machine, as opposed to the conventional cable. 3. [UK] Any item of hardware made by Amstrad, a company famous for its cheap plastic PC-almost-compatibles. +n. 1. [Fairchild] A particularly slick little piece of code that does one +thing well; a small, self-contained hack. The image is of a hamster happily +spinning its exercise wheel. 2. A tailless mouse; that is, one with an +infrared link to a receiver on the machine, as opposed to the conventional +cable. 3. [UK] Any item of hardware made by Amstrad, a company famous for +its cheap plastic PC-almost-compatibles. + diff --git a/entries/hand cruft.txt b/entries/hand cruft.txt index 95ecbbd..903ffbc 100644 --- a/entries/hand cruft.txt +++ b/entries/hand cruft.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hand cruft vt. [pun on hand craft ] See cruft , sense 3. + diff --git a/entries/hand-hacking.txt b/entries/hand-hacking.txt index ca825f7..920b2f2 100644 --- a/entries/hand-hacking.txt +++ b/entries/hand-hacking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ hand-hacking -n. 1. [rare] The practice of translating hot spot s from an HLL into hand-tuned assembler, as opposed to trying to coerce the compiler into generating better code. Both the term and the practice are becoming uncommon. See tune , by hand ; syn. with v. cruft. 2. [common] More generally, manual construction or patching of data sets that would normally be generated by a translation utility and interpreted by another program, and aren't really designed to be read or modified by humans. +n. 1. [rare] The practice of translating hot spot s from an HLL into +hand-tuned assembler, as opposed to trying to coerce the compiler into +generating better code. Both the term and the practice are becoming +uncommon. See tune , by hand ; syn. with v. cruft. 2. [common] More +generally, manual construction or patching of data sets that would normally +be generated by a translation utility and interpreted by another program, +and aren't really designed to be read or modified by humans. + diff --git a/entries/hand-roll.txt b/entries/hand-roll.txt index ca6c179..218eecd 100644 --- a/entries/hand-roll.txt +++ b/entries/hand-roll.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ hand-roll -v. [from obs. mainstream slang hand-rolled in opposition to ready-made , referring to cigarettes] To perform a normally automated software installation or configuration process by hand ; implies that the normal process failed due to bugs in the configurator or was defeated by something exceptional in the local environment. The worst thing about being a gateway between four different nets is having to hand-roll a new sendmail configuration every time any of them upgrades. +v. [from obs. mainstream slang hand-rolled in opposition to ready-made , +referring to cigarettes] To perform a normally automated software +installation or configuration process by hand ; implies that the normal +process failed due to bugs in the configurator or was defeated by something +exceptional in the local environment. The worst thing about being a gateway +between four different nets is having to hand-roll a new sendmail +configuration every time any of them upgrades. + diff --git a/entries/handle.txt b/entries/handle.txt index 2043f30..ca82a0b 100644 --- a/entries/handle.txt +++ b/entries/handle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ handle -n. 1. [from CB slang] An electronic pseudonym; a nom de guerre intended to conceal the user's true identity. Network and BBS handles function as the same sort of simultaneous concealment and display one finds on Citizen's Band radio, from which the term was adopted. Use of grandiose handles is characteristic of warez d00dz , cracker s, weenie s, spod s, and other lower forms of network life; true hackers travel on their own reputations rather than invented legendry. Compare nick , screen name. 2. A magic cookie , often in the form of a numeric index into some array somewhere, through which you can manipulate an object like a file or window. The form file handle is especially common. 3. [Mac] A pointer to a pointer to dynamically-allocated memory; the extra level of indirection allows on-the-fly memory compaction (to cut down on fragmentation) or aging out of unused resources, with minimal impact on the (possibly multiple) parts of the larger program containing references to the allocated memory. Compare snap (to snap a handle would defeat its purpose); see also aliasing bug , dangling pointer. +n. 1. [from CB slang] An electronic pseudonym; a nom de guerre intended to +conceal the user's true identity. Network and BBS handles function as the +same sort of simultaneous concealment and display one finds on Citizen's +Band radio, from which the term was adopted. Use of grandiose handles is +characteristic of warez d00dz , cracker s, weenie s, spod s, and other lower +forms of network life; true hackers travel on their own reputations rather +than invented legendry. Compare nick , screen name. 2. A magic cookie , +often in the form of a numeric index into some array somewhere, through +which you can manipulate an object like a file or window. The form file +handle is especially common. 3. [Mac] A pointer to a pointer to +dynamically-allocated memory; the extra level of indirection allows +on-the-fly memory compaction (to cut down on fragmentation) or aging out of +unused resources, with minimal impact on the (possibly multiple) parts of +the larger program containing references to the allocated memory. Compare +snap (to snap a handle would defeat its purpose); see also aliasing bug , +dangling pointer. + diff --git a/entries/handshaking.txt b/entries/handshaking.txt index 40a5eb9..0b051a2 100644 --- a/entries/handshaking.txt +++ b/entries/handshaking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ handshaking -n. [very common] Hardware or software activity designed to start or keep two machines or programs in synchronization as they do protocol. Often applied to human activity; thus, a hacker might watch two people in conversation nodding their heads to indicate that they have heard each others' points and say Oh, they're handshaking!. See also protocol. +n. [very common] Hardware or software activity designed to start or keep two +machines or programs in synchronization as they do protocol. Often applied +to human activity; thus, a hacker might watch two people in conversation +nodding their heads to indicate that they have heard each others' points and +say Oh, they're handshaking!. See also protocol. + diff --git a/entries/handwave.txt b/entries/handwave.txt index 621e862..0bd4491 100644 --- a/entries/handwave.txt +++ b/entries/handwave.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ handwave -/handwayv/ [poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians] 1. v. To gloss over a complex point; to distract a listener; to support a (possibly actually valid) point with blatantly faulty logic. 2. n. The act of handwaving. Boy, what a handwave! If someone starts a sentence with Clearly... or Obviously... or It is self-evident that... , it is a good bet he is about to handwave (alternatively, use of these constructions in a sarcastic tone before a paraphrase of someone else's argument suggests that it is a handwave). The theory behind this term is that if you wave your hands at the right moment, the listener may be sufficiently distracted to not notice that what you have said is bogus. Failing that, if a listener does object, you might try to dismiss the objection with a wave of your hand. The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both hands up, palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting at the elbows and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the handwave); alternatively, holding the forearms in one position while rotating the hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the gestures alone can suffice as a remark; if a speaker makes an outrageously unsupported assumption, you might simply wave your hands in this way, as an accusation, far more eloquent than words could express, that his logic is faulty. +/handwayv/ [poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians] 1. v. To +gloss over a complex point; to distract a listener; to support a (possibly +actually valid) point with blatantly faulty logic. 2. n. The act of +handwaving. Boy, what a handwave! If someone starts a sentence with +Clearly... or Obviously... or It is self-evident that... , it is a good bet +he is about to handwave (alternatively, use of these constructions in a +sarcastic tone before a paraphrase of someone else's argument suggests that +it is a handwave). The theory behind this term is that if you wave your +hands at the right moment, the listener may be sufficiently distracted to +not notice that what you have said is bogus. Failing that, if a listener +does object, you might try to dismiss the objection with a wave of your +hand. The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both hands up, +palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting at the elbows +and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the handwave); +alternatively, holding the forearms in one position while rotating the hands +at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the gestures alone can +suffice as a remark; if a speaker makes an outrageously unsupported +assumption, you might simply wave your hands in this way, as an accusation, +far more eloquent than words could express, that his logic is faulty. + diff --git a/entries/hang.txt b/entries/hang.txt index b302610..0d3a10b 100644 --- a/entries/hang.txt +++ b/entries/hang.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ hang -v. 1. [very common] To wait for an event that will never occur. The system is hanging because it can't read from the crashed drive. See wedged , hung. 2. To wait for some event to occur; to hang around until something happens. The program displays a menu and then hangs until you type a character. Compare block. 3. To attach a peripheral device, esp. +v. 1. [very common] To wait for an event that will never occur. The system +is hanging because it can't read from the crashed drive. See wedged , hung. +2. To wait for some event to occur; to hang around until something happens. +The program displays a menu and then hangs until you type a character. +Compare block. 3. To attach a peripheral device, esp. + diff --git a/entries/happily.txt b/entries/happily.txt index 62c728b..491dc75 100644 --- a/entries/happily.txt +++ b/entries/happily.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ happily -adv. Of software, used to emphasize that a program is unaware of some important fact about its environment, either because it has been fooled into believing a lie, or because it doesn't care. The sense of happy here is not that of elation, but rather that of blissful ignorance. The program continues to run, happily unaware that its output is going to /dev/null. Also used to suggest that a program or device would really rather be doing something destructive, and is being given an opportunity to do so. If you enter an O here instead of a zero, the program will happily erase all your data. Nevertheless, use of this term implies a basically benign attitude towards the program: It didn't mean any harm, it was just eager to do its job. We'd like to be angry at it but we shouldn't, we should try to understand it instead. The adjective cheerfully is often used in exactly the same way. +adv. Of software, used to emphasize that a program is unaware of some +important fact about its environment, either because it has been fooled into +believing a lie, or because it doesn't care. The sense of happy here is not +that of elation, but rather that of blissful ignorance. The program +continues to run, happily unaware that its output is going to /dev/null. +Also used to suggest that a program or device would really rather be doing +something destructive, and is being given an opportunity to do so. If you +enter an O here instead of a zero, the program will happily erase all your +data. Nevertheless, use of this term implies a basically benign attitude +towards the program: It didn't mean any harm, it was just eager to do its +job. We'd like to be angry at it but we shouldn't, we should try to +understand it instead. The adjective cheerfully is often used in exactly the +same way. + diff --git a/entries/hard boot.txt b/entries/hard boot.txt index 6bbb406..d5856b6 100644 --- a/entries/hard boot.txt +++ b/entries/hard boot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hard boot n. See boot. + diff --git a/entries/hardcoded.txt b/entries/hardcoded.txt index e14527e..fcd5987 100644 --- a/entries/hardcoded.txt +++ b/entries/hardcoded.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ hardcoded -adj. 1. [common] Said of data inserted directly into a program, where it cannot be easily modified, as opposed to data in some profile , resource (see de-rezz sense 2), or environment variable that a user or hacker can easily modify. 2. In C, this is esp. applied to use of a literal instead of a #define macro (see magic number ). +adj. 1. [common] Said of data inserted directly into a program, where it +cannot be easily modified, as opposed to data in some profile , resource +(see de-rezz sense 2), or environment variable that a user or hacker can +easily modify. 2. In C, this is esp. applied to use of a literal instead of +a #define macro (see magic number ). + diff --git a/entries/hardwarily.txt b/entries/hardwarily.txt index c8bcd0e..87da03d 100644 --- a/entries/hardwarily.txt +++ b/entries/hardwarily.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hardwarily -/hardweir'@lee/ , adv. In a way pertaining to hardware. The system is hardwarily unreliable. The adjective hardwary is not traditionally used, though it has recently been reported from the U.K. See softwarily. +/hardweir'@lee/ , adv. In a way pertaining to hardware. The system is +hardwarily unreliable. The adjective hardwary is not traditionally used, +though it has recently been reported from the U.K. See softwarily. + diff --git a/entries/hardwired.txt b/entries/hardwired.txt index 859d05b..92b8b55 100644 --- a/entries/hardwired.txt +++ b/entries/hardwired.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hardwired -adj. 1. In software, syn. for hardcoded. 2. By extension, anything that is not modifiable, especially in the sense of customizable to one's particular needs or tastes. +adj. 1. In software, syn. for hardcoded. 2. By extension, anything that is +not modifiable, especially in the sense of customizable to one's particular +needs or tastes. + diff --git a/entries/has the X nature.txt b/entries/has the X nature.txt index 39e1a37..c98696c 100644 --- a/entries/has the X nature.txt +++ b/entries/has the X nature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ has the X nature -adj. Common hacker construction for is an X , used for humorous emphasis. Anyone who can't even use a program with on-screen help embedded in it truly has the loser nature! See also the X that can be Y is not the true X. See also mu. +adj. Common hacker construction for is an X , used for humorous emphasis. +Anyone who can't even use a program with on-screen help embedded in it truly +has the loser nature! See also the X that can be Y is not the true X. See +also mu. + diff --git a/entries/hash bucket.txt b/entries/hash bucket.txt index d15c2ed..1fd7a7b 100644 --- a/entries/hash bucket.txt +++ b/entries/hash bucket.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ hash bucket -n. A notional receptacle, a set of which might be used to apportion data items for sorting or lookup purposes. When you look up a name in the phone book (for example), you typically hash it by extracting its first letter; the hash buckets are the alphabetically ordered letter sections. This term is used as techspeak with respect to code that uses actual hash functions; in jargon, it is used for human associative memory as well. Thus, two things in the same hash bucket are more difficult to discriminate, and may be confused. If you hash English words only by length, you get too many common grammar words in the first couple of hash buckets. Compare hash collision. +n. A notional receptacle, a set of which might be used to apportion data +items for sorting or lookup purposes. When you look up a name in the phone +book (for example), you typically hash it by extracting its first letter; +the hash buckets are the alphabetically ordered letter sections. This term +is used as techspeak with respect to code that uses actual hash functions; +in jargon, it is used for human associative memory as well. Thus, two things +in the same hash bucket are more difficult to discriminate, and may be +confused. If you hash English words only by length, you get too many common +grammar words in the first couple of hash buckets. Compare hash collision. + diff --git a/entries/hash collision.txt b/entries/hash collision.txt index 4378a4b..cb6c569 100644 --- a/entries/hash collision.txt +++ b/entries/hash collision.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ hash collision -n. [from the techspeak] (var.: hash clash ) When used of people, signifies a confusion in associative memory or imagination, especially a persistent one (see thinko ). True story: One of us [ESR] was once on the phone with a friend about to move out to Berkeley. When asked what he expected Berkeley to be like, the friend replied: Well, I have this mental picture of naked women throwing Molotov cocktails, but I think that's just a collision in my hash tables. Compare hash bucket. +n. [from the techspeak] (var.: hash clash ) When used of people, signifies a +confusion in associative memory or imagination, especially a persistent one +(see thinko ). True story: One of us [ESR] was once on the phone with a +friend about to move out to Berkeley. When asked what he expected Berkeley +to be like, the friend replied: Well, I have this mental picture of naked +women throwing Molotov cocktails, but I think that's just a collision in my +hash tables. Compare hash bucket. + diff --git a/entries/hat.txt b/entries/hat.txt index 3ef124e..4c4830f 100644 --- a/entries/hat.txt +++ b/entries/hat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ hat -n. Common (spoken) name for the circumflex ( ^ , ASCII 1011110) character. See ASCII for other synonyms. +n. Common (spoken) name for the circumflex ( ^ , ASCII 1011110) character. +See ASCII for other synonyms. + diff --git a/entries/heads down.txt b/entries/heads down.txt index 28e971f..dc1b950 100644 --- a/entries/heads down.txt +++ b/entries/heads down.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ heads down -adj. Concentrating, usually so heavily and for so long that everything outside the focus area is missed. See also hack mode and larval stage , although this mode is hardly confined to fledgling hackers. +adj. Concentrating, usually so heavily and for so long that everything +outside the focus area is missed. See also hack mode and larval stage , +although this mode is hardly confined to fledgling hackers. + diff --git a/entries/heartbeat.txt b/entries/heartbeat.txt index 9c16bae..57ed446 100644 --- a/entries/heartbeat.txt +++ b/entries/heartbeat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ heartbeat -n. 1. The signal emitted by a Level 2 Ethernet transceiver at the end of every packet to show that the collision-detection circuit is still connected. 2. A periodic synchronization signal used by software or hardware, such as a bus clock or a periodic interrupt. 3. The natural oscillation frequency of a computer's clock crystal, before frequency division down to the machine's clock rate. 4. A signal emitted at regular intervals by software to demonstrate that it is still alive. Sometimes hardware is designed to reboot the machine if it stops hearing a heartbeat. See also breath-of-life packet. +n. 1. The signal emitted by a Level 2 Ethernet transceiver at the end of +every packet to show that the collision-detection circuit is still +connected. 2. A periodic synchronization signal used by software or +hardware, such as a bus clock or a periodic interrupt. 3. The natural +oscillation frequency of a computer's clock crystal, before frequency +division down to the machine's clock rate. 4. A signal emitted at regular +intervals by software to demonstrate that it is still alive. Sometimes +hardware is designed to reboot the machine if it stops hearing a heartbeat. +See also breath-of-life packet. + diff --git a/entries/heatseeker.txt b/entries/heatseeker.txt index 86788ab..2b8791f 100644 --- a/entries/heatseeker.txt +++ b/entries/heatseeker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ heatseeker -n. [IBM] A customer who can be relied upon to buy, without fail, the latest version of an existing product (not quite the same as a member of the lunatic fringe ). A 1993 example of a heatseeker was someone who, owning a 286 PC and Windows 3.0, went out and bought Windows 3.1 (which offers no worthwhile benefits unless you have a 386). If all customers were heatseekers, vast amounts of money could be made by just fixing some of the bugs in each release (n) and selling it to them as release (n+1). Microsoft in fact seems to have mastered this technique. +n. [IBM] A customer who can be relied upon to buy, without fail, the latest +version of an existing product (not quite the same as a member of the +lunatic fringe ). A 1993 example of a heatseeker was someone who, owning a +286 PC and Windows 3.0, went out and bought Windows 3.1 (which offers no +worthwhile benefits unless you have a 386). If all customers were +heatseekers, vast amounts of money could be made by just fixing some of the +bugs in each release (n) and selling it to them as release (n+1). Microsoft +in fact seems to have mastered this technique. + diff --git a/entries/heavy metal.txt b/entries/heavy metal.txt index 6581a9a..8cc9d04 100644 --- a/entries/heavy metal.txt +++ b/entries/heavy metal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ heavy metal n. [Cambridge] Syn. big iron. + diff --git a/entries/heavy wizardry.txt b/entries/heavy wizardry.txt index 33e2271..1ecadd2 100644 --- a/entries/heavy wizardry.txt +++ b/entries/heavy wizardry.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ heavy wizardry -n. Code or designs that trade on a particularly intimate knowledge or experience of a particular operating system or language or complex application interface. Distinguished from deep magic , which trades more on arcane theoretical knowledge. Writing device drivers is heavy wizardry; so is interfacing to X (sense 2) without a toolkit. Esp.: found in source-code comments of the form Heavy wizardry begins here. Compare voodoo programming. +n. Code or designs that trade on a particularly intimate knowledge or +experience of a particular operating system or language or complex +application interface. Distinguished from deep magic , which trades more on +arcane theoretical knowledge. Writing device drivers is heavy wizardry; so +is interfacing to X (sense 2) without a toolkit. Esp.: found in source-code +comments of the form Heavy wizardry begins here. Compare voodoo programming. + diff --git a/entries/heavyweight.txt b/entries/heavyweight.txt index 9fb3452..80ea5b5 100644 --- a/entries/heavyweight.txt +++ b/entries/heavyweight.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ heavyweight -adj. [common] High-overhead; baroque ; code-intensive; featureful, but costly. Esp. used of communication protocols, language designs, and any sort of implementation in which maximum generality and/or ease of implementation has been pushed at the expense of mundane considerations such as speed, memory utilization, and startup time. EMACS is a heavyweight editor; X is an extremely heavyweight window system. This term isn't pejorative, but one hacker's heavyweight is another's elephantine and a third's monstrosity. Oppose lightweight. Usage: now borders on techspeak, especially in the compound heavyweight process. +adj. [common] High-overhead; baroque ; code-intensive; featureful, but +costly. Esp. used of communication protocols, language designs, and any sort +of implementation in which maximum generality and/or ease of implementation +has been pushed at the expense of mundane considerations such as speed, +memory utilization, and startup time. EMACS is a heavyweight editor; X is an +extremely heavyweight window system. This term isn't pejorative, but one +hacker's heavyweight is another's elephantine and a third's monstrosity. +Oppose lightweight. Usage: now borders on techspeak, especially in the +compound heavyweight process. + diff --git a/entries/heisenbug.txt b/entries/heisenbug.txt index aae8a71..4b067d1 100644 --- a/entries/heisenbug.txt +++ b/entries/heisenbug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ heisenbug -/hi:zenbuhg/ , n. [from Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics] A bug that disappears or alters its behavior when one attempts to probe or isolate it. (This usage is not even particularly fanciful; the use of a debugger sometimes alters a program's operating environment significantly enough that buggy code, such as that which relies on the values of uninitialized memory, behaves quite differently.) Antonym of Bohr bug ; see also mandelbug , schroedinbug. In C, nine out of ten heisenbugs result from uninitialized auto variables, fandango on core phenomena (esp. lossage related to corruption of the malloc arena ) or errors that smash the stack. +/hi:zenbuhg/ , n. [from Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in quantum +physics] A bug that disappears or alters its behavior when one attempts to +probe or isolate it. (This usage is not even particularly fanciful; the use +of a debugger sometimes alters a program's operating environment +significantly enough that buggy code, such as that which relies on the +values of uninitialized memory, behaves quite differently.) Antonym of Bohr +bug ; see also mandelbug , schroedinbug. In C, nine out of ten heisenbugs +result from uninitialized auto variables, fandango on core phenomena (esp. +lossage related to corruption of the malloc arena ) or errors that smash the +stack. + diff --git a/entries/hell desk.txt b/entries/hell desk.txt index f471851..c9de754 100644 --- a/entries/hell desk.txt +++ b/entries/hell desk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ hell desk -Common mispronunciation of help desk , especially among people who have to answer phones at one. +Common mispronunciation of help desk , especially among people who have to +answer phones at one. + diff --git a/entries/hello sailor!.txt b/entries/hello sailor!.txt index f551790..e88e6cc 100644 --- a/entries/hello sailor!.txt +++ b/entries/hello sailor!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ hello sailor! -interj. Occasional West Coast equivalent of hello world ; seems to have originated at SAIL, later associated with the game Zork (which also included hello, aviator and hello, implementor ). Originally from the traditional hooker's greeting to a swabbie fresh off the boat, of course. The standard response is Nothing happens here. ; of all the Zork/Dungeon games, only in Infocom's Zork 3 is Hello, Sailor actually useful (excluding the unique situation where _knowing_ this fact is important in Dungeon...). +interj. Occasional West Coast equivalent of hello world ; seems to have +originated at SAIL, later associated with the game Zork (which also included +hello, aviator and hello, implementor ). Originally from the traditional +hooker's greeting to a swabbie fresh off the boat, of course. The standard +response is Nothing happens here. ; of all the Zork/Dungeon games, only in +Infocom's Zork 3 is Hello, Sailor actually useful (excluding the unique +situation where _knowing_ this fact is important in Dungeon...). + diff --git a/entries/hello world.txt b/entries/hello world.txt index 3aa1961..201997f 100644 --- a/entries/hello world.txt +++ b/entries/hello world.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ hello world -interj. 1. The canonical minimal test message in the C/Unix universe. 2. Any of the minimal programs that emit this message (a representative sample in various languages can be found at http://www.latech.edu/~acm/helloworld/ ). Traditionally, the first program a C coder is supposed to write in a new environment is one that just prints hello, world to standard output (and indeed it is the first example program in K R ). Environments that generate an unreasonably large executable for this trivial test or which require a hairy compiler-linker invocation to generate it are considered to lose (see X ). 3. Greeting uttered by a hacker making an entrance or requesting information from anyone present. +interj. 1. The canonical minimal test message in the C/Unix universe. 2. Any +of the minimal programs that emit this message (a representative sample in +various languages can be found at http://www.latech.edu/~acm/helloworld/ ). +Traditionally, the first program a C coder is supposed to write in a new +environment is one that just prints hello, world to standard output (and +indeed it is the first example program in K R ). Environments that generate +an unreasonably large executable for this trivial test or which require a +hairy compiler-linker invocation to generate it are considered to lose (see +X ). 3. Greeting uttered by a hacker making an entrance or requesting +information from anyone present. + diff --git a/entries/hello, wall!.txt b/entries/hello, wall!.txt index 7c00156..1c73b52 100644 --- a/entries/hello, wall!.txt +++ b/entries/hello, wall!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hello, wall! excl. See wall. + diff --git a/entries/hex.txt b/entries/hex.txt index f58808c..cd809ae 100644 --- a/entries/hex.txt +++ b/entries/hex.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ hex -n. 1. Short for hexadecimal , base 16. 2. A 6-pack of anything (compare quad , sense 2). Neither usage has anything to do with magic or black art , though the pun is appreciated and occasionally used by hackers. True story: As a joke, some hackers once offered some surplus ICs for sale to be worn as protective amulets against hostile magic. The chips were, of course, hex inverters. +n. 1. Short for hexadecimal , base 16. 2. A 6-pack of anything (compare quad +, sense 2). Neither usage has anything to do with magic or black art , +though the pun is appreciated and occasionally used by hackers. True story: +As a joke, some hackers once offered some surplus ICs for sale to be worn as +protective amulets against hostile magic. The chips were, of course, hex +inverters. + diff --git a/entries/hexadecimal.txt b/entries/hexadecimal.txt index 0a6283d..9b63a11 100644 --- a/entries/hexadecimal.txt +++ b/entries/hexadecimal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ hexadecimal -n. Base 16. Coined in the early 1950s to replace earlier sexadecimal , which was too racy and amusing for stuffy IBM, and later adopted by the rest of the industry. Actually, neither term is etymologically pure. If we take binary to be paradigmatic, the most etymologically correct term for base 10, for example, is denary , which comes from deni (ten at a time, ten each), a Latin distributive number; the corresponding term for base-16 would be something like sendenary. Decimal comes from the combining root of decem , Latin for 10. If wish to create a truly analogous word for base 16, we should start with sedecim , Latin for 16. Ergo, sedecimal is the word that would have been created by a Latin scholar. The sexa- prefix is Latin but incorrect in this context, and hexa- is Greek. The word octal is similarly incorrect; a correct form would be octaval (to go with decimal), or octonary (to go with binary). If anyone ever implements a base-3 computer, computer scientists will be faced with the unprecedented dilemma of a choice between two correct forms; both ternary and trinary have a claim to this throne. +n. Base 16. Coined in the early 1950s to replace earlier sexadecimal , which +was too racy and amusing for stuffy IBM, and later adopted by the rest of +the industry. Actually, neither term is etymologically pure. If we take +binary to be paradigmatic, the most etymologically correct term for base 10, +for example, is denary , which comes from deni (ten at a time, ten each), a +Latin distributive number; the corresponding term for base-16 would be +something like sendenary. Decimal comes from the combining root of decem , +Latin for 10. If wish to create a truly analogous word for base 16, we +should start with sedecim , Latin for 16. Ergo, sedecimal is the word that +would have been created by a Latin scholar. The sexa- prefix is Latin but +incorrect in this context, and hexa- is Greek. The word octal is similarly +incorrect; a correct form would be octaval (to go with decimal), or octonary +(to go with binary). If anyone ever implements a base-3 computer, computer +scientists will be faced with the unprecedented dilemma of a choice between +two correct forms; both ternary and trinary have a claim to this throne. + diff --git a/entries/hexit.txt b/entries/hexit.txt index 5945b19..0de9a3e 100644 --- a/entries/hexit.txt +++ b/entries/hexit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ hexit -/heksit/ , n. A hexadecimal digit (0-9, and A-F or a-f). Used by people who claim that there are only ten digits, dammit; sixteen-fingered human beings are rather rare, despite what some keyboard designs might seem to imply (see space-cadet keyboard ). +/heksit/ , n. A hexadecimal digit (0-9, and A-F or a-f). Used by people who +claim that there are only ten digits, dammit; sixteen-fingered human beings +are rather rare, despite what some keyboard designs might seem to imply (see +space-cadet keyboard ). + diff --git a/entries/hidden flag.txt b/entries/hidden flag.txt index 338754c..946c56d 100644 --- a/entries/hidden flag.txt +++ b/entries/hidden flag.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ hidden flag -n. [scientific computation] An extra option added to a routine without changing the calling sequence. For example, instead of adding an explicit input variable to instruct a routine to give extra diagnostic output, the programmer might just add a test for some otherwise meaningless feature of the existing inputs, such as a negative mass. The use of hidden flags can make a program very hard to debug and understand, but is all too common wherever programs are hacked on in a hurry. +n. [scientific computation] An extra option added to a routine without +changing the calling sequence. For example, instead of adding an explicit +input variable to instruct a routine to give extra diagnostic output, the +programmer might just add a test for some otherwise meaningless feature of +the existing inputs, such as a negative mass. The use of hidden flags can +make a program very hard to debug and understand, but is all too common +wherever programs are hacked on in a hurry. + diff --git a/entries/high bit.txt b/entries/high bit.txt index dd8fd11..7cf5d6e 100644 --- a/entries/high bit.txt +++ b/entries/high bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ high bit -n. [from high-order bit ] 1. The most significant bit in a byte. 2. [common] By extension, the most significant part of something other than a data byte: Spare me the whole saga , just give me the high bit. See also meta bit , dread high-bit disease , and compare the mainstream slang bottom line. +n. [from high-order bit ] 1. The most significant bit in a byte. 2. [common] +By extension, the most significant part of something other than a data byte: +Spare me the whole saga , just give me the high bit. See also meta bit , +dread high-bit disease , and compare the mainstream slang bottom line. + diff --git a/entries/high moby.txt b/entries/high moby.txt index 38795e3..02c137b 100644 --- a/entries/high moby.txt +++ b/entries/high moby.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ high moby -/hi: mohbee/ , n. The high half of a 512K PDP-10 's physical address space; the other half was of course the low moby. This usage has been generalized in a way that has outlasted the PDP-10 ; for example, at the 1990 Washington D.C. Area Science Fiction Conclave (Disclave), when a miscommunication resulted in two separate wakes being held in commemoration of the shutdown of MIT's last ITS machines, the one on the upper floor was dubbed the high moby and the other the low moby. All parties involved grok ked this instantly. See moby. +/hi: mohbee/ , n. The high half of a 512K PDP-10 's physical address space; +the other half was of course the low moby. This usage has been generalized +in a way that has outlasted the PDP-10 ; for example, at the 1990 Washington +D.C. Area Science Fiction Conclave (Disclave), when a miscommunication +resulted in two separate wakes being held in commemoration of the shutdown +of MIT's last ITS machines, the one on the upper floor was dubbed the high +moby and the other the low moby. All parties involved grok ked this +instantly. See moby. + diff --git a/entries/highly.txt b/entries/highly.txt index db0fd2c..f2e565f 100644 --- a/entries/highly.txt +++ b/entries/highly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ highly -adv. [scientific computation] The preferred modifier for overstating an understatement. As in: highly nonoptimal , the worst possible way to do something; highly nontrivial , either impossible or requiring a major research project; highly nonlinear , completely erratic and unpredictable; highly nontechnical , drivel written for luser s, oversimplified to the point of being misleading or incorrect (compare drool-proof paper ). In other computing cultures, postfixing of in the extreme might be preferred. +adv. [scientific computation] The preferred modifier for overstating an +understatement. As in: highly nonoptimal , the worst possible way to do +something; highly nontrivial , either impossible or requiring a major +research project; highly nonlinear , completely erratic and unpredictable; +highly nontechnical , drivel written for luser s, oversimplified to the +point of being misleading or incorrect (compare drool-proof paper ). In +other computing cultures, postfixing of in the extreme might be preferred. + diff --git a/entries/hing.txt b/entries/hing.txt index c53a82d..2bebcfe 100644 --- a/entries/hing.txt +++ b/entries/hing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ hing -// , n. [IRC] Fortuitous typo for hint , now in wide intentional use among players of initgame. Compare newsfroup , filk. +// , n. [IRC] Fortuitous typo for hint , now in wide intentional use among +players of initgame. Compare newsfroup , filk. + diff --git a/entries/hired gun.txt b/entries/hired gun.txt index f901df2..d5da25b 100644 --- a/entries/hired gun.txt +++ b/entries/hired gun.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ hired gun -n. A contract programmer, as opposed to a full-time staff member. All the connotations of this term suggested by innumerable spaghetti Westerns are intentional. +n. A contract programmer, as opposed to a full-time staff member. All the +connotations of this term suggested by innumerable spaghetti Westerns are +intentional. + diff --git a/entries/hirsute.txt b/entries/hirsute.txt index f634c46..519c047 100644 --- a/entries/hirsute.txt +++ b/entries/hirsute.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hirsute adj. Occasionally used humorously as a synonym for hairy. + diff --git a/entries/hoarding.txt b/entries/hoarding.txt index f48662e..98e4c94 100644 --- a/entries/hoarding.txt +++ b/entries/hoarding.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hoarding n. See software hoarding. + diff --git a/entries/hog.txt b/entries/hog.txt index 84f2dfb..8c4b801 100644 --- a/entries/hog.txt +++ b/entries/hog.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ hog -n.,vt. 1. Favored term to describe programs or hardware that seem to eat far more than their share of a system's resources, esp. those which noticeably degrade interactive response. Not used of programs that are simply extremely large or complex or that are merely painfully slow themselves. More often than not encountered in qualified forms, e.g., memory hog , core hog , hog the processor , hog the disk. A controller that never gives up the I/O bus gets killed after the bus-hog timer expires. 2. Also said of people who use more than their fair share of resources (particularly disk, where it seems that 10% of the people use 90% of the disk, no matter how big the disk is or how many people use it). Of course, once disk hogs fill up one filesystem, they typically find some other new one to infect, claiming to the sysadmin that they have an important new project to complete. +n.,vt. 1. Favored term to describe programs or hardware that seem to eat far +more than their share of a system's resources, esp. those which noticeably +degrade interactive response. Not used of programs that are simply extremely +large or complex or that are merely painfully slow themselves. More often +than not encountered in qualified forms, e.g., memory hog , core hog , hog +the processor , hog the disk. A controller that never gives up the I/O bus +gets killed after the bus-hog timer expires. 2. Also said of people who use +more than their fair share of resources (particularly disk, where it seems +that 10% of the people use 90% of the disk, no matter how big the disk is or +how many people use it). Of course, once disk hogs fill up one filesystem, +they typically find some other new one to infect, claiming to the sysadmin +that they have an important new project to complete. + diff --git a/entries/hole.txt b/entries/hole.txt index 89df59b..d984931 100644 --- a/entries/hole.txt +++ b/entries/hole.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ hole -n. A region in an otherwise flat entity which is not actually present. For example, some Unix filesystems can store large files with holes so that unused regions of the file are never actually stored on disk. (In techspeak, these are referred to as sparse files.) As another example, the region of memory in IBM PCs reserved for memory-mapped I/O devices which may not actually be present is called the I/O hole , since memory-management systems must skip over this area when filling user requests for memory. +n. A region in an otherwise flat entity which is not actually present. For +example, some Unix filesystems can store large files with holes so that +unused regions of the file are never actually stored on disk. (In techspeak, +these are referred to as sparse files.) As another example, the region of +memory in IBM PCs reserved for memory-mapped I/O devices which may not +actually be present is called the I/O hole , since memory-management systems +must skip over this area when filling user requests for memory. + diff --git a/entries/hollised.txt b/entries/hollised.txt index d868dcb..c858970 100644 --- a/entries/hollised.txt +++ b/entries/hollised.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ hollised -/holist/ , adj. [Usenet: sci.space ] To be hollised is to have been ordered by one's employer not to post any even remotely job-related material to Usenet (or, by extension, to other Internet media). The original and most notorious case of this involved one Ken Hollis, a Lockheed employee and space-program enthusiast who posted publicly available material on access to Space Shuttle launches to sci.space. He was gagged under threat of being fired in 1994 at the behest of NASA public-relations officers. The result was, of course, a huge publicity black eye for NASA. Nevertheless several other NASA contractor employees were subsequently hollised for similar activities. Use of this term carries the strong connotation that the persons doing the gagging are bureaucratic idiots blinded to their own best interests by territorial reflexes. +/holist/ , adj. [Usenet: sci.space ] To be hollised is to have been ordered +by one's employer not to post any even remotely job-related material to +Usenet (or, by extension, to other Internet media). The original and most +notorious case of this involved one Ken Hollis, a Lockheed employee and +space-program enthusiast who posted publicly available material on access to +Space Shuttle launches to sci.space. He was gagged under threat of being +fired in 1994 at the behest of NASA public-relations officers. The result +was, of course, a huge publicity black eye for NASA. Nevertheless several +other NASA contractor employees were subsequently hollised for similar +activities. Use of this term carries the strong connotation that the persons +doing the gagging are bureaucratic idiots blinded to their own best +interests by territorial reflexes. + diff --git a/entries/holy penguin pee.txt b/entries/holy penguin pee.txt index b818837..1d18da6 100644 --- a/entries/holy penguin pee.txt +++ b/entries/holy penguin pee.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ holy penguin pee -n. [Linux] Notional substance said to be sprinkled by Linus onto other people's contributions. With this ritual, he blesses them, officially making them part of the kernel. First used in November 1998 just after Linus had handed the maintenance of the stable kernel over to Alan Cox. +n. [Linux] Notional substance said to be sprinkled by Linus onto other +people's contributions. With this ritual, he blesses them, officially making +them part of the kernel. First used in November 1998 just after Linus had +handed the maintenance of the stable kernel over to Alan Cox. + diff --git a/entries/holy wars.txt b/entries/holy wars.txt index f791567..f754736 100644 --- a/entries/holy wars.txt +++ b/entries/holy wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ holy wars -n. [from Usenet , but may predate it; common] n. flame war s over religious issues. The paper by Danny Cohen that popularized the terms big-endian and little-endian in connection with the LSB-first/MSB-first controversy was entitled On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace. Great holy wars of the past have included ITS vs.: Unix , Unix vs.: VMS , BSD Unix vs.: System V, C vs.: Pascal , C vs.: FORTRAN, etc. In the year 2003, popular favorites of the day are KDE vs, GNOME, vim vs. elvis, Linux vs. [Free|Net|Open]BSD. Hardy perennials include EMACS vs.: vi , my personal computer vs.: everyone else's personal computer, ad nauseam. The characteristic that distinguishes holy wars from normal technical disputes is that in a holy war most of the participants spend their time trying to pass off personal value choices and cultural attachments as objective technical evaluations. This happens precisely because in a true holy war, the actual substantive differences between the sides are relatively minor. See also theology. +n. [from Usenet , but may predate it; common] n. flame war s over religious +issues. The paper by Danny Cohen that popularized the terms big-endian and +little-endian in connection with the LSB-first/MSB-first controversy was +entitled On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace. Great holy wars of the past have +included ITS vs.: Unix , Unix vs.: VMS , BSD Unix vs.: System V, C vs.: +Pascal , C vs.: FORTRAN, etc. In the year 2003, popular favorites of the day +are KDE vs, GNOME, vim vs. elvis, Linux vs. [Free|Net|Open]BSD. Hardy +perennials include EMACS vs.: vi , my personal computer vs.: everyone else's +personal computer, ad nauseam. The characteristic that distinguishes holy +wars from normal technical disputes is that in a holy war most of the +participants spend their time trying to pass off personal value choices and +cultural attachments as objective technical evaluations. This happens +precisely because in a true holy war, the actual substantive differences +between the sides are relatively minor. See also theology. + diff --git a/entries/home box.txt b/entries/home box.txt index f5c15a0..2788cca 100644 --- a/entries/home box.txt +++ b/entries/home box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ home box -n. A hacker's personal machine, especially one he or she owns. Yeah? Well, my home box runs a full 4. +n. A hacker's personal machine, especially one he or she owns. Yeah? Well, +my home box runs a full 4. + diff --git a/entries/home machine.txt b/entries/home machine.txt index 9446d24..c6cd901 100644 --- a/entries/home machine.txt +++ b/entries/home machine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ home machine -n. 1. Syn. home box. 2. The machine that receives your email. These senses might be distinct, for example, for a hacker who owns one computer at home, but reads email at work. +n. 1. Syn. home box. 2. The machine that receives your email. These senses +might be distinct, for example, for a hacker who owns one computer at home, +but reads email at work. + diff --git a/entries/home page.txt b/entries/home page.txt index 8a461d9..60da5df 100644 --- a/entries/home page.txt +++ b/entries/home page.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ home page -n. 1. One's personal billboard on the World Wide Web. The term home page is perhaps a bit misleading because home directories and physical homes in RL are private, but home pages are designed to be very public. 2. By extension, a WWW repository for information and links related to a project or organization. Compare home box. +n. 1. One's personal billboard on the World Wide Web. The term home page is +perhaps a bit misleading because home directories and physical homes in RL +are private, but home pages are designed to be very public. 2. By extension, +a WWW repository for information and links related to a project or +organization. Compare home box. + diff --git a/entries/honey pot.txt b/entries/honey pot.txt index ba666dd..f2be9b4 100644 --- a/entries/honey pot.txt +++ b/entries/honey pot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ honey pot -n. 1. A box designed to attract cracker s so that they can be observed in action. It is usually well isolated from the rest of the network, but has extensive logging (usually network layer, on a different machine). Different from an iron box in that its purpose is to attract, not merely observe. Sometimes, it is also a defensive network security tactic you set up an easy-to-crack box so that your real servers don't get messed with. The concept was presented in Cheswick Bellovin's book Firewalls and Internet Security. 2. A mail server that acts as an open relay when a single message is attempted to send through it, but discards or diverts for examination messages that are detected to be part of a spam run. +n. 1. A box designed to attract cracker s so that they can be observed in +action. It is usually well isolated from the rest of the network, but has +extensive logging (usually network layer, on a different machine). Different +from an iron box in that its purpose is to attract, not merely observe. +Sometimes, it is also a defensive network security tactic you set up an +easy-to-crack box so that your real servers don't get messed with. The +concept was presented in Cheswick Bellovin's book Firewalls and Internet +Security. 2. A mail server that acts as an open relay when a single message +is attempted to send through it, but discards or diverts for examination +messages that are detected to be part of a spam run. + diff --git a/entries/hook.txt b/entries/hook.txt index 7643027..d2c82d6 100644 --- a/entries/hook.txt +++ b/entries/hook.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ hook -n. A software or hardware feature included in order to simplify later additions or changes by a user. For example, a simple program that prints numbers might always print them in base 10, but a more flexible version would let a variable determine what base to use; setting the variable to 5 would make the program print numbers in base 5. The variable is a simple hook. An even more flexible program might examine the variable and treat a value of 16 or less as the base to use, but treat any other number as the address of a user-supplied routine for printing a number. This is a hairy but powerful hook; one can then write a routine to print numbers as Roman numerals, say, or as Hebrew characters, and plug it into the program through the hook. Often the difference between a good program and a superb one is that the latter has useful hooks in judiciously chosen places. Both may do the original job about equally well, but the one with the hooks is much more flexible for future expansion of capabilities ( EMACS , for example, is all hooks). The term user exit is synonymous but much more formal and less hackish. +n. A software or hardware feature included in order to simplify later +additions or changes by a user. For example, a simple program that prints +numbers might always print them in base 10, but a more flexible version +would let a variable determine what base to use; setting the variable to 5 +would make the program print numbers in base 5. The variable is a simple +hook. An even more flexible program might examine the variable and treat a +value of 16 or less as the base to use, but treat any other number as the +address of a user-supplied routine for printing a number. This is a hairy +but powerful hook; one can then write a routine to print numbers as Roman +numerals, say, or as Hebrew characters, and plug it into the program through +the hook. Often the difference between a good program and a superb one is +that the latter has useful hooks in judiciously chosen places. Both may do +the original job about equally well, but the one with the hooks is much more +flexible for future expansion of capabilities ( EMACS , for example, is all +hooks). The term user exit is synonymous but much more formal and less +hackish. + diff --git a/entries/hop.txt b/entries/hop.txt index 82127cf..5817981 100644 --- a/entries/hop.txt +++ b/entries/hop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ hop -One file transmission in a series required to get a file from point A to point B on a store-and-forward network. On such networks (including the old UUCP network and and FidoNet ), an important inter-machine metric is the number of hops in the shortest path between them, which can be more significant than their geographical separation. See bang path. 2. v. +One file transmission in a series required to get a file from point A to +point B on a store-and-forward network. On such networks (including the old +UUCP network and and FidoNet ), an important inter-machine metric is the +number of hops in the shortest path between them, which can be more +significant than their geographical separation. See bang path. 2. v. + diff --git a/entries/horked.txt b/entries/horked.txt index 6bcffb0..5fb17da 100644 --- a/entries/horked.txt +++ b/entries/horked.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ horked -adj. Broken. Confused. Trashed. Now common; seems to be post-1995. There is an entertaining web page of related definitions , few of which seem to be in live use but many of which would be in the recognition vocabulary of anyone familiar with the adjective. +adj. Broken. Confused. Trashed. Now common; seems to be post-1995. There is +an entertaining web page of related definitions , few of which seem to be in +live use but many of which would be in the recognition vocabulary of anyone +familiar with the adjective. + diff --git a/entries/hose.txt b/entries/hose.txt index fb36379..5ddb220 100644 --- a/entries/hose.txt +++ b/entries/hose.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ hose -To make non-functional or greatly degraded in performance. That big ray-tracing program really hoses the system. See hosed. 2. n. A narrow channel through which data flows under pressure. Generally denotes data paths that represent performance bottlenecks. 3. n. Cabling, especially thick Ethernet cable. This is sometimes called bit hose or hosery (play on hosiery ) or etherhose. See also washing machine. +To make non-functional or greatly degraded in performance. That big +ray-tracing program really hoses the system. See hosed. 2. n. A narrow +channel through which data flows under pressure. Generally denotes data +paths that represent performance bottlenecks. 3. n. Cabling, especially +thick Ethernet cable. This is sometimes called bit hose or hosery (play on +hosiery ) or etherhose. See also washing machine. + diff --git a/entries/hosed.txt b/entries/hosed.txt index 9d73780..4f5a98b 100644 --- a/entries/hosed.txt +++ b/entries/hosed.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ hosed -adj. Same as down. Used primarily by Unix hackers. Humorous: also implies a condition thought to be relatively easy to reverse. Probably derived from the Canadian slang hoser popularized by the Bob and Doug Mackenzie skits on SCTV, but this usage predated SCTV by years in hackerdom (it was certainly already live at CMU in the 1970s). See hose. It is also widely used of people in the mainstream sense of in an extremely unfortunate situation. Once upon a time, a Cray that had been experiencing periodic difficulties crashed, and it was announced to have been hosed. It was discovered that the crash was due to the disconnection of some coolant hoses. The problem was corrected, and users were then assured that everything was OK because the system had been rehosed. See also dehose. +adj. Same as down. Used primarily by Unix hackers. Humorous: also implies a +condition thought to be relatively easy to reverse. Probably derived from +the Canadian slang hoser popularized by the Bob and Doug Mackenzie skits on +SCTV, but this usage predated SCTV by years in hackerdom (it was certainly +already live at CMU in the 1970s). See hose. It is also widely used of +people in the mainstream sense of in an extremely unfortunate situation. +Once upon a time, a Cray that had been experiencing periodic difficulties +crashed, and it was announced to have been hosed. It was discovered that the +crash was due to the disconnection of some coolant hoses. The problem was +corrected, and users were then assured that everything was OK because the +system had been rehosed. See also dehose. + diff --git a/entries/hot chat.txt b/entries/hot chat.txt index 36636af..4f837da 100644 --- a/entries/hot chat.txt +++ b/entries/hot chat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hot chat n. Sexually explicit one-on-one chat. See teledildonics. + diff --git a/entries/hot spot.txt b/entries/hot spot.txt index 5588b65..bd63567 100644 --- a/entries/hot spot.txt +++ b/entries/hot spot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ hot spot -n. 1. [primarily used by C/Unix programmers, but spreading] It is received wisdom that in most programs, less than 10% of the code eats 90% of the execution time; if one were to graph instruction visits versus code addresses, one would typically see a few huge spikes amidst a lot of low-level noise. Such spikes are called hot spots and are good candidates for heavy optimization or hand-hacking. The term is especially used of tight loops and recursions in the code's central algorithm, as opposed to (say) initial set-up costs or large but infrequent I/O operations. See tune , hand-hacking. 2. The active location of a cursor on a bit-map display. Put the mouse's hot spot on the ON widget and click the left button. 3. A screen region that is sensitive to mouse gestures, which trigger some action. World Wide Web pages now provide the canonical examples; WWW browsers present hypertext links as hot spots which, when clicked on, point the browser at another document (these are specifically called hotlink s). 4. In a massively parallel computer with shared memory, the one location that all 10,000 processors are trying to read or write at once (perhaps because they are all doing a busy-wait on the same lock). 5. More generally, any place in a hardware design that turns into a performance bottleneck due to resource contention. +n. 1. [primarily used by C/Unix programmers, but spreading] It is received +wisdom that in most programs, less than 10% of the code eats 90% of the +execution time; if one were to graph instruction visits versus code +addresses, one would typically see a few huge spikes amidst a lot of +low-level noise. Such spikes are called hot spots and are good candidates +for heavy optimization or hand-hacking. The term is especially used of tight +loops and recursions in the code's central algorithm, as opposed to (say) +initial set-up costs or large but infrequent I/O operations. See tune , +hand-hacking. 2. The active location of a cursor on a bit-map display. Put +the mouse's hot spot on the ON widget and click the left button. 3. A screen +region that is sensitive to mouse gestures, which trigger some action. World +Wide Web pages now provide the canonical examples; WWW browsers present +hypertext links as hot spots which, when clicked on, point the browser at +another document (these are specifically called hotlink s). 4. In a +massively parallel computer with shared memory, the one location that all +10,000 processors are trying to read or write at once (perhaps because they +are all doing a busy-wait on the same lock). 5. More generally, any place in +a hardware design that turns into a performance bottleneck due to resource +contention. + diff --git a/entries/hotlink.txt b/entries/hotlink.txt index 32e6b2c..c048877 100644 --- a/entries/hotlink.txt +++ b/entries/hotlink.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ hotlink -/hotlink/ , n. A hot spot on a World Wide Web page; an area, which, when clicked or selected, chases a URL. Also spelled hot link. Use of this term focuses on the link's role as an immediate part of your display, as opposed to the timeless sense of logical connection suggested by web pointer. Your screen shows hotlinks but your document has web pointers, not (in normal usage) the other way around. +/hotlink/ , n. A hot spot on a World Wide Web page; an area, which, when +clicked or selected, chases a URL. Also spelled hot link. Use of this term +focuses on the link's role as an immediate part of your display, as opposed +to the timeless sense of logical connection suggested by web pointer. Your +screen shows hotlinks but your document has web pointers, not (in normal +usage) the other way around. + diff --git a/entries/house wizard.txt b/entries/house wizard.txt index 8694e1d..30dcba6 100644 --- a/entries/house wizard.txt +++ b/entries/house wizard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ house wizard -n. [prob.: from ad-agency tradetalk, house freak ] A hacker occupying a technical-specialist, R D, or systems position at a commercial shop. A really effective house wizard can have influence out of all proportion to his/her ostensible rank and still not have to wear a suit. Used esp. of Unix wizards. The term house guru is equivalent. +n. [prob.: from ad-agency tradetalk, house freak ] A hacker occupying a +technical-specialist, R D, or systems position at a commercial shop. A +really effective house wizard can have influence out of all proportion to +his/her ostensible rank and still not have to wear a suit. Used esp. of Unix +wizards. The term house guru is equivalent. + diff --git a/entries/huff.txt b/entries/huff.txt index 33d48f4..acd78ea 100644 --- a/entries/huff.txt +++ b/entries/huff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ huff -v. To compress data using a Huffman code. Various programs that use such methods have been called HUFF or some variant thereof. Oppose puff. Compare crunch , compress. +v. To compress data using a Huffman code. Various programs that use such +methods have been called HUFF or some variant thereof. Oppose puff. Compare +crunch , compress. + diff --git a/entries/hung.txt b/entries/hung.txt index 1b3fc8b..d27107c 100644 --- a/entries/hung.txt +++ b/entries/hung.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ hung -adj. [from hung up ; common] Equivalent to wedged , but more common at Unix/C sites. Not generally used of people. Syn. with locked up , wedged ; compare hosed. See also hang. A hung state is distinguished from crash ed or down , where the program or system is also unusable but because it is not running rather than because it is waiting for something. However, the recovery from both situations is often the same. It is also distinguished from the similar but more drastic state wedged hung software can be woken up with easy things like interrupt keys, but wedged will need a kill -9 or even reboot. +adj. [from hung up ; common] Equivalent to wedged , but more common at +Unix/C sites. Not generally used of people. Syn. with locked up , wedged ; +compare hosed. See also hang. A hung state is distinguished from crash ed or +down , where the program or system is also unusable but because it is not +running rather than because it is waiting for something. However, the +recovery from both situations is often the same. It is also distinguished +from the similar but more drastic state wedged hung software can be woken up +with easy things like interrupt keys, but wedged will need a kill -9 or even +reboot. + diff --git a/entries/hungry puppy.txt b/entries/hungry puppy.txt index 4835b71..4db923b 100644 --- a/entries/hungry puppy.txt +++ b/entries/hungry puppy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ hungry puppy n. Syn. slopsucker. + diff --git a/entries/hungus.txt b/entries/hungus.txt index 5113bd1..87a3aeb 100644 --- a/entries/hungus.txt +++ b/entries/hungus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ hungus -/huhngg@s/ , adj. [perhaps related to slang humongous ] Large, unwieldy, usually unmanageable. TCP is a hungus piece of code. This is a hungus set of modifications. The Infocom text adventure game Beyond Zork included two monsters called hunguses. +/huhngg@s/ , adj. [perhaps related to slang humongous ] Large, unwieldy, +usually unmanageable. TCP is a hungus piece of code. This is a hungus set of +modifications. The Infocom text adventure game Beyond Zork included two +monsters called hunguses. + diff --git a/entries/hyperspace.txt b/entries/hyperspace.txt index afd76f3..4a51b86 100644 --- a/entries/hyperspace.txt +++ b/entries/hyperspace.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ hyperspace -/hi:perspays/ , n. A memory location that is far away from where the program counter should be pointing, especially a place that is inaccessible because it is not even mapped in by the virtual-memory system. Another core dump looks like the program jumped off to hyperspace somehow. (Compare jump off into never-never land. ) This usage is from the SF notion of a spaceship jumping into hyperspace , that is, taking a shortcut through higher-dimensional space in other words, bypassing this universe. The variant east hyperspace is recorded among CMU and Bliss hackers. +/hi:perspays/ , n. A memory location that is far away from where the program +counter should be pointing, especially a place that is inaccessible because +it is not even mapped in by the virtual-memory system. Another core dump +looks like the program jumped off to hyperspace somehow. (Compare jump off +into never-never land. ) This usage is from the SF notion of a spaceship +jumping into hyperspace , that is, taking a shortcut through +higher-dimensional space in other words, bypassing this universe. The +variant east hyperspace is recorded among CMU and Bliss hackers. + diff --git a/entries/hysterical reasons.txt b/entries/hysterical reasons.txt index 60b4887..5990c25 100644 --- a/entries/hysterical reasons.txt +++ b/entries/hysterical reasons.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ hysterical reasons -n. (also hysterical raisins ) A variant on the stock phrase for historical reasons , indicating specifically that something must be done in some stupid way for backwards compatibility, and moreover that the feature it must be compatible with was the result of a bad design in the first place. All IBM PC video adapters have to support MDA text mode for hysterical reasons. Compare bug-for-bug compatible. +n. (also hysterical raisins ) A variant on the stock phrase for historical +reasons , indicating specifically that something must be done in some stupid +way for backwards compatibility, and moreover that the feature it must be +compatible with was the result of a bad design in the first place. All IBM +PC video adapters have to support MDA text mode for hysterical reasons. +Compare bug-for-bug compatible. + diff --git a/entries/ice.txt b/entries/ice.txt index b7fe0aa..0da7e76 100644 --- a/entries/ice.txt +++ b/entries/ice.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ ice -n. [coined by Usenetter Tom Maddox, popularized by William Gibson's cyberpunk SF novels: a contrived acronym for Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics ] Security software (in Gibson's novels, software that responds to intrusion by attempting to immobilize or even literally kill the intruder). +n. [coined by Usenetter Tom Maddox, popularized by William Gibson's +cyberpunk SF novels: a contrived acronym for Intrusion Countermeasure +Electronics ] Security software (in Gibson's novels, software that responds +to intrusion by attempting to immobilize or even literally kill the +intruder). + diff --git a/entries/idempotent.txt b/entries/idempotent.txt index 3b0c3b2..d51e86b 100644 --- a/entries/idempotent.txt +++ b/entries/idempotent.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ idempotent -adj. [from mathematical techspeak] Acting as if used only once, even if used multiple times. This term is often used with respect to C header files, which contain common definitions and declarations to be included by several source files. If a header file is ever included twice during the same compilation (perhaps due to nested #include files), compilation errors can result unless the header file has protected itself against multiple inclusion; a header file so protected is said to be idempotent. The term can also be used to describe an initialization subroutine that is arranged to perform some critical action exactly once, even if the routine is called several times. +adj. [from mathematical techspeak] Acting as if used only once, even if used +multiple times. This term is often used with respect to C header files, +which contain common definitions and declarations to be included by several +source files. If a header file is ever included twice during the same +compilation (perhaps due to nested #include files), compilation errors can +result unless the header file has protected itself against multiple +inclusion; a header file so protected is said to be idempotent. The term can +also be used to describe an initialization subroutine that is arranged to +perform some critical action exactly once, even if the routine is called +several times. + diff --git a/entries/ifdef out.txt b/entries/ifdef out.txt index 4fbde4e..afe690d 100644 --- a/entries/ifdef out.txt +++ b/entries/ifdef out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ ifdef out -/ifdef owt/ , v. Syn. for condition out , specific to C. Prev Up Next If you want X, you know where to find it. +/ifdef owt/ , v. Syn. for condition out , specific to C. Prev Up Next If +you want X, you know where to find it. + diff --git a/entries/ill-behaved.txt b/entries/ill-behaved.txt index e08d6c6..8e7da84 100644 --- a/entries/ill-behaved.txt +++ b/entries/ill-behaved.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ ill-behaved -adj. 1. [numerical analysis] Said of an algorithm or computational method that tends to blow up because of accumulated roundoff error or poor convergence properties. 2. [obs.] Software that bypasses the defined OS interfaces to do things (like screen, keyboard, and disk I/O) itself, often in a way that depends on the hardware of the machine it is running on or which is nonportable or incompatible with other pieces of software. In the MS-DOS world, there was a folk theorem (nearly true) to the effect that (owing to gross inadequacies and performance penalties in the OS interface) all interesting applications were ill-behaved. See also bare metal. Oppose well-behaved. See also mess-dos. 3. In modern usage, a program is called ill-behaved if it uses interfaces to the OS or other programs that are private, undocumented, or grossly non-portable. Another way to be ill-behaved is to use headers or files that are theoretically private to another application. +adj. 1. [numerical analysis] Said of an algorithm or computational method +that tends to blow up because of accumulated roundoff error or poor +convergence properties. 2. [obs.] Software that bypasses the defined OS +interfaces to do things (like screen, keyboard, and disk I/O) itself, often +in a way that depends on the hardware of the machine it is running on or +which is nonportable or incompatible with other pieces of software. In the +MS-DOS world, there was a folk theorem (nearly true) to the effect that +(owing to gross inadequacies and performance penalties in the OS interface) +all interesting applications were ill-behaved. See also bare metal. Oppose +well-behaved. See also mess-dos. 3. In modern usage, a program is called +ill-behaved if it uses interfaces to the OS or other programs that are +private, undocumented, or grossly non-portable. Another way to be +ill-behaved is to use headers or files that are theoretically private to +another application. + diff --git a/entries/in the extreme.txt b/entries/in the extreme.txt index 97581ff..877e501 100644 --- a/entries/in the extreme.txt +++ b/entries/in the extreme.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ in the extreme -adj. A preferred superlative suffix for many hackish terms. See, for example, obscure in the extreme under obscure , and compare highly. +adj. A preferred superlative suffix for many hackish terms. See, for +example, obscure in the extreme under obscure , and compare highly. + diff --git a/entries/incantation.txt b/entries/incantation.txt index 786b4b7..9d15ab0 100644 --- a/entries/incantation.txt +++ b/entries/incantation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ incantation -n. Any particularly arbitrary or obscure command that one must mutter at a system to attain a desired result. Not used of passwords or other explicit security features. Especially used of tricks that are so poorly documented that they must be learned from a wizard. This compiler normally locates initialized data in the data segment, but if you mutter the right incantation they will be forced into text space. +n. Any particularly arbitrary or obscure command that one must mutter at a +system to attain a desired result. Not used of passwords or other explicit +security features. Especially used of tricks that are so poorly documented +that they must be learned from a wizard. This compiler normally locates +initialized data in the data segment, but if you mutter the right +incantation they will be forced into text space. + diff --git a/entries/include war.txt b/entries/include war.txt index f57ca40..259dde8 100644 --- a/entries/include war.txt +++ b/entries/include war.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ include war -n. Excessive multi-leveled inclusion within a discussion thread , a practice that tends to annoy readers. In a forum with high-traffic newsgroups, such as Usenet, this can lead to flame s and the urge to start a kill file. +n. Excessive multi-leveled inclusion within a discussion thread , a practice +that tends to annoy readers. In a forum with high-traffic newsgroups, such +as Usenet, this can lead to flame s and the urge to start a kill file. + diff --git a/entries/include.txt b/entries/include.txt index e0dcf33..c0ad976 100644 --- a/entries/include.txt +++ b/entries/include.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ include -vt. [Usenet] 1. To duplicate a portion (or whole) of another's message (typically with attribution to the source) in a reply or followup, for clarifying the context of one's response. See the discussion of inclusion styles under Hacker Writing Style. 2. [from C ] #include disclaimer.h has appeared in sig block s to refer to a notional standard disclaimer file. +vt. [Usenet] 1. To duplicate a portion (or whole) of another's message +(typically with attribution to the source) in a reply or followup, for +clarifying the context of one's response. See the discussion of inclusion +styles under Hacker Writing Style. 2. [from C ] #include disclaimer.h has +appeared in sig block s to refer to a notional standard disclaimer file. + diff --git a/entries/indent style.txt b/entries/indent style.txt index 9f92307..782ce12 100644 --- a/entries/indent style.txt +++ b/entries/indent style.txt @@ -1,3 +1,42 @@ indent style -n. [C, C++, and Java programmers] The rules one uses to indent code in a readable fashion. There are four major C indent styles, described below; all have the aim of making it easier for the reader to visually track the scope of control constructs. They have been inherited by C++ and Java, which have C-like syntaxes. The significant variable is the placement of { and } with respect to the statement(s) they enclose and to the guard or controlling statement ( if , else , for , while , or do ) on the block, if any. K R style Named after Kernighan Ritchie, because the examples in K R are formatted this way. Also called kernel style because the Unix kernel is written in it, and the One True Brace Style (abbrev. 1TBS) by its partisans. In C code, the body is typically indented by eight spaces (or one tab) per level, as shown here. Four spaces are occasionally seen in C, but in C++ and Java four tends to be the rule rather than the exception. if( cond ){ body } Allman style Named for Eric Allman, a Berkeley hacker who wrote a lot of the BSD utilities in it (it is sometimes called BSD style ). Resembles normal indent style in Pascal and Algol. It is the only style other than K R in widespread use among Java programmers. Basic indent per level shown here is eight spaces, but four (or sometimes three) spaces are generally preferred by C++ and Java programmers. if( cond ) { body } Whitesmiths style popularized by the examples that came with Whitesmiths C, an early commercial C compiler. Basic indent per level shown here is eight spaces, but four spaces are occasionally seen. if( cond ) { body } GNU style Used throughout GNU EMACS and the Free Software Foundation code, and just about nowhere else. Indents are always four spaces per level, with { and } halfway between the outer and inner indent levels. if( cond ) { body } Surveys have shown the Allman and Whitesmiths styles to be the most common, with about equal mind shares. K R/1TBS used to be nearly universal, but is now much less common in C (the opening brace tends to get lost against the right paren of the guard part in an if or while , which is a Bad Thing ). Defenders of 1TBS argue that any putative gain in readability is less important than their style's relative economy with vertical space, which enables one to see more code on one's screen at once. The Java Language Specification legislates not only the capitalization of identifiers, but where nouns, adjectives, and verbs should be in method, class, interface, and variable names (section 6.8). While the specification stops short of also standardizing on a bracing style, all source code originating from Sun Laboratories uses the K R style. This has set a precedent for Java programmers, which most follow. Doubtless these issues will continue to be the subject of holy wars. +n. [C, C++, and Java programmers] The rules one uses to indent code in a +readable fashion. There are four major C indent styles, described below; all +have the aim of making it easier for the reader to visually track the scope +of control constructs. They have been inherited by C++ and Java, which have +C-like syntaxes. The significant variable is the placement of { and } with +respect to the statement(s) they enclose and to the guard or controlling +statement ( if , else , for , while , or do ) on the block, if any. K R +style Named after Kernighan Ritchie, because the examples in K R are +formatted this way. Also called kernel style because the Unix kernel is +written in it, and the One True Brace Style (abbrev. 1TBS) by its partisans. +In C code, the body is typically indented by eight spaces (or one tab) per +level, as shown here. Four spaces are occasionally seen in C, but in C++ and +Java four tends to be the rule rather than the exception. if( cond ){ body +} Allman style Named for Eric Allman, a Berkeley hacker who wrote a lot of +the BSD utilities in it (it is sometimes called BSD style ). Resembles +normal indent style in Pascal and Algol. It is the only style other than K R +in widespread use among Java programmers. Basic indent per level shown here +is eight spaces, but four (or sometimes three) spaces are generally +preferred by C++ and Java programmers. if( cond ) { body } Whitesmiths +style popularized by the examples that came with Whitesmiths C, an early +commercial C compiler. Basic indent per level shown here is eight spaces, +but four spaces are occasionally seen. if( cond ) { body } GNU style Used +throughout GNU EMACS and the Free Software Foundation code, and just about +nowhere else. Indents are always four spaces per level, with { and } halfway +between the outer and inner indent levels. if( cond ) { body } Surveys have +shown the Allman and Whitesmiths styles to be the most common, with about +equal mind shares. K R/1TBS used to be nearly universal, but is now much +less common in C (the opening brace tends to get lost against the right +paren of the guard part in an if or while , which is a Bad Thing ). +Defenders of 1TBS argue that any putative gain in readability is less +important than their style's relative economy with vertical space, which +enables one to see more code on one's screen at once. The Java Language +Specification legislates not only the capitalization of identifiers, but +where nouns, adjectives, and verbs should be in method, class, interface, +and variable names (section 6.8). While the specification stops short of +also standardizing on a bracing style, all source code originating from Sun +Laboratories uses the K R style. This has set a precedent for Java +programmers, which most follow. Doubtless these issues will continue to be +the subject of holy wars. + diff --git a/entries/index of X.txt b/entries/index of X.txt index 148e044..383c89b 100644 --- a/entries/index of X.txt +++ b/entries/index of X.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ index of X n. See coefficient of X. + diff --git a/entries/infant mortality.txt b/entries/infant mortality.txt index 8c848a4..c78f6a5 100644 --- a/entries/infant mortality.txt +++ b/entries/infant mortality.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ infant mortality -n. It is common lore among hackers (and in the electronics industry at large; this term is possibly techspeak by now) that the chances of sudden hardware failure drop off exponentially with a machine's time since first use (that is, until the relatively distant time at which enough mechanical wear in I/O devices and thermal-cycling stress in components has accumulated for the machine to start going senile). Up to half of all chip and wire failures happen within a new system's first few weeks; such failures are often referred to as infant mortality problems (or, occasionally, as sudden infant death syndrome ). See bathtub curve , burn-in period. +n. It is common lore among hackers (and in the electronics industry at +large; this term is possibly techspeak by now) that the chances of sudden +hardware failure drop off exponentially with a machine's time since first +use (that is, until the relatively distant time at which enough mechanical +wear in I/O devices and thermal-cycling stress in components has accumulated +for the machine to start going senile). Up to half of all chip and wire +failures happen within a new system's first few weeks; such failures are +often referred to as infant mortality problems (or, occasionally, as sudden +infant death syndrome ). See bathtub curve , burn-in period. + diff --git a/entries/infinite loop.txt b/entries/infinite loop.txt index a76eb89..0ec1210 100644 --- a/entries/infinite loop.txt +++ b/entries/infinite loop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ infinite loop -n. One that never terminates (that is, the machine spin s or buzz es forever and goes catatonic ). +n. One that never terminates (that is, the machine spin s or buzz es forever +and goes catatonic ). + diff --git a/entries/infinite.txt b/entries/infinite.txt index bb076ab..9ca251f 100644 --- a/entries/infinite.txt +++ b/entries/infinite.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ infinite -adj. [common] Consisting of a large number of objects; extreme. Used very loosely as in: This program produces infinite garbage. He is an infinite loser. The word most likely to follow infinite , though, is hair. (It has been pointed out that fractals are an excellent example of infinite hair.) These uses are abuses of the word's mathematical meaning. The term semi-infinite , denoting an immoderately large amount of some resource, is also heard. This compiler is taking a semi-infinite amount of time to optimize my program. See also semi. +adj. [common] Consisting of a large number of objects; extreme. Used very +loosely as in: This program produces infinite garbage. He is an infinite +loser. The word most likely to follow infinite , though, is hair. (It has +been pointed out that fractals are an excellent example of infinite hair.) +These uses are abuses of the word's mathematical meaning. The term +semi-infinite , denoting an immoderately large amount of some resource, is +also heard. This compiler is taking a semi-infinite amount of time to +optimize my program. See also semi. + diff --git a/entries/infinity.txt b/entries/infinity.txt index 44a49b8..1032901 100644 --- a/entries/infinity.txt +++ b/entries/infinity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ infinity -n. 1. The largest value that can be represented in a particular type of variable (register, memory location, data type, whatever). 2. +n. 1. The largest value that can be represented in a particular type of +variable (register, memory location, data type, whatever). 2. + diff --git a/entries/inflate.txt b/entries/inflate.txt index 9b689c1..75d3131 100644 --- a/entries/inflate.txt +++ b/entries/inflate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ inflate -vt. To decompress or puff a file. Rare among Internet hackers, used primarily by MS-DOS/Windows types. +vt. To decompress or puff a file. Rare among Internet hackers, used +primarily by MS-DOS/Windows types. + diff --git a/entries/initgame.txt b/entries/initgame.txt index 979312d..255fda0 100644 --- a/entries/initgame.txt +++ b/entries/initgame.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ initgame -/initgaym/ , n. [IRC] An IRC version of the trivia game Botticelli , in which one user changes his nick to the initials of a famous person or other named entity, and the others on the channel ask yes or no questions, with the one to guess the person getting to be it next. As a courtesy, the one picking the initials starts by providing a 4-letter hint of the form sex, nationality, life-status, reality-status. For example, MAAR means Male, American, Alive, Real (as opposed to fictional ). Initgame can be surprisingly addictive. See also hing. [1996 update: a recognizable version of the initgame has become a staple of some radio talk shows in the U.S. +/initgaym/ , n. [IRC] An IRC version of the trivia game Botticelli , in +which one user changes his nick to the initials of a famous person or other +named entity, and the others on the channel ask yes or no questions, with +the one to guess the person getting to be it next. As a courtesy, the one +picking the initials starts by providing a 4-letter hint of the form sex, +nationality, life-status, reality-status. For example, MAAR means Male, +American, Alive, Real (as opposed to fictional ). Initgame can be +surprisingly addictive. See also hing. [1996 update: a recognizable version +of the initgame has become a staple of some radio talk shows in the U.S. + diff --git a/entries/insanely great.txt b/entries/insanely great.txt index cde9797..e4b1705 100644 --- a/entries/insanely great.txt +++ b/entries/insanely great.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ insanely great -adj. [Mac community, from Steve Jobs; also BSD Unix people via Bill Joy] Something so incredibly elegant that it is imaginable only to someone possessing the most puissant of hacker -natures. +adj. [Mac community, from Steve Jobs; also BSD Unix people via Bill Joy] +Something so incredibly elegant that it is imaginable only to someone +possessing the most puissant of hacker -natures. + diff --git a/entries/installfest.txt b/entries/installfest.txt index 5972a77..e66b43e 100644 --- a/entries/installfest.txt +++ b/entries/installfest.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ installfest -Common portmanteau word for installation festival ; Linux user groups frequently run these. Computer users are invited to bring their machines to have Linux installed on their machines. The idea is to get them painlessly over the biggest hump in migrating to Linux, which is initially installing and configuring it for the user's machine. +Common portmanteau word for installation festival ; Linux user groups +frequently run these. Computer users are invited to bring their machines to +have Linux installed on their machines. The idea is to get them painlessly +over the biggest hump in migrating to Linux, which is initially installing +and configuring it for the user's machine. + diff --git a/entries/interesting.txt b/entries/interesting.txt index 3f0d7d2..85772da 100644 --- a/entries/interesting.txt +++ b/entries/interesting.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ interesting -adj. In hacker parlance, this word has strong connotations of annoying , or difficult , or both. Hackers relish a challenge, and enjoy wringing all the irony possible out of the ancient Chinese curse May you live in interesting times. Oppose trivial , uninteresting. +adj. In hacker parlance, this word has strong connotations of annoying , or +difficult , or both. Hackers relish a challenge, and enjoy wringing all the +irony possible out of the ancient Chinese curse May you live in interesting +times. Oppose trivial , uninteresting. + diff --git a/entries/interrupt.txt b/entries/interrupt.txt index 26bff9f..7d02117 100644 --- a/entries/interrupt.txt +++ b/entries/interrupt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ interrupt -n. On a computer, an event that interrupts normal processing and temporarily diverts flow-of-control through an interrupt handler routine. See also trap. 2. interj. A request for attention from a hacker. Often explicitly spoken. Interrupt have you seen Joe recently? See priority interrupt. +n. On a computer, an event that interrupts normal processing and temporarily +diverts flow-of-control through an interrupt handler routine. See also trap. +2. interj. A request for attention from a hacker. Often explicitly spoken. +Interrupt have you seen Joe recently? See priority interrupt. + diff --git a/entries/interrupts locked out.txt b/entries/interrupts locked out.txt index 7c23adc..c234f42 100644 --- a/entries/interrupts locked out.txt +++ b/entries/interrupts locked out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ interrupts locked out -adj. When someone is ignoring you. In a restaurant, after several fruitless attempts to get the waitress's attention, a hacker might well observe She must have interrupts locked out. The synonym interrupts disabled is also common. Variations abound; to have one's interrupt mask bit set and interrupts masked out are also heard. See also spl. +adj. When someone is ignoring you. In a restaurant, after several fruitless +attempts to get the waitress's attention, a hacker might well observe She +must have interrupts locked out. The synonym interrupts disabled is also +common. Variations abound; to have one's interrupt mask bit set and +interrupts masked out are also heard. See also spl. + diff --git a/entries/intertwingled.txt b/entries/intertwingled.txt index 1ad2f56..d2d5ee0 100644 --- a/entries/intertwingled.txt +++ b/entries/intertwingled.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ intertwingled -Connected together in a complex way; specifically, composed of one another's components. +Connected together in a complex way; specifically, composed of one another's +components. + diff --git a/entries/intro.txt b/entries/intro.txt index 0577ddb..a52c78a 100644 --- a/entries/intro.txt +++ b/entries/intro.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ intro -n. [ demoscene ] Introductory screen of some production. 2. A short demo , usually showing just one or two screen s. 3. Small, usually 64k, 40k or 4k demo. Sizes are generally dictated by compo rules. See also dentro , demo. +n. [ demoscene ] Introductory screen of some production. 2. A short demo , +usually showing just one or two screen s. 3. Small, usually 64k, 40k or 4k +demo. Sizes are generally dictated by compo rules. See also dentro , demo. + diff --git a/entries/iron box.txt b/entries/iron box.txt index 551efdc..2f43d88 100644 --- a/entries/iron box.txt +++ b/entries/iron box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ iron box -n. [Unix/Internet] A special environment set up to trap a cracker logging in over remote connections long enough to be traced. May include a modified shell restricting the cracker's movements in unobvious ways, and bait files designed to keep him interested and logged on. See also back door , firewall machine , Venus flytrap , and Clifford Stoll's account in The Cuckoo's Egg of how he made and used one (see the Bibliography in Appendix C). Compare padded cell , honey pot. +n. [Unix/Internet] A special environment set up to trap a cracker logging in +over remote connections long enough to be traced. May include a modified +shell restricting the cracker's movements in unobvious ways, and bait files +designed to keep him interested and logged on. See also back door , firewall +machine , Venus flytrap , and Clifford Stoll's account in The Cuckoo's Egg +of how he made and used one (see the Bibliography in Appendix C). Compare +padded cell , honey pot. + diff --git a/entries/iron.txt b/entries/iron.txt index 5df7526..b74d266 100644 --- a/entries/iron.txt +++ b/entries/iron.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ iron -n. Hardware, especially older and larger hardware of mainframe class with big metal cabinets housing relatively low-density electronics (but the term is also used of modern supercomputers). Often in the phrase big iron. Oppose silicon. See also dinosaur. +n. Hardware, especially older and larger hardware of mainframe class with +big metal cabinets housing relatively low-density electronics (but the term +is also used of modern supercomputers). Often in the phrase big iron. Oppose +silicon. See also dinosaur. + diff --git a/entries/ironmonger.txt b/entries/ironmonger.txt index 1256e8b..3bd5c38 100644 --- a/entries/ironmonger.txt +++ b/entries/ironmonger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ ironmonger -n. [IBM] A hardware specialist (derogatory). Compare sandbender , polygon pusher. +n. [IBM] A hardware specialist (derogatory). Compare sandbender , polygon +pusher. + diff --git a/entries/jack in.txt b/entries/jack in.txt index 2fc69c5..8564ea8 100644 --- a/entries/jack in.txt +++ b/entries/jack in.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ jack in -v. To log on to a machine or connect to a network or BBS , esp. for purposes of entering a virtual reality simulation such as a MUD or IRC (leaving is jacking out ). This term derives from cyberpunk SF, in which it was used for the act of plugging an electrode set into neural sockets in order to interface the brain directly to a virtual reality. It is primarily used by MUD and IRC fans and younger hackers on BBS systems. Prev Up Next J. +v. To log on to a machine or connect to a network or BBS , esp. for purposes +of entering a virtual reality simulation such as a MUD or IRC (leaving is +jacking out ). This term derives from cyberpunk SF, in which it was used for +the act of plugging an electrode set into neural sockets in order to +interface the brain directly to a virtual reality. It is primarily used by +MUD and IRC fans and younger hackers on BBS systems. Prev Up Next J. + diff --git a/entries/jaggies.txt b/entries/jaggies.txt index dfe02af..713bdf3 100644 --- a/entries/jaggies.txt +++ b/entries/jaggies.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ jaggies -/jageez/ , n. The stairstep effect observable when an edge (esp. a linear edge of very shallow or steep slope) is rendered on a pixel device (as opposed to a vector display). +/jageez/ , n. The stairstep effect observable when an edge (esp. a linear +edge of very shallow or steep slope) is rendered on a pixel device (as +opposed to a vector display). + diff --git a/entries/jello.txt b/entries/jello.txt index d690040..98cf4b0 100644 --- a/entries/jello.txt +++ b/entries/jello.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ jello -n. [Usenet: by analogy with spam ] A message that is both excessively cross-posted and too frequently posted, as opposed to spam (which is merely too frequently posted) or velveeta (which is merely excessively cross-posted). This term is widely recognized but not commonly used; most people refer to both kinds of abuse or their combination as spam. Prev Up Next Jeff K. +n. [Usenet: by analogy with spam ] A message that is both excessively +cross-posted and too frequently posted, as opposed to spam (which is merely +too frequently posted) or velveeta (which is merely excessively +cross-posted). This term is widely recognized but not commonly used; most +people refer to both kinds of abuse or their combination as spam. Prev Up +Next Jeff K. + diff --git a/entries/jibble.txt b/entries/jibble.txt index 8a0cc85..71c688b 100644 --- a/entries/jibble.txt +++ b/entries/jibble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ jibble -Unspecified stuff. An unspecified action. A deliberately blank word; compare gorets. A deliberate experiment in tracking the spread of a near-meaningless word. See http://www.jibble.org/jibblemeaning.php. +Unspecified stuff. An unspecified action. A deliberately blank word; compare +gorets. A deliberate experiment in tracking the spread of a near-meaningless +word. See http://www.jibble.org/jibblemeaning.php. + diff --git a/entries/jiffy.txt b/entries/jiffy.txt index e7cba59..6d8bc51 100644 --- a/entries/jiffy.txt +++ b/entries/jiffy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ jiffy -n. 1. The duration of one tick of the system clock on your computer (see tick ). Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, 1/50 most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has become common. The swapper runs every 6 jiffies means that the virtual memory management routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the clock, or about ten times a second. 2. Confusingly, the term is sometimes also used for a 1-millisecond wall time interval. 3. Even more confusingly, physicists semi-jokingly use jiffy to mean the time required for light to travel one foot in a vacuum, which turns out to be close to one nanosecond. Other physicists use the term for the quantum-nechanical lower bound on meaningful time lengths, 4. Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. I'll do it in a jiffy means certainly not now and possibly never. This is a bit contrary to the more widespread use of the word. Oppose nano. See also Real Soon Now. +n. 1. The duration of one tick of the system clock on your computer (see +tick ). Often one AC cycle time (1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, 1/50 +most other places), but more recently 1/100 sec has become common. The +swapper runs every 6 jiffies means that the virtual memory management +routine is executed once for every 6 ticks of the clock, or about ten times +a second. 2. Confusingly, the term is sometimes also used for a +1-millisecond wall time interval. 3. Even more confusingly, physicists +semi-jokingly use jiffy to mean the time required for light to travel one +foot in a vacuum, which turns out to be close to one nanosecond. Other +physicists use the term for the quantum-nechanical lower bound on meaningful +time lengths, 4. Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. I'll do +it in a jiffy means certainly not now and possibly never. This is a bit +contrary to the more widespread use of the word. Oppose nano. See also Real +Soon Now. + diff --git a/entries/job security.txt b/entries/job security.txt index 67eb210..0578e02 100644 --- a/entries/job security.txt +++ b/entries/job security.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ job security -n. When some piece of code is written in a particularly obscure fashion, and no good reason (such as time or space optimization) can be discovered, it is often said that the programmer was attempting to increase his job security (i.e., by making himself indispensable for maintenance). This sour joke seldom has to be said in full; if two hackers are looking over some code together and one points at a section and says job security , the other one may just nod. +n. When some piece of code is written in a particularly obscure fashion, and +no good reason (such as time or space optimization) can be discovered, it is +often said that the programmer was attempting to increase his job security +(i.e., by making himself indispensable for maintenance). This sour joke +seldom has to be said in full; if two hackers are looking over some code +together and one points at a section and says job security , the other one +may just nod. + diff --git a/entries/jock.txt b/entries/jock.txt index c3ea807..3c51d57 100644 --- a/entries/jock.txt +++ b/entries/jock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ jock -n. 1. A programmer who is characterized by large and somewhat brute-force programs. See brute force. 2. When modified by another noun, describes a specialist in some particular computing area. The compounds compiler jock and systems jock seem to be the best-established examples. +n. 1. A programmer who is characterized by large and somewhat brute-force +programs. See brute force. 2. When modified by another noun, describes a +specialist in some particular computing area. The compounds compiler jock +and systems jock seem to be the best-established examples. + diff --git a/entries/joe code.txt b/entries/joe code.txt index 2ef22ef..10d2f5c 100644 --- a/entries/joe code.txt +++ b/entries/joe code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ joe code -/joh kohd`/ , n. 1. Code that is overly tense and unmaintainable. Perl may be a handy program, but if you look at the source, it's complete joe code. 2. Badly written, possibly buggy code. Correspondents wishing to remain anonymous have fingered a particular Joe at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and observed that usage has drifted slightly; the original sobriquet Joe code was intended in sense 1. 1994 update: This term has now generalized to name code , used to designate code with distinct characteristics traceable to its author. This section doesn't check for a NULL return from malloc()! Oh. No wonder! It's Ed code!. Used most often with a programmer who has left the shop and thus is a convenient scapegoat for anything that is wrong with the project. +/joh kohd`/ , n. 1. Code that is overly tense and unmaintainable. Perl may +be a handy program, but if you look at the source, it's complete joe code. +2. Badly written, possibly buggy code. Correspondents wishing to remain +anonymous have fingered a particular Joe at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory +and observed that usage has drifted slightly; the original sobriquet Joe +code was intended in sense 1. 1994 update: This term has now generalized to +name code , used to designate code with distinct characteristics traceable +to its author. This section doesn't check for a NULL return from malloc()! +Oh. No wonder! It's Ed code!. Used most often with a programmer who has left +the shop and thus is a convenient scapegoat for anything that is wrong with +the project. + diff --git a/entries/joe-job.txt b/entries/joe-job.txt index 5ef2069..cf5974a 100644 --- a/entries/joe-job.txt +++ b/entries/joe-job.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ joe-job -n., vt. A spam run forged to appear as though it came from an innocent party, who is then generally flooded by the bounces; or, the act of performing such a run. The original incident is described here. +n., vt. A spam run forged to appear as though it came from an innocent +party, who is then generally flooded by the bounces; or, the act of +performing such a run. The original incident is described here. + diff --git a/entries/juggling eggs.txt b/entries/juggling eggs.txt index cd76fe4..e6b259f 100644 --- a/entries/juggling eggs.txt +++ b/entries/juggling eggs.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ juggling eggs -vi. Keeping a lot of state in your head while modifying a program. Don't bother me now, I'm juggling eggs , means that an interrupt is likely to result in the program's being scrambled. In the classic 1975 first-contact SF novel The Mote in God's Eye , by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, an alien describes a very difficult task by saying We juggle priceless eggs in variable gravity. It is possible that this was intended as tribute to a less colorful use of the same image in Robert Heinlein's influential 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land. See also hack mode and on the gripping hand. +vi. Keeping a lot of state in your head while modifying a program. Don't +bother me now, I'm juggling eggs , means that an interrupt is likely to +result in the program's being scrambled. In the classic 1975 first-contact +SF novel The Mote in God's Eye , by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, an +alien describes a very difficult task by saying We juggle priceless eggs in +variable gravity. It is possible that this was intended as tribute to a less +colorful use of the same image in Robert Heinlein's influential 1961 novel +Stranger in a Strange Land. See also hack mode and on the gripping hand. + diff --git a/entries/juice.txt b/entries/juice.txt index 441f952..eec0465 100644 --- a/entries/juice.txt +++ b/entries/juice.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ juice -n. The weight of a given node in some sort of graph (like a web of trust or a relevance-weighted search query). This appears to have been generalized from google juice , but may derive from black urban slang for power or a respect. Example: I signed your key, but I really don't have the juice to be authoritative. +n. The weight of a given node in some sort of graph (like a web of trust or +a relevance-weighted search query). This appears to have been generalized +from google juice , but may derive from black urban slang for power or a +respect. Example: I signed your key, but I really don't have the juice to be +authoritative. + diff --git a/entries/jump off into never-never land.txt b/entries/jump off into never-never land.txt index f4a7312..de251a1 100644 --- a/entries/jump off into never-never land.txt +++ b/entries/jump off into never-never land.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ jump off into never-never land -v. [from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan ] An unexpected jump in a program that produces catastrophic or just plain weird results. Compare hyperspace. +v. [from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan ] An unexpected jump in a program that +produces catastrophic or just plain weird results. Compare hyperspace. + diff --git a/entries/jupiter.txt b/entries/jupiter.txt index c247341..5c6bcda 100644 --- a/entries/jupiter.txt +++ b/entries/jupiter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ jupiter -vt. [IRC] To kill an IRC bot or user and then take its place by adopting its nick so that it cannot reconnect. Named after a particular IRC user who did this to NickServ, the robot in charge of preventing people from inadvertently using a nick claimed by another user. Now commonly shortened to jupe. +vt. [IRC] To kill an IRC bot or user and then take its place by adopting its +nick so that it cannot reconnect. Named after a particular IRC user who did +this to NickServ, the robot in charge of preventing people from +inadvertently using a nick claimed by another user. Now commonly shortened +to jupe. + diff --git a/entries/k-.txt b/entries/k-.txt index c4dd336..87ecaf4 100644 --- a/entries/k-.txt +++ b/entries/k-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ k- -pref. [rare; poss fr. kilo- prefix] Extremely. Rare among hackers, but quite common among crackers and warez d00dz in compounds such as k-kool /Kkool/ , k-rad /Krad/ , and k-awesome /Kaw`sm/. Also used to intensify negatives; thus, k-evil , k-lame , k-screwed , and k-annoying. Overuse of this prefix, or use in more formal or technical contexts, is considered an indicator of lamer status. +pref. [rare; poss fr. kilo- prefix] Extremely. Rare among hackers, but quite +common among crackers and warez d00dz in compounds such as k-kool /Kkool/ , +k-rad /Krad/ , and k-awesome /Kaw`sm/. Also used to intensify negatives; +thus, k-evil , k-lame , k-screwed , and k-annoying. Overuse of this prefix, +or use in more formal or technical contexts, is considered an indicator of +lamer status. + diff --git a/entries/kahuna.txt b/entries/kahuna.txt index 0c52215..62c6621 100644 --- a/entries/kahuna.txt +++ b/entries/kahuna.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ kahuna -/k@hoon@/ , n. [IBM: from the Hawaiian title for a shaman] Synonym for wizard , guru. +/k@hoon@/ , n. [IBM: from the Hawaiian title for a shaman] Synonym for +wizard , guru. + diff --git a/entries/kamikaze packet.txt b/entries/kamikaze packet.txt index 1e64563..a74f71c 100644 --- a/entries/kamikaze packet.txt +++ b/entries/kamikaze packet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ kamikaze packet -n. The official jargon for what is more commonly called a Christmas tree packet. RFC -1025, TCP and IP Bake Off says: 10 points for correctly being able to process a Kamikaze packet (AKA nastygram, christmas tree packet, lamp test segment, et al.). That is, correctly handle a segment with the maximum combination of features at once (e.g., a SYN URG PUSH FIN segment with options and data). See also Chernobyl packet. +n. The official jargon for what is more commonly called a Christmas tree +packet. RFC -1025, TCP and IP Bake Off says: 10 points for correctly being +able to process a Kamikaze packet (AKA nastygram, christmas tree packet, +lamp test segment, et al.). That is, correctly handle a segment with the +maximum combination of features at once (e.g., a SYN URG PUSH FIN segment +with options and data). See also Chernobyl packet. + diff --git a/entries/kangaroo code.txt b/entries/kangaroo code.txt index 99540dc..8e4ae11 100644 --- a/entries/kangaroo code.txt +++ b/entries/kangaroo code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ kangaroo code n. Syn. spaghetti code. + diff --git a/entries/ken.txt b/entries/ken.txt index 2022cee..2c839ab 100644 --- a/entries/ken.txt +++ b/entries/ken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ ken -/ken/ , n. 1. [Unix] Ken Thompson, principal inventor of Unix. In the early days he used to hand-cut distribution tapes, often with a note that read Love, ken. Old-timers still use his first name (sometimes uncapitalized, because it's a login name and mail address) in third-person reference; it is widely understood (on Usenet, in particular) that without a last name Ken refers only to Ken Thompson. Similarly, Dennis without last name means Dennis Ritchie (and he is often known as dmr ). See also demigod , Unix. 2. A flaming user. This was originated by the Software Support group at Symbolics because the two greatest flamers in the user community were both named Ken. +/ken/ , n. 1. [Unix] Ken Thompson, principal inventor of Unix. In the early +days he used to hand-cut distribution tapes, often with a note that read +Love, ken. Old-timers still use his first name (sometimes uncapitalized, +because it's a login name and mail address) in third-person reference; it is +widely understood (on Usenet, in particular) that without a last name Ken +refers only to Ken Thompson. Similarly, Dennis without last name means +Dennis Ritchie (and he is often known as dmr ). See also demigod , Unix. 2. +A flaming user. This was originated by the Software Support group at +Symbolics because the two greatest flamers in the user community were both +named Ken. + diff --git a/entries/kernel-of-the-week club.txt b/entries/kernel-of-the-week club.txt index 136b11c..209e30c 100644 --- a/entries/kernel-of-the-week club.txt +++ b/entries/kernel-of-the-week club.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ kernel-of-the-week club -The fictional society that BSD bigot s claim Linux users belong to, alluding to the release-early-release-often style preferred by the kernel maintainers. See bazaar. This was almost certainly inspired by the earlier bug-of-the-month club. +The fictional society that BSD bigot s claim Linux users belong to, alluding +to the release-early-release-often style preferred by the kernel +maintainers. See bazaar. This was almost certainly inspired by the earlier +bug-of-the-month club. + diff --git a/entries/kgbvax.txt b/entries/kgbvax.txt index 53905bc..aeca0fc 100644 --- a/entries/kgbvax.txt +++ b/entries/kgbvax.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ kgbvax /KGBvaks/ , n. See kremvax. + diff --git a/entries/kiboze.txt b/entries/kiboze.txt index e0d9f45..da8c72f 100644 --- a/entries/kiboze.txt +++ b/entries/kiboze.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ kiboze -v. [Usenet] To grep the Usenet news for a string, especially with the intention of posting a follow-up. This activity was popularised by Kibo (see KIBO , sense 2). +v. [Usenet] To grep the Usenet news for a string, especially with the +intention of posting a follow-up. This activity was popularised by Kibo (see +KIBO , sense 2). + diff --git a/entries/kibozo.txt b/entries/kibozo.txt index 6c6aa25..615197d 100644 --- a/entries/kibozo.txt +++ b/entries/kibozo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ kibozo -/ki:bohzoh/ , n. [Usenet] One who kiboze s but is not Kibo (see KIBO , sense 2). +/ki:bohzoh/ , n. [Usenet] One who kiboze s but is not Kibo (see KIBO , sense +2). + diff --git a/entries/kick.txt b/entries/kick.txt index fa5364c..f6e1f11 100644 --- a/entries/kick.txt +++ b/entries/kick.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ kick -v. 1. [IRC] To cause somebody to be removed from a IRC channel, an option only available to channel ops. This is an extreme measure, often used to combat extreme flamage or flood ing, but sometimes used at the CHOP 's whim. 2. To reboot a machine or kill a running process. The server's down, let me go kick it. +v. 1. [IRC] To cause somebody to be removed from a IRC channel, an option +only available to channel ops. This is an extreme measure, often used to +combat extreme flamage or flood ing, but sometimes used at the CHOP 's whim. +2. To reboot a machine or kill a running process. The server's down, let me +go kick it. + diff --git a/entries/kill file.txt b/entries/kill file.txt index 9cbd82d..b435549 100644 --- a/entries/kill file.txt +++ b/entries/kill file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ kill file -n. [Usenet; very common] (alt.: KILL file ) Per-user file(s) used by some Usenet reading programs (originally Larry Wall's rn (1) ) to discard summarily (without presenting for reading) articles matching some particularly uninteresting (or unwanted) patterns of subject, author, or other header lines. Thus to add a person (or subject) to one's kill file is to arrange for that person to be ignored by one's newsreader in future. By extension, it may be used for a decision to ignore the person or subject in other media. See also plonk. +n. [Usenet; very common] (alt.: KILL file ) Per-user file(s) used by some +Usenet reading programs (originally Larry Wall's rn (1) ) to discard +summarily (without presenting for reading) articles matching some +particularly uninteresting (or unwanted) patterns of subject, author, or +other header lines. Thus to add a person (or subject) to one's kill file is +to arrange for that person to be ignored by one's newsreader in future. By +extension, it may be used for a decision to ignore the person or subject in +other media. See also plonk. + diff --git a/entries/killer app.txt b/entries/killer app.txt index e373ef9..ffb02ed 100644 --- a/entries/killer app.txt +++ b/entries/killer app.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ killer app -The application that actually makes a sustaining market for a promising but under-utilized technology. First used in the mid-1980s to describe Lotus 1-2-3 once it became evident that demand for that product had been the major driver of the early business market for IBM PCs. The term was then retrospectively applied to VisiCalc, which had played a similar role in the success of the Apple II. After 1994 it became commonplace to describe the World Wide Web as the Internet's . +The application that actually makes a sustaining market for a promising but +under-utilized technology. First used in the mid-1980s to describe Lotus +1-2-3 once it became evident that demand for that product had been the major +driver of the early business market for IBM PCs. The term was then +retrospectively applied to VisiCalc, which had played a similar role in the +success of the Apple II. After 1994 it became commonplace to describe the +World Wide Web as the Internet's . + diff --git a/entries/killer micro.txt b/entries/killer micro.txt index f031706..7d6b06f 100644 --- a/entries/killer micro.txt +++ b/entries/killer micro.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ killer micro -n. [popularized by Eugene Brooks c.1990] A microprocessor-based machine that infringes on mini, mainframe, or supercomputer performance turf. Often heard in No one will survive the attack of the killer micros! , the battle cry of the downsizers. The popularity of the phrase attack of the killer micros is doubtless reinforced by the title of the movie Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes (one of the canonical examples of so-bad-it's-wonderful among hackers). This has even more flavor now that killer micros have gone on the offensive not just individually (in workstations) but in hordes (within massively parallel computers). [2002 update: Eugene Brooks was right. Since this term first entered the Jargon File in 1990, the minicomputer has effectively vanished, the mainframe sector is in deep and apparently terminal decline, and even the supercomputer business has contracted into a smaller niche. It's networked killer micros as far as the eye can see. +n. [popularized by Eugene Brooks c.1990] A microprocessor-based machine that +infringes on mini, mainframe, or supercomputer performance turf. Often heard +in No one will survive the attack of the killer micros! , the battle cry of +the downsizers. The popularity of the phrase attack of the killer micros is +doubtless reinforced by the title of the movie Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes +(one of the canonical examples of so-bad-it's-wonderful among hackers). This +has even more flavor now that killer micros have gone on the offensive not +just individually (in workstations) but in hordes (within massively parallel +computers). [2002 update: Eugene Brooks was right. Since this term first +entered the Jargon File in 1990, the minicomputer has effectively vanished, +the mainframe sector is in deep and apparently terminal decline, and even +the supercomputer business has contracted into a smaller niche. It's +networked killer micros as far as the eye can see. + diff --git a/entries/killer poke.txt b/entries/killer poke.txt index 6bf26d2..494735b 100644 --- a/entries/killer poke.txt +++ b/entries/killer poke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ killer poke -n. A recipe for inducing hardware damage on a machine via insertion of invalid values (see poke ) into a memory-mapped control register; used esp. of various fairly well-known tricks on bitty box es without hardware memory management (such as the IBM PC and Commodore PET) that can overload and trash analog electronics in the monitor. See also HCF. +n. A recipe for inducing hardware damage on a machine via insertion of +invalid values (see poke ) into a memory-mapped control register; used esp. +of various fairly well-known tricks on bitty box es without hardware memory +management (such as the IBM PC and Commodore PET) that can overload and +trash analog electronics in the monitor. See also HCF. + diff --git a/entries/kilo-.txt b/entries/kilo-.txt index 9533244..aa439fe 100644 --- a/entries/kilo-.txt +++ b/entries/kilo-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ kilo- pref. [SI] See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/kilogoogle.txt b/entries/kilogoogle.txt index 046abc3..2f112cb 100644 --- a/entries/kilogoogle.txt +++ b/entries/kilogoogle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ kilogoogle -n. The standard unit of measurement for Web search hits: a thousand Google matches. There are about a kilogoogle and a half sites with that band's name on it. Compare google juice. +n. The standard unit of measurement for Web search hits: a thousand Google +matches. There are about a kilogoogle and a half sites with that band's name +on it. Compare google juice. + diff --git a/entries/kit.txt b/entries/kit.txt index 1b610eb..d05035b 100644 --- a/entries/kit.txt +++ b/entries/kit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ kit -n. [Usenet; poss.: fr.: DEC slang for a full software distribution, as opposed to a patch or upgrade] A source software distribution that has been packaged in such a way that it can (theoretically) be unpacked and installed according to a series of steps using only standard Unix tools, and entirely documented by some reasonable chain of references from the top-level README file. The more general term distribution may imply that special tools or more stringent conditions on the host environment are required. +n. [Usenet; poss.: fr.: DEC slang for a full software distribution, as +opposed to a patch or upgrade] A source software distribution that has been +packaged in such a way that it can (theoretically) be unpacked and installed +according to a series of steps using only standard Unix tools, and entirely +documented by some reasonable chain of references from the top-level README +file. The more general term distribution may imply that special tools or +more stringent conditions on the host environment are required. + diff --git a/entries/klone.txt b/entries/klone.txt index e354675..af4aa28 100644 --- a/entries/klone.txt +++ b/entries/klone.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ klone /klohn/ , n. See clone , sense 4. + diff --git a/entries/kludge.txt b/entries/kludge.txt index be8fdb5..d99b8be 100644 --- a/entries/kludge.txt +++ b/entries/kludge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ kludge -A crock that works. (A long-ago Datamation article by Jackson Granholme similarly said: An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole. ) 3. v. To use a kludge to get around a problem. I've kludged around it for now, but I'll fix it up properly later. This word appears to have derived from Scots kludge or kludgie for a common toilet, via British military slang. It apparently became confused with U.S. kluge during or after World War II; some Britons from that era use both words in definably different ways, but kluge is now uncommon in Great Britain. Kludge in Commonwealth hackish differs in meaning from kluge in that it lacks the positive senses; a kludge is something no Commonwealth hacker wants to be associated too closely with. Also, kludge is more widely known in British mainstream slang than kluge is in the U.S. +A crock that works. (A long-ago Datamation article by Jackson Granholme +similarly said: An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming +a distressing whole. ) 3. v. To use a kludge to get around a problem. I've +kludged around it for now, but I'll fix it up properly later. This word +appears to have derived from Scots kludge or kludgie for a common toilet, +via British military slang. It apparently became confused with U.S. kluge +during or after World War II; some Britons from that era use both words in +definably different ways, but kluge is now uncommon in Great Britain. Kludge +in Commonwealth hackish differs in meaning from kluge in that it lacks the +positive senses; a kludge is something no Commonwealth hacker wants to be +associated too closely with. Also, kludge is more widely known in British +mainstream slang than kluge is in the U.S. + diff --git a/entries/kluge around.txt b/entries/kluge around.txt index bea9748..8080767 100644 --- a/entries/kluge around.txt +++ b/entries/kluge around.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ kluge around -vt. To avoid a bug or difficult condition by inserting a kluge. Compare workaround. +vt. To avoid a bug or difficult condition by inserting a kluge. Compare +workaround. + diff --git a/entries/kluge up.txt b/entries/kluge up.txt index 2303f1b..5a5d8e5 100644 --- a/entries/kluge up.txt +++ b/entries/kluge up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ kluge up -vt. To lash together a quick hack to perform a task; this is milder than cruft together and has some of the connotations of hack up (note, however, that the construction kluge on corresponding to hack on is never used). I've kluged up this routine to dump the buffer contents to a safe place. +vt. To lash together a quick hack to perform a task; this is milder than +cruft together and has some of the connotations of hack up (note, however, +that the construction kluge on corresponding to hack on is never used). I've +kluged up this routine to dump the buffer contents to a safe place. + diff --git a/entries/kluge.txt b/entries/kluge.txt index 2e634bc..4c74363 100644 --- a/entries/kluge.txt +++ b/entries/kluge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,65 @@ kluge -/klooj/ [from the German klug , clever; poss. related to Polish Russian klucz (a key, a hint, a main point)] 1. n. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) device, whether in hardware or software. 2. n. A clever programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often involves ad-hockery and verges on being a crock. 3. n. Something that works for the wrong reason. 4. vt. To insert a kluge into a program. I've kluged this routine to get around that weird bug, but there's probably a better way. 5. [WPI] n. A feature that is implemented in a rude manner. Nowadays this term is often encountered in the variant spelling kludge. Reports from old fart s are consistent that kluge was the original spelling, reported around computers as far back as the mid-1950s and, at that time, used exclusively of hardware kluges. In 1947, the New York Folklore Quarterly reported a classic shaggy-dog story Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker then current in the Armed Forces, in which a kluge was a complex and puzzling artifact with a trivial function. Other sources report that kluge was common Navy slang in the WWII era for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but consistently failed at sea. However, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a decade older. Several respondents have connected it to the brand name of a device called a Kluge paper feeder , an adjunct to mechanical printing presses. Legend has it that the Kluge feeder was designed before small, cheap electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a fiendishly complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to both power and synchronize all its operations from one motive driveshaft. It was accordingly temperamental, subject to frequent breakdowns, and devilishly difficult to repair but oh, so clever! People who tell this story also aver that Kluge was the name of a design engineer. There is in fact a Brandtjen Kluge Inc., an old family business that manufactures printing equipment interestingly, their name is pronounced /kloogee/ ! Henry Brandtjen, president of the firm, told me (ESR, 1994) that his company was co-founded by his father and an engineer named Kluge /kloogee/ , who built and co-designed the original Kluge automatic feeder in 1919. Mr. Brandtjen claims, however, that this was a simple device (with only four cams); he says he has no idea how the myth of its complexity took hold. Other correspondents differ with Mr. Brandtjen's history of the device and his allegation that it was a simple rather than complex one, but agree that the Kluge automatic feeder was the most likely source of the folklore. TMRC and the MIT hacker culture of the early '60s seems to have developed in a milieu that remembered and still used some WWII military slang (see also foobar ). It seems likely that kluge came to MIT via alumni of the many military electronics projects that had been located in Cambridge (many in MIT's venerable Building 20, in which TMRC is also located) during the war. The variant kludge was apparently popularized by the Datamation article mentioned under kludge ; it was titled How to Design a Kludge (February 1962, pp. 30, 31). This spelling was probably imported from Great Britain, where kludge has an independent history (though this fact was largely unknown to hackers on either side of the Atlantic before a mid-1993 debate in the Usenet group alt.folklore.computers over the First and Second Edition versions of this entry; everybody used to think kludge was just a mutation of kluge ). It now appears that the British, having forgotten the etymology of their own kludge when kluge crossed the Atlantic, repaid the U.S. by lobbing the kludge orthography in the other direction and confusing their American cousins' spelling! The result of this history is a tangle. Many younger U.S. hackers pronounce the word as /klooj/ but spell it, incorrectly for its meaning and pronunciation, as kludge. (Phonetically, consider huge, refuge, centrifuge, and deluge as opposed to sludge, judge, budge, and fudge. Whatever its failings in other areas, English spelling is perfectly consistent about this distinction.) British hackers mostly learned /kluhj/ orally, use it in a restricted negative sense and are at least consistent. European hackers have mostly learned the word from written American sources and tend to pronounce it /kluhj/ but use the wider American meaning! Some observers consider this mess appropriate in view of the word's meaning. +/klooj/ [from the German klug , clever; poss. related to Polish Russian +klucz (a key, a hint, a main point)] 1. n. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath +Robinson) device, whether in hardware or software. 2. n. A clever +programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, +if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often involves ad-hockery +and verges on being a crock. 3. n. Something that works for the wrong +reason. 4. vt. To insert a kluge into a program. I've kluged this routine to +get around that weird bug, but there's probably a better way. 5. [WPI] n. A +feature that is implemented in a rude manner. Nowadays this term is often +encountered in the variant spelling kludge. Reports from old fart s are +consistent that kluge was the original spelling, reported around computers +as far back as the mid-1950s and, at that time, used exclusively of hardware +kluges. In 1947, the New York Folklore Quarterly reported a classic +shaggy-dog story Murgatroyd the Kluge Maker then current in the Armed +Forces, in which a kluge was a complex and puzzling artifact with a trivial +function. Other sources report that kluge was common Navy slang in the WWII +era for any piece of electronics that worked well on shore but consistently +failed at sea. However, there is reason to believe this slang use may be a +decade older. Several respondents have connected it to the brand name of a +device called a Kluge paper feeder , an adjunct to mechanical printing +presses. Legend has it that the Kluge feeder was designed before small, +cheap electric motors and control electronics; it relied on a fiendishly +complex assortment of cams, belts, and linkages to both power and +synchronize all its operations from one motive driveshaft. It was +accordingly temperamental, subject to frequent breakdowns, and devilishly +difficult to repair but oh, so clever! People who tell this story also aver +that Kluge was the name of a design engineer. There is in fact a Brandtjen +Kluge Inc., an old family business that manufactures printing equipment +interestingly, their name is pronounced /kloogee/ ! Henry Brandtjen, +president of the firm, told me (ESR, 1994) that his company was co-founded +by his father and an engineer named Kluge /kloogee/ , who built and +co-designed the original Kluge automatic feeder in 1919. Mr. Brandtjen +claims, however, that this was a simple device (with only four cams); he +says he has no idea how the myth of its complexity took hold. Other +correspondents differ with Mr. Brandtjen's history of the device and his +allegation that it was a simple rather than complex one, but agree that the +Kluge automatic feeder was the most likely source of the folklore. TMRC and +the MIT hacker culture of the early '60s seems to have developed in a milieu +that remembered and still used some WWII military slang (see also foobar ). +It seems likely that kluge came to MIT via alumni of the many military +electronics projects that had been located in Cambridge (many in MIT's +venerable Building 20, in which TMRC is also located) during the war. The +variant kludge was apparently popularized by the Datamation article +mentioned under kludge ; it was titled How to Design a Kludge (February +1962, pp. 30, 31). This spelling was probably imported from Great Britain, +where kludge has an independent history (though this fact was largely +unknown to hackers on either side of the Atlantic before a mid-1993 debate +in the Usenet group alt.folklore.computers over the First and Second Edition +versions of this entry; everybody used to think kludge was just a mutation +of kluge ). It now appears that the British, having forgotten the etymology +of their own kludge when kluge crossed the Atlantic, repaid the U.S. by +lobbing the kludge orthography in the other direction and confusing their +American cousins' spelling! The result of this history is a tangle. Many +younger U.S. hackers pronounce the word as /klooj/ but spell it, incorrectly +for its meaning and pronunciation, as kludge. (Phonetically, consider huge, +refuge, centrifuge, and deluge as opposed to sludge, judge, budge, and +fudge. Whatever its failings in other areas, English spelling is perfectly +consistent about this distinction.) British hackers mostly learned /kluhj/ +orally, use it in a restricted negative sense and are at least consistent. +European hackers have mostly learned the word from written American sources +and tend to pronounce it /kluhj/ but use the wider American meaning! Some +observers consider this mess appropriate in view of the word's meaning. + diff --git a/entries/knobs.txt b/entries/knobs.txt index 5848f54..c0f7851 100644 --- a/entries/knobs.txt +++ b/entries/knobs.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ knobs -pl.n. Configurable options, even in software and even those you can't adjust in real time. Anything you can twiddle is a knob. Has this PNG viewer got an alpha knob? Software may be described as having knobs and switches or occasionally knobs and lights. +pl.n. Configurable options, even in software and even those you can't adjust +in real time. Anything you can twiddle is a knob. Has this PNG viewer got an +alpha knob? Software may be described as having knobs and switches or +occasionally knobs and lights. + diff --git a/entries/knurd.txt b/entries/knurd.txt index fbd14f7..cae48ed 100644 --- a/entries/knurd.txt +++ b/entries/knurd.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ knurd -n. 1. [RPI] Renssaleer Polytechnic Institute local slang roughly equivalent to the positive sense of geek , referring to people who prefer technical hobbies to socializing. 2. In older usage at RPI, the term signified someone new to college life, fresh out of high school, and wet behind the ears. An IEEE Spectrum article (4/95, page 16) once derived nerd in its variant form knurd from the word drunk backwards; this etymology was common at RPI. Though it is commonly confused with nerd , it appears these words have separate origins (compare the kluge / kludge pair). +n. 1. [RPI] Renssaleer Polytechnic Institute local slang roughly equivalent +to the positive sense of geek , referring to people who prefer technical +hobbies to socializing. 2. In older usage at RPI, the term signified someone +new to college life, fresh out of high school, and wet behind the ears. An +IEEE Spectrum article (4/95, page 16) once derived nerd in its variant form +knurd from the word drunk backwards; this etymology was common at RPI. +Though it is commonly confused with nerd , it appears these words have +separate origins (compare the kluge / kludge pair). + diff --git a/entries/koan.txt b/entries/koan.txt index 6ba08fc..cbd6174 100644 --- a/entries/koan.txt +++ b/entries/koan.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ koan -/kohan/ , n. A Zen teaching riddle. Classically, koans are attractive paradoxes to be meditated on; their purpose is to help one to enlightenment by temporarily jamming normal cognitive processing so that something more interesting can happen (this practice is associated with Rinzai Zen Buddhism). Defined here because hackers are very fond of the koan form and compose their own koans for humorous and/or enlightening effect. See Some AI Koans , has the X nature , hacker humor. +/kohan/ , n. A Zen teaching riddle. Classically, koans are attractive +paradoxes to be meditated on; their purpose is to help one to enlightenment +by temporarily jamming normal cognitive processing so that something more +interesting can happen (this practice is associated with Rinzai Zen +Buddhism). Defined here because hackers are very fond of the koan form and +compose their own koans for humorous and/or enlightening effect. See Some AI +Koans , has the X nature , hacker humor. + diff --git a/entries/kook.txt b/entries/kook.txt index ef743cd..60f2d6f 100644 --- a/entries/kook.txt +++ b/entries/kook.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ kook -Term used to describe a regular poster who continually posts messages with no apparent grounding in reality. Different from a troll , which implies a sort of sly wink on the part of a poster who knows better, kooks really believe what they write, to the extent that they believe anything. The kook trademark is paranoia and grandiosity. Kooks will often build up elaborate imaginary support structures, fake corporations and the like, and continue to act as if those things are real even after their falsity has been documented in public. While they may appear harmless, and are usually filtered out by the other regular participants in a newsgroup of mailing list, they can still cause problems because the necessity for these measures is not immediately apparent to newcomers; there are several instances on record, for example, of journalists writing stories with quotes from kooks who caught them unaware. An entertaining web page chronicling the activities of many notable kooks can be found at http://www.crank.net/usenet.html. +Term used to describe a regular poster who continually posts messages with +no apparent grounding in reality. Different from a troll , which implies a +sort of sly wink on the part of a poster who knows better, kooks really +believe what they write, to the extent that they believe anything. The kook +trademark is paranoia and grandiosity. Kooks will often build up elaborate +imaginary support structures, fake corporations and the like, and continue +to act as if those things are real even after their falsity has been +documented in public. While they may appear harmless, and are usually +filtered out by the other regular participants in a newsgroup of mailing +list, they can still cause problems because the necessity for these measures +is not immediately apparent to newcomers; there are several instances on +record, for example, of journalists writing stories with quotes from kooks +who caught them unaware. An entertaining web page chronicling the activities +of many notable kooks can be found at http://www.crank.net/usenet.html. + diff --git a/entries/kremvax.txt b/entries/kremvax.txt index 299f7c7..33d4c8e 100644 --- a/entries/kremvax.txt +++ b/entries/kremvax.txt @@ -1,3 +1,35 @@ kremvax -/kremvaks/ , n. [from the then-large number of Usenet VAXen with names of the form foovax ] Originally, a fictitious Usenet site at the Kremlin, announced on April 1, 1984 in a posting ostensibly originated there by Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko. The posting was actually forged by Piet Beertema as an April Fool's joke. Other fictitious sites mentioned in the hoax were moskvax and kgbvax. This was probably the funniest of the many April Fool's forgeries perpetrated on Usenet (which has negligible security against them), because the notion that Usenet might ever penetrate the Iron Curtain seemed so totally absurd at the time. In fact, it was only six years later that the first genuine site in Moscow, demos.su , joined Usenet. Some readers needed convincing that the postings from it weren't just another prank. Vadim Antonov, senior programmer at Demos and the major poster from there up to mid-1991, was quite aware of all this, referred to it frequently in his own postings, and at one point twitted some credulous readers by blandly asserting that he was a hoax! Eventually he even arranged to have the domain's gateway site named kremvax , thus neatly turning fiction into fact and demonstrating that the hackish sense of humor transcends cultural barriers. [Mr. Antonov also contributed the Russian-language material for this lexicon. ESR] In an even more ironic historical footnote, kremvax became an electronic center of the anti-communist resistance during the bungled hard-line coup of August 1991. During those three days the Soviet UUCP network centered on kremvax became the only trustworthy news source for many places within the USSR. Though the sysops were concentrating on internal communications, cross-border postings included immediate transliterations of Boris Yeltsin's decrees condemning the coup and eyewitness reports of the demonstrations in Moscow's streets. In those hours, years of speculation that totalitarianism would prove unable to maintain its grip on politically-loaded information in the age of computer networking were proved devastatingly accurate and the original kremvax joke became a reality as Yeltsin and the new Russian revolutionaries of glasnost and perestroika made kremvax one of the timeliest means of their outreach to the West. +/kremvaks/ , n. [from the then-large number of Usenet VAXen with names of +the form foovax ] Originally, a fictitious Usenet site at the Kremlin, +announced on April 1, 1984 in a posting ostensibly originated there by +Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko. The posting was actually forged by Piet +Beertema as an April Fool's joke. Other fictitious sites mentioned in the +hoax were moskvax and kgbvax. This was probably the funniest of the many +April Fool's forgeries perpetrated on Usenet (which has negligible security +against them), because the notion that Usenet might ever penetrate the Iron +Curtain seemed so totally absurd at the time. In fact, it was only six years +later that the first genuine site in Moscow, demos.su , joined Usenet. Some +readers needed convincing that the postings from it weren't just another +prank. Vadim Antonov, senior programmer at Demos and the major poster from +there up to mid-1991, was quite aware of all this, referred to it frequently +in his own postings, and at one point twitted some credulous readers by +blandly asserting that he was a hoax! Eventually he even arranged to have +the domain's gateway site named kremvax , thus neatly turning fiction into +fact and demonstrating that the hackish sense of humor transcends cultural +barriers. [Mr. Antonov also contributed the Russian-language material for +this lexicon. ESR] In an even more ironic historical footnote, kremvax +became an electronic center of the anti-communist resistance during the +bungled hard-line coup of August 1991. During those three days the Soviet +UUCP network centered on kremvax became the only trustworthy news source for +many places within the USSR. Though the sysops were concentrating on +internal communications, cross-border postings included immediate +transliterations of Boris Yeltsin's decrees condemning the coup and +eyewitness reports of the demonstrations in Moscow's streets. In those +hours, years of speculation that totalitarianism would prove unable to +maintain its grip on politically-loaded information in the age of computer +networking were proved devastatingly accurate and the original kremvax joke +became a reality as Yeltsin and the new Russian revolutionaries of glasnost +and perestroika made kremvax one of the timeliest means of their outreach to +the West. + diff --git a/entries/kyrka.txt b/entries/kyrka.txt index d72aee9..c394c99 100644 --- a/entries/kyrka.txt +++ b/entries/kyrka.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ kyrka /churka/ , n. [Swedish] See feature key. + diff --git a/entries/lag.txt b/entries/lag.txt index 3c0d41f..6efc59a 100644 --- a/entries/lag.txt +++ b/entries/lag.