27 lines
3.7 KiB
HTML
27 lines
3.7 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>computron</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="../C.html" title="C"/><link rel="previous" href="computer-confetti.html" title="computer confetti"/><link rel="next" href="con_.html" title="con"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">computron</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="computer-confetti.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">C</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="con_.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="computron"/><dt xmlns="" id="computron"><b>computron</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/kom´pyoo·tron`/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. [common] A notional unit of computing power combining instruction
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speed and storage capacity, dimensioned roughly in instructions-per-second
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times megabytes-of-main-store times megabytes-of-mass-storage. “<span class="quote">That
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machine can't run GNU Emacs, it doesn't have enough computrons!</span>”
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This usage is usually found in metaphors that treat computing power as a
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fungible commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel horsepower. See
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<a href="../B/bitty-box.html"><i class="glossterm">bitty box</i></a>,
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<a href="../G/Get-a-real-computer-.html"><i class="glossterm">Get a real computer!</i></a>, <a href="../T/toy.html"><i class="glossterm">toy</i></a>,
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<a href="crank.html"><i class="glossterm">crank</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. A mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of
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computation or information, in much the same way that an electron bears one
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unit of electric charge (see also <a href="../B/bogon.html"><i class="glossterm">bogon</i></a>). An
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elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons has been developed based
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on the physical fact that the molecules in a solid object move more rapidly
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as it is heated. It is argued that an object melts because the molecules
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have lost their information about where they are supposed to be (that is,
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they have emitted computrons). This explains why computers get so hot and
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require air conditioning; they use up computrons. Conversely, it should be
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possible to cool down an object by placing it in the path of a computron
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beam. It is believed that this may also explain why machines that work at
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the factory fail in the computer room: the computrons there have been all
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used up by the other hardware. (The popularity of this theory probably
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owes something to the <i class="citetitle">Warlock</i> stories by Larry
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Niven, the best known being <i class="citetitle">What Good is a Glass
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Dagger?</i>, in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural
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resource called <span class="foreignphrase"><i class="foreignphrase">mana</i></span>.)</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="computer-confetti.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../C.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="con_.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">computer confetti </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> con</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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