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============ THIS IS THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 2.6.2, 14 FEB 1991 ============ | |
Introduction | |
************ | |
This document is a collection of slang terms used by various | |
subcultures of computer hackers. Though some technical material is | |
included for background and flavor, it is not a technical dictionary; | |
what we describe here is the language hackers use among themselves for | |
fun, social communication, and techical debate within their communities. | |
The `hacker culture' is actually a loosely networked collection of | |
subcultures that is nevertheless conscious of some important shared | |
experiences, shared roots, and shared values. It has its own myths, | |
heroes, villains, folk epics, in-jokes, taboos, and dreams. Because | |
hackers as a group are particularly creative people who define | |
themselves partly by rejection of `normal' values and working habits, | |
it has unusually rich and conscious traditions for an intentional | |
culture less than thirty-five years old. | |
As usual with slang, the special vocabulary of hackers helps hold | |
their culture together --- it helps hackers recognize each other's | |
places in the community and expresses shared values and experiences. | |
Among hackers, though, slang has a subtler aspect paralleled perhaps | |
in the slang of jazz musicians and some kinds of fine artists but hard | |
to detect in most technical or scientific cultures; parts of it are | |
code for shared states of *consciousness*. There is a whole range | |
of altered states and problem-solving mental stances basic to | |
high-level hacking which don't fit into conventional linguistic | |
reality any better than a Coltrane solo or one of Maurits Escher's | |
trick-the-eye paintings (Escher is a favorite of hackers), and hacker | |
slang encodes these subtleties in many unobvious ways. Take the | |
distinction between a {kluge} and an {elegant} solution, and the | |
differing connotations attached to each, as a simple example. The | |
distinction is not only of engineering significance; it reaches right | |
back into the nature of the generative processes in program design and | |
asserts something important about two different kinds of relationship | |
between the hacker and the hack. Hacker slang is unusually rich in | |
implications of this kind, of overtones and undertones that illuminate | |
the hackish psyche. | |
Hackers, as a rule, love word-play and are very conscious in their use | |
of language. Thus, a compilation of their slang is a particularly | |
effective window into their culture --- and, in fact, this one is the | |
latest version of an evolving compilation called the `Jargon File' | |
maintained by hackers themselves for over fifteen years. This one | |
(like its ancestors) is primarily a lexicon, but also includes `topic | |
entries' which collect background or sidelight information on hacker | |
culture that would be awkward to try to subsume under individual | |
entries. | |
Though the format is that of a reference, it is also intended that the | |
material be enjoyable to browse or read straight through. Even a | |
complete outsider should find at least a chuckle on nearly every page, | |
and much that is amusingly thought-provoking. But it is also true | |
that hackers use humorous word-play to make strong, sometime combative | |
statements about what they feel. Some of these entries reflect the | |
views of opposing sides in disputes which have been genuinely | |
passionate; this is deliberate. We have not tried to moderate or | |
pretty up these disputes; rather we have attempted to ensure that | |
*everyone's* sacred cows get gored, impartially. Compromise is | |
not particularly a hackish virtue, but the honest presentation of | |
divergent viewpoints is. | |
The reader with minimal computer background who finds some references | |
incomprehensibly technical can safely ignore them. We have not felt | |
it either necessary or desirable to eliminate all such; they, too, | |
contribute flavor, and one of this document's major intended audiences | |
(fledgling hackers already partway inside the culture) will benefit | |
from them. | |
A selection of longer items of hacker folklore and humor are included | |
in appendix A. The `outside' reader's attention is particularly | |
directed to Appendix B, the Portrait of J. Random Hacker. Appendix C | |
is a bibliography of non-technical works which have either influenced | |
or described the hacker culture. | |
Because hackerdom is an intentional culture (one which each individual | |
must choose by their actions to join), one should not be surprised | |
that the line between description and influence can become more than a | |
little blurred. Earlier Jargon File versions have played a central | |
role in spreading hacker language and the culture that goes with it to | |
successively larger populations, and we hope and expect that this one | |
will do likewise. | |
Revision History | |
================ | |
The original Jargon File was a collection of hacker slang from | |
technical cultures including the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI lab | |
(SAIL), the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities, Carnegie-Mellon | |
University (CMU), and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). | |
The Jargon File (hereafter referred to as `jargon-1' or `the File') | |
was begun by Raphael Finkel at Stanford in 1975, though some terms in | |
it date back considerably earlier ({frob} and some senses of | |
{moby}, for instance, go back to the Tech Model Railroad Club and | |
MIT and are are believed to date at least back to the early 1960s). | |
The revisions of jargon-1 were all unnumbered and may be collectively | |
considered `Version 1'. | |
In 1976, Mark Crispin brought the File to MIT; he and Guy Steele then | |
added a first wave of new entries. Raphael Finkel dropped out of | |
active participation shortly thereafter, and Don Woods became the SAIL | |
contact for the File (which was subsequently kept in duplicate at SAIL | |
and MIT, with periodic re-synchronizations). | |
The File expanded by fits and starts until about 1983; Richard | |
Stallman was prominent among the contributors, adding many MIT and | |
ITS-related coinages. | |
A late version of jargon-1, expanded with commentary for the mass | |
market, was edited by Guy L. Steele into a book published in 1983 as | |
`The Hacker's Dictionary' (Harper & Row CN 1082, ISBN | |
0-06-091082-8). The other jargon-1 editors (Raphael Finkel, Don | |
Woods, and Mark Crispin) contributed to the revision, as did Richard | |
M. Stallman and Geoff Goodfellow. This book is hereafter referred to | |
as `Steele-1983'. It is now out of print. | |
Shortly after the publication of Steele-1983 the File effectively | |
stopped growing and changing. The PDP-10-centered cultures that had | |
originally nourished it were dealt a serious blow by the cancellation | |
of the Jupiter project at DEC. The AI-Lab culture died and its best | |
and brightest dispersed; the File's compilers moved on to other | |
things. | |
By the mid-1980s the File's content was dated, but the legend that | |
had grown up around it never quite died out. The book, and softcopies | |
obtained off the ARPANET, circulated even in cultures far removed from | |
MIT's; the content exerted a strong and continuing influence on | |
hackish slang and humor. Even as the advent of the microcomputer and | |
other trends fueled a tremendous expansion of hackerdom, the File (and | |
related materials like the AI Koans in Appendix A) came to be seen as | |
a sort of sacred epic, a hacker-culture Matter of Britain chronicling | |
the heroic exploits of the Knights of the Lab. The pace of change in | |
hackerdom at large accelerated tremendously, but the Jargon File | |
passed from living document to icon and remained essentially untouched | |
for seven years. | |
This revision contains nearly the entire text of a late version of | |
jargon-1 (a few obsolete PDP-10-related entries have been dropped | |
following careful consultation with the editors of Steele-1983). It | |
merges in about about 80% of the Steele-1983 text, omitting some | |
framing material and a very few entries introduced in Steele-1983 | |
which are now also obsolete. | |
This new version casts a wider net than the old jargon file; its aim | |
is to cover not just AI but all the technical computing cultures | |
wherein the true hacker-nature is manifested. More than half of the | |
entries now derive from USENET and represent slang now current in the | |
C and UNIX communities, but special efforts have been made to collect | |
slang from other cultures including IBM-PC programmers, Mac | |
enthusiasts, and even the IBM mainframe world. | |
Where a term can be attributed to a particular subculture or is known | |
to have originated there, we have tried to so indicate. Here is a | |
list of abbreviations used in etymologies: | |
Berkeley | |
University of California at Berkeley. | |
Cambridge | |
The university in England (*not* the town in Massachusetts!). | |
CMU | |
Carnegie-Mellon University | |
Commodore | |
Commodore Business Machines. | |
Fidonet | |
See the {Fidonet} entry. | |
IBM | |
International Business Machines | |
MIT | |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; esp. the legendary MIT AI Lab | |
culture of roughly 1971 to 1983. Some MITisms go as far as the | |
Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT c.1960. | |
NYU | |
New York University. | |
Purdue | |
Purdue University. | |
SAIL | |
Stanford Artificial Intelliegence Laboratory. | |
Stanford | |
Stanford University. | |
Sun | |
Sun Microsystems. | |
UCLA | |
University of California at Los Angeles. | |
USENET | |
See the {USENET} entry. | |
WPI | |
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, site of a very active community of | |
PDP-10 hackers during the Seventies. | |
Xerox PARC | |
Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, site of much pioneering research in | |
user interface design and networking. | |
Yale | |
Yale University. | |
Some other etymology abbreviations such as {UNIX}, {PDP-10}, etc. | |
refer to technical cultures surrounding specific operating systems, | |
processors, or other environments. | |
Eric S. Raymond (eric@snark.thyrsus.com) maintains the new File with | |
assistance from Guy L. Steele (gls@think.com); these are the persons | |
primarily reflected in the File's editorial `we', though we take | |
pleasure in acknowledging the special contribution of the other | |
coauthors of Steele-1983. Please email all additions, corrections and | |
correspondence relating to the jargon file to jargon@thyrsus.com | |
(UUCP-only sites without connections to an autorouting smart site can | |
use ...!uunet!snark!jargon). | |
(Warning: other email addresses appear in this file *but are not | |
guaranteed to be correct* later than the revision date on the first | |
line. *Don't* email us if an attempt to reach your idol bounces | |
--- we have no magic way of checking addresses or looking up people) | |
Some snapshot of this on-line version will become the main text of a | |
`New Hacker's Dictionary' by MIT Press possibly as early as Summer | |
1991. The maintainers are committed to updating the on-line version | |
of the jargon file through and beyond paper publication, and will | |
continue to make it available to archives and public-access sites as a | |
trust of the hacker community. | |
Here is a chronology of the recent on-line revisions: | |
Version 2.1.1, Jun 12 1990: the jargon file comes alive again after a | |
seven-year hiatus. Reorganization and massive additions were by Eric | |
S. Raymond, approved by Guy Steele. Many items of UNIX, C, USENET, and | |
microcomputer-based slang were added at that time (as well as The | |
Untimely Demise of Mabel The Monkey). Some obsolete usages (mostly | |
PDP-10 derived) were moved to Appendix B. | |
Version 2.1.5, Nov 28 1990: changes and additions by ESR in response to | |
numerous USENET submissions and comment from the First Edition co-authors. | |
The bibliography (Appendix C) was also appended. | |
Version 2.2.1, Dec 15 1990: most of the contents of the 1983 paper | |
edition edited by Guy Steele was merged in. Many more USENET | |
submissions added, including the International Style and the material | |
on Commonwealth Hackish. This version had 9394 lines, 75954 words, | |
490501 characters, and 1046 entries. | |
Version 2.3.1, Jan 03 1991: the great format change --- case is no | |
longer smashed in lexicon keys and cross-references. A very few | |
entries from jargon-1 which were basically straight tech-speak were | |
deleted; this enabled the rest of Appendix B to be merged back into | |
main text and the appendix replaced with the Portrait of J. Random | |
Hacker. More USENET submissions were added. This version had 10728 | |
lines, 85070 words, 558261 characters, and 1138 entries. | |
Version 2.4.1, Jan 14 1991: the Story of Mel and many more USENET | |
submissions merged in. More material on hackish writing habits added. | |
Numerous typo fixes. This version had 12362 lines, 97819 words, | |
642899 characters, and 1239 entries. | |
Version 2.5.1, Jan 29 1991: many new entries merged in. Discussion of | |
inclusion styles added. This version had 14145 lines, 111904 words, | |
734285 characters, and 1425 entries. | |
Version 2.6.1, Feb 13 1991: second great format change; no more <> | |
around headwords or references. Merged in results of serious | |
copy-editing passes by Guy Steele, Mark Brader. Still more entries | |
added. This version had 15011 lines, 118277 words, 774942 characters, | |
and 1485 entries. | |
Version numbering: Read versions as major.minor.revision. | |
Major version 1 is reserved for the `old' (ITS) Jargon File, jargon-1. | |
Major version 2 encompasses revisions by ESR (Eric S. Raymond) with | |
assistance from GLS (Guy Steele). Someday, the next maintainer will | |
take over and spawn `version 3'. In general, later versions will | |
either completely supersede or incorporate earlier versions, so there | |
is generally no point in keeping old versions around. | |
Our thanks to the other co-authors of Steele-1983 for oversight and | |
assistance; also to all the USENETters who contributed entries and | |
encouragement. Special thanks go to our Scandinavian correspondent | |
Per Lindberg (per@front.se), author of the remarkable Swedish | |
language 'zine `Hackerbladet', for bringing FOO! comics to our | |
attention and smuggling one of the IBM hacker underground's own baby | |
jargon files out to us. Also, much gratitude to ace hacker/linguist | |
Joe Keane (jkg@osc.osc.com) for helping us improve the pronunciation | |
guides; and to Maarten Litmaath for generously allowing the inclusion | |
of the ASCII pronunciation guide he formerly maintained. Finally, | |
Mark Brader (msb@sq.com) submitted many thoughtful comments and did | |
yeoman service in catching typos and minor usage bobbles, and Eric | |
Tiedemann (est@thyrsus.com) contributed sage advice on rhetoric, | |
amphigory, and philosophunculism. | |
Format For New Entries | |
====================== | |
Try to conform to the format already being used --- head-words and | |
cross-references in angle brackets, pronunciations in slashes, | |
etymologies in square brackets, single-space after definition numbers | |
and word classes, etc. Stick to the standard ASCII character set (no | |
high-half characters or [nt]roff/TeX/Scribe escapes), as one of the | |
versions generated from the master file is an info document that has | |
to be viewable on a character tty. | |
We are looking to expand the file's range of technical specialties covered. | |
There are doubtless rich veins of jargon yet untapped in the scientific | |
computing, graphics, and networking hacker communities; also in numerical | |
analysis, computer architectures and VLSI design, language design, and many | |
other related fields. Send us your slang! | |
We are *not* interested in straight technical terms explained by | |
textbooks or technical dictionaries unless an entry illuminates | |
`underground' meanings or aspects not covered by official histories. | |
We are also not interested in `joke' entries --- there is a lot of | |
humor in the file but it must flow naturally out of the explanations | |
of what hackers do and how they think. | |
It is OK to submit items of slang you have originated if they have spread | |
to the point of being used by people who are not personally acquainted with | |
you. We prefer items to be attested by independent submission from two | |
different sites. | |
A few new definitions attached to entries are marked [proposed]. | |
These are usually generalizations suggested by editors or USENET | |
respondents in the process of commenting on previous definitions of | |
those entries. These are *not* represented as established | |
jargon. | |
The jargon file will be regularly maintained and re-posted from now on and | |
will include a version number. Read it, pass it around, contribute --- this | |
is *your* monument! | |
Jargon Construction | |
=================== | |
There are some standard methods of jargonification which became | |
established quite early (i.e. before 1970), spreading from such | |
sources as the MIT Model Railroad Club, the PDP-1 SPACEWAR hackers, | |
and John McCarthy's original crew of LISPers. These include: | |
Verb doubling: A standard construction in English is to double a verb | |
and use it as an exclamation, such as "Bang, bang!" or "Quack, | |
quack!". Most of these are names for noises. Hackers also double | |
verbs as a concise, sometimes sarcastic comment on what the implied | |
subject does. Also, a doubled verb is often used to terminate a | |
conversation, in the process remarking on the current state of affairs | |
or what the speaker intends to do next. Typical examples involve | |
{win}, {lose}, {hack}, {flame}, {barf}, {chomp}: | |
"The disk heads just crashed." "Lose, lose." | |
"Mostly he talked about his latest crock. Flame, flame." | |
"Boy, what a bagbiter! Chomp, chomp!" | |
Some verb-doubled constructions have special meanings not immediately | |
obvious from the verb. These have their own listings in the lexicon. | |
Soundalike slang: Hackers will often make rhymes or puns in order to | |
convert an ordinary word or phrase into something more interesting. | |
It is considered particularly {flavorful} if the phrase is bent so | |
as to include some other slang word; thus the computer hobbyist | |
magazine `Dr. Dobb's Journal' is almost always referred to among | |
hackers as `Dr. Frob's Journal' or simply `Dr. Frob's'. Terms of | |
this kind that have been in fairly wide use include names for | |
newspapers: | |
Boston Herald American => Horrid (or Harried) American | |
Boston Globe => Boston Glob | |
Houston Chronicle => the Crocknicle | |
New York Times => New York Slime | |
However, terms like these are often made up on the spur of the moment. | |
Standard examples include: | |
Prime Time => Slime Time | |
Data General => Dirty Genitals | |
IBM 360 => IBM Three-Sickly | |
Government Property - Do Not Duplicate (seen on keys) | |
=> Government Duplicity - Do Not Propagate | |
for historical reasons => for hysterical raisins | |
Margaret Jacks Hall => Marginal Hacks Hall | |
This is not really similar to the Cockney rhyming slang it has been | |
compared to in the past, because Cockney substitutions are opaque | |
whereas hacker rhyming slang is intentionally transparent. | |
The -P convention: turning a word into a question by appending the | |
syllable `P'; from the LISP convention of appending the letter `P' | |
to denote a predicate (a Boolean-valued function). The question | |
should expect a yes/no answer, though it needn't. (See T and NIL.) | |
At dinnertime: | |
Q: "Foodp?" | |
A: "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry." or "T!" | |
Q: "State-of-the-world-P?" | |
A: (Straight) "I'm about to go home." | |
A: (Humorous) "Yes, the world has a state." | |
On the phone to Florida: | |
Q: "State-p Florida?" | |
A: "Been reading JARGON.TXT again, eh?" | |
[One of the best of these is a {Gosperism} (i.e., due to Bill | |
Gosper). When we were at a Chinese restaurant, he wanted to know | |
whether someone would like to share with him a two-person-sized | |
bowl of soup. His inquiry was: "Split-p soup?" ---GLS] | |
Overgeneralization: A very conspicuous feature of hackerspeak is the | |
frequency with which names of program tools, command language | |
primitives, and even assembler opcodes are applied to contexts outside | |
of computing wherever hackers find amusing analogies to them. Thus, | |
(to cite one of the best-known examples) UNIX hackers often {grep} for | |
things rather than *searching* for them. Many of the lexicon | |
entries are generalizations of exactly this kind. | |
Hackers enjoy overgeneralization on the grammatical level as well. | |
Many hackers love to take various words and add the wrong endings to | |
them to make nouns and verbs, often by extending a standard rule to | |
nonuniform cases (or vice versa). For example, because | |
porous => porosity | |
generous => generosity | |
hackers happily generalize: | |
mysterious => mysteriosity | |
ferrous => ferrosity | |
obvious => obviosity | |
dubious => dubiosity | |
Also, note that all nouns can be verbed. e.g.: "All nouns can be | |
verbed", "I'll mouse it up", "Hang on while I clipboard it over", | |
"I'm grepping the files". English as a whole is already heading in | |
this direction (towards pure-positional grammar like Chinese); | |
hackers are simply a bit ahead of the curve. | |
Similarly, all verbs can be nouned. Thus: | |
win => winnitude, winnage | |
disgust => disgustitude | |
hack => hackification | |
Finally, note the prevalence of certain kinds of nonstandard plural | |
forms. Anything ending in x may form plurals in -xen (see {VAXen} | |
and {boxen} in the main text). Even words ending in phonetic /k/ | |
alone are sometimes treated this way; e.g. `soxen' for a bunch of | |
socks. Other funny plurals are `frobbotzim' for the plural of | |
{frobboz} (see main text) and `Unices' and `Tenices' (rather than | |
`Unixes' and `Tenexes'; see {UNIX}, {TENEX} in main text). But | |
note that `Unixen' and `Tenexen' are *never* used; it has been | |
suggested that this is because -ix and -ex are Latin singular endings | |
that attract a Latinate plural. | |
The pattern here, as with other hackish grammatical quirks, is | |
generalization of an inflectional rule which (in English) is either | |
an import or a fossil (such as Hebrew plural in `-im', or the | |
Anglo-Saxon plural in `en') to cases where it isn't normally | |
considered to apply. | |
This is not `poor grammar', as hackers are generally quite well | |
aware of what they are doing when they distort the language. It is | |
grammatical creativity, a form of playfulness. | |
Spoken inarticulations: Words such as `mumble', `sigh', and | |
`groan' are spoken in places where their referent might more | |
naturally be used. It has been suggested that this usage derives from | |
the impossibility of representing such noises on a comm link or in | |
email. Another expression sometimes heard is "Complain!", meaning | |
"I have a complaint!" | |
Of the five listed constructions, verb doubling, peculiar noun | |
formations, and (especially!) spoken inarticulations have become quite | |
general; but rhyming slang is still largely confined to MIT and other | |
large universities, and the P convention is found only where LISPers | |
flourish. | |
Finally, note that many words in hacker jargon have to be | |
understood as members of sets of comparatives. This is especially | |
true of the adjectives and nouns used to describe the beauty and | |
functional quality of code. Here is an approximately correct | |
spectrum: | |
MONSTROSITY BRAIN-DAMAGE SCREW BUG LOSE MISFEATURE | |
CROCK KLUGE HACK WIN FEATURE ELEGANCE PERFECTION | |
The last is spoken of as a mythical absolute, approximated but never | |
actually attained. Coinages for describing {lossage} seem to call | |
forth the very finest in hackish linguistic inventiveness; it has been | |
truly said that "{Computer geeks} have more words for equipment | |
failures than Inuit have for snow", or than Yiddish has for obnoxious | |
people. | |
Hacker Speech Style | |
=================== | |
This features extremely precise diction, careful word choice, a | |
relatively large working vocabulary, and relatively little use of | |
contractions or `street slang'. Dry humor, irony, puns, and a | |
mildly flippant attitude are highly valued --- but an underlying | |
seriousness and intelligence is essential. One should use just | |
enough jargon to communicate precisely and identify oneself as `in | |
the culture'; overuse of jargon or a breathless, excessively | |
gung-ho attitude are considered tacky and the mark of a loser. | |
This speech style is a variety of the precisionist English normally | |
spoken by scientists, design engineers, and academics in technical | |
fields. Unlike the jargon construction methods, it is fairly constant | |
throughout hackerdom. | |
It has been observed that many hackers are confused by negative | |
questions --- or, at least, the people they're talking to are often | |
confused by the sense of their answers. The problem is that they've | |
done so much coding that distinguishes between | |
if (going) { | |
and | |
if (!going) { | |
that when they parse the question "Aren't you going?" it seems to be | |
asking the opposite question from "Are you going?", and so merits an | |
answer in the opposite sense. This confuses English-speaking | |
non-hackers because they were taught to answer as though the negative | |
part weren't there (in some other languages, including Chinese and | |
Japanese, the hackish interpretation is standard and the problem | |
wouldn't arise). Hackers often find themselves wishing for a word | |
like French `si' or German `doch' with which one could | |
unambiguously answer `yes' to a negative question. | |
For similar reasons, English-speaking hackers almost never use a | |
double negative even if they live in a region where colloquial usage | |
allows it. The thought of uttering something that logically ought to | |
be an affirmative knowing it will be mis-parsed as a negative tends to | |
disturb them. | |
Hacker Writing Style | |
==================== | |
Hackers tend to use quotes as balanced delimiters like parens, much to | |
the dismay of American editors. Thus, if "Jim is going" is a | |
phrase, and so is "Bill runs" and "Spock groks", then hackers | |
generally prefer to write: "Jim is going", "Bill runs", and | |
"Spock groks". This is incorrect according to standard American | |
usage (which would put the continuation commas and the final period | |
inside the string quotes) but it is counter-intuitive to hackers to | |
mutilate literal strings with characters that don't belong in them. | |
Given the sorts of examples that can come up in discussing | |
programming, American-style quoting can even be grossly misleading. | |
When communicating command lines or small pieces of code, extra | |
characters can be a real pain in the neck. For example: | |
First do "foo -acrZ tempo | bar -," then ... | |
is different from | |
First do "foo -acrZ tempo | bar -", then ... | |
from a computer's point of view. While the first is correct according | |
to the stylebooks and would probably be parsed correctly by the a | |
human recipient, the second is unambiguous. The Jargon File follows | |
hackish usage consistently throughout. | |
Interestingly, a similar style is now preferred practice in Great | |
Britain, though the older style (which became established for | |
typographical reasons having to do with the aesthetics of comma and | |
quotes in typeset text) is still accepted there. Hart's Rules and the | |
Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors call the hacker-like style | |
`new' or `logical' style quoting. | |
Another hacker quirk about quoting style is a tendency to distinguish | |
between `scare' quotes and `speech' quotes; that is, to use | |
British-style single quotes for marking and reserve American-style | |
double quotes for actual reports of speech or text included from | |
elsewhere. Interestingly, some authorities describe this as correct | |
general usage, but mainstream American English has gone to using | |
double-quotes thoroughly enough that hacker usage appears marked [and, | |
in fact, I thought this was a personal quirk of mine until I checked | |
with USENET --- ESR]. One further permutation that is definitely | |
*not* standard is a hackish tendency to do marking quotes by | |
using apostrophes in pairs; that is, 'like this'. This is modelled on | |
string and character literal syntax in some programming languages | |
(reinforced by the fact that many character-only terminals display a | |
vertical single quote). | |
There seems to be a meta-rule behind these nonstandard hackerisms to | |
the effect that precision of expression is more important than | |
conformance to traditional rules; where the latter create ambiguity or | |
lose information they can be discarded without a second thought. It | |
is notable in this respect that other hackish inventions (for example, | |
in vocabulary) also tend to carry very precise shades of meaning even | |
when constructed to appear slangy and loose. In fact, to a hacker, the | |
contrast between `loose' form and `tight' content in hacker slang is a | |
substantial part of its humor! | |
There is another respect in which hackish usage often parallels | |
British usage; it tends to choose British spellings whenever these | |
seem more phonetically consistent than the American ones. For | |
example, a hacker is likely to insist on (British-style) `signalling' | |
rather than American-standard `signaling' on the grounds that the | |
latter ought to be pronounced /sig'nay'ling/ rather than | |
/sig'n@-ling/. Similarly, `travelling' is preferred to `traveling'. | |
Hackers have also developed a number of punctuation and emphasis | |
conventions adapted to single-font all-ASCII communications links, and | |
these are occasionally carried over into written documents even when | |
normal means of font changes, underlining, and the like are available. | |
One of these is that TEXT IN ALL CAPS IS INTERPRETED AS `LOUD', and | |
this becomes such an ingrained synesthetic reflex that a person who | |
goes to caps-lock while in {talk mode} may be asked to "stop | |
shouting, please, you're hurting my ears!". | |
Also, it is common to use bracketing with asterisks to signify | |
emphasis, as in "What the *hell*?" (note that this interferes with | |
the common use of asterisk suffix as a footnote mark). An alternative | |
form uses paired slash and backslash: "What the \hell/?". The | |
latter is never used in text documents, as many formatters treat | |
backslash as an {escape} and may do inappropriate things with the | |
following text. Also note that there is a semantic difference between | |
*emphasis like this*, (which emphasizes the phrase as a whole) and | |
*emphasis* *like* *this* (which suggests the writer speaking very | |
slowly and distinctly, as if to a very young child or mentally | |
impaired person). | |
In a formula, `*' signifies multiplication, and two asterisks in a | |
row are a shorthand for exponentiation (this derives from FORTRAN). | |
Thus, one might write `2 ** 8 = 256'. | |
Another notation for exponentiation one sees more frequently uses the | |
caret (^, ASCII 1011110); one might write instead `2 ^ 8 = 256'. | |
This goes all the way back to Algol-60, which used the archaic ASCII | |
`up-arrow' that later became caret; this was picked up by Kemeny & | |
Kurtz's original BASIC, which in turn influenced the design of the | |
bc(1) and dc(1) UNIX tools that have probably done most to reinforce | |
the convention on USENET. The notation is mildly confusing to C | |
programmers, because `^' means logical {XOR} in C. Despite | |
this, it was favored 3/1 over ** in a late-1990 snapshot of USENET. | |
It is used consistently in this text. | |
Another on-line convention, used especially for very large or very | |
small numbers, is taken from C (which derived it from FORTRAN). This | |
is a form of `scientific notation' using `e' to replace `*10^'; for | |
example, one year is about 3e7 seconds long. | |
The tilde (`~') is commonly used in a quantifying sense of | |
`approximately'; that is, `~50' means `about fifty'. | |
Underlining is often suggested by substituting underscores for spaces | |
and prepending and appending one underscore to the underlined phrase. | |
Example: "It is often alleged that Haldeman wrote _The_Forever_War_ | |
in response to Robert Heinlein's earlier _Starship_Troopers_". | |
Occasionally this underline indication is used for emphasis, like the | |
paired asterisks. | |
On USENET and in the {MUD} world, common C boolean, logical and | |
relational operators (`|', `!', `==', `!=', | |
`>', `<') are often combined with English. The Pascal | |
not-equals, `<>', is also recognized. The use of prefix `!' as a | |
loose synonym for `not-' or `no-' is particularly common; thus, | |
`!clue' is read `no-clue' or `clueless'. | |
Another habit is that of using angle-bracket enclosure to genericize a | |
term; this derives from conventions used in {BNF}. Uses like the | |
following are common: | |
So this <ethnic> walks into a bar one day, and... | |
One quirk that shows up frequently in the {email} style of UNIX | |
hackers in particular is a tendency for some things which are normally | |
all-lowercase (including usernames and the names of commands and C | |
routines) to remain uncapitalized even when they occur at the | |
beginning of sentences. It is clear that, for many hackers, the case | |
of such identifiers becomes a part of their internal representation | |
(the `spelling') and cannot be overridden without mental effort (an | |
appropriate reflex because UNIX and C both distinguish cases and | |
confusing them can lead to lossage). A way of escaping this dilemma | |
is simply to avoid using these constructions at the beginning of | |
sentences. | |
Hackers also mix letters and numbers more freely than in mainstream | |
usage. In particular, it is good hackish style to write a digit | |
sequence where you intend the reader to understand the text string | |
that names that number in English. So, hackers write "1970s" rather | |
than "nineteen-seventies" or "1970's". | |
Finally, it should be noted that hackers exhibit much less reluctance | |
to use multiply nested parentheses than is normal in English. Partly | |
this is almost certainly due to influence from LISP ((which uses | |
deeply nested parentheses (like this) in its syntax) (a lot (see?))), | |
but it has also been suggested that a more basic hacker trait of | |
enjoying playing with complexity and pushing systems to their limits | |
is in operation. | |
One area where hackish conventions for on-line writing are still in | |
some flux is the marking of included material from earlier messages | |
--- what would be called `block quotations' in ordinary English. From | |
the usual typographic convention employed for these (smaller font at | |
an extra indent), there derived the notation of included text being | |
indented by one ASCII TAB (0001001) character, which under UNIX and | |
many other environments gives the appearance of an 8-space indent. | |
Early mail and netnews readers had no facility for including messages | |
this way, so people had to paste in copy manually. BSD `Mail(1)' | |
was the first message agent to support inclusion, and early USENETters | |
emulated its style. But the TAB character tended to push included | |
text too far to the right (especially in multiply nested inclusions), | |
leading to ugly wraparounds. After a brief period of confusion | |
(during which an inclusion leader consisting of three or four spaces | |
became established in EMACS and a few mailers), the use of leading ">" | |
or "> " became standard, perhaps because the character suggests | |
movement to the right (alternatively, it may derive from the ">" that | |
some V7 UNIX mailers use to quote leading instances of "From" in | |
text). Inclusions within inclusions keep their ">" leaders, so the | |
`nesting level' of a quotation is visually apparent. | |
A few other idiosyncratic quoting styles survive because they're | |
automatically generated. One particularly ugly one looks like this: | |
/* Written hh:mm pm Mmm dd, yyyy by user@site in local:group */ | |
/* ---------- "Subject of article chopped to 35 ch" ---------- */ | |
<<quoted text>> | |
/* End of text from local:group */ | |
It's generated by an elderly, variant news-reading system called | |
`notesfiles'. The overall trend, however, is definitely away from | |
such verbosity. | |
Now, it was rapidly observed that the practice of including text | |
helped solve what had been a major nuisance on USENET: the fact that | |
articles do not arrive at different sites in the same order. Careless | |
posters used to post articles that would begin with, or even consist | |
entirely of, "No, that's wrong", or "I agree" or the like. It was | |
hard to see who was responding to what. Consequently, in about 1984, | |
new news-posting software was created with a facility to automatically | |
include the text of a previous article, marked with "> " or whatever | |
the poster chose. The poster was expected to delete all but the | |
relevant lines. The result has been that, now, careless posters post | |
articles containing the *entire* text of a preceding article, | |
*followed* only by "No, that's wrong" or "I agree". | |
Many people feel that this cure is worse than the original disease, | |
and there soon appeared newsreader software designed to let the reader | |
skip over included text if desired. Today, some posting software | |
rejects articles containing too high a proportion of lines beginning | |
with ">", but this too has led to undesirable workarounds such as the | |
deliberate inclusion of zero-content filler lines which aren't quoted | |
and thus pull the message below the rejection threshold. | |
Because the default mailers supplied with UNIX and other operating | |
systems haven't evolved as quickly as human usage, the older | |
conventions using a leading TAB or three or four spaces are still | |
alive; however, >-inclusion is now clearly the preferred form in both | |
netnews and mail. | |
Practice is still evolving, and disputes over the `correct' inclusion | |
style occasionally leads to {holy wars}. One variant style reported | |
uses the citation character `|' in place of `>' for extended | |
quotations where original variations in indentation are being | |
retained. One also sees different styles of quoting a number of | |
authors in the same message: one (deprecated because it loses | |
information) uses a leader of "> " for everyone, another (the most | |
common) is "> > > > ", "> > > ", etc. (or ">>>> ", ">>> ", etc., | |
depending on line length and nesting depth) reflecting the original | |
order of messages, and yet another is to use a different citation | |
leader for each author, say "> ", ": ", "| ", "} " (preserving | |
nesting so that the inclusion order of messages is still apparent, or | |
tagging the inclusions with authors' names). Yet *another* style | |
is to use each poster's initials (or login name) as a citation leader | |
for that poster. Occasionally one sees a "# " leader used for | |
quotations from *authoritative* sources such as standards | |
documents; the intended allusion is to the root prompt (the special | |
UNIX command prompt issued when one is running as the privileged | |
super-user). | |
International Style | |
=================== | |
Although the Jargon File remains primarily a lexicon of hacker | |
usage in American English, we have made some effort to get input from | |
abroad. Though the hacker-speak of other languages often uses | |
translations of English slang (often as transmitted to them by earlier | |
Jargon File versions!) the local variations are interesting, and | |
knowledge of them may be of some use to travelling hackers. | |
There are some references to `Commonwealth English'. These are | |
intended to describe some variations in hacker usage as reported in | |
the English spoken in Great Britain and the Commonwealth (Canada, | |
Australia, India, etc., though Canada is heavily influenced by American | |
usage). There is also an entry on {Commonwealth Hackish} reporting | |
some general phonetic and vocabulary differences from U.S. hackish. | |
Hackers in Western Europe and (especially) Scandinavia are reported | |
to often use a mixture of English and their native languages for | |
technical conversation. Occasionally they develop idioms in their | |
English usage which are influenced by their native-language styles. | |
Some of these are reported here. | |
A note or two on hackish usages in Russian have been added where they | |
are parallel with English idioms and thus comprehensible to | |
English-speakers. | |
UNIX Manual Conventions | |
======================= | |
References such as `malloc(3)' and `patch(1)' are to UNIX | |
facilities (some of which, such as `patch(1)', are actually freeware | |
distributed over USENET). The UNIX manuals use `foo(n)' to refer | |
to item foo in section (n) of the manual, where n=1 is utilities, n=2 | |
is system calls, n=3 is C library routines, n=6 is games, and n=8 | |
(where present) is system administration utilities. Sections 4, 5, | |
and 7 have changed roles frequently and in any case are not referred | |
to from any of the entries. | |
Pronunciation Guide | |
=================== | |
Pronunciation keys are provided in the jargon listing for all | |
entries that are neither dictionary words pronounced as in standard | |
English nor obvious compounds of same. Slashes bracket a phonetic | |
pronunciation to be interpreted using the following conventions: | |
1. Syllables are hyphen-separated, except that an apostrophe | |
or back-apostrophe follows each accented syllable (the | |
back apostrophe marks a secondary accent in some words of | |
four or more syllables). | |
2. Consonants are pronounced as in American English. The letter `g' is | |
always hard (as in "got" rather than "giant"); `ch' is soft | |
("church" rather than "chemist"). The letter `j' is the sound | |
that occurs twice in "judge". The letter `s' is always as in | |
"pass", never a z sound (but it is sometimes doubled at the end of | |
syllables to emphasize this). | |
The digraph `kh' is the guttural of "loch" or "l'chaim". | |
3. Vowels are represented as follows: | |
a back, that | |
ah father, palm | |
ar far, mark | |
aw flaw, caught | |
ay bake, rain | |
e less, men | |
ee easy, ski | |
eir their, software | |
i trip, hit | |
ie life, sky | |
o cot, top | |
oh flow, sew | |
oo loot, through | |
or more, door | |
ow out, how | |
oy boy, coin | |
uh but, some | |
u put, foot | |
y yet | |
yoo few | |
[y]oo /oo/ with optional fronting as in `news' (/nooz/ or /nyooz/) | |
An at-sign is used for the `schwa' sound of unstressed or occluded | |
vowels (the one that is often written with an upside-down `e'). The | |
schwa vowel is omitted in syllables containing vocalic r, l, m or n; | |
that is, `kitten' and `color' would be rendered /kit'n/ and /kuhl'r/, | |
not /kit'@n/ and /kuhl'@r/. | |
Entries are sorted in case-blind ASCII collation order (rather than | |
the letter-by-letter order ignoring interword spacing common in | |
mainstream dictionaries), except that all entries beginning with | |
nonalphabetic characters are sorted to the beginning. The | |
case-blindness is a feature, not a bug. | |
The `OED' referred to in several entries is, of course, the Oxford | |
English Dictionary. | |
In pure ASCII renderings of the Jargon File, you will see {} used in | |
to bracket words which themselves have entries in the File. This | |
isn't done all the time for every such word, but it is done everywhere | |
that a reminder seems useful that the term has a jargon meaning and | |
might wish to refer to its entry. | |
In this all-ASCII version, headwords for topic entries are | |
distinguished from those for ordinary entries by being followed by | |
"::" rather than ":"; similarly, references are surrounded by | |
"{{" and "}}" rather than "{" and "}". | |
The Jargon Lexicon | |
****************** | |
= [^A-Za-z] (see {regexp}) = | |
============================ | |
'Snooze: /snooz/ [FidoNet] n. Fidonews, the weekly official on-line | |
newsletter of FidoNet. As the editorial policy of Fidonews is | |
"anything that arrives, we print", there are often large articles | |
completely unrelated to FidoNet, which in turn tend to elicit | |
{flamage} in subsequent issues. | |
(tm): [USENET] ASCII rendition of the trademark symbol, appended to | |
phrases that the author feels should be recorded for posterity, | |
perhaps in future editions of this lexicon. Sometimes used | |
ironically as a form of protest against the recent spate of | |
software and algorithm patents, and `look and feel' lawsuits. | |
/dev/null: /dev-nuhl/ [from the UNIX null device, used as a data | |
sink] n. A notional `black hole' in any information space being | |
discussed, used or referred to. A controversial posting, for | |
example, might end "Kudos to rasputin@kremlin.org, flames to | |
/dev/null". See {bit bucket}, {null device}. | |
120 reset: [from 120 volts, wall current] n. To cycle power on a | |
machine in order to reset or unjam it. Compare {Big Red Switch}, | |
{power cycle}. | |
2: infix. In translation software written by hackers, infix 2 often | |
represents the syllable *to* with the connotation | |
`translate to'; as in dvi2ps (DVI to PostScript), int2string | |
(integer to string) and texi2roff (Texinfo to [nt]roff). | |
@-party: /at'par`tee/ [from the @-sign in an Internet address] n. | |
(also `@-sign party' /at'sien par`tee/) Semi-closed parties thrown | |
at science-fiction conventions (esp. the annual Worldcon) for | |
hackers; one must have a {network address} to get in, or at least | |
be in company with someone who does. One of the most reliable | |
opportunities for hackers to meet face to face with people who | |
might otherwise be represented by mere phosphor dots on their | |
screens. Compare {boink}. | |
@Begin: [written only; primarily CMU] n. Equivalent of {\begin} | |
in the Scribe text formatting language; used as an idiomy by Scribe | |
users. | |
\begin: [written only, from the LaTeX command] With \end, used | |
humorously in writing to indicate a context or to remark on the | |
surrounded text. For example: | |
\begin{Flame} | |
Predicate logic is the only good programming language. | |
Anyone who would use anything else is an idiot. Also, | |
computers should be tredecimal instead of binary. | |
\end{Flame} | |
The Scribe users at CMU and elsewhere used to use @Begin/@End in | |
an identical way. On USENET, this construct would more frequently | |
be rendered as "<FLAME ON>" and "<FLAME OFF>". | |
= A = | |
===== | |
abbrev: /@'breev/ n. Common abbreviation for `abbreviation'. | |
accumulator: n. Archaic term for a register. Cited here because | |
on-line use of it is a fairly reliable indication that the user has | |
been around for quite a while and/or the architecture under | |
discussion is quite old. The term in full is almost never used of | |
microprocessor registers, for example, though symbolic names for | |
arithmetic registers beginning in A derive from historical use of | |
`accumulator' (and not, actually, from `arithmetic'!). | |
Confusingly, though, an `a' register name prefix may also stand for | |
`address', as for example on the Motorola 680x0 family. | |
ACK: /ak/ interj. 1. [from the ASCII mnemonic for 0000110] | |
Acknowledge. Used to register one's presence (compare mainstream | |
*Yo!*). An appropriate response to {ping} or {ENQ}. 2. | |
[prob. from the Bloom County comic strip] An exclamation of | |
surprised disgust, esp. in "Oop ack!". Semi-humorous. 3. Used | |
to politely interrupt someone to tell them you understand their | |
point. See {NAK}. Thus, for example, you might cut off an | |
overly long explanation with "Ack. Ack. Ack. I get it now". See | |
also {NAK}. | |
There is also a usage "ACK?" (from sense #1) meaning "Are you | |
there?", often used in email when earlier mail has produced no | |
reply, or during a lull in {talk mode} to see if the person has | |
gone away (the standard humorous response is of course {NAK} | |
(sense #2), i.e., "I'm not here"). | |
ad-hockery: /ad-hok'@r-ee/ [Purdue] n. 1. Gratuitous assumptions | |
made inside certain programs, esp. expert systems, which lead to | |
the appearance of semi-intelligent behavior, but are in fact | |
entirely arbitrary. 2. Special-case code to cope with some awkward | |
input which would otherwise cause a program to {choke}, presuming | |
normal inputs are dealt with in some cleaner and more regular way. | |
Also called `ad-hackery'. | |
Ada:: n. A {{Pascal}}-descended language that has been made | |
mandatory for Department of Defense software projects by the | |
Pentagon. Hackers are nearly unanimous in observing that, | |
technically, it is precisely what one might expect given that kind | |
of endorsement by fiat; designed by committee, crockish, difficult | |
to use, and overall a disastrous, multi-billion-dollar boondoggle | |
(one common description is "The PL/1 of the 1980s"; hackers find | |
the exception handling and inter-process communication features | |
particularly hilarious). Ada Lovelace (the daughter of Lord Byron | |
who became the world's first programmer while cooperating with | |
Babbage on the design of his mechanical computing engines in the | |
mid-1800s) would almost certainly blanch at the use her name has | |
been latterly put to; the kindest thing that has been said about it | |
it is that there is probably a good small language screaming to get | |
out from inside its vast, {elephantine} bulk. | |
adger: /adj'r/ [UCLA] vt. To make a bonehead move with consequences | |
that could have been foreseen with a slight amount of mental | |
effort. E.g., "He started removing files and promptly adgered the | |
whole project." Compare {dumbass attack}. | |
admin: /ad-min'/ n. Short for `administrator'; very commonly used | |
in speech on-line to refer to the systems person in charge on a | |
computer. Common constructions on this include `sysadmin' and | |
`site admin' (emphasizing the administrator's role as a site | |
contact for email and news) or `newsadmin' (focusing on the | |
latter). Compare {postmaster}, {sysop}, {system mangler}. | |
ADVENT: /ad'vent/ n. The prototypical computer adventure game, first | |
implemented on the {PDP-10} by Will Crowther as an attempt at | |
computer-refereed fantasy gaming, and expanded into a | |
puzzle-oriented game by Don Woods. Now better known as Adventure, | |
but the {TOPS-10} operating system only permitted 6-letter | |
filenames. See also {vadding}. | |
This game defined the terse, dryly humorous style now expected in | |
text adventure games, and popularized several tag lines that have | |
become fixtures of hacker-speak. "A huge green fierce snake bars | |
the way!" "I see no X here." (for some noun X). "You are in a | |
maze of twisty little passages, all alike." "You are in a little | |
maze of twisty passages, all different." The "magic words" | |
{xyzzy} and {plugh} also derive from this game. | |
Crowther, by the way, participated in the exploration of the | |
Mammoth/Flint Ridge cave system; it actually *has* a `Colossal | |
Cave' and a `Bedquilt' as in the game, and the `Y2' that also turns | |
up is cavers' jargon for a map reference to a secondary entrance. | |
AI koans: pl.n. A series of pastiches of Zen teaching riddles | |
created by Danny Hillis at the MIT AI Lab around various major | |
figures of the Lab's culture. A selection are included in Appendix | |
A. See also {ha ha only serious} and {{Humor, Hacker}}. | |
AIDS: /aydz/ n. Short for A* Infected Disk Syndrome ("A*" matches, | |
but not limited to, Apple), this condition is the quite often the | |
result of practicing unsafe {SEX}. See {virus}, {worm}, {Trojan | |
horse}, {virgin}. | |
airplane rule: n. "Complexity increases the possibility of | |
failure; a twin-engine airplane has twice as many engine problems | |
as a single engine airplane." By analogy, in both software and | |
electronics, the rule that simplicity increases robustness (see | |
also {KISS Principle}. It is correspondingly argued that the | |
right way to build reliable systems is to design to put all your | |
eggs in one basket, after making sure that you've built a | |
*really good* basket. | |
aliasing bug: [C programmers] n. A class of subtle programming | |
errors which can arise in code that does dynamic allocation, esp. | |
via `malloc(3)'. If more than one pointer addresses (`aliases | |
for') a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the storage is | |
freed through one alias and then referenced through another, | |
leading to subtle (and possibly intermittent) lossage depending on | |
the state and the allocation history of the malloc {arena}. | |
Avoidable by use of allocation strategies that never alias | |
allocated core. Also avoidable by use of higher-level languages | |
such as {LISP} which employ a garbage collector (see {GC}). | |
Also called a {stale pointer bug}. See also {precedence | |
lossage}, {smash the stack}, {fandango on core}, {memory | |
leak}, {overrun screw}, {spam}. | |
all-elbows: adj. Of a TSR (terminate-and-stay-resident) IBM PC | |
program, such as the N pop-up calendar and calculator utilities | |
that circulate on {BBS} systems: unsociable. Used to describe a | |
program that rudely steals the resources that it needs without | |
considering that other TSRs may also be resident. One particularly | |
common form of rudeness is lock-up due to programs fighting over | |
the keyboard interrupt. See also {mess-doss}. | |
ALT: /awlt/ [PDP-10] n.obs. Alternate name for the ASCII ESC | |
character, after the keycap labeling on some older terminals. Also | |
`ALTMODE'. This character was almost never pronounced | |
"escape" on an ITS system, in TECO, or under TOPS-10 --- always | |
ALT, as in "Type ALT ALT to end a TECO command" or "ALT U onto | |
the system" (for "log onto the [ITS] system"). This was | |
probably because ALT is more convenient to say than "escape", | |
especially when followed by another ALT or a character (or another | |
ALT *and* a character, for that matter!). | |
alt bit: /awlt bit/ [from alternate] adj. See {meta bit}. | |
Aluminum Book: [MIT] n. `Common Lisp: The Language', by Guy L. | |
Steele Jr., Digital Press, first edition, 1984, second edition | |
1990. Strictly speaking, only the first edition is the aluminum | |
book, since the second edition has a yucky pale green cover. See | |
also {Blue Book}, {Red Book}, {Green Book}, {Silver Book}, {Purple | |
Book}, {Orange Book}, {White Book}, {Pink-Shirt Book}, {Dragon | |
Book}, {Wizard Book}. | |
amoeba: /@-mee'b@/ n. Humorous term for the Commodore Amiga | |
personal computer. | |
amp off: [Purdue] vt. To run in {background}. From the UNIX shell `&' | |
operator. | |
angle brackets: n. Either of the characters `<' and `>' | |
(ASCIIless-than or greater-than signs). The {Real World} angle | |
brackets used by typographers are actually taller than a less-than | |
or greater-than sign. See {broket}, {{ASCII}}. | |
AOS: 1. /aws/ (East coast), /ay-os/ (West coast) [based on a PDP-10 | |
increment instruction] vt.,obs. To increase the amount of | |
something. "Aos the campfire." Usage: considered silly, and now | |
obsolete. See {SOS}. Now largely supplanted by {bump}. 2. A | |
crufty {Multics}-derived OS supported at one time by Data | |
General. This was pronounced /ay-oh-ess/ or /ay-os/, the latter | |
being prevalent internally at DG. A spoof of the standard AOS | |
system administrator's manual (`How to load and generate your | |
AOS system') was created, issued a part number, and allegedly | |
released. It was called `How to goad and levitate your chaos | |
system'. | |
Historical note: AOS in sense #1 was the name of a {PDP-10} | |
instruction that took any memory location in the computer and added | |
one to it; AOS meant `Add One and do not Skip'. Why, you may | |
ask, does the `S' stand for `do not Skip' rather than for | |
`Skip'? Ah, here was a beloved piece of PDP-10 folklore. There | |
were eight such instructions: AOSE added one and then skipped the | |
next instruction if the result was Equal to zero; AOSG added one | |
and then skipped if the result was Greater than zero; AOSN added | |
one and then skipped if the result was Not zero; AOSA added one and | |
then skipped Always; and so on. Just plain AOS didn't say when to | |
skip, so it never skipped. For similar reasons, AOJ meant `Add | |
One and do not Jump'. Even more bizarre, SKIP meant `Do not | |
SKIP'! If you wanted to skip the next instruction, you had to say | |
`SKIPA'. Likewise, JUMP means `Do not JUMP'. Such were the | |
perverse mysteries of assembler programming. | |
app: /ap/ n. Short for `application program', as opposed to a systems | |
program. What systems vendors are forever chasing developers to do | |
for their environments so they can sell more boxes. Hackers tend | |
not to think of the things they themselves run as apps; thus, in | |
hacker parlance the term excludes compilers, program editors, | |
games, and messaging systems, though a user would consider all | |
those apps. Oppose {tool}, {operating system}. | |
arc: [primarily MSDOS] vt. To create a compressed archive from a | |
group of files using the SEA ARC, PKWare PKARC, or compatible | |
program. Rapidly becoming obsolete as the ARC compression method | |
is falling into disuse, having been replaced by newer compression | |
techniques. See {tar and feather}, {zip}. | |
arc wars: [primarily MSDOS] n. {holy wars} over which archiving | |
program one should use. The first arc war was sparked when System | |
Enhancement Associates (SEA) sued PKWare for copyright and | |
trademark infringement on its ARC program. PKWare's PKARC | |
outperformed ARC on both compression and speed while largely | |
retaining compatibility (it introduced a new compression type which | |
could be disabled for backward-compatibility). PKWare settled out | |
of court to avoid enormous legal costs (both SEA and PKWare are | |
small companies); as part of the settlement, the name of PKARC was | |
changed to PKPAK. The public backlash against SEA for bringing | |
suit helped to hasten the demise of ARC as a standard when PKWare | |
and others introduced new, incompatible archivers with better | |
compression algorithms. | |
arena: [UNIX] n. The area of memory attached to a process by `brk(2)' | |
and `sbrk(2)' and used by `malloc(3)' as dynamic storage. So named | |
from a semi-mythical `malloc: corrupt arena' message supposedly | |
emitted when some early versions became terminally confused. See | |
{overrun screw}, {aliasing bug}, {memory leak}, {smash the stack}. | |
arg: /arg/ n. Abbreviation for `argument' (to a function), used so | |
often as to have become a new word (like `piano' from | |
`pianoforte'). "The sine function takes one arg, but the | |
arc-tangent function can take either one or two args". Compare | |
{param}, {var}. | |
armor-plated: n. Syn. for {bulletproof}. | |
asbestos cork award: n. Once, long ago at MIT, there was a {flamer} | |
so consistently obnoxious that another hacker designed, had made, | |
and distributed posters announcing that said flamer had been | |
nominated for the `asbestos cork award'. Persons in any doubt as | |
to the intended application of the cork should consult the | |
etymology under {flame}. Since then, it is agreed that only a | |
select few have risen to the heights of bombast required to earn | |
this dubious dignity --- but there's no agreement on *which* | |
few. | |
asbestos longjohns: n. Notional garments often donned by {USENET} | |
posters just before emitting a remark they expect will elicit | |
{flamage}. Also `asbestos underwear', `asbestos overcoat', | |
etc. | |
ASCII:: [American Standard Code for Information Interchange] /as'kee/ | |
n. Common slang names for ASCII characters are collected here. See | |
individual entries for {bang}, {excl}, {open}, {ques}, | |
{semi}, {shriek}, {splat}, {twiddle}, {what}, {wow}, and {Yu-Shiang | |
whole fish}. This list derives from revision 2.2 of the USENET | |
ASCII pronunciation guide. Single characters are listed in ASCII | |
order; character pairs are sorted in by first member. For each | |
character, common names are given in rough order of popularity | |
followed by names which are reported but rarely seen; official | |
ANSI/CCITT names are parenthesized. | |
`!' | |
Common: {bang}, pling, excl, shriek, (exclamation point). | |
Rare: factorial, exclam, smash, cuss, boing, yell, wow, hey, | |
wham, spot-spark, soldier. | |
`"' | |
Common: double quote, quote. Rare: literal mark, | |
double-glitch, (quotation marks), (dieresis), dirk. | |
`#' | |
Common: (number sign), pound, hash, sharp, {crunch}, mesh, | |
hex, octothorpe. Rare: flash, crosshatch, grid, pig-pen, | |
tictactoe, scratchmark, thud, {splat}. | |
`$' | |
Common: dollar, (dollar sign). Rare: currency symbol, buck, | |
cash, string (from BASIC), escape (from {TOPS-10}), ding, | |
cache. | |
`%' | |
Common: percent, (percent sign), mod, grapes. | |
`&' | |
Common: (ampersand), amper, and. Rare: address (from C), | |
reference (from C++), andpersand, bitand, background (from | |
`sh(1)'), pretzel, amp. | |
`'' | |
Common: single quote, quote, (apostrophe). Rare: prime, | |
glitch, tick, irk, pop, spark, (closing single quotation | |
mark), (acute accent). | |
`()' | |
Common: left/right paren, left/right parenthesis, left/right, | |
paren/thesis, open/close paren, open/close, open/close | |
parenthesis, left/right banana. Rare: lparen/rparen, | |
so/already, wax/wane, (opening/closing parenthesis), | |
left/right ear, parenthisey/unparenthisey, open/close round | |
bracket. | |
`*' | |
Common: star, {splat}, (asterisk). Rare: wildcard, gear, | |
dingle, mult, spider, aster, times, twinkle, glob (see | |
{glob}), {Nathan Hale}. | |
`+' | |
Common: (plus), add. Rare: cross. | |
`,' | |
Common: (comma). Rare: (cedilla). | |
`-' | |
Common: dash, (hyphen), (minus). Rare: worm, option, dak, | |
bithorpe. | |
`.' | |
Common: dot, point, (period), (decimal point). Rare: radix | |
point, full stop. | |
`/' | |
Common: slash, stroke, (slant), forward slash. Rare: | |
diagonal, solidus, over, slak, virgule. | |
`:' | |
Common: (colon). Rare: two-spot. | |
`;' | |
Common: (semicolon), semi. Rare: weenie. | |
`<>' | |
Common: (less/greater than), left/right angle bracket, | |
bra/ket, left/right broket. Rare: from/{into,towards}, read | |
from/write to, suck/blow, comes-from/gozinta, in/out, | |
crunch/zap (all from UNIX). | |
`=' | |
Common: (equals), gets. Rare: quadrathorpe. | |
`?' | |
Common: query, (question mark), {ques}. Rare: whatmark, what, | |
wildchar, huh, hook, buttonhook, hunchback. | |
`@' | |
Common: at sign, at, strudel. Rare: each, vortex, whorl, | |
cyclone, snail, ape, cat, rose, cabbage, (commercial at). | |
`V' | |
Rare: vee, book. | |
`[]' | |
Common: left/right square bracket, (opening/closing bracket), | |
bracket/unbracket left/right bracket. Rare: square/unsquare. | |
`\' | |
Common: backslash, escape (from C/UNIX), reverse slash, slosh, | |
backslant. Rare: bash, backwhack, (reverse slant), reversed | |
virgule. | |
`^' | |
Common: hat, control, uparrow, caret. Rare: (circumflex), | |
chevron, shark (or shark fin), to the (`to the power of'), | |
fang. | |
`_' | |
Common: (underline), underscore, underbar, under. Rare: | |
score, backarrow. | |
``' | |
Common: backquote, left quote, open quote, (grave accent), | |
grave. Rare: backprime, backspark, unapostrophe, birk, | |
blugle, back tick, back glitch, push, (opening single | |
quotation mark), quasiquote. | |
`{}' | |
Common: open/close brace, left/right brace, left/right | |
squiggly bracket/brace, left/right curly bracket/brace, | |
(opening/closing brace). Rare: brace/unbrace, curly/uncurly, | |
leftit/rytit. | |
`|' | |
Common: bar, or, or-bar, v-bar, pipe. Rare: vertical bar, | |
(vertical line), gozinta, thru, pipesinta (last three ones | |
from UNIX). | |
`~' | |
Common: (tilde), squiggle, {twiddle}, not. Rare: approx, | |
wiggle, swung dash, enyay, sqiggle. | |
The pronunciation of `#' as `pound' is common in the U.S. but | |
a bad idea; Commonwealth hackish has its own rather more apposite | |
use of `pound sign'. The U.S. practice derives from an | |
old-fashioned commercial practice of using a `#' suffix to tag | |
pound weights on bills of lading. The character is usually | |
pronounced `hash' outside the U.S. | |
Also note that the `swung dash' or `approx' sign is not quite the | |
same as tilde in typeset material, but the ASCII tilde serves for | |
both (compare {angle brackets}). | |
Some other common usages cause odd overlaps. The `#', | |
`$', `>', and `&' chars, for example, are all | |
pronounced "hex" in different communities because various assemblers | |
use them as a prefix tag for hexadecimal constants (in particular, | |
$ in the 6502 world, > at Texas Instruments, and & on the Sinclair | |
and some other Z80 machines). | |
asymptotic: adj. Infinitely close to. This is used in a | |
generalization of its mathematical meaning to allege that something | |
is {within epsilon of} some standard, reference, or goal (see | |
{epsilon}). | |
attoparsec: n. `atto-' is the official SI prefix for | |
multiplication by 10 ^ -18; an attoparsec is thus 1 parsec | |
(parallax-second, 3.26 light years) times 10 ^ -18, or about 1.3 | |
cm. This unit is reported to be in use (though probably not very | |
seriously) among hackers in Great Britain. See {micro-} | |
autobogotiphobia: /aw'to-boh-got'@-foh`bee-uh/ n. See {bogotify}. | |
automagically: /aw-toh-maj'i-klee/ or /aw-toh-maj'i-k@l-ee/ adv. | |
Automatically, but in a way which, for some reason (typically | |
because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps even too | |
trivial), the speaker doesn't feel like explaining to you. See | |
{magic}. "The C-INTERCAL compiler generates C, then automagically | |
invokes `cc(1)' to produce an executable." | |
awk: 1. n. [UNIX] An interpreted language developed by Aho, | |
Weinberg, and Kernighan (the name is from their initials). It is | |
characterized by: C-like syntax, a BASIC-like approach to variable | |
typing and declarations, associative arrays, and field-oriented | |
text processing. See also {Perl}. 2. Editing term for an | |
expression awkward to manipulate through normal regular expression | |
facilities. 3. vt. To process data using `awk(1)'. | |
= B = | |
===== | |
back door: n. A hole in the security of a system deliberately left in | |
place by designers or maintainers. The motivation for this is not | |
always sinister; some operating systems, for example, come out of | |
the box with privileged accounts intended for use by field service | |
or the vendor's maintenance programmers. | |
Historically, back doors have often lurked in systems longer than | |
anyone expected or planned, and a few have become widely known. | |
The infamous RTM worm of late 1988, for example, used a back door | |
in the {BSD} UNIX `sendmail(1)' utility. | |
Ken Thompson's 1983 Turing Award lecture to the ACM revealed the | |
existence of a back door in early UNIX versions that may have | |
qualified as the most fiendishly clever security hack of all time. | |
The binaries of the C compiler had code in them which would | |
automatically patch itself into the output executable whenever the | |
compiler itself was being recompiled, and also patch the | |
`login' command, when *it* was being recompiled, to | |
accept a password that gave Thompson entry to the computer whether | |
or not an account had been created for him! Thompson describes | |
this hack as a {Trojan Horse}. This talk was published as | |
`Reflections on Trusting Trust', Communications of the ACM | |
27,8 (August 1984) pp761-763. Although Thompson didn't say whether | |
the hacked version ever made it off site, it is commonly believed | |
that this back door was in fact propagated through hundreds of | |
machines without any clue to it ever showing up in source. | |
Syn. {trap door}; may also be called a `wormhole'. See also | |
{iron box}, {cracker}, {worm}, {logic bomb}. | |
backbone cabal: n. A group of large-site administrators who pushed | |
through the {Great Renaming} and reined in the chaos of {USENET} | |
during most of the 1980s. The cabal {mailing list} disbanded in late | |
1988 after a bitter internal catfight, but the net hardly noticed. | |
backbone site: n. A key USENET and email site; one which processes | |
a large amount of third-party traffic, especially if it's the home | |
site of any of the regional coordinators for the USENET maps. | |
Notable backbone sites as of early 1991 include `uunet' and the | |
mail machines at Rutgers University, UC Berkeley, DEC's Western | |
Research Laboratories, Ohio State University, and the University of | |
Texas. Compare {rib site}, {leaf site}. | |
background: n.,adj. A task running in background is detached from | |
the terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower | |
priority); oppose {foreground}. Nowadays this term is primarily | |
associated with {UNIX}, but it appears first to have been used in | |
this sense on OS/360. By extension, to do a task `in | |
background' is to do it whenever {foreground} matters are not | |
claiming your undivided attention, and `to background' | |
something means to relegate it to a lower priority. Note that this | |
implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, | |
in contrast to mainstream `back burner' which connotes benign | |
neglect until some future resumption of activity. Some people | |
prefer to use the term for processing that they've queued up for | |
their unconscious minds (a tack that one can often fruitfully take | |
when encountering an obstacle in creative work). Compare {amp | |
off}, {slopsucker}. | |
backspace and overstrike: interj. Whoa! Back up. Used to suggest | |
that someone just said or did something wrong. Common among | |
APL programmers. | |
backward combatability: /bak'w@rd kom-bat'@-bil'@-tee/ [corruption | |
of "backward compatibility"] adj. A property pertaining to | |
hardware or software in which all previous protocols, formats and | |
layouts are discarded in favour of the `new and improved' | |
protocols, formats and layouts. Occurs usually when making the | |
transition between major releases. When the change is so drastic | |
that the old formats are not retained in the new version, it is | |
said to be `backward combatable'. | |
BAD: [IBM; acronym, Broken As Designed] adj. Said of a program | |
which is {bogus} due to bad design and misfeatures rather than | |
due to bugginess. See {working as designed}. | |
Bad Thing: [from the 1962 Sellars & Yeatman parody `1066 and | |
All That'] n. Something which can't possibly result in improvement | |
of the subject. This term is always capitalized, as in "Replacing | |
all of the 9600 baud modems with bicycle couriers would be a Bad | |
Thing." Oppose {Good Thing}. British correspondents confirm | |
that {Bad Thing} and {Good Thing} (and prob. therefore {Right | |
Thing} and {Wrong Thing}) come from the book referenced in the | |
etymology, which discusses rulers who were Good Kings, but Bad | |
Things. This has apparently created a mainstream idiom on the | |
British side of the pond. | |
bagbiter: /bag'biet-@r/ n. 1. Something, such as a program or a | |
computer, that fails to work, or works in a remarkably clumsy | |
manner. Example: "This text editor won't let me make a file with | |
a line longer than 80 characters! What a bagbiter!" 2. A person | |
who has caused you some trouble, inadvertently or otherwise, | |
typically by failing to program the computer properly. Synonyms: | |
{loser}, {cretin}, {chomper}. 3. adj. `bagbiting' | |
Having the quality of a bagbiter. "This bagbiting system won't | |
let me compute the factorial of a negative number." Compare | |
{losing}, {cretinous}, {bletcherous}, `barfucious' (under | |
{barfulous}) and `chomping' (under {chomp}). 4. `bite | |
the bag' vi. To fail in some manner. "The computer keeps crashing | |
every five minutes." "Yes, the disk controller is really biting | |
the bag." The original loading of these terms was almost | |
undoubtedly obscene, possibly referring to the scrotum, but in | |
their current usage they have become almost completely sanitized. | |
bamf: /bamf/ 1. [from old X-men comics] interj. Notional sound made | |
by a person or object teleporting in or out of the hearer's | |
vicinity. Often used in {virtual reality} (esp. {MUD}) | |
electronic fora when a character wishes to make a dramatic entrance | |
or exit. 2. The sound of magical transformation, used in vertual | |
reality fora like sense #1. 3. [from `Don Washington's | |
Survival Guide'] n. Acronym for `Bad-Ass Mother Fucker', used to | |
refer to one of the handful of nastiest monsters on an LPMUD or | |
similar MUD. | |
banana label: n. The labels often used on the sides of {macrotape} | |
reels, so called because they're shaped roughly like blunt-ended | |
bananas. This term, like macrotapes themselves, is still current | |
but visibly headed for obsolescence. | |
banana problem: n. [from the story of the little girl who said "I | |
know how to spell `banana', but I don't know when to stop"]. Not | |
knowing where or when to bring a production to a close (compare | |
{fencepost error}). One may say there is a banana problem of an | |
algorithm with poorly defined or incorrect termination conditions, | |
or in discussing the evolution of a design that may be succumbing | |
to featuritis (see also {creeping elegance}, {creeping | |
featuritis}). See also item 176 under {HAKMEM}. | |
bandwidth: n. 1. Used by hackers in a generalization of its technical | |
meaning as the volume of information per unit time that a computer, | |
person or transmission medium can handle. "Those are amazing | |
graphics but I missed some of the detail --- not enough bandwidth, | |
I guess." 2. Attention span. 3. On {USENET}, a measure of | |
network capacity that is often wasted by people complaining about | |
how network news items posted by others are a waste of bandwidth. | |
bang: 1. n. Common spoken name for `!' (ASCII 0100001), | |
especially when used in pronouncing a {bang path} in spoken | |
hackish. In elder days this was considered a CMUish usage, with | |
MIT and Stanford hackers preferring {excl} or {shriek}; but the | |
spread of UNIX has carried {bang} with it (esp. via the term | |
{bang path}) and it is now certainly the most common spoken name | |
for `!'. Note that it is used exclusively for non-emphatic | |
written `!'; one would not say "Congratulations bang" | |
(except possibly for humorous purposes), but if one wanted to | |
specify the exact characters `FOO!', one would speak "Eff oh oh | |
bang". See {shriek}, {{ASCII}}. 2. interj. An exclamation | |
signifying roughly "I have achieved enlightenment!", or "The | |
dynamite has cleared out my brain!". Often used to acknowledge | |
that one has perpetrated a {thinko} immediately after one has | |
been called on it. | |
bang path: n. An old-style UUCP electronic-mail address specifying | |
hops to get from some assumed-reachable location to the addressee, | |
so called because each {hop} is signified by a {bang} sign. Thus | |
the path `...!bigsite!foovax!barbox!me' directs correspondents | |
to route their mail to machine bigsite (presumably a well-known | |
location accessible to everybody) and from there through the | |
machine `foovax' to the account of user `me' on `barbox'. In the | |
bad old days of not so long ago, before autorouting mailers became | |
commonplace, people often published compound bang addresses using | |
the { } convention (see {glob}) to give paths from | |
*several* big machines, in the hopes that one's correspondent | |
might be able to get mail to one of them reliably (example: | |
...!{seismo, ut-sally, gatech}!rice!beta!gamma!me). Bang paths of 8 | |
to ten hops were not uncommon in 1981. Late night dial-up uucp | |
links would cause week-long transmission times. Bang paths were | |
often selected by both transmission time and reliability, as | |
messages would often get lost. See {{Internet address}}, | |
{network, the}, and {sitename}. | |
banner: n. 1. The title page added to printouts by most print | |
spoolers see {spool}. Typically includes user or account ID | |
information in very large character-graphics capitals. 2. A | |
similar printout generated (typically on multiple pages of fan-fold | |
paper) from user-specified text, e.g. by a program such as UNIX's | |
`banner([16])'. 3. On interactive software, a first screen | |
containing a logo and/or author credits and/or copyright notice. | |
bar: /bar/ n. 1. The second metasyntactic variable, after {foo} | |
and before {baz}. "Suppose we have two functions FOO and BAR. | |
FOO calls BAR...." 2. Often appended to {foo} to produce | |
{foobar}. | |
bare metal: n. 1. New computer hardware, unadorned with such snares | |
and delusions as an {operating system}, {HLL}, or even | |
assembler. Commonly in the phrase `programming on the bare metal', | |
which refers to the arduous work of {bit bashing} needed to | |
create these basic tools for a new machine. Real bare-metal | |
programming involves things like building boot proms and BIOS | |
chips, implementing basic monitors used to test device drivers, and | |
writing the assemblers that will be used to write the compiler back | |
ends that will give the new machine a real development environment. | |
2. The same phrase is also used to describe a style of | |
{hand-hacking} that relies on bit-level peculiarities of a | |
particular hardware design, esp. tricks for speed and space | |
optimization that rely on crocks such as overlapping opcodes (or, | |
as in the famous case described in Appendix A, interleaving of | |
opcodes on a magnetic drum to minimize fetch delays due to the | |
device's rotational latency). This sort of thing has become less | |
common as the relative costs of programming time and machine | |
resources have changed, but is still found in heavily constrained | |
environments like industrial embedded systems. See {real | |
programmer}. | |
barf: /barf/ [from mainstream slang meaning `vomit'] 1. interj. | |
Term of disgust. This is the closest hackish equivalent of the | |
Valspeak `gag me with a spoon' (Like, euwww!). See {bletch}. 2. | |
To say "Barf!" or emit some similar expression of disgust. "I | |
showed him my latest hack and he barfed" means only that he | |
complained about it, not that he literally vomited. 3. vi. To fail | |
to work because of unacceptable input. May mean to give an error | |
message. Examples: "The division operation barfs if you try to | |
divide by zero." (that is, division by zero fails in some | |
unspecified spectacular way) "The text editor barfs if you try to | |
read in a new file before writing out the old one." See | |
{choke}, {gag}. Note that in Commonwealth hackish, `barf' is | |
generally replaced by `puke' or `vom'. {barf} is sometimes also | |
used as a metasyntactic variable like {foo} or {bar}. | |
barfulation: interj. Variation of {barf} used around the Stanford | |
area. An exclamation, expressing disgust. On seeing some | |
particularly bad code one might exclaim, "Barfulation! Who wrote | |
this, Quux?" | |
barfulous: adj. (also `barfucious') Said of something which would | |
make anyone barf, if only for esthetic reasons. | |
baroque: adj. Feature-encrusted; complex; gaudy; verging on | |
excessive. Said of hardware or (esp.) software designs, this has | |
many of the connotations of {elephantine} or {monstrosity} but is | |
less extreme and not pejorative in itself. See also {rococo}. | |
BartleMUD: /bar'tl-muhd/ n. Any of the MUDs which are derived from | |
the original MUD game (see {MUD}) or use the same software | |
drivers. BartleMUDs are noted for their (usually slightly offbeat) | |
humor, dry but friendly syntax, and lack of adjectives in object | |
descriptions, so a player is likely to come across `brand172', for | |
instance (see {brand brand brand}). Some mudders intensely | |
dislike Bartle and this term, preferring to speak of `MUD-1'. | |
bat file: [MS-DOS] n. Abbreviation for {batch file}, the MSDOS | |
equivalent of the UNIX shell script, derived from the .BAT | |
extension required for the command interpreter to find the batch | |
file and execute it. | |
batch: adj. Non-interactive. Hackers use this somewhat more | |
loosely than the traditional technical definitions justify; in | |
particular, switches on a normally interactive program that prepare | |
it to receive non-interactive conmmand input are often referred to | |
as `batch mode' switches. A `batch file' is a series of | |
instructions written to be handed to an interactive program running | |
in batch mode. | |
bathtub curve: n. Common term for the curve (resembling an | |
end-to-end section of one of those claw-footed antique bathtubs) | |
that describes the expected failure rate of electronics with time: | |
initially high, dropping to near zero for most of the system's | |
lifetime, then rising again as it `tires out'. See also {burn-in | |
period}, {infant mortality}. | |
baud: /bawd/ [simplified from its technical meaning] n. Bits per | |
second. Hence kilobaud or Kbaud, thousand bits per second. The | |
technical meaning is `level transitions per second'; this coincides | |
with bps only for two-level modulation with no framing or stop | |
bits. Hackers are generally aware of these nuances but blithely | |
ignore them. | |
baud barf: /bawd barf/ n. The garbage one gets on the monitor when | |
using a modem connection with some protocol setting (esp. line | |
speed) incorrect, or when someone picks up a voice extension on the | |
same line, or when really bad line noise disrupts the connection. | |
Baud barf is not completely {random}, by the way; hackers with a | |
lot of serial-line experience can usually tell whether the device | |
at the other end is expecting a higher or lower speed than the | |
terminal is set to. *Really* experienced ones can identify | |
particular speeds. | |
baz: /baz/ n. [Stanford corruption of {bar}] 1. The third | |
metasyntactic variable, after {foo} and {bar} and before | |
{quux} (or, occasionally, `qux'). "Suppose we have three | |
functions FOO, BAR, and BAZ. FOO calls BAR, which calls | |
BAZ...." 2. interj. A term of mild annoyance. In this usage | |
the term is often drawn out for two or three seconds, producing an | |
effect not unlike the bleating of a sheep; /baaaaaaz/. 3. | |
Occasionally appended to {foo} to produce `foobaz'. | |
bboard: /bee'bord/ [contraction of `bulletin board'] n. 1. Any | |
electronic bulletin board; esp. used of {BBS} systems running on | |
personal micros, less frequently of a USENET {newsgroup} (in | |
fact, use of the term for a newsgroup is generally marks one as a | |
{newbie}). 2. At CMU and other colleges with similar facilities, | |
refers to campuswide electronic bulletin boards. 3. The term | |
`physical bboard' is sometimes used to refer to a | |
non-electronic old-fashioned cork memo board. At CMU, it refers to | |
a particular one outside the CS Lounge. | |
In either of senses 1 or 2, the term is usually prefixed by the | |
name of the intended board (`the Moonlight Casino bboard' or | |
`market bboard'); however, if the context is clear, the better-read | |
bboards may be referred to by name alone, as in [at CMU] "Don't | |
post for-sale ads on general". | |
BBS: [acronym, Bulletin Board System] n. An electronic bulletin | |
board system; that is, a message database where people can log in | |
and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into | |
topic areas. Thousands of local BBS systems are in operation | |
throughout the U.S., typically run by amateurs for fun out of their | |
homes on MS-DOS boxes with a single modem line each. Fans of | |
USENET and Internet or the big commercial timesharing bboards like | |
CompuServe or GEnie tend to consider local BBSes the `low-rent | |
district' of the hacker culture, but they serve a valuable function | |
by knitting together lots of hackers and users in the | |
personal-micro world who would otherwise be unable to exchange code | |
at all. | |
beam: [from Star Trek Classic's "Beam me up, Scotty!"] vt. To | |
transfer {softcopy} of a file electronically; most often in | |
combining forms such as `beam me a copy' or `beam that over to | |
his site'. Compare {blast}, {snarf}, {BLT}. | |
beep: n.,v. Syn. {feep}. This term seems to be preferred among micro | |
hobbyists. | |
bells and whistles: [by analogy with steam calliopes] n. Features | |
added to a program or system to make it more {flavorful} from a | |
hacker's point of view, without necessarily adding to its utility | |
for its primary function. Distinguished from {chrome} which is | |
intended to attract users. "Now that we've got the basic program | |
working, let's go back and add some bells and whistles." However, | |
no one seems to know what distinguishes a bell from a whistle. | |
bells, whistles, and gongs: n. A standard elaborated form of | |
{bells and whistles}; typically said with a pronounced and ironic | |
accent on the `gongs'. If you need this explained, you will never | |
understand it. | |
benchmark: n. An inaccurate measure of computer performance. "In | |
the computer industry, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn | |
lies, and benchmarks." Well-known ones include Whetstone, | |
Dhrystone, the Gabriel LISP benchmarks (see {gabriel}), | |
Rhealstone (see {h}) and LINPACK. See also {machoflops}, | |
{MIPS}. | |
berklix: /ber'kliks/ n.,adj. [contraction of `Berkeley UNIX'] See | |
{BSD}. Not used at Berkeley itself. May be more common among | |
{suit}s attempting to sound like cognoscenti than among hackers, | |
who usually just say `BSD'. | |
berserking: vi. A {MUD} term meaning to gain points *only* | |
by killing other players and mobiles (non-player characters). | |
Hence a Berserker-Wizard is a player character that has achieved | |
enough points to become a wizard, but only by killing other | |
characters. Berserking is sometimes frowned upon because of its | |
inherently antisocial nature, but some MUDs have a `berserker | |
mode' in which a player becomes *permanently* berserk, can | |
never flee out of a fight, cannot use magic, gets no score for | |
treasure, but *does* get double kill points. "Berserker | |
wizards can seriously damage your elf!" | |
Berzerkeley: [from "berserk"] /b@r-zer'klee/ [from the name of a | |
now-deceased record label] n. Humorous, distortion of `Berkeley' | |
used esp. to refer to the practices or products of the {BSD} UNIX | |
hackers. See {software bloat}, {Missed'em-five}. | |
beta: /be't@/, /bay't@/ or (Commonwealth) /bee't@/ n. 1. In the | |
{Real World}, software often goes through two stages of testing: | |
Alpha (in-house) and Beta (out-house?). Software is said to be | |
`in beta'. 2. Anything that is new and experimental is in | |
beta. "His girlfriend is in beta." 3. Beta software is | |
notoriously buggy, so `in beta' connotes flakiness. | |
Historical note: More formally, to beta-test is to test a | |
pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software | |
by making it available to selected customers and users. This term | |
derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, | |
first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry. | |
`Alpha Test' was the unit, module, or component test phase; `Beta | |
Test' was initial system test. These themselves came from earlier | |
A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and | |
manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design | |
and development. The B-test was a demonstration that the | |
engineering model functioned as specified. The C-test | |
(corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early | |
samples of the production design. | |
BFI: n. See {brute force and ignorance}. Also encountered in the | |
variant `BFMI', `brute force and *massive* ignorance'. | |
bible: n. 1. One of a small number of fundamental source books | |
such as {Knuth} and {K&R}. 2. The most detailed and | |
authoritative reference for a particular language, operating | |
system, or other complex software system. | |
BiCapitalization: adj. The act said to have been performed on | |
trademarks such as NeXT, {NeWS}, VisiCalc, FrameMaker, TKsolver, | |
EasyWriter and others which have been raised above the hoi polloi | |
of common coinage by nonstandard capitalization. {Marketroid} | |
types think this sort of thing is really cute, even the 2,317th | |
time they do it. Compare {studlycaps}. | |
BIFF: /bif/ [USENET] n. The most famous {pseudo}, and the | |
prototypical {newbie}. Articles from BIFF are characterized by | |
all upper case letters sprinkled liberally with bangs, typos, | |
`cute' misspellings (EVRY BUDY LUVS GOOD OLD BIFF CUZ HE"S A K00L | |
DOOD AN HE RITES REEL AWESUM THINGZ IN CAPITULL LETTRS LIKE | |
THIS!!!), use (and often misuse) of fragments of {talk mode} | |
abbreviations, a long {sig block} (sometimes even a {doubled | |
sig}), and unbounded naivete. BIFF posts articles using his elder | |
brother's VIC-20. BIFF's location is a mystery, as his articles | |
appear to come from a variety of sites. However, BITNET seems to | |
be the most frequent origin. The theory that BIFF is a denizen of | |
BITNET is supported by BIFF's (unfortunately invalid) electronic | |
mail address: BIFF@BIT.NET. | |
biff: /bif/ vt. To notify someone of incoming mail; from the BSD | |
utility `biff(1)' which was in turn named after the | |
implementor's dog; it barked whenever the mailman came. | |
Big Grey Wall: n. What greets a {VMS} user searching for | |
documentation. A full VMS kit comes on a pallet, the documentation | |
taking up around 15 feet of shelf space before adding layered | |
products such as compilers, databases, multivendor networking, | |
programming tools etc. Recent (since VMS V5) DEC documentation | |
comes with grey binders; under VMS V4 the binders were orange | |
(`big orange wall'), and under V3 they were blue. See {VMS}. | |
big iron: n. Large, expensive, ultra-fast computers. Used generally | |
of {number crunching} supercomputers such as Crays, but can include | |
more conventional big commercial IBMish mainframes. Term of | |
approval; compare {heavy metal}, oppose {dinosaur}. | |
Big Red Switch: [IBM] n. The power switch on a computer, esp. the | |
`Emergency Pull' switch on an IBM {mainframe} or the power switch | |
on an IBM-PC where it really is large and red. "This !@%$% | |
{bitty box} is hung again; time to hit the Big Red Switch." | |
Sources at IBM report that, in tune with the company's passion for | |
{TLA}s, this is often acronymized as `BRS' (this has also | |
become established on FidoNet and in the PC {clone} world). It | |
is alleged that the emergency pull switch on a 360/91 actually | |
fired a non-conducting bolt into the main power feed; modern ones | |
physically drop a block into place so that they can't be pushed | |
back in. People get fired for pulling them, especially | |
inappropriately.. Compare {power cycle}, {three-finger | |
salute}. | |
big-endian: [From Swift's `Gulliver's Travels' via a famous | |
paper `On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace' by Danny Cohen, | |
USC/ISI IEN 137 dated 1 April 1980] 1. adj. Describes a computer | |
architecture in which, within a given multi-byte numeric | |
representation, the most significant byte comes first (the word is | |
stored `big-end-first'). Most processors including the IBM 370 | |
family and the {PDP-10} and Motorola microprocessor families and | |
most of the various RISC designs current in mid-1991 are | |
big-endian. See {little-endian}, {middle-endian}, {NUXI | |
problem}. 2. adj. An {internet address} the wrong way round. | |
Most of the world follows the Internet standard and writes email | |
addresses starting with the name of the computer and ending up with | |
the name of the country. In the UK the Joint Academic Networking | |
Team (JANET) decided to do it the other way round. E.g. | |
`random@uk.ac.redbrick.cs'. Most gateway sites have | |
{ad-hockery} in their mailers to handle this, but can still be | |
confused. In particular the address above could be in the UK (code | |
`uk') or Czechoslovakia (code `cs'). | |
bignum: /big'nuhm/ [orig. from MIT MACLISP] n. 1. A | |
multiple-precision computer representation for very large integers. | |
More generally, any very large number. "Have you ever looked at | |
the United States Budget? There's bignums for you!" | |
Most computer languages provide a kind of data called `integer', | |
but such computer integers are usually very limited in size; | |
usually they must be smaller than 2^31 (2147483648) or (on a losing | |
{bitty box}) 2^15 (32768). If you want to work with numbers | |
larger than that, you have to use floating-point numbers, which are | |
usually accurate to only six or seven decimal places. Computer | |
languages that provide bignums can perform exact calculations on | |
very large numbers, such as 1000! (the factorial of 1000, which is | |
1000 times 999 times 998 times ... times 2 times 1). For | |
example, this value for 1000! was computed by the MACLISP system | |
using bignums: | |
40238726007709377354370243392300398571937486421071 | |
46325437999104299385123986290205920442084869694048 | |
00479988610197196058631666872994808558901323829669 | |
94459099742450408707375991882362772718873251977950 | |
59509952761208749754624970436014182780946464962910 | |
56393887437886487337119181045825783647849977012476 | |
63288983595573543251318532395846307555740911426241 | |
74743493475534286465766116677973966688202912073791 | |
43853719588249808126867838374559731746136085379534 | |
52422158659320192809087829730843139284440328123155 | |
86110369768013573042161687476096758713483120254785 | |
89320767169132448426236131412508780208000261683151 | |
02734182797770478463586817016436502415369139828126 | |
48102130927612448963599287051149649754199093422215 | |
66832572080821333186116811553615836546984046708975 | |
60290095053761647584772842188967964624494516076535 | |
34081989013854424879849599533191017233555566021394 | |
50399736280750137837615307127761926849034352625200 | |
01588853514733161170210396817592151090778801939317 | |
81141945452572238655414610628921879602238389714760 | |
88506276862967146674697562911234082439208160153780 | |
88989396451826324367161676217916890977991190375403 | |
12746222899880051954444142820121873617459926429565 | |
81746628302955570299024324153181617210465832036786 | |
90611726015878352075151628422554026517048330422614 | |
39742869330616908979684825901254583271682264580665 | |
26769958652682272807075781391858178889652208164348 | |
34482599326604336766017699961283186078838615027946 | |
59551311565520360939881806121385586003014356945272 | |
24206344631797460594682573103790084024432438465657 | |
24501440282188525247093519062092902313649327349756 | |
55139587205596542287497740114133469627154228458623 | |
77387538230483865688976461927383814900140767310446 | |
64025989949022222176590433990188601856652648506179 | |
97023561938970178600408118897299183110211712298459 | |
01641921068884387121855646124960798722908519296819 | |
37238864261483965738229112312502418664935314397013 | |
74285319266498753372189406942814341185201580141233 | |
44828015051399694290153483077644569099073152433278 | |
28826986460278986432113908350621709500259738986355 | |
42771967428222487575867657523442202075736305694988 | |
25087968928162753848863396909959826280956121450994 | |
87170124451646126037902930912088908694202851064018 | |
21543994571568059418727489980942547421735824010636 | |
77404595741785160829230135358081840096996372524230 | |
56085590370062427124341690900415369010593398383577 | |
79394109700277534720000000000000000000000000000000 | |
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 | |
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 | |
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 | |
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 | |
000000000000000000. | |
2. [Stanford] n. In backgammon, large numbers on the dice are | |
called `bignums', especially a roll of double fives or double | |
sixes. See also {El Camino Bignum}. | |
bigot: n. A person who is religiously attached to a particular | |
language, operating system, editor or other tool (see {religious | |
issues}). Usually found with a specifier; thus, `APL bigot', | |
`VMS bigot', `EMACS bigot'. True bigots can be | |
distinguished from mere partisans or zealots by the fact that they | |
refuse to learn alternatives even when the march of time and/or | |
technology is threatening to obsolesce the favored tool. It is | |
said "You can tell a bigot, but you can't tell him much." | |
Compare {weenie}. | |
bit: [from the mainstream meaning and `binary digit'] n. 1. The | |
unit of information; the amount of information obtained by asking a | |
yes-or-no question for which the two outcomes are equally probable | |
(this is straight technicalese). 2. A computational quantity that | |
can take on one of two values, such as true and false, or zero and | |
one. 3. A mental flag: a reminder that something should be done | |
eventually. Example: "I have a bit set for you." (I haven't seen | |
you for a while, and I'm supposed to tell or ask you something.) | |
"I just need one bit from you" is a polite way of indicating that | |
you intend only a short interruption for a question which can | |