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ lag -n. [MUD, IRC; very common] When used without qualification this is synonymous with netlag. Curiously, people will often complain I'm really lagged when in fact it is their server or network connection that is lagging. +n. [MUD, IRC; very common] When used without qualification this is +synonymous with netlag. Curiously, people will often complain I'm really +lagged when in fact it is their server or network connection that is +lagging. + diff --git a/entries/lamer.txt b/entries/lamer.txt index a27ccda..3c0e70e 100644 --- a/entries/lamer.txt +++ b/entries/lamer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ lamer -n. [originally among Amiga fans] 1. Synonym for luser , not used much by hackers but common among warez d00dz , crackers, and phreaker s. A person who downloads much, but who never uploads. (Also known as leecher ). Oppose elite. Has the same connotations of self-conscious elitism that use of luser does among hackers. 2. Someone who tries to crack a BBS. 3. Someone who annoys the sysop or other BBS users for instance, by posting lots of silly messages, uploading virus-ridden software, frequently dropping carrier, etc. Crackers also use it to refer to cracker wannabee s. In phreak culture, a lamer is one who scams codes off others rather than doing cracks or really understanding the fundamental concepts. In warez d00dz culture, where the ability to wave around cracked commercial software within days of (or before) release to the commercial market is much esteemed, the lamer might try to upload garbage or shareware or something incredibly old (old in this context is read as a few years to anything older than 3 days). Lamer is also much used in the IRC world in a similar sense to the above. This term seems to have originated in the Commodore-64 scene in the mid 1980s. It was popularized among Amiga crackers of the mid-1980s by Lamer Exterminator , the most famous and feared Amiga virus ever, which gradually corrupted non-write-protected floppy disks with bad sectors. The bad sectors, when looked at, were overwritten with repetitions of the string LAMER!. +n. [originally among Amiga fans] 1. Synonym for luser , not used much by +hackers but common among warez d00dz , crackers, and phreaker s. A person +who downloads much, but who never uploads. (Also known as leecher ). Oppose +elite. Has the same connotations of self-conscious elitism that use of luser +does among hackers. 2. Someone who tries to crack a BBS. 3. Someone who +annoys the sysop or other BBS users for instance, by posting lots of silly +messages, uploading virus-ridden software, frequently dropping carrier, etc. +Crackers also use it to refer to cracker wannabee s. In phreak culture, a +lamer is one who scams codes off others rather than doing cracks or really +understanding the fundamental concepts. In warez d00dz culture, where the +ability to wave around cracked commercial software within days of (or +before) release to the commercial market is much esteemed, the lamer might +try to upload garbage or shareware or something incredibly old (old in this +context is read as a few years to anything older than 3 days). Lamer is also +much used in the IRC world in a similar sense to the above. This term seems +to have originated in the Commodore-64 scene in the mid 1980s. It was +popularized among Amiga crackers of the mid-1980s by Lamer Exterminator , +the most famous and feared Amiga virus ever, which gradually corrupted +non-write-protected floppy disks with bad sectors. The bad sectors, when +looked at, were overwritten with repetitions of the string LAMER!. + diff --git a/entries/language lawyer.txt b/entries/language lawyer.txt index 0d3ed59..301f74f 100644 --- a/entries/language lawyer.txt +++ b/entries/language lawyer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ language lawyer -n. A person, usually an experienced or senior software engineer, who is intimately familiar with many or most of the numerous restrictions and features (both useful and esoteric) applicable to one or more computer programming languages. A language lawyer is distinguished by the ability to show you the five sentences scattered through a 200-plus-page manual that together imply the answer to your question if only you had thought to look there. Compare wizard , legal , legalese. +n. A person, usually an experienced or senior software engineer, who is +intimately familiar with many or most of the numerous restrictions and +features (both useful and esoteric) applicable to one or more computer +programming languages. A language lawyer is distinguished by the ability to +show you the five sentences scattered through a 200-plus-page manual that +together imply the answer to your question if only you had thought to look +there. Compare wizard , legal , legalese. + diff --git a/entries/languages of choice.txt b/entries/languages of choice.txt index a8aa764..87a557b 100644 --- a/entries/languages of choice.txt +++ b/entries/languages of choice.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ languages of choice -n. C , Perl , Python , Java and LISP the dominant languages in open-source development. This list has changed over time, but slowly. Java bumped C++ off of it, and Python appears to be recruiting people who would otherwise gravitate to LISP (which used to be much more important than it is now). Smalltalk and Prolog are also popular in small but influential communities. The Real Programmer s who loved FORTRAN and assembler have pretty much all retired or died since 1990. Assembler is generally no longer considered interesting or appropriate for anything but HLL implementation, glue , and a few time-critical and hardware-specific uses in systems programs. FORTRAN occupies a shrinking niche in scientific programming. Most hackers tend to frown on languages like Pascal and Ada, which don't give them the near-total freedom considered necessary for hacking (see bondage-and-discipline language ), and to regard everything even remotely connected with COBOL or other traditional DP languages as a total and unmitigated loss. +n. C , Perl , Python , Java and LISP the dominant languages in open-source +development. This list has changed over time, but slowly. Java bumped C++ +off of it, and Python appears to be recruiting people who would otherwise +gravitate to LISP (which used to be much more important than it is now). +Smalltalk and Prolog are also popular in small but influential communities. +The Real Programmer s who loved FORTRAN and assembler have pretty much all +retired or died since 1990. Assembler is generally no longer considered +interesting or appropriate for anything but HLL implementation, glue , and a +few time-critical and hardware-specific uses in systems programs. FORTRAN +occupies a shrinking niche in scientific programming. Most hackers tend to +frown on languages like Pascal and Ada, which don't give them the near-total +freedom considered necessary for hacking (see bondage-and-discipline +language ), and to regard everything even remotely connected with COBOL or +other traditional DP languages as a total and unmitigated loss. + diff --git a/entries/larval stage.txt b/entries/larval stage.txt index 684f7a6..97dd386 100644 --- a/entries/larval stage.txt +++ b/entries/larval stage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ larval stage -n. Describes a period of monomaniacal concentration on coding apparently passed through by all fledgling hackers. Common symptoms include the perpetration of more than one 36-hour hacking run in a given week; neglect of all other activities including usual basics like food, sleep, and personal hygiene; and a chronic case of advanced bleary-eye. Can last from 6 months to 2 years, the apparent median being around 18 months. A few so afflicted never resume a more normal life, but the ordeal seems to be necessary to produce really wizardly (as opposed to merely competent) programmers. See also wannabee. A less protracted and intense version of larval stage (typically lasting about a month) may recur when one is learning a new OS or programming language. +n. Describes a period of monomaniacal concentration on coding apparently +passed through by all fledgling hackers. Common symptoms include the +perpetration of more than one 36-hour hacking run in a given week; neglect +of all other activities including usual basics like food, sleep, and +personal hygiene; and a chronic case of advanced bleary-eye. Can last from 6 +months to 2 years, the apparent median being around 18 months. A few so +afflicted never resume a more normal life, but the ordeal seems to be +necessary to produce really wizardly (as opposed to merely competent) +programmers. See also wannabee. A less protracted and intense version of +larval stage (typically lasting about a month) may recur when one is +learning a new OS or programming language. + diff --git a/entries/lase.txt b/entries/lase.txt index 0f6c593..2403bb5 100644 --- a/entries/lase.txt +++ b/entries/lase.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ lase -/layz/ , vt. To print a given document via a laser printer. OK, let's lase that sucker and see if all those graphics-macro calls did the right things. +/layz/ , vt. To print a given document via a laser printer. OK, let's lase +that sucker and see if all those graphics-macro calls did the right things. + diff --git a/entries/laser chicken.txt b/entries/laser chicken.txt index 321e593..58f6245 100644 --- a/entries/laser chicken.txt +++ b/entries/laser chicken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ laser chicken -n. Kung Pao Chicken, a standard Chinese dish containing chicken, peanuts, and hot red peppers in a spicy pepper-oil sauce. Many hackers call it laser chicken for two reasons: It can zap you just like a laser, and the sauce has a red color reminiscent of some laser beams. The dish has also been called gunpowder chicken. In a variation on this theme, it is reported that some Australian hackers have redesignated the common dish lemon chicken as Chernobyl Chicken. The name is derived from the color of the sauce, which is considered bright enough to glow in the dark (as, mythically, do some of the inhabitants of Chernobyl). +n. Kung Pao Chicken, a standard Chinese dish containing chicken, peanuts, +and hot red peppers in a spicy pepper-oil sauce. Many hackers call it laser +chicken for two reasons: It can zap you just like a laser, and the sauce has +a red color reminiscent of some laser beams. The dish has also been called +gunpowder chicken. In a variation on this theme, it is reported that some +Australian hackers have redesignated the common dish lemon chicken as +Chernobyl Chicken. The name is derived from the color of the sauce, which is +considered bright enough to glow in the dark (as, mythically, do some of the +inhabitants of Chernobyl). + diff --git a/entries/leaf site.txt b/entries/leaf site.txt index 6ea5d2b..4e8bcb8 100644 --- a/entries/leaf site.txt +++ b/entries/leaf site.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ leaf site -n. [obs.] Before pervasive TCP/IP, this term was used of a machine that merely originated and read Usenet news or mail, and did not relay any third-party traffic. It was often uttered in a critical tone; when the ratio of leaf sites to backbone, rib, and other relay sites got too high, the network tended to develop bottlenecks. Compare backbone site. Now that traffic patterns depend more on the distribution of routers than of host machines this term has largely fallen out of use. +n. [obs.] Before pervasive TCP/IP, this term was used of a machine that +merely originated and read Usenet news or mail, and did not relay any +third-party traffic. It was often uttered in a critical tone; when the ratio +of leaf sites to backbone, rib, and other relay sites got too high, the +network tended to develop bottlenecks. Compare backbone site. Now that +traffic patterns depend more on the distribution of routers than of host +machines this term has largely fallen out of use. + diff --git a/entries/leak.txt b/entries/leak.txt index d334533..8dbdbfb 100644 --- a/entries/leak.txt +++ b/entries/leak.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ leak -n. With qualifier, one of a class of resource-management bugs that occur when resources are not freed properly after operations on them are finished, so they effectively disappear (leak out). This leads to eventual exhaustion as new allocation requests come in. memory leak has its own entry; one might also refer, to, say, a window handle leak in a window system. +n. With qualifier, one of a class of resource-management bugs that occur +when resources are not freed properly after operations on them are finished, +so they effectively disappear (leak out). This leads to eventual exhaustion +as new allocation requests come in. memory leak has its own entry; one might +also refer, to, say, a window handle leak in a window system. + diff --git a/entries/leaky heap.txt b/entries/leaky heap.txt index deefa1e..6afe803 100644 --- a/entries/leaky heap.txt +++ b/entries/leaky heap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ leaky heap n. [Cambridge] An arena with a memory leak. + diff --git a/entries/leapfrog attack.txt b/entries/leapfrog attack.txt index a56bb33..934e383 100644 --- a/entries/leapfrog attack.txt +++ b/entries/leapfrog attack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ leapfrog attack -n. Use of userid and password information obtained illicitly from one host (e.g., downloading a file of account IDs and passwords, tapping TELNET, etc.) to compromise another host. Also, the act of TELNETting through one or more hosts in order to confuse a trace (a standard cracker procedure). +n. Use of userid and password information obtained illicitly from one host +(e.g., downloading a file of account IDs and passwords, tapping TELNET, +etc.) to compromise another host. Also, the act of TELNETting through one or +more hosts in order to confuse a trace (a standard cracker procedure). + diff --git a/entries/leech mode.txt b/entries/leech mode.txt index 4a9e449..208ce43 100644 --- a/entries/leech mode.txt +++ b/entries/leech mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ leech mode -n. [warez d00dz] Leech mode or leech access or (simply leech as in You get leech ) is the access mode on a FTP site where one can download as many files as one wants, without having to upload. Leech mode is often promised on banner sites, but rarely obtained. See ratio site , banner site. +n. [warez d00dz] Leech mode or leech access or (simply leech as in You get +leech ) is the access mode on a FTP site where one can download as many +files as one wants, without having to upload. Leech mode is often promised +on banner sites, but rarely obtained. See ratio site , banner site. + diff --git a/entries/leech.txt b/entries/leech.txt index 43deb92..ab922e8 100644 --- a/entries/leech.txt +++ b/entries/leech.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ leech -v. To download a file across any kind of internet link. Hop on IRC later so I can leech some MP3s from you. Used to describe activities ranging from FTP, to IRC DCC-send, to ICQ file requests, to Napster searches (but never to downloading email with file attachments; the implication is that the download is the result of a browse or search of some sort of file server). Seems to be a holdover from the early 1990s when Toronto had a very active BBS and warez scene. Synonymous with snarf (sense 2), and contrast snarf (sense 4). +v. To download a file across any kind of internet link. Hop on IRC later so +I can leech some MP3s from you. Used to describe activities ranging from +FTP, to IRC DCC-send, to ICQ file requests, to Napster searches (but never +to downloading email with file attachments; the implication is that the +download is the result of a browse or search of some sort of file server). +Seems to be a holdover from the early 1990s when Toronto had a very active +BBS and warez scene. Synonymous with snarf (sense 2), and contrast snarf +(sense 4). + diff --git a/entries/legal.txt b/entries/legal.txt index 7462f25..f16004c 100644 --- a/entries/legal.txt +++ b/entries/legal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ legal -adj. Loosely used to mean in accordance with all the relevant rules , esp. in connection with some set of constraints defined by software. The older =+ alternate for += is no longer legal syntax in ANSI C. This parser processes each line of legal input the moment it sees the trailing linefeed. Hackers often model their work as a sort of game played with the environment in which the objective is to maneuver through the thicket of natural laws to achieve a desired objective. Their use of legal is flavored as much by this game-playing sense as by the more conventional one having to do with courts and lawyers. Compare language lawyer , legalese. +adj. Loosely used to mean in accordance with all the relevant rules , esp. +in connection with some set of constraints defined by software. The older =+ +alternate for += is no longer legal syntax in ANSI C. This parser processes +each line of legal input the moment it sees the trailing linefeed. Hackers +often model their work as a sort of game played with the environment in +which the objective is to maneuver through the thicket of natural laws to +achieve a desired objective. Their use of legal is flavored as much by this +game-playing sense as by the more conventional one having to do with courts +and lawyers. Compare language lawyer , legalese. + diff --git a/entries/legalese.txt b/entries/legalese.txt index 6650c7d..18cc192 100644 --- a/entries/legalese.txt +++ b/entries/legalese.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ legalese -n. Dense, pedantic verbiage in a language description, product specification, or interface standard; text that seems designed to obfuscate and requires a language lawyer to parse it. Though hackers are not afraid of high information density and complexity in language (indeed, they rather enjoy both), they share a deep and abiding loathing for legalese; they associate it with deception, suit s, and situations in which hackers generally get the short end of the stick. +n. Dense, pedantic verbiage in a language description, product +specification, or interface standard; text that seems designed to obfuscate +and requires a language lawyer to parse it. Though hackers are not afraid of +high information density and complexity in language (indeed, they rather +enjoy both), they share a deep and abiding loathing for legalese; they +associate it with deception, suit s, and situations in which hackers +generally get the short end of the stick. + diff --git a/entries/lenna.txt b/entries/lenna.txt index cd04145..97aa5d4 100644 --- a/entries/lenna.txt +++ b/entries/lenna.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ lenna -The Internet's first poster girl, a standard test load used in the image processing community. The image was originally cropped from the November 1972 issue of Playboy Magazine , which anglicized the model's name with a double n. It has interesting properties complex feathers, shadows, smooth (but not flat) surfaces that are pertinent in demonstrating various processing algorithms for image compression, filtering, dithering, texture mapping, image recognition, and so on. After a quarter century of remaining completely unaware that she had become an icon, a gray-haired but still winsome Lenna finally met her fans at a computer graphics conference in 1997. There is a fan page at www.. org , with more details. +The Internet's first poster girl, a standard test load used in the image +processing community. The image was originally cropped from the November +1972 issue of Playboy Magazine , which anglicized the model's name with a +double n. It has interesting properties complex feathers, shadows, smooth +(but not flat) surfaces that are pertinent in demonstrating various +processing algorithms for image compression, filtering, dithering, texture +mapping, image recognition, and so on. After a quarter century of remaining +completely unaware that she had become an icon, a gray-haired but still +winsome Lenna finally met her fans at a computer graphics conference in +1997. There is a fan page at www.. org , with more details. + diff --git a/entries/let the smoke out.txt b/entries/let the smoke out.txt index 7a89275..44a5f50 100644 --- a/entries/let the smoke out.txt +++ b/entries/let the smoke out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ let the smoke out -v. To fry hardware (see fried ). See magic smoke for a discussion of the underlying mythology. +v. To fry hardware (see fried ). See magic smoke for a discussion of the +underlying mythology. + diff --git a/entries/letterbomb.txt b/entries/letterbomb.txt index 2dabe46..49b2a58 100644 --- a/entries/letterbomb.txt +++ b/entries/letterbomb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ letterbomb -1. n. A piece of email containing live data intended to do nefarious things to the recipient's machine or terminal. It used to be possible, for example, to send s that would lock up some specific kinds of terminals when they are viewed, so thoroughly that the user must cycle power (see cycle , sense 3) to unwedge them. Under Unix, a can also try to get part of its contents interpreted as a shell command to the mailer. The results of this could range from silly to tragic; fortunately it has been some years since any of the standard Unix/Internet mail software was vulnerable to such an attack (though, as the Melissa virus attack demonstrated in early 1999, Microsoft systems can have serious problems). See also Trojan horse ; compare nastygram. 2. Loosely, a mailbomb. +1. n. A piece of email containing live data intended to do nefarious things +to the recipient's machine or terminal. It used to be possible, for example, +to send s that would lock up some specific kinds of terminals when they are +viewed, so thoroughly that the user must cycle power (see cycle , sense 3) +to unwedge them. Under Unix, a can also try to get part of its contents +interpreted as a shell command to the mailer. The results of this could +range from silly to tragic; fortunately it has been some years since any of +the standard Unix/Internet mail software was vulnerable to such an attack +(though, as the Melissa virus attack demonstrated in early 1999, Microsoft +systems can have serious problems). See also Trojan horse ; compare +nastygram. 2. Loosely, a mailbomb. + diff --git a/entries/lexer.txt b/entries/lexer.txt index 2700247..bb1883a 100644 --- a/entries/lexer.txt +++ b/entries/lexer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ lexer -/leksr/ , n. Common hacker shorthand for lexical analyzer , the input-tokenizing stage in the parser for a language (the part that breaks it into word-like pieces). Some C lexers get confused by the old-style compound ops like =-. +/leksr/ , n. Common hacker shorthand for lexical analyzer , the +input-tokenizing stage in the parser for a language (the part that breaks it +into word-like pieces). Some C lexers get confused by the old-style compound +ops like =-. + diff --git a/entries/life.txt b/entries/life.txt index cf713d5..f74377c 100644 --- a/entries/life.txt +++ b/entries/life.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ life -n. 1. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton Conway and first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner ( Scientific American , October 1970); the game's popularity had to wait a few years for computers on which it could reasonably be played, as it's no fun to simulate the cells by hand. Many hackers pass through a stage of fascination with it, and hackers at various places contributed heavily to the mathematical analysis of this game (most notably Bill Gosper at MIT, who even implemented life in TECO !). When a hacker mentions life , he is much more likely to mean this game than the magazine, the breakfast cereal, or the human state of existence. Many web resources are available starting from the Open Directory page of Life. The Life Lexicon is a good indicator of what makes the game so fascinating. A glider, possibly the best known of the quasi-organic phenomena in the Game of Life. 2. The opposite of Usenet. +n. 1. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton Conway and first +introduced publicly by Martin Gardner ( Scientific American , October 1970); +the game's popularity had to wait a few years for computers on which it +could reasonably be played, as it's no fun to simulate the cells by hand. +Many hackers pass through a stage of fascination with it, and hackers at +various places contributed heavily to the mathematical analysis of this game +(most notably Bill Gosper at MIT, who even implemented life in TECO !). When +a hacker mentions life , he is much more likely to mean this game than the +magazine, the breakfast cereal, or the human state of existence. Many web +resources are available starting from the Open Directory page of Life. The +Life Lexicon is a good indicator of what makes the game so fascinating. A +glider, possibly the best known of the quasi-organic phenomena in the Game +of Life. 2. The opposite of Usenet. + diff --git a/entries/light pipe.txt b/entries/light pipe.txt index e4d0b49..0c25c39 100644 --- a/entries/light pipe.txt +++ b/entries/light pipe.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ light pipe n. Fiber optic cable. Oppose copper. + diff --git a/entries/lightweight.txt b/entries/lightweight.txt index 6f577d0..15ed5d0 100644 --- a/entries/lightweight.txt +++ b/entries/lightweight.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ lightweight -adj. Opposite of heavyweight ; usually found in combining forms such as lightweight process. +adj. Opposite of heavyweight ; usually found in combining forms such as +lightweight process. + diff --git a/entries/like kicking dead whales down the beach.txt b/entries/like kicking dead whales down the beach.txt index f0a36a8..292c7d8 100644 --- a/entries/like kicking dead whales down the beach.txt +++ b/entries/like kicking dead whales down the beach.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ like kicking dead whales down the beach -adj. Describes a slow, difficult, and disgusting process. First popularized by a famous quote about the difficulty of getting work done under one of IBM's mainframe OSes. Well, you could write a C compiler in COBOL, but it would be like kicking dead whales down the beach. See also fear and loathing. +adj. Describes a slow, difficult, and disgusting process. First popularized +by a famous quote about the difficulty of getting work done under one of +IBM's mainframe OSes. Well, you could write a C compiler in COBOL, but it +would be like kicking dead whales down the beach. See also fear and +loathing. + diff --git a/entries/like nailing jelly to a tree.txt b/entries/like nailing jelly to a tree.txt index ac18486..87930fa 100644 --- a/entries/like nailing jelly to a tree.txt +++ b/entries/like nailing jelly to a tree.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ like nailing jelly to a tree -adj. Used to describe a task thought to be impossible, esp. one in which the difficulty arises from poor specification or inherent slipperiness in the problem domain. Trying to display the prettiest arrangement of nodes and arcs that diagrams a given graph is like nailing jelly to a tree, because nobody's sure what prettiest means algorithmically. Hacker use of this term may recall mainstream slang originated early in the 20th century by President Theodore Roosevelt. There is a legend that, weary of inconclusive talks with Colombia over the right to dig a canal through its then-province Panama, he remarked, Negotiating with those pirates is like trying to nail currant jelly to the wall. Roosevelt's government subsequently encouraged the anti-Colombian insurgency that created the nation of Panama. +adj. Used to describe a task thought to be impossible, esp. one in which the +difficulty arises from poor specification or inherent slipperiness in the +problem domain. Trying to display the prettiest arrangement of nodes and +arcs that diagrams a given graph is like nailing jelly to a tree, because +nobody's sure what prettiest means algorithmically. Hacker use of this term +may recall mainstream slang originated early in the 20th century by +President Theodore Roosevelt. There is a legend that, weary of inconclusive +talks with Colombia over the right to dig a canal through its then-province +Panama, he remarked, Negotiating with those pirates is like trying to nail +currant jelly to the wall. Roosevelt's government subsequently encouraged +the anti-Colombian insurgency that created the nation of Panama. + diff --git a/entries/line 666.txt b/entries/line 666.txt index 65f4bd2..0e372f6 100644 --- a/entries/line 666.txt +++ b/entries/line 666.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ line 666 -n. The notional line of source at which a program fails for obscure reasons, implying either that somebody is out to get it (when you are the programmer), or that it richly deserves to be so gotten (when you are not). It works when I trace through it, but seems to crash on line 666 when I run it. What happens is that whenever a large batch comes through, mmdf dies on the Line of the Beast. Probably some twit hardcoded a buffer size. +n. The notional line of source at which a program fails for obscure reasons, +implying either that somebody is out to get it (when you are the +programmer), or that it richly deserves to be so gotten (when you are not). +It works when I trace through it, but seems to crash on line 666 when I run +it. What happens is that whenever a large batch comes through, mmdf dies on +the Line of the Beast. Probably some twit hardcoded a buffer size. + diff --git a/entries/line eater, the.txt b/entries/line eater, the.txt index 5063ac7..4e52469 100644 --- a/entries/line eater, the.txt +++ b/entries/line eater, the.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ line eater, the -n. obs. 1. [Usenet] A bug in some now-obsolete versions of the netnews software that used to eat up to BUFSIZ bytes of the article text. The bug was triggered by having the text of the article start with a space or tab. This bug was quickly personified as a mythical creature called the line eater , and postings often included a dummy line of line eater food. Ironically, line eater food not beginning with a space or tab wasn't actually eaten, since the bug was avoided; but if there was a space or tab before it, then the line eater would eat the food and the beginning of the text it was supposed to be protecting. The practice of sacrificing to the line eater continued for some time after the bug had been nailed to the wall , and is still humorously referred to. The bug itself was still occasionally reported to be lurking in some mail-to-netnews gateways as late as 1991. 2. See NSA line eater. +n. obs. 1. [Usenet] A bug in some now-obsolete versions of the netnews +software that used to eat up to BUFSIZ bytes of the article text. The bug +was triggered by having the text of the article start with a space or tab. +This bug was quickly personified as a mythical creature called the line +eater , and postings often included a dummy line of line eater food. +Ironically, line eater food not beginning with a space or tab wasn't +actually eaten, since the bug was avoided; but if there was a space or tab +before it, then the line eater would eat the food and the beginning of the +text it was supposed to be protecting. The practice of sacrificing to the +line eater continued for some time after the bug had been nailed to the wall +, and is still humorously referred to. The bug itself was still occasionally +reported to be lurking in some mail-to-netnews gateways as late as 1991. 2. +See NSA line eater. + diff --git a/entries/line noise.txt b/entries/line noise.txt index 34e4094..28ad42c 100644 --- a/entries/line noise.txt +++ b/entries/line noise.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ line noise -n. 1. [techspeak] Spurious characters due to electrical noise in a communications link, especially an RS-232 serial connection. Line noise may be induced by poor connections, interference or crosstalk from other circuits, electrical storms, cosmic rays , or (notionally) birds crapping on the phone wires. 2. Any chunk of data in a file or elsewhere that looks like the results of line noise in sense 1. 3. Text that is theoretically a readable text or program source but employs syntax so bizarre that it looks like line noise in senses 1 or 2. Yes, there are languages this ugly. The canonical example is TECO ; it is often claimed that TECO's input syntax is indistinguishable from line noise. Other non- WYSIWYG editors, such as Multics qed and Unix ed , in the hands of a real hacker, also qualify easily, as do deliberately obfuscated languages such as INTERCAL. +n. 1. [techspeak] Spurious characters due to electrical noise in a +communications link, especially an RS-232 serial connection. Line noise may +be induced by poor connections, interference or crosstalk from other +circuits, electrical storms, cosmic rays , or (notionally) birds crapping on +the phone wires. 2. Any chunk of data in a file or elsewhere that looks like +the results of line noise in sense 1. 3. Text that is theoretically a +readable text or program source but employs syntax so bizarre that it looks +like line noise in senses 1 or 2. Yes, there are languages this ugly. The +canonical example is TECO ; it is often claimed that TECO's input syntax is +indistinguishable from line noise. Other non- WYSIWYG editors, such as +Multics qed and Unix ed , in the hands of a real hacker, also qualify +easily, as do deliberately obfuscated languages such as INTERCAL. + diff --git a/entries/linearithmic.txt b/entries/linearithmic.txt index a83ff73..81d121c 100644 --- a/entries/linearithmic.txt +++ b/entries/linearithmic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ linearithmic -adj. Of an algorithm, having running time that is O(N log N). Coined as a portmanteau of linear and logarithmic in Algorithms In C by Robert Sedgewick (Addison-Wesley 1990, ISBN 0-201-51425-7). +adj. Of an algorithm, having running time that is O(N log N). Coined as a +portmanteau of linear and logarithmic in Algorithms In C by Robert Sedgewick +(Addison-Wesley 1990, ISBN 0-201-51425-7). + diff --git a/entries/link farm.txt b/entries/link farm.txt index 016a3eb..f10703e 100644 --- a/entries/link farm.txt +++ b/entries/link farm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ link farm -n. [Unix] A directory tree that contains many links to files in a master directory tree of files. Link farms save space when one is maintaining several nearly identical copies of the same source tree for example, when the only difference is architecture-dependent object files. Let's freeze the source and then rebuild the FROBOZZ-3 and FROBOZZ-4 link farms. Link farms may also be used to get around restrictions on the number of -I (include-file directory) arguments on older C preprocessors. However, they can also get completely out of hand, becoming the filesystem equivalent of spaghetti code. See also farm. +n. [Unix] A directory tree that contains many links to files in a master +directory tree of files. Link farms save space when one is maintaining +several nearly identical copies of the same source tree for example, when +the only difference is architecture-dependent object files. Let's freeze the +source and then rebuild the FROBOZZ-3 and FROBOZZ-4 link farms. Link farms +may also be used to get around restrictions on the number of -I +(include-file directory) arguments on older C preprocessors. However, they +can also get completely out of hand, becoming the filesystem equivalent of +spaghetti code. See also farm. + diff --git a/entries/link rot.txt b/entries/link rot.txt index cf9be13..3832563 100644 --- a/entries/link rot.txt +++ b/entries/link rot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ link rot -n. The natural decay of web links as the sites they're connected to change or die. Compare bit rot. +n. The natural decay of web links as the sites they're connected to change +or die. Compare bit rot. + diff --git a/entries/link-dead.txt b/entries/link-dead.txt index ae3ba78..99ca310 100644 --- a/entries/link-dead.txt +++ b/entries/link-dead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ link-dead -adj. [MUD] The state a player is in when they kill their connection to a MUD without leaving it properly. The player is then commonly left as a statue in the game, and is only removed after a certain period of time (an hour on most MUDs). Used on IRC as well, although it is inappropriate in that context. Compare netdead. +adj. [MUD] The state a player is in when they kill their connection to a MUD +without leaving it properly. The player is then commonly left as a statue in +the game, and is only removed after a certain period of time (an hour on +most MUDs). Used on IRC as well, although it is inappropriate in that +context. Compare netdead. + diff --git a/entries/lint.txt b/entries/lint.txt index aac4978..78b1476 100644 --- a/entries/lint.txt +++ b/entries/lint.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ lint -1. vt. To examine a program closely for style, language usage, and portability problems, esp. if in C, esp. if via use of automated analysis tools, most esp. if the Unix utility lint (1) is used. This term used to be restricted to use of lint (1) itself, but (judging by references on Usenet) it has become a shorthand for any exhaustive review process at some non-Unix shops, even in languages other than C. Also as v. delint. 2. n. Excess verbiage in a document, as in This draft has too much lint. +1. vt. To examine a program closely for style, language usage, and +portability problems, esp. if in C, esp. if via use of automated analysis +tools, most esp. if the Unix utility lint (1) is used. This term used to be +restricted to use of lint (1) itself, but (judging by references on Usenet) +it has become a shorthand for any exhaustive review process at some non-Unix +shops, even in languages other than C. Also as v. delint. 2. n. Excess +verbiage in a document, as in This draft has too much lint. + diff --git a/entries/lion food.txt b/entries/lion food.txt index 0352e4b..ad5639b 100644 --- a/entries/lion food.txt +++ b/entries/lion food.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ lion food -n. [IBM] Middle management or HQ staff (or, by extension, administrative drones in general). From an old joke about two lions who, escaping from the zoo, split up to increase their chances but agree to meet after 2 months. When they finally meet, one is skinny and the other overweight. The thin one says: How did you manage? I ate a human just once and they turned out a small army to chase me guns, nets, it was terrible. Since then I've been reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass. The fat one replies: Well, I hid near an IBM office and ate a manager a day. +n. [IBM] Middle management or HQ staff (or, by extension, administrative +drones in general). From an old joke about two lions who, escaping from the +zoo, split up to increase their chances but agree to meet after 2 months. +When they finally meet, one is skinny and the other overweight. The thin one +says: How did you manage? I ate a human just once and they turned out a +small army to chase me guns, nets, it was terrible. Since then I've been +reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass. The fat one replies: Well, I +hid near an IBM office and ate a manager a day. + diff --git a/entries/list-bomb.txt b/entries/list-bomb.txt index 058250d..9719ceb 100644 --- a/entries/list-bomb.txt +++ b/entries/list-bomb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ list-bomb -v. To mailbomb someone by forging messages causing the victim to become a subscriber to many mailing lists. This is a self-defeating tactic; it merely forces mailing list servers to require confirmation by return message for every subscription. +v. To mailbomb someone by forging messages causing the victim to become a +subscriber to many mailing lists. This is a self-defeating tactic; it merely +forces mailing list servers to require confirmation by return message for +every subscription. + diff --git a/entries/lithium lick.txt b/entries/lithium lick.txt index 3df49da..4451a0f 100644 --- a/entries/lithium lick.txt +++ b/entries/lithium lick.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ lithium lick n. [NeXT] Steve Jobs. + diff --git a/entries/little-endian.txt b/entries/little-endian.txt index b2d5653..986827d 100644 --- a/entries/little-endian.txt +++ b/entries/little-endian.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ little-endian -adj. Describes a computer architecture in which, within a given 16- or 32-bit word, bytes at lower addresses have lower significance (the word is stored little-end-first ). The PDP-11 and VAX families of computers and Intel microprocessors and a lot of communications and networking hardware are little-endian. See big-endian , middle-endian , NUXI problem. The term is sometimes used to describe the ordering of units other than bytes; most often, bits within a byte. +adj. Describes a computer architecture in which, within a given 16- or +32-bit word, bytes at lower addresses have lower significance (the word is +stored little-end-first ). The PDP-11 and VAX families of computers and +Intel microprocessors and a lot of communications and networking hardware +are little-endian. See big-endian , middle-endian , NUXI problem. The term +is sometimes used to describe the ordering of units other than bytes; most +often, bits within a byte. + diff --git a/entries/live data.txt b/entries/live data.txt index 12b62c2..f9675e9 100644 --- a/entries/live data.txt +++ b/entries/live data.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ live data -n. 1. Data that is written to be interpreted and takes over program flow when triggered by some un-obvious operation, such as viewing it. One use of such hacks is to break security. For example, some smart terminals have commands that allow one to download strings to program keys; this can be used to write live data that, when listed to the terminal, infects it with a security-breaking virus that is triggered the next time a hapless user strikes that key. For another, there are some well-known bugs in vi that allow certain texts to send arbitrary commands back to the machine when they are simply viewed. 2. In C code, data that includes pointers to function hook s (executable code). 3. An object, such as a trampoline , that is constructed on the fly by a program and intended to be executed as code. +n. 1. Data that is written to be interpreted and takes over program flow +when triggered by some un-obvious operation, such as viewing it. One use of +such hacks is to break security. For example, some smart terminals have +commands that allow one to download strings to program keys; this can be +used to write live data that, when listed to the terminal, infects it with a +security-breaking virus that is triggered the next time a hapless user +strikes that key. For another, there are some well-known bugs in vi that +allow certain texts to send arbitrary commands back to the machine when they +are simply viewed. 2. In C code, data that includes pointers to function +hook s (executable code). 3. An object, such as a trampoline , that is +constructed on the fly by a program and intended to be executed as code. + diff --git a/entries/live.txt b/entries/live.txt index 36d168b..fbd84b7 100644 --- a/entries/live.txt +++ b/entries/live.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ live -/li:v/ , adj.,adv. [common] Opposite of test. Refers to actual real-world data or a program working with it. For example, the response to I think the record deleter is finished might be Is it live yet? or Have you tried it out on live data? This usage usually carries the connotation that live data is more fragile and must not be corrupted, or bad things will happen. So a more appropriate response might be: Well, make sure it works perfectly before we throw live data at it. The implication here is that record deletion is something pretty significant, and a haywire record-deleter running amok live would probably cause great harm. +/li:v/ , adj.,adv. [common] Opposite of test. Refers to actual real-world +data or a program working with it. For example, the response to I think the +record deleter is finished might be Is it live yet? or Have you tried it out +on live data? This usage usually carries the connotation that live data is +more fragile and must not be corrupted, or bad things will happen. So a more +appropriate response might be: Well, make sure it works perfectly before we +throw live data at it. The implication here is that record deletion is +something pretty significant, and a haywire record-deleter running amok live +would probably cause great harm. + diff --git a/entries/livelock.txt b/entries/livelock.txt index a637559..d24ea68 100644 --- a/entries/livelock.txt +++ b/entries/livelock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ livelock -/li:vlok/ , n. A situation in which some critical stage of a task is unable to finish because its clients perpetually create more work for it to do after they have been serviced but before it can clear its queue. Differs from deadlock in that the process is not blocked or waiting for anything, but has a virtually infinite amount of work to do and can never catch up. +/li:vlok/ , n. A situation in which some critical stage of a task is unable +to finish because its clients perpetually create more work for it to do +after they have been serviced but before it can clear its queue. Differs +from deadlock in that the process is not blocked or waiting for anything, +but has a virtually infinite amount of work to do and can never catch up. + diff --git a/entries/liveware.txt b/entries/liveware.txt index 0e43e5e..8a20da8 100644 --- a/entries/liveware.txt +++ b/entries/liveware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ liveware -/li:vweir/ , n. 1. Synonym for wetware. Less common. 2. [Cambridge] Vermin. Waiter, there's some liveware in my salad... +/li:vweir/ , n. 1. Synonym for wetware. Less common. 2. [Cambridge] Vermin. +Waiter, there's some liveware in my salad... + diff --git a/entries/lobotomy.txt b/entries/lobotomy.txt index 46e3914..6f85b0e 100644 --- a/entries/lobotomy.txt +++ b/entries/lobotomy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ lobotomy -n. 1. What a hacker subjected to formal management training is said to have undergone. At IBM and elsewhere this term is used by both hackers and low-level management; the latter doubtless intend it as a joke. 2. The act of removing the processor from a microcomputer in order to replace or upgrade it. Some very cheap clone systems are sold in lobotomized form everything but the brain. +n. 1. What a hacker subjected to formal management training is said to have +undergone. At IBM and elsewhere this term is used by both hackers and +low-level management; the latter doubtless intend it as a joke. 2. The act +of removing the processor from a microcomputer in order to replace or +upgrade it. Some very cheap clone systems are sold in lobotomized form +everything but the brain. + diff --git a/entries/locals, the.txt b/entries/locals, the.txt index a6acf17..29d347a 100644 --- a/entries/locals, the.txt +++ b/entries/locals, the.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ locals, the -pl.n. The users on one's local network (as opposed, say, to people one reaches via public Internet connections). The marked thing about this usage is how little it has to do with real-space distance. I have to do some tweaking on this mail utility before releasing it to the locals. +pl.n. The users on one's local network (as opposed, say, to people one +reaches via public Internet connections). The marked thing about this usage +is how little it has to do with real-space distance. I have to do some +tweaking on this mail utility before releasing it to the locals. + diff --git a/entries/locked and loaded.txt b/entries/locked and loaded.txt index a30b3bd..920d3bf 100644 --- a/entries/locked and loaded.txt +++ b/entries/locked and loaded.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ locked and loaded -adj.,obs. [from military slang for an M-16 rifle with magazine inserted and prepared for firing] Said of a removable disk volume properly prepared for use that is, locked into the drive and with the heads loaded. Ironically, because their heads are loaded whenever the power is up, this description is never used of Winchester drives (which are named after a rifle). +adj.,obs. [from military slang for an M-16 rifle with magazine inserted and +prepared for firing] Said of a removable disk volume properly prepared for +use that is, locked into the drive and with the heads loaded. Ironically, +because their heads are loaded whenever the power is up, this description is +never used of Winchester drives (which are named after a rifle). + diff --git a/entries/locked up.txt b/entries/locked up.txt index adcd1ff..6df829a 100644 --- a/entries/locked up.txt +++ b/entries/locked up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ locked up adj. Syn. for hung , wedged. + diff --git a/entries/logic bomb.txt b/entries/logic bomb.txt index 200d9fb..c0f2509 100644 --- a/entries/logic bomb.txt +++ b/entries/logic bomb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ logic bomb -n. Code surreptitiously inserted into an application or OS that causes it to perform some destructive or security-compromising activity whenever specified conditions are met. Compare back door. +n. Code surreptitiously inserted into an application or OS that causes it to +perform some destructive or security-compromising activity whenever +specified conditions are met. Compare back door. + diff --git a/entries/logical.txt b/entries/logical.txt index 9d0fb07..2cdf135 100644 --- a/entries/logical.txt +++ b/entries/logical.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ logical -adj. [from the technical term logical device , wherein a physical device is referred to by an arbitrary logical name] Having the role of. If a person (say, Les Earnest at SAIL) who had long held a certain post left and were replaced, the replacement would for a while be known as the logical Les Earnest. (This does not imply any judgment on the replacement.) Compare virtual. At Stanford, logical compass directions denote a coordinate system relative to El Camino Real, in which logical north is always toward San Francisco and logical south is always toward San Jose--in spite of the fact that El Camino Real runs physical north/south near San Francisco, physical east/west near San Jose, and along a curve everywhere in between. (The best rule of thumb here is that, by definition, El Camino Real always runs logical north-south.) In giving directions, one might say: To get to Rincon Tarasco restaurant, get onto El Camino Bignum going logical north. Using the word logical helps to prevent the recipient from worrying about that the fact that the sun is setting almost directly in front of him. The concept is reinforced by North American highways which are almost, but not quite, consistently labeled with logical rather than physical directions. A similar situation exists at MIT: Route 128 (famous for the electronics industry that grew up along it) wraps roughly 3 quarters around Boston at a radius of 10 miles, terminating near the coastline at each end. It would be most precise to describe the two directions along this highway as clockwise and counterclockwise , but the road signs all say north and south , respectively. A hacker might describe these directions as logical north and logical south , to indicate that they are conventional directions not corresponding to the usual denotation for those words. +adj. [from the technical term logical device , wherein a physical device is +referred to by an arbitrary logical name] Having the role of. If a person +(say, Les Earnest at SAIL) who had long held a certain post left and were +replaced, the replacement would for a while be known as the logical Les +Earnest. (This does not imply any judgment on the replacement.) Compare +virtual. At Stanford, logical compass directions denote a coordinate system +relative to El Camino Real, in which logical north is always toward San +Francisco and logical south is always toward San Jose--in spite of the fact +that El Camino Real runs physical north/south near San Francisco, physical +east/west near San Jose, and along a curve everywhere in between. (The best +rule of thumb here is that, by definition, El Camino Real always runs +logical north-south.) In giving directions, one might say: To get to Rincon +Tarasco restaurant, get onto El Camino Bignum going logical north. Using the +word logical helps to prevent the recipient from worrying about that the +fact that the sun is setting almost directly in front of him. The concept is +reinforced by North American highways which are almost, but not quite, +consistently labeled with logical rather than physical directions. A similar +situation exists at MIT: Route 128 (famous for the electronics industry that +grew up along it) wraps roughly 3 quarters around Boston at a radius of 10 +miles, terminating near the coastline at each end. It would be most precise +to describe the two directions along this highway as clockwise and +counterclockwise , but the road signs all say north and south , +respectively. A hacker might describe these directions as logical north and +logical south , to indicate that they are conventional directions not +corresponding to the usual denotation for those words. + diff --git a/entries/loop through.txt b/entries/loop through.txt index eadae5e..9dff1a6 100644 --- a/entries/loop through.txt +++ b/entries/loop through.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ loop through -vt. To process each element of a list of things. Hold on, I've got to loop through my paper mail. Derives from the computer-language notion of an iterative loop; compare cdr down (under cdr ), which is less common among C and Unix programmers. ITS hackers used to say IRP over after an obscure pseudo-op in the MIDAS PDP-10 assembler (the same IRP op can nowadays be found in Microsoft's assembler). +vt. To process each element of a list of things. Hold on, I've got to loop +through my paper mail. Derives from the computer-language notion of an +iterative loop; compare cdr down (under cdr ), which is less common among C +and Unix programmers. ITS hackers used to say IRP over after an obscure +pseudo-op in the MIDAS PDP-10 assembler (the same IRP op can nowadays be +found in Microsoft's assembler). + diff --git a/entries/loose bytes.txt b/entries/loose bytes.txt index 2237fd5..2ec9d9e 100644 --- a/entries/loose bytes.txt +++ b/entries/loose bytes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ loose bytes -n. Commonwealth hackish term for the padding bytes or shim s many compilers insert between members of a record or structure to cope with alignment requirements imposed by the machine architecture. +n. Commonwealth hackish term for the padding bytes or shim s many compilers +insert between members of a record or structure to cope with alignment +requirements imposed by the machine architecture. + diff --git a/entries/lord high fixer.txt b/entries/lord high fixer.txt index 474ef7c..d17c9a8 100644 --- a/entries/lord high fixer.txt +++ b/entries/lord high fixer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ lord high fixer -n. [primarily British, from Gilbert Sullivan's lord high executioner ] The person in an organization who knows the most about some aspect of a system. See wizard. +n. [primarily British, from Gilbert Sullivan's lord high executioner ] The +person in an organization who knows the most about some aspect of a system. +See wizard. + diff --git a/entries/lose lose.txt b/entries/lose lose.txt index f623564..391341b 100644 --- a/entries/lose lose.txt +++ b/entries/lose lose.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ lose lose -interj. A reply to or comment on an undesirable situation. I accidentally deleted all my files! Lose, lose. +interj. A reply to or comment on an undesirable situation. I accidentally +deleted all my files! Lose, lose. + diff --git a/entries/lose.txt b/entries/lose.txt index 117e3e0..5b537b2 100644 --- a/entries/lose.txt +++ b/entries/lose.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ lose -vi. 1. [very common] To fail. A program loses when it encounters an exceptional condition or fails to work in the expected manner. 2. To be exceptionally unesthetic or crocky. 3. Of people, to be obnoxious or unusually stupid (as opposed to ignorant). See also deserves to lose. 4. n. +vi. 1. [very common] To fail. A program loses when it encounters an +exceptional condition or fails to work in the expected manner. 2. To be +exceptionally unesthetic or crocky. 3. Of people, to be obnoxious or +unusually stupid (as opposed to ignorant). See also deserves to lose. 4. n. + diff --git a/entries/loser.txt b/entries/loser.txt index 7b1d3ac..f90ddee 100644 --- a/entries/loser.txt +++ b/entries/loser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ loser -n. An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or person. Someone who habitually loses. (Even winners can lose occasionally.) Someone who knows not and knows not that he knows not. Emphatic forms are real loser , total loser , and complete loser (but not ** moby loser , which would be a contradiction in terms). See luser. +n. An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or person. Someone +who habitually loses. (Even winners can lose occasionally.) Someone who +knows not and knows not that he knows not. Emphatic forms are real loser , +total loser , and complete loser (but not ** moby loser , which would be a +contradiction in terms). See luser. + diff --git a/entries/losing.txt b/entries/losing.txt index 90a2f7c..ded59b7 100644 --- a/entries/losing.txt +++ b/entries/losing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ losing -adj. Said of anything that is or causes a lose or lossage. The compiler is losing badly when I try to use templates. +adj. Said of anything that is or causes a lose or lossage. The compiler is +losing badly when I try to use templates. + diff --git a/entries/loss.txt b/entries/loss.txt index e4bee91..62b495c 100644 --- a/entries/loss.txt +++ b/entries/loss.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ loss -n. Something (not a person) that loses; a situation in which something is losing. Emphatic forms include moby loss , and total loss , complete loss. Common interjections are What a loss! and What a moby loss! Note that moby loss is OK even though ** moby loser is not used; applied to an abstract noun, moby is simply a magnifier, whereas when applied to a person it implies substance and has positive connotations. Compare lossage. +n. Something (not a person) that loses; a situation in which something is +losing. Emphatic forms include moby loss , and total loss , complete loss. +Common interjections are What a loss! and What a moby loss! Note that moby +loss is OK even though ** moby loser is not used; applied to an abstract +noun, moby is simply a magnifier, whereas when applied to a person it +implies substance and has positive connotations. Compare lossage. + diff --git a/entries/lossage.txt b/entries/lossage.txt index 00bff6c..8bd1316 100644 --- a/entries/lossage.txt +++ b/entries/lossage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ lossage -/los'@j/ , n. [very common] The result of a bug or malfunction. This is a mass or collective noun. What a loss! and What lossage! are nearly synonymous. The former is slightly more particular to the speaker's present circumstances; the latter implies a continuing lose of which the speaker is currently a victim. Thus (for example) a temporary hardware failure is a loss, but bugs in an important tool (like a compiler) are serious lossage. +/los'@j/ , n. [very common] The result of a bug or malfunction. This is a +mass or collective noun. What a loss! and What lossage! are nearly +synonymous. The former is slightly more particular to the speaker's present +circumstances; the latter implies a continuing lose of which the speaker is +currently a victim. Thus (for example) a temporary hardware failure is a +loss, but bugs in an important tool (like a compiler) are serious lossage. + diff --git a/entries/lossy.txt b/entries/lossy.txt index 3f95b54..ed35ef5 100644 --- a/entries/lossy.txt +++ b/entries/lossy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ lossy -adj. [Usenet] 1. Said of people, this indicates a poor memory, usually short-term. This usage is analogical to the same term applied to data compression and analysis. He's very lossy. means that you can't rely on him to accurately remember recent experiences or conversations, or requests. Not to be confused with a loser , which is a person who is in a continual state of lossiness, as in sense 2 (see below). 2. Said of an attitude or a situation, this indicates a general downturn in emotions, lack of success in attempted endeavors, etc. Eg, I'm having a lossy day today. means that the speaker has lost or is losing in all of their activities, and that this is causing some increase in negative emotions. +adj. [Usenet] 1. Said of people, this indicates a poor memory, usually +short-term. This usage is analogical to the same term applied to data +compression and analysis. He's very lossy. means that you can't rely on him +to accurately remember recent experiences or conversations, or requests. Not +to be confused with a loser , which is a person who is in a continual state +of lossiness, as in sense 2 (see below). 2. Said of an attitude or a +situation, this indicates a general downturn in emotions, lack of success in +attempted endeavors, etc. Eg, I'm having a lossy day today. means that the +speaker has lost or is losing in all of their activities, and that this is +causing some increase in negative emotions. + diff --git a/entries/lost in the noise.txt b/entries/lost in the noise.txt index 282d035..3a157b8 100644 --- a/entries/lost in the noise.txt +++ b/entries/lost in the noise.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ lost in the noise -adj. Syn. lost in the underflow. This term is from signal processing, where signals of very small amplitude cannot be separated from low-intensity noise in the system. Though popular among hackers, it is not confined to hackerdom; physicists, engineers, astronomers, and statisticians all use it. +adj. Syn. lost in the underflow. This term is from signal processing, where +signals of very small amplitude cannot be separated from low-intensity noise +in the system. Though popular among hackers, it is not confined to +hackerdom; physicists, engineers, astronomers, and statisticians all use it. + diff --git a/entries/lost in the underflow.txt b/entries/lost in the underflow.txt index 119e69c..5f5eeee 100644 --- a/entries/lost in the underflow.txt +++ b/entries/lost in the underflow.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ lost in the underflow -adj. Too small to be worth considering; more specifically, small beyond the limits of accuracy or measurement. This is a reference to floating underflow , a condition that can occur when a floating-point arithmetic processor tries to handle quantities smaller than its limit of magnitude. It is also a pun on undertow (a kind of fast, cold current that sometimes runs just offshore and can be dangerous to swimmers). Well, sure, photon pressure from the stadium lights alters the path of a thrown baseball, but that effect gets lost in the underflow. Compare epsilon , epsilon squared ; see also overflow bit. +adj. Too small to be worth considering; more specifically, small beyond the +limits of accuracy or measurement. This is a reference to floating underflow +, a condition that can occur when a floating-point arithmetic processor +tries to handle quantities smaller than its limit of magnitude. It is also a +pun on undertow (a kind of fast, cold current that sometimes runs just +offshore and can be dangerous to swimmers). Well, sure, photon pressure from +the stadium lights alters the path of a thrown baseball, but that effect +gets lost in the underflow. Compare epsilon , epsilon squared ; see also +overflow bit. + diff --git a/entries/lots of MIPS but no I-O.txt b/entries/lots of MIPS but no I-O.txt index 6c1fcb5..f3e327b 100644 --- a/entries/lots of MIPS but no I-O.txt +++ b/entries/lots of MIPS but no I-O.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ lots of MIPS but no I/O -adj. Used to describe a person who is technically brilliant but can't seem to communicate with human beings effectively. Technically it describes a machine that has lots of processing power but is bottlenecked on input-output (in 1991, the IBM Rios, a.k.a. RS/6000, was a notorious example). +adj. Used to describe a person who is technically brilliant but can't seem +to communicate with human beings effectively. Technically it describes a +machine that has lots of processing power but is bottlenecked on +input-output (in 1991, the IBM Rios, a.k.a. RS/6000, was a notorious +example). + diff --git a/entries/low-bandwidth.txt b/entries/low-bandwidth.txt index fda86f8..24bf059 100644 --- a/entries/low-bandwidth.txt +++ b/entries/low-bandwidth.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ low-bandwidth -adj. [from communication theory] Used to indicate a talk that, although not content-free , was not terribly informative. That was a low-bandwidth talk, but what can you expect for an audience of suit s! Compare zero-content , bandwidth , math-out. +adj. [from communication theory] Used to indicate a talk that, although not +content-free , was not terribly informative. That was a low-bandwidth talk, +but what can you expect for an audience of suit s! Compare zero-content , +bandwidth , math-out. + diff --git a/entries/lunatic fringe.txt b/entries/lunatic fringe.txt index 60f8554..63cfcba 100644 --- a/entries/lunatic fringe.txt +++ b/entries/lunatic fringe.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ lunatic fringe -n. [IBM] Customers who can be relied upon to accept release 1 versions of software. Compare heatseeker. +n. [IBM] Customers who can be relied upon to accept release 1 versions of +software. Compare heatseeker. + diff --git a/entries/lurker.txt b/entries/lurker.txt index b6bdd75..ad9772e 100644 --- a/entries/lurker.txt +++ b/entries/lurker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ lurker -n. One of the silent majority in an electronic forum; one who posts occasionally or not at all but is known to read the group's postings regularly. This term is not pejorative and indeed is casually used reflexively: Oh, I'm just lurking. Often used in the lurkers , the hypothetical audience for the group's flamage -emitting regulars. When a lurker speaks up for the first time, this is called delurking. The creator of the popular science-fiction TV series Babylon 5 has ties to SF fandom and the hacker culture. In that series, the use of the term lurker for a homeless or displaced person is a conscious reference to the jargon term. +n. One of the silent majority in an electronic forum; one who posts +occasionally or not at all but is known to read the group's postings +regularly. This term is not pejorative and indeed is casually used +reflexively: Oh, I'm just lurking. Often used in the lurkers , the +hypothetical audience for the group's flamage -emitting regulars. When a +lurker speaks up for the first time, this is called delurking. The creator +of the popular science-fiction TV series Babylon 5 has ties to SF fandom and +the hacker culture. In that series, the use of the term lurker for a +homeless or displaced person is a conscious reference to the jargon term. + diff --git a/entries/luser.txt b/entries/luser.txt index 011d56c..5af0e96 100644 --- a/entries/luser.txt +++ b/entries/luser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ luser -/loozr/ , n. [common] A user ; esp. one who is also a loser. ( luser and loser are pronounced identically.) This word was coined around 1975 at MIT. Under ITS, when you first walked up to a terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z to get the computer's attention, it printed out some status information, including how many people were already using the computer; it might print 14 users , for example. Someone thought it would be a great joke to patch the system to print 14 losers instead. There ensued a great controversy, as some of the users didn't particularly want to be called losers to their faces every time they used the computer. For a while several hackers struggled covertly, each changing the message behind the back of the others; any time you logged into the computer it was even money whether it would say users or losers. Finally, someone tried the compromise lusers , and it stuck. Later one of the ITS machines supported luser as a request-for-help command. ITS died the death in mid-1990, except as a museum piece; the usage lives on, however, and the term luser is often seen in program comments and on Usenet. Compare mundane , muggle , newbie , chainik. +/loozr/ , n. [common] A user ; esp. one who is also a loser. ( luser and +loser are pronounced identically.) This word was coined around 1975 at MIT. +Under ITS, when you first walked up to a terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z +to get the computer's attention, it printed out some status information, +including how many people were already using the computer; it might print 14 +users , for example. Someone thought it would be a great joke to patch the +system to print 14 losers instead. There ensued a great controversy, as some +of the users didn't particularly want to be called losers to their faces +every time they used the computer. For a while several hackers struggled +covertly, each changing the message behind the back of the others; any time +you logged into the computer it was even money whether it would say users or +losers. Finally, someone tried the compromise lusers , and it stuck. Later +one of the ITS machines supported luser as a request-for-help command. ITS +died the death in mid-1990, except as a museum piece; the usage lives on, +however, and the term luser is often seen in program comments and on Usenet. +Compare mundane , muggle , newbie , chainik. + diff --git a/entries/macdink.txt b/entries/macdink.txt index f7c07ba..bc41406 100644 --- a/entries/macdink.txt +++ b/entries/macdink.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ macdink -/makdink/ , vt. [from the Apple Macintosh, which is said to encourage such behavior] To make many incremental and unnecessary cosmetic changes to a program or file. Often the subject of the macdinking would be better off without them. When I left at 11PM last night, he was still macdinking the slides for his presentation. See also fritterware , window shopping. +/makdink/ , vt. [from the Apple Macintosh, which is said to encourage such +behavior] To make many incremental and unnecessary cosmetic changes to a +program or file. Often the subject of the macdinking would be better off +without them. When I left at 11PM last night, he was still macdinking the +slides for his presentation. See also fritterware , window shopping. + diff --git a/entries/machoflops.txt b/entries/machoflops.txt index 6f8fb2d..92b264a 100644 --- a/entries/machoflops.txt +++ b/entries/machoflops.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ machoflops -/machohflops/ , n. [pun on megaflops , a coinage for millions of FLoating-point Operations Per Second ] Refers to artificially inflated performance figures often quoted by computer manufacturers. Real applications are lucky to get half the quoted speed. See Your mileage may vary , benchmark. +/machohflops/ , n. [pun on megaflops , a coinage for millions of +FLoating-point Operations Per Second ] Refers to artificially inflated +performance figures often quoted by computer manufacturers. Real +applications are lucky to get half the quoted speed. See Your mileage may +vary , benchmark. + diff --git a/entries/macro-.txt b/entries/macro-.txt index b85e227..794f792 100644 --- a/entries/macro-.txt +++ b/entries/macro-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ macro- -pref. Large. Opposite of micro-. In the mainstream and among other technical cultures (for example, medical people) this competes with the prefix mega- , but hackers tend to restrict the latter to quantification. +pref. Large. Opposite of micro-. In the mainstream and among other technical +cultures (for example, medical people) this competes with the prefix mega- , +but hackers tend to restrict the latter to quantification. + diff --git a/entries/macro.txt b/entries/macro.txt index 231c9dd..7132908 100644 --- a/entries/macro.txt +++ b/entries/macro.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ macro -/makroh/ , n. [techspeak] A name (possibly followed by a formal arg list) that is equated to a text or symbolic expression to which it is to be expanded (possibly with the substitution of actual arguments) by a macro expander. This definition can be found in any technical dictionary; what those won't tell you is how the hackish connotations of the term have changed over time. The term macro originated in early assemblers, which encouraged the use of macros as a structuring and information-hiding device. During the early 1970s, macro assemblers became ubiquitous, and sometimes quite as powerful and expensive as HLL s, only to fall from favor as improving compiler technology marginalized assembler programming (see languages of choice ). Nowadays the term is most often used in connection with the C preprocessor, LISP, or one of several special-purpose languages built around a macro-expansion facility (such as TeX or Unix's [nt]roff suite). Indeed, the meaning has drifted enough that the collective macros is now sometimes used for code in any special-purpose application control language (whether or not the language is actually translated by text expansion), and for macro-like entities such as the keyboard macros supported in some text editors (and PC TSR or Macintosh INIT/CDEV keyboard enhancers). +/makroh/ , n. [techspeak] A name (possibly followed by a formal arg list) +that is equated to a text or symbolic expression to which it is to be +expanded (possibly with the substitution of actual arguments) by a macro +expander. This definition can be found in any technical dictionary; what +those won't tell you is how the hackish connotations of the term have +changed over time. The term macro originated in early assemblers, which +encouraged the use of macros as a structuring and information-hiding device. +During the early 1970s, macro assemblers became ubiquitous, and sometimes +quite as powerful and expensive as HLL s, only to fall from favor as +improving compiler technology marginalized assembler programming (see +languages of choice ). Nowadays the term is most often used in connection +with the C preprocessor, LISP, or one of several special-purpose languages +built around a macro-expansion facility (such as TeX or Unix's [nt]roff +suite). Indeed, the meaning has drifted enough that the collective macros is +now sometimes used for code in any special-purpose application control +language (whether or not the language is actually translated by text +expansion), and for macro-like entities such as the keyboard macros +supported in some text editors (and PC TSR or Macintosh INIT/CDEV keyboard +enhancers). + diff --git a/entries/macrology.txt b/entries/macrology.txt index 10bc62f..ec7a704 100644 --- a/entries/macrology.txt +++ b/entries/macrology.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ macrology -/makrol'@jee/ , n. 1. Set of usually complex or crufty macros, e.g., as part of a large system written in LISP , TECO , or (less commonly) assembler. 2. The art and science involved in comprehending a macrology in sense 1. Sometimes studying the macrology of a system is not unlike archeology, ecology, or theology , hence the sound-alike construction. See also boxology. +/makrol'@jee/ , n. 1. Set of usually complex or crufty macros, e.g., as part +of a large system written in LISP , TECO , or (less commonly) assembler. 2. +The art and science involved in comprehending a macrology in sense 1. +Sometimes studying the macrology of a system is not unlike archeology, +ecology, or theology , hence the sound-alike construction. See also +boxology. + diff --git a/entries/maggotbox.txt b/entries/maggotbox.txt index 5d37a1c..2388e99 100644 --- a/entries/maggotbox.txt +++ b/entries/maggotbox.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ maggotbox /mag'@tboks/ , n. See Macintrash. This is even more derogatory. + diff --git a/entries/magic cookie.txt b/entries/magic cookie.txt index f500c01..61479dc 100644 --- a/entries/magic cookie.txt +++ b/entries/magic cookie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ magic cookie -n. [Unix; common] 1. Something passed between routines or programs that enables the receiver to perform some operation; a capability ticket or opaque identifier. Especially used of small data objects that contain data encoded in a strange or intrinsically machine-dependent way. E.g., on non-Unix OSes with a non-byte-stream model of files, the result of ftell (3) may be a magic cookie rather than a byte offset; it can be passed to fseek (3) , but not operated on in any meaningful way. The phrase it hands you a magic cookie means it returns a result whose contents are not defined but which can be passed back to the same or some other program later. 2. An in-band code for changing graphic rendition (e.g., inverse video or underlining) or performing other control functions (see also cookie ). Some older terminals would leave a blank on the screen corresponding to mode-change magic cookies; this was also called a glitch (or occasionally a turd ; compare mouse droppings ). See also cookie. +n. [Unix; common] 1. Something passed between routines or programs that +enables the receiver to perform some operation; a capability ticket or +opaque identifier. Especially used of small data objects that contain data +encoded in a strange or intrinsically machine-dependent way. E.g., on +non-Unix OSes with a non-byte-stream model of files, the result of ftell (3) +may be a magic cookie rather than a byte offset; it can be passed to fseek +(3) , but not operated on in any meaningful way. The phrase it hands you a +magic cookie means it returns a result whose contents are not defined but +which can be passed back to the same or some other program later. 2. An +in-band code for changing graphic rendition (e.g., inverse video or +underlining) or performing other control functions (see also cookie ). Some +older terminals would leave a blank on the screen corresponding to +mode-change magic cookies; this was also called a glitch (or occasionally a +turd ; compare mouse droppings ). See also cookie. + diff --git a/entries/magic number.txt b/entries/magic number.txt index 5e40f02..48a2739 100644 --- a/entries/magic number.txt +++ b/entries/magic number.txt @@ -1,3 +1,33 @@ magic number -n. [Unix/C; common] 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 #define. Magic numbers in this sense 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 for pseudo-random numbers. This sense actually predates and was ancestral to the more common sense 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 (especially the linker) distinguish between 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; 0407, for example, was octal for branch 16 bytes relative. Many other kinds of files now have magic numbers somewhere; some magic numbers are, in fact, strings, like the ! arch at the beginning of a Unix archive file or the %! leading PostScript files. Nowadays only a 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! 4. An input that leads to a computational boundary condition, where algorithm behavior becomes discontinuous. Numeric overflows (particularly with signed data types) and run-time errors (divide by zero, stack overflows) are indications of magic numbers. The Y2K scare was probably the most notorious magic number non-incident. The magic number, on the other hand, is 72. See The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information by George Miller, in the Psychological Review 63:81-97 (1956). This classic paper established the number of distinct items (such as numeric digits) that humans can hold in short-term memory. Among other things, this strongly influenced the interface design of the phone system. +n. [Unix/C; common] 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 #define. Magic numbers in this sense 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 for +pseudo-random numbers. This sense actually predates and was ancestral to the +more common sense 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 (especially the linker) distinguish between 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; 0407, for example, was octal for branch 16 bytes +relative. Many other kinds of files now have magic numbers somewhere; some +magic numbers are, in fact, strings, like the ! arch at the beginning of a +Unix archive file or the %! leading PostScript files. Nowadays only a 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! 4. An +input that leads to a computational boundary condition, where algorithm +behavior becomes discontinuous. Numeric overflows (particularly with signed +data types) and run-time errors (divide by zero, stack overflows) are +indications of magic numbers. The Y2K scare was probably the most notorious +magic number non-incident. The magic number, on the other hand, is 72. See +The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for +processing information by George Miller, in the Psychological Review +63:81-97 (1956). This classic paper established the number of distinct items +(such as numeric digits) that humans can hold in short-term memory. Among +other things, this strongly influenced the interface design of the phone +system. + diff --git a/entries/magic smoke.txt b/entries/magic smoke.txt index 41b7666..60bdc60 100644 --- a/entries/magic smoke.txt +++ b/entries/magic smoke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ 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 burns up the magic smoke gets let 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 system, then seeing what happened. 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 fine after I erased it, filled it 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. +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 burns up the magic smoke gets let 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 system, then seeing +what happened. 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 fine after I erased it, filled it 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. + diff --git a/entries/magic.txt b/entries/magic.txt index 3df9b47..b649861 100644 --- a/entries/magic.txt +++ b/entries/magic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ magic -A feature not generally publicized that allows something otherwise impossible, or a feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. 4. n. The ultimate goal of all engineering development, elegance in the extreme; from the first corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. Parodies playing on these senses of the term abound; some have made their way into serious documentation, as when a MAGIC directive was described in the Control Card Reference for GCOS c.1978. For more about hackish magic , see Appendix A. Compare black magic , wizardly , deep magic , heavy wizardry. +A feature not generally publicized that allows something otherwise +impossible, or a feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. 4. n. +The ultimate goal of all engineering development, elegance in the extreme; +from the first corollary to Clarke's Third Law: Any technology +distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced. Parodies playing on +these senses of the term abound; some have made their way into serious +documentation, as when a MAGIC directive was described in the Control Card +Reference for GCOS c.1978. For more about hackish magic , see Appendix A. +Compare black magic , wizardly , deep magic , heavy wizardry. + diff --git a/entries/mail storm.txt b/entries/mail storm.txt index a9ef6f0..5359831 100644 --- a/entries/mail storm.txt +++ b/entries/mail storm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ mail storm -n. [from broadcast storm , influenced by maelstrom ] What often happens when a machine with an Internet connection and active users re-connects after extended downtime a flood of incoming mail that brings the machine to its knees. See also hairball. +n. [from broadcast storm , influenced by maelstrom ] What often happens when +a machine with an Internet connection and active users re-connects after +extended downtime a flood of incoming mail that brings the machine to its +knees. See also hairball. + diff --git a/entries/mailbomb.txt b/entries/mailbomb.txt index c8c4e39..34d74b2 100644 --- a/entries/mailbomb.txt +++ b/entries/mailbomb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ mailbomb -1. v. To send, or urge others to send, massive amounts of email to a single system or person, esp. with intent to crash or spam the recipient's system. Sometimes done in retaliation for a perceived serious offense. Mailbombing is itself widely regarded as a serious offense it can disrupt email traffic or other facilities for innocent users on the victim's system, and in extreme cases, even at upstream sites. 2. n. An automatic procedure with a similar effect. 3. n. The mail sent. Compare letterbomb , nastygram , BLOB (sense 2), list-bomb. +1. v. To send, or urge others to send, massive amounts of email to a single +system or person, esp. with intent to crash or spam the recipient's system. +Sometimes done in retaliation for a perceived serious offense. Mailbombing +is itself widely regarded as a serious offense it can disrupt email traffic +or other facilities for innocent users on the victim's system, and in +extreme cases, even at upstream sites. 2. n. An automatic procedure with a +similar effect. 3. n. The mail sent. Compare letterbomb , nastygram , BLOB +(sense 2), list-bomb. + diff --git a/entries/mailing list.txt b/entries/mailing list.txt index 845aa46..c290f5b 100644 --- a/entries/mailing list.txt +++ b/entries/mailing list.txt @@ -1,3 +1,27 @@ mailing list -n. (often shortened in context to list ) 1. An email address that is an alias (or macro , though that word is never used in this connection) for many other email addresses. Some mailing lists are simple reflectors , redirecting mail sent to them to the list of recipients. Others are filtered by humans or programs of varying degrees of sophistication; lists filtered by humans are said to be moderated. 2. The people who receive your email when you send it to such an address. Mailing lists are one of the primary forms of hacker interaction, along with Usenet. They predate Usenet, having originated with the first UUCP and ARPANET connections. They are often used for private information-sharing on topics that would be too specialized for or inappropriate to public Usenet groups. Though some of these maintain almost purely technical content (such as the Internet Engineering Task Force mailing list), others (like the sf-lovers list maintained for many years by Saul Jaffe) are recreational, and many are purely social. Perhaps the most infamous of the social lists was the eccentric bandykin distribution; its latter-day progeny, lectroids and tanstaafl , still include a number of the oddest and most interesting people in hackerdom. Mailing lists are easy to create and (unlike Usenet) don't tie up a significant amount of machine resources (until they get very large, at which point they can become interesting torture tests for mail software). Thus, they are often created temporarily by working groups, the members of which can then collaborate on a project without ever needing to meet face-to-face. Much of the material in this lexicon was criticized and polished on just such a mailing list (called jargon-friends ), which included all the co-authors of Steele-1983. +n. (often shortened in context to list ) 1. An email address that is an +alias (or macro , though that word is never used in this connection) for +many other email addresses. Some mailing lists are simple reflectors , +redirecting mail sent to them to the list of recipients. Others are filtered +by humans or programs of varying degrees of sophistication; lists filtered +by humans are said to be moderated. 2. The people who receive your email +when you send it to such an address. Mailing lists are one of the primary +forms of hacker interaction, along with Usenet. They predate Usenet, having +originated with the first UUCP and ARPANET connections. They are often used +for private information-sharing on topics that would be too specialized for +or inappropriate to public Usenet groups. Though some of these maintain +almost purely technical content (such as the Internet Engineering Task Force +mailing list), others (like the sf-lovers list maintained for many years by +Saul Jaffe) are recreational, and many are purely social. Perhaps the most +infamous of the social lists was the eccentric bandykin distribution; its +latter-day progeny, lectroids and tanstaafl , still include a number of the +oddest and most interesting people in hackerdom. Mailing lists are easy to +create and (unlike Usenet) don't tie up a significant amount of machine +resources (until they get very large, at which point they can become +interesting torture tests for mail software). Thus, they are often created +temporarily by working groups, the members of which can then collaborate on +a project without ever needing to meet face-to-face. Much of the material in +this lexicon was criticized and polished on just such a mailing list (called +jargon-friends ), which included all the co-authors of Steele-1983. + diff --git a/entries/main loop.txt b/entries/main loop.txt index 28e7cd9..72fce95 100644 --- a/entries/main loop.txt +++ b/entries/main loop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ main loop -n. The top-level control flow construct in an input- or event-driven program, the one which receives and acts or dispatches on the program's input. See also driver. +n. The top-level control flow construct in an input- or event-driven +program, the one which receives and acts or dispatches on the program's +input. See also driver. + diff --git a/entries/mainframe.txt b/entries/mainframe.txt index d9f870c..2020a8a 100644 --- a/entries/mainframe.txt +++ b/entries/mainframe.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ mainframe -n. Term originally referring 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 big iron machines were described 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 retrofitted onto it; it is especially used of machines built by IBM, Unisys, and the other great dinosaur s surviving from computing's Stone Age. It has been common wisdom among hackers since the late 1980s that the mainframe architectural tradition is essentially dead (outside of the tiny market for number-crunching supercomputers having been swamped by the recent huge advances in IC technology and low-cost personal computing. The wave of failures, takeovers, and mergers among traditional mainframe makers in the early 1990s bore this out. The biggest mainframer of all, IBM, was compelled to re-invent itself as a huge systems-consulting house. (See dinosaurs mating and killer micro ). However, in yet another instance of the cycle of reincarnation , the port of Linux to the IBM S/390 architecture in 1999 assisted by IBM produced a resurgence of interest in mainframe computing as a way of providing huge quantities of easily maintainable, reliable virtual Linux servers, saving IBM's mainframe division from almost certain extinction. +n. Term originally referring 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 big iron machines were described 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 retrofitted onto it; it is +especially used of machines built by IBM, Unisys, and the other great +dinosaur s surviving from computing's Stone Age. It has been common wisdom +among hackers since the late 1980s that the mainframe architectural +tradition is essentially dead (outside of the tiny market for +number-crunching supercomputers having been swamped by the recent huge +advances in IC technology and low-cost personal computing. The wave of +failures, takeovers, and mergers among traditional mainframe makers in the +early 1990s bore this out. The biggest mainframer of all, IBM, was compelled +to re-invent itself as a huge systems-consulting house. (See dinosaurs +mating and killer micro ). However, in yet another instance of the cycle of +reincarnation , the port of Linux to the IBM S/390 architecture in 1999 +assisted by IBM produced a resurgence of interest in mainframe computing as +a way of providing huge quantities of easily maintainable, reliable virtual +Linux servers, saving IBM's mainframe division from almost certain +extinction. + diff --git a/entries/mainsleaze.txt b/entries/mainsleaze.txt index e7f70ae..3fa2851 100644 --- a/entries/mainsleaze.txt +++ b/entries/mainsleaze.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ mainsleaze -n. 1. Spam emitted by a reputable, mainstream company (as opposed to fly-by-night Viagra oeddlers and the like). Sometime this happens in honest ignorance, but the reputation danage can take years to live down. 2. Occasionally used for a big-time spammer, with its own fat pipe , their own mailservers, and a pink contract. Almost impossible to get shut down. +n. 1. Spam emitted by a reputable, mainstream company (as opposed to +fly-by-night Viagra oeddlers and the like). Sometime this happens in honest +ignorance, but the reputation danage can take years to live down. 2. +Occasionally used for a big-time spammer, with its own fat pipe , their own +mailservers, and a pink contract. Almost impossible to get shut down. + diff --git a/entries/malware.txt b/entries/malware.txt index c9c47ee..506ba5a 100644 --- a/entries/malware.txt +++ b/entries/malware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ malware -n. [Common] Malicious software. Software intended to cause consequences the unwitting user would not choose; especially used of virus or Trojan horse software. +n. [Common] Malicious software. Software intended to cause consequences the +unwitting user would not choose; especially used of virus or Trojan horse +software. + diff --git a/entries/man page.txt b/entries/man page.txt index 8681aa2..d727bfc 100644 --- a/entries/man page.txt +++ b/entries/man page.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ man page -n. A page from the Unix Programmer's Manual, documenting one of Unix's many commands, system calls, library subroutines, device driver interfaces, file formats, games, macro packages, or maintenance utilities. By extension, the term man page may be used to refer to documentation of any kind, under any system, though it is most likely to be confined to short on-line references. As mentioned in Chapter11, Other Lexicon Conventions , there is a standard syntax for referring to man page entries: the phrase foo(n) refers to the page for foo in chapter n of the manual, where chapter 1 is user commands, chapter 2 is system calls, etc. The man page format is beloved, or berated, for having the same sort of pithy utility as the rest of Unix. Man pages tend to be written as very compact, concise descriptions which are complete but not forgiving of the lazy or careless reader. Their stylized format does a good job of summarizing the essentials: invocation syntax, options, basic functionality. While such a concise reference is perfect for the do-one-thing-and-do-it-well tools which are favored by the Unix philosophy, it admittedly breaks down when applied to a command which is itself a major subsystem. +n. A page from the Unix Programmer's Manual, documenting one of Unix's many +commands, system calls, library subroutines, device driver interfaces, file +formats, games, macro packages, or maintenance utilities. By extension, the +term man page may be used to refer to documentation of any kind, under any +system, though it is most likely to be confined to short on-line references. +As mentioned in Chapter11, Other Lexicon Conventions , there is a standard +syntax for referring to man page entries: the phrase foo(n) refers to the +page for foo in chapter n of the manual, where chapter 1 is user commands, +chapter 2 is system calls, etc. The man page format is beloved, or berated, +for having the same sort of pithy utility as the rest of Unix. Man pages +tend to be written as very compact, concise descriptions which are complete +but not forgiving of the lazy or careless reader. Their stylized format does +a good job of summarizing the essentials: invocation syntax, options, basic +functionality. While such a concise reference is perfect for the +do-one-thing-and-do-it-well tools which are favored by the Unix philosophy, +it admittedly breaks down when applied to a command which is itself a major +subsystem. + diff --git a/entries/management.txt b/entries/management.txt index 12b77ca..aa687c0 100644 --- a/entries/management.txt +++ b/entries/management.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ 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 bureaucracy responsible for all the world's minor irritations. Hackers' satirical public notices are often signed The Mgt ; this derives from the Illuminatus novels (see the Bibliography in Appendix C). +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 +bureaucracy responsible for all the world's minor irritations. Hackers' +satirical public notices are often signed The Mgt ; this derives from the +Illuminatus novels (see the Bibliography in Appendix C). + diff --git a/entries/mandelbug.txt b/entries/mandelbug.txt index 0515f69..b76308b 100644 --- a/entries/mandelbug.txt +++ b/entries/mandelbug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ mandelbug -/mandelbuhg/ , n. [from the Mandelbrot set] 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 than a heisenbug. See also schroedinbug. +/mandelbuhg/ , n. [from the Mandelbrot set] 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 than a heisenbug. See also schroedinbug. + diff --git a/entries/manged.txt b/entries/manged.txt index 05c14a1..1c9cca0 100644 --- a/entries/manged.txt +++ b/entries/manged.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ manged -/mahnjd/ , n. [probably from the French manger or Italian mangiare , to eat; perhaps influenced by English mange , mangy ] adj. Refers to anything that is mangled or damaged, usually beyond repair. The disk was manged after the electrical storm. Compare mung. +/mahnjd/ , n. [probably from the French manger or Italian mangiare , to eat; +perhaps influenced by English mange , mangy ] adj. Refers to anything that +is mangled or damaged, usually beyond repair. The disk was manged after the +electrical storm. Compare mung. + diff --git a/entries/mangle.txt b/entries/mangle.txt index ba9b539..183d3f3 100644 --- a/entries/mangle.txt +++ b/entries/mangle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ mangle -vt. 1. Used similarly to mung or scribble , but more violent in its connotations; something that is mangled has been irreversibly and totally trashed. 2. To produce the mangled name corresponding to a C++ declaration. +vt. 1. Used similarly to mung or scribble , but more violent in its +connotations; something that is mangled has been irreversibly and totally +trashed. 2. To produce the mangled name corresponding to a C++ declaration. + diff --git a/entries/mangled name.txt b/entries/mangled name.txt index 09d43ce..a0542ab 100644 --- a/entries/mangled name.txt +++ b/entries/mangled name.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ mangled name -n. A name, appearing in a C++ object file, that is a coded representation of the object declaration as it appears in the source. Mangled names are used because C++ allows multiple objects to have the same name, as long as they are distinguishable in some other way, such as by having different parameter types. Thus, the internal name must have that additional information embedded in it, using the limited character set allowed by most linkers. For instance, one popular compiler encodes the standard library function declaration memchr(const void*,int,unsigned int) as @memchr$qpxviui. +n. A name, appearing in a C++ object file, that is a coded representation of +the object declaration as it appears in the source. Mangled names are used +because C++ allows multiple objects to have the same name, as long as they +are distinguishable in some other way, such as by having different parameter +types. Thus, the internal name must have that additional information +embedded in it, using the limited character set allowed by most linkers. For +instance, one popular compiler encodes the standard library function +declaration memchr(const void*,int,unsigned int) as @memchr$qpxviui. + diff --git a/entries/mangler.txt b/entries/mangler.txt index 1de2861..de767c0 100644 --- a/entries/mangler.txt +++ b/entries/mangler.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ mangler -n. [DEC] A manager. Compare management. Note that system mangler is somewhat different in connotation. +n. [DEC] A manager. Compare management. Note that system mangler is somewhat +different in connotation. + diff --git a/entries/manularity.txt b/entries/manularity.txt index 673e211..93fa30c 100644 --- a/entries/manularity.txt +++ b/entries/manularity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ manularity -/man`yoolaritee/ , n. [prob. fr. techspeak manual + granularity ] A notional measure of the manual labor required for some task, particularly one of the sort that automation is supposed to eliminate. Composing English on paper has much higher manularity than using a text editor, especially in the revising stage. Hackers tend to consider manularity a symptom of primitive methods; in fact, a true hacker confronted with an apparent requirement to do a computing task by hand will inevitably seize the opportunity to build another tool (see toolsmith ). +/man`yoolaritee/ , n. [prob. fr. techspeak manual + granularity ] A notional +measure of the manual labor required for some task, particularly one of the +sort that automation is supposed to eliminate. Composing English on paper +has much higher manularity than using a text editor, especially in the +revising stage. Hackers tend to consider manularity a symptom of primitive +methods; in fact, a true hacker confronted with an apparent requirement to +do a computing task by hand will inevitably seize the opportunity to build +another tool (see toolsmith ). + diff --git a/entries/marbles.txt b/entries/marbles.txt index 6eeec3c..ef85bd1 100644 --- a/entries/marbles.txt +++ b/entries/marbles.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ marbles -pl.n. [from mainstream lost all his/her marbles ] 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 own, or enough marbles to allow a rebuild from backups, or if you need to rebuild from scratch. This compiler doesn't even have enough marbles to compile hello world. +pl.n. [from mainstream lost all his/her marbles ] 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 own, or enough marbles to allow a rebuild from backups, or if +you need to rebuild from scratch. This compiler doesn't even have enough +marbles to compile hello world. + diff --git a/entries/marching ants.txt b/entries/marching ants.txt index c99d6c4..dd390cb 100644 --- a/entries/marching ants.txt +++ b/entries/marching ants.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ marching ants -The animated dotted-line marquee that indicates a rectangle or item select in Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP, and other similar image-editing programs. +The animated dotted-line marquee that indicates a rectangle or item select +in Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP, and other similar image-editing programs. + diff --git a/entries/marginal.txt b/entries/marginal.txt index 8f4c066..ead237a 100644 --- a/entries/marginal.txt +++ b/entries/marginal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ marginal -adj. [common] 1. [techspeak] An extremely small change. 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 it. 2. Of little 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. +adj. [common] 1. [techspeak] An extremely small change. 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 it. 2. Of little 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. + diff --git a/entries/marginally.txt b/entries/marginally.txt index 9d4181b..8a7070f 100644 --- a/entries/marginally.txt +++ b/entries/marginally.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ marginally -adv. Slightly. The ravs here are only marginally better than at Small Eating Place. See epsilon. +adv. Slightly. The ravs here are only marginally better than at Small Eating +Place. See epsilon. + diff --git a/entries/marketroid.txt b/entries/marketroid.txt index d0bcd3b..9ecf310 100644 --- a/entries/marketroid.txt +++ b/entries/marketroid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ marketroid -/mark@troyd/ , n. alt.: marketing slime , marketeer , marketing droid , marketdroid. 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 inclusion, are extremely difficult 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. +/mark@troyd/ , n. alt.: marketing slime , marketeer , marketing droid , +marketdroid. 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 inclusion, are extremely difficult 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. + diff --git a/entries/martian.txt b/entries/martian.txt index 9c1b729..4a3e79a 100644 --- a/entries/martian.txt +++ b/entries/martian.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ martian -n. A packet sent on a TCP/IP network with a source address of the test loopback interface [127.0.0.1]. This means that it will come back 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 martian filter? Compare Christmas tree packet , Godzillagram. +n. A packet sent on a TCP/IP network with a source address of the test +loopback interface [127.0.0.1]. This means that it will come back 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 martian +filter? Compare Christmas tree packet , Godzillagram. + diff --git a/entries/massage.txt b/entries/massage.txt index f04df14..54a4beb 100644 --- a/entries/massage.txt +++ b/entries/massage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ massage -vt. [common] 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 into GIF format. Compare slurp. +vt. [common] 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 into GIF format. Compare slurp. + diff --git a/entries/math-out.txt b/entries/math-out.txt index f0b48ce..2905ade 100644 --- a/entries/math-out.txt +++ b/entries/math-out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ math-out -n. [poss. from white-out (the blizzard variety)] 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. See also numbers , social science number. A math-out approach to history. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-05-19. The previous one is the frontispiece. +n. [poss. from white-out (the blizzard variety)] 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. See also numbers , social science number. A math-out +approach to history. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-05-19. The +previous one is the frontispiece. + diff --git a/entries/maximum Maytag mode.txt b/entries/maximum Maytag mode.txt index 3d24365..95fe3f9 100644 --- a/entries/maximum Maytag mode.txt +++ b/entries/maximum Maytag mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ maximum Maytag mode -n. What a washing machine or, by extension, any disk drive is in when it's being used so heavily that it's shaking like an old Maytag with an unbalanced load. If prolonged for any length of time, can lead to disks becoming walking drives. In 1999 it's been some years since hard disks were large enough to do this, but the same phenomenon has recently been reported with 24X CD-ROM drives. +n. What a washing machine or, by extension, any disk drive is in when it's +being used so heavily that it's shaking like an old Maytag with an +unbalanced load. If prolonged for any length of time, can lead to disks +becoming walking drives. In 1999 it's been some years since hard disks were +large enough to do this, but the same phenomenon has recently been reported +with 24X CD-ROM drives. + diff --git a/entries/meatspace.txt b/entries/meatspace.txt index 1adda21..928745a 100644 --- a/entries/meatspace.txt +++ b/entries/meatspace.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ meatspace -/meetspays/ , n. The physical world, where the meat lives as opposed to cyberspace. Hackers are actually more willing to use this term than cyberspace , because it's not speculative we already have a running meatspace implementation (the universe). Compare RL. +/meetspays/ , n. The physical world, where the meat lives as opposed to +cyberspace. Hackers are actually more willing to use this term than +cyberspace , because it's not speculative we already have a running +meatspace implementation (the universe). Compare RL. + diff --git a/entries/meatware.txt b/entries/meatware.txt index 6493a1d..4a2f961 100644 --- a/entries/meatware.txt +++ b/entries/meatware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ meatware n. Synonym for wetware. Less common. + diff --git a/entries/meeces.txt b/entries/meeces.txt index 30d17c5..ff9f7e4 100644 --- a/entries/meeces.txt +++ b/entries/meeces.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ meeces -/mees'@z/ , n. [TMRC] 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. +/mees'@z/ , n. [TMRC] 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. + diff --git a/entries/meg.txt b/entries/meg.txt index c65f566..f579980 100644 --- a/entries/meg.txt +++ b/entries/meg.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ meg /meg/ , n. See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/mega-.txt b/entries/mega-.txt index 5ad3bcf..cb033ae 100644 --- a/entries/mega-.txt +++ b/entries/mega-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ mega- /meg@/ , pref. [SI] See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/megapenny.txt b/entries/megapenny.txt index df13a0e..2e274b6 100644 --- a/entries/megapenny.txt +++ b/entries/megapenny.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ megapenny -/meg'@pen`ee/ , n. $10,000 (1 cent * 10 6 ). Used semi-humorously as a unit in comparing computer cost and performance figures. +/meg'@pen`ee/ , n. $10,000 (1 cent * 10 6 ). Used semi-humorously as a unit +in comparing computer cost and performance figures. + diff --git a/entries/meltdown, network.txt b/entries/meltdown, network.txt index f560147..42c38ba 100644 --- a/entries/meltdown, network.txt +++ b/entries/meltdown, network.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ meltdown, network n. See network meltdown. + diff --git a/entries/meme plague.txt b/entries/meme plague.txt index 77195f9..8744936 100644 --- a/entries/meme plague.txt +++ b/entries/meme plague.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ meme plague -n. The spread of a successful but pernicious meme , esp. one that parasitizes the victims into giving their all to propagate it. Astrology, BASIC, and the other guy's religion are often considered to be examples. This usage is given point by the historical fact that joiner ideologies like Naziism or various forms of millennarian Christianity have exhibited plague-like cycles of exponential growth followed by collapses to small reservoir populations. +n. The spread of a successful but pernicious meme , esp. one that +parasitizes the victims into giving their all to propagate it. Astrology, +BASIC, and the other guy's religion are often considered to be examples. +This usage is given point by the historical fact that joiner ideologies like +Naziism or various forms of millennarian Christianity have exhibited +plague-like cycles of exponential growth followed by collapses to small +reservoir populations. + diff --git a/entries/meme.txt b/entries/meme.txt index 74a589c..ecfbed5 100644 --- a/entries/meme.txt +++ b/entries/meme.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ meme -/meem/ , n. [coined by analogy with gene , by Richard Dawkins] 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 a group of mutually supporting memes that form an organized belief system, such as a religion. This lexicon is an (epidemiological) vector of the hacker subculture meme complex; each entry might be considered a meme. However, meme is often misused to mean meme complex. Use of the term connotes acceptance of the idea that in humans (and presumably other tool- and language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has superseded biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits. Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons. +/meem/ , n. [coined by analogy with gene , by Richard Dawkins] 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 a group of mutually supporting memes that form an +organized belief system, such as a religion. This lexicon is an +(epidemiological) vector of the hacker subculture meme complex; each entry +might be considered a meme. However, meme is often misused to mean meme +complex. Use of the term connotes acceptance of the idea that in humans (and +presumably other tool- and language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by +selection of adaptive ideas has superseded biological evolution by selection +of hereditary traits. Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious +reasons. + diff --git a/entries/memetics.txt b/entries/memetics.txt index e387cfc..569ee74 100644 --- a/entries/memetics.txt +++ b/entries/memetics.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ memetics -/memetiks/ , n. [from meme ] The study of memes. As of early 2003, this is still an extremely informal and speculative endeavor, though the first steps towards at least statistical rigor have been made by H. Keith Henson and others. Memetics is a popular topic for speculation among hackers, who like to see themselves as the architects of the new information ecologies in which memes live and replicate. +/memetiks/ , n. [from meme ] The study of memes. As of early 2003, this is +still an extremely informal and speculative endeavor, though the first steps +towards at least statistical rigor have been made by H. Keith Henson and +others. Memetics is a popular topic for speculation among hackers, who like +to see themselves as the architects of the new information ecologies in +which memes live and replicate. + diff --git a/entries/memory farts.txt b/entries/memory farts.txt index 8002f87..f785f7a 100644 --- a/entries/memory farts.txt +++ b/entries/memory farts.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ memory farts -n. The flatulent sounds that some DOS box BIOSes (most notably AMI's) make when checking memory on bootup. +n. The flatulent sounds that some DOS box BIOSes (most notably AMI's) make +when checking memory on bootup. + diff --git a/entries/memory leak.txt b/entries/memory leak.txt index 873063f..6643c3c 100644 --- a/entries/memory leak.txt +++ b/entries/memory leak.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ memory leak -n. An error in a program's dynamic-store allocation logic that causes it to fail to reclaim discarded memory, leading to eventual collapse due to memory exhaustion. Also (esp. at CMU) called core leak. These problems were severe on older machines with small, fixed-size address spaces, and special leak detection tools were commonly written to root them out. With the advent of virtual memory, it is unfortunately easier to be sloppy about wasting a bit of memory (although when you run out of memory on a VM machine, it means you've got a real leak!). See aliasing bug , fandango on core , smash the stack , precedence lossage , overrun screw , leaky heap , leak. +n. An error in a program's dynamic-store allocation logic that causes it to +fail to reclaim discarded memory, leading to eventual collapse due to memory +exhaustion. Also (esp. at CMU) called core leak. These problems were severe +on older machines with small, fixed-size address spaces, and special leak +detection tools were commonly written to root them out. With the advent of +virtual memory, it is unfortunately easier to be sloppy about wasting a bit +of memory (although when you run out of memory on a VM machine, it means +you've got a real leak!). See aliasing bug , fandango on core , smash the +stack , precedence lossage , overrun screw , leaky heap , leak. + diff --git a/entries/memory smash.txt b/entries/memory smash.txt index 0178b2f..c16b82a 100644 --- a/entries/memory smash.txt +++ b/entries/memory smash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ memory smash -n. [XEROX PARC] Writing through a pointer that doesn't point to what you think it does. This occasionally reduces your memory to a rubble of bits. Note that this is subtly different from (and more general than) related terms such as a memory leak or fandango on core because it doesn't imply an allocation error or overrun condition. +n. [XEROX PARC] Writing through a pointer that doesn't point to what you +think it does. This occasionally reduces your memory to a rubble of bits. +Note that this is subtly different from (and more general than) related +terms such as a memory leak or fandango on core because it doesn't imply an +allocation error or overrun condition. + diff --git a/entries/menuitis.txt b/entries/menuitis.txt index 08c02a5..a1af227 100644 --- a/entries/menuitis.txt +++ b/entries/menuitis.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ menuitis -/men`yooi:tis/ , n. Notional disease suffered by software with an obsessively simple-minded menu interface and no escape. Hackers find this intensely irritating and much prefer the flexibility of command-line or language-style interfaces, especially those customizable via macros or a special-purpose language in which one can encode useful hacks. See user-obsequious , drool-proof paper , WIMP environment , for the rest of us. +/men`yooi:tis/ , n. Notional disease suffered by software with an +obsessively simple-minded menu interface and no escape. Hackers find this +intensely irritating and much prefer the flexibility of command-line or +language-style interfaces, especially those customizable via macros or a +special-purpose language in which one can encode useful hacks. See +user-obsequious , drool-proof paper , WIMP environment , for the rest of us. + diff --git a/entries/mess-dos.txt b/entries/mess-dos.txt index 4683295..ce934ea 100644 --- a/entries/mess-dos.txt +++ b/entries/mess-dos.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ mess-dos -/mesdos/ , n. [semi-obsolescent now that DOS is] Derisory term for MS-DOS. Often followed by the ritual banishing Just say No! See MS-DOS. Most hackers (even many MS-DOS hackers) loathed MS-DOS for its single-tasking nature, its limits on application size, its nasty primitive interface, and its ties to IBMness and Microsoftness (see fear and loathing ). Also mess-loss , messy-dos , mess-dog , mess-dross , mush-dos , and various combinations thereof. In Ireland and the U.K. it is even sometimes called Domestos after a brand of toilet cleanser. +/mesdos/ , n. [semi-obsolescent now that DOS is] Derisory term for MS-DOS. +Often followed by the ritual banishing Just say No! See MS-DOS. Most hackers +(even many MS-DOS hackers) loathed MS-DOS for its single-tasking nature, its +limits on application size, its nasty primitive interface, and its ties to +IBMness and Microsoftness (see fear and loathing ). Also mess-loss , +messy-dos , mess-dog , mess-dross , mush-dos , and various combinations +thereof. In Ireland and the U.K. it is even sometimes called Domestos after +a brand of toilet cleanser. + diff --git a/entries/meta bit.txt b/entries/meta bit.txt index 1b5517b..7713dd1 100644 --- a/entries/meta bit.txt +++ b/entries/meta bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ meta bit -n. The top bit of an 8-bit character, which is on in character values 128--255. Also called high bit , alt bit. Some terminals and consoles (see space-cadet keyboard ) have a META shift key. Others (including, mirabile dictu , keyboards on IBM PC-class machines) have an ALT key. See also bucky bits. Historical note: although in modern usage shaped by a universe of 8-bit bytes the meta bit is invariably hex 80 (octal 0200), things were different on earlier machines with 36-bit words and 9-bit bytes. The MIT and Stanford keyboards (see space-cadet keyboard ) generated hex 100 (octal 400) from their meta keys. +n. The top bit of an 8-bit character, which is on in character values +128--255. Also called high bit , alt bit. Some terminals and consoles (see +space-cadet keyboard ) have a META shift key. Others (including, mirabile +dictu , keyboards on IBM PC-class machines) have an ALT key. See also bucky +bits. Historical note: although in modern usage shaped by a universe of +8-bit bytes the meta bit is invariably hex 80 (octal 0200), things were +different on earlier machines with 36-bit words and 9-bit bytes. The MIT and +Stanford keyboards (see space-cadet keyboard ) generated hex 100 (octal 400) +from their meta keys. + diff --git a/entries/meta.txt b/entries/meta.txt index 2885929..8495b6f 100644 --- a/entries/meta.txt +++ b/entries/meta.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ meta -/met@/ , /mayt@/ , /meet@/ , pref. [from analytic philosophy] One level of description up. A metasyntactic variable is a variable in notation used to describe syntax, and meta-language is language used to describe language. This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humor turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels. See hacker humor. +/met@/ , /mayt@/ , /meet@/ , pref. [from analytic philosophy] One level of +description up. A metasyntactic variable is a variable in notation used to +describe syntax, and meta-language is language used to describe language. +This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humor turns on +deliberate confusion between meta-levels. See hacker humor. + diff --git a/entries/metasyntactic variable.txt b/entries/metasyntactic variable.txt index f0088b5..da65271 100644 --- a/entries/metasyntactic variable.txt +++ b/entries/metasyntactic variable.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ metasyntactic variable -n. A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion. The word foo is the canonical example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly ever) use foo or other words like it as permanent names for anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a scratch file that may be deleted at any time. Metasyntactic variables are so called because (1) they are variables in the metalanguage used to talk about programs etc; (2) they are variables whose values are often variables (as in usages like the value of f(foo,bar) is the sum of foo and bar ). However, it has been plausibly suggested that the real reason for the term metasyntactic variable is that it sounds good. To some extent, the list of one's preferred metasyntactic variables is a cultural signature. They occur both in series (used for related groups of variables or objects) and as singletons. Here are a few common signatures: foo , bar , baz , quux , quuux, quuuux...: MIT/Stanford usage, now found everywhere (thanks largely to early versions of this lexicon!). At MIT (but not at Stanford), baz dropped out of use for a while in the 1970s and '80s. A common recent mutation of this sequence inserts qux before quux. bazola, ztesch: Stanford (from mid-'70s on). foo , bar , thud, grunt: This series was popular at CMU. Other CMU-associated variables include gorp. foo , bar , bletch: Waterloo University. We are informed that the CS club at Waterloo formerly had a sign on its door reading Ye Olde Foo Bar and Grill ; this led to an attempt to establish grill as the third metasyntactic variable, but it never caught on. foo , bar , fum: This series is reported to be common at XEROX PARC. +n. A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is +under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under +discussion. The word foo is the canonical example. To avoid confusion, +hackers never (well, hardly ever) use foo or other words like it as +permanent names for anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any +filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a scratch file that +may be deleted at any time. Metasyntactic variables are so called because +(1) they are variables in the metalanguage used to talk about programs etc; +(2) they are variables whose values are often variables (as in usages like +the value of f(foo,bar) is the sum of foo and bar ). However, it has been +plausibly suggested that the real reason for the term metasyntactic variable +is that it sounds good. To some extent, the list of one's preferred +metasyntactic variables is a cultural signature. They occur both in series +(used for related groups of variables or objects) and as singletons. Here +are a few common signatures: foo , bar , baz , quux , quuux, quuuux...: +MIT/Stanford usage, now found everywhere (thanks largely to early versions +of this lexicon!). At MIT (but not at Stanford), baz dropped out of use for +a while in the 1970s and '80s. A common recent mutation of this sequence +inserts qux before quux. bazola, ztesch: Stanford (from mid-'70s on). foo , +bar , thud, grunt: This series was popular at CMU. Other CMU-associated +variables include gorp. foo , bar , bletch: Waterloo University. We are +informed that the CS club at Waterloo formerly had a sign on its door +reading Ye Olde Foo Bar and Grill ; this led to an attempt to establish +grill as the third metasyntactic variable, but it never caught on. foo , +bar , fum: This series is reported to be common at XEROX PARC. + diff --git a/entries/mickey mouse program.txt b/entries/mickey mouse program.txt index 09c45f1..fa39c93 100644 --- a/entries/mickey mouse program.txt +++ b/entries/mickey mouse program.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ mickey mouse program -n. North American equivalent of a noddy (that is, trivial) program. Doesn't necessarily have the belittling connotations of mainstream slang Oh, that's just mickey mouse stuff! ; sometimes trivial programs can be very useful. +n. North American equivalent of a noddy (that is, trivial) program. Doesn't +necessarily have the belittling connotations of mainstream slang Oh, that's +just mickey mouse stuff! ; sometimes trivial programs can be very useful. + diff --git a/entries/mickey.txt b/entries/mickey.txt index 4159593..7af258c 100644 --- a/entries/mickey.txt +++ b/entries/mickey.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ mickey -n. The resolution unit of mouse movement. It has been suggested that the disney will become a benchmark unit for animation graphics performance. +n. The resolution unit of mouse movement. It has been suggested that the +disney will become a benchmark unit for animation graphics performance. + diff --git a/entries/micro-.txt b/entries/micro-.txt index 37e0de7..4551e53 100644 --- a/entries/micro-.txt +++ b/entries/micro-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ micro- -pref. 1. Very small; this is the root of its use as a quantifier prefix. 2. A quantifier prefix, calling for multiplication by 10 -6 (see quantifiers ). Neither of these uses is peculiar to hackers, but hackers tend to fling them both around rather more freely than is countenanced in standard English. It is recorded, for example, that one CS professor used to characterize the standard length of his lectures as a microcentury that is, about 52.6 minutes (see also attoparsec , nanoacre , and especially microfortnight ). 3. Personal or human-scale that is, capable of being maintained or comprehended or manipulated by one human being. This sense is generalized from microcomputer , and is esp. used in contrast with macro- (the corresponding Greek prefix meaning large ). 4. Local as opposed to global (or macro- ). Thus a hacker might say that buying a smaller car to reduce pollution only solves a microproblem; the macroproblem of getting to work might be better solved by using mass transit, moving to within walking distance, or (best of all) telecommuting. +pref. 1. Very small; this is the root of its use as a quantifier prefix. 2. +A quantifier prefix, calling for multiplication by 10 -6 (see quantifiers ). +Neither of these uses is peculiar to hackers, but hackers tend to fling them +both around rather more freely than is countenanced in standard English. It +is recorded, for example, that one CS professor used to characterize the +standard length of his lectures as a microcentury that is, about 52.6 +minutes (see also attoparsec , nanoacre , and especially microfortnight ). +3. Personal or human-scale that is, capable of being maintained or +comprehended or manipulated by one human being. This sense is generalized +from microcomputer , and is esp. used in contrast with macro- (the +corresponding Greek prefix meaning large ). 4. Local as opposed to global +(or macro- ). Thus a hacker might say that buying a smaller car to reduce +pollution only solves a microproblem; the macroproblem of getting to work +might be better solved by using mass transit, moving to within walking +distance, or (best of all) telecommuting. + diff --git a/entries/microLenat.txt b/entries/microLenat.txt index 9db2910..13fe822 100644 --- a/entries/microLenat.txt +++ b/entries/microLenat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ microLenat -/mi:`krohlen'@t/ , n. The unit of bogosity. Abbreviated L or mL in ASCII Consensus is that this is the largest unit practical for everyday use. The microLenat, originally invented by David Jefferson, was promulgated as an attack against noted computer scientist Doug Lenat by a tenured graduate student at CMU. Doug had failed the student on an important exam because the student gave only AI is bogus as his answer to the questions. The slur is generally considered unmerited, but it has become a running gag nevertheless. Some of Doug's friends argue that of course a microLenat is bogus, since it is only one millionth of a Lenat. Others have suggested that the unit should be redesignated after the grad student, as the microReid. +/mi:`krohlen'@t/ , n. The unit of bogosity. Abbreviated L or mL in ASCII +Consensus is that this is the largest unit practical for everyday use. The +microLenat, originally invented by David Jefferson, was promulgated as an +attack against noted computer scientist Doug Lenat by a tenured graduate +student at CMU. Doug had failed the student on an important exam because the +student gave only AI is bogus as his answer to the questions. The slur is +generally considered unmerited, but it has become a running gag +nevertheless. Some of Doug's friends argue that of course a microLenat is +bogus, since it is only one millionth of a Lenat. Others have suggested that +the unit should be redesignated after the grad student, as the microReid. + diff --git a/entries/microReid.txt b/entries/microReid.txt index b8bd7c9..b8b81bc 100644 --- a/entries/microReid.txt +++ b/entries/microReid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ microReid /mi:krohreed/ , n. See microLenat. + diff --git a/entries/microfortnight.txt b/entries/microfortnight.txt index e9d9124..bfea9fe 100644 --- a/entries/microfortnight.txt +++ b/entries/microfortnight.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ microfortnight -n. 1/1000000 of the fundamental unit of time in the Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight system of measurement; 1.2096 sec. (A furlong is 1/8th of a mile; a firkin is 9 imperial gallons; the mass unit of the system is taken to be a firkin of water). The VMS operating system has a lot of tuning parameters that you can set with the SYSGEN utility, and one of these is TIMEPROMPTWAIT, the time the system will wait for an operator to set the correct date and time at boot if it realizes that the current value is bogus. This time is specified in microfortnights! Multiple uses of the millifortnight (about 20 minutes) and nanofortnight have also been reported. +n. 1/1000000 of the fundamental unit of time in the Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight +system of measurement; 1.2096 sec. (A furlong is 1/8th of a mile; a firkin +is 9 imperial gallons; the mass unit of the system is taken to be a firkin +of water). The VMS operating system has a lot of tuning parameters that you +can set with the SYSGEN utility, and one of these is TIMEPROMPTWAIT, the +time the system will wait for an operator to set the correct date and time +at boot if it realizes that the current value is bogus. This time is +specified in microfortnights! Multiple uses of the millifortnight (about 20 +minutes) and nanofortnight have also been reported. + diff --git a/entries/microserf.txt b/entries/microserf.txt index 65f29c3..28fcb79 100644 --- a/entries/microserf.txt +++ b/entries/microserf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ microserf -/mi:kros@rf/ [popularized, though not originated, by Douglas Coupland's book Microserfs ] A programmer at Microsoft , especially a low-level coder with little chance of fame or fortune. Compare MicroDroid. +/mi:kros@rf/ [popularized, though not originated, by Douglas Coupland's book +Microserfs ] A programmer at Microsoft , especially a low-level coder with +little chance of fame or fortune. Compare MicroDroid. + diff --git a/entries/micros~1.txt b/entries/micros~1.txt index 1000869..d08c102 100644 --- a/entries/micros~1.txt +++ b/entries/micros~1.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ micros~1 -An abbreviation of the full name Microsoft resembling the rather bogus way Windows 9x's VFAT filesystem truncates long file names to fit in the MS-DOS 8+3 scheme (the real filename is stored elsewhere). If other files start with the same prefix, they'll be called micros~2 and so on, causing lots of problems with backups and other routine system-administration problems. During the US Antitrust trial against Microsoft the names Micros~1 and Micros~2 were suggested for the two companies that would exist after a break-up. +An abbreviation of the full name Microsoft resembling the rather bogus way +Windows 9x's VFAT filesystem truncates long file names to fit in the MS-DOS +8+3 scheme (the real filename is stored elsewhere). If other files start +with the same prefix, they'll be called micros~2 and so on, causing lots of +problems with backups and other routine system-administration problems. +During the US Antitrust trial against Microsoft the names Micros~1 and +Micros~2 were suggested for the two companies that would exist after a +break-up. + diff --git a/entries/middle-endian.txt b/entries/middle-endian.txt index 80b4410..7f5636e 100644 --- a/entries/middle-endian.txt +++ b/entries/middle-endian.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ middle-endian -adj. Not big-endian or little-endian. Used of perverse byte orders such as 3-4-1-2 or 2-1-4-3, occasionally found in the packed-decimal formats of minicomputer manufacturers who shall remain nameless. See NUXI problem. Non-US hackers use this term to describe the American mm/dd/yy style of writing dates (Europeans write little-endian dd/mm/yy, and Japanese use big-endian yy/mm/dd for Western dates). +adj. Not big-endian or little-endian. Used of perverse byte orders such as +3-4-1-2 or 2-1-4-3, occasionally found in the packed-decimal formats of +minicomputer manufacturers who shall remain nameless. See NUXI problem. +Non-US hackers use this term to describe the American mm/dd/yy style of +writing dates (Europeans write little-endian dd/mm/yy, and Japanese use +big-endian yy/mm/dd for Western dates). + diff --git a/entries/middle-out implementation.txt b/entries/middle-out implementation.txt index 7390087..b87f976 100644 --- a/entries/middle-out implementation.txt +++ b/entries/middle-out implementation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ middle-out implementation See bottom-up implementation. + diff --git a/entries/milliLampson.txt b/entries/milliLampson.txt index 19c9175..56290a0 100644 --- a/entries/milliLampson.txt +++ b/entries/milliLampson.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ milliLampson -/mil'@lamp`sn/ , n. A unit of talking speed, abbreviated mL. Most people run about 200 milliLampsons. The eponymous Butler Lampson (a CS theorist and systems implementor highly regarded among hackers) goes at 1000. A few people speak faster. This unit is sometimes used to compare the (sometimes widely disparate) rates at which people can generate ideas and actually emit them in speech. For example, noted computer architect C. Gordon Bell (designer of the PDP-11 ) is said, with some awe, to think at about 1200 mL but only talk at about 300; he is frequently reduced to fragments of sentences as his mouth tries to keep up with his speeding brain. +/mil'@lamp`sn/ , n. A unit of talking speed, abbreviated mL. Most people run +about 200 milliLampsons. The eponymous Butler Lampson (a CS theorist and +systems implementor highly regarded among hackers) goes at 1000. A few +people speak faster. This unit is sometimes used to compare the (sometimes +widely disparate) rates at which people can generate ideas and actually emit +them in speech. For example, noted computer architect C. Gordon Bell +(designer of the PDP-11 ) is said, with some awe, to think at about 1200 mL +but only talk at about 300; he is frequently reduced to fragments of +sentences as his mouth tries to keep up with his speeding brain. + diff --git a/entries/minor detail.txt b/entries/minor detail.txt index b6cafd8..490f8cc 100644 --- a/entries/minor detail.txt +++ b/entries/minor detail.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ minor detail -Often used in an ironic sense about brokenness or problems that while apparently major, are in principle solvable. It works the fact that it crashes the system right after is a. Compare SMOP. +Often used in an ironic sense about brokenness or problems that while +apparently major, are in principle solvable. It works the fact that it +crashes the system right after is a. Compare SMOP. + diff --git a/entries/misbug.txt b/entries/misbug.txt index def6244..286ee0a 100644 --- a/entries/misbug.txt +++ b/entries/misbug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ misbug -/misbuhg/ , n. [MIT; rare (like its referent)] An unintended property of a program that turns out to be useful; something that should have been a bug but turns out to be a feature. Compare green lightning. See miswart. +/misbuhg/ , n. [MIT; rare (like its referent)] An unintended property of a +program that turns out to be useful; something that should have been a bug +but turns out to be a feature. Compare green lightning. See miswart. + diff --git a/entries/misfeature.txt b/entries/misfeature.txt index eb913d6..09fb87c 100644 --- a/entries/misfeature.txt +++ b/entries/misfeature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ misfeature -/misfeechr/ , /misfee`chr/ , n. [common] A feature that eventually causes lossage, possibly because it is not adequate for a new situation that has evolved. Since it results from a deliberate and properly implemented feature, a misfeature is not a bug. Nor is it a simple unforeseen side effect; the term implies that the feature in question was carefully planned, but its long-term consequences were not accurately or adequately predicted (which is quite different from not having thought ahead at all). A misfeature can be a particularly stubborn problem to resolve, because fixing it usually involves a substantial philosophical change to the structure of the system involved. Many misfeatures (especially in user-interface design) arise because the designers/implementors mistake their personal tastes for laws of nature. Often a former feature becomes a misfeature because trade-offs were made whose parameters subsequently change (possibly only in the judgment of the implementors). Well, yeah, it is kind of a misfeature that file names are limited to six characters, but the original implementors wanted to save directory space and we're stuck with it for now. +/misfeechr/ , /misfee`chr/ , n. [common] A feature that eventually causes +lossage, possibly because it is not adequate for a new situation that has +evolved. Since it results from a deliberate and properly implemented +feature, a misfeature is not a bug. Nor is it a simple unforeseen side +effect; the term implies that the feature in question was carefully planned, +but its long-term consequences were not accurately or adequately predicted +(which is quite different from not having thought ahead at all). A +misfeature can be a particularly stubborn problem to resolve, because fixing +it usually involves a substantial philosophical change to the structure of +the system involved. Many misfeatures (especially in user-interface design) +arise because the designers/implementors mistake their personal tastes for +laws of nature. Often a former feature becomes a misfeature because +trade-offs were made whose parameters subsequently change (possibly only in +the judgment of the implementors). Well, yeah, it is kind of a misfeature +that file names are limited to six characters, but the original implementors +wanted to save directory space and we're stuck with it for now. + diff --git a/entries/missile address.txt b/entries/missile address.txt index 00658fd..5004a8a 100644 --- a/entries/missile address.txt +++ b/entries/missile address.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ missile address n. See ICBM address. + diff --git a/entries/miswart.txt b/entries/miswart.txt index 9e188d8..c0e10ab 100644 --- a/entries/miswart.txt +++ b/entries/miswart.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ miswart -/miswort/ , n. [from wart by analogy with misbug ] A feature that superficially appears to be a wart but has been determined to be the Right Thing. For example, in some versions of the EMACS text editor, the transpose characters command exchanges the character under the cursor with the one before it on the screen, except when the cursor is at the end of a line, in which case the two characters before the cursor are exchanged. While this behavior is perhaps surprising, and certainly inconsistent, it has been found through extensive experimentation to be what most users want. This feature is a miswart. +/miswort/ , n. [from wart by analogy with misbug ] A feature that +superficially appears to be a wart but has been determined to be the Right +Thing. For example, in some versions of the EMACS text editor, the transpose +characters command exchanges the character under the cursor with the one +before it on the screen, except when the cursor is at the end of a line, in +which case the two characters before the cursor are exchanged. While this +behavior is perhaps surprising, and certainly inconsistent, it has been +found through extensive experimentation to be what most users want. This +feature is a miswart. + diff --git a/entries/mobo.txt b/entries/mobo.txt index 0c96889..b0459bb 100644 --- a/entries/mobo.txt +++ b/entries/mobo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ mobo -/mohbo/ Written and (rarely) spoken contraction of motherboard Prev Up Next MMF Home moby +/mohbo/ Written and (rarely) spoken contraction of motherboard Prev Up +Next MMF Home moby + diff --git a/entries/moby.txt b/entries/moby.txt index fcf6480..46bf577 100644 --- a/entries/moby.txt +++ b/entries/moby.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ moby -/mohbee/ [MIT: seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years ago. Derived from Melville's Moby Dick (some say from Moby Pickle ). Now common.] 1. adj. Large, immense, complex, impressive. A Saturn V rocket is a truly moby frob. Some MIT undergrads pulled off a moby hack at the Harvard-Yale game. (See Appendix A for discussion.) 2. n. obs. The maximum address space of a machine (see below). For a 680[234]0 or VAX or most modern 32-bit architectures, it is 4,294,967,296 8-bit bytes (4 gigabytes). 3. A title of address (never of third-person reference), usually used to show admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to a competent hacker. Greetings, moby Dave. How's that address-book thing for the Mac going? 4. adj. In backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in moby sixes , moby ones , etc. Compare this with bignum (sense 3): double sixes are both bignums and moby sixes, but moby ones are not bignums (the use of moby to describe double ones is sarcastic). Standard emphatic forms: Moby foo , moby win , moby loss. +/mohbee/ [MIT: seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years +ago. Derived from Melville's Moby Dick (some say from Moby Pickle ). Now +common.] 1. adj. Large, immense, complex, impressive. A Saturn V rocket is a +truly moby frob. Some MIT undergrads pulled off a moby hack at the +Harvard-Yale game. (See Appendix A for discussion.) 2. n. obs. The maximum +address space of a machine (see below). For a 680[234]0 or VAX or most +modern 32-bit architectures, it is 4,294,967,296 8-bit bytes (4 gigabytes). +3. A title of address (never of third-person reference), usually used to +show admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to a competent hacker. +Greetings, moby Dave. How's that address-book thing for the Mac going? 