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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>worm</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="../W.html" title="W"/><link rel="previous" href="working-as-designed.html" title="working as designed"/><link rel="next" href="wormhole.html" title="wormhole"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">worm</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="working-as-designed.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">W</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="wormhole.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="worm"/><dt xmlns="" id="worm"><b>worm</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [from <span class="firstterm">tapeworm</span> in John
Brunner's novel <i class="citetitle">The Shockwave Rider</i>, via XEROX PARC]
A program that propagates itself over a network, reproducing itself as it
goes. Compare <a href="../V/virus.html"><i class="glossterm">virus</i></a>. Nowadays the term has
negative connotations, as it is assumed that only
<a href="../C/cracker.html"><i class="glossterm">cracker</i></a>s write worms. Perhaps the best-known
example was Robert T. Morris's <a href="../G/Great-Worm.html"><i class="glossterm">Great Worm</i></a> of 1988, a
&#8216;benign&#8217; one that got out of control and hogged hundreds of
Suns and VAXen across the U.S. See also <a href="../C/cracker.html"><i class="glossterm">cracker</i></a>,
<a href="../R/RTM.html"><i class="glossterm">RTM</i></a>, <a href="../T/Trojan-horse.html"><i class="glossterm">Trojan horse</i></a>,
<a href="../I/ice.html"><i class="glossterm">ice</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="working-as-designed.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../W.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="wormhole.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">working as designed </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> wormhole</td></tr></table></div></body></html>