presumably be answered with a yes or no. | |
A bit is said to be `set' if its value is true or one, and | |
`reset' or `clear' if its value is false or zero. One | |
speaks of setting and clearing bits. To `toggle' or | |
`invert' a bit is to change it, either from zero to one or from | |
one to zero. See also {flag}, {trit}, {mode bit}. | |
bit bang: n. Transmission of data on a serial line, when accomplished by | |
rapidly tweaking a single output bit at the appropriate times | |
(popular on certain early models of Prime computers, presumably | |
when UARTs were too expensive, and on archaic Z-80 micros with a | |
Zilog PIO but no SIO). The technique is a simple loop with eight | |
OUT and SHIFT instruction pairs for each byte. Input is more | |
interesting. And full duplex (doing input and output at the same | |
time) is one way to separate the real hackers from the {wannabee}s. | |
bit bashing: n. (also, `bit diddling' or `bit twiddling') Term | |
used to describe any of several kinds of low-level programming | |
characterized by manipulation of {bit}, {flag}, {nybble} and other | |
smaller-than-character-sized pieces of data: these include | |
low-level device control, encryption algorithms, checksum and | |
error-correcting codes, hash functions, some flavors of graphics | |
programming (see {bitblt}), and assembler/compiler code generation. | |
May connote either tedium or a real technical challenge (more | |
usually the former). "The command decoding for the new tape | |
driver looks pretty solid but the bit-bashing for the control | |
registers still has bugs." See also {bit bang}, {mode bit}. | |
bit bucket: n. The universal data sink (originally, the mythical | |
receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end of a | |
register during a shift instruction). Data that is discarded, | |
lost, or destroyed is said to `go to the bit bucket'. On {UNIX}, | |
often used for {/dev/null}. Sometimes amplified as `the Great Bit | |
Bucket in the Sky'. This term is used purely in jest. It's based | |
on the fanciful notion that bits are objects that are not | |
destroyed, but only misplaced. This appears to have been a | |
mutation of an earlier term `bit box', about which the same | |
legend was current; old-time hackers also report that trainees used | |
to be told that when the CPU stored bits into memory it was | |
actually pulling them "out of the bit box". See also {chad box}, | |
{null device}. | |
bit decay: n. See {bit rot}. People with a physics background | |
tend to prefer this one for the analogy with particle decay. See | |
also {computron}, {quantum bogodynamics}. | |
bit rot: n. Also {bit decay}. Hypothetical disease the existence | |
of which has been deduced from the observation that unused programs | |
or features will often stop working after sufficient time has | |
passed, even if `nothing has changed'. The theory explains that | |
bits decay as if they were radioactive. As time passes, the | |
contents of a file or the code in a program will become | |
increasingly garbled. | |
There actually are physical processes that produce such effects | |
(the alpha particles such as are found in cosmic rays can change | |
the contents of a computer memory unpredictably, and various kinds | |
of subtle media failures can corrupt files in mass storage) but | |
they are quite rare. | |
The term {software rot} is almost synonymous. | |
bit-paired keyboard: n. obs. A non-standard keyboard layout which | |
seems to have originated with the Teletype ASR-33 and remained | |
common for several years on early computer equipment. The TTY was | |
a mechanical device (see {EOU}) so the only way to generate the | |
character codes from keystrokes was by some physical linkage. The | |
design of the ASR-33 assigned each character key a basic pattern | |
which could be modified by flipping bits if the SHIFT or CTRL key | |
were pressed. This meant that in order to avoid making the thing | |
more of a Rube Goldberg kluge than it already was the design had to | |
group on one keytop characters which shared the same basic bit | |
pattern. | |
Looking at the ASCII chart, we find: | |
3 high 4 low bits | |
bits 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 | |
010 space ! " # $ % & ' ( ) | |
011 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | |
That's why the characters !"#$%&'() appear where they do on a | |
Teletype (except that 0 was moved over to the right-hand side). | |
This was *not* the weirdest variant of {QWERTY} layout | |
widely seen, by the way; that prize probably goes to the | |
(differing) arrangements on IBM's even clunkier 026 and 029 card | |
punches. | |
When electronic terminals became popular in the early 1970s there | |
was no agreement in the industry over how the keyboards should be | |
laid out. Some vendors opted to emulate the Teletype keyboard, | |
while others used the flexibility of electronic circuitry to make | |
their product look like an office typewriter. These alternatives | |
became known as `bit-paired' and `typewriter-paired' keyboards. To | |
a hacker, the bit-paired keyboard seemed far more logical --- and | |
because most hackers in those days had never learned to touch-type, | |
there was little pressure from the pioneering users to adapt | |
keyboards to the typewriter standard. | |
The doom of the bit-paired keyboard was the large-scale | |
introduction of the computer terminal into the normal office | |
environment, where out-and-out technophobes were expected to use | |
the equipment. The `typewriter-paired' standard became universal, | |
`bit-paired' hardware was quickly junked or relegated to dusty | |
corners, and both terms passed into disuse. | |
bitblt: /bit'blit/ n. [from {BLT}, q.v.] 1. Any of a closely | |
related family of algorithms for moving and copying rectangles of | |
bits between main and display memory on a bit-mapped device, or | |
between two areas of either main or display memory (the requirement | |
to do the Right Thing in the case of overlapping source and | |
destination rectangles is what makes BitBlt tricky). 2. Synonym | |
for {blit} or {BLT}. | |
bits: n. 1. Information. Examples: "I need some bits about file | |
formats." ("I need to know about file formats.") Compare {core | |
dump}, sense #4. 2. Machine-readable representation of a document, | |
specifically as contrasted with paper. "I only have a photocopy | |
of the Jargon File; does anyone know where I can get the bits?". | |
See {softcopy}. 3. Also in `the source of all good bits' n. A | |
person from whom (or a place from which) information may be | |
obtained. If you need to know about a program, a {wizard} might be | |
the source of all good bits. The title is often applied to a | |
particularly competent secretary. | |
bitty box: /bit'ee boks/ n. 1. A computer sufficiently small, | |
primitive, or incapable as to cause a hacker acute claustrophobia | |
at the thought of developing for it. Especially used of small, | |
obsolescent, single-tasking-only personal machines like the Atari | |
800, Osborne, Sinclair, VIC-20, TRS-80, or IBM PC. 2. Pejorative. | |
More generally, the opposite of `real computer' (see {Get a real | |
computer!}). See also {mess-dos}, {toaster}, and {toy}. | |
bixie: /biks'ee/ n. Variant {emoticon}s used on BIX (the Byte | |
Information Exchange). The `smiley' bixie is <@_@>, apparently | |
intending to represent two cartoon eyes and a mouth. A few others | |
have been reported. | |
black art: n. A collection of arcane, unpublished, and (by | |
implication) mostly ad-hoc techniques developed for a particular | |
application or systems area. VLSI design and compiler code | |
optimization were (in their beginnings) considered classic examples | |
of black art; as theory developed they became {deep magic}, and | |
once standard textbooks had been written became merely {heavy | |
wizardry}. The huge proliferation of formal and informal channels | |
for spreading around new computer-related technologies during the | |
last twenty years has made both the term `black art' and what it | |
describes less common than formerly. See also {voodoo | |
programming}. | |
black hole: n. When a piece of email or netnews disappears | |
mysteriously between its origin and destination sites (that is, | |
without returning a {bounce message}) it is commonly said to have | |
"fallen into a black hole". Similarly, one might say "I think | |
there's a black hole at foovax!" to convey suspicion that site | |
foovax has been dropping a lot of stuff on the floor lately (see | |
{drop on the floor}). The implied metaphor of email as | |
interstellar travel is interesting in itself. Compare {bit | |
bucket}. | |
blast: vt.,n. Synonym for {BLT}, used esp. for large data sends over | |
a network or comm line. Opposite of {snarf}. Usage: uncommon. | |
The variant `blat' has been reported. 2. vt. [HP/Apollo] Synonymous | |
with {nuke} (sense #3). Sometimes the message "Unable to kill all | |
processes. Blast them (y/n)?" would appear in the command window | |
upon logout. | |
blazer: n. (also {'blazer}) Nickname for the Telebit Trailblazer, | |
an expensive but extremely reliable and effective high-speed modem, | |
popular at UNIX sites that pass large volumes of {email} and | |
{USENET} news. | |
bletch: /blech/ [from Yiddish/German `brechen', to vomit] 1. | |
interj. Term of disgust. Often in "Ugh, bletch". Compare | |
{barf}. | |
bletcherous: /blech'@-rus/ adj. Disgusting in design or function; | |
esthetically unappealing. This word is seldom used of people. | |
"This keyboard is bletcherous!" (Perhaps the keys don't work very | |
well, or are misplaced). See {losing}, {cretinous}, {bagbiter}, | |
{bogus}, and {random}. {bletcherous} applies to the esthetics of | |
the thing so described; similarly for {cretinous}. By contrast, | |
something that is {losing} or {cretinous} may be failing to meet | |
objective criteria. See {bogus} and {random}, which have richer | |
and wider shades of meaning than any of the above. | |
blinkenlights: /blink'@n-lietz/ n. Front-panel diagnostic lights | |
on a computer, esp. a {dinosaur}. Derives from the last word of | |
the famous blackletter-Gothic "ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!" | |
notice in mangled pseudo-German that once graced about half the | |
computer rooms in the English-speaking world. The sign in its | |
entirety ran: | |
ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS | |
Das computermachine ist nicht fur gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. | |
Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken | |
mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fur gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. | |
Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen hans in das pockets muss; | |
relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten. | |
This silliness dates back at least as far as 1959 at Stanford | |
University and had already gone international by the early '60s, | |
when it was reported at London University's ATLAS computing site. | |
There are several variants of it in circulation, some of which | |
actually do end with the word `blinkenlights'. It is reported, by | |
the way, that an analogous travesty in mangled English is posted in | |
German computer laboratories. | |
blit: /blit/ vt. 1. To copy a large array of bits from one part of | |
a computer's memory to another part, particularly when the memory | |
is being used to determine what is shown on a display screen. | |
"The storage allocator picks through the table and copies the good | |
parts up into high memory, and at the end {blit}s it all back | |
down again." See {bitblt}, {BLT}, {DD}, {cat}, {blast}, | |
{snarf}. More generally, to perform some operation (such as | |
toggling) on a large array of bits while moving them. 2. | |
All-capitalized as `BLIT': An early experimental bit-mapped | |
terminal designed by Rob Pike at Bell Labs, later commercialized as | |
the AT&T 5620. The folk etymology from `Bell Labs Intelligent | |
Terminal' is incorrect. | |
blitter: n. A special-purpose chip or hardware system built to | |
perform {blit} operations, esp. used for fast implementation of | |
bit-mapped graphics. The Commodore Amiga and a few other micros | |
have these, but in 1991 the trend is away from them (but see | |
{cycle of reincarnation}). | |
blivet: [allegedly from a World War II military term meaning "ten | |
pounds of manure in a five-pound bag"] n. 1. An intractable | |
problem. 2. A crucial piece of hardware which can't be fixed or | |
replaced if it breaks. 3. A tool that has been hacked over by so | |
many incompetent programmers that it has become an unmaintainable | |
tissue of hacks. 4. An out-of-control but unkillable development | |
effort. | |
This term has other meanings in other technical cultures; in | |
particular, among experimental physicists and hardware engineers of | |
various kinds it seems to mean any random object of unknown purpose | |
(similar to hackish use of {frob}). It has also been used to | |
describe an amusing trick-the-eye drawing resembling a | |
three-pronged fork which appears to depict a three-dimensional | |
object until one realizes that the parts fit together in an | |
impossible way. | |
block: [from process scheduling terminology in OS theory] 1. vi. To | |
delay while waiting for something. "We're blocking until everyone | |
gets here." 2. `block on' vt. To block, waiting for | |
(something). "Lunch is blocked on Phil's arrival." | |
block transfer computations: n. From the Dr. Who television series: | |
in the show, it referred to computations so fiendishly subtle and | |
complex that they could not be performed by machines. Used to | |
refer to any task that should be expressible as an algorithm in | |
theory, but isn't. | |
blow an EPROM: v. To program a read-only-memory, e.g. for use with | |
an embedded system. | |
blow away: vt. To remove files and directories from permanent storage | |
with extreme prejudice, generally by accident. Oppose {nuke}. | |
blow out: vi. Of software, to fail spectacularly; almost as serious | |
as {crash and burn}. See {blow past}. | |
blow past: vt. To {blow out} despite a safeguard. "The server blew | |
past the 5K reserve buffer." | |
blow up: vi. [scientific computation] To become unstable. Suggests | |
that the computation is diverging so rapidly that it will soon | |
either overflow or at least go {nonlinear}. | |
blt: /bee ell tee/, /bl@t/ or (rarely) /belt/ n.,vt. 1. Synonym | |
for {blit}. This is the original form of {blit} and the | |
ancestor of {bitblt}. In these versions the usage has outlasted | |
the {PDP-10} BLock Transfer instruction from which {BLT} | |
derives; nowadays, the assembler mnemonic {BLT} almost always | |
means `Branch if Less Than Zero'. | |
Blue Book: n. 1. Informal name for one of the three standard | |
references on the page-layout and graphics-control language | |
PostScript (`PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook', Adobe | |
Systems, Addison-Wesley 1985, QA76.73.P67P68, ISBN 0-201-10179-3); | |
the other two official guides are known as the {Green Book} and | |
{Red Book}. 2. Informal name for one of the three standard | |
references on Smalltalk: `Smalltalk-80: The Language and its | |
Implementation'. David Robson, Addison-Wesley 1983, QA76.8.S635G64, | |
ISBN 0-201-11371-63 (this is also associated with green and red | |
books). 3. Any of the 1988 standards issues by the CCITT 9th | |
plenary assembly. Until now, they have changed color each review | |
cycle (1984 was {Red Book}, 1992 would be {Green Book}); however, | |
it is rumored that this convention is going to be dropped before | |
1992. These include, among other things, the X.400 email spec and | |
the Group 1 through 4 fax standards. See also {Red Book}, {Green | |
Book}, {Silver Book}, {Purple Book}, {Orange Book}, {White Book}, | |
{Pink-Shirt Book}, {Dragon Book}, {Aluminum Book}, {Wizard Book}. | |
Blue Glue: [IBM] n. IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture) an | |
incredibly {losing} and {bletcherous} protocol suite widely | |
favored at commercial shops that don't know any better. The | |
official IBM definition is "That which binds blue boxes | |
together." See {fear and loathing}. It may not be irrelevant | |
that {Blue Glue} is the trade name of a 3M product that is | |
commonly used to hold down the carpet squares to the removable | |
panel floors so common in computer installations. A correspondent | |
at U.Minn. reports that the CS dept. there has about 80 bottles of | |
Blue Glue hanging about, so they often refer to any messy work to | |
be done as `using the blue glue'. | |
blue goo: n. Term for `police' {nanobot}s intended to prevent {gray | |
goo}, denature hazardous waste, destroy pollution, put ozone back | |
into the stratosphere, prevent halitosis, and to promote truth, | |
justice, and the American way, etc., etc. See {nanotechnology}. | |
BNF: /bee-en-ef/ n. 1. Acronym for `Backus-Naur Form', a | |
metasyntactic notation used to specify the syntax of programming | |
languages, command sets and the like. Widely used for language | |
descriptions but seldom documented anywhere, so that it must | |
usually be learned by osmosis from other hackers. Consider this | |
BNF for a postal address: | |
<postal-address> ::= <name-part> <street-address> <zip-part> | |
<name-part> ::= <first-name> [<middle-part>] <last-name> <EOL> | |
<middle-part> ::= <middle-name> | <middle-initial> "." | |
<street-address> ::= [<apt>] <street-number> <street-name> <EOL> | |
<zip-part> ::= <town-name> "," <state-code> <zip-code> <EOL> | |
of a name-part, followed by a street-address part, followed by a | |
zip-code part. A name-part consists of a first-name followed by an | |
optional middle-part followed by a last-name. A middle-part | |
consists of either a middle name or a middle initial followed by a | |
dot. A street address consists of an optional apartment specifier | |
followed by a street number, followed by a street name. A zip-part | |
consts of a town-name, followed by a state code, followed by a | |
zip-code. Note that many things such as the format of a | |
first-name, apartment specifier or zip-code are left unspecified. | |
These are presumed to be obvious from context or detailed somewhere | |
nearby. See also {parse}. | |
A major reason BNF is listed here is that the term is also used | |
loosely for any number of variants and extensions, possibly | |
containing some or all of the {glob} wildcards. | |
2. In {{Science-Fiction Fandom}}, BNF expands to `Big Name Fan' | |
(someone famous or notorious). Years ago a fan started handing out | |
black-on-green BNF buttons at SF conventions. This confused the | |
hacker contingent terribly. | |
boa: [IBM] n. Any one of the fat cables that lurk under the floor | |
in a {dinosaur pen}. Possibly so called because they display a | |
ferocious life of their own when you try to lay them straight and | |
flat after they have been coiled for some time. It is rumored | |
within IBM that 370 channel cables are limited to 200 feet because | |
beyond that length the boas get dangerous ... and it is worth | |
noting that one of the major cable makers uses the trademark | |
`Anaconda'. | |
boat anchor: n. 1. Like {doorstop} but more severe, implies that the | |
offending hardware is irreversibly dead or useless. 2. Also used | |
of people who just take up space. | |
bogo-sort: n. The generic bad algorithm. The origin is a | |
fictitious contest at CMU to design the worst running time sort | |
algorithm (apparently after a student found an n^3 algorithm to do | |
sorting while trying to design a good one). Bogo-sort is | |
equivalent to throwing a deck of cards in the air, picking them up, | |
then testing whether they are in order. If not, repeat. Usage: | |
when one is looking at a program and sees a dumb algorithm, one | |
might say "Oh, I see, this program uses bogo-sort." Compare | |
{bubble sort}, {bogus}, {brute force}. | |
bogometer: n. See {bogosity}. | |
bogon: /boh'gon/ [by analogy with proton/electron/neutron, but | |
doubtless reinforced after 1980 by the similarity to Douglas | |
Adams's `Vogons', see Appendix C] n. 1. The elementary particle of | |
bogosity (see {quantum bogodynamics}). For instance, "the | |
ethernet is emitting bogons again", meaning that it is broken or | |
acting in an erratic or bogus fashion. 2. A query packet sent from | |
a TCP/IP domain resolver to a root server, having the reply bit set | |
instead of the query bit. 3. Any bogus or incorrectly formed | |
packet sent on a network. 4. By synecdoche, used to refer to any | |
bogus thing, as in "I'd like to go to lunch with you but I've got | |
to go to the weekly staff bogon." 5. A person who is bogus or who | |
says bogus things. This was historically the original usage, but | |
has been overtaken by its derivatives in 1-4. | |
bogon filter: /boh'gon fil'tr/ n. Any device, software or hardware, | |
which limits or suppresses the flow and/or emission of bogons. | |
Example: "Engineering hacked a bogon filter between the Cray and | |
the VAXen and now we're getting fewer dropped packets." | |
bogosity: /boh-go's@-tee/ n. 1. The degree to which something is | |
{bogus}. At CMU, bogosity is measured with a {bogometer}; | |
typical use: in a seminar, when a speaker says something bogus, a | |
listener might raise his hand and say, "My bogometer just | |
triggered.". More extremely, "You just pinned my bogometer." | |
means "You just said or did something so outrageously bogus that | |
it is off the scale (pinning the bogometer needle at the highest | |
possible reading).". The agreed-upon unit of bogosity is the | |
microLenat (uL). The consensus is that this is the largest unit | |
practical for everyday use. 2. The potential field generated by a | |
bogon flux; see {quantum bogodynamics}. | |
[Historical note: microLenat was invented as a attack against noted | |
computer scientist Doug Lenat by a {tenured graduate student}. | |
Doug had failed him on the AI Qual after the student gave "AI is | |
bogus" as his answer to the questions. The slur is generally | |
considered unmerited, but it has become a running gag nevertheless. | |
Some of Doug's friends argue that `of course' a microLenat is | |
bogus, since it's only one millionth of a Lenat. Others have | |
suggested that the unit should be re-designated after the grad | |
student, as the microReid.] | |
bogotify: /boh-go't@-fie/ vt. To make or become bogus. A program | |
that has been changed so many times as to become completely | |
disorganized has become bogotified. If you tighten a nut too hard | |
and strip the threads on the bolt, the bolt has become bogotified | |
and you'd better not use it any more. This coinage led to the | |
notional `autobogotiphobia' /aw'to-boh-got'@-foh`bee-uh/ n., | |
defined as the fear of becoming bogotified; but is not clear that | |
the latter has ever been `live' slang rather than a self-conscious | |
joke in jargon about jargon. | |
bogue out: /bohg owt/ vi. To becomes bogus, suddenly and | |
unexpectedly. "His talk was relatively sane until somebody asked | |
him a trick question, then he bogued out and did nothing but | |
{flame} afterwards." | |
bogus: [WPI, Yale, Stanford] adj. 1. Non-functional. "Your patches | |
are bogus." 2. Useless. "OPCON is a bogus program." 3. | |
False. "Your arguments are bogus." 4. Incorrect. "That | |
algorithm is bogus." 5. Unbelievable. "You claim to have solved | |
the halting problem for Turing Machines? That's totally bogus." | |
6. Silly. "Stop writing those bogus sagas." Astrology is bogus. | |
So is a bolt that is obviously about to break. So is someone who | |
makes blatantly false claims to have solved a scientific problem. | |
(This word seems to have some, but not all, of the connotations of | |
{random}.) | |
It is claimed that `bogus' was originally used in the hackish sense | |
at Princeton, in the late 1960s. A glossary of bogus words was | |
compiled at Yale when the word was first popularized (see | |
{autobogotiphobia} under {bogotify}). By the early 1980s it | |
was also current in something like the hackish sense in West Coast | |
teen slang, and it had gone mainstream by 1985. A correspondent at | |
Cambridge reports, by contrast, that these uses of bogus grate on | |
British nerves; in Britain the word means rather specifically | |
`counterfeit' as in "a bogus pound note". | |
Bohr bug: /bohr buhg/ [from quantum physics] n. A repeatable {bug}; | |
one which manifests reliably under a possibly unknown but | |
well-defined set of conditions. Antonym of {heisenbug}. | |
boink: /boynk/ [USENET, perh. from the TV series | |
`Moonlighting'] 1. To have sex with; compare {bounce}, sense | |
#3. (This is mainstream) In Commonwealth hackish the variant | |
`bonk' is more common. 2. After the original Peter Korn | |
`Boinkon' {USENET} parties, used for almost any net social | |
gathering, e.g. Miniboink, a small boink held by Nancy Gillett in | |
1988; Minniboink, a Boinkcon in Minnesota in 1989; Humpdayboinks, | |
Wednesday get-togethers held in the San Francisco Bay Area. | |
Compare {@-party}. | |
bomb: v. 1. General synonym for {crash}, esp. used of software or | |
OS failures. "Don't run Empire with less than 32K stack, it'll | |
bomb out." 2. Atari ST and Macintosh equivalents of {panic} or | |
{guru} (sense 2), where icons of little black-powder bombs or | |
mushroom clouds are displayed indicating the system has died. On | |
the Mac this may be accompanied by a decimal (or occasionally | |
hexadecimal) number indicating what went wrong, similar to the | |
Amiga GURU MEDITATION number. {Mess-dos} machines tend to get | |
{locked up} in this situation. | |
bondage-and-discipline language: A language such as Pascal, APL, or | |
Prolog that, though ostensibly general-purpose, is designed so as | |
to enforce an author's theory of "right programming" even though | |
said theory is demonstrably inadequate for systems hacking or even | |
vanilla general-purpose programming. Often abbreviated `B&D'; | |
thus, one may speak of things "having the B&D nature" etc. See | |
{{Pascal}}; oppose {languages of choice}. | |
bonk/oif: /bonk/, /oyf/ interj. In the {MUD} community, it has | |
become traditional to express pique or censure by `bonking' the | |
offending person. There is a convention that one should | |
acknowledge a bonk by saying `oif!' and a myth to the effect that | |
failing to do so upsets the cosmic bonk/oif balance, causing much | |
trouble in the universe. Some MUDs have implemented special | |
commands for bonking and oifing. See also {talk mode}, | |
{posing}. | |
boot: [from `by one's bootstraps'] vi.,n. To load and initialize | |
the operating system on a machine. This usage is no longer slang | |
(having become jargon in the strict sense), but it is sometimes | |
used of human thought processes, as in the following exchange: | |
"You've lost me." "O.K., reboot. Here's the theory....". | |
Also found in the variants `cold boot' (from power-off condition) | |
and `warm boot' (with the CPU and all devices already powered up, | |
as after a hardware reset or software crash). | |
Another variant: `soft boot', re-initialization of only part of a | |
system, under control of other software that's still running: "If | |
you're running the {mess-dos} emulator, control-alt-insert will | |
cause a soft-boot of the emulator, while leaving the rest of the | |
system running." | |
Opposed to this there is `hard boot', which connotes hostility | |
towards or frustration with the machine being booted. "I'll have | |
to hard-boot this losing Sun" or "I recommend booting it hard." | |
Historically, this term derives from `bootstrap loader', a short | |
program meant to reside in a fixed location on a disk. The machine | |
would be hardwired to load the bootstrap from this `boot block' and | |
hand control to it; the bootstrap would in turn load the actual OS | |
and hand control to it. This was thought of as the software | |
pulling itself up by its bootstraps. | |
bottom-up implementation: n. Hackish opposite of the straight | |
technical term `top-down design'. It is now received wisdom in | |
most programming cultures that it is best to design from higher | |
levels of abstraction down to lower, specifying sequences of action | |
in increasing detail until you get to actual code. Hackers often | |
find (especially in exploratory designs which cannot be closely | |
specified in advance) that it works best to `build' things in the | |
opposite order, by writing and testing a clean set of primitive | |
operations and then knitting them together. | |
bounce: v. 1. [UNIX, perhaps from the image of a thrown ball | |
bouncing off a wall] An electronic mail message which is | |
undeliverable and returns an error notification to the sender is | |
said to `bounce'. See also {bounce message}. 2. [Stanford] To | |
play volleyball. At one time there was a volleyball court next to | |
the computer laboratory. From 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM was the scheduled | |
maintenance time for the computer, so every afternoon at 5:00 the | |
computer would become unavailable, and over the intercom a voice | |
would cry , "Bounce, bounce!" 3. To engage in sexual | |
intercourse; prob. from the expression `bouncing the mattress', but | |
influenced by Piglet's psychosexually loaded "Bounce on me too, | |
Tigger!" from the Winnie-the-Pooh books. Compare {boink}. 4. | |
To casually reboot a system in order to clear up a transient | |
problem. Reported primarily among {VMS} users. 5. [IBM] To | |
{power cycle} a peripheral in order to reset it. | |
bounce message: [UNIX] n. Notification message returned to sender by | |
a site unable to relay {email} to the intended {{Internet address}} | |
recipient or the next link in a {bang path} (see {bounce}). | |
Reasons might include a nonexistent or misspelled username or a | |
down relay site. Bounce messages can themselves fail, with | |
occasionally ugly results; see {sorcerer's apprentice mode}. | |
The collective `bounce mail' is also common. | |
box: n. 1. [within IBM] A computer; esp. in the construction "foo | |
box" where foo is some functional qualifier, like `graphics', or | |
the name of an OS (thus, `UNIX box', `MS-DOS box', etc. 2. | |
Without qualification but within an SNA-using site (see {Blue | |
Glue}), this refers specifically to an IBM front-end processor or | |
FEP /eff-ee-pee/. An FEP is a small computer necessary to enable | |
an IBM {mainframe} to communicate beyond the limits of the | |
{dinosaur pen}. Typically used in expressions like the cry that | |
goes up when an SNA network goes down, "Looks like the {box} has | |
fallen over." (see {fall over}) See also {IBM}, {fear and | |
loathing}, {Blue Glue}. | |
boxed comments: n. Comments (explanatory notes in code) which occupy | |
several lines by themselves; so called because in assembler and C | |
code they are often surrounded by a box in a style something like | |
this: | |
/************************************************* | |
* | |
* This is a boxed comment in C style | |
* | |
*************************************************/ | |
Common variants of this style omit the asterisks in column two or | |
add a matching row of asterisks closing the right end of the box. | |
The sparest variant omits all but the comment delimiters at | |
the extreme left; the `box' is implied. Oppose {winged | |
comments}. | |
boxen: /bok'sn/ pl n. [by analogy with {VAXen}] Fanciful plural of | |
{box} often encountered in the phrase `UNIX boxen', used to | |
describe commodity {UNIX} hardware. The connotation is that any | |
two UNIX boxen are interchangeable. | |
boxology: /bok-sol'@-jee/ n. 1. The fine art of drawing diagrams | |
using the `box' characters (mainly, `|', `-', and | |
`+') in ASCII-monospace fonts. Also known as `character | |
graphics' or `ASCII graphics'. 2. Boxological drawings. | |
"His report has a lot of boxology in it". | |
brain dump: n. The act of telling someone everything one knows | |
about a particular topic or project. Typically used when someone | |
is going to let a new party maintain a piece of code. Analogous to | |
an operating system {core dump} in the sense that the state of | |
the person's important "registers" are saved before exiting. | |
Example: "You'll have to give me a brain dump on FOOBAR, before | |
you start your new job at HackerCorp." See {core dump} (sense | |
#4). At Sun, this is also known as `TOI' (transfer of | |
information). | |
brain-damaged: [generalization of `Honeywell Brain Damage' (HBD), a | |
theoretical disease invented to explain certain utter cretinisms | |
in Honeywell {Multics}] adj. Obviously wrong; {cretinous}; | |
{demented}. There is an implication that the person responsible | |
must have suffered brain damage, because he should have known | |
better. Calling something brain-damaged is really bad; it also | |
implies it is unusable, and that its failure to work is due to poor | |
design rather than some accident. | |
brain-dead: adj. Brain-damaged in the extreme. Not quite like | |
mainstream use, as it tends to imply terminal design failure rather | |
than malfunction or simple stupidity. | |
braino: /bray'no/ n. Syn. for {thinko}. | |
branch to Fishkill: [IBM, from the location of one of their | |
facilities] n. Any unexpected jump in a program that produces | |
catastrophic or just plain weird results. See {jump off into | |
never-never land}. | |
brand brand brand: n. Humorous catch-phrase from {BartleMUD}s, in which | |
players were described carrying a list of objects, the most | |
common of which would usually be a brand. Often used as a joke | |
in {talk mode} as in "Fred the wizard is here, carrying brand | |
ruby brand brand brand kettle broadsword flamethrower". Prob. | |
influenced by the infamous Monty Python {Spam} skit. | |
break: 1. vt. To cause to be broken (in any sense). "Your latest | |
patch to the editor broke the paragraph commands." 2. v. (of a | |
program) To stop temporarily, so that it may debugged. The place | |
where it stops is a "breakpoint". 3. vi. To send an RS-232 break | |
(125 msec. of line high) over a serial comm line. 4. [UNIX] vi. To | |
strike whatever key currently causes the tty driver to send SIGINT | |
to the current process. Normally break (sense 3) or delete does | |
this. | |
breakage: 1. Brokenness and the consequent mess. 2.[IBM] n. The | |
extra people that must be added to an organization because its | |
master plan has changed; used esp. of software and hardware | |
development teams. | |
breath-of-life packet: [Xerox PARC] n. An Ethernet packet that | |
contained bootstrap code, periodically sent out from a working | |
computer to infuse the `breath of life' into any computer on the | |
network that had happened to crash. The machines had hardware or | |
firmware that would wait for such a packet after a catastrophic | |
error. | |
bring X to its knees: v. Of a machine, operating system, piece of | |
software, or algorithm; to present it with a load so extreme or | |
pathological that it grinds virtually to a halt. "To bring a | |
MicroVAX to its knees, try twenty users running {vi} --- or four | |
running {EMACS}." Compare {hog}. | |
brittle: adj. Said of software that's functional but easily broken | |
by changes in operating environment or configuration, or by any | |
minor tweak to the software itself. Often describes the results of | |
a research effort that were never intended to be robust, but can be | |
applied to commercially developed software. Oppose {robust}. | |
broadcast storm: n. An incorrect packet broadcast on a network that | |
causes most hosts to respond all at once, typically with wrong | |
answers that start the process over again. Also called `network | |
meltdown'. See also {Chernobyl packet}. | |
broken: adj. 1. Not working properly (of programs). 2. Behaving | |
strangely; especially, (when used of people) exhibiting extreme | |
depression. | |
broket: /broh'k@t/ or /broh'ket/ [by analogy with `bracket': a | |
`broken bracket'] n. Either of the characters `<' and | |
`>', when used as paired enclosing delimiters. This word | |
originated as a contraction of the phrase `broken bracket', that | |
is, a bracket that is bent in the middle. (At MIT, and apparently | |
in the {Real World} as well, these are usually called {angle | |
brackets}.) | |
Brooks's Law: prov. "Adding manpower to a late software project | |
makes it later" --- a result of the fact that the advantage from | |
splitting work between N programmers is O(N), but the complexity | |
and communications cost associated with coordinating and then | |
merging their work is O(N^2). The quote is from Fred Brooks, a | |
manager of IBMs OS/360 project and author of `The Mythical | |
Man-Month', an excellent early book on software engineering. | |
Hackers have never forgotten this advice; too often, {management} | |
does. | |
BRS: n. Syn. {Big Red Switch}. This abbreviation is fairly | |
common on-line. | |
brute force: adj. Describes a certain kind of primitive programming | |
style; broadly speaking, one in which the programmer relies on the | |
computer's processing power instead of using his/her own intelligence to | |
simplify the problem, often ignoring problems of scale and applying | |
naive methods suited to small problems directly to large ones. | |
The {canonical} example of a brute force algorithm is associated | |
with the `Travelling salesman problem' (TSP), a classical NP-hard | |
problem: suppose a person is in Boston and wishes to drive to N | |
other cities. In what order should he/she visit them in order to | |
minimize the distance travelled? The brute force method is to | |
simply generate all possible routes and compare the distances; | |
while guaranteed to work and simple to implement, this algorithm is | |
clearly very `stupid' in that it considers even obviously absurd | |
routes (like going from Boston to Houston via San Francisco and New | |
York, in that order). For small N it works well, but it rapidly | |
becomes absurdly inefficient when N increases (for N=15, there are | |
already 1,307,674,368,000 possible routes to consider). See also | |
{NP-}. | |
A more simple-minded example of brute-force programming is finding | |
the smallest number in a large list by first using an existing | |
program to sort the list in ascending order, and then picking the | |
first number off the front. | |
Note that whether brute-force programming should be considered | |
stupid or not depends on the context; if the problem isn't too big, | |
the extra CPU time spent on a brute-force solution may cost less | |
than the programmer time it would take to develop a more | |
`intelligent' algorithm. Alternatively, a more intelligent | |
algorithm may imply more long-term complexity cost and bug-chasing | |
than are justified by the speed improvement. | |
Ken Thompson, co-inventor of UNIX, is reported to have uttered the | |
epigram "When in doubt, use brute force". He probably intended | |
this as a {ha ha only serious}, but the original UNIX kernel's | |
preference for simple, robust, and portable algorithms over fragile | |
`smart' ones does seem to have been a significant factor in the | |
success of that OS. Like so many other tradeoffs in software | |
design, the choice between brute force and complex, finely-tuned | |
cleverness is often a difficult one that requires both engineering | |
savvy and delicate esthetic judgement. | |
brute force and ignorance: n. A popular design technique at many | |
software houses --- {brute force} coding unrelieved by any | |
knowledge of how problems have been previously solved in elegant | |
ways. Dogmatic adherence to design methodologies tends to | |
encourage it. Characteristic of early {larval stage} programming; | |
unfortunately, many never outgrow it. Often abbreviated BFI, as | |
in: "Gak, they used a bubble sort! That's strictly from BFI." | |
Compare {bogosity}. | |
BSD: /bee-ess-dee/ n. [acronym for Berkeley System Distribution] a | |
family of {UNIX} versions for the DEC {VAX} developed by Bill | |
Joy and others at University of California at Berkeley starting | |
around 1980, incorporating paged virtual memory, TCP/IP networking | |
enhancements and many other features. The BSD versions (4.1, 4.2, | |
and 4.3) and commercial versions derived from them (SunOS, ULTRIX, | |
and Mt. Xinu) held the technical lead in the UNIX world until | |
AT&T's successful standardization efforts after about 1986, and are | |
still widely popular. See {UNIX}, {USG UNIX}. | |
bubble sort: n. A standard technical term for a particular sorting | |
technique. Because it is not very good compared to other methods, | |
and is the one typically stumbled on by {naive} and untutored | |
programmers, hackers consider it the canonical example of a naive | |
algorithm. The canonical example of a really *bad* algorithm is | |
{bogo-sort}. A bubble sort might be used out of ignorance, but | |
any use of bogo-sort could only issue from {brain damage} or | |
willful perversity. | |
bucky bits: /buh'kee bits/ [primarily Stanford] n. The bits | |
produced by the CTRL, META, SUPER, and HYPER shift keys, esp. on a | |
Stanford or MIT (Knight) keyboard (see {space-cadet keyboard}). | |
By extension, bits associated with `extra' shift keys on any | |
keyboard, e.g. the ALT on an IBM PC or command and option keys on a | |
Macintosh. | |
It is rumored that these were in fact named for Buckminster Fuller | |
during a period when he was consulting at Stanford. Unfortunately, | |
legend also has it that `Bucky' was Niklaus Wirth's nickname when | |
*he* was consulting at Stanford and that he first suggested | |
the idea of the meta key, so its bit was named after him. See | |
{double bucky}, {quadruple bucky}. | |
buffer overflow: n. What typically happens when an {OS} or | |
application is fed data faster than it can handle. Used | |
metaphorically of human mental processes. "Sorry, I got four | |
phone calls in three minutes last night and lost your message to a | |
buffer overflow." | |
bug: n. An unwanted and unintended property of a program or hardware, | |
esp. one which causes it to malfunction. Antonym of {feature}. | |
Examples: "There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out | |
backwards." "The system crashed because of a hardware bug." | |
"Fred is a winner, but he has a few bugs." (i.e., Fred is a good | |
guy, but he has a few personality problems.) | |
Some have said this term came from telephone company usage: "bugs | |
in a telephone cable" were blamed for noisy lines, but this | |
appears to be an incorrect folk etymology. Admiral Grace Hopper | |
(an early computing pioneer better known for inventing COBOL) liked | |
to tell a story in which a technician solved a persistent {glitch} in | |
the Harvard Mark II machine by pulling an actual physical bug out | |
from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she | |
subsequently promulgated {bug} in its hackish sense as a joke about | |
the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not | |
there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated | |
with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a | |
display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center; it now resides | |
in the Smithsonian. The entire story, with a picture of the | |
logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the Annals of | |
the History of Computing, Volume 3, Number 3 (July 1981), on pages | |
285 and 286. | |
Interestingly, the text of the log entry, which reads "1545 Relay | |
#70 Panel F (moth) in relay. First actual case of bug being | |
found." seems to establish that the term was already in use at the | |
time, and a similar incident is alleged to have occurred on the | |
original ENIAC machine. Indeed, the use of `bug' to mean an | |
industrial defect was already established in Thomas Edison's time, | |
and `bug' in the sense of an disruptive event goes back to | |
Shakespeare! In the First Edition of Johnson's Dictionary a `bug' | |
is a `frightful object'; this is traced to `bugbear', a Welsh term | |
for a variety of mythological monster which (to complete the | |
circle) has recently been reintroduced into the popular lexicon | |
through fantasy role-playing games. | |
In any case, in hacker's slang the word almost never refers to | |
insects. Here is a plausible conversation that never actually | |
happened: | |
"This ant-farm has a bug." | |
"What do you mean? I don't see any ants in it." | |
"That's the bug." | |
bug compatible: n. Said of a design or revision the design of which | |
has been badly compromised by a requirement to be compatible with | |
{fossil}s or {misfeature}s in other programs or (esp.) previous | |
releases of itself. | |
bug-for-bug compatible: n. Same as {bug-compatible}, with the | |
additional implication that much tedious effort went into ensuring | |
that each (known) bug was replicated. | |
buglix: n. Pejorative term referring to DEC's ULTRIX operating | |
system in its earlier *severely* buggy versions. Still used to | |
describe ULTRIX but without venom. Compare {HP-SUX}. | |
bulletproof: adj. Used of an algorithm or implementation considered | |
extremely {robust}; lossage-resistant; capable of correctly | |
recovering from any imaginable exception condition. This is a rare | |
and valued quality. Syn. {armor-plated}. | |
bum: 1. vt. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, | |
often at the expense of clarity. "I managed to bum three more | |
instructions out of that code." 2. n. A small change to an | |
algorithm, program, or hardware device to make it more efficient. | |
"This hardware bum makes the jump instruction faster." Usage: | |
now uncommon, largely superseded by v. {tune} (and n. {tweak}, | |
{hack}). Note that both these uses are rare in Commonwealth | |
hackish, because in the parent dialects of English `bum' is | |
interpreted as a rude synonym for `buttocks'. | |
bump: vt. Synonym for increment. Has the same meaning as C's ++ | |
operator. Used esp. of counter variables, pointers, and index | |
dummies in `for', `while', and `do-while' loops. | |
burble: vi. Like {flame}, but connotes that the source is truly | |
clueless and ineffectual (mere flamers can be competent). A term | |
of deep contempt. | |
burn-in period: n. 1. A factory test designed to catch systems | |
with {marginal} components before they get out the door; the | |
theory is that burn-in will protect customers by outwaiting the | |
steepest part of the {bathtub} curve. 2. A period of | |
indeterminate length in which a person using a computer is so | |
intensely involved in his project that he forgets basic needs such | |
as food, drink, sleep, sex, etc. See {hack mode}, {larval | |
stage}. | |
busy-wait: vi. To wait on an event by {spin}ning through a tight | |
or timed-delay loop that polls for the event on each pass, as | |
opposed to setting up an interrupt handler and continuing execution | |
on another part of the task. A wasteful technique, best avoided on | |
time-sharing systems where a busy-waiting program may hog the | |
processor. Syn. {spin-lock}. May be used of human behavior to | |
convey that one is busy waiting for some one or some thing and that | |
one intends to move instantly as soon as it shows up (for example, | |
if one is waiting at the office door of a person in conference); | |
thus that one cannot do anything else at the moment. | |
buzz: vi. 1. Of a program, to run with no indication of progress | |
and perhaps without guarantee of ever finishing; esp. said of | |
programs thought to be executing tight loops of code. A program | |
which is buzzing appears to be {catatonic}, but you never get out | |
of catatonia, while a buzzing loop may eventually end of its own | |
accord. Example: "The program buzzes for about ten seconds trying | |
to sort all the names into order." See {spin}; see also | |
{grovel}. 2. [ETA Systems] To test a wire or printed circuit | |
trace for continuity by applying an AC signal as opposed to | |
applying a DC signal. Some wire faults will pass DC tests but fail | |
a buzz test. | |
BWQ: /bee duhb'l-yoo kyoo/ [IBM; acronym, Buzz Word Quotient] The | |
percentage of buzzwords in a speech or documents. Usually roughly | |
proportional to {bogosity}. See {TLA}. | |
by hand: adv. Said of an operation (especially a repetitive, trivial | |
and/or tedious one) which ought to be performed automatically by | |
the computer, but which a hacker instead has to step tediously | |
through. "My mailer doesn't have a command to include the text of | |
the message I'm replying to, so I have to do it by hand". Compare | |
{eyeball search}. | |
byte:: n. A unit of memory or data equal to the amount needed to | |
represent one character; usually 8 bits, occasionally 9 (on 36-bit | |
machines). The term originated in 1956 during the early design | |
phase for the IBM Stretch computer; originally it was described as | |
one to six bits (typical I/O equipment of the period used 6-bit | |
chunks of information). The move to an 8-bit byte happened in late | |
1956, and this size was later adopted and promulgated as a standard | |
by the System/360. The term `byte' was coined by mutating the | |
word `bite' so it would not be accidentally misspelt as {bit}. | |
See also {nybble}. | |
bytesexual: /biet-seks'u-@l/ adj. Said of hardware, denotes | |
willingness to compute or pass data in either {big-endian} or | |
{little-endian} format (depending, presumably, on a {mode bit} | |
somewhere). See also {NUXI problem}. | |
= C = | |
===== | |
C: n. 1. The third letter of the Latin alphabet. 2. The name of a | |
programming language designed by Dennis Ritchie during the early | |
1970s and immediately used to re-implement {UNIX}. So called | |
because many features derived from an earlier interpreter named `B' | |
in commemoration of *its* parent, BCPL; before Bjarne | |
Stroustrup settled the question by designing C++, there was a | |
humorous debate over whether C's successor should be named `D' or | |
`P'. C became immensely popular outside Bell Labs after about 1980 | |
and is now the dominant language in systems and microcomputer | |
applications programming. See also {languages of choice}, | |
{indent style}. | |
C is often described, with a mixture of fondness and disdain | |
varying according to the speaker, as "a language which combines | |
all the elegance and power of assembly language with the | |
readability and maintainability of assembly language". | |
calculator: [Cambridge] n. Syn. for {bitty box}. | |
can: vt. To abort a job on a time-sharing system. Used esp. when the | |
person doing the deed is an operator, as in "canned from the | |
{{console}}". Frequently used in an imperative sense, as in "Can | |
that print job, the LPT just popped a sprocket!". Synonymous with | |
{gun}. It is said that the ASCII character with mnemonic CAN | |
(0011000) was used as a kill-job character on some early OSs. | |
canonical: [historically, `according to religious law'] adj. The | |
usual or standard state or manner of something. This word has a | |
somewhat more technical meaning in mathematics. For example, one | |
sometimes speaks of a formula as being in canonical form. Two | |
formulas such as `9 + x' and `x + 9' are said to be | |
equivalent because they mean the same thing, but the second one is | |
in canonical form because it is written in the usual way, with the | |
highest power of `x' first. Usually there are fixed rules you | |
can use to decide whether something is in canonical form. The | |
slang meaning is a relaxation of the technical meaning (this | |
generalization is actually not confined to hackers, and may be | |
found throughout academia). | |
A true story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed | |
some annoyance at the use of jargon and hacker slang. Over his | |
loud objections, GLS and RMS made a point of using it as much as | |
possible in his presence, and eventually it began to sink in. | |
Finally, in one conversation, he used the word `canonical' in | |
slang-like fashion without thinking. Steele: "Aha! We've finally | |
got you talking jargon too!" Stallman: "What did he say?" | |
Steele: "Bob just used `canonical' in the canonical way." | |
Of course, canonicality depends on context, but is implicitly | |
defined as the way *hackers* normally do things. Thus, a | |
hacker may claim with a straight face that "according to religious | |
law" is *not* the canonical meaning of `canonical'. | |
card: n. 1. An electronic printed-circuit board (see also {tall | |
card}, {short card}. 2. obs. Syn. {{punched card}}. | |
card walloper: n. An EDP programmer who grinds out batch programs | |
that do stupid things like print people's paychecks. Compare | |
{code grinder}. See also {{punched card}}, {eighty-column | |
mind}. | |
cargo-cult programming: n. A style of (incompetent) programming | |
dominated by ritual inclusion of code or program structures that | |
serve no real purpose. A cargo-cult programmer will usually | |
explain the extra code as a way of working around some bug | |
encountered in the past, but usually, neither the bug nor the | |
reason the code avoided the bug were ever fully understood (compare | |
{shotgun debugging}). | |
The term cargo-cult is a reference to aboriginal religions that | |
grew up in the South Pacific after World War II. The practices of | |
these cults center on building elaborate mockups of airplanes and | |
military style landing strips in the hope of bringing the return of | |
the god-like airplanes that brought such marvelous cargo during the | |
war. Hackish usage probably derives from Richard Feynman's | |
characterization of certain practices as "cargo-cult science" in | |
`Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman'. | |
case and paste: [from `cut and paste'] n. 1. The addition of a new | |
{feature} to an existing system by selecting the code from an | |
existing feature and pasting it in with minor changes. Common in | |
telephony circles because most operations in a telephone switch are | |
selected using case statements. Leads to {software bloat}. | |
In some circles of EMACS users this is called `programming by | |
Meta-W', because Meta-W is the EMACS command for copying a block of | |
text to a kill buffer in preparation to pasting it in elsewhere. | |
The term is condescending, implying that the programmer is acting | |
mindlessly rather than thinking carefully about what is required to | |
integrate the code for two similar cases. | |
casters-up mode: /cas'trz uhp mohd/ [IBM] n. Yet another synonym | |
for `broken' or `down'. | |
casting the runes: n. The act of getting a {guru} to run a particular | |
program and type at it because it never works for anyone else; esp. | |
used when nobody can ever see what the guru is doing different from | |
what J. Random Luser does. Compare {incantation}, {runes}, | |
{examining the entrails}; also see the AI koan about Tom Knight | |
in Appendix A. | |
cat: [from `catenate' via {UNIX} `cat(1)'] vt. To spew | |
an entire file to the screen or some other output sink without | |
pause; by extension, to dump large amounts of data at an unprepared | |
target or with no intention of browsing it carefully. Usage: | |
considered silly. Rare outside UNIX sites. See also {DD}, | |
{BLT}. | |
Among UNIX-haters, `cat(1)' is considered the canonical | |
example of poor user-interface design. This because it is more | |
often used to {blast} a file to standard output than to | |
concatenate two files. The name `cat(1)' for the former | |
operation is just as unintuitive as, say, LISP's {cdr}. | |
catatonic: adj. Describes a condition of suspended animation in | |
which something is so {wedged} or {hung} that it makes no | |
response. For example, if you are typing on a terminal and | |
suddenly the computer doesn't even echo the letters back to the | |
screen as you type, let alone do what you're asking it to do, then | |
the computer is suffering from catatonia (possibly because it has | |
crashed). | |
cdr: /ku'dr/ or /kuh'dr/ [from LISP] vt. To remove the first item | |
from a list of things. In the form `cdr down', to trace down a | |
list of elements. "Shall we cdr down the agenda?" Usage: silly. | |
See also {loop through}. | |
Historical note: the instruction format of the IBM 7090 that hosted | |
the original LISP implementation featured two 15-bit fields called | |
the `address' and `decrement' parts. The term `cdr' was originally | |
`Contents of Decrement Register', referring to the decrement part | |
(but not, confusingly, to a separate register). Similarly, `car' | |
stood for `Contents of Address Register'. | |
The `cdr' and `car' operations have since become bases for | |
formation of compound metaphors in non-LISP contexts. GLS recalls, | |
for example, a programming project in which strings were | |
represented as linked lists; the get-character and skip-character | |
operations were of course called CHAR and CHDR. | |
chad: /chad/ n. 1. The perforated edge strips on printer paper, after | |
they have been separated from the printed portion. Also called | |
{selvage} and {perf}. 2. obs. The confetti-like paper bits punched | |
out of cards or paper tape; this was also called `chaff', `computer | |
confetti', and `keypunch droppings'. | |
Historical note: one correspondent believes `chad' (sense #2) | |
derives from the Chadless keypunch (named for its inventor), which | |
cut little u-shaped tabs in the card to make a hole when the tab | |
folded back, rather than punching out a circle/rectangle; it was | |
clear that if the `Chadless' keypunch didn't make them, then the | |
stuff that other keypunches made had to be `chad'. | |
chad box: n. {Iron Age} card punches contained boxes inside them, | |
about the size of a lunchbox, that held the {chad} (squares of | |
paper punched out of punch cards). You had to open the covers of | |
the card punch periodically and empty the chad box. The {bit | |
bucket} was notionally the equivalent device in the CPU enclosure, | |
which was typically across the room in another great grey-and-blue | |
box. | |
chain: [orig. from BASIC's CHAIN statement] vi. When used of | |
programming languages, refers to a statement that allows a parent | |
executable to hand off execution to a child or successor without | |
going through the {OS} command interpreter. The state of the | |
parent program is lost and there is no returning to it. Though | |
this facility used to be common on memory-limited micros and is | |
still widely supported for backward compatibility, the jargon usage | |
is semi-obsolescent; in particular most UNIX programmers will think | |
of this as an {exec}. Oppose the more modern {subshell}. | |
char: /keir/ or /char/; rarely, /kar/ n. Shorthand for `character'. | |
Esp. used by C programmers, as `char' is C's typename for | |
character data. | |
chase pointers: 1. vi. To go through multiple levels of | |
indirection, as in traversing a linked list or graph structure. | |
Used esp. by programmers in C, where explicit pointers are a very | |
common data type. This is almost jargon in the strict sense, but | |
remains slang when used of human networks. "I'm chasing pointers. | |
Bob said you could tell me who to talk to about...." 2. | |
[Cambridge] `pointer chase' or `pointer hunt': the process | |
of going through a dump (interactively or on a large piece of paper | |
printed with hex {runes}) following dynamic data-structures. | |
Only used in a debugging context. | |
chemist: [Cambridge] n. Someone who wastes computer time on | |
{number-crunching} when you'd far rather the machine were doing | |
something more productive, such as working out anagrams of your | |
name or printing Snoopy calendars or running {life} patterns. | |
May or may not refer to someone who actually studies chemistry. | |
Chernobyl packet: /cher-noh'b@l pak'@t/ n. A network packet which | |
induces {network meltdown}, in memory of the nuclear accident at | |
Chernobyl in the Ukraine, 1987. The type case of this is an IP | |
Ethergram which passes through a gateway with both source and | |
destination Ether and IP address set as the respective broadcast | |
addresses for the subnetworks being gated between. | |
chiclet keyboard: n. A keyboard with small rectangular or | |
lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of | |
chewing gum (Chiclet is a brand-name and also the Spanish common | |
noun for the stuff). Used esp. to describe the original PCjr | |
keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, | |
and a lot of early portable and laptop products got launched using | |
them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and | |
chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch | |
any more. | |
Chinese Army technique: n. Syn. {Mongolian Hordes technique}. | |
choke: vt. To reject input, often ungracefully. "I tried building | |
an {EMACS} binary to use {X}, but `cpp(1)' choked on all | |
those `#define's." See {barf}, {gag}, {vi}. | |
chomp: vt. To lose; specifically, to chew on something of which | |
more was bitten off than one can. Probably related to gnashing of | |
teeth. See {bagbiter}. A hand gesture commonly accompanies | |
this, consisting of the four fingers held together as if in a | |
mitten or hand puppet, and the fingers and thumb open and close | |
rapidly to illustrate a biting action (much like what the PacMan | |
does in the classic video game, though this pantomime seems to | |
predate that). The gesture alone means "chomp chomp" (see Verb | |
Doubling). The hand may be pointed at the object of complaint, and | |
for real emphasis you can use both hands at once. For example, to | |
do this to a person is equivalent to saying "You chomper!" If | |
you point the gesture at yourself, it is a humble but humorous | |
admission of some failure. You might do this if someone told you | |
that a program you had written had failed in some surprising way | |
and you felt dumb for not having anticipated it. | |
chomper: n. Someone or something that is chomping; a loser. See | |
{loser}, {bagbiter}, {chomp}. | |
Christmas tree: n. A kind of RS-232 line tester or breakout box | |
featuring rows of blinking red and green LEDs like Christmas | |
lights. | |
Christmas tree packet: n. A packet with every single option set for | |
whatever protocol is in use. | |
chrome: [from automotive slang via wargaming] n. Showy features | |
added to attract users but which contribute little or nothing to | |
the power of a system. "The 3D icons in Motif are just chrome, | |
but they certainly are `pretty' chrome!" Distinguished from | |
{bells and whistles} by the fact that the latter are usually | |
added to gratify developers' own desires for featurefulness. | |
Church of the Sub-Genius: n. A mutant offshoot of {Discordianism} | |
launched in 1981 as a spoof of fundamentalist Christianity by the | |
`Reverend' Ivan Stang, a brilliant satirist with a gift for | |
promotion. Popular among hackers as a rich source of bizarre | |
imagery and references such as: `Bob' the divine | |
drilling-equipment salesman, the Benevolent Space Xists, and the | |
Stark Fist of Removal. Much Sub-Genius theory is concerned with | |
the acquisition of the mystical substance or quality of `slack'. | |
See also {ha ha only serious}. | |
Cinderella book: [CMU] n. `Introduction to Automata Theory, | |
Languages, and Computation', by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman, | |
Addison-Wesley, 1979. So-called because the cover depicts a girl | |
(putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a Rube Goldberg device | |
and holding a rope from that device. The back cover depicts the | |
girl with the Rube Goldberg in shambles after having pulled on the | |
rope. | |
Classic C: /klas'ik see/ [a play on `Coke Classic'] n. The C | |
programming language as defined in the first edition of {K&R}, | |
with some small additions. It is also known as `K&R C'. The | |
name came into use during the standardization process for C by the | |
ANSI X3J11 committee. Also `C Classic'. This is sometimes | |
applied elsewhere: thus, `X Classic' where X = Star Trek (referring | |
to the original TV series), or X = PC (referring to IBM's ISA-bus | |
machines as opposed to the PS/2 series). This construction is | |
especially used of product series in which the newer versions are | |
considered serious losers relative to the older ones. | |
In one particularly strong parallel to the Coke fiasco, Apple | |
Computer released a new computer called the Mac Classic. | |
Unfortunately, just as the Coca-Cola company had `restored' Coke | |
Classic made with nasty-tasting corn syrup rather than real sugar, | |
the new Mac Classic was inferior in some respects to the machine | |
Mac hackers had always called the `classic Mac' (the original 128K | |
Macintosh) causing much confusion and upset. | |
clean: 1. adj. Used of hardware or software designs, implies | |
`elegance in the small', that is, a design or implementation which | |
may not hold any surprises but does things in a way that is | |
reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to comprehend from the | |
outside. The antonym is {grungy} or {crufty}. 2. v. To remove | |
un-needed or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter. "I'm | |
cleaning up my account", or "I cleaned up the garbage and now have | |
100 Meg free on that partition". | |
CLM: /see el em/ [Sun, `Career Limiting Move'] 1. n. An action | |
endangering one's future prospects of getting plum projects and | |
raises, also possibly one's job. "He used a {bubble-sort}! | |
What a CLM!" 2. adj. Denotes extreme severity of a bug, | |
discovered by a customer and obviously due to poor testing: | |
"That's a CLM bug!" | |
clobber: vt. To overwrite; usually unintentionally. As in "I | |
walked off the end of the array and clobbered the stack." Compare | |
{mung}, {scribble}, {trash}, and {smash the stack}. | |
clocks: n. Processor logic cycles, so called because each generally | |
corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor's timing. The | |
relative execution times of instructions on a machine are usually | |
discussed in clocks rather than absolute fractions of a second. | |
Compare {cycle}. | |
clone: n. 1. An exact duplicate, as in "Our product is a clone of | |
their product." Implies a legal re-implementation from | |
documentation or by reverse-engineering, as opposed to the | |
illegalities under sense #3. Also connotes lower price. 2. A | |
shoddy, spurious copy, as in "Their product is a clone of our | |
product." 3. A blatant ripoff, most likely violating copyright, | |
patent, or trade secret protections, as in "Your product is a | |
clone of my product." This usage implies legal action is pending. | |
4. A `PC clone'; a PC-BUS/ISA or EISA-compatible 80x86 based | |
microcomputer (this use is sometimes spelled `klone' or | |
`PClone'). These invariably have much more bang for the buck | |
than the IBM archetypes they resemble. 5. In the construction | |
`UNIX clone': An OS designed to deliver a UNIX-lookalike | |
environment sans UNIX license fees, or with additional | |
`mission-critical' features such as support for real-time | |
programming. 6. v. To make an exact copy of something. "Let me | |
clone that" might mean "I want to borrow that paper so I can make | |
a photocopy" or "Let me get a copy of that file before you | |
{mung} it". | |
clustergeeking: /kluh'ster-gee`king/ [CMU] n. An activity defined by | |
spending more time at a computer cluster doing CS homework than | |
most people spend breathing. | |
COBOL: [COmmon Business-Oriented Language] n. Synonymous with | |
{evil} --- a weak, verbose, and flabby language used to do boring | |
mindless things on {dinosaur} mainframes. Hackers believe all | |
COBOL programmers are {suit}s or {code grinder}s, and no | |
self-respecting hacker will ever admit to having learned the | |
language. Its very name is seldom uttered without ritual | |
expressions of disgust or horror. See also {fear and loathing}, | |
{software rot}. | |
COBOL fingers: /koh'bol fing'grs/ n. Reported from Sweden, a | |
(hypothetical) disease one might get from programming in COBOL. | |
The language requires code verbose beyond all reason. Programming | |
too much in COBOL causes the fingers to wear down (by endless | |
typing), until short stubs remain. This deformity is called | |
"COBOL fingers". "I refuse to type in all that source code | |
again; it would give me COBOL fingers!" | |
code grinder: n. 1. A {suit}-wearing minion of the sort hired in | |
legion strength by banks and insurance companies to implement | |
payroll packages in RPG and other such unspeakable horrors. In his | |
native habitat, the code grinder often removes the suit jacket to | |
reveal an underplumage consisting of button-down shirt (starch | |
optional) and a tie. In times of dire stress, the sleeves (if | |
long) may be rolled up and the tie loosened about half an inch. It | |
seldom helps. The {code grinder}'s milieu is about as far from | |
hackerdom as you can get and still touch a computer; the term | |
connotes pity. See {Real World}, {suit}. 2. Used of or to a | |
hacker, a really serious slur on the person's creative ability; | |
connotes a design style characterized by primitive technique, | |
rule-boundedness, and utter lack of imagination. Compare {card | |
walloper}. | |
code police: [by analogy with `thought police'] n. A mythical team | |
of Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst into one's office | |
and arrest one for violating style rules. May be used either | |
seriously, to underline a claim that a particular style violation | |
is dangerous, or ironically, to suggest that the practice under | |
discussion is condemned mainly by anal-retentive weenies. The | |
ironic usage is perhaps more common. | |
codewalker: n. A program component that traverses other programs for | |
a living. Compilers have codewalkers in their front ends; so do | |
cross-reference generators and some database front-ends. Other | |
utility programs that try to do too much with source code may turn | |
into codewalkers. As in "This new `vgrind' feature would require a | |
codewalker to implement." | |
coefficient of x: n. Hackish speech makes rather heavy use of | |
pseudo-mathematical metaphors. Four particularly important ones | |
involve the terms `coefficient', `factor', `index' and | |
`quotient'. They are often loosely applied to things you | |
cannot really be quantitative about, but there are subtle | |
distinctions between them that convey information about the way the | |
speaker mentally models whatever he or she is describing. | |
`Foo factor' and `foo quotient' tend to describe something | |
for which the issue is one of presence or absence. The canonical | |
example is {fudge factor}. It's not important how much you're | |
fudging; the term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed. | |
You might talk of liking a movie for its silliness factor. | |
Quotient tends to imply that the property is a ratio of two | |
opposing factors: "I would have won except for my luck quotient." | |
This could also be, "I would have won except for the luck factor", | |
but using *quotient* emphasises that it was bad luck | |
overpowering good luck. | |
`Foo index' and `coefficient of foo' both tend to imply | |
that foo is, if not strictly measurable, at least something that | |
can be larger or smaller. Thus, you might refer to a paper or | |
person as having a `high bogosity index', whereas you would be less | |
likely to speak of a `high bogosity factor'. `Foo index' suggests | |
that foo is a condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane | |
cost of living index; `coefficient of foo' suggests that foo is a | |
fundamental quantity, as in a coefficient of friction. The choice | |
between these terms is often one of personal preference; e.g., some | |
people might feel that bogosity is a fundamental attribute and thus | |
say "coefficient of bogosity", whereas others might feel it is a | |
combination of factors and thus say "bogosity index". | |
cokebottle: /kohk'bot-l/ n. Any very unusual character, | |
particularly one that isn't on your keyboard so you can't type it. | |
MIT people used to complain about the `control-meta-cokebottle' | |
commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained right back about the | |
`altmode-altmode-cokebottle' commands at MIT. After the demise of | |
the {space-cadet keyboard}, cokebottle faded away as serious | |
usage, but was often invoked humorously to describe an | |
(unspecified) weird or non-intuitive keystroke command. It may be | |
due for a second inning, however. The OSF/Motif window manager, | |
mwm, has a reserved keystroke for switching to the default set of | |
keybindings and behavior. This keystroke is (believe it or not) | |
`control-meta-bang'. Since the exclamation point looks a | |
lot like an upside down coke bottle, Motif hackers have begun | |
referring to this keystroke as cokebottle. See also | |
{quadruple bucky}. | |
COME FROM: n. A semi-mythical language construct dual to the `go | |
to'; COME FROM <label> would cause the referenced label to act as a | |
sort of trapdoor, so that if the program ever reached it control | |
would quietly and {automagically} be transferred to the statement | |
following the COME FROM. COME FROM was first proposed in a | |
Datamation article of December 1973 (reprinted in the April 1984 | |
issue of CACM) that parodied the then-raging `structured | |
programming' wars (see {considered harmful}). Mythically, some | |
variants are the `assigned come from', and the `computed | |
come from' (parodying some nasty control constructs in BASIC and | |
FORTRAN). Obviously, multi-tasking (or non-determinism) could be | |
implemented by having more than one COME FROM statement coming from | |
the same label. | |
In some ways the FORTRAN DO loop is a form of COME FROM statement, | |
since after the terminating label is reached control continues at | |
the statement following the DO. Some generous FORTRANs would even | |
allow arbitrary statements for the label, for example: | |
DO 10 I=1,LIMIT | |
C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the original DO | |
C statement lost in the spaghetti... | |
WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I) | |
10 FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4) | |
While sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this | |
form of COME FROM statement isn't completely general. After all, | |
control will eventually pass to the following statement. The | |
implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN, | |
c.1975. The statement `AT 100' would perform a `COME FROM 100'. It | |
was intended strictly as a debugging aid, with dire consequences | |
promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in production code. | |
COME FROM was supported under its own name for the first time | |
fifteen years later, in C-INTERCAL (see {INTERCAL}, | |
{retrocomputing}); knowledgeable observers are still reeling from | |
shock. | |
comm mode: /kom mohd/ [from the ITS feature supporting on-line | |
chat, spelled with one or two Ms] Syn. for {talk mode}; also | |
spelled `com mode'. | |
comment out: vt. To surround a section of code with comment | |
delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment | |
marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted. Often | |
done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but you want to leave | |
it in the source to make the intent of the active code clearer; | |
also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass | |
it in order to debug some other part of the code. Compare | |
{condition out}, usually the preferred technique in languages | |
(like {C}) that make it possible. | |
Commonwealth Hackish:: n. Hacker slang as spoken outside the U.S., | |
esp. in the British Commonwealth. It is reported that Commonwealth | |
speakers are more likely to pronounce `char', `soc' etc. as spelled | |
(/char/, /sok/) as opposed to American /keir/ or /sohsh/. Dots in | |
{newsgroup} names tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble | |
is /sok dot wi'bble/ rather than /sohsh wib'ble/). {Meta-} may | |
be pronounced /mee't@-/; similarly, Greek letter beta is often | |
/bee't@/, zeta is often /zee'ta/ and so forth. Preferred | |
metasyntactic variables include EEK, OOK, FRODO, and BILBO; WIBBLE, | |
WOBBLE, and in emergencies WUBBLE; BANANA, WOMBAT, FROG, {fish}, | |
and so on and on. | |
Alternatives to verb doubling include suffixes `-o-rama', | |
`frenzy' (as in feeding frenzy) and `city' (as in "barf | |
city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!"). Finally, note | |
that the American terms `parens', `brackets', and `braces' for (), | |
[], and {} are uncommon; Commonwealth hackish prefers | |
`bracket', `square bracket', and `curly bracket'. Also, the | |
use of `pling' for {bang} is common outside the United States. | |
See also {attoparsec}, {calculator}, {chemist}, {console | |
jockey}, {fish}, {grunge}, {hakspek}, {heavy metal}, | |
{leaky heap}, {lord high fixer}, {noddy}, | |
{psychedelicware}, {plingnet}, {raster blaster}, {seggie}, | |
{spin-lock}, {terminal junkie}, {tick-list features}, | |
{weeble}, {weasel}, {YABA}, and notes or definitions under | |
{Bad Thing}, {barf}, {bogus}, {bum}, {chase pointers}, | |
{cosmic rays}, {crippleware}, {crunch}, {dodgy}, {gonk}, | |
{mess-doss} {nybble}, {root}, {tweak}, and | |
{xyzzy}. | |
compact: adj. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it | |
can all be apprehended at once in one's head. This generally means | |
the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility | |
and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that is not compact. Note | |
that compactness does not imply triviality or lack of power; for | |
example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful | |
than FORTRAN. Designs become non-compact through accreting | |
features and {cruft} that don't merge cleanly into the overall | |
design scheme. | |
compress: [UNIX] vt. When used without a qualifier, generally refers | |
to {crunch}ing of a file using a particular C implementation of | |
Lempel-Ziv compression by James A. Woods et al. and widely | |
circulated via {USENET}. Use of {crunch} itself in this sense is | |
rare among UNIX hackers. | |
computer confetti: n. Syn {chad}. | |
computer geek: n. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living. One | |
who fulfills all of the dreariest negative stereotypes about | |
hackers: an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all | |
the personality of a cheese grater. Cannot be used by outsiders | |
without implied insult to all hackers; compare black-on-black usage | |
of `nigger'. A computer geek may be either a fundamentally | |
clueless individual or a proto-hacker in {larval stage}. Also | |
called `turbo nerd', `turbo geek'. See also | |
{clustergeeking}, {wannabee}, {terminal junkie}. | |
computron: /kom'pyoo-tron`/ n. 1. A notional unit of computing power | |
combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned | |
roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store times | |
megabytes-of-mass-storage. "That machine can't run GNU Emacs, it | |
doesn't have enough computrons!" This usage is usually found in | |
metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible commodity good | |
like a crop yield or diesel horsepower. See {bitty box}, {get a | |
real computer}, {toy}, {crank}. 2. A mythical subatomic particle | |
that bears the unit quantity of computation or information, in much | |
the same way that an electron bears one unit of electric charge | |
(see {bogon}). An elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons | |
has been worked out based on the physical fact that the molecules | |
in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated. It is argued | |
that an object melts because the molecules have lost their | |
information about where they are supposed to be (that is, they have | |
emitted computrons). This explains why computers get so hot and | |
require air conditioning; they use up computrons. Conversely, you | |
should be able to cool down an object by placing it in the path of | |
a computron beam. It is believed that this may also explain why | |
machines that work at the factory fail in the computer room --- | |
because the computrons there have been all used up by your other | |
hardware. (This may owe something to the group of fantasy stories | |
by Larry Niven, beginning with `What Good is a Glass Dagger?' | |
in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural resource called | |
`mana'). | |
condition out: vt. To prevent a section of code from being compiled | |
by surrounding it with a conditional-compilation directive whose | |
condition is always false. The {canonical} example is | |
`#ifdef 0' and `#endif' in C. Compare {comment out}. | |
condom: n. The protective plastic baggy that accompanies 3.5" | |
microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, used of (paper) disk envelopes. | |
Unlike the write protect, the condom (when left on) not only | |
impedes the practice of {SEX}, it has been shown to have a high | |
failure rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk --- and | |
can even fatally frustrate insertion! | |
connector conspiracy: [probably came into prominence with the | |
appearance of the KL-10, none of whose connectors match anything | |
else] n. The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension, | |
programmers or purveyors of anything) to come up with new products | |
which don't fit together with the old stuff, thereby making you buy | |
either all new stuff or expensive interface devices. | |
In these latter days of open-systems computing this term has fallen | |
somwhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observation that | |
standards are great! --- there are so *many* of them. | |
cons: /konz/ or /cons/ [from LISP] 1. v. To add a new element to a | |
list, esp. at the top. 2. `cons up': vt. To synthesize from | |
smaller pieces: "to cons up an example". | |
considered harmful: adj. Edsger W. Dijkstra's infamous March 1968 | |
CACM note, `Goto Statement Considered Harmful', fired the | |
first salvo in the `structured programming' wars. Amusingly, the | |
ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that | |
they will (by policy) no longer print an article which takes up | |
that assertive a position against a coding practice. In the | |
ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies | |
have borne titles of the form `X considered Y'. The `structured | |
programming' wars eventually blew over with the realization that | |
both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a | |
persistent minor in-joke (the `considered silly' found at various | |
places in this lexicon is related). | |
console:: n. 1. The operator's station of a {mainframe}. In times | |
past, this was a privileged location which conveyed godlike powers | |
to he (almost invariably a he) with his fingers on the keys. Under | |
UNIX and other modern timesharing OSs, it is just the tty the system | |
was booted from. Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is | |
traditional for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from | |
/dev/console. 2. On microcomputer UNIX boxes: the main screen and | |
keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a | |
serial port). Typically only the console can do real graphics or | |
run {X}. See also {CTY}. | |
console jockey: n. See {terminal junkie}. | |
content-free: adj. Ironic analogy with `context-free', used of a | |
message which adds nothing to the recipient's knowledge. Though | |
this adjective is sometimes applied to {flamage}, it more usually | |
connotes derision for communication styles which exalt form over | |
substance, or are centered on concerns irrelevant to the subject | |
ostensibly at hand. Perhaps most used with reference to speeches | |
by company presidents and like animals. "Content-free? | |
Uh...that's anything printed on glossy paper". | |
Conway's Law: prov. The rule that the organization of the software and | |
the organization of the software team will be congruent; originally | |
stated as "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll | |
get a four-pass compiler." | |
This was originally promulgated by Melvin Conway, an early | |
proto-hacker who wrote an assembler for the Burroughs 220 called | |
SAVE. The name `SAVE' didn't stand for anything; it was just that | |
you lost fewer decks and listings because they all had SAVE written | |
on top of them. | |
cookie: n. A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement | |
between cooperating programs. "I give him a packet, he gives me | |
back a cookie." See {magic cookie}. | |
cookie monster: [from `Sesame Street'] n. Any of a family of | |
early (1970s) hacks reported on {TOPS-10}, {ITS}, {Multics}, | |
and elsewhere that would lock up either the victim's terminal (on a | |
time-sharing machine) or the {{console}} (on a batch | |
{mainframe}), repeatedly demanding "I WANT A COOKIE". The | |
required responses ranged in complexity from "COOKIE" through | |
"HAVE A COOKIE" and upward. See also {wabbit}. | |
copper: n. Conventional electron-carrying network cable (which uses | |
copper as a core conductor), as opposed to fiber-optic cable (or, | |
say, a short-range microwave link). Oppose {light pipe}. Note | |
that aluminum-cored cables are also called `copper' (!). | |
copy protection: n. A class of clever methods for preventing | |
incompetent pirates from stealing software and legitimate customers | |
from using it. Considered silly. | |
copybroke: adj. [play on `copyright'] Used to describe an | |
instance of a copy-protected program which has been `broken'; that | |
is, a copy with the copy-protection scheme disabled. Syn. | |
{copywronged}. | |
copyleft: /kop'ee-left/ [play on `copyright'] n. 1. The | |
copyright notice (`General Public License') carried by {GNU | |
EMACS} and other Free Software Foundation software, granting re-use | |
and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also {General | |
Public Virus}). 2. By extension, any copyright notice intended to | |
achieve similar aims. | |
copywronged: [play on `copyright'] adj. Syn. for {copybroke}. | |
core: n. Main storage or RAM. Dates from the days of ferrite-core | |
memory; now archaic most places outside IBM, but also still used in | |
the UNIX community and by old-time hackers or those who would sound | |
like same. Some derived idioms are quite current; `in core', | |
for example, means `in memory' (as opposed to `on disk'), and both | |
{core dump} and the `core image' or `core file' produced | |
by one are terms in favors. | |
core dump: n. [common {Iron Age} slang, preserved by UNIX] 1. A | |
copy of the contents of {core} produced when a process is aborted | |
by certain kinds of internal error. 2. By extension, used for | |
humans passing out, vomiting, or registering extreme shock. "He | |
dumped core. All over the floor. What a mess." "He heard about | |
... and dumped core." 3. Occasionally used for a human | |
rambling on pointlessly at great length; esp. in apology: "Sorry I | |
dumped core on you". 4. A recapitulation of knowledge (compare | |
{bits}, sense 1). Hence, spewing all one knows about a topic, | |
esp. in a lecture or answer to an exam question. "Short, concise | |
answers are better than core dumps." (from the instructions to a | |
qual exam at Columbia; compare {brain dump}). See | |
{core}. | |
core leak: n. Syn. {memory leak}. | |
Core Wars: n. A game between `assembler' programs in a simulated | |
machine, where the objective is to kill your opponent's program by | |
overwriting it. This was popularized by A. K. Dewdney's column in | |
`Scientific American' magazine, but is said to have been first | |
devised by Victor Vyssotsky as a PDP-1 hack, during the early '60s | |
at Bell Labs. It is rumored that the game is a civilized version | |
of an amusement called DARWIN common on multitasking machines | |
before the advent of protected address segments. See {core}. | |
corge: /korj/ [originally, the name of a cat] n. Yet another | |
meta-syntactic variable, invented by Mike Gallaher and propagated | |
by the Gosmacs documentation. See {grault}. | |
cosmic rays: n. Notionally, the cause of {bit rot}. However, this is | |
a semi-independent usage which may be invoked as a humorous way to | |
{handwave} away any minor {randomness} that doesn't seem worth the | |
bother of investigating. "Hey, Eric --- I just got a burst of | |
garbage on my {tube}, where did that come from?" "Cosmic rays, I | |
guess." Compare {sunspots}, {phase of the moon}. The British seem | |
to prefer the usage `cosmic showers'; `alpha particles' is also | |
heard, because stray alpha particles passing through a memory chip | |
can cause single-bit errors (this becomes increasingly more likely | |
as memory sizes and densities increase). | |
cowboy: [Sun, from William Gibson's {cyberpunk} SF] n. Synonym for | |
{hacker}. It is reported that at Sun, this is often said with | |
reverence. | |
CP/M: /see-pee-em/ n. [Control Program for Microcomputers] An early | |
microcomputer {OS} written by hacker Gary Kildall for 8080 and | |
Z-80 based machines, very popular in the late 1970s until virtually | |
wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBM PC in 1981 (legend | |
has it that Kildall's company blew their chance to write the PC's | |
OS because Kildall decided to spend the day IBM's reps wanted to | |
meet with him enjoying the perfect flying weather in his private | |
plane). Many of its features and conventions strongly resemble | |
those of early DEC operating systems such as OS-8, RSTS, and | |
RSX-11. See {MS-DOS}, {operating system}. | |
CPU Wars: /see-pee-yoo worz/ n. A 1979 large-format comic by Chas | |
Andres chronicling the attempts of the brainwashed androids of | |
`IPM' (Impossible to Program Machines) to conquer and destroy the | |
peaceful denizens of HEC (Human Engineered Computers). This rather | |
transparent allegory featured many references to {ADVENT} and the | |
immortal line "Eat flaming death, minicomputer mongrels!" | |
(uttered, of course, by an IPM stormtrooper). It is alleged that | |
the author subsequently received a letter of appreciation on IBM | |
company stationery from the then-head of IBM's Thomas J. Watson | |
research laboratories (then, as now, one of the few islands of true | |
hackerdom in the IBM archipelago). The lower loop of the `B' in the | |
IBM logo, it is said, had been carefully whited out. See {eat | |
flaming death}. | |
cracker: n. One who breaks security on a system. Coined c.1985 by | |
hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of {hacker} (q.v., | |
sense #7). There had been an earlier attempt to establish `worm' | |
in this sense around 1981-1982 on USENET; this largely failed. | |
crank: [from automotive slang] vt. Verb used to describe the | |
performance of a machine, especially sustained performance. "This | |
box cranks (or, cranks at) about 6 MegaFLOPS, with a burst mode of | |
twice that on vectorized operations." | |
crash: 1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of | |
the {system} (q.v., sense #1), sometimes of magnetic disk drives. | |
"Three {luser}s lost their files in last night's disk crash." | |
A disk crash which involves the read/write heads dropping onto the | |
surface of the disks and scraping off the oxide may also be | |
referred to as a `head crash', whereas the term `system | |
crash' usually, though not always, implies that the operating | |
system or other software was at fault. 2. vi. To fail suddenly. | |
"Has the system just crashed?" See {down}. Also used | |
transitively to indicate the cause of the crash (usually a person | |
or a program, or both). "Those idiots playing {SPACEWAR} | |
crashed the system." 3. Sometimes said of people hitting the | |
sack after a long {hacking run}; see {gronk} (sense #4). | |
crash and burn: vi.,n. A spectacular crash, in the mode of the | |
conclusion of the (original) movie car chase scene from Steve | |
McQueen's `Bullitt'. Sun-3 monitors losing the flyback | |
transformer and lightning strikes on VAX-11/780 backplanes are | |
notable crash and burn generators. The construction `crash and | |
burn machine' is reported for a computer used exclusively for alpha | |
or {beta} testing, or reproducing bugs (i.e. not for | |
development). The implication is that it wouldn't be such a | |
disaster if that machine crashed, since only the testers would be | |
inconvenienced. | |
crawling horror: n. Ancient crufty hardware or software that forces | |
beyond the control of the hackers at a site refuse to let die. | |
Like {dusty deck} or {gonkulator}, but connotes that the thing | |
described is not just an irritation but an active menace to health | |
and sanity. "Mostly we code new stuff in C, but they pay us to | |
maintain one big FORTRAN II application from nineteen-sixty-X | |
that's a real crawling horror...." Compare {WOMBAT}. | |
cray: /kray/ n. 1. (properly, capitalized) One of the line of | |
supercomputers designed by Cray Research. 2. Any supercomputer at | |
all. 3. The {canonical} {number-crunching} machine. | |
The term is actually the lowercased last name of Seymour Cray, a | |
noted computer architect and co-founder of the company. Numerous | |
vivid legends surround him, some true and some admittedly invented | |
by Cray Research brass to shape their corporate culture and image. | |
cray instability: n. A shortcoming of a program or algorithm which | |
manifests itself only when running a large problem on a powerful | |
machine. Generally more subtle than bugs that can be detected in | |
smaller problems running on a workstation or mini. | |
crayola: n. A super-mini or -micro computer that provides some | |
reasonable percentage of supercomputer performance for an | |
unreasonably low price. Might also be a {killer micro}. | |
crayon: 1. n. Someone who works on Cray supercomputers. More | |
specifically implies a programmer, probably of the CDC ilk, | |
probably male, and almost certainly wearing a tie (irrespective of | |
gender). Unicos systems types who have a UNIX background tend not | |
to be described as crayons. 2. A {computron} that participates | |
only in {number-crunching}. 3. A unit of computational power | |
equal to that of a single Cray-1. There is a standard joke about | |
this that derives from an old Crayola crayon promotional gimmick; | |
when you buy 64 crayons you get a free sharpener. | |
creationism: n. The (false) belief that large, innovative designs | |
can be completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked | |
out of the void by the normal efforts of a team of normally | |
talented programmers. In fact, experience has shown repeatedly | |
that good designs arise only from evolutionary, exploratory | |
interaction between one (or at most a small handful of) | |
exceptionally able designer(s) and an active user population --- | |
and that the first try at a big new idea is always wrong. | |
Unfortunately, because these truths don't fit the planning models | |
beloved of {management}, they are generally ignored. | |
creeping elegance: n. Describes a tendency for parts of a design to | |
become {elegant} past the point of diminishing return. This often | |
happens at the expense of the less interesting parts of the design, | |
schedule, and other things deemed important in the {Real World}. | |
See also {creeping featurism}, {second-system effect}. | |
creeping featurism: /kree'ping fee'ch@r-izm/ n. 1. Describes a | |
systematic tendency to load more {chrome} and {features} onto | |
systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed | |
when originally designed. See also {feeping creaturism}. "You | |
know, the main problem with {BSD UNIX} has always been creeping | |
featurism". 2. More generally, the tendency for anything | |
complicated to become even more complicated because people keep | |
saying, "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature | |
too." (See {feature}.) The result is usually a patchwork | |
because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being | |
planned. Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one | |
extra little feature to help someone... and then another... | |
and another.... When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's | |
like a cancer. Usually this term is used to describe computer | |
programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the | |
IRS 1040 form, and new cars. A similar phenomenon sometimes | |
afflicts conscious redesigns; see {second-system effect}. See | |
also {creeping elegance}. | |
creeping featuritis: /kree'ping fee'-c@r-ie`t@s/ n. Variant of | |
{creeping featurism}, with its own Spoonerization as `feeping | |
creaturitis'. Some people like to reserve this form for the | |
disease as it actually manifests in software or hardware, as | |
opposed to the lurking general tendency in designers' minds. After | |
all, -ism means `condition' or `pursuit of' whereas -itis usually | |
means `inflammation of'...) | |
cretin: /kre'tn/ or /kree'tn/ n. Congenital {loser}; an obnoxious | |
person; someone who can't do anything right. It has been observed | |
that many American hackers tend to favor the British pronunciation | |
/kre'tn/ over standard American /kree'tn/; it is thought this may | |
be due to the insidious phonetic influence of Monty Python's Flying | |
Circus. | |
cretinous: /kre't@n-uhs/ or /kree't@n-uhs/ adj. Wrong; | |
non-functional; very poorly designed. Also used pejoratively of | |
people. Synonyms: {bletcherous}, {bagbiter}, {losing}, | |
{brain-damaged}. | |
crippleware: n. 1. Software that has some important functionality | |
deliberately removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a | |