4. +adj. In backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in moby sixes , moby ones , etc. +Compare this with bignum (sense 3): double sixes are both bignums and moby +sixes, but moby ones are not bignums (the use of moby to describe double +ones is sarcastic). Standard emphatic forms: Moby foo , moby win , moby +loss. + diff --git a/entries/mockingbird.txt b/entries/mockingbird.txt index 9e88061..5063510 100644 --- a/entries/mockingbird.txt +++ b/entries/mockingbird.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ mockingbird -n. Software that intercepts communications (especially login transactions) between users and hosts and provides system-like responses to the users while saving their responses (especially account IDs and passwords). A special case of Trojan horse. +n. Software that intercepts communications (especially login transactions) +between users and hosts and provides system-like responses to the users +while saving their responses (especially account IDs and passwords). A +special case of Trojan horse. + diff --git a/entries/mod.txt b/entries/mod.txt index a663956..6d5d5ab 100644 --- a/entries/mod.txt +++ b/entries/mod.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ mod -vt.,n. [very common] 1. Short for modify or modification. Very commonly used in fact the full terms are considered markers that one is being formal. The plural mods is used esp. with reference to bug fixes or minor design changes in hardware or software, most esp. with respect to patch sets or a diff. See also case mod. 2. Short for modulo but used only for its techspeak sense. +vt.,n. [very common] 1. Short for modify or modification. Very commonly used +in fact the full terms are considered markers that one is being formal. The +plural mods is used esp. with reference to bug fixes or minor design changes +in hardware or software, most esp. with respect to patch sets or a diff. See +also case mod. 2. Short for modulo but used only for its techspeak sense. + diff --git a/entries/mode bit.txt b/entries/mode bit.txt index 20990fd..774da33 100644 --- a/entries/mode bit.txt +++ b/entries/mode bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ mode bit -n. [common] A flag , usually in hardware, that selects between two (usually quite different) modes of operation. The connotations are different from flag bit in that mode bits are mainly written during a boot or set-up phase, are seldom explicitly read, and seldom change over the lifetime of an ordinary program. The classic example was the EBCDIC-vs.-ASCII bit (#12) of the Program Status Word of the IBM 360. +n. [common] A flag , usually in hardware, that selects between two (usually +quite different) modes of operation. The connotations are different from +flag bit in that mode bits are mainly written during a boot or set-up phase, +are seldom explicitly read, and seldom change over the lifetime of an +ordinary program. The classic example was the EBCDIC-vs.-ASCII bit (#12) of +the Program Status Word of the IBM 360. + diff --git a/entries/mode.txt b/entries/mode.txt index 3ce9166..448c90a 100644 --- a/entries/mode.txt +++ b/entries/mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ mode -n. [common] A general state, usually used with an adjective describing the state. Use of the word mode rather than state implies that the state is extended over time, and probably also that some activity characteristic of that state is being carried out. No time to hack; I'm in thesis mode. In its jargon sense, mode is most often attributed to people, though it is sometimes applied to programs and inanimate objects. In particular, see hack mode , day mode , night mode , demo mode , fireworks mode , and yoyo mode ; also talk mode. One also often hears the verbs enable and disable used in connection with jargon modes. Thus, for example, a sillier way of saying I'm going to crash is I'm going to enable crash mode now. One might also hear a request to disable flame mode, please. In a usage much closer to techspeak, a mode is a special state that certain user interfaces must pass into in order to perform certain functions. For example, in order to insert characters into a document in the Unix editor vi , one must type the i key, which invokes the Insert command. The effect of this command is to put vi into insert mode , in which typing the i key has a quite different effect (to wit, it inserts an i into the document). One must then hit another special key, ESC , in order to leave insert mode. Nowadays, modeful interfaces are generally considered losing but survive in quite a few widely used tools built in less enlightened times. +n. [common] A general state, usually used with an adjective describing the +state. Use of the word mode rather than state implies that the state is +extended over time, and probably also that some activity characteristic of +that state is being carried out. No time to hack; I'm in thesis mode. In its +jargon sense, mode is most often attributed to people, though it is +sometimes applied to programs and inanimate objects. In particular, see hack +mode , day mode , night mode , demo mode , fireworks mode , and yoyo mode ; +also talk mode. One also often hears the verbs enable and disable used in +connection with jargon modes. Thus, for example, a sillier way of saying I'm +going to crash is I'm going to enable crash mode now. One might also hear a +request to disable flame mode, please. In a usage much closer to techspeak, +a mode is a special state that certain user interfaces must pass into in +order to perform certain functions. For example, in order to insert +characters into a document in the Unix editor vi , one must type the i key, +which invokes the Insert command. The effect of this command is to put vi +into insert mode , in which typing the i key has a quite different effect +(to wit, it inserts an i into the document). One must then hit another +special key, ESC , in order to leave insert mode. Nowadays, modeful +interfaces are generally considered losing but survive in quite a few widely +used tools built in less enlightened times. + diff --git a/entries/modulo.txt b/entries/modulo.txt index e0a155f..19f8a99 100644 --- a/entries/modulo.txt +++ b/entries/modulo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ modulo -/modyuloh/ , prep. Except for. An overgeneralization of mathematical terminology; one can consider saying that 4 equals 22 except for the 9s ( 4 = 22 mod 9). Well, LISP seems to work okay now, modulo that GC bug. I feel fine today modulo a slight headache. +/modyuloh/ , prep. Except for. An overgeneralization of mathematical +terminology; one can consider saying that 4 equals 22 except for the 9s ( 4 += 22 mod 9). Well, LISP seems to work okay now, modulo that GC bug. I feel +fine today modulo a slight headache. + diff --git a/entries/mojibake.txt b/entries/mojibake.txt index 97c4850..ac427dc 100644 --- a/entries/mojibake.txt +++ b/entries/mojibake.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ mojibake -n. , /mojeebake/ Japanese for ghost characters , the garbage that comes out when one tries to display international character sets through software not configured for them. There is a page on the topic at http://www.debian.or.jp/~kubota/mojibake/. +n. , /mojeebake/ Japanese for ghost characters , the garbage that comes out +when one tries to display international character sets through software not +configured for them. There is a page on the topic at +http://www.debian.or.jp/~kubota/mojibake/. + diff --git a/entries/molly-guard.txt b/entries/molly-guard.txt index 479b2a2..736f26b 100644 --- a/entries/molly-guard.txt +++ b/entries/molly-guard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ molly-guard -/moleegard/ , n. [University of Illinois] A shield to prevent tripping of some Big Red Switch by clumsy or ignorant hands. Originally used of the plexiglass covers improvised for the BRS on an IBM 4341 after a programmer's toddler daughter (named Molly) frobbed it twice in one day. Later generalized to covers over stop/reset switches on disk drives and networking equipment. In hardware catalogues, you'll see the much less interesting description guarded button. +/moleegard/ , n. [University of Illinois] A shield to prevent tripping of +some Big Red Switch by clumsy or ignorant hands. Originally used of the +plexiglass covers improvised for the BRS on an IBM 4341 after a programmer's +toddler daughter (named Molly) frobbed it twice in one day. Later +generalized to covers over stop/reset switches on disk drives and networking +equipment. In hardware catalogues, you'll see the much less interesting +description guarded button. + diff --git a/entries/monkey up.txt b/entries/monkey up.txt index 511e040..26606eb 100644 --- a/entries/monkey up.txt +++ b/entries/monkey up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ monkey up -vt. To hack together hardware for a particular task, especially a one-shot job. Connotes an extremely crufty and consciously temporary solution. Compare hack up , kluge up , cruft together. +vt. To hack together hardware for a particular task, especially a one-shot +job. Connotes an extremely crufty and consciously temporary solution. +Compare hack up , kluge up , cruft together. + diff --git a/entries/monkey, scratch.txt b/entries/monkey, scratch.txt index b9c6e23..a045f1c 100644 --- a/entries/monkey, scratch.txt +++ b/entries/monkey, scratch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ monkey, scratch n. See scratch monkey. + diff --git a/entries/monstrosity.txt b/entries/monstrosity.txt index 5fec95c..46a54ca 100644 --- a/entries/monstrosity.txt +++ b/entries/monstrosity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ monstrosity -The quality of being monstrous (see the section called Overgeneralization in the discussion of jargonification). See also baroque. +The quality of being monstrous (see the section called Overgeneralization in +the discussion of jargonification). See also baroque. + diff --git a/entries/monty.txt b/entries/monty.txt index 030fdc9..0526f38 100644 --- a/entries/monty.txt +++ b/entries/monty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ monty -/montee/ , n. 1. [US Geological Survey] A program with a ludicrously complex user interface written to perform extremely trivial tasks. An example would be a menu-driven, button clicking, pulldown, pop-up windows program for listing directories. The original monty was an infamous weather-reporting program, Monty the Amazing Weather Man, written at the USGS. Monty had a widget-packed X-window interface with over 200 buttons; and all monty actually did was files off the network. 2. [Great Britain; commonly capitalized as Monty or as the Full Monty ] 16 megabytes of memory, when fitted to an IBM-PC or compatible. A standard PC-compatible using the AT- or ISA-bus with a normal BIOS cannot access more than 16 megabytes of RAM. Generally used of a PC, Unix workstation, etc. to mean fully populated with memory, disk-space or some other desirable resource. See the World Wide Words article The Full Monty for discussion of the rather complex etymology that may lie behind this phrase. Compare American moby. +/montee/ , n. 1. [US Geological Survey] A program with a ludicrously complex +user interface written to perform extremely trivial tasks. An example would +be a menu-driven, button clicking, pulldown, pop-up windows program for +listing directories. The original monty was an infamous weather-reporting +program, Monty the Amazing Weather Man, written at the USGS. Monty had a +widget-packed X-window interface with over 200 buttons; and all monty +actually did was files off the network. 2. [Great Britain; commonly +capitalized as Monty or as the Full Monty ] 16 megabytes of memory, when +fitted to an IBM-PC or compatible. A standard PC-compatible using the AT- or +ISA-bus with a normal BIOS cannot access more than 16 megabytes of RAM. +Generally used of a PC, Unix workstation, etc. to mean fully populated with +memory, disk-space or some other desirable resource. See the World Wide +Words article The Full Monty for discussion of the rather complex etymology +that may lie behind this phrase. Compare American moby. + diff --git a/entries/moria.txt b/entries/moria.txt index 0f3aaa3..542fd43 100644 --- a/entries/moria.txt +++ b/entries/moria.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ moria -/moree@/ , n. Like nethack and rogue , one of the large PD Dungeons-and-Dragons-like simulation games, available for a wide range of machines and operating systems. The name is from Tolkien's Mines of Moria; compare elder days , elvish. The game is extremely addictive and a major consumer of time better used for hacking. See also nethack , rogue , Angband. +/moree@/ , n. Like nethack and rogue , one of the large PD +Dungeons-and-Dragons-like simulation games, available for a wide range of +machines and operating systems. The name is from Tolkien's Mines of Moria; +compare elder days , elvish. The game is extremely addictive and a major +consumer of time better used for hacking. See also nethack , rogue , +Angband. + diff --git a/entries/mouse ahead.txt b/entries/mouse ahead.txt index 54f1b51..27cbf4f 100644 --- a/entries/mouse ahead.txt +++ b/entries/mouse ahead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ mouse ahead -vi. Point-and-click analog of type ahead. To manipulate a computer's pointing device (almost always a mouse in this usage, but not necessarily) and its selection or command buttons before a computer program is ready to accept such input, in anticipation of the program accepting the input. Handling this properly is rare, but it can help make a WIMP environment much more usable, assuming the users are familiar with the behavior of the user interface. +vi. Point-and-click analog of type ahead. To manipulate a computer's +pointing device (almost always a mouse in this usage, but not necessarily) +and its selection or command buttons before a computer program is ready to +accept such input, in anticipation of the program accepting the input. +Handling this properly is rare, but it can help make a WIMP environment much +more usable, assuming the users are familiar with the behavior of the user +interface. + diff --git a/entries/mouse belt.txt b/entries/mouse belt.txt index 89dd5fc..d420891 100644 --- a/entries/mouse belt.txt +++ b/entries/mouse belt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ mouse belt n. See rat belt. + diff --git a/entries/mouse droppings.txt b/entries/mouse droppings.txt index 9320b82..59fb85c 100644 --- a/entries/mouse droppings.txt +++ b/entries/mouse droppings.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ mouse droppings -n. [MS-DOS] Pixels (usually single) that are not properly restored when the mouse pointer moves away from a particular location on the screen, producing the appearance that the mouse pointer has left droppings behind. The major causes for this problem are programs that write to the screen memory corresponding to the mouse pointer's current location without hiding the mouse pointer first, and mouse drivers that do not quite support the graphics mode in use. +n. [MS-DOS] Pixels (usually single) that are not properly restored when the +mouse pointer moves away from a particular location on the screen, producing +the appearance that the mouse pointer has left droppings behind. The major +causes for this problem are programs that write to the screen memory +corresponding to the mouse pointer's current location without hiding the +mouse pointer first, and mouse drivers that do not quite support the +graphics mode in use. + diff --git a/entries/mouse elbow.txt b/entries/mouse elbow.txt index 7ed226f..a39fb54 100644 --- a/entries/mouse elbow.txt +++ b/entries/mouse elbow.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ mouse elbow -n. A tennis-elbow-like fatigue syndrome resulting from excessive use of a WIMP environment. Similarly, mouse shoulder ; GLS reports that he used to get this a lot before he taught himself to be ambimoustrous. +n. A tennis-elbow-like fatigue syndrome resulting from excessive use of a +WIMP environment. Similarly, mouse shoulder ; GLS reports that he used to +get this a lot before he taught himself to be ambimoustrous. + diff --git a/entries/mouse pusher.txt b/entries/mouse pusher.txt index 9467f66..25743c5 100644 --- a/entries/mouse pusher.txt +++ b/entries/mouse pusher.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ mouse pusher -A person that prefers a mouse over a keyboard; originally used for Macintosh fans. The derogatory implication is that the person has nothing but the most superficial knowledge of the software he/she is employing, and is incapable of using or appreciating the full glory of the command line. +A person that prefers a mouse over a keyboard; originally used for Macintosh +fans. The derogatory implication is that the person has nothing but the most +superficial knowledge of the software he/she is employing, and is incapable +of using or appreciating the full glory of the command line. + diff --git a/entries/mouso.txt b/entries/mouso.txt index bdde4b6..64768d1 100644 --- a/entries/mouso.txt +++ b/entries/mouso.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ mouso -/mowsoh/ , n. [by analogy with typo ] An error in mouse usage resulting in an inappropriate selection or graphic garbage on the screen. Compare thinko , braino. +/mowsoh/ , n. [by analogy with typo ] An error in mouse usage resulting in +an inappropriate selection or graphic garbage on the screen. Compare thinko +, braino. + diff --git a/entries/mu.txt b/entries/mu.txt index 2fcc8ba..e573527 100644 --- a/entries/mu.txt +++ b/entries/mu.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ mu -/moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question Have you stopped beating your wife yet?. Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer yes is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but no is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually mu , a Japanese word alleged to mean Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions. Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical inadequacies in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word mu is actually from Chinese, meaning nothing ; it is used in mainstream Japanese in that sense. In Chinese it can also mean have not (as in I have not done it ), or lack of , which may or may not be a definite, complete 'nothing'). +/moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question Have you stopped +beating your wife yet?. Assuming that you have no wife or you have never +beaten your wife, the answer yes is wrong because it implies that you used +to beat your wife and then stopped, but no is worse because it suggests that +you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and +Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually mu , a Japanese word +alleged to mean Your question cannot be answered because it depends on +incorrect assumptions. Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical inadequacies +in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word +mu is actually from Chinese, meaning nothing ; it is used in mainstream +Japanese in that sense. In Chinese it can also mean have not (as in I have +not done it ), or lack of , which may or may not be a definite, complete +'nothing'). + diff --git a/entries/muddie.txt b/entries/muddie.txt index da8e39f..7460d26 100644 --- a/entries/muddie.txt +++ b/entries/muddie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ muddie -n. Syn. mudhead. More common in Great Britain, possibly because system administrators there like to mutter bloody muddies when annoyed at the species. +n. Syn. mudhead. More common in Great Britain, possibly because system +administrators there like to mutter bloody muddies when annoyed at the +species. + diff --git a/entries/mudhead.txt b/entries/mudhead.txt index fb9bea7..bd168c9 100644 --- a/entries/mudhead.txt +++ b/entries/mudhead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ mudhead -n. Commonly used to refer to a MUD player who eats, sleeps, and breathes MUD. Mudheads have been known to fail their degrees, drop out, etc., with the consolation, however, that they made wizard level. When encountered in person, on a MUD, or in a chat system, all a mudhead will talk about is three topics: the tactic, character, or wizard that is supposedly always unfairly stopping him/her from becoming a wizard or beating a favorite MUD; why the specific game he/she has experience with is so much better than any other; and the MUD he or she is writing or going to write because his/her design ideas are so much better than in any existing MUD. See also wannabee. To the anthropologically literate, this term may recall the Zuni/Hopi legend of the mudheads or koyemshi , mythical half-formed children of an unnatural union. Figures representing them act as clowns in Zuni sacred ceremonies. Others may recall the High School Madness sequence from the Firesign Theatre album Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers , in which there is a character named Mudhead. +n. Commonly used to refer to a MUD player who eats, sleeps, and breathes +MUD. Mudheads have been known to fail their degrees, drop out, etc., with +the consolation, however, that they made wizard level. When encountered in +person, on a MUD, or in a chat system, all a mudhead will talk about is +three topics: the tactic, character, or wizard that is supposedly always +unfairly stopping him/her from becoming a wizard or beating a favorite MUD; +why the specific game he/she has experience with is so much better than any +other; and the MUD he or she is writing or going to write because his/her +design ideas are so much better than in any existing MUD. See also wannabee. +To the anthropologically literate, this term may recall the Zuni/Hopi legend +of the mudheads or koyemshi , mythical half-formed children of an unnatural +union. Figures representing them act as clowns in Zuni sacred ceremonies. +Others may recall the High School Madness sequence from the Firesign Theatre +album Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers , in which there is a +character named Mudhead. + diff --git a/entries/muggle.txt b/entries/muggle.txt index c4b7bbc..3594217 100644 --- a/entries/muggle.txt +++ b/entries/muggle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ muggle -A non- wizard. Not as disparaging as luser ; implies vague pity rather than contempt. In the universe of Rowling's enormously (and deservedly) popular children's series, muggles and wizards inhabit the same modern world, but each group is ignorant of the commonplaces of the others' existence most muggles are unaware that wizards exist, and wizards (used to magical ways of doing everything) are perplexed and fascinated by muggle artifacts. In retrospect it seems completely inevitable that hackers would adopt this metaphor, and in hacker usage it readily forms compounds such as muggle-friendly. Compare luser , mundane , chainik , newbie. +A non- wizard. Not as disparaging as luser ; implies vague pity rather than +contempt. In the universe of Rowling's enormously (and deservedly) popular +children's series, muggles and wizards inhabit the same modern world, but +each group is ignorant of the commonplaces of the others' existence most +muggles are unaware that wizards exist, and wizards (used to magical ways of +doing everything) are perplexed and fascinated by muggle artifacts. In +retrospect it seems completely inevitable that hackers would adopt this +metaphor, and in hacker usage it readily forms compounds such as +muggle-friendly. Compare luser , mundane , chainik , newbie. + diff --git a/entries/multitask.txt b/entries/multitask.txt index bdd94be..9eecadf 100644 --- a/entries/multitask.txt +++ b/entries/multitask.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ multitask -n. Often used of humans in the same meaning it has for computers, to describe a person doing several things at once (but see thrash ). The term multiplex , from communications technology (meaning to handle more than one channel at the same time), is used similarly. +n. Often used of humans in the same meaning it has for computers, to +describe a person doing several things at once (but see thrash ). The term +multiplex , from communications technology (meaning to handle more than one +channel at the same time), is used similarly. + diff --git a/entries/mumblage.txt b/entries/mumblage.txt index 545027d..86a681a 100644 --- a/entries/mumblage.txt +++ b/entries/mumblage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ mumblage -/muhmbl@j/ , n. The topic of one's mumbling (see mumble ). All that mumblage is used like all that stuff when it is not quite clear how the subject of discussion works, or like all that crap when mumble is being used as an implicit replacement for pejoratives. +/muhmbl@j/ , n. The topic of one's mumbling (see mumble ). All that mumblage +is used like all that stuff when it is not quite clear how the subject of +discussion works, or like all that crap when mumble is being used as an +implicit replacement for pejoratives. + diff --git a/entries/mumble.txt b/entries/mumble.txt index 1b702b2..21264a0 100644 --- a/entries/mumble.txt +++ b/entries/mumble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ mumble -interj. 1. Said when the correct response is too complicated to enunciate, or the speaker has not thought it out. Often prefaces a longer answer, or indicates a general reluctance to get into a long discussion. Don't you think that we could improve LISP performance by using a hybrid reference-count transaction garbage collector, if the cache is big enough and there are some extra cache bits for the microcode to use? Well, mumble. .. I'll have to think about it. 2. [MIT] Expression of not-quite-articulated agreement, often used as an informal vote of consensus in a meeting: So, shall we dike out the COBOL emulation? Mumble! 3. Sometimes used as an expression of disagreement (distinguished from sense 2 by tone of voice and other cues). I think we should buy a VAX. Mumble! Common variant: mumble frotz (see frotz ; interestingly, one does not say mumble frobnitz even though frotz is short for frobnitz ). 4. Yet another metasyntactic variable , like foo. 5. When used as a question ( Mumble? ) means I didn't understand you. 6. Sometimes used in public contexts on-line as a placefiller for things one is barred from giving details about. For example, a poster with pre-released hardware in his machine might say Yup, my machine now has an extra 16M of memory, thanks to the card I'm testing for Mumbleco. 7. A conversational wild card used to designate something one doesn't want to bother spelling out, but which can be glark ed from context. Compare blurgle. 8. [XEROX PARC] A colloquialism used to suggest that further discussion would be fruitless. +interj. 1. Said when the correct response is too complicated to enunciate, +or the speaker has not thought it out. Often prefaces a longer answer, or +indicates a general reluctance to get into a long discussion. Don't you +think that we could improve LISP performance by using a hybrid +reference-count transaction garbage collector, if the cache is big enough +and there are some extra cache bits for the microcode to use? Well, mumble. +.. I'll have to think about it. 2. [MIT] Expression of not-quite-articulated +agreement, often used as an informal vote of consensus in a meeting: So, +shall we dike out the COBOL emulation? Mumble! 3. Sometimes used as an +expression of disagreement (distinguished from sense 2 by tone of voice and +other cues). I think we should buy a VAX. Mumble! Common variant: mumble +frotz (see frotz ; interestingly, one does not say mumble frobnitz even +though frotz is short for frobnitz ). 4. Yet another metasyntactic variable +, like foo. 5. When used as a question ( Mumble? ) means I didn't understand +you. 6. Sometimes used in public contexts on-line as a placefiller for +things one is barred from giving details about. For example, a poster with +pre-released hardware in his machine might say Yup, my machine now has an +extra 16M of memory, thanks to the card I'm testing for Mumbleco. 7. A +conversational wild card used to designate something one doesn't want to +bother spelling out, but which can be glark ed from context. Compare +blurgle. 8. [XEROX PARC] A colloquialism used to suggest that further +discussion would be fruitless. + diff --git a/entries/munch.txt b/entries/munch.txt index 01f4c1c..f2400a1 100644 --- a/entries/munch.txt +++ b/entries/munch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ munch -vt. [often confused with mung , q.v.] To transform information in a serial fashion, often requiring large amounts of computation. To trace down a data structure. Related to crunch and nearly synonymous with grovel , but connotes less pain. +vt. [often confused with mung , q.v.] To transform information in a serial +fashion, often requiring large amounts of computation. To trace down a data +structure. Related to crunch and nearly synonymous with grovel , but +connotes less pain. + diff --git a/entries/munching squares.txt b/entries/munching squares.txt index 8bf9b4b..6922aeb 100644 --- a/entries/munching squares.txt +++ b/entries/munching squares.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ munching squares -n. A display hack dating back to the PDP-1 (ca. 1962, reportedly discovered by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T see HAKMEM items 146--148) to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the screen. The initial value of T is treated as a parameter, which, when well-chosen, can produce amazing effects. Some of these, later (re)discovered on the LISP machine, have been christened munching triangles (try AND for XOR and toggling points instead of plotting them), munching w's , and munching mazes. More generally, suppose a graphics program produces an impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form, foo, on a display terminal, and does it using a relatively simple program; then the program (or the resulting display) is likely to be referred to as munching foos. [This is a good example of the use of the word foo as a metasyntactic variable. +n. A display hack dating back to the PDP-1 (ca. 1962, reportedly discovered +by Jackson Wright), which employs a trivial computation (repeatedly plotting +the graph Y = X XOR T for successive values of T see HAKMEM items 146--148) +to produce an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour +the screen. The initial value of T is treated as a parameter, which, when +well-chosen, can produce amazing effects. Some of these, later +(re)discovered on the LISP machine, have been christened munching triangles +(try AND for XOR and toggling points instead of plotting them), munching w's +, and munching mazes. More generally, suppose a graphics program produces an +impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form, foo, on a display +terminal, and does it using a relatively simple program; then the program +(or the resulting display) is likely to be referred to as munching foos. +[This is a good example of the use of the word foo as a metasyntactic +variable. + diff --git a/entries/munching.txt b/entries/munching.txt index 9565011..20d3d8c 100644 --- a/entries/munching.txt +++ b/entries/munching.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ munching -n. Exploration of security holes of someone else's computer for thrills, notoriety, or to annoy the system manager. Compare cracker. See also hacked off. +n. Exploration of security holes of someone else's computer for thrills, +notoriety, or to annoy the system manager. Compare cracker. See also hacked +off. + diff --git a/entries/munchkin.txt b/entries/munchkin.txt index 5e2f351..6f9e186 100644 --- a/entries/munchkin.txt +++ b/entries/munchkin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ munchkin -/muhnchkin/ , n. [from the squeaky-voiced little people in L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz ] A teenage-or-younger micro enthusiast hacking BASIC or something else equally constricted. A term of mild derision munchkins are annoying but some grow up to be hackers after passing through a larval stage. The term urchin is also used. See also wannabee , bitty box. +/muhnchkin/ , n. [from the squeaky-voiced little people in L. Frank Baum's +The Wizard of Oz ] A teenage-or-younger micro enthusiast hacking BASIC or +something else equally constricted. A term of mild derision munchkins are +annoying but some grow up to be hackers after passing through a larval +stage. The term urchin is also used. See also wannabee , bitty box. + diff --git a/entries/mundane.txt b/entries/mundane.txt index d109d30..e7e518a 100644 --- a/entries/mundane.txt +++ b/entries/mundane.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ mundane -n. [from SF fandom] 1. A person who is not in science fiction fandom. 2. A person who is not in the computer industry. In this sense, most often an adjectival modifier as in in my mundane life.... See also Real World , muggle. +n. [from SF fandom] 1. A person who is not in science fiction fandom. 2. A +person who is not in the computer industry. In this sense, most often an +adjectival modifier as in in my mundane life.... See also Real World , +muggle. + diff --git a/entries/mung.txt b/entries/mung.txt index 06b50d8..17c1555 100644 --- a/entries/mung.txt +++ b/entries/mung.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ mung -/muhng/ , vt. [in 1960 at MIT, Mash Until No Good ; sometime after that the derivation from the recursive acronym Mung Until No Good became standard; but see munge ] 1. To make changes to a file, esp. large-scale and irrevocable changes. See BLT. 2. To destroy, usually accidentally, occasionally maliciously. The system only mungs things maliciously; this is a consequence of Finagle's Law. See scribble , mangle , trash , nuke. Reports from Usenet suggest that the pronunciation /muhnj/ is now usual in speech, but the spelling mung is still common in program comments (compare the widespread confusion over the proper spelling of kluge ). 3. In the wake of the spam epidemics of the 1990s, mung is now commonly used to describe the act of modifying an email address in a sig block in a way that human beings can readily reverse but that will fool an address harvester. Example: johnNOSPAMsmith@isp.net. 4. The kind of beans the sprouts of which are used in Chinese food. (That's their real name! Mung beans! Really!) Like many early hacker terms, this one seems to have originated at TMRC ; it was already in use there in 1958. Peter Samson (compiler of the original TMRC lexicon) thinks it may originally have been onomatopoeic for the sound of a relay spring (contact) being twanged. However, it is known that during the World Wars, mung was U.S.: army slang for the ersatz creamed chipped beef better known as SOS , and it seems quite likely that the word in fact goes back to Scots-dialect munge. Charles Mackay's 1874 book Lost Beauties of the English Language defined mung as follows: Preterite of ming, to ming or mingle; when the substantive meaning of mingled food of bread, potatoes, etc. thrown to poultry. In America, mung news is a common expression applied to false news, but probably having its derivation from mingled (or mung) news, in which the true and the false are so mixed up together that it is impossible to distinguish one from another. +/muhng/ , vt. [in 1960 at MIT, Mash Until No Good ; sometime after that the +derivation from the recursive acronym Mung Until No Good became standard; +but see munge ] 1. To make changes to a file, esp. large-scale and +irrevocable changes. See BLT. 2. To destroy, usually accidentally, +occasionally maliciously. The system only mungs things maliciously; this is +a consequence of Finagle's Law. See scribble , mangle , trash , nuke. +Reports from Usenet suggest that the pronunciation /muhnj/ is now usual in +speech, but the spelling mung is still common in program comments (compare +the widespread confusion over the proper spelling of kluge ). 3. In the wake +of the spam epidemics of the 1990s, mung is now commonly used to describe +the act of modifying an email address in a sig block in a way that human +beings can readily reverse but that will fool an address harvester. Example: +johnNOSPAMsmith@isp.net. 4. The kind of beans the sprouts of which are used +in Chinese food. (That's their real name! Mung beans! Really!) Like many +early hacker terms, this one seems to have originated at TMRC ; it was +already in use there in 1958. Peter Samson (compiler of the original TMRC +lexicon) thinks it may originally have been onomatopoeic for the sound of a +relay spring (contact) being twanged. However, it is known that during the +World Wars, mung was U.S.: army slang for the ersatz creamed chipped beef +better known as SOS , and it seems quite likely that the word in fact goes +back to Scots-dialect munge. Charles Mackay's 1874 book Lost Beauties of the +English Language defined mung as follows: Preterite of ming, to ming or +mingle; when the substantive meaning of mingled food of bread, potatoes, +etc. thrown to poultry. In America, mung news is a common expression applied +to false news, but probably having its derivation from mingled (or mung) +news, in which the true and the false are so mixed up together that it is +impossible to distinguish one from another. + diff --git a/entries/munge.txt b/entries/munge.txt index d480517..8a7df59 100644 --- a/entries/munge.txt +++ b/entries/munge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ munge -/muhnj/ , vt. 1. [derogatory] To imperfectly transform information. 2. A comprehensive rewrite of a routine, data structure or the whole program. 3. To modify data in some way the speaker doesn't need to go into right now or cannot describe succinctly (compare mumble ). 4. To add spamblock to an email address. This term is often confused with mung , which probably was derived from it. However, it also appears the word munge was in common use in Scotland in the 1940s, and in Yorkshire in the 1950s, as a verb, meaning to munch up into a masticated mess, and as a noun, meaning the result of munging something up (the parallel with the kluge / kludge pair is amusing). The OED reports munge as an archaic verb meaning to wipe (a person's nose). +/muhnj/ , vt. 1. [derogatory] To imperfectly transform information. 2. A +comprehensive rewrite of a routine, data structure or the whole program. 3. +To modify data in some way the speaker doesn't need to go into right now or +cannot describe succinctly (compare mumble ). 4. To add spamblock to an +email address. This term is often confused with mung , which probably was +derived from it. However, it also appears the word munge was in common use +in Scotland in the 1940s, and in Yorkshire in the 1950s, as a verb, meaning +to munch up into a masticated mess, and as a noun, meaning the result of +munging something up (the parallel with the kluge / kludge pair is amusing). +The OED reports munge as an archaic verb meaning to wipe (a person's nose). + diff --git a/entries/music.txt b/entries/music.txt index d8be2e9..a6f5e30 100644 --- a/entries/music.txt +++ b/entries/music.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ music -n. A common extracurricular interest of hackers (compare science-fiction fandom , oriental food ; see also filk ). Hackish folklore has long claimed that musical and programming abilities are closely related, and there has been at least one large-scale statistical study that supports this. Hackers, as a rule, like music and often develop musical appreciation in unusual and interesting directions. Folk music is very big in hacker circles; so is electronic music, and the sort of elaborate instrumental jazz/rock that used to be called progressive and isn't recorded much any more. The hacker's musical range tends to be wide; many can listen with equal appreciation to (say) Talking Heads, Yes, Gentle Giant, Pat Metheny, Scott Joplin, Tangerine Dream, Dream Theater, King Sunny Ade, The Pretenders, Screaming Trees, or the Brandenburg Concerti. It is also apparently true that hackerdom includes a much higher concentration of talented amateur musicians than one would expect from a similar-sized control group of mundane types. +n. A common extracurricular interest of hackers (compare science-fiction +fandom , oriental food ; see also filk ). Hackish folklore has long claimed +that musical and programming abilities are closely related, and there has +been at least one large-scale statistical study that supports this. Hackers, +as a rule, like music and often develop musical appreciation in unusual and +interesting directions. Folk music is very big in hacker circles; so is +electronic music, and the sort of elaborate instrumental jazz/rock that used +to be called progressive and isn't recorded much any more. The hacker's +musical range tends to be wide; many can listen with equal appreciation to +(say) Talking Heads, Yes, Gentle Giant, Pat Metheny, Scott Joplin, Tangerine +Dream, Dream Theater, King Sunny Ade, The Pretenders, Screaming Trees, or +the Brandenburg Concerti. It is also apparently true that hackerdom includes +a much higher concentration of talented amateur musicians than one would +expect from a similar-sized control group of mundane types. + diff --git a/entries/mutter.txt b/entries/mutter.txt index 8fc4695..835b3b5 100644 --- a/entries/mutter.txt +++ b/entries/mutter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ mutter -vt. To quietly enter a command not meant for the ears, eyes, or fingers of ordinary mortals. Often used in mutter an incantation. See also wizard. +vt. To quietly enter a command not meant for the ears, eyes, or fingers of +ordinary mortals. Often used in mutter an incantation. See also wizard. + diff --git a/entries/nadger.txt b/entries/nadger.txt index 86fd29d..48bf242 100644 --- a/entries/nadger.txt +++ b/entries/nadger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ nadger -/nadjr/ , v. [UK, from rude slang noun nadgers for testicles; compare American British bollixed ] Of software or hardware (not people), to twiddle some object in a hidden manner, generally so that it conforms better to some format. For instance, string printing routines on 8-bit processors often take the string text from the instruction stream, thus a print call looks like jsr print: Hello world. The print routine has to nadger the saved instruction pointer so that the processor doesn't try to execute the text as instructions when the subroutine returns. See adger. +/nadjr/ , v. [UK, from rude slang noun nadgers for testicles; compare +American British bollixed ] Of software or hardware (not people), to twiddle +some object in a hidden manner, generally so that it conforms better to some +format. For instance, string printing routines on 8-bit processors often +take the string text from the instruction stream, thus a print call looks +like jsr print: Hello world. The print routine has to nadger the saved +instruction pointer so that the processor doesn't try to execute the text as +instructions when the subroutine returns. See adger. + diff --git a/entries/nagware.txt b/entries/nagware.txt index 1ade7df..974e6a5 100644 --- a/entries/nagware.txt +++ b/entries/nagware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ nagware -/nagweir/ , n. [Usenet] The variety of shareware that displays a large screen at the beginning or end reminding you to register, typically requiring some sort of keystroke to continue so that you can't use the software in batch mode. Compare annoyware , crippleware. +/nagweir/ , n. [Usenet] The variety of shareware that displays a large +screen at the beginning or end reminding you to register, typically +requiring some sort of keystroke to continue so that you can't use the +software in batch mode. Compare annoyware , crippleware. + diff --git a/entries/nailed to the wall.txt b/entries/nailed to the wall.txt index 6aac740..f1be4e4 100644 --- a/entries/nailed to the wall.txt +++ b/entries/nailed to the wall.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ nailed to the wall -adj. [like a trophy] Said of a bug finally eliminated after protracted, and even heroic, effort. +adj. [like a trophy] Said of a bug finally eliminated after protracted, and +even heroic, effort. + diff --git a/entries/nailing jelly.txt b/entries/nailing jelly.txt index 97babff..7bc2584 100644 --- a/entries/nailing jelly.txt +++ b/entries/nailing jelly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ nailing jelly vi. See like nailing jelly to a tree. + diff --git a/entries/naive user.txt b/entries/naive user.txt index 2512acb..60711d7 100644 --- a/entries/naive user.txt +++ b/entries/naive user.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ naive user -n. A luser. Tends to imply someone who is ignorant mainly owing to inexperience. When this is applied to someone who has experience, there is a definite implication of stupidity. +n. A luser. Tends to imply someone who is ignorant mainly owing to +inexperience. When this is applied to someone who has experience, there is a +definite implication of stupidity. + diff --git a/entries/naive.txt b/entries/naive.txt index bcc7899..3dbc5d0 100644 --- a/entries/naive.txt +++ b/entries/naive.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ naive -adj. 1. Untutored in the perversities of some particular program or system; one who still tries to do things in an intuitive way, rather than the right way (in really good designs these coincide, but most designs aren't really good in the appropriate sense). This trait is completely unrelated to general maturity or competence, or even competence at any other specific program. It is a sad commentary on the primitive state of computing that the natural opposite of this term is often claimed to be experienced user but is really more like cynical user. 2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't take advantage of some superior but advanced technique, e.g., the bubble sort. It may imply naivete on the part of the programmer, although there are situations where a naive algorithm is preferred, because it is more important to keep the code comprehensible than to go for maximum performance. I know the linear search is naive, but in this case the list typically only has half a dozen items. Compare brute force. +adj. 1. Untutored in the perversities of some particular program or system; +one who still tries to do things in an intuitive way, rather than the right +way (in really good designs these coincide, but most designs aren't really +good in the appropriate sense). This trait is completely unrelated to +general maturity or competence, or even competence at any other specific +program. It is a sad commentary on the primitive state of computing that the +natural opposite of this term is often claimed to be experienced user but is +really more like cynical user. 2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't take +advantage of some superior but advanced technique, e.g., the bubble sort. It +may imply naivete on the part of the programmer, although there are +situations where a naive algorithm is preferred, because it is more +important to keep the code comprehensible than to go for maximum +performance. I know the linear search is naive, but in this case the list +typically only has half a dozen items. Compare brute force. + diff --git a/entries/nano-.txt b/entries/nano-.txt index 6d682d0..162d3e6 100644 --- a/entries/nano-.txt +++ b/entries/nano-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ nano- -pref. [SI: the next quantifier below micro- ; meaning 10 -9 ] Smaller than micro- , and used in the same rather loose and connotative way. Thus, one has nanotechnology (coined by hacker K. Eric Drexler) by analogy with microtechnology ; and a few machine architectures have a nanocode level below microcode. Tom Duff at Bell Labs has also pointed out that Pi seconds is a nanocentury. See also quantifiers , pico- , nanoacre , nanobot , nanocomputer , nanofortnight. +pref. [SI: the next quantifier below micro- ; meaning 10 -9 ] Smaller than +micro- , and used in the same rather loose and connotative way. Thus, one +has nanotechnology (coined by hacker K. Eric Drexler) by analogy with +microtechnology ; and a few machine architectures have a nanocode level +below microcode. Tom Duff at Bell Labs has also pointed out that Pi seconds +is a nanocentury. See also quantifiers , pico- , nanoacre , nanobot , +nanocomputer , nanofortnight. + diff --git a/entries/nano.txt b/entries/nano.txt index 680d416..b5e346e 100644 --- a/entries/nano.txt +++ b/entries/nano.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ nano -/nanoh/ , n. [CMU: from nanosecond ] A brief period of time. Be with you in a nano means you really will be free shortly, i.e., implies what mainstream people mean by in a jiffy (whereas the hackish use of jiffy is quite different see jiffy ). +/nanoh/ , n. [CMU: from nanosecond ] A brief period of time. Be with you in +a nano means you really will be free shortly, i.e., implies what mainstream +people mean by in a jiffy (whereas the hackish use of jiffy is quite +different see jiffy ). + diff --git a/entries/nanoacre.txt b/entries/nanoacre.txt index 3274252..aa2cc0f 100644 --- a/entries/nanoacre.txt +++ b/entries/nanoacre.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ nanoacre -/nanohay`kr/ , n. A unit (about 2 mm square) of real estate on a VLSI chip. The term gets its giggle value from the fact that VLSI nanoacres have costs in the same range as real acres once one figures in design and fabrication-setup costs. +/nanohay`kr/ , n. A unit (about 2 mm square) of real estate on a VLSI chip. +The term gets its giggle value from the fact that VLSI nanoacres have costs +in the same range as real acres once one figures in design and +fabrication-setup costs. + diff --git a/entries/nanobot.txt b/entries/nanobot.txt index 965fa79..8f9fdd9 100644 --- a/entries/nanobot.txt +++ b/entries/nanobot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ nanobot -/nanohbot/ , n. A robot of microscopic proportions, presumably built by means of nanotechnology. As yet, only used informally (and speculatively!). Also called a nanoagent. +/nanohbot/ , n. A robot of microscopic proportions, presumably built by +means of nanotechnology. As yet, only used informally (and speculatively!). +Also called a nanoagent. + diff --git a/entries/nanocomputer.txt b/entries/nanocomputer.txt index 4821b16..656b3ea 100644 --- a/entries/nanocomputer.txt +++ b/entries/nanocomputer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ nanocomputer -/nanohk@mpyootr/ , n. A computer with molecular-sized switching elements. Designs for mechanical nanocomputers which use single-molecule sliding rods for their logic have been proposed. The controller for a nanobot would be a nanocomputer. +/nanohk@mpyootr/ , n. A computer with molecular-sized switching elements. +Designs for mechanical nanocomputers which use single-molecule sliding rods +for their logic have been proposed. The controller for a nanobot would be a +nanocomputer. + diff --git a/entries/nanofortnight.txt b/entries/nanofortnight.txt index a4199fa..1f159aa 100644 --- a/entries/nanofortnight.txt +++ b/entries/nanofortnight.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ nanofortnight -n. [Adelaide University] 1 fortnight 10 -9 , or about 1.2 msec. This unit was used largely by students doing undergraduate practicals. See microfortnight , attoparsec , and micro-. +n. [Adelaide University] 1 fortnight 10 -9 , or about 1.2 msec. This unit +was used largely by students doing undergraduate practicals. See +microfortnight , attoparsec , and micro-. + diff --git a/entries/nanotechnology.txt b/entries/nanotechnology.txt index 4d151d7..b954ad4 100644 --- a/entries/nanotechnology.txt +++ b/entries/nanotechnology.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ nanotechnology -/nan'ohtekno`l@jee/ , n. A hypothetical fabrication technology in which objects are designed and built with the individual specification and placement of each separate atom. The first unequivocal nanofabrication experiments took place in 1990, for example with the deposition of individual xenon atoms on a nickel substrate to spell the logo of a certain very large computer company. Nanotechnology has been a hot topic in the hacker subculture ever since the term was coined by K. Eric Drexler in his book Engines of Creation (Anchor/Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-19973-2), where he predicted that nanotechnology could give rise to replicating assemblers, permitting an exponential growth of productivity and personal wealth (there's an authorized transcription at http://www.foresight.org/EOC/index.html ). See also blue goo , gray goo , nanobot. +/nan'ohtekno`l@jee/ , n. A hypothetical fabrication technology in which +objects are designed and built with the individual specification and +placement of each separate atom. The first unequivocal nanofabrication +experiments took place in 1990, for example with the deposition of +individual xenon atoms on a nickel substrate to spell the logo of a certain +very large computer company. Nanotechnology has been a hot topic in the +hacker subculture ever since the term was coined by K. Eric Drexler in his +book Engines of Creation (Anchor/Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-19973-2), where he +predicted that nanotechnology could give rise to replicating assemblers, +permitting an exponential growth of productivity and personal wealth +(there's an authorized transcription at +http://www.foresight.org/EOC/index.html ). See also blue goo , gray goo , +nanobot. + diff --git a/entries/narg.txt b/entries/narg.txt index 6c388da..f1ce230 100644 --- a/entries/narg.txt +++ b/entries/narg.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ narg -Short for Not A Real Gentleman , i.e. one who excessively talks shop out of hours. +Short for Not A Real Gentleman , i.e. one who excessively talks shop out of +hours. + diff --git a/entries/nasal demons.txt b/entries/nasal demons.txt index c27efcf..f779241 100644 --- a/entries/nasal demons.txt +++ b/entries/nasal demons.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ nasal demons -n. Recognized shorthand on the Usenet group comp.std.c for any unexpected behavior of a C compiler on encountering an undefined construct. During a discussion on that group in early 1992, a regular remarked When the compiler encounters [a given undefined construct] it is legal for it to make demons fly out of your nose (the implication is that the compiler may choose any arbitrarily bizarre way to interpret the code without violating the ANSI C standard). Someone else followed up with a reference to nasal demons , which quickly became established. The original post is web-accessible at http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en selm=10195%40ksr.com. +n. Recognized shorthand on the Usenet group comp.std.c for any unexpected +behavior of a C compiler on encountering an undefined construct. During a +discussion on that group in early 1992, a regular remarked When the compiler +encounters [a given undefined construct] it is legal for it to make demons +fly out of your nose (the implication is that the compiler may choose any +arbitrarily bizarre way to interpret the code without violating the ANSI C +standard). Someone else followed up with a reference to nasal demons , which +quickly became established. The original post is web-accessible at +http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en selm=10195%40ksr.com. + diff --git a/entries/nastygram.txt b/entries/nastygram.txt index 775c0cf..ef0479a 100644 --- a/entries/nastygram.txt +++ b/entries/nastygram.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ nastygram -/nasteegram/ , n. 1. A protocol packet or item of email (the latter is also called a letterbomb ) that takes advantage of misfeatures or security holes on the target system to do untoward things. 2. Disapproving mail, esp. from a net.god , pursuant to a violation of netiquette or a complaint about failure to correct some mail- or news-transmission problem. Compare shitogram , mailbomb. 3. A status report from an unhappy, and probably picky, customer. What'd Corporate say in today's nastygram? 4. [deprecated] An error reply by mail from a daemon ; in particular, a bounce message. +/nasteegram/ , n. 1. A protocol packet or item of email (the latter is also +called a letterbomb ) that takes advantage of misfeatures or security holes +on the target system to do untoward things. 2. Disapproving mail, esp. from +a net.god , pursuant to a violation of netiquette or a complaint about +failure to correct some mail- or news-transmission problem. Compare +shitogram , mailbomb. 3. A status report from an unhappy, and probably +picky, customer. What'd Corporate say in today's nastygram? 4. [deprecated] +An error reply by mail from a daemon ; in particular, a bounce message. + diff --git a/entries/nature.txt b/entries/nature.txt index 12059d7..7b912c2 100644 --- a/entries/nature.txt +++ b/entries/nature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ nature n. See has the X nature. + diff --git a/entries/neat hack.txt b/entries/neat hack.txt index 4df2afb..6d6c5ad 100644 --- a/entries/neat hack.txt +++ b/entries/neat hack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ neat hack -n. [very common] 1. A clever technique. 2. A brilliant practical joke, where neatness is correlated with cleverness, harmlessness, and surprise value. Example: the Caltech Rose Bowl card display switch (see Appendix A for discussion). See also hack. Prev Up Next nature Home neats vs. +n. [very common] 1. A clever technique. 2. A brilliant practical joke, where +neatness is correlated with cleverness, harmlessness, and surprise value. +Example: the Caltech Rose Bowl card display switch (see Appendix A for +discussion). See also hack. Prev Up Next nature Home neats vs. + diff --git a/entries/neats vs. scruffies.txt b/entries/neats vs. scruffies.txt index 1ab403b..4ea608e 100644 --- a/entries/neats vs. scruffies.txt +++ b/entries/neats vs. scruffies.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ neats vs. scruffies -n. The label used to refer to one of the continuing holy wars in AI research. This conflict tangles together two separate issues. One is the relationship between human reasoning and AI; neats tend to try to build systems that reason in some way identifiably similar to the way humans report themselves as doing, while scruffies profess not to care whether an algorithm resembles human reasoning in the least as long as it works. More importantly, neats tend to believe that logic is king, while scruffies favor looser, more ad-hoc methods driven by empirical knowledge. To a neat, scruffy methods appear promiscuous, successful only by accident, and not productive of insights about how intelligence actually works; to a scruffy, neat methods appear to be hung up on formalism and irrelevant to the hard-to-capture common sense of living intelligences. +n. The label used to refer to one of the continuing holy wars in AI +research. This conflict tangles together two separate issues. One is the +relationship between human reasoning and AI; neats tend to try to build +systems that reason in some way identifiably similar to the way humans +report themselves as doing, while scruffies profess not to care whether an +algorithm resembles human reasoning in the least as long as it works. More +importantly, neats tend to believe that logic is king, while scruffies favor +looser, more ad-hoc methods driven by empirical knowledge. To a neat, +scruffy methods appear promiscuous, successful only by accident, and not +productive of insights about how intelligence actually works; to a scruffy, +neat methods appear to be hung up on formalism and irrelevant to the +hard-to-capture common sense of living intelligences. + diff --git a/entries/neep-neep.txt b/entries/neep-neep.txt index 576fecd..4bdda91 100644 --- a/entries/neep-neep.txt +++ b/entries/neep-neep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ neep-neep -/neep neep/ , n. [onomatopoeic, widely spread through SF fandom but reported to have originated at Caltech in the 1970s] One who is fascinated by computers. Less specific than hacker , as it need not imply more skill than is required to play games on a PC. The derived noun neeping applies specifically to the long conversations about computers that tend to develop in the corners at most SF-convention parties (the term neepery is also in wide use). Fandom has a related proverb to the effect that Hacking is a conversational black hole!. Prev Up Next neats vs. +/neep neep/ , n. [onomatopoeic, widely spread through SF fandom but reported +to have originated at Caltech in the 1970s] One who is fascinated by +computers. Less specific than hacker , as it need not imply more skill than +is required to play games on a PC. The derived noun neeping applies +specifically to the long conversations about computers that tend to develop +in the corners at most SF-convention parties (the term neepery is also in +wide use). Fandom has a related proverb to the effect that Hacking is a +conversational black hole!. Prev Up Next neats vs. + diff --git a/entries/neophilia.txt b/entries/neophilia.txt index 5fd897f..e8f340c 100644 --- a/entries/neophilia.txt +++ b/entries/neophilia.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ neophilia -/nee`ohfil'ee@/ , n. The trait of being excited and pleased by novelty. Common among most hackers, SF fans, and members of several other connected leading-edge subcultures, including the pro-technology Whole Earth wing of the ecology movement, space activists, many members of Mensa, and the Discordian/neo-pagan underground (see geek ). All these groups overlap heavily and (where evidence is available) seem to share characteristic hacker tropisms for science fiction, music , and oriental food. The opposite tendency is neophobia. +/nee`ohfil'ee@/ , n. The trait of being excited and pleased by novelty. +Common among most hackers, SF fans, and members of several other connected +leading-edge subcultures, including the pro-technology Whole Earth wing of +the ecology movement, space activists, many members of Mensa, and the +Discordian/neo-pagan underground (see geek ). All these groups overlap +heavily and (where evidence is available) seem to share characteristic +hacker tropisms for science fiction, music , and oriental food. The opposite +tendency is neophobia. + diff --git a/entries/nerd knob.txt b/entries/nerd knob.txt index 1ef47b1..f87ee31 100644 --- a/entries/nerd knob.txt +++ b/entries/nerd knob.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ nerd knob -n. [Cisco] A command in a complex piece of software which is more likely to be used by an extremely experienced user to tweak a setting of one sort or another - a setting which the average user may not even know exists. Nerd knobs tend to be toggles, turning on or off a particular, specific, narrowly defined behavior. Special case of knobs. Prev Up Next nerd Home net. +n. [Cisco] A command in a complex piece of software which is more likely to +be used by an extremely experienced user to tweak a setting of one sort or +another - a setting which the average user may not even know exists. Nerd +knobs tend to be toggles, turning on or off a particular, specific, narrowly +defined behavior. Special case of knobs. Prev Up Next nerd Home net. + diff --git a/entries/nerd.txt b/entries/nerd.txt index 187865a..9e0b770 100644 --- a/entries/nerd.txt +++ b/entries/nerd.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ nerd -n. 1. [mainstream slang] Pejorative applied to anyone with an above-average IQ and few gifts at small talk and ordinary social rituals. 2. [jargon] Term of praise applied (in conscious ironic reference to sense 1) to someone who knows what's really important and interesting and doesn't care to be distracted by trivial chatter and silly status games. Compare geek. The word itself appears to derive from the lines And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo / And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo, / A Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too! in the Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo (1950). (The spellings nurd and gnurd also used to be current at MIT, where nurd is reported from as far back as 1957; however, knurd appears to have a separate etymology.) How it developed its mainstream meaning is unclear, but sense 1 seems to have entered mass culture in the early 1970s (there are reports that in the mid-1960s it meant roughly annoying misfit without the connotation of intelligence. Hackers developed sense 2 in self-defense perhaps ten years later, and some actually wear Nerd Pride buttons, only half as a joke. At MIT one can find not only buttons but (what else?) pocket protectors bearing the slogan and the MIT seal. +n. 1. [mainstream slang] Pejorative applied to anyone with an above-average +IQ and few gifts at small talk and ordinary social rituals. 2. [jargon] Term +of praise applied (in conscious ironic reference to sense 1) to someone who +knows what's really important and interesting and doesn't care to be +distracted by trivial chatter and silly status games. Compare geek. The word +itself appears to derive from the lines And then, just to show them, I'll +sail to Ka-Troo / And Bring Back an It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo, / A +Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker, too! in the Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the +Zoo (1950). (The spellings nurd and gnurd also used to be current at MIT, +where nurd is reported from as far back as 1957; however, knurd appears to +have a separate etymology.) How it developed its mainstream meaning is +unclear, but sense 1 seems to have entered mass culture in the early 1970s +(there are reports that in the mid-1960s it meant roughly annoying misfit +without the connotation of intelligence. Hackers developed sense 2 in +self-defense perhaps ten years later, and some actually wear Nerd Pride +buttons, only half as a joke. At MIT one can find not only buttons but (what +else?) pocket protectors bearing the slogan and the MIT seal. + diff --git a/entries/net.-.txt b/entries/net.-.txt index 49401d7..ea88e4e 100644 --- a/entries/net.-.txt +++ b/entries/net.-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ net.- -/net dot/ , pref. [Usenet] Prefix used to describe people and events related to Usenet. From the time before the Great Renaming , when most non-local newsgroups had names beginning net.. Includes net.god s, net.goddesses (various charismatic net.women with circles of on-line admirers), net.lurkers (see lurker ), net.person , net.parties (a synonym for boink , sense 2), and many similar constructs. See also net.police. Prev Up Next nerd knob Home net. +/net dot/ , pref. [Usenet] Prefix used to describe people and events related +to Usenet. From the time before the Great Renaming , when most non-local +newsgroups had names beginning net.. Includes net.god s, net.goddesses +(various charismatic net.women with circles of on-line admirers), +net.lurkers (see lurker ), net.person , net.parties (a synonym for boink , +sense 2), and many similar constructs. See also net.police. Prev Up Next +nerd knob Home net. + diff --git a/entries/net.god.txt b/entries/net.god.txt index f4517de..3b278e5 100644 --- a/entries/net.god.txt +++ b/entries/net.god.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ net.god -/net god/ , n. Accolade referring to anyone who satisfies some combination of the following conditions: has been visible on Usenet for more than 5 years, ran one of the original backbone sites, moderated an important newsgroup, wrote news software, or knows Gene, Mark, Rick, Mel, Henry, Chuq, and Greg personally. See demigod. Net.goddesses such as Rissa or the Slime Sisters have (so far) been distinguished more by personality than by authority. Prev Up Next net.- Home net. +/net god/ , n. Accolade referring to anyone who satisfies some combination +of the following conditions: has been visible on Usenet for more than 5 +years, ran one of the original backbone sites, moderated an important +newsgroup, wrote news software, or knows Gene, Mark, Rick, Mel, Henry, Chuq, +and Greg personally. See demigod. Net.goddesses such as Rissa or the Slime +Sisters have (so far) been distinguished more by personality than by +authority. Prev Up Next net.- Home net. + diff --git a/entries/net.personality.txt b/entries/net.personality.txt index b1d2237..19a40f1 100644 --- a/entries/net.personality.txt +++ b/entries/net.personality.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ net.personality -/net per`snal'@tee/ , n. Someone who has made a name for him or herself on Usenet , through either longevity or attention-getting posts, but doesn't meet the other requirements of net.god hood. Prev Up Next net.god Home net. +/net per`snal'@tee/ , n. Someone who has made a name for him or herself on +Usenet , through either longevity or attention-getting posts, but doesn't +meet the other requirements of net.god hood. Prev Up Next net.god Home +net. + diff --git a/entries/net.police.txt b/entries/net.police.txt index f7b114b..dce30e8 100644 --- a/entries/net.police.txt +++ b/entries/net.police.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ net.police -/netp@lees'/ , n. (var.: net.cops ) Those Usenet readers who feel it is their responsibility to pounce on and flame any posting which they regard as offensive or in violation of their understanding of netiquette. Generally used sarcastically or pejoratively. Also spelled net police. See also net.- , code police. Prev Up Next net. +/netp@lees'/ , n. (var.: net.cops ) Those Usenet readers who feel it is +their responsibility to pounce on and flame any posting which they regard as +offensive or in violation of their understanding of netiquette. Generally +used sarcastically or pejoratively. Also spelled net police. See also net.- +, code police. Prev Up Next net. + diff --git a/entries/netburp.txt b/entries/netburp.txt index 44be6a1..09a72f5 100644 --- a/entries/netburp.txt +++ b/entries/netburp.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ netburp -n. [IRC] When netlag gets really bad, and delays between servers exceed a certain threshold, the IRC network effectively becomes partitioned for a period of time, and large numbers of people seem to be signing off at the same time and then signing back on again when things get better. An instance of this is called a netburp (or, sometimes, netsplit ). Prev Up Next net. +n. [IRC] When netlag gets really bad, and delays between servers exceed a +certain threshold, the IRC network effectively becomes partitioned for a +period of time, and large numbers of people seem to be signing off at the +same time and then signing back on again when things get better. An instance +of this is called a netburp (or, sometimes, netsplit ). Prev Up Next net. + diff --git a/entries/netdead.txt b/entries/netdead.txt index 0c072d6..ad62bcc 100644 --- a/entries/netdead.txt +++ b/entries/netdead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ netdead -n. [IRC] The state of someone who signs off IRC , perhaps during a netburp , and doesn't sign back on until later. In the interim, he is dead to the net. Compare link-dead. +n. [IRC] The state of someone who signs off IRC , perhaps during a netburp , +and doesn't sign back on until later. In the interim, he is dead to the net. +Compare link-dead. + diff --git a/entries/nethack.txt b/entries/nethack.txt index 6217b91..3912334 100644 --- a/entries/nethack.txt +++ b/entries/nethack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ nethack -/nethak/ , n. [Unix] A dungeon game similar to rogue but more elaborate, distributed in C source over Usenet and very popular at Unix sites and on PC-class machines (nethack is probably the most widely distributed of the freeware dungeon games). The earliest versions, written by Jay Fenlason and later considerably enhanced by Andries Brouwer, were simply called hack. The name changed when maintenance was taken over by a group of hackers originally organized by Mike Stephenson. There is now an official site at http://www.nethack.org/. See also moria , rogue , Angband. +/nethak/ , n. [Unix] A dungeon game similar to rogue but more elaborate, +distributed in C source over Usenet and very popular at Unix sites and on +PC-class machines (nethack is probably the most widely distributed of the +freeware dungeon games). The earliest versions, written by Jay Fenlason and +later considerably enhanced by Andries Brouwer, were simply called hack. The +name changed when maintenance was taken over by a group of hackers +originally organized by Mike Stephenson. There is now an official site at +http://www.nethack.org/. See also moria , rogue , Angband. + diff --git a/entries/netiquette.txt b/entries/netiquette.txt index 4896fa2..a2e5da6 100644 --- a/entries/netiquette.txt +++ b/entries/netiquette.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ netiquette -/neteeket/ , /netiket/ , n. [Coined by Chuq von Rospach c.1983] [portmanteau, network + etiquette] The conventions of politeness recognized on Usenet , such as avoidance of cross-posting to inappropriate groups and refraining from commercial pluggery outside the biz groups. +/neteeket/ , /netiket/ , n. [Coined by Chuq von Rospach c.1983] +[portmanteau, network + etiquette] The conventions of politeness recognized +on Usenet , such as avoidance of cross-posting to inappropriate groups and +refraining from commercial pluggery outside the biz groups. + diff --git a/entries/netlag.txt b/entries/netlag.txt index 150d86f..ff17c23 100644 --- a/entries/netlag.txt +++ b/entries/netlag.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ netlag -n. [IRC, MUD] A condition that occurs when the delays in the IRC network or on a MUD become severe enough that servers briefly lose and then reestablish contact, causing messages to be delivered in bursts, often with delays of up to a minute. (Note that this term has nothing to do with mainstream jet lag , a condition which hackers tend not to be much bothered by.) Often shortened to just lag. +n. [IRC, MUD] A condition that occurs when the delays in the IRC network or +on a MUD become severe enough that servers briefly lose and then reestablish +contact, causing messages to be delivered in bursts, often with delays of up +to a minute. (Note that this term has nothing to do with mainstream jet lag +, a condition which hackers tend not to be much bothered by.) Often +shortened to just lag. + diff --git a/entries/netnews.txt b/entries/netnews.txt index 4f72ed4..9e40465 100644 --- a/entries/netnews.txt +++ b/entries/netnews.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ netnews -/netn[y]ooz/ , n. 1. The software that makes Usenet run. 2. The content of Usenet. I read netnews right after my mail most mornings. +/netn[y]ooz/ , n. 1. The software that makes Usenet run. 2. The content of +Usenet. I read netnews right after my mail most mornings. + diff --git a/entries/netsplit.txt b/entries/netsplit.txt index 39a7401..3309706 100644 --- a/entries/netsplit.txt +++ b/entries/netsplit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ netsplit n. Syn. netburp. + diff --git a/entries/netter.txt b/entries/netter.txt index 182d897..64f4ffa 100644 --- a/entries/netter.txt +++ b/entries/netter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ netter -n. 1. Loosely, anyone with a network address. 2. More specifically, a Usenet regular. Most often found in the plural. +n. 1. Loosely, anyone with a network address. 2. More specifically, a Usenet +regular. Most often found in the plural. + diff --git a/entries/network address.txt b/entries/network address.txt index 40d9de4..0c7225c 100644 --- a/entries/network address.txt +++ b/entries/network address.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ network address -n. (also net address ) As used by hackers, means an address on the network (see the network ; this used to include bang path addresses but now always implies an Internet address). Net addresses are often used in email text as a more concise substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to know each other quite well by network names without ever learning each others' legal monikers. Display of a network address (e.g. on business cards) used to function as an important hacker identification signal, like lodge pins among Masons or tie-dyed T-shirts among Grateful Dead fans. In the day of pervasive Internet this is less true, but you can still be fairly sure that anyone with a network address handwritten on his or her convention badge is a hacker. +n. (also net address ) As used by hackers, means an address on the network +(see the network ; this used to include bang path addresses but now always +implies an Internet address). Net addresses are often used in email text as +a more concise substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to +know each other quite well by network names without ever learning each +others' legal monikers. Display of a network address (e.g. on business +cards) used to function as an important hacker identification signal, like +lodge pins among Masons or tie-dyed T-shirts among Grateful Dead fans. In +the day of pervasive Internet this is less true, but you can still be fairly +sure that anyone with a network address handwritten on his or her convention +badge is a hacker. + diff --git a/entries/network meltdown.txt b/entries/network meltdown.txt index 0a1ee2b..733d59c 100644 --- a/entries/network meltdown.txt +++ b/entries/network meltdown.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ network meltdown -n. A state of complete network overload; the network equivalent of thrash ing. This may be induced by a Chernobyl packet. See also broadcast storm , kamikaze packet. Network meltdown is often a result of network designs that are optimized for a steady state of moderate load and don't cope well with the very jagged, bursty usage patterns of the real world. One amusing instance of this is triggered by the popular and very bloody shoot-'em-up game Doom on the PC. When used in multiplayer mode over a network, the game uses broadcast packets to inform other machines when bullets are fired. This causes problems with weapons like the chain gun which fire rapidly it can blast the network into a meltdown state just as easily as it shreds opposing monsters. +n. A state of complete network overload; the network equivalent of thrash +ing. This may be induced by a Chernobyl packet. See also broadcast storm , +kamikaze packet. Network meltdown is often a result of network designs that +are optimized for a steady state of moderate load and don't cope well with +the very jagged, bursty usage patterns of the real world. One amusing +instance of this is triggered by the popular and very bloody shoot-'em-up +game Doom on the PC. When used in multiplayer mode over a network, the game +uses broadcast packets to inform other machines when bullets are fired. This +causes problems with weapons like the chain gun which fire rapidly it can +blast the network into a meltdown state just as easily as it shreds opposing +monsters. + diff --git a/entries/newbie.txt b/entries/newbie.txt index 678602a..8e78edf 100644 --- a/entries/newbie.txt +++ b/entries/newbie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ newbie -/n[y]oobee/ , n. [very common; orig. from British public-school and military slang variant of new boy ] A Usenet neophyte. This term surfaced in the newsgroup talk.bizarre but is now in wide use (the combination clueless newbie is especially common). Criteria for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie in one newsgroup while remaining a respected regular in another. The label newbie is sometimes applied as a serious insult to a person who has been around Usenet for a long time but who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue. See B1FF ; see also gnubie. Compare chainik , luser. +/n[y]oobee/ , n. [very common; orig. from British public-school and military +slang variant of new boy ] A Usenet neophyte. This term surfaced in the +newsgroup talk.bizarre but is now in wide use (the combination clueless +newbie is especially common). Criteria for being considered a newbie vary +wildly; a person can be called a newbie in one newsgroup while remaining a +respected regular in another. The label newbie is sometimes applied as a +serious insult to a person who has been around Usenet for a long time but +who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue. See B1FF ; see also +gnubie. Compare chainik , luser. + diff --git a/entries/newgroup wars.txt b/entries/newgroup wars.txt index 3eef5ab..fcea8fe 100644 --- a/entries/newgroup wars.txt +++ b/entries/newgroup wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ newgroup wars -/n[y]oogroop worz/ , n. [Usenet] The salvos of dueling newgroup and rmgroup messages sometimes exchanged by persons on opposite sides of a dispute over whether a newsgroup should be created net-wide, or (even more frequently) whether an obsolete one should be removed. These usually settle out within a week or two as it becomes clear whether the group has a natural constituency (usually, it doesn't). At times, especially in the completely anarchic alt hierarchy, the names of newsgroups themselves become a form of comment or humor; e.g., the group alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork which originated as a birthday joke for a Muppets fan, or any number of specialized abuse groups named after particularly notorious flamer s, e.g., alt.weemba. +/n[y]oogroop worz/ , n. [Usenet] The salvos of dueling newgroup and rmgroup +messages sometimes exchanged by persons on opposite sides of a dispute over +whether a newsgroup should be created net-wide, or (even more frequently) +whether an obsolete one should be removed. These usually settle out within a +week or two as it becomes clear whether the group has a natural constituency +(usually, it doesn't). At times, especially in the completely anarchic alt +hierarchy, the names of newsgroups themselves become a form of comment or +humor; e.g., the group alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork which originated as a +birthday joke for a Muppets fan, or any number of specialized abuse groups +named after particularly notorious flamer s, e.g., alt.weemba. + diff --git a/entries/newline.txt b/entries/newline.txt index c8cd390..7cf82e3 100644 --- a/entries/newline.txt +++ b/entries/newline.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ newline -/n[y]ooli:n/ , n. 1. [techspeak, primarily Unix] The ASCII LF character (0001010), used under Unix as a text line terminator. Though the term newline appears in ASCII standards, it never caught on in the general computing world before Unix. 2. More generally, any magic character, character sequence, or operation (like Pascal's writeln procedure) required to terminate a text record or separate lines. See crlf. +/n[y]ooli:n/ , n. 1. [techspeak, primarily Unix] The ASCII LF character +(0001010), used under Unix as a text line terminator. Though the term +newline appears in ASCII standards, it never caught on in the general +computing world before Unix. 2. More generally, any magic character, +character sequence, or operation (like Pascal's writeln procedure) required +to terminate a text record or separate lines. See crlf. + diff --git a/entries/newsfroup.txt b/entries/newsfroup.txt index 1499b9d..1897286 100644 --- a/entries/newsfroup.txt +++ b/entries/newsfroup.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ newsfroup -// , n. [Usenet] Silly synonym for newsgroup , originally a typo but now in regular use on Usenet's talk.bizarre, and other lunatic-fringe groups. Compare hing , grilf , pr0n and filk. +// , n. [Usenet] Silly synonym for newsgroup , originally a typo but now in +regular use on Usenet's talk.bizarre, and other lunatic-fringe groups. +Compare hing , grilf , pr0n and filk. + diff --git a/entries/newsgroup.txt b/entries/newsgroup.txt index f4f9c62..81006f1 100644 --- a/entries/newsgroup.txt +++ b/entries/newsgroup.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ newsgroup -n. [Usenet] One of Usenet 's huge collection of topic groups or fora. Usenet groups can be unmoderated (anyone can post) or moderated (submissions are automatically directed to a moderator, who edits or filters and then posts the results). Some newsgroups have parallel mailing list s for Internet people with no netnews access, with postings to the group automatically propagated to the list and vice versa. Some moderated groups (especially those which are actually gatewayed Internet mailing lists) are distributed as digests , with groups of postings periodically collected into a single large posting with an index. Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the C-language forum), comp.arch (on computer architectures), comp.unix.wizards (for Unix wizards), rec.arts.sf.written and siblings (for science-fiction fans), and talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political discussions and flamage ). +n. [Usenet] One of Usenet 's huge collection of topic groups or fora. Usenet +groups can be unmoderated (anyone can post) or moderated (submissions are +automatically directed to a moderator, who edits or filters and then posts +the results). Some newsgroups have parallel mailing list s for Internet +people with no netnews access, with postings to the group automatically +propagated to the list and vice versa. Some moderated groups (especially +those which are actually gatewayed Internet mailing lists) are distributed +as digests , with groups of postings periodically collected into a single +large posting with an index. Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the +C-language forum), comp.arch (on computer architectures), comp.unix.wizards +(for Unix wizards), rec.arts.sf.written and siblings (for science-fiction +fans), and talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political discussions and +flamage ). + diff --git a/entries/nick.txt b/entries/nick.txt index 165badc..e71681f 100644 --- a/entries/nick.txt +++ b/entries/nick.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ nick -n. [IRC; very common] Short for nickname. On IRC , every user must pick a nick, which is sometimes the same as the user's real name or login name, but is often more fanciful. Compare handle , screen name. +n. [IRC; very common] Short for nickname. On IRC , every user must pick a +nick, which is sometimes the same as the user's real name or login name, but +is often more fanciful. Compare handle , screen name. + diff --git a/entries/nickle.txt b/entries/nickle.txt index 14f8ef9..9f29bdc 100644 --- a/entries/nickle.txt +++ b/entries/nickle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ nickle -/nikl/ , n. [from nickel , common name for the U.S. 5-cent coin] A nybble + 1; 5 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI 1600 (the Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but 10-bit-wide ROM. See also deckle , and nybble for names of other bit units. +/nikl/ , n. [from nickel , common name for the U.S. 5-cent coin] A nybble + +1; 5 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI 1600 (the Intellivision +games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but 10-bit-wide ROM. See also +deckle , and nybble for names of other bit units. + diff --git a/entries/night mode.txt b/entries/night mode.txt index f9e4665..8c95463 100644 --- a/entries/night mode.txt +++ b/entries/night mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ night mode n. See phase (of people). + diff --git a/entries/nipple mouse.txt b/entries/nipple mouse.txt index c7b3e3b..72561cf 100644 --- a/entries/nipple mouse.txt +++ b/entries/nipple mouse.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ nipple mouse -n. Var. clit mouse, clitoris Common term for the pointing device used on IBM ThinkPads and a few other laptop computers. The device, which sits between the g and h keys on the keyboard, indeed resembles a rubber nipple intended to be tweaked by a forefinger. Many hackers consider these superior to the glide pads found on most laptops, which are harder to control precisely. +n. Var. clit mouse, clitoris Common term for the pointing device used on IBM +ThinkPads and a few other laptop computers. The device, which sits between +the g and h keys on the keyboard, indeed resembles a rubber nipple intended +to be tweaked by a forefinger. Many hackers consider these superior to the +glide pads found on most laptops, which are harder to control precisely. + diff --git a/entries/no-op.txt b/entries/no-op.txt index 01cad88..0deaa80 100644 --- a/entries/no-op.txt +++ b/entries/no-op.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ no-op -/nohop/ , n.,v. alt.: NOP /nop/ [no operation] 1. A machine instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries). 2. A person who contributes nothing to a project, or has nothing going on upstairs, or both. As in He's a no-op. 3. Any operation or sequence of operations with no effect, such as circling the block without finding a parking space, or putting money into a vending machine and having it fall immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for help and being told to go away. Oh, well, that was a no-op. Hot-and-sour soup (see great-wall ) that is insufficiently either is no-op soup ; so is wonton soup if everybody else is having hot-and-sour. +/nohop/ , n.,v. alt.: NOP /nop/ [no operation] 1. A machine instruction that +does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for +data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries). 2. A +person who contributes nothing to a project, or has nothing going on +upstairs, or both. As in He's a no-op. 3. Any operation or sequence of +operations with no effect, such as circling the block without finding a +parking space, or putting money into a vending machine and having it fall +immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for help and being +told to go away. Oh, well, that was a no-op. Hot-and-sour soup (see +great-wall ) that is insufficiently either is no-op soup ; so is wonton soup +if everybody else is having hot-and-sour. + diff --git a/entries/noddy.txt b/entries/noddy.txt index bf90c1f..d48ec75 100644 --- a/entries/noddy.txt +++ b/entries/noddy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ noddy -/nodee/ , adj. [UK: from the children's books] 1. Small and un-useful, but demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often written by people learning a new language or system. The archetypal noddy program is hello world. Noddy code may be used to demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler. May be used of real hardware or software to imply that it isn't worth using. This editor's a bit noddy. 2. A program that is more or less instant to produce. In this use, the term does not necessarily connote uselessness, but describes a hack sufficiently trivial that it can be written and debugged while carrying on (and during the space of) a normal conversation. I'll just throw together a noddy awk script to dump all the first fields. In North America this might be called a mickey mouse program. See toy program. +/nodee/ , adj. [UK: from the children's books] 1. Small and un-useful, but +demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often written by people learning a +new language or system. The archetypal noddy program is hello world. Noddy +code may be used to demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler. May be used +of real hardware or software to imply that it isn't worth using. This +editor's a bit noddy. 2. A program that is more or less instant to produce. +In this use, the term does not necessarily connote uselessness, but +describes a hack sufficiently trivial that it can be written and debugged +while carrying on (and during the space of) a normal conversation. I'll just +throw together a noddy awk script to dump all the first fields. In North +America this might be called a mickey mouse program. See toy program. + diff --git a/entries/non-optimal solution.txt b/entries/non-optimal solution.txt index 55f0299..db5851e 100644 --- a/entries/non-optimal solution.txt +++ b/entries/non-optimal solution.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ non-optimal solution -n. (also sub-optimal solution ) An astoundingly stupid way to do something. This term is generally used in deadpan sarcasm, as its impact is greatest when the person speaking looks completely serious. Compare stunning. See also Bad Thing. +n. (also sub-optimal solution ) An astoundingly stupid way to do something. +This term is generally used in deadpan sarcasm, as its impact is greatest +when the person speaking looks completely serious. Compare stunning. See +also Bad Thing. + diff --git a/entries/nonlinear.txt b/entries/nonlinear.txt index a14e00a..4f5750d 100644 --- a/entries/nonlinear.txt +++ b/entries/nonlinear.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ nonlinear -adj. [scientific computation] 1. Behaving in an erratic and unpredictable fashion; unstable. When used to describe the behavior of a machine or program, it suggests that said machine or program is being forced to run far outside of design specifications. This behavior may be induced by unreasonable inputs, or may be triggered when a more mundane bug sends the computation far off from its expected course. 2. When describing the behavior of a person, suggests a tantrum or a flame. When you talk to Bob, don't mention the drug problem or he'll go nonlinear for hours. In this context, go nonlinear connotes blow up out of proportion (proportion connotes linearity). +adj. [scientific computation] 1. Behaving in an erratic and unpredictable +fashion; unstable. When used to describe the behavior of a machine or +program, it suggests that said machine or program is being forced to run far +outside of design specifications. This behavior may be induced by +unreasonable inputs, or may be triggered when a more mundane bug sends the +computation far off from its expected course. 2. When describing the +behavior of a person, suggests a tantrum or a flame. When you talk to Bob, +don't mention the drug problem or he'll go nonlinear for hours. In this +context, go nonlinear connotes blow up out of proportion (proportion +connotes linearity). + diff --git a/entries/nontrivial.txt b/entries/nontrivial.txt index ab0a480..6d12434 100644 --- a/entries/nontrivial.txt +++ b/entries/nontrivial.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ nontrivial -adj. Requiring real thought or significant computing power. Often used as an understated way of saying that a problem is quite difficult or impractical, or even entirely unsolvable ( Proving P=NP is nontrivial ). The preferred emphatic form is decidedly nontrivial. See trivial , uninteresting , interesting. +adj. Requiring real thought or significant computing power. Often used as an +understated way of saying that a problem is quite difficult or impractical, +or even entirely unsolvable ( Proving P=NP is nontrivial ). The preferred +emphatic form is decidedly nontrivial. See trivial , uninteresting , +interesting. + diff --git a/entries/not entirely unlike X.txt b/entries/not entirely unlike X.txt index d731185..7fc1a14 100644 --- a/entries/not entirely unlike X.txt +++ b/entries/not entirely unlike X.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ not entirely unlike X -Used ironically of things which are in fact almost entirely unlike X, except for one feature which the speaker clearly regards as insignificant. That is not entirely unlike cool...at least it's small. Comes directly from the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy scene in which the food synthesizer on the starship Heart of Gold dispenses something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. +Used ironically of things which are in fact almost entirely unlike X, except +for one feature which the speaker clearly regards as insignificant. That is +not entirely unlike cool...at least it's small. Comes directly from the +Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy scene in which the food synthesizer on the +starship Heart of Gold dispenses something almost, but not quite, entirely +unlike tea. + diff --git a/entries/not ready for prime time.txt b/entries/not ready for prime time.txt index b7ac81f..14a05ee 100644 --- a/entries/not ready for prime time.txt +++ b/entries/not ready for prime time.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ not ready for prime time -adj. Usable, but only just so; not very robust; for internal use only. Said of a program or device. Often connotes that the thing will be made more solid Real Soon Now. This term comes from the ensemble name of the original cast of Saturday Night Live , the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. It has extra flavor for hackers because of the special (though now semi-obsolescent) meaning of prime time. Compare beta. +adj. Usable, but only just so; not very robust; for internal use only. Said +of a program or device. Often connotes that the thing will be made more +solid Real Soon Now. This term comes from the ensemble name of the original +cast of Saturday Night Live , the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. It has +extra flavor for hackers because of the special (though now +semi-obsolescent) meaning of prime time. Compare beta. + diff --git a/entries/notwork.txt b/entries/notwork.txt index 5beb44c..9465526 100644 --- a/entries/notwork.txt +++ b/entries/notwork.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ notwork -/notwerk/ , n. A network, when it is acting flaky or is down. Compare nyetwork. Said at IBM to have originally referred to a particular period of flakiness on IBM's VNET corporate network ca. 1988; but there are independent reports of the term from elsewhere. +/notwerk/ , n. A network, when it is acting flaky or is down. Compare +nyetwork. Said at IBM to have originally referred to a particular period of +flakiness on IBM's VNET corporate network ca. 1988; but there are +independent reports of the term from elsewhere. + diff --git a/entries/nude.txt b/entries/nude.txt index fa35ab5..d0c3738 100644 --- a/entries/nude.txt +++ b/entries/nude.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ nude -adj. Said of machines delivered without an operating system (compare bare metal ). We ordered 50 systems, but they all arrived nude, so we had to spend an extra weekend with the installation disks. This usage is a recent innovation reflecting the fact that most IBM-PC clones are now delivered with an operating system pre-installed at the factory. Other kinds of hardware are still normally delivered without OS, so this term is particular to PC support groups. +adj. Said of machines delivered without an operating system (compare bare +metal ). We ordered 50 systems, but they all arrived nude, so we had to +spend an extra weekend with the installation disks. This usage is a recent +innovation reflecting the fact that most IBM-PC clones are now delivered +with an operating system pre-installed at the factory. Other kinds of +hardware are still normally delivered without OS, so this term is particular +to PC support groups. + diff --git a/entries/nugry.txt b/entries/nugry.txt index 1ac3983..fe91ee6 100644 --- a/entries/nugry.txt +++ b/entries/nugry.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ nugry -/n[y]oogree/ [Usenet, newbie + -gry ] n. A newbie who posts a FAQ in the rec.puzzles newsgroup, especially if it is a variant of the notorious trick question: Think of words ending in gry. Angry and hungry are two of them. There are three words in the English language. What is the third word? In the newsgroup, the canonical answer is of course nugry itself. Plural is nusgry /n[y]oosgree/. 2. adj. Having the qualities of a nugry. +/n[y]oogree/ [Usenet, newbie + -gry ] n. A newbie who posts a FAQ in the +rec.puzzles newsgroup, especially if it is a variant of the notorious trick +question: Think of words ending in gry. Angry and hungry are two of them. +There are three words in the English language. What is the third word? In +the newsgroup, the canonical answer is of course nugry itself. Plural is +nusgry /n[y]oosgree/. 2. adj. Having the qualities of a nugry. + diff --git a/entries/nuke.txt b/entries/nuke.txt index 8abed00..ece606c 100644 --- a/entries/nuke.txt +++ b/entries/nuke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ nuke -/n[y]ook/ , vt. [common] 1. To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given directory or storage volume. On Unix, rm -r /usr will nuke everything in the usr filesystem. Never used for accidental deletion; contrast blow away. 2. Syn. for dike , applied to smaller things such as files, features, or code sections. Often used to express a final verdict. What do you want me to do with that 80-meg session file? Nuke it. 3. Used of processes as well as files; nuke is a frequent verbal alias for kill -9 on Unix. 4. On IBM PCs, a bug that results in fandango on core can trash the operating system, including the FAT (the in-core copy of the disk block chaining information). This can utterly scramble attached disks, which are then said to have been nuked. This term is also used of analogous lossages on Macintoshes and other micros without memory protection. +/n[y]ook/ , vt. [common] 1. To intentionally delete the entire contents of a +given directory or storage volume. On Unix, rm -r /usr will nuke everything +in the usr filesystem. Never used for accidental deletion; contrast blow +away. 2. Syn. for dike , applied to smaller things such as files, features, +or code sections. Often used to express a final verdict. What do you want me +to do with that 80-meg session file? Nuke it. 3. Used of processes as well +as files; nuke is a frequent verbal alias for kill -9 on Unix. 4. On IBM +PCs, a bug that results in fandango on core can trash the operating system, +including the FAT (the in-core copy of the disk block chaining information). +This can utterly scramble attached disks, which are then said to have been +nuked. This term is also used of analogous lossages on Macintoshes and other +micros without memory protection. + diff --git a/entries/number-crunching.txt b/entries/number-crunching.txt index 95ff3d0..b2dd88e 100644 --- a/entries/number-crunching.txt +++ b/entries/number-crunching.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ number-crunching -n. [common] Computations of a numerical nature, esp. those that make extensive use of floating-point numbers. The only thing Fortrash is good for. This term is in widespread informal use outside hackerdom and even in mainstream slang, but has additional hackish connotations: namely, that the computations are mindless and involve massive use of brute force. This is not always evil , esp. if it involves ray tracing or fractals or some other use that makes pretty pictures , esp. if such pictures can be used as screen backgrounds. See also crunch. Hydrodynamic number-crunching. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 74-12-29. The previous cartoon was 74-08-18. +n. [common] Computations of a numerical nature, esp. those that make +extensive use of floating-point numbers. The only thing Fortrash is good +for. This term is in widespread informal use outside hackerdom and even in +mainstream slang, but has additional hackish connotations: namely, that the +computations are mindless and involve massive use of brute force. This is +not always evil , esp. if it involves ray tracing or fractals or some other +use that makes pretty pictures , esp. if such pictures can be used as screen +backgrounds. See also crunch. Hydrodynamic number-crunching. (The next +cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 74-12-29. The previous cartoon was 74-08-18. + diff --git a/entries/numbers.txt b/entries/numbers.txt index 406f2f4..0ec54d5 100644 --- a/entries/numbers.txt +++ b/entries/numbers.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ numbers -n. [scientific computation] Output of a computation that may not be significant results but at least indicate that the program is running. May be used to placate management, grant sponsors, etc. Making numbers means running a program because output any output, not necessarily meaningful output is needed as a demonstration of progress. See pretty pictures , math-out , social science number. +n. [scientific computation] Output of a computation that may not be +significant results but at least indicate that the program is running. May +be used to placate management, grant sponsors, etc. Making numbers means +running a program because output any output, not necessarily meaningful +output is needed as a demonstration of progress. See pretty pictures , +math-out , social science number. + diff --git a/entries/nybble.txt b/entries/nybble.txt index c830257..4b67994 100644 --- a/entries/nybble.txt +++ b/entries/nybble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,26 @@ nybble -/nibl/ , nibble , n. [from v. nibble by analogy with bite byte ] Four bits; one hex digit; a half-byte. Though byte is now techspeak, this useful relative is still jargon. Compare byte ; see also bit. The more mundane spelling nibble is also commonly used. Apparently the nybble spelling is uncommon in Commonwealth Hackish, as British orthography would suggest the pronunciation /ni:bl/. Following bit , byte and nybble there have been quite a few analogical attempts to construct unambiguous terms for bit blocks of other sizes. All of these are strictly jargon, not techspeak, and not very common jargon at that (most hackers would recognize them in context but not use them spontaneously). We collect them here for reference together with the ambiguous techspeak terms word , half-word , double word , and quad or quad word ; some (indicated) have substantial information separate entries. 2 bits: crumb , quad , quarter , tayste, tydbit, morsel 4 bits: nybble 5 bits: nickle 10 bits: deckle 16 bits: playte, chawmp (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 16-bit machine), half-word (on a 32-bit machine). 18 bits: chawmp (on a 36-bit machine), half-word (on a 36-bit machine) 32 bits: dynner, gawble (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 32-bit machine), longword (on a 16-bit machine). 36 bits: word (on a 36-bit machine) 48 bits: gawble (under circumstances that remain obscure) 64 bits: double word (on a 32-bit machine) quad (on a 16-bit machine) 128 bits: quad (on a 32-bit machine) The fundamental motivation for most of these jargon terms (aside from the normal hackerly enjoyment of punning wordplay) is the extreme ambiguity of the term word and its derivatives. +/nibl/ , nibble , n. [from v. nibble by analogy with bite byte ] Four bits; +one hex digit; a half-byte. Though byte is now techspeak, this useful +relative is still jargon. Compare byte ; see also bit. The more mundane +spelling nibble is also commonly used. Apparently the nybble spelling is +uncommon in Commonwealth Hackish, as British orthography would suggest the +pronunciation /ni:bl/. Following bit , byte and nybble there have been quite +a few analogical attempts to construct unambiguous terms for bit blocks of +other sizes. All of these are strictly jargon, not techspeak, and not very +common jargon at that (most hackers would recognize them in context but not +use them spontaneously). We collect them here for reference together with +the ambiguous techspeak terms word , half-word , double word , and quad or +quad word ; some (indicated) have substantial information separate entries. +2 bits: crumb , quad , quarter , tayste, tydbit, morsel 4 bits: nybble 5 +bits: nickle 10 bits: deckle 16 bits: playte, chawmp (on a 32-bit machine), +word (on a 16-bit machine), half-word (on a 32-bit machine). 18 bits: chawmp +(on a 36-bit machine), half-word (on a 36-bit machine) 32 bits: dynner, +gawble (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 32-bit machine), longword (on a +16-bit machine). 36 bits: word (on a 36-bit machine) 48 bits: gawble (under +circumstances that remain obscure) 64 bits: double word (on a 32-bit +machine) quad (on a 16-bit machine) 128 bits: quad (on a 32-bit machine) The +fundamental motivation for most of these jargon terms (aside from the normal +hackerly enjoyment of punning wordplay) is the extreme ambiguity of the term +word and its derivatives. + diff --git a/entries/nyetwork.txt b/entries/nyetwork.txt index 7914a61..8d4053e 100644 --- a/entries/nyetwork.txt +++ b/entries/nyetwork.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ nyetwork -/nyetwerk/ , n. [from Russian nyet = no] A network, when it is acting flaky or is down. Compare notwork. +/nyetwerk/ , n. [from Russian nyet = no] A network, when it is acting flaky +or is down. Compare notwork. + diff --git a/entries/obi-wan error.txt b/entries/obi-wan error.txt index 210b970..693a92c 100644 --- a/entries/obi-wan error.txt +++ b/entries/obi-wan error.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ obi-wan error -/ohbeewon` er'@r/ , n. [RPI, from off-by-one and the Obi-Wan Kenobi character in Star Wars ] A loop of some sort in which the index is off by one. 1. Common when the index should have started from 0 but instead started from 1. 2. A kind of off-by-one error. See also zeroth. +/ohbeewon` er'@r/ , n. [RPI, from off-by-one and the Obi-Wan Kenobi +character in Star Wars ] A loop of some sort in which the index is off by +one. 1. Common when the index should have started from 0 but instead started +from 1. 2. A kind of off-by-one error. See also zeroth. + diff --git a/entries/obscure.txt b/entries/obscure.txt index b0e4d85..02d04f6 100644 --- a/entries/obscure.txt +++ b/entries/obscure.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ obscure -adj. Used in an exaggeration of its normal meaning, to imply total incomprehensibility. The reason for that last crash is obscure. The find (1) command's syntax is obscure! The phrase moderately obscure implies that something could be figured out but probably isn't worth the trouble. The construction obscure in the extreme is the preferred emphatic form. +adj. Used in an exaggeration of its normal meaning, to imply total +incomprehensibility. The reason for that last crash is obscure. The find (1) +command's syntax is obscure! The phrase moderately obscure implies that +something could be figured out but probably isn't worth the trouble. The +construction obscure in the extreme is the preferred emphatic form. + diff --git a/entries/octal forty.txt b/entries/octal forty.txt index 8148e3f..91f3809 100644 --- a/entries/octal forty.txt +++ b/entries/octal forty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ octal forty -/oktl fortee/ , n. Hackish way of saying I'm drawing a blank. Octal 40 is the ASCII space character, 0100000; by an odd coincidence, hex 40 (01000000) is the EBCDIC space character. See wall. +/oktl fortee/ , n. Hackish way of saying I'm drawing a blank. Octal 40 is +the ASCII space character, 0100000; by an odd coincidence, hex 40 (01000000) +is the EBCDIC space character. See wall. + diff --git a/entries/off the trolley.txt b/entries/off the trolley.txt index 241146f..b1f380a 100644 --- a/entries/off the trolley.txt +++ b/entries/off the trolley.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ off the trolley -adj. Describes the behavior of a program that malfunctions and goes catatonic, but doesn't actually crash or abort. See glitch , bug , deep space , wedged. This term is much older than computing, and is (uncommon) slang elsewhere. A trolley is the small wheel that trolls, or runs against, the heavy wire that carries the current to run a streetcar. It's at the end of the long pole (the trolley pole) that reaches from the roof of the streetcar to the overhead line. When the trolley stops making contact with the wire (from passing through a switch, going over bumpy track, or whatever), the streetcar comes to a halt, (usually) without crashing. The streetcar is then said to be off the trolley, or off the wire. Later on, trolley came to mean the streetcar itself. Since streetcars became common in the 1890s, the term is more than 100 years old. Nowadays, trolleys are only seen on historic streetcars, since modern streetcars use pantographs to contact the wire. +adj. Describes the behavior of a program that malfunctions and goes +catatonic, but doesn't actually crash or abort. See glitch , bug , deep +space , wedged. This term is much older than computing, and is (uncommon) +slang elsewhere. A trolley is the small wheel that trolls, or runs against, +the heavy wire that carries the current to run a streetcar. It's at the end +of the long pole (the trolley pole) that reaches from the roof of the +streetcar to the overhead line. When the trolley stops making contact with +the wire (from passing through a switch, going over bumpy track, or +whatever), the streetcar comes to a halt, (usually) without crashing. The +streetcar is then said to be off the trolley, or off the wire. Later on, +trolley came to mean the streetcar itself. Since streetcars became common in +the 1890s, the term is more than 100 years old. Nowadays, trolleys are only +seen on historic streetcars, since modern streetcars use pantographs to +contact the wire. + diff --git a/entries/off-by-one error.txt b/entries/off-by-one error.txt index 1c50d30..aa35710 100644 --- a/entries/off-by-one error.txt +++ b/entries/off-by-one error.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ off-by-one error -n. [common] Exceedingly common error induced in many ways, such as by starting at 0 when you should have started at 1 or vice-versa, or by writing N instead of = N or vice-versa. Also applied to giving something to the person next to the one who should have gotten it. Often confounded with fencepost error , which is properly a particular subtype of it. +n. [common] Exceedingly common error induced in many ways, such as by +starting at 0 when you should have started at 1 or vice-versa, or by writing +N instead of = N or vice-versa. Also applied to giving something to the +person next to the one who should have gotten it. Often confounded with +fencepost error , which is properly a particular subtype of it. + diff --git a/entries/offline.txt b/entries/offline.txt index 031f9ed..4fa8fc4 100644 --- a/entries/offline.txt +++ b/entries/offline.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ offline -adv. Not now or not here. Let's take this discussion offline. Specifically used on Usenet to suggest that a discussion be moved off a public newsgroup to email. +adv. Not now or not here. Let's take this discussion offline. Specifically +used on Usenet to suggest that a discussion be moved off a public newsgroup +to email. + diff --git a/entries/ogg.txt b/entries/ogg.txt index bf2d11a..dcdd27f 100644 --- a/entries/ogg.txt +++ b/entries/ogg.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ ogg -/og/ , v. [CMU] 1. In the multi-player space combat game Netrek, to execute kamikaze attacks against enemy ships which are carrying armies or occupying strategic positions. Named during a game in which one of the players repeatedly used the tactic while playing Orion ship G, showing up in the player list as Og. This trick has been roundly denounced by those who would return to the good old days when the tactic of dogfighting was dominant, but as Sun Tzu wrote, What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy, not his tactics. However, the traditional answer to the newbie question What does ogg mean? is just Pick up some armies and I'll show you. 2. In other games, to forcefully attack an opponent with the expectation that the resources expended will be renewed faster than the opponent will be able to regain his previous advantage. Taken more seriously as a tactic since it has gained a simple name. 3. To do anything forcefully, possibly without consideration of the drain on future resources. I guess I'd better go ogg the problem set that's due tomorrow. Whoops! I looked down at the map for a sec and almost ogged that oncoming car. +/og/ , v. [CMU] 1. In the multi-player space combat game Netrek, to execute +kamikaze attacks against enemy ships which are carrying armies or occupying +strategic positions. Named during a game in which one of the players +repeatedly used the tactic while playing Orion ship G, showing up in the +player list as Og. This trick has been roundly denounced by those who would +return to the good old days when the tactic of dogfighting was dominant, but +as Sun Tzu wrote, What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the +enemy's strategy, not his tactics. However, the traditional answer to the +newbie question What does ogg mean? is just Pick up some armies and I'll +show you. 2. In other games, to forcefully attack an opponent with the +expectation that the resources expended will be renewed faster than the +opponent will be able to regain his previous advantage. Taken more seriously +as a tactic since it has gained a simple name. 3. To do anything forcefully, +possibly without consideration of the drain on future resources. I guess I'd +better go ogg the problem set that's due tomorrow. Whoops! I looked down at +the map for a sec and almost ogged that oncoming car. + diff --git a/entries/old fart.txt b/entries/old fart.txt index 1f89a52..c8cdca8 100644 --- a/entries/old fart.txt +++ b/entries/old fart.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ old fart -n. Tribal elder. A title self-assumed with remarkable frequency by (esp.) Usenetters who have been programming for more than about 25 years; often appears in sig block s attached to Jargon File contributions of great archeological significance. This is a term of insult in the second or third person but one of pride in first person. +n. Tribal elder. A title self-assumed with remarkable frequency by (esp.) +Usenetters who have been programming for more than about 25 years; often +appears in sig block s attached to Jargon File contributions of great +archeological significance. This is a term of insult in the second or third +person but one of pride in first person. + diff --git a/entries/on the gripping hand.txt b/entries/on the gripping hand.txt index 887f4b3..a904230 100644 --- a/entries/on the gripping hand.txt +++ b/entries/on the gripping hand.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ on the gripping hand -In the progression that starts On the one hand... and continues On the other hand... mainstream English may add on the third hand... even though most people don't have three hands. Among hackers, it is just as likely to be on the gripping hand. This metaphor supplied the title of Larry Niven Jerry Pournelle's 1993 SF novel The Gripping Hand which involved a species of hostile aliens with three arms (the same species, in fact, referenced in juggling eggs ). As with TANSTAAFL and con , this usage became one of the naturalized imports from SF fandom frequently observed among hackers. +In the progression that starts On the one hand... and continues On the other +hand... mainstream English may add on the third hand... even though most +people don't have three hands. Among hackers, it is just as likely to be on +the gripping hand. This metaphor supplied the title of Larry Niven Jerry +Pournelle's 1993 SF novel The Gripping Hand which involved a species of +hostile aliens with three arms (the same species, in fact, referenced in +juggling eggs ). As with TANSTAAFL and con , this usage became one of the +naturalized imports from SF fandom frequently observed among hackers. + diff --git a/entries/one-banana problem.txt b/entries/one-banana problem.txt index 61e96ca..11d0020 100644 --- a/entries/one-banana problem.txt +++ b/entries/one-banana problem.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ one-banana problem -n. At mainframe shops, where the computers have operators for routine administrivia, the programmers and hardware people tend to look down on the operators and claim that a trained monkey could do their job. It is frequently observed that the incentives that would be offered said monkeys can be used as a scale to describe the difficulty of a task. A one-banana problem is simple; hence, It's only a one-banana job at the most; what's taking them so long? At IBM, folklore divides the world into one-, two-, and three-banana problems. Other cultures have different hierarchies and may divide them more finely; at ICL, for example, five grapes (a bunch) equals a banana. Their upper limit for the in-house sysape s is said to be two bananas and three grapes (another source claims it's three bananas and one grape, but observes However, this is subject to local variations, cosmic rays and ISO ). At a complication level any higher than that, one asks the manufacturers to send someone around to check things. See also Infinite-Monkey Theorem. +n. At mainframe shops, where the computers have operators for routine +administrivia, the programmers and hardware people tend to look down on the +operators and claim that a trained monkey could do their job. It is +frequently observed that the incentives that would be offered said monkeys +can be used as a scale to describe the difficulty of a task. A one-banana +problem is simple; hence, It's only a one-banana job at the most; what's +taking them so long? At IBM, folklore divides the world into one-, two-, and +three-banana problems. Other cultures have different hierarchies and may +divide them more finely; at ICL, for example, five grapes (a bunch) equals a +banana. Their upper limit for the in-house sysape s is said to be two +bananas and three grapes (another source claims it's three bananas and one +grape, but observes However, this is subject to local variations, cosmic +rays and ISO ). At a complication level any higher than that, one asks the +manufacturers to send someone around to check things. See also +Infinite-Monkey Theorem. + diff --git a/entries/one-line fix.txt b/entries/one-line fix.txt index f7f4ff0..e9eadab 100644 --- a/entries/one-line fix.txt +++ b/entries/one-line fix.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ one-line fix -n. Used (often sarcastically) of a change to a program that is thought to be trivial or insignificant right up to the moment it crashes the system. Usually cured by another one-line fix. +n. Used (often sarcastically) of a change to a program that is thought to be +trivial or insignificant right up to the moment it crashes the system. +Usually cured by another one-line fix. + diff --git a/entries/one-liner wars.txt b/entries/one-liner wars.txt index ded50c7..65cbf44 100644 --- a/entries/one-liner wars.txt +++ b/entries/one-liner wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ one-liner wars -n. A game popular among hackers who code in the language APL (see write-only language and line noise ). The objective is to see who can code the most interesting and/or useful routine in one line of operators chosen from APL's exceedingly hairy primitive set. A similar amusement was practiced among TECO hackers and is now popular among Perl aficionados. Ken Iverson, the inventor of APL, has been credited with a one-liner that, given a number N , produces a list of the prime numbers from 1 to N inclusive. It looks like this: (2=0+.=T. |T)/T N Here's a Perl program that prints primes: perl -wle '(1 x $_) !~ /^(11+)\1+$/ print while ++ $_' In the Perl world this game is sometimes called Perl Golf because the player with the fewest (key)strokes wins. +n. A game popular among hackers who code in the language APL (see write-only +language and line noise ). The objective is to see who can code the most +interesting and/or useful routine in one line of operators chosen from APL's +exceedingly hairy primitive set. A similar amusement was practiced among +TECO hackers and is now popular among Perl aficionados. Ken Iverson, the +inventor of APL, has been credited with a one-liner that, given a number N , +produces a list of the prime numbers from 1 to N inclusive. It looks like +this: (2=0+.=T. |T)/T N Here's a Perl program that prints primes: perl -wle +'(1 x $_) !~ /^(11+)\1+$/ print while ++ $_' In the Perl world this game is +sometimes called Perl Golf because the player with the fewest (key)strokes +wins. + diff --git a/entries/ooblick.txt b/entries/ooblick.txt index 99085e2..fc4662d 100644 --- a/entries/ooblick.txt +++ b/entries/ooblick.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ ooblick -/ooblik/ , n. [from the Dr. Seuss title Bartholomew and the Oobleck ; the spelling oobleck is still current in the mainstream] A bizarre semi-liquid sludge made from cornstarch and water. Enjoyed among hackers who make batches during playtime at parties for its amusing and extremely non-Newtonian behavior; it pours and splatters, but resists rapid motion like a solid and will even crack when hit by a hammer. Often found near lasers. Here is a field-tested ooblick recipe contributed by GLS: 1 cup cornstarch 1 cup baking soda 3/4 cup water N drops of food coloring This recipe isn't quite as non-Newtonian as a pure cornstarch ooblick, but has an appropriately slimy feel. Some, however, insist that the notion of an ooblick recipe is far too mechanical, and that it is best to add the water in small increments so that the various mixed states the cornstarch goes through as it becomes ooblick can be grokked in fullness by many hands. For optional ingredients of this experience, see the Ceremonial Chemicals section of Appendix B. +/ooblik/ , n. [from the Dr. Seuss title Bartholomew and the Oobleck ; the +spelling oobleck is still current in the mainstream] A bizarre semi-liquid +sludge made from cornstarch and water. Enjoyed among hackers who make +batches during playtime at parties for its amusing and extremely +non-Newtonian behavior; it pours and splatters, but resists rapid motion +like a solid and will even crack when hit by a hammer. Often found near +lasers. Here is a field-tested ooblick recipe contributed by GLS: 1 cup +cornstarch 1 cup baking soda 3/4 cup water N drops of food coloring This +recipe isn't quite as non-Newtonian as a pure cornstarch ooblick, but has an +appropriately slimy feel. Some, however, insist that the notion of an +ooblick recipe is far too mechanical, and that it is best to add the water +in small increments so that the various mixed states the cornstarch goes +through as it becomes ooblick can be grokked in fullness by many hands. For +optional ingredients of this experience, see the Ceremonial Chemicals +section of Appendix B. + diff --git a/entries/op.txt b/entries/op.txt index d1b7ade..8b80334 100644 --- a/entries/op.txt +++ b/entries/op.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ op -/op/ , n. 1. In England and Ireland, common verbal abbreviation for operator , as in system operator. Less common in the U.S., where sysop seems to be preferred. 2. [IRC] Someone who is endowed with privileges on IRC , not limited to a particular channel. These are generally people who are in charge of the IRC server at their particular site. Sometimes used interchangeably with CHOP. Compare sysop. +/op/ , n. 1. In England and Ireland, common verbal abbreviation for operator +, as in system operator. Less common in the U.S., where sysop seems to be +preferred. 2. [IRC] Someone who is endowed with privileges on IRC , not +limited to a particular channel. These are generally people who are in +charge of the IRC server at their particular site. Sometimes used +interchangeably with CHOP. Compare sysop. + diff --git a/entries/open source.txt b/entries/open source.txt index f14ae37..94fb896 100644 --- a/entries/open source.txt +++ b/entries/open source.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ open source -n. [common; also adj. open-source ] Term coined in March 1998 following the Mozilla release to describe software distributed in source under licenses guaranteeing anybody rights to freely use, modify, and redistribute, the code. The intent was to be able to sell the hackers' ways of doing software to industry and the mainstream by avoiding the negative connotations (to suit s) of the term free software. For discussion of the follow-on tactics and their consequences, see the Open Source Initiative site. Five years after this term was invented, in 2003, it is worth noting the huge shift in assumptions it helped bring about, if only because the hacker culture's collective memory of what went before is in some ways blurring. Hackers have so completely refocused themselves around the idea and ideal of open source that we are beginning to forget that we used to do most of our work in closed-source environments. Until the late 1990s open source was a sporadic exception that usually had to live on top of a closed-source operating system and alongside closed-source tools; entire open-source environments like Linux and the *BSD systems didn't even exist in a usable form until around 1993 and weren't taken very seriously by anyone but a pioneering few until about five years later. +n. [common; also adj. open-source ] Term coined in March 1998 following the +Mozilla release to describe software distributed in source under licenses +guaranteeing anybody rights to freely use, modify, and redistribute, the +code. The intent was to be able to sell the hackers' ways of doing software +to industry and the mainstream by avoiding the negative connotations (to +suit s) of the term free software. For discussion of the follow-on tactics +and their consequences, see the Open Source Initiative site. Five years +after this term was invented, in 2003, it is worth noting the huge shift in +assumptions it helped bring about, if only because the hacker culture's +collective memory of what went before is in some ways blurring. Hackers have +so completely refocused themselves around the idea and ideal of open source +that we are beginning to forget that we used to do most of our work in +closed-source environments. Until the late 1990s open source was a sporadic +exception that usually had to live on top of a closed-source operating +system and alongside closed-source tools; entire open-source environments +like Linux and the *BSD systems didn't even exist in a usable form until +around 1993 and weren't taken very seriously by anyone but a pioneering few +until about five years later. + diff --git a/entries/open switch.txt b/entries/open switch.txt index dae012f..225231c 100644 --- a/entries/open switch.txt +++ b/entries/open switch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ open switch n. [IBM: prob.: from railroading] An unresolved question, issue, or problem. + diff --git a/entries/open.txt b/entries/open.txt index aa8a004..7964043 100644 --- a/entries/open.txt +++ b/entries/open.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ open -n. Abbreviation for open (or left) parenthesis used when necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity. To read aloud the LISP form (DEFUN FOO (X) (PLUS X 1)) one might say: Open defun foo, open eks close, open, plus eks one, close close. +n. Abbreviation for open (or left) parenthesis used when necessary to +eliminate oral ambiguity. To read aloud the LISP form (DEFUN FOO (X) (PLUS X +1)) one might say: Open defun foo, open eks close, open, plus eks one, close +close. + diff --git a/entries/operating system.txt b/entries/operating system.txt index cfe1722..84196cb 100644 --- a/entries/operating system.txt +++ b/entries/operating system.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ operating system -n. [techspeak] (Often abbreviated OS ) The foundation software of a machine; that which schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user between applications. The facilities an operating system provides and its general design philosophy exert an extremely strong influence on programming style and on the technical cultures that grow up around its host machines. Hacker folklore has been shaped primarily by the Unix , ITS , TOPS-10 , TOPS-20 / TWENEX , WAITS , CP/M , MS-DOS , and Multics operating systems (most importantly by ITS and Unix). See also timesharing. +n. [techspeak] (Often abbreviated OS ) The foundation software of a machine; +that which schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default +interface to the user between applications. The facilities an operating +system provides and its general design philosophy exert an extremely strong +influence on programming style and on the technical cultures that grow up +around its host machines. Hacker folklore has been shaped primarily by the +Unix , ITS , TOPS-10 , TOPS-20 / TWENEX , WAITS , CP/M , MS-DOS , and +Multics operating systems (most importantly by ITS and Unix). See also +timesharing. + diff --git a/entries/operator headspace.txt b/entries/operator headspace.txt index 57ca848..3db9577 100644 --- a/entries/operator headspace.txt +++ b/entries/operator headspace.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ operator headspace -More fully, operator headspace error. Synonym for pilot error a dumb move, especially one pulled by someone who ought to know better. Often used reflexively. +More fully, operator headspace error. Synonym for pilot error a dumb move, +especially one pulled by someone who ought to know better. Often used +reflexively. + diff --git a/entries/optical diff.txt b/entries/optical diff.txt index b916d83..d9ffe82 100644 --- a/entries/optical diff.txt +++ b/entries/optical diff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ optical diff n. See vdiff. + diff --git a/entries/optical grep.txt b/entries/optical grep.txt index 30a7975..2da8176 100644 --- a/entries/optical grep.txt +++ b/entries/optical grep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ optical grep n. See vgrep. + diff --git a/entries/optimism.txt b/entries/optimism.txt index 635ddf5..515f4b1 100644 --- a/entries/optimism.txt +++ b/entries/optimism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ optimism -n. What a programmer is full of after fixing the last bug and before discovering the next last bug. Fred Brooks's book The Mythical Man-Month (See Brooks's Law ) contains the following paragraph that describes this extremely well: All programmers are optimists. Perhaps this modern sorcery especially attracts those who believe in happy endings and fairy godmothers. Perhaps the hundreds of nitty frustrations drive away all but those who habitually focus on the end goal. Perhaps it is merely that computers are young, programmers are younger, and the young are always optimists. But however the selection process works, the result is indisputable: This time it will surely run, or I just found the last bug.. See also Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology. +n. What a programmer is full of after fixing the last bug and before +discovering the next last bug. Fred Brooks's book The Mythical Man-Month +(See Brooks's Law ) contains the following paragraph that describes this +extremely well: All programmers are optimists. Perhaps this modern sorcery +especially attracts those who believe in happy endings and fairy godmothers. +Perhaps the hundreds of nitty frustrations drive away all but those who +habitually focus on the end goal. Perhaps it is merely that computers are +young, programmers are younger, and the young are always optimists. But +however the selection process works, the result is indisputable: This time +it will surely run, or I just found the last bug.. See also Lubarsky's Law +of Cybernetic Entomology. + diff --git a/entries/oriental food.txt b/entries/oriental food.txt index 6a835dc..b696a91 100644 --- a/entries/oriental food.txt +++ b/entries/oriental food.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ oriental food -n. Hackers display an intense tropism towards oriental cuisine, especially Chinese, and especially of the spicier varieties such as Szechuan and Hunan. This phenomenon (which has also been observed in subcultures that overlap heavily with hackerdom, most notably science-fiction fandom) has never been satisfactorily explained, but is sufficiently intense that one can assume the target of a hackish dinner expedition to be the best local Chinese place and be right at least three times out of four. See also ravs , great-wall , stir-fried random , laser chicken , Yu-Shiang Whole Fish. Thai, Indian, Korean, Burmese, and Vietnamese cuisines are also quite popular. +n. Hackers display an intense tropism towards oriental cuisine, especially +Chinese, and especially of the spicier varieties such as Szechuan and Hunan. +This phenomenon (which has also been observed in subcultures that overlap +heavily with hackerdom, most notably science-fiction fandom) has never been +satisfactorily explained, but is sufficiently intense that one can assume +the target of a hackish dinner expedition to be the best local Chinese place +and be right at least three times out of four. See also ravs , great-wall , +stir-fried random , laser chicken , Yu-Shiang Whole Fish. Thai, Indian, +Korean, Burmese, and Vietnamese cuisines are also quite popular. + diff --git a/entries/orphan.txt b/entries/orphan.txt index b7eaf55..5316ed8 100644 --- a/entries/orphan.txt +++ b/entries/orphan.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ orphan -n. [Unix] A process whose parent has died; one inherited by init (1). Compare zombie. +n. [Unix] A process whose parent has died; one inherited by init (1). +Compare zombie. + diff --git a/entries/orphaned i-node.txt b/entries/orphaned i-node.txt index 59d04c4..28fa9a3 100644 --- a/entries/orphaned i-node.txt +++ b/entries/orphaned i-node.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ orphaned i-node -/orf@nd i:nohd/ , n. [Unix] 1. [techspeak] A file that retains storage but no longer appears in the directories of a filesystem. 2. By extension, a pejorative for any person no longer serving a useful function within some organization, esp. lion food without subordinates. +/orf@nd i:nohd/ , n. [Unix] 1. [techspeak] A file that retains storage but +no longer appears in the directories of a filesystem. 2. By extension, a +pejorative for any person no longer serving a useful function within some +organization, esp. lion food without subordinates. + diff --git a/entries/orthogonal.txt b/entries/orthogonal.txt index 900a886..4fd9fd3 100644 --- a/entries/orthogonal.txt +++ b/entries/orthogonal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ orthogonal -adj. [from mathematics] Mutually independent; well separated; sometimes, irrelevant to. Used in a generalization of its mathematical meaning to describe sets of primitives or capabilities that, like a vector basis in geometry, span the entire capability space of the system and are in some sense non-overlapping or mutually independent. For example, in architectures such as the PDP-11 or VAX where all or nearly all registers can be used interchangeably in any role with respect to any instruction, the register set is said to be orthogonal. Or, in logic, the set of operators not and or is orthogonal, but the set nand , or , and not is not (because any one of these can be expressed in terms of the others). Also used in comments on human discourse: This may be orthogonal to the discussion, but.... +adj. [from mathematics] Mutually independent; well separated; sometimes, +irrelevant to. Used in a generalization of its mathematical meaning to +describe sets of primitives or capabilities that, like a vector basis in +geometry, span the entire capability space of the system and are in some +sense non-overlapping or mutually independent. For example, in architectures +such as the PDP-11 or VAX where all or nearly all registers can be used +interchangeably in any role with respect to any instruction, the register +set is said to be orthogonal. Or, in logic, the set of operators not and or +is orthogonal, but the set nand , or , and not is not (because any one of +these can be expressed in terms of the others). Also used in comments on +human discourse: This may be orthogonal to the discussion, but.... + diff --git a/entries/out-of-band.txt b/entries/out-of-band.txt index ead6de0..7d0a2ce 100644 --- a/entries/out-of-band.txt +++ b/entries/out-of-band.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ out-of-band -adj. [from telecommunications and network theory] 1. In software, describes values of a function which are not in its natural range of return values, but are rather signals that some kind of exception has occurred. Many C functions, for example, return a nonnegative integral value, but indicate failure with an out-of-band return value of 1. Compare hidden flag , green bytes , fence. 2. Also sometimes used to describe what communications people call shift characters , such as the ESC that leads control sequences for many terminals, or the level shift indicators in the old 5-bit Baudot codes. 3. In personal communication, using methods other than email, such as telephones or snail-mail. +adj. [from telecommunications and network theory] 1. In software, describes +values of a function which are not in its natural range of return values, +but are rather signals that some kind of exception has occurred. Many C +functions, for example, return a nonnegative integral value, but indicate +failure with an out-of-band return value of 1. Compare hidden flag , green +bytes , fence. 2. Also sometimes used to describe what communications people +call shift characters , such as the ESC that leads control sequences for +many terminals, or the level shift indicators in the old 5-bit Baudot codes. +3. In personal communication, using methods other than email, such as +telephones or snail-mail. + diff --git a/entries/overclock.txt b/entries/overclock.txt index cf3a257..8215130 100644 --- a/entries/overclock.txt +++ b/entries/overclock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ overclock -/ohvrklok/ , vt. To operate a CPU or other digital logic device at a rate higher than it was designed for, under the assumption that the manufacturer put some slop into the specification to account for manufacturing tolerances. Overclocking something can result in intermittent crash es, and can even burn things out, since power dissipation is directly proportional to clock frequency. People who make a hobby of this are sometimes called overclockers ; they are thrilled that they can run their CPU a few percent faster, even though they can only tell the difference by running a benchmark program. See also case mod. +/ohvrklok/ , vt. To operate a CPU or other digital logic device at a rate +higher than it was designed for, under the assumption that the manufacturer +put some slop into the specification to account for manufacturing +tolerances. Overclocking something can result in intermittent crash es, and +can even burn things out, since power dissipation is directly proportional +to clock frequency. People who make a hobby of this are sometimes called +overclockers ; they are thrilled that they can run their CPU a few percent +faster, even though they can only tell the difference by running a benchmark +program. See also case mod. + diff --git a/entries/overflow bit.txt b/entries/overflow bit.txt index 79c7314..6f76ad0 100644 --- a/entries/overflow bit.txt +++ b/entries/overflow bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ overflow bit -n. 1. [techspeak] A flag on some processors indicating an attempt to calculate a result too large for a register to hold. 2. More generally, an indication of any kind of capacity overload condition. Well, the Ada description was baroque all right, but I could hack it OK until they got to the exception handling. .. that set my overflow bit. 3. The hypothetical bit that will be set if a hacker doesn't get to make a trip to the Room of Porcelain Fixtures: I'd better process an internal interrupt before the overflow bit gets set. Crunchly and the overflow bit. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-07-29. The previous one is 73-06-04. +n. 1. [techspeak] A flag on some processors indicating an attempt to +calculate a result too large for a register to hold. 2. More generally, an +indication of any kind of capacity overload condition. Well, the Ada +description was baroque all right, but I could hack it OK until they got to +the exception handling. .. that set my overflow bit. 3. The hypothetical bit +that will be set if a hacker doesn't get to make a trip to the Room of +Porcelain Fixtures: I'd better process an internal interrupt before the +overflow bit gets set. Crunchly and the overflow bit. (The next cartoon in +the Crunchly saga is 73-07-29. The previous one is 73-06-04. + diff --git a/entries/overrun screw.txt b/entries/overrun screw.txt index cd34046..2db67b3 100644 --- a/entries/overrun screw.txt +++ b/entries/overrun screw.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ overrun screw -n. [C programming] A variety of fandango on core produced by scribbling past the end of an array (C implementations typically have no checks for this error). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the array is static; if it is auto, the result may be to smash the stack often resulting in heisenbug s of the most diabolical subtlety. The term overrun screw is used esp. of scribbles beyond the end of arrays allocated with malloc (3) ; this typically trashes the allocation header for the next block in the arena , producing massive lossage within malloc and often a core dump on the next operation to use stdio (3) or malloc (3) itself. See spam , overrun ; see also memory leak , memory smash , aliasing bug , precedence lossage , fandango on core , secondary damage. +n. [C programming] A variety of fandango on core produced by scribbling past +the end of an array (C implementations typically have no checks for this +error). