29 lines
4.3 KiB
HTML
29 lines
4.3 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>random</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="../R.html" title="R"/><link rel="previous" href="rainbow-series.html" title="rainbow series"/><link rel="next" href="Random-Number-God.html" title="Random Number God"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">random</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="rainbow-series.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">R</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="Random-Number-God.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="random"/><dt xmlns="" id="random"><b>random</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird.
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“<span class="quote">The system's been behaving pretty randomly.</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 2. Assorted; undistinguished. “<span class="quote">Who was at the
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conference?</span>” “<span class="quote">Just a bunch of random business
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types.</span>”</p></dd><dd><p> 3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. “<span class="quote">He's
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just a random loser.</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organized.
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“<span class="quote">The program has a random set of misfeatures.</span>” “<span class="quote">That's a
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random name for that function.</span>” “<span class="quote">Well, all the names were
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chosen pretty randomly.</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 5. In no particular order, though deterministic. “<span class="quote">The I/O
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channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is chosen
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randomly.</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 6. Arbitrary. “<span class="quote">It generates a random name for the scratch
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file.</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e., poorly done and for no good apparent
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reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting in a
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particularly useless way, or an assembler routine that could easily have
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been coded using only three registers, but redundantly uses seven for
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values with non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it
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without first saving four extra registers. What
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<a href="randomness.html"><i class="glossterm">randomness</i></a>!</p></dd><dd><p> 8. <span class="grammar">n.</span> A random hacker; used
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particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and
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generally get in the way.</p></dd><dd><p> 9. <span class="grammar">n.</span> Anyone who is not a hacker
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(or, sometimes, anyone not known to the hacker speaking); the noun form of
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sense 2. “<span class="quote">I went to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms
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asking bogus questions</span>”.</p></dd><dd><p> 10. <span class="grammar">n.</span> (occasional MIT usage)
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One who lives at Random Hall. See also <a href="../J/J--Random.html"><i class="glossterm">J. Random</i></a>,
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<a href="../S/some-random-X.html"><i class="glossterm">some random X</i></a>.</p></dd><dd><p> 11. [UK] Conversationally, a non sequitur or something similarly
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out-of-the-blue. As in: “<span class="quote">Stop being so random!</span>” This sense
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equates to ‘hatstand’, taken from the Viz comic character
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“<span class="quote">Roger Irrelevant - He's completely Hatstand.</span>”</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="rainbow-series.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../R.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="Random-Number-God.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">rainbow series </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Random Number God</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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