working version. See also {guiltware}. 2. [Cambridge] | |
{guiltware} that exhorts you to donate to some charity. | |
crlf: /ker'l@f/, sometimes /kru'l@f/ or /see-ar-el-eff/ n. (often | |
capitalized as `CRLF') A carriage return (CR) followed by a line | |
feed (LF). More loosely, whatever it takes to get you from the end | |
of one line of text to the beginning of the next line. See | |
{newline}, {terpri}. Under {UNIX} influence this usage has | |
become less common (UNIX uses a bare line feed as its `CRLF'). | |
crock: [from the obvious mainstream scatologism] n. 1. An awkward | |
feature or programming technique that ought to be made cleaner. | |
Example: Using small integers to represent error codes without the | |
program interpreting them to the user (as in, for example, UNIX | |
`make(1)', which returns code 139 for a process that dies due | |
to {segfault}). 2. A technique that works acceptably, but which is | |
quite prone to failure if disturbed in the least, for example | |
depending on the machine opcodes having particular bit patterns so | |
that you can use instructions as data words too; a tightly woven, | |
almost completely unmodifiable structure. See {kluge}, | |
{brittle}. Also in the adjectives `crockish', `crocky' | |
and the noun `crockitude'. | |
cross-post: [USENET] vi. To post a single article directed to | |
several newsgroups. Distinguished from posting the article | |
repeatedly, once to each newsgroup, which causes people to see it | |
multiple times. Cross-posting is frowned upon, as it tends to | |
cause {followup} articles to go to inappropriate newsgroups, as | |
people respond to only one part of the original posting (unless the | |
originator is careful to specify a newsgroup for followups.) | |
crudware: /kruhd'weir/ n. Pejorative term for the hundreds of | |
megabytes of low-quality {freeware} circulated by user's groups | |
and BBS systems in the micro-hobbyist world. "Yet *another* | |
set of disk catalog utilities for {MS-DOS}? What crudware!" | |
The related usage `fuckware' is reported for software so bad it | |
mutilates your disk, broadcasts to the Internet, or perpetrates | |
some similar fiasco. | |
cruft: /kruhft/ 1. [back-formation from {crufty}] n. 1. An unpleasant | |
substance. The dust that gathers under your bed is cruft. 2. n. | |
The results of shoddy construction. 3. vt. [from hand cruft, pun on | |
hand craft] to write assembler code for something normally (and | |
better) done by a compiler (see {hand-hacking}). 4. Excess; | |
superfluous junk. Esp. used of redundant or superseded code. | |
cruft together: vt. (also `cruft up') To throw together | |
something ugly but temporarily workable. Like vt. {kluge up}, | |
but more pejorative. "There isn't any program now to reverse all | |
the lines of a file, but I can probably cruft one together in about | |
ten minutes." See {hack together}, {crufty}. | |
cruftsmanship: /kruhfts'man-ship / n. [from {cruft}] The | |
antithesis of craftsmanship. | |
crufty: /kruhf'tee/ [origin unknown; poss. from `crusty' or | |
`cruddy'] adj. 1. Poorly built, possibly overly complex. The | |
{canonical} example is "This is standard old crufty DEC | |
software." In fact, one theory of the origin of `crufty' holds | |
that was originally a mutation of `crusty' applied to DEC software | |
so old that the S characters were tall and skinny, looking more | |
like Fs. 2. Unpleasant, especially to the touch, often with | |
encrusted junk. Like spilled coffee smeared with peanut butter and | |
catsup. 3. Generally unpleasant. 4. (sometimes spelled | |
`cruftie') n. A small crufty object (see {frob}); often one | |
that doesn't fit well into the scheme of things. "A LISP property | |
list is a good place to store crufties (or, collectively, random | |
cruft)." | |
crumb: n. Two binary digits; a {quad}. Larger than a {bit}, | |
smaller than a {nybble}. Syn. {tayste}. | |
crunch: 1. vi. To process, usually in a time-consuming or | |
complicated way. Connotes an essentially trivial operation which | |
is nonetheless painful to perform. The pain may be due to the | |
triviality being embedded in a loop from 1 to 1,000,000,000. | |
"FORTRAN programs do mostly number crunching." 2. vt. To reduce | |
the size of a file by a complicated scheme that produces bit | |
configurations completely unrelated to the original data, such as | |
by a Huffman code. (The file ends up looking like a paper document | |
would if somebody crunched the paper into a wad.) Since such | |
compression usually takes more computations than simpler methods | |
such as run-length encoding the term is doubly appropriate. (This | |
meaning is usually used in the construction `file crunch(ing)' to | |
distinguish it from `number crunch(ing)'.) See {compress}. 3. | |
n. The character `#'. Usage: used at Xerox and CMU, among | |
other places. See {{ASCII}}. 4. [Cambridge] To squeeze program | |
source into a minimum-size representation that will still compile. | |
The term came into being specifically for a famous program on the | |
BBC that which crunched BASIC source in order to make it run more | |
quickly (it was a wholly interpretive BASIC). | |
cruncha cruncha cruncha: /kruhn'ch@ kruhn'ch@ kruhn'ch@/ interj. | |
An encouragement sometimes muttered to a machine bogged down in a | |
serious {grovel}. Also describes a notional sound made by | |
grovelling hardware. See {wugga wugga}, {grind} (sense #3). | |
cryppie: /krip'ee/ n. A cryptographer. One who hacks or implements | |
cryptographic software or hardware. | |
CTSS: /see-tee-ess-ess/ n. Compatible Time-Sharing System. An early | |
(1963) experiment in the design of interactive time-sharing | |
operating systems. Cited here because it was ancestral to | |
{Multics}, {UNIX}, and {ITS}. The name {ITS} ("Incompatible | |
Time-sharing System") was a hack on CTSS, meant both as a joke and | |
to express some basic differences in philosophy about the way I/O | |
services should be presented to user programs. | |
CTY: /sit'ee/ or /see tee wie/ n. [MIT] The terminal physically | |
associated with a computer's system {{console}}. The term is a | |
contraction of `Console TTY', that is, `Console TeleTYpe'. | |
This {ITS}- and {TOPS-10}-associated term has become less common | |
than formerly, as most UNIX hackers simply refer to the CTY as `the | |
console'. | |
cube: n. 1. A module in the open-plan offices used at many programming | |
shops. "I've got the manuals in my cube". 2. A NeXT machine. | |
cubing: [parallel with `tubing'] vi. 1. Hacking on an IPSC (Intel | |
Personal SuperComputer) hypercube. "Louella's gone cubing | |
*again*!!" 2. Hacking Rubik's Cube or related puzzles, | |
either physically or mathematically. 3. An indescribable form of | |
self-torture (see sense #1). | |
cursor dipped in X: adj. There are a couple of metaphors in | |
English of the form `pen dipped in X' (perhaps the most common | |
values of X are `acid' and `bile'). These map over neatly to this | |
hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving letters behind, | |
when one is composing on-line). | |
cuspy: /kuhs'pee/ [coined at WPI from the DEC acronym CUSP, for | |
Commonly Used System Program, i.e., a utility program used by many | |
people] adj. 1. (of a program) Well-written. 2. Functionally | |
excellent. A program which performs well and interfaces well to | |
users is cuspy. See {rude}. 3. [NYU] Said of an attractive | |
woman, especially one regarded as available. | |
cut a tape: [poss. fr. mainstream `cut a check'] vi. To write a | |
software or document distribution on magnetic tape for shipment. | |
Has nothing to do with physically cutting the medium! Though this | |
usage is quite widespread, one never speaks of analogously `cutting | |
a disk' or anything else in this sense. | |
cybercrud: /sie'ber-kruhd/ [coined by Ted Nelson] n. Obfuscatory | |
tech-talk. Verbiage with a high {MEGO} factor. The computer | |
equivalent of bureaucratese. | |
cyberpunk: /sie'ber-puhnk/ [orig. by SF writer Bruce Bethke and/or | |
editor Gardner Dozois] n.,adj. A subgenre of SF launched in 1982 | |
by William Gibson's epoch-making novel `Neuromancer' (though | |
its roots go back through Vernor Vinge's `True Names' (see | |
Appendix C) to John Brunner's 1975 novel, `The Shockwave | |
Rider'). Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the | |
present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role | |
of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since | |
found both irritatingly naive and tremendously stimulating. | |
Gibson's work was widely imitated, in particular by the short-lived | |
but innovative `Max Headroom' TV series. See {cyberspace}, | |
{ice}, {go flatline}. | |
cyberspace: /sie'ber-spays/ n. 1. Notional `information-space' | |
loaded with visual cues and navigable with brain-computer | |
interfaces called `cyberspace decks'; a characteristic prop of | |
{cyberpunk} SF. At time of writing (mid-1991) serious efforts to | |
construct {virtual reality} interfaces modelled explicitly on | |
Gibsonian cyberspace are already under way, using more conventional | |
devices such as glove sensors and binocular TV headsets. Few | |
hackers are prepared to outright deny the possibility of a | |
cyberspace someday evolving out of the network (see {network, | |
the}). 2. Occasionally, the metaphoric location of the mind of a | |
person in {hack mode}. Some hackers report experiencing strong | |
eidetic imagery when in hack mode; interestingly, independent | |
reports from multiple sources suggest that there are common | |
features to the experience. In particular, the dominant colors of | |
this subjective `cyberspace' are often gray and silver, and the | |
imagery often involves constellations of marching dots, elaborate | |
shifting patterns of lines and angles, or moire patterns. | |
cycle: n. The basic unit of computation. What every hacker wants | |
more of. One might think that single machine instructions would be | |
the measure of computation, and indeed computers are often compared | |
by how many instructions they can process per second, but some | |
instructions take longer than others. Nearly all computers have an | |
internal clock, though, and you can describe an instruction as | |
taking so many `clock cycles'. Frequently the computer can | |
access its memory once on every clock cycle, and so one speaks also | |
of `memory cycles'. These are technical meanings of {cycle}. | |
The slang meaning comes from the observation that there are only so | |
many cycles per second, and when you are sharing a computer, the | |
cycles get divided up among the users. The more cycles the | |
computer spends working on your program rather than someone else's, | |
the faster your program will run. That's why every hacker wants | |
more cycles: so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to | |
respond. | |
cycle crunch: n. The situation where the number of people trying to | |
use the computer simultaneously has reached the point where no one | |
can get enough cycles because they are spread too thin. This is an | |
inevitable result of Parkinson's Law applied to timesharing. | |
Usually the only solution is to buy more computer. Happily, this | |
has rapidly become easier in recent years, so much so that the very | |
term `cycle crunch' now has a faintly archaic flavor; most | |
hackers now use workstations or personal computers as opposed to | |
traditional timesharing systems. | |
cycle drought: n. A scarcity of cycles. It may be due to a {cycle | |
crunch}, but could also occur because part of the computer is | |
temporarily not working, leaving fewer cycles to go around. | |
Example: "The {high moby} is {down}, so we're running with only | |
half the usual amount of memory. There will be a cycle drought | |
until it's fixed." | |
cycle server: n. A powerful machine that exists primarily for | |
running large batch jobs. Implies that interactive tasks such as | |
editing are done on other machines on the network, such as | |
workstations. | |
= D = | |
===== | |
daemon: /day'm@n/ or /dee'm@n/ [Disk And Execution MONitor] n. A | |
program which is not invoked explicitly, but which lies dormant | |
waiting for some condition(s) to occur. The idea is that the | |
perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a daemon is | |
lurking (though often a program will commit an action only because | |
it knows that it will implicitly invoke a daemon). For example, | |
under {ITS} writing a file on the {LPT} spooler's directory | |
would invoke the spooling daemon, which prints the file. The | |
advantage is that programs which want (in this example) files | |
printed need not compete for access to the {LPT}. They simply | |
enter their implicit requests and let the daemon decide what to do | |
with them. Daemons are usually spawned automatically by the | |
system, and may either live forever or be regenerated at intervals. | |
Usage: {daemon} and {demon} are often used interchangeably, but | |
seem to have distinct connotations. The term {daemon} was | |
introduced to computing by {CTSS} people (who pronounced it | |
dee'mon) and used it to refer to what ITS called a {dragon}. | |
While the meaning and pronunciation have drifted, we think this | |
glossary reflects current (1991) usage. | |
dangling pointer: n. A reference that doesn't actually lead | |
anywhere (in C and some other languages, a pointer that doesn't | |
actually point at anything valid). Used as slang in a | |
generalization of its technical meaning; a local phone number for a | |
person who's since moved to the other coast, for example. | |
DATAMATION: n. A magazine that many hackers assume all {suits} | |
read. Used to question an unbelieved quote, as in "Did you read | |
that in DATAMATION?". It used to publish something hackishly | |
funny every once in a while, like the original paper on {COME | |
FROM} in 1973; but since then it's become much more exclusively | |
{suit}-oriented. | |
day mode: n. See {phase} (sense #1). Used of people only. | |
DC Power Lab: n. The former site of the Stanford AI Lab. Hackers | |
thought this was very funny because the obvious connection to | |
electrical engineering was nonexistent --- the lab was named for a | |
David C. Power. | |
dd: /dee-dee/ [from IBM {JCL}] vt. Equivalent to {cat} or | |
{BLT}. A UNIX copy command with special options suitable for | |
block-oriented devices. Often used in heavy-handed system abuse, | |
as in "Let's dd the root partition onto a tape, then use the boot | |
PROM to load it back on to a new disk". The UNIX `dd(1)' was | |
designed with a weird, distinctly non-UNIXy keyword option syntax | |
reminiscent of IBM System/360 JCL (which had a similar DD command); | |
though the command filled a need, the design choice looks like | |
somebody's idea of a joke. The slang usage is now very rare | |
outside UNIX sites and now nearly obsolete even there, as | |
`dd(1)' has been {deprecated} for a long time (though it has | |
no replacement). Replaced by {BLT} or simple English `copy'. | |
DDT: /dee-dee-tee/ n. 1. Generic term for a program that helps you | |
to debug other programs by showing individual machine instructions | |
in a readable symbolic form and letting the user change them. In | |
this sense the term DDT is now archaic, having been widely | |
displaced by `debugger' or names of individual programs like | |
`dbx', `adb', or `sdb'. 2. [ITS] Under MIT's fabled | |
{ITS} operating system, DDT (running under the alias HACTRN) was | |
also used as the {shell} or top level command language used to | |
execute other programs. 3. Any one of several specific DDTs (sense | |
#1) supported on early DEC hardware. The DEC PDP-10 Reference | |
Handbook (1969) contained a footnote on the first page of the | |
documentation for DDT which illuminates the origin of the | |
term: | |
Historical footnote: DDT was developed at MIT for the PDP-1 | |
computer in 1961. At that time DDT stood for "DEC Debugging | |
Tape". Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging program | |
has propagated throughout the computer industry. DDT programs | |
are now available for all DEC computers. Since media other | |
than tape are now frequently used, the more descriptive name | |
"Dynamic Debugging Technique" has been adopted, retaining | |
the DDT acronym. Confusion between DDT-10 and another well | |
known pesticide, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane | |
(C14-H9-Cl5) should be minimal since each attacks a different, | |
and apparently mutually exclusive, class of bugs. | |
Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions of the | |
handbook after the {suit}s took over and DEC became much more | |
`businesslike'. | |
de-rezz: /dee-rez'/ [from the movie `Tron'; poss. related to | |
`hi-res' used for a graphics mode on early Apples] (also `derez') | |
1. vi. To disappear or dissolve; the image that goes with it is of | |
an object breaking up into raster lines and static and then | |
dissolving. Occasionally used of a person who seems to have | |
suddenly `fuzzed out' mentally rather than physically. Usage: | |
extremely silly, also rare. This verb was actually invented as | |
*fictional* hacker slang, and adopted in a spirit of irony by | |
real hackers years after the fact. 2. vt. On a Macintosh, many | |
program structures (including the code itself) is managed in small | |
segments of the program file known as `resources'. The standard | |
resource compiler is Rez. The standard resource decompiler is | |
DeRez. Thus decompiling a resource is `derezzing'. Usage: very | |
common. | |
dead code: n. Routines that can never be accessed because all calls | |
to them have been removed, or code which cannot be reached because | |
it is guarded by a control structure which provably must always | |
transfer control somewhere else. The presence of dead code may | |
reveal either logical errors due to alterations in the program or | |
significant changes in the assumptions and environment of the | |
program (see also {software rot}); a good compiler should report | |
dead code so a maintainer can think about what it means. Syn. | |
{grunge}. | |
deadlock: n. 1. A situation wherein two or more processes are | |
unable to proceed because each is waiting for one of the other to | |
do something. A common example is a program communicating to a | |
server, which may find itself waiting for output from the server | |
before sending anything more to it, while the server is similarly | |
waiting for more input from the controlling program before | |
outputting anything. (It is reported that this particular flavor | |
of deadlock is sometimes called a `starvation deadlock', though | |
the term `starvation' is more properly used for situations where a | |
program can never run simply because it never gets high enough | |
priority. Another common flavor is `constipation', where each | |
process is trying to send stuff to the other, but all buffers are | |
full because nobody is reading anything.) See {deadly embrace}. | |
2. Also used of deadlock-like interactions between humans, as when | |
two people meet in a narrow corridor, and each tries to be polite | |
by moving aside to let the other pass, but they end up swaying from | |
side to side without making any progress because they always both | |
move the same way at the same time. | |
deadly embrace: n. Same as {deadlock}, though usually used only when | |
exactly two processes are involved. This is the more popular term in | |
Europe, while {deadlock} predominates in the United States. | |
death star: [from the movie `Star Wars'] The AT&T corporate | |
logo, which appears on computers sold by AT&T and bears an uncanny | |
resemblance to the `Death Star' in the movie. This usage is | |
particularly common among partisans of {BSD} UNIX, who tend to | |
regard the AT&T versions as inferior and AT&T as a bad guy. Copies | |
still circulate of a poster printed by Mt. Xinu showing a starscape | |
with a space fighter labelled 4.2BSD streaking away from a broken | |
AT&T logo wreathed in flames. | |
AT&T's internal magazine, `Focus', uses `death star' for | |
an incorrectly done AT&T logo in which the inner circle in the top | |
left is dark instead of light --- a frequent result of dark-on-light | |
logo images. | |
DEC Wars: n. A 1983 {USENET} posting by Alan Hastings and Steve Tarr, | |
spoofing the `Star Wars' movies in hackish terms. Some years | |
later, ESR (disappointed by Hastings/Tarr's failure to exploit a | |
great premise more thoroughly) posted a three-times-longer complete | |
rewrite called `UNIX WARS'; the two are often confused. | |
DEChead: n. A DEC {field servoid}. Not flattering. | |
deckle: [from dec- and {nickle}] /dek'l/ n. Two {nickle}s; 10 | |
bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI 1600 (the | |
Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide RAM but | |
10-bit-wide ROM. | |
deep hack mode: n. See {hack mode}. | |
deep magic: [poss. from C.S. Lewis's `Narnia' books.] n. An | |
awesomely arcane technique central to a program or system, esp. one | |
not generally published and available to hackers at large (compare | |
{black art}); one which could only have been composed by a true | |
{wizard}. Compiler optimization techniques and many aspects of | |
{OS} design used to be {deep magic}; many techniques in | |
cryptography, signal processing, graphics, and AI still are. | |
Compare {heavy wizardry}. Esp. found in comments of the form | |
"Deep magic begins here...". Compare {voodoo programming}. | |
deep space: adj. 1. Describes the notional location of any program | |
which has gone {off the trolley}. Esp. used of programs which | |
just sit there silently grinding long after either failure or some | |
output is expected. Compare {buzz}, {catatonic}, | |
{hyperspace}. 2. The metaphorical location of a human so dazed | |
and/or confused or caught up in some esoteric form of {bogosity} | |
that he/she no longer responds coherently to normal communication. | |
Compare {page out}. | |
defenestration: [from the traditional Czechoslovak method of | |
assassinating prime ministers, via SF fandom] n. 1. Proper karmic | |
retribution for an incorrigible punster. "Oh, ghod, that was | |
*awful*!" "Quick! Defenestrate him!" 2. The act of | |
exiting a window system in order to get better response time from a | |
full-screen program. This comes from the dictionary meaning of | |
`defenestrate', which is to throw something out a window. 3. | |
[proposed] The requirement to support a command-line interface. | |
As: "It has to run on a VT100." "Curses! I've been | |
defenestrated". | |
defined as: adj. Currently in the role of, usually in an | |
off-the-organization-chart sense. "Pete is currently defined as | |
bug prioritizer." Compare {logical}. | |
dehose: vt. To clear a {hosed} condition. | |
delint: vt. To modify code to remove problems detected when linting. | |
See {lint}. | |
delta: n. 1. A quantitative change, especially a small or | |
incremental one. (This use is general in physics and engineering) | |
Example: "I just doubled the speed of my program!" "What was | |
the delta on program size?" "About thirty percent." (He | |
doubled the speed of his program, but increased its size by only | |
thirty percent.) 2. [UNIX] A {diff}, especially a {diff} | |
stored under the set of version-control tools called SCCS (Source | |
Code Control System). 3. n. A small quantity, but not as small as | |
{epsilon}. The slang usage of {delta} and {epsilon} stems | |
from the traditional use of these letters in mathematics for very | |
small numerical quantities, particularly in `epsilon-delta' proofs | |
limit theory (as in the differential calculus). {Delta} is often | |
used once {epsilon} has been mentioned to mean a quantity that is | |
slightly bigger than {epsilon} but still very small. For | |
example, "The cost isn't epsilon, but it's delta" means that the | |
cost isn't totally negligible, but it is nevertheless very small. | |
Compare `within delta of', `within epsilon of': that is, | |
close to and even closer to. | |
demented: adj. Yet another term of disgust used to describe a | |
program. The connotation in this case is that the program works as | |
designed, but the design is bad. For example, a program that | |
generates large numbers of meaningless error messages implying it | |
is on the point of imminent collapse. | |
demigod: n. Hacker with years of experience, a national reputation, | |
and a major role in the development of at least one design, tool, | |
or game used by or known to more than half of the hacker community. | |
To qualify as a genuine demigod, the person must recognizably | |
identify with the hacker community and have helped shape it. Major | |
demigods include Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (co-inventors of | |
{UNIX} and {C}) and Richard M. Stallman (inventor of | |
{EMACS}). In their hearts of hearts most hackers dream of | |
someday becoming demigods themselves, and more than one major | |
software project has been driven to completion by the author's | |
veiled hopes of apotheosis. See also {net.god}, {true-hacker}. | |
demo: /de'moh/ [short for `demonstration'] 1. v. To demonstrate a | |
product or prototype. A far more effective way of inducing bugs to | |
manifest than any number of {test} runs, especially when | |
important people are watching. 2. n. The act of demoing. | |
demo mode: [Sun] n. State of being {heads down} in order to finish | |
code in time for a {demo}, usually due yesterday. | |
demon: n. 1. [MIT] A portion of a program which is not invoked | |
explicitly, but which lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to | |
occur. See {daemon}. The distinction is that demons are usually | |
processes within a program, while daemons are usually programs | |
running on an operating system. Demons are particularly common in | |
AI programs. For example, a knowledge-manipulation program might | |
implement inference rules as demons. Whenever a new piece of | |
knowledge was added, various demons would activate (which demons | |
depends on the particular piece of data) and would create | |
additional pieces of knowledge by applying their respective | |
inference rules to the original piece. These new pieces could in | |
turn activate more demons as the inferences filtered down through | |
chains of logic. Meanwhile, the main program could continue with | |
whatever its primary task was. 2. [outside MIT] Often used | |
equivalently to {daemon}, especially in the {UNIX} world where the | |
latter spelling and pronunciation is considered mildly archaic. | |
depeditate: /dee-ped'@-tayt/ [by analogy with `decapitate'] vt. | |
Humorously, to cut off the feet of. When using some computer-aided | |
phototypesetting tools, careless placement of text blocks within a | |
page or above a rule can result in chopped-off letter descenders. | |
Such letters are said to have been depeditated. | |
deprecated: n. Said of a program or feature that is considered | |
obsolescent and in the process of being phased out, usually in | |
favor of a specified replacement. Deprecated features can, | |
unfortunately, linger on for many years. | |
deserves to lose: adj. Said of someone who willfully does the | |
{Wrong Thing}; humorously, if one uses a feature known to be | |
{marginal}. What is meant is that one deserves the consequences | |
of one's {losing} actions. "Boy, anyone who tries to use | |
{mess-dos} deserves to {lose}!" (ITS fans used to say this of | |
UNIX; many still do). See also {screw}, {chomp}, {bagbiter}. | |
desk check: n.,v. To {grovel} over hardcopy of source code | |
mentally simulating the control flow; a method of catching bugs. | |
No longer common practice in this age of on-screen editing, fast | |
compiles, and sophisticated debuggers, though some maintain stoutly | |
that it ought to be. | |
devo: /dee'voh/ [orig. in-house slang at Symbolics] n. A person in a | |
development group. See also {doco} and {mango}. | |
dickless workstation: n. Extremely pejorative hackerism for | |
`diskless workstation', a class of botches including the Sun 3/50 | |
and other machines designed exclusively to network with an | |
expensive central disk server. These combine all the disadvantages | |
of time-sharing with all the disadvantages of distributed personal | |
computers. | |
diddle: 1. vt. To work with in a not particularly serious manner. | |
"I diddled a copy of {ADVENT} so it didn't double-space all the | |
time." "Let's diddle this piece of code and see if the problem | |
goes away." See {tweak} and {twiddle}. 2. n. The action or result | |
of diddling. See also {tweak}, {twiddle}, {frob}. | |
diff: n. 1. (often in the plural `diffs') the output from the | |
`diff(1)' utility, esp. when used as specification input to | |
the `patch(1)' utility (which can actually perform the | |
modifications). This is a common method of distributing patches | |
and source updates in the UNIX/C world. 2. A change listing, | |
especially giving difference in source code or documents. Includes | |
additions. "Send me your diffs for the Jargon File!" Compare | |
{vdiff}. | |
digit: /dij'it/ n. An employee of Digital Equipment Corporation. See | |
also {VAX}, {VMS}, {PDP-10}, {TOPS-10}, {field circus}. | |
dike: vt. To remove or disable a portion of something, as a wire | |
from a computer or a subroutine from a program. A standard slogan | |
runs: "When in doubt, dike it out." (The implication is that it | |
is usually more effective to attack software problems by reducing | |
complexity rather than increasing it). The word `dikes' is widely | |
used among mechanics and engineers to mean `diagonal cutters', a | |
heavy-duty metal-cutting device; to `dike something out' means to | |
use such cutters to remove something. Among hackers this term has | |
been metaphorically extended to informational objects such as | |
sections of code. | |
ding: /ding/ n.,vi. 1. Synonym for {feep}. Usage: rare among | |
hackers, but commoner in the {Real World}. 2. `dinged': what | |
happens when someone in authority gives you a minor bitching about | |
something, esp. something you consider trivial. "I was dinged for | |
having a messy desk". | |
dink: adj. Said of a machine which has the {bitty box} nature; a | |
machine too small to be worth bothering with, sometimes the current | |
system you're forced to work on. First heard from an MIT hacker | |
(BADOB) working on a CP/M system with 64K in reference to any 6502 | |
system, then from fans of 32-bit architectures about 16-bit | |
machines. "GNUMACS will never work on that dink machine." | |
Probably derived from mainstream `dinky', which isn't sufficiently | |
pejorative. | |
dinosaur: n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special | |
power. Used especially of old minis and mainframes when contrasted | |
with newer microprocessor-based machines. In a famous quote from | |
the '88 UNIX EXPO, Bill Joy compared the mainframe in the massive | |
IBM display with a grazing dinosaur, "with a truck outside pumping | |
its bodily fluids through it". IBM was not amused. Compare | |
{big iron}; see also {mainframe}. 2. [IBM] A very conservative | |
user; a {zipperhead}. | |
dinosaur pen: n. A traditional {mainframe} computer room complete with | |
raised flooring, special power, its own ultra-heavy-duty air | |
conditioning, and a side order of Halon fire extinguishers. See | |
{boa}. | |
dinosaurs mating: n. Said to occur when yet another {big iron} | |
merger or buyout occurs; reflects a perception by hackers that | |
these signal another stage in the long-drawn-out death throes of | |
the {mainframe} industry. In its glory days of the Sixties, it | |
was `IBM and the Seven Dwarves': Burroughs, Control Data, General | |
Electric, Honeywell, NCR, RCA, and Univac. RCA and GE sold out | |
early and it was `IBM and the Bunch' (Burroughs, Univac, NCR, | |
Control Data, and Honeywell) for a while. Honeywell was bought out | |
by Bull; Burroughs merged with Univac (in 1984, this was when the | |
phrase `dinosaurs mating' was coined), and at time of writing AT&T | |
is attempting to recover from a disastrously bad first six years | |
in the hardware industry by buying NCR. More such earth-shaking | |
unions of doomed giants seem inevitable. | |
dirty power: n. Electrical mains voltage which is unfriendly to | |
the delicate innards of computers. {Drop-outs}, spikes, average | |
voltage significantly higher or lower than nominal, or just plain | |
noise can all cause problems of varying subtlety and severity. | |
Discordianism: /dis-kor'di-@n-ism/ n. The veneration of {Eris}, aka | |
Discordia; widely popular among hackers. Popularized by Robert | |
Anton Wilson's `Illuminatus!' trilogy as a sort of self-subverting | |
dada-Zen for Westerners --- it should on no account be taken | |
seriously but is far more serious than most jokes. Usually | |
connected with an elaborate conspiracy theory/joke involving | |
millenia-long warfare between the anarcho-surrealist partisans of | |
Eris and a malevolent, authoritarian secret society called the | |
Illuminati. See Appendix B, {Church of the Sub-Genius}, and {ha ha | |
only serious}. | |
disk farm: n. (also `laundromat') A large room or rooms filled | |
with disk drives (esp. {washing machine}s). | |
display hack: n. A program with the same approximate purpose as a | |
kaleidoscope: to make pretty pictures. Famous display hacks | |
include {munching squares}, {smoking clover}, the BSD UNIX | |
`rain(6)' program, `worms(6)' on miscellaneous UNIXes, | |
and the {X} kaleid program. Display hacks can also be | |
implemented without programming by creating text files containing | |
numerous escape sequences for interpretation by a video terminal; | |
one notable example displayed, on any VT100, a Christmas tree with | |
twinkling lights and a toy train circling its base. The {hack | |
value} of a display hack is proportional to the esthetic value of | |
the images times the cleverness of the algorithm divided by the | |
size of the code. Syn. {psychedelicware}. | |
distribution: n. 1. A software source tree packaged for | |
distribution; but see {kit}. 2. A vague term encompassing | |
mailing lists and USENET newsgroups; any topic-oriented message | |
channel with multiple recipients. 3. An information-space domain | |
(usually loosely correlated with geography) to which propagation of | |
a USENET message is restricted; a much-underutilized feature. | |
do protocol: [from network protocol programming] vt. To perform an | |
interaction with somebody or something that follows a clearly | |
defined procedure. For example, "Let's do protocol with the | |
check." at a restaurant means to ask for the check, calculate the | |
tip and everybody's share, collect money from everybody, generate | |
change as necessary, and pay the bill. See {protocol}. | |
doco: /do'koh/ [orig. in-house slang at Symbolics] n. A documentation | |
writer. See also {devo} and {mango}. | |
documentation:: n. The multiple kilograms of macerated, pounded, | |
steamed, bleached, and pressed trees that accompanies most modern | |
software or hardware products (see also {tree-killer}). Hackers | |
seldom read paper documentation and (too often) resist writing it; | |
they prefer theirs to be terse and on-line. See {drool-proof | |
paper}. | |
dodgy: adj. Syn. with {flaky}. Preferred outside the U.S. | |
dogcow: n. See {moof}. | |
dogwash: [From a quip in the `urgency' field of a very optional | |
software change request, about 1982. It was something like, | |
"Urgency: Wash your dog first."] 1. n. A project of minimal | |
priority, undertaken as an escape from more serious work. 2. v. | |
To engage in such a project. Many games and much {freeware} get | |
written this way. | |
domainist: adj. 1. Said of an {{Internet address}} (as opposed to a | |
{bang path}) because of the part to the right of the `@', | |
which specifies a nested series of `domains'; for example, | |
`eric@snark.thyrsus.com' specifies the machine called | |
*snark* in the subdomain called *thyrsus* within the | |
top-level domain called `com'. 2. Said of a mailer or routing | |
program which knows how to handle domainist addresses. 3. Said of | |
a site which runs a domainist mailer. | |
Don't do that, then!: [from an old doctor's office joke about a | |
patient with a trivial complaint] interj. Stock response to a user | |
complaint. "When I type control-S, the whole system comes to a | |
halt for thirty seconds." "Don't do that, then." (or "So don't | |
do that!"). Compare {RTFM}. | |
dongle: /dong'gl/ n. 1. A security device for commercial | |
microcomputer programs consisting of a serialized EPROM and some | |
drivers in a D-25 connector shell. Programs that use a dongle | |
query the port at startup and at programmed intervals thereafter, | |
and terminate if it does not respond with the dongle's programmed | |
validation code. Thus, users could make as many copies of the | |
program as they want but must pay for each dongle. The idea was | |
clever but initially a failure, as users disliked tying up a serial | |
port this way. Most dongles on the market today (1991) will pass | |
data through the port, and monitor for `magic codes' (and | |
combinations of status lines) with minimal if any interference with | |
devices further down the line (this innovation was necessary to | |
allow daisy-chained dongles for multiple pieces of software). The | |
devices are still not widely used, as the industry has moved away | |
from copy-protection schemes in general. 2. By extension, any | |
physical electronic key or transferrable ID required for a program | |
to function. See {dongle-disk}. | |
dongle-disk: /don'gl disk/ n. See {dongle}; a `dongle-disk' is a | |
floppy disk with some coding that allows an application to | |
identify it uniquely. It can therefore be used as a {dongle}. | |
Also called a "key disk". | |
donuts: n. Collective noun for any set of memory bits. This is | |
really archaic and may no longer be live slang; it dates from the | |
days of ferrite-core memories in which each bit was represented by | |
a doughnut-shaped magnetic flip-flop. Compare {core}. | |
doorstop: n. Used to describe equipment that is non-functional and | |
halfway expected to remain so, especially obsolete equipment kept | |
around for political reasons or ostensibly as a backup. "When we | |
get another Wyse-50 in here, that ADM3 will turn into a doorstop." | |
Compare {boat anchor}. | |
dot file: [UNIX] n. A file that is not visible to normal | |
directory-browsing tools (on UNIX, files named beginning with a dot | |
are normally invisible to the directory lister). | |
double bucky: adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. "The | |
command to burn all LEDs is double bucky F." | |
This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII keyboard, and | |
was later taken up by useres of the {space-cadet keyboard} at | |
MIT. A typical MIT comment was that the Stanford {bucky bits} | |
(control and meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't | |
enough of them; you could only type 512 different characters on a | |
Stanford keyboard. An obvious thing was simply to add more | |
shifting keys, and this was eventually done; one problem is that a | |
keyboard with that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists, who | |
don't like to move their hands away from the home position on the | |
keyboard. It was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting | |
keys be pedals; typing on such a keyboard would be very much like | |
playing a full pipe organ. This idea is mentioned below, in a | |
parody of a very fine song by Jeffrey Moss called `Rubber | |
Duckie', which was published in `The Sesame Street Songbook'. | |
These lyrics were written on May 27, 1978, in celebration of the | |
Stanford keyboard. | |
Double Bucky | |
Double bucky, you're the one! | |
You make my keyboard lots of fun. | |
Double bucky, an additional bit or two: | |
(Vo-vo-de-o!) | |
Control and meta, side by side, | |
Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide! | |
Double bucky! Half a thousand glyphs, plus a few! | |
Oh, | |
I sure wish that I | |
Had a couple of | |
Bits more! | |
Perhaps a | |
Set of pedals to | |
Make the number of | |
Bits four: | |
Double double bucky! | |
Double bucky, left and right | |
OR'd together, outta sight! | |
Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of | |
Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of | |
Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you! | |
--- The Great Quux (with apologies to Jeffrey Moss) | |
[This, by the way, is an excellent example of computer {filk} --- ESR] | |
See also {meta bit}, {cokebottle}, and {quadruple bucky}. | |
double DECkers: n. Used to describe married couples in which both | |
partners work for Digital Equipment Corporation. | |
doubled sig: [USENET] n. A {sig block} that has been included | |
twice in a {USENET} article or, less frequently, in an electronic | |
mail message. An article or message with a doubled sig can be | |
caused by improperly configured software. More often, however, it | |
reveals the author's lack of experience in electronic | |
communication. See {biff}, {pseudo}. | |
down: 1. adj. Not operating. "The up escalator is down." is | |
considered a humorous thing to say, but "The elevator is down." | |
always means "The elevator isn't working." and never refers to | |
what floor the elevator is on. With respect to computers, this | |
usage has passed into the mainstream; the extension to other kinds | |
of machine is still hackish. 2. `go down' vi. To stop functioning; | |
usually said of the {system}. The message every hacker hates to | |
hear from the operator is, "The system will go down in five | |
minutes." 3. `take down', `bring down' vt. To deactivate | |
purposely, usually for repair work. "I'm taking the system down to | |
work on that bug in the tape drive." See {crash}; oppose {up}. | |
download: vt. To transfer data or (esp.) code from a larger `host' | |
system (esp. a {mainframe}) over a digital comm link to a smaller | |
`client' system, esp. a microcomputer or specialized peripheral | |
device. Oppose {upload}. | |
DP: n. Data Processing. Listed here because according to hackers, | |
use of it marks one immediately as a {suit}. See {DPer}. | |
DPB: /d@-pib'/ [from the PDP-10 instruction set] vt. To plop | |
something down in the middle. Usage: silly. Example: "DPB | |
yourself into that couch, there." The connotation would be that | |
the couch is full except for one slot just big enough for you to | |
sit in. DPB means `DePosit Byte', and was the name of a PDP-10 | |
instruction that inserts some bits into the middle of some other | |
bits. This usage has been kept alive by the Common Lisp function | |
of the same name. | |
DPer: n. Data Processor. Hackers are absolutely amazed that {suits} | |
use this term self-referentially. "*Computers* process data, | |
not people!" See {DP}. | |
dragon: n. [MIT] A program similar to a {daemon}, except | |
that it is not invoked at all, but is instead used by the system to | |
perform various secondary tasks. A typical example would be an | |
accounting program, which keeps track of who is logged in, | |
accumulates load-average statistics, etc. Under ITS, many | |
terminals displayed a list of people logged in, where they are, | |
what they're running, etc. along with some random picture (such as | |
a unicorn, Snoopy, or the Enterprise) which was generated by the | |
`name dragon'. Usage: rare outside MIT --- under UNIX and most | |
other OSs this would be called a `background demon' or {daemon}. | |
The best-known UNIX example of a dragon is `cron(1)'. At SAIL, they | |
called this sort of thing a `phantom'. | |
Dragon Book: n. Aho, Sethi, and Ullman's classic text | |
`Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools', so called | |
because of the cover design depicting a knight slaying a dragon | |
labelled `compiler complexity'. This actually describes the `Red | |
Dragon Book' (1986); an earlier edition (sans Sethi and titled | |
`Principles Of Compiler Design') was the `Green Dragon Book' | |
(1977). There is now a third edition of the Dragon Book that has | |
the knight sitting in front of what, for all the world, looks like | |
a video-game display of the dragon, with the real dragon behind it. | |
The term `White Dragon Book' has been proposed. See also | |
{Blue Book}, {Red Book}, {Green Book}, {Silver Book}, | |
{Purple Book}, {Orange Book}, {White Book}, {Pink-Shirt | |
Book}, {Aluminum Book}, {Wizard Book}, {Cinderella Book}. | |
drain: [IBM] v. Syn. for {flush} (sense #4). Has a connotation | |
of finality about it; one speaks of draining a device before taking | |
it offline. | |
dread high-bit disease: n. A condition endemic to PRIME (formerly | |
PR1ME) minicomputers which results in all the characters having | |
their high (0x80) bit ON rather than OFF. This of course makes | |
transporting files to other systems much more difficult, not to | |
mention talking to true eight-bit devices. It is reported that | |
PRIME adopted the reversed-eight-bit convention in order to save 25 | |
cents per serial line per machine. This probably qualifies as one | |
of the most {cretinous} design tradeoffs ever made. See {meta | |
bit}. | |
DRECNET: /drek'net/ [from German & Yiddish `dreck'] n. Deliberate | |
distortion of DECNET, a networking protocol used in the {VMS} | |
community. So-called because DEC helped write the Ethernet | |
specification, and then (either stupidly or as a malignant | |
customer-control tactic) violated that spec in the design of | |
DRECNET in a way that made it incompatible. See also {connector | |
conspiracy}. | |
driver: n. 1. The {main loop} of an event-processing program; the | |
code that gets commands and dispatches them for execution. 2. In | |
`device driver', code designed to handle a particular | |
peripheral device such as a magnetic disk or tape. | |
drool-proof paper: n. Documentation which has been obsessively dumbed | |
down, to the point where only a {cretin} could bear to read it, is | |
said to have succumbed to the `drool-proof paper syndrome' or to | |
have been `written on drool-proof paper'. For example, this is | |
an actual quote from Apple's LaserWriter manual: "Do not expose | |
your LaserWriter to open fire or flame." | |
drop on the floor: vt. To react to an error condition by silently | |
discarding messages or other valuable data. Example: "The gateway | |
ran out of memory, so it just started dropping packets on the | |
floor." Also frequently used of faulty mail and netnews relay | |
sites that lose messages. See also {black hole}, {bit bucket}. | |
drop-ins: [prob. by anology with {drop-outs}] n. Spurious | |
characters appearing on a terminal or console due to line noise or | |
a system malfunction of some sort. Esp. used when these are | |
interspersed with your own typed input. Compare {drop-outs}. | |
drop-outs: n. 1. A variety of `power glitch' (see {glitch}); | |
momentary zero voltage on the electrical mains. 2. Missing | |
characters in typed input due to software malfunction or system | |
saturation (this can happen under UNIX, for example, when a bad | |
connect to a modem swamps the processor with spurious character | |
interrupts). 3. Mental glitches; used as a way of describing | |
those occasions when the mind just seems to shut down for a couple | |
of beats. See {glitch}, {fried}. | |
drugged: adj., also `on drugs'. 1. Conspicuously stupid, | |
heading towards {brain-damaged}. Often accompanied by a | |
pantomime of toking a joint (but see Appendix B). 2. Of hardware, | |
very slow relative to normal performance. | |
drunk mouse syndrome: n. A malady exhibited by the mouse pointing | |
device of some computers. The typical symptom is for the mouse | |
cursor on the screen to move to random directions and not in sync | |
with the moving of the actual mouse. Can usually be corrected by | |
unplugging the mouse and plugging it back again. Another | |
recommended fix is to rotate your optical mouse pad 90 degrees. | |
dumbass attack: /duhm'ass @-tak'/ [Purdue] n. Notional cause of a | |
novice's mistake made by the experienced, especially one made while | |
running as root under UNIX, e.g. typing `rm -r *' or | |
`mkfs' on a mounted file system. Compare {adger}. | |
dump: n. 1. An undigested and voluminous mass of information about a | |
problem or the state of a system, especially one routed to the | |
slowest available output device (compare {core dump}), and most | |
especially one consisting or hex and octal {runes} describing the | |
byte-by-byte state of memory, mass storage, or some file. In elder | |
days, debugging was generally done by `grovelling over a dump' | |
(see {grovel}); increasing use of high-level languages and | |
interactive debuggers has made this uncommon, and the term `dump' | |
now has a faintly archaic flavor. 2. A backup. This usage is | |
typical only at large timesharing installations. | |
dup killer: /d[y]oop killer/ [FidoNet] n. Software which is | |
supposed to detect and delete duplicates of a message which may | |
have reached the FidoNet system via different routes. | |
dup loop: /d[y]oop loop/ (also `dupe loop') [FidoNet] n. An | |
incorrectly configured system or network gateway may propagate | |
duplicate messages on one or more {echo}s, with different | |
identification information which renders {dup killer}s | |
ineffective. If such a duplicate message eventually reaches a | |
system which it has already passed through (with the original | |
identification information), all systems passed on the way back to | |
that system are said to be involved in a {dup loop}. | |
dusty deck: n. Old software (especially applications) with which | |
one is obliged to remain compatible (or to maintain). The term | |
implies that the software in question is a holdover from card-punch | |
days. Used esp. when referring to old scientific and | |
number-crunching software, much of which was written in FORTRAN and | |
very poorly documented but is believed to be too expensive to | |
replace. See {fossil}. | |
DWIM: /dwim/ [Do What I Mean] 1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes even | |
correctly, the result intended when bogus input was provided. 2. | |
n.,obs. The INTERLISP function that attempted to accomplish this | |
feat by correcting many of the more common errors. See {hairy}. | |
3. Occasionally, an interjection hurled at a balky computer, esp. | |
when one senses one might be tripping over legalisms (see | |
{legalese}). | |
DWIM is often suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex | |
program; also, occasionally described as the single instruction the | |
ideal computer would have. Back when proof of program correctness | |
were in vogue, there were also jokes about `DWIMC': Do What I | |
Mean, Correctly). A related term, more often seen as a verb, is | |
DTRT (Do The Right Thing), see {Right Thing}. | |
dynner: /din'r/ 32 bits, by analogy with {nybble} and {{byte}}. Usage: | |
rare and extremely silly. See also {playte}, {taste}, {crumb}. | |
= E = | |
===== | |
earthquake: [IBM] n. The ultimate real-world shock test for | |
computer hardware. Hackish sources at IBM deny the rumor that the | |
Bay Area quake of 1989 was initiated by the company to test quality | |
assurance procedures at its California plants. | |
Easter egg: n. 1. A message hidden in the object code of a program | |
as a joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or | |
browsing the code. 2. A message, graphic, or sound-effect emitted | |
by a program (or, on a PC, the BIOS ROM) in response to some | |
undocumented set of commands or keystrokes, intended as a joke or | |
to display program credits. One well-known early Easter egg found | |
in a couple of OSs caused them to respond to the command `make | |
love' with `not war?'. Many personal computers have much more | |
elaborate eggs hidden in ROM, including lists of the developers' | |
names, political exhortations, snatches of music, and (in one case) | |
graphics images of the entire development team. | |
Easter egging: [IBM] n. The act of replacing unrelated parts more or | |
less at random in hopes that a malfunction will go away. Hackers | |
consider this the normal operating mode of {field circus} techs and | |
do not love them for it. Compare {shotgun debugging}. | |
eat flaming death: imp. A construction popularized among hackers by | |
the infamous {CPU WARS} comic; supposed to derive from a famously | |
turgid line in a WWII-era anti-Nazi propaganda comic which ran | |
"Eat flaming death, non-Aryan mongrels!" or something of the sort. | |
Used in humorously overblown expressions of hostility. "Eat | |
flaming death, {EBCDIC} users!" | |
EBCDIC: /eb's'dik/ or /eb'k@-dik/ [Extended Binary Coded Decimal | |
Interchange Code] n. An alleged character set used on IBM | |
{dinosaur}s that exists in six mutually incompatible versions, | |
all featuring such delights as non-contiguous letter sequences and | |
the absence of several ASCII punctuation characters fairly | |
important for modern computer languages (exactly which characters | |
are absent vary according to which version of EBCDIC you're looking | |
at). IBM adapted EBCDIC from {{punched card}} code in the early | |
1960s and promulgated it as a customer-control tactic, spurning the | |
already established ASCII standard. Today, IBM claims to be an | |
open-systems company, but IBM's own description of the EBCDIC | |
variants and how to convert between them is still internally | |
classified top-secret, burn-before reading. Hackers blanch at the | |
very *name* of EBCDIC and consider it a manifestation of | |
purest {evil}. See also {fear and loathing}. | |
echo: [FidoNet] n. A topic group on {FidoNet}'s echomail system. Compare | |
{newsgroup}. | |
eighty-column mind: [IBM] n. The sort said to be employed by | |
persons for whom the transition from card to tape was traumatic | |
(nobody has dared tell them about disks yet). It is said that | |
these people, like (according to an old joke) the founder of IBM, | |
will be buried `face down, 9-edge first' (the 9-edge is the bottom | |
of the card). This is inscribed on IBM's 1422 and 1602 card | |
readers, and referenced in a famous bit of doggerel called `The | |
Last Bug', which ends: | |
He died at the console | |
Of hunger and thirst. | |
Next day he was buried, | |
Face down, 9-edge first. | |
The eighty-column mind is thought by most hackers to dominate IBM's | |
customer base, and its thinking. See {{punched card}}, {IBM}, | |
{fear and loathing}, {card walloper}. | |
El Camino Bignum: /el' k@-mee'noh big'num/ n. El Camino Real. El | |
Camino Real is the name of a street through the San Francisco | |
peninsula that originally extended (and still appears in places) | |
all the way down to Mexico City. Navigation on the San Francisco | |
peninsula is usually done relative to El Camino Real, which defines | |
{logical} north and south even though it doesn't really run N/S | |
many places. El Camino Real runs right past Stanford University, | |
and so is familiar to hackers. The Spanish word `real' (which has | |
two syllables /ray-ahl'/) means `royal'; El Camino Real is `the | |
royal road'. In the FORTRAN language, a `real' quantity is a | |
number typically precise to seven significant digits, and a `double | |
precision' quantity is a larger floating-point number, precise to | |
perhaps fourteen significant digits (other languages have similar | |
`real' types). When a hacker from MIT visited Stanford in 1976 or | |
so, he remarked what a long road El Camino Real was. Making a pun | |
on `real', he started calling it `El Camino Double Precision' --- | |
but when the hacker was told that the road was hundreds of miles | |
long, he renamed it `El Camino Bignum', and that name has stuck. | |
(See {bignum}.) | |
elegant: [from mathematical usage] adj. Combining simplicity, power, | |
and a certain ineffable grace of design. Higher praise than | |
`clever', `winning', or even {cuspy}. | |
elephantine: adj. Used of programs or systems which are both | |
conspicuous {hog}s (due perhaps to poor design founded on | |
{brute force and ignorance}) and exceedingly {hairy} in source | |
form. An elephantine program may be functional and even friendly, | |
but (like the old joke about being in bed with an elephant) it's | |
tough to have around all the same (and, like a pachyderm, difficult | |
to maintain). In extreme cases, hackers have been known to make | |
trumpeting sounds or perform expressive proboscatory mime at the | |
mention of the offending program. Usage: semi-humorous. Compare | |
`has the elephant nature' and the somewhat more pejorative | |
{monstrosity}. See also {second-system effect} and | |
{baroque}. | |
elevator controller: n. Another archetypal dumb embedded-systems | |
application, like {toaster}. During the deliberations of ANSI | |
X3J11, the C standardization committee, this was canonical example | |
of its type. "You can't require `printf(3)' to be part of | |
the default runtime --- what if you're targeting an elevator | |
controller?" Elevator controllers became important rhetorical | |
weapons on both sides of several {holy wars}. | |
EMACS: /ee'maks/ [from Editing MACroS] n. The ne plus ultra of | |
hacker editors, a program editor with an entire LISP system | |
inside it. Originally written by Richard Stallman in {TECO} at | |
the MIT-AI lab, but the most widely used versions now run under | |
UNIX. It includes facilities to run compilation subprocesses and | |
send and receive mail; many hackers spend up to 80% of their | |
{tube time} inside it. Some versions running under window | |
managers iconify as an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest | |
the one feature the editor doesn't include. Indeed, some hackers | |
find EMACS too heavyweight and {baroque} for their taste, and expand | |
the name as `Escape Meta Alt Control Shift' to spoof its heavy | |
reliance on complex bucky-bitted keystrokes. Other spoof | |
expansions include `Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping', | |
`Eventually malloc()s All Computer Storage', and `EMACS Makes A | |
Computer Slow' (see {{Recursive Acronyms}}). See also {vi}. | |
email: /ee'mayl/ 1. n. Electronic mail automatically passed through | |
computer networks and/or via modems common-carrier lines. Contrast | |
{snail-mail}, {paper-net}, {voice-net}. See {network | |
address}. 2. vt. To send email to a person in lisp. | |
Oddly enough, the word `emailed' is actually listed in the OED; it | |
means "embossed (with a raised pattern) or arranged in a net work"! | |
A use from 1480 is given, and the word is derived from French | |
`emmailleure', network. The term is contrasted with `chain | |
mail'. | |
emoticon: /ee-moh'ti-con/ n. An ASCII glyph used to indicate an | |
emotional state in email or news. Hundreds have been proposed, but | |
only a few are in common use. These include: | |
:-) Smiley face (indicates humor, laughter, or friendliness) | |
:-( Frowney face (indicates sadness, anger, or upset) | |
;-) Half-smiley (ha ha only serious) | |
Also known as "semi-smiley" or "winkey face". | |
:-/ Wry face | |
It appears that the emoticon was invented by one Scott Fahlman on | |
the CMU {bboard} systems around 1980. He later wrote "I wish I | |
had saved the original post, or at least recorded the date for | |
posterity, but I had no idea that I was starting something that | |
would soon pollute all the world's communication channels.". | |
Of these, the first two are by far the most frequently encountered. | |
Hyphenless forms of them are common on CompuServe, GEnie, and BIX; | |
see also {bixie}. On {USENET}, `smiley' is often used as a | |
generic synonymous with {emoticon}, as well as specifically for the | |
happy-face emoticon. | |
Note for the {newbie}: overuse of the smiley is a mark of | |
loserhood! More than one per paragraph is a fairly sure sign that | |
you've gone over the line. | |
empire: n. Any of a family of military simulations derived from a | |
game written by Peter Langston many years ago. There are 5 or 6 | |
multi-player variants of varying degrees of sophistication, and one | |
single-player version implemented for both UNIX and VMS which is | |
even available as MS-DOS freeware. All are notoriously addictive. | |
engine: n. 1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function, | |
but can't be used without some kind of {front end}. Today we | |
have, especially, `print engine': the guts of a laser printer. | |
2. An analogous piece of software; notionally, one that does a lot | |
of noisy crunching such as a `database engine'. | |
The hackish senses of `engine' are actually close to its original, | |
pre-Industrial-Revolution sense of a skill, clever device or | |
instrument (the word is cognate to `ingenuity'). This sense had | |
not been completely eclipsed by the modern connotation of | |
power-transducing machinery in Charles Babbage's time, which | |
explains why why he named the stored-program computer that | |
he designed in 1844 the "Analytical Engine." | |
English: n.,obs. The source code for a program, which may be in any | |
language, as opposed to the linkable or executable binary produced | |
from it by a compiler. The idea behind the term is that to a real | |
hacker, a program written in his favorite programming language is | |
at least as readable as English. Usage: used mostly by old-time | |
hackers, though recognizable in context. | |
enhancement: n. {Marketroid}-speak for a bug {fix}. This abuse | |
of language is a popular and time-tested way to turn incompetence | |
into increased revenue. A hacker would instead call the fix a | |
{feature}. | |
ENQ: /enkw/ [from the ASCII mnemonic `ENQuire' for 0000101] 1. An | |
on-line convention for querying someone's availability. After | |
opening a {talk mode} connection to someone apparently in heavy | |
hack mode, one might type "SYN SYN ENQ?" (the SYNs representing | |
notional synchronization bytes) expecting a return of {ACK} or | |
NAK depending on whether or not the person felt interruptible. See | |
{ACK}; compare {ping}, {finger}, and the usage of "FOO?" | |
listed under {talk mode}. | |
EOF: /ee-oh-ef/ [UNIX/C; acronym, End Of File] n. 1. Refers esp. | |
to whatever pseudo-character value is returned by C's sequential | |
character input functions (and their equivalents in other | |
environments) when the logical end of file has been reached (this | |
was 0 under V6 UNIX, is -1 under V7 and all subsequent versions and | |
all non-UNIX C library implementations). 2. Used by extension in | |
non-computer contexts when a human is doing something that can be | |
modelled as a sequential read and can't go further. "Yeah, I | |
looked for a list of 360 mnemonics to post as a joke, but I hit EOF | |
pretty fast; all the library had was a {JCL} manual." See also | |
{EOL}. | |
EOL: /ee-oh-el/ [End Of Line] n. Syn. for {newline} derived | |
perhaps from the original CDC6600 Pascal. Now rare, but widely | |
recognized and occasionally used because it's shorter. It's used | |
in the example entry under {BNF}. See also {EOF}. | |
EOU: /ee-oh-yoo/ n. The mnemonic of a mythical ASCII control | |
character (End Of User) that could make a Model 33 Teletype explode | |
on receipt. This parodied the numerous obscure delimiter and | |
control characters left in ASCII from the days when it was more | |
associated with wire-service teletypes than computers (e.g., FS, | |
GS, RS, US, EM, SUB, ETX and esp. EOT). It is worth remembering | |
that ASR-33s were big, noisy mechanical beasts with a lot of | |
clattering parts; the notion that one might explode was nowhere | |
near as ridiculous as it might seem to someone sitting in front of | |
a {tube} or flatscreen today. | |
epoch: [UNIX] [perhaps from astronomical timekeeping] n. The time | |
and date corresponding to zero in an operating system's clock and | |
timestamp values. Under most UNIX versions, 00:00:00 GMT, January | |
1, 1970. System time is measured in seconds or {tick}s past the | |
epoch. Note that weird problems may ensue when the clock wraps | |
around (see {wrap around}), and that this is not a necessarily a | |
rare event; on systems counting 10 {tick}s per second, a signed | |
32-bit count of ticks is good only for 6.8 years. The | |
1-tick-per-second clock of UNIX is good only until January 18, | |
2038, assuming word lengths don't increase by then. See {tick}s, | |
{wall time}. | |
epsilon: [see {delta} for etymology] 1. n. A small quantity of | |
anything. "The cost is epsilon." 2. adj. Very small, | |
negligible; less than {marginal}. "We can get this feature for | |
epsilon cost." 3. {within epsilon of}: close enough to be | |
indistinguishable for all practical purposes. This is even closer | |
than being `within delta of'. Example: "That's not what I asked | |
for, but it's within epsilon of what I wanted." Alternatively, it | |
may mean not close enough, but very little is required to get it | |
there: "My program is within epsilon of working." See | |
{asymptotic}. | |
epsilon squared: n. A quantity even smaller than {epsilon}, as | |
small in comparison to it as it is to something normal; completely | |
negligible. If you buy a supercomputer for a million dollars, the | |
cost of the thousand-dollar terminal to go with it is {epsilon}, | |
and the cost of the ten-dollar cable to connect the two is | |
{epsilon squared}. | |
era, the: Syn. {epoch}. The Webster's Unabridged makes these words | |
almost synonymous, but `era' usually connotes a span of time | |
rather than a point in time. The {epoch} usage is recommended. | |
Eric Conspiracy: n. A shadowy group of mustachioed hackers named | |
Eric first pinpointed as a sinister conspiracy by an infamous | |
talk.bizarre posting c. 1986; this was doubtless influenced by the | |
numerous `Eric' jokes in the Monty Python oeuvre. There do indeed | |
seem to be considerably more mustachioed Erics in hackerdom than | |
the frequency of these three traits can account for unless they are | |
correlated in some arcane way. Well-known examples include Eric | |
Allman of {BSD} fame, and Erik Fair (co-author of NNTP); your editor | |
has heard from about fourteen others by email, and the organization | |
line `Eric Conspiracy Secret Laboratories' now emanates regularly | |
from more than one site. | |
Eris: /e'ris/ pn. The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion, | |
and Things You Know Not Of; her name was latinized to Discordia and | |
she was worshiped by that name in Rome. Not a very friendly deity | |
in the Classical original, she was re-invented as a more benign | |
personification of creative anarchy starting in 1959 by the | |
adherents of {Discordianism} and has since been a semi-serious | |
subject of veneration in several `fringe' cultures including | |
hackerdom. See {Discordianism}, {Church of the Sub-Genius}. | |
erotics: /ee-ro'tiks/ n. Reported from Scandinavia as | |
English-language university slang for electronics. Often used by | |
hackers, maybe because good electronics makes them warm. | |
essentials: n. Things necessary to maintain a productive and secure | |
hacking environment. "A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, a | |
20-megahertz 80386 box with 8 meg of core and a 300-megabyte disk | |
supporting full UNIX with source and X windows and EMACS and UUCP | |
via a 'blazer to a friendly Internet site, and thou." | |
evil: adj. As used by hackers, implies that some system, program, | |
person, or institution is sufficiently mal-designed as to be not | |
worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in the | |
{cretinous}/{losing}/{brain-damaged} series, `evil' does not | |
imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of goals or | |
design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's. This is | |
more an esthetic and engineering judgement than a moral one in the | |
mainstream sense. "We thought about adding a {Blue Glue} | |
interface but decided it was too evil to deal with." "{TECO} | |
is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos." | |
Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/. | |
exa-: /ek's@/ pref. Multiplier, 10 ^ 18 or [proposed] 2 ^ 60. See | |
{kilo-}. | |
examining the entrails: n. The process of rooting through a core dump | |
or hex image in the attempt to discover the bug that brought your | |
program or system down. Compare {runes}, {incantation}, {black | |
art}, {desk check}. | |
EXCH: /eks'ch@, eksch/ vt. To exchange two things, each for the | |
other; to swap places. If you point to two people sitting down and | |
say "Exch!", you are asking them to trade places. {EXCH}, | |
meaning EXCHange, was originally the name of a PDP-10 instruction | |
that exchanged the contents of a register and a memory location. | |
Many newer hackers tend to be thinking instead of the PostScript | |
exchange operator (which is usually written in lowercase). | |
excl: /eks'kl/ n. Abbreviation for `exclamation point'. See | |
{bang}, {shriek}, {wow}. | |
EXE: /eks'ee/ An executable binary file. Some operating systems | |
(notably MS-DOS, VMS, and TOPS-20/TWENEX) use the extension .EXE to | |
mark such files. This usage is also occasionally found among UNIX | |
programmers even though UNIX executables don't have any required | |
extension (in fact, the term `extension' in this sense is not part | |
of UNIX jargon). | |
exec: /eg-zek'/ [shortened from `executive' or `execute'] | |
vt.,n. 1. [UNIX] Synonym for {chain}, derives from the | |
`exec(2)' call. 2. obs. The command interpreter for an | |
{OS} (see {shell}); term esp. used on mainframes, and prob. | |
derived from UNIVAC's archaic EXEC 2 and EXEC 8 operating systems. | |
3. At IBM, the equivalent of a {bat file} or shell command file | |
(this is among VM/CMS users). | |
exercise, left as an: [from technical books] Used to complete a | |
proof when one doesn't mind a {handwave}, or to avoid one | |
entirely. The complete phrase is: "The proof (or rest) is left as | |
an exercise for the reader." This comment `has' occasionally | |
been attached to unsolved research problems by authors possessed of | |
either an evil sense of humor or a vast faith in the capabilities | |
of their audiences. | |
eyeball search: n. To look for something in a mass of code or data | |
{by hand}, as opposed to using some sort of pattern matcher like | |
{grep} or any other automated search tool. Also called a | |
{vgrep}; compare {vdiff}. | |
= F = | |
===== | |
fab: /fab/ [from v. fabricate] 1. To produce chips from a design | |
that may have been created by someone at another company. | |
`Fab'bing chips based on the designs of others is the activity | |
of a {silicon foundry}. 2. `fab line': the production | |
system (lithography, diffusion, etching, etc.) for chips at a chip | |
manufacturer. Different `fab lines' are run with different | |
process parameters, die sizes, or technologies, or simply to | |
provide more manufacturing volume. | |
face time: n. Time spent interacting with somebody face-to-face (as | |
opposed to via electronic links). "Oh, yeah, I spent some face | |
time with him at the last Usenix." | |
fall over: [IBM] vi. Yet another synonym for {crash} or {lose}. | |
`Fall over hard' equates to {crash and burn}. | |
fall through: vt. 1. To exit a loop by exhaustion, i.e. by having | |
fulfilled its exit condition rather than via a break or exception | |
condition that exits from the middle of it. This usage appears to | |
be *really* old, as in dating from the '40s and '50s. It may | |
no longer be live slang. 2. To fail a test that would have passed | |
control to a subroutine or other distant portion of code. 3. In C, | |
`fall-through' is said to occur when the flow of execution in a | |
switch statement reaches a `case' label other than by jumping there | |
from the switch header, passing a point where one would normally | |
expect to find a `break'. A trivial example: | |
switch (color) | |
{ | |
case GREEN: | |
do_green(); | |
break; | |
case PINK: | |
do_pink(); | |
/* FALL THROUGH */ | |
case RED: | |
do_red(); | |
break; | |
default: | |
do_blue(); | |
break; | |
} | |
The effect of this code is to `do_green()' when color is | |
`GREEN', `do_red()' when color is `RED', | |
`do_blue()' on any other color than PINK, and (and this is the | |
important part) `do_pink()' and *then* `do_red()' | |
when color is `PINK'. Fall-through is {considered harmful} | |
by some, though there are contexts such as the coding of state | |
machines in which it is natural; it is generally considered good | |
practice to include a comment highlighting the fall through, at the | |
point one would normally expect a break. | |
fandango on core: [UNIX/C hackers, from the Mexican dance] n. In C, a | |
wild pointer that runs out of bounds causing a {core dump}, or | |
corrupts the `malloc(3)' {arena} in such a way as to cause mysterious | |
failures later on, is sometimes said to have `done a fandango on | |
core'. On low-end personal machines without an MMU, this can | |
corrupt the OS itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic | |
dances such as the rhumba, cha-cha, or watusi may be substituted. | |
See {aliasing bug}, {precedence lossage}, {smash the stack}, | |
{memory leak}, {overrun screw}, {core}. | |
FAQ list: /ef-ay-kyoo list/ [Usenix] n. A compendium of accumulated | |
lore, posted periodically to high-volume newsgroups in an attempt | |
to forestall Frequently Asked Questions. This lexicon itself | |
serves as a good example of a collection of one kind of lore, | |
although it is far too big for a regular posting. Several extant | |
FAQ lists do (or should) make reference to the Jargon File (the | |
on-line version of this lexicon). "How do you pronounce `char'?" | |
and "What's that funny name for the `#' character?" for | |
example, are both Frequently Asked Questions. | |
farming: [Adelaide University, Australia] n. What the heads of a | |
Winchester are said to do when they plow little furrows in the | |
magnetic media. Associated with a {crash}. Typically used as | |
follows: "Oh no, the machine has just crashed; I hope the hard | |
drive hasn't gone {farming} again." | |
fascist: adj. 1. Said of a computer system with excessive or | |
annoying security barriers, usage limits, or access policies. The | |
implication is that said policies are preventing hackers from | |
getting interesting work done. The variant `fascistic' seems | |
to have been preferred at MIT, poss. by analogy with | |
`touristic' (see {tourist}). 2. In the design of languages | |
and other software tools, `the fascist alternative' is the most | |
restrictive and structured way of capturing a particular function; | |
the implication is that this may be desirable in order to simplify | |
the implementation or provide tighter error checking. Compare | |
{bondage-and-discipline language}; but that term is global than | |
local. | |
FAtt: [FidoNet] written-only abbreviation for {File Attach}. | |
faulty: adj. Non-functional; buggy. Same denotation as | |
{bletcherous}, {losing}, q.v., but the connotation is much | |
milder. | |
fd leak: /ef dee leek/ n. A kind of programming bug analogous to a | |
{core leak}, in which a program fails to close file descriptors | |
(`fd's) after file operations are completed, and thus eventually | |
runs out. See {leak}. | |
fear and loathing: [from Hunter Thompson] n. State inspired by the | |
prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards | |
which are totally {brain-damaged} but ubiquitous --- Intel 8086s, | |
or {COBOL}, or {EBCDIC}, or any {IBM} machine except the Rios (aka | |
the RS/6000). "Ack. They want PCs to be able to talk to the AI | |
machine. Fear and loathing time!" | |
feature: n. 1. An intended property or behavior (as of a program). | |
Whether it is good or not is immaterial (but if bad, it is also a | |
{misfeature)}. 2. A good property or behavior (as of a program). | |
Whether it was intended or not is immaterial. 3. A surprising | |
property or behavior; in particular, one that is purposely | |
inconsistent because it works better that way --- such an | |
inconsistency is therefore a {feature} and not a {bug}. This | |
kind of feature is sometimes called a {miswart}; see that entry | |
for a classic example. 4. A property or behavior that is | |
gratuitous or unnecessary, though perhaps also impressive or cute. | |
For example, one feature of Common LISP's Format function is the | |
ability to print numbers in two different Roman-numeral formats | |
(see {bells, whistles, and gongs}). 5. A property or behavior | |
that was put in to help someone else but that happens to be in your | |
way. 6. A {bug} that has been documented. To call something a | |
feature sometimes means the author of the program did not consider | |
the particular case, and the program responded in a way that was | |
unexpected, but not strictly incorrect. A standard joke is that a | |
{bug} can be turned into a {feature} simply by documenting it | |
(then theoretically no one can complain about it because it's in | |
the manual), or even by simply declaring it to be good. "That's | |
not a bug, that's a feature!" See also {feetch feetch}, | |
{creeping featurism}, {wart}. | |
The relationship between bugs, features, misfeatures, warts, and | |
miswarts might be clarified by the following exchange between two | |
hackers on an airplane: | |
A: "This seat doesn't recline." | |
B: "That's not a bug, that's a feature. There is an emergency | |
exit door built around the window behind you, and the route has to | |
be kept clear." | |
A: "Oh. Then it's a misfeature; they should have increased the | |
spacing between rows here." | |
B: "Yes. But if they'd only increased spacing in one section it would | |
have been a wart --- they would've had to make nonstandard-length | |
ceiling panels to fit over the displaced seats." | |
A: "A miswart, actually. If they widened all the seats they'd | |
lose several rows and a chunk out of the profit margin. So unequal | |
spacing would actually be the Right Thing." | |
B: "Indeed." | |
Finally, note that {undocumented feature} is a common, humorous | |
euphemism for a {bug}. | |
feature creature: n. One who loves to add features to designs or | |
programs, perhaps at the expense of coherence, concision, or | |
{taste}. See also {creeping featurism}. | |
feature shock: [from Alvin Toffler's title `Future Shock'] n. | |
A user's (or programmer's!) confusion when confronted with a | |
package that has too many features and poor introductory material. | |
featurectomy: /fee`ch@r-ek'to-mee/ n. The act of removing a feature | |
from a program. Featurectomies generally come in two varieties, | |
the `righteous' and the `reluctant'. Righteous featurectomies | |
are performed because the remover believes the program would be | |
more elegant without the feature, or there is already an equivalent | |
and `better' way to achieve the same end. (This is not quite the | |
same thing as removing a {misfeature}.) Reluctant featurectomies | |
are performed to satisfy some external constraint such as code size | |
or execution speed. | |
feep: /feep/ 1. n. The soft electronic `bell' of a display terminal | |
(except for a VT-52!); a beep (in fact, the microcomputer world | |
seems to prefer {beep}). 2. vi. To cause the display to make a | |
feep sound. ASR 33s (the original TTYs) do not have feeps; they | |
have mechanical bells that ring. Alternate forms: {beep}, | |
`bleep', or just about anything suitably onomatopoeic. (Jeff | |
MacNelly, in his comic strip `Shoe', uses the word `eep' for | |
sounds made by computer terminals and video games; this is perhaps | |
the closest written approximation yet.) The term `breedle' was | |
sometimes heard at SAIL, where the terminal bleepers are not | |
particularly `soft' (they sound more like the musical equivalent of | |
a raspberry or Bronx cheer; for a close approximation, imagine the | |
sound of a Star Trek communicator's beep lasting for five | |
seconds.). The `feeper' on a VT-52 has been compared to the sound | |
of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears. See also {ding}. | |
feeper: /fee'pr/ n. The device in a terminal or workstation (usually | |
a loudspeaker of some kind) that makes the {feep} sound. | |
feeping creature: [from {feeping creaturism}] n. An unnecessary | |
feature; a bit of {chrome} which, in the speaker's judgement, is | |
the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features. | |
feeping creaturism: /fee'ping kree`ch@r-izm/ n. Deliberate | |
Spoonerism for {creeping featurism}, meant to imply that the | |
system or program in question has become a misshapen creature of | |
hacks. This term isn't really well-defined, but it sounds so neat | |
that most hackers have said or heard it. It is probably reinforced | |
by an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their | |
customary noises. | |
feetch feetch: interj. If someone tells you about some new | |
improvement to a program, you might respond, "Feetch, feetch!". | |
The meaning of this depends critically on vocal inflection. With | |
enthusiasm, it means something like, "Boy, that's great! What a | |
great hack!" Grudgingly or with obvious doubt, it means "I don't | |
know; it sounds like just one more unnecessary and complicated | |
thing.". With a tone of resignation, it means, "Well, I'd rather | |
keep it simple, but I suppose it has to be done.". | |
fence: n. One or more distinguished ({out-of-band}) characters | |
used to delimit a piece of data intended to be treated as a unit. | |
The NUL character that terminates strings in C is a fence. Hex FF | |
is probably the most common fence character after NUL. See | |
{zigamorph}. | |
fencepost error: n. 1. The discrete equivalent of a boundary | |
condition. Often exhibited in programs by iterative loops. From | |
the following problem: "If you build a fence 100 feet long with | |
posts ten feet apart, how many posts do you need?" Either 9 or 11 | |
is a better answer than the obvious 10. For example, suppose you | |
have a long list or array of items, and want to process items m | |
through n; how many items are there? The obvious answer is `n | |
- m', but that is off by one; the right answer is `n - m + 1'. | |
A program that used the `obvious' formula would have a fencepost | |
error in it. See also {off-by-one error}, and note that not all | |
off-by-one errors are fencepost errors. The game of Musical Chairs | |
involves a catastrophic off-by-one error where N people try to sit | |
in N - 1 chairs, but it's not a fencepost error. Fencepost errors | |
come from counting things rather than the spaces between them, or | |
vice versa, or by neglecting to consider whether one should count | |
one or both ends of a row. 2. Occasionally, an error induced by | |
unexpectedly regular spacing of inputs, which can (for instance) | |
screw up your hash table. | |
fepped out: adj. The Symbolics 3600 Lisp Machine has a front-end | |
processor called a `FEP' (compare sense #2 of {box}). When the | |
main processor gets {wedged}, the FEP takes control of the | |
keyboard and screen. Such a machine is said to have `fepped | |
out'. | |
FidoNet: n. A world-wide hobbyist network of personal computers | |
which exchange mail, discussion groups, and files. Founded in 1984 | |
and originally consisting only of IBM PCs and compatibles, FidoNet | |
now includes such diverse machines as Apple ][s, Ataris, Amigas, | |
and UNIX systems. Though it is much younger than USENET, FidoNet | |
is already sizeable fraction of {USENET}'s size at some 8000 | |
systems (late mid-1991). | |
field circus: [a derogatory pun on `field service'] n. The field | |
service organization of any hardware manufacturer, but especially | |
DEC. There is an entire genre of jokes about DEC field circus | |
engineers: | |
Q: How can you recognize a DEC field circus engineer with a flat tire? | |
A: He's changing each tire to see which one is flat. | |
Q: How can you recognize a DEC field circus engineer who is out of | |
gas? | |
A: He's changing each tire to see which one is flat. | |
field servoid: [play on `android'] /fee'ld ser'voyd/ n. | |
Representative of a Field Service organization (see {field | |
circus}). | |
Fight-o-net: [FidoNet] n. Deliberate distortion of {FidoNet}, | |
often applied after a flurry of {flamage} in a particular | |
{echo}, especially the SYSOP echo or Fidonews (see <'Snooze>). | |
File Attach: [FidoNet] 1. n. A file sent along with a mail message | |
from one BBS to another. 2. vt. Sending someone a file by using | |
the File Attach option in the BBS mailer. | |
File Request: [FidoNet] 1. n. The {FidoNet} equivalent of | |
{FTP}, in which one BBS system automatically dials another and | |
{snarf}s one or more files. Files are often announced as being | |
"available for {FReq}" in the same way that files are announced | |
as being "available for/by anonymous FTP" on the Internet. | |
2. vt. The act of getting a copy of a file by using the File | |
Request option of the BBS mailer. | |
filk: /filk/ [from SF fandom, where a typo for `folk' was adopted | |
as a new word] n.,v. A `filk' is a popular or folk song with | |
lyrics revised or completely new lyrics, intended for humorous | |
effect when read and/or to be sung late at night at SF conventions. | |
There is a flourishing subgenre of these called `computer filks', | |
written by hackers and often containing technical humor of quite | |
sophisticated nature. See {double bucky} for an example. | |
film at 11: [MIT, in parody of TV newscasters] Used in conversation | |
to announce ordinary events, with a sarcastic implication that | |
these events are earth-shattering. "{ITS} crashes; film at 11." | |
"Bug found in scheduler; film at 11." | |
filter: [orig. {UNIX}, now also in {MS-DOS}] n. A program which | |
processes an input data stream into an output data stream in some | |
well-defined way, and does no I/O to anywhere else except possibly | |
on error conditions; one designed to be used as a stage in a | |
{pipeline}. | |
fine: [WPI] adj. Good, but not good enough to be {cuspy}. The word | |
`fine' is used elsewhere, of course, but without the implicit | |
comparison to the higher level implied by {cuspy}. | |
finger: [SAIL's mutant TOPS-10, via BSD UNIX] 1. n. A program that | |
displays a particular user or all users logged on the system or a | |
remote system. Typically shows full name, last login time, idle | |
time, terminal line, and terminal location (where applicable). May | |
also display a {plan file} left by the user. 2. vt. To apply | |
finger to a username. 3. vt. By extension, to check a human's | |
current state by any means. "Foodp?" "T!" "OK, finger Lisa | |
and see if she's idle.". 4. Any picture (composed of ASCII | |
characters) depicting `the finger'. Originally a humorous | |
component of one's plan file to deter the curious fingerer (sense | |
#2), it has entered the arsenal of some {flamer}s. | |
finger-pointing syndrome: n. All-too-frequent result of bugs, esp. | |
in new or experimental configurations. The hardware vendor points | |
a finger at the software. The software vendor points a finger | |
at the hardware. All the poor users get is the finger. | |
firebottle: n. A large, primitive, power-hungry active electrical | |
device, similar in function to a FET but constructed out of glass, | |
metal, and vacuum. Characterized by high cost, low density, low | |
reliability, high-temperature operation, and high power | |
dissipation. Sometimes mistakenly called a `tube' in the U.S. | |
or a `valve' in England; another hackish term is {glassfet}. | |
firefighting: n. The act of throwing lots of manpower and late | |
nights at a project, esp. to get it out before deadline. See also | |
{gang bang}, {Mongolian Hordes technique}; however, | |
firefighting connotes that the effort is going into chasing | |
bugs rather than adding features. | |
firewall machine: n. A dedicated gateway machine with special | |
security precautions on it, used to service outside network | |
connections and dial-in lines. The idea is to protect a cluster of | |
more loosely administered machines `hidden' behind it from | |
{cracker}s. The typical firewall is an inexpensive micro-based | |
UNIX box kept clean of critical data, with a bunch of modems and | |
public network ports on it but just one carefully watched | |
connection back to the rest of the cluster. The special | |
precautions may include threat monitoring, callback, and even a | |
complete {iron box} keyable to particular incoming IDs or | |
activity patterns. Syn. {flytrap}, {Venus flytrap}. | |
fireworks mode: n. The mode a machine is sometimes said to be in when | |
it is performing a {crash and burn} operation. | |
firmware: n. Software installed into a computer-based piece of | |
equipment on ROM. So-called because it's harder to change than | |
software but easier than hardware. | |
fish: [Adelaide University, Australia] n. Another metasyntactic | |
variable. See {foo}. Derived originally from the Monty Python | |
skit in the middle of `The Meaning of Life', entitled `Find the | |
fish'. | |
FISH queue: [acronym, by analogy with FIFO (First In, First Out)] | |
n. First In, Still Here. A joking way of pointing out that | |
processing of a particular sequence of events or requests has | |
stopped dead. Also `FISH mode' and `FISHnet'; the latter | |
may be applied to any network that is running really slowly or | |
exhibiting extreme flakiness. | |
fix: n.,v. What one does when a problem has been reported too many | |
times to be ignored. | |
flag: n. A variable or quantity that can take on one of two values; a | |
bit, particularly one that is used to indicate one of two outcomes | |
or is used to control which of two things is to be done. Examples: | |
"This flag controls whether to clear the screen before printing | |
the message." "The program status word contains several flag | |
bits." See also {bit}, {hidden flag}, {mode bit}. | |
flag day: n. A software change which is neither forward nor | |
backward-compatible, and which is costly to make and costly to | |
revert. "Can we install that without causing a flag day for all | |
users?" This term has nothing to do with the use of the word | |
{flag} to mean a variable that has two values. It came into use | |
when a massive change was made to the {Multics} timesharing | |
system to convert from the old ASCII code to the new one; this was | |
scheduled for Flag Day (a U.S. holiday), June 14, 1966. | |
flaky: adj. (var sp. `flakey') Subject to frequent lossages. | |
See {lossage}. This use is of course related to the common slang | |
use of the word, to describe a person as eccentric, crazy, or just | |
unreliable. A system that is flaky is working, sort of, enough | |
that you are tempted to try to use it, but it fails frequently | |
enough that the odds in favor of finishing what you start are low. | |
Commonwealth hackish prefers {dodgy}. | |
flamage: /flay'm@j/ n. High-noise, low-signal postings to {USENET} | |
or other electronic fora. Often in the phrase `the usual | |
flamage'. | |
flame: v. 1. To post an email message intended to insult and | |
provoke. 2. vi. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some | |
relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous | |
attitude. When a discussion degenerates into useless controversy, | |
one might tell the participants, "Now you're just flaming" or | |
"Stop all that flamage!" to try to get them to cool down (so to | |
speak). | |
A USENETter who was at WPI from 1972 to 1976 adds: "I am 99% certain | |
that the use of `flame' originated at WPI". Those who made a | |
nuisance of themselves insisting that they needed to use a TTY for | |
`real work' came to be known as `flaming asshole lusers'. | |
Other particularly annoying people became `flaming asshole | |
ravers', which shortened to `flaming ravers', and ultimately | |
`flamers'. I remember someone picking up on the Human Torch pun, | |
but I don't think `flame on/off' was ever much used at WPI. See | |
also {asbestos cork award}. | |
The term may have been independently invented at several different | |
places; it is also reported that `flaming' was in use to mean | |
something like `interminably drawn-out semi-serious discussions' | |
(late-night bull-sessions) at Carleton College during 1968-1971. | |
flame bait: n. A posting intended to trigger a {flame war}, or one | |
which invites flames in reply. | |
flame on: vi. To continue to flame. See {rave}, {burble}. | |
The punning reference to Marvel Comics's Human Torch has been lost | |
as recent usage completes the circle: "Flame on" now usually | |
means "beginning of flame". | |
flame war: n. (var. `flamewar') An acrimonious dispute, | |
especially when conducted on a public electronic forum such as | |
{USENET}. | |
flamer: n. One who habitually flames others. Said esp. of obnoxious | |
{USENET} personalities. | |
flap: vt. 1. To unload a DECtape (so it goes flap, flap, | |
flap...). Old-time hackers at MIT tell of the days when the | |
disk was device 0 and microtapes were 1, 2,... and attempting | |
to flap device 0 would instead start a motor banging inside a | |
cabinet near the disk! 2. By extension, to unload any magnetic | |
tape. See {microtape}, {macrotape}. Modern cartridge tapes no | |
longer actually flap, but the usage has remained. | |
flat: adj. Lacking any complex internal structure. "That {bitty | |
box} only has a flat filesystem, not a hierarchical one." This is | |
verbed to {flatten}. | |
flat-ASCII: adj. Said of a text file that contains only 7-bit ASCII | |
characters and uses only ASCII-standard control characters (that | |
is, has no embedded codes specific to a particular text formatter | |
or markup language, and no {meta}-characters). Syn. | |
{plain-ASCII}. Compare {flat-file}. | |
flat-file: adj. A {flatten}ed representation of some database or | |
tree or network structure, as a single file from which the | |
structure could implicitly be rebuilt, esp. one in {flat-ASCII} | |
form. | |
flatten: vt. To remove structural information, esp. to filter | |
something with an implicit tree structure into a simple sequence of | |
leaves; also tends to imply mapping to {flat-ASCII}. "This code | |
flattens an expression with parentheses into an equivalent | |
{canonical} form." | |
flavor: n. 1. Variety, type, kind. "DDT commands come in two | |
flavors." "These lights come in two flavors, big red ones and | |
small green ones." See {vanilla}. 2. The attribute that causes | |
something to be {flavorful}. Usually used in the phrase "yields | |
additional flavor." "This convention yields additional flavor by | |
allowing one to print text either right-side-up or upside-down." | |
See {vanilla}. This usage was certainly reinforced by the | |
terminology of quantum chromodynamics, in which quarks (the | |
constituents of e.g. protons) come in six flavors (up, down, | |
strange, charm, top, bottom) and three colors (red, blue, green) | |
--- however, hackish use of `flavor' at MIT predated QCD. | |
flavorful: adj. Esthetically pleasing. See {random} and {losing} | |
for antonyms. See also the entries for {taste} and {elegant}. | |
flippy: /flip'ee/ n. A single-sided floppy disk altered for | |
double-sided use by addition of a second write-notch, so called | |
because it must be flipped over for the second side to be | |
accessible. No longer common. | |
flowchart:: n. An archaic form of visual control-flow specification | |
employing arrows and `speech balloons' of various shapes. Hackers | |
never use flowcharts, consider them extremely silly, and associate | |
them with COBOL programmers and other lower forms of life. This is | |
because (from a hacker's point of view) they are no easier to read | |
than code, not as precise, and tend to fall out of sync with | |
the code (so that they either obfuscate it rather than explaining | |
it, or require extra maintenance effort that doesn't improve the | |
code). See also {pdl}, sense #3. | |
flush: v. 1. To delete something, usually superfluous. "All that | |
nonsense has been flushed." Standard ITS terminology for aborting | |
an output operation (but note sense 4 below!); one speaks of the | |
text that would have been printed, but was not, as having been | |
flushed. Under ITS, if you asked to have a file printed on your | |
terminal, it was printed a page at a time; at the end of each page, | |
it asked whether you want to see more, and if you said no, it | |
replied "FLUSHED". (It is speculated that this term arose from a | |
vivid image of flushing unwanted characters by hosing down the | |
internal output buffer, washing the characters away before they can | |
be printed.) 2. To leave at the end of a day's work (as opposed to | |
leaving for a meal). "I'm going to flush now." "Time to | |
flush." 3. To exclude someone from an activity, or to ignore a | |
person. 4. [UNIX/C] To force buffered I/O to disk, as with an | |
`fflush(3)' call. This is *not* an abort as in sense #1, but a | |
demand for early completion! UNIX hackers find the ITS usage | |
confusing and vice versa. | |
flytrap: n. See {firewall machine}. | |
FOAF: [USENET] n. Written-only acronym for Friend Of A Friend. The | |
source of an unverified, possibly untrue story. This was not | |
originated by hackers (it is used in Jan Brunvand's books on urban | |
folklore), but is much better recognized on USENET and elsewhere | |
than in the mainstream. | |
FOD: v. [Abbreviation for `Finger of Death', originally a | |
spell-name from fantasy gaming] To terminate with extreme prejudice | |
and with no regard for other people. From {MUD}s where the | |
wizards' command `FOD <player>' results in the immediate and | |
total death of <player>, usually as punishment for obnoxious | |
behavior. This migrated to other circumstances, such as "I'm | |
going to fod that process which is burning all the CPU". Compare | |
{gun}. | |
fold case: v. See {smash case}. This term tends to be used more | |