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the array is static; +if it is auto, the result may be to smash the stack often resulting in +heisenbug s of the most diabolical subtlety. The term overrun screw is used +esp. of scribbles beyond the end of arrays allocated with malloc (3) ; this +typically trashes the allocation header for the next block in the arena , +producing massive lossage within malloc and often a core dump on the next +operation to use stdio (3) or malloc (3) itself. See spam , overrun ; see +also memory leak , memory smash , aliasing bug , precedence lossage , +fandango on core , secondary damage. + diff --git a/entries/overrun.txt b/entries/overrun.txt index 7663411..a3032cf 100644 --- a/entries/overrun.txt +++ b/entries/overrun.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ overrun -n. 1. [techspeak] Term for a frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, esp. in serial line communications. For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes longer than 2 msec to get to service the interrupt, at least one character will be lost. 2. Also applied to non-serial-I/O communications. I forgot to pay my electric bill due to mail overrun. Sorry, I got four phone calls in 3 minutes last night and lost your message to overrun. When thrash ing at tasks, the next person to make a request might be told Overrun! Compare firehose syndrome. 3. More loosely, may refer to a buffer overflow not necessarily related to processing time (as in overrun screw ). +n. 1. [techspeak] Term for a frequent consequence of data arriving faster +than it can be consumed, esp. in serial line communications. For example, at +9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a +silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes longer than 2 msec +to get to service the interrupt, at least one character will be lost. 2. +Also applied to non-serial-I/O communications. I forgot to pay my electric +bill due to mail overrun. Sorry, I got four phone calls in 3 minutes last +night and lost your message to overrun. When thrash ing at tasks, the next +person to make a request might be told Overrun! Compare firehose syndrome. +3. More loosely, may refer to a buffer overflow not necessarily related to +processing time (as in overrun screw ). + diff --git a/entries/owned.txt b/entries/owned.txt index eb43a83..24b1230 100644 --- a/entries/owned.txt +++ b/entries/owned.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ owned -Your condition when your machine has been cracked by a root exploit, and the attacker can do anything with it. This sense is occasionally used by hackers. 2. +Your condition when your machine has been cracked by a root exploit, and the +attacker can do anything with it. This sense is occasionally used by +hackers. 2. + diff --git a/entries/packet over air.txt b/entries/packet over air.txt index f5b34da..a10bc6f 100644 --- a/entries/packet over air.txt +++ b/entries/packet over air.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ packet over air -The protocol notionally being used by Internet data attempting to traverse a physical gap or break in the network, such as might be caused by a fiber-seeking backhoe. I see why you're dropping packets. You seem to have a packet over air problem. Prev Up Next P.O.D. +The protocol notionally being used by Internet data attempting to traverse a +physical gap or break in the network, such as might be caused by a +fiber-seeking backhoe. I see why you're dropping packets. You seem to have a +packet over air problem. Prev Up Next P.O.D. + diff --git a/entries/padded cell.txt b/entries/padded cell.txt index 6a05bb1..fcf1278 100644 --- a/entries/padded cell.txt +++ b/entries/padded cell.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ padded cell -n. Where you put luser s so they can't hurt anything. A program that limits a luser to a carefully restricted subset of the capabilities of the host system (for example, the rsh (1) utility on USG Unix). Note that this is different from an iron box because it is overt and not aimed at enforcing security so much as protecting others (and the luser) from the consequences of the luser's boundless naivete (see naive ). Also padded cell environment. +n. Where you put luser s so they can't hurt anything. A program that limits +a luser to a carefully restricted subset of the capabilities of the host +system (for example, the rsh (1) utility on USG Unix). Note that this is +different from an iron box because it is overt and not aimed at enforcing +security so much as protecting others (and the luser) from the consequences +of the luser's boundless naivete (see naive ). Also padded cell environment. + diff --git a/entries/page in.txt b/entries/page in.txt index d24b23d..e334cbd 100644 --- a/entries/page in.txt +++ b/entries/page in.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ page in -v. [MIT] 1. To become aware of one's surroundings again after having paged out (see page out ). Usually confined to the sarcastic comment: Eric pages in, film at 11 ! 2. Syn. swap in ; see swap. +v. [MIT] 1. To become aware of one's surroundings again after having paged +out (see page out ). Usually confined to the sarcastic comment: Eric pages +in, film at 11 ! 2. Syn. swap in ; see swap. + diff --git a/entries/page out.txt b/entries/page out.txt index 96d1517..0939132 100644 --- a/entries/page out.txt +++ b/entries/page out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ page out -vi. [MIT] 1. To become unaware of one's surroundings temporarily, due to daydreaming or preoccupation. Can you repeat that? I paged out for a minute. See page in. Compare glitch , thinko. 2. Syn. swap out ; see swap. +vi. [MIT] 1. To become unaware of one's surroundings temporarily, due to +daydreaming or preoccupation. Can you repeat that? I paged out for a minute. +See page in. Compare glitch , thinko. 2. Syn. swap out ; see swap. + diff --git a/entries/pain in the net.txt b/entries/pain in the net.txt index 44c3393..013070f 100644 --- a/entries/pain in the net.txt +++ b/entries/pain in the net.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ pain in the net n. A flamer. + diff --git a/entries/paper-net.txt b/entries/paper-net.txt index de1e7d8..3cf65ed 100644 --- a/entries/paper-net.txt +++ b/entries/paper-net.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ paper-net -n. Hackish way of referring to the postal service, analogizing it to a very slow, low-reliability network. Usenet sig block s sometimes include a Paper-Net: header just before the sender's postal address; common variants of this are Papernet and P-Net. Note that the standard netiquette guidelines discourage this practice as a waste of bandwidth, since netters are quite unlikely to casually use postal addresses. Compare voice-net , snail-mail. +n. Hackish way of referring to the postal service, analogizing it to a very +slow, low-reliability network. Usenet sig block s sometimes include a +Paper-Net: header just before the sender's postal address; common variants +of this are Papernet and P-Net. Note that the standard netiquette guidelines +discourage this practice as a waste of bandwidth, since netters are quite +unlikely to casually use postal addresses. Compare voice-net , snail-mail. + diff --git a/entries/param.txt b/entries/param.txt index f1ef4fe..04e39a7 100644 --- a/entries/param.txt +++ b/entries/param.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ param -/p@ram/ , n. [common] Shorthand for parameter. See also parm ; compare arg , var. +/p@ram/ , n. [common] Shorthand for parameter. See also parm ; compare arg , +var. + diff --git a/entries/parent message.txt b/entries/parent message.txt index b325ef3..e5af2d1 100644 --- a/entries/parent message.txt +++ b/entries/parent message.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ parent message n. What a followup follows up. + diff --git a/entries/parity errors.txt b/entries/parity errors.txt index 8e6e85f..297348c 100644 --- a/entries/parity errors.txt +++ b/entries/parity errors.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ parity errors -pl.n. Little lapses of attention or (in more severe cases) consciousness, usually brought on by having spent all night and most of the next day hacking. I need to go home and crash; I'm starting to get a lot of parity errors. Derives from a relatively common but nearly always correctable transient error in memory hardware. It predates RAM; in fact, this term is reported to have already have been in use in its jargon sense back in the 1960s when magnetic cores ruled. Parity errors can also afflict mass storage and serial communication lines; this is more serious because not always correctable. +pl.n. Little lapses of attention or (in more severe cases) consciousness, +usually brought on by having spent all night and most of the next day +hacking. I need to go home and crash; I'm starting to get a lot of parity +errors. Derives from a relatively common but nearly always correctable +transient error in memory hardware. It predates RAM; in fact, this term is +reported to have already have been in use in its jargon sense back in the +1960s when magnetic cores ruled. Parity errors can also afflict mass storage +and serial communication lines; this is more serious because not always +correctable. + diff --git a/entries/parm.txt b/entries/parm.txt index efa91c6..d11ace8 100644 --- a/entries/parm.txt +++ b/entries/parm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ parm -/parm/ , n. Further-compressed form of param. This term is an IBMism , and written use is almost unknown outside IBM shops; spoken /parm/ is more widely distributed, but the synonym arg is favored among hackers. Compare arg , var. +/parm/ , n. Further-compressed form of param. This term is an IBMism , and +written use is almost unknown outside IBM shops; spoken /parm/ is more +widely distributed, but the synonym arg is favored among hackers. Compare +arg , var. + diff --git a/entries/parse.txt b/entries/parse.txt index 1f163f9..301f2b1 100644 --- a/entries/parse.txt +++ b/entries/parse.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ parse -vt. 1. To determine the syntactic structure of a sentence or other utterance (close to the standard English meaning). That was the one I saw you. I can't parse that. 2. More generally, to understand or comprehend. It's very simple; you just kretch the glims and then aos the zotz. I can't parse that. 3. Of fish, to have to remove the bones yourself. I object to parsing fish , means I don't want to get a whole fish, but a sliced one is okay. A parsed fish has been deboned. There is some controversy over whether unparsed should mean bony , or also mean deboned. +vt. 1. To determine the syntactic structure of a sentence or other utterance +(close to the standard English meaning). That was the one I saw you. I can't +parse that. 2. More generally, to understand or comprehend. It's very +simple; you just kretch the glims and then aos the zotz. I can't parse that. +3. Of fish, to have to remove the bones yourself. I object to parsing fish , +means I don't want to get a whole fish, but a sliced one is okay. A parsed +fish has been deboned. There is some controversy over whether unparsed +should mean bony , or also mean deboned. + diff --git a/entries/pastie.txt b/entries/pastie.txt index 60e5f73..ad47d64 100644 --- a/entries/pastie.txt +++ b/entries/pastie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ pastie -/paystee/ , n. An adhesive-backed label designed to be attached to a key on a keyboard to indicate some non-standard character which can be accessed through that key. Pasties are likely to be used in APL environments, where almost every key is associated with a special character. A pastie on the R key, for example, might remind the user that it is used to generate the character. The term properly refers to nipple-concealing devices formerly worn by strippers in concession to indecent-exposure laws; compare tits on a keyboard. +/paystee/ , n. An adhesive-backed label designed to be attached to a key on +a keyboard to indicate some non-standard character which can be accessed +through that key. Pasties are likely to be used in APL environments, where +almost every key is associated with a special character. A pastie on the R +key, for example, might remind the user that it is used to generate the +character. The term properly refers to nipple-concealing devices formerly +worn by strippers in concession to indecent-exposure laws; compare tits on a +keyboard. + diff --git a/entries/patch pumpkin.txt b/entries/patch pumpkin.txt index a0f6419..4d2d341 100644 --- a/entries/patch pumpkin.txt +++ b/entries/patch pumpkin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ patch pumpkin -n. [Perl hackers] A notional token passed around among the members of a project. Possession of the patch pumpkin means one has the exclusive authority to make changes on the project's master source tree. The implicit assumption is that pumpkin holder status is temporary and rotates periodically among senior project members. This term comes from the Perl development community, but has been sighted elsewhere. It derives from a stuffed-toy pumpkin that was passed around at a development shop years ago as the access control for a shared backup-tape drive. +n. [Perl hackers] A notional token passed around among the members of a +project. Possession of the patch pumpkin means one has the exclusive +authority to make changes on the project's master source tree. The implicit +assumption is that pumpkin holder status is temporary and rotates +periodically among senior project members. This term comes from the Perl +development community, but has been sighted elsewhere. It derives from a +stuffed-toy pumpkin that was passed around at a development shop years ago +as the access control for a shared backup-tape drive. + diff --git a/entries/patch space.txt b/entries/patch space.txt index 6f99733..bef193b 100644 --- a/entries/patch space.txt +++ b/entries/patch space.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ patch space -n. An unused block of bits left in a binary so that it can later be modified by insertion of machine-language instructions there (typically, the patch space is modified to contain new code, and the superseded code is patched to contain a jump or call to the patch space). The near-universal use of compilers and interpreters has made this term rare; it is now primarily historical outside IBM shops. See patch (sense 4), zap (sense 4), hook. +n. An unused block of bits left in a binary so that it can later be modified +by insertion of machine-language instructions there (typically, the patch +space is modified to contain new code, and the superseded code is patched to +contain a jump or call to the patch space). The near-universal use of +compilers and interpreters has made this term rare; it is now primarily +historical outside IBM shops. See patch (sense 4), zap (sense 4), hook. + diff --git a/entries/patch.txt b/entries/patch.txt index 0c63bca..774df99 100644 --- a/entries/patch.txt +++ b/entries/patch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ patch -n. A diff (sense 2). 4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by a patching program. IBM operating systems often receive updates to the operating system in the form of absolute hexadecimal patches. If you have modified your OS, you have to disassemble these back to the source. The patches might later be corrected by other patches on top of them (patches were said to grow scar tissue ). The result was often a convoluted patch space and headaches galore. 5. +n. A diff (sense 2). 4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by +a patching program. IBM operating systems often receive updates to the +operating system in the form of absolute hexadecimal patches. If you have +modified your OS, you have to disassemble these back to the source. The +patches might later be corrected by other patches on top of them (patches +were said to grow scar tissue ). The result was often a convoluted patch +space and headaches galore. 5. + diff --git a/entries/path.txt b/entries/path.txt index d4e382b..ded4b80 100644 --- a/entries/path.txt +++ b/entries/path.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ path -n. 1. A bang path or explicitly routed Internet address; a node-by-node specification of a link between two machines. Though these are now obsolete as a form of addressing, they still show up in diagnostics and trace headers occasionally (e.g. in NNTP headers). 2. [Unix] A filename, fully specified relative to the root directory (as opposed to relative to the current directory; the latter is sometimes called a relative path ). This is also called a pathname. 3. [Unix and MS-DOS/Windows] The search path , an environment variable specifying the directories in which the shell (COMMAND.COM, under MS-DOS) should look for commands. Other, similar constructs abound under Unix (for example, the C preprocessor has a search path it uses in looking for #include files). +n. 1. A bang path or explicitly routed Internet address; a node-by-node +specification of a link between two machines. Though these are now obsolete +as a form of addressing, they still show up in diagnostics and trace headers +occasionally (e.g. in NNTP headers). 2. [Unix] A filename, fully specified +relative to the root directory (as opposed to relative to the current +directory; the latter is sometimes called a relative path ). This is also +called a pathname. 3. [Unix and MS-DOS/Windows] The search path , an +environment variable specifying the directories in which the shell +(COMMAND.COM, under MS-DOS) should look for commands. Other, similar +constructs abound under Unix (for example, the C preprocessor has a search +path it uses in looking for #include files). + diff --git a/entries/pathological.txt b/entries/pathological.txt index 8aadeb0..498b0b4 100644 --- a/entries/pathological.txt +++ b/entries/pathological.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ pathological -adj. 1. [scientific computation] Used of a data set that is grossly atypical of normal expected input, esp. one that exposes a weakness or bug in whatever algorithm one is using. An algorithm that can be broken by pathological inputs may still be useful if such inputs are very unlikely to occur in practice. 2. When used of test input, implies that it was purposefully engineered as a worst case. The implication in both senses is that the data is spectacularly ill-conditioned or that someone had to explicitly set out to break the algorithm in order to come up with such a crazy example. 3. Also said of an unlikely collection of circumstances. If the network is down and comes up halfway through the execution of that command by root, the system may just crash. Yes, but that's a pathological case. Often used to dismiss the case from discussion, with the implication that the consequences are acceptable, since they will happen so infrequently (if at all) that it doesn't seem worth going to the extra trouble to handle that case (see sense 1). +adj. 1. [scientific computation] Used of a data set that is grossly atypical +of normal expected input, esp. one that exposes a weakness or bug in +whatever algorithm one is using. An algorithm that can be broken by +pathological inputs may still be useful if such inputs are very unlikely to +occur in practice. 2. When used of test input, implies that it was +purposefully engineered as a worst case. The implication in both senses is +that the data is spectacularly ill-conditioned or that someone had to +explicitly set out to break the algorithm in order to come up with such a +crazy example. 3. Also said of an unlikely collection of circumstances. If +the network is down and comes up halfway through the execution of that +command by root, the system may just crash. Yes, but that's a pathological +case. Often used to dismiss the case from discussion, with the implication +that the consequences are acceptable, since they will happen so infrequently +(if at all) that it doesn't seem worth going to the extra trouble to handle +that case (see sense 1). + diff --git a/entries/payware.txt b/entries/payware.txt index 3f1bfa7..b655802 100644 --- a/entries/payware.txt +++ b/entries/payware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ payware /payweir/ , n. Commercial software. Oppose shareware or freeware. + diff --git a/entries/peek.txt b/entries/peek.txt index 2aeeffd..e72f1b6 100644 --- a/entries/peek.txt +++ b/entries/peek.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ peek -n.,vt. (and poke ) The commands in most microcomputer BASICs for directly accessing memory contents at an absolute address; often extended to mean the corresponding constructs in any HLL (peek reads memory, poke modifies it). Much hacking on small, non-MMU micros used to consist of peek ing around memory, more or less at random, to find the location where the system keeps interesting stuff. Long (and variably accurate) lists of such addresses for various computers circulated. The results of poke s at these addresses may be highly useful, mildly amusing, useless but neat, or (most likely) total lossage (see killer poke ). Since a real operating system provides useful, higher-level services for the tasks commonly performed with peeks and pokes on micros, and real languages tend not to encourage low-level memory groveling, a question like How do I do a peek in C? is diagnostic of the newbie. (Of course, OS kernels often have to do exactly this; a real kernel hacker would unhesitatingly, if unportably, assign an absolute address to a pointer variable and indirect through it. +n.,vt. (and poke ) The commands in most microcomputer BASICs for directly +accessing memory contents at an absolute address; often extended to mean the +corresponding constructs in any HLL (peek reads memory, poke modifies it). +Much hacking on small, non-MMU micros used to consist of peek ing around +memory, more or less at random, to find the location where the system keeps +interesting stuff. Long (and variably accurate) lists of such addresses for +various computers circulated. The results of poke s at these addresses may +be highly useful, mildly amusing, useless but neat, or (most likely) total +lossage (see killer poke ). Since a real operating system provides useful, +higher-level services for the tasks commonly performed with peeks and pokes +on micros, and real languages tend not to encourage low-level memory +groveling, a question like How do I do a peek in C? is diagnostic of the +newbie. (Of course, OS kernels often have to do exactly this; a real kernel +hacker would unhesitatingly, if unportably, assign an absolute address to a +pointer variable and indirect through it. + diff --git a/entries/pencil and paper.txt b/entries/pencil and paper.txt index baba794..b7bb2b3 100644 --- a/entries/pencil and paper.txt +++ b/entries/pencil and paper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ pencil and paper -n. An archaic information storage and transmission device that works by depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp. More recent developments in paper-based technology include improved write-once update devices which use tiny rolling heads similar to mouse balls to deposit colored pigment. All these devices require an operator skilled at so-called handwriting technique. These technologies are ubiquitous outside hackerdom, but nearly forgotten inside it. Most hackers had terrible handwriting to begin with, and years of keyboarding tend to have encouraged it to degrade further. Perhaps for this reason, hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper technology and often resist using it in any but the most trivial contexts. +n. An archaic information storage and transmission device that works by +depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp. More recent +developments in paper-based technology include improved write-once update +devices which use tiny rolling heads similar to mouse balls to deposit +colored pigment. All these devices require an operator skilled at so-called +handwriting technique. These technologies are ubiquitous outside hackerdom, +but nearly forgotten inside it. Most hackers had terrible handwriting to +begin with, and years of keyboarding tend to have encouraged it to degrade +further. Perhaps for this reason, hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper +technology and often resist using it in any but the most trivial contexts. + diff --git a/entries/peon.txt b/entries/peon.txt index 8620289..f4a210d 100644 --- a/entries/peon.txt +++ b/entries/peon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ peon -n. A person with no special ( root or wheel ) privileges on a computer system. I can't create an account on foovax for you; I'm only a peon there. +n. A person with no special ( root or wheel ) privileges on a computer +system. I can't create an account on foovax for you; I'm only a peon there. + diff --git a/entries/percent-S.txt b/entries/percent-S.txt index cab6344..54dbfbd 100644 --- a/entries/percent-S.txt +++ b/entries/percent-S.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ percent-S -/persent es/ , n. [From the code in C's printf (3) library function used to insert an arbitrary string argument] An unspecified person or object. I was just talking to some percent-s in administration. Compare random. +/persent es/ , n. [From the code in C's printf (3) library function used to +insert an arbitrary string argument] An unspecified person or object. I was +just talking to some percent-s in administration. Compare random. + diff --git a/entries/perf.txt b/entries/perf.txt index 5165190..57c4f9f 100644 --- a/entries/perf.txt +++ b/entries/perf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ perf -/perf/ , n. Syn. chad (sense 1). The term perfory /perf@-ree/ is also heard. The term perf may also refer to the perforations themselves, rather than the chad they produce when torn (philatelists use it this way). +/perf/ , n. Syn. chad (sense 1). The term perfory /perf@-ree/ is also heard. +The term perf may also refer to the perforations themselves, rather than the +chad they produce when torn (philatelists use it this way). + diff --git a/entries/perfect programmer syndrome.txt b/entries/perfect programmer syndrome.txt index 9ac5152..3e5ad2e 100644 --- a/entries/perfect programmer syndrome.txt +++ b/entries/perfect programmer syndrome.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ perfect programmer syndrome -n. Arrogance; the egotistical conviction that one is above normal human error. Most frequently found among programmers of some native ability but relatively little experience (especially new graduates; their perceptions may be distorted by a history of excellent performance at solving toy problem s). Of course my program is correct, there is no need to test it. Yes, I can see there may be a problem here, but I'll never type rm -r / while in root mode. +n. Arrogance; the egotistical conviction that one is above normal human +error. Most frequently found among programmers of some native ability but +relatively little experience (especially new graduates; their perceptions +may be distorted by a history of excellent performance at solving toy +problem s). Of course my program is correct, there is no need to test it. +Yes, I can see there may be a problem here, but I'll never type rm -r / +while in root mode. + diff --git a/entries/person of no account.txt b/entries/person of no account.txt index 6c66f4b..3d439c2 100644 --- a/entries/person of no account.txt +++ b/entries/person of no account.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ person of no account -n. [University of California at Santa Cruz] Used when referring to a person with no network address , frequently to forestall confusion. Most often as part of an introduction: This is Bill, a person of no account, but he used to be bill@random.com. Compare return from the dead. +n. [University of California at Santa Cruz] Used when referring to a person +with no network address , frequently to forestall confusion. Most often as +part of an introduction: This is Bill, a person of no account, but he used +to be bill@random.com. Compare return from the dead. + diff --git a/entries/pessimal.txt b/entries/pessimal.txt index 0946efd..eb73757 100644 --- a/entries/pessimal.txt +++ b/entries/pessimal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ pessimal -/pesiml/ , adj. [Latin-based antonym for optimal ] Maximally bad. This is a pessimal situation. Also pessimize vt. To make as bad as possible. These words are the obvious Latin-based antonyms for optimal and optimize , but for some reason they do not appear in most English dictionaries, although pessimize is listed in the OED. +/pesiml/ , adj. [Latin-based antonym for optimal ] Maximally bad. This is a +pessimal situation. Also pessimize vt. To make as bad as possible. These +words are the obvious Latin-based antonyms for optimal and optimize , but +for some reason they do not appear in most English dictionaries, although +pessimize is listed in the OED. + diff --git a/entries/pessimizing compiler.txt b/entries/pessimizing compiler.txt index 48b6949..cf585aa 100644 --- a/entries/pessimizing compiler.txt +++ b/entries/pessimizing compiler.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ pessimizing compiler -/pes'@mi:z`ing k@mpi:lr/ , n. [antonym of techspeak optimizing compiler ] A compiler that produces object code that is worse than the straightforward or obvious hand translation. The implication is that the compiler is actually trying to optimize the program, but through excessive cleverness is doing the opposite. A few pessimizing compilers have been written on purpose, however, as pranks or burlesques. +/pes'@mi:z`ing k@mpi:lr/ , n. [antonym of techspeak optimizing compiler ] A +compiler that produces object code that is worse than the straightforward or +obvious hand translation. The implication is that the compiler is actually +trying to optimize the program, but through excessive cleverness is doing +the opposite. A few pessimizing compilers have been written on purpose, +however, as pranks or burlesques. + diff --git a/entries/peta-.txt b/entries/peta-.txt index 161a867..5070c0d 100644 --- a/entries/peta-.txt +++ b/entries/peta-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ peta- /pet@/ [SI] See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/pffft.txt b/entries/pffft.txt index b1414bf..6a2cae7 100644 --- a/entries/pffft.txt +++ b/entries/pffft.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ pffft -interj. [IRC] A metamorphic expletive which can be used to convey emotion, particularly shock or surprise, disgust or anger. The amplitude of the reaction can be measured by counting intermediary fs. +interj. [IRC] A metamorphic expletive which can be used to convey emotion, +particularly shock or surprise, disgust or anger. The amplitude of the +reaction can be measured by counting intermediary fs. + diff --git a/entries/phage.txt b/entries/phage.txt index ce4ea40..dfa67e6 100644 --- a/entries/phage.txt +++ b/entries/phage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ phage -n. A program that modifies other programs or databases in unauthorized ways; esp. one that propagates a virus or Trojan horse. See also worm , mockingbird. The analogy, of course, is with phage viruses in biology. +n. A program that modifies other programs or databases in unauthorized ways; +esp. one that propagates a virus or Trojan horse. See also worm , +mockingbird. The analogy, of course, is with phage viruses in biology. + diff --git a/entries/phase of the moon.txt b/entries/phase of the moon.txt index 05d1030..e6d28c4 100644 --- a/entries/phase of the moon.txt +++ b/entries/phase of the moon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,33 @@ phase of the moon -n. Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to determine. This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon. See also heisenbug. True story: Once upon a time there was a program bug that really did depend on the phase of the moon. There was a little subroutine that had traditionally been used in various programs at MIT to calculate an approximation to the moon's true phase. GLS incorporated this routine into a LISP program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a timestamp line almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line of the message would be too long and would overflow onto the next line, and when the file was later read back in the program would barf. The length of the first line depended on both the precise date and time and the length of the phase specification when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally depended on the phase of the moon! The first paper edition of the Jargon File (Steele-1983) included an example of one of the timestamp lines that exhibited this bug, but the typesetter corrected it. This has since been described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug. However, beware of assumptions. A few years ago, engineers of CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) were baffled by some errors in experiments conducted with the LEP particle accelerator. As the formidable amount of data generated by such devices is heavily processed by computers before being seen by humans, many people suggested the software was somehow sensitive to the phase of the moon. A few desperate engineers discovered the truth; the error turned out to be the result of a tiny change in the geometry of the 27km circumference ring, physically caused by the deformation of the Earth by the passage of the Moon! This story has entered physics folklore as a Newtonian vengeance on particle physics and as an example of the relevance of the simplest and oldest physical laws to the most modern science. +n. Used humorously as a random parameter on which something is said to +depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of whatever is dependent, or that +reliability seems to be dependent on conditions nobody has been able to +determine. This feature depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, +having the foo switch set, and on the phase of the moon. See also heisenbug. +True story: Once upon a time there was a program bug that really did depend +on the phase of the moon. There was a little subroutine that had +traditionally been used in various programs at MIT to calculate an +approximation to the moon's true phase. GLS incorporated this routine into a +LISP program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a timestamp line +almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line of the message +would be too long and would overflow onto the next line, and when the file +was later read back in the program would barf. The length of the first line +depended on both the precise date and time and the length of the phase +specification when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally +depended on the phase of the moon! The first paper edition of the Jargon +File (Steele-1983) included an example of one of the timestamp lines that +exhibited this bug, but the typesetter corrected it. This has since been +described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug. However, beware of assumptions. +A few years ago, engineers of CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) +were baffled by some errors in experiments conducted with the LEP particle +accelerator. As the formidable amount of data generated by such devices is +heavily processed by computers before being seen by humans, many people +suggested the software was somehow sensitive to the phase of the moon. A few +desperate engineers discovered the truth; the error turned out to be the +result of a tiny change in the geometry of the 27km circumference ring, +physically caused by the deformation of the Earth by the passage of the +Moon! This story has entered physics folklore as a Newtonian vengeance on +particle physics and as an example of the relevance of the simplest and +oldest physical laws to the most modern science. + diff --git a/entries/phase-wrapping.txt b/entries/phase-wrapping.txt index e68c28c..bb9adb8 100644 --- a/entries/phase-wrapping.txt +++ b/entries/phase-wrapping.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ phase-wrapping n. [MIT] Syn. wrap around , sense 2. + diff --git a/entries/phase.txt b/entries/phase.txt index 443444b..f1b31c6 100644 --- a/entries/phase.txt +++ b/entries/phase.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ phase -To stay awake for a very long time in order to get into a different phase. 3. +To stay awake for a very long time in order to get into a different phase. +3. + diff --git a/entries/phreaker.txt b/entries/phreaker.txt index 116d351..f33d2e8 100644 --- a/entries/phreaker.txt +++ b/entries/phreaker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ phreaker /freekr/ , n. One who engages in phreaking. See also blue box. + diff --git a/entries/phreaking.txt b/entries/phreaking.txt index e2cf719..38187b7 100644 --- a/entries/phreaking.txt +++ b/entries/phreaking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ phreaking -/freeking/ , n. [from phone phreak ] 1. The art and science of cracking the phone network (so as, for example, to make free long-distance calls). 2. By extension, security-cracking in any other context (especially, but not exclusively, on communications networks) (see cracking ). At one time phreaking was a semi-respectable activity among hackers; there was a gentleman's agreement that phreaking as an intellectual game and a form of exploration was OK, but serious theft of services was taboo. There was significant crossover between the hacker community and the hard-core phone phreaks who ran semi-underground networks of their own through such media as the legendary TAP Newsletter. This ethos began to break down in the mid-1980s as wider dissemination of the techniques put them in the hands of less responsible phreaks. Around the same time, changes in the phone network made old-style technical ingenuity less effective as a way of hacking it, so phreaking came to depend more on overtly criminal acts such as stealing phone-card numbers. The crimes and punishments of gangs like the 414 group turned that game very ugly. A few old-time hackers still phreak casually just to keep their hand in, but most these days have hardly even heard of blue boxes or any of the other paraphernalia of the great phreaks of yore. +/freeking/ , n. [from phone phreak ] 1. The art and science of cracking the +phone network (so as, for example, to make free long-distance calls). 2. By +extension, security-cracking in any other context (especially, but not +exclusively, on communications networks) (see cracking ). At one time +phreaking was a semi-respectable activity among hackers; there was a +gentleman's agreement that phreaking as an intellectual game and a form of +exploration was OK, but serious theft of services was taboo. There was +significant crossover between the hacker community and the hard-core phone +phreaks who ran semi-underground networks of their own through such media as +the legendary TAP Newsletter. This ethos began to break down in the +mid-1980s as wider dissemination of the techniques put them in the hands of +less responsible phreaks. Around the same time, changes in the phone network +made old-style technical ingenuity less effective as a way of hacking it, so +phreaking came to depend more on overtly criminal acts such as stealing +phone-card numbers. The crimes and punishments of gangs like the 414 group +turned that game very ugly. A few old-time hackers still phreak casually +just to keep their hand in, but most these days have hardly even heard of +blue boxes or any of the other paraphernalia of the great phreaks of yore. + diff --git a/entries/pico-.txt b/entries/pico-.txt index cce354a..b249675 100644 --- a/entries/pico-.txt +++ b/entries/pico-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ pico- -pref. [SI: a quantifier meaning 10 -12 ] Smaller than nano- ; used in the same rather loose connotative way as nano- and micro-. This usage is not yet common in the way nano- and micro- are, but should be instantly recognizable to any hacker. See also quantifiers , micro-. +pref. [SI: a quantifier meaning 10 -12 ] Smaller than nano- ; used in the +same rather loose connotative way as nano- and micro-. This usage is not yet +common in the way nano- and micro- are, but should be instantly recognizable +to any hacker. See also quantifiers , micro-. + diff --git a/entries/pig-tail.txt b/entries/pig-tail.txt index f76eb24..26bb202 100644 --- a/entries/pig-tail.txt +++ b/entries/pig-tail.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ pig-tail -A short piece of cable with two connectors on each end for converting between one connector type and another. Common pig-tails are 9-to-25-pin serial-port converters and cables to connect PCMCIA network cards to an RJ-45 network cable. +A short piece of cable with two connectors on each end for converting +between one connector type and another. Common pig-tails are 9-to-25-pin +serial-port converters and cables to connect PCMCIA network cards to an +RJ-45 network cable. + diff --git a/entries/pilot error.txt b/entries/pilot error.txt index e51174d..91e6c3e 100644 --- a/entries/pilot error.txt +++ b/entries/pilot error.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ pilot error -n. [Sun: from aviation] A user's misconfiguration or misuse of a piece of software, producing apparently buglike results (compare UBD ). Joe Luser reported a bug in sendmail that causes it to generate bogus headers. That's not a bug, that's pilot error. His sendmail.cf is hosed. Compare PEBKAC , UBD , ID10T. +n. [Sun: from aviation] A user's misconfiguration or misuse of a piece of +software, producing apparently buglike results (compare UBD ). Joe Luser +reported a bug in sendmail that causes it to generate bogus headers. That's +not a bug, that's pilot error. His sendmail.cf is hosed. Compare PEBKAC , +UBD , ID10T. + diff --git a/entries/ping storm.txt b/entries/ping storm.txt index 7f79acf..4ba37b0 100644 --- a/entries/ping storm.txt +++ b/entries/ping storm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ ping storm -n. A form of DoS attack consisting of a flood of ping requests (normally used to check network conditions) designed to disrupt the normal activity of a system. This act is sometimes called ping lashing or ping flood. Compare mail storm , broadcast storm. +n. A form of DoS attack consisting of a flood of ping requests (normally +used to check network conditions) designed to disrupt the normal activity of +a system. This act is sometimes called ping lashing or ping flood. Compare +mail storm , broadcast storm. + diff --git a/entries/ping.txt b/entries/ping.txt index 8c4d731..271747f 100644 --- a/entries/ping.txt +++ b/entries/ping.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ ping -1. n. Slang term for a small network message (ICMP ECHO) sent by a computer to check for the presence and alertness of another. The Unix command ping (8) can be used to do this manually (note that ping (8) 's author denies the widespread folk etymology that the name was ever intended as an acronym for Packet INternet Groper ). Occasionally used as a phone greeting. See ACK , also ENQ. 2. vt. To verify the presence of. 3. vt. To get the attention of. 4. vt. To send a message to all members of a mailing list requesting an ACK (in order to verify that everybody's addresses are reachable). We haven't heard much of anything from Geoff, but he did respond with an ACK both times I pinged jargon-friends. 5. n. A quantum packet of happiness. People who are very happy tend to exude pings; furthermore, one can intentionally create pings and aim them at a needy party (e.g., a depressed person). This sense of ping may appear as an exclamation; Ping! (I'm happy; I am emitting a quantum of happiness; I have been struck by a quantum of happiness). The form pingfulness , which is used to describe people who exude pings, also occurs. (In the standard abuse of language, pingfulness can also be used as an exclamation, in which case it's a much stronger exclamation than just ping !). Oppose blargh. The funniest use of ping to date was described in January 1991 by Steve Hayman on the Usenet group comp.sys.next. He was trying to isolate a faulty cable segment on a TCP/IP Ethernet hooked up to a NeXT machine, and got tired of having to run back to his console after each cabling tweak to see if the ping packets were getting through. So he used the sound-recording feature on the NeXT, then wrote a script that repeatedly invoked ping (8) , listened for an echo, and played back the recording on each returned packet. Result? A program that caused the machine to repeat, over and over, Ping. .. ping. .. ping. .. as long as the network was up. He turned the volume to maximum, ferreted through the building with one ear cocked, and found a faulty tee connector in no time. +1. n. Slang term for a small network message (ICMP ECHO) sent by a computer +to check for the presence and alertness of another. The Unix command ping +(8) can be used to do this manually (note that ping (8) 's author denies the +widespread folk etymology that the name was ever intended as an acronym for +Packet INternet Groper ). Occasionally used as a phone greeting. See ACK , +also ENQ. 2. vt. To verify the presence of. 3. vt. To get the attention of. +4. vt. To send a message to all members of a mailing list requesting an ACK +(in order to verify that everybody's addresses are reachable). We haven't +heard much of anything from Geoff, but he did respond with an ACK both times +I pinged jargon-friends. 5. n. A quantum packet of happiness. People who are +very happy tend to exude pings; furthermore, one can intentionally create +pings and aim them at a needy party (e.g., a depressed person). This sense +of ping may appear as an exclamation; Ping! (I'm happy; I am emitting a +quantum of happiness; I have been struck by a quantum of happiness). The +form pingfulness , which is used to describe people who exude pings, also +occurs. (In the standard abuse of language, pingfulness can also be used as +an exclamation, in which case it's a much stronger exclamation than just +ping !). Oppose blargh. The funniest use of ping to date was described in +January 1991 by Steve Hayman on the Usenet group comp.sys.next. He was +trying to isolate a faulty cable segment on a TCP/IP Ethernet hooked up to a +NeXT machine, and got tired of having to run back to his console after each +cabling tweak to see if the ping packets were getting through. So he used +the sound-recording feature on the NeXT, then wrote a script that repeatedly +invoked ping (8) , listened for an echo, and played back the recording on +each returned packet. Result? A program that caused the machine to repeat, +over and over, Ping. .. ping. .. ping. .. as long as the network was up. He +turned the volume to maximum, ferreted through the building with one ear +cocked, and found a faulty tee connector in no time. + diff --git a/entries/pink contract.txt b/entries/pink contract.txt index 94ec352..70826fe 100644 --- a/entries/pink contract.txt +++ b/entries/pink contract.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ pink contract -A contract from an Internet service provider to a spammer exempting the spammer from the usual terms of service prohibiting spamming. Usually pink contracts come about because ISPs can charge the spammer a great deal more than they would a normal client. +A contract from an Internet service provider to a spammer exempting the +spammer from the usual terms of service prohibiting spamming. Usually pink +contracts come about because ISPs can charge the spammer a great deal more +than they would a normal client. + diff --git a/entries/pink wire.txt b/entries/pink wire.txt index b64bca1..4c51646 100644 --- a/entries/pink wire.txt +++ b/entries/pink wire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ pink wire -n. [from the pink PTFE wire used in military equipment] As blue wire , but used in military applications. 2. vi. To add a pink wire to a board. +n. [from the pink PTFE wire used in military equipment] As blue wire , but +used in military applications. 2. vi. To add a pink wire to a board. + diff --git a/entries/pipe.txt b/entries/pipe.txt index 20133df..ff86fd3 100644 --- a/entries/pipe.txt +++ b/entries/pipe.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ pipe -n. [common] Idiomatically, one's connection to the Internet; in context, the expansion bit pipe is understood. A fat pipe is a line with T1 or higher capacity. A person with a 28.8 modem might be heard to complain I need a bigger pipe. +n. [common] Idiomatically, one's connection to the Internet; in context, the +expansion bit pipe is understood. A fat pipe is a line with T1 or higher +capacity. A person with a 28.8 modem might be heard to complain I need a +bigger pipe. + diff --git a/entries/pistol.txt b/entries/pistol.txt index aad91b1..195997c 100644 --- a/entries/pistol.txt +++ b/entries/pistol.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ pistol -n. [IBM] A tool that makes it all too easy for you to shoot yourself in the foot. +n. [IBM] A tool that makes it all too easy for you to shoot yourself in the +foot. + diff --git a/entries/pixel sort.txt b/entries/pixel sort.txt index 168c0ca..45d75e4 100644 --- a/entries/pixel sort.txt +++ b/entries/pixel sort.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ pixel sort -n. [Commodore users] Any compression routine which irretrievably loses valuable data in the process of crunch ing it. Disparagingly used for lossy methods such as JPEG. The theory, of course, is that these methods are only used on photographic images in which minor loss-of-data is not visible to the human eye. The term pixel sort implies distrust of this theory. Compare bogo-sort. +n. [Commodore users] Any compression routine which irretrievably loses +valuable data in the process of crunch ing it. Disparagingly used for lossy +methods such as JPEG. The theory, of course, is that these methods are only +used on photographic images in which minor loss-of-data is not visible to +the human eye. The term pixel sort implies distrust of this theory. Compare +bogo-sort. + diff --git a/entries/pizza box.txt b/entries/pizza box.txt index d472997..bf1d54c 100644 --- a/entries/pizza box.txt +++ b/entries/pizza box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ pizza box -n. [Sun] The largish thin box housing the electronics in (especially Sun) desktop workstations, so named because of its size and shape and the dimpled pattern that looks like air holes. Two-meg single-platter removable disk packs used to be called pizzas, and the huge drive they were stuck into was referred to as a pizza oven. It's an index of progress that in the old days just the disk was pizza-sized, while now the entire computer is. +n. [Sun] The largish thin box housing the electronics in (especially Sun) +desktop workstations, so named because of its size and shape and the dimpled +pattern that looks like air holes. Two-meg single-platter removable disk +packs used to be called pizzas, and the huge drive they were stuck into was +referred to as a pizza oven. It's an index of progress that in the old days +just the disk was pizza-sized, while now the entire computer is. + diff --git a/entries/plaid screen.txt b/entries/plaid screen.txt index 511a800..589b7fc 100644 --- a/entries/plaid screen.txt +++ b/entries/plaid screen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ plaid screen -n. [XEROX PARC] A special effect that occurs when certain kinds of memory smash es overwrite the control blocks or image memory of a bit-mapped display. The term salt and pepper may refer to a different pattern of similar origin. Though the term as coined at PARC refers to the result of an error, some of the X demos induce plaid-screen effects deliberately as a display hack. +n. [XEROX PARC] A special effect that occurs when certain kinds of memory +smash es overwrite the control blocks or image memory of a bit-mapped +display. The term salt and pepper may refer to a different pattern of +similar origin. Though the term as coined at PARC refers to the result of an +error, some of the X demos induce plaid-screen effects deliberately as a +display hack. + diff --git a/entries/plain-ASCII.txt b/entries/plain-ASCII.txt index aea0c73..ab2260d 100644 --- a/entries/plain-ASCII.txt +++ b/entries/plain-ASCII.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ plain-ASCII /playnaskee/ Syn. flat-ASCII. + diff --git a/entries/plan file.txt b/entries/plan file.txt index 831f6e2..47bc7b0 100644 --- a/entries/plan file.txt +++ b/entries/plan file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ plan file -n. [Unix] On systems that support finger , the. plan file in a user's home directory is displayed when the user is fingered. This feature was originally intended to be used to keep potential fingerers apprised of one's location and near-future plans, but has been turned almost universally to humorous and self-expressive purposes (like a sig block ). See also Hacking X for Y. A recent innovation in plan files has been the introduction of scrolling plan files which are one-dimensional animations made using only the printable ASCII character set, carriage return and line feed, avoiding terminal specific escape sequences, since the finger command will (for security reasons; see letterbomb ) not pass the escape character. Scrolling. plan files have become art forms in miniature, and some sites have started competitions to find who can create the longest running, funniest, and most original animations. Various animation characters include: Centipede: mmmmme Lorry/Truck: oo-oP Andalusian Video Snail: _@/ and a compiler (ASP) is available on Usenet for producing them. See also twirling baton. +n. [Unix] On systems that support finger , the. plan file in a user's home +directory is displayed when the user is fingered. This feature was +originally intended to be used to keep potential fingerers apprised of one's +location and near-future plans, but has been turned almost universally to +humorous and self-expressive purposes (like a sig block ). See also Hacking +X for Y. A recent innovation in plan files has been the introduction of +scrolling plan files which are one-dimensional animations made using only +the printable ASCII character set, carriage return and line feed, avoiding +terminal specific escape sequences, since the finger command will (for +security reasons; see letterbomb ) not pass the escape character. Scrolling. +plan files have become art forms in miniature, and some sites have started +competitions to find who can create the longest running, funniest, and most +original animations. Various animation characters include: Centipede: mmmmme +Lorry/Truck: oo-oP Andalusian Video Snail: _@/ and a compiler (ASP) is +available on Usenet for producing them. See also twirling baton. + diff --git a/entries/platinum-iridium.txt b/entries/platinum-iridium.txt index 4e2b8de..b5bfc97 100644 --- a/entries/platinum-iridium.txt +++ b/entries/platinum-iridium.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ platinum-iridium -adj. Standard, against which all others of the same category are measured. Usage: silly. The notion is that one of whatever it is has actually been cast in platinum-iridium alloy and placed in the vault beside the Standard Kilogram at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris. (From 1889 to 1960, the meter was defined to be the distance between two scratches in a platinum-iridium bar kept in that same vault this replaced an earlier definition as 10 -7 times the distance between the North Pole and the Equator along a meridian through Paris; unfortunately, this had been based on an inexact value of the circumference of the Earth. From 1960 to 1984 it was defined to be 1650763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red line of krypton-86 propagating in a vacuum. It is now defined as the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum in the time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second. The kilogram is now the only unit of measure officially defined in terms of a unique artifact. But this will have to change; in 2003 it was revealed that the reference kilogram has been shedding mass over time, and is down by 50 micrograms.) This garbage-collection algorithm has been tested against the platinum-iridium cons cell in Paris. Compare golden. +adj. Standard, against which all others of the same category are measured. +Usage: silly. The notion is that one of whatever it is has actually been +cast in platinum-iridium alloy and placed in the vault beside the Standard +Kilogram at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris. +(From 1889 to 1960, the meter was defined to be the distance between two +scratches in a platinum-iridium bar kept in that same vault this replaced an +earlier definition as 10 -7 times the distance between the North Pole and +the Equator along a meridian through Paris; unfortunately, this had been +based on an inexact value of the circumference of the Earth. From 1960 to +1984 it was defined to be 1650763.73 wavelengths of the orange-red line of +krypton-86 propagating in a vacuum. It is now defined as the length of the +path traveled by light in a vacuum in the time interval of 1/299,792,458 of +a second. The kilogram is now the only unit of measure officially defined in +terms of a unique artifact. But this will have to change; in 2003 it was +revealed that the reference kilogram has been shedding mass over time, and +is down by 50 micrograms.) This garbage-collection algorithm has been tested +against the platinum-iridium cons cell in Paris. Compare golden. + diff --git a/entries/playpen.txt b/entries/playpen.txt index 5e36e46..a40072e 100644 --- a/entries/playpen.txt +++ b/entries/playpen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ playpen n. [IBM] A room where programmers work. Compare salt mines. + diff --git a/entries/playte.txt b/entries/playte.txt index 18edcb4..2a1537c 100644 --- a/entries/playte.txt +++ b/entries/playte.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ playte -/playt/ 16 bits, by analogy with nybble and byte. Usage: rare and extremely silly. See also dynner and crumb. General discussion of such terms is under nybble. +/playt/ 16 bits, by analogy with nybble and byte. Usage: rare and extremely +silly. See also dynner and crumb. General discussion of such terms is under +nybble. + diff --git a/entries/plokta.txt b/entries/plokta.txt index a899c34..47658f4 100644 --- a/entries/plokta.txt +++ b/entries/plokta.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ plokta -/plokt@/ , v. [acronym: Press Lots Of Keys To Abort] To press random keys in an attempt to get some response from the system. One might plokta when the abort procedure for a program is not known, or when trying to figure out if the system is just sluggish or really hung. Plokta can also be used while trying to figure out any unknown key sequence for a particular operation. Someone going into plokta mode usually places both hands flat on the keyboard and mashes them down, hoping for some useful response. A slightly more directed form of plokta can often be seen in mail messages or Usenet articles from new users the text might end with ^X^C q quit :q ^C end x exit ZZ ^D ? help as the user vainly tries to find the right exit sequence, with the incorrect tries piling up at the end of the message.... +/plokt@/ , v. [acronym: Press Lots Of Keys To Abort] To press random keys in +an attempt to get some response from the system. One might plokta when the +abort procedure for a program is not known, or when trying to figure out if +the system is just sluggish or really hung. Plokta can also be used while +trying to figure out any unknown key sequence for a particular operation. +Someone going into plokta mode usually places both hands flat on the +keyboard and mashes them down, hoping for some useful response. A slightly +more directed form of plokta can often be seen in mail messages or Usenet +articles from new users the text might end with ^X^C q quit :q ^C end x exit +ZZ ^D ? help as the user vainly tries to find the right exit sequence, with +the incorrect tries piling up at the end of the message.... + diff --git a/entries/plonk.txt b/entries/plonk.txt index d354402..33d2ee5 100644 --- a/entries/plonk.txt +++ b/entries/plonk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ plonk -excl.,vt. [Usenet: possibly influenced by British slang plonk for cheap booze, or plonker for someone behaving stupidly (latter is lit. equivalent to Yiddish schmuck )] The sound a newbie makes as he falls to the bottom of a kill file. While it originated in the newsgroup talk.bizarre , this term (usually written *plonk* ) is now (1994) widespread on Usenet as a form of public ridicule. +excl.,vt. [Usenet: possibly influenced by British slang plonk for cheap +booze, or plonker for someone behaving stupidly (latter is lit. equivalent +to Yiddish schmuck )] The sound a newbie makes as he falls to the bottom of +a kill file. While it originated in the newsgroup talk.bizarre , this term +(usually written *plonk* ) is now (1994) widespread on Usenet as a form of +public ridicule. + diff --git a/entries/plug-and-pray.txt b/entries/plug-and-pray.txt index 42a6f28..47e9938 100644 --- a/entries/plug-and-pray.txt +++ b/entries/plug-and-pray.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ plug-and-pray -adj.,vi. Parody of the techspeak term plug-and-play , describing a PC peripheral card which is claimed to have no need for hardware configuration via jumpers or DIP switches, and which should work as soon as it is inserted in the PC. Unfortunately, even the PCI bus is all too often not up to pulling this off reliably, and people who have to do installation or troubleshoot PCs soon find themselves longing for the jumpers and switches. +adj.,vi. Parody of the techspeak term plug-and-play , describing a PC +peripheral card which is claimed to have no need for hardware configuration +via jumpers or DIP switches, and which should work as soon as it is inserted +in the PC. Unfortunately, even the PCI bus is all too often not up to +pulling this off reliably, and people who have to do installation or +troubleshoot PCs soon find themselves longing for the jumpers and switches. + diff --git a/entries/plugh.txt b/entries/plugh.txt index 49171bc..3d6c264 100644 --- a/entries/plugh.txt +++ b/entries/plugh.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ plugh /ploogh/ , v. [from the ADVENT game] See xyzzy. + diff --git a/entries/plumbing.txt b/entries/plumbing.txt index 4de1ad5..e8223aa 100644 --- a/entries/plumbing.txt +++ b/entries/plumbing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ plumbing -n. [Unix] Term used for shell code, so called because of the prevalence of pipelines that feed the output of one program to the input of another. Under Unix, user utilities can often be implemented or at least prototyped by a suitable collection of pipelines and temp-file grinding encapsulated in a shell script; this is much less effort than writing C every time, and the capability is considered one of Unix's major winning features. A few other OSs such as IBM's VM/CMS support similar facilities. Esp.: used in the construction hairy plumbing (see hairy ). You can kluge together a basic spell-checker out of sort (1) , comm (1) , and tr (1) with a little plumbing. See also tee. +n. [Unix] Term used for shell code, so called because of the prevalence of +pipelines that feed the output of one program to the input of another. Under +Unix, user utilities can often be implemented or at least prototyped by a +suitable collection of pipelines and temp-file grinding encapsulated in a +shell script; this is much less effort than writing C every time, and the +capability is considered one of Unix's major winning features. A few other +OSs such as IBM's VM/CMS support similar facilities. Esp.: used in the +construction hairy plumbing (see hairy ). You can kluge together a basic +spell-checker out of sort (1) , comm (1) , and tr (1) with a little +plumbing. See also tee. + diff --git a/entries/point release.txt b/entries/point release.txt index 4bd42d8..2876ea0 100644 --- a/entries/point release.txt +++ b/entries/point release.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ point release -n. [common] A minor release of a software project, especially one intended to fix bugs or do minor cleanups rather than add features. The term implies that such releases are relatively frequent, and is generally used with respect to open source projects being developed in bazaar mode. +n. [common] A minor release of a software project, especially one intended +to fix bugs or do minor cleanups rather than add features. The term implies +that such releases are relatively frequent, and is generally used with +respect to open source projects being developed in bazaar mode. + diff --git a/entries/point-and-drool interface.txt b/entries/point-and-drool interface.txt index 9751c51..18bcc2e 100644 --- a/entries/point-and-drool interface.txt +++ b/entries/point-and-drool interface.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ point-and-drool interface -n. Parody of the techspeak term point-and-click interface , describing a windows, icons, and mouse-based interface such as is found on the Macintosh. The implication, of course, is that such an interface is only suitable for idiots. See for the rest of us , WIMP environment , Macintrash , drool-proof paper. Also point-and-grunt interface. +n. Parody of the techspeak term point-and-click interface , describing a +windows, icons, and mouse-based interface such as is found on the Macintosh. +The implication, of course, is that such an interface is only suitable for +idiots. See for the rest of us , WIMP environment , Macintrash , drool-proof +paper. Also point-and-grunt interface. + diff --git a/entries/pointy hat.txt b/entries/pointy hat.txt index 9d5d6d9..b699e0d 100644 --- a/entries/pointy hat.txt +++ b/entries/pointy hat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ pointy hat -n. See wizard hat. This synonym specifically refers to the wizards of Unseen University in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of humorous fantasies; these books are extremely popular among hackers. +n. See wizard hat. This synonym specifically refers to the wizards of Unseen +University in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of humorous fantasies; +these books are extremely popular among hackers. + diff --git a/entries/pointy-haired.txt b/entries/pointy-haired.txt index 8df0571..4135561 100644 --- a/entries/pointy-haired.txt +++ b/entries/pointy-haired.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ pointy-haired -adj. [after the character in the Dilbert comic strip] Describes the extreme form of the property that separates suit s and marketroid s from hackers. Compare brain-dead ; demented ; see PHB. Always applied to people, never to ideas. The plural form is often used as a noun. The pointy-haireds ordered me to use Windows NT, but I set up a Linux server with Samba instead. +adj. [after the character in the Dilbert comic strip] Describes the extreme +form of the property that separates suit s and marketroid s from hackers. +Compare brain-dead ; demented ; see PHB. Always applied to people, never to +ideas. The plural form is often used as a noun. The pointy-haireds ordered +me to use Windows NT, but I set up a Linux server with Samba instead. + diff --git a/entries/poke.txt b/entries/poke.txt index a17f5e2..4254629 100644 --- a/entries/poke.txt +++ b/entries/poke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ poke n.,vt. See peek. + diff --git a/entries/poll.txt b/entries/poll.txt index 6d529ed..9ff79c8 100644 --- a/entries/poll.txt +++ b/entries/poll.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ poll -v.,n. 1. [techspeak] The action of checking the status of an input line, sensor, or memory location to see if a particular external event has been registered. 2. To repeatedly call or check with someone: I keep polling him, but he's not answering his phone; he must be swapped out. 3. To ask. Lunch? I poll for a takeout order daily. +v.,n. 1. [techspeak] The action of checking the status of an input line, +sensor, or memory location to see if a particular external event has been +registered. 2. To repeatedly call or check with someone: I keep polling him, +but he's not answering his phone; he must be swapped out. 3. To ask. Lunch? +I poll for a takeout order daily. + diff --git a/entries/polygon pusher.txt b/entries/polygon pusher.txt index 96d0342..813a0fe 100644 --- a/entries/polygon pusher.txt +++ b/entries/polygon pusher.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ polygon pusher -n. A chip designer who spends most of his or her time at the physical layout level (which requires drawing lots of multi-colored polygons). Also rectangle slinger. +n. A chip designer who spends most of his or her time at the physical layout +level (which requires drawing lots of multi-colored polygons). Also +rectangle slinger. + diff --git a/entries/ponytail.txt b/entries/ponytail.txt index e7ad26f..7e64e86 100644 --- a/entries/ponytail.txt +++ b/entries/ponytail.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ ponytail -n. 1. A hairstyle in which long hair is held back so as to hang down like a pony's tail. 2. A descriptive term for a man having a ponytail hairstyle, or such character traits as might be associated with having a ponytail, eg: effeminacy, narcissism, undue concern with fashion etc. 3. A general term used by hackers for 'creatives': advertising copywriters, graphic designers, video compositors, users characterised by a preference for the Macintosh, recreational drug use, and better sex lives than programmers. 4. A derogatory term for web designers and other persons peripherally associated with IT projects, devoid of programming skills and dismissed as being concerned with visual presentation to the exclusion of actual technical reality. +n. 1. A hairstyle in which long hair is held back so as to hang down like a +pony's tail. 2. A descriptive term for a man having a ponytail hairstyle, or +such character traits as might be associated with having a ponytail, eg: +effeminacy, narcissism, undue concern with fashion etc. 3. A general term +used by hackers for 'creatives': advertising copywriters, graphic designers, +video compositors, users characterised by a preference for the Macintosh, +recreational drug use, and better sex lives than programmers. 4. A +derogatory term for web designers and other persons peripherally associated +with IT projects, devoid of programming skills and dismissed as being +concerned with visual presentation to the exclusion of actual technical +reality. + diff --git a/entries/pop.txt b/entries/pop.txt index b6f9539..5130a54 100644 --- a/entries/pop.txt +++ b/entries/pop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ pop -/pop/ [from the operation that removes the top of a stack, and the fact that procedure return addresses are usually saved on the stack] (also capitalized POP ) 1. vt. To remove something from a stack. If a person says he/she has popped something from his stack, that means he/she has finally finished working on it and can now remove it from the list of things hanging overhead. 2. When a discussion gets to a level of detail so deep that the main point of the discussion is being lost, someone will shout Pop! , meaning Get back up to a higher level! The shout is frequently accompanied by an upthrust arm with a finger pointing to the ceiling. 3. [all-caps, as POP ] Point of Presence, a bank of dial-in lines allowing customers to make (local) calls into an ISP. This is borderline techspeak. +/pop/ [from the operation that removes the top of a stack, and the fact that +procedure return addresses are usually saved on the stack] (also capitalized +POP ) 1. vt. To remove something from a stack. If a person says he/she has +popped something from his stack, that means he/she has finally finished +working on it and can now remove it from the list of things hanging +overhead. 2. When a discussion gets to a level of detail so deep that the +main point of the discussion is being lost, someone will shout Pop! , +meaning Get back up to a higher level! The shout is frequently accompanied +by an upthrust arm with a finger pointing to the ceiling. 3. [all-caps, as +POP ] Point of Presence, a bank of dial-in lines allowing customers to make +(local) calls into an ISP. This is borderline techspeak. + diff --git a/entries/poser.txt b/entries/poser.txt index c695507..936ce4b 100644 --- a/entries/poser.txt +++ b/entries/poser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ poser -n. [from French poseur ] A wannabee ; not hacker slang, but used among crackers, phreaks and warez d00dz. Not as negative as lamer or leech. Probably derives from a similar usage among punk-rockers and metalheads, putting down those who talk the talk but don't walk the walk. +n. [from French poseur ] A wannabee ; not hacker slang, but used among +crackers, phreaks and warez d00dz. Not as negative as lamer or leech. +Probably derives from a similar usage among punk-rockers and metalheads, +putting down those who talk the talk but don't walk the walk. + diff --git a/entries/post.txt b/entries/post.txt index bf525dc..2c40241 100644 --- a/entries/post.txt +++ b/entries/post.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ post v. To send a message to a mailing list or newsgroup. + diff --git a/entries/postcardware.txt b/entries/postcardware.txt index f0646bf..c0b2dbc 100644 --- a/entries/postcardware.txt +++ b/entries/postcardware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ postcardware -n. A kind of shareware that borders on freeware , in that the author requests only that satisfied users send a postcard of their home town or something. (This practice, silly as it might seem, serves to remind users that they are otherwise getting something for nothing, and may also be psychologically related to real estate sales in which $1 changes hands just to keep the transaction from being a gift. +n. A kind of shareware that borders on freeware , in that the author +requests only that satisfied users send a postcard of their home town or +something. (This practice, silly as it might seem, serves to remind users +that they are otherwise getting something for nothing, and may also be +psychologically related to real estate sales in which $1 changes hands just +to keep the transaction from being a gift. + diff --git a/entries/posting.txt b/entries/posting.txt index 73c5fb3..4c053d4 100644 --- a/entries/posting.txt +++ b/entries/posting.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ posting -n. Noun corresp. to v.: post (but note that post can be nouned). Distinguished from a letter or ordinary email message by the fact that it is broadcast rather than point-to-point. It is not clear whether messages sent to a small mailing list are postings or email; perhaps the best dividing line is that if you don't know the names of all the potential recipients, it is a posting. +n. Noun corresp. to v.: post (but note that post can be nouned). +Distinguished from a letter or ordinary email message by the fact that it is +broadcast rather than point-to-point. It is not clear whether messages sent +to a small mailing list are postings or email; perhaps the best dividing +line is that if you don't know the names of all the potential recipients, it +is a posting. + diff --git a/entries/postmaster.txt b/entries/postmaster.txt index ad829cc..7ebdac5 100644 --- a/entries/postmaster.txt +++ b/entries/postmaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ postmaster -n. The email contact and maintenance person at a site connected to the network. Often, but not always, the same as the admin. The Internet standard for electronic mail ( RFC -822) requires each machine to have a postmaster address; usually it is aliased to this person. +n. The email contact and maintenance person at a site connected to the +network. Often, but not always, the same as the admin. The Internet standard +for electronic mail ( RFC -822) requires each machine to have a postmaster +address; usually it is aliased to this person. + diff --git a/entries/pound on.txt b/entries/pound on.txt index 49c8904..a5444f9 100644 --- a/entries/pound on.txt +++ b/entries/pound on.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ pound on vt. Syn. bang on. + diff --git a/entries/power cycle.txt b/entries/power cycle.txt index 55ac588..ee2df83 100644 --- a/entries/power cycle.txt +++ b/entries/power cycle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ power cycle -vt. (also, cycle power or just cycle ) To power off a machine and then power it on immediately, with the intention of clearing some kind of hung or gronk ed state. See also Big Red Switch. Compare Vulcan nerve pinch , bounce (sense 4), and boot , and see the Some AI Koans (in Appendix A) about Tom Knight and the novice. +vt. (also, cycle power or just cycle ) To power off a machine and then power +it on immediately, with the intention of clearing some kind of hung or gronk +ed state. See also Big Red Switch. Compare Vulcan nerve pinch , bounce +(sense 4), and boot , and see the Some AI Koans (in Appendix A) about Tom +Knight and the novice. + diff --git a/entries/power hit.txt b/entries/power hit.txt index 4f8d209..471b4b7 100644 --- a/entries/power hit.txt +++ b/entries/power hit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ power hit -n. A spike or drop-out in the electricity supplying your machine; a power glitch. These can cause crashes and even permanent damage to your machine(s). +n. A spike or drop-out in the electricity supplying your machine; a power +glitch. These can cause crashes and even permanent damage to your +machine(s). + diff --git a/entries/pr0n.txt b/entries/pr0n.txt index 703db94..1f0a955 100644 --- a/entries/pr0n.txt +++ b/entries/pr0n.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ pr0n -// [Usenet, IRC] Pornography. Originally this referred only to Internet porn but since then it has expanded to refer to just about any kind. The term comes from the warez kiddies tendency to replace letters with numbers. At some point on IRC someone mistyped, swapping the middle two characters, and the name stuck. It then propagated over into mainstream hacker usage. New versions of the Mozilla web browser internally refer to the image library as libpr0n. Compare filk , grilf , hing and newsfroup. +// [Usenet, IRC] Pornography. Originally this referred only to Internet porn +but since then it has expanded to refer to just about any kind. The term +comes from the warez kiddies tendency to replace letters with numbers. At +some point on IRC someone mistyped, swapping the middle two characters, and +the name stuck. It then propagated over into mainstream hacker usage. New +versions of the Mozilla web browser internally refer to the image library as +libpr0n. Compare filk , grilf , hing and newsfroup. + diff --git a/entries/precedence lossage.txt b/entries/precedence lossage.txt index 7b4eff6..3dd6155 100644 --- a/entries/precedence lossage.txt +++ b/entries/precedence lossage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ precedence lossage -/pres@dens los'@j/ , n. [C programmers] Coding error in an expression due to unexpected grouping of arithmetic or logical operators by the compiler. Used esp. of certain common coding errors in C due to the nonintuitively low precedence levels of , | , ^ , , and (for this reason, experienced C programmers deliberately forget the language's baroque precedence hierarchy and parenthesize defensively). Can always be avoided by suitable use of parentheses. LISP fans enjoy pointing out that this can't happen in their favorite language, which eschews precedence entirely, requiring one to use explicit parentheses everywhere. See aliasing bug , memory leak , memory smash , smash the stack , fandango on core , overrun screw. +/pres@dens los'@j/ , n. [C programmers] Coding error in an expression due to +unexpected grouping of arithmetic or logical operators by the compiler. Used +esp. of certain common coding errors in C due to the nonintuitively low +precedence levels of , | , ^ , , and (for this reason, experienced C +programmers deliberately forget the language's baroque precedence hierarchy +and parenthesize defensively). Can always be avoided by suitable use of +parentheses. LISP fans enjoy pointing out that this can't happen in their +favorite language, which eschews precedence entirely, requiring one to use +explicit parentheses everywhere. See aliasing bug , memory leak , memory +smash , smash the stack , fandango on core , overrun screw. + diff --git a/entries/pred.txt b/entries/pred.txt index 12d9bf1..8fc9df2 100644 --- a/entries/pred.txt +++ b/entries/pred.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ pred -// [Usenet; orig. fr. the Island MUD via Oxford University] Abbreviation for predictable , used to signify or preempt responses that are extremely predictable but have to be filled in for the sake of form (the phrase is bracketed by pred. .. /pred ). X-Pred headers in mail or news serve the same end. Figuring out the connection between the X-Pred tagline and the thread is part of the entertainment. For example, it is said that any thread about taxation must contain a reference to Raquel Welch, if only to stop other people from mentioning her. This is allegedly due to a Monty Python sketch where a character declares that he would tax Raquel Welch, and he has a feeling she would tax him. +// [Usenet; orig. fr. the Island MUD via Oxford University] Abbreviation for +predictable , used to signify or preempt responses that are extremely +predictable but have to be filled in for the sake of form (the phrase is +bracketed by pred. .. /pred ). X-Pred headers in mail or news serve the same +end. Figuring out the connection between the X-Pred tagline and the thread +is part of the entertainment. For example, it is said that any thread about +taxation must contain a reference to Raquel Welch, if only to stop other +people from mentioning her. This is allegedly due to a Monty Python sketch +where a character declares that he would tax Raquel Welch, and he has a +feeling she would tax him. + diff --git a/entries/prepend.txt b/entries/prepend.txt index 1e1da4f..e057e8c 100644 --- a/entries/prepend.txt +++ b/entries/prepend.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ prepend -/pree`pend/ , vt. [by analogy with append ] To prefix. As with append (but not prefix or suffix as a verb), the direct object is always the thing being added and not the original word (or character string, or whatever). If you prepend a semicolon to the line, the translation routine will pass it through unaltered. +/pree`pend/ , vt. [by analogy with append ] To prefix. As with append (but +not prefix or suffix as a verb), the direct object is always the thing being +added and not the original word (or character string, or whatever). If you +prepend a semicolon to the line, the translation routine will pass it +through unaltered. + diff --git a/entries/prestidigitization.txt b/entries/prestidigitization.txt index c3a45f7..c14624a 100644 --- a/entries/prestidigitization.txt +++ b/entries/prestidigitization.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ prestidigitization -/pres`t@di`j@ti:zaysh@n/ , n. 1. The act of putting something into digital notation via sleight of hand. 2. Data entry through legerdemain. +/pres`t@di`j@ti:zaysh@n/ , n. 1. The act of putting something into digital +notation via sleight of hand. 2. Data entry through legerdemain. + diff --git a/entries/pretty pictures.txt b/entries/pretty pictures.txt index 4395db7..de5d957 100644 --- a/entries/pretty pictures.txt +++ b/entries/pretty pictures.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ pretty pictures -n. [scientific computation] The next step up from numbers. Interesting graphical output from a program that may not have any sensible relationship to the system the program is intended to model. Good for showing to management. +n. [scientific computation] The next step up from numbers. Interesting +graphical output from a program that may not have any sensible relationship +to the system the program is intended to model. Good for showing to +management. + diff --git a/entries/prettyprint.txt b/entries/prettyprint.txt index 354775d..09c8085 100644 --- a/entries/prettyprint.txt +++ b/entries/prettyprint.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ prettyprint -/priteeprint/ , v. (alt.: pretty-print ) 1. To generate pretty human-readable output from a hairy internal representation; esp. used for the process of grind ing (sense 1) program code, and most esp. for LISP code. 2. To format in some particularly slick and nontrivial way. +/priteeprint/ , v. (alt.: pretty-print ) 1. To generate pretty +human-readable output from a hairy internal representation; esp. used for +the process of grind ing (sense 1) program code, and most esp. for LISP +code. 2. To format in some particularly slick and nontrivial way. + diff --git a/entries/pretzel key.txt b/entries/pretzel key.txt index cf571a6..7a97856 100644 --- a/entries/pretzel key.txt +++ b/entries/pretzel key.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ pretzel key n. [Mac users] See feature key. + diff --git a/entries/priesthood.txt b/entries/priesthood.txt index fcf5524..1753dfc 100644 --- a/entries/priesthood.txt +++ b/entries/priesthood.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ priesthood -n. [TMRC; obs.] The select group of system managers responsible for the operation and maintenance of a batch computer system. On these computers, a user never had direct access to a computer, but had to submit his/her data and programs to a priest for execution. Results were returned days or even weeks later. +n. [TMRC; obs.] The select group of system managers responsible for the +operation and maintenance of a batch computer system. On these computers, a +user never had direct access to a computer, but had to submit his/her data +and programs to a priest for execution. Results were returned days or even +weeks later. + diff --git a/entries/prime time.txt b/entries/prime time.txt index d70baca..e73f7de 100644 --- a/entries/prime time.txt +++ b/entries/prime time.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ prime time -n. [from TV programming] Normal high-usage hours on a system or network. Back in the days of big timesharing machines prime time was when lots of people were competing for limited cycles, usually the day shift. Avoidance of prime time was traditionally given as a major reason for night mode hacking. The term fell into disuse during the early PC era, but has been revived to refer to times of day or evening at which the Internet tends to be heavily loaded, making Web access slow. The hackish tendency to late-night hacking run s has changed not a bit. +n. [from TV programming] Normal high-usage hours on a system or network. +Back in the days of big timesharing machines prime time was when lots of +people were competing for limited cycles, usually the day shift. Avoidance +of prime time was traditionally given as a major reason for night mode +hacking. The term fell into disuse during the early PC era, but has been +revived to refer to times of day or evening at which the Internet tends to +be heavily loaded, making Web access slow. The hackish tendency to +late-night hacking run s has changed not a bit. + diff --git a/entries/print.txt b/entries/print.txt index e2c9a14..b750224 100644 --- a/entries/print.txt +++ b/entries/print.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ print -v. To output, even if to a screen. If a hacker says that a program printed a message , he means this; if he refers to printing a file, he probably means it in the conventional sense of writing to a hardcopy device (compounds like print job and printout , on the other hand, always refer to the latter). This very common term is likely a holdover from the days when printing terminals were the norm, perpetuated by programming language constructs like C 's printf (3). See senses 1 and 2 of tty. +v. To output, even if to a screen. If a hacker says that a program printed a +message , he means this; if he refers to printing a file, he probably means +it in the conventional sense of writing to a hardcopy device (compounds like +print job and printout , on the other hand, always refer to the latter). +This very common term is likely a holdover from the days when printing +terminals were the norm, perpetuated by programming language constructs like +C 's printf (3). See senses 1 and 2 of tty. + diff --git a/entries/printing discussion.txt b/entries/printing discussion.txt index e57b767..020fa49 100644 --- a/entries/printing discussion.txt +++ b/entries/printing discussion.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ printing discussion -n. [XEROX PARC] A protracted, low-level, time-consuming, generally pointless discussion of something only peripherally interesting to all. +n. [XEROX PARC] A protracted, low-level, time-consuming, generally pointless +discussion of something only peripherally interesting to all. + diff --git a/entries/priority interrupt.txt b/entries/priority interrupt.txt index 24dda16..62e8db7 100644 --- a/entries/priority interrupt.txt +++ b/entries/priority interrupt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ priority interrupt -n. [from the hardware term] Describes any stimulus compelling enough to yank one right out of hack mode. Classically used to describe being dragged away by an SO for immediate sex, but may also refer to more mundane interruptions such as a fire alarm going off in the near vicinity. Also called an NMI (non-maskable interrupt), especially in PC-land. +n. [from the hardware term] Describes any stimulus compelling enough to yank +one right out of hack mode. Classically used to describe being dragged away +by an SO for immediate sex, but may also refer to more mundane interruptions +such as a fire alarm going off in the near vicinity. Also called an NMI +(non-maskable interrupt), especially in PC-land. + diff --git a/entries/profile.txt b/entries/profile.txt index 664ced4..a93b313 100644 --- a/entries/profile.txt +++ b/entries/profile.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ profile -n. 1. A control file for a program, esp. a text file automatically read from each user's home directory and intended to be easily modified by the user in order to customize the program's behavior. Used to avoid hardcoded choices (see also dot file , rc file ). 2. [techspeak] A report on the amounts of time spent in each routine of a program, used to find and tune away the hot spot s in it. This sense is often verbed. Some profiling modes report units other than time (such as call counts) and/or report at granularities other than per-routine, but the idea is similar. 3.[techspeak] A subset of a standard used for a particular purpose. +n. 1. A control file for a program, esp. a text file automatically read from +each user's home directory and intended to be easily modified by the user in +order to customize the program's behavior. Used to avoid hardcoded choices +(see also dot file , rc file ). 2. [techspeak] A report on the amounts of +time spent in each routine of a program, used to find and tune away the hot +spot s in it. This sense is often verbed. Some profiling modes report units +other than time (such as call counts) and/or report at granularities other +than per-routine, but the idea is similar. 3.[techspeak] A subset of a +standard used for a particular purpose. + diff --git a/entries/progasm.txt b/entries/progasm.txt index 0ee3f39..449a9ca 100644 --- a/entries/progasm.txt +++ b/entries/progasm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ progasm -/prohgazm/ , n. [University of Wisconsin] The euphoria experienced upon the completion of a program or other computer-related project. For example, the rush you get when you finally run the code you've been hacking for the past week and it works first time. (The quality of the experience is directly proportional to the complexity of the code and inversely proportional to the amount of debugging it took to get the code working.) Compare geekasm. +/prohgazm/ , n. [University of Wisconsin] The euphoria experienced upon the +completion of a program or other computer-related project. For example, the +rush you get when you finally run the code you've been hacking for the past +week and it works first time. (The quality of the experience is directly +proportional to the complexity of the code and inversely proportional to the +amount of debugging it took to get the code working.) Compare geekasm. + diff --git a/entries/proggy.txt b/entries/proggy.txt index 43c819e..bb4e190 100644 --- a/entries/proggy.txt +++ b/entries/proggy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ proggy -n. 1. Any computer program that is considered a full application. 2. Any computer program that is made up of or otherwise contains proglet s. 3. Any computer program that is large enough to be normally distributed as an RPM or tarball. +n. 1. Any computer program that is considered a full application. 2. Any +computer program that is made up of or otherwise contains proglet s. 3. Any +computer program that is large enough to be normally distributed as an RPM +or tarball. + diff --git a/entries/proglet.txt b/entries/proglet.txt index cb39828..a46d33b 100644 --- a/entries/proglet.txt +++ b/entries/proglet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ proglet -/proglet/ , n. [UK] A short extempore program written to meet an immediate, transient need. Often written in BASIC, rarely more than a dozen lines long, and containing no subroutines. The largest amount of code that can be written off the top of one's head, that does not need any editing, and that runs correctly the first time (this amount varies significantly according to one's skill and the language one is using). Compare toy program , noddy , one-liner wars. +/proglet/ , n. [UK] A short extempore program written to meet an immediate, +transient need. Often written in BASIC, rarely more than a dozen lines long, +and containing no subroutines. The largest amount of code that can be +written off the top of one's head, that does not need any editing, and that +runs correctly the first time (this amount varies significantly according to +one's skill and the language one is using). Compare toy program , noddy , +one-liner wars. + diff --git a/entries/program.txt b/entries/program.txt index 0699e42..f79038c 100644 --- a/entries/program.txt +++ b/entries/program.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ program -n. 1. A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to turn one's input into error messages. 2. An exercise in experimental epistemology. 3. A form of art, ostensibly intended for the instruction of computers, which is nevertheless almost inevitably a failure if other programmers can't understand it. +n. 1. A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to turn one's input +into error messages. 2. An exercise in experimental epistemology. 3. A form +of art, ostensibly intended for the instruction of computers, which is +nevertheless almost inevitably a failure if other programmers can't +understand it. + diff --git a/entries/programming fluid.txt b/entries/programming fluid.txt index d1b6650..04998e3 100644 --- a/entries/programming fluid.txt +++ b/entries/programming fluid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ programming fluid -n. 1. Coffee. 2. Cola. 3. Any caffeinacious stimulant. Many hackers consider these essential for those all-night hacking runs. See wirewater. +n. 1. Coffee. 2. Cola. 3. Any caffeinacious stimulant. Many hackers consider +these essential for those all-night hacking runs. See wirewater. + diff --git a/entries/programming.txt b/entries/programming.txt index c7f9ef1..41ce41f 100644 --- a/entries/programming.txt +++ b/entries/programming.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ programming -n. 1. The art of debugging a blank sheet of paper (or, in these days of on-line editing, the art of debugging an empty file). Bloody instructions which, being taught, return to plague their inventor ( Macbeth , Act 1, Scene 7) 2. A pastime similar to banging one's head against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward. 3. The most fun you can have with your clothes on. 4. The least fun you can have with your clothes off. +n. 1. The art of debugging a blank sheet of paper (or, in these days of +on-line editing, the art of debugging an empty file). Bloody instructions +which, being taught, return to plague their inventor ( Macbeth , Act 1, +Scene 7) 2. A pastime similar to banging one's head against a wall, but with +fewer opportunities for reward. 3. The most fun you can have with your +clothes on. 4. The least fun you can have with your clothes off. + diff --git a/entries/propeller head.txt b/entries/propeller head.txt index 6645178..1cb3614 100644 --- a/entries/propeller head.txt +++ b/entries/propeller head.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ propeller head -n. Used by hackers, this is syn. with geek. Non-hackers sometimes use it to describe all techies. Prob. derives from SF fandom's tradition (originally invented by old-time fan Ray Faraday Nelson) of propeller beanies as fannish insignia (though nobody actually wears them except as a joke). +n. Used by hackers, this is syn. with geek. Non-hackers sometimes use it to +describe all techies. Prob. derives from SF fandom's tradition (originally +invented by old-time fan Ray Faraday Nelson) of propeller beanies as fannish +insignia (though nobody actually wears them except as a joke). + diff --git a/entries/propeller key.txt b/entries/propeller key.txt index 307ad8c..c77d447 100644 --- a/entries/propeller key.txt +++ b/entries/propeller key.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ propeller key n. [Mac users] See feature key. + diff --git a/entries/proprietary.txt b/entries/proprietary.txt index b955346..4ed6565 100644 --- a/entries/proprietary.txt +++ b/entries/proprietary.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ proprietary -adj. 1. In marketroid -speak, superior; implies a product imbued with exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of the company's own hardware or software designers. 2. In the language of hackers and users, inferior; implies a product not conforming to open-systems standards, and thus one that puts the customer at the mercy of a vendor able to gouge freely on service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer in. Often used in the phrase proprietary crap. 3. Synonym for closed-source or non-free, e.g. software issued without license rights permitting the public to independently review, develop and redistribute it. Proprietary software should be distinguished from commercial software. It is possible for software to be commercial (that is, intended to make a profit for the producers) without being proprietary. The reverse is also possible, for example in binary-only freeware. +adj. 1. In marketroid -speak, superior; implies a product imbued with +exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of the company's own hardware or +software designers. 2. In the language of hackers and users, inferior; +implies a product not conforming to open-systems standards, and thus one +that puts the customer at the mercy of a vendor able to gouge freely on +service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer +in. Often used in the phrase proprietary crap. 3. Synonym for closed-source +or non-free, e.g. software issued without license rights permitting the +public to independently review, develop and redistribute it. Proprietary +software should be distinguished from commercial software. It is possible +for software to be commercial (that is, intended to make a profit for the +producers) without being proprietary. The reverse is also possible, for +example in binary-only freeware. + diff --git a/entries/protocol.txt b/entries/protocol.txt index d352793..df88340 100644 --- a/entries/protocol.txt +++ b/entries/protocol.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ protocol -n. As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties about the proper form for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or the order in which one should use the forks in a Russian-style place setting; hackers don't care about such things. It is used instead to describe any set of rules that allow different machines or pieces of software to coordinate with each other without ambiguity. So, for example, it does include niceties about the proper form for addressing packets on a network or the order in which one should use the forks in the Dining Philosophers Problem. It implies that there is some common message format and an accepted set of primitives or commands that all parties involved understand, and that transactions among them follow predictable logical sequences. See also handshaking , do protocol. +n. As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties about the proper form +for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or the order in which one should +use the forks in a Russian-style place setting; hackers don't care about +such things. It is used instead to describe any set of rules that allow +different machines or pieces of software to coordinate with each other +without ambiguity. So, for example, it does include niceties about the +proper form for addressing packets on a network or the order in which one +should use the forks in the Dining Philosophers Problem. It implies that +there is some common message format and an accepted set of primitives or +commands that all parties involved understand, and that transactions among +them follow predictable logical sequences. See also handshaking , do +protocol. + diff --git a/entries/provocative maintenance.txt b/entries/provocative maintenance.txt index d70d9fc..cf27b56 100644 --- a/entries/provocative maintenance.txt +++ b/entries/provocative maintenance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ provocative maintenance -n. [common ironic mutation of preventive maintenance ] Actions performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by a field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such maintenance often induces problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an un usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey. +n. [common ironic mutation of preventive maintenance ] Actions performed +upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system +remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed +by a field servoid who doesn't know what he is doing; such maintenance often +induces problems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in an un +usable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See also scratch monkey. + diff --git a/entries/prowler.txt b/entries/prowler.txt index 2481ac3..e40a97d 100644 --- a/entries/prowler.txt +++ b/entries/prowler.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ prowler -n. [Unix] A daemon that is run periodically (typically once a week) to seek out and erase core files, truncate administrative logfiles, nuke lost+found directories, and otherwise clean up the cruft that tends to pile up in the corners of a file system. See also reaper , skulker. +n. [Unix] A daemon that is run periodically (typically once a week) to seek +out and erase core files, truncate administrative logfiles, nuke lost+found +directories, and otherwise clean up the cruft that tends to pile up in the +corners of a file system. See also reaper , skulker. + diff --git a/entries/pseudo.txt b/entries/pseudo.txt index 3172f7b..e42ae6c 100644 --- a/entries/pseudo.txt +++ b/entries/pseudo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ pseudo -/soodoh/ , n. [Usenet: truncation of pseudonym ] 1. An electronic-mail or Usenet persona adopted by a human for amusement value or as a means of avoiding negative repercussions of one's net.behavior; a nom de Usenet , often associated with forged postings designed to conceal message origins. Perhaps the best-known and funniest hoax of this type is B1FF. See also tentacle. 2. Notionally, a flamage -generating AI program simulating a Usenet user. Many flamers have been accused of actually being such entities, despite the fact that no AI program of the required sophistication yet exists. However, in 1989 there was a famous series of forged postings that used a phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of several well-known flamers; it was based on large samples of their back postings (compare Dissociated Press ). A significant number of people were fooled by the forgeries, and the debate over their authenticity was settled only when the perpetrator came forward to publicly admit the hoax. +/soodoh/ , n. [Usenet: truncation of pseudonym ] 1. An electronic-mail or +Usenet persona adopted by a human for amusement value or as a means of +avoiding negative repercussions of one's net.behavior; a nom de Usenet , +often associated with forged postings designed to conceal message origins. +Perhaps the best-known and funniest hoax of this type is B1FF. See also +tentacle. 2. Notionally, a flamage -generating AI program simulating a +Usenet user. Many flamers have been accused of actually being such entities, +despite the fact that no AI program of the required sophistication yet +exists. However, in 1989 there was a famous series of forged postings that +used a phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of +several well-known flamers; it was based on large samples of their back +postings (compare Dissociated Press ). A significant number of people were +fooled by the forgeries, and the debate over their authenticity was settled +only when the perpetrator came forward to publicly admit the hoax. + diff --git a/entries/pseudoprime.txt b/entries/pseudoprime.txt index 8776c94..910595b 100644 --- a/entries/pseudoprime.txt +++ b/entries/pseudoprime.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ pseudoprime -n. A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied points) with one point missing. This term is an esoteric pun derived from number theory: a number that passes a certain kind of primality test may be called a pseudoprime (all primes pass any such test, but so do some composite numbers), and any number that passes several is, in some sense, almost certainly prime. The hacker backgammon usage stems from the idea that a pseudoprime is almost as good as a prime: it will do the same job unless you are unlucky. +n. A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied points) with one point +missing. This term is an esoteric pun derived from number theory: a number +that passes a certain kind of primality test may be called a pseudoprime +(all primes pass any such test, but so do some composite numbers), and any +number that passes several is, in some sense, almost certainly prime. The +hacker backgammon usage stems from the idea that a pseudoprime is almost as +good as a prime: it will do the same job unless you are unlucky. + diff --git a/entries/pseudosuit.txt b/entries/pseudosuit.txt index 219f9f3..490c363 100644 --- a/entries/pseudosuit.txt +++ b/entries/pseudosuit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ pseudosuit -/soodohs[y]oot`/ , n. A suit wannabee; a hacker who has decided that he wants to be in management or administration and begins wearing ties, sport coats, and (shudder!) suits voluntarily. It's his funeral. See also lobotomy. +/soodohs[y]oot`/ , n. A suit wannabee; a hacker who has decided that he +wants to be in management or administration and begins wearing ties, sport +coats, and (shudder!) suits voluntarily. It's his funeral. See also +lobotomy. + diff --git a/entries/psychedelicware.txt b/entries/psychedelicware.txt index 3bea37c..782e366 100644 --- a/entries/psychedelicware.txt +++ b/entries/psychedelicware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ psychedelicware /si:`k@del'ikweir/ , n. [UK] Syn. display hack. See also smoking clover. + diff --git a/entries/psyton.txt b/entries/psyton.txt index af3072a..437c05d 100644 --- a/entries/psyton.txt +++ b/entries/psyton.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ psyton -/si:ton/ , n. [TMRC] The elementary particle carrying the sinister force. The probability of a process losing is proportional to the number of psytons falling on it. Psytons are generated by observers, which is why demos are more likely to fail when lots of people are watching. [This term appears to have been largely superseded by bogon ; see also quantum bogodynamics. +/si:ton/ , n. [TMRC] The elementary particle carrying the sinister force. +The probability of a process losing is proportional to the number of psytons +falling on it. Psytons are generated by observers, which is why demos are +more likely to fail when lots of people are watching. [This term appears to +have been largely superseded by bogon ; see also quantum bogodynamics. + diff --git a/entries/pubic directory.txt b/entries/pubic directory.txt index e5180bb..07762f0 100644 --- a/entries/pubic directory.txt +++ b/entries/pubic directory.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ pubic directory -/pyoobik d@rekt@ree/ , n. [NYU] (also pube directory /pyoob' d@rekt@ree/ ) The pub (public) directory on a machine that allows FTP access. So called because it is the default location for SEX (sense 1). I'll have the source in the pube directory by Friday. +/pyoobik d@rekt@ree/ , n. [NYU] (also pube directory /pyoob' d@rekt@ree/ ) +The pub (public) directory on a machine that allows FTP access. So called +because it is the default location for SEX (sense 1). I'll have the source +in the pube directory by Friday. + diff --git a/entries/puff.txt b/entries/puff.txt index 1bf7d36..99a0a9c 100644 --- a/entries/puff.txt +++ b/entries/puff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ puff -vt. To decompress data that has been crunched by Huffman coding. At least one widely distributed Huffman decoder program was actually named PUFF , but these days it is usually packaged with the encoder. Oppose huff , see inflate. +vt. To decompress data that has been crunched by Huffman coding. At least +one widely distributed Huffman decoder program was actually named PUFF , but +these days it is usually packaged with the encoder. Oppose huff , see +inflate. + diff --git a/entries/pumpkin holder.txt b/entries/pumpkin holder.txt index c0ae6b9..9beed02 100644 --- a/entries/pumpkin holder.txt +++ b/entries/pumpkin holder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ pumpkin holder n. See patch pumpkin. + diff --git a/entries/pumpking.txt b/entries/pumpking.txt index 1cef85e..b2b4884 100644 --- a/entries/pumpking.txt +++ b/entries/pumpking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ pumpking n. Syn. for pumpkin holder ; see patch pumpkin. + diff --git a/entries/punched card.txt b/entries/punched card.txt index 2bc6a56..7ac6538 100644 --- a/entries/punched card.txt +++ b/entries/punched card.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ punched card -[techspeak] (alt.: punch card ) The signature medium of computing's Stone Age , now obsolescent. The punched card actually predated computers considerably, originating in 1801 as a control device for mechanical looms. The version patented by Hollerith and used with mechanical tabulating machines in the 1890 U.S. Census was a piece of cardboard about 90 mm by 215 mm. There is a widespread myth that it was designed to fit in the currency trays used for that era's larger dollar bills, but recent investigations have falsified this. IBM (which originated as a tabulating-machine manufacturer) married the punched card to computers, encoding binary information as patterns of small rectangular holes; one character per column, 80 columns per card. Other coding schemes, sizes of card, and hole shapes were tried at various times. The 80-column width of most character terminals is a legacy of the IBM punched card; so is the size of the quick-reference cards distributed with many varieties of computers even today. See chad , chad box , eighty-column mind , green card , dusty deck , code grinder. +[techspeak] (alt.: punch card ) The signature medium of computing's Stone +Age , now obsolescent. The punched card actually predated computers +considerably, originating in 1801 as a control device for mechanical looms. +The version patented by Hollerith and used with mechanical tabulating +machines in the 1890 U.S. Census was a piece of cardboard about 90 mm by 215 +mm. There is a widespread myth that it was designed to fit in the currency +trays used for that era's larger dollar bills, but recent investigations +have falsified this. IBM (which originated as a tabulating-machine +manufacturer) married the punched card to computers, encoding binary +information as patterns of small rectangular holes; one character per +column, 80 columns per card. Other coding schemes, sizes of card, and hole +shapes were tried at various times. The 80-column width of most character +terminals is a legacy of the IBM punched card; so is the size of the +quick-reference cards distributed with many varieties of computers even +today. See chad , chad box , eighty-column mind , green card , dusty deck , +code grinder. + diff --git a/entries/punt.txt b/entries/punt.txt index 685576e..400b3c1 100644 --- a/entries/punt.txt +++ b/entries/punt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ punt -v. [from the punch line of an old joke referring to American football: Drop back 15 yards and punt! ] 1. To give up, typically without any intention of retrying. Let's punt the movie tonight. I was going to hack all night to get this feature in, but I decided to punt may mean that you've decided not to stay up all night, and may also mean you're not ever even going to put in the feature. 2. More specifically, to give up on figuring out what the Right Thing is and resort to an inefficient hack. 3. A design decision to defer solving a problem, typically because one cannot define what is desirable sufficiently well to frame an algorithmic solution. No way to know what the right form to dump the graph in is we'll punt that for now. 4. To hand a tricky implementation problem off to some other section of the design. It's too hard to get the compiler to do that; let's punt to the runtime system. 5. To knock someone off an Internet or chat connection; a punter thus, is a person or program that does this. +v. [from the punch line of an old joke referring to American football: Drop +back 15 yards and punt! ] 1. To give up, typically without any intention of +retrying. Let's punt the movie tonight. I was going to hack all night to get +this feature in, but I decided to punt may mean that you've decided not to +stay up all night, and may also mean you're not ever even going to put in +the feature. 2. More specifically, to give up on figuring out what the Right +Thing is and resort to an inefficient hack. 3. A design decision to defer +solving a problem, typically because one cannot define what is desirable +sufficiently well to frame an algorithmic solution. No way to know what the +right form to dump the graph in is we'll punt that for now. 4. To hand a +tricky implementation problem off to some other section of the design. It's +too hard to get the compiler to do that; let's punt to the runtime system. +5. To knock someone off an Internet or chat connection; a punter thus, is a +person or program that does this. + diff --git a/entries/purple wire.txt b/entries/purple wire.txt index 4a8ad7b..66e252f 100644 --- a/entries/purple wire.txt +++ b/entries/purple wire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ purple wire -n. [IBM] Wire installed by Field Engineers to work around problems discovered during testing or debugging. These are called purple wires even when (as is frequently the case) their actual physical color is yellow.... Compare blue wire , yellow wire , and red wire. +n. [IBM] Wire installed by Field Engineers to work around problems +discovered during testing or debugging. These are called purple wires even +when (as is frequently the case) their actual physical color is yellow.... +Compare blue wire , yellow wire , and red wire. + diff --git a/entries/push.txt b/entries/push.txt index edad9e3..3324a8b 100644 --- a/entries/push.txt +++ b/entries/push.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ push -(Also PUSH /push/ or PUSHJ /pushJ/ , the latter based on the PDP-10 procedure call instruction.) 1. To put something onto a stack. If one says that something has been pushed onto one's stack, it means that the Damoclean list of things hanging over ones's head has grown longer and heavier yet. This may also imply that one will deal with it before other pending items; otherwise one might say that the thing was added to my queue. 2. vi. To enter upon a digression, to save the current discussion for later. Antonym of pop ; see also stack. +(Also PUSH /push/ or PUSHJ /pushJ/ , the latter based on the PDP-10 +procedure call instruction.) 1. To put something onto a stack. If one says +that something has been pushed onto one's stack, it means that the Damoclean +list of things hanging over ones's head has grown longer and heavier yet. +This may also imply that one will deal with it before other pending items; +otherwise one might say that the thing was added to my queue. 2. vi. To +enter upon a digression, to save the current discussion for later. Antonym +of pop ; see also stack. + diff --git a/entries/quad.txt b/entries/quad.txt index 5c37756..423feeb 100644 --- a/entries/quad.txt +++ b/entries/quad.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ quad -n. 1. Two bits; syn. for quarter , crumb , tayste. 2. A four-pack of anything (compare hex , sense 2). 3. The rectangle or box glyph used in the APL language for various arcane purposes mostly related to I/O. Former Ivy-Leaguers and Oxford types are said to associate it with nostalgic memories of dear old University. +n. 1. Two bits; syn. for quarter , crumb , tayste. 2. A four-pack of +anything (compare hex , sense 2). 3. The rectangle or box glyph used in the +APL language for various arcane purposes mostly related to I/O. Former +Ivy-Leaguers and Oxford types are said to associate it with nostalgic +memories of dear old University. + diff --git a/entries/quadruple bucky.txt b/entries/quadruple bucky.txt index 2026124..fbd29e0 100644 --- a/entries/quadruple bucky.txt +++ b/entries/quadruple bucky.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ quadruple bucky -n. obs. 1. On an MIT space-cadet keyboard , use of all four of the shifting keys (control, meta, hyper, and super) while typing a character key. 2. On a Stanford or MIT keyboard in raw mode , use of four shift keys while typing a fifth character, where the four shift keys are the control and meta keys on both sides of the keyboard. This was very difficult to do! One accepted technique was to press the left-control and left-meta keys with your left hand, the right-control and right-meta keys with your right hand, and the fifth key with your nose. Quadruple-bucky combinations were very seldom used in practice, because when one invented a new command one usually assigned it to some character that was easier to type. If you want to imply that a program has ridiculously many commands or features, you can say something like: Oh, the command that makes it spin the tapes while whistling Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is quadruple-bucky-cokebottle. See double bucky , bucky bits , cokebottle. +n. obs. 1. On an MIT space-cadet keyboard , use of all four of the shifting +keys (control, meta, hyper, and super) while typing a character key. 2. On a +Stanford or MIT keyboard in raw mode , use of four shift keys while typing a +fifth character, where the four shift keys are the control and meta keys on +both sides of the keyboard. This was very difficult to do! One accepted +technique was to press the left-control and left-meta keys with your left +hand, the right-control and right-meta keys with your right hand, and the +fifth key with your nose. Quadruple-bucky combinations were very seldom used +in practice, because when one invented a new command one usually assigned it +to some character that was easier to type. If you want to imply that a +program has ridiculously many commands or features, you can say something +like: Oh, the command that makes it spin the tapes while whistling +Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is quadruple-bucky-cokebottle. See double bucky , +bucky bits , cokebottle. + diff --git a/entries/quantifiers.txt b/entries/quantifiers.txt index 8ba2f29..b34140f 100644 --- a/entries/quantifiers.txt +++ b/entries/quantifiers.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ quantifiers Prev Up Next quadruple bucky Home quantum bogodynamics + diff --git a/entries/quantum bogodynamics.txt b/entries/quantum bogodynamics.txt index 51c1bb0..19e9bba 100644 --- a/entries/quantum bogodynamics.txt +++ b/entries/quantum bogodynamics.txt @@ -1,3 +1,22 @@ quantum bogodynamics -/kwontm boh`gohdi:namiks/ , n. A theory that characterizes the universe in terms of bogon sources (such as politicians, used-car salesmen, TV evangelists, and suit s in general), bogon sinks (such as taxpayers and computers), and bogosity potential fields. Bogon absorption, of course, causes human beings to behave mindlessly and machines to fail (and may also cause both to emit secondary bogons); however, the precise mechanics of the bogon-computron interaction are not yet understood and remain to be elucidated. Quantum bogodynamics is most often invoked to explain the sharp increase in hardware and software failures in the presence of suits; the latter emit bogons, which the former absorb. See bogon , computron , suit , psyton. Here is a representative QBD theory: The bogon is a boson (integral spin, +1 or -1), and has zero rest mass. In this respect it is very much like a photon. However, it has a much greater momentum, thus explaining its destructive effect on computer electronics and human nervous systems. The corollary to this is that bogons also have tremendous inertia, and therefore a bogon beam is deflected only with great difficulty. When the bogon encounters its antiparticle, the cluon, they mutually annihilate each other, releasing magic smoke. Furthermore 1 Lenat = 1 mole (6.022E23) of bogons (see microLenat ). +/kwontm boh`gohdi:namiks/ , n. A theory that characterizes the universe in +terms of bogon sources (such as politicians, used-car salesmen, TV +evangelists, and suit s in general), bogon sinks (such as taxpayers and +computers), and bogosity potential fields. Bogon absorption, of course, +causes human beings to behave mindlessly and machines to fail (and may also +cause both to emit secondary bogons); however, the precise mechanics of the +bogon-computron interaction are not yet understood and remain to be +elucidated. Quantum bogodynamics is most often invoked to explain the sharp +increase in hardware and software failures in the presence of suits; the +latter emit bogons, which the former absorb. See bogon , computron , suit , +psyton. Here is a representative QBD theory: The bogon is a boson (integral +spin, +1 or -1), and has zero rest mass. In this respect it is very much +like a photon. However, it has a much greater momentum, thus explaining its +destructive effect on computer electronics and human nervous systems. The +corollary to this is that bogons also have tremendous inertia, and therefore +a bogon beam is deflected only with great difficulty. When the bogon +encounters its antiparticle, the cluon, they mutually annihilate each other, +releasing magic smoke. Furthermore 1 Lenat = 1 mole (6.022E23) of bogons +(see microLenat ). + diff --git a/entries/quarter.txt b/entries/quarter.txt index 3a73f12..ae2e838 100644 --- a/entries/quarter.txt +++ b/entries/quarter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ quarter -n. Two bits. This in turn comes from the pieces of eight famed in pirate movies Spanish silver crowns that could be broken into eight pie-slice-shaped bits to make change. Early in American history the Spanish coin was considered equal to a dollar, so each of these bits was considered worth 12.5 cents. Syn. tayste , crumb , quad. Usage: rare. General discussion of such terms is under nybble. +n. Two bits. This in turn comes from the pieces of eight famed in pirate +movies Spanish silver crowns that could be broken into eight +pie-slice-shaped bits to make change. Early in American history the Spanish +coin was considered equal to a dollar, so each of these bits was considered +worth 12.5 cents. Syn. tayste , crumb , quad. Usage: rare. General +discussion of such terms is under nybble. + diff --git a/entries/ques.txt b/entries/ques.txt index 46c133a..d056609 100644 --- a/entries/ques.txt +++ b/entries/ques.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ ques -/kwes/ 1. n. The question mark character ( ? , ASCII 0111111). 2. interj. What? Also frequently verb-doubled as Ques ques? See wall. +/kwes/ 1. n. The question mark character ( ? , ASCII 0111111). 2. interj. +What? Also frequently verb-doubled as Ques ques? See wall. + diff --git a/entries/quick-and-dirty.txt b/entries/quick-and-dirty.txt index 2f05def..28606b7 100644 --- a/entries/quick-and-dirty.txt +++ b/entries/quick-and-dirty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ quick-and-dirty -adj. [common] Describes a crock put together under time or user pressure. Used esp. when you want to convey that you think the fast way might lead to trouble further down the road. I can have a quick-and-dirty fix in place tonight, but I'll have to rewrite the whole module to solve the underlying design problem. See also kluge. +adj. [common] Describes a crock put together under time or user pressure. +Used esp. when you want to convey that you think the fast way might lead to +trouble further down the road. I can have a quick-and-dirty fix in place +tonight, but I'll have to rewrite the whole module to solve the underlying +design problem. See also kluge. + diff --git a/entries/quine.txt b/entries/quine.txt index db823ed..40e513a 100644 --- a/entries/quine.txt +++ b/entries/quine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ quine -/kwi:n/ , n. [from the name of the logician Willard van Orman Quine, via Douglas Hofstadter] A program that generates a copy of its own source text as its complete output. Devising the shortest possible quine in some given programming language is a common hackish amusement. (We ignore some variants of BASIC in which a program consisting of a single empty string literal reproduces itself trivially.) Here is one classic quine: ((lambda (x) (list x (list (quote quote) x))) (quote (lambda (x) (list x (list (quote quote) x))))) This one works in LISP or Scheme. It's relatively easy to write quines in other languages such as Postscript which readily handle programs as data; much harder (and thus more challenging!) in languages like C which do not. Here is a classic C quine for ASCII machines: char*f= char*f=%c%s%c;main() {printf(f,34,f,34,10);}%c ; main(){printf(f,34,f,34,10);} For excruciatingly exact quinishness, remove the interior line breaks. Here is another elegant quine in ANSI C: #define q(k)main(){return!puts(#k \nq( #k ) );} q(#define q(k)main(){return!puts(#k \nq( #k ) );}) Some infamous Obfuscated C Contest entries have been quines that reproduced in exotic ways. There is an amusing Quine Home Page. +/kwi:n/ , n. [from the name of the logician Willard van Orman Quine, via +Douglas Hofstadter] A program that generates a copy of its own source text +as its complete output. Devising the shortest possible quine in some given +programming language is a common hackish amusement. (We ignore some variants +of BASIC in which a program consisting of a single empty string literal +reproduces itself trivially.) Here is one classic quine: ((lambda (x) (list +x (list (quote quote) x))) (quote (lambda (x) (list x (list (quote quote) +x))))) This one works in LISP or Scheme. It's relatively easy to write +quines in other languages such as Postscript which readily handle programs +as data; much harder (and thus more challenging!) in languages like C which +do not. Here is a classic C quine for ASCII machines: char*f= +char*f=%c%s%c;main() {printf(f,34,f,34,10);}%c ; +main(){printf(f,34,f,34,10);} For excruciatingly exact quinishness, remove +the interior line breaks. Here is another elegant quine in ANSI C: #define +q(k)main(){return!puts(#k \nq( #k ) );} q(#define q(k)main(){return!puts(#k +\nq( #k ) );}) Some infamous Obfuscated C Contest entries have been quines +that reproduced in exotic ways. There is an amusing Quine Home Page. + diff --git a/entries/quote chapter and verse.txt b/entries/quote chapter and verse.txt index a71fe61..852cc49 100644 --- a/entries/quote chapter and verse.txt +++ b/entries/quote chapter and verse.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ quote chapter and verse -v. [by analogy with the mainstream phrase] To cite a relevant excerpt from an appropriate bible. I don't care if rn gets it wrong; Followup-To: poster is explicitly permitted by RFC -1036. I'll quote chapter and verse if you don't believe me. See also legalese , language lawyer , RTFS (sense 2). +v. [by analogy with the mainstream phrase] To cite a relevant excerpt from +an appropriate bible. I don't care if rn gets it wrong; Followup-To: poster +is explicitly permitted by RFC -1036. I'll quote chapter and verse if you +don't believe me. See also legalese , language lawyer , RTFS (sense 2). + diff --git a/entries/quotient.txt b/entries/quotient.txt index 42bea26..ebfc41f 100644 --- a/entries/quotient.txt +++ b/entries/quotient.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ quotient n. See coefficient of X. + diff --git a/entries/quux.txt b/entries/quux.txt index ea7dc51..8238977 100644 --- a/entries/quux.txt +++ b/entries/quux.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ quux -/kwuhks/ , n. [Mythically, from the Latin semi-deponent verb quuxo, quuxare, quuxandum iri; noun form variously quux (plural quuces , anglicized to quuxes ) and quuxu (genitive plural is quuxuum , for four u-letters out of seven in all, using up all the u letters in Scrabble).] 1. Originally, a metasyntactic variable like foo and foobar. Invented by Guy Steele for precisely this purpose when he was young and naive and not yet interacting with the real computing community. Many people invent such words; this one seems simply to have been lucky enough to have spread a little. In an eloquent display of poetic justice, it has returned to the originator in the form of a nickname. 2. interj. See foo ; however, denotes very little disgust, and is uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it. 3. Guy Steele in his persona as The Great Quux , which is somewhat infamous for light verse and for the Crunchly cartoons. 4. In some circles, used as a punning opposite of crux. Ah, that's the quux of the matter! implies that the point is not crucial (compare tip of the ice-cube ). 5. quuxy: adj. Of or pertaining to a quux. +/kwuhks/ , n. [Mythically, from the Latin semi-deponent verb quuxo, quuxare, +quuxandum iri; noun form variously quux (plural quuces , anglicized to +quuxes ) and quuxu (genitive plural is quuxuum , for four u-letters out of +seven in all, using up all the u letters in Scrabble).] 1. Originally, a +metasyntactic variable like foo and foobar. Invented by Guy Steele for +precisely this purpose when he was young and naive and not yet interacting +with the real computing community. Many people invent such words; this one +seems simply to have been lucky enough to have spread a little. In an +eloquent display of poetic justice, it has returned to the originator in the +form of a nickname. 2. interj. See foo ; however, denotes very little +disgust, and is uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it. 3. Guy +Steele in his persona as The Great Quux , which is somewhat infamous for +light verse and for the Crunchly cartoons. 4. In some circles, used as a +punning opposite of crux. Ah, that's the quux of the matter! implies that +the point is not crucial (compare tip of the ice-cube ). 5. quuxy: adj. Of +or pertaining to a quux. + diff --git a/entries/qux.txt b/entries/qux.txt index f423c1f..1c6be41 100644 --- a/entries/qux.txt +++ b/entries/qux.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ qux -/kwuhks/ The fourth of the standard metasyntactic variable , after baz and before the quu(u...)x series. See foo , bar , baz , quux. This appears to be a recent mutation from quux , and many versions (especially older versions) of the standard series just run foo , bar , baz , quux ,. ... +/kwuhks/ The fourth of the standard metasyntactic variable , after baz and +before the quu(u...)x series. See foo , bar , baz , quux. This appears to be +a recent mutation from quux , and many versions (especially older versions) +of the standard series just run foo , bar , baz , quux ,. ... + diff --git a/entries/rabbit job.txt b/entries/rabbit job.txt index 7687eac..599a152 100644 --- a/entries/rabbit job.txt +++ b/entries/rabbit job.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ rabbit job -n. [Cambridge] A batch job that does little, if any, real work, but creates one or more copies of itself, breeding like rabbits. Compare wabbit , fork bomb. +n. [Cambridge] A batch job that does little, if any, real work, but creates +one or more copies of itself, breeding like rabbits. Compare wabbit , fork +bomb. + diff --git a/entries/rain dance.txt b/entries/rain dance.txt index 22787a1..df8a94a 100644 --- a/entries/rain dance.txt +++ b/entries/rain dance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ rain dance -n. 1. Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem, with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished. This especially applies to reseating printed circuit boards, reconnecting cables, etc. I can't boot up the machine. We'll have to wait for Greg to do his rain dance. 2. Any arcane sequence of actions performed with computers or software in order to achieve some goal; the term is usually restricted to rituals that include both an incantation or two and physical activity or motion. Compare magic , voodoo programming , black art , cargo cult programming , wave a dead chicken ; see also casting the runes. +n. 1. Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem, with the +expectation that nothing will be accomplished. This especially applies to +reseating printed circuit boards, reconnecting cables, etc. I can't boot up +the machine. We'll have to wait for Greg to do his rain dance. 2. Any arcane +sequence of actions performed with computers or software in order to achieve +some goal; the term is usually restricted to rituals that include both an +incantation or two and physical activity or motion. Compare magic , voodoo +programming , black art , cargo cult programming , wave a dead chicken ; see +also casting the runes. + diff --git a/entries/rainbow series.txt b/entries/rainbow series.txt index a1bce8d..5822bf9 100644 --- a/entries/rainbow series.txt +++ b/entries/rainbow series.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ rainbow series -n. Any of several series of technical manuals distinguished by cover color. The original rainbow series was the NCSC security manuals (see Orange Book ). These are now available via the web. the term has also been commonly applied to the PostScript reference set. Which books are meant by the rainbow series unqualified is thus dependent on one's local technical culture. +n. Any of several series of technical manuals distinguished by cover color. +The original rainbow series was the NCSC security manuals (see Orange Book +). These are now available via the web. the term has also been commonly +applied to the PostScript reference set. Which books are meant by the +rainbow series unqualified is thus dependent on one's local technical +culture. + diff --git a/entries/random numbers.txt b/entries/random numbers.txt index 0be071b..f6719ce 100644 --- a/entries/random numbers.txt +++ b/entries/random numbers.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ random numbers -n. When one wishes to specify a large but random number of things, and the context is inappropriate for N , certain numbers are preferred by hacker tradition (that is, easily recognized as placeholders). These include the following: 17 Long described at MIT as the least random number ; see also 23. This may be Discordian in origin, or it may be related to some in-jokes about 17 and yellow pig propagated by the mathematician Michael Spivak. 23 Sacred number of Eris, Goddess of Discord (along with 17 and 5). 37 The most random two-digit number is 37, When groups of people are polled to pick a random number between 1 and 100 , the most commonly chosen number is 37. 42 The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything ( what is 6 times 9 , correct in base 13). (This answer is perhaps not completely fortuitous; in Kabbalism, the true unspeakable name of God is said to have 42 characters.) 69 From the sexual act. This one was favored in MIT's ITS culture. 105 69 hex = 105 decimal, and 69 decimal = 105 octal. 666 In Christian mythology, the Number of the Beast. For further enlightenment, study the Principia Discordia , The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , The Joy of Sex , and the Christian Bible (Revelation 13:18). See also Discordianism or consult your pineal gland. See also for values of. +n. When one wishes to specify a large but random number of things, and the +context is inappropriate for N , certain numbers are preferred by hacker +tradition (that is, easily recognized as placeholders). These include the +following: 17 Long described at MIT as the least random number ; see also +23. This may be Discordian in origin, or it may be related to some in-jokes +about 17 and yellow pig propagated by the mathematician Michael Spivak. 23 +Sacred number of Eris, Goddess of Discord (along with 17 and 5). 37 The most +random two-digit number is 37, When groups of people are polled to pick a +random number between 1 and 100 , the most commonly chosen number is 37. 42 +The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything ( +what is 6 times 9 , correct in base 13). (This answer is perhaps not +completely fortuitous; in Kabbalism, the true unspeakable name of God is +said to have 42 characters.) 69 From the sexual act. This one was favored in +MIT's ITS culture. 105 69 hex = 105 decimal, and 69 decimal = 105 octal. 666 +In Christian mythology, the Number of the Beast. For further enlightenment, +study the Principia Discordia , The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , The +Joy of Sex , and the Christian Bible (Revelation 13:18). See also +Discordianism or consult your pineal gland. See also for values of. + diff --git a/entries/random.txt b/entries/random.txt index 39a5373..0cff90e 100644 --- a/entries/random.txt +++ b/entries/random.txt @@ -1,3 +1,27 @@ random -adj. 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird. The system's been behaving pretty randomly. 2. Assorted; undistinguished. Who was at the conference? Just a bunch of random business types. 3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. He's just a random loser. 4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organized. The program has a random set of misfeatures. That's a random name for that function. Well, all the names were chosen pretty randomly. 5. In no particular order, though deterministic. The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is chosen randomly. 6. Arbitrary. It generates a random name for the scratch file. 7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e., poorly done and for no good apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting in a particularly useless way, or an assembler routine that could easily have been coded using only three registers, but redundantly uses seven for values with non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving four extra registers. What randomness ! 8. n. A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and generally get in the way. 9. n. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, anyone not known to the hacker speaking); the noun form of sense 2. I went to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions. 10. n. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also J. Random , some random X. 11. [UK] Conversationally, a non sequitur or something similarly out-of-the-blue. As in: Stop being so random! This sense equates to hatstand , taken from the Viz comic character Roger Irrelevant - He's completely Hatstand. +adj. 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird. The +system's been behaving pretty randomly. 2. Assorted; undistinguished. Who +was at the conference? Just a bunch of random business types. 3. +(pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. He's just a random loser. +4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organized. The program +has a random set of misfeatures. That's a random name for that function. +Well, all the names were chosen pretty randomly. 5. In no particular order, +though deterministic. The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file is +opened one is chosen randomly. 6. Arbitrary. It generates a random name for +the scratch file. 7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e., poorly done and for no good +apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting in +a particularly useless way, or an assembler routine that could easily have +been coded using only three registers, but redundantly uses seven for values +with non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it without +first saving four extra registers. What randomness ! 8. n. A random hacker; +used particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and +generally get in the way. 9. n. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, +anyone not known to the hacker speaking); the noun form of sense 2. I went +to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions. +10. n. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also J. +Random , some random X. 11. [UK] Conversationally, a non sequitur or +something similarly out-of-the-blue. As in: Stop being so random! This sense +equates to hatstand , taken from the Viz comic character Roger Irrelevant - +He's completely Hatstand. + diff --git a/entries/randomness.txt b/entries/randomness.txt index ce38dfb..6cef04c 100644 --- a/entries/randomness.txt +++ b/entries/randomness.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ randomness -n. 1. An inexplicable misfeature; gratuitous inelegance. 2. A hack or crock that depends on a complex combination of coincidences (or, possibly, the combination upon which the crock depends for its accidental failure to malfunction). This hack can output characters 40--57 by putting the character in the four-bit accumulator field of an XCT and then extracting six bits the low 2 bits of the XCT opcode are the right thing. What randomness! 3. Of people, synonymous with flakiness. The connotation is that the person so described is behaving weirdly, incompetently, or inappropriately for reasons which are (a) too tiresome to bother inquiring into, (b) are probably as inscrutable as quantum phenomena anyway, and (c) are likely to pass with time. Maybe he has a real complaint, or maybe it's just randomness. See if he calls back. Despite the negative connotations of most jargon uses of this term have, it is worth noting that randomness can actually be a valuable resource, very useful for applications in cryptography and elsewhere. Computers are so thoroughly deterministic that they have a hard time generating high-quality randomness, so hackers have sometimes felt the need to built special-purpose contraptions for this purpose alone. One well-known website offers random bits generated by radioactive decay. Another derives random bits from chaotic systems in analog electronics. Originally, the latter site got its random bits by doing photometry on lava lamps. Hackers invariably found this hilarious. If you have to ask why, you'll never get it. +n. 1. An inexplicable misfeature; gratuitous inelegance. 2. A hack or crock +that depends on a complex combination of coincidences (or, possibly, the +combination upon which the crock depends for its accidental failure to +malfunction). This hack can output characters 40--57 by putting the +character in the four-bit accumulator field of an XCT and then extracting +six bits the low 2 bits of the XCT opcode are the right thing. What +randomness! 3. Of people, synonymous with flakiness. The connotation is that +the person so described is behaving weirdly, incompetently, or +inappropriately for reasons which are (a) too tiresome to bother inquiring +into, (b) are probably as inscrutable as quantum phenomena anyway, and (c) +are likely to pass with time. Maybe he has a real complaint, or maybe it's +just randomness. See if he calls back. Despite the negative connotations of +most jargon uses of this term have, it is worth noting that randomness can +actually be a valuable resource, very useful for applications in +cryptography and elsewhere. Computers are so thoroughly deterministic that +they have a hard time generating high-quality randomness, so hackers have +sometimes felt the need to built special-purpose contraptions for this +purpose alone. One well-known website offers random bits generated by +radioactive decay. Another derives random bits from chaotic systems in +analog electronics. Originally, the latter site got its random bits by doing +photometry on lava lamps. Hackers invariably found this hilarious. If you +have to ask why, you'll never get it. + diff --git a/entries/rape.txt b/entries/rape.txt index fee1b83..61da13b 100644 --- a/entries/rape.txt +++ b/entries/rape.