19 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
19 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
|
||
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>grok</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="../G.html" title="G"/><link rel="previous" href="gritch.html" title="gritch"/><link rel="next" href="gronk.html" title="gronk"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">grok</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gritch.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">G</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gronk.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="grok"/><dt xmlns="" id="grok"><b>grok</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/grok/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/grohk/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">vt.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [common; from the novel <i class="citetitle">Stranger in a Strange
|
||
Land</i>, by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning
|
||
literally ‘to drink’ and metaphorically ‘to be one
|
||
with’] The emphatic form is <span class="firstterm">grok in
|
||
fullness</span>. </p></dd><dd><p> 1. To understand. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. When
|
||
you claim to ‘grok’ some knowledge or technique, you are
|
||
asserting that you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental
|
||
way but that it has become part of you, part of your identity. For
|
||
example, to say that you “<span class="quote">know</span>” <a href="../L/LISP.html"><i class="glossterm">LISP</i></a> is
|
||
simply to assert that you can code in it if necessary — but to say
|
||
you “<span class="quote">grok</span>” LISP is to claim that you have deeply entered the
|
||
world-view and spirit of the language, with the implication that it has
|
||
transformed your view of programming. Contrast <a href="../Z/zen.html"><i class="glossterm">zen</i></a>,
|
||
which is similar supernal understanding experienced as a single brief
|
||
flash. See also <a href="glark.html"><i class="glossterm">glark</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding.
|
||
“<span class="quote">Almost all C compilers grok the <b class="command">void</b>
|
||
type these days.</span>”</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="gritch.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../G.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="gronk.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">gritch </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> gronk</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
|