by people who don't `mind' that their tools smash case. It | |
also connotes that case is ignored but case distinctions in data | |
processed by the tool in question aren't destroyed. | |
followup: n. On USENET, a {posting} generated in response to | |
another posting (as opposed to a {reply}, which goes by email | |
rather than being broadcast). Followups include the ID of the | |
{parent message} in their headers; smart news-readers can use | |
this information to present USENET news in `conversation' sequence | |
rather than order-of-arrival. See {thread}. | |
foo: /foo/ 1. interj. Term of disgust. 2. Name used for temporary | |
programs, or samples of three-letter names. Other similar words | |
are {bar}, {baz} (Stanford corruption of {bar}), and rarely RAG. | |
3. Used very generally as a sample name for absolutely anything. | |
4. First on the standard list of metasyntactic variables used in | |
syntax examples. See also: {bar}, {baz}, {qux}, {quux}, | |
{corge}, {grault}, {garply}, {waldo}, {fred}, {plugh}, {xyzzy}. | |
{foo} is the {canonical} example of a `metasyntactic variable'; a | |
name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is | |
under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under | |
discussion. To avoid confusion, hackers never use `foo' or other | |
words like it as permanent names for anything. | |
The etymology of hackish `foo' is obscure. When used in | |
connection with `bar' it is generally traced to the WWII-era army | |
slang acronym FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition), later | |
expurgated to {foobar} and then truncated. | |
However, the use of the word `foo' itself has more complicated | |
antecedents, including a long history in comic strips and cartoons. | |
The old `Smokey Stover' comic strips by Bill Holman often | |
included the word `FOO', in particular on license plates of cars; | |
allegedly, `FOO' and `BAR' also occurred in Walt Kelly's | |
`Pogo' strips. In a 1938 cartoon Daffy Duck holds up a sign | |
saying "SILENCE IS FOO!". It is even possible that hacker usage | |
actually springs from the title `FOO, Lampoons and Parody' of | |
a comic book first issued 20 years later, in September 1958; the | |
byline read `C. Crumb' but this may well have been a sort-of | |
pseudonym for noted weird-comix artist Robert Crumb. The title FOO | |
was featured in large letters on the front cover. | |
Very probably, hackish `foo' had no single origin and derives | |
through all these channels from Yiddish `feh' or English | |
`fooey!'. | |
foobar: n. Another common metasyntactic variable; see {foo}. | |
Note that hackers do *not* generally use this to mean FUBAR! | |
fool: n. As used by hackers, specifically describes a person who | |
habitually reasons from obviously or demonstrably incorrect | |
premises and cannot be persuaded by evidence to do otherwise; it is | |
not generally used in its other senses, i.e. to describe a person | |
with a native incapacity to reason correctly, or a clown. Indeed, | |
in hackish experience many fools are capable of reasoning all too | |
effectively in executing their errors. See also {cretin}, {loser}. | |
footprint: n. 1. The floor or desk area taken up by a piece of | |
hardware. 2. [IBM] The audit trail (if any) left by a crashed | |
program (often in plural, `footprints'). See also | |
{toeprint}. | |
for the rest of us: [from the Mac slogan "The computer for the | |
rest of us"] adj. Used to describe a {spiffy} product whose | |
affordability shames other comparable products, or (more often) | |
used sarcastically to describe {spiffy}, but very overpriced | |
products. | |
foreground: [UNIX] adj.,vt. On a time-sharing system, a task | |
executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return | |
output to the user; oppose {background}. Normally, there is only | |
one foreground task per terminal (or terminal window); having | |
multiple processes simultaneously reading the keyboard is a good | |
way to {lose}. By extension, to `foreground a task' is to bring | |
it to the top of one's {stack} for immediate processing, and in | |
this sense hackers often use it for non-computer tasks. | |
forked: [UNIX] adj. Terminally slow, or dead. Originated when the | |
system slowed to incredibly bad speeds due to a process recursively | |
spawning copies of itself (using the UNIX system call `fork(2)') | |
and taking up all the process table entries. | |
Fortrash: n. Hackerism for the FORTRAN language, referring to its | |
primitive design, gross and irregular syntax, limited control | |
constructs and slippery, exception-filled semantics. | |
fortune cookie: [UNIX] n. A random quote, item of trivia, joke or | |
maxim printed to the user's tty at login time or (less commonly) at | |
logout time. Items from this lexicon have often been used as | |
fortune cookies. | |
fossil: n. 1. In software, a misfeature that becomes understandable | |
only in historical context, as a remnant of times past retained so | |
as not to break compatibility. Example: the retention of octal as | |
default base for string escapes in {C}, in spite of the better match | |
of hexadecimal to modern byte-addressable architectures. See | |
{dusty deck}. 2. More restrictively, a feature with past but no | |
present utility. Example: the force-all-caps (LCASE) bits in the | |
V7 and {BSD UNIX} tty driver, designed for use with monocase | |
terminals. In a perversion of the usual backward-compatibility | |
goal, this functionality has actually been expanded and renamed in | |
some later {USG UNIX} releases as the IUCLC and OLCUC bits. 3. | |
FOSSIL (Fido/Opus/Seadog Standard Interface Level) specification for | |
serial-port access to replace the {brain-dead} routines in the IBM PC | |
ROMs. Fossils are used by most MSDOS {BBS} software in lieu of | |
programming the {bare metal} of the serial ports, as the ROM routines | |
do not support interrupt-driven operation or setting speeds above | |
9600. Since the FOSSIL specification allows additional functionality | |
to be hooked in, drivers which use the {hook} but do not provide | |
serial-port access themselves are named with a modifier, as in `video | |
fossil'. | |
fred: n. 1. The personal name most frequently used as a | |
metasyntactic variable (see {foo}). Allegedly popular because | |
it's easy to type on a standard QWERTY keyboard. Unlike {J. | |
Random Hacker} or {J. Random Loser} this name has no positive or | |
negative loading. 2. An acronym for `Flipping Ridiculous | |
Electronic Device' (other F-verbs may be substituted for | |
"flipping") | |
frednet: n. Used to refer to some {random} and uncommon protocol | |
encountered on a network. "We're implementing bridging in our | |
router to solve the frednet problem." | |
freeware: n. Free software, often written by enthusiasts and | |
usually distributed by electronic mail, local bulletin boards, | |
{USENET}, or other electronic media. At one time, `freeware' was | |
a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of the well-known | |
MS-DOS comm program PC-TALK III. It wasn't enforced after his | |
mysterious disappearance in 1984. See {shareware}. | |
freeze: v. To lock an evolving software distribution or document | |
against changes so it can be released with some hope of stability. | |
Carries the strong implication that the item in question will | |
`unfreeze' at some future date. "OK, fix that bug and we'll | |
freeze for release." | |
FReq: [FidoNet] written-only abbreviation for {File Request}. | |
fried: adj. 1. Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. | |
Especially used of hardware brought down by a `power glitch' | |
(see {glitch}), {drop-outs}, a short, or other electrical | |
event. (Sometimes this literally happens to electronic circuits! | |
In particular, resistors can burn out and transformers can melt | |
down, emitting terrible-smelling smoke. However, this term is also | |
used metaphorically.) 2. Of people, exhausted. Said particularly | |
of those who continue to work in such a state. Often used as an | |
explanation or excuse. "Yeah, I know that fix destroyed the file | |
system, but I was fried when I put it in." | |
fritterware: n. An excess of capability that serves no productive | |
end. The cononical example is font-diddling software on the Mac | |
(see {macdink}); the term describes anything which eats huge | |
amounts of time for quite marginal gains in function, but seduces | |
people into using it anyway. | |
frob: /frob/ 1. n. [MIT] The official Tech Model Railroad Club | |
definition was `FROB = protruding arm or trunnion', and by | |
metaphoric extension any somewhat small thing; an object that you | |
can comfortably hold in one hand; something you can frob. See | |
{frobnitz}. 2. vt. Abbreviated form of {frobnicate}. 3. [from the | |
{MUD} world] To request {wizard} privileges on the `professional | |
courtesy' grounds that one is a wizard elsewhere. | |
frobnicate: /frob'ni-kayt/ vt. [Poss. derived from {frobnitz}, and | |
usually abbreviated to {frob}, but {frobnicate} is recognized | |
as the official full form.] To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. | |
One frequently frobs bits or other two-state devices. Thus: | |
"Please frob the light switch." (That is, flip it), but also | |
"Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it." One also sees the | |
construction `to frob a frob'. See {tweak} and {twiddle}. | |
Usage: {frob}, {twiddle}, and {tweak} sometimes connote | |
points along a continuum. {frob} connotes aimless manipulation; | |
{twiddle} connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for | |
a proper setting; {tweak} connotes fine-tuning. If someone is | |
turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting | |
it, he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking | |
at the screen, he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing | |
it because turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it. The variant | |
`frobnosticate' has been recently reported. | |
frobnitz: /frob'nits/, pl. `frobnitzem' (frob'nit-zm) n. An | |
unspecified physical object, a widget. Also refers to electronic | |
black boxes. This rare form is usually abbreviated to `frotz', | |
or more commonly to {frob}. Also used are `frobnule' and | |
`frobule'. Starting perhaps in 1979, `frobozz' | |
/fruh-bahz'/, plural `frobbotzim' /fruh-bot'z@m/ has also | |
become very popular, largely due to its exposure as a name via | |
{Zork}. These can also be applied to nonphysical objects, such | |
as data structures. | |
frog: alt. `phrog' 1. interj. Term of disgust (we seem to have | |
a lot of them). 2. Used as a name for just about anything. See | |
{foo}. 3. n. Of things, a crock. Of people, somewhere | |
in between a turkey and a toad. 4. `froggy': adj. Similar to | |
`bagbiting' (see {bagbiter}), but milder. "This froggy | |
program is taking forever to run!" | |
front end: n. 1. An intermediary computer that doesn't do much. 2. | |
What you're talking to when you have a conversation with someone | |
who is making replies without paying attention. "Look at the | |
dancing elephants!" "Uh-huh." "Do you know what I just said?" | |
"Sorry, you were talking to the front end." 3. Software which | |
provides an interface to another program `behind' it, which may not | |
be as user-friendly. Probably from analogy with hardware | |
front-ends (see sense #1) which interfaced with mainframes. | |
frotz: /frotz/ 1. n. See {frobnitz}. 2. {mumble frotz}: An | |
interjection of very mild disgust. | |
frotzed: /frotzt/ adj. {down} due to hardware problems. | |
fry: 1. vi. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware | |
failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never | |
said of software, only of hardware and humans. See {fried}, {magic | |
smoke}. 2. vt. To cause to fail; to {roach}, {toast}, or {hose} a | |
piece of hardware (never used of software or humans). | |
FTP: /ef-tee-pee/, *not* /fit'ip/ 1. n. The File Transfer | |
Protocol for transmitting files between systems on the Internet. | |
2. vt. To transfer a file using the File Transfer Protocol. 3. | |
Sometimes used as a generic even for file transfers not using | |
{FTP}. "Lemme get this copy of `Wuthering Heights' ftp'd from | |
uunet." | |
fuck me harder: excl. Sometimes uttered in response to egregious | |
misbehavior, esp. in software, and esp. of those which seem | |
unfairly persistent (as though designed in by the imp of the | |
perverse). Often theatrically elaborated: "Aiighhh! Fuck me with | |
a piledriver and sixteen feet of curare-tipped wrought-iron fence | |
*and no lubricants!*" The phrase is sometimes heard | |
abbreviated FMH in polite company. | |
FUD: /fuhd/ n. Defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found | |
his own company: "FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM | |
sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might | |
be considering [Amdahl] products." The idea, of course, was to | |
persuade them to go with safe IBM gear rather than with | |
competitors' equipment. This was traditionally done by promising | |
that Good Things would happen to people who stuck with IBM, but | |
Dark Shadows loomed over the future of the competitors' equipment | |
or software. See {IBM}. | |
FUD wars: /fuhd worz/ n. [from {FUD}] Political posturing engaged in | |
by hardware and software vendors ostensibly committed to | |
standardization but actually willing to fragment the market to | |
protect their own shares. The OSF vs. UNIX International conflict, | |
for example. | |
fudge: 1. vt. To perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable | |
way, particularly with respect to the writing of a program. "I | |
didn't feel like going through that pain and suffering, so I fudged | |
it." 2. n. The resulting code. | |
fudge factor: n. A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way | |
to produce the desired result. The terms `tolerance' and | |
{slop} are also used, though these usually indicate a one-sided | |
leeway, such as a buffer that is made larger than necessary | |
because one isn't sure exactly how large it needs to be, and it is | |
better to waste a little space than to lose completely for not | |
having enough. A fudge factor, on the other hand, can often be | |
tweaked in more than one direction. A good example is the {fuzz} | |
typically needed in floating-point calculations: two numbers being | |
compared for equality must be allowed to differ by a small amount; | |
if that amount is too small, a computation may never terminate, | |
while if it is too large, results will be needlessly inaccurate. | |
Fudge factors are frequently adjusted incorrectly by programmers | |
who don't fully understand their import. See also {coefficient | |
of x}. | |
fuel up: vi. To eat or drink hurriedly in order to get back to | |
hacking. "Food-p?" "Yeah, let's fuel up." "Time for a | |
{great-wall}!". See also {{Oriental Food}}. | |
fuggly: /fuhg'lee/ adj. Emphatic form of {funky}; funky + ugly (or | |
possibly a contraction of `fuckin' ugly'). Unusually for hacker | |
slang, this may actually derive from black street-jive. To say it | |
properly, the first syllable should be growled rather than spoken. | |
Usage: humorous. "Man, the ASCII-to-{EBCDIC} code in that printer | |
driver is *fuggly*." See also {wonky}. | |
funky: adj. Said of something which functions, but in a slightly | |
strange, klugey way. It does the job and would be difficult to | |
change, so its obvious non-optimality is left alone. Often used to | |
describe interfaces. The more bugs something has that nobody has | |
bothered to fix because workarounds are easier, the funkier it is. | |
{TECO} and UUCP are funky. The Intel i860's exception handling is | |
extraordinarily funky. Most standards acquire funkiness as they | |
age. "The new mailer is installed, but is still somewhat funky; | |
if it bounces your mail for no reason, try resubmitting it." | |
"This UART is pretty funky. The data ready line is active-high in | |
interrupt mode, and active-low in DMA mode." See {fuggly}. | |
funny money: n. 1. Notional `dollar' units of computing time and/or | |
storage handed to students at the beginning of a computer course by | |
professors; also called `play money' or `purple money' (in | |
implicit opposition to real or `green' money). When your funny | |
money ran out, your account froze and you needed to go to a | |
professor to get more. Formerly a common practice, this has now | |
been made sufficiently rare by the plunging cost of timesharing | |
cycles that it has become folklore. The amounts allocated were | |
almost invariably too small, even for the non-hackers who wanted to | |
slide by with minimum work. In extreme cases, the practice led to | |
small-scale black markets in bootlegged computer accounts. 2. By | |
extension, phantom money or quantity tickets of any kind used as a | |
resource-allocation hack within a system. Antonym: `real money'. | |
fuzz: n. In floating-point arithmetic, the maximum difference allowed | |
between two quantities for them to compare equal. Has to be set | |
properly relative to the FPU's precision limits. See {fudge | |
factor}. | |
fuzzball: [TCP/IP hackers] n. A DEC LSI-11 running a particular suite | |
of homebrewed software by Dave Mills and assorted co-conspirators, | |
used in the early 1980s for Internet protocol testbedding and | |
experimentation. These were used as NSFnet backbone sites in its | |
early 56KB-line days; a few of these are still active on the | |
Internet as of early 1990, doing odd jobs such as network time | |
service. | |
= G = | |
===== | |
gabriel: /gay'bree-@l/ [for Dick Gabriel, SAIL LISP hacker and | |
volleyball fanatic] n. An unnecessary (in the opinion of the | |
opponent) stalling tactic, e.g., tying one's shoelaces or hair | |
repeatedly, asking the time, etc. Also used to refer to the | |
perpetrator of such tactics. Also, `pulling a Gabriel', | |
`Gabriel mode'. | |
gag: vi. Equivalent to {choke}, but connotes more disgust. "Hey, | |
this is FORTRAN code. No wonder the C compiler gagged." See also | |
{barf}. | |
gang bang: n. The use of large numbers of loosely coupled | |
programmers in an attempt to wedge a great many features into a | |
product in a short time. While there have been memorable gang | |
bangs (e.g., that over-the-weekend assembler port mentioned in | |
Steven Levy's `Hackers'), most are perpetrated by large | |
companies trying to meet deadlines and produce enormous buggy | |
masses of code entirely lacking in orthogonality (see | |
{orthogonal}). When market-driven managers make a list of all | |
the features the competition has and assign one programmer to | |
implement each, they often miss the importance of maintaining | |
strong invariants, like relational integrity. See also | |
{firefighting}, {Mongolian Hordes technique}. | |
garbage collect: vi. (also `garbage collection', n.) See {GC}. | |
garply: /gar'plee/ n. [Stanford] Another meta-syntactic variable (see | |
{foo}) popular among SAIL hackers. | |
gas: [as in `gas chamber'] interj. 1. A term of disgust and hatred, | |
implying that gas should be dispensed in generous quantities, | |
thereby exterminating the source of irritation. "Some loser just | |
reloaded the system for no reason! Gas!" 2. A term suggesting | |
that someone or something ought to be flushed out of mercy. "The | |
system's wedging every few minutes. Gas!" 3. vt. To {flush}. | |
"You should gas that old crufty software." 4. GASEOUS adj. | |
Deserving of being gassed. Usage: primarily used by Geoff | |
Goodfellow at SRI, but spreading; became particularly popular after | |
the Moscone/Milk murders in San Francisco, when it was learned that | |
Dan White (who supported Proposition 7) would get the gas chamber | |
under 7 if convicted. He was eventually found not guilty by reason | |
of insanity. 5. [IBM] Dead space in nonsequentially organized | |
files that was occupied by data that has been deleted; the compression | |
operation that removes it is called `degassing' (by analogy, | |
perhaps, with the technical term `degaussing'). | |
GC: /jee-see/ [from LISP terminology; `Garbage Collect'] 1. vt. To | |
clean up and throw away useless things. "I think I'll GC the | |
top of my desk today." When said of files, this is equivalent to | |
{GFR}. 2. vt. To recycle, reclaim, or put to another use. 3. n. | |
An instantiation of the garbage collector process. `Garbage | |
collection' is computer science jargon for a particular class of | |
strategies for dynamically reallocating computer memory. One such | |
strategy involves periodically scanning all the data in memory and | |
determining what is no longer useful; useless data items are then | |
discarded so that the memory they occupy can be recycled and used | |
for another purpose. Implementations of the LISP language usually | |
use garbage collection. In slang, the full phrase is sometimes | |
heard but the acronym is more frequently used because it's shorter. | |
Note that there is an ambiguity in usage that has to be resolved by | |
context: "I'm going to garbage-collect my desk" usually means to | |
clean out the drawers, but it could also mean to throw away or | |
recycle the desk itself. | |
Warning: in {X} programming, a `GC' may be a graphics context. This | |
technical term has nothing to do with the jargon {GC}! | |
GCOS: n. A quick and dirty {clone} of System/360 DOS that emerged | |
from GE about 1970; originally called GECOS (the General Electric | |
Comprehensive Operating System) and later kluged to support | |
primitive timesharing and transaction processing. After the buyout | |
of GE's computer division by Honeywell, the name was changed to | |
General Comprehensive Operating System (GCOS). Other OS groups at | |
Honeywell began referring to it as `God's Chosen Operating System', | |
allegedly in reaction to the GCOS crowd's uninformed and snotty | |
attitude about the superiority of their product. All this might be | |
of zero interest, except for two facts: 1. the GCOS people won the | |
political war, resulting in the orphaning and eventual death of | |
Honeywell {Multics}, and 2. GECOS/GCOS left one permanent mark | |
on UNIX. Some early UNIX systems at Bell Labs were used as front | |
ends to GCOS machines; the field added to /etc/passwd to carry GCOS | |
ID information was called the `GECOS field' and survives today as | |
the pw_gecos member used for the user's full name and other | |
human-id information. GCOS later played a major role in keeping | |
Honeywell a dismal also-ran in the mainframe market, and was itself | |
ditched for UNIX in the late 1980s when Honeywell retired its aging | |
{big iron} designs. | |
GECOS: n. See GCOS. | |
gedanken: /g@-dahn'kn/ adj. Wild-eyed; impractical; not | |
well-thought-out; untried; untested. `Gedanken' is a German word | |
for `thought'. A thought experiment is one you carry out in your | |
head. In physics, the term `gedanken experiment' is used to | |
refer to an experiment that is impractical to carry out, but useful | |
to consider because you can reason about it theoretically. (A | |
classic gedanken experiment of relativity theory involves thinking | |
about a man flying through space in an elevator.) Gedanken | |
experiments are very useful in physics, but you have to be careful. | |
It was a gedanken experiment that led Aristotle to conclude that | |
heavy things always fall faster than light things (he thought about | |
a rock and a feather); this was accepted until Galileo proved | |
otherwise. | |
Among hackers, however, the word has a pejorative connotation. It | |
is said of a project, especially one in artificial intelligence | |
research, which is written up in grand detail (typically as a Ph.D. | |
thesis) without ever being implemented to any great extent. Such a | |
project is usually perpetrated by people who aren't very good | |
hackers or find programming distasteful or are just in a hurry. A | |
gedanken thesis is usually marked by an obvious lack of intuition | |
about what is programmable and what is not, and about what does and | |
does not constitute a clear specification of an algorithm. | |
geek out: vi. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a | |
non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer | |
equipment. Especially used when you need to do something highly | |
technical and don't have time to explain: "Pardon me while I geek | |
out for a moment." | |
gen: /jen/ n.,v. Short for {generate}, used frequently in both spoken | |
and written contexts. | |
gender mender: n., A cable connector shell with either two male or | |
two female connectors on it, used to correct the mismatches that | |
result when some {loser} didn't understand the RS232C | |
specification and the distinction between DTE and DCE. Used esp. | |
for RS-232C parts in either the original D-25 or the IBM PC's bogus | |
D-9 format. Also called a `gender bender', `gender | |
blender', `sex changer' and even `homosexual adaptor'; | |
there appears to be some confusion as to whether a `male homosexual | |
adapter' has pins on both sides (is male) or sockets on both sides | |
(connects two males) | |
General Public Virus: n. Pejorative name for some versions of the | |
{GNU} project {copyleft} or General Public License (GPL), which | |
requires that any tools or {app}s incorporating copylefted code | |
must be source-distributed on the same counter-commercial terms as | |
GNU stuff. Thus it is alleged that the copyleft `infects' software | |
generated with GNU tools, which may in turn infect other software | |
that reuses any of its code. The Free Software Foundation's | |
official position as of January 1991 is that copyright law limits | |
the scope of the GPL to "programs textually incorporating | |
significant amounts of GNU code", and that the `infection' is not | |
passed on to third parties unless actual GNU source is transmitted | |
(as in, for example, use of the Bison parser skeleton). | |
Nevertheless, widespread suspicion that the {copyleft} language | |
is `boobytrapped' has caused many developers to avoid using GNU | |
tools and the GPL. | |
generate: vt. To produce something according to an algorithm or | |
program or set of rules, or as a (possibly unintended) side effect | |
of the execution of an algorithm or program. The opposite of | |
{parse}. This term retains its mechanistic connotations (though | |
often humorously) when used of human behavior. "The guy is | |
rational most of the time, but mention nuclear energy around him | |
and he'll generate {infinite} flamage." | |
gensym: [from MacLisp for `Generated Symbol'] 1. v. To invent a new | |
name for something temporary, in such a way that the name is almost | |
certainly not already in conflict with one already in use. 2. n. | |
The resulting name. The canonical form of a gensym is `Gnnnn' | |
where nnnn represents a number; any LISP hacker would recognize | |
G0093 (for example) as a gensym. 3. A freshly generated data | |
structure with a gensymmed name. These are useful for storing or | |
uniquely identifying crufties (see {cruft}). | |
Get a life!: imp. Hacker-standard way of suggesting that the person | |
to whom you are speaking has succumbed to terminal geekdom (see | |
{computer geek}). Often heard on {USENET}, esp. as a way of | |
suggesting that the target is taking some obscure issue of | |
{theology} too seriously. This exhortation was popularized by | |
William Shatner on a Saturday Night Live episode in a speech which | |
ended "Get a *life*!", but some respondents believe it to | |
have been in use before then. | |
Get a real computer!: imp. Typical hacker response to news that | |
somebody is having trouble getting work done on a system that (a) | |
is single-tasking, (b) has no Winchester, or (c) has an address | |
space smaller than 4 megabytes. This is as of mid-1991; note that | |
the threshold for `real computer' rises with time, and it may well | |
be (for example) that machines with character-only displays will be | |
considered `unreal' in a few years. See {essentials}, {bitty | |
box} and {toy}. | |
GFR: /jee eff ar/ vt. [acronym, ITS] From "Grim File Reaper", an | |
ITS utility. To remove a file or files according to some | |
program-automated or semi-automatic manual procedure, especially | |
one designed to reclaim mass storage space or reduce namespace | |
clutter. Often generalized to pieces of data below file level. | |
"I used to have his phone number but I guess I {GFR}ed it." See | |
also {prowler}, {reaper}. Compare {GC}, which discards only | |
provably worthless stuff. | |
gig: /jig/ or /gig/ n. Short for `gigabyte' (1024 megabytes); | |
used in describing amounts of {core} or mass storage. Also | |
written `GB'. "My machine just got upgraded to a quarter-gig". | |
See also {K} and {kilo-}. | |
giga-: /ji'ga/ or /gi'ga/ pref. Multiplier, 10 ^ 9 or 2 ^ 30. See | |
{kilo-}. | |
GIGO: /gie'goh/ [acronym] 1. Garbage In, Garbage out --- usually said | |
in response to lusers who complain that a program didn't complain | |
about faulty data. Also commonly used to describe failures in | |
human decision making due to faulty, incomplete, or imprecise data. | |
2. Garbage In, Gospel Out --- this more recent expansion is a | |
sardonic comment on the tendency human beings have to put excessive | |
trust in "computerized" data. | |
gillion: /jill'y@n/ n. 10 ^ 9. [From {giga-}, following | |
construction of mega/million and notional tera/trillion] Same as an | |
American billion or a British `milliard'. | |
glark: /glark/ vt. To figure something out from context. "The | |
System III manuals are pretty poor, but you can generally glark the | |
meaning from context". Interestingly, the word was originally | |
`glork'; the context was "This gubblick contains many nonsklarkish | |
English flutzpahs, but the overall pluggandisp can be glorked [sic] | |
from context," by David Moser, quoted by Douglas Hofstadter in his | |
`Metamagical Themas' column in the January 1981 Scientific | |
American. It is conjectured that hackish usage mutated the verb to | |
`glark' because {glork} was already an established jargon term. | |
glass: [IBM] n. Synonym for {silicon}. | |
glass tty: /glas tee-tee-wie/ or /glas ti'tee/ n. A terminal which | |
has a display screen but which, because of hardware or software | |
limitations, behaves like a teletype or other printing terminal, | |
thereby combining the disadvantages of both: like a printing | |
terminal, it can't do fancy display hacks, and like a display | |
terminal, it doesn't produce hard copy. An example is the early | |
`dumb' version of Lear-Siegler ADM-3 (without cursor control). See | |
{tube}, {tty}. See Appendix A for an interesting true story | |
about glass ttys. | |
glassfet: /glas'fet/ [by analogy with MOSFET, Metal Oxide Field | |
Effect Transistor] n. Same as {firebottle}, a humorous way to | |
refer to a vacuum tube. | |
glitch: /glich/ [from German `glitschen' to slip, via Yiddish | |
`glitshen', to slide or skid] 1. n. A sudden interruption in | |
electric service, sanity, continuity, or program function. | |
Sometimes recoverable. An interruption in electric service is | |
specifically called a `power glitch'. This is of grave concern | |
because it usually crashes all the computers. More common in | |
slang, though, a hacker who got to the middle of a sentence and | |
then forgot how he or she intended to complete it might say, | |
"Sorry, I just glitched". 2. vi. To commit a glitch. See | |
{gritch}. 3. vt. [Stanford] To scroll a display screen several | |
lines at a time. This derives from some oddities in the terminal | |
behavior under the mutant TOPS-10 formerly used at SAIL. 4. (obs.) | |
Same as {magic cookie}, sense #2. | |
glob: /glob/, *not* /glohb/ [UNIX, from `glob', the name | |
of a subprogram that translated wildcards in archaic Bourne Shell | |
versions] vt.,n. To expand special characters in a wildcarded name, | |
or the act of so doing (the action is also called `globbing'). | |
The UNIX conventions for filename wildcarding have become | |
sufficiently pervasive that many hackers use some of them in | |
written English, especially in email or news on technical topics. | |
Those commonly encountered include: | |
* wildcard for any string (see also {UN*X}). | |
? wildcard for any character (generally only read this way | |
at the beginning or in the middle of a word). | |
[] wildcard matching one character from a specified set. | |
{} alternation of comma-separated alternatives. Thus, | |
`foo{baz,qux}' would be read as `foobaz' or `fooqux'. | |
Some examples: "He said his name was [KC]arl" (expresses | |
ambiguity). "That got posted to talk.politics.*" (all the | |
talk.politics subgroups on {USENET}). Other examples are given | |
under the entry for {X}. | |
glork: /glork/ 1. interj. Term of mild surprise, usually tinged with | |
outrage, as when one attempts to save the results of two hours of | |
editing and finds that the system has just crashed. 2. Used as a | |
name for just about anything. See {foo}. 3. vt. Similar to | |
{glitch}, but usually used reflexively. "My program just glorked | |
itself." | |
glue: n. Generic term for any interface logic or protocol that | |
connects between two monolithic component blocks. For example, the | |
{Blue Glue} is IBM's SNA protocol, and hardware designers call | |
anything used to connect large VLSI's or circuit blocks "glue | |
logic". | |
gnarly: adj. Both {obscure} and {hairy} in the sense of complex. | |
"Yeech --- the tuned assembler implementation of BitBlt is really | |
gnarly!" From a similar but less specific usage in surfer slang. | |
GNU: /gnoo/, *not* /noo/ 1. [acronym for "GNU's Not UNIX!"] | |
A UNIX-workalike development effort of the Free Software Foundation | |
headed by Richard Stallman (rms@prep.ai.mit.edu). GNU EMACS and | |
the GNU C compiler, two tools designed for this project, have | |
become very popular in hackerdom. The GNU project was designed | |
partly to proselytize for RMS's position that information is | |
community property and all software source should be shared (one of | |
its slogans is "Help stamp out software hoarding!"). Though this | |
remains controversial (because it implicitly denies any right of | |
designers to own, assign and sell the results of their labors), many | |
hackers who disagree with him have nevertheless cooperated to | |
produce large amounts of high-quality software available for free | |
redistribution under the Free Software Foundation imprimatur. See | |
{EMACS}, {copyleft}, {General Public Virus}. 2. Noted UNIX | |
hacker John Gilmore (gnu@toad.com), founder of USENET's anarchic | |
alt.* hierarchy. | |
GNUMACS: /gnoo'maks/ [contraction of `Gnu Emacs'] Often-heard | |
abbreviated name for the {GNU} project's flagship tool, {EMACS}. | |
Used esp. in contrast with {GOSMACS}. | |
go flatline: [from cyberpunk SF, refers to flattening of EEG traces | |
upon brain-death] vi., also adjectival `flatlined'. 1. To die, | |
terminate, or fail, esp. irreversibly. In hacker parlance, this is | |
used of machines only, human death being considered somewhat too | |
serious a matter to employ jargon-jokes about. 2. To go completely | |
quiescent; said of machines undergoing controlled shutdown. "You | |
can suffer file damage if you shut down UNIX but power off before | |
the system has gone flatline." 3. Of a video tube, to fail by | |
losing vertical scan, so all one sees is a bright horizontal line | |
bisecting the screen. | |
gobble: vt. To consume or to obtain. The phrase `gobble up' tends to | |
imply `consume', while `gobble down' tends to imply `obtain'. | |
"The output spy gobbles characters out of a {tty} output buffer." | |
"I guess I'll gobble down a copy of the documentation tomorrow." | |
See also {snarf}. | |
golden: adj. [perh. from folklore's `golden egg'] When used to | |
describe a magnetic medium (e.g. `golden disk', `golden tape'), | |
describes one containing a tested, up-to-spec, ready-to-ship | |
software version. | |
gonk: /gonk/ vt.,n. 1. To prevaricate or to embellish the truth | |
beyond any reasonable recognition. It is alleged that in German | |
the term is (fictively) `gonken', in Spanish the verb becomes | |
`gonkar'. "You're gonking me. That story you just told me is a | |
bunch of gonk." In German, for example, "Du gonkst mir" (You're | |
pulling my leg). See also {gonkulator}. 2. [British] To grab some | |
sleep at an odd time. | |
gonkulator: /gon'kyoo-lay-tr/ [from the old `Hogan's Heroes' TV | |
series] n. A pretentious piece of equipment that actually serves no | |
useful purpose. Usually used to describe one's least favorite | |
piece of computer hardware. See {gonk}. | |
gonzo: /gon'zo/ [from Hunter S. Thompson] adj. Overwhelming; | |
outrageous; over the top; very large, esp. used of collections of | |
source code, source files or individual functions. Has some of the | |
connotations of {moby} and {hairy}. | |
Good Thing: adj. Often capitalized; always pronounced as if | |
capitalized. 1. Self-evidently wonderful to anyone in a position | |
to notice: "The Trailblazer's 19.2Kbaud PEP mode with on-the-fly | |
Lempel-Ziv compression is a Good Thing for sites relaying | |
netnews." 2. Something which can't possibly have any ill | |
side-effects and may save considerable grief later: "Removing the | |
self-modifying code from that shared library would be a Good | |
Thing." 3. When said of software tools or libraries, as in "YACC | |
is a Good Thing", specifically connotes that the thing has | |
drastically reduced a programmer's work load. Oppose {Bad | |
Thing}. | |
gorilla arm: n. The side-effect that destroyed touch-screens as a | |
mainstream input technology despite a promising start in the early | |
eighties. It seems the designers of all those {spiffy} touch-menu | |
systems failed to notice that humans aren't designed to hold their | |
arms in front of their faces making small motions. After more than | |
a very few selections, the arm begins to feel sore, cramped, and | |
oversized, hence `gorilla arm'. This is now considered a classic | |
Horrible Example and cautionary tale to human-factors designers; | |
"Remember the gorilla arm!" is shorthand for "How's this gonna | |
fly in *real* use?" | |
gorp: /gorp/ [CMU, perhaps from the canonical hiker's food, Good | |
Old Raisins and Peanuts] Another metasyntactic variable, like | |
{foo} and {bar}. | |
GOSMACS: /goz'maks/ [contraction of `Gosling Emacs'] n. The first | |
{EMACS}-in-C implementation, predating but now largely eclipsed by | |
{GNUMACS}. Originally freeware; a commercial version is now | |
modestly popular as `UniPress Emacs'. The author (James Gosling) | |
went on to invent {NeWS}. | |
Gosperism: /gos'p@r-iz-m/ A hack, invention, or saying by | |
arch-hacker R. William (Bill) Gosper. This notion merits its own | |
term because there are so many of them. Many of the entries in | |
{HAKMEM} are Gosperisms; see also {life}. | |
gotcha: n. A misfeature of a system, especially a programming | |
language or environment, which tends to breed bugs or mistakes | |
because it behaves in a non-intuitive way. For example a classic | |
gotcha in {C} is the fact that `if (a=b) {code;}' is a | |
syntactically valid and sometimes even correct. It puts the value | |
of b into a and then executes `code' if b is non-zero. What | |
the programmer probably meant was `if (a==b) {code;}' which | |
executes "code" if a and b are equal. | |
GPL: n. Abbrev. for `General Public License' in widespread use; see | |
{copyleft}. | |
GPV: n. Abbrev. for {General Public Virus} in widespread use. | |
grault: /grawlt/ n. Yet another meta-syntactic variable, invented by | |
Mike Gallaher and propagated by the {GOSMACS} documentation. See | |
{corge}. | |
gray goo: n. A hypothetical substance composed of {sagan}s of | |
sub-micron-sized self-replicating robots programmed to make copies | |
of themselves out of whatever is available. The image that goes | |
with the term is one of the entire biosphere of Earth being | |
eventually converted to robot goo. This is the simplest of the | |
{nanotechnology} disaster scenarios, easily refuted by arguments | |
from energy requirements and elemental abundances. | |
Great Renaming: n. The {flag day} on which all of the groups on the | |
{USENET} had their names changed from the net.- format to the | |
current multiple-hierarchies scheme. | |
Great Runes: n. Uppercase-only text or display messages. Some | |
archaic operating systems still emit these. See also {runic}, | |
{smash case}, {fold case}. | |
great-wall: [from SF fandom] vi.,n. A mass expedition to an | |
Oriental restaurant, esp. one where food is served family-style and | |
shared. There is a common heuristic about the amount of food to | |
order, expressed as "Get N - 1 entrees."; the value of N, which is | |
the number of people in the group, can be inferred from context. | |
See {{Oriental Food}}, {ravs}, {stir-fried random}. | |
Green Book: n. 1. One of the three standard PostScript references | |
(`PostScript Language Program Design', Adobe Systems, | |
Addison-Wesley 1988, QA76.73.P67P66 ISBN 0-201-14396-8); see also | |
{Red Book}, {Blue Book}). 2. Informal name for one of the three | |
standard references on SmallTalk: `Smalltalk-80: Bits of | |
History, Words of Advice', Glenn Krasner, Addison-Wesley 1983, | |
QA76.8.S635S58, ISBN 0-201-11669-3 (this is also associated with | |
blue and red books). 3. The `X/Open Compatibility Guide'. | |
Defines an international standard {UNIX} environment that is a | |
proper superset of POSIX/SVID; also includes descriptions of a | |
standard utility toolkit, systems administrations features, and the | |
like. This grimoire is taken with particular seriousness in | |
Europe. See {Purple Book}. 4. The IEEE 1003.1 POSIX Operating | |
Systems Interface standard has been dubbed "The Ugly Green Book". | |
5. Any of the 1992 standards which will be issued by the CCITT 10th | |
plenary assembly. Until now, these have changed color each review | |
cycle (1984 was {Red Book}, 1988 {Blue Book}); however, it is | |
rumored that this convention is going to be dropped before 1992. | |
These include, among other things, the X.400 email spec and the | |
Group 1 through 4 fax standards. See also {Blue Book}, {Red Book}, | |
{Green Book}, {Silver Book}, {Purple Book}, {Orange Book}, {White | |
Book}, {Dragon Book}, {Pink-Shirt Book}, {Aluminum Book}. | |
green bytes: n. 1. Meta-information embedded in a file such as the | |
length of the file or its name; as opposed to keeping such | |
information in a separate description file or record. Name comes | |
from an IBM user's group meeting c.1962 where these two approaches | |
were being debated and the diagram of the file on the blackboard | |
had the `green bytes' drawn in green. 2. By extension, the | |
non-data bits in any self-describing format. "A GIF file | |
contains, among other things, green bytes describing the packing | |
method for the image." | |
green card: n. [after the IBM System/360 Reference Data card] This | |
is used for any summary of an assembly language, even if the color is | |
not green. Less frequently used now because of the decrease in the | |
use of assembly language. "I'll go get my green card so I can | |
check the addressing mode for that instruction." Some green cards | |
are actually booklets. | |
The original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 | |
was introduced, and later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM | |
refers to a scene that took place in a programmers' terminal room | |
at Yorktown in 1978. A luser overheard one of the programmers ask | |
another "Do you have a green card?". The other grunted and | |
passed the first a thick yellow booklet. At this point the luser | |
turned a delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never | |
to return. See also {card}. | |
green lightning: [IBM] n. 1. Apparently random flashing streaks on | |
the face of 3278-9 terminals while a new symbol set is being | |
downloaded. This hardware bug was left deliberately unfixed, as | |
some genius within IBM suggested it would let the user know that | |
`something is happening'. That, it certainly does. Later | |
microprocessor-driven IBM color graphics displays were actually | |
*emph* to produce green lightning! 2. [proposed] Any bug | |
perverted into an alleged feature by adroit rationalization or | |
marketing. E.g., "Motorola calls the CISC cruft in the 88000 | |
architecture `compatibility logic', but I call it green | |
lightning". | |
green machine: n. A computer or peripheral device that has been | |
designed and built to military specifications for field equipment | |
(that is, to withstand mechanical shock, extremes of temperature | |
and humidity, and so forth). Comes from the olive-drab `uniform' | |
paint used for military equipment. | |
grep: /grep/ [from the qed/ed editor idiom g/re/p , where | |
re stands for a regular expression, to Globally search for the | |
Regular Expression and Print the lines containing matches to it, | |
via {UNIX} `grep(1)'] vt. To rapidly scan a file or file set | |
looking for a particular string or pattern. By extension, to look | |
for something by pattern. "Grep the bulletin board for the system | |
backup schedule, would you?" See also {vgrep}. | |
grind: vt. 1. [MIT and Berkeley] To format code, especially LISP | |
code, by indenting lines so that it looks pretty. This usage was | |
associated with the MACLISP community and is now rare; | |
{prettyprint} was and is the generic term for such operations. | |
2. [UNIX] To generate the formatted version of a document from the | |
nroff, troff, TeX, or Scribe source. The BSD program | |
`vgrind(1)' grinds code for printing on a Versatec bitmapped | |
printer. 3. To run seemingly interminably, esp. (but not | |
necessarily) if performing some tedious and inherently useless | |
task. Similar to {crunch} or {grovel}. Grinding has a | |
connotation of using a lot of CPU time, but it is possible to grind | |
a disk, network, etc. See also {hog}. 4. To make the whole | |
system slow, e.g. "Troff really makes things grind to a halt on a | |
PDP-11". 5. `grind grind' excl. Roughly, "Isn't the machine | |
slow today!" | |
grind crank: n. A mythical accessory to a terminal. A crank on the | |
side of a monitor, which when operated makes a zizzing noise and | |
causes the computer to run faster. Usually one does not refer to a | |
grind crank out loud, but merely makes the appropriate gesture and | |
noise. See {grind}, and {wugga wugga}. | |
Historical note: At least one real machine actually had a grind | |
crank --- the R1, a research machine built towards the the end of | |
the days of the great vacuum tube computers in 1959. R1 (also | |
known as `The Rice Institute Computer' (TRIC), and later as `The | |
Rice University Computer' (TRUC)) had a single step/free run switch | |
for use when debugging programs. Since single-stepping through a | |
large program was rather tedious, there was also a crank with a cam | |
and gear arrangement that repeatedly pushed the single-step button. | |
This allowed one to `crank' through a lot of code, then slow down | |
to single-step a bit when you got near the code of interest, poke | |
at some registers using the console typewriter, and then keep on | |
cranking. | |
gritch: /grich/ 1. n. A complaint (often caused by a {glitch}). 2. | |
vi. To complain. Often verb-doubled: "Gritch gritch". 3. A | |
synonym for {glitch} (as verb or noun). | |
grok: /grok/ [from the novel `Stranger in a Strange Land', by | |
Robert Heinlein, where it is a Martian verb meaning literally `to | |
drink' and metaphorically `to be one with'] vt. 1. To | |
understand, usually in a global sense. Connotes intimate and | |
exhaustive knowledge. Contrast {zen}, similar supernal | |
understanding as a single brief flash. 2. Used of programs, may | |
connote merely sufficient understanding, e.g., "Almost all C | |
compilers grok void these days." | |
gronk: /gronk/ [popularized by the comic strip `B.C.' by Johnny | |
Hart, but the word apparently predates that] vt. 1. To clear the | |
state of a wedged device and restart it. More severe than "to | |
{frob}". 2. To break. "The teletype scanner was gronked, | |
so we took the system down." 3. `gronked': adj. Of people, the | |
condition of feeling very tired or sick. Oppose {broken}, which | |
means about the same as {gronk} used of hardware but connotes | |
depression or mental/emotional problems in people. 4. `gronk out': | |
vi. To cease functioning. Of people, to go home and go to sleep. | |
"I guess I'll gronk out now; see you all tomorrow." 5. The sound | |
made by many 3.5" diskette drives. In particular, the floppies on | |
a Commodore Amiga go "grink, gronk". | |
grovel: vi. 1. To work interminably and without apparent progress. | |
Often used transitively with `over' or `through'. "The file | |
scavenger has been grovelling through the file directories for ten | |
minutes now." Compare {grind} and {crunch}. Emphatic form: | |
`grovel obscenely'. 2. To examine minutely or in complete detail. | |
"The compiler grovels over the entire source program before | |
beginning to translate it." "I grovelled through all the | |
documentation, but I still couldn't find the command I wanted." | |
grunge: n. 1. That which is {grungy}, or that which makes it so. | |
2. [Cambridge] Code which is `dead' (can never be accessed) due to | |
changes in other parts of the program. The preferred term in North | |
America is {dead code}. | |
grungy: /gruhn'jee/ adj. Incredibly dirty, greasy, or grubby. | |
Anything which has been washed within the last year is not really | |
grungy. Also used metaphorically; hence some programs (especially | |
crocks) can be described as grungy. | |
The earliest print use anybody has reported to use of `grungy' is | |
from the National Lampoon parody `Bored Of the Rings', dating | |
from the late 1960s. It has been suggested that this term | |
originated with Vietnam vets. It has recently (as of 1991) also | |
common in mainstream slang. | |
gubbish: /guh'bish/ [a portmanteau of "garbage" and "rubbish"?] | |
n. Garbage; crap; nonsense. "What is all this gubbish?" The | |
opposite portmanteau "rubbage" is also reported. | |
guiltware: n. {freeware} decorated with a message telling one how | |
long and hard the author worked on this program and intimating that | |
one is a no-good freeloader if one does not immediately send the | |
poor suffering martyr gobs of money. | |
gumby: /guhm'bee/ [from a class of Monty Python characters, poss. | |
themselves named after a '60s claymation character] n. An act of | |
minor but conspicuous stupidity, often in `gumby maneuver' or | |
`pull a gumby'. | |
gun: [from the :GUN command on ITS] vt. To forcibly terminate a | |
program or job (computer, not career). "Some idiot left a | |
background process running soaking up half the cycles, so I gunned | |
it." Compare {can}. | |
gurfle: /ger'fl/ interj. An expression of shocked disbelief. "He | |
said we have to recode this thing in FORTRAN by next week. | |
Gurfle!" Compare {weeble}. | |
guru: n. 1. [UNIX] An expert. Implies not only {wizard} skill but a | |
history of being a knowledge resource for others. Less often, used | |
(with a qualifier) for other experts on other systems, as in `VMS | |
guru'. 2. Amiga equivalent of "panic" in UNIX. When the system | |
crashes a cryptic message "GURU MEDITATION #XXXXXXXX.YYYYYYYY" | |
appears, indicating what the problem was. An Amiga guru can figure | |
things out from the numbers. Generally a {guru} event must be | |
followed by a {vulcan nerve pinch}. | |
= H = | |
===== | |
h: [from SF fandom] infix. A method of `marking' common words in the | |
linguist's sense, i.e. calling attention to the fact that they are | |
being used in a nonstandard, ironic, or humorous way. Orig. in the | |
fannish catchphrase "Bheer is the One True Ghod" from decades | |
ago. H-infix marking of `Ghod' and other words spread into the | |
Sixties counterculture via underground comix, and into early | |
hackerdom either from the counterculture or SF fandom (all three | |
overlapped heavily at the time). More recently, the h infix has | |
become an expected feature of benchmark names, e.g. Whetstone, | |
Dhrystone, Rhealstone, etc.; this is prob. patterning on the | |
original Whetstone name but influenced by the | |
fannish/counterculture H infix. | |
ha ha only serious: [from SF fandom, orig. as mutation of HHOK, | |
"Ha Ha Only Kidding"] A phrase that aptly captures the flavor of | |
much hacker discourse (often seen abbreviated as HHOS). Applied | |
especially to parodies, absurdities, and ironic jokes that are both | |
intended and perceived to contain a possibly disquieting amount of | |
truth, or truths which are constructed on in-joke and self-parody. | |
This lexicon contains many examples of ha-ha-only-serious in | |
both form and content. Indeed, the entirety of hacker culture is | |
often perceived as ha-ha-only-serious by hackers themselves; to | |
take it either too lightly or too seriously marks a person as an | |
outsider, a {wannabee}, or in {larval stage}. For further | |
enlightenment on this subject, consult any Zen master. See also | |
{{Humor, Hacker}} and {AI koans}. | |
hack: 1. n. Originally a quick job that produces what is needed, | |
but not well. 2. n. An incredibly good, and perhaps very | |
time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed. | |
3. n. The result of a hack (sense #1 or #2). 4. vt. To bear | |
emotionally or physically. "I can't hack this heat!" 5. vt. To | |
work on something (typically a program). In specific sense: "What | |
are you doing?" "I'm hacking TECO." In general sense: "What | |
do you do around here?" "I hack TECO." (The former is | |
time-immediate, the latter time-extended.) More generally, "I | |
hack x" is roughly equivalent to "x is my major interest (or | |
project)". "I hack solid-state physics." 6. vt. To pull a | |
prank on. See definition 3 and {hacker} (sense #6). 7. vi. To | |
waste time (as opposed to {tool}). "Whatcha up to?" "Oh, | |
just hacking." 8. [UNIX] n. A dungeon game similar to {rogue} | |
but more elaborate, distributed in C source over {USENET} and | |
very popular at UNIX sites and on PC-class machines. Recent | |
versions are called `nethack'. 9. n. Short for {hacker}, which | |
see. | |
Constructions on this term abound. They include: `happy | |
hacking', a farewell; `how's hacking?', a friendly greeting | |
among hackers; and `hack hack', a fairly content-free but | |
friendly comment, often used as a temporary farewell. For more on | |
the meaning of {hack} see Appendix A. See also {neat hack}, | |
{real hack}. | |
hack attack: [poss. by analogy with `Big Mac Attack'] n. Nearly | |
synonymous with {hacking run}, though the latter implies an | |
all-nighter more strongly. | |
hack mode: n. 1. What one is in when hacking, of course. 2. More | |
specifically, a Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem which | |
may be achieved when one is hacking (this is why every good hacker | |
is half a mystic). Ability to enter such concentration at will | |
correlates strongly with wizardliness; it is one of the most | |
important skills learned during {larval stage}. Sometimes | |
amplified as `deep hack mode'. | |
Being yanked out of hack mode (see {priority interrupt}) may be | |
experienced as an almost physical shock, and the sensation of being | |
in it is more than a little habituating. The intensity of this | |
experience is probably by itself sufficient explanation for the | |
existence of hackers, and explains why many resist being promoted | |
out of positions where they can do code. See also {cyberspace} | |
(sense #2). | |
Some aspects of hackish etiquette will appear quite odd to an | |
observer unaware of the high value placed on hack mode. For | |
example, if someone appears at your office door, it is perfectly | |
okay to hold up a hand (without turning one's eyes away from the | |
screen) to avoid being interrupted. One may read, type and | |
interact with the computer for quite some time before further | |
acknowledging the other's presence (of course, he/she is | |
reciprocally free to leave without a word). The understanding is | |
that you might be in {hack mode} with a lot of delicate {state} | |
(sense #2) in your head, and you dare not {swap out} that context | |
until you have reached a good point to pause. | |
hack on: vt. To {hack}; implies that the subject is some | |
pre-existing hunk of code that one is evolving, as opposed to | |
something one might {hack up}. | |
hack together: vt. To throw something together so it will work. | |
Unlike {kluge together} or {cruft together} this does not | |
necessarily have negative connotations. | |
hack up: vt. To {hack}, but generally implies that the result is | |
a hack in sense #1 (a quick hack). Contrast this with {hack on}. | |
To `hack up on' implies a quick and dirty modification to an | |
existing system. | |
hack value: n. Often adduced as the reason or motivation for | |
expending effort toward a seemingly useless goal, the point being | |
that the accomplished goal is a hack. For example, MacLISP has | |
features for reading and printing Roman numerals, which were | |
installed purely for hack value. As a musician once said of jazz, | |
if you don't understand hack value there is no way it can be | |
explained. | |
hack-and-slay: v. (also `hack-and-slash') 1. To play a {MUD} | |
or go mudding, especially with the intention of {berserking} for | |
pleasure. 2. To undertake an all-night programming/hacking | |
session, interspersed with stints of mudding to alleviate boredom. | |
This term arose on the British academic network amongst students | |
who worked nights and logged onto Essex University's MUDs during | |
public-access hours (2am => 7am). Usually more mudding than | |
work was done in these sessions. | |
hacked-off: adj. Said of system administrators who have become | |
annoyed, upset, or touchy due to suspicions that their sites have | |
been or are going to be victimized by crackers, or used for | |
inappropriate, technically illegal, or even overtly criminal | |
activities. For example, having unreadable files in your home | |
directory called `worm', `lockpick', or `goroot' would probably be | |
an effective (as well as monumentally obvious and stupid) way to | |
get your sysadmin hacked off at you. | |
hacker: [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] n. 1. A | |
person who enjoys learning the details of programming systems and | |
how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users who | |
prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs | |
enthusiastically (even obsessively), or who enjoys programming | |
rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable | |
of appreciating {hack value}. 4. A person who is good at | |
programming quickly. Not everything a hacker produces is a hack. | |
5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does | |
work using it or on it; as in `a UNIX hacker'. (Definitions 1 | |
to 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An | |
expert of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. | |
7. (deprecated) A malicious or inquisitive meddler who tries to | |
discover information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', | |
`network hacker'. See {cracker}. | |
hacking run: [analogy with `bombing run' or `speed run'] n. A | |
hack session extended long outside normal working times, especially | |
one longer than 12 hours. May cause you to `change phase the hard | |
way' (see {phase}). | |
hackish: /hak'ish/ adj. (also {hackishness} n.) 1. Being or involving | |
a hack. 2. Of or pertaining to hackers or the hacker subculture. | |
See also {true-hacker}. It is better to be described as hackish by | |
others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider | |
themselves somewhat of an elite, though one to which new members | |
are gladly welcome. It is a meritocracy based on ability. There | |
is a certain self-satisfaction in identifying yourself as a hacker | |
(but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labelled | |
{bogus}). | |
hackishness: n. The quality of being or involving a hack. See | |
{hackitude}. | |
hackitude: n. Syn. {hackishness}; this word is considered silly. | |
hair: [back-formation from {hairy}] n. The complications which | |
make something hairy. "Decoding {TECO} commands requires a | |
certain amount of hair." Often seen in the phrase `infinite | |
hair', which connotes extreme complexity. Also in `hairiferous' | |
(tending to promote hair growth): "GNUMACS Elisp encourages lusers | |
to write complex editing modes." "Yeah, it's pretty hairiferous | |
all right." (or just: "Hair squared!") | |
hairy: adj. 1. Overly complicated. "{DWIM} is incredibly hairy." | |
2. Incomprehensible. "{DWIM} is incredibly hairy." 3. Of | |
people, high-powered, authoritative, rare, expert, and/or | |
incomprehensible. Hard to explain except in context: "He knows | |
this hairy lawyer who says there's nothing to worry about." See | |
also {hirsute}. | |
HAKMEM: /hak'mem/ n. MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972). A legendary | |
collection of neat mathematical and programming hacks contributed | |
by many people at MIT and elsewhere. (The title of the memo really | |
is "HAKMEM", which is an acronym of sorts for `hacks memo'.) | |
Some of them are very useful techniques or powerful theorems, but | |
most fall into the category of mathematical and computer trivia. A | |
sampling of the entries (with authors), slightly paraphrased: | |
Item 41 (Gene Salamin): There are exactly 23,000 prime numbers less | |
than 2 ^ 18. | |
Item 46 (Rich Schroeppel): The most *probable* suit | |
distribution in bridge hands is 4-4-3-2, as compared to 4-3-3-3, | |
which is the most *evenly* distributed. This is because the | |
world likes to have unequal numbers: a thermodynamic effect saying | |
things will not be in the state of lowest energy, but in the state | |
of lowest disordered energy. | |
Item 81 (Rich Schroeppel): Count the magic squares of order 5 | |
(that is, all the 5-by-5 arrangements of the numbers from 1 to 25 | |
such that all rows, columns, and diagonals add up to the same | |
number). There are about 320 million, not counting those that | |
differ only by rotation and reflection. | |
Item 174 (Bill Gosper and Stuart Nelson): 21963283741 is the only | |
number such that if you represent it on the {PDP-10} as both an | |
integer and a floating-point number, the bit patterns of the two | |
representations are identical. | |
Item 176 (Gosper): The "banana phenomenon" was encountered when | |
processing a character string by taking the last 3 letters typed | |
out, searching for a random occurrence of that sequence in the | |
text, taking the letter following that occurrence, typing it out, | |
and iterating. This ensures that every 4-letter string output | |
occurs in the original. The program typed BANANANANANANANA.... We | |
note an ambiguity in the phrase, "the Nth occurrence of." In one | |
sense, there are five 00's in 0000000000; in another, there are | |
nine. The editing program TECO finds five. Thus it finds only the | |
first ANA in BANANA, and is this obligated to type N next. By | |
Murphy's Law, there is but one NAN, thus forcing A, and thus a | |
loop. An option to find overlapped instances would be useful, | |
although it would require backing up N-1 characters before seeking | |
the next N character string. | |
HAKMEM also contains some rather more complicated mathematical and | |
technical items, but these examples show some of its fun flavor. | |
hakspek: /hak'speek/ n. Generally used term to describe a method of | |
spelling to be found on many British academic bulletin boards and | |
talker systems. Syllables and whole words in a sentence are | |
replaced by single ASCII characters which are phonetically similar | |
or equivalent, whilst multiple letters are usually dropped. Hence | |
`for' becomes `4', `two', `too', and `to' become `2', `ck' becomes | |
`k'. "Before I see you tomorrow" becomes "b4 i c u 2moro". | |
First appeared in London about 1986, and was probably caused by the | |
slow speed of available talker systems, which operated on archaic | |
machines with outdated operating systems, and no standard methods | |
of communication. Has become rarer nowadays. See also {talk | |
mode}. | |
hamster: n. A particularly slick little piece of code that does one | |
thing well; a small, self-contained hack. The image is of a | |
hamster happily spinning its exercise wheel. | |
hand-hacking: n. 1. The practice of translating {hot spot}s from an | |
{HLL} into custom hand-optimized assembler, as opposed to trying to | |
coerce the compiler into generating better code. Both the term and | |
the practice are becoming uncommon. See {tune}, {bum}; syn. with | |
v. {cruft}. 2. More generally, manual construction or patching of | |
data sets that would normally be ground out by a translation | |
utility and interpreted by another program, and aren't really | |
designed to be read or modified by humans. | |
handshaking: n. Hardware or software activity designed to keep two | |
machines or programs in synchronization as they {do protocol}. | |
Often applied to human activity; thus, a hacker might watch two | |
people in conversation nodding their heads to indicate that they've | |
heard each others' points and say "Oh, they're handshaking!". | |
See also {protocol}. | |
handwave: [poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians] | |
1. v. To gloss over a complex point; to distract a listener; to | |
support a (possibly actually valid) point with blatantly faulty | |
logic. 2. n. The act of handwaving. "Boy, what a handwave!" | |
If someone starts a sentence with "Clearly..." or | |
"Obviously..." or "It is self-evident that...", you can | |
be sure he is about to handwave (alternatively, use of these | |
constructions in a sarcastic tone before a paraphrase of someone | |
else's argument suggests that it is a handwave). The theory behind | |
this term is that if you wave your hands at the right moment, the | |
listener may be sufficiently distracted to not notice that what you | |
have said is {bogus}. Alternatively, if a listener does object, | |
you might try to dismiss the objection with a wave of your hand. | |
The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both hands | |
up, palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting | |
at the elbows and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the | |
handwave); alternatively, holding the forearms in one position | |
while rotating the hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In | |
context, the gestures alone can suffice as a remark; if a speaker | |
makes an outrageous unsupported assumption, you might simply wave | |
your hands in this way, as an accusation more eloquent than words | |
could express that his logic is faulty. | |
hang: v. 1. To wait for some event to occur; to hang around until | |
something happens. "The program displays a menu and then hangs | |
until you type a character." 2. More commonly, to wait for an | |
event that will never occur. "The system is hanging because it | |
can't read from the crashed drive". See {wedged}, {hung}. 3. | |
To attach a peripheral device, esp. in the construction `hang off'. | |
"We're going to hang another tape drive off the file server". | |
Implies a device attached with cables, rather than something that's | |
strictly inside the machine's chassis. | |
Hanlon's Razor: n. A `murphyism' parallel to Occam's Razor that | |
reads "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately | |
explained by stupidity". The derivation of the common title | |
Hanlon's Razor is unknown; a similar epigram has been attributed to | |
William James. Quoted here because it seems to be a particular | |
favorite of hackers, often showing up in {fortune cookie} files and | |
the login banners of BBS systems and commercial networks. This | |
probably reflects the hacker's daily experience of environments | |
created by the well-intentioned but shortsighted. | |
hardcoded: adj. 1. Data inserted directly into a program, where it | |
cannot be easily modified, as opposed to data in some {profile} | |
or environment variable that a {user} or hacker can easily | |
modify. 2. In C, this is esp. applied to use of a literal instead | |
of a preprocessor #define (see {magic number}). | |
hardwarily: /hard-weir'i-lee/ adv. In a way pertaining to hardware. | |
"The system is hardwarily unreliable." The adjective | |
`hardwary' is *not* used. See {softwarily}. | |
hardwired: adj. 1. Syn. for {hardcoded}. Technically, this term | |
only applies to hardware, but hackers use it for software as well. | |
2. By extension, anything that is not modifiable, especially in the | |
sense of customizable to one's particular needs or tastes. | |
has the X nature: [seems to derive from Zen Buddhist koans of the | |
form "Does an X have the Buddha-nature?"] adj. Common hacker | |
construction for `is an X', used for humorous emphasis. "Anyone | |
who can't even use a program with on-screen help embedded in it | |
truly has the {loser} nature!" | |
hash bucket: n. A notional receptacle into two things accessed by | |
the same key or short code might be dropped. This is used in a | |
strict technical sense with respect to code that contains actual | |
hash functions; in slang, it is used for human associative memory | |
as well. Thus, two things "in the same hash bucket" may be | |
confused with each other. Compare {hash collision}. | |
hash collision: [from the technical usage] n. (var. `hash | |
clash') When used of people, signifies a confusion in associative | |
memory or imagination, especially a persistent one (see | |
{thinko}). True story: one of us [ESR] was once on the phone | |
with a friend about to move out to Berkeley. When asked what he | |
expected Berkeley to be like, the friend replied "Well, I have | |
this mental picture of naked women throwing Molotov cocktails, but | |
I think that's just a collision in my hash tables." Compare | |
{hash bucket}. | |
HCF: /aych-see-eff/ n. Mnemonic for `Halt and Catch Fire', any of | |
several undocumented and semi-mythical machine instructions with | |
destructive side-effects, supposedly included for test purposes on | |
several well-known architectures going as far back as the IBM 360. | |
The MC6800 microprocessor was the first for which the HCF opcode | |
became widely known. This instruction caused the processor to | |
{toggle} a subset of the bus lines as rapidly as it can; in some | |
configurations this can actually cause lines to burn up. | |
heads down: [Sun] adj. Concentrating, usually so heavily and for so | |
long that everything outside the focus area is missed. See also | |
{larval stage}, although it's not confined to fledgeling hackers. | |
heartbeat: n. 1. The signal emitted by a Level 2 Ethernet | |
transceiver at the end of every packet to show that the | |
collision-detection circuit is still connected. 2. A periodic | |
synchronization signal used by software or hardware, such as a bus | |
clock or a periodic interrupt. 3. The `natural' oscillation | |
frequency of a computer's clock crystal, before frequency division | |
down to the machine's clock rate. 4. A signal emitted at regular | |
intervals by software to demonstrate that it's still alive. | |
Sometimes hardware is designed to reboot the machine if it stops | |
hearing a heartbeat. See also {breath-of-life packet}. | |
heavy metal: [Cambridge] n. Syn. {big iron}. | |
heavy wizardry: n. Code or designs which trade on a particularly | |
intimate knowledge or experience of a particular operating system | |
or language or complex application interface. Distinguished from | |
{deep magic}, which trades more on arcane *theoretical* | |
knowledge. Writing device drivers is heavy wizardry; so is | |
interfacing to {X} (sense #2) without a toolkit. Esp. found in | |
comments of the form "Heavy wizardry begins here...". Compare | |
{voodoo programming}. | |
heavyweight: adj. High-overhead; {baroque}; code-intensive; | |
featureful, but costly. Esp. used of communication protocols, | |
language designs, and any sort of implementation in which | |
maximum generality has been pushed at the expense of mundane | |
considerations like speed, memory utilization, and start-up time. | |
{EMACS} is a heavyweight editor; {X} is an `extremely' | |
heavyweight window system. This term isn't pejorative, but one | |
man's heavyweight is another's {elephantine} and a third's | |
{monstrosity}. Oppose `lightweight'. | |
heisenbug: /hie'zen-buhg/ [from Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in | |
quantum physics] n. A bug that disappears or alters its behavior | |
when one attempts to probe or isolate it. Antonym of {Bohr bug}. | |
In C, 9 out of 10 heisenbugs result from either {fandango on core} | |
phenomena (esp. lossage related to corruption of the malloc | |
{arena}) or errors that {smash the stack}. | |
Helen Keller mode: n. State of a hardware or software system which | |
is deaf, dumb, and blind, i.e. accepting no input and generating no | |
output, usually due to an infinite loop or some other excursion | |
into {deep space}. (Unfair to the real Helen Keller, whose | |
success at learning speech was triumphant.) See also {go | |
flatline}, {catatonic}. | |
hello sailor!: interj. Occasional West Coast equivalent of {hello, | |
world}; seems to have originated at SAIL, later associated with | |
the game {Zork} (which also included "hello aviator" and "hello | |
implementor"). Originally from the traditional hooker's | |
greeting to a swabbie fresh off the boat, of course. | |
hello wall!: excl. See {wall}. | |
hello, world: interj. 1. The canonical minimal test message in the | |
C/UNIX universe. In folklore, the first program a C coder is | |
supposed to write in a new environment is one that just prints | |
"hello, world" to standard output (and indeed it is the first | |
example program in {K&R}). Environments that generate an | |
unreasonably large executable for this trivial test or which | |
require a {hairy} compiler-linker invocation to generate it are | |
considered to {lose}. 2. Greeting uttered by a hacker making an | |
entrance or requesting information from anyone present. "Hello, | |
world! Is the {VAX} back up yet?" | |
hex: n. 1. Short for {hexadecimal}, base 16. 2. A six-pack of | |
anything. Neither usage has nothing to do with {magic} or | |
{black art}, though the pun is appreciated and occasionally used | |
by hackers. True story: as a joke, some hackers once offered some | |
surplused ICs for sale to be worn as protective amulets against | |
hostile magic. The chips were, of course, hex inverters. | |
hexadecimal: n. Base 16. Coined in the early 1960s to replace | |
earlier `sexadecimal', which was too racy and amusing for stuffy | |
IBM, and later adopted by the rest of the industry. Actually, | |
neither term is etymologically pure. The most etymologically | |
correct term for base-10, for examples, is `denary' (compare | |
`binary'), which comes from `deni' (ten at a time, ten each), a | |
Latin `distributive' number; the corresponding term for base-16 | |
would be something like `sendenary'). `Decimal' is from an ordinal | |
numbering word; the corresponding prefix for six would imply | |
`sextidecimal'. The `sexa-' prefix is Latin but incorrect in this | |
context and `hexa-' is Greek. The word `octal' is similarly | |
incorrect; correct forms would be `octaval' (to go with decimal), | |
or `octonary' (to go with binary). If anyone ever implements a | |
base-3 computer, computer scientists will be faced with the | |
unprecedented dilemma of a choice between two `correct'; both | |
`ternary' and `trinary' have a claim to this throne. | |
hexit: /hek'sit/ n. A hexadecimal digit (0-9, and A-F or a-f). | |
Used by people who claim that there are only *ten* digits, | |
dammit; sixteen-fingered human beings are rather rare, regardless | |
of what some keyboard designs might seem to imply (see | |
{space-cadet keyboard}). | |
hidden flag: [scientific computation] n. An extra option added to a | |
routine without changing the calling sequence. For example, | |
instead of adding an explicit input variable to instruct a routine | |
to give extra diagnostic output, the programmer might just add a | |
test for some otherwise meaningless feature of the existing inputs, | |
such as a negative mass. Liberal use of hidden flags can make a | |
program very hard to debug and understand. | |
high bit: [from `high order bit'] n. 1. See {meta bit}. 2. Also | |
meaning most significant part of something other than a data byte, | |
e.g. "Spare me the whole saga, just give me the high bit." | |
high moby: /hie mohb'ee/ n. The high half of a stock {PDP-10}'s | |
address space; the other half was of course the low moby. This | |
usage has been generalized in a way that has outlasted the | |
{PDP-10}; for example, at the 1990 Washington D.C Area Science | |
Fiction Conclave (Disclave) when a miscommunication resulted in two | |
separate wakes being held in commemoration of the shutdown of MIT's | |
last {ITS} machines, the one on the upper floor was dubbed the high | |
moby and the other the low moby. All parties involved grokked this | |
instantly. See {moby}. | |
highly: [scientific computation] adv. The preferred modifier for | |
overstating an understatement. As in: `highly nonoptimal', the | |
worst possible way to do something; `highly nontrivial', either | |
impossible or requiring a major research project; `highly | |
nonlinear', completely erratic and unpredictable; `highly | |
nontechnical', drivel written for {luser}s, oversimplified to the | |
point of being misleading or incorrect (compare {drool-proof | |
paper}). In other computing cultures, postfixing of {in the | |
extreme} might be preferred. | |
hirsute: adj. Occasionally used humorously as a synonym for {hairy}. | |
HLL: /aych-el-el/ n. [High-Level Language (as opposed to assembler)] | |
Found primarily in email and news rather than speech. Rarely, the | |
variants `VHLL' and `MLL' are found. VHLL = `Very-High-Level | |
Language' and is used to describe a {bondage-and-discipline | |
language} that the speaker happens to like; Prolog and Backus's FP | |
are often called VHLLs. `MLL' = `Medium-Level Language' and is | |
sometimes used half-jokingly to describe C, alluding to its | |
`structured-assembler' image. See also {languages of choice}. | |
hobbit: n. The High Order Bit of a byte; same as the {meta bit}. | |
hog: n.,vt. Favored term to describe programs or hardware that seem | |
to eat far more than their share of a system's resources, esp. | |
those which noticeably degrade general timesharing response. | |
*Not* used of programs that are simply extremely large or | |
complex or which are merely painfully slow themselves (see {pig, | |
run like a}). More often than not encountered in qualified forms, | |
e.g. `memory hog', `core hog', `hog the processor', `hog the | |
disk'. Example: "A controller that never gives up the I/O bus | |
gets killed after the bus-hog timer expires." | |
holy wars: [from {USENET}, but may predate it] n. {flame war}s | |
over {religious issues}. The paper by Danny Cohen that | |
popularized the terms {big-endian} and {little-endian} in | |
connection with the LSB-first/MSB-first controversy was entitled | |
`On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace'. Other perennial Holy Wars | |
have included: {EMACS} vs. {vi}, my personal computer vs. | |
everyone else's personal computer, {ITS} vs. {UNIX}, {UNIX} | |
vs. {VMS}, {BSD} UNIX vs. {USG} UNIX, {C} vs. {{Pascal}}, {C} vs. | |
LISP, etc. etc. etc. The characteristic that distinguishes | |
{holy wars} from normal technical disputes is that (regardless of | |
the technical merits of the case on either side) most participants | |
spend their time trying to pass off personal value choices and | |
cultural attachments as objective technical evaluations. | |
home box: n. A hacker's personal machine, especially one he or she | |
owns. "Yeah? Well, *my* home box runs a full 4.2BSD, so | |
there!" | |
hook: n. An extraneous piece of software or hardware included in | |
order to simplify later additions or changes by a user. For | |
instance, a PDP-10 assembler program might execute a location that | |
is normally a {JFCL}, but by changing the JFCL to a PUSHJ one | |
can insert a debugging routine at that point. As another example, | |
a simple program that prints numbers might always print them in | |
base ten, but a more flexible version would let a variable | |
determine what base to use; setting the variable to 5 would make | |
the program print numbers in base five. The variable is a simple | |
hook. An even more flexible program might examine the variable, | |
and treat a value of 16 or less as the base to use, but treat any | |
other number as the address of a user-supplied routine for printing | |
a number. This is a very powerful hook; one can then write a | |
routine to print numbers as Roman numerals, say, or as Hebrew | |
characters, and plug it into the program through the hook. Often | |
the difference between a good program and a superb one is that the | |
latter has useful hooks in judiciously chosen places. Both may do | |
the original job about equally well, but the one with the hooks is | |
much more flexible for future expansion of capabilities ({EMACS}, | |
for example, is all hooks). The term `user exit' is synonymous | |
but more formal. | |
hop: n. One file transmission in a series required to get a file | |
from point A to point B on a store-and-forward network. On such | |
networks (including {UUCPNET} and {FidoNet}), the important | |
`distance' between machines is the number of hops in the shortest | |
path between them, rather than their geographical separation. See | |
{bang path}. | |
hose: 1. vt. To make non-functional or greatly degraded in | |
performance, as in "That big ray-tracing program really hoses the | |
system." See {hosed}. 2. n. A narrow channel through which | |
data flows under pressure. Generally denotes data paths in a | |
system that represent performance bottlenecks. 3. n. Cabling, | |
especially thick Ethernet cable. This is sometimes called `bit | |
hose' or `hosery' (play on `hosiery') or `etherhose'. See | |
also {washing machine}. | |
hosed: adj. Same as {down}. Used primarily by UNIX hackers. | |
Humorous: also implies a condition thought to be relatively easy to | |
reverse. Probably derived from the Canadian slang `hoser' | |
popularized by the Bob and Doug skits on SCTV. See {hose}. It is | |
also widely used of people in the mainstream sense of `in an | |
extremely unfortunate situation'. | |
There is a story that a Cray which had been experiencing periodic | |
difficulties once crashed, and it was announced to have been | |
{hosed}. It was discovered that the crash was due to the | |
disconnection of some coolant hoses. The problem was corrected, and | |
users were then assured that everything was OK because the system | |
had been rehosed. [This is an excellent example of hackish | |
wordplay --- ESR]. | |
hot spot: n. 1. [primarily C/UNIX programmers, but spreading] n. In | |
most programs, less than 10% of the code eats 90% of the execution | |
time; if one were to graph instruction visits versus code | |
addresses, one would typically see a few huge spikes amidst a lot | |
of low-level noise. Such spikes are called `hot spots' and are | |
good candidates for micro-optimization or {hand-hacking}. The term | |
is especially used of tight loops and recursions in the code's | |
central algorithm, as opposed to (say) initial set-up costs or | |
large but infrequent I/O operations. See {tune}, {bum}, | |
{hand-hacking}. 2. The active location of a cursor on a bit-map | |
display. "Put the mouse's hot spot on the `ON' widget and click | |
the left button." 3. In a parallel computer with shared memory, | |
the one location that all ten thousand processors are trying to | |
read or write at once. | |
house wizard: [prob. from ad-agency lingo, cf. `house freak'] n. A | |
lone hacker occupying a technical-specialist, R&D, or systems | |
position at a commercial shop. A really effective house wizard can | |
have influence out of all proportion to his/her ostensible rank and | |
still not have to wear a suit. Used esp. of UNIX experts. The | |
term `house guru' is equivalent. | |
HP-SUX: /aych pee suhx/ n. Unflattering hackerism for HP-UX, | |
Hewlett-Packard's UNIX port. Features some truly unique bogosities | |
in the filesystem internals and elsewhere that occasionally create | |
portability problems. HP-UX is often referred to as "hockey-pux" | |
inside HP, and one outside correspondent claims that the proper | |
pronunciation is /aych-pee ukkkhhhh/ as though one were spitting. | |
Another such alternate spelling and pronunciation is "H-PUX" | |
/aych-puhks/. Hackers at HP/Apollo (the former Apollo Computer | |
that was swallowed by HP in 1989) have been heard to complain that | |
Mr. Packard should have pushed to have his name first, if for no | |
other reason than the resulting more accurate form for this | |
acronym. Compare {buglix}. See also {Telerat}, | |
{sun-stools}, {terminak}. | |
huff: v. To compress data using a Huffman code. Various programs | |
that use such methods have been called `HUFF' or some variant | |
thereof. Oppose {puff}. Compare {crunch}, {compress}. | |
humma: excl. A filler word used on various `chat' and `talk' | |
programs when you had nothing to say but felt that it was important | |
to say something. The word apparently originated (at least with | |
this definition) on the MECC Timeshare System (MTS) a now-defunct | |
educational time-sharing system running in Minnesota during the | |
1970s and early '80s, but was later sighted on early UNIX systems. | |
humungous: /hyoo-muhng'g@s/ alt. `humongous' (hyoo-mohng'g@s) See | |
{hungus}. This is used in a similar sense in mainstream slang. | |
Some hackers believe it originated at the MIT AI lab in the | |
Sixties and spread outward from there; alternatively, it may be an | |
early import from surfer slang. | |
Humor, Hacker:: n. A distinctive style of shared intellectual humor | |
found among hackers, having the following marked characteristics: | |
1) Fascination with form-vs.-content jokes, paradoxes, and humor | |
having to do with confusion of metalevels (see {meta}). One way to | |
make a hacker laugh: hold an index card in front of him/her with | |
"THIS IS GREEN" written on it in bold red ink, or vice-versa | |
(note, however, that this is only funny the first time). | |
2) Elaborate deadpan parodies of large intellectual constructs such | |
as specifications (see {write-only memory}), standards documents, | |
language descriptions (see {INTERCAL}), and even entire scientific | |
theories (see {quantum bogodynamics}, {computron}). | |
3) Jokes that involve screwily precise reasoning from bizarre, | |
ludicrous, or just grossly counter-intuitive premises. | |
4) Fascination with puns and wordplay. | |
5) A fondness for apparently mindless humor with subversive | |
currents of intelligence in it, for example: old Warner Brothers | |
and Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons, Charlie Chaplin movies, the B-52s, | |
and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Humor which combines this trait | |
with elements of high camp and slapstick is especially favored. | |
6) References to the symbol-object antinomies and associated ideas | |
in Zen Buddhism and (less often) Taoism. See {has the X nature}, | |
{Discordianism}, {zen}, {ha ha only serious}, {AI koans}. | |
See also {filk}; {retrocomputing}; and Appendix B. If you have an | |
itchy feeling that all six of these traits are really aspects of | |
one thing that is incredibly difficult to talk about exactly, you | |
are (a) correct and (b) responding like a hacker. These traits are | |
also recognizable (though in a less marked form) throughout | |
{{Science-Fiction Fandom}}. | |
hung: [from `hung up'] adj. Equivalent to {wedged}. but more | |
common at UNIX/C sites. Not generally used of people. Syn. with | |
{locked up}, {wedged}; compare {hosed}. See also {hang}. | |
A hung state is distinguished from `crashed' or {down}, where the | |
program or system is also unusable but because it is not running | |
rather than because it is waiting for something. However, the | |
recovery from both situations is often the same. | |
hungry puppy: n. Syn. {slopsucker}. | |
hungus: /huhng'g@s/ [perhaps related to current slang `humungous'; | |
which one came first (if either) is unclear] adj. Large, unwieldy, | |
usually unmanageable. "TCP is a hungus piece of code." "This | |
is a hungus set of modifications." | |
hyperspace: (hie'per-spays) n. A memory location within a virtual | |
memory machine that is many, many megabytes (or gigabytes) away | |
from where the program counter should be pointing, usually | |
inaccessible because it is not even mapped in. "Another core | |
dump... looks like the program jumped off to hyperspace | |
somehow." (compare {jump off into never-never land}. | |
This usage is from the SF notion of a spaceship jumping `into | |
hyperspace', that is, taking a shortcut through higher-dimensional | |
space --- in other words, leaving this universe. | |
= I = | |
===== | |
I didn't change anything!: interj. A plaintive cry often heard as | |
bugs manifest during a regression test. The {canonical} reply to | |
this assertion is "Then it works just the same as it did before, | |
right?" See also {one-line fix}. This is also heard from | |
applications programmers trying to blame an obvious applications | |
problem on an unrelated systems software change, for example a | |
divide-by-zero fault after terminals were added to a network. | |
Usually, their statement is found to be false; upon close | |
questioning, they will admit some major restructuring of the | |
program that shouldn't have broken anything, in their opinion, | |
but actually hosed the code completely. | |
i14y: n. Written-only abbrev. for `interoperability', which is an | |
`i' followed by 14 letters followed by `y'. Used in the {X} | |
community. | |
i18n: n. Written-only abbrev. for `internationalization', which is | |
an `i' followed by 18 letters followed by `n'. Used in the {X} | |
community. | |
IBM: /ie bee em/ Inferior But Marketable; It's Better Manually; | |
Insidious Black Magic; It's Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel | |
Movement; and a near-{infinite} number of even less complimentary | |
expansions, including `International Business Machines'. See | |
{TLA}. These abbreviations illustrate the considerable antipathy | |
most hackers have long felt for the `industry leader' (see {fear | |
and loathing}). | |
What galls hackers about most IBM machines above the PC level isn't | |
so much that they're underpowered and overpriced (though that | |
counts against them), but that the designs are incredibly archaic, | |
crufty, and {elephantine} and you can't *fix* them --- | |
source code is locked up tight and programming tools are expensive, | |
hard to find, and bletcherous to use once you've found them. With | |
the release of the UNIX-based RIOS family this may have begun to | |
change --- but then, we thought that when the PC-RT came out, too. | |
In the spirit of universal peace and brotherhood, this lexicon now | |
includes a number of entries marked `IBM'; these derive from two | |
rampantly unofficial jargon lists circulated among IBM's own | |
beleaguered hacker underground. | |
IBM discount: n. A price increase. Outside IBM, this derives from | |
the common perception that IBM products are generally hideously | |
overpriced (see {clone}); inside, it is said to spring from a | |
belief that large numbers of IBM employees living in an area cause | |
prices to rise. | |
ice: [coined by USENETter Tom Maddox, popularized by William | |
Gibson's cyberpunk SF: notionally, `Intrusion Countermeasure | |
Electronics'] Security software (in Gibson's novels, software that | |
responds to intrusion by attempting to literally kill the | |
intruder). Also, `icebreaker': a program designed for cracking | |
security on a system. Neither term is in serious use yet as of | |
mid-1991, but many hackers find the metaphor attractive and both terms | |
may develop a denotative in the near future. | |
ill-behaved: adj. 1. [numerical analysis] Said of an algorithm or | |
computational method that tends to blow up due to accumulated | |
roundoff error or poor convergence properties. 2. Software which | |
bypasses the defined {OS} interfaces to do things (like screen, | |
keyboard, and disk I/O) itself, often in a way that depends on the | |
hardware of the machine it is running on or which is nonportable or | |
incompatible with other pieces of software. In the IBM PC/MS-DOS | |
world, there is a folk theorem (nearly true) to the effect that | |
(due to gross inadequacies and performance penalties in the OS | |
interface) all interesting applications are ill-behaved. Oppose | |
{well-behaved}, compare {PC-ism}. See {mess-dos}. | |
IMHO: [from SF fandom via USENET] Written acronym for In My Humble | |
Opinion. Example: "IMHO, mixed-case C names should be avoided, as | |
mistyping something in the wrong case can cause hard-to-detect | |
errors --- and they look too Pascalish anyhow." Also seen in | |
variant forms such as IMNSHO (In My Not-So-Humble Opinion) and IMAO | |
(In My Arrogant Opinion). | |
in the extreme: adj. A preferred emphasizing suffix for many hackish | |
terms. See, for example, `obscure in the extreme' under {obscure}, | |
and compare {highly}. | |
incantation: n. Any particularly arbitrary or obscure command that | |
must be muttered at a system to attain a desired result. Not used | |
of passwords or other explicit security features. Especially used | |
of tricks that are so poorly documented they must be learned from a | |
{wizard}. E.g. "This compiler normally locates initialized data | |
in the data segment, but if you {mutter} the right incantation they | |
will be forced into text space". | |
include: vt. [USENET] 1. To duplicate a portion (or whole) of | |
another's message (typically with attribution to the source) in a | |
reply or followup, for clarifying the context of one's response. | |
2. Derived from C: #include {disclaimer.h} has appeared in {sig | |
block}s to refer to a notional `standard' disclaimer file. | |
include war: n. Excessive multi-leveled including within a | |
discussion {thread}, which tends to annoy readers. In a forum | |
such as USENET, with high-traffic newsgroups, this can lead to | |
{flame}s and the urge to start a {kill file}. | |
indent style: [C programmers] n. The rules one uses to lay out code | |
in a readable fashion; a subject of {holy wars}. There are four | |
major C indent styles, as described below; all have the aim of | |
making it easier for the reader to visually track the scope of | |
control constructs. The significant variable is the placement of | |
{ and } with respect to the statement(s) they enclose and the | |
guard or controlling statement (if, else, for while, or do) on the | |
block, if any. | |
`K&R style' --- Named after Kernighan & Ritchie, because the | |
examples in {K&R} are formatted this way. Also called `kernel | |
style' because the UNIX kernel is written in it, and the `One True | |
Brace Style', abbr. 1TBS, by its partisans. The basic indent shown | |
here is 8 spaces (or 1 tab) per level; 4 or 2 is occasionally seen, | |
but is much less common. | |
if (cond) { | |
<body> | |
} | |
`Allman style' --- Named for Eric Allman, a Berkeley hacker who | |
wrote a lot of the BSD utilities in it (it is sometimes called | |
`BSD style'). Resembles normal indent style in Pascal and | |
Algol. Basic indent per level shown here is 8 spaces, but 4 is | |
just as common (esp. in C++ code). | |
if (cond) | |
{ | |
<body> | |
} | |
`Whitesmiths style' --- popularized by the examples that came | |
with Whitesmiths C, an early commercial C compiler. Basic indent | |
per level shown here is 8 spaces, but 4 is occasionally seen. | |
if (cond) | |
{ | |
<body> | |
} | |
`GNU style' --- Used throughout GNU EMACS and the Free Software | |
Foundation code, and just about nowhere else. Indents are always 4 | |
spaces per level, with { and } "centered" between levels. | |
if (cond) | |
{ | |
<body> | |
} | |
What style one uses is very much a matter of personal choice, but | |
one should be consistent within any one software package. | |
Statistically, surveys have shown the Allman and Whitesmiths styles | |
to be the most common, with about equal `mind share'. K&R used to | |
be nearly universal, but is now much less common (the opening brace | |
tends to get lost against the right paren of the guard part in an | |
if or while, which is a Bad Thing). | |
infant mortality: n. It is common lore among hackers that the chances | |
of sudden hardware failure drop off exponentially with a machine's | |
time since power-up (that is, until the relatively distant time at | |
which mechanical wear in I/O devices and thermal-cycling stress in | |
components has accumulated enough for the machine to start going | |
senile). Up to half of all chip-and-wire failures happen within a | |
new system's first few weeks; such failures are often referred to | |
as `infant mortality' problems (or, occasionally, as `sudden | |
infant death syndrome'). See {bathtub curve}. | |
infinite: adj. Consisting of a large number of objects; extreme. | |
Used very loosely as in: "This program produces infinite | |
garbage." "He is an infinite loser." The word most likely to | |
follow `infinite', though, is {hair}. These uses are abuses of | |
the word's mathematical meaning. The term "semi-infinite" | |
denoting an immoderately large amount of some resource is also | |
heard. "This compiler is taking a semi-infinite amount of time to | |
