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4.2 KiB
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30 lines
4.2 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>DWIM</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="../D.html" title="D"/><link rel="previous" href="dusty-deck.html" title="dusty deck"/><link rel="next" href="dynner.html" title="dynner"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">DWIM</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="dusty-deck.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">D</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="dynner.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="DWIM"/><dt xmlns="" id="DWIM"><b>DWIM</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/dwim/</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [acronym, ‘Do What I Mean’] </p></dd><dd><p> 1. <span class="grammar">adj.</span> Able to guess, sometimes
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even correctly, the result intended when bogus input was provided. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. <span class="grammar">n. obs.</span> The BBNLISP/INTERLISP
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function that attempted to accomplish this feat by correcting many of the
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more common errors. See <a href="../H/hairy.html"><i class="glossterm">hairy</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 3. Occasionally, an interjection hurled at a balky computer, esp.
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when one senses one might be tripping over legalisms (see
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<a href="../L/legalese.html"><i class="glossterm">legalese</i></a>). </p></dd><dd><p> 4. Of a person, someone whose directions are incomprehensible and
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vague, but who nevertheless has the expectation that you will solve the
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problem using the specific method he/she has in mind.</p></dd><dd><p>Warren Teitelman originally wrote DWIM to fix his typos and spelling
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errors, so it was somewhat idiosyncratic to his style, and would often make
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hash of anyone else's typos if they were stylistically different. Some
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victims of DWIM thus claimed that the acronym stood for ‘Damn
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Warren’s Infernal Machine!'.</p><p>In one notorious incident, Warren added a DWIM feature to the command
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interpreter used at Xerox PARC. One day another hacker there typed
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<b class="command">delete *$</b> to free up some disk space. (The
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editor there named backup files by appending <b class="command">$</b> to the original file name, so he was trying to
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delete any backup files left over from old editing sessions.) It happened
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that there weren't any editor backup files, so DWIM helpfully reported
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<b class="command">*$ not found, assuming you meant 'delete
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*'.</b> It then started to delete all the files on the disk! The
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hacker managed to stop it with a <a href="../V/Vulcan-nerve-pinch.html"><i class="glossterm">Vulcan nerve pinch</i></a>
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after only a half dozen or so files were lost.</p><p>The disgruntled victim later said he had been sorely tempted to go to
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Warren's office, tie Warren down in his chair in front of his workstation,
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and then type <b class="command">delete *$</b> twice.</p><p>DWIM is often suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex
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program; it is also occasionally described as the single instruction the
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ideal computer would have. Back when proofs of program correctness were in
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vogue, there were also jokes about <span class="firstterm">DWIMC</span> (Do What I Mean, Correctly). A related
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term, more often seen as a verb, is DTRT (Do The Right Thing); see
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<a href="../R/Right-Thing.html"><i class="glossterm">Right Thing</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="dusty-deck.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../D.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="dynner.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">dusty deck </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> dynner</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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