JargonFile/entries/grind.txt

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2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
grind
2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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.