optimize my program". See also {semi-}. | |
infinity: n. 1. The largest value that can be represented in a | |
particular type of variable (register, memory location, data type, | |
whatever). 2. `minus infinity' The smallest such value. Note that | |
this is different from `time T equals minus infinity', which is | |
closer to a mathematician's usage of infinity. | |
insanely great: adj. [Mac community, from Steve Jobs; also BSD UNIX | |
people via Bill Joy] Something so incredibly {elegant} that it is | |
imaginable only to someone possessing the greatest of | |
{hacker}-natures. | |
INTERCAL: /in't@r-kal/ [said by the authors to stand for `Compiler | |
Language With No Pronounceable Acronym'] n. A computer language | |
designed by Don Woods and James Lyon in 1972. INTERCAL is purposely | |
different from all other computer languages in all ways but one; it | |
is purely a written language, being totally unspeakable. An | |
excerpt from the INTERCAL Reference Manual will make the style of | |
the language clear. In most languages, if you wanted the variable | |
A to have the value 65536, you would write something like | |
LET A = 65536; | |
The INTERCAL Reference Manual explains that "It is a well-known | |
and oft-demonstrated fact that a person whose work is | |
incomprehensible is held in high esteem. For example, if one were | |
to state that the simplest way to store a value of 65536 in a | |
32-bit INTERCAL variable is: | |
DO :1 <- #0$#256 | |
any sensible programmer would say that that was absurd. Since this | |
is indeed the simplest method, the programmer would be made to look | |
foolish in front of his boss, who would of course have happened to | |
turn up, as bosses are wont to do. The effect would be no less | |
devastating for the programmer having been correct." INTERCAL has | |
many other peculiar features designed to make it even more | |
unspeakable. The Woods/Lyons implementation was actually used by | |
many (well, at least several) people at Princeton. The language | |
has been recently re-implemented as C-INTERCAL and is consequently | |
enjoying an unprecedented level of unpopularity; there is even an | |
alt.lang.intercal newsgroup devoted to the study and ... | |
appreciation of the language on USENET. | |
interesting: adj. In hacker parlance, this word is not simply | |
synonymous with `intriguing', but has strong connotations of | |
`annoying', or `difficult', or both. Hackers relish a | |
challenge. Oppose {trivial}. | |
Internet address:: n. An absolute network address of the form | |
foo@bar.baz, where foo is a user name, bar is a {sitename}, and | |
baz is a `domain' name, possibly including periods itself. | |
Contrasts with {bang path}; see also {network, the} and | |
{network address}. All Internet machines and most UUCP sites can | |
now resolve these addresses, thanks to a large amount of | |
behind-the-scenes magic and PD software written since 1980 or so. | |
See also {bang path}, {domainist}. | |
Reading Internet addresses is something of an art. Here are the | |
four most important top-level functional Internet domains followed | |
by a selection of geographical domains: | |
com | |
Commercial organizations. | |
edu | |
Educational institutions. | |
gov | |
U.S. government civilian sites. | |
mil | |
U.S. military sites. | |
Note that most of the sites in the com and edu domains are in the | |
U.S. or Canada. | |
us | |
Sites in the U.S. not within one of the functional domains. | |
su | |
Sites in the Soviet Union (only one really active one so far!). | |
uk | |
Sites in the United Kingdom. | |
Within the `us' domain there are subdomains for the fifty | |
states, generally with a name identical to the state's postal | |
abbreviation. Within the UK domain there is an `ac' subdomain for | |
academic sites and a `co' domain for commercial ones. Other | |
top-level domains can be divided up in similar ways. | |
interrupt: interj. 1. On a computer, an event which interrupts normal | |
processing and temporarily diverts flow-of-control through an | |
"interrupt handler" routine. See also {trap}. 2. A request for | |
attention from a hacker. Often explicitly spoken. "Interrupt --- | |
have you seen Joe recently?". See {priority interrupt}. | |
interrupt list, the: [MSDOS] n. The list of all known software | |
interrupt calls (both documented and undocumented) for IBM PCs and | |
compatibles maintained and made available for free redistribution | |
by Ralf Brown (ralf@cs.cmu.edu). As of early 1991, it had grown to | |
approximately 1 megabyte in length. | |
interrupts locked out: adj. When someone is ignoring you. In a | |
restaurant, after several fruitless attempts to get the waitress's | |
attention, a hacker might well observe that "She must have | |
interrupts locked out." The synonym `interrupts disabled' is | |
also common. Variations of this abound; "to have one's interrupt | |
mask bit set" is also heard. See also {spl}. | |
iron: n. Hardware, especially older/larger hardware of {mainframe} | |
class with big metal cabinets housing relatively low-density | |
electronics (but also used of modern supercomputers). Often in the | |
phrase {big iron}. Oppose {silicon}. See also {dinosaur}. | |
Iron Age: n. In the history of computing, 1961-1971 --- the formative | |
era of commercial {mainframe} technology, when {big iron} | |
{dinosaurs} ruled the earth (the hackish metaphors for the era | |
aren't exactly paleontologically correct). These began with the | |
delivery of the first PDP-1, coincided with the dominance of | |
ferrite {core}, and ended with the introduction of the first | |
commercial microprocessor (the Intel 4004) in 1971. See also | |
{Stone Age}. | |
iron box: [UNIX/Internet] n. A special environment set up to trap a | |
{cracker} logging in over remote or network connections long | |
enough so he can be traced. May include a specially gimmicked | |
{shell} restricting the hacker's movements in unobvious ways, and | |
`bait' files designed to keep him interested and logged on. See | |
also {back door}, {firewall machine}, {Venus flytrap}, and | |
Clifford Stoll's account in `Cuckoo's Egg' of how he made and | |
used one (see Appendix C). | |
ironmonger: [IBM] n. A hardware specialist. Derogatory. Compare | |
{sandbender}, {polygon pusher}. | |
ITS: /ie-tee-ess/ n. Incompatible Time-sharing System, an influential | |
but highly idiosyncratic operating system written for PDP-10s at | |
MIT and long used at the MIT AI lab; much AI-hacker slang derives | |
from ITS folklore. After about 1982, most actual work was shifted | |
to newer machines, with the remaining ITS boxes run essentially as | |
a hobby and service to the hacker community. The shutdown of the | |
lab's last ITS machine in May 1990 marked the end of an era and | |
sent old-time hackers into mourning nationwide. The Royal | |
Institute of Technology in Sweden is maintaining one `live' ITS | |
site at its computer museum (right next to the only TOPS-10 system | |
still on the Internet), so ITS is still alleged to hold the record | |
for OS in longest continuous use. See Appendix A. | |
IWBNI: [acronym] It Would Be Nice If. No pronunciation, as this is | |
never spoken, only written. Compare {WIBNI}. | |
IYFEG: [USENET] Abbreviation for `Insert Your Favorite Ethnic | |
Group'. Used as a meta-name when telling racist jokes in email to | |
avoid offending anyone. See {JEDR}. | |
= J = | |
===== | |
J. Random: /jay rand'm/ n. [generalized from {J. Random Hacker}] | |
Arbitrary; ordinary; any one; `any old'. "Would you let J. | |
Random Loser marry your daughter?". {J. Random} is often | |
prefixed to a noun to make a name out of it. It means roughly | |
`some particular' or `any specific one'. The most common | |
uses are `J. Random Hacker, `J. Random Loser' and `J. Random Nerd' | |
("Should J. Random Loser be allowed to {gun} down other | |
people?"), but it can be used just as an elaborate version of | |
{random} in any sense. | |
J. Random Hacker: [MIT] /jay rand'm hak'r/ n. A mythical figure | |
like the Unknown Soldier; the archetypal hacker nerd. See | |
{random}, {Suzie COBOL}. This may originally have been | |
inspired or influenced by `J. Fred Muggs', a show-biz chimpanzee | |
whose name was a household word back in the early days of the MIT | |
Model Railroad Club. | |
jaggies: /jag'eez/ n. The `stairstep' effect observable when an | |
edge (esp. a linear edge of shallow or steep slope) is rendered on | |
a pixel device (as opposed to a vector display). | |
JCL: 1. IBM's ultimately {rude} `Job Control | |
Language'. JCL is the script language used to control the | |
execution of programs in IBM's batch systems. JCL has a very | |
{fascist} syntax, and some versions will, for example, {barf} | |
if two spaces appear where it expects one. Most programmers | |
confronted with JCL simply copy a working file (or card | |
deck), changing the file names. Someone who actually understands | |
and generates unique JCL is regarded with the mixed respect which | |
one gives to someone who memorizes the phone book. 2. Any very | |
{rude} software that a hacker is expected to use. "That's as | |
bad as JCL." Often used without having experienced it, as is | |
{COBOL}. See also {IBM}, {fear and loathing}. | |
JEDR: n. Synonymous with {IFYEG}. The rec.humor.funny newsgroup | |
on USENET tends to use JEDR (Joke Ethnic/Denomination/Race) instead | |
of <IYFEG>; this stems from a nearly successful attempt to kill the | |
group once made by a loser with the initials JEDR after he was | |
offended by an ethnic joke posted there. | |
JFCL: /jif'kl/ or /jaf'kl/ vt., obs. (alt. `jfcl') To cancel or | |
annul something. "Why don't you jfcl that out?" The fastest | |
do-nothing instruction on the PDP-10 happened to be JFCL, which | |
stands for "Jump if Flag set and then CLear the flag"; this does | |
something useful, but is a very fast no-operation if no flag is | |
specified. Geoff Goodfellow, one of the jargon-1 co-authors, once | |
had JFCL on the license plate of his BMW. Usage: rare except among | |
old-time PDP-10 hackers. | |
jiffy: n. 1. The duration of one tick of the system clock on the | |
computer (see {tick}). Often 1 AC cycle time (1/60 second in the | |
U.S. and Canada, 1/50 most other places) but more recently 1/100 | |
sec has become common. "The swapper runs every six jiffies" | |
means that the virtual memory management routine is executed once | |
for every six ticks of the clock, or about ten times a second. 2. | |
Confusingly, the term is sometimes also used for a 1-millisecond | |
{wall time} interval. 3. Indeterminate time from a few seconds | |
to forever. "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and | |
possibly never. This is a bit contrary to the more widespread use | |
of the word. See also {Real Soon Now}. | |
job security: n. When some piece of code is written in a | |
particularly {obscure} fashion, and no good reason (such as time | |
or space optimization) can be discovered, it is often said that the | |
programmer was attempting to increase his job security (i.e. by | |
making himself indispensable for maintenance). This sour joke | |
seldom has to be said in full; if two hackers are looking over some | |
code together and one points at a section and says `job security' | |
the other one will generally just nod. | |
jock: n. 1. Programmer who is characterized by large and somewhat | |
brute-force programs. See {brute force}. 2. When modified by | |
another noun, describes a specialist in some particular computing | |
area. The compounds `compiler jock' and `systems jock' seem to be | |
the best established examples of this. | |
joe code: /joh' kohd`/ [said to commemorate a notoriously bad | |
coder named Joe at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory] n. Badly written, | |
possibly buggy source code. Correspondents wishing to remain | |
anonymous have fingered a particular Joe and observed that usage | |
has drifted slightly; they described his code as "overly {tense} | |
and unmaintainable". "{Perl} may be a handy program, but if you | |
look at the source, it's complete joe code." | |
JR[LN]: /jay ahr en/, /jay ahr el/ n. The names JRN and JRL were | |
sometimes used as example names when discussing a kind of user ID | |
used under {TOPS-10}; they were understood to be the initials of | |
(fictitious) programmers named `J. Random Nerd' and `J. Random | |
Loser' (see {J. Random}). For example, if one said "To log in, | |
type log one comma jay are en" (that is, "log#1,JRN"), the | |
listener would have understood that he should use his own computer | |
id in place of `JRN'. | |
jump off into never never land: v. Same as {branch to Fishkill}, | |
but more common in technical cultures associated with non-IBM | |
computers which use the term `jump' rather than `branch'. Compare | |
{hyperspace}. | |
= K = | |
===== | |
K: [from {kilo-}] /kay/ n. A kilobyte. This is used both as a | |
spoken word and a written suffix (like {meg} and {gig} for | |
megabyte and gigabyte). The formal SI metric prefix for 1000 is | |
`k'; some people use this strictly, reserving `K' for | |
multiplication by 1024. See also {kilo-}. | |
K&R: [Kernighan and Ritchie] n. Brian Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie's | |
`The C Programming Language', esp. the classic and influential | |
first edition (Prentice-Hall 1978, ISBN 0-113-110163-3). Syn. | |
{White Book}, {Old Testament}. See also {New Testament}. | |
kahuna: /k@-hoo'nuh/ [IBM, from the Hawaiian title for a shaman] n. | |
Synonym for {wizard}, {guru}. | |
ken: /ken/ n. A flaming user. This noun was in use by the Software | |
Support group at Symbolics because the two greatest flamers in the | |
user community were both named Ken. | |
kgbvax: /kay-jee-bee-vaks/ n. See {kremvax}. | |
kill file: [USENET] n. (alt. `KILL file') Per-user file(s) used | |
by some {USENET} reading programs (originally Larry Wall's | |
`rn(1)') to discard summarily (without presenting for reading) | |
articles which match some particularly uninteresting (or unwanted) | |
patterns of subject, author, or other header lines. Thus to "add | |
a person (or subject) to one's kill file" is to arrange for that | |
person to be ignored by one's newsreader in future. By extension, | |
it may be used for a decision to ignore the person or subject in | |
other media. | |
killer micro: [popularized by Eugene Brooks] n. A | |
microprocessor-based machine that infringes on mini, mainframe or | |
supercomputer performance turf. Often heard in "No one will | |
survive the attack of the killer micros!", the battle cry of the | |
downsizers. Used esp. of RISC architectures. | |
killer poke: n. A recipe for inducing hardware damage on a machine | |
via insertion of invalid values in a memory-mapped control | |
register; used esp. of various fairly well-known tricks on MMU-less | |
{bitty box}es like the IBM PC and Commodore PET that can overload | |
and trash analog electronics in the monitor. See also {HCF}. | |
kilo-: [from metric measure] prefix. 1.`kilo-' usually denotes | |
multiplication by 1024 especially when used with bytes, and also | |
with anything else perceived to naturally come in powers of 2. | |
With things that come in powers of 10, such as money, it retains | |
its usual meaning of multiplication of 1000. | |
Similarly the higher metric prefixes denote multiplication by | |
powers of 1024 = 2 ^ 10 rather than of 1000: mega- for 1024 ^ 2 = | |
1,048,576, {giga-} for 1024 ^ 3 = 1,073,741,824, tera- meaning | |
1024 ^ 4 = 1,099,511,627,776, {peta-} meaning 1024 ^ 5 = | |
1,125,899,906,842,624, and {exa-} for 1024 ^ 6 = | |
1,152,921,504,606,846,976. | |
Confusion of 1000 and 1024, for example describing memory in units | |
of 500K or 524K (see K) instead of 512K, is a sure sign of the | |
{marketroid}. | |
KIPS: [acronym, by analogy with {MIPS} using {K}] n. Thousands of | |
Instructions Per Second. Usage: rare. | |
KISS Principle: n. "Keep It Simple, Stupid". A maxim often | |
invoked when discussing design to fend off {creeping featurism} | |
and control development complexity. Possibly related to the | |
{marketroid} maxim on sales presentations, "Keep It Short and | |
Simple". | |
kit: [USENET] n. A source software distribution which has been | |
packaged in such a way that it can (theoretically) be unpacked and | |
installed according to a series of steps using only standard UNIX | |
tools, and entirely documented by some reasonable chain of | |
references from the top-level {README file}. The more general | |
term {distribution} may imply that special tools or more | |
stringent conditions on the host environment are required. | |
kluge: /klooj/ alt. kludge /kluhj/ [from the German `klug', | |
clever] (/klooj/ is the original pronunciation, more common in the | |
US; /kluhj/ is reported more common in England. A plurality of | |
hackers pronounce this word /klooj/ but spell it incorrectly as | |
`kludge'. Some observers consider this appropriate in view of its | |
meaning.). 1. n. A Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson) device in | |
hardware or software. (A long-ago Datamation article by Jackson | |
Granholme said: "An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching | |
parts, forming a distressing whole.") 2. n. A clever programming | |
trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an expedient, if | |
not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often involves | |
{ad-hockery} and verges on being a {crock}. 3. n. Something | |
that works for the wrong reason. 4. vt. To insert a kluge into a | |
program. "I've kluged this routine to get around that weird bug, | |
but there's probably a better way." 5. [WPI] A feature which is | |
implemented in a {rude} manner. | |
kluge around: vt. To avoid a bug or difficult condition by | |
inserting a {kluge}. Compare {workaround}. | |
kluge up: vt. To lash together a quick hack to perform a task; this | |
is milder than {cruft together} and has some of the connotations | |
of {hack up} (note however that the construction `kluge on' | |
corresponding to {hack on} is never used). "I've kluged up this | |
routine to dump the buffer contents to a safe place." | |
Knights of the Lambda Calculus: n. A semi-mythical organization of | |
wizardly LISP and Scheme hackers (the name refers to a mathematical | |
formalism invented by Alonzo Church with which LISP is intimately | |
connected). There is no enrollment list and the criteria for | |
induction are unclear, but one well-known LISPer has been known to | |
give out buttons and, in general, the *members* know who they | |
are.... | |
Knuth: [Donald Knuth's `The Art of Computer Programming'] n. The | |
reference that answers all questions about data structures or | |
algorithms. A safe answer when you do not know, as in "I think | |
you can find that in Knuth." Contrast {literature, the}. See | |
also {bible}. | |
kremvax: /krem-vaks/ [from the then large number of {USENET} {VAXen} | |
with names of the form `foovax'] n. A fictitious USENET site at | |
the Kremlin, announced on April 1, 1984, in a posting ostensibly | |
from Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko. The posting was actually | |
forged by Piet Beertema as an April Fool's joke. Other sites | |
mentioned in the hoax were moskvax and {kgbvax}, which now seems to | |
be the one by which it is remembered. This was probably the | |
funniest of the many April Fool's forgeries perpetrated on USENET | |
(which has negligible security against them), because the notion | |
that USENET might ever penetrate the Iron Curtain seemed so totally | |
absurd at the time. | |
In fact, it was only 6 years later that the first genuine site in | |
Moscow, demos.su, joined USENET. Some readers needed convincing | |
that it wasn't another prank. Vadim Antonov (avg@hq.demos.su), | |
the major poster from Moscow up to at least the end of 1990, was | |
quite aware of all this, referred to it frequently in his own | |
postings, and at one point twitted some credulous readers by | |
blandly `admitting' that he *was* a hoax! [Mr. Antonov also | |
contributed the Russian-language material for this File --- ESR] | |
= L = | |
===== | |
lace card: n. obs. A {{punched card}} with all holes punched (also | |
called a `whoopee card'). Card readers jammed when they got to | |
one of these, as the resulting card had too little structural | |
strength to avoid buckling inside the mechanism. Card punches | |
could also jam trying to produce these things due to power-supply | |
problems. When some practical joker fed a lace card through | |
the reader you needed to clear the jam with a `card knife' --- which | |
you used on the joker first. | |
language lawyer: n. A person, usually an experienced or senior | |
software engineer, who is intimately familiar with many or most of | |
the numerous syntactic and semantic restrictions (both useful and | |
esoteric) applicable to one or more computer programming languages. | |
A language lawyer is distinguished by the ability to show you the | |
five sentences scattered throughout a 200-plus page manual which | |
together imply the answer to your question "if only you had | |
thought to look there". Compare {wizard}, {legal}, | |
{legalese}. | |
languages of choice: n. {C} and {LISP}. Essentially all hackers | |
know one of these and most good ones are fluent in both. Smalltalk | |
and Prolog are popular in small but influential communities. | |
There is also a rapidly dwindling category of older hackers with | |
FORTRAN, or even assembler, as their language of choice. They | |
often prefer to be known as <real programmer>s, and other hackers | |
consider them a bit odd (see also `The Story of Mel, a Real | |
Programmer' in Appendix A). Assembler is generally no longer | |
considered interesting or appropriate for anything but compiler | |
code generation and a few time-critical uses in systems programs; | |
Fortran occupies a shrinking niche in scientific programming. | |
Most hackers tend to frown at languages like Pascal and Ada which | |
don't give them the near-total freedom considered necessary for | |
hacking (see {bondage-and-discipline language}) and to regard | |
everything that's even remotely connected with {COBOL} or other | |
traditional {card walloper} languages as a total {loss}. | |
larval stage: n. Describes a period of monomaniacal concentration | |
on coding apparently passed through by all fledgling hackers. | |
Common symptoms include: the perpetration of more than one 36-hour | |
{hacking run} in a given week, neglect of all other activities | |
including usual basics like food and sex, and a chronic case of | |
advanced bleary-eye. Can last from six months to two years, with | |
the apparent median being around eighteen months. A few so | |
afflicted never resume a more `normal' life, but the ordeal seems | |
to be necessary to produce really wizardly (as opposed to merely | |
competent) programmers. See also {wannabee}. A less protracted | |
and intense version of larval stage (typically lasting about a | |
month) may recur when learning a new {OS} or programming | |
language. | |
lase: /layz/ vt. To print a given document via a laser printer. "OK, | |
let's lase that sucker and see if all those graphics-macro calls | |
did the right things." | |
laser chicken: n. Kung Pao Chicken, a standard Chinese dish | |
containing chicken, peanuts, and hot red peppers in a spicy | |
pepper-oil sauce. A few hackers call it `laser chicken' for | |
two reasons; it can {zap} you just like a laser, and the | |
sauce has a red color reminiscent of some laser beams. | |
In a variation on this theme, it is reported that one group of | |
Australian hackers have redesignated the common dish `lemon | |
chicken' as `Chernobyl Chicken'. The name is derived from the | |
color of the dish, which is considered bright enough to glow in | |
the dark (much like some of the fabled inhabitants of Chernobyl). | |
LDB: /l@'d@b/ [from the PDP-10 instruction set] vt. To extract from | |
the middle. This usage has been kept alive by Common LISP's | |
function of the same name. See also {DPB}. | |
leaf site: n. A machine which merely originates and reads USENET | |
news or mail, and does not relay any third-party traffic. Often | |
uttered in a critical tone; when the ratio of leaf sites to | |
backbone, rib and other relay sites gets too high, the network | |
tends to develop bottlenecks. Compare {backbone site}, {rib | |
site}. | |
leak: n. With qualifier, one of a class of resource-management bugs | |
that occur when resources are not freed properly after operations | |
on them are finished, leading to eventual exhaustion as new | |
allocation requests come in. {memory leak} and {fd leak} have | |
their own entries; one might also refer, say, to a `window handle | |
leak' in a window system. | |
leaky heap: [Cambridge] n. Syn. {memory leak}. | |
legal: adj. Loosely used to mean `in accordance with all the | |
relevant rules', esp. in connection with some set of constraints | |
defined by software. Thus one very frequently hears constructions | |
like `legal syntax', `legal input' etc. Hackers often model their | |
work as a sort of game played with the environment in which the | |
objective is to maneuver through the thicket of `natural laws' to | |
achieve a desired objective. Their use of `legal' is flavored as | |
much by this game-playing sense as by the more conventional one | |
having to do with courts and lawyers. Compare {language lawyer}, | |
{legalese}. | |
legalese: n. Dense, pedantic verbiage in a language description, | |
product specification, or interface standard; text that seems | |
designed to obfuscate and requires a {language lawyer} to | |
{parse} it. While hackers are not afraid of information density | |
and complexity in language (indeed, they rather enjoy both), they | |
share a deep and abiding loathing for legalese; they associate it | |
with deception, {suits}, and situations in which hackers | |
generally get the short end of the stick. | |
LERP: /lerp/ vi.,n. Quasi-acronym for Linear Interpolation, used as a | |
verb or noun for the operation. E.g. Bresenham's algorithm lerps | |
incrementally between the two endpoints of the line. | |
let the smoke out: v. To fry hardware (see {fried}). See | |
{magic smoke} for the mythology behind this. | |
lexer: /lek'sr/ n. Common hacker shorthand for `lexical analyzer', | |
the input-tokenizing stage in the parser for a language. "Some C | |
lexers get confused by the old-style compound ops like `=-'". | |
life: n. 1. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton Conway, | |
and first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner (Scientific | |
American, October 1970). Many hackers pass through a stage of | |
fascination with it, and hackers at various places contributed | |
heavily to the mathematical analysis of this game (most notably | |
Bill Gosper at MIT; see {Gosperism}). When a hacker mentions | |
`life', he is much more likely to mean this game than the | |
magazine, the breakfast cereal, or the human state of existence. | |
2. The opposite of {USENET}. As in {Get a life!}. | |
light pipe: n. Fiber optic cable. Oppose {copper}. | |
like kicking dead whales down the beach: A slow, difficult, | |
and disgusting process. First popularized by a famous quote about | |
the difficulty of getting work done under one of IBM's mainframe | |
OSs. "Well, you *could* write a C compiler in COBOL, but it | |
would be like kicking dead whales down the beach." | |
like nailing jelly to a tree: adj. Used to describe a task thought | |
to be impossible, esp. one in which the difficulty arises from poor | |
specification or inherent slipperiness in the problem domain. | |
line eater, the: [USENET] n. 1. A bug in some now-obsolete versions | |
of the netnews software used to eat up to BUFSIZ bytes of the article | |
text. The bug was triggered by having the text of the article | |
start with a space or tab. This bug was quickly personified as a | |
mythical creature called the `line eater', and postings often | |
included a dummy line of `line eater food'. Ironically, line | |
eater food not preceded by whitespace wasn't actually eaten, | |
since the bug was avoided; but if there {was} whitespace before | |
it, then the line eater would eat the food *and* the beginning of | |
the text which it was supposed to be protecting. The practice of | |
`sacrificing to the line eater' continued for some time after | |
the bug had been {nailed to the wall}, and is still humorously | |
referred to. The bug itself is still (in mid-1991) occasionally | |
reported to be lurking in some mail-to-netnews gateways. 2. See | |
{NSA line eater}. | |
line starve: [MIT] 1. vi. To feed paper through a printer the wrong | |
way by one line (most printers can't do this!). On a display | |
terminal, to move the cursor up to the previous line of the screen. | |
Example: "To print X squared, you just output X, line starve, 2, | |
line feed." (The line starve causes the 2 to appear on the line | |
above the X, and the line feed gets back to the original line.) 2. | |
n. A character (or character sequence) that causes a terminal to | |
perform this action. Unlike `line feed', `line starve' is | |
*not* standard ASCII terminology. Even among hackers it is | |
considered a bit silly. 3. [proposed] A sequence like \c (used in | |
System V echo, as well as nroff/troff) which suppresses a | |
{newline} or other character(s) that would normally implicitly be | |
emitted. | |
link farm: [UNIX] n. A directory tree that contains many links to | |
files in another, master directory tree of files. Link farms save | |
space when maintaining several nearly identical copies of the same | |
source tree, e.g. when the only difference is | |
architecture-dependent object files. Example use: "Let's freeze | |
the source and then rebuild the FROBOZZ-3 and FROBOZZ-4 link | |
farms." Link farms may also be used to get around restrictions on | |
the number of -I arguments on older C preprocessors. | |
lint: [from UNIX's `lint(1)', named perhaps for the bits of | |
fluff it picks from programs] 1. vt. To examine a program closely | |
for style, language usage, and portability problems, esp. if in C, | |
esp. if via use of automated analysis tools, most esp. if the UNIX | |
utility `lint(1)' is used. This term used to be restricted to | |
use of `lint(1)' itself but (judging by references on USENET) | |
has become a shorthand for `desk-check' at some non-UNIX shops, | |
even in some languages other than C. See also {delint}. 2. n. | |
Excess verbiage in a document, as in "this draft has too much | |
lint". | |
lion food: [IBM] n. Middle management or HQ staff (by extension, | |
administrative drones in general). From an old joke about two | |
lions who, escaping from the zoo, split up to increase their | |
chances but agreed to meet after two months. When they do meet, | |
one is skinny and the other overweight. The thin one says "How | |
did you manage? I ate a human just once and they turned out a | |
small army to chase me --- guns, nets, it was terrible. Since then | |
I've been reduced to eating mice, insects, even grass." The fat | |
one replies "Well, *I* hid near an IBM office and ate a | |
manager a day. And nobody even noticed!" | |
LISP: [from `LISt Processing language', but mythically from | |
`Lots of Irritating Superfluous Parentheses'] n. The name of | |
AI's mother tongue, a language based on the ideas of (a) | |
variable-length lists and trees as fundamental data types, and (b) | |
the interpretation of code as data and vice-versa. Invented by | |
John McCarthy at Stanford in the late 1950s, it is actually older | |
than any other {HLL} still in use except FORTRAN. Accordingly, | |
it has undergone considerable adaptive radiation over the years; | |
modern variants (of which Scheme is perhaps the most successful) | |
are quite different in detail from the original LISP 1.5 at | |
Stanford. The hands-down favorite of a plurality of hackers until | |
the early 1980s, LISP now shares the throne with {C}. See | |
{languages of choice}. | |
All LISP functions and programs are expressions which return | |
values; this, together with the high memory utilization of early | |
LISPs, gave rise to Alan Perlis's famous quip that "LISP | |
programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing." | |
literature, the: n. Computer science journals and other | |
publications used to answer a question that the hearer believes is | |
{trivial}, as in "It's in the literature." Oppose {Knuth}, | |
which has no connotation of triviality. | |
little-endian: adj. Describes a computer architecture in which, | |
within a given 16- or 32-bit word, lower byte addresses have lower | |
significance (the word is stored `little-end-first'). The PDP-11 | |
and VAX families of computers and Intel microprocessors and a lot | |
of communications and networking hardware are little-endian. See | |
{big-endian}, {middle-endian}, {NUXI problem}. The term is | |
sometimes used to describe the ordering of units other than bytes; | |
most frequently these are bits within a byte. | |
Live Free Or Die!: imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which | |
used to be on its car license plates. 2. A slogan associated with | |
UNIX in the romantic days when UNIX aficionados saw themselves as a | |
tiny, beleaguered underground tilting against the windmills of | |
industry. The "free" referred specifically to freedom from the | |
{fascist} design philosophies and crufty misfeatures common on | |
commercial operating systems. Armando Stettner, one of the early | |
UNIX developers, used to give out fake license plates bearing this | |
motto under a large UNIX, all in New Hampshire colors of green and | |
white. These are now valued collector's items. | |
livelock: n. A situation in which some critical stage of a task is | |
unable to finish because its clients perpetually create more work | |
for it to do after they've been serviced but before it can clear. | |
Differs from {deadlock} in that the process is not blocked or | |
waiting for anything, but has a virtually infinite amount of work | |
to do and accomplishes nothing. | |
liveware: n. Synonym for {wetware}. Less common. | |
lobotomy: n. 1. What a hacker subjected to formal management | |
training is said to have undergone. At IBM and elsewhere this term | |
is used by both hackers and low-level management; the latter | |
doubtless intend it as a joke. 2. The act of removing the | |
processor from a microcomputer in order to replace or upgrade it. | |
Some very cheap {clone} systems are sold in `lobotomized' form | |
--- everything but the brain. | |
locked and loaded: [from military slang for an M-16 with magazine | |
inserted and prepared for firing] adj. Said of a removable disk | |
volume properly prepared for use --- that is, locked into the drive | |
and with the heads loaded. Ironically, because their heads are | |
`loaded' whenever the power is up, this is never used of | |
{{Winchester}} drives. | |
locked up: adj. Syn. for {hung}, {wedged}. | |
logic bomb: n. Code surreptitiously inserted in an application or OS | |
which causes it to perform some destructive or | |
security-compromising activity whenever specified conditions are | |
met. Compare {back door}. | |
logical: [from the technical term `logical device', wherein a | |
physical device is referred to by an arbitrary `logical' name] adj. | |
Functionally equivalent to, but understood to have a referent not | |
necessarily corresponding to reality. E.g., if a person who has | |
long held a certain post (e.g., Les Earnest at SAIL) left and was | |
replaced, the replacement would for a while be known as the | |
`logical' Les Earnest (this did not imply any judgement on the | |
replacement). Compare {virtual}. | |
At Stanford, `logical' compass directions denote a coordinate | |
system in which `logical north' is toward San Francisco, | |
`logical west' is toward the ocean, etc., even though logical | |
north varies between physical (true) north near San Francisco and | |
physical west near San Jose. (The best rule of thumb here is that | |
El Camino Real, by definition, always runs logical north-and-south.) | |
In giving directions, one might say, "To get to Rincon Tarasco | |
restaurant, get onto El Camino Bignum going logical north." Using | |
the word `logical' helps to prevent the recipient from worrying | |
about that the fact that the sun is setting almost directly in | |
front of him. The concept is reinforced by North American highways | |
which are almost, but not quite, consistently labelled with logical | |
rather than physical directions. A similar situation exists at | |
MIT. Route 128 (famous for the electronics industries that have | |
grown up along it) is a three-quarters circle surrounding Boston at | |
a radius of ten miles, terminating at the coastline at each end. | |
It would be most precise to describe the two directions along this | |
highway as being `clockwise' and `counterclockwise', but the road | |
signs all say `north' and `south', respectively. A hacker would | |
describe these directions as `logical north' and `logical south', | |
to indicate that they are conventional directions not corresponding | |
to the usual convention for those words. (If you went logical | |
south along the entire length of route 128, you would start out | |
going northwest, curve around to the south, and finish headed due | |
east!) | |
loop through: vt. To process each element of a list of things. | |
"Hold on, I've got to loop through my paper mail." Derives from | |
the computer-language notion of an iterative loop; compare `cdr | |
down' (under {cdr}) which is less common among C and UNIX | |
programmers. ITS hackers used to say `IRP over' after an | |
obscure pseudo-op in the MIDAS PDP-10 assembler. | |
lord high fixer: [primarily British, prob. from Gilbert & Sullivan's | |
`lord high executioner'] n. The person in an organization who | |
knows the most about some aspect of a system. See {wizard}. | |
lose: [MIT] vi. 1. To fail. A program loses when it encounters an | |
exceptional condition or fails to work in the expected manner. 2. | |
To be exceptionally unesthetic. 3. Of people, to be obnoxious or | |
unusually stupid (as opposed to ignorant). See also {deserves to | |
lose}. 4. n. Refers to something which is {losing}, especially | |
in the phrases "That's a lose!" or "What a lose!". | |
lose lose: interj. A reply or comment on an undesirable situation. | |
"I accidentally deleted all my files!" "Lose lose." | |
loser: n. An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or | |
person. Someone who habitually loses (even winners can lose | |
occasionally). Someone who knows not and knows not that he knows | |
not. Emphatic forms are `real loser', `total loser', and | |
`complete loser' (but not `moby loser', which would be a | |
contradiction in terms). See {luser}. | |
losing: adj. Said of anything which is or causes a {lose}. | |
loss: n. Something (not a person) which loses; a situation in which | |
something is losing. Emphatic forms include `moby loss', `total | |
loss', `complete loss'. Common interjections are "What a loss!" | |
and "What a moby loss!" Compare {lossage}. | |
lossage: /los'@j/ n. The result of a bug or malfunction. This is a | |
collective noun. "What a loss!" and "What lossage!" are nearly | |
synonymous remarks. The former is slightly more particular to the | |
speaker's present circumstances while the latter implies a | |
continuing lose of which the speaker is presently victim. Thus | |
(for example) a temporary hardware failure is a loss, but bugs in | |
an important tool (like a compiler) are serious lossage. | |
lost in the underflow: adj. Too small to be worth considering; | |
more specifically, small beyond the limits of accuracy or | |
measurement. This is a reference to a condition called | |
`floating underflow' that can occur when a floating-point | |
arithmetic processor tries to handle quantities smaller than its | |
limit of magnitude. It is also a pun on `undertow' (a kind of fast, | |
cold current that sometimes runs just outshore of a beach and can | |
be dangerous to swimmers). "Well, sure, photon pressure from the | |
stadium lights alters the path of a thrown baseball, but that | |
effect gets lost in the underflow." See also {overflow bit}. | |
lots of MIPS but no I/O: adj. Used to describe a person who is | |
technically brilliant but can't seem to communicate with human | |
beings effectively. Technically it describes a machine which has | |
lots of processing power but is bottlenecked on I/O. | |
LPT: /lip'it/ [ITS] n. Line printer, of course. Rare under UNIX, | |
commoner in hackers with MS-DOS or CP/M background (the printer | |
device is called LPT: on those systems, which like ITS were | |
strongly influenced by early DEC conventions). | |
lunatic fringe: [IBM] n. Customers who can be relied upon to accept | |
release 1 versions of software. | |
lurker: n. One of the `silent majority' in a {USENET} or BBS | |
newsgroup; one who posts occasionally or not at all but is known to | |
read the group regularly. Often used in `the lurkers', the | |
hypothetical audience for the group's {flamage}-emitting | |
regulars. | |
luser: /loo'zr/ n. A {user} who is probably also a {loser}. | |
({luser} and {loser} are pronounced identically.) This word | |
was coined about 1975 at MIT. Under ITS, when you first walked up | |
to a terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z to get the computer's | |
attention, it prints out some status information, including how | |
many people are already using the computer; it might print "14 | |
users", for example. Someone thought it would be a great joke to | |
patch the system to print "14 losers" instead. There ensued a | |
great controversy, as some of the users didn't particularly want to | |
be called losers to their faces every time they used the computer. | |
For a while several hackers struggled covertly, each changing the | |
message behind the back of the others; any time you logged into the | |
computer it was even money whether it would say "users" or | |
"losers". Finally, someone tried the compromise `lusers', and it | |
stuck. Later one of the ITS machines supported `luser' as a | |
request-for-help command. ITS effectively died in early 1990, | |
except as a museum piece; the usage lives on, however, and the term | |
`luser' is often seen in program comments. | |
= M = | |
===== | |
M: [from {mega-}] /em/ n. A megabyte (1,024 kilobytes, 1,048,576 | |
bytes). Also written MB (this conflicts with use of M by | |
scientists, under which MB would denote 1,000,000-byte units). See | |
also {kilo-}, {K}. | |
macdink: /mak'dink/ [from the Apple Macintosh, which is said to | |
encourage such behavior] vt. To make many incremental and | |
unnecessary cosmetic changes to a program or file. Frequently the | |
subject of the macdinking would be better off without them. Ex: | |
"When I left at 11pm last night, he was still macdinking the | |
slides for his presentation." See also {fritterware}. | |
machoflops: /mach'oh-flops/ [pun on `megaflops', a coinage for | |
`millions of floating-point operations per second'] n. Refers to | |
artificially inflated performance figures often quoted by computer | |
manufacturers. Real applications are lucky to get half the quoted | |
speed. See {Your mileage may vary.}, {benchmark}. | |
Macintrash: /mak'in-trash`/ n. The Apple Macintosh, as described by | |
a hacker who doesn't appreciate being kept away from the *real | |
computer* by the interface. See also {WIMP environment}, | |
{drool-proof paper}, {user-friendly}. | |
macro: /mak'roh/ n. A name (possibly followed by a formal {arg} | |
list) which is equated to a text expression to which it is to be | |
expanded (possibly with substitution of actual arguments) by a | |
language translator. This definition can be found in any technical | |
dictionary; what those won't tell you is how the hackish | |
connotations of the term have changed over time. The term `macro' | |
originated in early assemblers, which encouraged use of macros as a | |
structuring and information-hiding device. During the early 1970s | |
macro assemblers became ubiquitous and sometimes quite as powerful | |
and expensive as HLLs, only to fall from favor as improving | |
compiler technology marginalized assembler programming (see | |
{languages of choice}). Nowadays the term is most often used in | |
connection with the C preprocessor, LISP, or one of several | |
special-purpose languages built around a macro-expansion facility | |
(such as TeX or UNIX's [nt]roff suite). Indeed, the meaning has | |
drifted enough that the collective `macros' is now sometimes used | |
for code in any special-purpose application-control language | |
(whether or not the language is actually translated by text | |
expansion) as well as other `expansions' such as the `keyboard | |
macros' supported in some text editors (and PC TSR keyboard | |
enhancers). | |
macro-: pref. Large. Opposite of {micro-}. In the mainstream | |
and among other technical cultures (for example, medical people) | |
this competes with the prefix {mega-}, but hackers tend to | |
restrict the latter to quantification. | |
macrology: /mak-ro'l@-jee/ n. 1. Set of usually complex or crufty | |
macros, e.g. as part of a large system written in {LISP}, | |
{TECO}, or (less commonly) assembler. 2. The art and science | |
involved in comprehending a macrology in sense #1. Sometimes | |
studying the macrology of a system is not unlike archeology, | |
ecology and {theology}, hence the sound-alike construction. | |
macrotape: /ma'kroh-tayp/ n. An industry standard reel of tape, as | |
opposed to a {microtape}. | |
magic: adj. 1. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain; | |
compare {automagically} and (Arthur C.) Clarke's Third Law: "Any | |
sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". | |
"TTY echoing is controlled by a large number of magic bits." | |
"This routine magically computes the parity of an eight-bit byte | |
in three instructions." 2. Characteristic of something that works | |
but no one really understands why. 3. [Stanford] A feature not | |
generally publicized that allows something otherwise impossible, | |
or a feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. Example: | |
The keyboard commands which override the screen-hiding features. | |
magic cookie: [UNIX] n. 1. Something passed between routines or | |
programs that enables the receiver to perform some operation; a | |
capability ticket or opaque identifier. Especially used of small | |
data objects which contain data encoded in a strange or | |
intrinsically machine-dependent way. For example, on non-UNIX OSes | |
with a non-byte-stream model of files, the result of | |
`ftell(3)' may be a magic cookie rather than a byte offset; | |
it can be passed to `fseek(3)', but not operated on in any | |
meaningful way. The phrase "It hands you a magic cookie" means | |
it returns a result whose contents are not defined but which can be | |
passes back to the same program later to refer back to this | |
transaction. 2. An in-band code for changing graphic rendition | |
(e.g. inverse video or underlining) or performing other control | |
functions. Some older terminals would leave a blank on the screen | |
corresponding to mode-change magic cookies; this was also called a | |
{glitch}. See also {cookie}. | |
magic number: [UNIX/C] n. 1. Special data located at the beginning | |
of a binary data file to indicate its type to a utility. Under | |
UNIX the system and various applications programs (especially the | |
linker) distinguish between types of executable by looking for a | |
magic number. Only a {wizard} knows the magic to create magic | |
numbers. How do you create a magic number that nobody else is | |
using? Simple --- you pick one at random. See? It's magic! 2. | |
In source code, some non-obvious constant whose value is | |
significant to the operation of a program and which is inserted | |
inconspicuously in line ({hardcoded}), rather than expanded in by | |
a symbol set by a commented #define. Magic numbers in this sense | |
are bad style. | |
magic smoke: n. A notional substance trapped inside IC packages that | |
enables them to function (also called `blue smoke'). Its | |
existence is demonstrated by what happens when a chip burns up --- | |
the magic smoke gets let out, so it doesn't work any more. See | |
{smoke test}, {let the smoke out}. | |
USENETter Jay Maynard tells the following story: "Once, while | |
hacking on a dedicated Z-80 system, I was testing code by blowing | |
EPROMs and plugging them in the system, then seeing what happened. | |
One time, I plugged one in backwards. I only discovered that | |
*after* I realized that Intel didn't put power-on lights under | |
the quartz windows on the tops of their EPROMs --- the die was | |
glowing white-hot. Amazingly, the EPROM worked fine after I erased | |
it, filled it full of zeros, then erased it again. For all I know, | |
it's still in service. Of course, this is because the magic smoke | |
didn't get let out." | |
mailing list: n. (often shortened to `list') 1. An {email} | |
address that is an alias (or {macro}, though that word is never | |
used in this connection) for many other email addresses. 2. The | |
people who receive your email when you send it to such an address. | |
Mailing lists are one of the primary forms of hacker interaction, | |
along with {USENET}. They predate USENET, and originated with the | |
first UUCP and ARPANET connections. They are often used for | |
private information-sharing on topics that would be too specialized | |
for or inappropriate in public USENET groups. While some of these | |
maintain purely technical content (such as the Internet Engineering | |
Task Force mailing list), others (like the `sf-lovers' list | |
maintained for many years by Saul Jaffe) are recreational, and | |
others are purely social. Perhaps the most infamous of the social | |
lists was the eccentric `bandykin' distribution; its latter-day | |
progeny, `lectroids' and `tanstaafl', still include a number of the | |
oddest and most interesting people in hackerdom. | |
Mailing lists are easy to create and (unlike USENET) don't tie up a | |
significant amount of machine resources. Thus, they are often | |
created temporarily by working groups who can then collaborate on a | |
project without ever needing to meet face-to-face. Much of the | |
material in this book was criticized and polished on just such a | |
mailing list (called `jargon-friends') which included all the | |
co-authors of the original `The Hacker's Dictionary'. | |
main loop: n. Software tools are often written to perform some | |
action repeatedly on whatever input is handed to them, terminating | |
when there is no more input or they are explicitly told to go away. | |
In such programs, the loop that gets and processes input is called | |
the `main loop'. See also {driver}. | |
mainframe: n. This term originally referred to the central | |
processor unit cabinet or `main frame' of a room-filling {Stone | |
Age} batch machine. After the emergence of smaller `minicomputer' | |
designs in the early Seventies, the traditional {big iron} | |
machines were described as `mainframe computers' and eventually | |
just as mainframes. The term carries the implication of a machine | |
designed for batch rather than interactive use, though possibly | |
with an interactive timesharing operating system retrofitted onto | |
it; it is especially used of machines built by IBM, Sperry Univac, | |
Unisys and the other great megatheria surviving from computing's | |
Pleistocene. | |
Outside the tiny market for specialized number-crunching | |
supercomputers (see {cray}), it is common wisdom among hackers | |
that the mainframe architectural tradition is essentially dead now, | |
swamped by the huge advances in IC technology and `personal' | |
lower-cost computing. As of 1991, corporate America hasn't quite | |
figured this out yet, though the wave of failures, takeovers, and | |
mergers among traditional mainframe makers are certainly straws in | |
the wind. See also {dinosaur}. | |
management: n. 1. Corporate power elites distinguished primarily by | |
their distance from actual productive work and their chronic | |
failure to manage (see also {suit}). Spoken derisively, as in | |
"*Management* decided that...". 2. Mythically, a vast | |
bureaucracy responsible for all the world's minor irritations. | |
Hackers' satirical public notices are often signed "The Mgmt". | |
manged: /mahnjed/ [probably from the French manger, to eat; perh. | |
influenced by English n. `mange', adj. `mangy']. Refers to | |
anything that is mangled or damaged, usually beyond repair. "The | |
disk was manged after the electrical storm." Compare {mung}. | |
mangle: vt. Used similarly to {mung} or {scribble}, but more violent | |
in its connotations; something that is mangled has been | |
irreversibly and totally trashed. | |
mangler: [DEC] n. A manager. Compare {mango}; see also | |
{management}. Note that {system mangler} is somwehat different | |
in connotation. | |
mango: /mang'go/ [orig. in-house slang at Symbolics] n. A manager. | |
Compare {mangler}. See also {devo} and {doco}. | |
marginal: adj. 1. Extremely small. "A marginal increase in | |
{core} can decrease {GC} time drastically." In everyday | |
terms, this means that it's a lot easier to clean off your desk if | |
you have a spare place to put some of the junk while you sort | |
through it. 2. Of extremely small merit. "This proposed new | |
feature seems rather marginal to me." 3. Of extremely small | |
probability of winning. "The power supply was rather marginal | |
anyway; no wonder it fried." | |
marginally: adv. Slightly. "The ravs here are only marginally | |
better than at Small Eating Place." See {epsilon}. | |
Marginal Hacks: n. Margaret Jacks Hall, a building into which the | |
Stanford AI Lab was moved near the beginning of the '80s. | |
marketroid: /mar'k@-troyd/ alt. `marketing slime', `marketing | |
droid', `marketeer' n. Member of a company's marketing department, | |
esp. one who promises users that the next version of a product | |
will have features that are unplanned, extremely difficult to | |
implement, and/or violate the laws of physics; and/or one who | |
describes existing features (and misfeatures) in ebullient, | |
buzzword-laden adspeak. Derogatory. | |
martian: n. A packet sent on a TCP/IP network with a source address | |
of the test loopback interface (127.0.0.1). As in "The domain | |
server is getting lots of packets from Mars. Does that gateway | |
have a martian filter?" | |
massage: vt. Vague term used to describe `smooth' transformations of | |
a data set into a more useful form, esp. transformations that do | |
not lose information. Connotes less pain than {munch} or {crunch}. | |
"He wrote a program that massages X bitmap files into GIF | |
format." Compare {slurp}. | |
math-out: [poss. from `white-out' (the blizzard variety)] n. A | |
paper or presentation so encrusted with mathematical or other | |
formal notation as to be incomprehensible. This may be a device | |
for concealing the fact that it is actually {content-free}. See | |
also {numbers}, {social science number}. | |
Matrix: [FidoNet] n. 1. What the Opus BBS software and sysops call | |
{FidoNet}. 2. Fanciful term for a {cyberspace} expected to | |
emerge from current networking experiments (see {network, the}). | |
Some people refer to the totality of present networks this way. | |
Mbogo, Dr. Fred: [Stanford] n. The archetypal man you don't want to | |
see about a problem, esp. an incompetent professional; a shyster. | |
Usage: "Do you know a good eye doctor?" "Sure, try Mbogo Eye | |
Care and Professional Dry Cleaning." The name comes from synergy | |
between {bogus} and the original Dr. Mbogo, a witch doctor who | |
was Gomez Addams' physician on the old `Addams Family' TV show. | |
meatware: n. Synonym for {wetware}. Less common. | |
meg: /meg/ n. A megabyte; 1024K. See {M} and {K}. | |
mega-: /me'g@/ pref. Multiplier, 10 ^ 6 or 2 ^ 20. See {M}, | |
{kilo-}. | |
megapenny: /meg'@-pen'ee/ n. $10,000 (1 cent * 10 ^ 6). Used | |
semi-humorously as a unit in comparing computer cost/performance | |
figures. | |
MEGO: /me'goh/ or /mee'goh/ [My Eyes Glaze Over, often Mine Eyes | |
Glazeth (sic) Over, attributed to the futurologist Herman Kahn] | |
Also `MEGO factor'. 1. n. Handwaving intended to confuse the | |
listener and hopefully induce agreement because the listener does | |
not want to admit to not understanding what is going on. MEGO is | |
usually directed at senior management by engineers and contains a | |
high proportion of {TLA}s. 2. excl. An appropriate response to | |
MEGO tactics. | |
meltdown, network: n. A state of complete network overload; the | |
network equivalent of {thrash}ing. See also {broadcast storm}. | |
meme: /meem/ [coined on analogy with `gene' by Richard Dawkins] n. An | |
idea considered as a {replicator}. Used esp. in the phrase `meme | |
complex' denoting a group of mutually supporting memes which form | |
an organized belief system, such as a religion. This dictionary is | |
a vector of the `hacker subculture' meme complex; each entry | |
might be considered a meme. However, `meme' is often misused to | |
mean `meme complex'. Use of the term connotes acceptance of the | |
idea that in humans (and presumably other tool- and language-using | |
sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has | |
superseded biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits. | |
Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons. | |
meme plague: n. The spread of a successful but pernicious {meme}, | |
esp. one which `parasitizes' the victims into giving their all to | |
propagate it. Astrology, BASIC, and the other guy's religion are | |
often considered to be examples. This usage is given point by the | |
historical fact that `joiner' ideologies like Naziism or various | |
forms of millennarian Christianity have exhibited plague-like cycles | |
of exponential growth followed by collapse to small reservoir | |
populations. | |
memetics: /m@-met'iks/ [from {meme}] The study of memes. As of mid-1991, | |
this is still an extremely informal and speculative endeavor, | |
though the first steps towards at least statistical rigor have been | |
made by H. Keith Henson and others. Memetics is a popular topic | |
among hackers, who like to see themselves as the architects of the | |
new information ecologies in which memes live and replicate. | |
memory leak: [C/UNIX programmers] n. An error in a program's | |
dynamic-store allocation logic that causes it to fail to reclaim | |
discarded memory, leading to attempted hogging of main store and | |
eventual collapse due to memory exhaustion. Also (esp. at CMU) | |
called {core leak}. See {aliasing bug}, {fandango on core}, {smash | |
the stack}, {precedence lossage}, {overrun screw}, {leaky heap}. | |
menuitis: /men`yoo-ie'tis/ n. Notional disease suffered by software | |
with an obsessively simple-minded menu interface and no escape. | |
Hackers find this intensely irritating and much prefer the | |
flexibility of command-line or language-style interfaces, | |
especially those customizable via macros or a special-purpose | |
language in which one can encode useful hacks. See | |
{user-obsequious}, {drool-proof paper}, {WIMP environment}. | |
mess-dos: /mes-dos/ [UNIX hackers] n. Derisory term for MS-DOS. | |
Often followed by the ritual expurgation "Just Say No!". See | |
MS-DOS. Most hackers (even many MS-DOS hackers) loathe MS-DOS for | |
its single-tasking nature, its limits on application size, its | |
nasty primitive interface, and its ties to IBMness (see {fear and | |
loathing}). Also `mess-loss', `messy-dos', `mess-dog', | |
`mess-dross' and various combinations thereof. In Great | |
Britain it is even sometimes called `Domestos' after a brand of | |
toilet cleanser. | |
meta: /me't@/ or /may't@/ or (Commonwealth) /mee't@/ [from | |
analytic philosophy] adj. One level of description up. Thus, a | |
meta-syntactic variable is a variable in notation used to describe | |
syntax and meta-language is language used to describe language. | |
This is difficult to explain out of context, but much hacker humor | |
turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels. See {{Humor, | |
Hacker}}. | |
meta bit: n. Bit 8 of an 8-bit character, on in values 128-255. | |
Also called {high bit} or {alt bit}. Some terminals and | |
consoles (especially those designed for LISP traditions) have a | |
META shift key. Others (including, *mirabile dictu*, | |
keyboards on IBM PC-class machines) have an ALT key. See also | |
{bucky bits}. | |
mickey: n. The resolution unit of mouse movement. In {OS/2} | |
there is a system call `MouGetNumMickeys()'. It has been | |
suggested that the `disney' will become a benchmark unit for | |
animation graphics performance. | |
micro-: pref. 1. Very small; this is the root of its use, as a | |
quantifier prefix meaning `multiply by `10 ^ -6''. Neither of | |
these uses is peculiar to hackers, but hackers tend to fling them | |
both around rather more freely than is countenanced in standard | |
English. It is recorded, for example, that one CS professor used | |
to characterize the standard length of his lectures as a | |
microcentury --- that is, about 52.6 minutes (Tom Duff at Bell Labs | |
has also pointed out that "Pi seconds is a nanocentury"). | |
Multiple uses of the microfortnight and millifortnight (about 1.2 | |
sec and 20 minutes) have also been reported (see also | |
{attoparsec}, {nanoacre}). 2. Personal or human-scale --- that | |
is, capable of being maintained or comprehended or manipulated by | |
one human being. This sense is generalized from | |
`microcomputer', and esp. used in contrast with `macro-' | |
(Greek prefix meaning large). 3. Local as opposed to global | |
({macro-}). Thus a hacker might say, for example, that buying a | |
smaller car to reduce pollution only solves a microproblem; the | |
macroproblem of getting to work might be better solved by using | |
transit, moving to within walking distance, or telecommuting. | |
microfloppies: n. 3-1/2 inch floppies, as opposed to 5-1/4 | |
{vanilla} or mini-floppies and the now-obsolete 8-inch variety. | |
This term may be headed for obsolescence as 5-1/4 inchers pass out | |
of use, only to be revived if anybody floats a sub-3-inch floppy | |
standard. See {stiffy}, {minifloppies}. | |
microLenat: n. See {bogosity}. | |
microtape: n. Occasionally used to mean a DECtape, as opposed to a | |
{macrotape}. A DECtape is a small reel of magnetic tape about four | |
inches in diameter and an inch deep. Unlike normal drivers for | |
standard magnetic tapes, microtape drivers allow random access | |
to the data. In their heyday they were used in pretty much the | |
same ways one would now use a floppy disk: as a small, portable way | |
to save and transport files and programs. Apparently the term | |
`microtape' was actually the official term used within DEC for | |
these tapes until someone consed up the word `DECtape', which of | |
course sounded sexier to the {marketroid} types. | |
middle-endian: adj. Not {big-endian} or {little-endian}. Used of | |
byte orders like 3-4-1-2 occasionally found in the packed-decimal | |
formats of minicomputer manufacturers who shall remain nameless. | |
millilampson: /mil'i-lamp`sn/ n. A unit of talking speed. Most | |
people run about 200 millilampsons. Butler Lampson (a CS theorist | |
and systems implementor highly regarded among hackers) goes at | |
1000. A few people speak faster. | |
minifloppies: n. 5-1/4 inch {vanilla} floppy disks, as opposed to | |
3-1/2 or mini-floppies and the now-obsolescent 8-inch variety. At | |
one time, this term was a trademark of Shugart Associates for their | |
SA-400 minifloppy drive. Nobody paid any attention. See | |
{stiffy}, {microfloppies}. | |
MIPS: /mips/ [acronym] n. 1. A measure of computing speed; | |
formally, `Million Instructions Per Second'; often rendered | |
by hackers as `Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed'. This | |
joke expresses a nearly universal attitude about the value of | |
{benchmark} claims, said attitude being one of the great cultural | |
divides between hackers and {marketroid}s. 2. The corporate name | |
of a particular RISC-chip company; among other things, they | |
designed the processor chips used in DEC's 3100 workstation series. | |
misbug: /mis-buhg/ [MIT] n. An unintended property of a program | |
that turns out to be useful; something that should have been a | |
{bug} but turns out to be a {feature}. Usage: rare. Compare | |
{green lightning}. | |
misfeature: /mis-fee'chr/ or /mis'fee`chr/ n. A feature which | |
eventually screws someone, possibly because it is not adequate for | |
a new situation which has evolved. It is not the same as a bug | |
because fixing it involves a gross philosophical change to the | |
structure of the system involved. A misfeature is different from a | |
simple unforeseen side effect; the term implies that the misfeature | |
was actually carefully planned to be that way, but future | |
consequences or circumstances just weren't predicted accurately. | |
This is different from just not having thought ahead about it at | |
all. Often a former feature becomes a misfeature because a | |
tradeoff was made whose parameters subsequently changed (possibly | |
only in the judgment of the implementors). "Well, yeah, it's kind | |
of a misfeature that file names are limited to six characters, but | |
the original implementors wanted to save directory space and we're | |
stuck with it for now." | |
Missed'em-five: n. Pejorative hackerism for AT&T System V UNIX, | |
generally used by {BSD} partisans in a bigoted mood (the term | |
`SysVile' is also encountered). See {software bloat}, | |
{Berzerkeley}. | |
miswart: /mis-wort/ [from {wart} by analogy with {misbug}] n. | |
A {feature} which appears to be a {wart} but has been | |
determined to be the {Right Thing}. For example, in some versions | |
of the {EMACS} text editor, the `transpose characters' command | |
exchanges the two characters on either side of the cursor on the | |
screen, *except* when the cursor is at the end of a line, in | |
which case the two characters before the cursor are exchanged. | |
While this behavior is perhaps surprising, and certainly | |
inconsistent, it has been found through extensive experimentation | |
to be what most users want. This feature is a miswart. | |
moby: /moh'bee/ [MIT; seems to have been in use among model | |
railroad fans years ago. Derived from Melville's `Moby Dick' (some | |
say from `Moby Pickle').] 1. adj. Large, immense, complex, | |
impressive. "A Saturn V rocket is a truly moby frob." "Some | |
MIT undergrads pulled off a moby hack at the Harvard-Yale game." | |
(see Appendix A). 2. n. obs. The maximum address space of a | |
machine (see below). For a 680[1234]0 or VAX or most modern 32-bit | |
architectures, it is 4294967296 8-bit bytes. 3. A title of | |
address (never of third-person reference), usually used to show | |
admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to a competent hacker. | |
"Greetings, moby Dave. How's that address-book thing for the Mac | |
going?" 4. adj. In backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in | |
`moby sixes', `moby ones', etc. Compare this with | |
{bignum} (sense #2): double sixes are both bignums and moby | |
sixes, but moby ones are not bignums (the use of `moby' to | |
describe double ones is sarcastic). `Moby foo', `moby | |
win', `moby loss': standard emphatic forms. `Foby moo': a | |
spoonerism due to Greenblatt. | |
This term entered hackerdom with the Fabritek 256K moby memory of | |
the MIT-AI machine. Thus, a moby is classically, 256K 36-bit words, | |
the size of a PDP-10 moby (it had two). Back when address | |
registers were narrow, the term was more generally useful; because | |
when a computer had virtual memory mapping, it might actually | |
have more physical memory attached to it than any one program could | |
access directly. One could then say "This computer has six | |
mobies" to mean that the ratio of physical memory to address space | |
is six, without having to say specifically how much memory there | |
actually is. That in turn implied that the computer could | |
timeshare six `full-sized' programs without having to swap | |
programs between memory and disk. | |
Nowadays the low cost of processor logic means that registers are | |
typically wider than the most memory you can cram onto a machine, | |
so most systems have much *less* than 1 theoretical `native' | |
moby of core. Also, more modern memory-management techniques make | |
the `moby count' less significant. However, there is one series of | |
popular chips for which the term could stand to be revived --- the | |
Intel 8088 and 80286 with their incredibly brain-damaged | |
segmented-memory design. On these, a `moby' would be the | |
1-megabyte address span of a paragraph-plus-offset pair (by | |
coincidence, a PDP-10 moby was exactly 1 megabyte of 9-bit bytes). | |
mod: vt.,n. 1. Short for `modify' or `modification'. Very | |
commonly used --- in fact these latter terms are considered markers | |
that one is being formal. The plural `mods' is used esp. with | |
reference to bug fixes or minor design changes in hardware or | |
software, most esp. with respect to patch sets or a {diff}. | |
mode: n. A general state, usually used with an adjective describing | |
the state. Use of the word "mode" rather than "state" implies | |
that the state is extended over time, and probably also that some | |
activity characteristic of that state is being carried out. "No | |
time to hack; I'm in thesis mode." Usage: in its jargon sense, | |
`mode' is most often said of people, though it is sometimes | |
applied to programs and inanimate objects. "The E editor normally | |
uses a display terminal, but if you're on a TTY it will switch to | |
non-display mode." This term is normally used in a technical sense | |
to describe the state of a program. Extended usage --- for | |
example, to describe people --- is definitely slang. In | |
particular, see {hack mode}, {day mode}, {night mode}, {demo mode}, | |
{fireworks mode}, and {yoyo mode}; also {talk mode}. | |
One also often hears the verbs `enable' and `disable' used in | |
connection with slang modes. Thus, for example, a sillier way of | |
saying "I'm going to crash" is "I'm going to enable crash mode | |
now." One might also hear a request to "disable flame mode, | |
please". | |
mode bit: n. A {flag}, usually in hardware, that selects between | |
two (usually quite different) modes of operation. The connotations | |
are different from {flag} bit in that mode bits are mainly | |
written during a boot or set-up phase, are seldom read, and seldom | |
change over the lifetime of an ordinary program. The classic | |
example was the EBCDIC-vs.-ASCII bit 12 of the Program Status | |
Word of the IBM 360. Another was the bit on a PDP-12 that | |
controlled whether it ran the PDP-8 or LINC instruction set. | |
modulo: /mod'y@-low/ prep. Except for. From mathematical | |
terminology: one can consider saying that 4 = 22 except for the | |
9s (4=22 mod 9) (the precise meaning is a bit more complicated, | |
but that's the idea). "Well, LISP seems to work okay now, modulo | |
that {GC} bug." "I feel fine today modulo a slight headache." | |
molly-guard: [University of Illinois] n. A shield to prevent | |
tripping of some {Big Red Switch} by clumsy or ignorant hands. | |
Originally used of some plexiglass covers improvised for the BRS on | |
an IBM 4341 after a programmer's toddler daughter (named Molly) | |
frobbed it twice in one day. Later generalized to covers over | |
stop/reset switches on disk drives and networking equipment. | |
Mongolian Hordes technique: n. Development by {gang bang}; | |
compare the Sixties counterculture expression `Mongolian | |
clusterfuck' for a public orgy. Implies that large numbers of | |
inexperienced programmers are being put on a job better performed | |
by a few skilled ones. Also called `Chinese Army technique'. | |
monkey up: vt. To hack together hardware for a particular task, | |
especially a one-shot job. Connotes an extremely {crufty} and | |
consciously temporary solution. | |
monstrosity: 1. n. A ridiculously {elephantine} program or system, | |
esp. one which is buggy or only marginally functional. 2. The | |
quality of being monstrous (see `Peculiar nouns' in the discussion | |
of jargonification). See also {baroque}. | |
Moof: /moof/ [MAC users] n. The Moof or `dogcow' is a | |
semi-legendary creature that lurks in the depths of the Macintosh | |
Technical Notes hypercard stack V3.1; specifically, the full story | |
of the dogcow is told in technical note #31 (the particular Moof | |
illustrated is properly named `Clarus'). Option-shift-click will | |
cause it to emit a characteristic `Moof!' or `!fooM' sound. | |
*Getting* to tech note #31 is the hard part; to discover how | |
to do that, one must needs examine the stack script with a hackerly | |
eye. Clue: {rot13} is involved. A dogcow also appears if you | |
choose `Page Setup...' with a LaserWriter selected and click on the | |
`Options' button. | |
Moore's Law: /morz law/ prov. The observation that the logic | |
density of silicon integrated circuits has closely followed the | |
curve (bits per inch ^ 2) = 2 ^ (n - 1962); that is, the amount of | |
information storable in one square inch of silicon has roughly | |
doubled yearly every year since the technology was invented. | |
moria: /mor'ee-@/ n. Like {nethack} and {rogue}, one of the | |
large PD Dungeons-and-Dragons-like simulation games, available for | |
a wide range of machines and operating systems. Extremely | |
addictive and a major consumer of time better used for hacking. | |
MOTAS: /moh-tahs/ [USENET, Member Of The Appropriate Sex] n. A | |
potential or (less often) actual sex partner. See {MOTOS}, | |
{MOTSS}, {SO}. | |
MOTOS: /moh-tohs/ [from the 1970 census forms via USENET, Member Of | |
The Opposite Sex] n. A potential or (less often) actual sex | |
partner. See {MOTAS}, {MOTSS}, {SO}. Less common than {MOTSS} or | |
{MOTAS}, which has largely displaced it. | |
MOTSS: /motss/ or /em-oh-tee-ess-ess/ [from the 1970 census forms | |
via USENET, Member Of The Same Sex] n. Esp. one considered as a | |
possible sexual partner, e.g. by a gay male or lesbian. The | |
gay-issues newsgroup on USENET is called `soc.motss'. See {MOTOS} | |
and {MOTAS}, which derive from it. Also see {SO}. | |
mouse ahead: vi. To manipulate a computer's pointing device (almost | |
always a mouse in this usage, but not necessarily) and its | |
selection or command buttons before a computer program is ready to | |
accept such input, in anticipation of the program accepting the | |
input. Handling this properly is rare, but it can help make a | |
{user-friendly} program usable by real users, assuming they are | |
familiar with the behavior of the user interface. Point-and-click | |
analog of `type ahead'. | |
mouse around: vi. To explore public portions of a large system, esp. | |
a network such as Internet via {FTP} or {TELNET}, looking for | |
interesting stuff to {snarf}. | |
mouse elbow: n. A tennis-elbow-like fatigue syndrome resulting from | |
excessive use of a {WIMP environment}. Similarly, `mouse | |
shoulder'; GLS reports that he used to get this a lot before he | |
taught himself to be ambimousterous. | |
mouso: /mow'soh/ n. [by analogy with `typo'] An error in mouse usage | |
resulting in an inappropriate selection or graphic garbage on the | |
screen. Compare {thinko}. | |
MS-DOS: /em-es-dos/ [MicroSoft Disk Operating System] n. A | |
{clone} of {CP/M} for the 8088 crufted together in six weeks by | |
hacker Tim Paterson, who is said to have regretted it ever since. | |
Numerous features including vaguely UNIX-like but rather broken | |
support for subdirectories, I/O redirection, and pipelines were | |
hacked into 2.0 and subsequent versions; as a result, there are two | |
incompatible versions of many system calls, and MS-DOS programmers | |
can never agree on basic things like what to use as an option | |
switch or whether to be case-sensitive. The resulting mess is now | |
the highest-unit-volume OS in history. Often known simply as DOS, | |
which annoys people familiar with other similarly abbreviated | |
operating systems (the name goes back to the mid-1960s, when it was | |
attached to IBM's first disk operating system for the 360). Some | |
people like to pronounce DOS as "dose", as in "I don't work on | |
dose, man!", or to compare it with a dose of brain-damaging drugs. | |
See {mess-dos}, {ill-behaved}. | |
MUD: [abbr: Multi User Dungeon] 1. A class of {virtual reality} | |
experiments accessible via {Internet}. These are real-time chat | |
forums with structure; they have multiple `locations' like an | |
adventure game and may include combat, traps, puzzles, magic, a | |
simple economic system, and the capability for characters to build | |
more structure onto the database that represents the existing | |
world. 2. vi. To play a MUD (see {hack-and-slay}). The acronym MUD | |
is often lower-cased and/or verbed; thus, one may speak of `going | |
mudding', etc. | |
Historically, MUDs (and their more recent progeny with names of MU- | |
form) derive from an AI experiment by Richard Bartle and Roy | |
Trubshaw on the University of Essex's DEC-10 in the early 1980s, and | |
descendants of that game still exist today (see {BartleMUD}). The | |
title `MUD' is still copyright to the commercial MUD run by Bartle | |
on British Telecom (their motto: "You haven't *lived* 'til | |
you've *died* on MUD"); however, this did not stop students on | |
the European academic networks from copying/improving on the MUD | |
concept, from which sprung several new MUDs (VAXMUD, AberMUD, | |
LPMUD). Many of these had associated bulletin-board systems for | |
social interaction. Because USENET feeds have been spotty and | |
difficult to get in Great Britain and the British JANET | |
network doesn't support {FTP} or {telnet}, the MUDs became | |
major foci of hackish social interaction there. | |
LPMUD and other variants crossed the Atlantic around 1988 and | |
quickly gained popularity in the US; they became nuclei for large | |
hacker communities with only loose ties to traditional hackerdom | |
(some observers see parallels with the growth of USENET in the | |
early 1980s). | |
More recent MUDs (such as TinyMud), esp. in the US, have tended to | |
emphasize social interaction, puzzles, and cooperative | |
world-building as opposed to combat and competition. Whether this | |
represents a genuine long-term trend is hard to say; the state of | |
the art in MUD design is still moving very rapidly, with new | |
simulation designs appearing (seemingly) every month. There is now | |
(early 1991) a move afoot to deprecate the term {MUD} itself, as | |
newer designs exhibit an exploding variety of names corresponding | |
to the different simulation styles being explored. See also | |
{BartleMUD}, {berserking}, {bonk/oif}, {brand brand brand}, | |
{FOD}, {hack-and-slay}, {mudhead}, {posing}, {talk mode}, | |
{tinycrud}. | |
mudhead: n. Commonly used to refer to a {MUD} player who sleeps, | |
breathes, and eats MUD. Mudheads have frequently been known to | |
fail their degrees, drop out, etc., with the consolation, however, | |
that they made wizard level. When encountered in person, all a | |
mudhead will talk about is two topics: the tactic, character, or | |
wizard that in his view is always unfairly stopping him/her | |
becoming wizard or beating a favorite MUD, and the MUD he is | |
writing/going to write because all existing MUDs are so dreadful! | |
See also {wannabee}. | |
multician: /muhl-ti'shn/ [coined at Honeywell, c.1970] n. | |
Competent user of {Multics}. | |
Multics: /muhl'tiks/ n. [from "MULTiplexed Information and | |
Computing Service"] An early (late 1960s) timesharing operating | |
system co-designed by a consortium including MIT, GE, and Bell | |
Laboratories, very innovative for its time (among other things, it | |
introduced the idea of treating all devices uniformly as special | |
files). All the members but GE eventually pulled out after | |
determining that {second-system effect} had bloated Multics to | |
the point of practical unusability (the `lean' predecessor in | |
question was {CTSS}). Honeywell commercialized Multics after | |
buying out GE's computer group, but it was never very successful | |
(among other things, on some versions one was commonly required to | |
enter a password to log out). One of the developers left in the | |
lurch by the project's breakup was Ken Thompson, a circumstance | |
which led directly to the birth of {UNIX}. For this and other | |
reasons, aspects of the Multics design remain a topic of occasional | |
debate among hackers. See also {brain-damaged}. | |
multitask: n. Often used of humans in the same meaning it has for | |
computers, to describe a person doing several things at once (but | |
see {thrash}). The term `multiplex' from communications | |
technology (meaning to handle more than one channel at the same | |
time) is used similarly. | |
mumblage: /muhm'bl@j/ n. The topic of one's mumbling (see {mumble}). | |
"All that mumblage" is used like "all that stuff" when it is | |
not quite clear what it is or how it works, or like "all that | |
crap" when "mumble" is being used as an implicit replacement for | |
obscenities. | |
mumble: interj. 1. Said when the correct response is either too | |
complicated to enunciate or the speaker has not thought it out. | |
Often prefaces a longer answer, or indicates a general reluctance | |
to get into a big long discussion. "Don't you think that we could | |
improve LISP performance by using a hybrid reference-count | |
transaction garbage collector, if the cache is big enough and there | |
are some extra cache bits for the microcode to use?" "Well, | |
mumble... I'll have to think about it." 2. Sometimes used as | |
an expression of disagreement. "I think we should buy a | |
{VAX}." "Mumble!" Common variant: `mumble frotz' (see | |
{frotz}; interestingly, one does not say `mumble frobnitz' even | |
though frotz is short for `frobnitz'). 3. Yet another metasyntactic | |
variable, like {foo}. | |
munch: [often confused with `mung', q.v.] vt. To transform | |
information in a serial fashion, often requiring large amounts of | |
computation. To trace down a data structure. Related to {crunch} | |
and nearly synonymous with {grovel}, but connotes less pain. | |
munching squares: n. A {display hack} dating back to the PDP-1 | |
(c.1962, allegedly invented by one Jackson Wright), which employs a | |
trivial computation (repeatedly plotting the graph Y = X XOR T for | |
successive values of T --- see {HAKMEM} items 146-148) to produce | |
an impressive display of moving and growing squares that devour the | |
screen. The initial value of T is treated as a parameter which | |
when well-chosen can produce amazing effects. Some of these, later | |
(re)discovered on the LISP machine, have been christened | |
`munching triangles' (try AND for XOR and toggling points | |
instead of plotting them), `munching w's', and `munching | |
mazes'. More generally, suppose a graphics program produces an | |
impressive and ever-changing display of some basic form foo on a | |
display terminal, and does it using a relatively simple program; | |
then the program (or the resulting display) is likely to be | |
referred to as "munching foos" (this is a good example of the use | |
of the word {foo} as a metasyntactic variable). | |
munchkin: /muhnch'kin/ [from the squeaky-voiced little people in L. | |
Frank Baum's `The Wizard of Oz'] n. A teenage-or-younger micro | |
enthusiast bashing BASIC or something else equally constricted. A | |
term of mild derision --- munchkins are annoying but some grow up | |
to be hackers after passing through a {larval stage}. The term | |
{urchin} is also used. See also {wannabee}, {bitty box}. | |
mundane: [from SF fandom] n. 1. A person who is not in science | |
fiction fandom. 2. A person who is not in the computer industry. | |
In this sense, most often an adjectival modifier as in "in my | |
mundane life...". This term is not necessarily as pejorative | |
as it sounds. | |
mung: /muhng/ alt. `munge' /muhnj/ [in 1960 at MIT, `Mash Until No | |
Good"; sometime after that the derivation from the recursive | |
acronym `Mung Until No Good' became standard] vt. 1. To make | |
changes to a file, often large-scale, usually irrevocable. | |
Occasionally accidental. See {BLT}. 2. To destroy, usually | |
accidentally, occasionally maliciously. The system only mungs | |
things maliciously; this is a consequence of Murphy's Law. See | |
{scribble}, {mangle}, {trash}. Reports from {USENET} suggest that | |
the pronunciation /muhnj/ is now usual in speech, but the spelling | |
`mung' is still common in program comments. 3. The kind of beans of | |
which the sprouts are used in Chinese food. (That's their real | |
name! Mung beans! Really!) | |
Murphy's Law: n. The correct, *original* Murphy's Law reads: | |
"If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those | |
ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." This | |
a principle of defensive design, cited here because it's usually | |
given in mutant forms which are less descriptive of the travails of | |
design for lusers. For example, you don't make a two-pin plug | |
symmetrical and then label it THIS WAY UP; if it matters which way | |
it's plugged in, then you make the design asymmetrical. | |
Edward A. Murphy, Jr. was one of the engineers on the rocket-sled | |
experiments that were done by the U.S. Air Force in 1949 to test | |
human acceleration tolerances. One experiment involved a set of 16 | |
accelerometers mounted to different parts of the subject's body. | |
There were two ways each sensor could be glued to its mount, and | |
somebody methodically installed all 16 the wrong way around. | |
Murphy then made the original form of his pronouncement, which the | |
test subject (Major John Paul Stapp) quoted at a news conference a | |
few days later. | |
Within months `Murphy's Law' had spread to various technical | |
cultures connected to aerospace engineering. Before too many years | |
had passed, variants had passed into the popular imagination, | |
mutating as they went. It has since been observed that the | |
pop-culture versions in the vein of "Anything that can go wrong, | |
will" are the result of Murphy's Law acting on itself! | |
Music:: n. A common extracurricular interest of hackers (compare | |
{{Science-Fiction Fandom}}, {{Oriental Food}}; see also | |
{filk}). It is widely believed among hackers that there is a | |
substantial correlation between whatever mysterious traits underlie | |
hacking ability (on the one hand) and musical talent and | |
sensitivity (on the other). It is certainly the case that hackers, | |
as a rule, like music and often develop musical appreciation in | |
unusual and interesting directions. Folk music is very big in | |
hacker circles; so is the sort of elaborate instrumental jazz/rock | |
that used to be called `progressive' and isn't recorded much any | |
more. Also, the hacker's musical range tends to be wide; many can | |
listen with equal appreciation to (say) Talking Heads, Yes, | |
Spirogyra, Scott Joplin, King Sunny Ade, The Pretenders, or one of | |
Bach's Brandenburg Concerti. It is also apparently true that | |
hackerdom includes a much higher concentration of talented amateur | |
musicians than one would expect from a similar-sized control group | |
of {mundane} types. | |
mutter: vt. To quietly enter a command not meant for the ears, eyes | |
or fingers of ordinary mortals. Frequently in `mutter an | |
{incantation}'. | |
= N = | |
===== | |
N: /en/ quant. 1. Some large and indeterminate number of objects; | |
"There were N bugs in that crock!"; also used in its original | |
sense of a variable name. 2. An arbitrarily large (and perhaps | |
infinite) number; "This crock has N bugs, as N goes to infinity". | |
3. A variable whose value is specified by the current context. For | |
example, when ordering a meal at a restaurant, N may be understood | |
to mean however many people there are at the table. From the | |
remark "We'd like to order N wonton soups and a family dinner for | |
N - 1", you can deduce that one person at the table wants to eat | |
only soup, even though you don't know how many people there are | |
(see {great-wall}). A silly riddle: "How many computers does it | |
take to shift the bits in a register? N+1: N to hold all the bits | |
still, and one to shove the register over." 4. `Nth': adj. The | |
ordinal counterpart of N. "Now for the Nth and last time..." | |
In the specific context "Nth-year grad student", N is generally | |
assumed to be at least 4, and is usually 5 or more (see {tenured | |
graduate student}). See also {random numbers}, {two-to-the-n}. | |
nailed to the wall: [like a trophy] adj. Said of a bug finally | |
eliminated after protracted and even heroic effort. | |
naive: adj. Untutored in the perversities of some particular | |
program or system; one who still tries to do things in an intuitive | |
way, rather than the right way (in really good designs these | |
coincide, but most designs aren't `really good' in the appropriate | |
sense). This is completely unrelated to general maturity or | |
competence or even competence at any other program. It is a sad | |
commentary on the primitive state of computing that the natural | |
opposite of this term is often claimed to be `experienced user' but | |
is really more like `cynical user'. | |
naive user: 1. n. A {luser}. Tends to imply someone who is | |
ignorant mainly due to experience; when applied to someone who | |
*has* experience, there is a definite implication of stupidity. | |
NAK: [from the ASCII mnemonic for 0010101] interj. 1. On-line joke | |
answer to {ACK}? --- "I'm not here". 2. On line answer to a | |
request for chat --- "I'm not available". 3. Used to politely | |
interrupt someone to tell them you don't understand their point or | |
that they have suddenly stopped making sense. See {ACK}, sense | |
#3. "And then, after we recode the project in COBOL...." | |
"Nak Nak Nak! I thought I heard you say COBOL!" | |
nano-: [in measurement, the next quantifier below {micro}; | |
meaning * 10 ^ -9] pref. Smaller than {micro-}, and used in the | |
same rather loose and connotative way. Thus, one has | |
{nanotechnology} (coined by hacker K. Eric Drexler) by analogy | |
with `microtechnology'; and some machine architectures have a | |
`nanocode' level below `microcode'. See also {pico-}. | |
See also {nanoacre}. | |
nanoacre: /nan'o-ay`kr/ n. An areal unit (about 2 mm square) of | |
real estate on a VLSI chip. The term derives its amusement value | |
from the fact that VLSI nanoacres have costs in the same range as | |
real acres once one figures in design and fabrication-setup costs. | |
nanobot: /nan'oh-bot/ n. A robot of microscopic proportions, | |
presumably built by means of {nanotechnology}. As yet, only used | |
informally (and speculatively!). Also sometimes called a | |
`nanoagent'. | |
nanocomputer: /nan'oh-k@m-pyoo'tr/ n. A computer whose switching | |
elements are molecular in size. Designs for mechanical | |
nanocomputers which use single-molecule sliding rods for their | |
logic have been proposed. The controller for a {nanobot} would be | |
a nanocomputer. | |
nanotechnology: /nan'-oh-tek-no`l@-ji/ n. A hypothetical | |
fabrication technology in which objects are designed and built with | |
the individual specification and placement of each separate atom. | |
The first unequivocal nanofabrication experiments are taking place | |
now (1990), for example with the deposition of individual xenon | |
atoms on a nickel substrate to spell the logo of a certain very | |
large computer company by two of its physicists. Nanotechnology | |
has been a hot topic in the hacker subculture ever since the term | |
was coined by K. Eric Drexler in his book `Engines of Creation', | |
where he predicted that nanotechnology could give rise to | |
replicating assemblers, permitting an exponential growth of | |
productivity and personal wealth. See also {blue goo}, {gray goo}, | |
{nanobot}. | |
nastygram: n. 1. A protocol packet or item of email (the latter is | |
also called a `letterbomb') that takes advantage of misfeatures | |
or security holes on the target system to do untoward things. 2. | |
Disapproving mail, esp. from a {net.god}, pursuant to a violation of | |
{netiquette}. Compare {shitogram}. 3. A status report from an | |
unhappy, and probably picky, customer. "What'd the Germans say in | |
today's nastygram?" 4. [deprecated] An error reply by mail from a | |
{daemon}; in particular, a {bounce message}. | |
Nathan Hale: n. An asterisk (See also {splat}). Oh, you want an | |
etymology? Notionally from "I regret that I have only one asterisk | |
for my country", a misquote of the famous remark uttered by Nathan | |
Hale just before he was hanged. Hale was a (failed) spy for the | |
rebels in the American War of Independence. | |
nature: n. See {has the X nature}. | |
neat hack: n. A clever technique. Also, a brilliant practical | |
joke, where neatness is correlated with cleverness, harmlessness, | |
and surprise value. Example: the Caltech Rose Bowl card display | |
switch (see Appendix A). See {hack}. | |
neep-neep: /neep neep/ [onomatopoeic, from New York SF fandom] n. One | |
who is fascinated by computers. More general than {hacker}, as it | |
need not imply more skill than is required to boot games on a PC. | |
The gerund `neep-neeping' applies specifically to the long | |
conversations about computers that tend to develop in the corners | |
at most SF-convention parties. Fandom has a related proverb to the | |
effect that "Hacking is a conversational black hole!" | |
neophilia: /nee`oh-fil'-ee-uh/ n. The trait of being excited and | |
pleased by novelty. Common trait of most hackers, SF fans, and | |
members of several other connected leading-edge subcultures | |
including the pro-technology `Whole-Earth' wing of the ecology | |
movement, space activists, theater people, the membership of MENSA, | |
and the Discordian/neo-pagan underground. All these groups overlap | |
heavily and (where evidence is available) seem to share | |
characteristic hacker tropisms for science fiction, {{Music}}, and | |
{{Oriental Food}}. | |
net.-: /net dot/ pref. [USENET] Prefix used to describe people and | |
events related to USENET. From the time before the {Great | |
Renaming}, when all non-local newsgroups had names beginning | |
`net.'. Includes {net.god}s, `net.goddesses' (various | |
charismatic women with circles of on-line admirers), | |
`net.lurkers', (see {lurker}), `net.parties' (a synonym | |
for {boink} sense #2 (q.v.)) and many similar constructs. See | |
also {net.police}. | |
net.god: /net god/ n. Used to refer to anyone who satisfies some | |
combination of the following conditions: has been visible on USENET | |
for more than five years, ran one of the original backbone sites, | |
moderated an important newsgroup, wrote news software, or knows | |
Gene, Mark, Rick, Mel, Henry, Chuq, and Greg personally. See | |
{demigod}. | |
net.police: n. (var. `net.cops') Those USENET readers who feel it is | |
their responsibility to pounce on and {flame} any posting which | |
they regard as offensive, or in violation of their understanding of | |
{netiquette}. Generally used sarcastically or pejoratively. | |
Also spelled `net police'. See also {net.-}, {code police}. | |
nethack: /net'hak/ n. See {hack}, sense #8. | |
netiquette: /net'ee-ket, net'i-ket/ [portmanteau from "network | |
etiquette"] n. Conventions of politeness recognized on {USENET}, | |
such as: avoidance of cross-posting to inappropriate groups, or | |
refraining from commercial pluggery on the net. | |
netnews: n. 1. The software that makes {USENET} run. 2. The | |
content of USENET. "I read netnews right after my mail most | |
mornings". | |
netrock: [IBM] n. A {flame}; used esp. on VNET, IBM's internal | |
corporate network. | |
network address: n. (also `net address') As used by hackers, | |
means an address on `the' network (see {network, the}; this is | |
almost always a {bang path} or {{Internet address}}). An | |
essential to be taken seriously by hackers; in particular, persons | |
or organizations that claim to understand, work with, sell to, or | |
recruit from among hackers but *don't* display net addresses | |
are quietly presumed to be clueless poseurs and mentally flushed | |
(see {flush}, sense #3). Hackers often put their net addresses | |
on their business cards and wear them prominently in contexts where | |
they expect to meet other hackers face-to-face (see also | |
{{Science-Fiction Fandom}}). This is mostly functional, but is | |
also a connotative signal that one identifies with hackerdom (like | |
lodge pins among Masons or tie-dyed T-shirts among Grateful Dead | |
fans). Net addresses are often used in email text as a more | |
concise substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to | |
know each other quite well by network names without ever learning | |
each others' `legal' monikers. See also {sitename}, {domainist}. | |
network, the: n. 1. The union of all the major noncommercial, | |
academic, and hacker-oriented networks such as Internet, the old | |
ARPANET, NSFnet, BITNET, and the virtual UUCP and {USENET} | |
`networks', plus the corporate in-house networks that gateway to | |
them. A site is generally considered `on the network' if it can be | |
reached through some combination of Internet-style (@-sign) and | |
UUCP (bang-path) addresses. See {bang path}, {Internet | |
address}, {network address}. 2. A fictional conspiracy of | |
libertarian hacker-subversives and anti-authoritarian | |
