19 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
19 lines
2.9 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>slop</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="../S.html" title="S"/><link rel="previous" href="slim.html" title="slim"/><link rel="next" href="slopsucker.html" title="slopsucker"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">slop</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="slim.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">S</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="slopsucker.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="slop"/><dt xmlns="" id="slop"><b>slop</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. A one-sided <a href="../F/fudge-factor.html"><i class="glossterm">fudge factor</i></a>, that is, an
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allowance for error but in only one of two directions. For example, if you
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need a piece of wire 10 feet long and have to guess when you cut it, you
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make very sure to cut it too long, by a large amount if necessary, rather
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than too short by even a little bit, because you can always cut off the
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slop but you can't paste it back on again. When discrete quantities are
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involved, slop is often introduced to avoid the possibility of being on the
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losing side of a <a href="../F/fencepost-error.html"><i class="glossterm">fencepost error</i></a>. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. The percentage of ‘extra’ code generated by a
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compiler over the size of equivalent assembler code produced by
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<a href="../H/hand-hacking.html"><i class="glossterm">hand-hacking</i></a>; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you
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lose because you didn't do it yourself. This number is often used as a
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measure of the goodness of a compiler; slop below 5% is very good, and 10%
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is usually acceptable. With modern compiler technology, esp. on RISC
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machines, the compiler's slop may actually be
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<span class="emphasis"><em>negative</em></span>; that is, humans may be unable to generate
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code as good. This is one of the reasons assembler programming is no
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longer common.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="slim.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../S.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="slopsucker.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">slim </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> slopsucker</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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