JargonFile/entries/cycle.txt

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 manys per second, and when you are sharing a computer the
s get divided up among the users. The more cycles 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 cycles 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.