monkeywrenchers described in Robert Anton Wilson's novel | |
`Schrodinger's Cat', to which many hackers have subsequently | |
decided they belong (this is an example of {ha ha only serious}). | |
In sense #1, `network' is frequently abbreviated to `net'. "Are | |
you on the net?" is a frequent question when hackers first meet | |
face to face, and "See you on the net!" is a frequent goodbye. | |
New Jersey: [primarily Stanford/Silicon Valley] adj. Pejorative term | |
for the quality of being brain-damaged or of poor design. It refers | |
to the allegedly poor designs of such software as C, C++, and UNIX | |
(which originated at Bell Labs in New Jersey). "This compiler | |
bites the bag, but what can you expect from a compiler designed in | |
New Jersey?" See also {UNIX conspiracy}. | |
New Testament: n. [C programmers] The second edition of K&R's `The C | |
Programming Language' (Prentice-Hall 1988, ISBN 0-13-110362-8), | |
describing ANSI Standard C. See {K&R}. | |
newbie: /n[y]oo'bee/ n. [orig. from British military & public-school | |
slang contraction of `new boy'] A USENET neophyte. This term | |
originated in the {newsgroup} `talk.bizarre', but is now in wide | |
use. Criteria for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a person | |
can be called a newbie in one newsgroup while remaining a respected | |
participant in another. The label `newbie' is sometimes applied | |
as a serious insult, to a person who has been around USENET for a | |
long time, but who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue. | |
See {BIFF}. | |
newgrp wars: /n[y]oo'grp wohrz/ [USENET] n. Salvos of dueling | |
`newgrp' and `rmgroup' messages sometimes exchanged by persons on | |
opposite sides of a dispute over whether a {newsgroup} should be | |
created netwide. These usually settle out within a week or two as | |
it becomes clear whether the group has a natural constituency | |
(usually, it doesn't). At times, especially in the completely | |
anarchic `alt' hierarchy, the names of newsgroups themselves become | |
a form of comment or humor; cf. the spinoff of | |
`alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork' from `alt.tv.muppets' in early 1990, | |
or any number of specialized abuse groups named after particularly | |
notorious {flamer}s. | |
newline: /n[y]oo'lien/ n. 1. [UNIX] The ASCII LF character | |
(0001010), used under {UNIX} as a text line terminator. A | |
Bell-Labs-ism rather than a Berkeleyism; interestingly (and | |
unusually for UNIX jargon) it is said originally to have been an | |
IBM usage (though it appears in early ASCII standards, it never | |
caught in in the general computing world before UNIX). 2. More | |
generally, any magic character, character sequence, or operation | |
(like Pascal's writeln() function) required to terminate a text | |
record or separate lines. See {crlf}, {terpri}. | |
NeWS: /n[y]oo'is/ or /n[y]ooz/ [acronym; the Network Window System] | |
n. The road not taken in window systems, an elegant | |
Postscript-based environment that would almost certainly have won | |
the standards war with {X} if it hadn't been proprietary to Sun | |
Microsystems. There is a lesson here that many software vendors | |
haven't yet heeded. Many hackers insist on the two-syllable | |
pronunciation above as a way of distinguishing NeWS from `news' | |
(the {netnews} software). | |
newsfroup: /n[y]oos'froop/ [USENET] n. Silly written-only synonym for | |
{newsgroup}, originated as a typo but now in regular use on | |
USENET's talk.bizarre and other not-real-tightly-wrapped groups. | |
newsgroup: [USENET] n. One of USENET's large collection of topic | |
groups. Among the best-known are `comp.lang.c' (the C-language | |
forum), `comp.unix.wizards' (for UNIX wizards), | |
`rec.arts.sf-lovers' (for science-fiction fans) and | |
`talk.politics.misc' (miscellaneous political discussions and | |
{flamage}). | |
nickle: [From "nickel", common name for the US 5-cent coin] n. A | |
{nybble} + 1; 5 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI | |
1600 (the Intellivision games processor), a chip with 16-bit-wide | |
RAM but 10-bit-wide ROM. See also {deckle}. | |
night mode: n. See {phase} (of people). | |
Nightmare File System: n. Pejorative hackerism for Sun's Network | |
File System (NFS). In any nontrivial network of Suns where there | |
is a lot of NFS cross-mounting, when one Sun goes down, the others | |
freeze up because of this behavior; some machine pings the dead one | |
and gets no response, and that machine continues to ping the dead | |
one, causing the live one to appear dead to some messages. Then | |
another machine pings either the really dead machine or the | |
sometimes dead machine, and this machine enters this mode. The | |
first machine to discover the dead one is now both trying to ping | |
the dead one and respond to the second machine, so it is dead more | |
often. This snowballs very fast and soon the entire set of | |
machines is frozen --- the user can't even abort the file access | |
that started the problem! (ITS partisans are apt to cite this as | |
proof of UNIX's alleged bogosity; ITS had a working NFS-like shared | |
file system with none of these problems in the early 1970s. Of | |
course, ITS only had 6-character filenames.) "It's that damned | |
nightmare file system again." See also {broadcast storm}. | |
nil: [from LISP terminology for `false'] No. Usage: used in reply | |
to a question, particularly one asked using the `-P' convention. | |
See {T}. | |
NMI: n. Non-Maskable Interrupt. See {priority interrupt}. | |
no-op: /noh-op/ alt. NOP (nop) [no operation] n. 1. A machine | |
instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level | |
programming as filler for data areas). 2. A person who contributes | |
nothing to a project, or has nothing going on upstairs, or both. | |
As in "he's a no-op.". 3. Any operation or sequence of operations | |
with no effect, such as circling the block without finding a | |
parking space, or putting money into a vending machine and having | |
it fall immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for | |
help and being told to go away. "Oh well, that was a no-op." | |
noddy: [Great Britain; from the children's books] adj. 1. Small and | |
unuseful, but demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often | |
written when learning a new language or system. The archetypal | |
noddy program is {hello world}. Noddy code may be used to | |
demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler, but would not be used | |
in a real program. May be used of real hardware or software to | |
imply that it isn't worth using. "This editor's a bit noddy." | |
2. A program that is more or less instant to produce. In this use, | |
the term does not necessarily connote uselessness, but describes a | |
{kluge} sufficiently trivial that it can be written and debugged | |
while carrying on (and during the space of) a normal conversation. | |
e.g. "I'll just throw together a noddy `awk(1)' script to convert | |
{crlf}s into {newline}s". | |
NOMEX underwear: [USENET] n. Syn. {asbestos longjohns}, used | |
mostly in auto-related mailing lists and newsgroups. NOMEX | |
underwear is an actual product available on the racing equipment | |
market, used as a fire retardant measure and required in some | |
racing series. | |
non-optimal solution: n. (also `sub-optimal solution') An | |
astoundingly stupid way to do something. This term is generally | |
used in deadpan sarcasm, as its impact is greatest when the person | |
speaking looks completely serious. Compare {stunning}. See also | |
{Bad Thing}. | |
nonlinear: adj. [scientific computation] 1. Behaving in an erratic and | |
unpredictable fashion. When used to describe the behavior of a | |
machine or program, it suggests that said machine or program is | |
being forced to run far outside of design specifications. This | |
behavior may be induced by unreasonable inputs, or may be triggered | |
when a more mundane bug sends the computation far away from its | |
expected course. 2. When describing the behavior of a person, | |
suggests a tantrum or a {flame}. "When you talk to Bob, don't | |
mention the drug problem or he'll go nonlinear for hours." In | |
this context, `go nonlinear' connotes `blow up out of proportion' | |
(note that `proportions' are mathematically linear). | |
nontrivial: adj. Requiring real thought or significant computing | |
power. Often used as an understated way of saying that a problem | |
is quite difficult. The preferred emphatic form is `decidedly | |
nontrivial'. See {trivial}, {uninteresting}, {interesting}. | |
notwork: n. A network, when it's acting {flaky} or {down}. | |
Compare {nyetwork}. Orig. referred to a particular period of | |
flakiness on IBM's VNET corporate network, c.1988. | |
NP-: /en pee/ pref. Extremely. Used to modify adjectives | |
describing a level or quality of difficulty; the connotation is | |
often `more so than it should be' (NP-complete problems all seem to | |
be very hard, but so far no one has found a good a-priori reason | |
that they should be). "Getting this algorithm to perform | |
correctly in every case is NP-annoying." This is generalized from | |
the computer science terms `NP-hard' and `NP-complete'. NP | |
is the set of Nondeterministic-Polynomial algorithms, those which | |
can be completed by a nondeterministic finite state machine in an | |
amount of time that is a polynomial function of the size of the | |
input. | |
NSA line eater: n. The mythical NSA (National Security Agency) | |
trawling program sometimes assumed to be reading {USENET} for the | |
U.S. Government's spooks. Some netters put loaded phrases like | |
`Uzi', `nuclear materials', `Palestine', `cocaine', and | |
`assassination', in their {sig block}s in an attempt to confuse | |
and overload the creature. The {GNU} version of {EMACS} | |
actually has a command that randomly generates a lot of words like | |
that into your edited text. | |
nuke: vt. 1. To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given | |
directory or storage volume. "On UNIX, `rm -r /usr' will nuke | |
everything in the usr filesystem." Never used for accidental | |
deletion. Oppose {blow away}. 2. Syn. for {dike}, applied to | |
smaller things such as files, features or code sections. 3. Used of | |
processes as well as files; frequently an alias for `kill -9' on | |
UNIX. | |
null device: n. A {logical} input/output device connected to the | |
{bit bucket}; when you write to it nothing happens, when you read | |
from it you get an end-of-file error. Useful for discarding | |
unwanted output or using interactive programs in a non-interactive | |
way. See {/dev/null}. | |
number-crunching: n. Computations of a numerical nature, esp. those | |
that make extensive use of floating-point numbers. The only thing | |
{Fortrash} is good for. This term is in widespread informal use | |
outside hackerdom, but is cited here to record some additional | |
hackish connotations: namely, that the computations are mindless | |
and involve massive use of {brute force}. | |
numbers: [scientific computation] n. Results of a computation that | |
may not be physically significant, but at least indicate that the | |
program is running. May be used to placate management, grant | |
sponsors, etc. `Making numbers' means running a program | |
because output --- any output, not necessarily meaningful output | |
--- is needed as a demonstration of progress. See {pretty | |
pictures}, {math-out}, {social science number}. | |
NUXI problem: /nuk'see pro'blm/ n. This refers to the problem of | |
transferring data between machines with differing byte-order. The | |
string `UNIX' might look like `NUXI' on a machine with a | |
different `byte sex' (e.g. when transferring data from a | |
{little-endian} to a {big-endian} or vice-versa). See also, | |
{swab}, and {bytesexual}. | |
nybble: /nib'l/ [from v. `nibble' by analogy with `bite' | |
=> `byte'] n. Four bits; one hexadecimal digit; a | |
half-byte. Though `byte' is now accepted technical jargon found in | |
dictionaries, this useful relative is still slang. Compare | |
{{byte}}, {crumb}, {taste}, {dynner}, see also {bit}, | |
{nickle}, {deckle}. Apparently this spelling is uncommon | |
in Commonwealth Hackish, as British orthography suggests the | |
pronunciation /niebl/. | |
nyetwork: [from Russian `nyet' = no] n. A network, when it's | |
acting {flaky} or {down}. Compare {notwork}. | |
= O = | |
===== | |
Ob-: /ob/ pref. Obligatory. A piece of {netiquette} that acknowledges | |
the author has been straying from the newsgroup's charter. For | |
example, if a posting in alt.sex has nothing particularly to do | |
with sex, the author may append `ObSex' (or `Obsex') and toss | |
off a question or vignette about some unusual erotic act. | |
Obfuscated C Contest: n. Annual contest run since 1984 over {the | |
network} by Landon Curt Noll & friends. The overall winner is he | |
who produces the most unreadable, creative and bizarre working C | |
program; various other prizes are awarded at the judges' whim. | |
Given C's terse syntax and macro-preprocessor facilities, this | |
gives contestants a lot of maneuvering room. The winning programs | |
often manage to be simultaneously (a) funny, (b) breathtaking works | |
of art, and (c) Horrible Examples of how *not* to code in C. | |
This relatively short and sweet entry might help convey the flavor | |
of obfuscated C: | |
/* | |
* HELLO WORLD program | |
* by Jack Applin and Robert Heckendorn, 1985 | |
*/ | |
main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]="Hello, world!\n)"; | |
(!!c)[*c]&&(v--||--c&&execlp(*c,*c,c[!!c]+!!c,!c)); | |
**c=!c)write(!!*c,*c,!!**c);} | |
Here's another good one: | |
/* | |
* Program to compute an approximation of pi | |
* by Brian Westley, 1988 | |
*/ | |
#define _ -F<00||--F-OO--; | |
int F=00,OO=00; | |
main(){F_OO();printf("%1.3f\n",4.*-F/OO/OO);}F_OO() | |
{ | |
_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ | |
_-_-_-_ | |
} | |
See also {hello, world}. | |
obscure: adj. Used in an exaggeration of its normal meaning, to imply | |
a total lack of comprehensibility. "The reason for that last | |
crash is obscure." "The `find(1)' command's syntax is obscure." | |
The phrase `moderately obscure' implies that it could be figured | |
out but probably isn't worth the trouble. `Obscure in the extreme' | |
is a preferred emphatic form. | |
octal forty: /ok'tl for'tee/ n. Hackish way of saying "I'm drawing | |
a blank". Octal 40 is the {{ASCII}} space character, 0100000; by an | |
odd coincidence, `hex' 40 is the {EBCDIC} space character. See | |
{wall}. | |
off the trolley: adj. Describes the behavior of a program which | |
malfunctions but doesn't actually {crash} or get halted by the | |
operating system. See {glitch}, {bug}, {deep space}. | |
off-by-one error: n. Exceedingly common error induced in many ways, | |
such as by starting at 0 when you should have started at 1 or vice | |
versa, or by writing < N instead of <= N or vice-versa. Also | |
applied to giving an object to the person next to the one who | |
should have gotten it. Often confused with {fencepost error}, | |
which is properly a particular subtype of it. | |
offline: adv. Not now or not here. Example: "Let's take this | |
discussion offline." Specifically used on {USENET} to suggest | |
that a discussion be taken off a public newsgroup to email. | |
old fart: n. Tribal elder. A title self-assumed with remarkable | |
frequency by (esp.) USENETters who have been programming for more | |
than about twenty five years; frequently appears in SIGs attached | |
to Jargon File contributions of great archeological significance. | |
This is a term of insult in second or third person but pride in | |
first person. | |
Old Testament: n. [C programmers] The first edition of the book | |
describing {Classic C}; see {K&R}. | |
ONE BELL SYSTEM (IT WORKS): This was the output from the old UNIX V6 | |
`1' command. The `1' command also contained a random number | |
generator which gave it a one-in-ten chance of recursively | |
executing itself. | |
one-line fix: n. Often used sarcastically used of a change to a | |
program that is thought to be trivial or insignificant right up to | |
the moment it crashes the system. Usually `cured' by another | |
one-line fix. See also {I didn't change anything!}. | |
one-liner wars: n. Popular game among hackers who code in the | |
language APL (see {write-only language}). The objective is to see | |
who can code the most interesting and/or useful routine in one line | |
of operators chosen from APL's exceedingly {hairy} primitive set. | |
[This is not *quite* as silly as it sounds; I myself have | |
coded one-line {life} programs and once uttered a one-liner that | |
performed lexical analysis of its input string followed by a | |
dictionary lookup for good measure --- ESR] It has been reported | |
that a similar amusement was practiced among {TECO} hackers. | |
ooblick: /oo'blik/ [from Dr. Seuss's `Bartholomew and the | |
Oobleck'] n. A bizarre semi-liquid sludge made from cornstarch and | |
water. Enjoyed among hackers who make batches for playtime at | |
parties for its amusing and extremely non-Newtonian behavior; it | |
pours and splatters, but resists rapid motion like a solid and will | |
even crack when hit by a hammer. Often found near lasers. | |
Here's a field-tested ooblick recipe contributed by GLS: | |
1 cup cornstarch | |
1 cup baking soda | |
3/4 cup water | |
N drops of food coloring | |
This recipe isn't quite as non-Newtonian as a pure cornstarch | |
ooblick, but has an appropriately slimy feel. | |
open: n. Abbreviation for `open (or left) parenthesis', used when | |
necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity. To read aloud the LISP form | |
(DEFUN FOO (X) (PLUS X 1)) one might say: "Open def-fun foo, open | |
eks close, open, plus eks one, close close." | |
open switch: [IBM, prob. from railroading] n. An unresolved | |
question, issue, or problem. | |
operating system: n. (Often abbreviated `OS') The foundation | |
software of a machine, of course; that which schedules tasks, | |
allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user | |
between applications. The facilities the operating system provides | |
and its general design philosophy exert an extremely strong | |
influence on programming style and the technical culture that grows | |
up around a machine. Hacker folklore has been shaped primarily by | |
the UNIX, ITS, TOPS-10, TOPS-20/TWENEX, VMS, CP/M, MS-DOS, and | |
Multics operating systems (most importantly by ITS and UNIX). Each | |
of these has its own entry, which see. | |
Orange Book: n. The U.S. Government's standards document (Trusted | |
Computer System Evaluation Criteria, DOD standard 5200.28-STD, | |
December, 1985) characterizing secure computing architectures, | |
defining levels A1 (most secure) through D (least). Stock UNIXes | |
are roughly C2. See also {Red Book}, {Blue Book}, {Green Book}, | |
{Silver Book}, {Purple Book}, {White Book}, {Pink-Shirt Book}, | |
{Dragon Book}, {Aluminum Book}. | |
Oriental Food:: n. Hackers display an intense tropism towards | |
Oriental cuisine, especially Chinese, and especially of the spicier | |
varieties such as Szechuan and Hunan. This phenomenon (which has | |
also been observed in subcultures which overlap heavily with | |
hackerdom, most notably science-fiction fandom) has never been | |
satisfactorily explained, but is sufficiently intense that one can | |
assume the target of a hackish dinner expedition to be the best | |
local Chinese place and be right at least 3 times out of 4. See | |
also {ravs}, {great-wall}, {stir-fried random}, {laser | |
chicken}, {Yu-Shiang Whole Fish}. Thai, Indian, Korean, and | |
Vietnamese cuisines are also quite popular. | |
orphan: [UNIX] n. A process whose parent has died; one inherited by | |
`init(1)'. Compare {zombie}. | |
orthogonal: [from mathematics] adj. Mutually independent; | |
well separated; sometimes, irrelevant to. Used in a generalization | |
of its mathematical meaning to describe sets of primitives or | |
capabilities which, like a vector basis in geometry, span the | |
entire `capability space' of the system and are in some sense | |
non-overlapping or mutually independent. For example, in | |
architectures such as the VAX where all or nearly all registers can | |
be used interchangeably in any role with respect to any | |
instruction, the register set is said to be orthogonal. Or, in | |
logic, the set of operators `not' and `or' is orthogonal, | |
but the set `nand', `or' and `not' is not (because any | |
one of these can be expressed in terms of the other two via de | |
Morgan's Laws). Also used in comment on human discourse; "This may | |
be orthogonal to the discussion, but...". | |
OS: /oh ess/ 1. [Operating System] n. Acronym heavily used in email, | |
occasionally in speech. 2. obs. n. On ITS, an output spy. See | |
Appendix A. | |
OS/2: /oh ess too/ n. The anointed successor to MS-DOS for | |
Intel-286 and (allegedly) 386-based micros; proof that | |
IBM/Microsoft couldn't get it right the second time, either. Cited | |
here because mentioning it is usually good for a cheap laugh among | |
hackers --- the design was so {baroque} and the implementation of | |
1.x so bad that three years after introduction you could still | |
count the major {app}s shipping for it on the fingers of two | |
hands. Often called "Half-an-OS". On 28 January 1991, Microsoft | |
announced that it was dropping its OS/2 development to concentrate | |
on Windows, leaving the OS entirely in the hands of ex-partner IBM; | |
on 29 Jan they claimed the media had got the story wrong, but were | |
vague about how. It looks as though OS/2 is dead. See | |
{vaporware}, {monstrosity}, {cretinous}, {second-system | |
effect}. | |
overflow bit: n. On some processors, an attempt to calculate a | |
result too large for a register to hold causes a {trap} with a | |
particular {flag} called an {overflow bit} set. Hackers use | |
the term of human thought too. "Well, the ADA description was | |
{baroque}, but I could hack it OK until they got to the | |
exception handling...that set my overflow bit." | |
overrun screw: [C programming] n. A variety of {fandango on core} | |
produced by scribbling past the end of an array (C has no checks | |
for this). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the array | |
is static; if it is auto, the result may be to {smash the stack}. | |
The term {overrun screw} is used esp. of scribbles beyond the end | |
of arrays allocated with `malloc(3)'; this typically trashes the | |
allocation header for the next block in the {arena}, producing | |
massive lossage within malloc and (frequently) a core dump on the | |
next operation to use `stdio(3)' or `malloc(3)' itself. See {spam}; see | |
also {memory leak}, {aliasing bug}, {precedence lossage}, {fandango | |
on core}. | |
= P = | |
===== | |
P.O.D.: /pee-oh-dee/ Acronym for `Piece Of Data' (as opposed to a | |
code section). Usage: pedantic and rare. | |
padded cell: n. Where you put lusers so they can't hurt anything. | |
A program that limits a {luser} to a carefully restricted subset | |
of the capabilities of the host system (for example, the | |
`rsh(1)' utility on UNIX). Note that this is different from | |
an {iron box} because it's overt and not aimed at enforcing | |
security so much as protecting others (and the luser him/herself!) | |
from the consequences of the luser's boundless naivete (see | |
{naive}). Also `padded cell environment'. | |
page in: [MIT] vi. To become aware of one's surroundings again after | |
having paged out (see {page out}). Usually confined to the sarcastic | |
comment, "So-and-so pages in. Film at 11." See {film at 11}. | |
page out: [MIT] vi. To become unaware of one's surroundings | |
temporarily, due to daydreaming or preoccupation. "Can you repeat | |
that? I paged out for a minute." See {page in}. Compare | |
{glitch}, {thinko}. | |
pain in the net: n. A {flamer}. | |
paper-net: n. Hackish way of referring to the postal service, | |
analogizing it to a very slow, low-reliability network. USENET | |
{sig block}s not uncommonly include the sender's postal address | |
next to a "Paper-Net:" header; common variants of this are | |
"Papernet" and "P-Net". Compare {voice-net}, {snail-mail}. | |
param: /p@-ram'/ n. Shorthand for `parameter'. Compare | |
{arg}, {var}. The plural `params' is often further compressed | |
to `parms' /parmz/. | |
parent message: n. See {followup}. | |
parity errors: pl.n. Those little lapses of attention or (in more | |
severe cases) consciousness, usually brought on by having spent all | |
night and most of the next day hacking. "I need to go home and | |
crash; I'm starting to get a lot of parity errors." Derives from a | |
relatively common but nearly always correctable transient error in | |
RAM hardware. | |
parse: [from linguistic terminology via AI research] vt. 1. To | |
determine the syntactic structure of a sentence or other utterance | |
(close to the standard English meaning). Example: "That was the | |
one I saw you." "I can't parse that." 2. More generally, to | |
understand or comprehend. "It's very simple; you just kretch the | |
glims and then aos the zotz." "I can't parse that." 3. Of | |
fish, to have to remove the bones yourself (usually at a Chinese | |
restaurant). "I object to parsing fish" means "I don't want to | |
get a whole fish, but a sliced one is okay." A `parsed fish' | |
has been deboned. There is some controversy over whether | |
`unparsed' should mean `bony', or also mean `deboned'. | |
Pascal:: n. An Algol-descended language designed by Niklaus Wirth on | |
the CDC 6600 around 1967-68 as an instructional tool for elementary | |
programming. This language, designed primarily to keep students | |
from shooting themselves in the foot and thus extremely restrictive | |
from a general-purpose-programming point of view, was later | |
promoted as a general-purpose tool and in fact became the ancestor | |
of a large family of languages including Modula-2 and Ada (see also | |
{bondage-and-discipline language}). The hackish point of view on | |
Pascal was perhaps best summed up by a devastating (and, in its | |
deadpan way, screamingly funny) 1981 paper by Brian Kernighan (of | |
{K&R} fame) entitled `Why Pascal is Not My Favorite | |
Programming Language'. Part of his summation is worth repeating | |
here, because its criticisms are still apposite to Pascal itself | |
after ten years of improvement, and could also stand as an | |
indictment of many other {bondage-and-discipline} languages. At | |
the end of a summary of the case against Pascal, he wrote: | |
9. There is no escape | |
This last point is perhaps the most important. The language is | |
inadequate but circumscribed, because there is no way to escape its | |
limitations. There are no casts to disable the type-checking when | |
necessary. There is no way to replace the defective run-time | |
environment with a sensible one, unless one controls the compiler that | |
defines the "standard procedures". The language is closed. | |
People who use Pascal for serious programming fall into a fatal trap. | |
Because the language is impotent, it must be extended. But each group | |
extends Pascal in its own direction, to make it look like whatever | |
language they really want. Extensions for separate compilation, | |
Fortran-like COMMON, string data types, internal static variables, | |
initialization, octal numbers, bit operators, etc., all add to the | |
utility of the language for one group but destroy its portability to | |
others. | |
I feel that it is a mistake to use Pascal for anything much beyond its | |
original target. In its pure form, Pascal is a toy language, suitable | |
for teaching but not for real programming. | |
Pascal has since been almost entirely displaced (by C) from the | |
niches it had acquired in serious application and systems | |
programming, but retains some popularity as a hobbyist language in | |
the MS-DOS world. | |
patch: 1. n. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a | |
{quick and dirty} remedy to an existing bug or misfeature. A | |
patch may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be | |
incorporated permanently into the program. Compare {one-line | |
fix}. 2. vt. To insert a patch into a piece of code. 3. [in the | |
UNIX world] n. A set of differences between two versions of source | |
code, generated with `diff(1)' and intended to be mechanically | |
applied using Larry Wall's patch(1); often used as a way of | |
distributing source code upgrades and fixes over {USENET}. | |
path: n. 1. A {bang path}; a node-by-node specification of a link | |
between two machines. 2. [UNIX] A filename, fully specified | |
relative to the root directory (as opposed to relative to the | |
current directory. 3. [MS-DOS] The `search path', an | |
environment variable specifying the directories in which | |
COMMAND.COM should look for commands. | |
pathological: [scientific computation] adj. Used of a data set | |
which is grossly atypical of the expected load, esp. one which | |
exposes a weakness or bug in whatever algorithm one is using. An | |
algorithm which can be broken by pathological inputs may still be | |
useful if such inputs are very unlikely to occur in practice. 2. | |
When used of a test load, implies that it was purposefully | |
engineered as a worst case. The implication in both senses is that | |
someone had to explicitly set out to break an algorithm in order to | |
come up with such a crazy example. | |
payware: n. Commercial software. Oppose {shareware} or | |
{freeware}. | |
PBD: [abbrev. of `Programmer Brain Damage'] n. Applied to bug reports | |
revealing places where the program was obviously broken due to an | |
incompetent or short-sighted programmer. Compare {UBD}; see also | |
{brain-damaged}. | |
PC-ism: n. A piece of code or coding technique that takes advantage | |
of the unprotected single-tasking environment in IBM PCs and the | |
like, e.g. by busy-waiting on a hardware register, direct diddling | |
of screen memory, or using hard timing loops. Compare | |
{ill-behaved}, {vaxism}, {unixism}. Also, `pc-ware' n., a program | |
full of PC-ISMs on a machine with a more capable operating system. | |
Pejorative. | |
PD: /pee-dee/ adj. Common abbreviation for "public domain", applied | |
to software distributed over {USENET} and from Internet archive | |
sites. Much of this software is not in fact "public domain" in | |
the legal sense but travels under various copyrights granting | |
reproduction and use rights to anyone who can {snarf} a copy. See | |
{copyleft}. | |
pdl: /pid'l/ or /puhd'l/ [acronym for Push Down List] In ITS days, | |
the preferred MITism for {stack}. 2. Dave Lebling, one of the | |
co-authors of {Zork}; (his {network address} on the ITS machines | |
was at one time pdl@dms). 3. Program Design Language. Any of a | |
large class of formal and profoundly useless pseudo-languages in | |
which {management} forces one to design programs. {Management} | |
often expects it to be maintained in parallel with the code. Used | |
jokingly as in, "Have you finished the PDL?" See also | |
{{flowchart}}. | |
PDP-10: [Programmed Data Processor model 10] n. The machine that | |
made timesharing real. Looms large in hacker folklore due to early | |
adoption in the mid-70s by many university computing facilities and | |
research labs including the MIT AI lab, Stanford, and CMU. Some | |
aspects of the instruction set (most notably the bit-field | |
instructions) are still considered unsurpassed. Later editions | |
were labelled `DECsystem-10' as a way of differentiating them from | |
the PDP-11. The '10 was eventually eclipsed by the VAX machines | |
(descendants of the PDP-11) and dropped from DEC's line in the | |
early '80s, and in mid-1991 to have cut one's teeth on one is | |
considered something of a badge of honorable old-timerhood among | |
hackers. See {TOPS-10}, {ITS}, {AOS}, {blt}, {DDT}, | |
{DPB}, {EXCH}, {HAKMEM}, {JFCL}, {LDB}, {pop}, | |
{push}, Appendix A. | |
peek: n.,vt. (and {poke}) The commands in most microcomputer | |
BASICs for directly accessing memory contents at an absolute | |
address; often extended to mean the corresponding constructs in any | |
{HLL}. Much hacking on small, non-MMU micros consists of | |
{peek}ing around memory, more or less at random, to find the | |
location where the system keeps interesting stuff. Long (and | |
variably accurate) lists of such addresses for various computers | |
circulate (see {interrupt list, the}). The results of {poke}s | |
at these addresses may be highly useful, mildly amusing, useless | |
but neat, or (most likely) total {lossage} (see {killer poke}). | |
pencil and paper: n. An archaic information-storage and | |
transmission device that works by depositing smears of graphite on | |
bleached wood pulp. More recent developments in paper-based | |
technology include improved `write-once' update devices which use | |
tiny rolling heads similar to mouse balls to deposit colored | |
pigment. These devices require an operator skilled at so-called | |
`handwriting' technique. They technologies are ubiquitous outside | |
hackerdom, but nearly forgotten inside it. Most hackers had | |
terrible handwriting to begin with, and years of keyboarding tend | |
if anything to have encouraged it to degrade further. Perhaps for | |
this reason hackers deprecate pencil and paper technology and | |
often resist using it in any but the most trivial contexts. | |
peon: n. A person with no special ({root} or {wheel}) | |
privileges on a computer system. "I can't create an account on | |
foovax for you; I'm only a peon there." | |
percent-s: /per-sent' ess/ [From "%s", the formatting sequence in | |
C's `printf(3)' library function used to indicate that an arbitrary | |
string may be inserted] n. An unspecified person or object. "I | |
was just talking to some percent-s in administration." Compare | |
{random}. | |
perf: /perf/ n. See {chad} (sense #1). The term `perfory' | |
/per'f@-ree/ is also heard. | |
perfect programmer syndrome: n. Arrogance; the egotistical | |
conviction that one is above normal human error. Most frequently | |
found among programmers of some native ability but relatively | |
little experience (especially new graduates; their perceptions may | |
be distorted by a history of excellent performance bashing toy | |
problems). "Of course my program is correct, there is no need to | |
test it." Or "Yes, I can see there may be a problem here, but | |
*I'll* never type `rm -r /' while in {root}." | |
Perl: [Practical Extraction and Report Language, aka Pathologically | |
Eclectic Rubbish Lister] n. An interpreted language developed by | |
Larry Wall (lwall@jpl.nasa.gov, author of `patch(1)') and | |
distributed over USENET. Superficially resembles `awk(1)', | |
but is much more arcane (see {AWK}). Increasingly considered one of | |
the {languages of choice} by UNIX sysadmins, who are almost | |
always incorrigible hackers. Perl has been described, in a parody | |
of a famous remark about `lex(1)', as the `Swiss-army | |
chainsaw' of UNIX programming. | |
pessimal: /pes'i-ml/ [Latin-based antonym for `optimal'] adj. | |
Maximally bad. "This is a pessimal situation." Also `pessimize' | |
vt. To make as bad as possible. These words are the obvious | |
Latin-based antonyms for `optimal' and `optimize', but for some | |
reason they do not appear in most English dictionaries, although | |
`pessimize' is listed in the OED. | |
pessimizing compiler: /pes'i-miez-ing kuhm-pie'lr/ [antonym of | |
`optimizing compiler'] n. A compiler that produces object code that | |
is worse than the straightforward or obvious translation. The | |
implication is that the compiler is actually trying to optimize the | |
program, but through stupidity is doing the opposite. A few | |
pessimizing compilers have been written on purpose, however, as | |
pranks. | |
peta-: /pe't@/ pref. Multiplier, 10 ^ 15 or [proposed] 2 ^ 50. See | |
{kilo-}. | |
PETSCII: /pet'skee/ [abbreviation of PET ASCII] n. The variation | |
(many would say perversion) of the {{ASCII}} character set used by | |
the Commodore Business Machines PET series of personal computers | |
and the later Commodore C64, C16, and C128 machines. The PETSCII | |
set used left-arrow and up-arrow (as in old-style ASCII) instead of | |
underscore and caret, places the unshifted alphabet at positions | |
65-90 and the shifted alphabet at positions 193-218, as well as | |
adding graphics characters. | |
phase: 1. n. The phase of one's waking-sleeping schedule with | |
respect to the standard 24-hour cycle. This is a useful concept | |
among people who often work at night according to no fixed | |
schedule. It is not uncommon to change one's phase by as much as | |
six hours/day on a regular basis. "What's your phase?" "I've | |
been getting in about 8 PM lately, but I'm going to {wrap around} | |
to the day schedule by Friday." A person who is roughly 12 hours | |
out of phase is sometimes said to be in `night mode'. (The | |
term `day mode' is also (but less frequently) used, meaning | |
you're working 9 to 5 (or more likely 10 to 6)). The act of | |
altering one's cycle is called `changing phase'; `phase | |
shifting' has also been recently reported from Caltech. 2. | |
`change phase the hard way': to stay awake for a very long time | |
in order to get into a different phase. 3. `change phase the | |
easy way': To stay asleep etc. However, some claim that either | |
staying awake longer or sleeping longer is easy, and that it's | |
*shortening* your day or night that's hard (see {wrap | |
around}). The phenomenon of `jet lag' that afflicts travelers who | |
cross many time-zone boundaries may be attributed to two distinct | |
causes: the strain of travel per se, and the strain of changing | |
phase. Hackers who suddenly find that they must change phase | |
drastically in a short period of time, particularly the hard way, | |
experience something very like jet lag without travelling. | |
phase of the moon: n. Used humorously as a random parameter on which | |
something is said to depend. Sometimes implies unreliability of | |
whatever is dependent, or that reliability seems to be dependent on | |
conditions nobody has been able to determine. "This feature | |
depends on having the channel open in mumble mode, having the foo | |
switch set, and on the phase of the moon." | |
True story: Once upon a time, a program written by Gerry Sussman | |
(professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT) and Guy Steele had a | |
bug that really did depend on the phase of the moon! There is a | |
little subroutine that had traditionally been used in various | |
programs at MIT to calculate an approximation to the moon's true | |
phase; the phase is then printed out at the top of program | |
listings, for example, along with the date and time, purely for | |
{hack value}. (Actually, since hackers spend a lot of time | |
indoors, this might be the only way they would ever know what the | |
moon's phase was!) Steele incorporated this routine into a LISP | |
program that, when it wrote out a file, would print a `timestamp' | |
line almost 80 characters long. Very occasionally the first line | |
of the message would be too long and would overflow onto the next | |
line, and when the file was later read back in the program would | |
{barf}. The length of the first line depended on the precise | |
time when the timestamp was printed, and so the bug literally | |
depended on the phase of the moon! | |
The first paper edition of the Jargon File (Steele-1983) included | |
an example of this bug, but the typesetter `corrected' it. This | |
has since been described as the phase-of-the-moon-bug bug. | |
phreaking: [from "phone phreak"] n. 1. The art and science of | |
cracking the phone network (so as, for example, to make free | |
long-distance calls). 2. By extension, security-cracking in any | |
other context (especially, but not exclusively, on communications | |
networks). | |
At one time phreaking was a semi-respectable activity among | |
hackers; there was a gentleman's agreement that phreaking as an | |
intellectual game and a form of exploration was O.K., but serious | |
theft of services was taboo. There was significant crossover | |
between the hacker community and the hard-core phone phreaks who | |
ran semi-underground networks of their own like the legendary `TAP | |
Newsletter'. This ethos began to break down in the mid-1980s as | |
wider dissemination of the techniques put them in the hands of less | |
responsible phreaks. Around the same time, changes in the phone | |
network made old-style technical ingenuity less effective as a way | |
of hacking it, so phreaking came to depend more on overtly criminal | |
acts like stealing phone-card numbers. The crimes and punishments | |
of gangs like the `414 group' turned that game very ugly. A few | |
old-time hackers still phreak casually just to keep their hand in, | |
but most these days have hardly even heard of `blue boxes' or any | |
of the other paraphernalia of the great phreaks of yore. | |
pico-: [in measurement, a quantifier meaning * 10 ^ -12] pref. | |
Smaller than {nano-}; used in the same rather loose and | |
connotative way as {nano-} and {micro-}. This usage is not yet | |
common in the way {nano-} and {micro-} are, but is instantly | |
recognizable to any hacker. The remaining standard quantifiers are | |
`femto' (10 ^ -15) and `atto' (10 ^ -18); these, | |
interestingly, derive not from Greek but from Danish. They have | |
not yet acquired slang loadings, though it is easy to predict what | |
those will be once computing technology enters the required realms | |
of magnitude (however, see {attoparsec}). See also {micro-}. | |
pig, run like a: adj. To run very slowly on given hardware, said of | |
software. Distinct from {hog}. | |
ping: /ping/ [from TCP/IP terminology, prob. originally contrived | |
to match the submariners' term for a sonar pulse.] n.,vt. 1. Slang | |
term for a small network message (ICMP ECHO) sent by a computer to | |
check for the presence and aliveness of another. Occasionally used | |
as a phone greeting. See {ACK}, also {ENQ}. 2. To verify the | |
presence of. 3. To get the attention of. From the UNIX command by | |
the same name (an acronym of `Packet INternet Groper') that | |
sends an ICMP ECHO packet to another host. 4. To send a message to | |
all members of a {mailing list} requesting an {ACK} (in order | |
to verify that everybody's addresses are reachable). "We haven't | |
heard much anything from Geoff, but he did respond with an ACK both | |
times I pinged jargon-friends." | |
The funniest use of `ping' to date was described in January 1991 by | |
Steve Hayman on the USENET group comp.sys.next. He was trying to | |
isolate a faulty cable segment on a TCP/IP Ethernet hooked up to a | |
NeXT machine, and got tired of having to run back to his console | |
after each cabling frob to see if the ping packets were getting | |
through. So he used the sound-recording feature on the NeXT, then | |
wrote a script that repeatedly invoked ping, listened to the output | |
and played back the recording on each returned packet. Result? A | |
program that caused the machine to repeat, over and over, | |
"Ping ... ping ... ping ..." as long as the network was | |
up. He turned the volume to maximum, scurried through the building | |
with one ear cocked, and found a faulty tee connector in no time. | |
Pink-Shirt Book: `The Peter Norton Programmer's Guide to the IBM | |
PC'. The original cover featured a picture of Peter Norton with a | |
silly smirk on his face, wearing a pink shirt. Perhaps in | |
recognition of this usage, the current edition has a different | |
picture of Norton wearing a pink shirt. | |
PIP: /pip/ [Peripheral Interchange Program] vt.,obs. To copy, from | |
the program PIP on CP/M and RSX-11 that was used for file copying | |
(and in RSX for just about every other file operation you might | |
want to do). Obsolete, but still occasionally heard. It is said | |
that when the program was originated during the development of the | |
PDP-6 in 1963 it was called ATLATL (`Anything, Lord, to Anything, | |
Lord'). | |
pipeline: [UNIX, orig. by Doug McIlroy; now also used under MS-DOS | |
and elsewhere] n. A chain of {filter} programs connected | |
`head-to-tail', so that the output of one becomes the input of | |
the next. Under UNIX, user utilities can often be implemented or | |
at least prototyped by a suitable collection of pipelines and | |
temp-file grinding encapsulated in a shell script; this is much | |
less effort than writing C every time, and the capability is | |
considered one of UNIX's major winning features. | |
pistol: [IBM] n. A tool that makes it all too easy for you to | |
shoot yourself in the foot. "UNIX `rm *' makes such a nice | |
pistol!" | |
pizza box: [SUN] n. The largish thin box housing the electronics | |
in (especially SUN) desktop workstations, so named because of its | |
size and shape, and the dimpled pattern that looks like air holes. | |
pizza, ANSI standard: /an'see stan'd@rd peet'z@/ [CMU] Pepperoni | |
and mushroom pizza. Coined allegedly because most pizzas ordered | |
by CMU hackers during some period leading up to mid-1990 were of | |
that flavor. See also {rotary debugger}. | |
plain-ASCII: Syn. {flat-ASCII}. | |
plan file: [UNIX] n. On systems which support {finger}, the | |
`.plan' file in a user's home directory is displayed when he or she | |
is fingered. This feature was originally intended to be used to | |
keep potential fingerers apprised of one's near-future plans, but | |
has been turned almost universally to humorous and self-expressive | |
purposes (like a {sig block}). | |
playpen: [IBM] n. A room where programmers work. Compare {salt | |
mines}. | |
playte: /playt/ 16 bits, by analogy with {nybble} and {{byte}}. Usage: | |
rare and extremely silly. See also {dynner}. | |
plingnet: /pling'net/ n. Syn. {UUCPNET}. Also see {{Commonwealth | |
Hackish}}. | |
plonk: [USENET] The sound a {newbie} makes as he falls to the bottom | |
of a {kill file}. Almost exclusively used in the {newsgroup} | |
`talk.bizarre', this term (usually written "*plonk*") is a | |
form of public ridicule. | |
plugh: /ploogh/ [from the {ADVENT} game] v. See {xyzzy}. | |
plumbing: [UNIX] n. Term used for {shell} code, so called | |
because of the prevalence of `pipeline's that feed the output | |
of one program to the input of another. Esp. used in the | |
construction `hairy plumbing' (see {hairy}. "You can kluge | |
together a basic spell-checker out of `sort(1)', | |
`comm(1)' and `tr(1)' with a little plumbing." | |
PM: /pee em/ 1. [from `preventive maintenance'] v. To bring down a | |
machine for inspection or test purposes; see {scratch monkey}. 2. | |
n. Abbrev. for `Presentation Manager', an {elephantine} OS/2 | |
graphical user interface. | |
pod: [allegedly from acronym POD for `Prince Of Darkness'] n. A | |
Diablo 630 (or, latterly, any impact letter-quality printer). From | |
the DEC-10 PODTYPE program used to feed formatted text to same. | |
poke: n.,vt. See {peek}. | |
poll: v.,n. 1. The action of checking the status of an input line, | |
sensor, or memory location to see if a particular external event | |
has been registered. 2. To ask. "I'll poll everyone and see where | |
they want to go for lunch." | |
polygon pusher: n. A chip designer who spends most of his/her time at | |
the physical layout level (which requires drawing *lots* of | |
multi-colored polygons). Also `rectangle slinger'. | |
POM: /pee-oh-em/ n. {Phase of the moon}. Usage: usually used in the | |
phrase `POM-dependent' which means {flaky}. | |
pop: /pop/ [based on the stack operation that removes the top of a | |
stack, and the fact that procedure return addresses are saved on | |
the stack] (also POP, POPJ /pop-jay/) 1. vt. To remove something | |
from a {stack} or {pdl}. If a person says he has popped | |
something from his stack, he means he has finally finished working | |
on it and can now remove it from the list of things hanging over | |
his head. 2. To return from a digression (the J-form derives | |
specifically from a {PDP-10} assembler instruction). By verb | |
doubling, "Popj, popj" means roughly, "Now let's see, where were | |
we?" See {RTI}. | |
posing: n. On a {MUD}, the use of `:' or an equivalent | |
command to announce to other players that one is taking a certain | |
physical action, which however has no effect on the game. | |
post: v. To send a message to a {mailing list} or {newsgroup}. | |
Distinguished in context from `mail'; one might ask, for | |
example, "Are you going to post the patch or mail it to known | |
users?" | |
posting: n. Noun corresp. to v. {post} (but note that the | |
shorter word can be nouned). Distinguished from a `letter' or | |
ordinary {email} message by the fact that it's broadcast rather | |
than point-to-point. It is unclear whether messages sent to a | |
small mailing list are postings or email; perhaps the best dividing | |
line is that if you don't know the names of all the potential | |
recipients, it's a posting. | |
postmaster: n. The email contact and maintenance person on a site | |
connected to the Internet or UUCPNET. Often, but not always, the | |
same as the {admin}. It is conventional for each machine to have | |
a `postmaster' alias that goes to this person. | |
power cycle: vt. (also, `cycle power' or just `cycle') To | |
power off a machine and then power it on immediately, with the | |
intention of clearing some kind of {hung} or {gronked} state. | |
Syn. {120 reset}; see also {Big Red Switch}. Compare {vulcan | |
nerve pinch}, {bounce}, {boot}, and see the AI Koan in Appendix | |
A about Tom Knight and the novice. | |
PPN: /pip'n/ [from `Project-Programmer Number'] n. A user-ID under | |
{TOPS-10} and its various mutant progeny at SAIL, BBN, | |
CompuServe, and elsewhere. Old-time hackers from the PDP-10 era | |
sometimes use this to refer to user IDs on other systems as well. | |
precedence lossage: /pre's@-dens los'j/ [C programmers] n. Coding | |
error in an expression due to unexpected grouping of arithmetic or | |
logical operators by the compiler. Used esp. of certain common | |
coding errors in C due to the nonintuitively low precedence levels | |
of `&', `|', `^', `<<', `>>'. Can always | |
be avoided by suitable use of parentheses. See {aliasing bug}, | |
{memory leak}, {smash the stack}, {fandango on core}, | |
{overrun screw}. | |
prepend: /pree`pend'/ [by analogy with `append'] vt. To prefix. | |
Like `append', but unlike `prefix' or `suffix' as a verb, the | |
direct object is always the thing being added and not the original | |
word (character string, etc). No, this is *not* standard | |
English, yet! | |
pretty pictures: n. [scientific computation] The next step up from | |
{numbers}. Interesting graphical output from a program which may | |
not have any real relationship to the reality the program is | |
intended to model. Good for showing to {management}. | |
prettyprint: /prit'ee-print/ v. 1. To generate `pretty' | |
human-readable output from a {hairy} internal representation; | |
esp. used for the process of {grind}ing (sense #2) LISP code. 2. | |
To format in some particularly slick and nontrivial way. | |
prime time: [from TV programming] n. Normal high-usage hours on a | |
timesharing system; the day shift. Avoidance of prime time is a | |
major reason for {night mode} hacking. | |
priority interrupt: [from the hardware term] n. Describes any | |
stimulus compelling enough to yank one right out of {hack mode}. | |
Classically used to describe being dragged away by an {SO} for | |
immediate sex, but may also refer to more mundane interruptions | |
such as a fire alarm going off in the near vicinity. Also called | |
an NMI (non-maskable interrupt), especially in PC-land. | |
profile: [UNIX] n. 1. A control file for a program, esp. a text | |
file automatically read from each user's home directory and | |
intended to be easily modified by the user. Used to avoid | |
{hardcoded} choices. 2. A report on the amounts of time spent in | |
each routine of a program, used to find and {tune} away the | |
{hot spot}s in it. This sense is often verbed. Some profiling | |
modes report units other than time (such as call counts) at | |
granularities other than per-routine, but the idea is similar. | |
program: 1. n. A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to | |
turn one's input into error messages. 2. n. An exercise in | |
experimental epistemology. 3. vt. To engage in a pastime similar | |
to banging one's head against a wall, but with fewer opportunities | |
for reward. | |
Programmer's Cheer: "Shift to the left! Shift to the right! Pop | |
up, push down! Byte! Byte! Byte!" A joke so old it has hair on | |
it.... | |
programming: n. In folklore, this was classically defined as "The | |
art of debugging a blank sheet of paper". Following the rise of | |
on-line editing this should probably be recast as "The art of | |
debugging an empty source file". | |
propeller head: n. Used by hackers, this is syn. with {computer | |
geek}. Non-hackers sometimes use it to describe all techies. | |
Prob. derives from SF fandom's tradition (originally invented by | |
old-time fan Ray Faraday Nelson) of propeller beanies as fannish | |
insignia (though nobody actually wears them except as a joke). | |
proprietary: adj. 1. In {marketroid}-speak, superior; implies a | |
product imbued with exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of | |
their employer's hardware or software designers. 2. In the | |
language of hackers and users, inferior; implies a product not | |
conforming to open-systems standards, and thus one which puts the | |
customer at the mercy of a vendor able to gouge freely on service | |
and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer | |
in (that's assuming it wasn't too expensive in the first place). | |
protocol: n. As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties | |
about the proper form for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or | |
the order in which one should use the forks in a Russian-style | |
place setting; hackers don't care about such things. It is used | |
instead to describe any set of rules which allow different machines | |
or pieces of software to coordinate with each other without | |
ambiguity; for example, it does include the niceties of addressing | |
packets on a network or the order in which one should use the forks | |
in the Dining Philosophers Problem. It implies that there's some | |
common message format and accepted set of primitives or commands | |
that all parties involved understand, and that transactions among | |
them follow predictable logical sequences. See also | |
{handshaking}, {do protocol}. | |
prowler: [UNIX] n. A {demon} that is run periodically (typically once | |
a week) to seek out and erase core files (see {core}), truncate | |
administrative logfiles, nuke lost+found directories, and otherwise | |
clean up the {cruft} that tends to pile up in the corners of a file | |
system. See also {GFR}, {reaper}, {skulker}. | |
pseudo: /soo'doh/ [USENET] n. 1. An electronic-mail or {USENET} | |
persona adopted by a human for amusement value or as a means of | |
avoiding negative repercussions of his/her net.behavior; a `nom de | |
USENET', often associated with forged postings designed to conceal | |
message origins. Perhaps the best-known and funniest hoax of this | |
type is {BIFF}. 2. Notionally, a {flamage}-generating AI | |
program simulating a USENET user. Many flamers have been accused | |
of actually being such entities, despite the fact that no AI | |
program of the required sophistication exists. However, in 1989 | |
there was a famous series of forged postings that used a | |
phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of | |
several well-known flamers based on large samples of their back | |
postings. A significant number of people were fooled by these, and | |
the debate over their authenticity was only settled when the | |
perpetrator of the hoax came publicly forward to admit the deed. | |
pseudoprime: n. A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied points) | |
with one point missing. This term is an esoteric pun derived from | |
a mathematical method which, rather than determining precisely | |
whether a number is prime (has no divisors), uses a statistical | |
technique to decide whether the number is "probably" prime. A | |
number that passes this test is called a pseudoprime. The hacker | |
backgammon usage stems from the idea that a pseudoprime is almost as | |
good as a prime: it does the job of a prime until proven otherwise, | |
and that probably won't happen. | |
pseudosuit: n. A {suit} wannabee; a hacker who's decided that he | |
wants to be in management or administration and begins wearing | |
ties, sport coats, and (shudder!) suits voluntarily. His | |
funeral.... | |
psychedelicware: /sie`k@-del'-ik-weir/ [Great Britain] n. Syn. | |
{display hack}. See also {smoking clover}. | |
pubic directory: [NYU] n. The `pub' (public) directory on a | |
machine that allows {FTP} access; the top-level directory owned | |
by ftp. So called because it is the default location for {SEX} | |
(sense #1). | |
puff: vt. To decompress data that has been crunched by Huffman | |
coding. At least one widely distributed Huffman decoder program | |
was actually *named* `PUFF', but these days it isn't usually | |
separate from the encoder. Oppose {huff}. | |
punched card:: alt. `punch card' 1. n.obs. The signature medium | |
of computing's {Stone Age}, now obsolescent outside of some IBM | |
shops. The punched card actually predated computers considerably, | |
originating as a control device for mechanical looms. The version | |
patented by Hollerith and used with mechanical tabulating machines | |
in the 1890 U.S. Census was a piece of cardboard about 90 mm by | |
215 mm, designed to fit exactly in the currency trays used for that | |
era's larger dollar bills. | |
IBM (which originated as a tabulating-machine manufacturer) married | |
the punched card to computers, encoding binary information as | |
patterns of small rectangular holes; one character per column, 80 | |
columns per card. Later, other coding schemes, sizes of card, and | |
hole shape were tried. | |
The 80-column width of most character terminals is a legacy of the | |
punched card; so is the size of the quick reference cards | |
distributed with many varieties of computers even today. See | |
{chad}, {chad box}, {eighty-column mind}, {green card}, | |
{dusty deck}, {lace card}. | |
punt: [from the punch line of an old joke referring to American | |
football: "Drop back 15 yards and punt"] vt. 1. To give up, typically | |
without any intention of retrying. "Let's punt the movie | |
tonight." "I was going to hack all night to get this feature in, | |
but I decided to punt" may mean that you've decided not to stay up | |
all night, and may also mean you're not ever even going to put in | |
the feature. 2. More specifically, to give up on figuring out what | |
the {Right Thing} is and resort to an inefficient hack. | |
Purple Book: n. The `System V Interface Definition'. The covers | |
of the first editions were an amazingly nauseating shade of | |
off-lavender. See also {Red Book}, {Blue Book}, {Green Book}, | |
{Silver Book}, {Orange Book}, {White Book}, {Pink-Shirt Book}, | |
{Dragon Book}, {Aluminum Book}. | |
push: [based on the stack operation that puts the current | |
information on a stack, and the fact that procedure return | |
addresses are saved on the stack] Also PUSH or PUSHJ /push-jay/, | |
based on the PDP-10 procedure call instruction. 1. To put | |
something onto a {stack} or {pdl}. If a person says something | |
has been pushed onto his stack, he means yet another thing has been | |
added to the list of things hanging over his head for him to do. | |
This may also imply that he will deal with it `before' other | |
pending items; otherwise he might have said the thing was "added | |
to his queue". 2. vi. To enter upon a digression, to save the | |
current discussion for later. Antonym of {pop}; see also | |
{stack}, {pdl}. | |
= Q = | |
===== | |
quad: n. 1. Two bits; syn. for {quarter}, {crumb}, {tayste}. | |
2. The rectangle or box glyph used in the APL language for various | |
arcane purposes mostly related to I/O. Ex-Ivy-Leaguers and | |
Oxbridge types are said to associate it with nostalgic memories of | |
dear old University. | |
quadruple bucky: n., obs. 1. On an MIT {space-cadet keyboard}, | |
use of all four of the shifting keys control, meta, hyper, and | |
super while typing a character key. 2. On a Stanford or MIT | |
keyboard in raw mode, use of four shift keys while typing a fifth | |
character, where the four shift keys are the control and meta keys | |
on *both* sides of the keyboard. This was very difficult to | |
do! One accepted technique was to press the left-control and | |
left-meta keys with your left hand, the right-control and | |
right-meta keys with your right hand, and the fifth key with your | |
nose. | |
Quadruple-bucky combinations were very seldom used in practice, | |
because when one invented a new command one usually assigned it to | |
some character that was easier to type. If you want to imply that | |
a program has ridiculously many commands or features, you can say | |
something like "Oh, the command that makes it spin the tapes while | |
whistling Beethoven's 5th Symphony is quadruple-bucky-cokebottle". | |
See {double bucky}, {bucky bits}, {cokebottle}. | |
quantum bogodynamics: /kwon'tm boh`goh-die-nam'iks/ n. Theory which | |
characterizes the universe in terms of bogon sources (such as | |
politicians, used-car salesmen, TV evangelists, and {suit}s in | |
general), bogon sinks (such as taxpayers and computers), and | |
bogosity potential fields. Bogon absorption, of course, causes | |
human beings to behave mindlessly and machines to fail (and may | |
cause them to emit secondary bogons as well); however, the precise | |
mechanics of the bogon-computron interaction are not yet understood | |
and remain to be elucidated. Quantum bogodynamics is most | |
frequently invoked to explain the sharp increase in hardware and | |
software failures in the presence of suits; the latter emit bogons | |
which the former absorb. See {bogon}, {computron}, {suit}. | |
quarter: n. Two bits; syn. {tayste}, {crumb}, {quad}. The | |
term comes from the `pieces of eight' famed in pirate movies --- | |
Spanish gold pieces that could be broken into eight | |
pie-slice-shaped `bits' to make change. Early in the U.S.'s | |
history the coin was considered equal to a dollar, so each of these | |
`bits' was considered worth 12.5 cents. Usage: rare. See also | |
{nickle}, {nybble}, {{byte}}. | |
ques: /kwess/ 1. n. The question mark character (`?', ASCII | |
0111111). 2. interj. What? Also frequently verb-doubled as | |
"Ques ques?" See {wall}. | |
quick and dirty: adj. Describes a {crock} put together under time | |
or user pressure. Used esp. when you want to convey that you think | |
the fast way might lead to trouble further down the road. "I can | |
have a quick and dirty fix in place tonight, but I'll have to | |
rewrite the whole module to solve the underlying design problem." | |
See also {kluge}. | |
quux: /kwuhks/ [invented by Steele] Mythically, from the Latin | |
semi-deponent verb quuxo, quuxare, quuxandum iri; noun form | |
variously `quux' (plural `quuces', anglicized to `quuxes') and | |
`quuxu' (genitive plural is `quuxuum', for four u-letters out of | |
seven total, using up all the `u' letters in Scrabble in one swell | |
foop).] 1. Originally, a meta-word like {foo} and {foobar}. | |
Invented by Guy Steele for precisely this purpose when he was young | |
and naive and not yet interacting with the real computing | |
community. Many people invent such words; this one seems simply to | |
have been lucky enough to have spread a little. In an eloquent | |
display of poetic justice, it has returned to the originator in the | |
form of a nickname, as punishment for inventing the bletcherous | |
word in the first place. 2. interj. See {foo}; however, denotes | |
very little disgust, and is uttered mostly for the sake of the | |
sound of it. 3. Guy Steele in his persona as `The Great Quux', | |
which is somewhat infamous for light verse and for the `Crunchly' | |
cartoons. 4. In some circles, quux is used as a punning opposite | |
of `crux'. "Ah, that's the quux of the matter!" implies that the | |
point is *not* crucial (compare {tip of the iceberg}). 5. | |
quuxy: adj. Of or pertaining to a quux. | |
qux: /kwuhks/ The fourth of the standard metasyntactic variables, | |
after {baz} and before the quuu*x series. See {foo}, {bar}, | |
{baz}, {quux}. Note that this appears to be a recent mutation | |
from {quux}, and that many versions of the standard series just | |
run {foo}, {bar}, {baz}, {quux}, .... | |
QWERTY: /kwer'tee/ [from the keycaps at the upper left] adj. | |
Pertaining to a standard English-language typewriter keyboard | |
(sometimes called the Sholes keyboard after its inventor), as | |
opposed to Dvorak or foreign-language layouts or a {space-cadet | |
keyboard} or APL keyboard. | |
= R = | |
===== | |
rain dance: n. 1. Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware | |
problem, with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished. | |
This especially applies to reseating printed circuit boards, | |
reconnecting cables, etc. "I can't boot up the machine. We'll | |
have to wait for Greg to do his rain dance." 2. Any arcane | |
sequence of actions performed with computers or software in order | |
to achieve some goal; the term is usually restricted to rituals | |
which include both an {incantation} or two and physical activity | |
or motion. Compare {magic}, {voodoo programming}, {black | |
art}. | |
random: adj. 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); | |
weird. "The system's been behaving pretty randomly." 2. | |
Assorted; undistinguished. "Who was at the conference?" "Just | |
a bunch of random business types." 3. Frivolous; unproductive; | |
undirected (pejorative). "He's just a random loser." 4. | |
Incoherent or inelegant; not well organized. "The program has a | |
random set of misfeatures." "That's a random name for that | |
function." "Well, all the names were chosen pretty randomly." | |
5. Gratuitously wrong, i.e., poorly done and for no good apparent | |
reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting | |
in a particularly useless way, or an assembler routine that could | |
easily have been coded using only three registers, but randomly | |
uses seven for assorted non-overlapping purposes, so that no one | |
else can invoke it without first saving four extra registers. 6. | |
In no particular order, though deterministic. "The I/O channels | |
are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is chosen randomly." | |
7. n. A random hacker; used particularly of high school students | |
who soak up computer time and generally get in the way. 8. | |
(occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also {J. | |
Random}, {some random X}. | |
random numbers: n. When one wishes to specify a large but random | |
number of things, and the context is inappropriate for {N}, certain | |
numbers are preferred by hacker tradition (that is, easily | |
recognized as placeholders). These include | |
17 | |
Long described at MIT as `the least random number', see 23. | |
23 | |
Sacred number of Eris, Goddess of Discord (along with 17 and 5). | |
42 | |
The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. | |
69 | |
From the sexual act. This one was favored in MIT's ITS culture. | |
105 | |
69 hex = 105 decimal, and 69 dec = 105 octal. | |
666 | |
The Number of the Beast. | |
For further enlightenment, consult the `Principia Discordia', | |
`The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy', any porn movie, and | |
the Christian Bible's `Book Of Revelations' (chapter 13, verse | |
18). See also {Discordianism} or consult your pineal gland. | |
randomness: n. An unexplainable misfeature; gratuitous inelegance. | |
Also, a {hack} or {crock} which depends on a complex combination of | |
coincidences (or rather, the combination upon which the crock | |
depends for its accidental failure to malfunction). "This hack | |
can output characters 40-57 by putting the character in the | |
accumulator field of an XCT and then extracting 6 bits --- the low | |
two bits of the XCT opcode are the right thing." "What | |
randomness!" | |
rape: vt. To (metaphorically) screw someone or something, violently; | |
in particular, to destroy a program or information irrecoverably. | |
Usage: often used in describing file-system damage. "So-and-so | |
was running a program that did absolute disk I/O and ended up | |
raping the master directory." | |
rare: [UNIX] adj. CBREAK mode (character-by-character with interrupts | |
enabled). Distinguished from `raw' and `cooked'; the phrase | |
"half-cooked (rare?)" is used in the V7/BSD manuals to describe | |
the mode. Usage: rare. | |
raster blaster: n. [Cambridge] Specialized hardware for {bitblt} | |
operations. Allegedly inspired by analogy with `Rasta Blasta', | |
British slang for the sort of portable stereo/radio/tapedeck | |
Americans call a `boom box' or `ghetto blaster'. | |
raster burn: n. Eyestrain brought on by too many hours of looking at | |
low-res, poorly tuned, or glare-ridden monitors, esp. graphics | |
monitors. See {terminal illness}. | |
rat belt: n. A cable tie, esp. the sawtoothed, self-locking plastic | |
kind that you can only remove by cutting (as opposed to a random | |
twist of wire or a baggie tie or one of those humongous metal clip | |
frobs). Small cable ties are `mouse belts'. | |
rave: [WPI] vi. 1. To persist in discussing a specific subject. 2. To | |
speak authoritatively on a subject about which one knows very | |
little. 3. To complain to a person who is not in a position to | |
correct the difficulty. 4. To purposely annoy another person | |
verbally. 5. To evangelize. See {flame}. Also used to describe a | |
less negative form of blather, such as friendly bullshitting. | |
{Rave} differs slightly from {flame} in that {rave} implies that it | |
is the manner or persistence of speaking that is annoying, while | |
{flame} implies somewhat more strongly that the subject matter is | |
annoying as well. | |
rave on!: imp. Sarcastic invitation to continue a {rave}, often by | |
someone who wishes the raver would get a clue but realizes this is | |
unlikely. | |
ravs: /ravz/, also `Chinese ravs' n. Kuo-teh. A Chinese | |
appetizer, known variously in the plural as dumplings, pot stickers | |
(the literal translation of kuo-teh), and (around Boston) `Peking | |
Ravioli'. The term `rav' is short for "ravioli", which among | |
hackers always means the Chinese kind rather than the Italian kind. | |
Both consist of a filling in a pasta shell, but the Chinese kind | |
uses a thinner pasta and is cooked differently, either by steaming | |
or frying. A rav or dumpling can be steamed or fried, but a | |
potsticker is always the fried kind (so called because it sticks to | |
the frying pot and has to be scraped off). "Let's get | |
hot-and-sour soup and three orders of ravs." See also | |
{{Oriental Food}}. | |
RE: /ar-ee/ n. Common spoken and written shorthand for {regexp}. | |
read-only user: n. Describes a {luser} who uses computers almost | |
exclusively for reading USENET, bulletin boards, and/or email, as | |
opposed to writing code or purveying useful information. See | |
{twink}, {terminal junkie}. | |
README file: n. By convention, the top-level directory of a UNIX | |
source distribution always contains a file named `README' (or | |
READ.ME, or (rarely) ReadMe or some other variant) which is a | |
hacker's-eye introduction containing a pointer to more detailed | |
documentation, credits, miscellaneous revision history notes, etc. | |
When asked, hackers invariably relate this to the famous scene in | |
Lewis Carroll's `Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' in which | |
Alice confronts magic food labelled "Eat Me" and "Drink Me". | |
real estate: n. May be used for any critical resource measured in | |
units of area. Most frequently used of `chip real estate', the | |
area available for logic on the surface of an integrated circuit | |
(see also {nanoacre}). May also be used of floor space in a | |
{dinosaur pen} or even space on a crowded desktop (whether | |
physical or electronic). | |
real hack: n. A {crock}. This is sometimes used affectionately; | |
see {hack}. | |
real operating system: n. Whichever one a given user is accustomed | |
to, and subject to wild variation. People from the academic | |
community are likely to issue comments like "System V? Why don't | |
you use a *real* operating system?", people from the | |
commercial/industrial UNIX sector are known to complain, "BSD? Why | |
don't you use a *real* operating system?", and people from | |
IBM probably think, "UNIX? Why don't you use a *real* | |
operating system?" See {holy wars}, {religious issues}, | |
{proprietary}. | |
real programmer: [indirectly, from the book `Real Men Don't | |
Eat Quiche'] n. A particular sub-variety of hacker, one possessed | |
of a flippant attitude towards complexity that is arrogant even | |
when justified by experience. The archetypal `real programmer' | |
likes to program on the {bare metal}, and is very good at same; | |
he remembers the binary opcodes for every machine he's every | |
programmed; thinks that HLLs are sissy; and he uses a debugger to | |
edit his code because full-screen editors are for wimps. Real | |
Programmers aren't satisfied with code that hasn't been {bum}med | |
into a state of {tense}ness just short of rupture. Real | |
Programmers never use comments or write documentation; "If it was | |
hard to write", says the Real Programmer, "it should be hard to | |
understand." Real Programmers can make machines do things that | |
were never in their spec sheets; in fact, they're seldom really | |
happy unless doing so. A Real Programmer's code can awe you with | |
its fiendish brilliance, even as it appalls by its level of | |
crockishness. Real Programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang | |
line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other | |
programmers --- because someday, somebody else might have to try to | |
understand their code in order to change it. Their successors | |
generally consider it a {Good Thing} that there aren't many Real | |
Programmers around any more. For a famous (and somewhat more | |
positive) portrait of a Real Programmer, see `The Story of | |
Mel' in Appendix A. | |
Real Soon Now: [orig. from SF's fanzine community, popularized by | |
Jerry Pournelle's BYTE column] adj. 1. Supposed to be available | |
(or fixed, or cheap, or whatever) real soon now according to | |
somebody, but the speaker is quite skeptical. 2. When the | |
gods/fates/other time commitments permit the speaker to get to it. | |
Often abbreviated RSN. | |
real time: adv. Doing something while people are watching or waiting. | |
"I asked her how to find the calling procedure's program counter | |
on the stack and she came up with an algorithm in real time." | |
real user: n. 1. A commercial user. One who is paying `real' money | |
for his computer usage. 2. A non-hacker. Someone using the system | |
for an explicit purpose (research project, course, etc.). See | |
{user}. Hackers who are also students may also be real users. "I | |
need this fixed so I can do a problem set. I'm not complaining out | |
of randomness, but as a real user." See also {luser}. | |
Real World: n. 1. In programming, those institutions at which | |
programming may be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, {COBOL}, | |
RPG, {IBM}, etc. Places where programs do such commercially | |
necessary but intellectually uninspiring things as compute payroll | |
checks and invoices. 2. To programmers, the location of | |
non-programmers and activities not related to programming. 3. A | |
universe in which the standard dress is shirt and tie and in which | |
a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5 (see {code | |
grinder}). 4. The location of the status quo. 5. Anywhere outside | |
a university. "Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the real | |
world." Used pejoratively by those not in residence there. In | |
conversation, talking of someone who has entered the real world is | |
not unlike talking about a deceased person. See also {fear and | |
loathing}, {mundane}, and {uninteresting}. | |
reality check: n. 1. The simplest kind of test of software or | |
hardware; doing the equivalent of asking it what `2 + 2' is | |
and seeing if you get `4'. The equivalent of a {smoke test} for | |
software. 2. The act of letting a {real user} try out prototype | |
software. Compare {sanity check}. | |
reaper: n. A {prowler} which {GFR}s files. A file removed in | |
this way is said to have been `reaped'. | |
rectangle slinger: n. See {polygon pusher}. | |
recursion: n. See {recursion}. See also {tail recursion}. | |
Recursive Acronyms:: pl.n. A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is | |
to choose acronyms which refer humorously to themselves or to other | |
acronyms. The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE | |
("EINE Is Not EMACS") and ZWEI ("ZWEI Was EINE Initially"). | |
More recently, {GNU} (q.v., sense #1) is said to stand for "GNU's | |
Not UNIX!" See also {mung}. | |
Red Book: n. 1. Informal name for one of the three standard | |
references on PostScript (`PostScript Language Reference | |
Manual', Adobe Systems, Addison-Wesley 1985 QA76.73.P67P67, ISBN | |
0-201-10174-2); the others are known as the {Green Book} and {Blue | |
Book}. 2. Informal name for one of the three standard references | |
on Smalltalk: `Smalltalk-80: The Interactive Programming | |
Environment', Adele Goldberg, Addison-Wesley 1984, QA76.8.S635G638, | |
ISBN 0-201-11372-4 (this is also associated with blue and green | |
books). 3. Any of the 1984 standards issued by the CCITT 8th | |
plenary assembly. Until now, these have changed color each review | |
cycle (1988 was {Blue Book}, 1992 will be {Green Book}); however, | |
it is rumored that this convention is going to be dropped before | |
1992. These include, among other things, the X.400 email spec and | |
the Group 1 through 4 fax standards. 4. The new version of the | |
{Green Book} (sense #4), IEEE 1003.1-1990, aka ISO 9945-1, | |
is (because of the color and the fact that it is printed on A4 | |
paper), known in the USA as "The Ugly Red Book That Won't Fit On | |
The Shelf", and in Europe as "The Ugly Red Book That's A Sensible | |
Size". See also {Green Book}, {Blue Book}, {Purple Book}, {Silver | |
Book}, {Orange Book}, {White Book}, {Pink-Shirt Book}, {Dragon | |
Book}, {Aluminum Book}. | |
regexp: /reg'eksp/ [UNIX] n. (alt. `regex' or `reg-ex') 1. | |
Common written and spoken abbreviation for `regular | |
expression', one of the wildcard patterns used, e.g., by UNIX | |
utilities such as `grep(1)', `sed(1)', and `awk(1)'. | |
These use conventions similar to but more elaborate than those | |
described under {glob}. For purposes of this lexicon, it is | |
sufficient to note that regexps also allow complemented character | |
sets using `^' and ranges in character sets using `-'; | |
thus, one can specify any non-alphabetic character with | |
`[^A-Za-z]'. 2. Name of a well-known PD regexp-handling | |
package in portable C, written by revered USENETter Henry Spencer | |
(henry@zoo.toronto.edu). | |
reincarnation, cycle of: n. Term used to refer to a well-known effect | |
whereby function in a computing system family is migrated out to | |
special-purpose peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral | |
evolves towards more computing power as it does its job, then | |
somebody notices that it's inefficient to support two asymmetrical | |
processors in the architecture and folds the function back into the | |
main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again. Several | |
iterations of this cycle have been observed in graphics processor | |
design, and at least one or two in communications and | |
floating-point processors. Also known as `the Wheel of Life', | |
`the Wheel of Samsara', and other variations of the basic | |
Hindu/Buddhist theological idea. | |
reinvent the wheel: v. To design or implement a tool equivalent to | |
an existing one or part of one, with the implication that doing so | |
is silly or a waste of time. This is frequently a valid criticism; | |
but automobiles don't use wooden rollers, either, and some kinds of | |
wheel have to be re-invented many times before you get it right. | |
religious issues: n. Questions which seemingly cannot be raised | |
without touching off {holy wars}, such as "What is the best | |
operating system (or editor, language, architecture, shell, mail | |
reader, news reader)?" and "What about that Heinlein guy, eh?". | |
See {holy wars}; see also {theology}, {bigot}. | |
This entry is an example of {ha ha only serious}. People | |
actually develop the most amazing and religiously intense | |
attachments to their tools, even when the tools are intangible. | |
The most constructive thing one can do when one stumbles into the | |
crossfire is mumble {Get a life!} and leave --- unless of course | |
one's *own* unassailably rational and obviously correct | |
choices are being slammed.... | |
replicator: n. Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; | |
this could be a living organism, an idea (see {meme}), a program | |
(see {worm}, {wabbit}, and {virus}), a pattern in a cellular | |
automaton (see {life}, sense #1), or (speculatively) a robot or | |
{nanobot}. | |
reply: n. See {followup}. | |
restriction: n. A {bug} or design error that limits a program's | |
capabilities, and which is sufficiently egregious that nobody can | |
quite work up enough nerve to describe it as a {feature}. Often | |
used (esp. by {marketroid} types) to make it sound as though some | |
crippling bogosity had been intended by the designers all along, or | |
was forced upon them by arcane considerations no mere user could | |
possibly comprehend (these claims are almost invariably false). | |
retcon: /ret'kon/ [`retroactive continuity', from USENET's | |
rec.arts.comics] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. | |
comics, soaps) where a new story `reveals' new things about events | |
in previous stories, usually leaving the `facts' the same (thus | |
preserving continuity) while completely changing their | |
interpretation. E.g., revealing that a whole season's episodes of | |
Dallas was a dream was a retcon. 2. vt. To write such a story | |
about (a character or fictitious object). Thus, "Byrne has | |
retconned Superman's cape so that it is no longer unbreakable". | |
"Marvelman's old adventures were retconned into synthetic | |
dreams", "Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person | |
into a sentient vegetable." | |
[This is included because it's a good example of hackish linguistic | |
innovation in a field completely unrelated to computers. The word | |
`retcon' will probably spread through comics fandom and lose its | |
association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for the | |
record, it started here. --- ESR] | |
retrocomputing: /ret'-roh-k@m-pyoo'ting/ n. Refers to emulations | |
of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or | |
implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; esp. if such | |
implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies of | |
more `serious' designs. Perhaps the most widely distributed | |
retrocomputing utility was the `pnch(6)' or `bcd(6)' | |
program on V7 and other early UNIX versions, which would accept up | |
to 80 characters of text argument and display the corresponding | |
pattern in {{punched card}} code. Other well-known retrocomputing | |
hacks have included the programming language {INTERCAL}, a | |
{JCL}-emulating shell for UNIX, the card-punch-emulating editor named | |
029, and various elaborate PDP-11 hardware emulators and RT-11 OS | |
emulators written just to keep an old, sourceless {Zork} binary | |
running. | |
RFC: /ahr ef see/ n. Request For Comment. One of a long-established | |
series of numbered Internet standards widely followed by commercial | |
and PD software in the Internet and UNIX communities. Perhaps the | |
single most influential one has been RFC-822 (the Internet | |
mail-format standard). The RFCs are unusual in that they are | |
floated by technical experts acting on their own initiative and | |
reviewed by the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated | |
through an institution such as ANSI. For this reason they remain | |
known as RFCs even once adopted. | |
RFE: n. 1. Request For Enhancement. 2. [from `Radio Free Europe' | |
Bellcore and Sun] Radio Free Ethernet, a system (originated by | |
Peter Langston) for broadcasting audio among Sun SPARCstations over | |
the ethernet. | |
rib site: [by analogy with {backbone site}] n. A machine which | |
has an on-demand high-speed link to a {backbone site} and serves | |
as a regional distribution point for lots of third-party traffic in | |
email and USENET news. Compare {leaf site}, {backbone site}. | |
rice box: [from ham radio slang] n. Any Asian-made commodity | |
computer, esp. an 80*86-based machine built to IBM PC-compatible | |
ISA or EISA-bus standards. | |
Right Thing: n. That which is *obviously* the correct or | |
appropriate thing to use, do, say, etc. Often capitalized, always | |
emphasized in speech as though capitalized. Use of this term often | |
implies that in fact reasonable people may disagree. "Never let | |
your conscience keep you from doing the right thing!" "What's | |
the right thing for LISP to do when it reads `(mod a 0)'? | |
Should it return `a', or give a divide-by-zero error?" | |
Antonym: {Wrong Thing}. | |
RL: [MUD community] n. Real Life. "Firiss laughs in RL" means | |
Firiss's player is laughing. | |
roach: [Bell Labs] vt. To destroy, esp. of a data structure. Hardware | |
gets {toast}ed, software gets roached. | |
robust: adj. Said of a system which has demonstrated an ability to | |
recover gracefully from the whole range of exception conditions in | |
a given environment. One step below {bulletproof}. Compare | |
{smart}, oppose {brittle}. | |
rococo: adj. {Baroque} in the extreme. Used to imply that a | |
program has become so encrusted with the software equivalent of | |
gold leaf and curlicues that they have completely swamped the | |
underlying design. Called after the later and more extreme forms | |
of Baroque architecture and decoration prevalent during the | |
mid-1700s in Europe. | |
rogue: [UNIX] n. Dungeons-And-Dragons-like game using character | |
graphics written under BSD UNIX and subsequently ported to other | |
UNIX systems. The original BSD `curses(3)' screen-handling | |
package was hacked together by Ken Arnold to support | |
`rogue(6)' and has since become one of UNIX's most important | |
and heavily used application libraries. Nethack, Omega, Larn, and | |
an entire subgenre of computer dungeon games all took off from the | |
inspiration provided by `rogue(6)'. See {hack}. | |
room-temperature IQ: [IBM] 80 or below. Used in describing the | |
expected intelligence range of the {luser}. As in "Well, but | |
how's this interface gonna play with the room-temperature IQ | |
crowd?" See {drool-proof paper}. This is a much more insulting | |
phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers.... | |
root: n. [UNIX] 1. The `superuser' account that ignores | |
permission bits, user number zero on a UNIX system. This account | |
has the user name `root'. 2. The top node of the system directory | |
structure (home directory of the root user). 3. By extension, the | |
privileged system-maintenance login on any OS. 4. Thus, {root | |
mode}: Syn. with {wizard mode} or {wheel mode}. Like these, | |
it is often generalized to describe privileged states in systems | |
other than OSs. 5. `go root': to temporarily enter `root mode' | |
in order to perform a privileged operation. This use is deprecated | |
in Australia, where v. `root' is slang for "to have sex with". | |
rot13: /rot ther'teen/ [USENET, from `rotate alphabet 13 places'] | |
n.,v. The simple Caesar-cypher encryption that replaces each | |
English letter with the one 13 places forward or back along the | |
alphabet, so that "The butler did it!" becomes "Gur ohgyre qvq | |
vg!" Most USENET news reading and posting programs include a | |
rot13 feature. It is used as if to enclose the text in a sealed | |
wrapper that the reader must choose to open, for posting things | |
that might offend some readers, answers to puzzles, or discussion | |
of movie plot surprises. | |
rotary debugger: [Commodore] n. Essential equipment for those late | |
night or early morning debugging sessions. Mainly used as | |
sustenance for the hacker. Comes in many decorator colors such as | |
Sausage, Pepperoni, and Garbage. See {pizza, ANSI standard}. | |
RSN: adj. See {Real Soon Now}. | |
RTFAQ: /ahr-tee-eff-ay-kyoo/ [USENET, by analogy with {RTFM}] | |
imp. Abbrev. for `Read the FAQ!', an exhortation that the person | |
being addressed ought to read the newsgroup's {FAQ list} before | |
posting questions. | |
RTFM: /ahr-tee-ef-em/ [UNIX] imp. Abbrev. for `Read The Fucking Manual'. | |
1. Used by GURUs to brush off questions they consider trivial or | |
annoying. Compare {Don't do that, then!}. 2. Used when reporting | |
a problem to indicate that you aren't just asking out of | |
{randomness}. "No, I can't figure out how to interface UNIX to my | |
toaster and yes I have RTFM." Unlike sense #1 this use is | |
considered polite. See also {RTFAQ}, {RTM}. | |
RTI: /ahr-tee-ie/ interj. The mnemonic for the `return from | |
interrupt' instruction on many computers including the 6502 and | |
Z80. Equivalent to "Now, where was I?" or used to end a | |
conversational digression. See {pop}. | |
RTM: /ahr-tee-em/ [USENET, acronym for `Read The Manual'] Politer | |
variant of {RTFM}. | |
rude: [WPI] adj. 1. (of a program) Badly written. 2. Functionally | |
poor, e.g. a program which is very difficult to use because of | |
gratuitously poor (random?) design decisions. See {cuspy}. | |
runes: pl.n. 1. Anything that requires {heavy wizardry} or {black | |
art} to {parse}; core dumps, JCL commands, or even code in a | |
language you don't have the faintest idea how to read. Compare | |
{casting the runes}. 2. Special display characters (for example, | |
the high-half graphics on an IBM PC). | |
runic: adj. Syn. {obscure}. VMS fans sometimes refer to UNIX as | |
`Runix'; UNIX fans return the compliment by expanding VMS to `Very | |
Messy Syntax' or `Vachement Mauvais Systeme' (French, lit. | |
"Cowlike Bad System"). | |
rusty iron: n. Syn. {tired iron}. It has been claimed that this | |
is the inevitable fate of {water MIPS}. | |
rusty memory: n. Mass-storage that uses iron-oxide-based magnetic | |
media (esp. tape and the pre-Winchester removable disk packs used | |
in {washing machine}s). Compare {donuts}. | |
= S = | |
===== | |
s/n ratio: n. (also `s:n ratio'). See {signal-to-noise | |
ratio}. Often abbreviated `SNR'. | |
sacred: adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (a | |
metaphorical extension of the standard meaning). "Register 7 is | |
sacred to the interrupt handler." Often means that anyone may | |
look at the sacred object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it | |
is sacred to. Example: The comment "Register 7 is sacred to the | |
interrupt handler" appearing in a program would be interpreted by | |
a hacker to mean that one part of the program, the `interrupt | |
handler', uses register 7, and if any other part of the program | |
changes the contents of register 7 dire consequences are likely to | |
ensue. | |
saga: [WPI] n. A cuspy but bogus raving story dealing with N random | |
broken people. | |
sagan: /say'gn/ [from Carl Sagan's TV series `Cosmos', think | |
`Billions and Billions'] n. A large quantity of anything. | |
"There's a sagan different ways to tweak EMACS." "The US | |
Government spends sagans on military hardware." | |
SAIL: /sayl/, not /ess ay ie el/ n. Stanford University Artificial | |
Intelligence Lab. An important site in the early development of | |
LISP; with the MIT AI LAB, CMU, and the UNIX community, one of the | |
major founts of hacker culture traditions. The SAIL machines were | |
shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks after the MIT AI lab's ITS | |
cluster went down for the last time. | |
salescritter: /sayls'kri`tr/ n. Pejorative hackerism for a computer | |
salesperson. Hackers tell the following joke: | |
Q. What's the difference between a used car dealer and a computer | |
salesman? | |
A. The used car dealer knows he's lying. | |
This reflects the widespread hacker belief that salescritters are | |
self-selected for stupidity (after all, if they had brains and the | |
inclination to use them they'd be in programming). The terms | |
`salesthing' and `salesdroid' are also common. Compare | |
{marketroid}, {suit}. | |
salt mines: n. Dense quarters housing large numbers of programmers | |
working long hours on grungy projects, with some hope of seeing the | |
end of the tunnel in N years. Noted for their absence of sunshine. | |
Compare {playpen}, {sandbox}. | |
salt substrate: [MIT] n. Collective noun used to refer to potato | |
chips, pretzels, saltines or any other form of snack food | |
essentially designed as a carrier for sodium chloride. Forom the | |
technical term `chip substrate' used to refer to the silicon on the | |
top of which the active parts of integrated circuits are deposited. | |
same-day-service: n. Ironic term is used to describe slow response | |
time, particularly with respect to <MS-DOS> system calls. Such | |
response time is a major incentive for programmers to write | |
programs that are not {well-behaved}. See also {PC-ism}. | |
sandbender: [IBM] n. A person involved with silicon lithography and | |
the physical design of chips. Compare {ironmonger}, {polygon | |
pusher}. | |
sandbox: n. (typically `the sandbox') Common term for the R&D | |
department at many software and computer companies (where hackers | |
in commercial environments are likely to be found). Half-derisive, | |
but reflects the truth that research is a form of creative play. | |
Compare {playpen}. | |
sanity check: n. 1. The act of checking a piece of code for | |
completely stupid mistakes. Implies that the check is to make sure | |
the author was sane when it was written; e.g., if a piece of | |
scientific software relied on a particular formula and was giving | |
unexpected results, one might first look at the nesting of | |
parentheses or the coding of the formula, as a {sanity check}, | |
before looking at the more complex I/O or data structure | |
manipulation routines. Compare {reality check}. 2. A run-time | |
test, either validating input or ensuring that the program hasn't | |
screwed up internally (producing an impossible value or state). | |
say: vt. In some contexts, to type to a terminal. "To list a | |
directory verbosely, you have to say `ls -l'". Tends to imply | |
a carriage-return-terminated command (a `sentence'). A computer | |
may also be said to `say' things to you even if it doesn't have a | |
speech synthesizer, by displaying them on a terminal in response to | |
your commands. Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses other | |
people. | |
Science-Fiction Fandom:: n. Another voluntary subculture having a very | |
heavy overlap with hackerdom; most hackers read SF and/or fantasy | |
fiction avidly, and many go to `cons' (SF conventions) or are | |
involved in fandom-connected activities like the Society for | |
Creative Anachronism. Some hacker slang originated in SF fandom; | |
see {defenestration}, {great-wall}, {cyberpunk}, {h infix}, {ha ha | |
only serious}, {IMHO}, {mundane}, {neep-neep}, {Real Soon Now}. | |
Additionally, the jargon terms {cowboy}, {cyberspace}, {de-rez}, | |
{go flatline}, {ice}, {virus}, {wetware}, {wirehead}, and {worm} | |
originated in SF itself. | |
scram switch: [from the nuclear power industry] n. An | |
emergency-power-off switch (see {Big Red Switch}), esp. one | |
positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel. In general, | |
this is *not* something you frob lightly; these are installed | |
in a {dinosaur pen} for use in case of electrical fire or in case | |
some luckless {field servoid} should put 120 volts across himself | |
while {Easter egging}. | |
scratch: 1. [from `scratchpad'] adj. Describes a device or | |
recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary-use | |
purposes; one which can be {scribble}d on without loss. Usually | |
in the combining forms `scratch memory', `scratch | |
register', `scratch disk', `scratch tape', `scratch | |
volume'. See {scratch monkey}. 2. [primarily IBM] vt. To delete | |
(as in a file). | |
scratch monkey: n. As in, "Before testing or reconfiguring, always | |
mount a", a proverb used to advise caution when dealing with | |
irreplaceable data or devices. Used to refer to any expendable | |
device or scratch volume hooked to a computer, in memory of Mabel, | |
the Swimming Wonder Monkey who expired when a computer vendor PM'd | |
a machine which was regulating the gas mixture that the monkey was | |
breathing at the time. See Appendix A. See {scratch}. | |
screw: [MIT] n. A {lose}, usually in software. Especially used for | |
user-visible misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature. | |
screwage: /skroo'@j/ n. Like {lossage} but connotes that the | |
failure is due to a designed-in misfeature rather than a simple | |
inadequacy or mere bug. | |
scribble: n. To modify a data structure in a random and | |
