2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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computron
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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/kompyootron`/ , n. 1. [common] A notional unit of computing power combining
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instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned roughly in
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instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store times
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2018-10-15 06:23:38 -04:00
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megabytes-of-mass-storage. This usage is usually found in metaphors that treat
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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computing power as a fungible commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel
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horsepower. See bitty box , Get a real computer! , toy , crank. 2. A
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mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of computation or
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information, in much the same way that an electron bears one unit of
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electric charge (see also bogon ). An elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of
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computrons has been developed based on the physical fact that the molecules
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in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated. It is argued that an
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object melts because the molecules have lost their information about where
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they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons). This
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explains why computers get so hot and require air conditioning; they use up
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computrons. Conversely, it should be possible to cool down an object by
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placing it in the path of a computron beam. It is believed that this may
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also explain why machines that work at the factory fail in the computer
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room: the computrons there have been all used up by the other hardware. (The
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popularity of this theory probably owes something to the Warlock stories by
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Larry Niven, the best known being What Good is a Glass Dagger? , in which
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magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural resource called mana.
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