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ rape -vt. 1. To screw someone or something, violently; in particular, to destroy a program or information irrecoverably. Often used in describing file-system damage. So-and-so was running a program that did absolute disk I/O and ended up raping the master directory. 2. To strip a piece of hardware for parts. 3. [CMU/Pitt] To mass-copy files from an anonymous ftp site. Last night I raped Simtel's dskutl directory. +vt. 1. To screw someone or something, violently; in particular, to destroy a +program or information irrecoverably. Often used in describing file-system +damage. So-and-so was running a program that did absolute disk I/O and ended +up raping the master directory. 2. To strip a piece of hardware for parts. +3. [CMU/Pitt] To mass-copy files from an anonymous ftp site. Last night I +raped Simtel's dskutl directory. + diff --git a/entries/rare mode.txt b/entries/rare mode.txt index 8995cdb..c07ab13 100644 --- a/entries/rare mode.txt +++ b/entries/rare mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ rare mode -adj. [Unix] CBREAK mode (character-by-character with interrupts enabled). Distinguished from raw mode and cooked mode ; the phrase a sort of half-cooked (rare?) mode is used in the V7/BSD manuals to describe the mode. Usage: rare. +adj. [Unix] CBREAK mode (character-by-character with interrupts enabled). +Distinguished from raw mode and cooked mode ; the phrase a sort of +half-cooked (rare?) mode is used in the V7/BSD manuals to describe the mode. +Usage: rare. + diff --git a/entries/raster blaster.txt b/entries/raster blaster.txt index cf66d86..347b3c6 100644 --- a/entries/raster blaster.txt +++ b/entries/raster blaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ raster blaster -n. [Cambridge] Specialized hardware for bitblt operations (a blitter ). Allegedly inspired by Rasta Blasta , British slang for the sort of portable stereo Americans call a boom box or ghetto blaster. +n. [Cambridge] Specialized hardware for bitblt operations (a blitter ). +Allegedly inspired by Rasta Blasta , British slang for the sort of portable +stereo Americans call a boom box or ghetto blaster. + diff --git a/entries/raster burn.txt b/entries/raster burn.txt index b28b70a..c656252 100644 --- a/entries/raster burn.txt +++ b/entries/raster burn.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ raster burn -n. Eyestrain brought on by too many hours of looking at low-res, poorly tuned, or glare-ridden monitors, esp. graphics monitors. See terminal illness. +n. Eyestrain brought on by too many hours of looking at low-res, poorly +tuned, or glare-ridden monitors, esp. graphics monitors. See terminal +illness. + diff --git a/entries/rasterbation.txt b/entries/rasterbation.txt index 900a9c0..12d7da9 100644 --- a/entries/rasterbation.txt +++ b/entries/rasterbation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ rasterbation -n. [portmanteau: raster + masturbation] The gratuitous use of computer-generated images and effects in movies and graphic art which would have been better without them. Especially employed as a term of abuse by Photoshop/GIMP users and graphic artists. +n. [portmanteau: raster + masturbation] The gratuitous use of +computer-generated images and effects in movies and graphic art which would +have been better without them. Especially employed as a term of abuse by +Photoshop/GIMP users and graphic artists. + diff --git a/entries/rat belt.txt b/entries/rat belt.txt index 87d293a..3da569f 100644 --- a/entries/rat belt.txt +++ b/entries/rat belt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ rat belt -n. A cable tie, esp. the sawtoothed, self-locking plastic kind that you can remove only by cutting (as opposed to a random twist of wire or a twist tie or one of those humongous metal clip frobs). Small cable ties are mouse belts. +n. A cable tie, esp. the sawtoothed, self-locking plastic kind that you can +remove only by cutting (as opposed to a random twist of wire or a twist tie +or one of those humongous metal clip frobs). Small cable ties are mouse +belts. + diff --git a/entries/rat dance.txt b/entries/rat dance.txt index 345f554..d456a4c 100644 --- a/entries/rat dance.txt +++ b/entries/rat dance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ rat dance -n. [From the Dilbert comic strip of November 14, 1995] A hacking run that produces results which, while superficially coherent, have little or nothing to do with its original objectives. There are strong connotations that the coding process and the objectives themselves were pretty random. (In the original comic strip, the Ratbert is invited to dance on Dilbert's keyboard in order to produce bugs for him to fix, and authors a Web browser instead.) Compare Infinite-Monkey Theorem. This term seems to have become widely recognized quite rapidly after the original strip, a fact which testifies to Dilbert's huge popularity among hackers. All too many find the perverse incentives and Kafkaesque atmosphere of Dilbert's mythical workplace reflective of their own experiences. +n. [From the Dilbert comic strip of November 14, 1995] A hacking run that +produces results which, while superficially coherent, have little or nothing +to do with its original objectives. There are strong connotations that the +coding process and the objectives themselves were pretty random. (In the +original comic strip, the Ratbert is invited to dance on Dilbert's keyboard +in order to produce bugs for him to fix, and authors a Web browser instead.) +Compare Infinite-Monkey Theorem. This term seems to have become widely +recognized quite rapidly after the original strip, a fact which testifies to +Dilbert's huge popularity among hackers. All too many find the perverse +incentives and Kafkaesque atmosphere of Dilbert's mythical workplace +reflective of their own experiences. + diff --git a/entries/rathole.txt b/entries/rathole.txt index a5da189..f989548 100644 --- a/entries/rathole.txt +++ b/entries/rathole.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ rathole -A technical subject that is known to be able to absorb infinite amounts of discussion time without more than an infinitesimal probability of arrival at a conclusion or consensus. That's a rathole (or just Rathole! ) is considered a pre-emptive bid to change the subject. The difference between ratholes and religious issues is that a holy war cannot be pre-empted in this way. Canonical examples are XML namespaces and open-source licensing. +A technical subject that is known to be able to absorb infinite amounts of +discussion time without more than an infinitesimal probability of arrival at +a conclusion or consensus. That's a rathole (or just Rathole! ) is +considered a pre-emptive bid to change the subject. The difference between +ratholes and religious issues is that a holy war cannot be pre-empted in +this way. Canonical examples are XML namespaces and open-source licensing. + diff --git a/entries/ratio site.txt b/entries/ratio site.txt index 238735d..ac3f1cb 100644 --- a/entries/ratio site.txt +++ b/entries/ratio site.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ ratio site -An FTP site storing pirated files where one must first upload something before being able to download. There is a ratio, based on bytes or files count, between the uploads and download. For instance, on a 2:1 site, to download a 4 Mb file, one must first upload at least 2 Mb of files. The hotter the contents of the server are, the smaller the ratio is. More often than not, the server refuses uploads because its disk is full, making it useless for downloading or the connection magically breaks after one has uploaded a large amount of files, just before the downloading phase begins. See also banner site , leech mode. +An FTP site storing pirated files where one must first upload something +before being able to download. There is a ratio, based on bytes or files +count, between the uploads and download. For instance, on a 2:1 site, to +download a 4 Mb file, one must first upload at least 2 Mb of files. The +hotter the contents of the server are, the smaller the ratio is. More often +than not, the server refuses uploads because its disk is full, making it +useless for downloading or the connection magically breaks after one has +uploaded a large amount of files, just before the downloading phase begins. +See also banner site , leech mode. + diff --git a/entries/rave on!.txt b/entries/rave on!.txt index 835516c..e382fe0 100644 --- a/entries/rave on!.txt +++ b/entries/rave on!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ rave on! -imp. Sarcastic invitation to continue a rave , often by someone who wishes the raver would get a clue but realizes this is unlikely. +imp. Sarcastic invitation to continue a rave , often by someone who wishes +the raver would get a clue but realizes this is unlikely. + diff --git a/entries/rave.txt b/entries/rave.txt index 5884286..cbe3e76 100644 --- a/entries/rave.txt +++ b/entries/rave.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ rave -vi. [WPI] 1. To persist in discussing a specific subject. 2. To speak authoritatively on a subject about which one knows very little. 3. To complain to a person who is not in a position to correct the difficulty. 4. To purposely annoy another person verbally. 5. To evangelize. See flame. 6. Also used to describe a less negative form of blather, such as friendly bullshitting. Rave differs slightly from flame in that rave implies that it is the persistence or obliviousness of the person speaking that is annoying, while flame implies somewhat more strongly that the tone or content is offensive as well. +vi. [WPI] 1. To persist in discussing a specific subject. 2. To speak +authoritatively on a subject about which one knows very little. 3. To +complain to a person who is not in a position to correct the difficulty. 4. +To purposely annoy another person verbally. 5. To evangelize. See flame. 6. +Also used to describe a less negative form of blather, such as friendly +bullshitting. Rave differs slightly from flame in that rave implies that it +is the persistence or obliviousness of the person speaking that is annoying, +while flame implies somewhat more strongly that the tone or content is +offensive as well. + diff --git a/entries/ravs.txt b/entries/ravs.txt index 428ec36..6ac61e6 100644 --- a/entries/ravs.txt +++ b/entries/ravs.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ ravs -/ravz/ , Chinese ravs , n. [primarily MIT/Boston usage] Jiao-zi (steamed or boiled) or Guo-tie (pan-fried). A Chinese appetizer, known variously in the plural as dumplings, pot stickers (the literal translation of guo-tie), and (around Boston) Peking Ravioli. The term rav is short for ravioli , and among hackers always means the Chinese kind rather than the Italian kind. Both consist of a filling in a pasta shell, but the Chinese kind includes no cheese, uses a thinner pasta, has a pork-vegetable filling (good ones include Chinese chives), and is cooked differently, either by steaming or frying. A rav or dumpling can be cooked any way, but a potsticker is always the pan-fried kind (so called because it sticks to the frying pot and has to be scraped off). Let's get hot-and-sour soup and three orders of ravs. See also oriental food. +/ravz/ , Chinese ravs , n. [primarily MIT/Boston usage] Jiao-zi (steamed or +boiled) or Guo-tie (pan-fried). A Chinese appetizer, known variously in the +plural as dumplings, pot stickers (the literal translation of guo-tie), and +(around Boston) Peking Ravioli. The term rav is short for ravioli , and +among hackers always means the Chinese kind rather than the Italian kind. +Both consist of a filling in a pasta shell, but the Chinese kind includes no +cheese, uses a thinner pasta, has a pork-vegetable filling (good ones +include Chinese chives), and is cooked differently, either by steaming or +frying. A rav or dumpling can be cooked any way, but a potsticker is always +the pan-fried kind (so called because it sticks to the frying pot and has to +be scraped off). Let's get hot-and-sour soup and three orders of ravs. See +also oriental food. + diff --git a/entries/raw mode.txt b/entries/raw mode.txt index 1eda63f..69603a0 100644 --- a/entries/raw mode.txt +++ b/entries/raw mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ raw mode -n. A mode that allows a program to transfer bits directly to or from an I/O device (or, under bogus operating systems that make a distinction, a disk file) without any processing, abstraction, or interpretation by the operating system. Compare rare mode , cooked mode. This is techspeak under Unix, jargon elsewhere. +n. A mode that allows a program to transfer bits directly to or from an I/O +device (or, under bogus operating systems that make a distinction, a disk +file) without any processing, abstraction, or interpretation by the +operating system. Compare rare mode , cooked mode. This is techspeak under +Unix, jargon elsewhere. + diff --git a/entries/rc file.txt b/entries/rc file.txt index 3886702..853df60 100644 --- a/entries/rc file.txt +++ b/entries/rc file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ rc file -/RC fi:l/ , n. [Unix: from runcom files on the CTSS system 1962-63, via the startup script /etc/rc ] Script file containing startup instructions for an application program (or an entire operating system), usually a text file containing commands of the sort that might have been invoked manually once the system was running but are to be executed automatically each time the system starts up. See also dot file , profile (sense 1). +/RC fi:l/ , n. [Unix: from runcom files on the CTSS system 1962-63, via the +startup script /etc/rc ] Script file containing startup instructions for an +application program (or an entire operating system), usually a text file +containing commands of the sort that might have been invoked manually once +the system was running but are to be executed automatically each time the +system starts up. See also dot file , profile (sense 1). + diff --git a/entries/read-only user.txt b/entries/read-only user.txt index f108bfc..88010a7 100644 --- a/entries/read-only user.txt +++ b/entries/read-only user.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ read-only user -n. Describes a luser who uses computers almost exclusively for reading Usenet, bulletin boards, and/or email, rather than writing code or purveying useful information. See twink , terminal junkie , lurker. +n. Describes a luser who uses computers almost exclusively for reading +Usenet, bulletin boards, and/or email, rather than writing code or purveying +useful information. See twink , terminal junkie , lurker. + diff --git a/entries/real estate.txt b/entries/real estate.txt index 349ad77..cf52a0b 100644 --- a/entries/real estate.txt +++ b/entries/real estate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ real estate -n. May be used for any critical resource measured in units of area. Most frequently used of chip real estate , the area available for logic on the surface of an integrated circuit (see also nanoacre ). May also be used of floor space in a dinosaur pen , or even space on a crowded desktop (whether physical or electronic). +n. May be used for any critical resource measured in units of area. Most +frequently used of chip real estate , the area available for logic on the +surface of an integrated circuit (see also nanoacre ). May also be used of +floor space in a dinosaur pen , or even space on a crowded desktop (whether +physical or electronic). + diff --git a/entries/real hack.txt b/entries/real hack.txt index 678678c..ae52a48 100644 --- a/entries/real hack.txt +++ b/entries/real hack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ real hack n. A crock. This is sometimes used affectionately; see hack. + diff --git a/entries/real operating system.txt b/entries/real operating system.txt index 47b886b..79eb1e2 100644 --- a/entries/real operating system.txt +++ b/entries/real operating system.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ real operating system -n. The sort the speaker is used to. People from the BSDophilic academic community are likely to issue comments like System V? Why don't you use a real operating system? , people from the commercial/industrial Unix sector are known to complain BSD? Why don't you use a real operating system? , and people from IBM object Unix? Why don't you use a real operating system? Only MS-DOS is universally considered unreal. +n. The sort the speaker is used to. People from the BSDophilic academic +community are likely to issue comments like System V? Why don't you use a +real operating system? , people from the commercial/industrial Unix sector +are known to complain BSD? Why don't you use a real operating system? , and +people from IBM object Unix? Why don't you use a real operating system? Only +MS-DOS is universally considered unreal. + diff --git a/entries/real time.txt b/entries/real time.txt index 8ea6a7a..a8d523d 100644 --- a/entries/real time.txt +++ b/entries/real time.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ real time -adj. Describes an application which requires a program to respond to stimuli within some small upper limit of response time (typically milli- or microseconds). Process control at a chemical plant is the canonical example. Such applications often require special operating systems (because everything else must take a back seat to response time) and speed-tuned hardware. 2. adv. In jargon, refers to doing something while people are watching or waiting. I asked her how to find the calling procedure's program counter on the stack and she came up with an algorithm in real time. +adj. Describes an application which requires a program to respond to stimuli +within some small upper limit of response time (typically milli- or +microseconds). Process control at a chemical plant is the canonical example. +Such applications often require special operating systems (because +everything else must take a back seat to response time) and speed-tuned +hardware. 2. adv. In jargon, refers to doing something while people are +watching or waiting. I asked her how to find the calling procedure's program +counter on the stack and she came up with an algorithm in real time. + diff --git a/entries/real user.txt b/entries/real user.txt index e202306..97aab5a 100644 --- a/entries/real user.txt +++ b/entries/real user.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ real user -n. 1. A commercial user. One who is paying real money for his computer usage. 2. A non-hacker. Someone using the system for an explicit purpose (a research project, a course, etc.) other than pure exploration. See user. Hackers who are also students may also be real users. I need this fixed so I can do a problem set. I'm not complaining out of randomness, but as a real user. See also luser. +n. 1. A commercial user. One who is paying real money for his computer +usage. 2. A non-hacker. Someone using the system for an explicit purpose (a +research project, a course, etc.) other than pure exploration. See user. +Hackers who are also students may also be real users. I need this fixed so I +can do a problem set. I'm not complaining out of randomness, but as a real +user. See also luser. + diff --git a/entries/real.txt b/entries/real.txt index e8bf3e2..cf6074f 100644 --- a/entries/real.txt +++ b/entries/real.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ real -adj. Not simulated. Often used as a specific antonym to virtual in any of its jargon senses. +adj. Not simulated. Often used as a specific antonym to virtual in any of +its jargon senses. + diff --git a/entries/reality check.txt b/entries/reality check.txt index b374079..3e85e83 100644 --- a/entries/reality check.txt +++ b/entries/reality check.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ reality check -n. 1. The simplest kind of test of software or hardware; doing the equivalent of asking it what 2 + 2 is and seeing if you get 4. The software equivalent of a smoke test. 2. The act of letting a real user try out prototype software. Compare sanity check. +n. 1. The simplest kind of test of software or hardware; doing the +equivalent of asking it what 2 + 2 is and seeing if you get 4. The software +equivalent of a smoke test. 2. The act of letting a real user try out +prototype software. Compare sanity check. + diff --git a/entries/reality-distortion field.txt b/entries/reality-distortion field.txt index b585c95..1b71397 100644 --- a/entries/reality-distortion field.txt +++ b/entries/reality-distortion field.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ reality-distortion field -n. An expression used to describe the persuasive ability of managers like Steve Jobs (the term originated at Apple in the 1980s to describe his peculiar charisma). Those close to these managers become passionately committed to possibly insane projects, without regard to the practicality of their implementation or competitive forces in the marketplace. +n. An expression used to describe the persuasive ability of managers like +Steve Jobs (the term originated at Apple in the 1980s to describe his +peculiar charisma). Those close to these managers become passionately +committed to possibly insane projects, without regard to the practicality of +their implementation or competitive forces in the marketplace. + diff --git a/entries/reaper.txt b/entries/reaper.txt index 5717aab..c885adf 100644 --- a/entries/reaper.txt +++ b/entries/reaper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ reaper -n. A prowler that removes files. A file removed in this way is said to have been reaped. +n. A prowler that removes files. A file removed in this way is said to have +been reaped. + diff --git a/entries/recompile the world.txt b/entries/recompile the world.txt index 53439c3..16ba711 100644 --- a/entries/recompile the world.txt +++ b/entries/recompile the world.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ recompile the world -The surprisingly large amount of work that needs to be done as the result of any small but globally visible program change. The world may mean the entirety of some huge program, or may in theory refer to every program of a certain class in the entire known universe. For instance, Add one #define to stdio.h, and you have to recompile the world. This means that any minor change to the standard-I/O header file theoretically mandates recompiling every C program in existence, even if only to verify that the change didn't screw something else up. In practice, you may not actually have to , but the implication is that some human cleverness is required to figure out what parts can be safely left out. +The surprisingly large amount of work that needs to be done as the result of +any small but globally visible program change. The world may mean the +entirety of some huge program, or may in theory refer to every program of a +certain class in the entire known universe. For instance, Add one #define to +stdio.h, and you have to recompile the world. This means that any minor +change to the standard-I/O header file theoretically mandates recompiling +every C program in existence, even if only to verify that the change didn't +screw something else up. In practice, you may not actually have to , but the +implication is that some human cleverness is required to figure out what +parts can be safely left out. + diff --git a/entries/rectangle slinger.txt b/entries/rectangle slinger.txt index c59d986..7b8941e 100644 --- a/entries/rectangle slinger.txt +++ b/entries/rectangle slinger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ rectangle slinger n. See polygon pusher. + diff --git a/entries/recursion.txt b/entries/recursion.txt index 9ed3f10..c0d508a 100644 --- a/entries/recursion.txt +++ b/entries/recursion.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ recursion n. See recursion. See also tail recursion. + diff --git a/entries/recursive acronym.txt b/entries/recursive acronym.txt index c5ff167..da2a858 100644 --- a/entries/recursive acronym.txt +++ b/entries/recursive acronym.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ recursive acronym -n. A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is to choose acronyms/abbreviations that refer humorously to themselves or to other acronyms/abbreviations. The original of the breed may have been TINT ( TINT Is Not TECO ). The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE ( EINE Is Not EMACS ) and ZWEI ( ZWEI Was EINE Initially ). More recently, there is a Scheme compiler called LIAR (Liar Imitates Apply Recursively), and GNU (q.v., sense 1) stands for GNU's Not Unix! and a company with the name Cygnus, which expands to Cygnus, Your GNU Support (though Cygnus people say this is a backronym ). The GNU recursive acronym may have been patterned on XINU, XINU Is Not Unix a particularly nice example because it is a mirror image, a backronym, and a recursive acronym. See also mung , EMACS. +n. A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is to choose +acronyms/abbreviations that refer humorously to themselves or to other +acronyms/abbreviations. The original of the breed may have been TINT ( TINT +Is Not TECO ). The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE ( EINE +Is Not EMACS ) and ZWEI ( ZWEI Was EINE Initially ). More recently, there is +a Scheme compiler called LIAR (Liar Imitates Apply Recursively), and GNU +(q.v., sense 1) stands for GNU's Not Unix! and a company with the name +Cygnus, which expands to Cygnus, Your GNU Support (though Cygnus people say +this is a backronym ). The GNU recursive acronym may have been patterned on +XINU, XINU Is Not Unix a particularly nice example because it is a mirror +image, a backronym, and a recursive acronym. See also mung , EMACS. + diff --git a/entries/red wire.txt b/entries/red wire.txt index df4ea1f..39c57d0 100644 --- a/entries/red wire.txt +++ b/entries/red wire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ red wire -n. [IBM] Patch wires installed by programmers who have no business mucking with the hardware. It is said that the only thing more dangerous than a hardware guy with a code patch is a softy with a soldering iron.... Compare blue wire , yellow wire , purple wire. +n. [IBM] Patch wires installed by programmers who have no business mucking +with the hardware. It is said that the only thing more dangerous than a +hardware guy with a code patch is a softy with a soldering iron.... Compare +blue wire , yellow wire , purple wire. + diff --git a/entries/regexp.txt b/entries/regexp.txt index 9d10a52..5d957d5 100644 --- a/entries/regexp.txt +++ b/entries/regexp.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ regexp -/regeksp/ , n. [Unix] (alt.: regex or reg-ex ) 1. Common written and spoken abbreviation for regular expression , one of the wildcard patterns used, e.g., by Unix utilities such as grep (1) , sed (1) , and awk (1). These use conventions similar to but more elaborate than those described under glob. For purposes of this lexicon, it is sufficient to note that regexps also allow complemented character sets using ^ ; thus, one can specify any non-alphabetic character with [^A-Za-z]. 2. Name of a well-known PD regexp-handling package in portable C, written by revered Usenetter Henry Spencer. +/regeksp/ , n. [Unix] (alt.: regex or reg-ex ) 1. Common written and spoken +abbreviation for regular expression , one of the wildcard patterns used, +e.g., by Unix utilities such as grep (1) , sed (1) , and awk (1). These use +conventions similar to but more elaborate than those described under glob. +For purposes of this lexicon, it is sufficient to note that regexps also +allow complemented character sets using ^ ; thus, one can specify any +non-alphabetic character with [^A-Za-z]. 2. Name of a well-known PD +regexp-handling package in portable C, written by revered Usenetter Henry +Spencer. + diff --git a/entries/register dancing.txt b/entries/register dancing.txt index f11c7cc..bdad385 100644 --- a/entries/register dancing.txt +++ b/entries/register dancing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ register dancing -n. Many older processor architectures suffer from a serious shortage of general-purpose registers. This is especially a problem for compiler-writers, because their generated code needs places to store temporaries for things like intermediate values in expression evaluation. Some designs with this problem, like the Intel 80x86, do have a handful of special-purpose registers that can be pressed into service, providing suitable care is taken to avoid unpleasant side effects on the state of the processor: while the special-purpose register is being used to hold an intermediate value, a delicate minuet is required in which the previous value of the register is saved and then restored just before the official function (and value) of the special-purpose register is again needed. +n. Many older processor architectures suffer from a serious shortage of +general-purpose registers. This is especially a problem for +compiler-writers, because their generated code needs places to store +temporaries for things like intermediate values in expression evaluation. +Some designs with this problem, like the Intel 80x86, do have a handful of +special-purpose registers that can be pressed into service, providing +suitable care is taken to avoid unpleasant side effects on the state of the +processor: while the special-purpose register is being used to hold an +intermediate value, a delicate minuet is required in which the previous +value of the register is saved and then restored just before the official +function (and value) of the special-purpose register is again needed. + diff --git a/entries/rehi.txt b/entries/rehi.txt index 38b56c4..e2dd20f 100644 --- a/entries/rehi.txt +++ b/entries/rehi.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ rehi -Hello again. Very commonly used to greet people upon returning to an IRC channel after channel hopping. +Hello again. Very commonly used to greet people upon returning to an IRC +channel after channel hopping. + diff --git a/entries/reincarnation, cycle of.txt b/entries/reincarnation, cycle of.txt index 3abc8e3..acff026 100644 --- a/entries/reincarnation, cycle of.txt +++ b/entries/reincarnation, cycle of.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ reincarnation, cycle of n. See cycle of reincarnation. + diff --git a/entries/reinvent the wheel.txt b/entries/reinvent the wheel.txt index 0ee039e..90dff1a 100644 --- a/entries/reinvent the wheel.txt +++ b/entries/reinvent the wheel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ reinvent the wheel -v. To design or implement a tool equivalent to an existing one or part of one, with the implication that doing so is silly or a waste of time. This is often a valid criticism. On the other hand, automobiles don't use wooden rollers, and some kinds of wheel have to be reinvented many times before you get them right. On the third hand, people reinventing the wheel do tend to come up with the moral equivalent of a trapezoid with an offset axle. +v. To design or implement a tool equivalent to an existing one or part of +one, with the implication that doing so is silly or a waste of time. This is +often a valid criticism. On the other hand, automobiles don't use wooden +rollers, and some kinds of wheel have to be reinvented many times before you +get them right. On the third hand, people reinventing the wheel do tend to +come up with the moral equivalent of a trapezoid with an offset axle. + diff --git a/entries/relay rape.txt b/entries/relay rape.txt index a9005f2..0b19370 100644 --- a/entries/relay rape.txt +++ b/entries/relay rape.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ relay rape n. The hijacking of a third party's unsecured mail server to deliver spam. + diff --git a/entries/religion of CHI.txt b/entries/religion of CHI.txt index f777703..b7394da 100644 --- a/entries/religion of CHI.txt +++ b/entries/religion of CHI.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ religion of CHI -/ki:/ , n. [Case Western Reserve University] Yet another hackish parody religion (see also Church of the SubGenius , Discordianism ). In the mid-70s, the canonical Introduction to Programming courses at CWRU were taught in Algol, and student exercises were punched on cards and run on a Univac 1108 system using a homebrew operating system named CHI. The religion had no doctrines and but one ritual: whenever the worshiper noted that a digital clock read 11:08, he or she would recite the phrase It is 11:08; ABS, ALPHABETIC, ARCSIN, ARCCOS, ARCTAN. The last five words were the first five functions in the appropriate chapter of the Algol manual; note the special pronunciations /obz/ and /arksin/ rather than the more common /ahbz/ and /arksi:n/. Using an alarm clock to warn of 11:08's arrival was considered harmful. +/ki:/ , n. [Case Western Reserve University] Yet another hackish parody +religion (see also Church of the SubGenius , Discordianism ). In the +mid-70s, the canonical Introduction to Programming courses at CWRU were +taught in Algol, and student exercises were punched on cards and run on a +Univac 1108 system using a homebrew operating system named CHI. The religion +had no doctrines and but one ritual: whenever the worshiper noted that a +digital clock read 11:08, he or she would recite the phrase It is 11:08; +ABS, ALPHABETIC, ARCSIN, ARCCOS, ARCTAN. The last five words were the first +five functions in the appropriate chapter of the Algol manual; note the +special pronunciations /obz/ and /arksin/ rather than the more common /ahbz/ +and /arksi:n/. Using an alarm clock to warn of 11:08's arrival was +considered harmful. + diff --git a/entries/religious issues.txt b/entries/religious issues.txt index 725998e..063b795 100644 --- a/entries/religious issues.txt +++ b/entries/religious issues.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ religious issues -n. Questions which seemingly cannot be raised without touching off holy wars , such as What is the best operating system (or editor, language, architecture, shell, mail reader, news reader)? , What about that Heinlein guy, eh? , What should we add to the new Jargon File? See holy wars ; see also theology , bigot , and compare rathole. This term is a prime example of ha ha only serious. People actually develop the most amazing and religiously intense attachments to their tools, even when the tools are intangible. The most constructive thing one can do when one stumbles into the crossfire is mumble Get a life! and leave unless, of course, one's own unassailably rational and obviously correct choices are being slammed. +n. Questions which seemingly cannot be raised without touching off holy wars +, such as What is the best operating system (or editor, language, +architecture, shell, mail reader, news reader)? , What about that Heinlein +guy, eh? , What should we add to the new Jargon File? See holy wars ; see +also theology , bigot , and compare rathole. This term is a prime example of +ha ha only serious. People actually develop the most amazing and religiously +intense attachments to their tools, even when the tools are intangible. The +most constructive thing one can do when one stumbles into the crossfire is +mumble Get a life! and leave unless, of course, one's own unassailably +rational and obviously correct choices are being slammed. + diff --git a/entries/replicator.txt b/entries/replicator.txt index e64fb7a..3021258 100644 --- a/entries/replicator.txt +++ b/entries/replicator.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ replicator -n. Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; this could be a living organism, an idea (see meme ), a program (see quine , worm , wabbit , fork bomb , and virus ), a pattern in a cellular automaton (see life , sense 1), or (speculatively) a robot or nanobot. It is even claimed by some that Unix and C are the symbiotic halves of an extremely successful replicator; see Unix conspiracy. +n. Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; this could be a +living organism, an idea (see meme ), a program (see quine , worm , wabbit , +fork bomb , and virus ), a pattern in a cellular automaton (see life , sense +1), or (speculatively) a robot or nanobot. It is even claimed by some that +Unix and C are the symbiotic halves of an extremely successful replicator; +see Unix conspiracy. + diff --git a/entries/reply.txt b/entries/reply.txt index 144effb..5bb4bae 100644 --- a/entries/reply.txt +++ b/entries/reply.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ reply n. See followup. + diff --git a/entries/restriction.txt b/entries/restriction.txt index b2245be..9d09598 100644 --- a/entries/restriction.txt +++ b/entries/restriction.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ restriction -n. A bug or design error that limits a program's capabilities, and which is sufficiently egregious that nobody can quite work up enough nerve to describe it as a feature. Often used (esp. by marketroid types) to make it sound as though some crippling bogosity had been intended by the designers all along, or was forced upon them by arcane technical constraints of a nature no mere user could possibly comprehend (these claims are almost invariably false). Old-time hacker Joseph M. Newcomer advises that whenever choosing a quantifiable but arbitrary restriction, you should make it either a power of 2 or a power of 2 minus 1. If you impose a limit of 107 items in a list, everyone will know it is a random number on the other hand, a limit of 15 or 16 suggests some deep reason (involving 0- or 1-based indexing in binary) and you will get less flamage for it. Limits which are round numbers in base 10 are always especially suspect. +n. A bug or design error that limits a program's capabilities, and which is +sufficiently egregious that nobody can quite work up enough nerve to +describe it as a feature. Often used (esp. by marketroid types) to make it +sound as though some crippling bogosity had been intended by the designers +all along, or was forced upon them by arcane technical constraints of a +nature no mere user could possibly comprehend (these claims are almost +invariably false). Old-time hacker Joseph M. Newcomer advises that whenever +choosing a quantifiable but arbitrary restriction, you should make it either +a power of 2 or a power of 2 minus 1. If you impose a limit of 107 items in +a list, everyone will know it is a random number on the other hand, a limit +of 15 or 16 suggests some deep reason (involving 0- or 1-based indexing in +binary) and you will get less flamage for it. Limits which are round numbers +in base 10 are always especially suspect. + diff --git a/entries/retcon.txt b/entries/retcon.txt index 3e43638..17789ee 100644 --- a/entries/retcon.txt +++ b/entries/retcon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ retcon -/retkon/ [short for retroactive continuity , from the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics ] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. comics or soap operas) where a new story reveals things about events in previous stories, usually leaving the facts the same (thus preserving continuity) while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that a whole season of Dallas was a dream was a retcon. 2. vt. To write such a story about a character or fictitious object. Byrne has retconned Superman's cape so that it is no longer unbreakable. Marvelman's old adventures were retconned into synthetic dreams. Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person into a sentient vegetable. [This term is included because it is a good example of hackish linguistic innovation in a field completely unrelated to computers. The word retcon will probably spread through comics fandom and lose its association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for the record, it started here. ESR] [1993 update: some comics fans on the net now claim that retcon was independently in use in comics fandom before rec.arts.comics , and have citations from around 1981. In lexicography, nothing is ever simple. +/retkon/ [short for retroactive continuity , from the Usenet newsgroup +rec.arts.comics ] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. comics or +soap operas) where a new story reveals things about events in previous +stories, usually leaving the facts the same (thus preserving continuity) +while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that +a whole season of Dallas was a dream was a retcon. 2. vt. To write such a +story about a character or fictitious object. Byrne has retconned Superman's +cape so that it is no longer unbreakable. Marvelman's old adventures were +retconned into synthetic dreams. Swamp Thing was retconned from a +transformed person into a sentient vegetable. [This term is included because +it is a good example of hackish linguistic innovation in a field completely +unrelated to computers. The word retcon will probably spread through comics +fandom and lose its association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for +the record, it started here. ESR] [1993 update: some comics fans on the net +now claim that retcon was independently in use in comics fandom before +rec.arts.comics , and have citations from around 1981. In lexicography, +nothing is ever simple. + diff --git a/entries/retrocomputing.txt b/entries/retrocomputing.txt index 4c720c6..16934d7 100644 --- a/entries/retrocomputing.txt +++ b/entries/retrocomputing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ retrocomputing -/ret'rohk@mpyooting/ , n. Refers to emulations of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; esp. if such implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies, written mostly for hack value , of more serious designs. Perhaps the most widely distributed retrocomputing utility was the pnch (6) or bcd (6) program on V7 and other early Unix versions, which would accept up to 80 characters of text argument and display the corresponding pattern in punched card code. Other well-known retrocomputing hacks have included the programming language INTERCAL , a JCL -emulating shell for Unix, the card-punch-emulating editor named 029, and various elaborate PDP-11 hardware emulators and RT-11 OS emulators written just to keep an old, sourceless Zork binary running. A tasty selection of retrocomputing programs are made available at the Retrocomputing Museum, http://www.catb.org/retro/. +/ret'rohk@mpyooting/ , n. Refers to emulations of +way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or implementations of +never-was-state-of-the-art; esp. if such implementations are elaborate +practical jokes and/or parodies, written mostly for hack value , of more +serious designs. Perhaps the most widely distributed retrocomputing utility +was the pnch (6) or bcd (6) program on V7 and other early Unix versions, +which would accept up to 80 characters of text argument and display the +corresponding pattern in punched card code. Other well-known retrocomputing +hacks have included the programming language INTERCAL , a JCL -emulating +shell for Unix, the card-punch-emulating editor named 029, and various +elaborate PDP-11 hardware emulators and RT-11 OS emulators written just to +keep an old, sourceless Zork binary running. A tasty selection of +retrocomputing programs are made available at the Retrocomputing Museum, +http://www.catb.org/retro/. + diff --git a/entries/return from the dead.txt b/entries/return from the dead.txt index b6d1dc6..2633a7c 100644 --- a/entries/return from the dead.txt +++ b/entries/return from the dead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ return from the dead -v. To regain access to the net after a long absence. Compare person of no account. +v. To regain access to the net after a long absence. Compare person of no +account. + diff --git a/entries/rip.txt b/entries/rip.txt index 1f327c4..e387af0 100644 --- a/entries/rip.txt +++ b/entries/rip.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ rip -v. 1. To extract the digital representation of a piece of music from an audio CD. Software that does this is often called a CD ripper. 2. [Amiga hackers] To extract sound or graphics from a program that they have been compiled/assembled into, or which generates them at run-time. In the case of older Amiga games this entails searching through memory shortly after a reboot. This sense has been in use for many years and probably gave rise to the (now more common) sense 1. +v. 1. To extract the digital representation of a piece of music from an +audio CD. Software that does this is often called a CD ripper. 2. [Amiga +hackers] To extract sound or graphics from a program that they have been +compiled/assembled into, or which generates them at run-time. In the case of +older Amiga games this entails searching through memory shortly after a +reboot. This sense has been in use for many years and probably gave rise to +the (now more common) sense 1. + diff --git a/entries/ripoff.txt b/entries/ripoff.txt index a28cd15..611785d 100644 --- a/entries/ripoff.txt +++ b/entries/ripoff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ ripoff n. Synonym for chad , sense 1. + diff --git a/entries/roach.txt b/entries/roach.txt index 3b56fae..bffe49e 100644 --- a/entries/roach.txt +++ b/entries/roach.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ roach -vt. [Bell Labs] To destroy, esp. of a data structure. Hardware gets toast ed or fried , software gets roached. Probably derived from '70s and '80s drug slang; marijuana smokers used roach to refer to the unsmokable remnant of a joint, and to roach a joint was therefore to destroy it. +vt. [Bell Labs] To destroy, esp. of a data structure. Hardware gets toast ed +or fried , software gets roached. Probably derived from '70s and '80s drug +slang; marijuana smokers used roach to refer to the unsmokable remnant of a +joint, and to roach a joint was therefore to destroy it. + diff --git a/entries/robocanceller.txt b/entries/robocanceller.txt index 74838cf..0d10213 100644 --- a/entries/robocanceller.txt +++ b/entries/robocanceller.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ robocanceller -/rohbohkansel@r/ A program that monitors Usenet feeds, attempting to detect and eliminate spam by sending appropriate cancel messages. Robocancellers may use the Breidbart Index as a trigger. Programming them is not a game for amateurs; see ARMM. See also Dave the Resurrector. +/rohbohkansel@r/ A program that monitors Usenet feeds, attempting to detect +and eliminate spam by sending appropriate cancel messages. Robocancellers +may use the Breidbart Index as a trigger. Programming them is not a game for +amateurs; see ARMM. See also Dave the Resurrector. + diff --git a/entries/robot.txt b/entries/robot.txt index c406b8d..c1a9b25 100644 --- a/entries/robot.txt +++ b/entries/robot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ robot n. See bot. + diff --git a/entries/robust.txt b/entries/robust.txt index 7b29eee..38daff9 100644 --- a/entries/robust.txt +++ b/entries/robust.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ robust -adj. Said of a system that has demonstrated an ability to recover gracefully from the whole range of exceptional inputs and situations in a given environment. One step below bulletproof. Carries the additional connotation of elegance in addition to just careful attention to detail. Compare smart , oppose brittle. +adj. Said of a system that has demonstrated an ability to recover gracefully +from the whole range of exceptional inputs and situations in a given +environment. One step below bulletproof. Carries the additional connotation +of elegance in addition to just careful attention to detail. Compare smart , +oppose brittle. + diff --git a/entries/rococo.txt b/entries/rococo.txt index afb8bb0..11dda19 100644 --- a/entries/rococo.txt +++ b/entries/rococo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ rococo -adj. Terminally baroque. Used to imply that a program has become so encrusted with the software equivalent of gold leaf and curlicues that they have completely swamped the underlying design. Called after the later and more extreme forms of Baroque architecture and decoration prevalent during the mid-1700s in Europe. Alan Perlis said: Every program eventually becomes rococo, and then rubble. Compare critical mass. +adj. Terminally baroque. Used to imply that a program has become so +encrusted with the software equivalent of gold leaf and curlicues that they +have completely swamped the underlying design. Called after the later and +more extreme forms of Baroque architecture and decoration prevalent during +the mid-1700s in Europe. Alan Perlis said: Every program eventually becomes +rococo, and then rubble. Compare critical mass. + diff --git a/entries/rogue.txt b/entries/rogue.txt index acaff42..bc25909 100644 --- a/entries/rogue.txt +++ b/entries/rogue.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ rogue -n. A Dungeons-and-Dragons-like game using character graphics, written under BSD Unix and subsequently ported to other Unix systems. The original BSD curses (3) screen-handling package was hacked together by Ken Arnold primarily to support games, and the development of rogue (6) popularized its use; it has since become one of Unix's most important and heavily used application libraries. Nethack, Omega, Larn, Angband, and an entire subgenre of computer dungeon games (all known as roguelikes ) all took off from the inspiration provided by rogue (6) ; the popular Windows game Diablo, though graphics-intensive, has very similar play logic. See also nethack , moria , Angband. 2. +n. A Dungeons-and-Dragons-like game using character graphics, written under +BSD Unix and subsequently ported to other Unix systems. The original BSD +curses (3) screen-handling package was hacked together by Ken Arnold +primarily to support games, and the development of rogue (6) popularized its +use; it has since become one of Unix's most important and heavily used +application libraries. Nethack, Omega, Larn, Angband, and an entire subgenre +of computer dungeon games (all known as roguelikes ) all took off from the +inspiration provided by rogue (6) ; the popular Windows game Diablo, though +graphics-intensive, has very similar play logic. See also nethack , moria , +Angband. 2. + diff --git a/entries/room-temperature IQ.txt b/entries/room-temperature IQ.txt index 156439c..356572d 100644 --- a/entries/room-temperature IQ.txt +++ b/entries/room-temperature IQ.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ room-temperature IQ -quant. [IBM] 80 or below (nominal room temperature is 72 degrees Fahrenheit, 22 degrees Celsius). Used in describing the expected intelligence range of the luser. Well, but how's this interface going to play with the room-temperature IQ crowd? See drool-proof paper. This is a much more insulting phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers. +quant. [IBM] 80 or below (nominal room temperature is 72 degrees Fahrenheit, +22 degrees Celsius). Used in describing the expected intelligence range of +the luser. Well, but how's this interface going to play with the +room-temperature IQ crowd? See drool-proof paper. This is a much more +insulting phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers. + diff --git a/entries/root mode.txt b/entries/root mode.txt index 0c84046..0693cef 100644 --- a/entries/root mode.txt +++ b/entries/root mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ root mode -n. Syn. with wizard mode or wheel mode. Like these, it is often generalized to describe privileged states in systems other than OSes. +n. Syn. with wizard mode or wheel mode. Like these, it is often generalized +to describe privileged states in systems other than OSes. + diff --git a/entries/root.txt b/entries/root.txt index 097d4ac..96474ed 100644 --- a/entries/root.txt +++ b/entries/root.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ root -n. 1. [Unix] The superuser account (with user name root ) that ignores permission bits, user number 0 on a Unix system. The term avatar is also used. 2. The top node of the system directory structure; historically the home directory of the root user, but probably named after the root of an (inverted) tree. 3. By extension, the privileged system-maintenance login on any OS. See root mode , go root , see also wheel. +n. 1. [Unix] The superuser account (with user name root ) that ignores +permission bits, user number 0 on a Unix system. The term avatar is also +used. 2. The top node of the system directory structure; historically the +home directory of the root user, but probably named after the root of an +(inverted) tree. 3. By extension, the privileged system-maintenance login on +any OS. See root mode , go root , see also wheel. + diff --git a/entries/rootkit.txt b/entries/rootkit.txt index 3975be7..33cdef8 100644 --- a/entries/rootkit.txt +++ b/entries/rootkit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ rootkit -/rootkit/ , n. [very common] A kit for maintaining root ; an automated cracking tool. What script kiddies use. After a cracker has first broken in and gained root access, he or she will install modified binaries such as a modified version login with a backdoor, or a version of ps that will not report the cracker's processes). This is a rootkit. +/rootkit/ , n. [very common] A kit for maintaining root ; an automated +cracking tool. What script kiddies use. After a cracker has first broken in +and gained root access, he or she will install modified binaries such as a +modified version login with a backdoor, or a version of ps that will not +report the cracker's processes). This is a rootkit. + diff --git a/entries/rot13.txt b/entries/rot13.txt index 592fc8f..1f6cfbf 100644 --- a/entries/rot13.txt +++ b/entries/rot13.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ rot13 -/rot therteen/ , n.,v. [Usenet: from rotate alphabet 13 places ] The simple Caesar-cypher encryption that replaces each English letter with the one 13 places forward or back along the alphabet, so that The butler did it! becomes Gur ohgyre qvq vg! Most Usenet news reading and posting programs include a rot13 feature. It is used to enclose the text in a sealed wrapper that the reader must choose to open e.g., for posting things that might offend some readers, or spoiler s. A major advantage of rot13 over rot( N ) for other N is that it is self-inverse, so the same code can be used for encoding and decoding. See also spoiler space , which has partly displaced rot13 since non-Unix-based newsreaders became common. +/rot therteen/ , n.,v. [Usenet: from rotate alphabet 13 places ] The simple +Caesar-cypher encryption that replaces each English letter with the one 13 +places forward or back along the alphabet, so that The butler did it! +becomes Gur ohgyre qvq vg! Most Usenet news reading and posting programs +include a rot13 feature. It is used to enclose the text in a sealed wrapper +that the reader must choose to open e.g., for posting things that might +offend some readers, or spoiler s. A major advantage of rot13 over rot( N ) +for other N is that it is self-inverse, so the same code can be used for +encoding and decoding. See also spoiler space , which has partly displaced +rot13 since non-Unix-based newsreaders became common. + diff --git a/entries/rotary debugger.txt b/entries/rotary debugger.txt index 98f87b7..5ed5029 100644 --- a/entries/rotary debugger.txt +++ b/entries/rotary debugger.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ rotary debugger -n. [Commodore] Essential equipment for those late-night or early-morning debugging sessions. Mainly used as sustenance for the hacker. Comes in many decorator colors, such as Sausage, Pepperoni, and Garbage. See ANSI standard pizza. +n. [Commodore] Essential equipment for those late-night or early-morning +debugging sessions. Mainly used as sustenance for the hacker. Comes in many +decorator colors, such as Sausage, Pepperoni, and Garbage. See ANSI standard +pizza. + diff --git a/entries/rubber-hose cryptanalysis.txt b/entries/rubber-hose cryptanalysis.txt index 6959fa7..66b3ca2 100644 --- a/entries/rubber-hose cryptanalysis.txt +++ b/entries/rubber-hose cryptanalysis.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ rubber-hose cryptanalysis -n. [sci.crypt newsgroup] The technique of breaking a code or cipher by finding someone who has the key and applying a rubber hose vigorously and repeatedly to the soles of that luckless person's feet until the key is discovered. Shorthand for any method of coercion: the originator of the term drily noted that it can take a surprisingly short time and is quite computationally inexpensive relative to other cryptanalysis methods. Compare social engineering , brute force. +n. [sci.crypt newsgroup] The technique of breaking a code or cipher by +finding someone who has the key and applying a rubber hose vigorously and +repeatedly to the soles of that luckless person's feet until the key is +discovered. Shorthand for any method of coercion: the originator of the term +drily noted that it can take a surprisingly short time and is quite +computationally inexpensive relative to other cryptanalysis methods. Compare +social engineering , brute force. + diff --git a/entries/rude.txt b/entries/rude.txt index c182966..cc848b4 100644 --- a/entries/rude.txt +++ b/entries/rude.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ rude -adj. 1. (of a program) Badly written. 2. Functionally poor, e.g., a program that is very difficult to use because of gratuitously poor (random?) design decisions. Oppose cuspy. 3. Anything that manipulates a shared resource without regard for its other users in such a way as to cause a (non-fatal) problem. Examples: programs that change tty modes without resetting them on exit, or windowing programs that keep forcing themselves to the top of the window stack. +adj. 1. (of a program) Badly written. 2. Functionally poor, e.g., a program +that is very difficult to use because of gratuitously poor (random?) design +decisions. Oppose cuspy. 3. Anything that manipulates a shared resource +without regard for its other users in such a way as to cause a (non-fatal) +problem. Examples: programs that change tty modes without resetting them on +exit, or windowing programs that keep forcing themselves to the top of the +window stack. + diff --git a/entries/runes.txt b/entries/runes.txt index c3d399c..371fc3f 100644 --- a/entries/runes.txt +++ b/entries/runes.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ runes pl.n. 1. + diff --git a/entries/runic.txt b/entries/runic.txt index eeb6216..c1e1fb7 100644 --- a/entries/runic.txt +++ b/entries/runic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ runic -adj. Syn. obscure. VMS fans sometimes refer to Unix as Runix ; Unix fans return the compliment by expanding VMS to Very Messy Syntax or Vachement Mauvais Systme (French idiom, Hugely Bad System ). +adj. Syn. obscure. VMS fans sometimes refer to Unix as Runix ; Unix fans +return the compliment by expanding VMS to Very Messy Syntax or Vachement +Mauvais Systme (French idiom, Hugely Bad System ). + diff --git a/entries/rusty iron.txt b/entries/rusty iron.txt index 3386b39..303018e 100644 --- a/entries/rusty iron.txt +++ b/entries/rusty iron.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ rusty iron -n. Syn. tired iron. It has been claimed that this is the inevitable fate of water MIPS. +n. Syn. tired iron. It has been claimed that this is the inevitable fate of +water MIPS. + diff --git a/entries/rusty wire.txt b/entries/rusty wire.txt index f53c462..ec3c7f4 100644 --- a/entries/rusty wire.txt +++ b/entries/rusty wire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ rusty wire -n. [Amateur Packet Radio] Any very noisy network medium, in which the packets are subject to frequent corruption. Most prevalent in reference to wireless links subject to all the vagaries of RF noise and marginal propagation conditions. Yes, but how good is your whizbang new protocol on really rusty wire?. +n. [Amateur Packet Radio] Any very noisy network medium, in which the +packets are subject to frequent corruption. Most prevalent in reference to +wireless links subject to all the vagaries of RF noise and marginal +propagation conditions. Yes, but how good is your whizbang new protocol on +really rusty wire?. + diff --git a/entries/sacred.txt b/entries/sacred.txt index 005efc8..71a7393 100644 --- a/entries/sacred.txt +++ b/entries/sacred.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ sacred -adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (an extension of the standard meaning). Often means that anyone may look at the sacred object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it is sacred to. The comment Register 7 is sacred to the interrupt handler appearing in a program would be interpreted by a hacker to mean that if any other part of the program changes the contents of register 7, dire consequences are likely to ensue. +adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (an extension of the +standard meaning). Often means that anyone may look at the sacred object, +but clobbering it will screw whatever it is sacred to. The comment Register +7 is sacred to the interrupt handler appearing in a program would be +interpreted by a hacker to mean that if any other part of the program +changes the contents of register 7, dire consequences are likely to ensue. + diff --git a/entries/saga.txt b/entries/saga.txt index 40dd007..0754a6c 100644 --- a/entries/saga.txt +++ b/entries/saga.txt @@ -1,3 +1,114 @@ saga -n. [WPI] A cuspy but bogus raving story about N random broken people. Here is a classic example of the saga form, as told by Guy L. Steele: Jon L. White (login name JONL) and I (GLS) were office mates at MIT for many years. One April, we both flew from Boston to California for a week on research business, to consult face-to-face with some people at Stanford, particularly our mutual friend Richard P. Gabriel (RPG). RPG picked us up at the San Francisco airport and drove us back to Palo Alto (going logical south on route 101, parallel to El Camino Bignum ). Palo Alto is adjacent to Stanford University and about 40 miles south of San Francisco. We ate at The Good Earth, a health food restaurant, very popular, the sort whose milkshakes all contain honey and protein powder. JONL ordered such a shake the waitress claimed the flavor of the day was lalaberry. I still have no idea what that might be, but it became a running joke. It was the color of raspberry, and JONL said it tasted rather bitter. I ate a better tostada there than I have ever had in a Mexican restaurant. After this we went to the local Uncle Gaylord's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor. They make ice cream fresh daily, in a variety of intriguing flavors. It's a chain, and they have a slogan: If you don't live near an Uncle Gaylord's MOVE! Also, Uncle Gaylord (a real person) wages a constant battle to force big-name ice cream makers to print their ingredients on the package (like air and plastic and other non-natural garbage). JONL and I had first discovered Uncle Gaylord's the previous August, when we had flown to a computer-science conference in Berkeley, California, the first time either of us had been on the West Coast. When not in the conference sessions, we had spent our time wandering the length of Telegraph Avenue, which (like Harvard Square in Cambridge) was lined with picturesque street vendors and interesting little shops. On that street we discovered Uncle Gaylord's Berkeley store. The ice cream there was very good. During that August visit JONL went absolutely bananas (so to speak) over one particular flavor, ginger honey. Therefore, after eating at The Good Earth indeed, after every lunch and dinner and before bed during our April visit a trip to Uncle Gaylord's (the one in Palo Alto) was mandatory. We had arrived on a Wednesday, and by Thursday evening we had been there at least four times. Each time, JONL would get ginger honey ice cream, and proclaim to all bystanders that Ginger was the spice that drove the Europeans mad! That's why they sought a route to the East! They used it to preserve their otherwise off-taste meat. After the third or fourth repetition RPG and I were getting a little tired of this spiel, and began to paraphrase him: Wow! Ginger! The spice that makes rotten meat taste good! Say! Why don't we find some dog that's been run over and sat in the sun for a week and put some ginger on it for dinner?! Right! With a lalaberry shake! And so on. This failed to faze JONL; he took it in good humor, as long as we kept returning to Uncle Gaylord's. He loves ginger honey ice cream. Now RPG and his then-wife KBT (Kathy Tracy) were putting us up (putting up with us?) in their home for our visit, so to thank them JONL and I took them out to a nice French restaurant of their choosing. I unadventurously chose the filet mignon, and KBT had je ne sais quoi du jour , but RPG and JONL had lapin (rabbit). (Waitress: Oui , we have fresh rabbit, fresh today. RPG: Well, JONL, I guess we won't need any ginger ! ) We finished the meal late, about 11PM, which is 2AM Boston time, so JONL and I were rather droopy. But it wasn't yet midnight. Off to Uncle Gaylord's! Now the French restaurant was in Redwood City, north of Palo Alto. In leaving Redwood City, we somehow got onto route 101 going north instead of south. JONL and I wouldn't have known the difference had RPG not mentioned it. We still knew very little of the local geography. I did figure out, however, that we were headed in the direction of Berkeley, and half-jokingly suggested that we continue north and go to Uncle Gaylord's in Berkeley. RPG said Fine! and we drove on for a while and talked. I was drowsy, and JONL actually dropped off to sleep for 5 minutes. When he awoke, RPG said, Gee, JONL, you must have slept all the way over the bridge! , referring to the one spanning San Francisco Bay. Just then we came to a sign that said University Avenue. I mumbled something about working our way over to Telegraph Avenue; RPG said Right! and maneuvered some more. Eventually we pulled up in front of an Uncle Gaylord's. Now, I hadn't really been paying attention because I was so sleepy, and I didn't really understand what was happening until RPG let me in on it a few moments later, but I was just alert enough to notice that we had somehow come to the Palo Alto Uncle Gaylord's after all. JONL noticed the resemblance to the Palo Alto store, but hadn't caught on. (The place is lit with red and yellow lights at night, and looks much different from the way it does in daylight.) He said, This isn't the Uncle Gaylord's I went to in Berkeley! It looked like a barn! But this place looks just like the one back in Palo Alto! RPG deadpanned, Well, this is the one I always come to when I'm in Berkeley. They've got two in San Francisco, too. Remember, they're a chain. JONL accepted this bit of wisdom. And he was not totally ignorant he knew perfectly well that University Avenue was in Berkeley, not far from Telegraph Avenue. What he didn't know was that there is a completely different University Avenue in Palo Alto. JONL went up to the counter and asked for ginger honey. The guy at the counter asked whether JONL would like to taste it first, evidently their standard procedure with that flavor, as not too many people like it. JONL said, I'm sure I like it. Just give me a cone. The guy behind the counter insisted that JONL try just a taste first. Some people think it tastes like soap. JONL insisted, Look, I love ginger. I eat Chinese food. I eat raw ginger roots. I already went through this hassle with the guy back in Palo Alto. I know I like that flavor! At the words back in Palo Alto the guy behind the counter got a very strange look on his face, but said nothing. KBT caught his eye and winked. Through my stupor I still hadn't quite grasped what was going on, and thought RPG was rolling on the floor laughing and clutching his stomach just because JONL had launched into his spiel ( makes rotten meat a dish for princes ) for the forty-third time. At this point, RPG clued me in fully. RPG, KBT, and I retreated to a table, trying to stifle our chuckles. JONL remained at the counter, talking about ice cream with the guy b.t.c., comparing Uncle Gaylord's to other ice cream shops and generally having a good old time. At length the g.b.t.c.: said, How's the ginger honey? JONL said, Fine! I wonder what exactly is in it? Now Uncle Gaylord publishes all his recipes and even teaches classes on how to make his ice cream at home. So the g.b.t.c.: got out the recipe, and he and JONL pored over it for a while. But the g.b.t.c.: could contain his curiosity no longer, and asked again, You really like that stuff, huh? JONL said, Yeah, I've been eating it constantly back in Palo Alto for the past two days. In fact, I think this batch is about as good as the cones I got back in Palo Alto! G.b.t.c.: looked him straight in the eye and said, You're in Palo Alto! JONL turned slowly around, and saw the three of us collapse in a fit of giggles. He clapped a hand to his forehead and exclaimed, I've been hacked! [My spies on the West Coast inform me that there is a close relative of the raspberry found out there called an ollalieberry ESR] [Ironic footnote: the meme about ginger vs. rotting meat is an urban legend. It's not borne out by an examination of medieval recipes or period purchase records for spices, and appears full-blown in the works of Samuel Pegge, a gourmand and notorious flake case who originated numerous food myths. The truth seems to be that ginger was used to cover not rot but the extreme salt taste of meat packed in brine, which was the best method available before refrigeration. +n. [WPI] A cuspy but bogus raving story about N random broken people. Here +is a classic example of the saga form, as told by Guy L. Steele: Jon L. +White (login name JONL) and I (GLS) were office mates at MIT for many years. +One April, we both flew from Boston to California for a week on research +business, to consult face-to-face with some people at Stanford, particularly +our mutual friend Richard P. Gabriel (RPG). RPG picked us up at the San +Francisco airport and drove us back to Palo Alto (going logical south on +route 101, parallel to El Camino Bignum ). Palo Alto is adjacent to Stanford +University and about 40 miles south of San Francisco. We ate at The Good +Earth, a health food restaurant, very popular, the sort whose milkshakes all +contain honey and protein powder. JONL ordered such a shake the waitress +claimed the flavor of the day was lalaberry. I still have no idea what that +might be, but it became a running joke. It was the color of raspberry, and +JONL said it tasted rather bitter. I ate a better tostada there than I have +ever had in a Mexican restaurant. After this we went to the local Uncle +Gaylord's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor. They make ice cream fresh daily, +in a variety of intriguing flavors. It's a chain, and they have a slogan: If +you don't live near an Uncle Gaylord's MOVE! Also, Uncle Gaylord (a real +person) wages a constant battle to force big-name ice cream makers to print +their ingredients on the package (like air and plastic and other non-natural +garbage). JONL and I had first discovered Uncle Gaylord's the previous +August, when we had flown to a computer-science conference in Berkeley, +California, the first time either of us had been on the West Coast. When not +in the conference sessions, we had spent our time wandering the length of +Telegraph Avenue, which (like Harvard Square in Cambridge) was lined with +picturesque street vendors and interesting little shops. On that street we +discovered Uncle Gaylord's Berkeley store. The ice cream there was very +good. During that August visit JONL went absolutely bananas (so to speak) +over one particular flavor, ginger honey. Therefore, after eating at The +Good Earth indeed, after every lunch and dinner and before bed during our +April visit a trip to Uncle Gaylord's (the one in Palo Alto) was mandatory. +We had arrived on a Wednesday, and by Thursday evening we had been there at +least four times. Each time, JONL would get ginger honey ice cream, and +proclaim to all bystanders that Ginger was the spice that drove the +Europeans mad! That's why they sought a route to the East! They used it to +preserve their otherwise off-taste meat. After the third or fourth +repetition RPG and I were getting a little tired of this spiel, and began to +paraphrase him: Wow! Ginger! The spice that makes rotten meat taste good! +Say! Why don't we find some dog that's been run over and sat in the sun for +a week and put some ginger on it for dinner?! Right! With a lalaberry shake! +And so on. This failed to faze JONL; he took it in good humor, as long as we +kept returning to Uncle Gaylord's. He loves ginger honey ice cream. Now RPG +and his then-wife KBT (Kathy Tracy) were putting us up (putting up with us?) +in their home for our visit, so to thank them JONL and I took them out to a +nice French restaurant of their choosing. I unadventurously chose the filet +mignon, and KBT had je ne sais quoi du jour , but RPG and JONL had lapin +(rabbit). (Waitress: Oui , we have fresh rabbit, fresh today. RPG: Well, +JONL, I guess we won't need any ginger ! ) We finished the meal late, about +11PM, which is 2AM Boston time, so JONL and I were rather droopy. But it +wasn't yet midnight. Off to Uncle Gaylord's! Now the French restaurant was +in Redwood City, north of Palo Alto. In leaving Redwood City, we somehow got +onto route 101 going north instead of south. JONL and I wouldn't have known +the difference had RPG not mentioned it. We still knew very little of the +local geography. I did figure out, however, that we were headed in the +direction of Berkeley, and half-jokingly suggested that we continue north +and go to Uncle Gaylord's in Berkeley. RPG said Fine! and we drove on for a +while and talked. I was drowsy, and JONL actually dropped off to sleep for 5 +minutes. When he awoke, RPG said, Gee, JONL, you must have slept all the way +over the bridge! , referring to the one spanning San Francisco Bay. Just +then we came to a sign that said University Avenue. I mumbled something +about working our way over to Telegraph Avenue; RPG said Right! and +maneuvered some more. Eventually we pulled up in front of an Uncle +Gaylord's. Now, I hadn't really been paying attention because I was so +sleepy, and I didn't really understand what was happening until RPG let me +in on it a few moments later, but I was just alert enough to notice that we +had somehow come to the Palo Alto Uncle Gaylord's after all. JONL noticed +the resemblance to the Palo Alto store, but hadn't caught on. (The place is +lit with red and yellow lights at night, and looks much different from the +way it does in daylight.) He said, This isn't the Uncle Gaylord's I went to +in Berkeley! It looked like a barn! But this place looks just like the one +back in Palo Alto! RPG deadpanned, Well, this is the one I always come to +when I'm in Berkeley. They've got two in San Francisco, too. Remember, +they're a chain. JONL accepted this bit of wisdom. And he was not totally +ignorant he knew perfectly well that University Avenue was in Berkeley, not +far from Telegraph Avenue. What he didn't know was that there is a +completely different University Avenue in Palo Alto. JONL went up to the +counter and asked for ginger honey. The guy at the counter asked whether +JONL would like to taste it first, evidently their standard procedure with +that flavor, as not too many people like it. JONL said, I'm sure I like it. +Just give me a cone. The guy behind the counter insisted that JONL try just +a taste first. Some people think it tastes like soap. JONL insisted, Look, I +love ginger. I eat Chinese food. I eat raw ginger roots. I already went +through this hassle with the guy back in Palo Alto. I know I like that +flavor! At the words back in Palo Alto the guy behind the counter got a very +strange look on his face, but said nothing. KBT caught his eye and winked. +Through my stupor I still hadn't quite grasped what was going on, and +thought RPG was rolling on the floor laughing and clutching his stomach just +because JONL had launched into his spiel ( makes rotten meat a dish for +princes ) for the forty-third time. At this point, RPG clued me in fully. +RPG, KBT, and I retreated to a table, trying to stifle our chuckles. JONL +remained at the counter, talking about ice cream with the guy b.t.c., +comparing Uncle Gaylord's to other ice cream shops and generally having a +good old time. At length the g.b.t.c.: said, How's the ginger honey? JONL +said, Fine! I wonder what exactly is in it? Now Uncle Gaylord publishes all +his recipes and even teaches classes on how to make his ice cream at home. +So the g.b.t.c.: got out the recipe, and he and JONL pored over it for a +while. But the g.b.t.c.: could contain his curiosity no longer, and asked +again, You really like that stuff, huh? JONL said, Yeah, I've been eating it +constantly back in Palo Alto for the past two days. In fact, I think this +batch is about as good as the cones I got back in Palo Alto! G.b.t.c.: +looked him straight in the eye and said, You're in Palo Alto! JONL turned +slowly around, and saw the three of us collapse in a fit of giggles. He +clapped a hand to his forehead and exclaimed, I've been hacked! [My spies on +the West Coast inform me that there is a close relative of the raspberry +found out there called an ollalieberry ESR] [Ironic footnote: the meme about +ginger vs. rotting meat is an urban legend. It's not borne out by an +examination of medieval recipes or period purchase records for spices, and +appears full-blown in the works of Samuel Pegge, a gourmand and notorious +flake case who originated numerous food myths. The truth seems to be that +ginger was used to cover not rot but the extreme salt taste of meat packed +in brine, which was the best method available before refrigeration. + diff --git a/entries/sagan.txt b/entries/sagan.txt index 9a0103f..76ab5a0 100644 --- a/entries/sagan.txt +++ b/entries/sagan.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ sagan -/saygn/ , n. [from Carl Sagan's TV series Cosmos ; think billions and billions ] A large quantity of anything. There's a sagan different ways to tweak EMACS. The U.S. Government spends sagans on bombs and welfare hard to say which is more destructive. +/saygn/ , n. [from Carl Sagan's TV series Cosmos ; think billions and +billions ] A large quantity of anything. There's a sagan different ways to +tweak EMACS. The U.S. Government spends sagans on bombs and welfare hard to +say which is more destructive. + diff --git a/entries/salescritter.txt b/entries/salescritter.txt index b2575e7..513abb4 100644 --- a/entries/salescritter.txt +++ b/entries/salescritter.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ salescritter -/saylskri`tr/ , n. Pejorative hackerism for a computer salesperson. Hackers tell the following joke: Q.What'sthedifferencebetweenaused-cardealeranda computersalesman? A.Theused-cardealerknowshe'slying.[Someversionsadd: ...andprobablyknowshowtodrive.] This reflects the widespread hacker belief that salescritters are self-selected for stupidity (after all, if they had brains and the inclination to use them, they'd be in programming). The terms salesthing and salesdroid are also common. Compare marketroid , suit , droid. +/saylskri`tr/ , n. Pejorative hackerism for a computer salesperson. Hackers +tell the following joke: Q.What'sthedifferencebetweenaused-cardealeranda +computersalesman? A.Theused-cardealerknowshe'slying.[Someversionsadd: +...andprobablyknowshowtodrive.] This reflects the widespread hacker belief +that salescritters are self-selected for stupidity (after all, if they had +brains and the inclination to use them, they'd be in programming). The terms +salesthing and salesdroid are also common. Compare marketroid , suit , +droid. + diff --git a/entries/salt mines.txt b/entries/salt mines.txt index 50537f9..85787a1 100644 --- a/entries/salt mines.txt +++ b/entries/salt mines.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ salt mines -n. Dense quarters housing large numbers of programmers working long hours on grungy projects, with some hope of seeing the end of the tunnel in N years. Noted for their absence of sunshine. Compare playpen , sandbox. +n. Dense quarters housing large numbers of programmers working long hours on +grungy projects, with some hope of seeing the end of the tunnel in N years. +Noted for their absence of sunshine. Compare playpen , sandbox. + diff --git a/entries/salt substrate.txt b/entries/salt substrate.txt index eb97319..07e23c4 100644 --- a/entries/salt substrate.txt +++ b/entries/salt substrate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ salt substrate -n. [MIT] Collective noun used to refer to potato chips, pretzels, saltines, or any other form of snack food designed primarily as a carrier for sodium chloride. Also sodium substrate. From the technical term chip substrate , used to refer to the silicon on the top of which the active parts of integrated circuits are deposited. +n. [MIT] Collective noun used to refer to potato chips, pretzels, saltines, +or any other form of snack food designed primarily as a carrier for sodium +chloride. Also sodium substrate. From the technical term chip substrate , +used to refer to the silicon on the top of which the active parts of +integrated circuits are deposited. + diff --git a/entries/salt.txt b/entries/salt.txt index 3e15765..bf036c7 100644 --- a/entries/salt.txt +++ b/entries/salt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ salt -n. A tiny bit of near-random data inserted where too much regularity would be undesirable; a data frob (sense 1). For example, the Unix crypt (3) man page mentions that the salt string is used to perturb the DES algorithm in one of 4096 different ways. +n. A tiny bit of near-random data inserted where too much regularity would +be undesirable; a data frob (sense 1). For example, the Unix crypt (3) man +page mentions that the salt string is used to perturb the DES algorithm in +one of 4096 different ways. + diff --git a/entries/same-day service.txt b/entries/same-day service.txt index 0cef2ff..030050a 100644 --- a/entries/same-day service.txt +++ b/entries/same-day service.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ same-day service -n. Ironic term used to describe long response time, particularly with respect to MS-DOS and Windows system calls (which ought to require only a tiny fraction of a second to execute). Such response time is a major incentive for programmers to write programs that are not well-behaved. +n. Ironic term used to describe long response time, particularly with +respect to MS-DOS and Windows system calls (which ought to require only a +tiny fraction of a second to execute). Such response time is a major +incentive for programmers to write programs that are not well-behaved. + diff --git a/entries/samizdat.txt b/entries/samizdat.txt index e4840e9..e0b67c7 100644 --- a/entries/samizdat.txt +++ b/entries/samizdat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ samizdat -/sahmizdaht/ , n. [Russian, literally self publishing ] The process of disseminating documentation via underground channels. Originally referred to underground duplication and distribution of banned books in the Soviet Union; now refers by obvious extension to any less-than-official promulgation of textual material, esp. rare, obsolete, or never-formally-published computer documentation. Samizdat is obviously much easier when one has access to high-bandwidth networks and high-quality laser printers. Note that samizdat is properly used only with respect to documents which contain needed information (see also hacker ethic ) but which are for some reason otherwise unavailable, but not in the context of documents which are available through normal channels, for which unauthorized duplication would be unethical copyright violation. See Lions Book for a historical example. +/sahmizdaht/ , n. [Russian, literally self publishing ] The process of +disseminating documentation via underground channels. Originally referred to +underground duplication and distribution of banned books in the Soviet +Union; now refers by obvious extension to any less-than-official +promulgation of textual material, esp. rare, obsolete, or +never-formally-published computer documentation. Samizdat is obviously much +easier when one has access to high-bandwidth networks and high-quality laser +printers. Note that samizdat is properly used only with respect to documents +which contain needed information (see also hacker ethic ) but which are for +some reason otherwise unavailable, but not in the context of documents which +are available through normal channels, for which unauthorized duplication +would be unethical copyright violation. See Lions Book for a historical +example. + diff --git a/entries/samurai.txt b/entries/samurai.txt index 5e892bd..96fc019 100644 --- a/entries/samurai.txt +++ b/entries/samurai.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ samurai -n. A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for factions in corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases, and other parties with legitimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith. In 1991, mainstream media reported the existence of a loose-knit culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems, mostly bright teenagers with personal micros; they have modeled themselves explicitly on the historical samurai of Japan and on the net cowboys of William Gibson's cyberpunk novels. Those interviewed claim to adhere to a rigid ethic of loyalty to their employers and to disdain the vandalism and theft practiced by criminal crackers as beneath them and contrary to the hacker ethic; some quote Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings , a classic of historical samurai doctrine, in support of these principles. See also sneaker , Stupids , social engineering , cracker , hacker ethic , and dark-side hacker. +n. A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for factions in +corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First +Amendment cases, and other parties with legitimate reasons to need an +electronic locksmith. In 1991, mainstream media reported the existence of a +loose-knit culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems, +mostly bright teenagers with personal micros; they have modeled themselves +explicitly on the historical samurai of Japan and on the net cowboys of +William Gibson's cyberpunk novels. Those interviewed claim to adhere to a +rigid ethic of loyalty to their employers and to disdain the vandalism and +theft practiced by criminal crackers as beneath them and contrary to the +hacker ethic; some quote Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings , a classic +of historical samurai doctrine, in support of these principles. See also +sneaker , Stupids , social engineering , cracker , hacker ethic , and +dark-side hacker. + diff --git a/entries/sandbender.txt b/entries/sandbender.txt index d8d4085..95cd4f3 100644 --- a/entries/sandbender.txt +++ b/entries/sandbender.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ sandbender -n. [IBM] A person involved with silicon lithography and the physical design of chips. Compare ironmonger , polygon pusher. +n. [IBM] A person involved with silicon lithography and the physical design +of chips. Compare ironmonger , polygon pusher. + diff --git a/entries/sandbox.txt b/entries/sandbox.txt index 13ed6d5..a32746b 100644 --- a/entries/sandbox.txt +++ b/entries/sandbox.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ sandbox -n. (also sandbox, the ) 1. 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 play. Compare playpen. 2. Syn. link farm. 3. A controlled environment within which potentially dangerous programs are run. Used esp. in reference to Java implementations. 4. A checked-out copy of a source tree, on which one may safely perform builds without interfereing with others. +n. (also sandbox, the ) 1. 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 play. Compare playpen. 2. Syn. link farm. 3. A +controlled environment within which potentially dangerous programs are run. +Used esp. in reference to Java implementations. 4. A checked-out copy of a +source tree, on which one may safely perform builds without interfereing +with others. + diff --git a/entries/sanity check.txt b/entries/sanity check.txt index 711f61e..9723295 100644 --- a/entries/sanity check.txt +++ b/entries/sanity check.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ sanity check -n. [very common] 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 software relied on a particular formula and 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 algorithm itself. Compare reality check. 2. A run-time test, either validating input or ensuring that the program hasn't screwed up internally (producing an inconsistent value or state). 3. Conversationally, saying sanity check means you are requesting a check of your assumptions. +n. [very common] 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 software relied on a particular formula and 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 algorithm +itself. Compare reality check. 2. A run-time test, either validating input +or ensuring that the program hasn't screwed up internally (producing an +inconsistent value or state). 3. Conversationally, saying sanity check means +you are requesting a check of your assumptions. + diff --git a/entries/say.txt b/entries/say.txt index 0f29000..5a327ef 100644 --- a/entries/say.txt +++ b/entries/say.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ 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 synthesizer, by displaying them on a terminal in response to your commands. Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses mundane s. +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 synthesizer, by displaying them on a terminal in response to your +commands. Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses mundane s. + diff --git a/entries/scag.txt b/entries/scag.txt index 781aeca..a1ff90b 100644 --- a/entries/scag.txt +++ b/entries/scag.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ scag -vt. To destroy the data on a disk, either by corrupting the filesystem or by causing media damage. That last power hit scagged the system disk. Compare scrog , roach. +vt. To destroy the data on a disk, either by corrupting the filesystem or by +causing media damage. That last power hit scagged the system disk. Compare +scrog , roach. + diff --git a/entries/scanno.txt b/entries/scanno.txt index 78960be..1d22bf9 100644 --- a/entries/scanno.txt +++ b/entries/scanno.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ scanno -/skanoh/ , n. An error in a document caused by a scanner glitch, analogous to a typo or thinko. +/skanoh/ , n. An error in a document caused by a scanner glitch, analogous +to a typo or thinko. + diff --git a/entries/scary devil monastery.txt b/entries/scary devil monastery.txt index 9662dd9..fcd1560 100644 --- a/entries/scary devil monastery.txt +++ b/entries/scary devil monastery.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ scary devil monastery -n. Anagram frequently used to refer to the newsgroup alt.sysadmin.recovery , which is populated with characters that rather justify the reference. +n. Anagram frequently used to refer to the newsgroup alt.sysadmin.recovery , +which is populated with characters that rather justify the reference. + diff --git a/entries/schroedinbug.txt b/entries/schroedinbug.txt index 93230cd..31e05ed 100644 --- a/entries/schroedinbug.txt +++ b/entries/schroedinbug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ schroedinbug -/shrohdinbuhg/ , n. [MIT: from the Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in quantum physics] A design or implementation bug in a program that doesn't manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point the program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though (like bit rot ) this sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harbored latent schroedinbugs for years. Compare heisenbug , Bohr bug , mandelbug. +/shrohdinbuhg/ , n. [MIT: from the Schroedinger's Cat thought-experiment in +quantum physics] A design or implementation bug in a program that doesn't +manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an unusual way +notices that it never should have worked, at which point the program +promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though (like bit rot ) +this sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harbored latent +schroedinbugs for years. Compare heisenbug , Bohr bug , mandelbug. + diff --git a/entries/science-fiction fandom.txt b/entries/science-fiction fandom.txt index 5004253..10fb22f 100644 --- a/entries/science-fiction fandom.txt +++ b/entries/science-fiction fandom.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ 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 the Society for Creative Anachronism. 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 flatline , ice , phage , virus , wetware , wirehead , and worm originated in SF stories. +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 the +Society for Creative Anachronism. 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 flatline , ice , phage , virus , wetware +, wirehead , and worm originated in SF stories. + diff --git a/entries/scram switch.txt b/entries/scram switch.txt index c195851..ff55081 100644 --- a/entries/scram switch.txt +++ b/entries/scram switch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ scram switch -n. [from the nuclear power industry] 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 expensive events (such as Halon dumps) 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. (See also molly-guard , TMRC. ) Scram was in origin a backronym for Safety Cut Rope Axe Man coined by Enrico Fermi himself. The story goes that in the earliest nuclear power experiments the engineers recognized the possibility that the reactor wouldn't behave exactly as predicted by their mathematical models. Accordingly, they made sure that they had mechanisms in place that would rapidly drop the control rods back into the reactor. One mechanism took the form of scram technicians. These individuals stood next to the ropes or cables that raised and lowered the control rods. Equipped with axes or cable-cutters, these technicians stood ready for the (literal) scram command. If necessary, they would cut the cables, and gravity would expeditiously return the control rods to the reactor, thereby averting yet another kind of core dump. Modern reactor control rods are held in place with claw-like devices, held closed by current. SCRAM switches are circuit breakers that immediately open the circuit to the rod arms, resulting in the rapid insertion and subsequent bottoming of the control rods. +n. [from the nuclear power industry] 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 +expensive events (such as Halon dumps) 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. (See also +molly-guard , TMRC. ) Scram was in origin a backronym for Safety Cut Rope +Axe Man coined by Enrico Fermi himself. The story goes that in the earliest +nuclear power experiments the engineers recognized the possibility that the +reactor wouldn't behave exactly as predicted by their mathematical models. +Accordingly, they made sure that they had mechanisms in place that would +rapidly drop the control rods back into the reactor. One mechanism took the +form of scram technicians. These individuals stood next to the ropes or +cables that raised and lowered the control rods. Equipped with axes or +cable-cutters, these technicians stood ready for the (literal) scram +command. If necessary, they would cut the cables, and gravity would +expeditiously return the control rods to the reactor, thereby averting yet +another kind of core dump. Modern reactor control rods are held in place +with claw-like devices, held closed by current. SCRAM switches are circuit +breakers that immediately open the circuit to the rod arms, resulting in the +rapid insertion and subsequent bottoming of the control rods. + diff --git a/entries/scratch monkey.txt b/entries/scratch monkey.txt index 88c43e5..0019b17 100644 --- a/entries/scratch monkey.txt +++ b/entries/scratch monkey.txt @@ -1,3 +1,29 @@ 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 operation as a replacement for some 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. Mabel was not (so the legend goes) your ordinary monkey; the 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 a DEC field circus engineer troubleshooting a crash on the program's VAX inadvertently interfered with some custom hardware that was wired to Mabel. It is reported 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 asked him sweetly, Can you swim? Not 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 droid s at the local humane society. The moral is clear: When in doubt, always mount a scratch monkey. [The actual incident occured in 1979 or 1980. There is a version of this story, complete with reported dialogue between one of the project people and DEC field service, that has been circulating on Internet since 1986. It is hilarious and mythic, but gets some facts wrong. For example, it reports the machine as a PDP-11 and alleges that Mabel's demise occurred when DEC PM ed the machine. Earlier versions of this entry were based on that story; this one has been corrected from an interview with the hapless sysop. +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 operation as a replacement for some 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. Mabel was not (so the legend goes) your ordinary +monkey; the 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 a DEC +field circus engineer troubleshooting a crash on the program's VAX +inadvertently interfered with some custom hardware that was wired to Mabel. +It is reported 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 asked him sweetly, Can +you swim? Not 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 droid s at the local humane society. The moral is clear: When in +doubt, always mount a scratch monkey. [The actual incident occured in 1979 +or 1980. There is a version of this story, complete with reported dialogue +between one of the project people and DEC field service, that has been +circulating on Internet since 1986. It is hilarious and mythic, but gets +some facts wrong. For example, it reports the machine as a PDP-11 and +alleges that Mabel's demise occurred when DEC PM ed the machine. Earlier +versions of this entry were based on that story; this one has been corrected +from an interview with the hapless sysop. + diff --git a/entries/scratch.txt b/entries/scratch.txt index 3e47598..aaa9913 100644 --- a/entries/scratch.txt +++ b/entries/scratch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ scratch -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 , scratch register , scratch disk , scratch tape , scratch volume. See also scratch monkey. 2. +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 , scratch register , +scratch disk , scratch tape , scratch volume. See also scratch monkey. 2. + diff --git a/entries/scream and die.txt b/entries/scream and die.txt index 949a7f2..18df849 100644 --- a/entries/scream and die.txt +++ b/entries/scream and die.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ scream and die -v. Syn. cough and die , but connotes that an error message was printed or displayed before the program crashed. +v. Syn. cough and die , but connotes that an error message was printed or +displayed before the program crashed. + diff --git a/entries/screaming tty.txt b/entries/screaming tty.txt index 5f6230a..7a84907 100644 --- a/entries/screaming tty.txt +++ b/entries/screaming tty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ screaming tty -n. [Unix] A terminal line which spews an infinite number of random characters at the operating system. This can happen if the terminal is either disconnected or connected to a powered-off terminal but still enabled for login; misconfiguration, misimplementation, or simple bad luck can start such a terminal screaming. A screaming tty or two can seriously degrade the performance of a vanilla Unix system; the arriving characters are treated as userid/password pairs and tested as such. The Unix password encryption algorithm is designed to be computationally intensive in order to foil brute-force crack attacks, so although none of the logins succeeds; the overhead of rejecting them all can be substantial. +n. [Unix] A terminal line which spews an infinite number of random +characters at the operating system. This can happen if the terminal is +either disconnected or connected to a powered-off terminal but still enabled +for login; misconfiguration, misimplementation, or simple bad luck can start +such a terminal screaming. A screaming tty or two can seriously degrade the +performance of a vanilla Unix system; the arriving characters are treated as +userid/password pairs and tested as such. The Unix password encryption +algorithm is designed to be computationally intensive in order to foil +brute-force crack attacks, so although none of the logins succeeds; the +overhead of rejecting them all can be substantial. + diff --git a/entries/screen name.txt b/entries/screen name.txt index 8b34321..dc85cf2 100644 --- a/entries/screen name.txt +++ b/entries/screen name.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ screen name -n. A handle sense 1. This term has been common among users of IRC, MUDs, and commercial on-line services since the mid-1990s. Hackers recognize the term but don't generally use it. +n. A handle sense 1. This term has been common among users of IRC, MUDs, and +commercial on-line services since the mid-1990s. Hackers recognize the term +but don't generally use it. + diff --git a/entries/screen scraping.txt b/entries/screen scraping.txt index 148b094..ba1c26d 100644 --- a/entries/screen scraping.txt +++ b/entries/screen scraping.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ screen scraping -v. The act of capturing data from a system or program by snooping the contents of some display that is not actually intended for data transport or inspection by programs. Around 1980 this term referred to tricks like reading the display memory of a smart terminal through its auxiliary port. Nowadays it often refers to parsing the HTML in generated web pages with programs designed to mine out particular patterns of content. In either guise screen-scraping is an ugly, ad-hoc, last-resort technique that is very likely to break on even minor changes to the format of the data being snooped. +v. The act of capturing data from a system or program by snooping the +contents of some display that is not actually intended for data transport or +inspection by programs. Around 1980 this term referred to tricks like +reading the display memory of a smart terminal through its auxiliary port. +Nowadays it often refers to parsing the HTML in generated web pages with +programs designed to mine out particular patterns of content. In either +guise screen-scraping is an ugly, ad-hoc, last-resort technique that is very +likely to break on even minor changes to the format of the data being +snooped. + diff --git a/entries/screen.txt b/entries/screen.txt index cde99b7..80c12c4 100644 --- a/entries/screen.txt +++ b/entries/screen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ screen -n. [Atari ST demoscene ] One demoeffect or one screenful of them. Probably comes from old Sierra-style adventures or shoot-em-ups where one travels from one place to another one screenful at a time. +n. [Atari ST demoscene ] One demoeffect or one screenful of them. Probably +comes from old Sierra-style adventures or shoot-em-ups where one travels +from one place to another one screenful at a time. + diff --git a/entries/screw.txt b/entries/screw.txt index 411f434..b7fefad 100644 --- a/entries/screw.txt +++ b/entries/screw.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ screw -n. [MIT] 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. +n. [MIT] 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. + diff --git a/entries/screwage.txt b/entries/screwage.txt index a97dc3c..7d79d7f 100644 --- a/entries/screwage.txt +++ b/entries/screwage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ 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. +/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. + diff --git a/entries/scribble.txt b/entries/scribble.txt index 1ffcf61..d36b7e5 100644 --- a/entries/scribble.txt +++ b/entries/scribble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ 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 on low core. Synonymous with trash ; compare mung , which conveys a bit more intention, and mangle , which is more violent and final. +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 on low core. Synonymous with trash ; compare mung , which conveys +a bit more intention, and mangle , which is more violent and final. + diff --git a/entries/script kiddies.txt b/entries/script kiddies.txt index 7d3b182..f795a6c 100644 --- a/entries/script kiddies.txt +++ b/entries/script kiddies.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ script kiddies -pl.n. 1. [very common] The lowest form of cracker ; script kiddies do mischief with scripts and rootkit s written by others, often without understanding the exploit they are using. Used of people with limited technical expertise using easy-to-operate, pre-configured, and/or automated tools to conduct disruptive activities against networked systems. Since most of these tools are fairly well-known by the security community, the adverse impact of such actions is usually minimal. 2. People who cannot program, but who create tacky HTML pages by copying JavaScript routines from other tacky HTML pages. +pl.n. 1. [very common] The lowest form of cracker ; script kiddies do +mischief with scripts and rootkit s written by others, often without +understanding the exploit they are using. Used of people with limited +technical expertise using easy-to-operate, pre-configured, and/or automated +tools to conduct disruptive activities against networked systems. Since most +of these tools are fairly well-known by the security community, the adverse +impact of such actions is usually minimal. 2. People who cannot program, but +who create tacky HTML pages by copying JavaScript routines from other tacky +HTML pages. + diff --git a/entries/scrog.txt b/entries/scrog.txt index 3bc7ed6..71633da 100644 --- a/entries/scrog.txt +++ b/entries/scrog.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ scrog -/skrog/ , vt. [Bell Labs] To damage, trash, or corrupt a data structure. The list header got scrogged. Also reported as skrog , and ascribed to the comic strip The Wizard of Id. Compare scag ; possibly the two are related. Equivalent to scribble or mangle. +/skrog/ , vt. [Bell Labs] To damage, trash, or corrupt a data structure. The +list header got scrogged. Also reported as skrog , and ascribed to the comic +strip The Wizard of Id. Compare scag ; possibly the two are related. +Equivalent to scribble or mangle. + diff --git a/entries/scrool.txt b/entries/scrool.txt index 5a4e0de..2f09b6f 100644 --- a/entries/scrool.txt +++ b/entries/scrool.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ scrool -/skrool/ , n. [from the pioneering Roundtable chat system in Houston ca.: 1984; prob.: originated as a typo for scroll ] The log of old messages, available for later perusal or to help one get back in synch with the conversation. It was originally called the scrool monster , because an early version of the roundtable software had a bug where it would dump all 8K of scrool on a user's terminal. +/skrool/ , n. [from the pioneering Roundtable chat system in Houston ca.: +1984; prob.: originated as a typo for scroll ] The log of old messages, +available for later perusal or to help one get back in synch with the +conversation. It was originally called the scrool monster , because an early +version of the roundtable software had a bug where it would dump all 8K of +scrool on a user's terminal. + diff --git a/entries/scrozzle.txt b/entries/scrozzle.txt index 9ef0f57..f3dba32 100644 --- a/entries/scrozzle.txt +++ b/entries/scrozzle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ scrozzle -/skrozl/ , vt. Used when a self-modifying code segment runs incorrectly and corrupts the running program or vital data. +/skrozl/ , vt. Used when a self-modifying code segment runs incorrectly and +corrupts the running program or vital data. + diff --git a/entries/scruffies.txt b/entries/scruffies.txt index ba663d2..628acf3 100644 --- a/entries/scruffies.txt +++ b/entries/scruffies.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ scruffies n. See neats vs. scruffies. + diff --git a/entries/search-and-destroy mode.txt b/entries/search-and-destroy mode.txt index 10190d4..9b7bd71 100644 --- a/entries/search-and-destroy mode.txt +++ b/entries/search-and-destroy mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ search-and-destroy mode -n. Hackerism for a noninteractive search-and-replace facility in an editor, so called because an incautiously chosen match pattern can cause infinite damage. +n. Hackerism for a noninteractive search-and-replace facility in an editor, +so called because an incautiously chosen match pattern can cause infinite +damage. + diff --git a/entries/second-system effect.txt b/entries/second-system effect.txt index 39e856c..62c997d 100644 --- a/entries/second-system effect.txt +++ b/entries/second-system effect.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ second-system effect -n. (sometimes, more euphoniously, second-system syndrome ) When one is designing the successor to a relatively small, elegant, and successful system, there is a tendency to become grandiose in one's success and design an elephantine feature-laden monstrosity. The term was first used by Fred Brooks in his classic The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering (Addison-Wesley, 1975; ISBN 0-201-00650-2). It described the jump from a set of nice, simple operating systems on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series. A similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see Brooks's Law , creeping elegance , creeping featurism. See also Multics , OS/2 , X , software bloat. This version of the jargon lexicon has been described (with altogether too much truth for comfort) as an example of second-system effect run amok on jargon-1.... +n. (sometimes, more euphoniously, second-system syndrome ) When one is +designing the successor to a relatively small, elegant, and successful +system, there is a tendency to become grandiose in one's success and design +an elephantine feature-laden monstrosity. The term was first used by Fred +Brooks in his classic The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering +(Addison-Wesley, 1975; ISBN 0-201-00650-2). It described the jump from a set +of nice, simple operating systems on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the +360 series. A similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see +Brooks's Law , creeping elegance , creeping featurism. See also Multics , +OS/2 , X , software bloat. This version of the jargon lexicon has been +described (with altogether too much truth for comfort) as an example of +second-system effect run amok on jargon-1.... + diff --git a/entries/secondary damage.txt b/entries/secondary damage.txt index c9258e1..67deb7b 100644 --- a/entries/secondary damage.txt +++ b/entries/secondary damage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ secondary damage -n. When a fatal error occurs (esp. a segfault ) the immediate cause may be that a pointer has been trashed due to a previous fandango on core. However, this fandango may have been due to an earlier fandango, so no amount of analysis will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred. The data structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage. By extension, the corruption resulting from N cascaded fandangoes on core is N th-level damage. There is at least one case on record in which 17 hours of grovel ling with adb actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of seventh-level damage! The hacker who accomplished this near-superhuman feat was presented with an award by his fellows. +n. When a fatal error occurs (esp. a segfault ) the immediate cause may be +that a pointer has been trashed due to a previous fandango on core. However, +this fandango may have been due to an earlier fandango, so no amount of +analysis will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred. The data structure +was clobbered, but it was secondary damage. By extension, the corruption +resulting from N cascaded fandangoes on core is N th-level damage. There is +at least one case on record in which 17 hours of grovel ling with adb +actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of seventh-level +damage! The hacker who accomplished this near-superhuman feat was presented +with an award by his fellows. + diff --git a/entries/security through obscurity.txt b/entries/security through obscurity.txt index 5938b77..18544f4 100644 --- a/entries/security through obscurity.txt +++ b/entries/security through obscurity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ security through obscurity -(alt.: security by obscurity ) A term applied by hackers to most OS vendors' favorite way of coping with security holes namely, ignoring them, documenting neither any known holes nor the underlying security algorithms, trusting that nobody will find out about them and that people who do find out about them won't exploit them. This strategy never works for long and occasionally sets the world up for debacles like the RTM worm of 1988 (see Great Worm ), but once the brief moments of panic created by such events subside most vendors are all too willing to turn over and go back to sleep. After all, actually fixing the bugs would siphon off the resources needed to implement the next user-interface frill on marketing's wish list and besides, if they started fixing security bugs customers might begin to expect it and imagine that their warranties of merchantability gave them some sort of right to a system with fewer holes in it than a shotgunned Swiss cheese, and then where would we be? Historical note: There are conflicting stories about the origin of this term. It has been claimed that it was first used in the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.apollo during a campaign to get HP/Apollo to fix security problems in its Unix- clone Aegis/DomainOS (they didn't change a thing). ITS fans, on the other hand, say it was coined years earlier in opposition to the incredibly paranoid Multics people down the hall, for whom security was everything. In the ITS culture it referred to (1) the fact that by the time a tourist figured out how to make trouble he'd generally gotten over the urge to make it, because he felt part of the community; and (2) (self-mockingly) the poor coverage of the documentation and obscurity of many commands. One instance of deliberate security through obscurity is recorded; the command to allow patching the running ITS system (escape escape control-R) echoed as $$^D. If you actually typed alt alt ^D, that set a flag that would prevent patching the system even if you later got it right. +(alt.: security by obscurity ) A term applied by hackers to most OS vendors' +favorite way of coping with security holes namely, ignoring them, +documenting neither any known holes nor the underlying security algorithms, +trusting that nobody will find out about them and that people who do find +out about them won't exploit them. This strategy never works for long and +occasionally sets the world up for debacles like the RTM worm of 1988 (see +Great Worm ), but once the brief moments of panic created by such events +subside most vendors are all too willing to turn over and go back to sleep. +After all, actually fixing the bugs would siphon off the resources needed to +implement the next user-interface frill on marketing's wish list and +besides, if they started fixing security bugs customers might begin to +expect it and imagine that their warranties of merchantability gave them +some sort of right to a system with fewer holes in it than a shotgunned +Swiss cheese, and then where would we be? Historical note: There are +conflicting stories about the origin of this term. It has been claimed that +it was first used in the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.apollo during a campaign +to get HP/Apollo to fix security problems in its Unix- clone Aegis/DomainOS +(they didn't change a thing). ITS fans, on the other hand, say it was coined +years earlier in opposition to the incredibly paranoid Multics people down +the hall, for whom security was everything. In the ITS culture it referred +to (1) the fact that by the time a tourist figured out how to make trouble +he'd generally gotten over the urge to make it, because he felt part of the +community; and (2) (self-mockingly) the poor coverage of the documentation +and obscurity of many commands. One instance of deliberate security through +obscurity is recorded; the command to allow patching the running ITS system +(escape escape control-R) echoed as $$^D. If you actually typed alt alt ^D, +that set a flag that would prevent patching the system even if you later got +it right. + diff --git a/entries/segfault.txt b/entries/segfault.txt index 08d1a9e..5299c91 100644 --- a/entries/segfault.txt +++ b/entries/segfault.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ segfault n.,vi. Syn. segment , segmentation fault. + diff --git a/entries/seggie.txt b/entries/seggie.txt index 4c93321..22d2265 100644 --- a/entries/seggie.txt +++ b/entries/seggie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ seggie /segee/ , n. [Unix] Shorthand for segmentation fault reported from Britain. + diff --git a/entries/segment.txt b/entries/segment.txt index bcd07a5..ddde578 100644 --- a/entries/segment.txt +++ b/entries/segment.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ segment -/segment/ , vi. To experience a segmentation fault. Confusingly, this is often pronounced more like the noun segment than like mainstream v. segment; this is because it is actually a noun shorthand that has been verbed. +/segment/ , vi. To experience a segmentation fault. Confusingly, this is +often pronounced more like the noun segment than like mainstream v. segment; +this is because it is actually a noun shorthand that has been verbed. + diff --git a/entries/segmentation fault.txt b/entries/segmentation fault.txt index a40e637..b04ee9c 100644 --- a/entries/segmentation fault.txt +++ b/entries/segmentation fault.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ segmentation fault -n. [Unix] 1. [techspeak] An error in which a running program attempts to access memory not allocated to it and core dump s with a segmentation violation error. This is often caused by improper usage of pointers in the source code, dereferencing a null pointer, or (in C) inadvertently using a non-pointer variable as a pointer. The classic example is: inti; scanf( %d ,i);/*shouldhaveused i*/ 2. To lose a train of thought or a line of reasoning. Also uttered as an exclamation at the point of befuddlement. +n. [Unix] 1. [techspeak] An error in which a running program attempts to +access memory not allocated to it and core dump s with a segmentation +violation error. This is often caused by improper usage of pointers in the +source code, dereferencing a null pointer, or (in C) inadvertently using a +non-pointer variable as a pointer. The classic example is: inti; scanf( %d +,i);/*shouldhaveused i*/ 2. To lose a train of thought or a line of +reasoning. Also uttered as an exclamation at the point of befuddlement. + diff --git a/entries/segv.txt b/entries/segv.txt index 408bb5c..3f16776 100644 --- a/entries/segv.txt +++ b/entries/segv.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ segv -/segvee/ , n.,vi. Yet another synonym for segmentation fault (actually, in this case, segmentation violation ). +/segvee/ , n.,vi. Yet another synonym for segmentation fault (actually, in +this case, segmentation violation ). + diff --git a/entries/self-reference.txt b/entries/self-reference.txt index 243ddd4..6e38848 100644 --- a/entries/self-reference.txt +++ b/entries/self-reference.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ self-reference n. See self-reference. + diff --git a/entries/selvage.txt b/entries/selvage.txt index e0c485a..a747bd6 100644 --- a/entries/selvage.txt +++ b/entries/selvage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ selvage /selv@j/ , n. [from sewing and weaving] See chad (sense 1). + diff --git a/entries/semi-automated.txt b/entries/semi-automated.txt index d82076f..a5fb93e 100644 --- a/entries/semi-automated.txt +++ b/entries/semi-automated.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ semi-automated -adj. [US Geological Survey] A procedure that has yet to be completely automated; it still requires a smidge of clueful human interaction. Semi-automated programs usually come with written-out operator instructions that are worth their weight in gold without them, very nasty things can happen. At USGS semi-automated programs are often referred to as semi-automated weapons. +adj. [US Geological Survey] A procedure that has yet to be completely +automated; it still requires a smidge of clueful human interaction. +Semi-automated programs usually come with written-out operator instructions +that are worth their weight in gold without them, very nasty things can +happen. At USGS semi-automated programs are often referred to as +semi-automated weapons. + diff --git a/entries/semi-infinite.txt b/entries/semi-infinite.txt index 9cfd0cc..5a2bb27 100644 --- a/entries/semi-infinite.txt +++ b/entries/semi-infinite.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ semi-infinite n. See infinite. + diff --git a/entries/semi.txt b/entries/semi.txt index 89c0d31..15082f8 100644 --- a/entries/semi.txt +++ b/entries/semi.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ semi -/semee/ , /semi:/ 1. n. Abbreviation for semicolon , when speaking. Commands to grind are prefixed by semi-semi-star means that the prefix is ;;* , not 1/4 of a star. 2. A prefix used with words such as immediately as a qualifier. When is the system coming up? Semi-immediately. (That is, maybe not for an hour.) We did consider that possibility semi-seriously. See also infinite. +/semee/ , /semi:/ 1. n. Abbreviation for semicolon , when speaking. Commands +to grind are prefixed by semi-semi-star means that the prefix is ;;* , not +1/4 of a star. 2. A prefix used with words such as immediately as a +qualifier. When is the system coming up? Semi-immediately. (That is, maybe +not for an hour.) We did consider that possibility semi-seriously. See also +infinite. + diff --git a/entries/senior bit.txt b/entries/senior bit.txt index 05ca4ed..dcae371 100644 --- a/entries/senior bit.txt +++ b/entries/senior bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ senior bit n. [IBM; rare] Syn. meta bit. + diff --git a/entries/server.txt b/entries/server.txt index 522ad13..8064c44 100644 --- a/entries/server.txt +++ b/entries/server.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ server -n. A kind of daemon that performs a service for the requester and which often runs on a computer other than the one on which the requestor/client runs. A particularly common term on the Internet, which is rife with web servers , name servers , domain servers , news servers , finger servers , and the like. +n. A kind of daemon that performs a service for the requester and which +often runs on a computer other than the one on which the requestor/client +runs. A particularly common term on the Internet, which is rife with web +servers , name servers , domain servers , news servers , finger servers , +and the like. + diff --git a/entries/sex changer.txt b/entries/sex changer.txt index b6c7caf..ea57f37 100644 --- a/entries/sex changer.txt +++ b/entries/sex changer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ sex changer n. Syn. gender mender. + diff --git a/entries/shambolic link.txt b/entries/shambolic link.txt index 6fa111c..368cc84 100644 --- a/entries/shambolic link.txt +++ b/entries/shambolic link.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ shambolic link -/shambolik link/ , n. A Unix symbolic link, particularly when it confuses you, points to nothing at all, or results in your ending up in some completely unexpected part of the filesystem.... +/shambolik link/ , n. A Unix symbolic link, particularly when it confuses +you, points to nothing at all, or results in your ending up in some +completely unexpected part of the filesystem.... + diff --git a/entries/shar file.txt b/entries/shar file.txt index ca11ab5..d71b574 100644 --- a/entries/shar file.txt +++ b/entries/shar file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ shar file /shar fi:l/ , n. Syn. sharchive. + diff --git a/entries/sharchive.txt b/entries/sharchive.txt index 3abb887..8ded673 100644 --- a/entries/sharchive.txt +++ b/entries/sharchive.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ sharchive -/sharki:v/ , n. [Unix and Usenet; from /bin/sh archive] A flatten ed representation of a set of one or more files, with the unique property that it can be unflattened (the original files restored) by feeding it through a standard Unix shell; thus, a sharchive can be distributed to anyone running Unix, and no special unpacking software is required. Sharchives are also intriguing in that they are typically created by shell scripts; the script that produces sharchives is thus a script which produces self-unpacking scripts, which may themselves contain scripts. Sharchives are also commonly referred to as shar files after the name of the most common program for generating them. The downsides of sharchives are that they are an ideal venue for Trojan horse attacks and that, for recipients not running Unix, no simple un-sharchiving program is possible; sharchives can and do make use of arbitrarily-powerful shell features. For these reasons, this technique has largely fallen out of use since the mid-1990s. +/sharki:v/ , n. [Unix and Usenet; from /bin/sh archive] A flatten ed +representation of a set of one or more files, with the unique property that +it can be unflattened (the original files restored) by feeding it through a +standard Unix shell; thus, a sharchive can be distributed to anyone running +Unix, and no special unpacking software is required. Sharchives are also +intriguing in that they are typically created by shell scripts; the script +that produces sharchives is thus a script which produces self-unpacking +scripts, which may themselves contain scripts. Sharchives are also commonly +referred to as shar files after the name of the most common program for +generating them. The downsides of sharchives are that they are an ideal +venue for Trojan horse attacks and that, for recipients not running Unix, no +simple un-sharchiving program is possible; sharchives can and do make use of +arbitrarily-powerful shell features. For these reasons, this technique has +largely fallen out of use since the mid-1990s. + diff --git a/entries/shareware.txt b/entries/shareware.txt index fb5ec82..83193f4 100644 --- a/entries/shareware.txt +++ b/entries/shareware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ shareware -/sheirweir/ , n. A kind of freeware for which the author requests some payment, usually in the accompanying documentation files or in an announcement made by the software itself. Such payment may or may not buy additional support or functionality. See also careware , charityware , crippleware , FRS , guiltware , postcardware , and -ware ; compare payware. +/sheirweir/ , n. A kind of freeware for which the author requests some +payment, usually in the accompanying documentation files or in an +announcement made by the software itself. Such payment may or may not buy +additional support or functionality. See also careware , charityware , +crippleware , FRS , guiltware , postcardware , and -ware ; compare payware. + diff --git a/entries/sharing violation.txt b/entries/sharing violation.txt index e6603df..680b412 100644 --- a/entries/sharing violation.txt +++ b/entries/sharing violation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ sharing violation -A response to receiving information, typically of an excessively personal nature, that you were probably happier not knowing. You know those little noises that Pat makes in bed? Whoa! Sharing violation! In contrast to the original file error, which indicated that you were not being given data that you did want. +A response to receiving information, typically of an excessively personal +nature, that you were probably happier not knowing. You know those little +noises that Pat makes in bed? Whoa! Sharing violation! In contrast to the +original file error, which indicated that you were not being given data that +you did want. + diff --git a/entries/shebang.txt b/entries/shebang.txt index d545689..3d3c199 100644 --- a/entries/shebang.txt +++ b/entries/shebang.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ shebang -/sh@bang/ , n. [possibly a portmanteau of sharp bang ] The character sequence #! that frequently begins executable shell scripts under Unix. Probably derived from shell bang under the influence of American slang the whole shebang (everything, the works). +/sh@bang/ , n. [possibly a portmanteau of sharp bang ] The character +sequence #! that frequently begins executable shell scripts under Unix. +Probably derived from shell bang under the influence of American slang the +whole shebang (everything, the works). + diff --git a/entries/shelfware.txt b/entries/shelfware.txt index 76cda75..f1e08e7 100644 --- a/entries/shelfware.txt +++ b/entries/shelfware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ shelfware -/shelfweir/ , n. Software purchased on a whim (by an individual user) or in accordance with policy (by a corporation or government agency), but not actually required for any particular use. Therefore, it often ends up on some shelf. +/shelfweir/ , n. Software purchased on a whim (by an individual user) or in +accordance with policy (by a corporation or government agency), but not +actually required for any particular use. Therefore, it often ends up on +some shelf. + diff --git a/entries/shell out.txt b/entries/shell out.txt index 6e12bb8..0d8416c 100644 --- a/entries/shell out.txt +++ b/entries/shell out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ shell out -vi. [Unix] To spawn an interactive subshell from within a program (e.g., a mailer or editor). Bang foo runs foo in a subshell, while bang alone shells out. +vi. [Unix] To spawn an interactive subshell from within a program (e.g., a +mailer or editor). Bang foo runs foo in a subshell, while bang alone shells +out. + diff --git a/entries/shell.txt b/entries/shell.txt index 46d6d74..c34c783 100644 --- a/entries/shell.txt +++ b/entries/shell.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ shell -n. [orig. Multics techspeak, widely propagated via Unix] 1. [techspeak] The command interpreter used to pass commands to an operating system; so called because it is the part of the operating system that interfaces with the outside world. 2. More generally, any interface program that mediates access to a special resource or server for convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the usage is usually a shell around whatever. This sort of program is also called a wrapper. 3. A skeleton program, created by hand or by another program (like, say, a parser generator), which provides the necessary incantation s to set up some task and the control flow to drive it (the term driver is sometimes used synonymously). The user is meant to fill in whatever code is needed to get real work done. This usage is common in the AI and Microsoft Windows worlds, and confuses Unix hackers. Historical note: Apparently, the original Multics shell (sense 1) was so called because it was a shell (sense 3); it ran user programs not by starting up separate processes, but by dynamically linking the programs into its own code, calling them as subroutines, and then dynamically de-linking them on return. The VMS command interpreter still does something very like this. +n. [orig. Multics techspeak, widely propagated via Unix] 1. [techspeak] The +command interpreter used to pass commands to an operating system; so called +because it is the part of the operating system that interfaces with the +outside world. 2. More generally, any interface program that mediates access +to a special resource or server for convenience, efficiency, or security +reasons; for this meaning, the usage is usually a shell around whatever. +This sort of program is also called a wrapper. 3. A skeleton program, +created by hand or by another program (like, say, a parser generator), which +provides the necessary incantation s to set up some task and the control +flow to drive it (the term driver is sometimes used synonymously). The user +is meant to fill in whatever code is needed to get real work done. This +usage is common in the AI and Microsoft Windows worlds, and confuses Unix +hackers. Historical note: Apparently, the original Multics shell (sense 1) +was so called because it was a shell (sense 3); it ran user programs not by +starting up separate processes, but by dynamically linking the programs into +its own code, calling them as subroutines, and then dynamically de-linking +them on return. The VMS command interpreter still does something very like +this. + diff --git a/entries/shift left (or right) logical.txt b/entries/shift left (or right) logical.txt index 4b05245..f25710d 100644 --- a/entries/shift left (or right) logical.txt +++ b/entries/shift left (or right) logical.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ shift left (or right) logical -1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right). To move out of the way. 2. imper. Get out of my seat! You can shift to that empty one to the left (right). Often used without the logical , or as left shift instead of shift left. Sometimes heard as LSH /lish/ , from the PDP-10 instruction set. See Programmer's Cheer. +1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right). To move out of the way. 2. +imper. Get out of my seat! You can shift to that empty one to the left +(right). Often used without the logical , or as left shift instead of shift +left. Sometimes heard as LSH /lish/ , from the PDP-10 instruction set. See +Programmer's Cheer. + diff --git a/entries/shim.txt b/entries/shim.txt index b1e706f..790a267 100644 --- a/entries/shim.txt +++ b/entries/shim.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ shim -n. 1. A small piece of data inserted in order to achieve a desired memory alignment or other addressing property. For example, the PDP-11 Unix linker, in split I D (instructions and data) mode, inserts a two-byte shim at location 0 in data space so that no data object will have an address of 0 (and be confused with the C null pointer). See also loose bytes. 2. A type of small transparent image inserted into HTML documents by certain WYSIWYG HTML editors, used to set the spacing of elements meant to have a fixed positioning within a TABLE or DIVision. Hackers who work on the HTML code of such pages afterwards invariably curse these for their crocky dependence on the particular spacing of original image file, the editor that generated them, and the version of the browser used to view them. Worse, they are a poorly designed kludge which the advent of Cascading Style Sheets makes wholly unnecessary; Any fool can plainly see that use of borders, layers and positioned elements is the Right Thing (or would be if adequate support for CSS were more common). +n. 1. A small piece of data inserted in order to achieve a desired memory +alignment or other addressing property. For example, the PDP-11 Unix linker, +in split I D (instructions and data) mode, inserts a two-byte shim at +location 0 in data space so that no data object will have an address of 0 +(and be confused with the C null pointer). See also loose bytes. 2. A type +of small transparent image inserted into HTML documents by certain WYSIWYG +HTML editors, used to set the spacing of elements meant to have a fixed +positioning within a TABLE or DIVision. Hackers who work on the HTML code of +such pages afterwards invariably curse these for their crocky dependence on +the particular spacing of original image file, the editor that generated +them, and the version of the browser used to view them. Worse, they are a +poorly designed kludge which the advent of Cascading Style Sheets makes +wholly unnecessary; Any fool can plainly see that use of borders, layers and +positioned elements is the Right Thing (or would be if adequate support for +CSS were more common). + diff --git a/entries/shitogram.txt b/entries/shitogram.txt index a0424fd..0a2d3cd 100644 --- a/entries/shitogram.txt +++ b/entries/shitogram.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ shitogram /shitohgram/ , n. A really nasty piece of email. Compare nastygram , flame. + diff --git a/entries/shotgun debugging.txt b/entries/shotgun debugging.txt index fb68313..7fced20 100644 --- a/entries/shotgun debugging.txt +++ b/entries/shotgun debugging.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ shotgun debugging -n. The software equivalent of Easter egging ; the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope that a bug will be perturbed out of existence. This almost never works, and usually introduces more bugs. +n. The software equivalent of Easter egging ; the making of relatively +undirected changes to software in the hope that a bug will be perturbed out +of existence. This almost never works, and usually introduces more bugs. + diff --git a/entries/shovelware.txt b/entries/shovelware.txt index 53260e0..ed1c485 100644 --- a/entries/shovelware.txt +++ b/entries/shovelware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ shovelware -/shuhv@lweir`/ , n. 1. Extra software dumped onto a CD-ROM or tape to fill up the remaining space on the medium after the software distribution it's intended to carry, but not integrated with the distribution. 2. A slipshod compilation of software dumped onto a CD-ROM without much care for organization or even usability. +/shuhv@lweir`/ , n. 1. Extra software dumped onto a CD-ROM or tape to fill +up the remaining space on the medium after the software distribution it's +intended to carry, but not integrated with the distribution. 2. A slipshod +compilation of software dumped onto a CD-ROM without much care for +organization or even usability. + diff --git a/entries/showstopper.txt b/entries/showstopper.txt index 1fbdd19..def0033 100644 --- a/entries/showstopper.txt +++ b/entries/showstopper.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ showstopper -n. A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes an implementation effectively unusable; one that absolutely has to be fixed before development can go on. Opposite in connotation from its original theatrical use, which refers to something stunningly good. +n. A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes an implementation +effectively unusable; one that absolutely has to be fixed before development +can go on. Opposite in connotation from its original theatrical use, which +refers to something stunningly good. + diff --git a/entries/shriek.txt b/entries/shriek.txt index 2579af7..50e372c 100644 --- a/entries/shriek.txt +++ b/entries/shriek.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ shriek -n. See excl. Occasional CMU usage, also in common use among APL fans and mathematicians, especially category theorists. +n. See excl. Occasional CMU usage, also in common use among APL fans and +mathematicians, especially category theorists. + diff --git a/entries/sig block.txt b/entries/sig block.txt index 18e34db..3b4c541 100644 --- a/entries/sig block.txt +++ b/entries/sig block.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ sig block -/sig blok/ , n. [Internet and Usenet; often written. sig there] Short for signature , used specifically to refer to the electronic signature block that most Unix mail- and news-posting software will automagically append to outgoing mail and news. The composition of one's sig can be quite an art form, including an ASCII logo, one's choice of witty sayings (see sig quote , fool file ), or even source code for small programs about which the author wishes to make a statement; but many consider large sigs a waste of bandwidth , and it has been observed that the size of one's sig block is usually inversely proportional to one's longevity and level of prestige on the net. See also doubled sig , McQuary limit. +/sig blok/ , n. [Internet and Usenet; often written. sig there] Short for +signature , used specifically to refer to the electronic signature block +that most Unix mail- and news-posting software will automagically append to +outgoing mail and news. The composition of one's sig can be quite an art +form, including an ASCII logo, one's choice of witty sayings (see sig quote +, fool file ), or even source code for small programs about which the author +wishes to make a statement; but many consider large sigs a waste of +bandwidth , and it has been observed that the size of one's sig block is +usually inversely proportional to one's longevity and level of prestige on +the net. See also doubled sig , McQuary limit. + diff --git a/entries/sig quote.txt b/entries/sig quote.txt index e666ab1..01e54b1 100644 --- a/entries/sig quote.txt +++ b/entries/sig quote.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ sig quote -/sig kwoht/ , n. [Usenet] A maxim, quote, proverb, joke, or slogan embedded in one's sig block and intended to convey something of one's philosophical stance, pet peeves, or sense of humor. Calm down, it's only ones and zeroes. +/sig kwoht/ , n. [Usenet] A maxim, quote, proverb, joke, or slogan embedded +in one's sig block and intended to convey something of one's philosophical +stance, pet peeves, or sense of humor. Calm down, it's only ones and zeroes. + diff --git a/entries/sig virus.txt b/entries/sig virus.txt index 1b4e0cc..d5701a0 100644 --- a/entries/sig virus.txt +++ b/entries/sig virus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ sig virus -n. A parasitic meme embedded in a sig block. There was a meme plague or fad for these on Usenet in late 1991. Most were equivalents of I am a . sig virus. Please reproduce me in your. sig block.. Of course, the. sig virus's memetic hook is the giggle value of going along with the gag; this, however, was a self-limiting phenomenon as more and more people picked up on the idea. There were creative variants on it; some people stuck sig virus antibody texts in their sigs, and there was at least one instance of a sig virus eater. +n. A parasitic meme embedded in a sig block. There was a meme plague or fad +for these on Usenet in late 1991. Most were equivalents of I am a . sig +virus. Please reproduce me in your. sig block.. Of course, the. sig virus's +memetic hook is the giggle value of going along with the gag; this, however, +was a self-limiting phenomenon as more and more people picked up on the +idea. There were creative variants on it; some people stuck sig virus +antibody texts in their sigs, and there was at least one instance of a sig +virus eater. + diff --git a/entries/sigmonster.txt b/entries/sigmonster.txt index 30b5f98..22118fc 100644 --- a/entries/sigmonster.txt +++ b/entries/sigmonster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ sigmonster -n. [common] A beast that randomly chooses one of a selection of signatures for appending to mail and news messages. The creature is most often mentioned directly when it has been in particularly good form and selected a signature appropriate to the topic being discussed; the construction P.S.: good sigmonster, have a cookie is not uncommon. While the are sigmonster programs floating around on the net, most hackers who keep one use a silly little Perl or Python script that they threw together in the middle of the night under the influence of far too much caffeine. +n. [common] A beast that randomly chooses one of a selection of signatures +for appending to mail and news messages. The creature is most often +mentioned directly when it has been in particularly good form and selected a +signature appropriate to the topic being discussed; the construction P.S.: +good sigmonster, have a cookie is not uncommon. While the are sigmonster +programs floating around on the net, most hackers who keep one use a silly +little Perl or Python script that they threw together in the middle of the +night under the influence of far too much caffeine. + diff --git a/entries/signal-to-noise ratio.txt b/entries/signal-to-noise ratio.txt index cb0ea7e..533a204 100644 --- a/entries/signal-to-noise ratio.txt +++ b/entries/signal-to-noise ratio.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ signal-to-noise ratio -n. [from analog electronics] Used by hackers in a generalization of its technical meaning. Signal refers to useful information conveyed by some communications medium, and noise to anything else on that medium. Hence a low ratio implies that it is not worth paying attention to the medium in question. Figures for such metaphorical ratios are never given. The term is most often applied to Usenet newsgroups during flame war s. Compare bandwidth. See also coefficient of X , lost in the noise. +n. [from analog electronics] Used by hackers in a generalization of its +technical meaning. Signal refers to useful information conveyed by some +communications medium, and noise to anything else on that medium. Hence a +low ratio implies that it is not worth paying attention to the medium in +question. Figures for such metaphorical ratios are never given. The term is +most often applied to Usenet newsgroups during flame war s. Compare +bandwidth. See also coefficient of X , lost in the noise. + diff --git a/entries/silicon.txt b/entries/silicon.txt index 26d14d8..edec0f8 100644 --- a/entries/silicon.txt +++ b/entries/silicon.