JargonFile/entries/pencil and paper.txt
2014-04-26 16:54:15 +01:00

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pencil and paper
n. An archaic information storage and transmission device that works by
depositing smears of graphite on bleached wood pulp. More recent
developments in paper-based technology include improved write-once update
devices which use tiny rolling heads similar to mouse balls to deposit
colored pigment. All these devices require an operator skilled at so-called
handwriting technique. These technologies are ubiquitous outside hackerdom,
but nearly forgotten inside it. Most hackers had terrible handwriting to
begin with, and years of keyboarding tend to have encouraged it to degrade
further. Perhaps for this reason, hackers deprecate pencil-and-paper
technology and often resist using it in any but the most trivial contexts.