unintentionally destructive way. "Bletch! Somebody's | |
disk-compactor program went berserk and scribbled on the i-node | |
table." "It was working fine until one of the allocation routines | |
scribbled on low core." Synonymous with {trash}; compare {mung}, | |
which conveys a bit more intention, and {mangle}, which is more | |
violent and final. | |
scrog: /skrog/ [Bell Labs] vt. To damage, trash, or corrupt a data | |
structure. "The cblock got scrogged." Also reported as | |
`skrog', and ascribed to "The Wizard of Id" comix. Equivalent | |
to {scribble} or {mangle} | |
scrozzle: /skroz'l/ vt. Used when a self-modifying code segment runs | |
incorrectly and corrupts the running program, or vital data. "The | |
damn compiler scrozzled itself again!" | |
SCSI: /ess see ess ie/ n. Small Computer System Interface is a | |
system-level interface between a computer and intelligent devices. | |
Typically annotated in literature with `sexy' (/sek'see/) and | |
`scuzzy' (/skuhz'zee/) as pronunciation guides...the latter being | |
the predominating form, much to the dismay of the designers and | |
their marketing people. | |
search-and-destroy mode: n. Hackerism for the search-and-replace | |
facility in an editor, so called because an incautiously chosen | |
match pattern can cause {infinite} damage. | |
second-system effect: n. (sometimes, more euphoniously, | |
`second-system-syndrome'.) When designing the successor to a | |
relatively small, elegant, and successful system, there is a | |
tendency to become grandiose in one's success and design an | |
{elephantine} feature-laden monstrosity. The term was first used | |
by Fred Brooks in his classic book `The Mythical Man-Month'. | |
It described the jump from a set of nice, simple, operating | |
monitors on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series. A | |
similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see | |
{creeping elegance}, {creaping featurism}. See also | |
{Multics}. | |
This version of the jargon lexicon has been described (with | |
altogether too much truth for comfort) as the result of | |
second-system effect applied to jargon-1... | |
segfault: n.,vi. Syn for {segment}, {seggie}. | |
seggie: /seg'ee/ [UNIX] n. Shorthand for {segmentation fault} | |
reported from Britain. | |
segment: /seg'ment/ vi. To experience a {segmentation fault}. | |
Confusingly, this is often accented on the first syllable rather | |
than on the second as for mainstream v. segment; this is because | |
it's actually a noun shorthand that has been verbed. | |
segmentation fault: n. [UNIX] 1. Error in which a running program | |
attempts to access memory not allocated to it and {core dump}s | |
with a segment violation error. 2. To lose a train of thought or a | |
line of reasoning. Also uttered as an exclamation at the point of | |
befuddlement. | |
segv: /seg'vee/ n.,vi. Yet another synonym for {segmentation fault}. | |
self-reference: n. See {self-reference}. | |
selvage: /sel'v@j/ [from sewing] n. See {chad} (sense #1). | |
semi: /se'mee/ or /se'mie/ 1. n. Abbreviation for `semicolon', when | |
speaking. "Commands to {grind} are prefixed by semi-semi-star" | |
means that the prefix is `;;*', not 1/4 of a star. 2. Prefix with | |
words such as `immediately', as a qualifier. "When is the system | |
coming up?" "Semi-immediately." (That is, maybe not for an | |
hour). "We did consider that possibility semi-seriously." See | |
also {infinite}. | |
senior bit: [IBM] n. Syn. {meta bit}. | |
server: n. A kind of {daemon} which performs a service for the | |
requester, which often runs on a computer other than the one on | |
which the server runs. A particularly common term on the Internet, | |
which is rife with `name servers', `domain servers', `news | |
servers', `finger servers', and the like. | |
SEX: [Sun User's Group & elsewhere] n. 1. Software EXchange. A | |
technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of | |
years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow | |
up until then. Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and | |
others. 2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, | |
a machine instruction found in many architectures. | |
The author of `The Intel 8086 Primer', who was one of the | |
original designers of the 8086, noted that there was originally a | |
SEX instruction on that processor. He says that Intel management | |
got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the | |
instruction was renamed CBW and CWD (depending on what was being | |
extended). Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in | |
IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straight SEX but has logical-or | |
and logical-and instructions ORL and ANL. | |
sex changer: n. Syn. {gender mender}. | |
shareware: n. {freeware} for which the author requests some payment, | |
usually in the accompanying documentation files or in an | |
announcement made by the software itself. Such payment may or may | |
not buy additional support or functionality. See {guiltware}, | |
{crippleware}. | |
shelfware: n. Software purchased on a whim (by an individual user) or | |
in accordance with policy (by a corporation or government), but not | |
actually required for any particular use. Therefore, it often ends | |
up on some shelf. | |
shell: [UNIX, now used elsewhere] n. 1. The command interpreter | |
used to pass commands to an operating system; so called because | |
it's the part of the operating system that interfaces to the | |
outside world. 2. More generally, any interface program which | |
mediates access to a special resource or {server} for | |
convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the | |
usage is usually `a shell around' whatever. This sort of | |
program is also called a `wrapper'. | |
shell out: [UNIX] n. To spawn an interactive {subshell} from within a | |
program such as a mailer or editor. "Bang foo runs foo in a | |
subshell, while bang alone shells out." | |
shift left (or right) logical: [from any of various machines' | |
instruction sets] 1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right). To | |
move out of the way. 2. imper. "Get out of that (my) seat! You | |
can move to that empty one to the left (right)." Usage: often | |
used without the `logical', or as `left shift' instead of | |
`shift left'. Sometimes heard as LSH /l@sh/, from the PDP-10 | |
instruction set. | |
shitogram: /shit'oh-gram/ n. A *really* nasty piece of email. | |
Compare {nastygram}, {flame}. | |
short card: n. A half-length IBM PC expansion card or adapter that | |
will fit in one of the two short slots located towards the right | |
rear of a standard chassis (tucked behind the floppy disk drives). | |
See also {tall card}. | |
shotgun debugging: n. The software equivalent of {Easter egging}; | |
the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope | |
that a bug will be perturbed out of existence. This almost never | |
works, and usually introduces more bugs. | |
showstopper: n. A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes | |
an implementation effectively unusable; one which absolutely has to | |
be fixed before development can go on. Opposite in connotation | |
from its original theatrical use, which referred to something | |
stunningly *good*. | |
shriek: n. See {excl}. Occasional CMU usage, also in common use | |
among APL fans and mathematicians, especially category theorists. | |
sidecar: n. 1. Syn. {slap on the side}. Esp. used of add-ons for | |
the late and unlamented IBM PCjr. 2. The IBM PC compatibility box | |
that could be bolted on to the side of an Amiga. Designed and | |
produced by Commodore and broke all of their design rules. If it | |
worked with any other peripherals it was {magic}. | |
sig block: /sig blok/ [UNIX; often written ".sig" there] n. Short | |
for `signature', used specifically to refer to the electronic | |
signature block which most UNIX mail- and news-posting software | |
will allow you to automatically append to outgoing mail and news. | |
The composition of one's sig can be quite an art form, including an | |
ASCII logo or one's choice of witty sayings (see {sig quote}); but | |
many consider large sigs a waste of {bandwidth}, and it has been | |
observed that the size of one's sig block is usually inversely | |
proportional to one's longevity and level of prestige on the net. | |
sig quote: /sig kwoht/ [USENET] n. A maxim, quote, proverb, joke, or | |
slogan embedded in one's {sig block} and intended to convey | |
something of one's philosophical stance, pet peeves, or sense of | |
humor. "He *must* be a Democrat --- he posted a sig quote | |
from Dan Quayle." | |
signal-to-noise ratio: [from analog electronics] n. Used by hackers in | |
a generalization of its technical meaning. `Signal' refers to | |
useful information conveyed by some communications medium and | |
`noise' to anything else on that medium. Hence a low ratio | |
implies that it is not worth paying attention to the medium in | |
question. Figures for such metaphorical ratios are never given. | |
The term is most often applied to {USENET} newsgroups during {flame | |
wars}. Compare {bandwidth}. See also {coefficient of x}. | |
silicon: n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer | |
systems (compare {iron}). Contrasted with software. | |
silicon foundry: n. A company that {fab}s chips to the designs of | |
others. As of the late 1980s, the existence of silicon foundries | |
made it much easier for hardware-designing startup companies to come | |
into being. The downside of using a silicon foundry is that the | |
distance from the actual chip fabrication processes leads to weaker | |
designers. This is somewhat analogous to the use of a {HLL} versus | |
coding in assembler. | |
silly walk: [from Monty Python] vi. A ridiculous procedure required to | |
accomplish a task. Like {grovel}, but more {random} and humorous. | |
"I had to silly-walk through half the /usr directories to find the | |
maps file." | |
silo: n. The FIFO input-character buffer in an RS-232 line card. So | |
called from DEC terminology used on DH and DZ line cards for the | |
VAX and PDP-11, presumably because it was this storage space for | |
fungible stuff that you put in the top and took out the bottom. | |
Silver Book: n. Jensen & Wirth's infamous `Pascal User Manual | |
and Report', so called because of the silver cover of the | |
widely distributed Springer-Verlag second edition of 1978 (ISBN | |
0-387-90144-2). See {Red Book}, {Green Book}, {Blue Book}, {White | |
Book}, {Purple Book}, {Orange Book}, {Pink-Shirt Book}, {Dragon | |
Book}, {Aluminum Book}. | |
since time T equals minus infinity: adj. A long time ago; for as | |
long as anyone can remember; at the time that some particular frob | |
was first designed. Sometimes the word `time' is omitted if there | |
is no danger of confusing `T' as a time with {T} meaning `yes'. | |
See also {time T}. | |
sitename: [UNIX/Internet] n. The unique electronic name of a | |
computer system, used to identify it in UUCP mail, USENET, or other | |
forms of electronic information interchange. The folklore interest | |
of sitenames stems from the creativity and humor they often | |
display. Interpreting a sitename is not unlike interpreting a | |
vanity license plate; one has to mentally unpack it, allowing for | |
mono-case and length restrictions and the lack of whitespace. | |
Hacker tradition deprecates dull, institutional-sounding names in | |
favor of punchy, humorous, and clever coinages (except that it is | |
considered appropriate for the official public gateway machine of | |
an organization to bear the organization's name or acronym). | |
Mythological references, cartoon characters, animal names, and | |
allusions to SF or fantasy literature are probably the most popular | |
sources for sitenames (in roughly that order). The obligatory | |
comment when discussing these is Harris's Lament: "All the good | |
ones are taken!" See also {network address}. | |
skulker: n. Syn. {prowler}. | |
slap on the side: n. (also called a {sidecar}, or abbreviated | |
{SOTS}.) A type of external expansion marketed by computer | |
manufacturers (e.g. Commodore for their Amiga 500/1000 series and | |
IBM for the hideous failure they called `PCjr'). Various SOTS boxes | |
provided necessities such as memory, hard drive controllers, and | |
conventional expansion slots. | |
sleep: vi. On a timesharing system, a process that relinquishes its | |
claim on the scheduler until some given event occurs or a specified | |
time delay elapses is said to `go to sleep'. | |
slim: n. A small, derivative change (e.g., to code). | |
slop: n. 1. A one-sided {fudge factor}, that is, an allowance for | |
error but only in one of two directions. For example, if you need | |
a piece of wire ten feet long and have to guess when you cut it, | |
you make very sure to cut it too long, by a large amount if | |
necessary, rather than too short by even a little bit, because you | |
can always cut off the slop but you can't paste it back on again. | |
When discrete quantities are involved, slop is often introduced to | |
avoid the possibility of a {fencepost error}. 2. n. The ratio of | |
the size code generated by a compiler to the size of equivalent | |
assembler code produced by {hand-hacking}, minus 1; i.e., the | |
space (or maybe time) you lose because you didn't do it yourself. | |
This number is often used as a measure of the goodness of a | |
compiler; slop below 5% is very good, and 10% is usually acceptable | |
for most purposes. With modern compiler technology, esp. on RISC | |
machines, the compiler's slop may actually be *negative*; that | |
is, humans may be unable to generate code as good. This is one of | |
the reasons assembler programming is no longer common. | |
slopsucker: n. A lowest-priority task that must wait around until | |
everything else has `had its fill' of machine resources. Only | |
when the machine would otherwise be idle is the task allowed to | |
`suck up the slop.' Also called a {hungry puppy}. One common | |
variety of slopsucker hunts for large prime numbers. Compare | |
{background}. | |
sluggy: /sluhg'ee/ adj. Hackish variant of `sluggish'. Used only of | |
people, esp. someone just waking up after a long {gronk out}. | |
slurp: vt. To read a large data file entirely into core before working | |
on it. This may be contrasted with the strategy of reading a small | |
piece at a time, processing it, and then reading the next piece. | |
"This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K matrix and does an FFT." | |
smart: adj. Said of a program that does the {Right Thing} in a wide | |
variety of complicated circumstances. There is a difference | |
between calling a program smart and calling it intelligent; in | |
particular, there do not exist any intelligent programs (yet). | |
Compare {robust} (smart programs can be {brittle}). | |
smart terminal: n. A terminal that has enough computing capability to | |
perform useful work independently of the main computer. The | |
development of workstations and personal computers has made this | |
term and the product it describes semi-obsolescent, but one may | |
still hear variants of the phrase "act like a smart terminal" | |
used to describe the behavior of workstations/PCs with respect to | |
programs that execute almost entirely out of a remote {server}'s | |
storage, using said devices as displays. Compare {glass tty}. | |
There's a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the {blit} | |
terminal): "A smart terminal is not a smart*ass* terminal, | |
but rather a terminal you can educate." This illustrates a common | |
design problem; the attempt to make peripherals (or anything else) | |
intelligent sometimes results in finicky, rigid "special | |
features" that become just so much dead weight if you try to use | |
the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate. Flexibility | |
and programmability, on the other hand, are *really* smart. | |
smash case: vi. To lose or obliterate the uppercase/lowercase | |
distinction in text input. "MS-DOS will automatically smash case | |
in the names of all the files you create." Compare {fold case}. | |
smash the stack: [C programming] n. On many C implementations it is | |
possible to corrupt the execution stack by writing past the end of | |
an array declared auto in a routine. Code that does this is said | |
to `smash the stack', and can cause return from the routine to jump | |
to a random text address. This can produce some of the most | |
insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind. Variants include | |
`trash' the stack, {scribble} the stack, {mangle} the stack; | |
{mung} the stack is not used as this is never done intentionally. | |
See {spam}; see also {aliasing bug}, {fandango on core}, {memory | |
leak}, {precedence lossage}, {overrun screw}. | |
smiley: n. See {emoticon}. | |
smoke test: n. 1. A rudimentary form of testing applied to electronic | |
equipment following repair or reconfiguration in which AC power is | |
applied and during which the tester checks for sparks, smoke, or | |
other dramatic signs of fundamental failure. 2. By extension, the | |
first run of a piece of software after construction or a critical | |
change. See {magic smoke}. | |
Note: There is an interesting parallel to this term among | |
typographers and printers. When punchcutting new typefaces by | |
hand, a `smoke test' (hold the letter in candle smoke, then press | |
onto paper) is used to check out new dies. | |
smoking clover: [ITS] n. A {display hack} originally due to Bill | |
Gosper. Many convergent lines are drawn on a color monitor in {AOS} | |
mode (so that every pixel struck has its color incremented). The | |
color map is then rotated. The lines all have one endpoint in the | |
middle of the screen; the other endpoints are spaced one pixel | |
apart around the perimeter of a large square. This results in a | |
striking, rainbow-hued, shimmering four-leaf clover. Gosper joked | |
about keeping it hidden from the FDA (the U.S.'s Food and Drug | |
Adminbnistration) lest it be banned. | |
SMOP: /smop/ [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming] n. 1. A piece | |
of code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly | |
greater than its complexity. Usage: used to refer to a program | |
that could obviously be written, but is not worth the trouble. It | |
is also used ironically to imply that a difficult problem can be | |
easily solved because a program can be written to do it; the irony | |
is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be a | |
great deal of work. Example: "It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN | |
compiler to compile COBOL as well; it's just a SMOP." 2. Often | |
used ironically by the intended victim when a suggestion for a | |
program is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is obviously | |
a lot of work to the programmer. | |
SNAFU principle: n. "True communication is only possible between | |
equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for | |
telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth" | |
--- a central tenet of {Discordianism} often invoked by hackers | |
to explain the reason authoritarian hierarchies screw up so | |
reliably and systematically. There is a common fable | |
that well illustrates this. A {hacker} says to a manager, "This | |
is manure". Manager to second-level, "This is fertilizer". | |
Second-level to third-level, "This makes things grow". | |
Third-level to Director, "Must be good stuff". After the | |
subsequent disaster, the {suits} protect themselves by saying "I | |
was misinformed", and the programmer is demoted or fired. | |
snail-mail: n. Paper mail, as opposed to electronic. Sometimes | |
written as the single word `SnailMail'. One's postal address is, | |
correspondingly, a `snail address'. Derives from earlier | |
coinage `USnail' for which there have been parody posters and | |
stamps made. Oppose {email}. | |
snarf: /snarf/ vt. 1. To grab, esp. a large document or file for the | |
purpose of using it either with or without the author's permission. | |
See {BLT}. Variant: `snarf down', to snarf, sometimes with the | |
connotation of absorbing, processing, or understanding. "I think | |
I'll snarf down the list of DDT commands so I'll know what's | |
changed recently." 2. [in the UNIX community] to fetch a file or | |
set of files across a network. See also {blast}. This term was | |
mainstream in the late 1960s meaning `to eat piggishly'. | |
snarf & barf: /snarf'n-barf/ n. The act of grabbing a region of text | |
using a {WIMP environment} and then stuffing the contents of that | |
region into another region or into the same region, to avoid | |
re-typing a command line. In the late 1960s this was a | |
mainstream expression for an "Eat now, regret it later" | |
cheap-restaurant expedition. | |
snark: [Lewis Carroll, via the Michigan Terminal System] n. 1. A | |
system failure. When a user's process bombed, the operator would | |
get a message "Help, Help, Snark in MTS!". 2. More generally, | |
any kind of unexplained or threatening event on a computer. Often | |
used to refer to events or log file entries which might indicate an | |
attempted security violation. 3. UUCP name of snark.thyrsus.com, | |
home site of the Jargon File 2.x.x versions (this lexicon). | |
sneakernet: n. Term used (generally with ironic intent) for transfer | |
of electronic information by physically carrying tape, disks, or | |
some other media from one machine to another. "Never | |
underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with magtape, | |
or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs." Also called `Tennis-Net', | |
`Armpit-Net'. | |
sniff: v.,n. Synonym for {poll}. | |
snivitz: /sniv'itz/ n. A hiccup in hardware or software; a small, | |
transient problem of unknown origin (less serious than a | |
{snark}). | |
SO: /ess-oh/ n. (also `S.O.') Acronym for Significant Other, | |
almost invariably written abbreviated and pronounced /ess-oh/ by | |
hackers. Used to refer to one's primary relationship, esp. a | |
live-in to whom one is not married. See {MOTAS}, {MOTOS}, | |
{MOTSS}. | |
social science number: [IBM] n. A statistic which is | |
{content-free}, or nearly so. A measure derived via methods of | |
questionable validity from data of a dubious and vague nature. | |
Predictively, having a social science number in hand is seldom much | |
better than nothing and can be considerably worse. {Management} | |
loves them. See also {numbers}, {math-out}, {pretty | |
pictures}. | |
softcopy: n. [by analogy with `hardcopy'] A machine-readable form of | |
corresponding hardcopy. See {bits}. | |
software bloat: n. The results of {second-system effect} or | |
{creeping featuritis}. Commonly cited examples include | |
`ls(1)', {X}, {BSD}, {Missed'em-five}, and {OS/2}. | |
software rot: n. Term used to describe the tendency of software | |
which has not been used in a while; such failure may be | |
semi-humorously ascribed to {bit rot}. More commonly, | |
`software rot' strikes when a program's assumptions become out | |
of date. If the design was insufficiently {robust} this may | |
cause it to fail in mysterious ways. For example, due to endemic | |
shortsightedness in the design of COBOL programs, most will succumb | |
to software rot when their two-digit year counters {wrap around} at | |
the beginning of the year 2000. | |
Historical note: software rot in an even funnier sense than the | |
mythical one was a real problem on early research computers (e.g. | |
the R1, see {grind crank}). If a program that depended on a | |
peculiar instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user | |
might discover that the opcodes no longer did the things as they | |
used to. ("Hey, so-and-so needs an instruction to do | |
such-and-such. We can snarf this opcode, right? No one uses | |
it.") | |
Compare {bit rot}. | |
softwarily: /soft-weir'i-lee/ adv. In a way pertaining to software. | |
"The system is softwarily unreliable." The adjective | |
`softwary' is *not* used. See {hardwarily}. | |
softy: [IBM] n. Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who | |
is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware. | |
some random X: adj. Used to indicate a member of class X, with the | |
implication that the particular X is interchangeable with most | |
other Xs in whatever context was being discussed. "I think some | |
random cracker tripped over the guest timeout last night." See | |
also {J. Random}. | |
sorcerer's apprentice mode: n. A bug in a protocol where, under some | |
circumstances, the receipt of a message causes more than one | |
message to be sent, each of which, when received, triggers the same | |
bug. Used esp. of such behavior caused by {bounce message} loops | |
in {email} software. Compare {broadcast storm}. | |
SOS: n.,obs. /ess-oh-ess/ 1. An infamously {losing} text editor. | |
Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for the | |
PDP-6, a hacker crufted together a {quick and dirty} `stopgap | |
editor' to be used until a better one was written. Unfortunately, | |
the old one was never really discarded when new ones (in | |
particular, {TECO}) came along. SOS is a descendant of that | |
editor; SOS means `Son of Stopgap', and many PDP-10 users gained | |
the dubious pleasure of its acquaintance. Since then other | |
programs similar in style to SOS have been written, notably BILOS | |
/bye'lohs/ the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap. See also {TECO}. 2. | |
/sos/ n. Inverse of {AOS}, from the PDP-10 instruction set. | |
source of all good bits: n. See {bits}. | |
space-cadet keyboard: n. The Knight keyboard, a now-legendary device | |
used on MIT LISP machines which inspired several still-current | |
slang terms and influenced the design of {EMACS}. It was inspired | |
by the Stanford keyboard and equipped with no less than | |
*seven* shift keys: four keys for {bucky bits} (`control', | |
`meta', `hyper', and `super') and three like the regular shift key, | |
called `shift', `top', and `front'. Many keys have three symbols | |
on them: a letter and a symbol on the top, and a Greek letter on | |
the front. For example, the `L' key has an `L' and a two-way | |
arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the front. If you | |
press this key with the right hand while playing an appropriate | |
`chord' with the left hand on the shift keys, you can get the | |
following results: | |
L lower-case "l" | |
shift-L upper-case "L" | |
front-L Greek lower-case lambda | |
front-shift-L Greek upper-case lambda | |
top-L two-way arrow (front and shift are ignored) | |
And of course each of these may also be typed with any combination | |
of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys. On this keyboard, you | |
can type over 8000 different characters! This allows the user to | |
type very complicated mathematical text, and also to have thousands | |
of single-character commands at his disposal. Many hackers were | |
actually willing to memorize the command meanings of that many | |
characters if it reduced typing time (this view rather obviously | |
shaped the interface of EMACS). Other hackers, however, thought | |
having that many bucky bits was overkill, and objected that such a | |
keyboard can require three or four hands to operate. See {bucky | |
bits}, {cokebottle}, {double bucky}, {meta bit}, {quadruple | |
bucky}. | |
SPACEWAR: n. A space-combat simulation game (inspired by E. E. | |
"Doc" Smith's `Lensman' books) in which two spaceships duel | |
around a central sun, shooting torpedoes at each other and jumping | |
through hyperspace. This game was first implemented on the PDP-1 at | |
MIT in 1960-61. SPACEWAR aficionados formed the core of the early | |
hacker culture at MIT. Ten years later, a descendant of the game | |
motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare time on a scavenged | |
PDP-7, the operating system that became {UNIX}. Ten years after | |
that, SPACEWAR was commercialized as one of the first video games; | |
descendants are still {feep}ing in video arcades everywhere. | |
spaghetti code: n. Describes code with a complex and tangled | |
control structure, esp. one using many GOTOs, exceptions, or other | |
`unstructured' branching constructs. Pejorative. The synonym | |
`kangaroo code' has been reported. | |
spaghetti inheritance: n. [Encountered among users of object-oriented | |
languages that use inheritance, such as Smalltalk] A convoluted | |
class-subclass graph, often resulting from carelessly deriving | |
subclasses from other classes just for the sake of reusing their | |
code. Coined in a (successful) attempt to discourage such | |
practice, through guilt by association with {spaghetti code}. | |
spam: [from the {MUD} community] vt. To crash a program by overrunning | |
a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. See also | |
{overrun screw}, {smash the stack}. | |
special-case: vt. To write unique code to handle input or command | |
to a program that is somehow distinguished from normal processing. | |
This would be used for processing of mode switches or interrupt | |
characters in an interactive interface (as opposed, say, to text | |
entry or normal commands); or for processing of {hidden flag}s in | |
the input of a batch program or {filter}. | |
spell: n. Syn. {incantation}. | |
spiffy: /spi'fee/ adj. 1. Said of programs having a pretty, clever, | |
or exceptionally well-designed interface. "Have you seen the | |
spiffy X version of {empire} yet?" 2. Said sarcastically of | |
programs which are perceived to have little more than a flashy | |
interface going for them. Which meaning should be drawn depends | |
delicately on tone of voice and context. This word was common | |
mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to #1. | |
spin: vi. Equivalent to {buzz}. More common among C and UNIX | |
programmers. | |
spin-lock: [Cambridge] n. A {busy-wait}. Preferred in Britain. | |
spl: /ess-pee-ell/ [abbrev, from Set Priority Level] The way | |
traditional UNIX kernels implement mutual exclusion by running code | |
at high interrupt levels. Used in slang to describe the act of | |
tuning in or tuning out ordinary communication. Classically, spl | |
levels run from 1 to 7; "Fred's at spl 6 today" would mean he's | |
very hard to interrupt. "Wait till I finish this, I'll spl down | |
then." See also {interrupts locked out}. | |
splat: n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for | |
the ASCII asterisk (`*') character. This may derive from the | |
`squashed-bug' appearance of the asterisk on many early line | |
printers. 2. [MIT] Name used by some people for the ASCII | |
number-sign (`#') character. 3. [Stanford] Name used by some | |
people for the Stanford/ITS extended ASCII circle-x character. | |
(This character is also called `circle-x', `blobby', and | |
`frob', among other names; it is used by mathematicians as a | |
notation for `cross-product') 4. [Stanford] Name for the | |
semi-mythical extended ASCII circle-plus character. 5. Canonical | |
name for an output routine that outputs whatever the local | |
interpretation of splat is. 6. [Rochester Institute of Technology] | |
The command key on a Macintosh. Usage: nobody really agrees what | |
character `splat' is, but the term is common. See also {{ASCII}} | |
spooge: /spooj/ 1. n. Inexplicable or arcane code, or random and | |
probably incorrect output from a computer program. 2. vi. To | |
generate code or output as in definition 1. | |
spool: [from early IBM `Simultaneous Peripheral Operation Off-Line', | |
but this acronym is widely thought to have been contrived for | |
effect] vt. To send files to some device or program (a `spooler') | |
that queues them up and does something useful with them later. The | |
spooler usually understood is the `print spooler' controlling | |
output of jobs to a printer, but the term has been used in | |
connection with other peripherals (especially plotters and graphics | |
devices). | |
stack: n. A person's stack is the set of things he has to do in the | |
future. One speaks of the next project to be attacked as having | |
risen to the top of the stack. "I'm afraid I've got real work to | |
do, so this'll have to be pushed way down on my stack." "I | |
haven't done it yet because every time I pop my stack something new | |
gets pushed." If you are interrupted several times in the middle | |
of a conversation, "my stack overflowed" means "I forget what we | |
were talking about" (the implication is that too many items were | |
pushed onto the stack than could be remembered, and so the least | |
recent items were lost). The usual physical example of a stack is | |
to be found in a cafeteria: a pile of plates sitting on a spring in | |
a well in a cart, so that when you put a plate on the top they all | |
sink down, and when you take one off the top the rest spring up a | |
bit. See also {PUSH} and {POP}. | |
At MIT, all the {stack} usages used to be more commonly found | |
with {pdl}, and this may still be true. Everywhere else | |
{stack} seems to be the preferred term. {Knuth} writes (in | |
`The Art of Computer Programming' 1st edition, vol 1, page 236 | |
in section 2.2.1): | |
Many people who realized the important of stacks and queues | |
independently have given other names to these structures: | |
stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages, | |
cellars, nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out ("LIFO") | |
lists, and even yo-yo lists! | |
stack puke: n. Some micros are said to `puke their guts onto the | |
stack' to save their internal state during exception processing. | |
On a pipelined machine this can take a while (up to 92 bytes for a | |
bus fault on the 68020, for example). | |
stale pointer bug: n. Synonym for {aliasing bug} used esp. among | |
microcomputer hackers. | |
state: 1. n. Condition, situation. "What's the state of your latest | |
hack?" "It's winning away." "The system tried to read and | |
write the disk simultaneously and got into a totally wedged | |
state." A standard question is "What's your state?" which means | |
"What are you doing?" or "What are you about to do?" Typical | |
answers might be "I'm about to gronk out", or "I'm hungry". | |
Another standard question is "What's the state of the world?" | |
meaning "What's new?" or "What's going on?". The more terse and | |
humorous way of asking these conventions would be "State-p?". 2. | |
Information being maintained in non-permanent memory (electronic or | |
human). | |
stiffy: [Lowell University] n. 3.5" {microfloppies}, so called | |
because their jackets are more firm than the 5.25" and 8" floppy. | |
stir-fried random: alt. `stir-fried mumble' n. Term used for frequent | |
best dish of those hackers who can cook. Consists of random fresh | |
veggies and meat wokked with random spices. Tasty and economical. | |
See {random}, {great-wall}, {ravs}, {{Oriental Food}}; see also | |
{mumble}. | |
stomp on: vt. To inadvertently overwrite something important, usually | |
automatically. Example: "All the work I did this weekend got | |
stomped on last night by the nightly server script." Compare | |
{scribble}, {mangle}, {trash}, {scrog}, {roach}. | |
Stone Age: n.,adj. 1. In computer folklore, an ill-defined period | |
from ENIAC (c.1943) to the mid-1950s; the great age of | |
electromechanical {dinosaur}s. Sometimes used for the entire | |
period up to 1960-61 (see {Iron Age}); however, it is funnier and | |
more descriptive to characterize the latter half in terms of a | |
`Bronze Age' era of all-transistor, pre-ferrite-core machines | |
with drum or CRT mass storage (as opposed to just mercury delay | |
lines and/or relays). See also {Iron Age}. 2. More generally, a | |
pejorative for any crufty, ancient piece of hardware or software | |
technology. Note that this is used even by people who were there | |
for the {Stone Age} (sense #1). | |
stoppage: /sto'p@j/ n. Extreme {lossage} resulting in something | |
(usually vital) becoming completely unusable. "The recent system | |
stoppage was caused by a {fried} transformer." | |
stubroutine: /stuhb'roo-teen/ [contr. of `stub routine'] n. Tiny, | |
often vacuous placeholder for a subroutine to be written or fleshed | |
out later. | |
studlycaps: /stuhd'lee-kaps/ n. A hackish form of silliness similar | |
to {BiCapitalization}, but applied to random text rather than | |
trademarks. ThE oRigiN and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS | |
oBscuRe. | |
stunning: adj. Mind-bogglingly stupid. Usually used in sarcasm. | |
"You want to code *what* in ADA? That's...a stunning idea!" | |
See also {non-optimal solution}. | |
subshell: [UNIX, MS-DOS] n. An OS command interpreter (see {shell}) | |
spawned from within a program, such that exit from the command | |
interpreter returns one to the parent program in a state that | |
allows it to continue execution. Oppose {chain}. | |
sucking mud: [Applied Digital Research] adj. (also `pumping | |
mud') Crashed or wedged. Usually said of a machine that provides | |
some service to a network, such as a file server. This Dallas | |
regionalism derives from the East Texas oil field lament, "Shut | |
'er down, Ma, she's a-suckin' mud." Often used as a query. "We | |
are going to reconfigure the network, are you ready to suck mud?" | |
suit: n. 1. Ugly and uncomfortable `business clothing' often worn | |
by non-hackers. Invariably worn with a `tie', a strangulation | |
device which partially cuts off the blood supply to the brain. It | |
is thought that this explains much about the behavior of | |
suit-wearers. 2. A person who habitually wears suits, as distinct | |
from a techie or hacker. See {loser}, {burble} and | |
{brain-damaged}. English, BTW, is relatively kind; our Soviet | |
correspondent informs us that the corresponding idiom in Russian | |
hacker jargon is `sovok', lit. a tool for grabbing garbage. | |
suitable win: n. See {win}. | |
sun-stools: n. Unflattering hackerism for SunTools, a pre-X windowing | |
environment notorious in its day for size, slowness, and misfeatures | |
({X}, however, is larger and slower; see {second-system effect}). | |
sunspots: n. Notional cause of an odd error. "Why did the program | |
suddenly turn the screen blue?" "Sunspots, I guess". Also the | |
cause of {bit rot}, from the genuine, honest-to-god fact that | |
sunspots will increase cosmic radiation which can flip single bits | |
in memory. Needless to say, although real sunspot errors happen, | |
they are extremely rare. See {cosmic rays}, {phase of the | |
moon}. | |
superprogrammer: n. A prolific programmer; one who can code | |
exceedingly well and quickly. Not all hackers are | |
superprogrammers, but many are. (Productivity can vary from one | |
programmer to another by factors of as much as 1000. For example, | |
programmer A might be able to write an average of 3 lines of | |
working code in one day, while another, with the proper tools and | |
skill, might be able to write 3,000 lines of working code in one | |
day. This variance is astonishing, appearing in very few other | |
areas of human endeavor.) The term superprogrammer is more | |
commonly used within such places as IBM than in the hacker | |
community. It tends to stress productivity rather than creativity | |
or ingenuity. Hackers tend to prefer the terms {hacker} and | |
{wizard}. | |
support: n. After-sale handholding; something many software vendors | |
promise, but few deliver. To hackers, most support people are | |
useless --- because by the time a hacker calls support he/she will | |
usually know the relevant manuals better than the support people | |
(sadly, this is *not* a joke or exaggeration). A hacker's | |
idea of `support' is a one-on-one with the software's designer. | |
Suzie COBOL: /soo'zee koh'bol/ 1. [IBM, prob. from Frank Zappa's | |
"Suzy Creamcheese"] n. A coder straight out of training | |
school who knows everything except the benefits of comments in | |
plain English. Also (fashionable among personkind wishing to avoid | |
accusations of sexism) `Sammy Cobol' or (in some non-IBM circles) | |
`Cobol Charlie'. 2. [proposed] Meta-name for any {code grinder}, | |
analogous to {J. Random Hacker}. | |
swab: /swob/ [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 `byte swap' | |
instruction, as immortalized in the dd(1) option `conv=swab' | |
(see {dd})] 1. vt. to solve the {NUXI problem} by swapping | |
bytes in a file. 2. The program in V7 UNIX used to perform this | |
action, or anything functionally equivalent to it. See also | |
{big-endian}, {little-endian}, {bytesexual}. | |
swap: [from mainstream verb meaning to exchange; to trade places] | |
vt. To move information from a fast-access memory to a slow-access | |
memory (`swap out'), or vice versa (`swap in'). This is a | |
technical term in computer science, and often specifically refers | |
to the use of disks as `virtual memory'. As pieces of data or | |
program are needed, they are swapped into main memory for | |
processing; when they are no longer needed for the nonce they are | |
swapped out again. The slang use of these terms is as a fairly | |
exact analogy referring to people's memories. Cramming for an exam | |
might be spoken of as swapping in. If you temporarily forget | |
someone's name, but then remember it, your excuse is that it was | |
swapped out. To "keep something swapped in" means to keep it | |
fresh in your memory: "I reread the TECO manual every few months | |
to keep it swapped in." If someone interrupts you just got a good | |
idea, you might say, "Wait a moment while I write this down so I | |
can swap it out", implying that if you don't write it down it will | |
get swapped out (forgotten) as you talk. Compare {page in}, | |
{page out}. | |
swap space: n. Storage space, especially temporary storage space | |
used during a move or reconfiguration. "I'm just using that corner | |
of the machine room for swap space". | |
swapped: adj. From the older (per-task) method of using secondary | |
storage devices to implement support for multitasking. Something | |
which is `swapped in' is available for immediate use in main | |
memory, and otherwise is `swapped out'. Often used metaphorically | |
to refer to people's memories ("I read the Scheme Report every few | |
months to keep the information swapped in.") or to their own | |
availability ("I'll swap you in as soon as I finish looking at | |
this other problem."). Compare {page in}, {page out}. | |
swizzle: v. To convert external names or references within a data | |
structure into direct pointers when the data structure is brought | |
into main memory from external storage; also called `pointer | |
swizzling'; the converse operation is sometimes termed | |
`unswizzling'. | |
sync: /sink/ [UNIX] n.,vi. 1. To force all pending I/O to the disk. | |
2. More generally, to force a number of competing processes or | |
agents to a state that would be `safe' if the system were to crash; | |
thus, to checkpoint. See {flush}. | |
syntactic sugar: [coined by Peter Landin] n. Features added to a | |
language or formalism to make it `sweeter' for humans, that do not | |
affect the expressiveness of the formalism (compare {chrome}). | |
Used esp. when there is an obvious and trivial translation of the | |
`sugar' feature into other constructs already present in the | |
notation. Example: C's `a[i]' notation is syntactic sugar for | |
`*(a + i)'. "Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the | |
semicolon." --- Alan Perlis. | |
sys-frog: /sis'frog/ [the PLATO system] n. Playful hackish variant | |
of `sysprog' which is in turn short for `systems-programmer'. | |
sysop: /sis'op/ n. [BBS] The operator (and usually owner) of a | |
bulletin-board system. A common neophyte mistake on {FidoNet} is | |
to address a message to `sysop' in an international {echo}, thus | |
sending it to hundreds of sysops world-wide. | |
system: n. 1. The supervisor program or OS on a computer. 2. The | |
entire computer system, including input/output devices, the | |
supervisor program or OS, and possibly other software. 3. Any | |
large-scale program. 4. Any method or algorithm. 5. The way | |
things are usually done. Usage: a fairly ambiguous word. "You | |
can't beat the system." 6. `System hacker': one who hacks the | |
system (in sense #1 only; for sense #3 one mentions the particular | |
program: e.g., `LISP hacker') | |
system mangler: n. Humorous synonym for `system programmer'; | |
compare {sys-frog}. Refers specifically to a systems programmer | |
in charge of administration, software maintainance, and updates at | |
some site. Unlike {admin}, this term emphasizes the technical | |
end of the skills involved. | |
= T = | |
===== | |
T: /tee/ 1. [from LISP terminology for `true'] Yes. Usage: used in | |
reply to a question, particularly one asked using the `-P' | |
convention). See {NIL}. In LISP, the name T means "true", among | |
other things. Some hackers use `T' and `NIL' instead of | |
`Yes' and `No' almost reflexively. This sometimes causes | |
misunderstandings. When a waiter or flight attendant asks whether | |
a hacker wants coffee, he may well respond "T", meaning that he | |
wants coffee; but of course he will be brought a cup of tea | |
instead. As it happens, most hackers like tea at least as well as | |
coffee, particularly those who frequent Chinese restaurants, so | |
it's not that big a problem. 2. See {time t}. 3. In | |
transaction-processing circles, an abbreviation for the noun | |
`transaction'. 4. [Purdue] Alternate spelling of {tee}. | |
tail recursion: n. If you haven't already, see {tail recursion}. | |
talk mode: n. The state a terminal is in when linked to another via a | |
bidirectional character pipe, to support on-line dialogue between | |
two or more users. Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, | |
used to save typing, which are not used orally. Some of these are | |
identical to (and probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by | |
ham-radio amateurs going back to the 1920s. | |
BCNU Be seeing you. | |
BTW By the way... Lower-case also works. | |
BYE? Are you ready to unlink? (This is the standard way to | |
end a talk mode conversation; the other person types BYE | |
to confirm, or else continues the conversation.) | |
CUL See you later. | |
ENQ? Are you busy? Expects ACK or NAK in return. | |
FOO? A greeting, also meaning R U THERE? Often used in the | |
case of unexpected links, meaning also "Sorry if I | |
butted in..." (linker) or "What's up?" (linkee). | |
FYI For your information... | |
FYA For your amusement... | |
GA Go ahead (used when two people have tried to type | |
simultaneously; | |
this cedes the right to type to the other). | |
HELLOP A greeting, also meaning R U THERE? (An instance of the | |
"-P" convention.) | |
JAM Just a minute... Equivalent to SEC... | |
NIL No (see {NIL}). | |
O Over to you (lower-case works too). | |
OO Over and out (lower-case works too). | |
/ Another form of "Over to you" (from x/y as "x over y") | |
OBTW Oh, by the way... | |
R U THERE? Are you there? | |
SEC Wait a second (sometimes written SEC...). | |
T Yes (see the main entry for {T}). | |
TNX Thanks. | |
TNX 1.0E6 Thanks a million (humorous). | |
WRT With Regard To or With Respect To. | |
WTF The universal interrogative particle. WTF knows what | |
it means? | |
WTH What the hell? | |
<double CRLF> When the typing party has finished, he types two CRLFs | |
to signal that he is done; this leaves a blank line between | |
individual "speeches" in the conversation, making it easier to | |
re-read the preceding text. | |
<name>: When three or more terminals are linked, each speech is | |
preceded by the typist's login name and a colon (or a hyphen) to | |
indicate who is typing. The login name often is shortened to a | |
unique prefix (possibly a single letter) during a very long | |
conversation. | |
/\/\/\ A giggle or chuckle (rare). On a MUD, this usually means | |
`earthquake fault'. | |
Most of the above sub-jargon is used at both Stanford and MIT. | |
Several of these are also common in {email}, esp. FYI, FYA, BTW, | |
BCNU, and CUL. A few other abbreviations have been reported from | |
commercial networks such as GEnie and CompuServe where on-line | |
`live' chat including more than two people is common and usually | |
involves a more `social' context, notably | |
<g> grin | |
BBL be back later | |
BRB be right back | |
HHOJ ha ha only joking | |
HHOS {ha ha only serious} | |
LOL laughing out loud | |
ROTF rolling on the floor | |
ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing | |
AFK away from keyboard | |
b4 before | |
CU l8tr see you later | |
MORF Male or Female? | |
TTFN ta-ta for now | |
OIC Oh, I see | |
rehi hello again | |
These are not used at universities or in the UNIX world; | |
conversely, most of the people who know these are unfamiliar with | |
FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, {NIL}, and {T}. | |
The {MUD} community uses a mixture of USENET/Internet emoticons, a | |
few of the more natural of the old-style talk mode abbrevs, and | |
some of the `social' list above; specifically, MUD respondents | |
report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF, and WTH. The use of | |
rehi is also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re- compounds and | |
will frequently `rehug' or `rebonk' (see {bonk/oif}) people. The | |
verb `re' by itself is verbed as `re-greet' In general, though, | |
mudders express a preference for typing things out in full rather | |
than using abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of | |
the MUD cultures, which tend to include many touch typists and | |
assume high-speed links. The following uses specific to MUDs are | |
reported: | |
UOK? Are you OK? | |
THX Thanks (mutant of TNX) | |
CU l8er See you later (mutant of CU l8tr) | |
OTT over the top (excessive, uncalled for) | |
Some {BIFF}isms (notably the variant spelling `d00d') appear to be | |
passing into wider use among some subgroups of mudders. See also | |
{hakspek}, {emoticon}, {bonk/oif}. | |
tall card: n. A PC/AT-sized expansion card (these can be larger | |
than IBM-PC or XT cards because the AT case is bigger). See also | |
{short card}. | |
tanked: adj. Same as {down}, used primarily by UNIX hackers. See | |
also {hosed}. Popularized as a synonym for `drunk' by Steve | |
Dallas in the late lamented `Bloom County' comics. | |
tar and feather: [from UNIX `tar(1)'] vt. To create a | |
transportable archive from a group of files by first sticking them | |
together with the Tape ARchiver `tar(1)' and then compressing | |
the result (see {compress}). The latter is dubbed `feathering' by | |
analogy to what you do with an airplane propeller to decrease wind | |
resistance; smaller files, after all, slip through comm links more | |
easily. | |
taste: [primarily MIT-DMS] n. 1. The quality in programs which | |
tends to be inversely proportional to the number of features, | |
hacks, and kluges programmed into it. Also, `tasty', | |
`tasteful', `tastefulness'. "This feature comes in N | |
tasty flavors." Although `tasteful' and `flavorful' are | |
essentially synonyms, `taste' and {flavor} are not. Taste | |
refers to sound judgement on the part of the creator; a program or | |
feature can *exhibit* taste but cannot `have' taste. On | |
the other hand, a feature can have {flavor}. Also, {flavor} | |
has the additional meaning of `kind' or `variety' not shared by | |
`taste'. {flavor} is a more popular word among hackers than | |
`taste', though both are used. 2. Alt. sp. of {tayste}. | |
tayste: n. Also as {taste}; two bits. Syn. {crumb}, {quarter}. | |
Compare {{byte}}, {dynner}, {playte}, {nybble}. | |
TCB: /tee see bee/ [IBM] n. 1. Trouble Came Back. Intermittent or | |
difficult-to reproduce problem which has failed to respond to | |
neglect. Compare {heisenbug}. Not to be confused with: 2. Trusted | |
Computing Base, an `official' jargon term from the {Orange Book}. | |
tea, ISO standard cup of: [South Africa] n. A cup of tea with milk | |
and one teaspoon of sugar, where the milk was poured into the cup | |
before the tea. Variations are ISO 0, with no sugar, ISO 2, with | |
two spoons of sugar, and so on. | |
Note: like many ISO standards, this one has a faintly alien ring in | |
North America, wherein hackers generally shun the decadent British | |
practice of adulterating perfectly good tea with *dairy | |
products* and prefer instead to add a wedge of lemon, if anything. | |
If one were feeling extremely silly, one might hypothecate an | |
analogous `ANSI standard cup of tea' and wind up with a | |
political situation distressingly similar to several that arise in | |
much more serious technical contexts. Milk and lemon don't mix | |
very well. | |
TechRef: [MS-DOS] n. The original `IBM PC Technical Reference | |
Manual' including the BIOS listing and complete schematics for the | |
PC. The only PC documentation in the issue package that's | |
considered serious by real hackers. | |
TECO: /tee'koh/ obs. 1. vt. Originally, to edit using the TECO editor | |
in one of its infinite variations (see below); sometimes still used | |
to mean `to edit' even when not using TECO! Usage: rare and now | |
primarily historical. 2. [originally an acronym for (paper) | |
`Tape Editor and COrrector'; later, `Text Editor and | |
Corrector'] n. A text editor developed at MIT and modified by | |
just about everybody. If all the dialects are included, TECO might | |
have been the single most prolific editor in use before {EMACS}, | |
to which it was directly ancestral. Noted for its powerful | |
programming-language-like features and its incredibly hairy syntax. | |
It is literally the case that every possible sequence of {{ASCII}} | |
characters is a valid, though probably uninteresting, TECO program; | |
one common hacker game used to be mentally working out what the | |
TECO commands corresponding to human names did. As an example, | |
here is a TECO program that takes a list of names like this: | |
Loser, J. Random | |
Quux, The Great | |
Dick, Moby | |
sorts them alphabetically according to last name, and then puts the | |
last name last, removing the comma, to produce this: | |
Moby Dick | |
J. Random Loser | |
The Great Quux | |
The program is: | |
[ 1 J^P$L$$ | |
J <.-Z; .,(S,$ -D .)FX1 @F^B $ K :L I $ G1 L>$$ | |
(where ^B means `Control-B' (ASCII 0000010) and $ is actually an | |
{escape} (ASCII 0011011) character). | |
In fact, this very program was used to produce the second, sorted | |
list from the first list! The first hack at it had a {bug}: gls | |
(the author) had accidentally omitted the `@' in front of | |
`F^B', which as anyone can see is clearly the {Wrong Thing}. It | |
worked fine the second time. There is no space to describe all the | |
features of TECO, but it may be of interest that `^P' means | |
`sort' and `J<.-Z; ... L>' is an idiomatic series of commands | |
for `do once for every line'. | |
In mid-1991, TECO is now pretty much one with the dust of history, | |
having been replaced in the affections of hackerdom by {EMACS}. It | |
can still be found lurking on VMS and a couple of crufty PDP-11 | |
operating systems, however, and remains the focus of some antiquarian | |
interest. See also {write-only language}. | |
tee: n.,vt. [Purdue] A carbon copy of an electronic transmission, | |
"Oh, you're sending him the {bits} to that? Slap on a tee for | |
me." From the UNIX command `tee(1)', itself named after a | |
pipe fitting (see {plumbing}, {pipeline}). Can also mean `save | |
one for me' as in "Tee a slice for me!". Also spelled `T'. | |
Telerat: /tel'@-rat/ n. Unflattering hackerism for `Teleray', a | |
line of extremely losing terminals. See also {terminak}, | |
{sun-stools}, {HP-SUX}. | |
TELNET: /tel'net/ vt. To communicate with another ARPANET host using | |
the {TELNET} program. TOPS-10 people use the word IMPCOM since | |
that is the program name for them. Sometimes abbreviated to TN. | |
"I usually TN over to SAIL just to read the AP News." | |
ten-finger interface: n. The interface between two networks which | |
cannot be directly connected for security reasons; refers to the | |
practice of placing two terminals side by side and having an | |
operator read from one and type into the other. | |
tense: adj. Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of | |
code often got that way because it was highly {bum}med, but | |
sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever | |
display routine by Mike Kazar, a student hacker at CMU: "This | |
routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes. Much thanks | |
to Craig Everhart and James Gosling for inspiring this {hack | |
attack}." A tense programmer is one who produces tense code. | |
tenured graduate student: n. One who has been in graduate school for | |
ten years (the usual maximum is five or six): a `ten-yeared' | |
student (get it?). Students don't really get tenure, of course, | |
the way professors do, but a tenth-year graduate student has | |
probably been around the university longer than any non-tenured | |
professor. | |
tera-: /te'r@/ pref. Multiplier, 10 ^ 12 or 2 ^ 40. See {kilo-}. | |
teraflop club: /ter'a-flop kluhb/ [FLOP = Floating Point Operation] | |
n. Mythical group of people who consume outrageous amounts of | |
computer time in order to produce a few simple pictures of glass | |
balls with intricate ray tracing techniques. Cal Tech professor | |
James Kajiya is said to have been the founding member. See also | |
{kilo-}. | |
terminak: /ter'mi-nak`/ [Caltech, ca. 1979] n. Any malfunctioning | |
computer terminal. A common failure mode of Lear-Siegler ADM3a | |
terminals caused the `L' key to produce the `K' code instead; | |
complaints about this tended to look like "Terminak #3 has a bad | |
keyboard. Pkease fix." See {sun-stools}, {Telerat}, {HP-SUX}. | |
terminal brain death: n. Extreme form of {terminal illness} (sense | |
#1). | |
terminal illness: n. 1. Syn. {raster burn}. 2. The `burn-in' | |
condition your CRT tends to get if you don't have a screen saver. | |
terminal junkie: [Great Britain] n. A {wannabee} or early {larval | |
stage} hacker who spends most of his/her time wandering the | |
directory tree and writing {noddy} programs just to get his/her | |
fix of computer time. Variants include `terminal jockey', | |
`console junkie', or {console jockey}. The term `console | |
jockey' seems to imply more expertise than the other three. See | |
also {twink}, {read-only user}. | |
terpri: /ter'pree/ [from the LISP 1.5 (and later, MACLISP)] vi. To | |
output a {CRLF}. Now rare as slang, though still used as jargon | |
in Common Lisp. It is a contraction of `TERminate PRInt line'. | |
test: v. 1. To allow real users to bash on a prototype for long | |
enough to get thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful | |
monitoring and followup of the results. 2. Some bored | |
random trying a couple of the simpler features with a developer | |
looking over his/her shoulder ready to pounce on mistakes. Judging | |
by the quality of most software, the second definition is far more | |
prevalent. See also {demo}. | |
TeX: /tekh/ n. An extremely powerful {macro}-based text-formatter | |
written by Donald E. Knuth, very popular in the computer-science | |
community (it is good enough to have displaced UNIX | |
`troff(1)', the other favored formatter, even at many UNIX | |
installations). TeX fans insist on the correct (guttural) | |
pronunciation and spelling (all caps, with the E depressed below | |
the baseline) of the name (the mixed-case `TeX{}' is considered an | |
acceptable kluge on ASCII-only devices). They like to proliferate | |
names from the word `TeX' --- such as TeXnician (TeX user), | |
TeXhacker (TeX programmer), TeXmaster (competent TeX programmer), | |
TeXhax, TeXnique, TeXpert. | |
text: n. 1. Executable code, esp. a `pure code' portion shared | |
between multiple instances of a program running in a multitasking | |
OS (compare {English}). 2. Textual material in the mainstream | |
sense; data which are in ordinary ASCII or EBCDIC representation. | |
"Those are text files, you can review them using the editor". | |
These two contradictory senses confuse hackers, too. | |
thanks in advance: [USENET] Conventional net.politeness ending a | |
posted request for information or assistance. Sometimes written | |
`advTHANKSance' or `aTdHvAaNnKcSe' or abbreviated `TIA'. See | |
{net.-}, {netiquette}. | |
theology: n. 1. Ironically used to refer to {religious issues}. 2. | |
Technical fine points of an abstruse nature, esp. those where the | |
resolution is of theoretical interest but relatively {marginal} | |
with respect to actual use of a design or system. Used esp. around | |
software issues with a heavy AI or language design component. | |
Example: the deep- vs. shallow-binding debate in the design of | |
dynamically scoped LISPs. | |
theory: n. Used in the general sense of idea, plan, story, or set of | |
rules. This is a generalization and abuse of the technical | |
meaning. "What's the theory on fixing this TECO loss?" "What's | |
the theory on dinner tonight?" ("Chinatown, I guess.") | |
"What's the current theory on letting lusers on during the day?" | |
"The theory behind this change is to fix the following well-known | |
screw...." | |
thinko: /thing'koh/ [by analogy with `typo'] n. A bubble in the | |
stream of consciousness; a momentary, correctable glitch in mental | |
processing, especially one involving recall of information learned | |
by rote. Syn. {braino}. Compare {mouso}. | |
This time, for sure!: Ritual affirmation frequently uttered during | |
protracted debugging sessions involving numerous small obstacles | |
(as, in for example, attempts to bring up a UUCP connection). For | |
the proper effect, this must be uttered in a fruity imitation of | |
Bullwinkle the Moose. Also heard: "Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a | |
rabbit out of my hat!". The canonical response is, of course, | |
"But that trick *never* works!". See {{Humor, Hacker}}. | |
thrash: vi. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing | |
anything useful. Paging or swapping systems which are overloaded | |
waste most of their time moving data into and out of core (rather | |
than performing useful computation), and are therefore said to | |
thrash. Someone who keeps changing his mind (esp. about what to | |
work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person frantically trying | |
to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending enough time on | |
any of them) may also be described as thrashing. Compare | |
{multitask}. | |
thread: /thred/ n. [USENET, GEnie] Common abbreviation of `topic | |
thread', a more or less continuous chain of postings on a single | |
topic. | |
three-finger salute: n. Syn. {vulcan nerve pinch}. | |
thunk: /thuhnk/ [mythically, the sound made by data when pushed | |
onto the stack] n. 1. " ... a piece of coding which provides | |
an address." --- P.Z. Ingerman, who invented {thunk}s in 1961 as | |
a way of binding actual parameters to their formal definitions in | |
Algol-60 procedure calls. If a procedure is called with an | |
expression in the place of a formal parameter, the compiler | |
generates a {thunk} to compute the expression and leave the | |
address of the result in some standard location such as an index | |
register. 2. Later generalized into an expression, frozen together | |
with its environment for later evaluation if and when needed. The | |
process of unfreezing these {thunk}s is called `forcing'. 3. A | |
{stubroutine}, in an overlay programming environment, which loads | |
and jumps to the correct overlay. 4. People and activities | |
scheduled in a thunklike manner. "It occurred to me the other day | |
that I am rather accurately modelled by a thunk --- I frequently | |
need to be forced to completion." --- paraphrased from a .plan | |
file. | |
tick: n. 1. A {jiffy} (sense #1). 2. In simulations, the | |
discrete unit of time that passes `between' iterations of the | |
simulation mechanism. In AI applications, this amount of time is | |
often left unspecified, since the only constraint of interest is | |
that caused things happen after their causes. This sort of AI | |
simulation is often pejoratively referred to as | |
`tick-tick-tick' simulation, especially when the issue of | |
simultaneity of events with long, independent chains of causes is | |
{handwave}d. | |
tick-list features: [Acorn Computers] n. Features in software or | |
hardware that customers insist on but never use (calculators in | |
desktop TSRs and that sort of thing). | |
tickle a bug: vt. To cause a normally hidden bug to manifest | |
through some known series of inputs or operations. "You can | |
tickle the bug in the Paradise's highlight handling by trying to | |
set bright yellow reverse video". | |
time sink: [poss. by analogy with `heat sink'] n. A project which | |
consumes unbounded amounts of time. | |
time T: /tiem tee/ n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood | |
time, often used in conjunction with a later time T+1. "We'll | |
meet on campus at time T or at Louie's at time T+1." means, in the | |
context of going out for dinner, "If we meet at Louie's directly, | |
we can meet there a little later than if we meet on campus and then | |
have to travel to Louie's." (Louie's is a Chinese restaurant in | |
Palo Alto that is a favorite with hackers. Had the number 30 been | |
used instead of `one', it would have implied that the travel time | |
from campus to Louie's is thirty minutes; whatever time T is (and | |
that hasn't been decided on yet), you can meet half an hour later | |
at Louie's than you could on campus and end up eating at the same | |
time. See also {since time T equals minus infinity}. | |
tinycrud: /tie'nee-kruhd/ n. Pejorative used by habitues of older | |
game-oriented {MUD} versions for TinyMuds and other | |
user-extensible {MUD} variants; esp. common among users of the | |
rather violent and competitive AberMUD and MIST systems. These | |
people justify the slur on the basis of how (allegedly) | |
inconsistent and lacking in genuine feel or atmosphere the | |
scenarios generated in user extensible muds can be. Other common | |
knocks on them are that they feature little overall plot, bad game | |
topology, little competitive interaction, etc. --- not to mention | |
the alleged horrors of the TinyMud code itself. This dispute is on | |
of the MUD world's hardiest perennial {holy wars}. | |
tip of the ice-cube: [IBM] n. The visible part of something small and | |
insignificant. Used as an ironic comment in situations where `tip | |
of the iceberg' might be appropriate if the subject were actually | |
nontrivial. | |
tired iron: [IBM] n. Hardware that is perfectly functional but enough | |
behind the state of the art to have been superseded by new | |
products, presumably with enough improvement in bang-per-buck that | |
the old stuff is starting to look a bit like a {dinosaur}. | |
tits on a keyboard: n. Small bumps on certain keycaps to keep | |
touch-typists registered (usually on the `5' of a numeric keypad, | |
and on `F' and `J' of a QWERTY keyboard). | |
TLA: /tee el ay/ [Three-Letter Acronym] n. 1. Self-describing | |
acronym for a species with which computing terminology is infested. | |
2. Any confusing acronym at all. Examples include MCA, FTP, SNA, | |
CPU, MMU, SCCS, DMU, FPU, TLA, NNTP. People who like this looser | |
usage argue that not all TLAs have three letters, just as not all | |
four-letter words have four letters. One also hears of `ETLA' | |
(Extended Three Letter Acronym, pronounced /ee tee el ay/ ) being | |
used to describe four-letter acronyms. The term `SFLA' (Stupid | |
Four-Letter Acronym) has also been reported. | |
toast: 1. n. Any completely inoperable system, esp. one that has | |
just crashed; "Uh oh...I think the serial board is toast." | |
2. vt. To cause a system to crash accidentally, especially in a | |
manner that requires manual rebooting. "Rick just toasted the | |
{firewall machine} again." | |
toaster: n. 1. The archetypal really stupid application for an | |
embedded microprocessor controller; often used in comments which | |
imply that a scheme is inappropriate technology (but see | |
{elevator controller}). "{DWIM} for an assembler? That'd be | |
as silly as running UNIX on your toaster!" 2. A very, very dumb | |
computer. "You could run this program on any dumb toaster." See | |
{bitty box}, {Get a real computer!}, {toy}. 3. A peripheral | |
device. "I bought my box without toasters, but since then I've | |
added two boards and a second disk drive." | |
toeprint: n. A {footprint} of especially small size. | |
toggle: vt. To change a {bit} from whatever state it is in to the | |
other state; to change from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1. This probably | |
comes from `toggle switches', such as standard light switches, | |
though the word `toggle' actually refers to the mechanism that | |
keeps the switch in the position to which it is flipped, rather | |
than to the fact that the switch has two positions. There are four | |
things you can do to a bit: set it (force it to be 1), clear (or | |
zero) it, leave it alone, or toggle it. (Mathematically, one would | |
say that there are four distinct boolean-valued functions of one | |
boolean argument, but saying that is much less fun than talking | |
about toggling bits.) | |
tool: 1. n. A program primarily used to create other programs, such | |
as a compiler or editor or cross-referencing program. Oppose | |
{app}, {operating system}. 2. [UNIX] An application program | |
with a simple, `transparent' (typically text-stream) interface | |
designed specifically to be used in programmed combination with | |
other tools (see {filter}). 3. [MIT] vi. To work; to study. See | |
{hack}. 4. [MIT] n. A student who studies too much and hacks too | |
little. | |
toolsmith: n. The software equivalent of a tool-and-die specialist; | |
one who specializes in making the tools with which other | |
programmers create applications. | |
TOPS-10: /tops-ten/ n. DEC's proprietary OS for the fabled {PDP-10} | |
machines, long a favorite of hackers but now effectively extinct. | |
A fountain of hacker folklore; see Appendix A. See also {ITS}, | |
{TOPS-20}, {TWENEX}, {VMS}, {operating system}. TOPS-10 was | |
sometimes called BOTS-10 (from `bottoms-ten') as a comment on the | |
inappropriateness of describing it as the top of anything. | |
TOPS-20: /tops-twen'tee/ n. See {TWENEX}. | |
toto: n. This is reported to be the default scratch file name among | |
French-speaking programmers; in other words, a Francophone {foo}. | |
tourist: [from MIT's ITS system] n. A guest on the system, especially | |
one who generally logs in over a network from a remote location for | |
games and other trivial purposes. One step below {luser}. Note; | |
hackers often spell this `turist', perhaps by some sort of tenuous | |
analogy with `luser'. Compare {twink}, {read-only user} | |
tourist information: n. Information in an on-line report that is | |
not really relevant to its primary purpose, but contributes to a | |
viewer's gestalt of what's going on with the software or hardware | |
behind it. Whether a given piece of info falls in this category or | |
not partly depends on what the user is looking for at any given | |
time. The `bytes free' information at the bottom of an MS-DOS | |
`dir' display is tourist information; so is the TIME | |
information in a UNIX `ps(1)' display, most of the time. | |
touristic: adj. Having the quality of a {tourist}. Often used as | |
a pejorative, as in "losing touristic scum". Often spelled | |
`turistic'. | |
toy: n. A computer system; always used with qualifiers. 1. `nice | |
toy': One which supports the speaker's hacking style adequately. | |
2. `just a toy': A machine that yields insufficient {computron}s | |
for the speaker's preferred uses. This is not condemnatory as is | |
{bitty box}; toys can at least be fun. See also {Get a real | |
computer!}. | |
toy language: n. A language useful for instructional purposes or as | |
a proof-of-concept for some aspect of computer science theory, but | |
which is inadequate for general-purpose programming. Bad Things | |
can result when a toy language is promoted as a general purpose | |
solution for programming (see {bondage-and-discipline language}); | |
the classic example is {{Pascal}}. Several moderately well-known | |
formalisms for conceptual tasks like programming Turing machines | |
also qualify as toy languages in a less negative sense. | |
toy problem: [AI] n. A deliberately simplified or even oversimplified | |
case of a challenging problem used to investigate, prototype, or | |
test algorithms for the real problem. Sometimes used pejoratively. | |
See also {gedanken}. | |
toy program: n. 1. One which can be readily comprehended. | |
trap: 1. n. A program interrupt, usually used specifically to refer | |
to an interrupt caused by some illegal action taking place in the | |
user program. In most cases, the system monitor performs some | |
action related to the nature of the illegality, then returns | |
control to the program. 2. vi. To cause a trap. "These | |
instructions trap to the monitor." Also used transitively to | |
indicate the cause of the trap. "The monitor traps all | |
input/output instructions." | |
This term is associated with assembler programming (`interrupt' | |
is more common among {HLL} programmers) and appears to be fading | |
into history among programmers as the role of assembler continues | |
to shrink. However, it is still important to computer architects, | |
who use it to distinguish deterministically repeatable exceptions | |
from timing-dependent ones (such as I/O interrupts). | |
trap door: alt. `trapdoor' n. Syn. {back door}. | |
trash: vt. To destroy the contents of (said of a data structure). The | |
most common of the family of near-synonyms including {mung}, | |
{mangle}, and {scribble}. | |
tree-killer: [Sun] n. 1. A printer. 2. A person who wastes paper. | |
This should be interpreted in a broad sense; `wasting paper' | |
includes the production of {spiffy} but {content-free} documents. | |
Thus, most {suits} are tree-killers. | |
trit: [by analogy with `bit'] n. One base-3 digit; the amount of | |
information conveyed by a choice of one of three equally likely | |
outcomes (see also {bit}). These arise, for example, in the | |
context of a {flag} that should actually be able to assume | |
*three* values --- yes, no, or unknown. Trits are sometimes | |
jokingly called "three-state bits". A trit may be semi-seriously | |
referred to as "a bit and a half" (though it is properly | |
equivalent to 1.58 bits). | |
trivial: adj. 1. In explanation, too simple to bother detailing. 2. | |
Not worth the speaker's time. 3. Complex, but solvable by methods | |
so well-known that anyone not utterly {cretinous} would have | |
thought of them already. Hackers' notions of triviality may be | |
quite at variance with those of non-hackers. See {nontrivial}, | |
{uninteresting}. | |
troglodyte: [Commodore] n. 1. A hacker who never leaves his cubicle. | |
The term `Gnoll' (from D&D) is also reported. 2. A curmudgeon | |
attached to an obsolescent computing environment. The combination | |
`ITS troglodyte' got flung around some during the USENET and | |
email wringle-wrangle attending the 2.x.x revision of the Jargon | |
File; at least one of the people it was intended to describe | |
adopted it with pride. | |
troglodyte mode: [Rice University] n. Programming with the lights | |
turned off, sunglasses on, and the (character) terminal inverted | |
(black on white) because you've been up for so many days straight | |
that your eyes hurt. Loud music blaring from a stereo stacked in | |
the corner is optional but recommended. See {larval stage}, | |
{mode}. | |
Trojan horse: [coined by MIT-hacker-turned-spook Dan Edwards] n. A | |
program designed to break security or damage a system that is | |
disguised as something else benign, such as a directory lister, | |
archiver, or game. See {virus}, {worm}. | |
true-hacker: [analogy with `trufan' from SF fandom] n. One who | |
exemplifies the primary values of hacker culture, esp. competence | |
and helpfulness to other hackers. A high compliment. "He spent | |
six hours helping me bring up UUCP and netnews on my FOOBAR 4000 | |
last week --- unequivocally the act of a true-hacker." Compare | |
{demigod}, oppose {munchkin}. | |
tty: /tee-tee-wie/ [UNIX], /ti'tee/ [ITS, but some UNIX people say | |
it this way as well; this pronunciation is not considered to have | |
sexual undertones] n. 1. Terminal of the teletype variety, | |
characterized by a noisy mechanical printer, a very limited | |
character set, and poor print quality. Usage: antiquated (like the | |
TTYs themselves). See also {bit-paired keyboard}. 2. | |
[especially UNIX] Any terminal at all; sometimes used to refer to | |
the particular terminal controlling a given job. | |
tube: 1. n. A CRT terminal. Never used in the mainstream sense of | |
TV; real hackers don't watch TV, except for Loony Toons and Rocky & | |
Bullwinkle and Star Trek and the occasional cheesy old swashbuckle | |
movie (see appendix B). 2. [IBM] To send a copy of something to | |
someone else's terminal. "Tube me that note?" | |
tube time: n. Time spent at a terminal or console; more inclusive | |
than hacking time. Commonly used in discussions of what parts of | |
one's environment one uses most heavily. "I find I'm spending too | |
much of my tube time reading mail since I started this revision." | |
tunafish: n. In hackish lore, refers to the mutated punchline of an | |
age-old joke to be found at the bottom of the man pages of | |
`tunefs(8)' in the original {BSD} 4.2 distribution. The joke | |
was removed in later releases once commercial sites started | |
developing 4.2. Tunefs relates to the `tuning' of file-system | |
parameters for optimum performance, and at the bottom of a few | |
pages of {black art} writings was a BUGS section consisting of the | |
line "You can tune a filing system, but you can't tunafish." | |
tune: [from automotive or musical usage] vt. To optimize a program | |
or system for a particular environment, esp. by adjusting numerical | |
parameters designed as {hook}s for tuning, e.g. by changing | |
#define lines in C. One may `tune for time' (fastest | |
execution), `tune for space' (least memory utilization), or | |
`tune for configuration' (most efficient use of hardware). See | |
{bum}, {hot spot}, {hand-hacking}. | |
turbo nerd: n. See {computer geek}. | |
turist: n. Var. sp. of {tourist}, q.v. Also in adjectival form, | |
`turistic'. Poss. influenced by `Turing'? | |
tweak: vt. 1. To change slightly, usually in reference to a value. | |
Also used synonymously with {twiddle}. If a program is almost | |
correct, rather than figuring out the precise problem, you might | |
just keep tweaking it until it works. See {frobnicate} and {fudge | |
factor}. 2. To {tune} or {bum} a program. This is preferred usage | |
in England. | |
TWENEX: /twe'neks/ n. The TOPS-20 operating system by DEC. TOPS-10 | |
was a typically crufty DEC operating system for the PDP-10, so | |
TOPS-20 was the obvious name choice for the DEC-20 OS. Bolt, | |
Beranek, and Newman (BBN) had developed its own system, called | |
*TENEX* (TEN EXecutive), and in creating TOPS-20 DEC copied TENEX | |
and adapted it for the 20. The term TWENEX was therefore a | |
contraction of `twenty TENEX'. DEC people cringed when they | |
heard TOPS-20 referred to as `TWENEX', but the term caught on | |
nevertheless. The written abbreviation `20x' was also used. | |
TWENEX was successful and very popular; in fact, there was a period | |
in the 1980s when it commanded almost as fervent a culture of | |
partisans as UNIX or ITS --- but DEC's decision to scrap all the | |
internal rivals to the VAX architecture and the relatively stodgy | |
VMS OS killed the DEC-20 and put a sad end to TWENEX's brief day in | |
the sun. | |
twiddle: n. 1. Tilde (ASCII 1111110, `~'). Also called | |
`squiggle', `sqiggle' (sic---pronounced /skig'l/), and | |
`twaddle', but twiddle is the most common term. 2. A small and | |
insignificant change to a program. Usually fixes one bug and | |
generates several new ones. 3. vt. To change something in a small | |
way. Bits, for example, are often twiddled. Twiddling a switch or | |
knob implies much less sense of purpose than toggling or tweaking | |
it; see {frobnicate}. To speak of twiddling a bit connotes | |
aimlessness, and at best doesn't specify what you're doing to the | |
bit; by contrast, toggling a bit has a more specific meaning (see | |
{toggle}). | |
twink: /twink/ [UCSC] n. Equivalent to {read-only user}. | |
two pi: quant. The number of years it takes to finish one's thesis. | |
Occurs in stories in the form: "He started on his thesis; two pi | |
years later...". | |
two-to-the-n: q. Used like N, but referring to bigger numbers. "I | |
have two-to-the-N things to do before I can go out for lunch" | |
means you probably won't show up. | |
twonkie: n. The software equivalent of a Twinkie; a useless | |
`feature' added to look sexy and placate a {marketroid}. | |
= U = | |
===== | |
UBD: /yoo-bee-dee/ [abbreviation for `User Brain Damage'] An | |
abbreviation used to close out trouble reports obviously due to | |
utter cluelessness on the user's part. Compare {PBD}; see also | |
{brain-damaged}. | |
UN*X: n. Used to refer to the UNIX operating system (a trademark of | |
AT&T) in writing, but avoiding the need for the ugly (tm) | |
typography. Also used to refer to any or all varieties of Unixoid | |
operating systems. Ironically, lawyers now say (1990) that the | |
requirement for superscript-tm has no legal force, but the asterisk | |
usage is entrenched anyhow. It has been suggested that there may | |
be a psychological connection to practice in certain religions | |
where the name of the deity is never written out in full, e.g. JHWH | |
or G-d is used. See also {glob}. | |
undefined external reference: excl. [UNIX] Message from UNIX's | |
linker. Used to indicate loose ends in an argument or discussion. | |
under the hood: prep. [hot-rodder talk] 1. Used to introduce the | |
underlying implementation of a product (hardware, software, or | |
idea). Implies that the implementation is not intuitively obvious | |
from the appearance, but the speaker is about enable the listener | |
to {zen} it. "Let's now look under the hood to see how | |
...." 2. Can also imply that the implementation is much | |
simpler than the appearance would indicate, as in "Under the hood, | |
we are just fork/execling the shell." 3. Inside a chassis, as in | |
"Under the hood, this baby has a 40MHz 68030!" | |
undocumented feature: n. See {feature}. | |
uninteresting: adj. 1. Said of a problem which, while | |
{nontrivial}, can be solved simply by throwing sufficient | |
resources at it. 2. Also said of problems for which a solution | |
would neither advance the state of the art nor be fun to design and | |
code. Hackers regard uninteresting problems as an intolerable | |
waste of time, to be solved (if at all) by lesser mortals. | |
*True* hackers (see {toolsmith}) generalize uninteresting | |
problems enough to make them interesting, and solve them --- thus | |
solving the original problem as a special case and, incidentally, | |
creating massive (but usually temporary) technological unemployment | |
among lesser mortals. See {WOMBAT}, {SMOP}; oppose | |
{interesting}. | |
UNIX: /yoo'niks/ [In the authors' words, "A weak pun on Multics"] | |
n. (also `Unix') A popular interactive time-sharing system | |
originally invented in 1969 by Ken Thompson after Bell Labs left | |
the Multics project, mostly so he could play {SPACEWAR} on a | |
scavenged PDP-7. Dennis Ritchie, the inventor of C, is considered a | |
co-author of the system. The turning point in UNIX's history came | |
when it was reimplemented almost entirely in C in 1974, making it | |
the first source-portable operating system. Fifteen years and a | |
lot of changes later, UNIX is the most widely used multiuser | |
general-purpose operating system in the world. Many people | |
consider this the single most important victory yet of hackerdom | |
over industry opposition (but see {UNIX weenie} for an opposing | |
point of view). See {Version 7}, {BSD}, {USG}. | |
UNIX conspiracy: [ITS] n. According to a conspiracy theory long | |
popular among {ITS} and {TOPS-20} fans, UNIX's growth is the | |
result of a plot hatched during the 1970s at Bell Labs, whose | |
intent was to hobble AT&T's competitors by making them dependent | |
upon a system whose future evolution was to be under AT&T control. | |
This would be accomplished by disseminating an operating system | |
that is seemingly inexpensive and easily portable, but relatively | |
unreliable and insecure. This theory was lent a substantial | |
impetus in 1984 by the paper referenced in the {back door} entry. | |
In this view, UNIX was designed to be one of the first computer | |
viruses (see {virus}), but a virus spread to computers indirectly | |
by people and market forces, rather than directly through disks and | |
networks. Adherents of this `UNIX virus' theory like to cite the | |
fact that the well-known quotation "UNIX is snake oil" was | |
uttered by DEC president Kenneth Olsen shortly before DEC began | |
actively promoting its own family of UNIX workstations (Olsen now | |
claims to have been misquoted). | |
UNIX weenie: [ITS] n. 1. A derogatory pun on `UNIX wizard', common | |
among hackers who use UNIX by necessity but would prefer | |
alternatives. The implication is that while the person in | |
question may consider mastery of UNIX arcana to be a wizardly | |
skill, the only real skill involved is the ability to tolerate (and | |
the bad taste to wallow in) the incoherence and needless complexity | |
that are alleged to infest many UNIX programs. "This shell script | |
tries to parse its arguments in 69 bletcherous ways. It must have | |
been written by a real UNIX weenie." 2. A derogatory term for | |
anyone who engages in uncritical praise of UNIX. Often appearing | |
in the context "stupid UNIX weenie". See {Weenix}, {UNIX | |
conspiracy}. See also {weenie}. | |
unixism: n. A piece of code or coding technique that depends on | |
the protected multi-tasking environment with relatively low | |
process-spawn overhead that exists on UNIX systems. Common | |
{unixism}s include: gratuitous use of `fork(2)'; the assumption that | |
certain undocumented but well-known features of UNIX libraries like | |
`stdio(3)' are supported elsewhere; reliance on {obscure} | |
side-effects of system calls (use of `sleep(2)' with a zero argument | |
to clue the scheduler that you're willing to give up your | |
time-slice, for example); the assumption that freshly allocated | |
memory is seroed, the assumption that it's safe to never free() | |
memory, etc. Compare {vaxocentrism}; see {New Jersey}. | |
unwind the stack: vi. 1. During the execution of a procedural | |
language one is said to `unwind the stack' from a called | |
procedure up to a caller when one discards the stack frame and any | |
number of frames above it, popping back up to the level of the | |
given caller. In C this is done with longjmp/setjmp, in LISP with | |
THROW/CATCH. This is sometimes necessary when handling exceptional | |
conditions. See also {smash the stack}. 2. People can unwind the | |
stack as well, by quickly dealing with a bunch of problems: "Oh | |
hell, let's do lunch. Just a second while I unwind my stack". | |
unwind-protect: [MIT, from the name of a LISP operator] n. A task you | |
must remember to perform before you leave a place or finish a | |
project. "I have an unwind-protect to call my advisor." | |
up: adj. 1. Working, in order. "The down escalator is up." 2. | |
`bring up': vt. To create a working version and start it. "They | |
brought up a down system." | |
upload: /uhp'lohd/ v. 1. To transfer code or data over a digital | |
comm line from a smaller or peripheral `client' system to a larger | |
or central `host' one. A transfer in the other direction is, of | |
course, called a `download'. 2. [speculatively] To move the | |
essential patterns and algorithms which make up one's mind from | |
one's brain into a computer. Only those who are convinced that | |
such patterns and algorithms capture the complete essence of the | |
self view this prospect with aplomb. | |
upthread: adv. Earlier in the discussion (see {thread}). "As Joe | |
pointed out upthread...." See also {followup}. | |
urchin: n. See {munchkin}. | |
USENET: /yoos'net/ or /yooz'net/ [from `Users' Network'] n. A | |
distributed {bboard} (bulletin board) system supported mainly by | |
UNIX machines, international in scope and probably the largest | |
non-profit information utility in existence. As of early 1990 it | |
hosts over 700 {newsgroup}s and distributes up to 15 megabytes of | |
new technical articles, news, discussion, chatter, and {flamage} | |
every day. | |
user: n. 1. Someone doing `real work' with the computer, who uses a | |
computer as a means rather than an end. Someone who pays to use a | |
computer. See {real user}. 2. A programmer who will believe | |
anything you tell him. One who asks silly questions. (This is | |
slightly unfair. It is true that users ask questions (of | |
necessity). Sometimes they are thoughtful or deep. Very often | |
they are annoying or downright stupid, apparently because the user | |
failed to think for two seconds or look in the documentation before | |
bothering the maintainer.) See {luser}. 3. Someone who uses a | |
program from the outside, however skillfully, without getting into | |
the internals of the program. One who reports bugs instead of just | |
going ahead and fixing them. Basically, there are two classes of | |
people who work with a program: there are implementors (hackers) | |
and users (losers). The users are looked down on by hackers to a | |
mild degree because they don't understand the full ramifications of | |
the system in all its glory. (The few users who do are known as | |
{real winner}s.) The term is a relative one: a consummate hacker | |
may be a user with respect to some program he himself does not | |
hack. A LISP hacker might be one who maintains LISP or one who | |
uses LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A LISP user is one who | |
uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus there is some overlap | |
between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be resolved by | |
context. | |
user-friendly: adj. Programmer-hostile. Generally used by hackers in | |
a critical tone, to describe systems which hold the user's hand so | |
obsessively that they make it painful for the more experienced and | |
knowledgeable to get any work done. See {menuitis}, {drool-proof | |
paper}, {Macintrash}, {user-obsequious}. | |
user-obsequious: adj. Emphatic form of {user-friendly}. Connotes a | |
system so verbose, inflexible, and determinedly simple-minded that | |
it is nearly unusable. "Design a system any fool can use and only | |
a fool will want to use it". | |
USG UNIX: /yoo-ess-jee yoo'niks/ n. Refers to AT&T UNIX commercial | |
versions after {Version 7}, especially System III and System V | |
releases 1, 2 and 3. So called because at that time AT&T's support | |
crew was called the `UNIX Support Group'. See {BSD UNIX}. | |
UUCPNET: n. The store-and-forward network consisting of all the | |
world's UNIX machines (and others running some clone of the UUCP | |
(UNIX-to-UNIX CoPy) software). Any machine reachable via a | |
{bang path} is on UUCPNET. See {network address}. | |
= V = | |
===== | |
vadding: /vad'ing/ [from VAD, a permutation of ADV (i.e. | |
{ADVENT}), used to avoid a particular {admin}'s continual | |
search-and-destroy sweeps for the game] n. A leisure-time activity | |
of certain hackers involving the covert exploration of the `secret' | |
parts of large buildings --- basements, roofs, freight elevators, | |
maintenance crawlways, steam tunnels, and the like. A few go so | |
far as to learn locksmithing in order to synthesize vadding keys. | |
The verb is `to vad' (compare {phreaking}). | |
The most extreme and dangerous form of vadding is `elevator | |
rodeo', aka `elevator surfing', a sport played by wrasslin' | |
down a thousand-pound elevator car with a three-foot piece of | |
string, and then exploiting this mastery in various stimulating | |
ways (such as elevator hopping, shaft exploration, rat-racing, and | |
the ever-popular drop experiments). Kids, don't try this at home! | |
vanilla: [from the default flavor of ice cream in the U.S.] adj. | |
Ordinary flavor, standard. See {flavor}. When used of food, | |
very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla | |
extract! For example, `vanilla-flavored wonton soup' (or simply | |
`vanilla wonton soup') means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to | |
hot and sour wonton soup (suan la chow show). Applied to hardware | |
and software. As in "Vanilla Version 7 UNIX can't run on a | |
vanilla 11/34". Also used to orthogonalize chip nomenclature; for | |
instance a 74V00 means what TI calls a 7400, as distinct from a | |
74LS00, etc. This word differs from {canonical} in that the | |
latter means `the thing you always use (or the way you always do | |
it) unless you have some strong reason to do otherwise', whereas | |
{vanilla} simply means `ordinary'. For example, when hackers go | |
on a {great-wall}, hot-and-sour wonton soup is the {canonical} | |
wonton soup to get (because that is what most of them usually | |
order) even though it isn't the {vanilla} wonton soup. | |
vannevar: /van'@-var/ n. A bogus technological prediction or | |
foredoomed engineering concept, esp. one which fails by implicitly | |
assuming that technologies develop linearly, incrementally, and in | |
isolation from one another when in fact the learning curve tends to | |
be highly nonlinear, revolutions are common, and competition is the | |
rule. The prototype was Vannevar Bush's prediction of "electronic | |
brains" the size of the Empire State Building with a | |
Niagara-Falls-equivalent cooling system for their tubes and relays, | |
at a time when the semiconductor effect had already been | |
demonstrated. Other famous vannevars have included magnetic-bubble | |
memory, LISP machines, videotex, and a paper from the late 1970s | |
that computed a purported ultimate limit on areal density for ICs | |
which was in fact less than the routine densities of five years | |
later. | |
vaporware: n. Products announced far in advance of any shipment | |
(which may or may not actually take place). | |
var: /veir/ or /vahr/ n. Short for `variable'. Compare {arg}, | |
{param}. | |
VAX: /vaks/ n. 1. [from Virtual Address eXtension] The most | |
successful minicomputer design in industry history, possibly | |
excepting its immediate ancestor, the PDP-11. Between its release in | |
1978 and eclipse by {killer micro}s after about 1986 the VAX was | |
probably the favorite hacker machine of them all, esp. after the | |
1982 release of 4.2BSD UNIX (see {BSD UNIX}). Esp. noted for its | |
large, assembler-programmer-friendly instruction set, an asset | |
which became a liability after the RISC revolution following about | |
1985. 2. A major brand of vacuum cleaner in Britain. Cited here | |
because its alleged sales pitch, "Nothing sucks like a VAX!" | |
became a sort of battle-cry of RISC partisans. Ironically, the | |
slogan was actually that of a rival brand called Electrolux. | |
VAXen: /vak'sn/ [from `oxen', perhaps influenced by `vixen'] n. | |
(alt. `vaxen') The plural standardly used among hackers for the DEC | |
VAX computers. "Our installation has four PDP-10s and twenty | |
vaxen." See {boxen}. | |
vaxism: n. A piece of code that exhibits {vaxocentrism} in critical | |
areas. Compare {PC-ism}, {unixism}. | |
vaxocentrism: /vak`soh-sen'trizm/ [analogy with `ethnocentrism'] n. | |
A notional disease said to afflict C programmers who persist in | |
coding according to certain assumptions valid (esp. under UNIX) on | |
{VAXen}, but false elsewhere (this can create substantial | |
portability problems). Among these are: | |
1. The assumption that dereferencing a null pointer is safe because | |
it is all bits zero, and location 0 is readable and zero (it may | |
instead cause an illegal-address trap on non-VAXen, and even on | |
VAXen under OSs other than BSD UNIX). | |
2. The assumption that pointer and integer types are the same size, | |
and that pointers can be stuffed into integer variables and drawn | |
back out without being truncated or mangled. | |
3. The assumption that a data type of any size may begin at any | |
byte address in memory (for example, that you can freely construct | |
and dereference a pointer to a word-sized object at an odd | |
address). On many (esp. RISC) architectures better optimized for | |
{HLL} execution speed this is invalid and can cause an illegal | |
address fault or bus error. | |
4. The (related) assumption that there is no `padding' at the end | |
of types and that in an array you can thus step right from the last | |
byte of a previous component to the first byte of the next one. | |
5. The assumption that memory address space is globally flat and | |
that the array reference foo[-1] is necessarily valid. This is not | |
true on segment-addressed machines like Intel chips (yes, | |
segmentation is universally considered a {brain-damaged} way to | |
design, but that is a separate issue). | |
6. The assumption that objects can be arbitrarily large with no | |
special considerations (again, not true on segmented | |
architectures). | |
7. The assumption that the parameters of a routine are stored in | |
memory, contiguously, and in strictly ascending or descending order | |
(fails on many RISC architectures). | |
8. The assumption that bits and addressable units within an object | |