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ silicon -n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer systems (compare iron ). Contrasted with software. See also sandbender. +n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer systems (compare iron +). Contrasted with software. See also sandbender. + diff --git a/entries/silly walk.txt b/entries/silly walk.txt index df5775c..d47690c 100644 --- a/entries/silly walk.txt +++ b/entries/silly walk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ silly walk -vi. [from Monty Python's Flying Circus] 1. A ridiculous procedure required to accomplish a task. Like grovel , but more random and humorous. I had to silly-walk through half the /usr directories to find the maps file. 2. Syn. fandango on core. +vi. [from Monty Python's Flying Circus] 1. A ridiculous procedure required +to accomplish a task. Like grovel , but more random and humorous. I had to +silly-walk through half the /usr directories to find the maps file. 2. Syn. +fandango on core. + diff --git a/entries/silo.txt b/entries/silo.txt index 679c53e..71fb203 100644 --- a/entries/silo.txt +++ b/entries/silo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ silo -n. The FIFO input-character buffer in an RS-232 line card. So called from DEC terminology used on DH and DZ line cards for the VAX and PDP-11 , presumably because it was a storage space for fungible stuff that went in at the top and came out at the bottom. +n. The FIFO input-character buffer in an RS-232 line card. So called from +DEC terminology used on DH and DZ line cards for the VAX and PDP-11 , +presumably because it was a storage space for fungible stuff that went in at +the top and came out at the bottom. + diff --git a/entries/since time T equals minus infinity.txt b/entries/since time T equals minus infinity.txt index d37c450..c374680 100644 --- a/entries/since time T equals minus infinity.txt +++ b/entries/since time T equals minus infinity.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ since time T equals minus infinity -adv. A long time ago; for as long as anyone can remember; at the time that some particular frob was first designed. Usually the word time is omitted. See also time T ; contrast epoch. +adv. A long time ago; for as long as anyone can remember; at the time that +some particular frob was first designed. Usually the word time is omitted. +See also time T ; contrast epoch. + diff --git a/entries/sitename.txt b/entries/sitename.txt index 31543ff..8d53718 100644 --- a/entries/sitename.txt +++ b/entries/sitename.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ sitename -/si:tnaym/ , n. [Unix/Internet] The unique electronic name of a computer system, used to identify it in email, Usenet, or other forms of electronic information interchange. The folklore interest of sitenames stems from the creativity and humor they often display. Interpreting a sitename is not unlike interpreting a vanity license plate; one has to mentally unpack it, allowing for mono-case and length restrictions and the lack of whitespace. Hacker tradition deprecates dull, institutional-sounding names in favor of punchy, humorous, and clever coinages (except that it is considered appropriate for the official public gateway machine of an organization to bear the organization's name or acronym). Mythological references, cartoon characters, animal names, and allusions to SF or fantasy literature are probably the most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly descending order). The obligatory comment when discussing these is Harris's Lament: All the good ones are taken! See also network address. +/si:tnaym/ , n. [Unix/Internet] The unique electronic name of a computer +system, used to identify it in email, Usenet, or other forms of electronic +information interchange. The folklore interest of sitenames stems from the +creativity and humor they often display. Interpreting a sitename is not +unlike interpreting a vanity license plate; one has to mentally unpack it, +allowing for mono-case and length restrictions and the lack of whitespace. +Hacker tradition deprecates dull, institutional-sounding names in favor of +punchy, humorous, and clever coinages (except that it is considered +appropriate for the official public gateway machine of an organization to +bear the organization's name or acronym). Mythological references, cartoon +characters, animal names, and allusions to SF or fantasy literature are +probably the most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly descending +order). The obligatory comment when discussing these is Harris's Lament: All +the good ones are taken! See also network address. + diff --git a/entries/skrog.txt b/entries/skrog.txt index d7eaeaa..d151946 100644 --- a/entries/skrog.txt +++ b/entries/skrog.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ skrog v. Syn. scrog. + diff --git a/entries/skulker.txt b/entries/skulker.txt index e5aecba..94eb479 100644 --- a/entries/skulker.txt +++ b/entries/skulker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ skulker n. Syn. prowler. + diff --git a/entries/slab.txt b/entries/slab.txt index 0e872cb..47af58f 100644 --- a/entries/slab.txt +++ b/entries/slab.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ slab -1. n. A continuous horizontal line of pixels, all with the same color. 2. vi. To paint a slab on an output device. Apple's QuickDraw, like most other professional-level graphics systems, renders polygons and lines not with Bresenham's algorithm, but by calculating slab points for each scan line on the screen in succession, and then slabbing in the actual image pixels. +1. n. A continuous horizontal line of pixels, all with the same color. 2. +vi. To paint a slab on an output device. Apple's QuickDraw, like most other +professional-level graphics systems, renders polygons and lines not with +Bresenham's algorithm, but by calculating slab points for each scan line on +the screen in succession, and then slabbing in the actual image pixels. + diff --git a/entries/slack.txt b/entries/slack.txt index 8019d1a..2943798 100644 --- a/entries/slack.txt +++ b/entries/slack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ slack -n. 1. Space allocated to a disk file but not actually used to store useful information. The techspeak equivalent is internal fragmentation. Antonym: hole. 2. In the theology of the Church of the SubGenius , a mystical substance or quality that is the prerequisite of all human happiness. Since Unix files are stored compactly, except for the unavoidable wastage in the last block or fragment, it might be said that Unix has no slack. See ha ha only serious. +n. 1. Space allocated to a disk file but not actually used to store useful +information. The techspeak equivalent is internal fragmentation. Antonym: +hole. 2. In the theology of the Church of the SubGenius , a mystical +substance or quality that is the prerequisite of all human happiness. Since +Unix files are stored compactly, except for the unavoidable wastage in the +last block or fragment, it might be said that Unix has no slack. See ha ha +only serious. + diff --git a/entries/slash.txt b/entries/slash.txt index a55a947..c16acba 100644 --- a/entries/slash.txt +++ b/entries/slash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ slash -n. Common name for the slant ( / , ASCII 0101111) character. See ASCII for other synonyms. +n. Common name for the slant ( / , ASCII 0101111) character. See ASCII for +other synonyms. + diff --git a/entries/slashdot effect.txt b/entries/slashdot effect.txt index d61cc02..73bcceb 100644 --- a/entries/slashdot effect.txt +++ b/entries/slashdot effect.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ slashdot effect -n. 1. Also spelled /. effect ; what is said to have happened when a website becoming virtually unreachable because too many people are hitting it after the site was mentioned in an interesting article on the popular Slashdot news service. The term is quite widely used by /. readers, including variants like That site has been slashdotted again! 2. In a perhaps inevitable generation, the term is being used to describe any similar effect from being listed on a popular site. This would better be described as a flash crowd. Differs from a DoS attack in being unintentional. +n. 1. Also spelled /. effect ; what is said to have happened when a website +becoming virtually unreachable because too many people are hitting it after +the site was mentioned in an interesting article on the popular Slashdot +news service. The term is quite widely used by /. readers, including +variants like That site has been slashdotted again! 2. In a perhaps +inevitable generation, the term is being used to describe any similar effect +from being listed on a popular site. This would better be described as a +flash crowd. Differs from a DoS attack in being unintentional. + diff --git a/entries/sleep.txt b/entries/sleep.txt index 6a1bdc3..b0f5049 100644 --- a/entries/sleep.txt +++ b/entries/sleep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ sleep -vi. 1. [techspeak] To relinquish a claim (of a process on a multitasking system) for service; to indicate to the scheduler that a process may be deactivated until some given event occurs or a specified time delay elapses. 2. In jargon, used very similarly to v. block ; also in sleep on , syn.: with block on. Often used to indicate that the speaker has relinquished a demand for resources until some (possibly unspecified) external event: They can't get the fix I've been asking for into the next release, so I'm going to sleep on it until the release, then start hassling them again. +vi. 1. [techspeak] To relinquish a claim (of a process on a multitasking +system) for service; to indicate to the scheduler that a process may be +deactivated until some given event occurs or a specified time delay elapses. +2. In jargon, used very similarly to v. block ; also in sleep on , syn.: +with block on. Often used to indicate that the speaker has relinquished a +demand for resources until some (possibly unspecified) external event: They +can't get the fix I've been asking for into the next release, so I'm going +to sleep on it until the release, then start hassling them again. + diff --git a/entries/slim.txt b/entries/slim.txt index 43f79c6..f5e396c 100644 --- a/entries/slim.txt +++ b/entries/slim.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ slim n. A small, derivative change (e.g., to code). + diff --git a/entries/slop.txt b/entries/slop.txt index f2cef1a..dcd67f3 100644 --- a/entries/slop.txt +++ b/entries/slop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ slop -n. 1. A one-sided fudge factor , that is, an allowance for error but in only one of two directions. For example, if you need a piece of wire 10 feet long and have to guess when you cut it, you make very sure to cut it too long, by a large amount if necessary, rather than too short by even a little bit, because you can always cut off the slop but you can't paste it back on again. When discrete quantities are involved, slop is often introduced to avoid the possibility of being on the losing side of a fencepost error. 2. The percentage of extra code generated by a compiler over the size of equivalent assembler code produced by hand-hacking ; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you lose because you didn't do it yourself. This number is often used as a measure of the goodness of a compiler; slop below 5% is very good, and 10% is usually acceptable. With modern compiler technology, esp. on RISC machines, the compiler's slop may actually be negative ; that is, humans may be unable to generate code as good. This is one of the reasons assembler programming is no longer common. +n. 1. A one-sided fudge factor , that is, an allowance for error but in only +one of two directions. For example, if you need a piece of wire 10 feet long +and have to guess when you cut it, you make very sure to cut it too long, by +a large amount if necessary, rather than too short by even a little bit, +because you can always cut off the slop but you can't paste it back on +again. When discrete quantities are involved, slop is often introduced to +avoid the possibility of being on the losing side of a fencepost error. 2. +The percentage of extra code generated by a compiler over the size of +equivalent assembler code produced by hand-hacking ; i.e., the space (or +maybe time) you lose because you didn't do it yourself. This number is often +used as a measure of the goodness of a compiler; slop below 5% is very good, +and 10% is usually acceptable. With modern compiler technology, esp. on RISC +machines, the compiler's slop may actually be negative ; that is, humans may +be unable to generate code as good. This is one of the reasons assembler +programming is no longer common. + diff --git a/entries/slopsucker.txt b/entries/slopsucker.txt index b57ed15..b9303c0 100644 --- a/entries/slopsucker.txt +++ b/entries/slopsucker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ slopsucker -/slopsuhkr/ , n. A lowest-priority task that waits around until everything else has had its fill of machine resources. Only when the machine would otherwise be idle is the task allowed to ` suck up the slop. Also called a hungry puppy or bottom feeder. One common variety of slopsucker hunts for large prime numbers. Compare background. +/slopsuhkr/ , n. A lowest-priority task that waits around until everything +else has had its fill of machine resources. Only when the machine would +otherwise be idle is the task allowed to ` suck up the slop. Also called a +hungry puppy or bottom feeder. One common variety of slopsucker hunts for +large prime numbers. Compare background. + diff --git a/entries/slurp the robot.txt b/entries/slurp the robot.txt index 1312d3d..dd43b86 100644 --- a/entries/slurp the robot.txt +++ b/entries/slurp the robot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ slurp the robot See STR. + diff --git a/entries/slurp.txt b/entries/slurp.txt index 0dc0c09..aecae3f 100644 --- a/entries/slurp.txt +++ b/entries/slurp.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ slurp -vt. To read a large data file entirely into core before working on it. This may be contrasted with the strategy of reading a small piece at a time, processing it, and then reading the next piece. This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K matrix and does an FFT. See also sponge. +vt. To read a large data file entirely into core before working on it. This +may be contrasted with the strategy of reading a small piece at a time, +processing it, and then reading the next piece. This program slurps in a +1K-by-1K matrix and does an FFT. See also sponge. + diff --git a/entries/smart terminal.txt b/entries/smart terminal.txt index b1d7a95..17fa03d 100644 --- a/entries/smart terminal.txt +++ b/entries/smart terminal.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ smart terminal -n. 1. A terminal that has enough computing capability to render graphics or to offload some kind of front-end processing from the computer it talks to. The development of workstations and personal computers has made this term and the product it describes semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase act like a smart terminal used to describe the behavior of workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost entirely out of a remote server 's storage, using local devices as displays. 2. obs. Any terminal with an addressable cursor; the opposite of a glass tty. Today, a terminal with merely an addressable cursor, but with none of the more-powerful features mentioned in sense 1, is called a dumb terminal. There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the blit terminal): A smart terminal is not a smart ass terminal, but rather a terminal you can educate. This illustrates a common design problem: The attempt to make peripherals (or anything else) intelligent sometimes results in finicky, rigid special features that become just so much dead weight if you try to use the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate. Flexibility and programmability, on the other hand, are really smart. Compare hook. +n. 1. A terminal that has enough computing capability to render graphics or +to offload some kind of front-end processing from the computer it talks to. +The development of workstations and personal computers has made this term +and the product it describes semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear +variants of the phrase act like a smart terminal used to describe the +behavior of workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost +entirely out of a remote server 's storage, using local devices as displays. +2. obs. Any terminal with an addressable cursor; the opposite of a glass +tty. Today, a terminal with merely an addressable cursor, but with none of +the more-powerful features mentioned in sense 1, is called a dumb terminal. +There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the blit terminal): A +smart terminal is not a smart ass terminal, but rather a terminal you can +educate. This illustrates a common design problem: The attempt to make +peripherals (or anything else) intelligent sometimes results in finicky, +rigid special features that become just so much dead weight if you try to +use the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate. Flexibility and +programmability, on the other hand, are really smart. Compare hook. + diff --git a/entries/smart.txt b/entries/smart.txt index f806d78..ed5a5d5 100644 --- a/entries/smart.txt +++ b/entries/smart.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ smart -adj. Said of a program that does the Right Thing in a wide variety of complicated circumstances. There is a difference between calling a program smart and calling it intelligent; in particular, there do not exist any intelligent programs (yet see AI-complete ). Compare robust (smart programs can be brittle ). +adj. Said of a program that does the Right Thing in a wide variety of +complicated circumstances. There is a difference between calling a program +smart and calling it intelligent; in particular, there do not exist any +intelligent programs (yet see AI-complete ). Compare robust (smart programs +can be brittle ). + diff --git a/entries/smash case.txt b/entries/smash case.txt index 4da4492..78648e3 100644 --- a/entries/smash case.txt +++ b/entries/smash case.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ smash case -vi. To lose or obliterate the uppercase/lowercase distinction in text input. MS-DOS will automatically smash case in the names of all the files you create. Compare fold case. +vi. To lose or obliterate the uppercase/lowercase distinction in text input. +MS-DOS will automatically smash case in the names of all the files you +create. Compare fold case. + diff --git a/entries/smash the stack.txt b/entries/smash the stack.txt index 8c10288..56f2abb 100644 --- a/entries/smash the stack.txt +++ b/entries/smash the stack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ smash the stack -n. [C programming] To corrupt the execution stack by writing past the end of a local array or other data structure. Code that smashes the stack can cause a return from the routine to jump to a random address, resulting in some of the most insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind. Variants include trash the stack, scribble the stack, mangle the stack; the term ** mung the stack is not used, as this is never done intentionally. See spam ; see also aliasing bug , fandango on core , memory leak , memory smash , precedence lossage , overrun screw. +n. [C programming] To corrupt the execution stack by writing past the end of +a local array or other data structure. Code that smashes the stack can cause +a return from the routine to jump to a random address, resulting in some of +the most insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind. Variants include +trash the stack, scribble the stack, mangle the stack; the term ** mung the +stack is not used, as this is never done intentionally. See spam ; see also +aliasing bug , fandango on core , memory leak , memory smash , precedence +lossage , overrun screw. + diff --git a/entries/smiley.txt b/entries/smiley.txt index eed0e7c..0bb8bd2 100644 --- a/entries/smiley.txt +++ b/entries/smiley.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ smiley n. See emoticon. + diff --git a/entries/smoke and mirrors.txt b/entries/smoke and mirrors.txt index d2078fa..c2372d2 100644 --- a/entries/smoke and mirrors.txt +++ b/entries/smoke and mirrors.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ smoke and mirrors -n. Marketing deceptions. The term is mainstream in this general sense. Among hackers it's strongly associated with bogus demos and crocked benchmark s (see also MIPS , machoflops ). They claim their new box cranks 50 MIPS for under $5000, but didn't specify the instruction mix sounds like smoke and mirrors to me. The phrase, popularized by newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin c.1975, has been said to derive from carnie slang for magic acts and freak show displays that depend on trompe l'oeil effects, but also calls to mind the fierce Aztec god Tezcatlipoca (lit. Smoking Mirror ) for whom the hearts of huge numbers of human sacrificial victims were regularly cut out. Upon hearing about a rigged demo or yet another round of fantasy-based marketing promises, hackers often feel analogously disheartened. See also stealth manager. +n. Marketing deceptions. The term is mainstream in this general sense. Among +hackers it's strongly associated with bogus demos and crocked benchmark s +(see also MIPS , machoflops ). They claim their new box cranks 50 MIPS for +under $5000, but didn't specify the instruction mix sounds like smoke and +mirrors to me. The phrase, popularized by newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin +c.1975, has been said to derive from carnie slang for magic acts and freak +show displays that depend on trompe l'oeil effects, but also calls to mind +the fierce Aztec god Tezcatlipoca (lit. Smoking Mirror ) for whom the hearts +of huge numbers of human sacrificial victims were regularly cut out. Upon +hearing about a rigged demo or yet another round of fantasy-based marketing +promises, hackers often feel analogously disheartened. See also stealth +manager. + diff --git a/entries/smoke test.txt b/entries/smoke test.txt index 4faba9e..9033e41 100644 --- a/entries/smoke test.txt +++ b/entries/smoke test.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ smoke test -n. 1. A rudimentary form of testing applied to electronic equipment following repair or reconfiguration, in which power is applied and the tester checks for sparks, smoke, or other dramatic signs of fundamental failure. See magic smoke. 2. By extension, the first run of a piece of software after construction or a critical change. See and compare reality check. There is an interesting semi-parallel to this term among typographers and printers: When new typefaces are being punch-cut by hand, a smoke test (hold the letter in candle smoke, then press it onto paper) is used to check out new dies. +n. 1. A rudimentary form of testing applied to electronic equipment +following repair or reconfiguration, in which power is applied and the +tester checks for sparks, smoke, or other dramatic signs of fundamental +failure. See magic smoke. 2. By extension, the first run of a piece of +software after construction or a critical change. See and compare reality +check. There is an interesting semi-parallel to this term among typographers +and printers: When new typefaces are being punch-cut by hand, a smoke test +(hold the letter in candle smoke, then press it onto paper) is used to check +out new dies. + diff --git a/entries/smoke.txt b/entries/smoke.txt index 467203f..d5da2d4 100644 --- a/entries/smoke.txt +++ b/entries/smoke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ smoke -vi. 1. To crash or blow up, usually spectacularly. The new version smoked, just like the last one. Used for both hardware (where it often describes an actual physical event), and software (where it's merely colorful). 2. [from automotive slang] To be conspicuously fast. That processor really smokes. Compare magic smoke. +vi. 1. To crash or blow up, usually spectacularly. The new version smoked, +just like the last one. Used for both hardware (where it often describes an +actual physical event), and software (where it's merely colorful). 2. [from +automotive slang] To be conspicuously fast. That processor really smokes. +Compare magic smoke. + diff --git a/entries/smoking clover.txt b/entries/smoking clover.txt index 6629f26..f156ab1 100644 --- a/entries/smoking clover.txt +++ b/entries/smoking clover.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ smoking clover -n. [ITS] A display hack originally due to Bill Gosper. Many convergent lines are drawn on a color monitor in such a way that every pixel struck has its color incremented. The lines all have one endpoint in the middle of the screen; the other endpoints are spaced one pixel apart around the perimeter of a large square. The color map is then repeatedly rotated. This results in a striking, rainbow-hued, shimmering four-leaf clover. Gosper joked about keeping it hidden from the FDA (the U.S.'s Food and Drug Administration) lest its hallucinogenic properties cause it to be banned. +n. [ITS] A display hack originally due to Bill Gosper. Many convergent lines +are drawn on a color monitor in such a way that every pixel struck has its +color incremented. The lines all have one endpoint in the middle of the +screen; the other endpoints are spaced one pixel apart around the perimeter +of a large square. The color map is then repeatedly rotated. This results in +a striking, rainbow-hued, shimmering four-leaf clover. Gosper joked about +keeping it hidden from the FDA (the U.S.'s Food and Drug Administration) +lest its hallucinogenic properties cause it to be banned. + diff --git a/entries/smoot.txt b/entries/smoot.txt index d8c747d..8573736 100644 --- a/entries/smoot.txt +++ b/entries/smoot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ smoot -/smoot/ , n. [MIT] A unit of length equal five feet seven inches. The length of the Harvard Bridge in Boston is famously 364.4 smoots plus an ear (the ear is allegedly the width of the earhole in the side of the football helmet the victim was wearing when he was rolled over the bridge). This legend began with a fraternity prank in 1958 during which the body length of Oliver Smoot (class of '62) was actually used to measure out that distance. It is commemorated by smoot marks that MIT students repaint every few years; the tradition even survived the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge in the late 1980s. The Boston police have been known to use smoot markers to indicate accident locations on the bridge. Apparently Smoot's experience as a unit of measurement led to a life-long career; he eventually became Chairman of the Board of the American National Standards Institute, and later President of the International Organization for Standardization. +/smoot/ , n. [MIT] A unit of length equal five feet seven inches. The length +of the Harvard Bridge in Boston is famously 364.4 smoots plus an ear (the +ear is allegedly the width of the earhole in the side of the football helmet +the victim was wearing when he was rolled over the bridge). This legend +began with a fraternity prank in 1958 during which the body length of Oliver +Smoot (class of '62) was actually used to measure out that distance. It is +commemorated by smoot marks that MIT students repaint every few years; the +tradition even survived the demolition and rebuilding of the bridge in the +late 1980s. The Boston police have been known to use smoot markers to +indicate accident locations on the bridge. Apparently Smoot's experience as +a unit of measurement led to a life-long career; he eventually became +Chairman of the Board of the American National Standards Institute, and +later President of the International Organization for Standardization. + diff --git a/entries/smurf.txt b/entries/smurf.txt index d839063..4278d9f 100644 --- a/entries/smurf.txt +++ b/entries/smurf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ smurf -/smerf/ , n. 1. [from the soc.motss newsgroup on Usenet, after some obnoxiously gooey cartoon characters] A newsgroup regular with a habitual style that is irreverent, silly, and cute. Like many other hackish terms for people, this one may be praise or insult depending on who uses it. In general, being referred to as a smurf is probably not going to make your day unless you've previously adopted the label yourself in a spirit of irony. Compare old fart. 2. [techspeak] A ping packet with a forged source address sent to some other network's broadcast address. All the machines on the destination network will send a ping response to the forged source address (the victim). This both overloads the victim's network and hides the location of the attacker. +/smerf/ , n. 1. [from the soc.motss newsgroup on Usenet, after some +obnoxiously gooey cartoon characters] A newsgroup regular with a habitual +style that is irreverent, silly, and cute. Like many other hackish terms for +people, this one may be praise or insult depending on who uses it. In +general, being referred to as a smurf is probably not going to make your day +unless you've previously adopted the label yourself in a spirit of irony. +Compare old fart. 2. [techspeak] A ping packet with a forged source address +sent to some other network's broadcast address. All the machines on the +destination network will send a ping response to the forged source address +(the victim). This both overloads the victim's network and hides the +location of the attacker. + diff --git a/entries/snail-mail.txt b/entries/snail-mail.txt index 842803c..f46f34d 100644 --- a/entries/snail-mail.txt +++ b/entries/snail-mail.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ snail-mail -n. Paper mail, as opposed to electronic. Sometimes written as the single word SnailMail. One's postal address is, correspondingly, a snail address. Derives from earlier coinage USnail (from U.S. Mail ), for which there have even been parody posters and stamps made. Also (less commonly) called P-mail , from paper mail or physical mail. Oppose email. (Note: Actual garden snails progress at about 10 meters per hour, which is about 25-50 times slower than the U.K.'s Royal Mail; comparable measurements for other countries have not yet been made. More biologically apt terms might be sloth-mail at 250 m/hr or tortoise-mail at 270 m/hr. See http://www.newscientist.com/lastword/answers/789communication.jsp?tp=communication for details. +n. Paper mail, as opposed to electronic. Sometimes written as the single +word SnailMail. One's postal address is, correspondingly, a snail address. +Derives from earlier coinage USnail (from U.S. Mail ), for which there have +even been parody posters and stamps made. Also (less commonly) called P-mail +, from paper mail or physical mail. Oppose email. (Note: Actual garden +snails progress at about 10 meters per hour, which is about 25-50 times +slower than the U.K.'s Royal Mail; comparable measurements for other +countries have not yet been made. More biologically apt terms might be +sloth-mail at 250 m/hr or tortoise-mail at 270 m/hr. See +http://www.newscientist.com/lastword/answers/789communication.jsp?tp=communication +for details. + diff --git a/entries/snail.txt b/entries/snail.txt index 0cda8b3..4a398bf 100644 --- a/entries/snail.txt +++ b/entries/snail.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ snail vt. To snail-mail something. + diff --git a/entries/snap.txt b/entries/snap.txt index ec93d77..2b71db2 100644 --- a/entries/snap.txt +++ b/entries/snap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ snap -v. To replace a pointer to a pointer with a direct pointer; to replace an old address with the forwarding address found there. If you telephone the main number for an institution and ask for a particular person by name, the operator may tell you that person's extension before connecting you, in the hopes that you will snap your pointer and dial direct next time. The underlying metaphor may be that of a rubber band stretched through a number of intermediate points; if you remove all the thumbtacks in the middle, it snaps into a straight line from first to last. See chase pointers. Often, the behavior of a trampoline is to perform an error check once and then snap the pointer that invoked it so as henceforth to bypass the trampoline (and its one-shot error check). In this context one also speaks of snapping links. For example, in a LISP implementation, a function interface trampoline might check to make sure that the caller is passing the correct number of arguments; if it is, and if the caller and the callee are both compiled, then snapping the link allows that particular path to use a direct procedure-call instruction with no further overhead. +v. To replace a pointer to a pointer with a direct pointer; to replace an +old address with the forwarding address found there. If you telephone the +main number for an institution and ask for a particular person by name, the +operator may tell you that person's extension before connecting you, in the +hopes that you will snap your pointer and dial direct next time. The +underlying metaphor may be that of a rubber band stretched through a number +of intermediate points; if you remove all the thumbtacks in the middle, it +snaps into a straight line from first to last. See chase pointers. Often, +the behavior of a trampoline is to perform an error check once and then snap +the pointer that invoked it so as henceforth to bypass the trampoline (and +its one-shot error check). In this context one also speaks of snapping +links. For example, in a LISP implementation, a function interface +trampoline might check to make sure that the caller is passing the correct +number of arguments; if it is, and if the caller and the callee are both +compiled, then snapping the link allows that particular path to use a direct +procedure-call instruction with no further overhead. + diff --git a/entries/snarf down.txt b/entries/snarf down.txt index 43a37fa..d41ca68 100644 --- a/entries/snarf down.txt +++ b/entries/snarf down.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ snarf down -v. To snarf , with the connotation of absorbing, processing, or understanding. I'll snarf down the latest version of the nethack user's guide it's been a while since I played last and I don't know what's changed recently. +v. To snarf , with the connotation of absorbing, processing, or +understanding. I'll snarf down the latest version of the nethack user's +guide it's been a while since I played last and I don't know what's changed +recently. + diff --git a/entries/snarf.txt b/entries/snarf.txt index 3e57d40..4090acd 100644 --- a/entries/snarf.txt +++ b/entries/snarf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ snarf -/snarf/ , vt. 1. To grab, esp. to grab a large document or file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's permission. See also BLT. 2. [in the Unix community] To fetch a file or set of files across a network. See also blast. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, meaning to eat piggishly. It may still have this connotation in context. He's in the snarfing phase of hacking FTPing megs of stuff a day. 3. To acquire, with little concern for legal forms or politesse (but not quite by stealing). They were giving away samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them. 4. Syn. for slurp. This program starts by snarfing the entire database into core, then.... 5. [GEnie] To spray food or programming fluid s due to laughing at the wrong moment. I was drinking coffee, and when I read your post I snarfed all over my desk. If I keep reading this topic, I think I'll have to snarf-proof my computer with a keyboard condom. [This sense appears to be widespread among mundane teenagers ESR] The sound of snarfing is splork!. +/snarf/ , vt. 1. To grab, esp. to grab a large document or file for the +purpose of using it with or without the author's permission. See also BLT. +2. [in the Unix community] To fetch a file or set of files across a network. +See also blast. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, meaning to eat +piggishly. It may still have this connotation in context. He's in the +snarfing phase of hacking FTPing megs of stuff a day. 3. To acquire, with +little concern for legal forms or politesse (but not quite by stealing). +They were giving away samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them. 4. Syn. for +slurp. This program starts by snarfing the entire database into core, +then.... 5. [GEnie] To spray food or programming fluid s due to laughing at +the wrong moment. I was drinking coffee, and when I read your post I snarfed +all over my desk. If I keep reading this topic, I think I'll have to +snarf-proof my computer with a keyboard condom. [This sense appears to be +widespread among mundane teenagers ESR] The sound of snarfing is splork!. + diff --git a/entries/snark.txt b/entries/snark.txt index 02ce017..380e5f1 100644 --- a/entries/snark.txt +++ b/entries/snark.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ snark -n. [Lewis Carroll, via the Michigan Terminal System] 1. A system failure. When a user's process bombed, the operator would get the message Help, Help, Snark in MTS! 2. More generally, any kind of unexplained or threatening event on a computer (especially if it might be a boojum). Often used to refer to an event or a log file entry that might indicate an attempted security violation. 3. UUCP name of snark.thyrsus.com , home site of the Jargon File versions from 2.*.* on (i.e., this lexicon). +n. [Lewis Carroll, via the Michigan Terminal System] 1. A system failure. +When a user's process bombed, the operator would get the message Help, Help, +Snark in MTS! 2. More generally, any kind of unexplained or threatening +event on a computer (especially if it might be a boojum). Often used to +refer to an event or a log file entry that might indicate an attempted +security violation. 3. UUCP name of snark.thyrsus.com , home site of the +Jargon File versions from 2.*.* on (i.e., this lexicon). + diff --git a/entries/sneaker.txt b/entries/sneaker.txt index ae722aa..8e9e921 100644 --- a/entries/sneaker.txt +++ b/entries/sneaker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ sneaker -n. An individual hired to break into places in order to test their security; analogous to tiger team. Compare samurai. +n. An individual hired to break into places in order to test their security; +analogous to tiger team. Compare samurai. + diff --git a/entries/sneakernet.txt b/entries/sneakernet.txt index cf3f3db..4b6d813 100644 --- a/entries/sneakernet.txt +++ b/entries/sneakernet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ sneakernet -/sneekernet/ , n. Term used (generally with ironic intent) for transfer of electronic information by physically carrying tape, disks, or some other media from one machine to another. Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with magtape, or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs. Also called Tennis-Net , Armpit-Net , Floppy-Net or Shoenet ; in the 1990s, Nike network after a well-known sneaker brand. +/sneekernet/ , n. Term used (generally with ironic intent) for transfer of +electronic information by physically carrying tape, disks, or some other +media from one machine to another. Never underestimate the bandwidth of a +station wagon filled with magtape, or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs. Also called +Tennis-Net , Armpit-Net , Floppy-Net or Shoenet ; in the 1990s, Nike network +after a well-known sneaker brand. + diff --git a/entries/sniff.txt b/entries/sniff.txt index b92edfb..e05663a 100644 --- a/entries/sniff.txt +++ b/entries/sniff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ sniff -v.,n. 1. To watch packets traversing a network. Most often in the phrase packet sniffer , a program for doing same. 2. Synonym for poll. +v.,n. 1. To watch packets traversing a network. Most often in the phrase +packet sniffer , a program for doing same. 2. Synonym for poll. + diff --git a/entries/snippage.txt b/entries/snippage.txt index 67ae87c..dfc58d7 100644 --- a/entries/snippage.txt +++ b/entries/snippage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ snippage -n. Synonym for deletia ; the fact that something has been snipped when quoting is often indicated with the pseudo-HTML snip. +n. Synonym for deletia ; the fact that something has been snipped when +quoting is often indicated with the pseudo-HTML snip. + diff --git a/entries/social engineering.txt b/entries/social engineering.txt index 9d965cd..178f186 100644 --- a/entries/social engineering.txt +++ b/entries/social engineering.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ social engineering -n. Term used among cracker s and samurai for cracking techniques that rely on weaknesses in wetware rather than software; the aim is to trick people into revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has the required information and posing as a field service tech or a fellow employee with an urgent access problem. See also the tiger team story in the patch entry, and rubber-hose cryptanalysis. +n. Term used among cracker s and samurai for cracking techniques that rely +on weaknesses in wetware rather than software; the aim is to trick people +into revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target +system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has the +required information and posing as a field service tech or a fellow employee +with an urgent access problem. See also the tiger team story in the patch +entry, and rubber-hose cryptanalysis. + diff --git a/entries/social science number.txt b/entries/social science number.txt index 3870fac..40574bb 100644 --- a/entries/social science number.txt +++ b/entries/social science number.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ social science number -n. , // [IBM] A statistic that is content-free , or nearly so. A measure derived via methods of questionable validity from data of a dubious and vague nature. Predictively, having a social science number in hand is seldom much better than nothing, and can be considerably worse. As a rule, management loves them. See also numbers , math-out , pretty pictures. +n. , // [IBM] A statistic that is content-free , or nearly so. A measure +derived via methods of questionable validity from data of a dubious and +vague nature. Predictively, having a social science number in hand is seldom +much better than nothing, and can be considerably worse. As a rule, +management loves them. See also numbers , math-out , pretty pictures. + diff --git a/entries/sock puppet.txt b/entries/sock puppet.txt index 80c951a..a79f39c 100644 --- a/entries/sock puppet.txt +++ b/entries/sock puppet.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ sock puppet -n. [Usenet: from the act of placing a sock over your hand and talking to it and pretending it's talking back] In Usenet parlance, a pseudo through which the puppeteer posts follow-ups to their own original message to give the appearance that a number of people support the views held in the original message. See also astroturfing , tentacle. +n. [Usenet: from the act of placing a sock over your hand and talking to it +and pretending it's talking back] In Usenet parlance, a pseudo through which +the puppeteer posts follow-ups to their own original message to give the +appearance that a number of people support the views held in the original +message. See also astroturfing , tentacle. + diff --git a/entries/sodium substrate.txt b/entries/sodium substrate.txt index f3dfe4b..1272066 100644 --- a/entries/sodium substrate.txt +++ b/entries/sodium substrate.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ sodium substrate n. Syn salt substrate. + diff --git a/entries/soft boot.txt b/entries/soft boot.txt index e2ef1ea..37c7103 100644 --- a/entries/soft boot.txt +++ b/entries/soft boot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ soft boot n. See boot. + diff --git a/entries/softcopy.txt b/entries/softcopy.txt index 88ff9ce..d9993ac 100644 --- a/entries/softcopy.txt +++ b/entries/softcopy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ softcopy -/softkopee/ , n. [by analogy with hardcopy ] A machine-readable form of corresponding hardcopy. See bits. +/softkopee/ , n. [by analogy with hardcopy ] A machine-readable form of +corresponding hardcopy. See bits. + diff --git a/entries/software bloat.txt b/entries/software bloat.txt index b7b370c..882e519 100644 --- a/entries/software bloat.txt +++ b/entries/software bloat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ software bloat -n. The results of second-system effect or creeping featuritis. Commonly cited examples include ls (1) , X , BSD , and OS/2. +n. The results of second-system effect or creeping featuritis. Commonly +cited examples include ls (1) , X , BSD , and OS/2. + diff --git a/entries/software hoarding.txt b/entries/software hoarding.txt index fd1e9a3..3d1c69b 100644 --- a/entries/software hoarding.txt +++ b/entries/software hoarding.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ software hoarding -n. Pejorative term employed by members and adherents of the GNU project to describe the act of holding software proprietary, keeping it under trade secret or license terms which prohibit free redistribution and modification. Used primarily in Free Software Foundation propaganda. For a summary of related issues, see GNU and free software. +n. Pejorative term employed by members and adherents of the GNU project to +describe the act of holding software proprietary, keeping it under trade +secret or license terms which prohibit free redistribution and modification. +Used primarily in Free Software Foundation propaganda. For a summary of +related issues, see GNU and free software. + diff --git a/entries/software laser.txt b/entries/software laser.txt index d6759e2..d6994b6 100644 --- a/entries/software laser.txt +++ b/entries/software laser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ software laser -n. An optical laser works by bouncing photons back and forth between two mirrors, one totally reflective and one partially reflective. If the lasing material (usually a crystal) has the right properties, photons scattering off the atoms in the crystal will excite cascades of more photons, all in lockstep. Eventually the beam will escape through the partially-reflective mirror. One kind of sorcerer's apprentice mode involving bounce message s can produce closely analogous results, with a cascade of messages escaping to flood nearby systems. By mid-1993 there had been at least two publicized incidents of this kind. +n. An optical laser works by bouncing photons back and forth between two +mirrors, one totally reflective and one partially reflective. If the lasing +material (usually a crystal) has the right properties, photons scattering +off the atoms in the crystal will excite cascades of more photons, all in +lockstep. Eventually the beam will escape through the partially-reflective +mirror. One kind of sorcerer's apprentice mode involving bounce message s +can produce closely analogous results, with a cascade of messages escaping +to flood nearby systems. By mid-1993 there had been at least two publicized +incidents of this kind. + diff --git a/entries/software rot.txt b/entries/software rot.txt index 6872155..84cd993 100644 --- a/entries/software rot.txt +++ b/entries/software rot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ software rot -n. Term used to describe the tendency of software that has not been used in a while to lose ; such failure may be semi-humorously ascribed to bit rot. More commonly, software rot strikes when a program's assumptions become out of date. If the design was insufficiently robust , this may cause it to fail in mysterious ways. Syn. code rot. See also link rot. For example, owing to endemic shortsightedness in the design of COBOL programs, a good number of them succumbed to software rot when their 2-digit year counters underwent wrap around at the beginning of the year 2000. Actually, related lossages often afflict centenarians who have to deal with computer software designed by unimaginative clods. One such incident became the focus of a minor public flap in 1990, when a gentleman born in 1889 applied for a driver's license renewal in Raleigh, North Carolina. The new system refused to issue the card, probably because with 2-digit years the ages 101 and 1 cannot be distinguished. Historical note: Software rot in an even funnier sense than the mythical one was a real problem on early research computers (e.g., the R1; see grind crank ). If a program that depended on a peculiar instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user might discover that the opcodes no longer did the same things they once did. ( Hey, so-and-so needs an instruction to do such-and-such. We can snarf this opcode, right? No one uses it. ) Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT hacker found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched the hardware. Unfortunately, this broke some fragile timing software in a music-playing program, throwing its output out of tune. This was fixed by adding a defensive initialization routine to compare the speed of a timing loop with the real-time clock; in other words, it figured out how fast the PDP-6 was that day, and corrected appropriately. Compare bit rot. +n. Term used to describe the tendency of software that has not been used in +a while to lose ; such failure may be semi-humorously ascribed to bit rot. +More commonly, software rot strikes when a program's assumptions become out +of date. If the design was insufficiently robust , this may cause it to fail +in mysterious ways. Syn. code rot. See also link rot. For example, owing to +endemic shortsightedness in the design of COBOL programs, a good number of +them succumbed to software rot when their 2-digit year counters underwent +wrap around at the beginning of the year 2000. Actually, related lossages +often afflict centenarians who have to deal with computer software designed +by unimaginative clods. One such incident became the focus of a minor public +flap in 1990, when a gentleman born in 1889 applied for a driver's license +renewal in Raleigh, North Carolina. The new system refused to issue the +card, probably because with 2-digit years the ages 101 and 1 cannot be +distinguished. Historical note: Software rot in an even funnier sense than +the mythical one was a real problem on early research computers (e.g., the +R1; see grind crank ). If a program that depended on a peculiar instruction +hadn't been run in quite a while, the user might discover that the opcodes +no longer did the same things they once did. ( Hey, so-and-so needs an +instruction to do such-and-such. We can snarf this opcode, right? No one +uses it. ) Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT +hacker found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump +instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched the hardware. Unfortunately, this +broke some fragile timing software in a music-playing program, throwing its +output out of tune. This was fixed by adding a defensive initialization +routine to compare the speed of a timing loop with the real-time clock; in +other words, it figured out how fast the PDP-6 was that day, and corrected +appropriately. Compare bit rot. + diff --git a/entries/softwarily.txt b/entries/softwarily.txt index 56bb841..81d1d4c 100644 --- a/entries/softwarily.txt +++ b/entries/softwarily.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ softwarily -/softweirilee/ , adv. In a way pertaining to software. The system is softwarily unreliable. The adjective ** softwary is not used. See hardwarily. +/softweirilee/ , adv. In a way pertaining to software. The system is +softwarily unreliable. The adjective ** softwary is not used. See +hardwarily. + diff --git a/entries/softy.txt b/entries/softy.txt index 2782412..a7c81e8 100644 --- a/entries/softy.txt +++ b/entries/softy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ softy -n. [IBM] Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware. +n. [IBM] Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who is largely +ignorant of the mysteries of hardware. + diff --git a/entries/some random X.txt b/entries/some random X.txt index 2072ee9..66528e9 100644 --- a/entries/some random X.txt +++ b/entries/some random X.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ some random X -adj. Used to indicate a member of class X, with the implication that Xs are interchangeable. I think some random cracker tripped over the guest timeout last night. See also J. Random. +adj. Used to indicate a member of class X, with the implication that Xs are +interchangeable. I think some random cracker tripped over the guest timeout +last night. See also J. Random. + diff --git a/entries/sorcerer's apprentice mode.txt b/entries/sorcerer's apprentice mode.txt index 9889bb5..40ed267 100644 --- a/entries/sorcerer's apprentice mode.txt +++ b/entries/sorcerer's apprentice mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ sorcerer's apprentice mode -n. [from Goethe's Der Zauberlehrling via Paul Dukas's L'apprenti sorcier in the film Fantasia. ] A bug in a protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, when received, triggers the same bug. Used esp. of such behavior caused by bounce message loops in email software. Compare broadcast storm , network meltdown , software laser , ARMM. +n. [from Goethe's Der Zauberlehrling via Paul Dukas's L'apprenti sorcier in +the film Fantasia. ] A bug in a protocol where, under some circumstances, +the receipt of a message causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, +when received, triggers the same bug. Used esp. of such behavior caused by +bounce message loops in email software. Compare broadcast storm , network +meltdown , software laser , ARMM. + diff --git a/entries/source of all good bits.txt b/entries/source of all good bits.txt index 7a971ba..5e5b455 100644 --- a/entries/source of all good bits.txt +++ b/entries/source of all good bits.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ source of all good bits -n. A person from whom (or a place from which) useful information may be obtained. If you need to know about a program, a guru might be the source of all good bits. The title is often applied to a particularly competent secretary. +n. A person from whom (or a place from which) useful information may be +obtained. If you need to know about a program, a guru might be the source of +all good bits. The title is often applied to a particularly competent +secretary. + diff --git a/entries/source.txt b/entries/source.txt index aaa556f..708ee36 100644 --- a/entries/source.txt +++ b/entries/source.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ source -n. [very common] In reference to software, source is invariably shorthand for source code , the preferred human-readable and human-modifiable form of the program. This is as opposed to object code, the derived binary executable form of a program. This shorthand readily takes derivative forms; one may speak of the sources of a system or of having source. +n. [very common] In reference to software, source is invariably shorthand +for source code , the preferred human-readable and human-modifiable form of +the program. This is as opposed to object code, the derived binary +executable form of a program. This shorthand readily takes derivative forms; +one may speak of the sources of a system or of having source. + diff --git a/entries/space-cadet keyboard.txt b/entries/space-cadet keyboard.txt index a12f040..c1e3b84 100644 --- a/entries/space-cadet keyboard.txt +++ b/entries/space-cadet keyboard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,34 @@ space-cadet keyboard -n. A now-legendary device used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired several still-current jargon terms and influenced the design of EMACS. It was equipped with no fewer than seven shift keys: four keys for bucky bits ( control , meta , hyper , and super ) and three regular shift keys, called shift , top , and front. Many keys had three symbols on them: a letter and a symbol on the top, and a Greek letter on the front. For example, the L key had an L and a two-way arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the front. By pressing this key with the right hand while playing an appropriate chord with the left hand on the shift keys, you could get the following results: L lowercase l shift-L uppercase L front-L front-shift-L top-L (front and shift are ignored) And of course each of these might also be typed with any combination of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys. On this keyboard, you could type over 8000 different characters! This allowed the user to type very complicated mathematical text, and also to have thousands of single-character commands at his disposal. The keyboard of the Symbolics Lisp machine was a simplified version, lacking Top and Front keys, that could only send about 2000 characters. Many hackers were actually willing to memorize the command meanings of that many characters if it reduced typing time (this attitude obviously shaped the interface of EMACS). Other hackers, however, thought having that many bucky bits was overkill, and objected that such a keyboard can require three or four hands to operate. See bucky bits , cokebottle , double bucky , meta bit , quadruple bucky. Simplified Symbolics version of the space-cadet keyboard (Some relatively bad photographs of the earlier, more elaborate version are available on the Web.). Note: early versions of this entry incorrectly identified the space-cadet keyboard with the Knight keyboard. Though both were designed by Tom Knight, the latter term was properly applied only to a keyboard used for ITS on the PDP-10 and modeled on the Stanford keyboard (as described under bucky bits ). The true space-cadet keyboard evolved from the first Knight keyboard. An early space-cadet keyboard (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 73-05-20. The previous one is 73-05-18. +n. A now-legendary device used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired several +still-current jargon terms and influenced the design of EMACS. It was +equipped with no fewer than seven shift keys: four keys for bucky bits ( +control , meta , hyper , and super ) and three regular shift keys, called +shift , top , and front. Many keys had three symbols on them: a letter and a +symbol on the top, and a Greek letter on the front. For example, the L key +had an L and a two-way arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the +front. By pressing this key with the right hand while playing an appropriate +chord with the left hand on the shift keys, you could get the following +results: L lowercase l shift-L uppercase L front-L front-shift-L top-L +(front and shift are ignored) And of course each of these might also be +typed with any combination of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys. On +this keyboard, you could type over 8000 different characters! This allowed +the user to type very complicated mathematical text, and also to have +thousands of single-character commands at his disposal. The keyboard of the +Symbolics Lisp machine was a simplified version, lacking Top and Front keys, +that could only send about 2000 characters. Many hackers were actually +willing to memorize the command meanings of that many characters if it +reduced typing time (this attitude obviously shaped the interface of EMACS). +Other hackers, however, thought having that many bucky bits was overkill, +and objected that such a keyboard can require three or four hands to +operate. See bucky bits , cokebottle , double bucky , meta bit , quadruple +bucky. Simplified Symbolics version of the space-cadet keyboard (Some +relatively bad photographs of the earlier, more elaborate version are +available on the Web.). Note: early versions of this entry incorrectly +identified the space-cadet keyboard with the Knight keyboard. Though both +were designed by Tom Knight, the latter term was properly applied only to a +keyboard used for ITS on the PDP-10 and modeled on the Stanford keyboard (as +described under bucky bits ). The true space-cadet keyboard evolved from the +first Knight keyboard. An early space-cadet keyboard (The next cartoon in +the Crunchly saga is 73-05-20. The previous one is 73-05-18. + diff --git a/entries/spaceship operator.txt b/entries/spaceship operator.txt index b261720..fa27e3f 100644 --- a/entries/spaceship operator.txt +++ b/entries/spaceship operator.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ spaceship operator -n. The glyph = , so-called apparently because in the low-resolution constant-width font used on many terminals it vaguely resembles a flying saucer. Perl uses this to denote the signum-of-difference operation. +n. The glyph = , so-called apparently because in the low-resolution +constant-width font used on many terminals it vaguely resembles a flying +saucer. Perl uses this to denote the signum-of-difference operation. + diff --git a/entries/spaghetti code.txt b/entries/spaghetti code.txt index 3a141f4..abf63e1 100644 --- a/entries/spaghetti code.txt +++ b/entries/spaghetti code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ spaghetti code -n. Code with a complex and tangled control structure, esp. one using many GOTOs, exceptions, or other unstructured branching constructs. Pejorative. The synonym kangaroo code has been reported, doubtless because such code has so many jumps in it. +n. Code with a complex and tangled control structure, esp. one using many +GOTOs, exceptions, or other unstructured branching constructs. Pejorative. +The synonym kangaroo code has been reported, doubtless because such code has +so many jumps in it. + diff --git a/entries/spaghetti inheritance.txt b/entries/spaghetti inheritance.txt index 3c111eb..975b6aa 100644 --- a/entries/spaghetti inheritance.txt +++ b/entries/spaghetti inheritance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ spaghetti inheritance -n. [encountered among users of object-oriented languages that use inheritance, such as Smalltalk] A convoluted class-subclass graph, often resulting from carelessly deriving subclasses from other classes just for the sake of reusing their code. Coined in a (successful) attempt to discourage such practice, through guilt-by-association with spaghetti code. +n. [encountered among users of object-oriented languages that use +inheritance, such as Smalltalk] A convoluted class-subclass graph, often +resulting from carelessly deriving subclasses from other classes just for +the sake of reusing their code. Coined in a (successful) attempt to +discourage such practice, through guilt-by-association with spaghetti code. + diff --git a/entries/spam bait.txt b/entries/spam bait.txt index 8ee4379..22a3604 100644 --- a/entries/spam bait.txt +++ b/entries/spam bait.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ spam bait -n. Email addresses included in, or comprising the entirety of, a Usenet message so that spammers mining a newsgroup with an address harvester will collect them. These addresses can be people who have offended or annoyed the poster, or who are included so that a spammer will spam an official, thereby causing himself trouble. One particularly effective form of spam bait is the address of a teergrube. +n. Email addresses included in, or comprising the entirety of, a Usenet +message so that spammers mining a newsgroup with an address harvester will +collect them. These addresses can be people who have offended or annoyed the +poster, or who are included so that a spammer will spam an official, thereby +causing himself trouble. One particularly effective form of spam bait is the +address of a teergrube. + diff --git a/entries/spam.txt b/entries/spam.txt index 3beff15..a7ba1b8 100644 --- a/entries/spam.txt +++ b/entries/spam.txt @@ -1,3 +1,34 @@ spam -vt.,vi.,n. [from Monty Python's Flying Circus ] 1. To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. See also buffer overflow , overrun screw , smash the stack. 2. To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. You can spam a newsgroup with as little as one well- (or ill-) planned message (e.g. asking What do you think of abortion? on soc.women ). This is often done with cross-post ing (e.g. any message which is cross-posted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups). This overlaps with troll behavior; the latter more specific term has become more common. 3. To send many identical or nearly-identical messages separately to a large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is more specifically called ECP , Excessive Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone on the Net. See also velveeta and jello. 4. To bombard a newsgroup with multiple copies of a message. This is more specifically called EMP , Excessive Multi-Posting. 5. To mass-mail unrequested identical or nearly-identical email messages, particularly those containing advertising. Especially used when the mail addresses have been culled from network traffic or databases without the consent of the recipients. Synonyms include UCE , UBE. As a noun, spam refers to the messages so sent. 6. Any large, annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC who walks away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of text might say Oh no, spam. The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses 3 4 and 5 are now primary. All three behaviors are considered abuse of the net, and are almost universally grounds for termination of the originator's email account or network connection. In these senses the term spam has gone mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric freight there is apparently a widespread myth among luser s that spamming is what happens when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan. Hormel, the makers of Spam, have published a surprisingly enlightened position statement on the Internet usage. +vt.,vi.,n. [from Monty Python's Flying Circus ] 1. To crash a program by +overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. See also +buffer overflow , overrun screw , smash the stack. 2. To cause a newsgroup +to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. You can spam a +newsgroup with as little as one well- (or ill-) planned message (e.g. asking +What do you think of abortion? on soc.women ). This is often done with +cross-post ing (e.g. any message which is cross-posted to alt.rush-limbaugh +and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups). +This overlaps with troll behavior; the latter more specific term has become +more common. 3. To send many identical or nearly-identical messages +separately to a large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is more specifically +called ECP , Excessive Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate +nearly everyone on the Net. See also velveeta and jello. 4. To bombard a +newsgroup with multiple copies of a message. This is more specifically +called EMP , Excessive Multi-Posting. 5. To mass-mail unrequested identical +or nearly-identical email messages, particularly those containing +advertising. Especially used when the mail addresses have been culled from +network traffic or databases without the consent of the recipients. Synonyms +include UCE , UBE. As a noun, spam refers to the messages so sent. 6. Any +large, annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC who walks +away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of text might say Oh +no, spam. The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the +Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses 3 4 and 5 +are now primary. All three behaviors are considered abuse of the net, and +are almost universally grounds for termination of the originator's email +account or network connection. In these senses the term spam has gone +mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric freight there is +apparently a widespread myth among luser s that spamming is what happens +when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan. Hormel, the makers of Spam, +have published a surprisingly enlightened position statement on the Internet +usage. + diff --git a/entries/spamblock.txt b/entries/spamblock.txt index 01baa7e..2e5d5d7 100644 --- a/entries/spamblock.txt +++ b/entries/spamblock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ spamblock -/spamblok/ , n. [poss. by analogy to sunblock] Text inserted in an email address to render it invalid and thus useless to spammers. For example, the address jrandom@hacker.org might be transformed to jrandom@NOSPAM.hacker.org. Adding spamblock to an address is often referred to as munging it (see munge ). This evasion tactic depends on the fact that most spammers collect names with some sort of address harvester on volumes too high to de-mung by hand, but individual humans reading an email message can readily spot and remove a spamblock in the From address. Note: This is not actually a very effective tactic, and may already be passing out of use in early 1999 after about two years of life. In both mail and news, it's essentially impossible to keep a smart address harvester from mining out the addresses in the message header and trace lines. Therefore the only people who can be protected are third parties mentioned by email address in the message not a common enough case to interest spammers. +/spamblok/ , n. [poss. by analogy to sunblock] Text inserted in an email +address to render it invalid and thus useless to spammers. For example, the +address jrandom@hacker.org might be transformed to +jrandom@NOSPAM.hacker.org. Adding spamblock to an address is often referred +to as munging it (see munge ). This evasion tactic depends on the fact that +most spammers collect names with some sort of address harvester on volumes +too high to de-mung by hand, but individual humans reading an email message +can readily spot and remove a spamblock in the From address. Note: This is +not actually a very effective tactic, and may already be passing out of use +in early 1999 after about two years of life. In both mail and news, it's +essentially impossible to keep a smart address harvester from mining out the +addresses in the message header and trace lines. Therefore the only people +who can be protected are third parties mentioned by email address in the +message not a common enough case to interest spammers. + diff --git a/entries/spamhaus.txt b/entries/spamhaus.txt index f80f92f..ded29cf 100644 --- a/entries/spamhaus.txt +++ b/entries/spamhaus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ spamhaus -spamhows , n. Pejorative term for an internet service provider that permits or even encourages spam mailings from its systems. The plural is spamhausen. There is a web page devoted to tracking spamhausen. The most notorious of the spamhausen was Sanford Wallace's Cyber Promotions Inc., shut down by a lawsuit on 16 October 1997. The anniversary of the shutdown is celebrated on Usenet as Spam Freedom Day, but lesser imitators of the Spamford still infest various murky corners of the net. Since prosecution of spammers became routine under the junk-fax laws and statues specifically targeting spam, spamhausen have declined in relative importance; today, hit-and-run attacks by spammers using relay rape and throwaway account s on reputable ISPs seem to account for most of the flow. +spamhows , n. Pejorative term for an internet service provider that permits +or even encourages spam mailings from its systems. The plural is spamhausen. +There is a web page devoted to tracking spamhausen. The most notorious of +the spamhausen was Sanford Wallace's Cyber Promotions Inc., shut down by a +lawsuit on 16 October 1997. The anniversary of the shutdown is celebrated on +Usenet as Spam Freedom Day, but lesser imitators of the Spamford still +infest various murky corners of the net. Since prosecution of spammers +became routine under the junk-fax laws and statues specifically targeting +spam, spamhausen have declined in relative importance; today, hit-and-run +attacks by spammers using relay rape and throwaway account s on reputable +ISPs seem to account for most of the flow. + diff --git a/entries/spamvertize.txt b/entries/spamvertize.txt index 8ac547d..8c74428 100644 --- a/entries/spamvertize.txt +++ b/entries/spamvertize.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ spamvertize v. To advertise using spam. Pejorative. + diff --git a/entries/spangle.txt b/entries/spangle.txt index 9209e35..9e4548a 100644 --- a/entries/spangle.txt +++ b/entries/spangle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ spangle n. [UK] The singular of bells and whistles. See also spungle. + diff --git a/entries/spawn.txt b/entries/spawn.txt index 7f847c0..2897c99 100644 --- a/entries/spawn.txt +++ b/entries/spawn.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ spawn -n.,vi. 1. [techspeak] In Unix parlance, to create a child process from within a process. Technically this is a fork ; the term spawn is a bit more general and is used for threads (lightweight processes) as well as traditional heavyweight processes. 2. In gaming, meant to indicate where ( spawn-point ) and when a player comes to life (or re-spawns ) after being killed. Opposite of frag. +n.,vi. 1. [techspeak] In Unix parlance, to create a child process from +within a process. Technically this is a fork ; the term spawn is a bit more +general and is used for threads (lightweight processes) as well as +traditional heavyweight processes. 2. In gaming, meant to indicate where ( +spawn-point ) and when a player comes to life (or re-spawns ) after being +killed. Opposite of frag. + diff --git a/entries/special-case.txt b/entries/special-case.txt index cacaf2d..5270ac5 100644 --- a/entries/special-case.txt +++ b/entries/special-case.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ special-case -vt. To write unique code to handle input to or situations arising in a program that are somehow distinguished from normal processing. This would be used for processing of mode switches or interrupt characters in an interactive interface (as opposed, say, to text entry or normal commands), or for processing of hidden flag s in the input of a batch program or filter. +vt. To write unique code to handle input to or situations arising in a +program that are somehow distinguished from normal processing. This would be +used for processing of mode switches or interrupt characters in an +interactive interface (as opposed, say, to text entry or normal commands), +or for processing of hidden flag s in the input of a batch program or +filter. + diff --git a/entries/speed of light.txt b/entries/speed of light.txt index 55e696d..ffbf657 100644 --- a/entries/speed of light.txt +++ b/entries/speed of light.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ speed of light -The absolutely fastest a particular algorithm or application could be implemented, given a set of constraints that are assumed to be unchangeable. For example, This would take 60 microseconds without any processing whatsoever, so that's the. However, as one brilliant hacker once commented: Remember that the speed of light only is constant if you can't redesign the universe. +The absolutely fastest a particular algorithm or application could be +implemented, given a set of constraints that are assumed to be unchangeable. +For example, This would take 60 microseconds without any processing +whatsoever, so that's the. However, as one brilliant hacker once commented: +Remember that the speed of light only is constant if you can't redesign the +universe. + diff --git a/entries/speedometer.txt b/entries/speedometer.txt index 51db292..8c20c17 100644 --- a/entries/speedometer.txt +++ b/entries/speedometer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ speedometer -n. A pattern of lights displayed on a linear set of LEDs (today) or nixie tubes (yesterday, on ancient mainframes). The pattern is shifted left every N times the operating system goes through its main loop. A swiftly moving pattern indicates that the system is mostly idle; the speedometer slows down as the system becomes overloaded. The speedometer on Sun Microsystems hardware bounces back and forth like the eyes on one of the Cylons from the wretched Battlestar Galactica TV series. Historical note: One computer, the GE 600 (later Honeywell 6000) actually had an analog speedometer on the front panel, calibrated in instructions executed per second. +n. A pattern of lights displayed on a linear set of LEDs (today) or nixie +tubes (yesterday, on ancient mainframes). The pattern is shifted left every +N times the operating system goes through its main loop. A swiftly moving +pattern indicates that the system is mostly idle; the speedometer slows down +as the system becomes overloaded. The speedometer on Sun Microsystems +hardware bounces back and forth like the eyes on one of the Cylons from the +wretched Battlestar Galactica TV series. Historical note: One computer, the +GE 600 (later Honeywell 6000) actually had an analog speedometer on the +front panel, calibrated in instructions executed per second. + diff --git a/entries/spell.txt b/entries/spell.txt index eb5befc..034dca7 100644 --- a/entries/spell.txt +++ b/entries/spell.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ spell n. Syn. incantation. + diff --git a/entries/spelling flame.txt b/entries/spelling flame.txt index 747f97c..4a0370a 100644 --- a/entries/spelling flame.txt +++ b/entries/spelling flame.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ spelling flame -n. [Usenet] A posting ostentatiously correcting a previous article's spelling as a way of casting scorn on the point the article was trying to make, instead of actually responding to that point (compare dictionary flame ). Of course, people who are more than usually slovenly spellers are prone to think any correction is a spelling flame. It's an amusing comment on human nature that spelling flames themselves often contain spelling errors. +n. [Usenet] A posting ostentatiously correcting a previous article's +spelling as a way of casting scorn on the point the article was trying to +make, instead of actually responding to that point (compare dictionary flame +). Of course, people who are more than usually slovenly spellers are prone +to think any correction is a spelling flame. It's an amusing comment on +human nature that spelling flames themselves often contain spelling errors. + diff --git a/entries/spider food.txt b/entries/spider food.txt index 1545ad9..0d8f214 100644 --- a/entries/spider food.txt +++ b/entries/spider food.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ spider food -n. Keywords embedded (usually invisibly) into a web page to attract search engines (spiders). The intended result of including spider food in one's web page is to insure that the page appears high on the list of matching entries to a search engine query. There are right and wrong ways to do this; the right way is a discreet meta keywords tag, the wrong way is to embed many repeats of a keyword in comments (and many search engines now detect and ignore the latter). +n. Keywords embedded (usually invisibly) into a web page to attract search +engines (spiders). The intended result of including spider food in one's web +page is to insure that the page appears high on the list of matching entries +to a search engine query. There are right and wrong ways to do this; the +right way is a discreet meta keywords tag, the wrong way is to embed many +repeats of a keyword in comments (and many search engines now detect and +ignore the latter). + diff --git a/entries/spider.txt b/entries/spider.txt index 0392c3c..813503f 100644 --- a/entries/spider.txt +++ b/entries/spider.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ spider -The Web-walking part of a search engine that collects pages for indexing in the search engine's database. Also called a bot. The best-known is Scooter, the web-walker for the Alta Vista search engine. +The Web-walking part of a search engine that collects pages for indexing in +the search engine's database. Also called a bot. The best-known is Scooter, +the web-walker for the Alta Vista search engine. + diff --git a/entries/spiffy.txt b/entries/spiffy.txt index b8c66ff..2884fad 100644 --- a/entries/spiffy.txt +++ b/entries/spiffy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ spiffy -/spifee/ , adj. 1. Said of programs having a pretty, clever, or exceptionally well-designed interface. Have you seen the spiffy X version of empire yet? 2. Said sarcastically of a program that is perceived to have little more than a flashy interface going for it. Which meaning should be drawn depends delicately on tone of voice and context. This word was common mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to 1. +/spifee/ , adj. 1. Said of programs having a pretty, clever, or +exceptionally well-designed interface. Have you seen the spiffy X version of +empire yet? 2. Said sarcastically of a program that is perceived to have +little more than a flashy interface going for it. Which meaning should be +drawn depends delicately on tone of voice and context. This word was common +mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to 1. + diff --git a/entries/spike.txt b/entries/spike.txt index 99aec75..7d669b0 100644 --- a/entries/spike.txt +++ b/entries/spike.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ spike -v. 1. To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a (sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result. The word is used in several industries; telephone engineers refer to spiking a relay by inserting a pin to hold the relay in either the closed or open state, and railroaders refer to spiking a track switch so that it cannot be moved. In programming environments it normally refers to a temporary change, usually for testing purposes (as opposed to a permanent change, which would be called hardwired ). 2. [borderline techspeak] A visible peak in an otherwise rather constant graph (e.g. a sudden surge in line voltage, an unexpected short high on a logical line in a circuit). Hackers frequently use this for a sudden short increase in some quantity such as system load or network traffic. +v. 1. To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a (sometimes temporary) +device that forces a specific result. The word is used in several +industries; telephone engineers refer to spiking a relay by inserting a pin +to hold the relay in either the closed or open state, and railroaders refer +to spiking a track switch so that it cannot be moved. In programming +environments it normally refers to a temporary change, usually for testing +purposes (as opposed to a permanent change, which would be called hardwired +). 2. [borderline techspeak] A visible peak in an otherwise rather constant +graph (e.g. a sudden surge in line voltage, an unexpected short high on a +logical line in a circuit). Hackers frequently use this for a sudden short +increase in some quantity such as system load or network traffic. + diff --git a/entries/spin.txt b/entries/spin.txt index 96002e2..28722e5 100644 --- a/entries/spin.txt +++ b/entries/spin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ spin -vi. Equivalent to buzz. More common among C and Unix programmers. See the discussion of spinlock under busy-wait. +vi. Equivalent to buzz. More common among C and Unix programmers. See the +discussion of spinlock under busy-wait. + diff --git a/entries/spl.txt b/entries/spl.txt index c061efd..36e8af4 100644 --- a/entries/spl.txt +++ b/entries/spl.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ spl -/SPL/ [abbrev, from Set Priority Level] The way traditional Unix kernels implement mutual exclusion by running code at high interrupt levels. Used in jargon to describe the act of tuning in or tuning out ordinary communication. Classically, spl levels run from 1 to 7; Fred's at spl 6 today would mean that he is very hard to interrupt. Wait till I finish this; I'll spl down then. See also interrupts locked out. +/SPL/ [abbrev, from Set Priority Level] The way traditional Unix kernels +implement mutual exclusion by running code at high interrupt levels. Used in +jargon to describe the act of tuning in or tuning out ordinary +communication. Classically, spl levels run from 1 to 7; Fred's at spl 6 +today would mean that he is very hard to interrupt. Wait till I finish this; +I'll spl down then. See also interrupts locked out. + diff --git a/entries/splash screen.txt b/entries/splash screen.txt index ecb6c48..ed1360f 100644 --- a/entries/splash screen.txt +++ b/entries/splash screen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ splash screen n. [Mac users] Syn. banner , sense 3. + diff --git a/entries/splat out.txt b/entries/splat out.txt index f68e31c..1b14b44 100644 --- a/entries/splat out.txt +++ b/entries/splat out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ splat out -v. [Usenet; syn. disemvowel ] To partially obscure a potentially provocative word by substituting splat characters for some of its letters (usually, but not always, the vowels). The purpose is not to make the word unrecognizable but to make it a mention rather than a use, so that no flamewar ensues. Words often splatted out include N*z* (see Godwin's Law ), k*bo* (see KIBO , sense 2), *v*l*t**n (anywhere fundamentalists might be lurking), *b*rt**n, and g*n c*ntr*l. Compare UN*X. +v. [Usenet; syn. disemvowel ] To partially obscure a potentially provocative +word by substituting splat characters for some of its letters (usually, but +not always, the vowels). The purpose is not to make the word unrecognizable +but to make it a mention rather than a use, so that no flamewar ensues. +Words often splatted out include N*z* (see Godwin's Law ), k*bo* (see KIBO , +sense 2), *v*l*t**n (anywhere fundamentalists might be lurking), *b*rt**n, +and g*n c*ntr*l. Compare UN*X. + diff --git a/entries/splat.txt b/entries/splat.txt index cd4a462..486d5c5 100644 --- a/entries/splat.txt +++ b/entries/splat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ splat -n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for the asterisk ( * ) character (ASCII 0101010). This may derive from the squashed-bug appearance of the asterisk on many early line printers. 2. [MIT] Name used by some people for the # character (ASCII 0100011). 3. The feature key on a Mac (same as alt , sense 2). 4. obs. Name used by some people for the Stanford/ITS extended ASCII character. This character is also called blobby and frob , among other names; it is sometimes used by mathematicians as a notation for tensor product. 5. obs. Name for the semi-mythical Stanford extended ASCII character. See also ASCII. +n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for the asterisk ( * ) +character (ASCII 0101010). This may derive from the squashed-bug appearance +of the asterisk on many early line printers. 2. [MIT] Name used by some +people for the # character (ASCII 0100011). 3. The feature key on a Mac +(same as alt , sense 2). 4. obs. Name used by some people for the +Stanford/ITS extended ASCII character. This character is also called blobby +and frob , among other names; it is sometimes used by mathematicians as a +notation for tensor product. 5. obs. Name for the semi-mythical Stanford +extended ASCII character. See also ASCII. + diff --git a/entries/splork!.txt b/entries/splork!.txt index b120904..a9a1bd9 100644 --- a/entries/splork!.txt +++ b/entries/splork!.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ splork! -The sound of coffee (or other beverage) hitting the monitor and/or keyboard after being forced out of the mouth via the nose. It usually follows an unexpectedly funny thing in a Usenet post. Compare snarf. +The sound of coffee (or other beverage) hitting the monitor and/or keyboard +after being forced out of the mouth via the nose. It usually follows an +unexpectedly funny thing in a Usenet post. Compare snarf. + diff --git a/entries/spod.txt b/entries/spod.txt index 275456d..65934f1 100644 --- a/entries/spod.txt +++ b/entries/spod.txt @@ -1,3 +1,29 @@ spod -n. [UK] 1. A lower form of life found on talker system s and MUD s. The spod has few friends in RL and uses talkers instead, finding communication easier and preferable over the net. He has all the negative traits of the computer geek without having any interest in computers per se. Lacking any knowledge of or interest in how networks work, and considering his access a God-given right, he is a major irritant to sysadmins, clogging up lines in order to reach new MUDs, following passed-on instructions on how to sneak his way onto Internet ( Wow! It's in America! ) and complaining when he is not allowed to use busy routes. A true spod will start any conversation with Are you male or female? (and follow it up with Got any good numbers/IDs/passwords? ) and will not talk to someone physically present in the same terminal room until they log onto the same machine that he is using and enter talk mode. Compare newbie , tourist , weenie , twink , terminal junkie , warez d00dz. 2. A backronym for Sole Purpose, Obtain a Degree ; according to some self-described spods, this term is used by indifferent students to condemn their harder-working fellows. Compare the defiant adoption of the term geek in the mid-1990s by people who would previously have been stigmatized by it. Spods in the positive sense are talker users who've accumulated a large amount of spod time, that is, they spend a lot of time logged in to that talker (for example, my spod time on Uberworld as of this moment is 131 days, 15 hours and 20 minutes). Spods are generally highly knowledgeable about talkers and SGXStalker coding, as well as computers and the internet in general. 3. [Glasgow University] An otherwise competent hacker who spends way too much time on talker systems. 4. [obs.] An ordinary person; a random. This is the meaning with which the term was coined, but the inventor informs us he has himself accepted sense 1. +n. [UK] 1. A lower form of life found on talker system s and MUD s. The spod +has few friends in RL and uses talkers instead, finding communication easier +and preferable over the net. He has all the negative traits of the computer +geek without having any interest in computers per se. Lacking any knowledge +of or interest in how networks work, and considering his access a God-given +right, he is a major irritant to sysadmins, clogging up lines in order to +reach new MUDs, following passed-on instructions on how to sneak his way +onto Internet ( Wow! It's in America! ) and complaining when he is not +allowed to use busy routes. A true spod will start any conversation with Are +you male or female? (and follow it up with Got any good +numbers/IDs/passwords? ) and will not talk to someone physically present in +the same terminal room until they log onto the same machine that he is using +and enter talk mode. Compare newbie , tourist , weenie , twink , terminal +junkie , warez d00dz. 2. A backronym for Sole Purpose, Obtain a Degree ; +according to some self-described spods, this term is used by indifferent +students to condemn their harder-working fellows. Compare the defiant +adoption of the term geek in the mid-1990s by people who would previously +have been stigmatized by it. Spods in the positive sense are talker users +who've accumulated a large amount of spod time, that is, they spend a lot of +time logged in to that talker (for example, my spod time on Uberworld as of +this moment is 131 days, 15 hours and 20 minutes). Spods are generally +highly knowledgeable about talkers and SGXStalker coding, as well as +computers and the internet in general. 3. [Glasgow University] An otherwise +competent hacker who spends way too much time on talker systems. 4. [obs.] +An ordinary person; a random. This is the meaning with which the term was +coined, but the inventor informs us he has himself accepted sense 1. + diff --git a/entries/spoiler space.txt b/entries/spoiler space.txt index 7f28017..e567c43 100644 --- a/entries/spoiler space.txt +++ b/entries/spoiler space.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ spoiler space -A screenful of blank or spacer lines deliberately inserted in a message following a spoiler warning, so the actual spoiler can't be seen without hitting a key. Formfeeds used to be used for this, but are now rare because so many people read news through Web interfaces on which they have no good interpretation. +A screenful of blank or spacer lines deliberately inserted in a message +following a spoiler warning, so the actual spoiler can't be seen without +hitting a key. Formfeeds used to be used for this, but are now rare because +so many people read news through Web interfaces on which they have no good +interpretation. + diff --git a/entries/spoiler.txt b/entries/spoiler.txt index fb39945..8d3bb70 100644 --- a/entries/spoiler.txt +++ b/entries/spoiler.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ spoiler -n. [Usenet] 1. A remark which reveals important plot elements from books or movies, thus denying the reader (of the article) the proper suspense when reading the book or watching the movie. 2. Any remark which telegraphs the solution of a problem or puzzle, thus denying the reader the pleasure of working out the correct answer (see also interesting ). Either sense readily forms compounds like total spoiler , quasi-spoiler and even pseudo-spoiler. By convention, articles which are spoilers in either sense should contain the word spoiler in the Subject: line, or guarantee via various tricks that the answer appears only after several screens-full of warning, or conceal the sensitive information via rot13 , spoiler space or some combination of these techniques. +n. [Usenet] 1. A remark which reveals important plot elements from books or +movies, thus denying the reader (of the article) the proper suspense when +reading the book or watching the movie. 2. Any remark which telegraphs the +solution of a problem or puzzle, thus denying the reader the pleasure of +working out the correct answer (see also interesting ). Either sense readily +forms compounds like total spoiler , quasi-spoiler and even pseudo-spoiler. +By convention, articles which are spoilers in either sense should contain +the word spoiler in the Subject: line, or guarantee via various tricks that +the answer appears only after several screens-full of warning, or conceal +the sensitive information via rot13 , spoiler space or some combination of +these techniques. + diff --git a/entries/sponge.txt b/entries/sponge.txt index 64190a5..d6403e4 100644 --- a/entries/sponge.txt +++ b/entries/sponge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ sponge -n. [Unix] A special case of a filter that reads its entire input before writing any output; the canonical example is a sort utility. Unlike most filters, a sponge can conveniently overwrite the input file with the output data stream. If a file system has versioning (as ITS did and VMS does now) the sponge/filter distinction loses its usefulness, because directing filter output would just write a new version. See also slurp. +n. [Unix] A special case of a filter that reads its entire input before +writing any output; the canonical example is a sort utility. Unlike most +filters, a sponge can conveniently overwrite the input file with the output +data stream. If a file system has versioning (as ITS did and VMS does now) +the sponge/filter distinction loses its usefulness, because directing filter +output would just write a new version. See also slurp. + diff --git a/entries/spoof.txt b/entries/spoof.txt index 9a0b6fc..0dca35a 100644 --- a/entries/spoof.txt +++ b/entries/spoof.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ spoof -vi. To capture, alter, and retransmit a communication stream in a way that misleads the recipient. As used by hackers, refers especially to altering TCP/IP packet source addresses or other packet-header data in order to masquerade as a trusted machine. This term has become very widespread and is borderline techspeak. Interestingly, it was already in use in its modern sense more than a century ago among Victorian telegraphers; it shows up in Kipling. +vi. To capture, alter, and retransmit a communication stream in a way that +misleads the recipient. As used by hackers, refers especially to altering +TCP/IP packet source addresses or other packet-header data in order to +masquerade as a trusted machine. This term has become very widespread and is +borderline techspeak. Interestingly, it was already in use in its modern +sense more than a century ago among Victorian telegraphers; it shows up in +Kipling. + diff --git a/entries/spool file.txt b/entries/spool file.txt index ae1d0c3..2be5bd3 100644 --- a/entries/spool file.txt +++ b/entries/spool file.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ spool file -n. Any file to which data is spool ed to await the next stage of processing. Especially used in circumstances where spooling the data copes with a mismatch between speeds in two devices or pieces of software. For example, when you send mail under Unix, it's typically copied to a spool file to await a transport demon 's attentions. This is borderline techspeak. +n. Any file to which data is spool ed to await the next stage of processing. +Especially used in circumstances where spooling the data copes with a +mismatch between speeds in two devices or pieces of software. For example, +when you send mail under Unix, it's typically copied to a spool file to +await a transport demon 's attentions. This is borderline techspeak. + diff --git a/entries/spool.txt b/entries/spool.txt index 1ee0e55..87afb68 100644 --- a/entries/spool.txt +++ b/entries/spool.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ spool -vi. [from early IBM Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line , but is widely thought to be a backronym ] To send files to some device or program (a spooler ) that queues them up and does something useful with them later. Without qualification, the spooler is the print spooler controlling output of jobs to a printer; but the term has been used in connection with other peripherals (especially plotters and graphics devices) and occasionally even for input devices. See also demon. +vi. [from early IBM Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line , but is +widely thought to be a backronym ] To send files to some device or program +(a spooler ) that queues them up and does something useful with them later. +Without qualification, the spooler is the print spooler controlling output +of jobs to a printer; but the term has been used in connection with other +peripherals (especially plotters and graphics devices) and occasionally even +for input devices. See also demon. + diff --git a/entries/sporgery.txt b/entries/sporgery.txt index 924e36e..aac818b 100644 --- a/entries/sporgery.txt +++ b/entries/sporgery.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ sporgery -[portmanteau of spam or spew and forgery. Massive floods of forged articles intended to disrupt a newsgroup. Typically these have reasonable-looking headers but complete gibberish for content, making the legitimate articles too difficult to find. This tactic has been most notoriously used by the Church of Scientology to disrupt discussion on the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology , but is unfortunately not by any means confined to that group. +[portmanteau of spam or spew and forgery. Massive floods of forged articles +intended to disrupt a newsgroup. Typically these have reasonable-looking +headers but complete gibberish for content, making the legitimate articles +too difficult to find. This tactic has been most notoriously used by the +Church of Scientology to disrupt discussion on the newsgroup +alt.religion.scientology , but is unfortunately not by any means confined to +that group. + diff --git a/entries/sport death.txt b/entries/sport death.txt index 0239364..4a02c02 100644 --- a/entries/sport death.txt +++ b/entries/sport death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ sport death -n. [MIT] The masochistic extreme of hacking, where the body and mind are pushed until their limits are reached, and the body is barely able to support the mind. Then, once your extremes are reached, you push as far beyond that point as you can, far beyond normal notions of all-nighters and caffeine diets. +n. [MIT] The masochistic extreme of hacking, where the body and mind are +pushed until their limits are reached, and the body is barely able to +support the mind. Then, once your extremes are reached, you push as far +beyond that point as you can, far beyond normal notions of all-nighters and +caffeine diets. + diff --git a/entries/spungle.txt b/entries/spungle.txt index 2f54075..8669df0 100644 --- a/entries/spungle.txt +++ b/entries/spungle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ spungle -n. [Durham, UK; portmanteau, spangle + bungle] A spangle of no actual usefulness. Example: Roger the Bent Paperclip in Microsoft Word '98. A spungle's only virtue is that it looks pretty, unless you find creeping featurism ugly. +n. [Durham, UK; portmanteau, spangle + bungle] A spangle of no actual +usefulness. Example: Roger the Bent Paperclip in Microsoft Word '98. A +spungle's only virtue is that it looks pretty, unless you find creeping +featurism ugly. + diff --git a/entries/spyware.txt b/entries/spyware.txt index bcd0a4e..78a1e63 100644 --- a/entries/spyware.txt +++ b/entries/spyware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ spyware -n. 1. Software which, when installed by a user insufficiently enlightened to avoid it, enables third parties to snoop the user's hard drive or monitor their network transactions. Though the term seems to have entered use in the late 1990s, it achieved real popularity as applied to Microsoft Windows XP. Some back door features in XP permit Microsoft to (for example) covertly scan your disk directories for the names of files it might deem to be warez. 2. Systems for spying on email and web traffic, such as the FBI's Carnivore. +n. 1. Software which, when installed by a user insufficiently enlightened to +avoid it, enables third parties to snoop the user's hard drive or monitor +their network transactions. Though the term seems to have entered use in the +late 1990s, it achieved real popularity as applied to Microsoft Windows XP. +Some back door features in XP permit Microsoft to (for example) covertly +scan your disk directories for the names of files it might deem to be warez. +2. Systems for spying on email and web traffic, such as the FBI's Carnivore. + diff --git a/entries/squirrelcide.txt b/entries/squirrelcide.txt index c5c9160..4476b08 100644 --- a/entries/squirrelcide.txt +++ b/entries/squirrelcide.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ squirrelcide -n. [common on Usenet's comp.risks newsgroup.] (alt.: squirrelicide ) What all too frequently happens when a squirrel decides to exercise its species's unfortunate penchant for shorting out power lines with their little furry bodies. Result: one dead squirrel, one down computer installation. In this situation, the computer system is said to have been squirrelcided. +n. [common on Usenet's comp.risks newsgroup.] (alt.: squirrelicide ) What +all too frequently happens when a squirrel decides to exercise its species's +unfortunate penchant for shorting out power lines with their little furry +bodies. Result: one dead squirrel, one down computer installation. In this +situation, the computer system is said to have been squirrelcided. + diff --git a/entries/stack puke.txt b/entries/stack puke.txt index 7902cdc..85a1161 100644 --- a/entries/stack puke.txt +++ b/entries/stack puke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ stack puke -n. Some processor architectures are said to puke their guts onto the stack to save their internal state during exception processing. The Motorola 68020, for example, regurgitates up to 92 bytes on a bus fault. On a pipelined machine, this can take a while. +n. Some processor architectures are said to puke their guts onto the stack +to save their internal state during exception processing. The Motorola +68020, for example, regurgitates up to 92 bytes on a bus fault. On a +pipelined machine, this can take a while. + diff --git a/entries/stack.txt b/entries/stack.txt index 1d54cf6..7237399 100644 --- a/entries/stack.txt +++ b/entries/stack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ stack -n. The set of things a person has to do in the future. One speaks of the next project to be attacked as having risen to the top of the stack. I'm afraid I've got real work to do, so this'll have to be pushed way down on my stack. I haven't done it yet because every time I pop my stack something new gets pushed. If you are interrupted several times in the middle of a conversation, My stack overflowed means I forget what we were talking about. The implication is that more items were pushed onto the stack than could be remembered, so the least recent items were lost. The usual physical example of a stack is to be found in a cafeteria: a pile of plates or trays sitting on a spring in a well, so that when you put one on the top they all sink down, and when you take one off the top the rest spring up a bit. See also push and pop. ( The Art of Computer Programming , second edition, vol. 1, p. 236) says: Many people who realized the importance of stacks and queues independently have given other names to these structures: stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages, cellars, nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out ( LIFO ) lists, and even yo-yo lists! The term stack was originally coined by Edsger Dijkstra, who was quite proud of it. +n. The set of things a person has to do in the future. One speaks of the +next project to be attacked as having risen to the top of the stack. I'm +afraid I've got real work to do, so this'll have to be pushed way down on my +stack. I haven't done it yet because every time I pop my stack something new +gets pushed. If you are interrupted several times in the middle of a +conversation, My stack overflowed means I forget what we were talking about. +The implication is that more items were pushed onto the stack than could be +remembered, so the least recent items were lost. The usual physical example +of a stack is to be found in a cafeteria: a pile of plates or trays sitting +on a spring in a well, so that when you put one on the top they all sink +down, and when you take one off the top the rest spring up a bit. See also +push and pop. ( The Art of Computer Programming , second edition, vol. 1, p. +236) says: Many people who realized the importance of stacks and queues +independently have given other names to these structures: stacks have been +called push-down lists, reversion storages, cellars, nesting stores, piles, +last-in-first-out ( LIFO ) lists, and even yo-yo lists! The term stack was +originally coined by Edsger Dijkstra, who was quite proud of it. + diff --git a/entries/stale pointer bug.txt b/entries/stale pointer bug.txt index ac35753..db0e17d 100644 --- a/entries/stale pointer bug.txt +++ b/entries/stale pointer bug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ stale pointer bug n. Synonym for aliasing bug used esp. among microcomputer hackers. + diff --git a/entries/star out.txt b/entries/star out.txt index 56737f5..37f61e6 100644 --- a/entries/star out.txt +++ b/entries/star out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ star out -v. [University of York, England] To replace a user's encrypted password in /etc/passwd with a single asterisk. Under Unix this is not a legal encryption of any password; hence the user is not permitted to log in. In general, accounts like adm, news, and daemon are permanently starred out ; occasionally a real user might have this inflicted upon him/her as a punishment, e.g. Graham was starred out for playing Omega in working hours. Also occasionally known as The Order Of The Gold Star in this context. Don't do that, or you'll be awarded the Order of the Gold Star... Compare disusered. +v. [University of York, England] To replace a user's encrypted password in +/etc/passwd with a single asterisk. Under Unix this is not a legal +encryption of any password; hence the user is not permitted to log in. In +general, accounts like adm, news, and daemon are permanently starred out ; +occasionally a real user might have this inflicted upon him/her as a +punishment, e.g. Graham was starred out for playing Omega in working hours. +Also occasionally known as The Order Of The Gold Star in this context. Don't +do that, or you'll be awarded the Order of the Gold Star... Compare +disusered. + diff --git a/entries/state.txt b/entries/state.txt index 9fcab6f..d790ac6 100644 --- a/entries/state.txt +++ b/entries/state.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ state -n. 1. Condition, situation. What's the state of your latest hack? It's winning away. The system tried to read and write the disk simultaneously and got into a totally wedged state. The standard question What's your state? means What are you doing? or What are you about to do? Typical answers are about to gronk out , or hungry. Another standard question is What's the state of the world? , meaning What's new? or What's going on?. The more terse and humorous way of asking these questions would be State-p?. Another way of phrasing the first question under sense 1 would be state-p latest hack?. 2. Information being maintained in non-permanent memory (electronic or human). +n. 1. Condition, situation. What's the state of your latest hack? It's +winning away. The system tried to read and write the disk simultaneously and +got into a totally wedged state. The standard question What's your state? +means What are you doing? or What are you about to do? Typical answers are +about to gronk out , or hungry. Another standard question is What's the +state of the world? , meaning What's new? or What's going on?. The more +terse and humorous way of asking these questions would be State-p?. Another +way of phrasing the first question under sense 1 would be state-p latest +hack?. 2. Information being maintained in non-permanent memory (electronic +or human). + diff --git a/entries/stealth manager.txt b/entries/stealth manager.txt index b9a66df..b18734e 100644 --- a/entries/stealth manager.txt +++ b/entries/stealth manager.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ stealth manager -n. [Corporate DP] A manager that appears out of nowhere, promises undeliverable software to unknown end users, and vanishes before the programming staff realizes what has happened. See smoke and mirrors. +n. [Corporate DP] A manager that appears out of nowhere, promises +undeliverable software to unknown end users, and vanishes before the +programming staff realizes what has happened. See smoke and mirrors. + diff --git a/entries/steam-powered.txt b/entries/steam-powered.txt index 226dd5f..9ae6783 100644 --- a/entries/steam-powered.txt +++ b/entries/steam-powered.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ steam-powered -adj. Old-fashioned or underpowered; archaic. This term does not have a strong negative loading and may even be used semi-affectionately for something that clanks and wheezes a lot but hangs in there doing the job. +adj. Old-fashioned or underpowered; archaic. This term does not have a +strong negative loading and may even be used semi-affectionately for +something that clanks and wheezes a lot but hangs in there doing the job. + diff --git a/entries/steved.txt b/entries/steved.txt index c5c4682..46c9456 100644 --- a/entries/steved.txt +++ b/entries/steved.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ steved -adj.,v. , /steevd/ [Apple employees and users] Terminated, said of a development project. Originated after Steven P. Jobs returned to Apple as acting CEO in 1997. Jobs immediated axed several development projects, including OpenDoc and Newton that had been launched by John Sculley, the man who had ousted Jobs in the mid 1980s. Now any project shut down at Apple and often at any large firm connected with Apple may be said to have gotten steved. It is usually spelled lowercase despite the origin. It is almost always past-tense and used quasi-adjectivally. +adj.,v. , /steevd/ [Apple employees and users] Terminated, said of a +development project. Originated after Steven P. Jobs returned to Apple as +acting CEO in 1997. Jobs immediated axed several development projects, +including OpenDoc and Newton that had been launched by John Sculley, the man +who had ousted Jobs in the mid 1980s. Now any project shut down at Apple and +often at any large firm connected with Apple may be said to have gotten +steved. It is usually spelled lowercase despite the origin. It is almost +always past-tense and used quasi-adjectivally. + diff --git a/entries/stir-fried random.txt b/entries/stir-fried random.txt index 04daf34..9a667b1 100644 --- a/entries/stir-fried random.txt +++ b/entries/stir-fried random.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ stir-fried random -n. (alt.: stir-fried mumble ) Term used for the best dish of many of those hackers who can cook. Consists of random fresh veggies and meat wokked with random spices. Tasty and economical. See random , great-wall , ravs , laser chicken , oriental food ; see also mumble. +n. (alt.: stir-fried mumble ) Term used for the best dish of many of those +hackers who can cook. Consists of random fresh veggies and meat wokked with +random spices. Tasty and economical. See random , great-wall , ravs , laser +chicken , oriental food ; see also mumble. + diff --git a/entries/stomp on.txt b/entries/stomp on.txt index a6cbff2..0592ff3 100644 --- a/entries/stomp on.txt +++ b/entries/stomp on.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ stomp on -vt. To inadvertently overwrite something important, usually automatically. All the work I did this weekend got stomped on last night by the nightly server script. Compare scribble , mangle , trash , scrog , roach. +vt. To inadvertently overwrite something important, usually automatically. +All the work I did this weekend got stomped on last night by the nightly +server script. Compare scribble , mangle , trash , scrog , roach. + diff --git a/entries/stone knives and bearskins.txt b/entries/stone knives and bearskins.txt index 6dcfa8d..8f33536 100644 --- a/entries/stone knives and bearskins.txt +++ b/entries/stone knives and bearskins.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ stone knives and bearskins -n. [from the Star Trek Classic episode The City on the Edge of Forever ] A term traditionally used to describe (and deprecate) computing environments that are grotesquely primitive in light of what is known about good ways to design things. As in Don't get too used to the facilities here. Once you leave SAIL it's stone knives and bearskins as far as the eye can see. Compare steam-powered. +n. [from the Star Trek Classic episode The City on the Edge of Forever ] A +term traditionally used to describe (and deprecate) computing environments +that are grotesquely primitive in light of what is known about good ways to +design things. As in Don't get too used to the facilities here. Once you +leave SAIL it's stone knives and bearskins as far as the eye can see. +Compare steam-powered. + diff --git a/entries/stoppage.txt b/entries/stoppage.txt index 3bdd88c..67f556a 100644 --- a/entries/stoppage.txt +++ b/entries/stoppage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ stoppage -/stop@j/ , n. Extreme lossage that renders something (usually something vital) completely unusable. The recent system stoppage was caused by a fried transformer. +/stop@j/ , n. Extreme lossage that renders something (usually something +vital) completely unusable. The recent system stoppage was caused by a fried +transformer. + diff --git a/entries/store.txt b/entries/store.txt index 74fa1c3..0c404df 100644 --- a/entries/store.txt +++ b/entries/store.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ store -n. [prob.: from techspeak main store ] In some varieties of Commonwealth hackish, the preferred synonym for core. Thus, bringing a program into store means not that one is returning shrink-wrapped software but that a program is being swap ped in. +n. [prob.: from techspeak main store ] In some varieties of Commonwealth +hackish, the preferred synonym for core. Thus, bringing a program into store +means not that one is returning shrink-wrapped software but that a program +is being swap ped in. + diff --git a/entries/strided.txt b/entries/strided.txt index 87bc97e..d56b735 100644 --- a/entries/strided.txt +++ b/entries/strided.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ strided -/stri:d@d/ , adj. [scientific computing] Said of a sequence of memory reads and writes to addresses, each of which is separated from the last by a constant interval called the stride length. These can be a worst-case access pattern for the standard memory-caching schemes when the stride length is a multiple of the cache line size. Strided references are often generated by loops through an array, and (if your data is large enough that access-time is significant) it can be worthwhile to tune for better locality by inverting double loops or by partially unrolling the outer loop of a loop nest. This usage is borderline techspeak; the related term memory stride is definitely techspeak. +/stri:d@d/ , adj. [scientific computing] Said of a sequence of memory reads +and writes to addresses, each of which is separated from the last by a +constant interval called the stride length. These can be a worst-case access +pattern for the standard memory-caching schemes when the stride length is a +multiple of the cache line size. Strided references are often generated by +loops through an array, and (if your data is large enough that access-time +is significant) it can be worthwhile to tune for better locality by +inverting double loops or by partially unrolling the outer loop of a loop +nest. This usage is borderline techspeak; the related term memory stride is +definitely techspeak. + diff --git a/entries/stroke.txt b/entries/stroke.txt index 1e47bc1..ff0cc4d 100644 --- a/entries/stroke.txt +++ b/entries/stroke.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ stroke -n. Common name for the slant ( / , ASCII 0101111) character. See ASCII for other synonyms. +n. Common name for the slant ( / , ASCII 0101111) character. See ASCII for +other synonyms. + diff --git a/entries/strudel.txt b/entries/strudel.txt index d17fc79..b55bd98 100644 --- a/entries/strudel.txt +++ b/entries/strudel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ strudel -n. Common (spoken) name for the at-sign ( @ , ASCII 1000000) character. See ASCII for other synonyms. +n. Common (spoken) name for the at-sign ( @ , ASCII 1000000) character. See +ASCII for other synonyms. + diff --git a/entries/stubroutine.txt b/entries/stubroutine.txt index b0c405b..351dd8c 100644 --- a/entries/stubroutine.txt +++ b/entries/stubroutine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ stubroutine -/stuhbrooteen/ , n. [contraction of stub subroutine ] Tiny, often vacuous placeholder for a subroutine that is to be written or fleshed out later. +/stuhbrooteen/ , n. [contraction of stub subroutine ] Tiny, often vacuous +placeholder for a subroutine that is to be written or fleshed out later. + diff --git a/entries/studly.txt b/entries/studly.txt index 198551c..bf830d0 100644 --- a/entries/studly.txt +++ b/entries/studly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ studly -adj. Impressive; powerful. Said of code and designs which exhibit both complexity and a virtuoso flair. Has connotations similar to hairy but is more positive in tone. Often in the emphatic most studly or as noun-form studliness. Smail 3.0's configuration parser is most studly. +adj. Impressive; powerful. Said of code and designs which exhibit both +complexity and a virtuoso flair. Has connotations similar to hairy but is +more positive in tone. Often in the emphatic most studly or as noun-form +studliness. Smail 3.0's configuration parser is most studly. + diff --git a/entries/studlycaps.txt b/entries/studlycaps.txt index 8e5d8cf..365affb 100644 --- a/entries/studlycaps.txt +++ b/entries/studlycaps.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ studlycaps -/stuhdleekaps/ , n. A hackish form of silliness similar to BiCapitalization for trademarks, but applied randomly and to arbitrary text rather than to trademarks. ThE oRigiN and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS oBscuRe. +/stuhdleekaps/ , n. A hackish form of silliness similar to BiCapitalization +for trademarks, but applied randomly and to arbitrary text rather than to +trademarks. ThE oRigiN and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS oBscuRe. + diff --git a/entries/stunning.txt b/entries/stunning.txt index c282071..0fb76bb 100644 --- a/entries/stunning.txt +++ b/entries/stunning.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ stunning -adj. Mind-bogglingly stupid. Usually used in sarcasm. You want to code what in Ada? That's a. .. +adj. Mind-bogglingly stupid. Usually used in sarcasm. You want to code what +in Ada? That's a. .. + diff --git a/entries/stupid-sort.txt b/entries/stupid-sort.txt index d35079f..e3fc9cc 100644 --- a/entries/stupid-sort.txt +++ b/entries/stupid-sort.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ stupid-sort n. Syn. bogo-sort. + diff --git a/entries/sucking mud.txt b/entries/sucking mud.txt index e7ca07f..ce7d010 100644 --- a/entries/sucking mud.txt +++ b/entries/sucking mud.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ sucking mud -adj. [Applied Data Research] (also pumping mud ) Crashed or wedged. Usually said of a machine that provides some service to a network, such as a file server. This Dallas regionalism derives from the East Texas oilfield lament, Shut 'er down, Ma, she's a-suckin' mud. Often used as a query. +adj. [Applied Data Research] (also pumping mud ) Crashed or wedged. Usually +said of a machine that provides some service to a network, such as a file +server. This Dallas regionalism derives from the East Texas oilfield lament, +Shut 'er down, Ma, she's a-suckin' mud. Often used as a query. + diff --git a/entries/sufficiently small.txt b/entries/sufficiently small.txt index b55dcac..389f802 100644 --- a/entries/sufficiently small.txt +++ b/entries/sufficiently small.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ sufficiently small adj. Syn. suitably small. + diff --git a/entries/suit.txt b/entries/suit.txt index 668901e..c8a5e08 100644 --- a/entries/suit.txt +++ b/entries/suit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ suit -n. 1. Ugly and uncomfortable business clothing often worn by non-hackers. Invariably worn with a tie , a strangulation device that partially cuts off the blood supply to the brain. It is thought that this explains much about the behavior of suit-wearers. Compare droid. 2. A person who habitually wears suits, as distinct from a techie or hacker. See pointy-haired , burble , management , Stupids , SNAFU principle , PHB , and brain-damaged. +n. 1. Ugly and uncomfortable business clothing often worn by non-hackers. +Invariably worn with a tie , a strangulation device that partially cuts off +the blood supply to the brain. It is thought that this explains much about +the behavior of suit-wearers. Compare droid. 2. A person who habitually +wears suits, as distinct from a techie or hacker. See pointy-haired , burble +, management , Stupids , SNAFU principle , PHB , and brain-damaged. + diff --git a/entries/suitable win.txt b/entries/suitable win.txt index 5844094..ea258a3 100644 --- a/entries/suitable win.txt +++ b/entries/suitable win.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ suitable win n. See win. + diff --git a/entries/suitably small.txt b/entries/suitably small.txt index 8c510e7..c9d3217 100644 --- a/entries/suitably small.txt +++ b/entries/suitably small.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ suitably small -adj. [perverted from mathematical jargon] An expression used ironically to characterize unquantifiable behavior that differs from expected or required behavior. For example, suppose a newly created program came up with a correct full-screen display, and one publicly exclaimed: It works! Then, if the program dumped core on the first mouse click, one might add: Well, for suitably small values of works. +adj. [perverted from mathematical jargon] An expression used ironically to +characterize unquantifiable behavior that differs from expected or required +behavior. For example, suppose a newly created program came up with a +correct full-screen display, and one publicly exclaimed: It works! Then, if +the program dumped core on the first mouse click, one might add: Well, for +suitably small values of works. + diff --git a/entries/sun lounge.txt b/entries/sun lounge.txt index cddd216..526b757 100644 --- a/entries/sun lounge.txt +++ b/entries/sun lounge.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ sun lounge -n. [UK] The room where all the Sun workstations live. The humor in this term comes from the fact that it's also in mainstream use to describe a solarium, and all those Sun workstations clustered together give off an amazing amount of heat. +n. [UK] The room where all the Sun workstations live. The humor in this term +comes from the fact that it's also in mainstream use to describe a solarium, +and all those Sun workstations clustered together give off an amazing amount +of heat. + diff --git a/entries/sun-stools.txt b/entries/sun-stools.txt index b3ff611..440d6c6 100644 --- a/entries/sun-stools.txt +++ b/entries/sun-stools.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ sun-stools -n. Unflattering hackerism for SunTools, a pre-X windowing environment notorious in its day for size, slowness, and misfeatures. X , however, is larger and (some claim) slower; see second-system effect. +n. Unflattering hackerism for SunTools, a pre-X windowing environment +notorious in its day for size, slowness, and misfeatures. X , however, is +larger and (some claim) slower; see second-system effect. + diff --git a/entries/sunspots.txt b/entries/sunspots.txt index 04d8d54..ab9d6eb 100644 --- a/entries/sunspots.txt +++ b/entries/sunspots.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ sunspots -n. 1. Notional cause of an odd error. Why did the program suddenly turn the screen blue? Sunspots, I guess. 2. Also the cause of bit rot from the myth that sunspots will increase cosmic rays , which can flip single bits in memory. See also phase of the moon. +n. 1. Notional cause of an odd error. Why did the program suddenly turn the +screen blue? Sunspots, I guess. 2. Also the cause of bit rot from the myth +that sunspots will increase cosmic rays , which can flip single bits in +memory. See also phase of the moon. + diff --git a/entries/super source quench.txt b/entries/super source quench.txt index 6605066..b5f2468 100644 --- a/entries/super source quench.txt +++ b/entries/super source quench.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ super source quench -n. A special packet designed to shut up an Internet host. The Internet Protocol (IP) has a control message called Source Quench that asks a host to transmit more slowly on a particular connection to avoid congestion. It also has a Redirect control message intended to instruct a host to send certain packets to a different local router. A super source quench is actually a redirect control packet, forged to look like it came from a local router, that instructs a host to send all packets to its own local loopback address. This will effectively tie many Internet hosts up in knots. Compare Godzillagram , breath-of-life packet. +n. A special packet designed to shut up an Internet host. The Internet +Protocol (IP) has a control message called Source Quench that asks a host to +transmit more slowly on a particular connection to avoid congestion. It also +has a Redirect control message intended to instruct a host to send certain +packets to a different local router. A super source quench is actually a +redirect control packet, forged to look like it came from a local router, +that instructs a host to send all packets to its own local loopback address. +This will effectively tie many Internet hosts up in knots. Compare +Godzillagram , breath-of-life packet. + diff --git a/entries/superloser.txt b/entries/superloser.txt index 4de3af8..fd406fd 100644 --- a/entries/superloser.txt +++ b/entries/superloser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ superloser -n. [Unix] A superuser with no clue someone with root privileges on a Unix system and no idea what he/she is doing, the moral equivalent of a three-year-old with an unsafetied Uzi. Anyone who thinks this is an uncommon situation reckons without the territorial urges of management. +n. [Unix] A superuser with no clue someone with root privileges on a Unix +system and no idea what he/she is doing, the moral equivalent of a +three-year-old with an unsafetied Uzi. Anyone who thinks this is an uncommon +situation reckons without the territorial urges of management. + diff --git a/entries/superprogrammer.txt b/entries/superprogrammer.txt index e2d0e3e..07021c8 100644 --- a/entries/superprogrammer.txt +++ b/entries/superprogrammer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ superprogrammer -n. A prolific programmer; one who can code exceedingly well and quickly. Not all hackers are superprogrammers, but many are. (Productivity can vary from one programmer to another by three orders of magnitude. For example, one programmer might be able to write an average of 3 lines of working code in one day, while another, with the proper tools, might be able to write 3,000. This range is astonishing; it is matched in very few other areas of human endeavor.) The term superprogrammer is more commonly used within such places as IBM than in the hacker community. It tends to stress naive measures of productivity and to underweight creativity, ingenuity, and getting the job done and to sidestep the question of whether the 3,000 lines of code do more or less useful work than three lines that do the Right Thing. Hackers tend to prefer the terms hacker and wizard. +n. A prolific programmer; one who can code exceedingly well and quickly. Not +all hackers are superprogrammers, but many are. (Productivity can vary from +one programmer to another by three orders of magnitude. For example, one +programmer might be able to write an average of 3 lines of working code in +one day, while another, with the proper tools, might be able to write 3,000. +This range is astonishing; it is matched in very few other areas of human +endeavor.) The term superprogrammer is more commonly used within such places +as IBM than in the hacker community. It tends to stress naive measures of +productivity and to underweight creativity, ingenuity, and getting the job +done and to sidestep the question of whether the 3,000 lines of code do more +or less useful work than three lines that do the Right Thing. Hackers tend +to prefer the terms hacker and wizard. + diff --git a/entries/superuser.txt b/entries/superuser.txt index 387bafb..a51ae9f 100644 --- a/entries/superuser.txt +++ b/entries/superuser.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ superuser -n. [Unix] Syn. root , avatar. This usage has spread to non-Unix environments; the superuser is any account with all wheel bits on. A more specific term than wheel. +n. [Unix] Syn. root , avatar. This usage has spread to non-Unix +environments; the superuser is any account with all wheel bits on. A more +specific term than wheel. + diff --git a/entries/support.txt b/entries/support.txt index 1dc7541..0720828 100644 --- a/entries/support.txt +++ b/entries/support.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ support -n. After-sale handholding; something many software vendors promise but few deliver. To hackers, most support people are useless because by the time a hacker calls support he or she will usually know the software and the relevant manuals better than the support people (sadly, this is not a joke or exaggeration). A hacker's idea of support is a tete--tete with the software's designer. +n. After-sale handholding; something many software vendors promise but few +deliver. To hackers, most support people are useless because by the time a +hacker calls support he or she will usually know the software and the +relevant manuals better than the support people (sadly, this is not a joke +or exaggeration). A hacker's idea of support is a tete--tete with the +software's designer. + diff --git a/entries/surf.txt b/entries/surf.txt index c52c6f5..ef4eaf9 100644 --- a/entries/surf.txt +++ b/entries/surf.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ surf -v. [from the surf idiom for rapidly flipping TV channels] To traverse the Internet in search of interesting stuff, used esp. if one is doing so with a World Wide Web browser. It is also common to speak of surfing in to a particular resource. Hackers adopted this term early, but many have stopped using it since it went completely mainstream around 1995. The passive, couch-potato connotations that go with TV channel surfing were never pleasant, and hearing non-hackers wax enthusiastic about surfing the net tends to make hackers feel a bit as though their home is being overrun by ignorami. +v. [from the surf idiom for rapidly flipping TV channels] To traverse the +Internet in search of interesting stuff, used esp. if one is doing so with a +World Wide Web browser. It is also common to speak of surfing in to a +particular resource. Hackers adopted this term early, but many have stopped +using it since it went completely mainstream around 1995. The passive, +couch-potato connotations that go with TV channel surfing were never +pleasant, and hearing non-hackers wax enthusiastic about surfing the net +tends to make hackers feel a bit as though their home is being overrun by +ignorami. + diff --git a/entries/swab.txt b/entries/swab.txt index 90377cd..ab4fc8a 100644 --- a/entries/swab.txt +++ b/entries/swab.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ swab -/swob/ [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 SWAp Byte instruction, as immortalized in the dd (1) option conv=swab (see dd )] 1. vt. To solve the NUXI problem by swapping bytes in a file 2. n. The program in V7 Unix used to perform this action, or anything functionally equivalent to it. See also big-endian , little-endian , middle-endian , bytesexual. +/swob/ [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 SWAp Byte instruction, as +immortalized in the dd (1) option conv=swab (see dd )] 1. vt. To solve the +NUXI problem by swapping bytes in a file 2. n. The program in V7 Unix used +to perform this action, or anything functionally equivalent to it. See also +big-endian , little-endian , middle-endian , bytesexual. + diff --git a/entries/swap space.txt b/entries/swap space.txt index 2d6a42f..17740ff 100644 --- a/entries/swap space.txt +++ b/entries/swap space.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ swap space -n. Storage space, especially temporary storage space used during a move or reconfiguration. I'm just using that corner of the machine room for swap space. +n. Storage space, especially temporary storage space used during a move or +reconfiguration. I'm just using that corner of the machine room for swap +space. + diff --git a/entries/swap.txt b/entries/swap.txt index cf5c0a6..01664b4 100644 --- a/entries/swap.txt +++ b/entries/swap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ swap -vt. 1. [techspeak] To move information from a fast-access memory to a slow-access memory ( swap out ), or vice versa ( swap in ). Often refers specifically to the use of disks as virtual memory. As pieces of data or program are needed, they are swapped into core for processing; when they are no longer needed they may be swapped out again. 2. The jargon use of these terms analogizes people's short-term memories with core. Cramming for an exam might be spoken of as swapping in. If you temporarily forget someone's name, but then remember it, your excuse is that it was swapped out. To keep something swapped in means to keep it fresh in your memory: I reread the TECO manual every few months to keep it swapped in. If someone interrupts you just as you got a good idea, you might say Wait a moment while I swap this out , implying that a piece of paper is your extra-somatic memory and that if you don't swap the idea out by writing it down it will get overwritten and lost as you talk. Compare page in , page out. +vt. 1. [techspeak] To move information from a fast-access memory to a +slow-access memory ( swap out ), or vice versa ( swap in ). Often refers +specifically to the use of disks as virtual memory. As pieces of data or +program are needed, they are swapped into core for processing; when they are +no longer needed they may be swapped out again. 2. The jargon use of these +terms analogizes people's short-term memories with core. Cramming for an +exam might be spoken of as swapping in. If you temporarily forget someone's +name, but then remember it, your excuse is that it was swapped out. To keep +something swapped in means to keep it fresh in your memory: I reread the +TECO manual every few months to keep it swapped in. If someone interrupts +you just as you got a good idea, you might say Wait a moment while I swap +this out , implying that a piece of paper is your extra-somatic memory and +that if you don't swap the idea out by writing it down it will get +overwritten and lost as you talk. Compare page in , page out. + diff --git a/entries/swapped in.txt b/entries/swapped in.txt index dfbeb11..5dd3506 100644 --- a/entries/swapped in.txt +++ b/entries/swapped in.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ swapped in n. See swap. See also page in. + diff --git a/entries/swapped out.txt b/entries/swapped out.txt index 11956b2..1161793 100644 --- a/entries/swapped out.txt +++ b/entries/swapped out.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ swapped out n. See swap. See also page out. + diff --git a/entries/swizzle.txt b/entries/swizzle.txt index 58888b5..e4f2545 100644 --- a/entries/swizzle.txt +++ b/entries/swizzle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ swizzle -v. To convert external names, array indices, or references within a data structure into address pointers when the data structure is brought into main memory from external storage (also called pointer swizzling ); this may be done for speed in chasing references or to simplify code (e.g., by turning lots of name lookups into pointer dereferences). The converse operation is sometimes termed unswizzling. See also snap. +v. To convert external names, array indices, or references within a data +structure into address pointers when the data structure is brought into main +memory from external storage (also called pointer swizzling ); this may be +done for speed in chasing references or to simplify code (e.g., by turning +lots of name lookups into pointer dereferences). The converse operation is +sometimes termed unswizzling. See also snap. + diff --git a/entries/sync.txt b/entries/sync.txt index dee6d69..866a74c 100644 --- a/entries/sync.txt +++ b/entries/sync.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ sync -/sink/ , vi. (var.: synch ) 1. To synchronize, to bring into synchronization. 2. [techspeak] To force all pending I/O to the disk; see flush , sense 2. 3. More generally, to force a number of competing processes or agents to a state that would be safe if the system were to crash; thus, to checkpoint (in the database-theory sense). +/sink/ , vi. (var.: synch ) 1. To synchronize, to bring into +synchronization. 2. [techspeak] To force all pending I/O to the disk; see +flush , sense 2. 3. More generally, to force a number of competing processes +or agents to a state that would be safe if the system were to crash; thus, +to checkpoint (in the database-theory sense). + diff --git a/entries/syntactic salt.txt b/entries/syntactic salt.txt index 0fc1bb1..4374d99 100644 --- a/entries/syntactic salt.txt +++ b/entries/syntactic salt.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ syntactic salt -n. The opposite of syntactic sugar , a feature designed to make it harder to write bad code. Specifically, syntactic salt is a hoop the programmer must jump through just to prove that he knows what's going on, rather than to express a program action. Some programmers consider required type declarations to be syntactic salt. A requirement to write end if , end while , end do , etc.: to terminate the last block controlled by a control construct (as opposed to just end ) would definitely be syntactic salt. Syntactic salt is like the real thing in that it tends to raise hackers' blood pressures in an unhealthy way. Compare candygrammar. +n. The opposite of syntactic sugar , a feature designed to make it harder to +write bad code. Specifically, syntactic salt is a hoop the programmer must +jump through just to prove that he knows what's going on, rather than to +express a program action. Some programmers consider required type +declarations to be syntactic salt. A requirement to write end if , end while +, end do , etc.: to terminate the last block controlled by a control +construct (as opposed to just end ) would definitely be syntactic salt. +Syntactic salt is like the real thing in that it tends to raise hackers' +blood pressures in an unhealthy way. Compare candygrammar. + diff --git a/entries/syntactic sugar.txt b/entries/syntactic sugar.txt index 5b146f8..1550f99 100644 --- a/entries/syntactic sugar.txt +++ b/entries/syntactic sugar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ syntactic sugar -n. [coined by Peter Landin] Features added to a language or other formalism to make it sweeter for humans, but which do not affect the expressiveness of the formalism (compare chrome ). Used esp. when there is an obvious and trivial translation of the sugar feature into other constructs already present in the notation. C's a[i] notation is syntactic sugar for * (a + i). Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon. Alan Perlis. The variants syntactic saccharin and syntactic syrup are also recorded. These denote something even more gratuitous, in that syntactic sugar serves a purpose (making something more acceptable to humans), but syntactic saccharin or syrup serve no purpose at all. Compare candygrammar , syntactic salt. +n. [coined by Peter Landin] Features added to a language or other formalism +to make it sweeter for humans, but which do not affect the expressiveness of +the formalism (compare chrome ). Used esp. when there is an obvious and +trivial translation of the sugar feature into other constructs already +present in the notation. C's a[i] notation is syntactic sugar for * (a + i). +Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon. Alan Perlis. The variants +syntactic saccharin and syntactic syrup are also recorded. These denote +something even more gratuitous, in that syntactic sugar serves a purpose +(making something more acceptable to humans), but syntactic saccharin or +syrup serve no purpose at all. Compare candygrammar , syntactic salt. + diff --git a/entries/sys-frog.txt b/entries/sys-frog.txt index 67353a6..dadfc2e 100644 --- a/entries/sys-frog.txt +++ b/entries/sys-frog.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ sys-frog -/sisfrog/ , n. [the PLATO system] Playful variant of sysprog , which is in turn short for systems programmer. +/sisfrog/ , n. [the PLATO system] Playful variant of sysprog , which is in +turn short for systems programmer. + diff --git a/entries/sysadmin.txt b/entries/sysadmin.txt index 3d37ea4..8ba0fc4 100644 --- a/entries/sysadmin.txt +++ b/entries/sysadmin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ sysadmin /sisadmin/ , n. Common contraction of system admin ; see admin. + diff --git a/entries/sysape.txt b/entries/sysape.txt index b012da7..3668244 100644 --- a/entries/sysape.txt +++ b/entries/sysape.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ sysape -/sysayp/ , n. A rather derogatory term for a computer operator; a play on sysop common at sites that use the banana hierarchy of problem complexity (see one-banana problem ). +/sysayp/ , n. A rather derogatory term for a computer operator; a play on +sysop common at sites that use the banana hierarchy of problem complexity +(see one-banana problem ). + diff --git a/entries/sysop.txt b/entries/sysop.txt index 735db7d..a5648f5 100644 --- a/entries/sysop.txt +++ b/entries/sysop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ sysop -/sisop/ , n. [esp. in the BBS world] The operator (and usually the owner) of a bulletin-board system. A common neophyte mistake on FidoNet is to address a message to sysop in an international FidoNet board, thus sending it to hundreds of sysops around the world. +/sisop/ , n. [esp. in the BBS world] The operator (and usually the owner) of +a bulletin-board system. A common neophyte mistake on FidoNet is to address +a message to sysop in an international FidoNet board, thus sending it to +hundreds of sysops around the world. + diff --git a/entries/system mangler.txt b/entries/system mangler.txt index c798a26..81dbd33 100644 --- a/entries/system mangler.txt +++ b/entries/system mangler.