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9 lines
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>for free</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="../F.html" title="F"/><link rel="previous" href="footprint.html" title="footprint"/><link rel="next" href="for-the-rest-of-us.html" title="for the rest of us"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">for free</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="footprint.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">F</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="for-the-rest-of-us.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="for-free"/><dt xmlns="" id="for-free"><b>for free</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [common] Said of a capability of a programming language or hardware
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that is available by its design without needing cleverness to implement:
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“<span class="quote">In APL, we get the matrix operations for free.</span>” “<span class="quote">And
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owing to the way revisions are stored in this system, you get revision
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trees for free.</span>” The term usually refers to a serendipitous feature
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of doing things a certain way (compare <a href="../B/big-win.html"><i class="glossterm">big win</i></a>), but
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it may refer to an intentional but secondary feature.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="footprint.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../F.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="for-the-rest-of-us.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">footprint<EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>for the rest of us</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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