are ordered in the same way and that this order is a constant of | |
nature (fails on {big-endian} machines). | |
9. The assumption that it is meaningful to compare pointers to | |
different objects not located within the same array, or to objects | |
of different types (the former fails on segmented architectures, | |
the latter on word-oriented machines or others with multiple | |
pointer formats). | |
10. The assumption that a pointer to any one type can freely be cast | |
into a pointer to any other type (fails on word-oriented machines | |
or others with multiple pointer formats). | |
11. The assumption that an `int' is 32 bits (fails on 286-based | |
systems and even on 386 and 68000 systems under some compilers), or | |
(nearly equivalently) the assumption that `sizeof(int) == | |
sizeof(long)'. | |
12. The assumption that argv[] is writable (fails in some | |
embedded-systems C environments). | |
13. The assumption that characters are signed. | |
14. The assumption that all pointers are the same size and format, | |
which means you don't have to worry about getting the types correct | |
in calls (fails on word-oriented machines or others with multiple | |
pointer formats). | |
Note that a programmer can be validly be accused of vaxocentrism | |
even if he/she has never seen a VAX. The terms `vaxocentricity' | |
and `all-the-world's-a-VAX syndrome' have been used synonymously. | |
vdiff: /vee'dif/ v.,n. Visual diff. The operation of finding | |
differences between two files by {eyeball search}. See {diff}. | |
veeblefester: /vee'b@l-fes`tr/ [from the `Born Loser' comix via | |
Commodore; prob. originally from Mad Magazine's `Veeblefetzer' c. | |
1960] n. Any obnoxious person engaged in the alleged professions | |
of marketing or management. Antonym of {hacker}. Compare {suit}, | |
{marketroid}. | |
Venus flytrap: [after the insect-eating plant] n. See {firewall | |
machine}. | |
verbage: /ver'b@j/ n. Deliberate misspelling/mispronunciation of | |
{verbiage} that assimilates it to the word `garbage'. Compare | |
{content-free}. More pejorative than `verbiage'. | |
verbiage: n. When the context involves a software or hardware | |
system, this refers to {{documentation}}. This term borrows the | |
connotations of mainstream `verbiage' to suggest that the | |
documentation is of marginal utility, and that the motives from | |
which it is produced have little to do with the ostensible subject. | |
Version 7: alt. V7 /vee se'vn/ n. The 1978 unsupported release of | |
{UNIX} ancestral to all current commercial versions. Before | |
the release of the POSIX/SVID standards, V7's features were often | |
treated as a UNIX portability baseline. See {BSD}, {USG UNIX}, | |
{UNIX}. Some old-timers impatient with commercialization and | |
kernel bloat still maintain that V7 was the Last True UNIX. | |
vgrep: /vee'grep/ v.,n. Visual grep. The operation of finding | |
patterns in a file by {eyeball search}. See {grep}. | |
vi: /vee ie/, *not* /vie/ and *never* /siks/ [from | |
`Visual Interface'] n. A screen editor crufted together by Bill Joy | |
for an early {BSD} version. Became the de-facto standard UNIX | |
editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favorite until the rise of | |
{EMACS} after about 1984. Tends to frustrate new users no end, | |
as it will neither take commands while accepting input text nor | |
vice versa, and the default setup provides no indication of which | |
mode one is in (one correspondent accordingly reports that he has | |
often heard the editor's name pronounced /viel/). Nevertheless it | |
is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 USENET | |
poll preferred it), and even EMACS fans often resort to it as a | |
mail editor and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up | |
faster than bulky EMACS). See {holy wars}. | |
videotex: n.obs. An electronic service offering people the | |
privilege of paying to read the weather on their television screens | |
instead of having somebody read it to them for free while they brush | |
their teeth. The idea bombed, because by the time videotex was | |
practical the installed base of personal computers could hook up to | |
timesharing services and do the things videotex might have been | |
worthwhile for better and cheaper. Videotex planners badly | |
overestimated both the appeal of getting information from a | |
computer and the cost of local intelligence at the user's end. | |
Like the {gorilla arm} effect, this has been a cautionary tale to | |
hackers ever since. | |
virgin: adj. Unused, in reference to an instantiation of a program. | |
"Let's bring up a virgin system and see if it crashes again." | |
Esp. useful after contracting a {virus} through {SEX}. Also, by | |
extension, unused buffers and the like within a program. | |
virtual: [via the technical term `virtual memory', prob. fr. | |
the term `virtual image' in optics] adj. 1. Common alternative | |
to {logical}. 2. Simulated; performing the functions of | |
something that isn't really there. An imaginative child's doll may | |
be a virtual playmate. Usage: never used with compass directions. | |
virtual Friday: n. The last day before an extended weekend, if that | |
day is not a `real' Friday. There are also `virtual Mondays' | |
which are actually Tuesdays, after the three-day weekends | |
associated with U.S. national holidays. | |
virtual reality: n. 1. Computer simulations that involve 3D graphics | |
and use devices such as the Dataglove to allow the user to interact | |
with the simulation. See {cyberspace}. 2. A form of network | |
interaction incorporating aspects of role-playing games, | |
interactive theater, improvisational comedy, and `true | |
confessions' magazines. In a virtual reality forum (such as | |
USENET's alt.callahans newsgroup or the {MUD} experiments on | |
Internet), interaction between the participants is written like a | |
shared novel complete with scenery, `foreground characters' which | |
may be personae utterly unlike the people who write them, and | |
common `background characters' manipulable by all parties. The | |
one iron law is that you may not write irreversible changes to a | |
character without the consent of the person who `owns' it. | |
Otherwise anything goes. See {bamf}, {cyberspace}. | |
virus: [from the obvious analogy with biological viruses, via SF] | |
n. A cracker program that searches out other programs and | |
`infects' them by embedding a copy of itself in them, so that when | |
these programs are executed, the embedded virus is executed, too, | |
thus propagating the `infection'. This normally happens | |
transparently to the user. The virus may do nothing but propagate | |
itself. Usually, however, after propagating silently for a while | |
it starts doing things like writing cute messages on the terminal | |
or playing strange tricks with your display (some viruses include | |
nice {display hack}s). Many nasty viruses, written by | |
particularly perversely minded {cracker}s, do irreversible | |
damage, like nuking all the user's files. | |
In mid-1991, viruses have become a serious problem, especially among | |
IBM PC and Macintosh users (the lack of security on these machines | |
enables viruses to spread easily, even infecting the operating | |
system). The production of special anti-virus software has become | |
an industry, and a number of exaggerated media reports have caused | |
outbreaks of near hysteria among users, to the point where many | |
{luser}s tend to blame *everything* that doesn't work as | |
they had expected on virus attacks. Accordingly, this sense of | |
`virus' has passed not only into general technical slang but into | |
popular uage as well (where it is often incorrectly used to denote | |
a {worm}). | |
visionary: n. 1. One who hacks vision, in the sense of an | |
Artificial Intelligence researcher working on the problem of | |
getting computers to `see' things using TV cameras. (There isn't | |
any problem in sending information from a TV camera to a computer. | |
The problem is, how can the computer be programmed to make use of | |
the camera information? See {SMOP}.) 2. [IBM] One who reads | |
the outside literature. | |
VMS: /vee em ess/ n. DEC's proprietary operating system for their VAX | |
minicomputer; one of the seven or so environments that loom largest | |
in hacker folklore. Many UNIX fans generously concede that VMS | |
would probably be the hacker's favorite commercial OS if UNIX | |
didn't exist; though true, this makes VMS fans furious. One major | |
hacker gripe with it is its slowness, thus the following limerick: | |
There once was a system called VMS | |
Of cycles by no means abstemious. | |
It's chock-full of hacks | |
And runs on a VAX | |
And makes my poor stomach all squeamious. | |
---The Great Quux | |
See also {VAX}, {TOPS-10}, {TOPS-20}, {UNIX}, {runic}. | |
voice-net: n. Hackish way of referring to the telephone system, | |
analogizing it to a digital network. USENET {sig block}s not | |
uncommonly include the sender's phone next to a "Voice:" or | |
"Voice-Net:" header; common variants of this are "Voicenet" and | |
"V-Net". Compare {paper-net}, {snail-mail}, {wave a dead | |
chicken}. | |
voodoo programming: [from George Bush's "voodoo economics"] n. | |
The use by guess or cookbook of an {obscure}, {hairy} system | |
feature or algorithm which one does not truly understand. The | |
implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, | |
one will never know why. Compare {magic}, {deep magic}, | |
{heavy wizardry}, {rain dance}, {cargo-cult programming}. | |
vulcan nerve pinch: n. [From the old Star Trek TV series via | |
Commodore Amiga hackers] The keyboard combination that forces a | |
soft-boot or jump to ROM monitor (on machines that support such a | |
feature). On many micros this is Ctrl-Alt-Del; on Suns, L1-A; on | |
Macintoshes, it is <Cmd>-<Power switch>! Also called {three-finger | |
salute}. Compare {quadruple bucky}. | |
vulture capitalist: n. Pejorative hackerism for `venture | |
capitalist', deriving from the common practice of pushing | |
contracts that deprive inventors of both control over their own | |
innovations and most of the money they ought to have made from | |
them. | |
= W = | |
===== | |
wabbit: /wab'it/ [almost certainly from Elmer Fudd's immortal line | |
`you wascawwy wabbit!'] n. 1. A legendary early hack reported on a | |
System/360 at RPI and elsewhere around 1978. The program would | |
reproduce itself twice every time it was run, eventually crashing | |
the system. 2. By extension, any hack that includes infinite | |
self-replication but is not a {virus} or {worm}. See also | |
{cookie monster}. | |
waldo: /wol'doh/ [probably taken from the story `Waldo', by | |
Robert A. Heinlein, which is where the term was first used to mean | |
a remote mechanical agent controlled by a human limb] At Harvard | |
(particularly by Tom Cheatham and students) this is used instead of | |
{foobar} as a meta-syntactic variable and general nonsense word. | |
See {foo}, {bar}, {foobar}, {quux}. | |
walk: n.,vt. Traversal of an actual or {logical} data structure, | |
especially a linked-list data structure in {core}. See also | |
{codewalker}, {silly walk}, {clobber}. | |
walking drives: n. An occasional failure mode of magnetic-disk | |
drives back in the days when they were huge, clunky {washing | |
machine}s. Those old {dinosaur} parts carried terrific angular | |
momentum; the combination of a misaligned spindle or worn bearings | |
and stick-slip interactions with the floor could cause them to | |
`walk' across a room, lurching alternate corners forward a couple | |
of millimeters at a time. There is a legend about a drive that | |
walked over to the only door to the computer room and jammed it | |
shut; the staff had to cut a hole in the wall in order to get at | |
it! Walking could also be induced by certain patterns of drive | |
access (a fast seek across the whole width of the disk, followed by | |
a slow seek in the other direction). It is known that some bands | |
of old-time hackers figured out how to induce disk-accessing | |
patterns that would do this to particular drive models and held | |
disk-drive races. This is not a joke! | |
wall: [WPI] interj. 1. An indication of confusion, usually spoken | |
with a quizzical tone. "Wall??" 2. A request for further | |
explication. Compare {octal forty}. | |
It is said that "Wall?" really came from `talking to a blank | |
wall'. It was initially used in situations where, after one | |
carefully answered a question, the questioner stared at you | |
blankly, having understood nothing that was explained. One would | |
then throw out a "Hello, wall?" to elicit some sort of response | |
from the questioner. Later, confused questioners began voicing | |
"Wall?" themselves. | |
There is an anecdote about a child in a hospital who is addressed | |
by a nurse over an intercom and replies "What do you want, Wall?" | |
wall follower: n. A person or algorithm which compensates for | |
native stupidity by efficiently following procedures shown to have | |
been effective in the past. Used of an algorithm, this is not | |
necessarily pejorative; it recalls `Harvey Wallbanger', the winning | |
robot in an early AI contest (named, of course, after the | |
cocktail). Harvey successfully solved mazes by keeping a `finger' | |
on one wall and running till it came out the other end. This was | |
inelegant, but mathematically guaranteed to work on | |
simply-connected mazes --- and, in fact, Harvey outperformed more | |
sophisticated robots that tried to `learn' each maze by building an | |
internal representation of it. Used of humans the term *is* | |
pejorative and implies an uncreative, bureaucratic, by-the-book | |
mentality. See also {code grinder}. | |
wall time: n. (also `wall clock time') 1. `Real world' time | |
(what the clock on the wall shows) as opposed to the system clock's | |
idea of time. 2. The real running time of a program, as opposed to | |
the number of {clocks} required to execute it (on a timesharing | |
system these will differ, as no one program gets all the | |
{clocks}). | |
wallpaper: n. 1. A file containing a listing (e.g., assembly listing) | |
or transcript, esp. a file containing a transcript of all or part | |
of a login session. (The idea was that the LPT paper for such | |
listings was essentially good only for wallpaper, as evidenced at | |
Stanford, where it was used as such to cover windows.) Usage: not | |
often used now, esp. since other systems have developed other terms | |
for it (e.g., PHOTO on TWENEX). However, the UNIX world doesn't | |
have an equivalent term, so perhaps {wallpaper} will take hold | |
there. The term probably originated on ITS, where the commands to | |
begin and end transcript files were :WALBEG and :WALEND, with | |
default file DSK:WALL PAPER. 2. The background pattern used on | |
graphical workstations (this is jargon under the `Windows' | |
graphical user interface to MS-DOS). 3. `wallpaper file' n. The | |
file that contains the wallpaper information before it is actually | |
printed on paper. (Sometimes you don't intend ever to produce a | |
real paper copy of the file, because you can look at the file | |
directly on your terminal, but it is still called a `wallpaper | |
file'.) | |
wank: /wangk/ [Columbia University; prob. by mutation from | |
Commonwealth slang v. "wank", to masturbate] n.,v. Used much as | |
{hack} (senses #5, #7, #9) is elsewhere. May describe | |
(negatively) the act of hacking for hacking's sake ("Quit wanking, | |
let's go get supper!") or (more positively) a {wizard}. Adj. | |
`wanky' describes something particularly clever (a person, | |
program, or algorithm). Conversations can also get wanky when | |
there are too many wanks involved. This excess wankiness is | |
signalled by an overload of the "wankometer" (compare | |
{bogometer}). When the wankometer overloads, the conversation's | |
subject must be changed, or all non-wanks will leave. Compare | |
`neep-neeping' (under {neep-neep}). | |
wannabee: [from a term recently used to describe Madonna fans who | |
dress, talk, and act like their idol; prob. originally from biker | |
slang] n. A would-be {hacker}. The connotations of this term | |
differ sharply depending on the age and exposure of the subject. | |
Used of a person who is in or might be entering {larval stage} | |
it's semi-approving; such wannabees can be annoying but most | |
hackers remember that they, too were once such creatures. When | |
used of any professional programmer, CS academic, writer, or | |
{suit} it's derogatory, implying that said person is trying to | |
cuddle up to the hacker mystique but doesn't, fundamentally, have a | |
prayer of understanding what it's all about. Overuse of terms from | |
this File is often an indication of the {wannabee} nature. | |
Compare {newbie}. | |
[Historical note: the wannabee phenomenon has a bit different | |
flavor now (1991) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the | |
people who are now hackerdom's tribal elders were in {larval | |
stage}, the process of becoming a hacker was largely unconscious | |
and unaffected by models known in popular culture --- communities | |
formed spontaneously around people who, *as individuals*, felt | |
irresistibly drawn to do hackerly things, and what wannabees | |
experienced was a fairly pure, skill-focused desire to become | |
similarly wizardly. Those days of innocence are gone forever; | |
society's adaptation to the advent of the microcomputer after 1980 | |
included the elevation of hackers as a new kind of folk hero, and | |
the result is that some people semi-consciously set out to *be | |
hackers* and borrow hackish prestige by fitting the public hacker | |
image. Fortunately, to do this really well one has to actually | |
become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time hackers tend to share a | |
poorly articulated disquiet about the change; among other things, | |
it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of public compendia | |
of lore like this one.] | |
wart: n. A small, crocky {feature} that sticks out of an | |
otherwise {clean} design. Something conspicuous for localized | |
ugliness, especially a special-case exception to a general rule. | |
For example, in some versions of `csh(1)', single-quotes | |
literalize every character inside them except `!'. In ANSI C, | |
the ?? syntax used for escapes to foreign-language alphabets is a | |
wart. See also {miswart}. | |
washing machine: n. Old-style 14" hard disks in floor-standing | |
cabinets. So called because of the size of the cabinet and the | |
`top-loading' access to the media packs --- and, of course, they | |
were always set on `spin cycle'. The washing-machine idiom | |
transcends language barriers; it's even used in Russian hacker | |
jargon. See {walking drives}. The thick channel cables | |
connecting these were called `bit hoses' (see {hose}). | |
water MIPS: n. Large, water-cooled machines of either today's | |
ECL-supercomputer flavor or yesterday's traditional {mainframe} | |
type. | |
wave a dead chicken: v. To perform a ritual in the direction of | |
crashed software or hardware which one believes to be futile but | |
is nevertheless necessary so that others are satisfied that an | |
appropriate degree of effort has been expended. "I'll wave a dead | |
chicken over the source code, but I really think we've run into an | |
OS bug." Compare {voodoo programming}, {rain dance}. | |
weasel: n. [Cambridge] A naive user, one who deliberately or | |
accidentally does things which are stupid or ill-advised. Roughly | |
synonymous with {luser}. | |
wedged: [from a common description of recto-cranial inversion] adj. | |
1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding without help. This is | |
different from having crashed. If the system has crashed, then it | |
has become totally non-functioning. If the system is wedged, it is | |
trying to do something but cannot make progress; it may be capable | |
of doing a few things, but not be fully operational. For example, | |
the system may become wedged if the disk controller fries; there | |
are some things you can do without using the disks, but not many. | |
Being wedged is slightly milder than being {hung}. Also see | |
{gronk}, {locked up}, {hosed}. 2. This term is sometimes used to | |
describe a {deadlock} condition. 3. Often refers to humans | |
suffering misconceptions. 4. [UNIX] Specifically used to describe | |
the state of a TTY left in a losing state by abort of a | |
screen-oriented program or one that has messed with the line | |
discipline in some obscure way. | |
wedgitude: /wedj'i-tood/ n. The quality or state of being {wedged}. | |
weeble: /weeb'l/ [Cambridge] interj. Use to denote frustration, | |
usually at amazing stupidity. "I stuck the disk in upside down." | |
"Weeble..." Compare {gurfle}. | |
weeds: n. Refers to development projects or algorithms that have no | |
possible relevance or practical application. Comes from `off in | |
the weeds'. Used in phrases like "lexical analysis for microcode | |
is serious weeds...." | |
weenie: n. 1. The semicolon character, `;' (ASCII 0111011). | |
2. When used with a qualifier (for example, as in {UNIX weenie}, | |
VMS weenie, IBM weenie) can become either an insult or a term of | |
praise, depending on context, tone of voice, and whether or not it | |
is applied by a person who considered him/herself to be the same | |
sort of weenie. Implies that the weenie has put a major investment | |
of time, effort, and concentration into the area indicated; whether | |
this is positive or negative depends on the hearer's judgement of | |
how the speaker feels about that area. See also {bigot}. | |
Weenix: [ITS] n. A derogatory term for {UNIX}, derived from {UNIX | |
weenie}. | |
well-behaved: adj. 1. [primarily {MS-DOS}] Said of software | |
conforming to system interface guidelines and standards. Well | |
behaved software uses the operating system to do chores such as | |
keyboard input, allocating memory and drawing graphics. Oppose | |
{ill-behaved}. 2. Software that does its job quietly and without | |
counterintuitive effects. Esp. said of software having an | |
interface spec sufficiently simple and well-defined that it can be | |
used as a {tool} by other software. | |
well-connected: adj. Said of a computer installation, this means it | |
has reliable email links with the network and/or relays a large | |
fraction of available {USENET} newsgroups. `Well-known' can | |
be almost synonymous, but also implies that the site's name is | |
familiar to many (due perhaps to an archive service or active | |
USENET users). | |
wetware: [prob. from the novels of Rudy Rucker] n. 1. The human | |
brain, as opposed to computer hardware or software (as in "Wetware | |
has at most 7 plus or minus 2 registers"). 2. Human beings | |
(programmers, operators, administrators) attached to a computer | |
system, as opposed to the system's hardware or software. | |
what: n. The question mark character (`?', ASCII 0111111). | |
Syn. {ques}. Usage: rare, used particularly in conjunction with | |
{wow}. | |
wheel: [from Twenex, q.v.] n. A privileged user or {wizard} (sense | |
#2). The term was invented on the {TENEX} operating system and | |
carried over to {TWENEX}, Xerox-IFS, and others. It entered the | |
UNIX culture from TWENEX and has been gaining popularity there | |
(esp. at university sites). Privilege bits are sometimes called | |
`wheel bits'. The state of being in a privileged logon is | |
sometimes called `wheel mode'. See also {root}. | |
wheel wars: [Stanford University] A period in {larval stage} during | |
which student wheels hack each other by attempting to log each | |
other out of the system, delete each other's files, and otherwise | |
wreak havoc, usually at the expense of the lesser users. | |
White Book: n. Syn. {K&R}. | |
whizzy: [Sun] adj. (alt. `wizzy') Describes a {cuspy} program; | |
one which is feature-rich and well presented. | |
WIBNI: [Bell Labs, Wouldn't It Be Nice If] n. What most requirements | |
documents and specifications consist entirely of. Compare {IWBNI}. | |
widget: n. 1. A meta-thing. Used to stand for a real object in | |
didactic examples (especially database tutorials). Legend has it | |
that the original widgets were holders for buggy whips. 2. [poss. | |
from `window gadget'] A user interface object in X Window System | |
graphical user interfaces. | |
wiggles: n. [scientific computation] In solving partial differential | |
equations by finite difference and similar methods, wiggles are | |
sawtooth (up-down-up-down) oscillations at the shortest wavelength | |
representable on the grid. If an algorithm is unstable, this is | |
often the most unstable waveform, so it grows to dominate the | |
solution. Alternatively, stable (though inaccurate) wiggles can be | |
generated near a discontinuity by a Gibbs phenomenon. | |
WIMP environment: n. [acronymic from Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing | |
Device] A graphical-user-interface-based environment, as described | |
by a hacker who prefers command-line interfaces for their superior | |
flexibility and extensibility. | |
win: [from MIT jargon] 1. vi. To succeed. A program wins if no | |
unexpected conditions arise. 2. Success, or a specific instance | |
thereof. A pleasing outcome. A {feature}. 3. `big win': n. | |
Serendipity. Emphatic forms: `moby win', `super win', | |
`hyper-win' (often used interjectively as a reply). For some | |
reason `suitable win' is also common at MIT, usually in reference | |
to a satisfactory solution to a problem. Oppose {lose}. | |
win big: vi. To experience serendipity. "I went shopping and won | |
big; there was a two-for-one sale." | |
win win: interj. Expresses pleasure at a {win}. | |
Winchester:: n. Informal term for the now-standard `floating-head' | |
magnetic-disk technology in which the read-write head planes over | |
the disk surface on an air cushion. The name arose because the | |
original 1973 engineering prototype for what later became the IBM | |
3340 featured two 30-megabyte volumes; 30-30 became `Winchester' | |
when somebody noticed the similarity to the common term for a | |
famous Winchester rifle (in the latter, the first 30 referred to | |
caliber and the second to the grain weight of the charge). | |
winged comments: n. Comments set on the same line as code, as | |
opposed to {box comments}. In C, for example: | |
d = sqrt(x*x + y*y); /* d = distance of (x,y) from origin */ | |
Generally these refer only to the action(s) taken on that line. | |
winnage: /win'@j/ n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or | |
when something is winning. Quite rare. Usage: also quite rare. | |
winner: 1. n. An unexpectedly good situation, program, programmer or | |
person. 2. `real winner': Often sarcastic, but also used as high | |
praise. | |
winnitude: /win'i-tood/ n. The quality of winning (as opposed to | |
{winnage}, which is the result of winning). "That's really great! | |
Boy, what winnitude!" | |
wired: n. See {hardwired}. | |
wirehead: n. [prob. from notional SF slang for an electrical brain | |
stimulation junkie] 1. A hardware hacker, especially one who | |
concentrates on communications hardware. 2. An expert in | |
local-area networks. A wirehead can be a network software wizard | |
too, but will always have the ability to deal with network | |
hardware, down to the smallest component. Wireheads are known for | |
their ability to lash up an Ethernet terminator from spare | |
resistors, for example. | |
wish list: n. A list of desired features or bug fixes that probably | |
won't get done for a long time, usually because the person | |
responsible for the code is too busy or can't think of a clean way | |
to do it. | |
wizard: n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software | |
or hardware works (that is, who {grok}s it); esp. someone who | |
can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency. This term differs | |
somewhat from {hacker}. Someone is a hacker if he has general | |
hacking ability, but is only a wizard with respect to something if | |
he has specific detailed knowledge of that thing. A good hacker | |
could become a wizard for something given the time to study it. 2. | |
A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary | |
people. For example, an Adventure wizard at Stanford may play the | |
Adventure game during the day, which is forbidden (the program | |
simply refuses to play) to most people because it consumes too many | |
{cycle}s. 3. A UNIX expert, esp. a UNIX systems programmer. This | |
usage is well enough established that `UNIX Wizard' is a recognized | |
job title at some corporations and to most headhunters. See | |
{guru}. | |
wizard book: n. Abelson and Sussman's `Structure and Interpretation | |
of Computer Programs', an excellent CS text used in introductory | |
courses at MIT. So called because of the wizard on the cover of | |
the MIT Press edition. | |
wizard mode: [from nethack] n. A special access mode of a program or | |
system, usually passworded, that permits some users godlike | |
privileges. Generally not used for operating systems themselves | |
(`root mode' or `wheel mode' would be used instead). | |
wizardly: adj. Pertaining to wizards. A wizardly {feature} is one | |
that only a wizard could understand or use properly. | |
WOMBAT: [Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time] adj. Applied to problems | |
which are both profoundly {uninteresting} in themselves and | |
unlikely to benefit anyone interesting even if solved. Often used | |
in fanciful constructions such as `wrestling with a wombat'. See | |
also {crawling horror}, {SMOP}. Also note the rather different | |
usage as a meta-syntactic variable under {{Commonwealth Hackish}} | |
wonky: /wong'kee/ [from Australian slang] adj. Yet another approximate | |
synonym for {broken}. Specifically connotes a malfunction which | |
produces behavior seen as crazy, humorous, or amusingly perverse. | |
"That was the day the printer's font logic went wonky and | |
everybody's listings came out in Elvish." Also in `wonked out'. | |
See {funky}, {demented}. | |
workaround: n. A temporary {kluge} inserted in a system under | |
development or test in order to avoid the effects of a {bug} or | |
{misfeature} so that work can continue. Theoretically, | |
workarounds are always replaced by {fix}es; in practice, customers | |
often find themselves living with workarounds in the first couple | |
of releases. "The code died on nul characters in the input, so I | |
fixed it to abort with an error message when it sees one." | |
"That's not a fix, that's a workaround!" | |
working as designed: [IBM] adj. 1. In conformance to a wrong or | |
inappropriate specification; useful, but mis-designed. 2. | |
Frequently used as a sardonic comment on a program's utility. 3. | |
Unfortunately also as a bogus reason for not accepting a criticism | |
or suggestion. At {IBM}, this sense is used in official | |
documents! See {BAD}. | |
worm: [from `tapeworm' in John Brunner's `The Shockwave | |
Rider', via XEROX PARC] n. A program that propagates itself over a | |
network, reproducing itself as it goes. Compare {virus}. | |
Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it is assumed that | |
only crackers write worms. Perhaps the best known example was | |
Robert T. Morris's `Internet Worm' in 1988, a `benign' one that | |
got out of control and hogged hundreds of Suns and VAXen | |
nationwide. See also {cracker}, {Trojan horse}, {ice}. | |
wound around the axle: adj. In an infinite loop. Often used by older | |
computer types. | |
wow: See {bang}. | |
wrap around: vi. (also n. `wraparound' and v. shorthand `wrap') 1. | |
This is jargon in its normal computer usage, i.e., describing | |
the action of a counter that starts over at 0 or at `minus | |
infinity' after its maximum value has been reached, and continues | |
incrementing, either because it is programmed to do so, or because | |
of an overflow like a car's odometer starting over at 0. 2. To | |
change {phase} gradually and continuously by maintaining a steady | |
wake-sleep cycle somewhat longer than 24 hours, e.g. living 6 long | |
(28-hour) days in a week. | |
write-only code: [a play on `read-only memory'] n. Code | |
sufficiently arcane, complex, or ill-structured that it cannot be | |
modified or even comprehended by anyone but the original author, | |
and possibly not even by him/her. A {Bad Thing}. | |
write-only language: n. A language with syntax (or semantics) | |
sufficiently dense and bizarre that any routine of significant size | |
is {write-only code}. A sobriquet often applied to APL, | |
though {INTERCAL} and {TECO} certainly deserve it more. | |
write-only memory: n. The obvious antonym to `read-only memory'. | |
In frustration with the long and seemingly useless chain of | |
approvals required of component specifications, during which no | |
actual checking seemed to occur, an engineer at Signetics created a | |
specification for a write-only memory, and included it with a bunch | |
of other specifications to be approved. This inclusion only came | |
to the attention of Signetics when regular customers started | |
calling and asking for pricing information. Signetics published a | |
corrected edition of the data book and requested the return of the | |
`erroneous' ones. Later, about 1974, Signetics bought a double | |
page spread in Electronics magazine's April issue and used the | |
spec as an April Fools' day joke. Instead of the more conventional | |
characteristic curves, the 25120 "fully encoded, 9046 x N, Random | |
Access, write-only-memory" data sheet included diagrams of "bit | |
capacity vs. Temp.", "Iff vs. Vff", "Number of pins remaining | |
vs. number of socket insertions" and "AQL vs. selling price". | |
The 25120 required a 6.3 VAC VFF supply, a +10V VCC, and VDD of 0V, | |
+/- 2%. | |
Wrong Thing: n. A design, action or decision which is clearly | |
incorrect or inappropriate. Often capitalized; always emphasized | |
in speech as if capitalized. The opposite of the Right Thing; more | |
generally, anything that is not the Right Thing. In cases where | |
`the good is the enemy of the best', the merely good, while good, | |
is nevertheless the Wrong Thing. | |
wugga wugga: /wuh'g@ wuh'g@/ n. Imaginary sound that a computer | |
program makes as it labors with a tedious or difficult task. | |
Compare {cruncha cruncha cruncha}, {grind} (sense #4). | |
WYSIWYG: /wiz'ee-wig/ adj. User interface (usu. text or graphics | |
editor) characterized as being "what you see is what you get"; as | |
opposed to one which uses more-or-less obscure commands which do | |
not result in immediate visual feedback. The term can be mildly | |
derogatory, as it is often used to refer to dumbed-down | |
{user-friendly} interfaces targeted at non-programmers, while a | |
hacker has no fear of obscure commands. On the other hand, EMACS | |
was one of the very first WYSIWYG editors, replacing (actually, at | |
first overlaying) the extremely obscure, command-based {TECO}. | |
[Oddly enough, this term has already made it into the OED --- ESR] | |
= X = | |
===== | |
X: /eks/ n. 1. Used in various speech and writing contexts in | |
roughly its algebraic sense of `unknown within a set defined by | |
context' (compare {N}). Thus: the abbreviation 680x0 stands for | |
68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, or 68040, and 80x86 stands for 80186, | |
80286 80386 or 80486 (note that a UNIX hacker might write these as | |
680[01234]0 and 80[1234]86 or 680?0 and 80?86 respectively; see | |
{glob}). 2. [after the name of an earlier window system called | |
`W'] An over-sized, over-featured, over-engineered window system | |
developed at MIT and widely used on UNIX systems. | |
xor: /eks'ohr/ conj. Exclusive or. `A xor B' means `A or B, but | |
not both'. Example: "I want to get cherry pie xor a banana | |
split." This derives from the technical use of the term as a | |
function on truth-values that is true if either of two arguments is | |
true, but not both. | |
xref: /eks'ref/ vt.,n. Hackish standard abbreviation for | |
`cross-reference'. | |
XXX: /eks-eks-eks/ n. A marker that attention is needed. Commonly | |
used in program comments to indicate areas that are kluged up or | |
need to be. Some hackers liken XXX code to pornographic movies | |
that contain the symbol. | |
xyzzy: /eks-wie-zee-zee-wie/, /ik-zi'zee/, /eks-wie-ziz'ee/; in | |
Commonwealth hackish, /eks-wie-zed-zed-wie/. [from the ADVENT game] | |
adj. The {canonical} `magic word'. This comes from {ADVENT}, | |
in which the idea is to explore an underground cave with many rooms | |
to collect treasure. If you type `xyzzy' at the appropriate time, | |
you can move instantly between two otherwise distant points. If, | |
therefore, you encounter some bit of {magic}, you might remark on | |
this quite succinctly by saying simply "Xyzzy"! Example: | |
"Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's screen if he has | |
protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear the system will | |
let you do it anyway." "Xyzzy!" Xyzzy has actually been | |
implemented as an undocumented no-op command on several OSs; in | |
Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it would typically respond | |
"Nothing happens", just as {ADVENT} did if the magic was | |
invoked at the wrong spot or before a player had performed the | |
action that enabled the word. See also {plugh}. | |
= Y = | |
===== | |
YA-: [Yet Another...] abbrev. In hackish acronyms this almost | |
invariably expands to {Yet Another}, following the precedent set by | |
UNIX `yacc(1)'. See {YABA}. | |
YABA: /ya'buh/ [Cambridge] n. Yet Another Bloody Acronym. Whenever | |
some program is being named, someone invariably suggests that it be | |
given a name which is acronymic. The response from those with a | |
trace of originality is to remark ironically that the proposed name | |
would then be `YABA-compatible'. Also used in response to questions | |
like "What is WYSIWYG?" "YABA." See also {TLA}. | |
YAUN: /yawn/ [Acronym for `Yet Another UNIX Nerd'] n. Reported | |
from the San Diego Computer Society (predominantly a microcomputer | |
users' group) as a good-natured punning insult aimed at UNIX | |
zealots. | |
Yellow Book: n. The print version of this Jargon File; `The | |
New Hacker's Dictionary', forthcoming from MIT Press, 1991. | |
Includes all the material in the File, plus a Foreword by Guy | |
Steele and a Preface by Eric S. Raymond. Most importantly, the | |
book version is nicely typeset and includes almost all of the | |
infamous Crunchly cartoons by the Great Quux, each attached to an | |
appropriate entry. | |
Yet Another: adj. [From UNIX's `yacc(1)', `Yet Another Compiler- | |
Compiler' LALR parser generator] 1. Of your own work: humorous | |
allusion often used in titles to acknowledge that the topic is not | |
original, though the content is. As in `Yet Another AI Group' | |
or `Yet Another Simulated Annealing Algorithm'. 2. Of other's | |
work: describes something of which there are far too many. See | |
also {YA-}, {YABA}, {YAUN}. | |
You are not expected to understand this.: cav. [UNIX] Canonical | |
comment describing something {magic} or too complicated to bother | |
explaining properly. From a comment in the either the | |
context-switching code of the V6 UNIX kernel or the V6 tty driver | |
(accounts differ). | |
You know you've been hacking too long when...: The set-up line | |
for a genre of one-liners told by hackers about themselves. These | |
include the following: | |
* not only do you check your email more often than your paper | |
mail, but you remember your {network address} faster than your | |
postal one. | |
* your {SO} kisses you on the neck and the first thing you | |
think is "Uh, oh, {priority interrupt}". | |
* you go to balance your checkbook and discover that you're | |
doing it in octal. | |
* your computers have a higher street value than your car. | |
* `round numbers' are powers of 2, not 10. | |
* you've woken up more than once to recall of a dream in | |
some programming language. | |
* you realize you've never met half of your best friends. | |
All but one of these have been reliably reported as hacker traits | |
(some of them quite often). Even hackers may have trouble spotting | |
the ringer. | |
Your mileage may vary.: cav. [from the standard disclaimer attached | |
to EPA mileage ratings by American car manufacturers] A ritual | |
warning often found in UNIX freeware distributions. Translates | |
roughly as "Hey, I tried to write this portably but who | |
*knows* what'll happen on your system?" | |
Yow!: /yow/ [from Zippy the Pinhead comix] interj. Favored hacker | |
expression of humorous surprise or emphasis. "Yow! Check out what | |
happens when you twiddle the foo option on this display hack!" | |
Compare {gurfle}. | |
yoyo mode: n. State in which the system is said to be when it | |
rapidly alternates several times between being up and being down. | |
Interestingly (and perhaps not by coincidence), many hardware | |
vendors give out free yoyos at Usenix exhibits. | |
Sun Microsystems gave out logoized yoyos at SIGPLAN '88. Tourists | |
staying at one of Atlanta's most respectable hotels were | |
subsequently treated to the sight of 200 of the country's top | |
computer scientists testing yo-yo algorithms in the lobby. | |
Yu-Shiang whole fish: /yoo-shyang hohl fish/ n. obs. The character | |
gamma (extended SAIL ASCII 1001011), which with a loop in its tail | |
looks like a little fish swimming down the page. The term is | |
actually the name of a Chinese dish in which a fish is cooked whole | |
(not {parse}d) and covered with Yu Shiang sauce. Usage: was used | |
primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine, which could display | |
this character on the screen. Tends to elicit incredulity from | |
people who hear about it second-hand. | |
= Z = | |
===== | |
zap: 1. n. Spiciness. 2. vt. To make food spicy. 3. vt. To make | |
someone `suffer' by making his food spicy. (Most hackers love | |
spicy food. Hot-and-sour soup is considered wimpy unless it makes | |
you blow your nose for the rest of the meal.) See {zapped}. 4. vt. | |
To modify, usually to correct. Also implies surgical precision. In | |
some communities, this used to describe modifying a program's | |
binary executable. In the IBM mainframe world, binary patches are | |
applied to programs or to the OS with a program called `superzap', | |
whose file name is `IMASPZAP' (I Am A SuperZap) 5. vt. To erase or | |
reset. 6. To {fry} a chip with static electricity. | |
zapped: adj. Spicy. This term is used to distinguish between food | |
that is hot (in temperature) and food that is *spicy*-hot. | |
For example, the Chinese appetizer Bon Bon Chicken is a kind of | |
chicken salad that is cold but zapped; by contrast, {vanilla} | |
wonton soup is hot but not zapped. See also {{Oriental Food}}, | |
{laser chicken}. See {zap}, senses #1 and #2. | |
zen: vt. To figure out something by meditation, or by a sudden flash | |
of enlightenment. Originally applied to bugs, but occasionally | |
applied to problems of life in general. "How'd you figure out the | |
buffer allocation problem?" "Oh, I zenned it". Contrast {grok}, | |
which connotes a time-extended version of zenning a system. | |
Compare {hack mode}. | |
zero: vt. 1. To set to zero. Usually said of small pieces of data, | |
such as bits or words. 2. To erase; to discard all data from. | |
Said of disks and directories, where `zeroing' need not involve | |
actually writing zeroes throughout the area being zeroed. One may | |
speak of something being `logically zeroed' rather than being | |
`physically zeroed'. See {scribble}. | |
zero-content: adj. Syn. {content-free}. | |
zeroth: /zee'rohth/ adj. First. Among software designers, comes | |
from C's and LISP's 0-based indexing of arrays. Hardware people | |
also tend to start counting at zero instead of one; this is natural | |
since e.g. the 256 states of 8 bits correspond to the binary | |
numbers 0,1,...,255 and the digital devices known as `counters' | |
count in this way. | |
Hackers and computer scientists often like to call the first | |
chapter of a publication `Chapter 0', especially if it is of an | |
introductory nature (one of the classic instances was in the First | |
Edition of {K&R}). In recent years this trait has also been | |
observed among many pure mathematicians (who have an independent | |
tradition of numbering from 0). | |
zigamorph: /zie'-g@-morf/ n. Hex FF (binary 11111111) when used | |
as a delimiter or {fence} character. | |
zip: [primarily MSDOS] vt. To create a compressed archive from a | |
group of files using PKWare's PKZIP or a compatible archiver. Its | |
use is spreading now that portable implementations of the algorithm | |
have been written. Commonly used as "I'll zip it up and send it | |
to you". See {arc}, {tar and feather}. | |
zipperhead: [IBM] n. A person with a closed mind. | |
zombie: [UNIX] n. A process that has died but has not yet | |
relinquished its process table slot (because the parent process | |
hasn't executed a `wait(2)' for it yet). These show up in `ps(1)' | |
listings occasionally. Compare {orphan}. | |
zork: /zork/ n. Second of the great early experiments in computer | |
fantasy gaming; see {ADVENT}. Originally written on MIT-DMS during | |
the late seventies, later distributed with BSD UNIX and | |
commercialized as `The Zork Trilogy' by Infocom. | |
Hacker Folklore | |
*************** | |
This appendix contains several fables and legends which illuminate the | |
meaning of various entries in the main text. Some of this material | |
appeared in the 1983 paper edition of the Jargon File (but not in the | |
previous on-line versions). | |
The Meaning of `Hack' | |
===================== | |
"The word {hack} doesn't really have 69 different meanings", according | |
to Phil Agre, an MIT hacker. "In fact, {hack} has only one meaning, an | |
extremely subtle and profound one which defies articulation. Which | |
connotation is implied by a given use of the word depends in similarly | |
profound ways on the context. Similar remarks apply to a couple of | |
other hacker words, most notably {random}." | |
Hacking might be characterized as "an appropriate application of | |
ingenuity". Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or | |
a carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness | |
that went into it. | |
An important secondary meaning of {hack} is `a creative practical | |
joke'. This kind of hack is often easier to explain to non-hackers | |
than the programming kind. Accordingly, here are some examples of | |
practical joke hacks: | |
In 1961, students from Caltech (California Institute of Technology in | |
Pasadena) hacked the Rose Bowl football game. One student posed as a | |
reporter and `interviewed' the director of the University of | |
Washington card stunts (such stunts involve people in the stands who | |
hold up colored cards to make pictures). The reporter learned exactly | |
how the stunts were operated, and also that the director would be out | |
to dinner later. | |
While the director was eating, the students (who called themselves the | |
`Fiendish Fourteen') picked a lock and stole one of the direction | |
sheets for the card stunts. They then had a printer run off 2300 | |
copies of the sheet. The next day they picked the lock again and | |
stole the master plans for the stunts, large sheets of graph paper | |
colored in with the stunt pictures. Using these as a guide, they | |
carefully made `corrections' for three of the stunts on the | |
duplicate instruction sheets. Finally, they broke in once more, | |
replacing the stolen master plans and substituting the stack of | |
altered instruction sheets for the original set. | |
The result was that three of the pictures were totally different. | |
Instead of spelling "WASHINGTON", the word "CALTECH" was flashed. | |
Another stunt showed the word "HUSKIES", the Washington nickname, | |
but spelled it backwards. And what was supposed to have been a | |
picture of a husky instead showed a beaver. (Both Caltech and MIT use | |
the beaver as a mascot. Beavers are nature's engineers.) | |
After the game, the Washington faculty athletic representative said, | |
"Some thought it ingenious; others were indignant." The Washington | |
student body president remarked, "No hard feelings, but at the time | |
it was unbelievable. We were amazed." | |
This is now considered a classic hack, particularly because revising | |
the direction sheets constituted a form of programming not unlike | |
computer programming. | |
Another classic hack: | |
Some MIT students once illicitly used a quantity of thermite to weld a | |
trolley car to its tracks. The hack was actually not dangerous, as | |
they did this at night to a parked trolley. It took the transit | |
people quite a while to figure out what was wrong with the trolley, | |
and even longer to figure out how to fix it. They ended up putting | |
jacks under the trolley and cutting the section of track on either | |
side of the wheel with oxyacetylene torches. Then they unbolted the | |
wheel, welded in a new piece of track, bolted on a new wheel, and | |
removed the jacks. The hackers sneaked in the next night and stole the | |
piece of track and wheel! | |
The piece of trolley track with the wheel still welded to it was later | |
used as the trophy at the First Annual All-Tech Sing. They carted it | |
in on a very heavy duty dolly up the freight elevator of the Student | |
Center. Six feet of rail and a trolley wheel is a *lot* of | |
steel. | |
A rather similar hack, perpetrated by a fraternity at CMU, cost their | |
campus its trolley service. | |
Though these displayed some cleverness, the side-effect of expensive | |
property damage was definitely an esthetic minus. The best hacks are | |
harmless ones. | |
And another: | |
One winter, late at night, an MIT fraternity hosed down an underpass | |
that is part of a commuter expressway near MIT. This produced an ice | |
slick that `trapped' a couple of small cars: they didn't have the | |
momentum or traction to climb out of the underpass. While it was | |
clever to apply some simple science to trap a car, it was also very | |
dangerous as it could have caused a collision. Therefore this was a | |
very poor hack overall. | |
And yet another: | |
On November 20, 1982, MIT hacked the Harvard-Yale football game. Just | |
after Harvard's second touchdown against Yale in the second quarter, a | |
small black ball popped up out of the ground at the 40-yard line, and | |
grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger. The letters "MIT" appeared all | |
over the ball. As the players and officials stood around gawking, the | |
ball grew to six feet in diameter and then burst with a bang and a | |
cloud of white smoke. | |
As the Boston Globe later reported, "If you want to know the truth, | |
M.I.T. won The Game." | |
The prank had taken weeks of careful planning by members of MIT's | |
Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. The device consisted of a weather | |
balloon, a hydraulic ram powered by Freon gas to lift it out of the | |
ground, and a vacuum-cleaner motor to inflate it. They made eight | |
separate expeditions to Harvard Stadium between 1 and 5 AM, in which | |
they located an unused 110-volt circuit in the stadium, and ran buried | |
wiring from the stadium circuit to the 40-yard line, where they buried | |
the balloon device. When the time came to activate the device, two | |
fraternity members had merely to flip a circuit breaker and push a | |
plug into an outlet. | |
This stunt had all the earmarks of a perfect hack: surprise, | |
publicity, the ingenious use of technology, safety, and harmlessness. | |
The use of manual control allowed the prank to be timed so as not to | |
disrupt the game (it was set off between plays, so the outcome of the | |
game would not be unduly affected). The perpetrators had even | |
thoughtfully attached a note to the balloon explaining that the device | |
was not dangerous and contained no explosives. | |
Harvard president Derek Bok commented: "They have an awful lot of | |
clever people down there at MIT, and they did it again." President | |
Paul E. Gray of MIT said, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor | |
that I had anything to do with it, but I wish there were." | |
Finally, here is a great story about one of the classic computer hacks. | |
Back in the mid-1970s, several of the system support staff at Motorola | |
discovered a relatively simple way to crack system security on the | |
Xerox CP-V timesharing system. Through a simple programming strategy, | |
it was possible for a user program to trick the system into running a | |
portion of the program in `master mode' (supervisor state), in which | |
memory protection does not apply. The program could then poke a large | |
value into its `privilege level' byte (normally write-protected) and | |
could then proceed to bypass all levels of security within the | |
file-management system, patch the system monitor, and do numerous | |
other interesting things. In short, the barn door was wide open. | |
Motorola quite properly reported this problem to XEROX via an official | |
`level 1 SIDR' (a bug report with a perceived urgency of `needs to be | |
fixed yesterday'). Because the text of each SIDR was entered into a | |
database that could be viewed by quite a number of people, Motorola | |
followed the approved procedure: they simply reported the problem as | |
`Security SIDR', and attached all of the necessary documentation, | |
ways-to-reproduce, etc. separately. | |
Xerox sat on their thumbs...they either didn't realize the severity of | |
the problem, or didn't assign the necessary operating-system-staff | |
resources to develop and distribute an official patch. | |
Months passed. The Motorola guys pestered their Xerox field-support | |
rep, to no avail. Finally they decided to take Direct Action, to | |
demonstrate to Xerox management just how easily the system could be | |
cracked and just how thoroughly the system security systems could be | |
subverted. | |
They dug around in the operating-system listings and devised a | |
thoroughly devilish set of patches. These patches were then | |
incorporated into a pair of programs called Robin Hood and Friar Tuck. | |
Robin Hood and Friar Tuck were designed to run as `ghost jobs' | |
(daemons, in UNIX terminology); they would use the existing loophole | |
to subvert system security, install the necessary patches, and then | |
keep an eye on one another's statuses in order to keep the system | |
operator (in effect, the superuser) from aborting them. | |
So... one day, the system operator on the main CP-V software | |
development system in El Segundo was surprised by a number of unusual | |
phenomena. These included the following: | |
* Tape drives would rewind and dismount their tapes in the middle of a | |
job. | |
* Disk drives would seek back and forth so rapidly that they'd attempt | |
to walk across the floor (see {walking drives}). | |
* The card-punch output device would occasionally start up of itself | |
and punch a {lace card} (every hole punched). These would usually | |
jam in the punch. | |
* The console would print snide and insulting messages from Robin Hood | |
to Friar Tuck, or vice versa. | |
* The Xerox card reader had two output stackers; it could be | |
instructed to stack into A, stack into B, or stack into A unless a | |
card was unreadable, in which case the bad card was placed into | |
stacker B. One of the patches installed by the ghosts added some | |
code to the card-reader driver... after reading a card, it would flip | |
over to the opposite stacker. As a result, card decks would divide | |
themselves in half when they were read, leaving the operator to | |
recollate them manually. | |
There were some other effects produced, as well. | |
Naturally, the operator called in the operating-system developers. They | |
found the bandit ghost jobs running, and X'ed them... and were once | |
again surprised. When Robin Hood was X'ed, the following sequence of | |
events took place: | |
!X id1 | |
id1: Friar Tuck... I am under attack! Pray save me! | |
id1: Off (aborted) | |
id2: Fear not, friend Robin! I shall rout the Sheriff of | |
Nottingham's men! | |
id1: Thank you, my good fellow! | |
Each ghost-job would detect the fact that the other had been killed, | |
and would start a new copy of the recently-slain program within a few | |
milliseconds. The only way to kill both ghosts was to kill them | |
simultaneously (very difficult) or to deliberately crash the system. | |
Finally, the system programmers did the latter... only to find that | |
the bandits appeared once again when the system rebooted! It turned | |
out that these two programs had patched the boot-time image (the | |
/vmunix file, in UNIX terms) and had added themselves to the list of | |
programs that were to be started at boot time... | |
The Robin Hood and Friar Tuck ghosts were finally eradicated when the | |
system staff rebooted the system from a clean boot-tape and | |
reinstalled the monitor. Not long thereafter, Xerox released a patch | |
for this problem. | |
It is alleged that Xerox filed a complaint with Motorola's management about | |
the merry-prankster actions of the two employees in question. It is | |
not recorded that any serious disciplinary action was taken against | |
either of them. | |
The Untimely Demise of Mabel the Monkey | |
======================================= | |
The following, modulo a couple of inserted commas and capitalization | |
changes for readability, is the exact text of a famous USENET message. | |
The reader may wish to review the definitions of {PM} and {mount} in the main | |
text before continuing. | |
Date: Wed 3 Sep 86 16:46:31-EDT | |
From: "Art Evans" <Evans@TL-20B.ARPA> | |
Subject: Always Mount a Scratch Monkey | |
To: Risks@CSL.SRI.COM | |
My friend Bud used to be the intercept man at a computer vendor for | |
calls when an irate customer called. Seems one day Bud was sitting at | |
his desk when the phone rang. | |
Bud: Hello. Voice: YOU KILLED MABEL!! | |
B: Excuse me? V: YOU KILLED MABEL!! | |
This went on for a couple of minutes and Bud was getting nowhere, so he | |
decided to alter his approach to the customer. | |
B: HOW DID I KILL MABEL? V: YOU PM'ED MY MACHINE!! | |
Well, to avoid making a long story even longer, I will abbreviate what had | |
happened. The customer was a Biologist at the University of Blah-de-blah, | |
and he had one of our computers that controlled gas mixtures that Mabel (the | |
monkey) breathed. Now, Mabel was not your ordinary monkey. The University | |
had spent years teaching Mabel to swim, and they were studying the effects | |
that different gas mixtures had on her physiology. It turns out that the | |
repair folks had just gotten a new Calibrated Power Supply (used to | |
calibrate analog equipment), and at their first opportunity decided to | |
calibrate the D/A converters in that computer. This changed some of the gas | |
mixtures and poor Mabel was asphyxiated. Well, Bud then called the branch | |
manager for the repair folks: | |
Manager: Hello | |
B: This is Bud, I heard you did a PM at the University of | |
Blah-de-blah. | |
M: Yes, we really performed a complete PM. What can I do | |
for you? | |
B: Can you swim? | |
The moral is, of course, that you should always mount a scratch monkey. | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
There are several morals here related to risks in use of computers. | |
Examples include, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it." However, the | |
cautious philosophical approach implied by "always mount a scratch | |
monkey" says a lot that we should keep in mind. | |
Art Evans | |
Tartan Labs | |
TV Typewriters: A Tale Of Hackish Ingenuity | |
=========================================== | |
Here is a true story about a glass tty. One day an MIT hacker was in | |
a motorcycle accident and broke his leg. He had to stay in the | |
hospital quite a while, and got restless because he couldn't HACK (use | |
the computer). Two of his friends therefore took a display terminal | |
and a telephone connection for it to the hospital, so that he could | |
use the computer by telephone from his hospital bed. | |
Now this happened some years before the spread of home computers, and | |
computer terminals were not a familiar sight to the average person. | |
When the two friends got to the hospital, a guard stopped them and | |
asked what they were carrying. They explained that they wanted to | |
take a computer terminal to their friend who was a patient. | |
The guard got out his list of things that patients were permitted to | |
have in their rooms: TV, radio, electric razor, typewriter, tape | |
player... no computer terminals. Computer terminals weren't on the | |
list, so they couldn't take it in. Rules are rules. | |
Fair enough, said the two friends, and they left again. They were | |
frustrated, of course, because they knew that the terminal was as | |
harmless as a TV or anything else on the list... which gave them an | |
idea. | |
The next day they returned, and the same thing happened: a guard | |
stopped them and asked what they were carrying. They said, "This is | |
a TV typewriter!" The guard was skeptical, so they plugged it in and | |
demonstrated it. "See? You just type on the keyboard and what you | |
type shows up on the TV screen." Now the guard didn't stop to think | |
about how utterly useless a typewriter would be that didn't produce | |
any paper copies of what you typed; but this was clearly a TV | |
typewriter, no doubt about it. So he checked his list: "A TV is all | |
right, a typewriter is all right... okay, take it on in!" | |
Two Stories About `Magic' (by Guy Steele) | |
========================================= | |
When Barbara Steele was in her fifth month of pregnancy in 1981, her | |
doctor sent her to a specialist to have a sonogram made to determine | |
whether there were twins. She dragged her husband Guy along to the | |
appointment. It was quite fascinating; as the doctor moved an | |
instrument along the skin, a small TV screen showed cross-sectional | |
pictures of the abdomen. | |
Now Barbara and I had both studied computer science at MIT, and we | |
both saw that some complex computerized image-processing was involved. | |
Out of curiosity, we asked the doctor how it was done, hoping to learn | |
some details about the mathematics involved. The doctor, not knowing | |
our educational background, simply said, "The probe sends out sound | |
waves, which bounce off the internal organs. A microphone picks up | |
the echoes, like radar, and send the signals to a computer---and the | |
computer makes a picture." Thanks a lot! Now a hacker would have | |
said, "... and the computer *magically* (or {automagically}) | |
makes a picture", implicitly acknowledging that he has glossed over | |
an extremely complicated process. | |
Some years ago I was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the | |
MIT AI Lab's PDP-10, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of | |
one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the | |
lab's hardware hackers (no one knows who). | |
You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what | |
it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labeled | |
in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil | |
on the metal switch body were the words `magic' and `more magic'. | |
The switch was in the `more magic' position. | |
I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the | |
switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch | |
only had one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did | |
disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic | |
fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are | |
two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one | |
side and no wire on its other side. | |
It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. | |
Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped | |
it. The computer instantly crashed. | |
Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but | |
nevertheless restored the switch to the `more magic' position before | |
reviving the computer. | |
A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, David Moon as I | |
recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a | |
supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I | |
was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him | |
the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire | |
connected to it, still in the `more magic' position. We scrutinized | |
the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of | |
the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a | |
ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was | |
it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that | |
couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch. | |
The computer promptly crashed. | |
This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time MIT hacker, who | |
was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. | |
He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters | |
and diked it out. We then revived the computer and it ran fine ever | |
since. | |
We still don't know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a | |
theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and | |
flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset | |
the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But | |
we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch | |
was {magic}. | |
I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I | |
usually keep it set on `more magic.' | |
A Selection of AI Koans | |
======================= | |
These are perhaps the funniest examples of a genre of jokes told at | |
the MIT AI lab about various noted computer scientists and hackers. | |
The original koans were composed by Danny Hillis. | |
* * * | |
A novice was trying to fix a broken Lisp machine by turning the power | |
off and on. | |
Knight, seeing what the student was doing spoke sternly: "You can not | |
fix a machine by just power-cycling it with no understanding of what | |
is going wrong." | |
Knight turned the machine off and on. | |
The machine worked. | |
[Ed note: This is much funnier if you know that Tom Knight was one of the | |
Lisp machine's principal designers] | |
* * * | |
One day a student came to Moon and said, "I understand how to | |
make a better garbage collector. We must keep a reference count | |
of the pointers to each cons." | |
Moon patiently told the student the following story: | |
"One day a student came to Moon and said, `I understand how | |
to make a better garbage collector... | |
[Ed. note: The point here is technical. Pure reference-count garbage | |
collectors have problems with `pathological' structures that point | |
to themselves.] | |
* * * | |
In the days when Sussman was a novice Minsky once came to him as | |
he sat hacking at the PDP-6. | |
"What are you doing?", asked Minsky. | |
"I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe", | |
Sussman replied. | |
"Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. | |
"I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play", | |
Sussman said. | |
Minsky then shut his eyes. | |
"Why do you close your eyes?", Sussman asked his teacher. | |
"So that the room will be empty." | |
At that moment, Sussman was enlightened. | |
* * * | |
A disciple of another sect once came to Drescher as he was | |
eating his morning meal. | |
"I would like to give you this personality test", said the | |
outsider, "because I want you to be happy." | |
Drescher took the paper that was offered him and put it | |
into the toaster, saying: | |
"I wish the toaster to be happy, too." | |
OS and JEDGAR | |
************* | |
This story says a lot about the style of the ITS culture. | |
On the ITS system there was a program that allowed you to see what is | |
being printed on someone else's terminal. It worked by `spying' on | |
the other guy's output, by examining the insides of the monitor | |
system. The output spy program was called OS. Throughout the rest of | |
the computer science (and also at IBM) OS means `operating system', | |
but among old-time ITS hackers it almost always meant `output spy'. | |
OS could work because ITS purposely had very little in the way of | |
`protection' that prevented one user from interfering with another. | |
Fair is fair, however. There was another program that would | |
automatically notify you if anyone started to spy on your output. It | |
worked in exactly the same way, by looking at the insides of the | |
operating system to see if anyone else was looking at the insides that | |
had to do with your output. This `counterspy' program was called | |
JEDGAR (pronounced as two syllables: /jed'gr/), in honor of the former | |
head of the FBI. | |
But there's more. The rest of the story is that JEDGAR would ask the | |
user for `license to kill'. If the user said yes, then JEDGAR would | |
actually gun the job of the luser who was spying. However, people | |
found this made life too violent, especially when tourists learned | |
about it. One of the systems hackers solved the problem by replacing | |
JEDGAR with another program that only pretended to do its job. It | |
took a long time to do this, because every copy of JEDGAR had to be | |
patched, and to this day no one knows how many people never figured | |
out that JEDGAR had been defanged. | |
The Story of Mel, a Real Programmer | |
*********************************** | |
This was posted to USENET by Ed Nather (utastro!nather), May 21, 1983. | |
A recent article devoted to the *macho* side of programming | |
made the bald and unvarnished statement: | |
Real Programmers write in Fortran. | |
Maybe they do now, | |
in this decadent era of | |
Lite beer, hand calculators and "user-friendly" software | |
but back in the Good Old Days, | |
when the term "software" sounded funny | |
and Real Computers were made out of drums and vacuum tubes, | |
Real Programmers wrote in machine code. | |
Not Fortran. Not RATFOR. Not, even, assembly language. | |
Machine Code. | |
Raw, unadorned, inscrutable hexadecimal numbers. | |
Directly. | |
Lest a whole new generation of programmers | |
grow up in ignorance of this glorious past, | |
I feel duty-bound to describe, | |
as best I can through the generation gap, | |
how a Real Programmer wrote code. | |
I'll call him Mel, | |
because that was his name. | |
I first met Mel when I went to work for Royal McBee Computer Corp., | |
a now-defunct subsidiary of the typewriter company. | |
The firm manufactured the LGP-30, | |
a small, cheap (by the standards of the day) | |
drum-memory computer, | |
and had just started to manufacture | |
the RPC-4000, a much-improved, | |
bigger, better, faster --- drum-memory computer. | |
Cores cost too much, | |
and weren't here to stay, anyway. | |
(That's why you haven't heard of the company, or the computer.) | |
I had been hired to write a Fortran compiler | |
for this new marvel and Mel was my guide to its wonders. | |
Mel didn't approve of compilers. | |
"If a program can't rewrite its own code", | |
he asked, "what good is it?" | |
Mel had written, | |
in hexadecimal, | |
the most popular computer program the company owned. | |
It ran on the LGP-30 | |
and played blackjack with potential customers | |
at computer shows. | |
Its effect was always dramatic. | |
The LGP-30 booth was packed at every show, | |
and the IBM salesmen stood around | |
talking to each other. | |
Whether or not this actually sold computers | |
was a question we never discussed. | |
Mel's job was to re-write | |
the blackjack program for the RPC-4000. | |
(Port? What does that mean?) | |
The new computer had a one-plus-one | |
addressing scheme, | |
in which each machine instruction, | |
in addition to the operation code | |
and the address of the needed operand, | |
had a second address that indicated where, on the revolving drum, | |
the next instruction was located. | |
In modern parlance, | |
every single instruction was followed by a GO TO! | |
Put *that* in Pascal's pipe and smoke it. | |
Mel loved the RPC-4000 | |
because he could optimize his code: | |
that is, locate instructions on the drum | |
so that just as one finished its job, | |
the next would be just arriving at the "read head" | |
and available for immediate execution. | |
There was a program to do that job, | |
an "optimizing assembler", | |
but Mel refused to use it. | |
"You never know where its going to put things", | |
he explained, "so you'd have to use separate constants". | |
It was a long time before I understood that remark. | |
Since Mel knew the numerical value | |
of every operation code, | |
and assigned his own drum addresses, | |
every instruction he wrote could also be considered | |
a numerical constant. | |
He could pick up an earlier "add" instruction, say, | |
and multiply by it, | |
if it had the right numeric value. | |
His code was not easy for someone else to modify. | |
I compared Mel's hand-optimized programs | |
with the same code massaged by the optimizing assembler program, | |
and Mel's always ran faster. | |
That was because the "top-down" method of program design | |
hadn't been invented yet, | |
and Mel wouldn't have used it anyway. | |
He wrote the innermost parts of his program loops first, | |
so they would get first choice | |
of the optimum address locations on the drum. | |
The optimizing assembler wasn't smart enough to do it that way. | |
Mel never wrote time-delay loops, either, | |
even when the balky Flexowriter | |
required a delay between output characters to work right. | |
He just located instructions on the drum | |
so each successive one was just *past* the read head | |
when it was needed; | |
the drum had to execute another complete revolution | |
to find the next instruction. | |
He coined an unforgettable term for this procedure. | |
Although "optimum" is an absolute term, | |
like "unique", it became common verbal practice | |
to make it relative: | |
"not quite optimum" or "less optimum" | |
or "not very optimum". | |
Mel called the maximum time-delay locations | |
the "most pessimum". | |
After he finished the blackjack program | |
and got it to run, | |
("Even the initializer is optimized", | |
he said proudly) | |
he got a Change Request from the sales department. | |
The program used an elegant (optimized) | |
random number generator | |
to shuffle the "cards" and deal from the "deck", | |
and some of the salesmen felt it was too fair, | |
since sometimes the customers lost. | |
They wanted Mel to modify the program | |
so, at the setting of a sense switch on the console, | |
they could change the odds and let the customer win. | |
Mel balked. | |
He felt this was patently dishonest, | |
which it was, | |
and that it impinged on his personal integrity as a programmer, | |
which it did, | |
so he refused to do it. | |
The Head Salesman talked to Mel, | |
as did the Big Boss and, at the boss's urging, | |
a few Fellow Programmers. | |
Mel finally gave in and wrote the code, | |
but he got the test backwards, | |
and, when the sense switch was turned on, | |
the program would cheat, winning every time. | |
Mel was delighted with this, | |
claiming his subconscious was uncontrollably ethical, | |
and adamantly refused to fix it. | |
After Mel had left the company for greener pa$ture$, | |
the Big Boss asked me to look at the code | |
and see if I could find the test and reverse it. | |
Somewhat reluctantly, I agreed to look. | |
Tracking Mel's code was a real adventure. | |
I have often felt that programming is an art form, | |
whose real value can only be appreciated | |
by another versed in the same arcane art; | |
there are lovely gems and brilliant coups | |
hidden from human view and admiration, sometimes forever, | |
by the very nature of the process. | |
You can learn a lot about an individual | |
just by reading through his code, | |
even in hexadecimal. | |
Mel was, I think, an unsung genius. | |
Perhaps my greatest shock came | |
when I found an innocent loop that had no test in it. | |
No test. *None*. | |
Common sense said it had to be a closed loop, | |
where the program would circle, forever, endlessly. | |
Program control passed right through it, however, | |
and safely out the other side. | |
It took me two weeks to figure it out. | |
The RPC-4000 computer had a really modern facility | |
called an index register. | |
It allowed the programmer to write a program loop | |
that used an indexed instruction inside; | |
each time through, | |
the number in the index register | |
was added to the address of that instruction, | |
so it would refer | |
to the next datum in a series. | |
He had only to increment the index register | |
each time through. | |
Mel never used it. | |
Instead, he would pull the instruction into a machine register, | |
add one to its address, | |
and store it back. | |
He would then execute the modified instruction | |
right from the register. | |
The loop was written so this additional execution time | |
was taken into account --- | |
just as this instruction finished, | |
the next one was right under the drum's read head, | |
ready to go. | |
But the loop had no test in it. | |
The vital clue came when I noticed | |
the index register bit, | |
the bit that lay between the address | |
and the operation code in the instruction word, | |
was turned on--- | |
yet Mel never used the index register, | |
leaving it zero all the time. | |
When the light went on it nearly blinded me. | |
He had located the data he was working on | |
near the top of memory --- | |
the largest locations the instructions could address --- | |
so, after the last datum was handled, | |
incrementing the instruction address | |
would make it overflow. | |
The carry would add one to the | |
operation code, changing it to the next one in the instruction set: | |
a jump instruction. | |
Sure enough, the next program instruction was | |
in address location zero, | |
and the program went happily on its way. | |
I haven't kept in touch with Mel, | |
so I don't know if he ever gave in to the flood of | |
change that has washed over programming techniques | |
since those long-gone days. | |
I like to think he didn't. | |
In any event, | |
I was impressed enough that I quit looking for the | |
offending test, | |
telling the Big Boss I couldn't find it. | |
He didn't seem surprised. | |
When I left the company, | |
the blackjack program would still cheat | |
if you turned on the right sense switch, | |
and I think that's how it should be. | |
I didn't feel comfortable | |
hacking up the code of a Real Programmer. | |
This is one of hackerdom's great heroic epics, free verse or no. In a | |
few spare images it captures more about the esthetics and psychology | |
of hacking than every scholarly volume on the subject put together. | |
For an opposing point of view, see the entry for {real programmer}. | |
A Portrait of J. Random Hacker | |
****************************** | |
This profile reflects detailed comments on an earlier `trial balloon' | |
version from about a hundred USENET respondents. Where comparatives | |
are used, the implicit `other' is a randomly selected group from the | |
non-hacker population of the same size as hackerdom. | |
General appearance: | |
=================== | |
Intelligent. Scruffy. Intense. Abstracted. Interestingly for a | |
sedentary profession, more hackers run to skinny than fat; both | |
extremes are more common than elsewhere. Tans are rare. | |
Dress: | |
====== | |
Casual, vaguely post-hippy; T-shirts, jeans, running shoes, | |
Birkenstocks (or bare feet). Long hair, beards and moustaches are | |
common. High incidence of tie-dye and intellectual or humorous | |
`slogan' T-shirts (only rarely computer related, that's too obvious). | |
A substantial minority runs to `outdoorsy' clothing --- hiking boots | |
("in case a mountain should suddenly spring up in the machine room", | |
as one famous parody put it), khakis, lumberjack or chamois shirts and | |
the like. | |
Very few actually fit the National-Lampoon-Nerd stereotype, though it | |
lingers on at MIT and may have been more common before 1975. These | |
days, backpacks are more common than briefcases, and the hacker `look' | |
is more whole-earth than whole-polyester. | |
Hackers dress for comfort, function, and minimal maintenance hassles | |
rather than for appearance (some, unfortunately, take this to extremes | |
and neglect personal hygiene). They have a very low tolerance of | |
suits or other `business' attire, in fact it is not uncommon for | |
hackers to quit a job rather than conform to dress codes. | |
Female hackers never wear visible makeup and many use none at all. | |
Reading habits: | |
=============== | |
Omnivorous, but usually includes lots of science and science fiction. | |
The typical hacker household might subscribe to `Analog', | |
`Scientific American', `Co-Evolution Quarterly', and | |
`Smithsonian'. Hackers often have a reading range that astonishes | |
`liberal arts' people but tend not to talk about it as much. Many | |
hackers spend as much of their spare time reading as the average | |
American burns up watching TV, and often keep shelves and shelves of | |
well-thumbed books in their homes. | |
Other interests: | |
================ | |
Some hobbies are widely shared and recognized as going with the | |
culture. Science fiction. Music (see the MUSIC entry). Medievalism. | |
Chess, go, backgammon, wargames and intellectual games of all kinds. | |
Role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons used to be extremely | |
popular among hackers but have lost a bit of their former luster as | |
they moved into the mainstream and became heavily commercialized. | |
Logic puzzles. Ham radio. Other interests that seem to correlate | |
less strongly but positively with hackerdom include: linguistics and | |
theater teching. | |
Physical Activity and Sports: | |
============================= | |
Many (perhaps even most) hackers don't do sports at all and are | |
determinedly anti-physical. | |
Among those that do, they are almost always self-competitive ones | |
involving concentration, stamina, and micromotor skills: martial arts, | |
bicycling, kite-flying, hiking, rock-climbing, sailing, caving, | |
juggling. | |
Hackers avoid most team sports like the plague (volleyball is a | |
notable and unexplained exception). | |
Education: | |
========== | |
Nearly all hackers past their teens are either college-degreed or | |
self-educated to an equivalent level. The self-taught hacker is often | |
considered (at least by other hackers) to be better-motivated and more | |
respected than his B.Sc. counterpart. Academic areas from which | |
people often gravitate into hackerdom include (besides the obvious | |
computer science and electrical engineering) physics, mathematics, | |
linguistics, and philosophy. | |
Things hackers detest and avoid: | |
================================ | |
IBM mainframes. Smurfs and other forms of offensive cuteness. | |
Bureaucracies. Stupid people. Easy listening music. Television | |
(except for cartoons, movies, the old `Star Trek', and the new | |
`Simpsons'). Business suits. Dishonesty. Incompetence. Boredom. | |
BASIC. Character-based menu interfaces. | |
Food: | |
===== | |
Ethnic. Spicy. Oriental, esp. Chinese and most especially Szechuan, | |
Hunan and Mandarin (hackers consider Cantonese vaguely declasse). | |
Thai food has experienced flurries of popularity. Where available, | |
high-quality Jewish delicatessen food is much esteemed. A visible | |
minority of Midwestern and Southwestern hackers prefers Mexican. | |
For those all-night hacks, pizza and microwaved burritos are big. | |
Interestingly, though the mainstream culture has tended to think of | |
hackers as incorrigible junk-food junkies, many have at least mildly | |
health-foodist attitudes and are fairly discriminating about what they | |
eat. This may be generational; anecdotal evidence suggests that the | |
stereotype was more on the mark ten to fifteen years ago. | |
Politics: | |
========= | |
Vaguely left of center, except for the strong libertarian contingent | |
which rejects conventional left-right politics entirely. The only | |
safe generalization is that almost all hackers are anti-authoritarian, | |
thus both conventional conservatism and `hard' leftism are rare. | |
Hackers are far more likely than most non-hackers to either a) be | |
aggressively apolitical, or b) entertain peculiar or idiosyncratic | |
political ideas and actually try to live by them day-to-day. | |
Gender & Ethnicity: | |
=================== | |
Hackerdom is still predominantly male. However, the percentage of | |
women is clearly higher than the low-single-digit range typical for | |
technical professions. | |
Hackerdom is predominantly Caucasian with a strong minority of Jews | |
(east coast) and Asians (west coast). The Jewish contingent has | |
exerted a particularly pervasive cultural influence (see Food, and | |
note that several common slang terms are obviously mutated Yiddish). | |
Hackers as a group are about as color-blind as anyone could ask for, | |
and ethnic prejudice of any kind tends to be met with extreme | |
hostility; the ethnic distribution of hackers is understood by them to | |
be a function of who tends to seek and get higher education. | |
It has been speculated that hackish gender- and color-blindness is | |
partly a positive effect of ASCII-only network channels. | |
Religion: | |
========= | |
Agnostic. Atheist. Non-observant Jewish. Neo-pagan. Very commonly, | |
three or more of these are combined in the same person. Conventional | |
faith-holding Christianity is rare though not unknown (at least on the | |
east coast, more hackers wear yarmulkes than crucifixes). | |
Even hackers who identify with a religious affiliation tend to be | |
relaxed about it, hostile to organized religion in general and all | |
forms of religious bigotry in particular. Many enjoy `parody' | |
religions such as Discordianism and the Church of the SubGenius. | |
Also, many hackers are influenced to varying degrees by Zen Buddhism | |
or (less commonly) Taoism, and blend them easily with their `native' | |
religions. | |
There is a definite strain of mystical, almost Gnostic sensibility | |
that shows up even among those hackers not actively involved with | |
neo-paganism, Discordianism, or Zen. Hacker folklore that pays homage | |
to `wizards' and speaks of incantations and demons has too much | |
psychological truthfulness about it to be entirely a joke. | |
Ceremonial chemicals: | |
===================== | |
Most hackers don't smoke tobacco and use alcohol in moderation if at | |
all (though there is a visible contingent of exotic-beer fanciers, and | |
a few hackers are serious oenophiles). Limited use of `soft' drugs (esp. | |
psychedelics such as marijuana, LSD, psilocybin etc.) used to be | |
relatively common and is still regarded with more tolerance than in | |
the mainstream culture. Use of `downers' and opiates, on the other | |
hand, appears to be particularly rare; hackers seem in general to | |
dislike drugs that `dumb them down'. On the other hand, many hackers | |
regularly wire up on caffeine and/or sugar for all-night hacking runs. | |
Communication style: | |
==================== | |
See the dictionary notes on `Hacker speech style'. Though hackers | |
often have poor person-to-person communication skills, they are as a | |
rule extremely sensitive to nuances of language and very precise in | |
their use of it. They are often better at written communication than | |
spoken. | |
Geographical Distribution: | |
========================== | |
In the U.S., hackerdom revolves on a Bay Area/Boston axis; about half | |
of the hard core seems to live within a hundred miles of Cambridge or | |
Berkeley. Hackers tend to cluster around large cities, especially | |
`university towns' such as the Raleigh/Durham area in North Carolina | |
or Princeton, New Jersey (this may simply reflect the fact that many | |
are students or ex-students living near their alma maters). | |
Sexual habits: | |
============== | |
Hackerdom tolerates a much wider range of sexual and lifestyle | |
variation than the mainstream culture. It includes a relatively large | |
gay contingent. Hackers are more likely to live in polygynous or | |
polyandrous relationships, practice open marriage, or live in communes | |
or group houses. In this, as in some other respects, (see `General | |
Appearance') hackerdom semi-consciously maintains `counterculture' | |
values. | |
Personality Characteristics: | |
============================ | |
The most obvious common `personality' characteristics of hackers are | |
high intelligence, consuming curiosity, and facility with intellectual | |
abstractions. Also, most hackers are `neophiles', stimulated by and | |
appreciative of novelty (especially intellectual novelty). Most are | |
also relatively individualistic and anti-conformist. | |
Contrary to stereotype, hackers are *not* usually intellectually | |
narrow; they tend to be interested in any subject that can provide | |
mental stimulation, and can often discourse knowledgeably and even | |
interestingly on any number of obscure subjects --- assuming you can | |
get them to talk at all as opposed to, say, going back to hacking. | |
Hackers are `control freaks' in a way that has nothing to do with the | |
usual coercive or authoritarian connotations of the term. In the same | |
way that children delight in making model trains go forward and back | |
by moving a switch, hackers love making complicated things like | |
computers do nifty stuff for them. But it has to be *their* | |
nifty stuff; they don't like tedium or nondeterminism. Accordingly, | |
they tend to be careful and orderly in their intellectual lives and | |
chaotic elsewhere. Their code will be beautiful, even if their desks | |
are buried in three feet of crap. | |
Hackers are generally only very weakly motivated by conventional | |
rewards such as social approval or money. They tend to be attracted | |
by challenges and excited by interesting toys, and to judge the | |
interest of work or other activities in terms of the challenges | |
offered and the toys they get to play with. | |
In terms of Myers-Briggs and equivalent psychometric systems, | |
hackerdom appears to concentrate the relatively rare INTJ and INTP | |
types; that is, introverted, intuitive, and thinker types (as opposed | |
to the extroverted-sensate personalities that predominate in the | |
mainstream culture). ENT[JP] types are also concentrated among | |
hackers but are in a minority. | |
Weaknesses of the hacker personality: | |
===================================== | |
Relatively little ability to identify emotionally with other people. | |
This may be because hackers generally aren't much like `other people'. | |
Unsurprisingly, there is also a tendency to self-absorption, | |
intellectual arrogance, and impatience with people and tasks perceived | |
to be wasting one's time. As a result, many hackers have difficulty | |
maintaining stable relationships. | |
As cynical as hackers sometimes wax about the amount of idiocy in the | |
world, they tend at bottom to assume that everyone is as rational, | |
`cool', and imaginative as they consider themselves. This bias often | |
contributes to weakness in communication skills. Hackers tend to be | |
especially poor at confrontations and negotiation. | |
Hackers are often monumentally disorganized and sloppy about dealing | |
with the physical world. Bills don't get paid on time, clutter piles | |
up to incredible heights in homes and offices, and minor maintenance | |
tasks get deferred indefinitely. | |
The sort of person who uses phrases like `incompletely socialized' | |
usually thinks hackers are. Hackers regard such people with contempt | |
when they notice them at all. | |
Miscellaneous: | |
============== | |
Hackers are more likely to keep cats than dogs. Many drive incredibly | |
decrepit heaps and forget to wash them; richer ones drive spiffy | |
Porsches and RX-7s and then forget to wash them. | |
Bibliography | |
************ | |
Here are some other books you can read to help you understand the | |
hacker mindset. | |
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid | |
Hofstadter, Douglas | |
Basic Books, 1979, New York | |
ISBN 0-394-74502-7 | |
This book reads like an intellectual Grand Tour of hacker | |
preoccupations. Music, mathematical logic, programming, speculations | |
on the nature of intelligence, biology, and Zen are woven into a | |
brilliant tapestry themed on the concept of encoded self-reference. | |
The perfect left-brain companion to `Illuminatus'. | |
Illuminatus (three vols) | |
1. The Golden Apple | |
2. The Eye in the Pyramid | |
3. Leviathan | |
Shea, Robert & Wilson, Robert Anton | |
Dell Books, 1975, New York | |
ISBN 0-440-{14688-7,34691-6,14742-5} | |
This work of alleged fiction is an incredible berserko-surrealist | |
rollercoaster of world-girdling conspiracies, intelligent dolphins, | |
the fall of Atlantis, who really killed JFK, sex, drugs, rock and roll | |
and the Cosmic Giggle Factor. First published in 3 volumes, but | |
there's now a one-volume trade paperback carried by most chain | |
bookstores under SF. The perfect right-brain companion to Hofstadter's | |
`Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'. See {Eris}, | |
{Discordianism}, {random numbers}, {Church Of The Sub-Genius}. | |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | |
Douglas Adams | |
Pocket Books, 1981, New York | |
ISBN 0-671-46149-4 | |
This Monty-Python-in-Space spoof of SF genre traditions has been | |
popular among hackers ever since the original British radio show. | |
Read it if only to learn about Vogons (see {bogons}) and the | |
significance of the number 42 (see {random numbers}) --- also why the | |
winningest chess program of 1990 was called `Deep Thought'. | |
The Tao of Programming | |
James Geoffrey | |
Infobooks, 1987, Santa Monica | |
ISBN 0-931137-07-1 | |
This gentle, funny spoof of the `Tao Te Ching' contains much that is | |
illuminating about the hacker way of thought. "When you have learned | |
to snatch the error code from the trap frame, it will be time for you | |
to leave." | |
Hackers | |
Steven Levy | |
Anchor/Doubleday 1984, New York | |
ISBN 0-385-19195-2 | |
Levy's book is at its best in describing the early MIT hackers at the | |
Model Railroad Club and the early days of the microcomputer | |
revolution. He never understood UNIX or the networks, though, and his | |
enshrinement of Richard Stallman as "the last true hacker" turns out | |
(thankfully) to have been quite misleading. Numerous minor factual | |
errors also mar the text; for example, Levy's claim that the original | |
jargon file derived from a 1959 dictionary of Model Railroad Club | |
slang is incorrect (the File originated at Stanford and was brought to | |
MIT in 1976; the First Edition co-authors had never seen the dictionary | |
in question). Nevertheless this remains a useful and stimulating book | |
that captures the feel of several important hackish subcultures. | |
The Cuckoo's Egg | |
Clifford Stoll | |
Doubleday 1989, New York | |
ISBN 0-385-24946-2 | |
Clifford Stoll's absorbing tale of how he tracked Markus Hess and the | |
Chaos Club cracking-ring nicely illustrates the difference between | |
`hacker' and `cracker'. And Stoll's portrait of himself and his lady | |
Martha and his friends at Berkeley and on the Internet paints a | |
marvelously vivid picture of how hackers and the people around them | |
like to live and what they think. | |
The Devil's DP Dictionary | |
by Stan Kelly-Bootle | |
McGraw-Hill Inc, 1981 | |
ISBN 0-07-034022-6 | |
This pastiche of Ambrose Bierce's famous work is similar in format to | |
the Jargon File (and quotes several entries from jargon-1) but | |
somewhat different in tone and intent. It is more satirical and less | |
anthropological, and largely a product of the author's literate and | |
quirky imagination. For example, it defines `computer science' as | |
"A study akin to numerology and astrology, but lacking the precision | |
of the former and the success of the latter"; also as "The boring | |
art of coping with a large number of trivialities." | |
The Devouring Fungus: Tales from the Computer Age | |
by Karla Jennings | |
W. W. Norton 1990, New York | |
ISBN 0-393-30732-8 | |
The author of this pioneering compendium knits together a great deal | |
of computer and hacker-related folklore with good writing and a few | |
well-chosen cartoons. She has a keen eye for the human aspects of the | |
lore and is very good at illuminating the psychology and evolution of | |
hackerdom. Unfortunately, a number of small errors and awkwardnesses | |
suggest that she didn't have the final manuscript vetted by a hackish | |
insider; the glossary in the back is particularly embarrassing, and at | |
least one classic tale (the Magic Switch story in this file's Appendix | |
A) is given in incomplete and badly mangled form. Nevertheless, this | |
book is a win overall and can be enjoyed by hacker and non-hacker | |
alike. | |
True Names... and Other Dangers | |
by Vernor Vinge | |
Baen Books 1987, New York | |
ISBN 0-671-65363 | |
Hacker demigod Richard Stallman believes the title story of this book | |
"expresses the spirit of hacking best". This may well be true; it's | |
certainly difficult to recall anyone doing a better job. The other | |
stories in this collection are also fine work by an author who is | |
perhaps one of today's very best practitioners of the hard-SF genre. |
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