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ system mangler -n. Humorous synonym for system manager , poss. from the fact that one major IBM OS had a root account called SYSMANGR. Refers specifically to a systems programmer in charge of administration, software maintenance, and updates at some site. Unlike admin , this term emphasizes the technical end of the skills involved. +n. Humorous synonym for system manager , poss. from the fact that one major +IBM OS had a root account called SYSMANGR. Refers specifically to a systems +programmer in charge of administration, software maintenance, and updates at +some site. Unlike admin , this term emphasizes the technical end of the +skills involved. + diff --git a/entries/system.txt b/entries/system.txt index b2551a3..8ed4c57 100644 --- a/entries/system.txt +++ b/entries/system.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ system -n. 1. The supervisor program or OS on a computer. 2. The entire computer system, including input/output devices, the supervisor program or OS, and possibly other software. 3. Any large-scale program. 4. Any method or algorithm. 5. +n. 1. The supervisor program or OS on a computer. 2. The entire computer +system, including input/output devices, the supervisor program or OS, and +possibly other software. 3. Any large-scale program. 4. Any method or +algorithm. 5. + diff --git a/entries/systems jock.txt b/entries/systems jock.txt index d336f31..4566de3 100644 --- a/entries/systems jock.txt +++ b/entries/systems jock.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ systems jock n. See jock , sense 2. + diff --git a/entries/tail recursion.txt b/entries/tail recursion.txt index 9fa7e9c..9da4a0c 100644 --- a/entries/tail recursion.txt +++ b/entries/tail recursion.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ tail recursion n. If you aren't sick of it already, see tail recursion. + diff --git a/entries/talk mode.txt b/entries/talk mode.txt index 0e5bc2a..195f88c 100644 --- a/entries/talk mode.txt +++ b/entries/talk mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,37 @@ talk mode -n. A feature supported by Unix and some other OSes that allows two or more logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation. It combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen for some of these (see the section on writing style in the Prependices for details). Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing, which are not used orally. Some of these are identical to (and probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the 1920s. AFAIAC as far as I am concerned AFAIK as far as I know BCNU be seeing you BTW by the way BYE? are you ready to unlink? (this is the standard way to end a talk-mode conversation; the other person types BYE to confirm, or else continues the conversation) CUL see you later ENQ? are you busy? (expects ACK or NAK in return) FOO? are you there? (often used on unexpected links, meaning also Sorry if I butted in ellipsis; (linker) or What's up? (linkee)) FWIW for what it's worth FYI for your information FYA for your amusement GA go ahead (used when two people have tried to type simultaneously; this cedes the right to type to the other) GRMBL grumble (expresses disquiet or disagreement) HELLOP hello? (an instance of the -P convention) IIRC if I recall correctly JAM just a minute (equivalent to SEC.... ) MIN same as JAM NIL no (see NIL ) NP no problem O over to you OO over and out / another form of over to you (from x/y as x over y ) \ lambda (used in discussing LISPy things) OBTW oh, by the way OTOH on the other hand R U THERE? are you there? SEC wait a second (sometimes written SEC... ) SYN Are you busy? (expects ACK, SYN|ACK, or RST in return; this is modeled on the TCP/IP handshake sequence) T yes (see the main entry for T ) TNX thanks TNX 1.0E6 thanks a million (humorous) TNXE6 another form of thanks a million TTBOMK to the best of my knowledge WRT with regard to, or with respect to. WTF the universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it means? WTH what the hell? double newline When the typing party has finished, he/she types two newlines to signal that he/she is done; this leaves a blank line between 'speeches' in the conversation, making it easier to reread the preceding text. YHTBT You Had To Be There. Used of a situation which loses significant meaning in the telling, usually because it's difficult to convey tone and timing. +n. A feature supported by Unix and some other OSes that allows two or more +logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation. It combines the +immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written +language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection, though +conventions have arisen for some of these (see the section on writing style +in the Prependices for details). Talk mode has a special set of jargon +words, used to save typing, which are not used orally. Some of these are +identical to (and probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio +amateurs since the 1920s. AFAIAC as far as I am concerned AFAIK as far as I +know BCNU be seeing you BTW by the way BYE? are you ready to unlink? (this +is the standard way to end a talk-mode conversation; the other person types +BYE to confirm, or else continues the conversation) CUL see you later ENQ? +are you busy? (expects ACK or NAK in return) FOO? are you there? (often used +on unexpected links, meaning also Sorry if I butted in ellipsis; (linker) or +What's up? (linkee)) FWIW for what it's worth FYI for your information FYA +for your amusement GA go ahead (used when two people have tried to type +simultaneously; this cedes the right to type to the other) GRMBL grumble +(expresses disquiet or disagreement) HELLOP hello? (an instance of the -P +convention) IIRC if I recall correctly JAM just a minute (equivalent to +SEC.... ) MIN same as JAM NIL no (see NIL ) NP no problem O over to you OO +over and out / another form of over to you (from x/y as x over y ) \ lambda +(used in discussing LISPy things) OBTW oh, by the way OTOH on the other hand +R U THERE? are you there? SEC wait a second (sometimes written SEC... ) SYN +Are you busy? (expects ACK, SYN|ACK, or RST in return; this is modeled on +the TCP/IP handshake sequence) T yes (see the main entry for T ) TNX thanks +TNX 1.0E6 thanks a million (humorous) TNXE6 another form of thanks a million +TTBOMK to the best of my knowledge WRT with regard to, or with respect to. +WTF the universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it means? WTH what +the hell? double newline When the typing party has finished, he/she types +two newlines to signal that he/she is done; this leaves a blank line +between 'speeches' in the conversation, making it easier to reread the +preceding text. YHTBT You Had To Be There. Used of a situation which loses +significant meaning in the telling, usually because it's difficult to +convey tone and timing. + diff --git a/entries/talker system.txt b/entries/talker system.txt index 91fc20f..987022b 100644 --- a/entries/talker system.txt +++ b/entries/talker system.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ talker system n. British hackerism for software that enables real-time chat or talk mode. + diff --git a/entries/tanked.txt b/entries/tanked.txt index d530bd8..9bb4b00 100644 --- a/entries/tanked.txt +++ b/entries/tanked.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ tanked -adj. Same as down , used primarily by Unix hackers. See also hosed. Popularized as a synonym for drunk by Steve Dallas in the late lamented Bloom County comic strip. +adj. Same as down , used primarily by Unix hackers. See also hosed. +Popularized as a synonym for drunk by Steve Dallas in the late lamented +Bloom County comic strip. + diff --git a/entries/tape monkey.txt b/entries/tape monkey.txt index a434da8..f29167d 100644 --- a/entries/tape monkey.txt +++ b/entries/tape monkey.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ tape monkey -n. A junior system administrator, one who might plausibly be assigned to do physical swapping of tapes and subsequent storage. When a backup needs to be restored, one might holler Tape monkey! (Compare one-banana problem ) Also used to dismiss jobs not worthy of a highly trained sysadmin's ineffable talents: Cable up her PC? You must be joking I'm no tape monkey. +n. A junior system administrator, one who might plausibly be assigned to do +physical swapping of tapes and subsequent storage. When a backup needs to be +restored, one might holler Tape monkey! (Compare one-banana problem ) Also +used to dismiss jobs not worthy of a highly trained sysadmin's ineffable +talents: Cable up her PC? You must be joking I'm no tape monkey. + diff --git a/entries/tar and feather.txt b/entries/tar and feather.txt index 4a858c1..d7afd2e 100644 --- a/entries/tar and feather.txt +++ b/entries/tar and feather.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ tar and feather -vi. [from Unix tar (1) ] To create a transportable archive from a group of files by first sticking them together with tar (1) (the Tape ARchiver) and then compressing the result (see compress ). The latter action is dubbed feathering partly for euphony and (if only for contrived effect) by analogy to what you do with an airplane propeller to decrease wind resistance, or with an oar to reduce water resistance; smaller files, after all, slip through comm links more easily. Compare the more common tarball. Earlier, the phrase referred to a punishment in which the victims had tar being poured upon them and then, whilst the tar was still sticky, having a pillow full of feathers - or other material thrown at them. See http://www.nwta.com/Spy/spring99/tar.html. +vi. [from Unix tar (1) ] To create a transportable archive from a group of +files by first sticking them together with tar (1) (the Tape ARchiver) and +then compressing the result (see compress ). The latter action is dubbed +feathering partly for euphony and (if only for contrived effect) by analogy +to what you do with an airplane propeller to decrease wind resistance, or +with an oar to reduce water resistance; smaller files, after all, slip +through comm links more easily. Compare the more common tarball. Earlier, +the phrase referred to a punishment in which the victims had tar being +poured upon them and then, whilst the tar was still sticky, having a pillow +full of feathers - or other material thrown at them. See +http://www.nwta.com/Spy/spring99/tar.html. + diff --git a/entries/tarball.txt b/entries/tarball.txt index 5b63c86..f01fd17 100644 --- a/entries/tarball.txt +++ b/entries/tarball.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ tarball -n. [very common; prob. based on the tar baby in the Uncle Remus folk tales] An archive, created with the Unix tar (1) utility, containing myriad related files. Here, I'll just ftp you a tarball of the whole project. Tarballs have been the standard way to ship around source-code distributions since the mid-1980s; in retrospect it seems odd that this term did not enter common usage until the late 1990s. +n. [very common; prob. based on the tar baby in the Uncle Remus folk tales] +An archive, created with the Unix tar (1) utility, containing myriad related +files. Here, I'll just ftp you a tarball of the whole project. Tarballs have +been the standard way to ship around source-code distributions since the +mid-1980s; in retrospect it seems odd that this term did not enter common +usage until the late 1990s. + diff --git a/entries/tardegy.txt b/entries/tardegy.txt index 990815d..cabf8d1 100644 --- a/entries/tardegy.txt +++ b/entries/tardegy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ tardegy -tardjee , n. [deliberate mangling of tragedy ] An incident in which someone who clearly deserves to be selected out of the gene pool on grounds of extreme stupidity meets with a messy end. Coined on the Darwin list, which is dedicated to chronicling such incidents; but almost all hackers would instantly recognize the intention of the term and laugh. +tardjee , n. [deliberate mangling of tragedy ] An incident in which someone +who clearly deserves to be selected out of the gene pool on grounds of +extreme stupidity meets with a messy end. Coined on the Darwin list, which +is dedicated to chronicling such incidents; but almost all hackers would +instantly recognize the intention of the term and laugh. + diff --git a/entries/taste.txt b/entries/taste.txt index 9c26f6a..5ba2d56 100644 --- a/entries/taste.txt +++ b/entries/taste.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ taste -n. 1. The quality in a program that tends to be inversely proportional to the number of features, hacks, and kluges programmed into it. Also tasty , tasteful , tastefulness. This feature comes in N tasty flavors. Although tasty and flavorful are essentially synonyms, taste and flavor are not. Taste refers to sound judgment on the part of the creator; a program or feature can exhibit taste but cannot have taste. On the other hand, a feature can have flavor. Also, flavor has the additional meaning of kind or variety not shared by taste. The marked sense of flavor is more popular than taste , though both are widely used. See also elegant. 2. Alt. sp. of tayste. +n. 1. The quality in a program that tends to be inversely proportional to +the number of features, hacks, and kluges programmed into it. Also tasty , +tasteful , tastefulness. This feature comes in N tasty flavors. Although +tasty and flavorful are essentially synonyms, taste and flavor are not. +Taste refers to sound judgment on the part of the creator; a program or +feature can exhibit taste but cannot have taste. On the other hand, a +feature can have flavor. Also, flavor has the additional meaning of kind or +variety not shared by taste. The marked sense of flavor is more popular than +taste , though both are widely used. See also elegant. 2. Alt. sp. of +tayste. + diff --git a/entries/tayste.txt b/entries/tayste.txt index bb0e523..93f946b 100644 --- a/entries/tayste.txt +++ b/entries/tayste.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ tayste /tayst/ n. Two bits; also as taste. Syn. crumb , quarter. See nybble. + diff --git a/entries/tee.txt b/entries/tee.txt index a3e6f85..12db9da 100644 --- a/entries/tee.txt +++ b/entries/tee.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ tee -n.,vt. [Purdue] A carbon copy of an electronic transmission. Oh, you're sending him the bits to that? Slap on a tee for me. From the Unix command tee (1) , itself named after a pipe fitting (see plumbing ). Can also mean save one for me , as in Tee a slice for me! Also spelled T. +n.,vt. [Purdue] A carbon copy of an electronic transmission. Oh, you're +sending him the bits to that? Slap on a tee for me. From the Unix command +tee (1) , itself named after a pipe fitting (see plumbing ). Can also mean +save one for me , as in Tee a slice for me! Also spelled T. + diff --git a/entries/teergrube.txt b/entries/teergrube.txt index 8eb5d93..7d874e2 100644 --- a/entries/teergrube.txt +++ b/entries/teergrube.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ teergrube -/teergroob@/ , n. [German for tar pit ] A trap set to punish spammers who use an address harvester ; a mail server deliberately set up to be really, really slow. To activate it, scatter addresses that look like users on the teergrube's host in places where the address harvester will be trolling (one popular way is to embed the fake address in a Usenet sig block next to a human-readable warning not to send mail to it). The address harvester will dutifully collect the address. When the spammer tries to mailbomb it, his mailer will get stuck. +/teergroob@/ , n. [German for tar pit ] A trap set to punish spammers who +use an address harvester ; a mail server deliberately set up to be really, +really slow. To activate it, scatter addresses that look like users on the +teergrube's host in places where the address harvester will be trolling (one +popular way is to embed the fake address in a Usenet sig block next to a +human-readable warning not to send mail to it). The address harvester will +dutifully collect the address. When the spammer tries to mailbomb it, his +mailer will get stuck. + diff --git a/entries/teledildonics.txt b/entries/teledildonics.txt index 7f0d9b3..51357f8 100644 --- a/entries/teledildonics.txt +++ b/entries/teledildonics.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ teledildonics -/tel`@dildo'niks/ , n. Sex in a computer simulated virtual reality, esp. computer-mediated sexual interaction between the VR presences of two humans. This practice is not yet possible except in the rather limited form of erotic conversation on MUD s and the like. The term, however, is widely recognized in the VR community as a ha ha only serious projection of things to come. When we can sustain a multi-sensory surround good enough for teledildonics, then we'll know we're getting somewhere. See also hot chat. +/tel`@dildo'niks/ , n. Sex in a computer simulated virtual reality, esp. +computer-mediated sexual interaction between the VR presences of two humans. +This practice is not yet possible except in the rather limited form of +erotic conversation on MUD s and the like. The term, however, is widely +recognized in the VR community as a ha ha only serious projection of things +to come. When we can sustain a multi-sensory surround good enough for +teledildonics, then we'll know we're getting somewhere. See also hot chat. + diff --git a/entries/ten-finger interface.txt b/entries/ten-finger interface.txt index e5e3564..4c55552 100644 --- a/entries/ten-finger interface.txt +++ b/entries/ten-finger interface.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ ten-finger interface -n. The interface between two networks that cannot be directly connected for security reasons; refers to the practice of placing two terminals side by side and having an operator read from one and type into the other. +n. The interface between two networks that cannot be directly connected for +security reasons; refers to the practice of placing two terminals side by +side and having an operator read from one and type into the other. + diff --git a/entries/tense.txt b/entries/tense.txt index 4b57691..61d12d3 100644 --- a/entries/tense.txt +++ b/entries/tense.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ tense -adj. Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of code often got that way because it was highly tuned, but sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at CMU: This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes. A tense programmer is one who produces tense code. +adj. Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of code often got +that way because it was highly tuned, but sometimes it was just based on a +great idea. A comment in a clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student +hacker at CMU: This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes. A +tense programmer is one who produces tense code. + diff --git a/entries/tentacle.txt b/entries/tentacle.txt index 6856ab0..b83c4ba 100644 --- a/entries/tentacle.txt +++ b/entries/tentacle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ tentacle -n. A covert pseudo , sense 1. An artificial identity created in cyberspace for nefarious and deceptive purposes. The implication is that a single person may have multiple tentacles. This term was originally floated in some paranoid ravings on the cypherpunks list (see cypherpunk ), and adopted in a spirit of irony by other, saner members. It has since shown up, used seriously, in the documentation for some remailer software, and is now (1994) widely recognized on the net. Compare astroturfing , sock puppet. +n. A covert pseudo , sense 1. An artificial identity created in cyberspace +for nefarious and deceptive purposes. The implication is that a single +person may have multiple tentacles. This term was originally floated in some +paranoid ravings on the cypherpunks list (see cypherpunk ), and adopted in a +spirit of irony by other, saner members. It has since shown up, used +seriously, in the documentation for some remailer software, and is now +(1994) widely recognized on the net. Compare astroturfing , sock puppet. + diff --git a/entries/tenured graduate student.txt b/entries/tenured graduate student.txt index 4429b56..d13cc79 100644 --- a/entries/tenured graduate student.txt +++ b/entries/tenured graduate student.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ tenured graduate student -n. One who has been in graduate school for 10 years (the usual maximum is 5 or 6): a ten-yeared student (get it?). Actually, this term may be used of any grad student beginning in his seventh year. Students don't really get tenure, of course, the way professors do, but a tenth-year graduate student has probably been around the university longer than any untenured professor. +n. One who has been in graduate school for 10 years (the usual maximum is 5 +or 6): a ten-yeared student (get it?). Actually, this term may be used of +any grad student beginning in his seventh year. Students don't really get +tenure, of course, the way professors do, but a tenth-year graduate student +has probably been around the university longer than any untenured professor. + diff --git a/entries/tera-.txt b/entries/tera-.txt index 9b9cae4..0c99edf 100644 --- a/entries/tera-.txt +++ b/entries/tera-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ tera- /ter@/ , pref. [SI] See quantifiers. + diff --git a/entries/teraflop club.txt b/entries/teraflop club.txt index 65f53e1..21deca1 100644 --- a/entries/teraflop club.txt +++ b/entries/teraflop club.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ teraflop club -/ter@flop kluhb/ , n. [FLOP = Floating Point Operation] A mythical association of people who consume outrageous amounts of computer time in order to produce a few simple pictures of glass balls with intricate ray-tracing techniques. Caltech professor James Kajiya is said to have been the founder. Compare Knights of the Lambda Calculus. +/ter@flop kluhb/ , n. [FLOP = Floating Point Operation] A mythical +association of people who consume outrageous amounts of computer time in +order to produce a few simple pictures of glass balls with intricate +ray-tracing techniques. Caltech professor James Kajiya is said to have been +the founder. Compare Knights of the Lambda Calculus. + diff --git a/entries/terminak.txt b/entries/terminak.txt index 42b5012..3cd709d 100644 --- a/entries/terminak.txt +++ b/entries/terminak.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ terminak -/terminak`/ , n. [Caltech, ca. 1979] Any malfunctioning computer terminal. A common failure mode of Lear-Siegler ADM 3a terminals caused the L key to produce the K code instead; complaints about this tended to look like Terminak #3 has a bad keyboard. Pkease fix. Compare dread high-bit disease , frogging ; see also sun-stools , HP-SUX , Slowlaris. +/terminak`/ , n. [Caltech, ca. 1979] Any malfunctioning computer terminal. A +common failure mode of Lear-Siegler ADM 3a terminals caused the L key to +produce the K code instead; complaints about this tended to look like +Terminak #3 has a bad keyboard. Pkease fix. Compare dread high-bit disease , +frogging ; see also sun-stools , HP-SUX , Slowlaris. + diff --git a/entries/terminal brain death.txt b/entries/terminal brain death.txt index d4c7af4..dfe790f 100644 --- a/entries/terminal brain death.txt +++ b/entries/terminal brain death.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ terminal brain death -n. The extreme form of terminal illness (sense 1). What someone who has obviously been hacking continuously for far too long is said to be suffering from. +n. The extreme form of terminal illness (sense 1). What someone who has +obviously been hacking continuously for far too long is said to be suffering +from. + diff --git a/entries/terminal illness.txt b/entries/terminal illness.txt index f56a2af..2a60361 100644 --- a/entries/terminal illness.txt +++ b/entries/terminal illness.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ terminal illness -n. 1. Syn. raster burn. 2. The burn-in condition your CRT tends to get if you don't have a screen saver. +n. 1. Syn. raster burn. 2. The burn-in condition your CRT tends to get if +you don't have a screen saver. + diff --git a/entries/terminal junkie.txt b/entries/terminal junkie.txt index e5ee029..d3d118f 100644 --- a/entries/terminal junkie.txt +++ b/entries/terminal junkie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ terminal junkie -n. [UK] A wannabee or early larval stage hacker who spends most of his or her time wandering the directory tree and writing noddy programs just to get a fix of computer time. Variants include terminal jockey , console junkie , and console jockey. The term console jockey seems to imply more expertise than the other three (possibly because of the exalted status of the console relative to an ordinary terminal). See also twink , read-only user. Appropriately, this term was used in the works of William S. Burroughs to describe a heroin addict with an unlimited supply. +n. [UK] A wannabee or early larval stage hacker who spends most of his or +her time wandering the directory tree and writing noddy programs just to get +a fix of computer time. Variants include terminal jockey , console junkie , +and console jockey. The term console jockey seems to imply more expertise +than the other three (possibly because of the exalted status of the console +relative to an ordinary terminal). See also twink , read-only user. +Appropriately, this term was used in the works of William S. Burroughs to +describe a heroin addict with an unlimited supply. + diff --git a/entries/test.txt b/entries/test.txt index cd3eded..7727749 100644 --- a/entries/test.txt +++ b/entries/test.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ test -n. 1. Real users bashing on a prototype long enough to get thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful monitoring and followup of the results. 2. Some bored random user trying a couple of the simpler features with a developer looking over his or her shoulder, ready to pounce on mistakes. Judging by the quality of most software, the second definition is far more prevalent. See also demo. +n. 1. Real users bashing on a prototype long enough to get thoroughly +acquainted with it, with careful monitoring and followup of the results. 2. +Some bored random user trying a couple of the simpler features with a +developer looking over his or her shoulder, ready to pounce on mistakes. +Judging by the quality of most software, the second definition is far more +prevalent. See also demo. + diff --git a/entries/text.txt b/entries/text.txt index 7ee8dba..5b05421 100644 --- a/entries/text.txt +++ b/entries/text.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ text -n. 1. [techspeak] Executable code, esp. a pure code portion shared between multiple instances of a program running in a multitasking OS. Compare English. 2. Textual material in the mainstream sense; data in ordinary ASCII or EBCDIC representation (see flat-ASCII ). Those are text files; you can review them using the editor. These two contradictory senses confuse hackers, too. +n. 1. [techspeak] Executable code, esp. a pure code portion shared between +multiple instances of a program running in a multitasking OS. Compare +English. 2. Textual material in the mainstream sense; data in ordinary ASCII +or EBCDIC representation (see flat-ASCII ). Those are text files; you can +review them using the editor. These two contradictory senses confuse +hackers, too. + diff --git a/entries/thanks in advance.txt b/entries/thanks in advance.txt index 8f66379..28babfd 100644 --- a/entries/thanks in advance.txt +++ b/entries/thanks in advance.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ thanks in advance -Conventional net.politeness ending a posted request for information or assistance. Sometimes written advTHANKSance or aTdHvAaNnKcSe or abbreviated TIA. See net.- , netiquette. +Conventional net.politeness ending a posted request for information or +assistance. Sometimes written advTHANKSance or aTdHvAaNnKcSe or abbreviated +TIA. See net.- , netiquette. + diff --git a/entries/the X that can be Y is not the true X.txt b/entries/the X that can be Y is not the true X.txt index 0523650..aa8759d 100644 --- a/entries/the X that can be Y is not the true X.txt +++ b/entries/the X that can be Y is not the true X.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ the X that can be Y is not the true X -The Tao which can be spoken of is not the true Tao. The implication is often that the X is a mystery accessible only to the enlightened. See the trampoline entry for an example, and compare has the X nature. +The Tao which can be spoken of is not the true Tao. The implication is often +that the X is a mystery accessible only to the enlightened. See the +trampoline entry for an example, and compare has the X nature. + diff --git a/entries/the literature.txt b/entries/the literature.txt index 1172263..8cddadd 100644 --- a/entries/the literature.txt +++ b/entries/the literature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ the literature -n. Computer-science journals and other publications, vaguely gestured at to answer a question that the speaker believes is trivial. Thus, one might answer an annoying question by saying It's in the literature. Oppose Knuth , which has no connotation of triviality. +n. Computer-science journals and other publications, vaguely gestured at to +answer a question that the speaker believes is trivial. Thus, one might +answer an annoying question by saying It's in the literature. Oppose Knuth , +which has no connotation of triviality. + diff --git a/entries/the network.txt b/entries/the network.txt index d74cdca..3551b23 100644 --- a/entries/the network.txt +++ b/entries/the network.txt @@ -1,3 +1,21 @@ the network -n. 1. Historically, the union of all the major noncommercial, academic, and hacker-oriented networks, such as Internet, the pre-1990 ARPANET, NSFnet, BITNET, and the virtual UUCP and Usenet networks , plus the corporate in-house networks and commercial timesharing services (such as CompuServe, GEnie and AOL) that gateway to them. A site is generally considered on the network if it can be reached through some combination of Internet-style (@-sign) and UUCP (bang-path) addresses. See Internet , bang path , network address. 2. Following the mass-culture discovery of the Internet in 1994 and subsequent proliferation of cheap TCP/IP connections, the network is increasingly synonymous with the Internet itself (as it was before the second wave of wide-area computer networking began around 1980). 3. A fictional conspiracy of libertarian hacker-subversives and anti-authoritarian monkeywrenchers described in Robert Anton Wilson's novel Schrdinger's Cat , to which many hackers have subsequently decided they belong (this is an example of ha ha only serious ). In sense 1, the network is often abbreviated to the net. Are you on the net? is a frequent question when hackers first meet face to face, and See you on the net! is a frequent goodbye. +n. 1. Historically, the union of all the major noncommercial, academic, and +hacker-oriented networks, such as Internet, the pre-1990 ARPANET, NSFnet, +BITNET, and the virtual UUCP and Usenet networks , plus the corporate +in-house networks and commercial timesharing services (such as CompuServe, +GEnie and AOL) that gateway to them. A site is generally considered on the +network if it can be reached through some combination of Internet-style +(@-sign) and UUCP (bang-path) addresses. See Internet , bang path , network +address. 2. Following the mass-culture discovery of the Internet in 1994 and +subsequent proliferation of cheap TCP/IP connections, the network is +increasingly synonymous with the Internet itself (as it was before the +second wave of wide-area computer networking began around 1980). 3. A +fictional conspiracy of libertarian hacker-subversives and +anti-authoritarian monkeywrenchers described in Robert Anton Wilson's novel +Schrdinger's Cat , to which many hackers have subsequently decided they +belong (this is an example of ha ha only serious ). In sense 1, the network +is often abbreviated to the net. Are you on the net? is a frequent question +when hackers first meet face to face, and See you on the net! is a frequent +goodbye. + diff --git a/entries/theology.txt b/entries/theology.txt index 4d494a9..05d76a7 100644 --- a/entries/theology.txt +++ b/entries/theology.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ theology -n. 1. Ironically or humorously used to refer to religious issues. 2. Technical fine points of an abstruse nature, esp. those where the resolution is of theoretical interest but is relatively marginal with respect to actual use of a design or system. Used esp. around software issues with a heavy AI or language-design component, such as the smart-data vs. smart-programs dispute in AI. +n. 1. Ironically or humorously used to refer to religious issues. 2. +Technical fine points of an abstruse nature, esp. those where the resolution +is of theoretical interest but is relatively marginal with respect to actual +use of a design or system. Used esp. around software issues with a heavy AI +or language-design component, such as the smart-data vs. smart-programs +dispute in AI. + diff --git a/entries/theory.txt b/entries/theory.txt index c53cb26..97f15ec 100644 --- a/entries/theory.txt +++ b/entries/theory.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ theory -n. The consensus, idea, plan, story, or set of rules that is currently being used to inform a behavior. This usage is a generalization and (deliberate) abuse of the technical meaning. What's the theory on fixing this TECO loss? What's the theory on dinner tonight? ( Chinatown, I guess. ) What's the current theory on letting lusers on during the day? The theory behind this change is to fix the following well-known screw.... +n. The consensus, idea, plan, story, or set of rules that is currently being +used to inform a behavior. This usage is a generalization and (deliberate) +abuse of the technical meaning. What's the theory on fixing this TECO loss? +What's the theory on dinner tonight? ( Chinatown, I guess. ) What's the +current theory on letting lusers on during the day? The theory behind this +change is to fix the following well-known screw.... + diff --git a/entries/thinko.txt b/entries/thinko.txt index ce5a5b8..5ab5034 100644 --- a/entries/thinko.txt +++ b/entries/thinko.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ thinko -/thingkoh/ , n. [by analogy with typo ] A momentary, correctable glitch in mental processing, especially one involving recall of information learned by rote; a bubble in the stream of consciousness. Syn. braino ; see also brain fart. Compare mouso. +/thingkoh/ , n. [by analogy with typo ] A momentary, correctable glitch in +mental processing, especially one involving recall of information learned by +rote; a bubble in the stream of consciousness. Syn. braino ; see also brain +fart. Compare mouso. + diff --git a/entries/thrash.txt b/entries/thrash.txt index e452140..40b9a50 100644 --- a/entries/thrash.txt +++ b/entries/thrash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ thrash -vi. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything useful. Paging or swapping systems that are overloaded waste most of their time moving data into and out of core (rather than performing useful computation) and are therefore said to thrash. Someone who keeps changing his mind (esp. about what to work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person frantically trying to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending enough time on any single task) may also be described as thrashing. Compare multitask. +vi. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything useful. +Paging or swapping systems that are overloaded waste most of their time +moving data into and out of core (rather than performing useful computation) +and are therefore said to thrash. Someone who keeps changing his mind (esp. +about what to work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person frantically +trying to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending enough time on +any single task) may also be described as thrashing. Compare multitask. + diff --git a/entries/thread.txt b/entries/thread.txt index 01e6227..85205c3 100644 --- a/entries/thread.txt +++ b/entries/thread.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ thread -n. [Usenet, GEnie, CompuServe] Common abbreviation of topic thread , a more or less continuous chain of postings on a single topic. To follow a thread is to read a series of Usenet postings sharing a common subject or (more correctly) which are connected by Reference headers. The better newsreaders can present news in thread order automatically. Not to be confused with the techspeak sense of thread , e.g. a lightweight process. Interestingly, this is far from a neologism. The OED says: That which connects the successive points in anything, esp. +n. [Usenet, GEnie, CompuServe] Common abbreviation of topic thread , a more +or less continuous chain of postings on a single topic. To follow a thread +is to read a series of Usenet postings sharing a common subject or (more +correctly) which are connected by Reference headers. The better newsreaders +can present news in thread order automatically. Not to be confused with the +techspeak sense of thread , e.g. a lightweight process. Interestingly, this +is far from a neologism. The OED says: That which connects the successive +points in anything, esp. + diff --git a/entries/three-finger salute.txt b/entries/three-finger salute.txt index cefefc6..e82b688 100644 --- a/entries/three-finger salute.txt +++ b/entries/three-finger salute.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ three-finger salute n. Syn. Vulcan nerve pinch. + diff --git a/entries/throwaway account.txt b/entries/throwaway account.txt index 00ecf6c..0b969fa 100644 --- a/entries/throwaway account.txt +++ b/entries/throwaway account.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ throwaway account -n. 1. An inexpensive Internet account purchased on a legitimate ISP for the sole purpose of spewing spam. 2. An inexpensive Internet account obtained for the sole purpose of doing something which requires a valid email address but being able to ignore spam since the user will not look at the account again. +n. 1. An inexpensive Internet account purchased on a legitimate ISP for the +sole purpose of spewing spam. 2. An inexpensive Internet account obtained +for the sole purpose of doing something which requires a valid email address +but being able to ignore spam since the user will not look at the account +again. + diff --git a/entries/thud.txt b/entries/thud.txt index 4e08301..820fe90 100644 --- a/entries/thud.txt +++ b/entries/thud.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ thud -n. 1. Yet another metasyntactic variable (see foo ). It is reported that at CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of these was foo , bar , thud , blat. 2. Rare term for the hash character, # (ASCII 0100011). See ASCII for other synonyms. +n. 1. Yet another metasyntactic variable (see foo ). It is reported that at +CMU from the mid-1970s the canonical series of these was foo , bar , thud , +blat. 2. Rare term for the hash character, # (ASCII 0100011). See ASCII for +other synonyms. + diff --git a/entries/thumb.txt b/entries/thumb.txt index 5cf8288..012e84c 100644 --- a/entries/thumb.txt +++ b/entries/thumb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ thumb -n. The slider on a window-system scrollbar. So called because moving it allows you to browse through the contents of a text window in a way analogous to thumbing through a book. +n. The slider on a window-system scrollbar. So called because moving it +allows you to browse through the contents of a text window in a way +analogous to thumbing through a book. + diff --git a/entries/thundering herd problem.txt b/entries/thundering herd problem.txt index 13819f6..ceeef40 100644 --- a/entries/thundering herd problem.txt +++ b/entries/thundering herd problem.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ thundering herd problem -Scheduler thrashing. This can happen under Unix when you have a number of processes that are waiting on a single event. When that event (a connection to the web server, say) happens, every process which could possibly handle the event is awakened. In the end, only one of those processes will actually be able to do the work, but, in the meantime, all the others wake up and contend for CPU time before being put back to sleep. Thus the system thrashes briefly while a herd of processes thunders through. If this starts to happen many times per second, the performance impact can be significant. +Scheduler thrashing. This can happen under Unix when you have a number of +processes that are waiting on a single event. When that event (a connection +to the web server, say) happens, every process which could possibly handle +the event is awakened. In the end, only one of those processes will actually +be able to do the work, but, in the meantime, all the others wake up and +contend for CPU time before being put back to sleep. Thus the system +thrashes briefly while a herd of processes thunders through. If this starts +to happen many times per second, the performance impact can be significant. + diff --git a/entries/thunk.txt b/entries/thunk.txt index f4f4214..6047ecd 100644 --- a/entries/thunk.txt +++ b/entries/thunk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,35 @@ thunk -/thuhnk/ , n. 1. [obs.] A piece of coding which provides an address: , according to P. Z. Ingerman, who invented thunks in 1961 as a way of binding actual parameters to their formal definitions in Algol-60 procedure calls. If a procedure is called with an expression in the place of a formal parameter, the compiler generates a thunk which computes the expression and leaves the address of the result in some standard location. 2. Later generalized into: an expression, frozen together with its environment, for later evaluation if and when needed (similar to what in techspeak is called a closure ). The process of unfreezing these thunks is called forcing. 3. A stubroutine , in an overlay programming environment, that loads and jumps to the correct overlay. Compare trampoline. 4. Microsoft and IBM have both defined, in their Intel-based systems, a 16-bit environment (with bletcherous segment registers and 64K address limits) and a 32-bit environment (with flat addressing and semi-real memory management). The two environments can both be running on the same computer and OS (thanks to what is called, in the Microsoft world, WOW which stands for Windows On Windows). MS and IBM have both decided that the process of getting from 16- to 32-bit and vice versa is called a thunk ; for Windows 95, there is even a tool THUNK.EXE called a thunk compiler. 5. A person or activity scheduled in a thunklike manner. It occurred to me the other day that I am rather accurately modeled by a thunk I frequently need to be forced to completion.: paraphrased from a plan file. Historical note: There are a couple of onomatopoeic myths circulating about the origin of this term. The most common is that it is the sound made by data hitting the stack; another holds that the sound is that of the data hitting an accumulator. Yet another suggests that it is the sound of the expression being unfrozen at argument-evaluation time. In fact, according to the inventors, it was coined after they realized (in the wee hours after hours of discussion) that the type of an argument in Algol-60 could be figured out in advance with a little compile-time thought, simplifying the evaluation machinery. In other words, it had already been thought of ; thus it was christened a thunk , which is the past tense of think at two in the morning. +/thuhnk/ , n. 1. [obs.] A piece of coding which provides an address: , +according to P. Z. Ingerman, who invented thunks in 1961 as a way of binding +actual parameters to their formal definitions in Algol-60 procedure calls. +If a procedure is called with an expression in the place of a formal +parameter, the compiler generates a thunk which computes the expression and +leaves the address of the result in some standard location. 2. Later +generalized into: an expression, frozen together with its environment, for +later evaluation if and when needed (similar to what in techspeak is called +a closure ). The process of unfreezing these thunks is called forcing. 3. A +stubroutine , in an overlay programming environment, that loads and jumps to +the correct overlay. Compare trampoline. 4. Microsoft and IBM have both +defined, in their Intel-based systems, a 16-bit environment (with +bletcherous segment registers and 64K address limits) and a 32-bit +environment (with flat addressing and semi-real memory management). The two +environments can both be running on the same computer and OS (thanks to what +is called, in the Microsoft world, WOW which stands for Windows On Windows). +MS and IBM have both decided that the process of getting from 16- to 32-bit +and vice versa is called a thunk ; for Windows 95, there is even a tool +THUNK.EXE called a thunk compiler. 5. A person or activity scheduled in a +thunklike manner. It occurred to me the other day that I am rather +accurately modeled by a thunk I frequently need to be forced to completion.: +paraphrased from a plan file. Historical note: There are a couple of +onomatopoeic myths circulating about the origin of this term. The most +common is that it is the sound made by data hitting the stack; another holds +that the sound is that of the data hitting an accumulator. Yet another +suggests that it is the sound of the expression being unfrozen at +argument-evaluation time. In fact, according to the inventors, it was coined +after they realized (in the wee hours after hours of discussion) that the +type of an argument in Algol-60 could be figured out in advance with a +little compile-time thought, simplifying the evaluation machinery. In other +words, it had already been thought of ; thus it was christened a thunk , +which is the past tense of think at two in the morning. + diff --git a/entries/tick-list features.txt b/entries/tick-list features.txt index 208f413..51dc696 100644 --- a/entries/tick-list features.txt +++ b/entries/tick-list features.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ tick-list features -n. [Acorn Computers] Features in software or hardware that customers insist on but never use (calculators in desktop TSRs and that sort of thing). The American equivalent would be checklist features , but this jargon sense of the phrase has not been reported. +n. [Acorn Computers] Features in software or hardware that customers insist +on but never use (calculators in desktop TSRs and that sort of thing). The +American equivalent would be checklist features , but this jargon sense of +the phrase has not been reported. + diff --git a/entries/tick.txt b/entries/tick.txt index 95a08ac..086a33d 100644 --- a/entries/tick.txt +++ b/entries/tick.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ tick -n. 1. A jiffy (sense 1). 2. In simulations, the discrete unit of time that passes between iterations of the simulation mechanism. In AI applications, this amount of time is often left unspecified, since the only constraint of interest is the ordering of events. This sort of AI simulation is often pejoratively referred to as tick-tick-tick simulation, especially when the issue of simultaneity of events with long, independent chains of causes is handwave d. 3. In the FORTH language, a single quote character. +n. 1. A jiffy (sense 1). 2. In simulations, the discrete unit of time that +passes between iterations of the simulation mechanism. In AI applications, +this amount of time is often left unspecified, since the only constraint of +interest is the ordering of events. This sort of AI simulation is often +pejoratively referred to as tick-tick-tick simulation, especially when the +issue of simultaneity of events with long, independent chains of causes is +handwave d. 3. In the FORTH language, a single quote character. + diff --git a/entries/tickle a bug.txt b/entries/tickle a bug.txt index 70927b0..2db31bf 100644 --- a/entries/tickle a bug.txt +++ b/entries/tickle a bug.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ tickle a bug -vt. To cause a normally hidden bug to manifest itself through some known series of inputs or operations. You can tickle the bug in the Paradise VGA card's highlight handling by trying to set bright yellow reverse video. +vt. To cause a normally hidden bug to manifest itself through some known +series of inputs or operations. You can tickle the bug in the Paradise VGA +card's highlight handling by trying to set bright yellow reverse video. + diff --git a/entries/tiger team.txt b/entries/tiger team.txt index beaa9eb..1f38001 100644 --- a/entries/tiger team.txt +++ b/entries/tiger team.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ tiger team -n. [U.S. military jargon] 1. Originally, a team (of sneaker s) whose purpose is to penetrate security, and thus test security measures. These people are paid professionals who do hacker-type tricks, e.g., leave cardboard signs saying bomb in critical defense installations, hand-lettered notes saying Your codebooks have been stolen (they usually haven't been) inside safes, etc. After a successful penetration, some high-ranking security type shows up the next morning for a security review and finds the sign, note, etc., and all hell breaks loose. Serious successes of tiger teams sometimes lead to early retirement for base commanders and security officers (see the patch entry for an example). 2. Recently, and more generally, any official inspection team or special firefighting group called in to look at a problem. A subset of tiger teams are professional cracker s, testing the security of military computer installations by attempting remote attacks via networks or supposedly secure comm channels. Some of their escapades, if declassified, would probably rank among the greatest hacks of all times. The term has been adopted in commercial computer-security circles in this more specific sense. +n. [U.S. military jargon] 1. Originally, a team (of sneaker s) whose purpose +is to penetrate security, and thus test security measures. These people are +paid professionals who do hacker-type tricks, e.g., leave cardboard signs +saying bomb in critical defense installations, hand-lettered notes saying +Your codebooks have been stolen (they usually haven't been) inside safes, +etc. After a successful penetration, some high-ranking security type shows +up the next morning for a security review and finds the sign, note, etc., +and all hell breaks loose. Serious successes of tiger teams sometimes lead +to early retirement for base commanders and security officers (see the patch +entry for an example). 2. Recently, and more generally, any official +inspection team or special firefighting group called in to look at a +problem. A subset of tiger teams are professional cracker s, testing the +security of military computer installations by attempting remote attacks via +networks or supposedly secure comm channels. Some of their escapades, if +declassified, would probably rank among the greatest hacks of all times. The +term has been adopted in commercial computer-security circles in this more +specific sense. + diff --git a/entries/time T.txt b/entries/time T.txt index 44f047f..92c190f 100644 --- a/entries/time T.txt +++ b/entries/time T.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ time T -/ti:m T/ , n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood time, often used in conjunction with a later time T+1. We'll meet on campus at time T or at Louie's at time T+1 means, in the context of going out for dinner: We can meet on campus and go to Louie's, or we can meet at Louie's itself a bit later. (Louie's was a Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto that was a favorite with hackers.) Had the number 30 been used instead of the number 1, it would have implied that the travel time from campus to Louie's is 30 minutes; whatever time T is (and that hasn't been decided on yet), you can meet half an hour later at Louie's than you could on campus and end up eating at the same time. See also since time T equals minus infinity. +/ti:m T/ , n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood time, often used +in conjunction with a later time T+1. We'll meet on campus at time T or at +Louie's at time T+1 means, in the context of going out for dinner: We can +meet on campus and go to Louie's, or we can meet at Louie's itself a bit +later. (Louie's was a Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto that was a favorite +with hackers.) Had the number 30 been used instead of the number 1, it would +have implied that the travel time from campus to Louie's is 30 minutes; +whatever time T is (and that hasn't been decided on yet), you can meet half +an hour later at Louie's than you could on campus and end up eating at the +same time. See also since time T equals minus infinity. + diff --git a/entries/time bomb.txt b/entries/time bomb.txt index 9c087e4..c5eb11f 100644 --- a/entries/time bomb.txt +++ b/entries/time bomb.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ time bomb -n. A subspecies of logic bomb that is triggered by reaching some preset time, either once or periodically. There are numerous legends about time bombs set up by programmers in their employers' machines, to go off if the programmer is fired or laid off and is not present to perform the appropriate suppressing action periodically. Interestingly, the only such incident for which we have been pointed to documentary evidence took place in the Soviet Union in 1986! A disgruntled programmer at the Volga Automobile Plant (where the Fiat clones called Ladas were manufactured) planted a time bomb which, a week after he'd left on vacation, stopped the entire main assembly line for a day. The case attracted lots of attention in the Soviet Union because it was the first cracking case to make it to court there. The perpetrator got a suspended sentence of 3 years in jail and was barred from future work as a programmer. +n. A subspecies of logic bomb that is triggered by reaching some preset +time, either once or periodically. There are numerous legends about time +bombs set up by programmers in their employers' machines, to go off if the +programmer is fired or laid off and is not present to perform the +appropriate suppressing action periodically. Interestingly, the only such +incident for which we have been pointed to documentary evidence took place +in the Soviet Union in 1986! A disgruntled programmer at the Volga +Automobile Plant (where the Fiat clones called Ladas were manufactured) +planted a time bomb which, a week after he'd left on vacation, stopped the +entire main assembly line for a day. The case attracted lots of attention in +the Soviet Union because it was the first cracking case to make it to court +there. The perpetrator got a suspended sentence of 3 years in jail and was +barred from future work as a programmer. + diff --git a/entries/time sink.txt b/entries/time sink.txt index f5c6967..92d54d5 100644 --- a/entries/time sink.txt +++ b/entries/time sink.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ time sink -n. [poss.: by analogy with heat sink or current sink ] A project that consumes unbounded amounts of time. +n. [poss.: by analogy with heat sink or current sink ] A project that +consumes unbounded amounts of time. + diff --git a/entries/times-or-divided-by.txt b/entries/times-or-divided-by.txt index c908cd1..62c2838 100644 --- a/entries/times-or-divided-by.txt +++ b/entries/times-or-divided-by.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ times-or-divided-by -quant. [by analogy with plus-or-minus ] Term occasionally used when describing the uncertainty associated with a scheduling estimate, for either humorous or brutally honest effect. For a software project, the scheduling uncertainty factor is usually at least 2. +quant. [by analogy with plus-or-minus ] Term occasionally used when +describing the uncertainty associated with a scheduling estimate, for either +humorous or brutally honest effect. For a software project, the scheduling +uncertainty factor is usually at least 2. + diff --git a/entries/timesharing.txt b/entries/timesharing.txt index 7e5b21f..8c7bd16 100644 --- a/entries/timesharing.txt +++ b/entries/timesharing.txt @@ -1,3 +1,38 @@ timesharing -Timesharing is the technique of scheduling a computer's time so that they are shared across multiple tasks and multiple users, with each user having the illusion that his or her computation is going on continuously. John McCarthy, the inventor of LISP , first imagined this technique in the late 1950s. The first timesharing operating systems, BBN's Little Hospital and CTSS , were deplayed in 1962-63. The early hacker culture of the 1960s and 1970s grew up around the first generation of relatively cheap timesharing computers, notably the DEC 10, 11, and VAX lines. But these were only cheap in a relative sense; though quite a bit less powerful than today's personal computers, they had to be shared by dozens or even hundreds of people each. The early hacker comunities nucleated around places where it was relatively easy to get access to a timesharing account. Nowadays, communications bandwidth is usually the most important constraint on what you can do with your computer. Not so back then; timesharing machines were often loaded to capacity, and it was not uncommon for everyone's work to grind to a halt while the machine scheduler thrashed, trying to figure out what to do next. Early hacker slang was replete with terms like cycle crunch and cycle drought for describing the consequences of too few instructions-per-second spread among too many users. As GLS has noted, this sort of problem influenced the tendency of many hackers to work odd schedules. One reason this is worth noting here is to make the point that the earliest hacker communities were physical, not distributed via networks; they consisted of hackers who shared a machine and therefore had to deal with many of the same problems with respect to it. A system crash could idle dozens of eager programmers, all sitting in the same terminal room and with little to do but talk with each other until normal operation resumed. Timesharing moved from being the luxury of a few large universities runing semi-experimental operating systems to being more generally available about 1975-76. Hackers in search of more cycles and more control over their programming environment began to migrate off timesharing machines and onto what are now called workstations around 1983. It took another ten years, the development of powerful 32-bit personal micros, the Great Internet Explosion before the migration was complete. It is no coincidence that the last stages of this migration coincided with the development of the first open-source operating systems. +Timesharing is the technique of scheduling a computer's time so that they +are shared across multiple tasks and multiple users, with each user having +the illusion that his or her computation is going on continuously. John +McCarthy, the inventor of LISP , first imagined this technique in the late +1950s. The first timesharing operating systems, BBN's Little Hospital and +CTSS , were deplayed in 1962-63. The early hacker culture of the 1960s and +1970s grew up around the first generation of relatively cheap timesharing +computers, notably the DEC 10, 11, and VAX lines. But these were only cheap +in a relative sense; though quite a bit less powerful than today's personal +computers, they had to be shared by dozens or even hundreds of people each. +The early hacker comunities nucleated around places where it was relatively +easy to get access to a timesharing account. Nowadays, communications +bandwidth is usually the most important constraint on what you can do with +your computer. Not so back then; timesharing machines were often loaded to +capacity, and it was not uncommon for everyone's work to grind to a halt +while the machine scheduler thrashed, trying to figure out what to do next. +Early hacker slang was replete with terms like cycle crunch and cycle +drought for describing the consequences of too few instructions-per-second +spread among too many users. As GLS has noted, this sort of problem +influenced the tendency of many hackers to work odd schedules. One reason +this is worth noting here is to make the point that the earliest hacker +communities were physical, not distributed via networks; they consisted of +hackers who shared a machine and therefore had to deal with many of the same +problems with respect to it. A system crash could idle dozens of eager +programmers, all sitting in the same terminal room and with little to do but +talk with each other until normal operation resumed. Timesharing moved from +being the luxury of a few large universities runing semi-experimental +operating systems to being more generally available about 1975-76. Hackers +in search of more cycles and more control over their programming environment +began to migrate off timesharing machines and onto what are now called +workstations around 1983. It took another ten years, the development of +powerful 32-bit personal micros, the Great Internet Explosion before the +migration was complete. It is no coincidence that the last stages of this +migration coincided with the development of the first open-source operating +systems. + diff --git a/entries/tip of the ice-cube.txt b/entries/tip of the ice-cube.txt index a07961a..3110695 100644 --- a/entries/tip of the ice-cube.txt +++ b/entries/tip of the ice-cube.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ tip of the ice-cube -n. , // [IBM] The visible part of something small and insignificant. Used as an ironic comment in situations where tip of the iceberg might be appropriate if the subject were at all important. +n. , // [IBM] The visible part of something small and insignificant. Used as +an ironic comment in situations where tip of the iceberg might be +appropriate if the subject were at all important. + diff --git a/entries/tired iron.txt b/entries/tired iron.txt index 5f2d614..7a647b8 100644 --- a/entries/tired iron.txt +++ b/entries/tired iron.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ tired iron -n. [IBM] Hardware that is perfectly functional but far enough behind the state of the art to have been superseded by new products, presumably with sufficient improvement in bang-per-buck that the old stuff is starting to look a bit like a dinosaur. +n. [IBM] Hardware that is perfectly functional but far enough behind the +state of the art to have been superseded by new products, presumably with +sufficient improvement in bang-per-buck that the old stuff is starting to +look a bit like a dinosaur. + diff --git a/entries/tits on a keyboard.txt b/entries/tits on a keyboard.txt index 1262e76..46918bf 100644 --- a/entries/tits on a keyboard.txt +++ b/entries/tits on a keyboard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ tits on a keyboard -n. Small bumps on certain keycaps to keep touch-typists registered. Usually on the 5 of a numeric keypad, and on the F and J of a QWERTY keyboard; but older Macs (like pre-PC electric typewriters) had them on the D and K keys (this changed in 1999). +n. Small bumps on certain keycaps to keep touch-typists registered. Usually +on the 5 of a numeric keypad, and on the F and J of a QWERTY keyboard; but +older Macs (like pre-PC electric typewriters) had them on the D and K keys +(this changed in 1999). + diff --git a/entries/to a first approximation.txt b/entries/to a first approximation.txt index bd017ad..e4e50ee 100644 --- a/entries/to a first approximation.txt +++ b/entries/to a first approximation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ to a first approximation -adj. 1. [techspeak] When one is doing certain numerical computations, an approximate solution may be computed by any of several heuristic methods, then refined to a final value. By using the starting point of a first approximation of the answer, one can write an algorithm that converges more quickly to the correct result. 2. In jargon, a preface to any comment that indicates that the comment is only approximately true. The remark To a first approximation, I feel good might indicate that deeper questioning would reveal that not all is perfect (e.g., a nagging cough still remains after an illness). +adj. 1. [techspeak] When one is doing certain numerical computations, an +approximate solution may be computed by any of several heuristic methods, +then refined to a final value. By using the starting point of a first +approximation of the answer, one can write an algorithm that converges more +quickly to the correct result. 2. In jargon, a preface to any comment that +indicates that the comment is only approximately true. The remark To a first +approximation, I feel good might indicate that deeper questioning would +reveal that not all is perfect (e.g., a nagging cough still remains after an +illness). + diff --git a/entries/to a zeroth approximation.txt b/entries/to a zeroth approximation.txt index 3d3a3e3..9e89d65 100644 --- a/entries/to a zeroth approximation.txt +++ b/entries/to a zeroth approximation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ to a zeroth approximation A really sloppy approximation; a wild guess. Compare social science number. + diff --git a/entries/toad.txt b/entries/toad.txt index 94bff25..c94e5aa 100644 --- a/entries/toad.txt +++ b/entries/toad.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ toad -vt. 1. Notionally, to change a MUD player into a toad. 2. To permanently and totally exile a player from the MUD. A very serious action, which can only be done by a MUD wizard ; often involves a lot of debate among the other characters first. See also frog , FOD. +vt. 1. Notionally, to change a MUD player into a toad. 2. To permanently and +totally exile a player from the MUD. A very serious action, which can only +be done by a MUD wizard ; often involves a lot of debate among the other +characters first. See also frog , FOD. + diff --git a/entries/toast.txt b/entries/toast.txt index d39109e..55ed72b 100644 --- a/entries/toast.txt +++ b/entries/toast.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ toast -1. n. Any completely inoperable system or component, esp. one that has just crashed and burned: Uh, oh. .. I think the serial board is. (This sense went mainstream around 1993.) 2. vt. To cause a system to crash accidentally, especially in a manner that requires manual rebooting. Rick just ed the firewall machine again. Compare fried. +1. n. Any completely inoperable system or component, esp. one that has just +crashed and burned: Uh, oh. .. I think the serial board is. (This sense went +mainstream around 1993.) 2. vt. To cause a system to crash accidentally, +especially in a manner that requires manual rebooting. Rick just ed the +firewall machine again. Compare fried. + diff --git a/entries/toaster.txt b/entries/toaster.txt index 8abd737..fe675d3 100644 --- a/entries/toaster.txt +++ b/entries/toaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ toaster -n. 1. The archetypal really stupid application for an embedded microprocessor controller; often used in comments that imply that a scheme is inappropriate technology (but see elevator controller ). DWIM for an assembler? That'd be as silly as running Unix on your toaster! 2. A very, very dumb computer. You could run this program on any dumb toaster. See bitty box , Get a real computer! , toy , beige toaster. 3. A Macintosh, esp. a Mac in the original unitary case. Some hold that this is implied by sense 2. 4. A peripheral device. I bought my box without toasters, but since then I've added two boards and a second disk drive. 5. A specialized computer used as an appliance. See web toaster , video toaster. +n. 1. The archetypal really stupid application for an embedded +microprocessor controller; often used in comments that imply that a scheme +is inappropriate technology (but see elevator controller ). DWIM for an +assembler? That'd be as silly as running Unix on your toaster! 2. A very, +very dumb computer. You could run this program on any dumb toaster. See +bitty box , Get a real computer! , toy , beige toaster. 3. A Macintosh, esp. +a Mac in the original unitary case. Some hold that this is implied by sense +2. 4. A peripheral device. I bought my box without toasters, but since then +I've added two boards and a second disk drive. 5. A specialized computer +used as an appliance. See web toaster , video toaster. + diff --git a/entries/toeprint.txt b/entries/toeprint.txt index 8cfe2f3..8ae0284 100644 --- a/entries/toeprint.txt +++ b/entries/toeprint.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ toeprint n. A footprint of especially small size. + diff --git a/entries/toggle.txt b/entries/toggle.txt index 066194c..bc864cf 100644 --- a/entries/toggle.txt +++ b/entries/toggle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ toggle -vt. To change a bit from whatever state it is in to the other state; to change from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1. This comes from toggle switches , such as standard light switches, though the word toggle actually refers to the mechanism that keeps the switch in the position to which it is flipped rather than to the fact that the switch has two positions. There are four things you can do to a bit: set it (force it to be 1), clear (or zero) it, leave it alone, or toggle it. (Mathematically, one would say that there are four distinct boolean-valued functions of one boolean argument, but saying that is much less fun than talking about toggling bits. +vt. To change a bit from whatever state it is in to the other state; to +change from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1. This comes from toggle switches , such as +standard light switches, though the word toggle actually refers to the +mechanism that keeps the switch in the position to which it is flipped +rather than to the fact that the switch has two positions. There are four +things you can do to a bit: set it (force it to be 1), clear (or zero) it, +leave it alone, or toggle it. (Mathematically, one would say that there are +four distinct boolean-valued functions of one boolean argument, but saying +that is much less fun than talking about toggling bits. + diff --git a/entries/tool.txt b/entries/tool.txt index 6589930..05e6cef 100644 --- a/entries/tool.txt +++ b/entries/tool.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ tool -An application program with a simple, transparent (typically text-stream) interface designed specifically to be used in programmed combination with other tools (see filter , plumbing ). 3. +An application program with a simple, transparent (typically text-stream) +interface designed specifically to be used in programmed combination with +other tools (see filter , plumbing ). 3. + diff --git a/entries/toolchain.txt b/entries/toolchain.txt index e382c0d..0869dff 100644 --- a/entries/toolchain.txt +++ b/entries/toolchain.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ toolchain -A collection of tools used to develop for a particular hardware target, or to work with a particular data format (thus the Crusoe development , or the DocBook ). Often used in the context of building software on one system which will be installed or run on some other device; in that case the chain of tools usually consists of such items as a particular version of a compiler, libraries, special headers, etc. May also be used of text-formatting, page layout, or multimedia tools which render from some markup to a variety of production formats. Differs from toolkit in that the former implies a collection of semi-independent tools with complementary functions, while implies that each of the parts is a serial stage in a rather tightly bound pipeline. Seems to have become current in early 1999 and 2000; now common. +A collection of tools used to develop for a particular hardware target, or +to work with a particular data format (thus the Crusoe development , or the +DocBook ). Often used in the context of building software on one system +which will be installed or run on some other device; in that case the chain +of tools usually consists of such items as a particular version of a +compiler, libraries, special headers, etc. May also be used of +text-formatting, page layout, or multimedia tools which render from some +markup to a variety of production formats. Differs from toolkit in that the +former implies a collection of semi-independent tools with complementary +functions, while implies that each of the parts is a serial stage in a +rather tightly bound pipeline. Seems to have become current in early 1999 +and 2000; now common. + diff --git a/entries/toolsmith.txt b/entries/toolsmith.txt index 66e1811..e8bd475 100644 --- a/entries/toolsmith.txt +++ b/entries/toolsmith.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ toolsmith -n. The software equivalent of a tool-and-die specialist; one who specializes in making the tool s with which other programmers create applications. Many hackers consider this more fun than applications per se; to understand why, see uninteresting. Jon Bentley, in the Bumper-Sticker Computer Science chapter of his book More Programming Pearls , quotes Dick Sites from DEC as saying I'd rather write programs to write programs than write programs. +n. The software equivalent of a tool-and-die specialist; one who specializes +in making the tool s with which other programmers create applications. Many +hackers consider this more fun than applications per se; to understand why, +see uninteresting. Jon Bentley, in the Bumper-Sticker Computer Science +chapter of his book More Programming Pearls , quotes Dick Sites from DEC as +saying I'd rather write programs to write programs than write programs. + diff --git a/entries/toor.txt b/entries/toor.txt index 0fb777d..328fbc8 100644 --- a/entries/toor.txt +++ b/entries/toor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ toor -n. The Bourne-Again Super-user. An alternate account with UID of 0, created on Unix machines where the root user has an inconvenient choice of shell. Compare avatar. +n. The Bourne-Again Super-user. An alternate account with UID of 0, created +on Unix machines where the root user has an inconvenient choice of shell. +Compare avatar. + diff --git a/entries/top-post.txt b/entries/top-post.txt index de76110..1e19492 100644 --- a/entries/top-post.txt +++ b/entries/top-post.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ top-post -n. , v. [common] To put the newly-added portion of an email or Usenet response before the quoted part, as opposed to the more logical sequence of quoted portion first with original following. The problem with this practice is neatly summed up by the following FAQ entry: A: No. Q: Should I include quotations after my reply? This term is generally used pejoratively with the implication that the offending person is a newbie , a Microsoft addict (Microsoft mail tools produce a similar format by default), or simply a common-and-garden-variety idiot. One major problem with top-posting is that people who do it all too frequently quote the entire parent message rather than trimming it down to those portions relevent to their reply this makes threads bulky and unnecessarily difficult to read and arouses the righteous ire of experienced Internet residents (this style is called TOFU for text over, fullquote under , or sometimes jeopardy-style quoting ). Another problem is that top-posters often word their replies on the assumption that you just read the previous message, even though their perversity has put it further down the page than you have yet read. Oppose bottom-post. +n. , v. [common] To put the newly-added portion of an email or Usenet +response before the quoted part, as opposed to the more logical sequence of +quoted portion first with original following. The problem with this practice +is neatly summed up by the following FAQ entry: A: No. Q: Should I include +quotations after my reply? This term is generally used pejoratively with the +implication that the offending person is a newbie , a Microsoft addict +(Microsoft mail tools produce a similar format by default), or simply a +common-and-garden-variety idiot. One major problem with top-posting is that +people who do it all too frequently quote the entire parent message rather +than trimming it down to those portions relevent to their reply this makes +threads bulky and unnecessarily difficult to read and arouses the righteous +ire of experienced Internet residents (this style is called TOFU for text +over, fullquote under , or sometimes jeopardy-style quoting ). Another +problem is that top-posters often word their replies on the assumption that +you just read the previous message, even though their perversity has put it +further down the page than you have yet read. Oppose bottom-post. + diff --git a/entries/topic drift.txt b/entries/topic drift.txt index 5986f49..3e9166c 100644 --- a/entries/topic drift.txt +++ b/entries/topic drift.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ topic drift -n. Term used on GEnie, Usenet and other electronic fora to describe the tendency of a thread to drift away from the original subject of discussion (and thus, from the Subject header of the originating message), or the results of that tendency. The header in each post can be changed to keep current with the posts, but usually isn't due to forgetfulness or laziness. A single post may often result in several posts each responding to a different point in the original. Some subthreads will actually be in response to some off-the-cuff side comment, possibly degenerating into a flame war , or just as often evolving into a separate discussion. Hence, discussions aren't really so much threads as they are trees. Except that they don't really have leaves, or multiple branching roots; usually some lines of discussion will just sort of die off after everyone gets tired of them. This could take anywhere from hours to weeks, or even longer. The term topic drift is often used in gentle reminders that the discussion has strayed off any useful track. I think we started with a question about Niven's last book, but we've ended up discussing the sexual habits of the common marmoset. +n. Term used on GEnie, Usenet and other electronic fora to describe the +tendency of a thread to drift away from the original subject of discussion +(and thus, from the Subject header of the originating message), or the +results of that tendency. The header in each post can be changed to keep +current with the posts, but usually isn't due to forgetfulness or laziness. +A single post may often result in several posts each responding to a +different point in the original. Some subthreads will actually be in +response to some off-the-cuff side comment, possibly degenerating into a +flame war , or just as often evolving into a separate discussion. Hence, +discussions aren't really so much threads as they are trees. Except that +they don't really have leaves, or multiple branching roots; usually some +lines of discussion will just sort of die off after everyone gets tired of +them. This could take anywhere from hours to weeks, or even longer. The term +topic drift is often used in gentle reminders that the discussion has +strayed off any useful track. I think we started with a question about +Niven's last book, but we've ended up discussing the sexual habits of the +common marmoset. + diff --git a/entries/topic group.txt b/entries/topic group.txt index a2c4598..ea9ffeb 100644 --- a/entries/topic group.txt +++ b/entries/topic group.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ topic group n. Syn. forum. + diff --git a/entries/tourist information.txt b/entries/tourist information.txt index 4c2badd..4e96157 100644 --- a/entries/tourist information.txt +++ b/entries/tourist information.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ tourist information -n. Information in an on-line display that is not immediately useful, but contributes to a viewer's gestalt of what's going on with the software or hardware behind it. Whether a given piece of info falls in this category depends partly on what the user is looking for at any given time. The bytes free information at the bottom of an MS-DOS or Windows dir display is tourist information; so (most of the time) is the TIME information in a Unix ps (1) display. +n. Information in an on-line display that is not immediately useful, but +contributes to a viewer's gestalt of what's going on with the software or +hardware behind it. Whether a given piece of info falls in this category +depends partly on what the user is looking for at any given time. The bytes +free information at the bottom of an MS-DOS or Windows dir display is +tourist information; so (most of the time) is the TIME information in a Unix +ps (1) display. + diff --git a/entries/tourist.txt b/entries/tourist.txt index bb27f3d..e14bc5d 100644 --- a/entries/tourist.txt +++ b/entries/tourist.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ tourist -n. 1. [ITS] A guest on the system, especially one who generally logs in over a network from a remote location for comm mode , email, games, and other trivial purposes. One step below luser. ITS hackers often used to spell this turist , perhaps by some sort of tenuous analogy with luser (this usage may also have expressed the ITS culture's penchant for six-letterisms, and/or been some sort of tribute to Alan Turing). Compare twink , lurker , read-only user. 2. [IRC] An IRC user who goes from channel to channel without saying anything; see channel hopping. +n. 1. [ITS] A guest on the system, especially one who generally logs in over +a network from a remote location for comm mode , email, games, and other +trivial purposes. One step below luser. ITS hackers often used to spell this +turist , perhaps by some sort of tenuous analogy with luser (this usage may +also have expressed the ITS culture's penchant for six-letterisms, and/or +been some sort of tribute to Alan Turing). Compare twink , lurker , +read-only user. 2. [IRC] An IRC user who goes from channel to channel +without saying anything; see channel hopping. + diff --git a/entries/touristic.txt b/entries/touristic.txt index 647ecb9..5adda6b 100644 --- a/entries/touristic.txt +++ b/entries/touristic.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ touristic -adj. Having the quality of a tourist. Often used as a pejorative, as in losing touristic scum. Often spelled turistic or turistik , so that phrase might be more properly rendered lusing turistic scum. +adj. Having the quality of a tourist. Often used as a pejorative, as in +losing touristic scum. Often spelled turistic or turistik , so that phrase +might be more properly rendered lusing turistic scum. + diff --git a/entries/toy language.txt b/entries/toy language.txt index 653b922..4c59abb 100644 --- a/entries/toy language.txt +++ b/entries/toy language.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ toy language -n. A language useful for instructional purposes or as a proof-of-concept for some aspect of computer-science theory, but inadequate for general-purpose programming. Bad Thing s can result when a toy language is promoted as a general purpose solution for programming (see bondage-and-discipline language ); the classic example is Pascal. Several moderately well-known formalisms for conceptual tasks such as programming Turing machines also qualify as toy languages in a less negative sense. See also MFTL. +n. A language useful for instructional purposes or as a proof-of-concept for +some aspect of computer-science theory, but inadequate for general-purpose +programming. Bad Thing s can result when a toy language is promoted as a +general purpose solution for programming (see bondage-and-discipline +language ); the classic example is Pascal. Several moderately well-known +formalisms for conceptual tasks such as programming Turing machines also +qualify as toy languages in a less negative sense. See also MFTL. + diff --git a/entries/toy problem.txt b/entries/toy problem.txt index 954af84..283da02 100644 --- a/entries/toy problem.txt +++ b/entries/toy problem.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ toy problem -n. [AI] A deliberately oversimplified case of a challenging problem used to investigate, prototype, or test algorithms for a real problem. Sometimes used pejoratively. See also gedanken , toy program. +n. [AI] A deliberately oversimplified case of a challenging problem used to +investigate, prototype, or test algorithms for a real problem. Sometimes +used pejoratively. See also gedanken , toy program. + diff --git a/entries/toy program.txt b/entries/toy program.txt index 3313c87..005b677 100644 --- a/entries/toy program.txt +++ b/entries/toy program.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ toy program -n. 1. One that can be readily comprehended; hence, a trivial program (compare noddy ). 2. One for which the effort of initial coding dominates the costs through its life cycle. See also noddy. +n. 1. One that can be readily comprehended; hence, a trivial program +(compare noddy ). 2. One for which the effort of initial coding dominates +the costs through its life cycle. See also noddy. + diff --git a/entries/toy.txt b/entries/toy.txt index 1267e27..326eb31 100644 --- a/entries/toy.txt +++ b/entries/toy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ toy n. A computer system; always used with qualifiers. 1. + diff --git a/entries/trampoline.txt b/entries/trampoline.txt index 3779575..0ef3bfe 100644 --- a/entries/trampoline.txt +++ b/entries/trampoline.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ trampoline -n. An incredibly hairy technique, found in some HLL and program-overlay implementations (e.g., on the Macintosh), that involves on-the-fly generation of small executable (and, likely as not, self-modifying) code objects to do indirection between code sections. Under BSD and possibly in other Unixes, trampoline code is used to transfer control from the kernel back to user mode when a signal (which has had a handler installed) is sent to a process. These pieces of live data are called trampolines. Trampolines are notoriously difficult to understand in action; in fact, it is said by those who use this term that the trampoline that doesn't bend your brain is not the true trampoline. See also snap. +n. An incredibly hairy technique, found in some HLL and program-overlay +implementations (e.g., on the Macintosh), that involves on-the-fly +generation of small executable (and, likely as not, self-modifying) code +objects to do indirection between code sections. Under BSD and possibly in +other Unixes, trampoline code is used to transfer control from the kernel +back to user mode when a signal (which has had a handler installed) is sent +to a process. These pieces of live data are called trampolines. Trampolines +are notoriously difficult to understand in action; in fact, it is said by +those who use this term that the trampoline that doesn't bend your brain is +not the true trampoline. See also snap. + diff --git a/entries/trap door.txt b/entries/trap door.txt index ff2b736..612ae7f 100644 --- a/entries/trap door.txt +++ b/entries/trap door.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ trap door -n. (alt.: trapdoor ) 1. Syn. back door a Bad Thing. 2. [techspeak] A trap-door function is one which is easy to compute but very difficult to compute the inverse of. Such functions are Good Thing s with important applications in cryptography, specifically in the construction of public-key cryptosystems. +n. (alt.: trapdoor ) 1. Syn. back door a Bad Thing. 2. [techspeak] A +trap-door function is one which is easy to compute but very difficult to +compute the inverse of. Such functions are Good Thing s with important +applications in cryptography, specifically in the construction of public-key +cryptosystems. + diff --git a/entries/trap.txt b/entries/trap.txt index 4c00291..be7de60 100644 --- a/entries/trap.txt +++ b/entries/trap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ trap -1. n. A program interrupt, usually an interrupt caused by some exceptional situation in the user program. In most cases, the OS performs some action, then returns control to the program. 2. vi. To cause a. These instructions to the monitor. Also used transitively to indicate the cause of the. The monitor s all input/output instructions. This term is associated with assembler programming ( interrupt or exception is more common among HLL programmers) and appears to be fading into history among programmers as the role of assembler continues to shrink. However, it is still important to computer architects and systems hackers (see system , sense 1), who use it to distinguish deterministically repeatable exceptions from timing-dependent ones (such as I/O interrupts). +1. n. A program interrupt, usually an interrupt caused by some exceptional +situation in the user program. In most cases, the OS performs some action, +then returns control to the program. 2. vi. To cause a. These instructions +to the monitor. Also used transitively to indicate the cause of the. The +monitor s all input/output instructions. This term is associated with +assembler programming ( interrupt or exception is more common among HLL +programmers) and appears to be fading into history among programmers as the +role of assembler continues to shrink. However, it is still important to +computer architects and systems hackers (see system , sense 1), who use it +to distinguish deterministically repeatable exceptions from timing-dependent +ones (such as I/O interrupts). + diff --git a/entries/trash.txt b/entries/trash.txt index 73913e7..cb2b9a2 100644 --- a/entries/trash.txt +++ b/entries/trash.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ trash -vt. To destroy the contents of (said of a data structure). The most common of the family of near-synonyms including mung , mangle , scribble , and roach. +vt. To destroy the contents of (said of a data structure). The most common +of the family of near-synonyms including mung , mangle , scribble , and +roach. + diff --git a/entries/trawl.txt b/entries/trawl.txt index 8ca10e4..a337cb7 100644 --- a/entries/trawl.txt +++ b/entries/trawl.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ trawl -v. To sift through large volumes of data (e.g., Usenet postings, FTP archives, or the Jargon File) looking for something of interest. +v. To sift through large volumes of data (e.g., Usenet postings, FTP +archives, or the Jargon File) looking for something of interest. + diff --git a/entries/tree-killer.txt b/entries/tree-killer.txt index 27ff879..b39ce03 100644 --- a/entries/tree-killer.txt +++ b/entries/tree-killer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ tree-killer -n. [Sun] 1. A printer. 2. A person who wastes paper. This epithet should be interpreted in a broad sense; wasting paper includes the production of spiffy but content-free documents. Thus, most suit s are tree-killers. It is likely that both senses derive their flavor from the epithet tree-killer applied by Treebeard the Ent to the Orcs in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. See also elvish , elder days , and especially dead-tree version. +n. [Sun] 1. A printer. 2. A person who wastes paper. This epithet should be +interpreted in a broad sense; wasting paper includes the production of +spiffy but content-free documents. Thus, most suit s are tree-killers. It is +likely that both senses derive their flavor from the epithet tree-killer +applied by Treebeard the Ent to the Orcs in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the +Rings. See also elvish , elder days , and especially dead-tree version. + diff --git a/entries/treeware.txt b/entries/treeware.txt index ade2209..f4ec822 100644 --- a/entries/treeware.txt +++ b/entries/treeware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ treeware -/treeweir/ , n. Printouts, books, and other information media made from pulped dead trees. Compare tree-killer , see documentation. +/treeweir/ , n. Printouts, books, and other information media made from +pulped dead trees. Compare tree-killer , see documentation. + diff --git a/entries/trit.txt b/entries/trit.txt index fa65a66..5c0f449 100644 --- a/entries/trit.txt +++ b/entries/trit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ trit -/trit/ , n. [by analogy with bit ] One base-3 digit; the amount of information conveyed by a selection among one of three equally likely outcomes (see also bit ). Trits arise, for example, in the context of a flag that should actually be able to assume three values such as yes, no, or unknown. Trits are sometimes jokingly called 3-state bits. A trit may be semi-seriously referred to as a bit and a half , although it is linearly equivalent to 1.5849625 bits (that is, log_{2$(3)} bits). +/trit/ , n. [by analogy with bit ] One base-3 digit; the amount of +information conveyed by a selection among one of three equally likely +outcomes (see also bit ). Trits arise, for example, in the context of a flag +that should actually be able to assume three values such as yes, no, or +unknown. Trits are sometimes jokingly called 3-state bits. A trit may be +semi-seriously referred to as a bit and a half , although it is linearly +equivalent to 1.5849625 bits (that is, log_{2$(3)} bits). + diff --git a/entries/trivial.txt b/entries/trivial.txt index c972e28..4f59e17 100644 --- a/entries/trivial.txt +++ b/entries/trivial.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ trivial -adj. 1. Too simple to bother detailing. 2. Not worth the speaker's time. 3. Complex, but solvable by methods so well known that anyone not utterly cretinous would have thought of them already. 4. Any problem one has already solved (some claim that hackish trivial usually evaluates to I've seen it before ). Hackers' notions of triviality may be quite at variance with those of non-hackers. See nontrivial , uninteresting. The physicist Richard Feynman, who had the hacker nature to an amazing degree (see his essay Los Alamos From Below in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! ), defined trivial theorem as one that has already been proved. +adj. 1. Too simple to bother detailing. 2. Not worth the speaker's time. 3. +Complex, but solvable by methods so well known that anyone not utterly +cretinous would have thought of them already. 4. Any problem one has already +solved (some claim that hackish trivial usually evaluates to I've seen it +before ). Hackers' notions of triviality may be quite at variance with those +of non-hackers. See nontrivial , uninteresting. The physicist Richard +Feynman, who had the hacker nature to an amazing degree (see his essay Los +Alamos From Below in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! ), defined trivial +theorem as one that has already been proved. + diff --git a/entries/troff.txt b/entries/troff.txt index 67ce3bf..b7d7f9a 100644 --- a/entries/troff.txt +++ b/entries/troff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,25 @@ troff -/Trof/ , /trof/ , n. [Unix] The gray eminence of Unix text processing; a formatting and phototypesetting program, written originally in PDP-11 assembler and then in barely-structured early C by the late Joseph Ossanna, modeled after the earlier ROFF which was in turn modeled after the Multics and CTSS program RUNOFF by Jerome Saltzer ( that name came from the expression to run off a copy ). A companion program, nroff , formats output for terminals and line printers. In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so that it could drive phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT. His paper describing that work ( A Typesetter-independent troff, AT T CSTR #97) explains troff's durability. After discussing the program's obvious deficiencies a rebarbative input syntax, mysterious and undocumented properties in some areas, and a voracious appetite for computer resources and noting the ugliness and extreme hairiness of the code and internals, Kernighan concludes: None of these remarks should be taken as denigrating Ossanna's accomplishment with TROFF. It has proven a remarkably robust tool, taking unbelievable abuse from a variety of preprocessors and being forced into uses that were never conceived of in the original design, all with considerable grace under fire. The success of TeX and desktop publishing systems have reduced troff 's relative importance, but this tribute perfectly captures the strengths that secured troff a place in hacker folklore; indeed, it could be taken more generally as an indication of those qualities of good programs that, in the long run, hackers most admire. +/Trof/ , /trof/ , n. [Unix] The gray eminence of Unix text processing; a +formatting and phototypesetting program, written originally in PDP-11 +assembler and then in barely-structured early C by the late Joseph Ossanna, +modeled after the earlier ROFF which was in turn modeled after the Multics +and CTSS program RUNOFF by Jerome Saltzer ( that name came from the +expression to run off a copy ). A companion program, nroff , formats output +for terminals and line printers. In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so +that it could drive phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT. His +paper describing that work ( A Typesetter-independent troff, AT T CSTR #97) +explains troff's durability. After discussing the program's obvious +deficiencies a rebarbative input syntax, mysterious and undocumented +properties in some areas, and a voracious appetite for computer resources +and noting the ugliness and extreme hairiness of the code and internals, +Kernighan concludes: None of these remarks should be taken as denigrating +Ossanna's accomplishment with TROFF. It has proven a remarkably robust tool, +taking unbelievable abuse from a variety of preprocessors and being forced +into uses that were never conceived of in the original design, all with +considerable grace under fire. The success of TeX and desktop publishing +systems have reduced troff 's relative importance, but this tribute +perfectly captures the strengths that secured troff a place in hacker +folklore; indeed, it could be taken more generally as an indication of those +qualities of good programs that, in the long run, hackers most admire. + diff --git a/entries/troglodyte mode.txt b/entries/troglodyte mode.txt index 4e36e28..f7e0fec 100644 --- a/entries/troglodyte mode.txt +++ b/entries/troglodyte mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ troglodyte mode -n. [Rice University] Programming with the lights turned off, sunglasses on, and the terminal inverted (black on white) because you've been up for so many days straight that your eyes hurt (see raster burn ). Loud music blaring from a stereo stacked in the corner is optional but recommended. See larval stage , hack mode. +n. [Rice University] Programming with the lights turned off, sunglasses on, +and the terminal inverted (black on white) because you've been up for so +many days straight that your eyes hurt (see raster burn ). Loud music +blaring from a stereo stacked in the corner is optional but recommended. See +larval stage , hack mode. + diff --git a/entries/troglodyte.txt b/entries/troglodyte.txt index 64b29a8..4d436fb 100644 --- a/entries/troglodyte.txt +++ b/entries/troglodyte.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ troglodyte -n. [Commodore] 1. A hacker who never leaves his cubicle. The term gnoll (from Dungeons Dragons) is also reported. 2. A curmudgeon attached to an obsolescent computing environment. The combination ITS troglodyte was flung around some during the Usenet and email wringle-wrangle attending the 2.x.x revision of the Jargon File; at least one of the people it was intended to describe adopted it with pride. +n. [Commodore] 1. A hacker who never leaves his cubicle. The term gnoll +(from Dungeons Dragons) is also reported. 2. A curmudgeon attached to an +obsolescent computing environment. The combination ITS troglodyte was flung +around some during the Usenet and email wringle-wrangle attending the 2.x.x +revision of the Jargon File; at least one of the people it was intended to +describe adopted it with pride. + diff --git a/entries/troll.txt b/entries/troll.txt index 6b19327..23e04d9 100644 --- a/entries/troll.txt +++ b/entries/troll.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ troll -To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flame s; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase trolling for newbie s which in turn comes from mainstream trolling , a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT. 2. n. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that they have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll. Compare kook. 3. n. +To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or +flame s; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase trolling for newbie s +which in turn comes from mainstream trolling , a style of fishing in which +one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The +well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to +make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly +conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate +troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also +YHBT. 2. n. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts +specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion +list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a +discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that they have no real +interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter +flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no +redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form +of life on the net, as in, Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll. Compare kook. +3. n. + diff --git a/entries/tron.txt b/entries/tron.txt index 4af5390..ea6c20f 100644 --- a/entries/tron.txt +++ b/entries/tron.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ tron -v. [NRL, CMU; prob. fr. the movie Tron ] To become inaccessible except via email or talk (1) , especially when one is normally available via telephone or in person. Frequently used in the past tense, as in: Ran seems to have tronned on us this week or Gee, Ran, glad you were able to un-tron yourself. One may also speak of tron mode ; compare spod. Note that many dialects of BASIC have a TRON/TROFF command pair that enables/disables line number tracing; this has no obvious relationship to the slang usage. +v. [NRL, CMU; prob. fr. the movie Tron ] To become inaccessible except via +email or talk (1) , especially when one is normally available via telephone +or in person. Frequently used in the past tense, as in: Ran seems to have +tronned on us this week or Gee, Ran, glad you were able to un-tron yourself. +One may also speak of tron mode ; compare spod. Note that many dialects of +BASIC have a TRON/TROFF command pair that enables/disables line number +tracing; this has no obvious relationship to the slang usage. + diff --git a/entries/troughie.txt b/entries/troughie.txt index c2f58cb..29911c5 100644 --- a/entries/troughie.txt +++ b/entries/troughie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ troughie -/trawfee/ , n. [British BBS scene] Synonym for leech , sense 1. The implied metaphor is that of a pig at a trough. +/trawfee/ , n. [British BBS scene] Synonym for leech , sense 1. The implied +metaphor is that of a pig at a trough. + diff --git a/entries/true-hacker.txt b/entries/true-hacker.txt index eeb62d9..a9b0002 100644 --- a/entries/true-hacker.txt +++ b/entries/true-hacker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ true-hacker -n. [analogy with trufan from SF fandom] One who exemplifies the primary values of hacker culture, esp. competence and helpfulness to other hackers. A high compliment. He spent 6 hours helping me bring up UUCP and netnews on my FOOBAR 4000 last week manifestly the act of a true-hacker. Compare demigod , oppose munchkin. +n. [analogy with trufan from SF fandom] One who exemplifies the primary +values of hacker culture, esp. competence and helpfulness to other hackers. +A high compliment. He spent 6 hours helping me bring up UUCP and netnews on +my FOOBAR 4000 last week manifestly the act of a true-hacker. Compare +demigod , oppose munchkin. + diff --git a/entries/tty.txt b/entries/tty.txt index 2d76732..075a0ba 100644 --- a/entries/tty.txt +++ b/entries/tty.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ tty -/TTY/ , /titee/ , n. The latter pronunciation was primarily ITS, but some Unix people say it this way as well; this pronunciation is not considered to have sexual undertones. 1. A terminal of the teletype variety, characterized by a noisy mechanical printer, a very limited character set, and poor print quality. Usage: antiquated (like the TTYs themselves). See also bit-paired keyboard. 2. [especially Unix] Any terminal at all; sometimes used to refer to the particular terminal controlling a given job. 3. [Unix] Any serial port, whether or not the device connected to it is a terminal; so called because under Unix such devices have names of the form tty*. Ambiguity between senses 2 and 3 is common but seldom bothersome. +/TTY/ , /titee/ , n. The latter pronunciation was primarily ITS, but some +Unix people say it this way as well; this pronunciation is not considered to +have sexual undertones. 1. A terminal of the teletype variety, characterized +by a noisy mechanical printer, a very limited character set, and poor print +quality. Usage: antiquated (like the TTYs themselves). See also bit-paired +keyboard. 2. [especially Unix] Any terminal at all; sometimes used to refer +to the particular terminal controlling a given job. 3. [Unix] Any serial +port, whether or not the device connected to it is a terminal; so called +because under Unix such devices have names of the form tty*. Ambiguity +between senses 2 and 3 is common but seldom bothersome. + diff --git a/entries/tube time.txt b/entries/tube time.txt index 5618d75..5e5a146 100644 --- a/entries/tube time.txt +++ b/entries/tube time.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ tube time -n. Time spent at a terminal or console. More inclusive than hacking time; commonly used in discussions of what parts of one's environment one uses most heavily. I find I'm spending too much of my tube time reading mail since I started this revision. +n. Time spent at a terminal or console. More inclusive than hacking time; +commonly used in discussions of what parts of one's environment one uses +most heavily. I find I'm spending too much of my tube time reading mail +since I started this revision. + diff --git a/entries/tube.txt b/entries/tube.txt index bf9ce38..5be6a7c 100644 --- a/entries/tube.txt +++ b/entries/tube.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ tube To send a copy of something to someone else's terminal. + diff --git a/entries/tumbler.txt b/entries/tumbler.txt index fe096fe..f71ede4 100644 --- a/entries/tumbler.txt +++ b/entries/tumbler.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ tumbler -n. 1. [Originally from the Xanadu hypertext project] A tumbler is a magic cookie generated as part of a record or message to give it a unique identity. Usually a tumbler includes an encoded form of its creation date, but if a software system has more than one concurrent process that could generate tumblers it must also include an encoding of the process ID. If tumblers will be shared across multiple network hosts, they must also include the host name or network address. Tumblers often include a hash of the rest of the message or record content so that it is possible to verify the correctness of the data the tumbler is attached to. 2. Variant text added to spam instances (often in the Subject line) to make them unique. This kind of tumbler is used to defeat schemes that check an exact hash of an incoming message against known spam signatures; it also compromises some kinds of statistical spam recognition. +n. 1. [Originally from the Xanadu hypertext project] A tumbler is a magic +cookie generated as part of a record or message to give it a unique +identity. Usually a tumbler includes an encoded form of its creation date, +but if a software system has more than one concurrent process that could +generate tumblers it must also include an encoding of the process ID. If +tumblers will be shared across multiple network hosts, they must also +include the host name or network address. Tumblers often include a hash of +the rest of the message or record content so that it is possible to verify +the correctness of the data the tumbler is attached to. 2. Variant text +added to spam instances (often in the Subject line) to make them unique. +This kind of tumbler is used to defeat schemes that check an exact hash of +an incoming message against known spam signatures; it also compromises some +kinds of statistical spam recognition. + diff --git a/entries/tunafish.txt b/entries/tunafish.txt index cb3872f..0a772aa 100644 --- a/entries/tunafish.txt +++ b/entries/tunafish.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ tunafish -n. In hackish lore, refers to the mutated punchline of an age-old joke to be found at the bottom of the manual pages of tunefs (8) in the original BSD 4.2 distribution. The joke was removed in later releases once commercial sites started using 4.2, but apparently restored on the 4.4BSD tape and in {Net,Free,Open}BSD. Tunefs relates to the tuning of file-system parameters for optimum performance, and at the bottom of a few pages of wizardly inscriptions was a BUGS section consisting of the line You can tune a file system, but you can't tunafish. Variants of this can be seen in other BSD versions, though it has been excised from some versions by humorless management droid s. The [nt]roff source for SunOS 4.1.1 contains a comment apparently designed to prevent this: Take this out and a Unix Demon will dog your steps from now until the time_t 's wrap around. [It has since been pointed out that indeed you can tunafish. Usually at a canning factory... +n. In hackish lore, refers to the mutated punchline of an age-old joke to be +found at the bottom of the manual pages of tunefs (8) in the original BSD +4.2 distribution. The joke was removed in later releases once commercial +sites started using 4.2, but apparently restored on the 4.4BSD tape and in +{Net,Free,Open}BSD. Tunefs relates to the tuning of file-system parameters +for optimum performance, and at the bottom of a few pages of wizardly +inscriptions was a BUGS section consisting of the line You can tune a file +system, but you can't tunafish. Variants of this can be seen in other BSD +versions, though it has been excised from some versions by humorless +management droid s. The [nt]roff source for SunOS 4.1.1 contains a comment +apparently designed to prevent this: Take this out and a Unix Demon will dog +your steps from now until the time_t 's wrap around. [It has since been +pointed out that indeed you can tunafish. Usually at a canning factory... + diff --git a/entries/tune.txt b/entries/tune.txt index 60bdfeb..9e5ee13 100644 --- a/entries/tune.txt +++ b/entries/tune.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ tune -vt. [from automotive or musical usage] To optimize a program or system for a particular environment, esp. by adjusting numerical parameters designed as hook s for tuning, e.g., by changing #define lines in C. One may tune for time (fastest execution), tune for space (least memory use), or tune for configuration (most efficient use of hardware). See hot spot , hand-hacking. +vt. [from automotive or musical usage] To optimize a program or system for a +particular environment, esp. by adjusting numerical parameters designed as +hook s for tuning, e.g., by changing #define lines in C. One may tune for +time (fastest execution), tune for space (least memory use), or tune for +configuration (most efficient use of hardware). See hot spot , hand-hacking. + diff --git a/entries/turbo nerd.txt b/entries/turbo nerd.txt index 274046f..d3a8947 100644 --- a/entries/turbo nerd.txt +++ b/entries/turbo nerd.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ turbo nerd n. See geek. + diff --git a/entries/turist.txt b/entries/turist.txt index abb3348..52531c9 100644 --- a/entries/turist.txt +++ b/entries/turist.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ turist -/toorist/ , n. Var. sp. of tourist , q.v. Also in adjectival form, turistic. Poss. influenced by luser and Turing. +/toorist/ , n. Var. sp. of tourist , q.v. Also in adjectival form, turistic. +Poss. influenced by luser and Turing. + diff --git a/entries/tweak.txt b/entries/tweak.txt index 4717664..3961bff 100644 --- a/entries/tweak.txt +++ b/entries/tweak.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ tweak -vt. 1. To change slightly, usually in reference to a value. Also used synonymously with twiddle. If a program is almost correct, rather than figure out the precise problem you might just keep tweaking it until it works. See frobnicate and fudge factor ; also see shotgun debugging. 2. To tune a program; preferred usage in the U.K. +vt. 1. To change slightly, usually in reference to a value. Also used +synonymously with twiddle. If a program is almost correct, rather than +figure out the precise problem you might just keep tweaking it until it +works. See frobnicate and fudge factor ; also see shotgun debugging. 2. To +tune a program; preferred usage in the U.K. + diff --git a/entries/twiddle.txt b/entries/twiddle.txt index 1526b39..5597a8c 100644 --- a/entries/twiddle.txt +++ b/entries/twiddle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ twiddle -n. 1. Tilde (ASCII 1111110, ~ ). Also called squiggle , sqiggle (sic pronounced /skigl/ ), and twaddle , but twiddle is the most common term. 2. A small and insignificant change to a program. Usually fixes one bug and generates several new ones (see also shotgun debugging ). 3. vt. To change something in a small way. Bits, for example, are often twiddled. Twiddling a switch or knobs implies much less sense of purpose than toggling or tweaking it; see frobnicate. To speak of twiddling a bit connotes aimlessness, and at best doesn't specify what you're doing to the bit; toggling a bit has a more specific meaning (see bit twiddling , toggle ). 4. Uncommon name for the twirling baton prompt. +n. 1. Tilde (ASCII 1111110, ~ ). Also called squiggle , sqiggle (sic +pronounced /skigl/ ), and twaddle , but twiddle is the most common term. 2. +A small and insignificant change to a program. Usually fixes one bug and +generates several new ones (see also shotgun debugging ). 3. vt. To change +something in a small way. Bits, for example, are often twiddled. Twiddling a +switch or knobs implies much less sense of purpose than toggling or tweaking +it; see frobnicate. To speak of twiddling a bit connotes aimlessness, and at +best doesn't specify what you're doing to the bit; toggling a bit has a more +specific meaning (see bit twiddling , toggle ). 4. Uncommon name for the +twirling baton prompt. + diff --git a/entries/twilight zone.txt b/entries/twilight zone.txt index a2bae54..a418c0a 100644 --- a/entries/twilight zone.txt +++ b/entries/twilight zone.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ twilight zone -n. , // [IRC] Notionally, the area of cyberspace where IRC operators live. An op is said to have a connection to the twilight zone. +n. , // [IRC] Notionally, the area of cyberspace where IRC operators live. +An op is said to have a connection to the twilight zone. + diff --git a/entries/twink.txt b/entries/twink.txt index 6d169f9..59fea41 100644 --- a/entries/twink.txt +++ b/entries/twink.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ twink -/twink/ , n. 1. [Berkeley] A clue-repellant user; the next step beyond a clueless one. 2. [UCSC] A read-only user. Also reported on the Usenet group soc.motss ; may derive from gay slang for a cute young thing with nothing upstairs (compare mainstream chick ). 3. On MU* systems that specialize in role-playing, refers to behavior of a (usually inexperienced) player that either ignores rules or social convention, or disrupts the natural flow of a scene to show off super powers. We are informed that in Indian country, the term twink generally refers to blondes into generic Native American spirituality. Signs include Indian jewelry with MADE IN THAILAND stamped on it, crystals, Clairol black hair, wearing swimsuits to powwows, Cherokee princess grandmas, a love of Dances with Wolves , and a fear of AIM and the NCAI. The twink nature is everywhere. +/twink/ , n. 1. [Berkeley] A clue-repellant user; the next step beyond a +clueless one. 2. [UCSC] A read-only user. Also reported on the Usenet group +soc.motss ; may derive from gay slang for a cute young thing with nothing +upstairs (compare mainstream chick ). 3. On MU* systems that specialize in +role-playing, refers to behavior of a (usually inexperienced) player that +either ignores rules or social convention, or disrupts the natural flow of a +scene to show off super powers. We are informed that in Indian country, the +term twink generally refers to blondes into generic Native American +spirituality. Signs include Indian jewelry with MADE IN THAILAND stamped on +it, crystals, Clairol black hair, wearing swimsuits to powwows, Cherokee +princess grandmas, a love of Dances with Wolves , and a fear of AIM and the +NCAI. The twink nature is everywhere. + diff --git a/entries/twirling baton.txt b/entries/twirling baton.txt index 4453156..7909485 100644 --- a/entries/twirling baton.txt +++ b/entries/twirling baton.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ twirling baton -n. [PLATO] The overstrike sequence -/|\-/|\- which produces an animated twirling baton. If you output it with a single backspace between characters, the baton spins in place. If you output the sequence BS SP between characters, the baton spins from left to right. If you output BS SP BS BS between characters, the baton spins from right to left. This is also occasionally called a twiddle prompt. The twirling baton was a popular component of animated signature files on the pioneering PLATO educational timesharing system. The archie Internet service is perhaps the best-known baton program today; it uses the twirling baton as an idler indicating that the program is working on a query. The twirling baton is also used as a boot progress indicator on several BSD variants of Unix; if it stops, you're probably going to have a long and trying day. +n. [PLATO] The overstrike sequence -/|\-/|\- which produces an animated +twirling baton. If you output it with a single backspace between characters, +the baton spins in place. If you output the sequence BS SP between +characters, the baton spins from left to right. If you output BS SP BS BS +between characters, the baton spins from right to left. This is also +occasionally called a twiddle prompt. The twirling baton was a popular +component of animated signature files on the pioneering PLATO educational +timesharing system. The archie Internet service is perhaps the best-known +baton program today; it uses the twirling baton as an idler indicating that +the program is working on a query. The twirling baton is also used as a boot +progress indicator on several BSD variants of Unix; if it stops, you're +probably going to have a long and trying day. + diff --git a/entries/two pi.txt b/entries/two pi.txt index cae51fe..8e63874 100644 --- a/entries/two pi.txt +++ b/entries/two pi.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ two pi -quant. The number of years it takes to finish one's thesis. Occurs in stories in the following form: He started on his thesis; 2 pi years later... +quant. The number of years it takes to finish one's thesis. Occurs in +stories in the following form: He started on his thesis; 2 pi years later... + diff --git a/entries/two-to-the-N.txt b/entries/two-to-the-N.txt index 18c0e5f..8b2ba4d 100644 --- a/entries/two-to-the-N.txt +++ b/entries/two-to-the-N.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ two-to-the-N -quant. An amount much larger than N but smaller than infinity. I have 2-to-the- N things to do before I can go out for lunch means you probably won't show up. +quant. An amount much larger than N but smaller than infinity. I have +2-to-the- N things to do before I can go out for lunch means you probably +won't show up. + diff --git a/entries/tyop.txt b/entries/tyop.txt index aa55fe2..904b6c4 100644 --- a/entries/tyop.txt +++ b/entries/tyop.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ tyop -n. [USENET] A deliberate typo for typo. Used in satirical reference. There's a tyop in your posting. Compare grilf , hing. +n. [USENET] A deliberate typo for typo. Used in satirical reference. There's +a tyop in your posting. Compare grilf , hing. + diff --git a/entries/u-.txt b/entries/u-.txt index 43d7805..982ef1b 100644 --- a/entries/u-.txt +++ b/entries/u-.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ u- -pref. Written shorthand for micro- ; techspeak when applied to metric units, jargon when used otherwise. Derived from the Greek letter the first letter of micro (and which letter looks a lot like the English letter u ). +pref. Written shorthand for micro- ; techspeak when applied to metric units, +jargon when used otherwise. Derived from the Greek letter the first letter +of micro (and which letter looks a lot like the English letter u ). + diff --git a/entries/ubergeek.txt b/entries/ubergeek.txt index 837a0d3..9e10eb0 100644 --- a/entries/ubergeek.txt +++ b/entries/ubergeek.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ ubergeek -n. , /oobergeek/ [common; often spelled with initial ; from German ber + geek ] Almost synonymous with demigod ; used as a compliment of someone regarded as a paragon of geek achievement and virtue. Has partially replaced earlier demigod. +n. , /oobergeek/ [common; often spelled with initial ; from German ber + +geek ] Almost synonymous with demigod ; used as a compliment of someone +regarded as a paragon of geek achievement and virtue. Has partially replaced +earlier demigod. + diff --git a/entries/undefined external reference.txt b/entries/undefined external reference.txt index 13b9599..ec007b2 100644 --- a/entries/undefined external reference.txt +++ b/entries/undefined external reference.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ undefined external reference -excl. [Unix] A message from Unix's linker. Used in speech to flag loose ends or dangling references in an argument or discussion. +excl. [Unix] A message from Unix's linker. Used in speech to flag loose ends +or dangling references in an argument or discussion. + diff --git a/entries/under the hood.txt b/entries/under the hood.txt index 14c6078..8382e37 100644 --- a/entries/under the hood.txt +++ b/entries/under the hood.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ under the hood -adj. [hot-rodder talk] 1. Used to introduce the underlying implementation of a product (hardware, software, or idea). Implies that the implementation is not intuitively obvious from the appearance, but the speaker is about to enable the listener to grok it. Let's now look under the hood to see how. ... 2. Can also imply that the implementation is much simpler than the appearance would indicate: Under the hood, we are just fork/execing the shell. 3. +adj. [hot-rodder talk] 1. Used to introduce the underlying implementation of +a product (hardware, software, or idea). Implies that the implementation is +not intuitively obvious from the appearance, but the speaker is about to +enable the listener to grok it. Let's now look under the hood to see how. +... 2. Can also imply that the implementation is much simpler than the +appearance would indicate: Under the hood, we are just fork/execing the +shell. 3. + diff --git a/entries/undocumented feature.txt b/entries/undocumented feature.txt index 1c0d468..b98ec0a 100644 --- a/entries/undocumented feature.txt +++ b/entries/undocumented feature.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ undocumented feature n. See feature. + diff --git a/entries/uninteresting.txt b/entries/uninteresting.txt index a65cb2e..6d6f9bd 100644 --- a/entries/uninteresting.txt +++ b/entries/uninteresting.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ uninteresting -adj. 1. Said of a problem that, although nontrivial , can be solved simply by throwing sufficient resources at it. 2. Also said of problems for which a solution would neither advance the state of the art nor be fun to design and code. Hackers regard uninteresting problems as intolerable wastes of time, to be solved (if at all) by lesser mortals. Real hackers (see toolsmith ) generalize uninteresting problems enough to make them interesting and solve them thus solving the original problem as a special case (and, it must be admitted, occasionally turning a molehill into a mountain, or a mountain into a tectonic plate). See WOMBAT , SMOP ; compare toy problem , oppose interesting. +adj. 1. Said of a problem that, although nontrivial , can be solved simply +by throwing sufficient resources at it. 2. Also said of problems for which a +solution would neither advance the state of the art nor be fun to design and +code. Hackers regard uninteresting problems as intolerable wastes of time, +to be solved (if at all) by lesser mortals. Real hackers (see toolsmith ) +generalize uninteresting problems enough to make them interesting and solve +them thus solving the original problem as a special case (and, it must be +admitted, occasionally turning a molehill into a mountain, or a mountain +into a tectonic plate). See WOMBAT , SMOP ; compare toy problem , oppose +interesting. + diff --git a/entries/unixism.txt b/entries/unixism.txt index 62a6d77..12659c7 100644 --- a/entries/unixism.txt +++ b/entries/unixism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ unixism -n. A piece of code or a coding technique that depends on the protected multi-tasking environment with relatively low process-spawn overhead that exists on virtual-memory Unix systems. Common unixism s include: gratuitous use of fork (2) ; the assumption that certain undocumented but well-known features of Unix libraries such as stdio (3) are supported elsewhere; reliance on obscure side-effects of system calls (use of sleep (2) with a 0 argument to clue the scheduler that you're willing to give up your time-slice, for example); the assumption that freshly allocated memory is zeroed; and the assumption that fragmentation problems won't arise from never free () ing memory. Compare vaxocentrism ; see also New Jersey. +n. A piece of code or a coding technique that depends on the protected +multi-tasking environment with relatively low process-spawn overhead that +exists on virtual-memory Unix systems. Common unixism s include: gratuitous +use of fork (2) ; the assumption that certain undocumented but well-known +features of Unix libraries such as stdio (3) are supported elsewhere; +reliance on obscure side-effects of system calls (use of sleep (2) with a 0 +argument to clue the scheduler that you're willing to give up your +time-slice, for example); the assumption that freshly allocated memory is +zeroed; and the assumption that fragmentation problems won't arise from +never free () ing memory. Compare vaxocentrism ; see also New Jersey. + diff --git a/entries/unswizzle.txt b/entries/unswizzle.txt index 6b81bbb..e4f7185 100644 --- a/entries/unswizzle.txt +++ b/entries/unswizzle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ unswizzle v. See swizzle. + diff --git a/entries/unwind the stack.txt b/entries/unwind the stack.txt index 113e20e..f101347 100644 --- a/entries/unwind the stack.txt +++ b/entries/unwind the stack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ unwind the stack -vi. 1. [techspeak] During the execution of a procedural language, one is said to unwind the stack from a called procedure up to a caller when one discards the stack frame and any number of frames above it, popping back up to the level of the given caller. In C this is done with longjmp / setjmp , in LISP or C++ with throw/catch. See also smash the stack. 2. People can unwind the stack as well, by quickly dealing with a bunch of problems: Oh heck, let's do lunch. Just a second while I unwind my stack. +vi. 1. [techspeak] During the execution of a procedural language, one is +said to unwind the stack from a called procedure up to a caller when one +discards the stack frame and any number of frames above it, popping back up +to the level of the given caller. In C this is done with longjmp / setjmp , +in LISP or C++ with throw/catch. See also smash the stack. 2. People can +unwind the stack as well, by quickly dealing with a bunch of problems: Oh +heck, let's do lunch. Just a second while I unwind my stack. + diff --git a/entries/unwind-protect.txt b/entries/unwind-protect.txt index a072065..13e0c12 100644 --- a/entries/unwind-protect.txt +++ b/entries/unwind-protect.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ unwind-protect -n. [MIT: from the name of a LISP operator] A task you must remember to perform before you leave a place or finish a project. I have an unwind-protect to call my advisor. +n. [MIT: from the name of a LISP operator] A task you must remember to +perform before you leave a place or finish a project. I have an +unwind-protect to call my advisor. + diff --git a/entries/up.txt b/entries/up.txt index f527fcf..215c4c8 100644 --- a/entries/up.txt +++ b/entries/up.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ up adj. 1. Working, in order. The down escalator is up. Oppose down. 2. + diff --git a/entries/upload.txt b/entries/upload.txt index 54df29d..34e1807 100644 --- a/entries/upload.txt +++ b/entries/upload.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ upload -/uhplohd/ , v. 1. [techspeak] To transfer programs or data over a digital communications link from a system near you (especially a smaller or peripheral client system) to one further away from you (especially a larger or central host system). A transfer in the other direction is, of course, called a download 2. [speculatively] To move the essential patterns and algorithms that make up one's mind from one's brain into a computer. Those who are convinced that such patterns and algorithms capture the complete essence of the self view this prospect with pleasant anticipation. +/uhplohd/ , v. 1. [techspeak] To transfer programs or data over a digital +communications link from a system near you (especially a smaller or +peripheral client system) to one further away from you (especially a larger +or central host system). A transfer in the other direction is, of course, +called a download 2. [speculatively] To move the essential patterns and +algorithms that make up one's mind from one's brain into a computer. Those +who are convinced that such patterns and algorithms capture the complete +essence of the self view this prospect with pleasant anticipation. + diff --git a/entries/upstream.txt b/entries/upstream.txt index 0db30e6..8b7f585 100644 --- a/entries/upstream.txt +++ b/entries/upstream.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ upstream -adj. [common] Towards the original author(s) or maintainer(s) of a project. Used in connection with software that is distributed both in its original source form and in derived, adapted versions through a distribution (like the Debian version of Linux or one of the BSD ports) that has component maintainers for each of their parts. When a component maintainer receives a bug report or patch, he may choose to retain the patch as a porting tweak to the distribution's derivative of the project, or to pass it upstream to the project's maintainer. The antonym downstream is rare. +adj. [common] Towards the original author(s) or maintainer(s) of a project. +Used in connection with software that is distributed both in its original +source form and in derived, adapted versions through a distribution (like +the Debian version of Linux or one of the BSD ports) that has component +maintainers for each of their parts. When a component maintainer receives a +bug report or patch, he may choose to retain the patch as a porting tweak to +the distribution's derivative of the project, or to pass it upstream to the +project's maintainer. The antonym downstream is rare. + diff --git a/entries/upthread.txt b/entries/upthread.txt index 4bd32bf..c13d053 100644 --- a/entries/upthread.txt +++ b/entries/upthread.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ upthread -adv. Earlier in the discussion (see thread ), i.e., above. As Joe pointed out upthread, . .. See also followup. +adv. Earlier in the discussion (see thread ), i.e., above. As Joe pointed +out upthread, . .. See also followup. + diff --git a/entries/uptime.txt b/entries/uptime.txt index d7c6507..d330d58 100644 --- a/entries/uptime.txt +++ b/entries/uptime.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ uptime -n. Technically, a machine's time since last reboot; jargonically, how long a hacker has gone without sleep. What's your uptime? Oh, about 28 hours so far, but I think I can probably do another 12. This is, of course, a reference to the uptime command and the pride with which most Unix types note how long their computers go without reboots. Uptime is a testament to the stability of the OS and the stamina of the hacker. +n. Technically, a machine's time since last reboot; jargonically, how long a +hacker has gone without sleep. What's your uptime? Oh, about 28 hours so +far, but I think I can probably do another 12. This is, of course, a +reference to the uptime command and the pride with which most Unix types +note how long their computers go without reboots. Uptime is a testament to +the stability of the OS and the stamina of the hacker. + diff --git a/entries/urchin.txt b/entries/urchin.txt index 1c6400e..a16d109 100644 --- a/entries/urchin.txt +++ b/entries/urchin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ urchin n. See munchkin. + diff --git a/entries/user-friendly.txt b/entries/user-friendly.txt index 43eb240..4ceb237 100644 --- a/entries/user-friendly.txt +++ b/entries/user-friendly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ user-friendly -adj. Programmer-hostile. Generally used by hackers in a critical tone, to describe systems that hold the user's hand so obsessively that they make it painful for the more experienced and knowledgeable to get any work done. See menuitis , drool-proof paper , Macintrash , user-obsequious. +adj. Programmer-hostile. Generally used by hackers in a critical tone, to +describe systems that hold the user's hand so obsessively that they make it +painful for the more experienced and knowledgeable to get any work done. See +menuitis , drool-proof paper , Macintrash , user-obsequious. + diff --git a/entries/user-obsequious.txt b/entries/user-obsequious.txt index 4d5c597..05b75cb 100644 --- a/entries/user-obsequious.txt +++ b/entries/user-obsequious.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ user-obsequious -adj. Emphatic form of user-friendly. Connotes a system so verbose, inflexible, and determinedly simple-minded that it is nearly unusable. Design a system any fool can use and only a fool will want to use it. See WIMP environment , Macintrash. +adj. Emphatic form of user-friendly. Connotes a system so verbose, +inflexible, and determinedly simple-minded that it is nearly unusable. +Design a system any fool can use and only a fool will want to use it. See +WIMP environment , Macintrash. + diff --git a/entries/user.txt b/entries/user.txt index edd31dd..f033453 100644 --- a/entries/user.txt +++ b/entries/user.txt @@ -1,3 +1,23 @@ user -n. 1. Someone doing real work with the computer, using it as a means rather than an end. Someone who pays to use a computer. See real user. 2. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who asks silly questions. [GLS observes: This is slightly unfair. It is true that users ask questions (of necessity). Sometimes they are thoughtful or deep. Very often they are annoying or downright stupid, apparently because the user failed to think for two seconds or look in the documentation before bothering the maintainer.] See luser. 3. Someone who uses a program from the outside, however skillfully, without getting into the internals of the program. One who reports bugs instead of just going ahead and fixing them. The general theory behind this term is that there are two classes of people who work with a program: there are implementors (hackers) and luser s. The users are looked down on by hackers to some extent because they don't understand the full ramifications of the system in all its glory. (The few users who do are known as real winners. ) The term is a relative one: a skilled hacker may be a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus there is some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be resolved by context. +n. 1. Someone doing real work with the computer, using it as a means rather +than an end. Someone who pays to use a computer. See real user. 2. A +programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who asks silly +questions. [GLS observes: This is slightly unfair. It is true that users ask +questions (of necessity). Sometimes they are thoughtful or deep. Very often +they are annoying or downright stupid, apparently because the user failed to +think for two seconds or look in the documentation before bothering the +maintainer.] See luser. 3. Someone who uses a program from the outside, +however skillfully, without getting into the internals of the program. One +who reports bugs instead of just going ahead and fixing them. The general +theory behind this term is that there are two classes of people who work +with a program: there are implementors (hackers) and luser s. The users are +looked down on by hackers to some extent because they don't understand the +full ramifications of the system in all its glory. (The few users who do are +known as real winners. ) The term is a relative one: a skilled hacker may be +a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker +might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of +a hacker). A LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus +there is some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be +resolved by context. + diff --git a/entries/userland.txt b/entries/userland.txt index f8d0f22..c6a0fe7 100644 --- a/entries/userland.txt +++ b/entries/userland.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ userland -n. Anywhere outside the kernel. That code belongs in userland. This term has been in common use among Unix kernel hackers since at least 1985, and may have have originated in that community. The earliest sighting was reported from the usenet group net.unix-wizards. +n. Anywhere outside the kernel. That code belongs in userland. This term has +been in common use among Unix kernel hackers since at least 1985, and may +have have originated in that community. The earliest sighting was reported +from the usenet group net.unix-wizards. + diff --git a/entries/vadding.txt b/entries/vadding.txt index 6cf5752..42eabd5 100644 --- a/entries/vadding.txt +++ b/entries/vadding.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ vadding -/vading/ , n. [from VAD, a permutation of ADV (i.e., ADVENT ), used to avoid a particular admin 's continual search-and-destroy sweeps for the game] A leisure-time activity of certain hackers involving the covert exploration of the secret parts of large buildings basements, roofs, freight elevators, maintenance crawlways, steam tunnels, and the like. A few go so far as to learn locksmithing in order to synthesize vadding keys. The verb is to vad (compare phreaking ; see also hack , sense 9). This term dates from the late 1970s, before which such activity was simply called hacking ; the older usage is still prevalent at MIT. The most extreme and dangerous form of vadding is elevator rodeo , a.k.a. elevator surfing , a sport played by wrasslin' down a thousand-pound elevator car with a 3-foot piece of string, and then exploiting this mastery in various stimulating ways (such as elevator hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and the ever-popular drop experiments). +/vading/ , n. [from VAD, a permutation of ADV (i.e., ADVENT ), used to avoid +a particular admin 's continual search-and-destroy sweeps for the game] A +leisure-time activity of certain hackers involving the covert exploration of +the secret parts of large buildings basements, roofs, freight elevators, +maintenance crawlways, steam tunnels, and the like. A few go so far as to +learn locksmithing in order to synthesize vadding keys. The verb is to vad +(compare phreaking ; see also hack , sense 9). This term dates from the late +1970s, before which such activity was simply called hacking ; the older +usage is still prevalent at MIT. The most extreme and dangerous form of +vadding is elevator rodeo , a.k.a. elevator surfing , a sport played by +wrasslin' down a thousand-pound elevator car with a 3-foot piece of string, +and then exploiting this mastery in various stimulating ways (such as +elevator hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and the ever-popular drop +experiments). + diff --git a/entries/vanilla.txt b/entries/vanilla.txt index 16b932e..f4d59c7 100644 --- a/entries/vanilla.txt +++ b/entries/vanilla.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ vanilla -adj. [from the default flavor of ice cream in the U.S.] Ordinary flavor , standard. When used of food, very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla extract! For example, vanilla wonton soup means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup. Applied to hardware and software, as in Vanilla Version 7 Unix can't run on a vanilla 11/34. Also used to orthogonalize chip nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 means what TI calls a 7400, as distinct from a 74LS00, etc. This word differs from canonical in that the latter means default , whereas vanilla simply means ordinary. For example, when hackers go on a great-wall , hot-and-sour soup is the canonical soup to get (because that is what most of them usually order) even though it isn't the vanilla (wonton) soup. +adj. [from the default flavor of ice cream in the U.S.] Ordinary flavor , +standard. When used of food, very often does not mean that the food is +flavored with vanilla extract! For example, vanilla wonton soup means +ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup. Applied to +hardware and software, as in Vanilla Version 7 Unix can't run on a vanilla +11/34. Also used to orthogonalize chip nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 +means what TI calls a 7400, as distinct from a 74LS00, etc. This word +differs from canonical in that the latter means default , whereas vanilla +simply means ordinary. For example, when hackers go on a great-wall , +hot-and-sour soup is the canonical soup to get (because that is what most of +them usually order) even though it isn't the vanilla (wonton) soup. + diff --git a/entries/vanity domain.txt b/entries/vanity domain.txt index 4baa232..1c8d6e6 100644 --- a/entries/vanity domain.txt +++ b/entries/vanity domain.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ vanity domain -n. [common; from vanity plate as in car license plate] An Internet domain, particularly in the. com or. org top-level domains, apparently created for no reason other than boosting the creator's ego. +n. [common; from vanity plate as in car license plate] An Internet domain, +particularly in the. com or. org top-level domains, apparently created for +no reason other than boosting the creator's ego. + diff --git a/entries/vannevar.txt b/entries/vannevar.txt index 205b964..1117e81 100644 --- a/entries/vannevar.txt +++ b/entries/vannevar.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ vannevar -/van'@var/ , n. A bogus technological prediction or a foredoomed engineering concept, esp. one that fails by implicitly assuming that technologies develop linearly, incrementally, and in isolation from one another when in fact the learning curve tends to be highly nonlinear, revolutions are common, and competition is the rule. The prototype was Vannevar Bush's prediction of electronic brains the size of the Empire State Building with a Niagara-Falls-equivalent cooling system for their tubes and relays, a prediction made at a time when the semiconductor effect had already been demonstrated. Other famous vannevars have included magnetic-bubble memory, LISP machines, videotex , and a paper from the late 1970s that computed a purported ultimate limit on areal density for ICs that was in fact less than the routine densities of 5 years later. +/van'@var/ , n. A bogus technological prediction or a foredoomed engineering +concept, esp. one that fails by implicitly assuming that technologies +develop linearly, incrementally, and in isolation from one another when in +fact the learning curve tends to be highly nonlinear, revolutions are +common, and competition is the rule. The prototype was Vannevar Bush's +prediction of electronic brains the size of the Empire State Building with a +Niagara-Falls-equivalent cooling system for their tubes and relays, a +prediction made at a time when the semiconductor effect had already been +demonstrated. Other famous vannevars have included magnetic-bubble memory, +LISP machines, videotex , and a paper from the late 1970s that computed a +purported ultimate limit on areal density for ICs that was in fact less than +the routine densities of 5 years later. + diff --git a/entries/vaporware.txt b/entries/vaporware.txt index 30d0a7a..4b9b0cd 100644 --- a/entries/vaporware.txt +++ b/entries/vaporware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ vaporware -/vayprweir/ , n. Products announced far in advance of any release (which may or may not actually take place). +/vayprweir/ , n. Products announced far in advance of any release (which may +or may not actually take place). + diff --git a/entries/var.txt b/entries/var.txt index e003821..ea618f1 100644 --- a/entries/var.txt +++ b/entries/var.