JargonFile/original/html/T/twirling-baton.html
2014-03-27 18:54:56 +00:00

13 lines
2.4 KiB
HTML
Raw Blame History

This file contains invisible Unicode characters

This file contains invisible Unicode characters that are indistinguishable to humans but may be processed differently by a computer. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>twirling baton</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../T.html" title="T"/><link rel="previous" href="twink.html" title="twink"/><link rel="next" href="two-pi.html" title="two pi"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">twirling baton</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="twink.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">T</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="two-pi.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="twirling-baton"/><dt xmlns="" id="twirling-baton"><b>twirling baton</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [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.</p><p>The twirling baton was a popular component of animated signature
files on the pioneering PLATO educational timesharing system. The <b class="command">archie</b> 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.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="twink.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../T.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="two-pi.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">twink </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> two pi</td></tr></table></div></body></html>