20 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
20 lines
1.1 KiB
Plaintext
handle
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n. 1. [from CB slang] An electronic pseudonym; a nom de guerre intended to
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conceal the user's true identity. Network and BBS handles function as the
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same sort of simultaneous concealment and display one finds on Citizen's
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Band radio, from which the term was adopted. Use of grandiose handles is
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characteristic of warez d00dz , cracker s, weenie s, spod s, and other lower
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forms of network life; true hackers travel on their own reputations rather
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than invented legendry. Compare nick , screen name. 2. A magic cookie ,
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often in the form of a numeric index into some array somewhere, through
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which you can manipulate an object like a file or window. The form file
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handle is especially common. 3. [Mac] A pointer to a pointer to
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dynamically-allocated memory; the extra level of indirection allows
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on-the-fly memory compaction (to cut down on fragmentation) or aging out of
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unused resources, with minimal impact on the (possibly multiple) parts of
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the larger program containing references to the allocated memory. Compare
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snap (to snap a handle would defeat its purpose); see also aliasing bug ,
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dangling pointer.
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