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ var /veir/ , /var/ , n. Short for variable. Compare arg , param. + diff --git a/entries/vaston.txt b/entries/vaston.txt index 0476951..c08c817 100644 --- a/entries/vaston.txt +++ b/entries/vaston.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ vaston -n. [Durham, UK] The unit of load average. A measure of how much work a computer is doing. A meter displaying this as a function of time is known as a vastometer. First used during a computing practical in December 1996. +n. [Durham, UK] The unit of load average. A measure of how much work a +computer is doing. A meter displaying this as a function of time is known as +a vastometer. First used during a computing practical in December 1996. + diff --git a/entries/vaxocentrism.txt b/entries/vaxocentrism.txt index f55fb41..1689554 100644 --- a/entries/vaxocentrism.txt +++ b/entries/vaxocentrism.txt @@ -1,3 +1,58 @@ vaxocentrism -/vak`sohsentrizm/ , n. [analogy with ethnocentrism ] A notional disease said to afflict C programmers who persist in coding according to certain assumptions that are valid (esp. under Unix) on VAXen but false elsewhere. Among these are: The assumption that dereferencing a null pointer is safe because it is all bits 0, and location 0 is readable and 0. Problem: this may instead cause an illegal-address trap on non-VAXen, and even on VAXen under OSes other than BSD Unix. Usually this is an implicit assumption of sloppy code (forgetting to check the pointer before using it), rather than deliberate exploitation of a misfeature. The assumption that characters are signed. The assumption that a pointer to any one type can freely be cast into a pointer to any other type. A stronger form of this is the assumption that all pointers are the same size and format, which means you don't have to worry about getting the casts or types correct in calls. Problem: this fails on word-oriented machines or others with multiple pointer formats. The assumption that the parameters of a routine are stored in memory, on a stack, contiguously, and in strictly ascending or descending order. Problem: this fails on many RISC architectures. The assumption that pointer and integer types are the same size, and that pointers can be stuffed into integer variables (and vice-versa) and drawn back out without being truncated or mangled. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures or word-oriented machines with funny pointer formats. The assumption that a data type of any size may begin at any byte address in memory (for example, that you can freely construct and dereference a pointer to a word- or greater-sized object at an odd char address). Problem: this fails on many (esp. RISC) architectures better optimized for HLL execution speed, and can cause an illegal address fault or bus error. The (related) assumption that there is no padding at the end of types and that in an array you can thus step right from the last byte of a previous component to the first byte of the next one. This is not only machine- but compiler-dependent. The assumption that memory address space is globally flat and that the array reference foo[-1] is necessarily valid. Problem: this fails at 0, or other places on segment-addressed machines like Intel chips (yes, segmentation is universally considered a brain-damaged way to design machines (see moby ), but that is a separate issue). The assumption that objects can be arbitrarily large with no special considerations. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures and under non-virtual-addressing environments. The assumption that the stack can be as large as memory. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures or almost anything else without virtual addressing and a paged stack. The assumption that bits and addressable units within an object are ordered in the same way and that this order is a constant of nature. Problem: this fails on big-endian machines. The assumption that it is meaningful to compare pointers to different objects not located within the same array, or to objects of different types. Problem: the former fails on segmented architectures, the latter on word-oriented machines or others with multiple pointer formats. The assumption that an int is 32 bits, or (nearly equivalently) the assumption that sizeof(int) == sizeof(long). Problem: this fails on PDP-11 s, 286-based systems and even on 386 and 68000 systems under some compilers (and on 64-bit systems like the Alpha, of course). The assumption that argv[] is writable. Problem: this fails in many embedded-systems C environments and even under a few flavors of Unix. Note that a programmer can validly be accused of vaxocentrism even if he or she has never seen a VAX. Some of these assumptions (esp. 2--5) were valid on the PDP-11 , the original C machine, and became endemic years before the VAX. The terms vaxocentricity and all-the-world's-a-VAX syndrome have been used synonymously. +/vak`sohsentrizm/ , n. [analogy with ethnocentrism ] A notional disease said +to afflict C programmers who persist in coding according to certain +assumptions that are valid (esp. under Unix) on VAXen but false elsewhere. +Among these are: The assumption that dereferencing a null pointer is safe +because it is all bits 0, and location 0 is readable and 0. Problem: this +may instead cause an illegal-address trap on non-VAXen, and even on VAXen +under OSes other than BSD Unix. Usually this is an implicit assumption of +sloppy code (forgetting to check the pointer before using it), rather than +deliberate exploitation of a misfeature. The assumption that characters are +signed. The assumption that a pointer to any one type can freely be cast +into a pointer to any other type. A stronger form of this is the assumption +that all pointers are the same size and format, which means you don't have +to worry about getting the casts or types correct in calls. Problem: this +fails on word-oriented machines or others with multiple pointer formats. The +assumption that the parameters of a routine are stored in memory, on a +stack, contiguously, and in strictly ascending or descending order. Problem: +this fails on many RISC architectures. The assumption that pointer and +integer types are the same size, and that pointers can be stuffed into +integer variables (and vice-versa) and drawn back out without being +truncated or mangled. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures or +word-oriented machines with funny pointer formats. The assumption that a +data type of any size may begin at any byte address in memory (for example, +that you can freely construct and dereference a pointer to a word- or +greater-sized object at an odd char address). Problem: this fails on many +(esp. RISC) architectures better optimized for HLL execution speed, and can +cause an illegal address fault or bus error. The (related) assumption that +there is no padding at the end of types and that in an array you can thus +step right from the last byte of a previous component to the first byte of +the next one. This is not only machine- but compiler-dependent. The +assumption that memory address space is globally flat and that the array +reference foo[-1] is necessarily valid. Problem: this fails at 0, or other +places on segment-addressed machines like Intel chips (yes, segmentation is +universally considered a brain-damaged way to design machines (see moby ), +but that is a separate issue). The assumption that objects can be +arbitrarily large with no special considerations. Problem: this fails on +segmented architectures and under non-virtual-addressing environments. The +assumption that the stack can be as large as memory. Problem: this fails on +segmented architectures or almost anything else without virtual addressing +and a paged stack. The assumption that bits and addressable units within an +object are ordered in the same way and that this order is a constant of +nature. Problem: this fails on big-endian machines. The assumption that it +is meaningful to compare pointers to different objects not located within +the same array, or to objects of different types. Problem: the former fails +on segmented architectures, the latter on word-oriented machines or others +with multiple pointer formats. The assumption that an int is 32 bits, or +(nearly equivalently) the assumption that sizeof(int) == sizeof(long). +Problem: this fails on PDP-11 s, 286-based systems and even on 386 and 68000 +systems under some compilers (and on 64-bit systems like the Alpha, of +course). The assumption that argv[] is writable. Problem: this fails in many +embedded-systems C environments and even under a few flavors of Unix. Note +that a programmer can validly be accused of vaxocentrism even if he or she +has never seen a VAX. Some of these assumptions (esp. 2--5) were valid on +the PDP-11 , the original C machine, and became endemic years before the +VAX. The terms vaxocentricity and all-the-world's-a-VAX syndrome have been +used synonymously. + diff --git a/entries/vdiff.txt b/entries/vdiff.txt index 26a0ade..e56a677 100644 --- a/entries/vdiff.txt +++ b/entries/vdiff.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ vdiff -/veedif/ , v.,n. Visual diff. The operation of finding differences between two files by eyeball search. The term optical diff has also been reported, and is sometimes more specifically used for the act of superimposing two nearly identical printouts on one another and holding them up to a light to spot differences. Though this method is poor for detecting omissions in the rear file, it can also be used with printouts of graphics, a claim few if any diff programs can make. See diff. An interesting variant of the vdiff technique usable by anyone who has sufficient control over the parallax of their eyeballs (e.g. those who can easily view random-dot stereograms), is to hold up two paper printouts and go cross-eyed to superimpose them. This invokes deep, fast, built-in image comparison wetware (the same machinery responsible for depth perception) and differences stand out almost immediately. This technique is good for finding edits in graphical images, or for comparing an image with a compressed version to spot artifacts. +/veedif/ , v.,n. Visual diff. The operation of finding differences between +two files by eyeball search. The term optical diff has also been reported, +and is sometimes more specifically used for the act of superimposing two +nearly identical printouts on one another and holding them up to a light to +spot differences. Though this method is poor for detecting omissions in the +rear file, it can also be used with printouts of graphics, a claim few if +any diff programs can make. See diff. An interesting variant of the vdiff +technique usable by anyone who has sufficient control over the parallax of +their eyeballs (e.g. those who can easily view random-dot stereograms), is +to hold up two paper printouts and go cross-eyed to superimpose them. This +invokes deep, fast, built-in image comparison wetware (the same machinery +responsible for depth perception) and differences stand out almost +immediately. This technique is good for finding edits in graphical images, +or for comparing an image with a compressed version to spot artifacts. + diff --git a/entries/veeblefester.txt b/entries/veeblefester.txt index 2be5d42..d880940 100644 --- a/entries/veeblefester.txt +++ b/entries/veeblefester.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ veeblefester -/veeb@lfes`tr/ , n. [from the Born Loser comix via Commodore; prob.: originally from Mad Magazine's Veeblefetzer parodies beginning in #15, 1954] Any obnoxious person engaged in the (alleged) professions of marketing or management. Antonym of hacker. Compare suit , marketroid. +/veeb@lfes`tr/ , n. [from the Born Loser comix via Commodore; prob.: +originally from Mad Magazine's Veeblefetzer parodies beginning in #15, 1954] +Any obnoxious person engaged in the (alleged) professions of marketing or +management. Antonym of hacker. Compare suit , marketroid. + diff --git a/entries/velveeta.txt b/entries/velveeta.txt index fdc3ed5..466ffb4 100644 --- a/entries/velveeta.txt +++ b/entries/velveeta.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ velveeta -n. [Usenet: by analogy with spam. The trade name Velveeta is attached in the U.S. to a particularly nasty processed-cheese spread.] Also knows as ECP ; a message that is excessively cross-posted, as opposed to spam which is too frequently posted. This term is widely recognized but not commonly used; most people refer to both kinds of abuse as spam. Compare jello. +n. [Usenet: by analogy with spam. The trade name Velveeta is attached in the +U.S. to a particularly nasty processed-cheese spread.] Also knows as ECP ; a +message that is excessively cross-posted, as opposed to spam which is too +frequently posted. This term is widely recognized but not commonly used; +most people refer to both kinds of abuse as spam. Compare jello. + diff --git a/entries/verbage.txt b/entries/verbage.txt index fb78731..19e000f 100644 --- a/entries/verbage.txt +++ b/entries/verbage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ verbage -/verb@j/ , n. A deliberate misspelling and mispronunciation of verbiage that assimilates it to the word garbage. Compare content-free. More pejorative than verbiage. +/verb@j/ , n. A deliberate misspelling and mispronunciation of verbiage that +assimilates it to the word garbage. Compare content-free. More pejorative +than verbiage. + diff --git a/entries/verbiage.txt b/entries/verbiage.txt index af47172..98e6a4a 100644 --- a/entries/verbiage.txt +++ b/entries/verbiage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ verbiage -n. When the context involves a software or hardware system, this refers to documentation. This term borrows the connotations of mainstream verbiage to suggest that the documentation is of marginal utility and that the motives behind its production have little to do with the ostensible subject. +n. When the context involves a software or hardware system, this refers to +documentation. This term borrows the connotations of mainstream verbiage to +suggest that the documentation is of marginal utility and that the motives +behind its production have little to do with the ostensible subject. + diff --git a/entries/vgrep.txt b/entries/vgrep.txt index cf441a9..a054e6e 100644 --- a/entries/vgrep.txt +++ b/entries/vgrep.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ vgrep -/veegrep/ , v.,n. Visual grep. The operation of finding patterns in a file optically rather than digitally (also called an optical grep ). See grep ; compare vdiff. +/veegrep/ , v.,n. Visual grep. The operation of finding patterns in a file +optically rather than digitally (also called an optical grep ). See grep ; +compare vdiff. + diff --git a/entries/vi.txt b/entries/vi.txt index 686774d..4a85242 100644 --- a/entries/vi.txt +++ b/entries/vi.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ vi -/VI/ , not , /vi:/ , never , /siks/ , n. [from Visual Interface ] A screen editor crufted together by Bill Joy for an early BSD release. Became the de facto standard Unix editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favorite outside of MIT until the rise of EMACS after about 1984. Tends to frustrate new users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text nor vice versa, and the default setup on older versions provides no indication of which mode the editor is in (years ago, a correspondent reported that he has often heard the editor's name pronounced /vi:l/ ; there is now a vi clone named vile ). Nevertheless vi (and variants such as vim and elvis) is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 Usenet poll preferred it), and even EMACS fans often resort to it as a mail editor and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the bulkier versions of EMACS). See holy wars. +/VI/ , not , /vi:/ , never , /siks/ , n. [from Visual Interface ] A screen +editor crufted together by Bill Joy for an early BSD release. Became the de +facto standard Unix editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favorite outside +of MIT until the rise of EMACS after about 1984. Tends to frustrate new +users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text +nor vice versa, and the default setup on older versions provides no +indication of which mode the editor is in (years ago, a correspondent +reported that he has often heard the editor's name pronounced /vi:l/ ; there +is now a vi clone named vile ). Nevertheless vi (and variants such as vim +and elvis) is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 Usenet +poll preferred it), and even EMACS fans often resort to it as a mail editor +and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the +bulkier versions of EMACS). See holy wars. + diff --git a/entries/video toaster.txt b/entries/video toaster.txt index 27cfbaa..94d5539 100644 --- a/entries/video toaster.txt +++ b/entries/video toaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ video toaster -n. Historically, an Amiga fitted with a particular line of special video effects hardware from NewTek long a popular platform at special-effects and video production houses. More generally, any computer system designed specifically for video production and manipulation. Compare web toaster and see toaster. +n. Historically, an Amiga fitted with a particular line of special video +effects hardware from NewTek long a popular platform at special-effects and +video production houses. More generally, any computer system designed +specifically for video production and manipulation. Compare web toaster and +see toaster. + diff --git a/entries/videotex.txt b/entries/videotex.txt index 56ee871..0381197 100644 --- a/entries/videotex.txt +++ b/entries/videotex.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ videotex -n. obs. An electronic service offering people the privilege of paying to read the weather on their television screens instead of having somebody read it to them for free while they brush their teeth. The idea bombed everywhere it wasn't government-subsidized, because by the time videotex was practical the installed base of personal computers could hook up to timesharing services and do the things for which videotex might have been worthwhile better and cheaper. Videotex planners badly overestimated both the appeal of getting information from a computer and the cost of local intelligence at the user's end. Like the gorilla arm effect, this has been a cautionary tale to hackers ever since. See also vannevar. +n. obs. An electronic service offering people the privilege of paying to +read the weather on their television screens instead of having somebody read +it to them for free while they brush their teeth. The idea bombed everywhere +it wasn't government-subsidized, because by the time videotex was practical +the installed base of personal computers could hook up to timesharing +services and do the things for which videotex might have been worthwhile +better and cheaper. Videotex planners badly overestimated both the appeal of +getting information from a computer and the cost of local intelligence at +the user's end. Like the gorilla arm effect, this has been a cautionary tale +to hackers ever since. See also vannevar. + diff --git a/entries/virgin.txt b/entries/virgin.txt index 393dc07..ae4f79f 100644 --- a/entries/virgin.txt +++ b/entries/virgin.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ virgin -adj. Unused; pristine; in a known initial state. Let's bring up a virgin system and see if it crashes again. (Esp.: useful after contracting a virus through SEX. ) Also, by extension, buffers and the like within a program that have not yet been used. +adj. Unused; pristine; in a known initial state. Let's bring up a virgin +system and see if it crashes again. (Esp.: useful after contracting a virus +through SEX. ) Also, by extension, buffers and the like within a program +that have not yet been used. + diff --git a/entries/virtual Friday.txt b/entries/virtual Friday.txt index 4dc5533..0e7ce6b 100644 --- a/entries/virtual Friday.txt +++ b/entries/virtual Friday.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ virtual Friday -n. (also logical Friday ) The last day before an extended weekend, if that day is not a real Friday. For example, the U.S. holiday Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. The next day is often also a holiday or taken as an extra day off, in which case Wednesday of that week is a virtual Friday (and Thursday is a virtual Saturday, as is Friday). There are also virtual Mondays that are actually Tuesdays, after the three-day weekends associated with many national holidays in the U.S. +n. (also logical Friday ) The last day before an extended weekend, if that +day is not a real Friday. For example, the U.S. holiday Thanksgiving is +always on a Thursday. The next day is often also a holiday or taken as an +extra day off, in which case Wednesday of that week is a virtual Friday (and +Thursday is a virtual Saturday, as is Friday). There are also virtual +Mondays that are actually Tuesdays, after the three-day weekends associated +with many national holidays in the U.S. + diff --git a/entries/virtual beer.txt b/entries/virtual beer.txt index 59ce8e3..0b33f35 100644 --- a/entries/virtual beer.txt +++ b/entries/virtual beer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ virtual beer -n. Praise or thanks. Used universally in the Linux community. Originally this term signified cash, after a famous incident in which some Britishers who wanted to buy Linus a beer sent him money to Finland to do so. +n. Praise or thanks. Used universally in the Linux community. Originally +this term signified cash, after a famous incident in which some Britishers +who wanted to buy Linus a beer sent him money to Finland to do so. + diff --git a/entries/virtual reality.txt b/entries/virtual reality.txt index 718e25d..690a11c 100644 --- a/entries/virtual reality.txt +++ b/entries/virtual reality.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ virtual reality -n. 1. Computer simulations that use 3-D graphics and devices such as the Dataglove to allow the user to interact with the simulation. See cyberspace. 2. A form of network interaction incorporating aspects of role-playing games, interactive theater, improvisational comedy, and true confessions magazines. In a virtual reality forum (such as Usenet's alt.callahans newsgroup or the MUD experiments on Internet), interaction between the participants is written like a shared novel complete with scenery, foreground characters that may be personae utterly unlike the people who write them, and common background characters manipulable by all parties. The one iron law is that you may not write irreversible changes to a character without the consent of the person who owns it. Otherwise anything goes. See bamf , cyberspace , teledildonics. +n. 1. Computer simulations that use 3-D graphics and devices such as the +Dataglove to allow the user to interact with the simulation. See cyberspace. +2. A form of network interaction incorporating aspects of role-playing +games, interactive theater, improvisational comedy, and true confessions +magazines. In a virtual reality forum (such as Usenet's alt.callahans +newsgroup or the MUD experiments on Internet), interaction between the +participants is written like a shared novel complete with scenery, +foreground characters that may be personae utterly unlike the people who +write them, and common background characters manipulable by all parties. The +one iron law is that you may not write irreversible changes to a character +without the consent of the person who owns it. Otherwise anything goes. See +bamf , cyberspace , teledildonics. + diff --git a/entries/virtual shredder.txt b/entries/virtual shredder.txt index 8b05319..faa13c5 100644 --- a/entries/virtual shredder.txt +++ b/entries/virtual shredder.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ virtual shredder -n. The jargonic equivalent of the bit bucket at shops using IBM's VM/CMS operating system. VM/CMS officially supports a whole bestiary of virtual card readers, virtual printers, and other phantom devices; these are used to supply some of the same capabilities Unix gets from pipes and I/O redirection. +n. The jargonic equivalent of the bit bucket at shops using IBM's VM/CMS +operating system. VM/CMS officially supports a whole bestiary of virtual +card readers, virtual printers, and other phantom devices; these are used to +supply some of the same capabilities Unix gets from pipes and I/O +redirection. + diff --git a/entries/virtual.txt b/entries/virtual.txt index 218533f..0498b0d 100644 --- a/entries/virtual.txt +++ b/entries/virtual.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ virtual -adj. [via the technical term virtual memory , prob.: from the term virtual image in optics] 1. Common alternative to logical ; often used to refer to the artificial objects (like addressable virtual memory larger than physical memory) simulated by a computer system as a convenient way to manage access to shared resources. 2. Simulated; performing the functions of something that isn't really there. An imaginative child's doll may be a virtual playmate. Oppose real. +adj. [via the technical term virtual memory , prob.: from the term virtual +image in optics] 1. Common alternative to logical ; often used to refer to +the artificial objects (like addressable virtual memory larger than physical +memory) simulated by a computer system as a convenient way to manage access +to shared resources. 2. Simulated; performing the functions of something +that isn't really there. An imaginative child's doll may be a virtual +playmate. Oppose real. + diff --git a/entries/virus.txt b/entries/virus.txt index 5266780..f2a43af 100644 --- a/entries/virus.txt +++ b/entries/virus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,26 @@ virus -n. [from the obvious analogy with biological viruses, via SF] A cracker program that searches out other programs and infects them by embedding a copy of itself in them, so that they become Trojan horse s. When these programs are executed, the embedded virus is executed too, thus propagating the infection. This normally happens invisibly to the user. Unlike a worm , a virus cannot infect other computers without assistance. It is propagated by vectors such as humans trading programs with their friends (see SEX ). The virus may do nothing but propagate itself and then allow the program to run normally. Usually, however, after propagating silently for a while, it starts doing things like writing cute messages on the terminal or playing strange tricks with the display (some viruses include nice display hack s). Many nasty viruses, written by particularly perversely minded cracker s, do irreversible damage, like nuking all the user's files. In the 1990s, viruses became a serious problem, especially among Windows users; the lack of security on these machines enables viruses to spread easily, even infecting the operating system (Unix machines, by contrast, are immune to such attacks). The production of special anti-virus software has become an industry, and a number of exaggerated media reports have caused outbreaks of near hysteria among users; many luser s tend to blame everything that doesn't work as they had expected on virus attacks. Accordingly, this sense of virus has passed not only into techspeak but into also popular usage (where it is often incorrectly used to denote a worm or even a Trojan horse ). See phage ; compare back door ; see also Unix conspiracy. +n. [from the obvious analogy with biological viruses, via SF] A cracker +program that searches out other programs and infects them by embedding a +copy of itself in them, so that they become Trojan horse s. When these +programs are executed, the embedded virus is executed too, thus propagating +the infection. This normally happens invisibly to the user. Unlike a worm , +a virus cannot infect other computers without assistance. It is propagated +by vectors such as humans trading programs with their friends (see SEX ). +The virus may do nothing but propagate itself and then allow the program to +run normally. Usually, however, after propagating silently for a while, it +starts doing things like writing cute messages on the terminal or playing +strange tricks with the display (some viruses include nice display hack s). +Many nasty viruses, written by particularly perversely minded cracker s, do +irreversible damage, like nuking all the user's files. In the 1990s, viruses +became a serious problem, especially among Windows users; the lack of +security on these machines enables viruses to spread easily, even infecting +the operating system (Unix machines, by contrast, are immune to such +attacks). The production of special anti-virus software has become an +industry, and a number of exaggerated media reports have caused outbreaks of +near hysteria among users; many luser s tend to blame everything that +doesn't work as they had expected on virus attacks. Accordingly, this sense +of virus has passed not only into techspeak but into also popular usage +(where it is often incorrectly used to denote a worm or even a Trojan horse +). See phage ; compare back door ; see also Unix conspiracy. + diff --git a/entries/visionary.txt b/entries/visionary.txt index c5e4ef0..a5384c5 100644 --- a/entries/visionary.txt +++ b/entries/visionary.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ visionary -n. 1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial Intelligence researcher working on the problem of getting computers to see things using TV cameras. (There isn't any problem in sending information from a TV camera to a computer. The problem is, how can the computer be programmed to make use of the camera information? See SMOP , AI-complete. ) 2. [IBM] One who reads the outside literature. At IBM, apparently, such a penchant is viewed with awe and wonder. +n. 1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial Intelligence +researcher working on the problem of getting computers to see things using +TV cameras. (There isn't any problem in sending information from a TV camera +to a computer. The problem is, how can the computer be programmed to make +use of the camera information? See SMOP , AI-complete. ) 2. [IBM] One who +reads the outside literature. At IBM, apparently, such a penchant is viewed +with awe and wonder. + diff --git a/entries/voice-net.txt b/entries/voice-net.txt index 33ec7cf..f577519 100644 --- a/entries/voice-net.txt +++ b/entries/voice-net.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ voice-net -n. Hackish way of referring to the telephone system, analogizing it to a digital network. Usenet sig block s not uncommonly include the sender's phone next to a Voice: or Voice-Net: header; common variants of this are Voicenet and V-Net. Compare paper-net , snail-mail. +n. Hackish way of referring to the telephone system, analogizing it to a +digital network. Usenet sig block s not uncommonly include the sender's +phone next to a Voice: or Voice-Net: header; common variants of this are +Voicenet and V-Net. Compare paper-net , snail-mail. + diff --git a/entries/voice.txt b/entries/voice.txt index 08c293c..b16e2d8 100644 --- a/entries/voice.txt +++ b/entries/voice.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ voice -vt. To phone someone, as opposed to emailing them or connecting in talk mode. I'm busy now; I'll voice you later. +vt. To phone someone, as opposed to emailing them or connecting in talk +mode. I'm busy now; I'll voice you later. + diff --git a/entries/voodoo programming.txt b/entries/voodoo programming.txt index 3ea3dab..6c43e7b 100644 --- a/entries/voodoo programming.txt +++ b/entries/voodoo programming.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ voodoo programming -n. [from George Bush Sr.'s voodoo economics ] 1. The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with black magic , except that black magic typically isn't documented and nobody understands it. Compare magic , deep magic , heavy wizardry , rain dance , cargo cult programming , wave a dead chicken , SCSI voodoo. 2. Things programmers do that they know shouldn't work but they try anyway, and which sometimes actually work, such as recompiling everything. +n. [from George Bush Sr.'s voodoo economics ] 1. The use by guess or +cookbook of an obscure or hairy system, feature, or algorithm that one does +not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, +and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with black +magic , except that black magic typically isn't documented and nobody +understands it. Compare magic , deep magic , heavy wizardry , rain dance , +cargo cult programming , wave a dead chicken , SCSI voodoo. 2. Things +programmers do that they know shouldn't work but they try anyway, and which +sometimes actually work, such as recompiling everything. + diff --git a/entries/vulture capitalist.txt b/entries/vulture capitalist.txt index 5617988..316a972 100644 --- a/entries/vulture capitalist.txt +++ b/entries/vulture capitalist.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ vulture capitalist -n. Pejorative hackerism for venture capitalist , deriving from the common practice of pushing contracts that deprive inventors of control over their own innovations and most of the money they ought to have made from them. +n. Pejorative hackerism for venture capitalist , deriving from the common +practice of pushing contracts that deprive inventors of control over their +own innovations and most of the money they ought to have made from them. + diff --git a/entries/w00t.txt b/entries/w00t.txt index abb1431..83ddebc 100644 --- a/entries/w00t.txt +++ b/entries/w00t.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ w00t -Adj. w00table has the sense of cool or nifty. This is one of the few leet-speak coinages to have crossed over into non-ironic use among hackers. +Adj. w00table has the sense of cool or nifty. This is one of the few +leet-speak coinages to have crossed over into non-ironic use among hackers. + diff --git a/entries/wabbit.txt b/entries/wabbit.txt index ff71045..31dafe6 100644 --- a/entries/wabbit.txt +++ b/entries/wabbit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ wabbit -/wabit/ , n. [almost certainly from Elmer Fudd's immortal line You wascawwy wabbit! ] 1. A legendary early hack reported on a System/360 at RPI and elsewhere around 1978; this may have descended (if only by inspiration) from a hack called RABBITS reported from 1969 on a Burroughs 5500 at the University of Washington Computer Center. The program would make two copies of itself every time it was run, eventually crashing the system. 2. By extension, any hack that includes infinite self-replication but is not a virus or worm. See fork bomb and rabbit job , see also cookie monster. +/wabit/ , n. [almost certainly from Elmer Fudd's immortal line You wascawwy +wabbit! ] 1. A legendary early hack reported on a System/360 at RPI and +elsewhere around 1978; this may have descended (if only by inspiration) from +a hack called RABBITS reported from 1969 on a Burroughs 5500 at the +University of Washington Computer Center. The program would make two copies +of itself every time it was run, eventually crashing the system. 2. By +extension, any hack that includes infinite self-replication but is not a +virus or worm. See fork bomb and rabbit job , see also cookie monster. + diff --git a/entries/waldo.txt b/entries/waldo.txt index 95dc702..47a163f 100644 --- a/entries/waldo.txt +++ b/entries/waldo.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ waldo -/woldoh/ , n. [From Robert A. Heinlein's story Waldo ] 1. A mechanical agent, such as a gripper arm, controlled by a human limb. When these were developed for the nuclear industry in the mid-1940s they were named after the invention described by Heinlein in the story, which he wrote in 1942. Now known by the more generic term telefactoring , this technology is of intense interest to NASA for tasks like space station maintenance. 2. At Harvard (particularly by Tom Cheatham and students), this is used instead of foobar as a metasyntactic variable and general nonsense word. See foo , bar , foobar , quux. +/woldoh/ , n. [From Robert A. Heinlein's story Waldo ] 1. A mechanical +agent, such as a gripper arm, controlled by a human limb. When these were +developed for the nuclear industry in the mid-1940s they were named after +the invention described by Heinlein in the story, which he wrote in 1942. +Now known by the more generic term telefactoring , this technology is of +intense interest to NASA for tasks like space station maintenance. 2. At +Harvard (particularly by Tom Cheatham and students), this is used instead of +foobar as a metasyntactic variable and general nonsense word. See foo , bar +, foobar , quux. + diff --git a/entries/walk off the end of.txt b/entries/walk off the end of.txt index 13a774d..0c36dbf 100644 --- a/entries/walk off the end of.txt +++ b/entries/walk off the end of.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ walk off the end of -vt. To run past the end of an array, list, or medium after stepping through it a good way to land in trouble. Often the result of an off-by-one error. Compare clobber , roach , smash the stack. +vt. To run past the end of an array, list, or medium after stepping through +it a good way to land in trouble. Often the result of an off-by-one error. +Compare clobber , roach , smash the stack. + diff --git a/entries/walk.txt b/entries/walk.txt index 8768165..ab56f8e 100644 --- a/entries/walk.txt +++ b/entries/walk.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ walk -n.,vt. Traversal of a data structure, especially an array or linked-list data structure in core. See also codewalker , silly walk , clobber. +n.,vt. Traversal of a data structure, especially an array or linked-list +data structure in core. See also codewalker , silly walk , clobber. + diff --git a/entries/walking drives.txt b/entries/walking drives.txt index 2ff6341..3270b40 100644 --- a/entries/walking drives.txt +++ b/entries/walking drives.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ walking drives -n. An occasional failure mode of magnetic-disk drives back in the days when they were huge, clunky washing machine s. Those old dinosaur parts carried terrific angular momentum; the combination of a misaligned spindle or worn bearings and stick-slip interactions with the floor could cause them to walk across a room, lurching alternate corners forward a couple of millimeters at a time. There is a legend about a drive that walked over to the only door to the computer room and jammed it shut; the staff had to cut a hole in the wall in order to get at it! Walking could also be induced by certain patterns of drive access (a fast seek across the whole width of the disk, followed by a slow seek in the other direction). Some bands of old-time hackers figured out how to induce disk-accessing patterns that would do this to particular drive models and held disk-drive races. +n. An occasional failure mode of magnetic-disk drives back in the days when +they were huge, clunky washing machine s. Those old dinosaur parts carried +terrific angular momentum; the combination of a misaligned spindle or worn +bearings and stick-slip interactions with the floor could cause them to walk +across a room, lurching alternate corners forward a couple of millimeters at +a time. There is a legend about a drive that walked over to the only door to +the computer room and jammed it shut; the staff had to cut a hole in the +wall in order to get at it! Walking could also be induced by certain +patterns of drive access (a fast seek across the whole width of the disk, +followed by a slow seek in the other direction). Some bands of old-time +hackers figured out how to induce disk-accessing patterns that would do this +to particular drive models and held disk-drive races. + diff --git a/entries/wall follower.txt b/entries/wall follower.txt index a87be95..7977785 100644 --- a/entries/wall follower.txt +++ b/entries/wall follower.txt @@ -1,3 +1,15 @@ wall follower -n. A person or algorithm that compensates for lack of sophistication or native stupidity by efficiently following some simple procedure shown to have been effective in the past. Used of an algorithm, this is not necessarily pejorative; it recalls Harvey Wallbanger , the winning robot in an early AI contest (named, of course, after the cocktail). Harvey successfully solved mazes by keeping a finger on one wall and running till it came out the other end. This was inelegant, but it was mathematically guaranteed to work on simply-connected mazes and, in fact, Harvey outperformed more sophisticated robots that tried to learn each maze by building an internal representation of it. Used of humans, the term is pejorative and implies an uncreative, bureaucratic, by-the-book mentality. See also code grinder ; compare droid. +n. A person or algorithm that compensates for lack of sophistication or +native stupidity by efficiently following some simple procedure shown to +have been effective in the past. Used of an algorithm, this is not +necessarily pejorative; it recalls Harvey Wallbanger , the winning robot in +an early AI contest (named, of course, after the cocktail). Harvey +successfully solved mazes by keeping a finger on one wall and running till +it came out the other end. This was inelegant, but it was mathematically +guaranteed to work on simply-connected mazes and, in fact, Harvey +outperformed more sophisticated robots that tried to learn each maze by +building an internal representation of it. Used of humans, the term is +pejorative and implies an uncreative, bureaucratic, by-the-book mentality. +See also code grinder ; compare droid. + diff --git a/entries/wall time.txt b/entries/wall time.txt index 369647f..716e524 100644 --- a/entries/wall time.txt +++ b/entries/wall time.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ wall time -n. (also wall clock time ) 1. Real world time (what the clock on the wall shows), as opposed to the system clock's idea of time. 2. The real running time of a program, as opposed to the number of tick s required to execute it (on a timesharing system these always differ, as no one program gets all the ticks, and on multiprocessor systems with good thread support one may get more processor time than real time). +n. (also wall clock time ) 1. Real world time (what the clock on the wall +shows), as opposed to the system clock's idea of time. 2. The real running +time of a program, as opposed to the number of tick s required to execute it +(on a timesharing system these always differ, as no one program gets all the +ticks, and on multiprocessor systems with good thread support one may get +more processor time than real time). + diff --git a/entries/wall wart.txt b/entries/wall wart.txt index a5f47dc..091f99d 100644 --- a/entries/wall wart.txt +++ b/entries/wall wart.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ wall wart -n. A small power-supply brick with integral male plug, designed to plug directly into a wall outlet; called a wart because when installed on a power strip it tends to block up at least one more socket than it uses. These are frequently associated with modems and other small electronic devices which would become unacceptably bulky or hot if they had power supplies on board (there are other reasons as well having to do with the cost of UL certification). +n. A small power-supply brick with integral male plug, designed to plug +directly into a wall outlet; called a wart because when installed on a power +strip it tends to block up at least one more socket than it uses. These are +frequently associated with modems and other small electronic devices which +would become unacceptably bulky or hot if they had power supplies on board +(there are other reasons as well having to do with the cost of UL +certification). + diff --git a/entries/wall.txt b/entries/wall.txt index 5be4a3d..a9a5b64 100644 --- a/entries/wall.txt +++ b/entries/wall.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ wall -interj. [WPI] 1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken with a quizzical tone: Wall?? 2. A request for further explication. Compare octal forty. 3. [Unix, from write all ] v. To send a message to everyone currently logged in, esp. with the wall (8) utility. It is said that sense 1 came from the idiom like talking to a blank wall. It was originally used in situations where, after you had carefully answered a question, the questioner stared at you blankly, clearly having understood nothing that was explained. You would then throw out a Hello, wall? to elicit some sort of response from the questioner. Later, confused questioners began voicing Wall? themselves. +interj. [WPI] 1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken with a quizzical +tone: Wall?? 2. A request for further explication. Compare octal forty. 3. +[Unix, from write all ] v. To send a message to everyone currently logged +in, esp. with the wall (8) utility. It is said that sense 1 came from the +idiom like talking to a blank wall. It was originally used in situations +where, after you had carefully answered a question, the questioner stared at +you blankly, clearly having understood nothing that was explained. You would +then throw out a Hello, wall? to elicit some sort of response from the +questioner. Later, confused questioners began voicing Wall? themselves. + diff --git a/entries/wallhack.txt b/entries/wallhack.txt index 67c531f..c2d5310 100644 --- a/entries/wallhack.txt +++ b/entries/wallhack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ wallhack -A form of game cheat especially associated with first-person shooters like Quake, in which the walls in the simulated maze or dungeon are rendered transparent to the cheater. This gives the cheater normally hidden information about the whereabouts of other players. Beyond gaming, a is the paradigm case of a whole class of security problems that stem from the fact that a server cannot trust client software, and server authors must assume that all computation farmed out to a client is exposed to and can be interfered with by the user. +A form of game cheat especially associated with first-person shooters like +Quake, in which the walls in the simulated maze or dungeon are rendered +transparent to the cheater. This gives the cheater normally hidden +information about the whereabouts of other players. Beyond gaming, a is the +paradigm case of a whole class of security problems that stem from the fact +that a server cannot trust client software, and server authors must assume +that all computation farmed out to a client is exposed to and can be +interfered with by the user. + diff --git a/entries/wango.txt b/entries/wango.txt index f61c462..2ae21a9 100644 --- a/entries/wango.txt +++ b/entries/wango.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ wango -/wanggoh/ , n. Random bit-level grovel ling going on in a system during some unspecified operation. Often used in combination with mumble. For example: You start with the. o file, run it through this postprocessor that does mumble-wango and it comes out a snazzy object-oriented executable. +/wanggoh/ , n. Random bit-level grovel ling going on in a system during some +unspecified operation. Often used in combination with mumble. For example: +You start with the. o file, run it through this postprocessor that does +mumble-wango and it comes out a snazzy object-oriented executable. + diff --git a/entries/wank.txt b/entries/wank.txt index f1be5b3..8f6ae9d 100644 --- a/entries/wank.txt +++ b/entries/wank.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ wank -/wangk/ , n.,v.,adj. [Columbia University: prob.: by mutation from Commonwealth slang v. wank , to masturbate] Used much as hack is elsewhere, as a noun denoting a clever technique or person or the result of such cleverness. May describe (negatively) the act of hacking for hacking's sake ( Quit wanking, let's go get supper! ) or (more positively) a wizard. Adj. wanky describes something particularly clever (a person, program, or algorithm). Conversations can also get wanky when there are too many wanks involved. This excess wankiness is signalled by an overload of the wankometer (compare bogometer ). When the wankometer overloads, the conversation's subject must be changed, or all non-wanks will leave. Compare neep-neeping (under neep-neep ). Usage: U.S. only. In Britain and the Commonwealth this word is extremely rude and is best avoided unless one intends to give offense. Adjectival wanky is less offensive and simply means stupid or broken (this is mainstream in Great Britain). +/wangk/ , n.,v.,adj. [Columbia University: prob.: by mutation from +Commonwealth slang v. wank , to masturbate] Used much as hack is elsewhere, +as a noun denoting a clever technique or person or the result of such +cleverness. May describe (negatively) the act of hacking for hacking's sake +( Quit wanking, let's go get supper! ) or (more positively) a wizard. Adj. +wanky describes something particularly clever (a person, program, or +algorithm). Conversations can also get wanky when there are too many wanks +involved. This excess wankiness is signalled by an overload of the +wankometer (compare bogometer ). When the wankometer overloads, the +conversation's subject must be changed, or all non-wanks will leave. Compare +neep-neeping (under neep-neep ). Usage: U.S. only. In Britain and the +Commonwealth this word is extremely rude and is best avoided unless one +intends to give offense. Adjectival wanky is less offensive and simply means +stupid or broken (this is mainstream in Great Britain). + diff --git a/entries/wannabee.txt b/entries/wannabee.txt index a554232..a539434 100644 --- a/entries/wannabee.txt +++ b/entries/wannabee.txt @@ -1,3 +1,30 @@ wannabee -/won'@bee/ , n. (also, more plausibly, spelled wannabe ) [from a term recently used to describe Madonna fans who dress, talk, and act like their idol; prob.: originally from biker slang] A would-be hacker. The connotations of this term differ sharply depending on the age and exposure of the subject. Used of a person who is in or might be entering larval stage , it is semi-approving; such wannabees can be annoying but most hackers remember that they, too, were once such creatures. When used of any professional programmer, CS academic, writer, or suit , it is derogatory, implying that said person is trying to cuddle up to the hacker mystique but doesn't, fundamentally, have a prayer of understanding what it is all about. Overuse of terms from this lexicon is often an indication of the wannabee nature. Compare newbie. Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a slightly different flavor now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the people who are now hackerdom's tribal elders were in larval stage , the process of becoming a hacker was largely unconscious and unaffected by models known in popular culture communities formed spontaneously around people who, as individuals , felt irresistibly drawn to do hackerly things, and what wannabees experienced was a fairly pure, skill-focused desire to become similarly wizardly. Those days of innocence are gone forever; society's adaptation to the advent of the microcomputer after 1980 included the elevation of the hacker as a new kind of folk hero, and the result is that some people semi-consciously set out to be hackers and borrow hackish prestige by fitting the popular image of hackers. Fortunately, to do this really well, one has to actually become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time hackers tend to share a poorly articulated disquiet about the change; among other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of public compendia of lore like this one. +/won'@bee/ , n. (also, more plausibly, spelled wannabe ) [from a term +recently used to describe Madonna fans who dress, talk, and act like their +idol; prob.: originally from biker slang] A would-be hacker. The +connotations of this term differ sharply depending on the age and exposure +of the subject. Used of a person who is in or might be entering larval stage +, it is semi-approving; such wannabees can be annoying but most hackers +remember that they, too, were once such creatures. When used of any +professional programmer, CS academic, writer, or suit , it is derogatory, +implying that said person is trying to cuddle up to the hacker mystique but +doesn't, fundamentally, have a prayer of understanding what it is all about. +Overuse of terms from this lexicon is often an indication of the wannabee +nature. Compare newbie. Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a +slightly different flavor now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. +When the people who are now hackerdom's tribal elders were in larval stage , +the process of becoming a hacker was largely unconscious and unaffected by +models known in popular culture communities formed spontaneously around +people who, as individuals , felt irresistibly drawn to do hackerly things, +and what wannabees experienced was a fairly pure, skill-focused desire to +become similarly wizardly. Those days of innocence are gone forever; +society's adaptation to the advent of the microcomputer after 1980 included +the elevation of the hacker as a new kind of folk hero, and the result is +that some people semi-consciously set out to be hackers and borrow hackish +prestige by fitting the popular image of hackers. Fortunately, to do this +really well, one has to actually become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time +hackers tend to share a poorly articulated disquiet about the change; among +other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of public +compendia of lore like this one. + diff --git a/entries/war dialer.txt b/entries/war dialer.txt index e275f0a..bc64a81 100644 --- a/entries/war dialer.txt +++ b/entries/war dialer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ war dialer -n. [originally from wargames dialer , a reference to the movie War Games ] A cracking tool, a program that calls a given list or range of phone numbers and records those which answer with handshake tones (and so might be entry points to computer or telecommunications systems). Some of these programs have become quite sophisticated, and can now detect modem, fax, or PBX tones and log each one separately. The war dialer is one of the most important tools in the phreaker 's kit. These programs evolved from early demon dialer s. +n. [originally from wargames dialer , a reference to the movie War Games ] A +cracking tool, a program that calls a given list or range of phone numbers +and records those which answer with handshake tones (and so might be entry +points to computer or telecommunications systems). Some of these programs +have become quite sophisticated, and can now detect modem, fax, or PBX tones +and log each one separately. The war dialer is one of the most important +tools in the phreaker 's kit. These programs evolved from early demon dialer +s. + diff --git a/entries/war-chalking.txt b/entries/war-chalking.txt index af339db..15f7254 100644 --- a/entries/war-chalking.txt +++ b/entries/war-chalking.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ war-chalking -The practice of using chalk marks similar to hobo signs to indicate the nearby presence of a wireless Internet access point, a boon to strolling hackers with laptops. The concept was first floated in early 2002 and was instantly seized upon with cries of glee by hackers all over the portions of the world urbanized enough to have sidewalks and access points. The process rather recalls the explosive spread of heraldry in the medieval Europe of the 1120s. There is a site that explains the symbology ;. +The practice of using chalk marks similar to hobo signs to indicate the +nearby presence of a wireless Internet access point, a boon to strolling +hackers with laptops. The concept was first floated in early 2002 and was +instantly seized upon with cries of glee by hackers all over the portions of +the world urbanized enough to have sidewalks and access points. The process +rather recalls the explosive spread of heraldry in the medieval Europe of +the 1120s. There is a site that explains the symbology ;. + diff --git a/entries/war-driving.txt b/entries/war-driving.txt index 42455fc..adfe3b1 100644 --- a/entries/war-driving.txt +++ b/entries/war-driving.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ war-driving -Driving around looking for unsecured wireless Internet access points to connect to. More at the War Driving home page. Compare war-chalking. +Driving around looking for unsecured wireless Internet access points to +connect to. More at the War Driving home page. Compare war-chalking. + diff --git a/entries/warez d00dz.txt b/entries/warez d00dz.txt index 1e1ce66..9bdf1f6 100644 --- a/entries/warez d00dz.txt +++ b/entries/warez d00dz.txt @@ -1,3 +1,34 @@ warez d00dz -/weirz doodz/ , n. A substantial subculture of cracker s refer to themselves as warez d00dz ; there is evidently some connection with B1FF here. As Ozone Pilot , one former warez d00d, wrote: Warez d00dz get illegal copies of copyrighted software. If it has copy protection on it, they break the protection so the software can be copied. Then they distribute it around the world via several gateways. Warez d00dz form badass group names like RAZOR and the like. They put up boards that distribute the latest ware, or pirate program. The whole point of the Warez sub-culture is to get the pirate program released and distributed before any other group. I know, I know. But don't ask, and it won't hurt as much. This is how they prove their poweress [sic]. It gives them the right to say, I released King's Quest IVXIX before you so obviously my testicles are larger. Again don't ask... The studly thing to do if one is a warez d00d, it appears, is emit 0-day warez , that is copies of commercial software copied and cracked on the same day as its retail release. Warez d00ds also hoard software in a big way, collecting untold megabytes of arcade-style games, pornographic JPGs, and applications they'll never use onto their hard disks. As Ozone Pilot acutely observes: [BELONG] is the only word you will need to know. Warez d00dz want to belong. They have been shunned by everyone, and thus turn to cyberspace for acceptance. That is why they always start groups like TGW, FLT, USA and the like. Structure makes them happy. [...] Warez d00dz will never have a handle like Pink Daisy because warez d00dz are insecure. Only someone who is very secure with a good dose of self-esteem can stand up to the cries of fag and girlie-man. More likely you will find warez d00dz with handles like: Doctor Death, Deranged Lunatic, Hellraiser, Mad Prince, Dreamdevil, The Unknown, Renegade Chemist, Terminator, and Twin Turbo. They like to sound badass when they can hide behind their terminals. More likely, if you were given a sample of 100 people, the person whose handle is Hellraiser is the last person you'd associate with the name. The contrast with Internet hackers is stark and instructive. See cracker , wannabee , handle , elite , courier , leech ; compare weenie , spod. +/weirz doodz/ , n. A substantial subculture of cracker s refer to themselves +as warez d00dz ; there is evidently some connection with B1FF here. As Ozone +Pilot , one former warez d00d, wrote: Warez d00dz get illegal copies of +copyrighted software. If it has copy protection on it, they break the +protection so the software can be copied. Then they distribute it around the +world via several gateways. Warez d00dz form badass group names like RAZOR +and the like. They put up boards that distribute the latest ware, or pirate +program. The whole point of the Warez sub-culture is to get the pirate +program released and distributed before any other group. I know, I know. But +don't ask, and it won't hurt as much. This is how they prove their poweress +[sic]. It gives them the right to say, I released King's Quest IVXIX before +you so obviously my testicles are larger. Again don't ask... The studly +thing to do if one is a warez d00d, it appears, is emit 0-day warez , that +is copies of commercial software copied and cracked on the same day as its +retail release. Warez d00ds also hoard software in a big way, collecting +untold megabytes of arcade-style games, pornographic JPGs, and applications +they'll never use onto their hard disks. As Ozone Pilot acutely observes: +[BELONG] is the only word you will need to know. Warez d00dz want to belong. +They have been shunned by everyone, and thus turn to cyberspace for +acceptance. That is why they always start groups like TGW, FLT, USA and the +like. Structure makes them happy. [...] Warez d00dz will never have a handle +like Pink Daisy because warez d00dz are insecure. Only someone who is very +secure with a good dose of self-esteem can stand up to the cries of fag and +girlie-man. More likely you will find warez d00dz with handles like: Doctor +Death, Deranged Lunatic, Hellraiser, Mad Prince, Dreamdevil, The Unknown, +Renegade Chemist, Terminator, and Twin Turbo. They like to sound badass when +they can hide behind their terminals. More likely, if you were given a +sample of 100 people, the person whose handle is Hellraiser is the last +person you'd associate with the name. The contrast with Internet hackers is +stark and instructive. See cracker , wannabee , handle , elite , courier , +leech ; compare weenie , spod. + diff --git a/entries/warez kiddies.txt b/entries/warez kiddies.txt index f90279e..a05d03a 100644 --- a/entries/warez kiddies.txt +++ b/entries/warez kiddies.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ warez kiddies -n. Even more derogatory way of referring to warez d00dz ; refers to the fact that most warez d00dz are around the age of puberty. Compare script kiddies. +n. Even more derogatory way of referring to warez d00dz ; refers to the fact +that most warez d00dz are around the age of puberty. Compare script kiddies. + diff --git a/entries/warez.txt b/entries/warez.txt index c854b24..2c6aaf6 100644 --- a/entries/warez.txt +++ b/entries/warez.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ warez -/weirz/ , n. Widely used in cracker subcultures to denote cracked version of commercial software, that is versions from which copy-protection has been stripped. Hackers recognize this term but don't use it themselves. See warez d00dz , courier , leech , elite. +/weirz/ , n. Widely used in cracker subcultures to denote cracked version of +commercial software, that is versions from which copy-protection has been +stripped. Hackers recognize this term but don't use it themselves. See warez +d00dz , courier , leech , elite. + diff --git a/entries/warlording.txt b/entries/warlording.txt index 40f6dfb..3423467 100644 --- a/entries/warlording.txt +++ b/entries/warlording.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ warlording -v. [from the Usenet group alt.fan.warlord ] The act of excoriating a bloated, ugly, or derivative sig block. Common grounds for warlording include the presence of a signature rendered in a BUAF , over-used or cliched sig quote s, ugly ASCII art , or simply excessive size. The original Warlord was a B1FF -like newbie c.1991 who featured in his sig a particularly large and obnoxious ASCII graphic resembling the sword of Conan the Barbarian in the 1981 John Milius movie; the group name alt.fan.warlord was sarcasm, and the characteristic mode of warlording is devastatingly sarcastic praise. See also McQuary limit. +v. [from the Usenet group alt.fan.warlord ] The act of excoriating a +bloated, ugly, or derivative sig block. Common grounds for warlording +include the presence of a signature rendered in a BUAF , over-used or +cliched sig quote s, ugly ASCII art , or simply excessive size. The original +Warlord was a B1FF -like newbie c.1991 who featured in his sig a +particularly large and obnoxious ASCII graphic resembling the sword of Conan +the Barbarian in the 1981 John Milius movie; the group name alt.fan.warlord +was sarcasm, and the characteristic mode of warlording is devastatingly +sarcastic praise. See also McQuary limit. + diff --git a/entries/warm boot.txt b/entries/warm boot.txt index b9df43b..abeda5f 100644 --- a/entries/warm boot.txt +++ b/entries/warm boot.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ warm boot n. See boot. + diff --git a/entries/wart.txt b/entries/wart.txt index 1c78b80..1b66f79 100644 --- a/entries/wart.txt +++ b/entries/wart.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ wart -n. A small, crock y feature that sticks out of an otherwise clean design. Something conspicuous for localized ugliness, especially a special-case exception to a general rule. For example, in some versions of csh (1) , single quotes literalize every character inside them except !. In ANSI C, the ?? syntax used for obtaining ASCII characters in a foreign environment is a wart. See also miswart. +n. A small, crock y feature that sticks out of an otherwise clean design. +Something conspicuous for localized ugliness, especially a special-case +exception to a general rule. For example, in some versions of csh (1) , +single quotes literalize every character inside them except !. In ANSI C, +the ?? syntax used for obtaining ASCII characters in a foreign environment +is a wart. See also miswart. + diff --git a/entries/washing machine.txt b/entries/washing machine.txt index b45fca9..b83c7ff 100644 --- a/entries/washing machine.txt +++ b/entries/washing machine.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ washing machine -n. 1. Old-style 14-inch hard disks in floor-standing cabinets. So called because of the size of the cabinet and the top-loading access to the media packs and, of course, they were always set on spin cycle. The washing-machine idiom transcends language barriers; it is even used in Russian hacker jargon. See also walking drives. The thick channel cables connecting these were called bit hoses (see hose , sense 3). (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-02-20:2. The previous cartoon was 75-10-04. ) 2. [CMU] A machine used exclusively for washing software. CMU has clusters of these. +n. 1. Old-style 14-inch hard disks in floor-standing cabinets. So called +because of the size of the cabinet and the top-loading access to the media +packs and, of course, they were always set on spin cycle. The +washing-machine idiom transcends language barriers; it is even used in +Russian hacker jargon. See also walking drives. The thick channel cables +connecting these were called bit hoses (see hose , sense 3). (The next +cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 76-02-20:2. The previous cartoon was +75-10-04. ) 2. [CMU] A machine used exclusively for washing software. CMU +has clusters of these. + diff --git a/entries/washing software.txt b/entries/washing software.txt index 27e034c..eec036e 100644 --- a/entries/washing software.txt +++ b/entries/washing software.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ washing software -n. The process of recompiling a software distribution (used more often when the recompilation is occuring from scratch) to pick up and merge together all of the various changes that have been made to the source. +n. The process of recompiling a software distribution (used more often when +the recompilation is occuring from scratch) to pick up and merge together +all of the various changes that have been made to the source. + diff --git a/entries/water MIPS.txt b/entries/water MIPS.txt index 1e45e94..95c84de 100644 --- a/entries/water MIPS.txt +++ b/entries/water MIPS.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ water MIPS -n. (see MIPS , sense 2) Large, water-cooled machines of either today's ECL-supercomputer flavor or yesterday's traditional mainframe type. A really unusual kind of water MIPS. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 74-12-25. The previous cartoon was 73-10-31. +n. (see MIPS , sense 2) Large, water-cooled machines of either today's +ECL-supercomputer flavor or yesterday's traditional mainframe type. A really +unusual kind of water MIPS. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is +74-12-25. The previous cartoon was 73-10-31. + diff --git a/entries/wave a dead chicken.txt b/entries/wave a dead chicken.txt index 06a017f..c8fd76a 100644 --- a/entries/wave a dead chicken.txt +++ b/entries/wave a dead chicken.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ wave a dead chicken -v. To perform a ritual in the direction of crashed software or hardware that one believes to be futile but is nevertheless necessary so that others are satisfied that an appropriate degree of effort has been expended. I'll wave a dead chicken over the source code, but I really think we've run into an OS bug. Compare voodoo programming , rain dance ; see also casting the runes. +v. To perform a ritual in the direction of crashed software or hardware that +one believes to be futile but is nevertheless necessary so that others are +satisfied that an appropriate degree of effort has been expended. I'll wave +a dead chicken over the source code, but I really think we've run into an OS +bug. Compare voodoo programming , rain dance ; see also casting the runes. + diff --git a/entries/weasel.txt b/entries/weasel.txt index f9c1a9a..c179450 100644 --- a/entries/weasel.txt +++ b/entries/weasel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ weasel -n. [Cambridge] A naive user, one who deliberately or accidentally does things that are stupid or ill-advised. Roughly synonymous with loser. +n. [Cambridge] A naive user, one who deliberately or accidentally does +things that are stupid or ill-advised. Roughly synonymous with loser. + diff --git a/entries/web pointer.txt b/entries/web pointer.txt index 0f1ce53..ae46c85 100644 --- a/entries/web pointer.txt +++ b/entries/web pointer.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ web pointer -n. A World Wide Web URL. See also hotlink , which has slightly different connotations. +n. A World Wide Web URL. See also hotlink , which has slightly different +connotations. + diff --git a/entries/web ring.txt b/entries/web ring.txt index 6032037..58419a6 100644 --- a/entries/web ring.txt +++ b/entries/web ring.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ web ring -n. Two or more web sites connected by prominent links between sites sharing a common interest or theme. Usually such cliques have the topology of a ring, in order to make it easy for visitors to navigate through all of them. +n. Two or more web sites connected by prominent links between sites sharing +a common interest or theme. Usually such cliques have the topology of a +ring, in order to make it easy for visitors to navigate through all of them. + diff --git a/entries/web toaster.txt b/entries/web toaster.txt index 4c048a2..ad28360 100644 --- a/entries/web toaster.txt +++ b/entries/web toaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ web toaster -n. A small specialized computer, shipped with no monitor or keyboard or any other external peripherals, pre-configured to be controlled through an Ethernet port and function as a WWW server. Products of this kind (for example the Cobalt Qube) are often about the size of a toaster. See toaster ; compare video toaster. +n. A small specialized computer, shipped with no monitor or keyboard or any +other external peripherals, pre-configured to be controlled through an +Ethernet port and function as a WWW server. Products of this kind (for +example the Cobalt Qube) are often about the size of a toaster. See toaster +; compare video toaster. + diff --git a/entries/webify.txt b/entries/webify.txt index 2911d50..664ae59 100644 --- a/entries/webify.txt +++ b/entries/webify.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ webify -n. To put a piece of (possibly already existing) material on the WWW. Frequently used for papers ( Why don't you webify all your publications? ) or for demos ( They webified their 6.866 final project ). This term seems to have been (rather logically) independently invented multiple times in the early 1990s. +n. To put a piece of (possibly already existing) material on the WWW. +Frequently used for papers ( Why don't you webify all your publications? ) +or for demos ( They webified their 6.866 final project ). This term seems to +have been (rather logically) independently invented multiple times in the +early 1990s. + diff --git a/entries/webmaster.txt b/entries/webmaster.txt index 43d2d81..0e9319b 100644 --- a/entries/webmaster.txt +++ b/entries/webmaster.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ webmaster -n. [WWW: from postmaster ] The person at a site providing World Wide Web information who is responsible for maintaining the public pages and keeping the Web server running and properly configured. +n. [WWW: from postmaster ] The person at a site providing World Wide Web +information who is responsible for maintaining the public pages and keeping +the Web server running and properly configured. + diff --git a/entries/wedged.txt b/entries/wedged.txt index dda735d..28cb086 100644 --- a/entries/wedged.txt +++ b/entries/wedged.txt @@ -1,3 +1,20 @@ wedged -adj. 1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding without help. This is different from having crashed. If the system has crashed, it has become totally non-functioning. If the system is wedged, it is trying to do something but cannot make progress; it may be capable of doing a few things, but not be fully operational. For example, a process may become wedged if it deadlock s with another (but not all instances of wedging are deadlocks). See also gronk , locked up , hosed , hung (wedged is more severe than hung ). 2. Often refers to humans suffering misconceptions. He's totally wedged he's convinced that he can levitate through meditation. 3. [Unix] Specifically used to describe the state of a TTY left in a losing state by abort of a screen-oriented program or one that has messed with the line discipline in some obscure way. There is some dispute over the origin of this term. It is usually thought to derive from a common description of recto-cranial inversion; however, it may actually have originated with older hot-press printing technology in which physical type elements were locked into type frames with wedges driven in by mallets. Once this had been done, no changes in the typesetting for that page could be made. +adj. 1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding without help. This is different +from having crashed. If the system has crashed, it has become totally +non-functioning. If the system is wedged, it is trying to do something but +cannot make progress; it may be capable of doing a few things, but not be +fully operational. For example, a process may become wedged if it deadlock s +with another (but not all instances of wedging are deadlocks). See also +gronk , locked up , hosed , hung (wedged is more severe than hung ). 2. +Often refers to humans suffering misconceptions. He's totally wedged he's +convinced that he can levitate through meditation. 3. [Unix] Specifically +used to describe the state of a TTY left in a losing state by abort of a +screen-oriented program or one that has messed with the line discipline in +some obscure way. There is some dispute over the origin of this term. It is +usually thought to derive from a common description of recto-cranial +inversion; however, it may actually have originated with older hot-press +printing technology in which physical type elements were locked into type +frames with wedges driven in by mallets. Once this had been done, no changes +in the typesetting for that page could be made. + diff --git a/entries/wedgie.txt b/entries/wedgie.txt index eddad25..f69c60b 100644 --- a/entries/wedgie.txt +++ b/entries/wedgie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ wedgie n. [Fairchild] A bug. Prob. related to wedged. + diff --git a/entries/wedgitude.txt b/entries/wedgitude.txt index 0841834..c39fdcd 100644 --- a/entries/wedgitude.txt +++ b/entries/wedgitude.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ wedgitude /wedjit[y]ood/ , n. The quality or state of being wedged. + diff --git a/entries/weeble.txt b/entries/weeble.txt index c50e80a..2124169 100644 --- a/entries/weeble.txt +++ b/entries/weeble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ weeble -/weebl/ , interj. [Cambridge] Used to denote frustration, usually at amazing stupidity. I stuck the disk in upside down. Weeble..... +/weebl/ , interj. [Cambridge] Used to denote frustration, usually at amazing +stupidity. I stuck the disk in upside down. Weeble..... + diff --git a/entries/weeds.txt b/entries/weeds.txt index bb72181..739e6e0 100644 --- a/entries/weeds.txt +++ b/entries/weeds.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ weeds -n. 1. Refers to development projects or algorithms that have no possible relevance or practical application. Comes from off in the weeds. Used in phrases like lexical analysis for microcode is serious weeds.... 2. At CDC/ETA before its demise, the phrase go off in the weeds was equivalent mainstream hackerdom's jump off into never-never land. +n. 1. Refers to development projects or algorithms that have no possible +relevance or practical application. Comes from off in the weeds. Used in +phrases like lexical analysis for microcode is serious weeds.... 2. At +CDC/ETA before its demise, the phrase go off in the weeds was equivalent +mainstream hackerdom's jump off into never-never land. + diff --git a/entries/weenie.txt b/entries/weenie.txt index 8f52a57..3c9fea5 100644 --- a/entries/weenie.txt +++ b/entries/weenie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ weenie -n. 1. [on BBSes] Any of a species of luser resembling a less amusing version of B1FF that infests many BBS systems. The typical weenie is a teenage boy with poor social skills travelling under a grandiose handle derived from fantasy or heavy-metal rock lyrics. Among sysops, the weenie problem refers to the marginally literate and profanity-laden flamage weenies tend to spew all over a newly-discovered BBS. Compare spod , geek , terminal junkie , warez d00dz. 2. [among hackers] When used with a qualifier (for example, as in Unix weenie , VMS weenie, IBM weenie) this can be either an insult or a term of praise, depending on context, tone of voice, and whether or not it is applied by a person who considers him or herself to be the same sort of weenie. Implies that the weenie has put a major investment of time, effort, and concentration into the area indicated; whether this is good or bad depends on the hearer's judgment of how the speaker feels about that area. See also bigot. 3. The semicolon character, ; (ASCII 0111011). +n. 1. [on BBSes] Any of a species of luser resembling a less amusing version +of B1FF that infests many BBS systems. The typical weenie is a teenage boy +with poor social skills travelling under a grandiose handle derived from +fantasy or heavy-metal rock lyrics. Among sysops, the weenie problem refers +to the marginally literate and profanity-laden flamage weenies tend to spew +all over a newly-discovered BBS. Compare spod , geek , terminal junkie , +warez d00dz. 2. [among hackers] When used with a qualifier (for example, as +in Unix weenie , VMS weenie, IBM weenie) this can be either an insult or a +term of praise, depending on context, tone of voice, and whether or not it +is applied by a person who considers him or herself to be the same sort of +weenie. Implies that the weenie has put a major investment of time, effort, +and concentration into the area indicated; whether this is good or bad +depends on the hearer's judgment of how the speaker feels about that area. +See also bigot. 3. The semicolon character, ; (ASCII 0111011). + diff --git a/entries/well-behaved.txt b/entries/well-behaved.txt index ecd4d24..4f7b31b 100644 --- a/entries/well-behaved.txt +++ b/entries/well-behaved.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ well-behaved -adj. 1. Software that does its job quietly and without counterintuitive effects. Esp.: said of software having an interface spec sufficiently simple and well-defined that it can be used as a tool by other software. See cat. 2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't crash or blow up , even when given pathological input. Implies that the stability of the algorithm is intrinsic, which makes this somewhat different from bulletproof. +adj. 1. Software that does its job quietly and without counterintuitive +effects. Esp.: said of software having an interface spec sufficiently simple +and well-defined that it can be used as a tool by other software. See cat. +2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't crash or blow up , even when given +pathological input. Implies that the stability of the algorithm is +intrinsic, which makes this somewhat different from bulletproof. + diff --git a/entries/well-connected.txt b/entries/well-connected.txt index 2ef6a9e..d7dbc38 100644 --- a/entries/well-connected.txt +++ b/entries/well-connected.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ well-connected -adj. Said of a computer installation, asserts that it has reliable email links with the network and/or that it relays a large fraction of available Usenet newsgroups. Well-known can be almost synonymous, but also implies that the site's name is familiar to many (due perhaps to an archive service or active Usenet users). +adj. Said of a computer installation, asserts that it has reliable email +links with the network and/or that it relays a large fraction of available +Usenet newsgroups. Well-known can be almost synonymous, but also implies +that the site's name is familiar to many (due perhaps to an archive service +or active Usenet users). + diff --git a/entries/wetware.txt b/entries/wetware.txt index e58517a..7f4b91a 100644 --- a/entries/wetware.txt +++ b/entries/wetware.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ wetware -/wetweir/ , n. [prob.: from the novels of Rudy Rucker] 1. The human nervous system, as opposed to computer hardware or software. Wetware has 7 plus or minus 2 temporary registers. 2. Human beings (programmers, operators, administrators) attached to a computer system, as opposed to the system's hardware or software. See liveware , meatware. +/wetweir/ , n. [prob.: from the novels of Rudy Rucker] 1. The human nervous +system, as opposed to computer hardware or software. Wetware has 7 plus or +minus 2 temporary registers. 2. Human beings (programmers, operators, +administrators) attached to a computer system, as opposed to the system's +hardware or software. See liveware , meatware. + diff --git a/entries/whack-a-mole.txt b/entries/whack-a-mole.txt index 5a1400b..3134938 100644 --- a/entries/whack-a-mole.txt +++ b/entries/whack-a-mole.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ whack-a-mole -n. [from the carnival game which involves quickly and repeatedly hitting the heads of mechanical moles with a mallet as they pop up from their holes.] 1. The practice of repeatedly causing spammers' throwaway account s and drop boxes to be terminated. 2. After sense 1 became established in the mid-1990s the term passed into more generalized use, and now is commonly found in such combinations as whack-a-mole windows ; the obnoxious pop-up advertisement windows spawned in flocks when you surf to sites like Angelfire or Lycos. +n. [from the carnival game which involves quickly and repeatedly hitting the +heads of mechanical moles with a mallet as they pop up from their holes.] 1. +The practice of repeatedly causing spammers' throwaway account s and drop +boxes to be terminated. 2. After sense 1 became established in the mid-1990s +the term passed into more generalized use, and now is commonly found in such +combinations as whack-a-mole windows ; the obnoxious pop-up advertisement +windows spawned in flocks when you surf to sites like Angelfire or Lycos. + diff --git a/entries/whack.txt b/entries/whack.txt index 88ad47d..317f2c7 100644 --- a/entries/whack.txt +++ b/entries/whack.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ whack -v. According to arch-hacker James Gosling (designer of NeWS , GOSMACS and Java), to. ..modify a program with no idea whatsoever how it works. (See whacker. ) It is actually possible to do this in nontrivial circumstances if the change is small and well-defined and you are very good at glark ing things from context. As a trivial example, it is relatively easy to change all stderr writes to stdout writes in a piece of C filter code which remains otherwise mysterious. +v. According to arch-hacker James Gosling (designer of NeWS , GOSMACS and +Java), to. ..modify a program with no idea whatsoever how it works. (See +whacker. ) It is actually possible to do this in nontrivial circumstances if +the change is small and well-defined and you are very good at glark ing +things from context. As a trivial example, it is relatively easy to change +all stderr writes to stdout writes in a piece of C filter code which remains +otherwise mysterious. + diff --git a/entries/whacker.txt b/entries/whacker.txt index 74c45d0..0226cf6 100644 --- a/entries/whacker.txt +++ b/entries/whacker.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ whacker -n. [University of Maryland: from hacker ] 1. A person, similar to a hacker , who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities. Whereas a hacker tends to produce great hacks, a whacker only ends up whacking the system or program in question. Whackers are often quite egotistical and eager to claim wizard status, regardless of the views of their peers. 2. A person who is good at programming quickly, though rather poorly and ineptly. +n. [University of Maryland: from hacker ] 1. A person, similar to a hacker , +who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch +their capabilities. Whereas a hacker tends to produce great hacks, a whacker +only ends up whacking the system or program in question. Whackers are often +quite egotistical and eager to claim wizard status, regardless of the views +of their peers. 2. A person who is good at programming quickly, though +rather poorly and ineptly. + diff --git a/entries/whales.txt b/entries/whales.txt index 73528ca..d70a0bb 100644 --- a/entries/whales.txt +++ b/entries/whales.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ whales n. See like kicking dead whales down the beach. + diff --git a/entries/wheel bit.txt b/entries/wheel bit.txt index dea8ac8..58af751 100644 --- a/entries/wheel bit.txt +++ b/entries/wheel bit.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ wheel bit -n. A privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform some restricted operation on a timesharing system, such as read or write any file on the system regardless of protections, change or look at any address in the running monitor, crash or reload the system, and kill or create jobs and user accounts. The term was invented on the TENEX operating system, and carried over to TOPS-20, XEROX-IFS, and others. The state of being in a privileged logon is sometimes called wheel mode. This term entered the Unix culture from TWENEX in the mid-1980s and has been gaining popularity there (esp. at university sites). See also root. +n. A privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform some restricted +operation on a timesharing system, such as read or write any file on the +system regardless of protections, change or look at any address in the +running monitor, crash or reload the system, and kill or create jobs and +user accounts. The term was invented on the TENEX operating system, and +carried over to TOPS-20, XEROX-IFS, and others. The state of being in a +privileged logon is sometimes called wheel mode. This term entered the Unix +culture from TWENEX in the mid-1980s and has been gaining popularity there +(esp. at university sites). See also root. + diff --git a/entries/wheel of reincarnation.txt b/entries/wheel of reincarnation.txt index 4559b15..4e40944 100644 --- a/entries/wheel of reincarnation.txt +++ b/entries/wheel of reincarnation.txt @@ -1,3 +1,13 @@ wheel of reincarnation -Term used to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in graphics-processor design, and at least one or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as the Wheel of Life , the Wheel of Samsara , and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea. See also blitter. +Term used to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing +system family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for +speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it does +its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support two +asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function back into +the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several iterations of +this cycle have been observed in graphics-processor design, and at least one +or two in communications and floating-point processors. Also known as the +Wheel of Life , the Wheel of Samsara , and other variations of the basic +Hindu/Buddhist theological idea. See also blitter. + diff --git a/entries/wheel wars.txt b/entries/wheel wars.txt index 7ffcaef..75b8416 100644 --- a/entries/wheel wars.txt +++ b/entries/wheel wars.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ wheel wars -n. [Stanford University] A period in larval stage during which student hackers hassle each other by attempting to log each other out of the system, delete each other's files, and otherwise wreak havoc, usually at the expense of the lesser users. +n. [Stanford University] A period in larval stage during which student +hackers hassle each other by attempting to log each other out of the system, +delete each other's files, and otherwise wreak havoc, usually at the expense +of the lesser users. + diff --git a/entries/wheel.txt b/entries/wheel.txt index f61e94d..76102e1 100644 --- a/entries/wheel.txt +++ b/entries/wheel.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ wheel -n. [from slang big wheel for a powerful person] A person who has an active wheel bit. We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives. (See wedged , sense 1.) The traditional name of security group zero in BSD (to which the major system-internal users like root belong) is wheel. Some vendors have expanded on this usage, modifying Unix so that only members of group wheel can go root. +n. [from slang big wheel for a powerful person] A person who has an active +wheel bit. We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives. (See +wedged , sense 1.) The traditional name of security group zero in BSD (to +which the major system-internal users like root belong) is wheel. Some +vendors have expanded on this usage, modifying Unix so that only members of +group wheel can go root. + diff --git a/entries/white hat.txt b/entries/white hat.txt index 7b6e559..ec18a9b 100644 --- a/entries/white hat.txt +++ b/entries/white hat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ white hat See black hat. + diff --git a/entries/whitelist.txt b/entries/whitelist.txt index d21b7d7..1872c8c 100644 --- a/entries/whitelist.txt +++ b/entries/whitelist.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ whitelist -n. The opposite of a blacklist. That is, instead of being an explicit list of people who are banned, it's an explicit list of people who are to be admitted. Hackers use this especially of lists of email addresses that are explicitly enabled to get past strict anti-spam filters. +n. The opposite of a blacklist. That is, instead of being an explicit list +of people who are banned, it's an explicit list of people who are to be +admitted. Hackers use this especially of lists of email addresses that are +explicitly enabled to get past strict anti-spam filters. + diff --git a/entries/whizzy.txt b/entries/whizzy.txt index 77e7a65..07681e6 100644 --- a/entries/whizzy.txt +++ b/entries/whizzy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ whizzy -adj. (alt.: wizzy ) [Sun] Describes a cuspy program; one that is feature-rich and well presented. +adj. (alt.: wizzy ) [Sun] Describes a cuspy program; one that is +feature-rich and well presented. + diff --git a/entries/wibble.txt b/entries/wibble.txt index 7d1a43c..cf83cf6 100644 --- a/entries/wibble.txt +++ b/entries/wibble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ wibble -1. n.,v. Commonly used to describe chatter, content-free remarks or other essentially meaningless contributions to threads in newsgroups. Oh, rspence is wibbling again. 2. +1. n.,v. Commonly used to describe chatter, content-free remarks or other +essentially meaningless contributions to threads in newsgroups. Oh, rspence +is wibbling again. 2. + diff --git a/entries/widget.txt b/entries/widget.txt index 83fc8fd..507d5ce 100644 --- a/entries/widget.txt +++ b/entries/widget.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ widget -n. 1. A meta-thing. Used to stand for a real object in didactic examples (especially database tutorials). Legend has it that the original widgets were holders for buggy whips. But suppose the parts list for a widget has 52 entries.... 2. [poss.: evoking window gadget ] A user interface object in X graphical user interfaces. +n. 1. A meta-thing. Used to stand for a real object in didactic examples +(especially database tutorials). Legend has it that the original widgets +were holders for buggy whips. But suppose the parts list for a widget has 52 +entries.... 2. [poss.: evoking window gadget ] A user interface object in X +graphical user interfaces. + diff --git a/entries/wiggles.txt b/entries/wiggles.txt index e4711e2..f89d771 100644 --- a/entries/wiggles.txt +++ b/entries/wiggles.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ wiggles -n. [scientific computation] In solving partial differential equations by finite difference and similar methods, wiggles are sawtooth (up-down-up-down) oscillations at the shortest wavelength representable on the grid. If an algorithm is unstable, this is often the most unstable waveform, so it grows to dominate the solution. Alternatively, stable (though inaccurate) wiggles can be generated near a discontinuity by a Gibbs phenomenon. +n. [scientific computation] In solving partial differential equations by +finite difference and similar methods, wiggles are sawtooth +(up-down-up-down) oscillations at the shortest wavelength representable on +the grid. If an algorithm is unstable, this is often the most unstable +waveform, so it grows to dominate the solution. Alternatively, stable +(though inaccurate) wiggles can be generated near a discontinuity by a Gibbs +phenomenon. + diff --git a/entries/wild side.txt b/entries/wild side.txt index 248ab09..959a59c 100644 --- a/entries/wild side.txt +++ b/entries/wild side.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ wild side The public or uncontrolled side of a firewall machine. + diff --git a/entries/win big.txt b/entries/win big.txt index 1b70daa..63867bf 100644 --- a/entries/win big.txt +++ b/entries/win big.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ win big -vi. To experience serendipity. I went shopping and won big; there was a 2-for-1 sale. See big win. +vi. To experience serendipity. I went shopping and won big; there was a +2-for-1 sale. See big win. + diff --git a/entries/win win.txt b/entries/win win.txt index 47ffcd2..29844ba 100644 --- a/entries/win win.txt +++ b/entries/win win.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ win win excl. Expresses pleasure at a win. + diff --git a/entries/win.txt b/entries/win.txt index f7691a0..37bda29 100644 --- a/entries/win.txt +++ b/entries/win.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ win -1. vi. To succeed. A program wins if no unexpected conditions arise, or (especially) if it is sufficiently robust to take exceptions in stride. 2. n. Success, or a specific instance thereof. A pleasing outcome. So it turned out I could use a lexer generator instead of hand-coding my own pattern recognizer. What a win! Emphatic forms: moby win , super win , hyper-win (often used interjectively as a reply). For some reason suitable win is also common at MIT, usually in reference to a satisfactory solution to a problem. Oppose lose ; see also big win , which isn't quite just an intensification of win. +1. vi. To succeed. A program wins if no unexpected conditions arise, or +(especially) if it is sufficiently robust to take exceptions in stride. 2. +n. Success, or a specific instance thereof. A pleasing outcome. So it turned +out I could use a lexer generator instead of hand-coding my own pattern +recognizer. What a win! Emphatic forms: moby win , super win , hyper-win +(often used interjectively as a reply). For some reason suitable win is also +common at MIT, usually in reference to a satisfactory solution to a problem. +Oppose lose ; see also big win , which isn't quite just an intensification +of win. + diff --git a/entries/windoid.txt b/entries/windoid.txt index fc3f0e3..f4ca4ac 100644 --- a/entries/windoid.txt +++ b/entries/windoid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ windoid -n. In the Macintosh world, a style of window with much less adornment (smaller or missing title bar, zoom box, etc.) than a standard window. +n. In the Macintosh world, a style of window with much less adornment +(smaller or missing title bar, zoom box, etc.) than a standard window. + diff --git a/entries/window shopping.txt b/entries/window shopping.txt index 79c0f66..2dea02e 100644 --- a/entries/window shopping.txt +++ b/entries/window shopping.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ window shopping -n. [US Geological Survey] Among users of WIMP environment s like X or the Macintosh, extended experimentation with new window colors, fonts, and icon shapes. This activity can take up hours of what might otherwise have been productive working time. I spent the afternoon window shopping until I found the coolest shade of green for my active window borders now they perfectly match my medium slate blue background. Serious window shoppers will spend their days with bitmap editors, creating new and different icons and background patterns for all to see. Also: window dressing , the act of applying new fonts, colors, etc. See fritterware , compare macdink. +n. [US Geological Survey] Among users of WIMP environment s like X or the +Macintosh, extended experimentation with new window colors, fonts, and icon +shapes. This activity can take up hours of what might otherwise have been +productive working time. I spent the afternoon window shopping until I found +the coolest shade of green for my active window borders now they perfectly +match my medium slate blue background. Serious window shoppers will spend +their days with bitmap editors, creating new and different icons and +background patterns for all to see. Also: window dressing , the act of +applying new fonts, colors, etc. See fritterware , compare macdink. + diff --git a/entries/winged comments.txt b/entries/winged comments.txt index 63121af..2b987cd 100644 --- a/entries/winged comments.txt +++ b/entries/winged comments.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ winged comments -n. Comments set on the same line as code, as opposed to boxed comments. In C, for example: d=sqrt(x*x+y*y);/*distancefromorigin*/ Generally these refer only to the action(s) taken on that line. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is 75-10-04. The previous cartoon was 74-12-25. +n. Comments set on the same line as code, as opposed to boxed comments. In +C, for example: d=sqrt(x*x+y*y);/*distancefromorigin*/ Generally these refer +only to the action(s) taken on that line. (The next cartoon in the Crunchly +saga is 75-10-04. The previous cartoon was 74-12-25. + diff --git a/entries/winkey.txt b/entries/winkey.txt index 2ba0972..f6d4288 100644 --- a/entries/winkey.txt +++ b/entries/winkey.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ winkey n. (alt.: winkey face ) See emoticon. + diff --git a/entries/winnage.txt b/entries/winnage.txt index e6c6238..c619263 100644 --- a/entries/winnage.txt +++ b/entries/winnage.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ winnage -/win'@j/ , n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or when something is winning. +/win'@j/ , n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or when something +is winning. + diff --git a/entries/winner.txt b/entries/winner.txt index 596c591..1911658 100644 --- a/entries/winner.txt +++ b/entries/winner.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ winner -Often sarcastic, but also used as high praise (see also the note under user ). He's a real winner never reports a bug till he can duplicate it and send in an example. +Often sarcastic, but also used as high praise (see also the note under user +). He's a real winner never reports a bug till he can duplicate it and send +in an example. + diff --git a/entries/winnitude.txt b/entries/winnitude.txt index dd8fcf4..db30aba 100644 --- a/entries/winnitude.txt +++ b/entries/winnitude.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ 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 winnitude! Yup. I'll probably get a half-hour's winnage on the next run of my program. Perhaps curiously, the obvious antonym lossitude is rare. +/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 winnitude! Yup. I'll probably get a half-hour's winnage on the next run +of my program. Perhaps curiously, the obvious antonym lossitude is rare. + diff --git a/entries/wired.txt b/entries/wired.txt index 26e7aaf..c7148ab 100644 --- a/entries/wired.txt +++ b/entries/wired.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ wired n. See hardwired. + diff --git a/entries/wirehead.txt b/entries/wirehead.txt index ad66607..694de00 100644 --- a/entries/wirehead.txt +++ b/entries/wirehead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ wirehead -/wi:rhed/ , 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 wizard too, but will always have the 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. +/wi:rhed/ , 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 wizard too, but will always have the 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. + diff --git a/entries/wirewater.txt b/entries/wirewater.txt index 06e8d37..6a2e578 100644 --- a/entries/wirewater.txt +++ b/entries/wirewater.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ wirewater -n. Syn. programming fluid. This melds the mainstream slang adjective wired (stimulated, up, hyperactive) with firewater ; however, it refers to caffeinacious rather than alcoholic beverages. +n. Syn. programming fluid. This melds the mainstream slang adjective wired +(stimulated, up, hyperactive) with firewater ; however, it refers to +caffeinacious rather than alcoholic beverages. + diff --git a/entries/wish list.txt b/entries/wish list.txt index e290ed3..cb630c9 100644 --- a/entries/wish list.txt +++ b/entries/wish list.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ 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 to the wish list for the new interface. Compare tick-list features. +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 to the wish list for the new interface. Compare tick-list +features. + diff --git a/entries/within delta of.txt b/entries/within delta of.txt index ffc3c77..6023c33 100644 --- a/entries/within delta of.txt +++ b/entries/within delta of.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ within delta of adj. See delta. + diff --git a/entries/within epsilon of.txt b/entries/within epsilon of.txt index 8c3beff..e3e2d9e 100644 --- a/entries/within epsilon of.txt +++ b/entries/within epsilon of.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ within epsilon of adj. See epsilon. + diff --git a/entries/wizard hat.txt b/entries/wizard hat.txt index 68acd42..93cd3b7 100644 --- a/entries/wizard hat.txt +++ b/entries/wizard hat.txt @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ wizard hat -n. [also, after Terry Pratchett, pointy hat ] Notional headgear worn by whoever is the wizard in a particular context. The implication is that it's a transferable role. Talk to Alice, she's wearing the TCP/IP wizard hat while Bob is on vacation. This metaphor is sufficiently live that one may actually see hackers miming the act of putting on, taking off, or transferring a phantom hat. See also pointy hat , compare patch pumpkin. +n. [also, after Terry Pratchett, pointy hat ] Notional headgear worn by +whoever is the wizard in a particular context. The implication is that it's +a transferable role. Talk to Alice, she's wearing the TCP/IP wizard hat +while Bob is on vacation. This metaphor is sufficiently live that one may +actually see hackers miming the act of putting on, taking off, or +transferring a phantom hat. See also pointy hat , compare patch pumpkin. + diff --git a/entries/wizard mode.txt b/entries/wizard mode.txt index fae04a3..6952836 100644 --- a/entries/wizard mode.txt +++ b/entries/wizard mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ wizard mode -n. [from rogue ] 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). This term is often used with respect to games that have editable state. +n. [from rogue ] 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). This term is often used with respect to games that have editable +state. + diff --git a/entries/wizard.txt b/entries/wizard.txt index 762fa25..d2a1352 100644 --- a/entries/wizard.txt +++ b/entries/wizard.txt @@ -1,3 +1,17 @@ wizard -n. 1. Transitively, 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, but is a wizard with respect to something only 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. The term wizard is also used intransitively of someone who has extremely high-level hacking or problem-solving ability. 3. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary people; one who has wheel privileges on a system. 4. A Unix expert, 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 wizardry , incantation , magic , mutter , rain dance , voodoo programming , wave a dead chicken. +n. 1. Transitively, 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, but is a wizard with respect to something only 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. The term wizard is also +used intransitively of someone who has extremely high-level hacking or +problem-solving ability. 3. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden +to ordinary people; one who has wheel privileges on a system. 4. A Unix +expert, 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 wizardry , incantation , magic , mutter , rain dance , voodoo +programming , wave a dead chicken. + diff --git a/entries/wizardly.txt b/entries/wizardly.txt index 22a06bc..7f1068a 100644 --- a/entries/wizardly.txt +++ b/entries/wizardly.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ wizardly -adj. Pertaining to wizards. A wizardly feature is one that only a wizard could understand or use properly. +adj. Pertaining to wizards. A wizardly feature is one that only a wizard +could understand or use properly. + diff --git a/entries/wok-on-the-wall.txt b/entries/wok-on-the-wall.txt index 15126f6..317c610 100644 --- a/entries/wok-on-the-wall.txt +++ b/entries/wok-on-the-wall.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ wok-on-the-wall -n. A small microwave dish antenna used for cross-campus private network circuits, from the obvious resemblance between a microwave dish and the Chinese culinary utensil. +n. A small microwave dish antenna used for cross-campus private network +circuits, from the obvious resemblance between a microwave dish and the +Chinese culinary utensil. + diff --git a/entries/womb box.txt b/entries/womb box.txt index 80e1094..db370bd 100644 --- a/entries/womb box.txt +++ b/entries/womb box.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ 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 equipment, electronics, and musical instruments. +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 equipment, electronics, and musical instruments. + diff --git a/entries/womble.txt b/entries/womble.txt index 3a57c6e..2cac3fa 100644 --- a/entries/womble.txt +++ b/entries/womble.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ womble -n. [Unisys UK: from British puppet-show characters] A user who has great difficulty in communicating their requirements and/or in using the resulting software. Extreme case of luser. An especially senior or high-ranking womble is referred to as Great-Uncle Bulgaria. Compare Aunt Tillie. +n. [Unisys UK: from British puppet-show characters] A user who has great +difficulty in communicating their requirements and/or in using the resulting +software. Extreme case of luser. An especially senior or high-ranking womble +is referred to as Great-Uncle Bulgaria. Compare Aunt Tillie. + diff --git a/entries/wonky.txt b/entries/wonky.txt index 797b7f5..c5e60f4 100644 --- a/entries/wonky.txt +++ b/entries/wonky.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ wonky -/wongkee/ , adj. [from Australian slang] 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 wonky and everybody's listings came out in Tengwar. Also in wonked out. See funky , demented , bozotic. +/wongkee/ , adj. [from Australian slang] 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 wonky and everybody's listings came out in Tengwar. Also in +wonked out. See funky , demented , bozotic. + diff --git a/entries/workaround.txt b/entries/workaround.txt index b19db92..73c1949 100644 --- a/entries/workaround.txt +++ b/entries/workaround.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ workaround -n. 1. A temporary kluge used to bypass, mask, or otherwise avoid a bug or misfeature in some system. Theoretically, workarounds are always replaced by fix es; in practice, customers often find themselves living with workarounds for long periods of time. The code died on NUL characters in the input, so I fixed it to interpret them as spaces. That's not a fix, that's a workaround! 2. A procedure to be employed by the user in order to do what some currently non-working feature should do. Hypothetical example: Using META-F7 crash es the 4.43 build of Weemax, but as a workaround you can type CTRL-R, then SHIFT-F5, and delete the remaining cruft by hand. +n. 1. A temporary kluge used to bypass, mask, or otherwise avoid a bug or +misfeature in some system. Theoretically, workarounds are always replaced by +fix es; in practice, customers often find themselves living with workarounds +for long periods of time. The code died on NUL characters in the input, so I +fixed it to interpret them as spaces. That's not a fix, that's a workaround! +2. A procedure to be employed by the user in order to do what some currently +non-working feature should do. Hypothetical example: Using META-F7 crash es +the 4.43 build of Weemax, but as a workaround you can type CTRL-R, then +SHIFT-F5, and delete the remaining cruft by hand. + diff --git a/entries/working as designed.txt b/entries/working as designed.txt index dea3001..346babb 100644 --- a/entries/working as designed.txt +++ b/entries/working as designed.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ working as designed -adj. [IBM] 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 criticism or suggestion. At IBM , this sense is used in official documents! See BAD. +adj. [IBM] 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 criticism or suggestion. At IBM , this sense is used in official +documents! See BAD. + diff --git a/entries/worm.txt b/entries/worm.txt index 99b4a68..339ae53 100644 --- a/entries/worm.txt +++ b/entries/worm.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ worm -n. [from tapeworm in John Brunner's novel The Shockwave Rider , via XEROX PARC] A program that propagates itself over a network, reproducing itself as it goes. Compare virus. Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it is assumed that only cracker s write worms. Perhaps the best-known example was Robert T. Morris's Great Worm of 1988, a benign one that got out of control and hogged hundreds of Suns and VAXen across the U.S. See also cracker , RTM , Trojan horse , ice. +n. [from tapeworm in John Brunner's novel The Shockwave Rider , via XEROX +PARC] A program that propagates itself over a network, reproducing itself as +it goes. Compare virus. Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it +is assumed that only cracker s write worms. Perhaps the best-known example +was Robert T. Morris's Great Worm of 1988, a benign one that got out of +control and hogged hundreds of Suns and VAXen across the U.S. See also +cracker , RTM , Trojan horse , ice. + diff --git a/entries/wormhole.txt b/entries/wormhole.txt index 77d740b..46bc7f0 100644 --- a/entries/wormhole.txt +++ b/entries/wormhole.txt @@ -1,3 +1,16 @@ wormhole -/wermhohl/ , n. [from the wormhole singularities hypothesized in some versions of General Relativity theory] 1. [n.,obs.] A location in a monitor which contains the address of a routine, with the specific intent of making it easy to substitute a different routine. This term is now obsolescent; modern operating systems use clusters of wormholes extensively (for modularization of I/O handling in particular, as in the Unix device-driver organization) but the preferred techspeak for these clusters is device tables , jump tables or capability tables. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio] A network path using a commercial satellite link to join two or more amateur VHF networks. So called because traffic routed through a wormhole leaves and re-enters the amateur network over great distances with usually little clue in the message routing header as to how it got from one relay to the other. Compare gopher hole (sense 2). +/wermhohl/ , n. [from the wormhole singularities hypothesized in some +versions of General Relativity theory] 1. [n.,obs.] A location in a monitor +which contains the address of a routine, with the specific intent of making +it easy to substitute a different routine. This term is now obsolescent; +modern operating systems use clusters of wormholes extensively (for +modularization of I/O handling in particular, as in the Unix device-driver +organization) but the preferred techspeak for these clusters is device +tables , jump tables or capability tables. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio] A +network path using a commercial satellite link to join two or more amateur +VHF networks. So called because traffic routed through a wormhole leaves and +re-enters the amateur network over great distances with usually little clue +in the message routing header as to how it got from one relay to the other. +Compare gopher hole (sense 2). + diff --git a/entries/wound around the axle.txt b/entries/wound around the axle.txt index 33fa649..525162a 100644 --- a/entries/wound around the axle.txt +++ b/entries/wound around the axle.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ wound around the axle adj. In an infinite loop. Often used by older computer types. + diff --git a/entries/wrap around.txt b/entries/wrap around.txt index b824cfb..9ac9f51 100644 --- a/entries/wrap around.txt +++ b/entries/wrap around.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ wrap around -vi. (also n. wraparound and v. shorthand wrap ) 1. [techspeak] The action of a counter that starts over at zero or at minus infinity (see infinity ) after its maximum value has been reached, and continues incrementing, either because it is programmed to do so or because of an overflow (as when a car's odometer starts over at 0). 2. To change phase gradually and continuously by maintaining a steady wake-sleep cycle somewhat longer than 24 hours, e.g., living six long (28-hour) days in a week (or, equivalently, sleeping at the rate of 10 microhertz). This sense is also called phase-wrapping. +vi. (also n. wraparound and v. shorthand wrap ) 1. [techspeak] The action of +a counter that starts over at zero or at minus infinity (see infinity ) +after its maximum value has been reached, and continues incrementing, either +because it is programmed to do so or because of an overflow (as when a car's +odometer starts over at 0). 2. To change phase gradually and continuously by +maintaining a steady wake-sleep cycle somewhat longer than 24 hours, e.g., +living six long (28-hour) days in a week (or, equivalently, sleeping at the +rate of 10 microhertz). This sense is also called phase-wrapping. + diff --git a/entries/write-only code.txt b/entries/write-only code.txt index 44c436e..1e90e44 100644 --- a/entries/write-only code.txt +++ b/entries/write-only code.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ write-only code -n. [a play on read-only memory ] Code so arcane, complex, or ill-structured that it cannot be modified or even comprehended by anyone but its author, and possibly not even by him/her. A Bad Thing. +n. [a play on read-only memory ] Code so arcane, complex, or ill-structured +that it cannot be modified or even comprehended by anyone but its author, +and possibly not even by him/her. A Bad Thing. + diff --git a/entries/write-only language.txt b/entries/write-only language.txt index a7baf5f..fee6baa 100644 --- a/entries/write-only language.txt +++ b/entries/write-only language.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ write-only language -n. A language with syntax (or semantics) sufficiently dense and bizarre that any routine of significant size is automatically write-only code. A sobriquet applied occasionally to C and often to APL, though INTERCAL and TECO certainly deserve it more. See also Befunge. +n. A language with syntax (or semantics) sufficiently dense and bizarre that +any routine of significant size is automatically write-only code. A +sobriquet applied occasionally to C and often to APL, though INTERCAL and +TECO certainly deserve it more. See also Befunge. + diff --git a/entries/write-only memory.txt b/entries/write-only memory.txt index 475f8f7..ee9b199 100644 --- a/entries/write-only memory.txt +++ b/entries/write-only memory.txt @@ -1,3 +1,18 @@ write-only memory -n. The obvious antonym to read-only memory. Out of frustration with the long and seemingly useless chain of approvals required of component specifications, during which no actual checking seemed to occur, an engineer at Signetics once created a specification for a write-only memory and included it with a bunch of other specifications to be approved. This inclusion came to the attention of Signetics management only when regular customers started calling and asking for pricing information. Signetics published a corrected edition of the data book and requested the return of the erroneous ones. Later, in 1972, Signetics bought a double-page spread in Electronics magazine's April issue and used the spec as an April Fools' Day joke. Instead of the more conventional characteristic curves, the 25120 fully encoded, 9046 x N, Random Access, write-only-memory data sheet included diagrams of bit capacity vs.: Temp. , Iff vs. Vff , Number of pins remaining vs.: number of socket insertions , and AQL vs.: selling price. The 25120 required a 6.3 VAC VFF supply, a +10V VCC, and VDD of 0V, 2%. +n. The obvious antonym to read-only memory. Out of frustration with the long +and seemingly useless chain of approvals required of component +specifications, during which no actual checking seemed to occur, an engineer +at Signetics once created a specification for a write-only memory and +included it with a bunch of other specifications to be approved. This +inclusion came to the attention of Signetics management only when regular +customers started calling and asking for pricing information. Signetics +published a corrected edition of the data book and requested the return of +the erroneous ones. Later, in 1972, Signetics bought a double-page spread in +Electronics magazine's April issue and used the spec as an April Fools' Day +joke. Instead of the more conventional characteristic curves, the 25120 +fully encoded, 9046 x N, Random Access, write-only-memory data sheet +included diagrams of bit capacity vs.: Temp. , Iff vs. Vff , Number of pins +remaining vs.: number of socket insertions , and AQL vs.: selling price. The +25120 required a 6.3 VAC VFF supply, a +10V VCC, and VDD of 0V, 2%. + diff --git a/entries/wugga wugga.txt b/entries/wugga wugga.txt index 2d1c0d5..c692f99 100644 --- a/entries/wugga wugga.txt +++ b/entries/wugga wugga.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ wugga wugga -/wuhg@ wuhg@/ , n. Imaginary sound that a computer program makes as it labors with a tedious or difficult task. grind (sense 4). +/wuhg@ wuhg@/ , n. Imaginary sound that a computer program makes as it +labors with a tedious or difficult task. grind (sense 4). + diff --git a/entries/wumpus.txt b/entries/wumpus.txt index a577e1f..5d2693f 100644 --- a/entries/wumpus.txt +++ b/entries/wumpus.txt @@ -1,3 +1,24 @@ wumpus -/wuhmp@s/ , n. The central monster (and, in many versions, the name) of a famous family of very early computer games called Hunt The Wumpus. The original was invented in 1970 (several years before ADVENT ) by Gregory Yob. The wumpus lived somewhere in a cave with the topology of an dodecahedron's edge/vertex graph (later versions supported other topologies, including an icosahedron and Mbius strip). The player started somewhere at random in the cave with five crooked arrows ; these could be shot through up to three connected rooms, and would kill the wumpus on a hit (later versions introduced the wounded wumpus, which got very angry). Unfortunately for players, the movement necessary to map the maze was made hazardous not merely by the wumpus (which would eat you if you stepped on him) but also by bottomless pits and colonies of super bats that would pick you up and drop you at a random location (later versions added anaerobic termites that ate arrows, bat migrations, and earthquakes that randomly changed pit locations). This game appears to have been the first to use a non-random graph-structured map (as opposed to a rectangular grid like the even older Star Trek games). In this respect, as in the dungeon-like setting and its terse, amusing messages, it prefigured ADVENT and Zork and was directly ancestral to the latter (Zork acknowledged this heritage by including a super-bat colony). A C emulation of the original Basic game is available at the Retrocomputing Museum, http://www.catb.org/retro/. +/wuhmp@s/ , n. The central monster (and, in many versions, the name) of a +famous family of very early computer games called Hunt The Wumpus. The +original was invented in 1970 (several years before ADVENT ) by Gregory Yob. +The wumpus lived somewhere in a cave with the topology of an dodecahedron's +edge/vertex graph (later versions supported other topologies, including an +icosahedron and Mbius strip). The player started somewhere at random in the +cave with five crooked arrows ; these could be shot through up to three +connected rooms, and would kill the wumpus on a hit (later versions +introduced the wounded wumpus, which got very angry). Unfortunately for +players, the movement necessary to map the maze was made hazardous not +merely by the wumpus (which would eat you if you stepped on him) but also by +bottomless pits and colonies of super bats that would pick you up and drop +you at a random location (later versions added anaerobic termites that ate +arrows, bat migrations, and earthquakes that randomly changed pit +locations). This game appears to have been the first to use a non-random +graph-structured map (as opposed to a rectangular grid like the even older +Star Trek games). In this respect, as in the dungeon-like setting and its +terse, amusing messages, it prefigured ADVENT and Zork and was directly +ancestral to the latter (Zork acknowledged this heritage by including a +super-bat colony). A C emulation of the original Basic game is available at +the Retrocomputing Museum, http://www.catb.org/retro/. + diff --git a/entries/xor.txt b/entries/xor.txt index 566b359..c48fd87 100644 --- a/entries/xor.txt +++ b/entries/xor.txt @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ xor -/Xor/ , /kzor/ , conj. Exclusive or. A xor B means A or B, but not both. I want to get cherry pie xor a banana split. This derives from the technical use of the term as a function on truth-values that is true if exactly one of its two arguments is true. +/Xor/ , /kzor/ , conj. Exclusive or. A xor B means A or B, but not both. I +want to get cherry pie xor a banana split. This derives from the technical +use of the term as a function on truth-values that is true if exactly one of +its two arguments is true. + diff --git a/entries/xref.txt b/entries/xref.txt index 00a88fd..538e407 100644 --- a/entries/xref.txt +++ b/entries/xref.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ xref /Xref/ , v.,n. Hackish standard abbreviation for cross-reference. + diff --git a/entries/xyzzy.txt b/entries/xyzzy.txt index 7e6aab9..7efffd0 100644 --- a/entries/xyzzy.txt +++ b/entries/xyzzy.txt @@ -1,3 +1,28 @@ xyzzy -/XYZZY/ , /XYzizee/ , /zizee/ , /ikzizee/ , adj. [from the ADVENT game] The canonical magic word. This comes from ADVENT , in which the idea is to explore an underground cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures you find there. If you type xyzzy at the appropriate time, you can move instantly between two otherwise distant points. If, therefore, you encounter some bit of magic , you might remark on this quite succinctly by saying simply Xyzzy! Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's screen if he has protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system will let you do it anyway. Xyzzy! It's traditional for xyzzy to be an Easter egg in games with text interfaces. Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented no-op command on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it would typically respond Nothing happens , just as ADVENT did if the magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player had performed the action that enabled the word. In more recent 32-bit versions, by the way, AOS/VS responds Twice as much happens. Early versions of the popular minesweeper game under Microsoft Windows had a cheat mode triggered by the command xyzzy enter right-shift that turns the top-left pixel of the screen different colors depending on whether or not the cursor is over a bomb. This feature temporarily disappeared in Windows 98, but reappeared in Windows 2000. The following passage from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, suggesting a possible pre-ADVENT origin, has recently come to light: Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik! said Dorothy, who was now standing on both feet. This ended the saying of the charm, and they heard a great chattering and flapping of wings, as the band of Winged Monkeys flew up to them. The text can be viewed at Project Gutenberg. +/XYZZY/ , /XYzizee/ , /zizee/ , /ikzizee/ , adj. [from the ADVENT game] The +canonical magic word. This comes from ADVENT , in which the idea is to +explore an underground cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures you +find there. If you type xyzzy at the appropriate time, you can move +instantly between two otherwise distant points. If, therefore, you encounter +some bit of magic , you might remark on this quite succinctly by saying +simply Xyzzy! Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's screen if he has +protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system will let you +do it anyway. Xyzzy! It's traditional for xyzzy to be an Easter egg in games +with text interfaces. Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented +no-op command on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it +would typically respond Nothing happens , just as ADVENT did if the magic +was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player had performed the action +that enabled the word. In more recent 32-bit versions, by the way, AOS/VS +responds Twice as much happens. Early versions of the popular minesweeper +game under Microsoft Windows had a cheat mode triggered by the command xyzzy +enter right-shift that turns the top-left pixel of the screen different +colors depending on whether or not the cursor is over a bomb. This feature +temporarily disappeared in Windows 98, but reappeared in Windows 2000. The +following passage from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, +suggesting a possible pre-ADVENT origin, has recently come to light: Ziz-zy, +zuz-zy, zik! said Dorothy, who was now standing on both feet. This ended the +saying of the charm, and they heard a great chattering and flapping of +wings, as the band of Winged Monkeys flew up to them. The text can be viewed +at Project Gutenberg. + diff --git a/entries/yak shaving.txt b/entries/yak shaving.txt index 128fa6f..3454685 100644 --- a/entries/yak shaving.txt +++ b/entries/yak shaving.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ yak shaving -Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on. +Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a +problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, +solves the real problem you're working on. + diff --git a/entries/yellow card.txt b/entries/yellow card.txt index 969b629..e250b14 100644 --- a/entries/yellow card.txt +++ b/entries/yellow card.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ yellow card n. See green card. + diff --git a/entries/yellow wire.txt b/entries/yellow wire.txt index a77ce8a..6e159dc 100644 --- a/entries/yellow wire.txt +++ b/entries/yellow wire.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ yellow wire -n. [IBM] Repair wires used when connectors (especially ribbon connectors) got broken due to some schlemiel pinching them, or to reconnect cut traces after the FE mistakenly cut one. Compare blue wire , purple wire , red wire. +n. [IBM] Repair wires used when connectors (especially ribbon connectors) +got broken due to some schlemiel pinching them, or to reconnect cut traces +after the FE mistakenly cut one. Compare blue wire , purple wire , red wire. + diff --git a/entries/yoyo mode.txt b/entries/yoyo mode.txt index d78ea46..b4c8bf9 100644 --- a/entries/yoyo mode.txt +++ b/entries/yoyo mode.txt @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ yoyo mode -n. The state in which the system is said to be when it rapidly alternates several times between being up and being down. Interestingly (and perhaps not by coincidence), many hardware vendors give out free yoyos at Usenix exhibits. Sun Microsystems gave out logoized yoyos at SIGPLAN '88. Tourists staying at one of Atlanta's most respectable hotels were subsequently treated to the sight of 200 of the country's top computer scientists testing yo-yo algorithms in the lobby. +n. The state in which the system is said to be when it rapidly alternates +several times between being up and being down. Interestingly (and perhaps +not by coincidence), many hardware vendors give out free yoyos at Usenix +exhibits. Sun Microsystems gave out logoized yoyos at SIGPLAN '88. Tourists +staying at one of Atlanta's most respectable hotels were subsequently +treated to the sight of 200 of the country's top computer scientists testing +yo-yo algorithms in the lobby. + diff --git a/entries/zap.txt b/entries/zap.txt index c5d4aa7..c3fd5bd 100644 --- a/entries/zap.txt +++ b/entries/zap.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ zap -1. n. Spiciness. 2. vt. To make food spicy. 3. vt. To make someone suffer by making his food spicy. (Most hackers love spicy food. Hot-and-sour soup is considered wimpy unless it makes you wipe your nose for the rest of the meal.) See ped. 4. vt. To modify, usually to correct; esp. used when the action is performed with a debugger or binary patching tool. Also implies surgical precision. Zap the debug level to 6 and run it again. In the IBM mainframe world, binary patches are applied to programs or to the OS with a program called super , whose file name is IMASPZAP (possibly contrived from I M A SuPerZAP). 5. vt. To erase or reset. 6. To fry a chip with static electricity. Uh oh I think that lightning strike may have ped the disk controller. +1. n. Spiciness. 2. vt. To make food spicy. 3. vt. To make someone suffer by +making his food spicy. (Most hackers love spicy food. Hot-and-sour soup is +considered wimpy unless it makes you wipe your nose for the rest of the +meal.) See ped. 4. vt. To modify, usually to correct; esp. used when the +action is performed with a debugger or binary patching tool. Also implies +surgical precision. Zap the debug level to 6 and run it again. In the IBM +mainframe world, binary patches are applied to programs or to the OS with a +program called super , whose file name is IMASPZAP (possibly contrived from +I M A SuPerZAP). 5. vt. To erase or reset. 6. To fry a chip with static +electricity. Uh oh I think that lightning strike may have ped the disk +controller. + diff --git a/entries/zapped.txt b/entries/zapped.txt index 914acf9..96da8e0 100644 --- a/entries/zapped.txt +++ b/entries/zapped.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ zapped -adj. Spicy. This term is used to distinguish between food that is hot (in temperature) and food that is spicy -hot. For example, the Chinese appetizer Bon Bon Chicken is a kind of chicken salad that is cold but zapped; by contrast, vanilla wonton soup is hot but not zapped. See also oriental food , laser chicken. See zap , senses 1 and 2. +adj. Spicy. This term is used to distinguish between food that is hot (in +temperature) and food that is spicy -hot. For example, the Chinese appetizer +Bon Bon Chicken is a kind of chicken salad that is cold but zapped; by +contrast, vanilla wonton soup is hot but not zapped. See also oriental food +, laser chicken. See zap , senses 1 and 2. + diff --git a/entries/zbeba.txt b/entries/zbeba.txt index 1d37ae5..4fd0c37 100644 --- a/entries/zbeba.txt +++ b/entries/zbeba.txt @@ -1,3 +1,5 @@ zbeba -n. [USENET] The word moron in rot13. Used to describe newbies who are behaving with especial cluelessness. +n. [USENET] The word moron in rot13. Used to describe newbies who are +behaving with especial cluelessness. + diff --git a/entries/zen.txt b/entries/zen.txt index 5e6f93e..f8360aa 100644 --- a/entries/zen.txt +++ b/entries/zen.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ zen -vt. To figure out something by meditation or by a sudden flash of enlightenment. Originally applied to bugs, but occasionally applied to problems of life in general. How'd you figure out the buffer allocation problem? Oh, I zenned it. Contrast grok , which connotes a time-extended version of zenning a system. Compare hack mode. See also guru. +vt. To figure out something by meditation or by a sudden flash of +enlightenment. Originally applied to bugs, but occasionally applied to +problems of life in general. How'd you figure out the buffer allocation +problem? Oh, I zenned it. Contrast grok , which connotes a time-extended +version of zenning a system. Compare hack mode. See also guru. + diff --git a/entries/zero-content.txt b/entries/zero-content.txt index f4050c0..725c9d6 100644 --- a/entries/zero-content.txt +++ b/entries/zero-content.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ zero-content adj. Syn. content-free. + diff --git a/entries/zero.txt b/entries/zero.txt index ee9d2f5..0cd9d9f 100644 --- a/entries/zero.txt +++ b/entries/zero.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ zero -vt. 1. To set to 0. Usually said of small pieces of data, such as bits or words (esp. in the construction zero out ). 2. To erase; to discard all data from. Said of disks and directories, where zeroing need not involve actually writing zeroes throughout the area being zeroed. One may speak of something being logically zeroed rather than being physically zeroed. See scribble. +vt. 1. To set to 0. Usually said of small pieces of data, such as bits or +words (esp. in the construction zero out ). 2. To erase; to discard all data +from. Said of disks and directories, where zeroing need not involve actually +writing zeroes throughout the area being zeroed. One may speak of something +being logically zeroed rather than being physically zeroed. See scribble. + diff --git a/entries/zeroth.txt b/entries/zeroth.txt index 5cae659..915a577 100644 --- a/entries/zeroth.txt +++ b/entries/zeroth.txt @@ -1,3 +1,14 @@ zeroth -/zeerohth/ , adj. First. Among software designers, comes from C's and LISP's 0-based indexing of arrays. Hardware people also tend to start counting at 0 instead of 1; this is natural since, e.g., the 256 states of 8 bits correspond to the binary numbers 0, 1,. .., 255 and the digital devices known as counters count in this way. Hackers and computer scientists often like to call the first chapter of a publication Chapter 0 , especially if it is of an introductory nature (one of the classic instances was in the First Edition of K R ). In recent years this trait has also been observed among many pure mathematicians (who have an independent tradition of numbering from 0). Zero-based numbering tends to reduce fencepost error s, though it cannot eliminate them entirely. +/zeerohth/ , adj. First. Among software designers, comes from C's and LISP's +0-based indexing of arrays. Hardware people also tend to start counting at 0 +instead of 1; this is natural since, e.g., the 256 states of 8 bits +correspond to the binary numbers 0, 1,. .., 255 and the digital devices +known as counters count in this way. Hackers and computer scientists often +like to call the first chapter of a publication Chapter 0 , especially if it +is of an introductory nature (one of the classic instances was in the First +Edition of K R ). In recent years this trait has also been observed among +many pure mathematicians (who have an independent tradition of numbering +from 0). Zero-based numbering tends to reduce fencepost error s, though it +cannot eliminate them entirely. + diff --git a/entries/zigamorph.txt b/entries/zigamorph.txt index 3079ee0..46cf3f1 100644 --- a/entries/zigamorph.txt +++ b/entries/zigamorph.txt @@ -1,3 +1,11 @@ zigamorph -/zig'@morf/ , n. 1. Hex FF (11111111) when used as a delimiter or fence character. Usage: primarily at IBM shops. 2. [proposed] n. The Unicode non-character U+FFFF (1111111111111111), a character code which is not assigned to any character, and so is usable as end-of-string. (Unicode is a 16-bit character code intended to cover all of the world's writing systems, including Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese, hiragana, katakana, Devanagari, Thai, Laotian and many other scripts support for elvish is planned for a future release). +/zig'@morf/ , n. 1. Hex FF (11111111) when used as a delimiter or fence +character. Usage: primarily at IBM shops. 2. [proposed] n. The Unicode +non-character U+FFFF (1111111111111111), a character code which is not +assigned to any character, and so is usable as end-of-string. (Unicode is a +16-bit character code intended to cover all of the world's writing systems, +including Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese, hiragana, katakana, Devanagari, +Thai, Laotian and many other scripts support for elvish is planned for a +future release). + diff --git a/entries/zip.txt b/entries/zip.txt index c811d93..d7b7ecf 100644 --- a/entries/zip.txt +++ b/entries/zip.txt @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ zip -vt. [primarily MS-DOS/Windows] To create a compressed archive from a group of files using PKWare's PKZIP or a compatible archiver. Its use is spreading now that portable implementations of the algorithm have been written. Commonly used as follows: I'll zip it up and send it to you. See tar and feather. +vt. [primarily MS-DOS/Windows] To create a compressed archive from a group +of files using PKWare's PKZIP or a compatible archiver. Its use is spreading +now that portable implementations of the algorithm have been written. +Commonly used as follows: I'll zip it up and send it to you. See tar and +feather. + diff --git a/entries/zipperhead.txt b/entries/zipperhead.txt index 8fb665d..d63bed4 100644 --- a/entries/zipperhead.txt +++ b/entries/zipperhead.txt @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@ zipperhead n. [IBM] A person with a closed mind. + diff --git a/entries/zombie.txt b/entries/zombie.txt index 13265b4..b79d3a2 100644 --- a/entries/zombie.txt +++ b/entries/zombie.txt @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ zombie -n. 1. [Unix] A process that has died but has not yet relinquished its process table slot (because the parent process hasn't executed a wait (2) for it yet). These can be seen in ps (1) listings occasionally. Compare orphan. 2. A machine, especially someone's home box , that has been cracked and is being used as part of a second-stage attack by miscreants trying to mask their home IP address. Especially used of machines being exploited in large gangs for a mechanized denial-of-service attack like Tribe Flood Network; the image that goes with this is of a veritable army of zombies mindlessly doing the bidding of a necromancer. +n. 1. [Unix] A process that has died but has not yet relinquished its +process table slot (because the parent process hasn't executed a wait (2) +for it yet). These can be seen in ps (1) listings occasionally. Compare +orphan. 2. A machine, especially someone's home box , that has been cracked +and is being used as part of a second-stage attack by miscreants trying to +mask their home IP address. Especially used of machines being exploited in +large gangs for a mechanized denial-of-service attack like Tribe Flood +Network; the image that goes with this is of a veritable army of zombies +mindlessly doing the bidding of a necromancer. + diff --git a/entries/zorch.txt b/entries/zorch.txt index a357f57..0e522c9 100644 --- a/entries/zorch.txt +++ b/entries/zorch.txt @@ -1,3 +1,19 @@ zorch -/zorch/ 1. [TMRC] v. To attack with an inverse heat sink. 2. [TMRC] v. To travel, with v approaching c [that is, with velocity approaching lightspeed ESR]. 3. [MIT] v. To propel something very quickly. The new comm software is very fast; it really zorches files through the network. 4. [MIT] n. Influence. Brownie points. Good karma. The intangible and fuzzy currency in which favors are measured. I'd rather not ask him for that just yet; I think I've used up my quota of zorch with him for the week. 5. [MIT] n. Energy, drive, or ability. I think I'll punt that change for now; I've been up for 30 hours and I've run out of zorch. 6. [MIT] v. To flunk an exam or course. A track called Zorch was the B-side of a single called Captain Hideous , released by novelty artist Nervous Norvous in 1955. Norvous was heavily influemced by a radio comedian named Red Blanchard; the word zorch appears to have been coined on Blanchard's show in the early 1950s. The word itself had no meaning, but there where compounds using it that did zorch cow , for example, was a variant of the Chicago-area slang black cow for a root beer float. +/zorch/ 1. [TMRC] v. To attack with an inverse heat sink. 2. [TMRC] v. To +travel, with v approaching c [that is, with velocity approaching lightspeed +ESR]. 3. [MIT] v. To propel something very quickly. The new comm software is +very fast; it really zorches files through the network. 4. [MIT] n. +Influence. Brownie points. Good karma. The intangible and fuzzy currency in +which favors are measured. I'd rather not ask him for that just yet; I think +I've used up my quota of zorch with him for the week. 5. [MIT] n. Energy, +drive, or ability. I think I'll punt that change for now; I've been up for +30 hours and I've run out of zorch. 6. [MIT] v. To flunk an exam or course. +A track called Zorch was the B-side of a single called Captain Hideous , +released by novelty artist Nervous Norvous in 1955. Norvous was heavily +influemced by a radio comedian named Red Blanchard; the word zorch appears +to have been coined on Blanchard's show in the early 1950s. The word itself +had no meaning, but there where compounds using it that did zorch cow , for +example, was a variant of the Chicago-area slang black cow for a root beer +float. + diff --git a/entries/zorkmid.txt b/entries/zorkmid.txt index 21b2457..e1b2b21 100644 --- a/entries/zorkmid.txt +++ b/entries/zorkmid.txt @@ -1,3 +1,6 @@ zorkmid -/zorkmid/ , n. The canonical unit of currency in hacker-written games. This originated in Zork but has spread to nethack and is referred to in several other games. Prev Up Next Zork Home PartIII. +/zorkmid/ , n. The canonical unit of currency in hacker-written games. This +originated in Zork but has spread to nethack and is referred to in several +other games. Prev Up Next Zork Home PartIII. + diff --git a/import/importjargon.py b/import/importjargon.py index 9cce9cf..e074ba0 100644 --- a/import/importjargon.py +++ b/import/importjargon.py @@ -124,6 +124,25 @@ def jargonSaneTitle(title): title = title.replace('/','-') return title +# limit line lengths so that entries are more readable +def jargonPageColumns(text, columns): + words = text.split(' ') + lineLen = 0 + line = '' + result = '' + for word in words: + if lineLen + len(word) + 1 >= columns: + result = result + line + '\n' + line = '' + lineLen = 0 + lineLen = lineLen + len(word) + 1 + if line == '': + line = word + else: + line = line + ' ' + word + + return result + line + '\n' + def jargonCreateEntry(title, text, outputDir): # create the filename for the entry filename = outputDir @@ -135,6 +154,8 @@ def jargonCreateEntry(title, text, outputDir): if os.path.isfile(filename): return '' + text = jargonPageColumns(text, 78) + fp = open(filename, 'w') fp.write(title + '\n\n' + text + '\n') fp.close