diff --git a/doc/humor/jargon.68 b/doc/humor/jargon.68 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..75079c34 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/humor/jargon.68 @@ -0,0 +1,1700 @@ + -*- Mode: Text -*- Notes on updating this file: + +This file is maintained at three locations. It is AIWORD.RF[UP,DOC] +at SAIL, and GLS;JARGON > at MIT-MC and at MIT-AI. If you make any +changes, please FTP the new file to the other location. (NOTE: Use +ASCII mode in FTP to avoid screwing up the tilde char!) It is also a +good idea to compare this file against the copy on the other machine +before FTP'ing and to merge any changes found there, in case someone +else forgot to do the FTP. Also, please let us know (see list of +names below) about your changes so that we can double-check them. + +Try to conform to the format already being used--70 character lines, +3-character indentations, pronunciations in parentheses, etymologies +in brackets, single-space after def'n numbers and word classes, etc. + +Stick to the standard ASCII character set. + +If you'd rather not mung the file yourself, send your definitions to +DON @ SAIL, GLS @ MIT-AI, and/or MRC @ SAIL. + +The last edit (of this line, anyway) was by Don Woods, 82-11-14. + +====================================================================== + + Compiled by Guy L. Steele Jr., Raphael Finkel, Donald + Woods, Geoff Goodfellow and Mark Crispin, with + assistance from the MIT and Stanford AI communities + and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Some + contributions were submitted via the ARPAnet from + miscellaneous sites. + +Verb doubling: a standard construction is to double a verb and use it + as a comment on what the implied subject does. Often used to + terminate a conversation. Typical examples involve WIN, LOSE, + HACK, FLAME, BARF, CHOMP: + "The disk heads just crashed." "Lose, lose." + "Mostly he just talked about his --- crock. Flame, flame." + "Boy, what a bagbiter! Chomp, chomp!" + +Soundalike slang: similar to Cockney rhyming slang. Often made up on + the spur of the moment. Standard examples: + Boston Globe => Boston Glob + Herald American => Horrid (Harried) American + New York Times => New York Slime + historical reasons => hysterical raisins + government property - do not duplicate (seen on keys) + => government duplicity - do not propagate + Often the substitution will be made in such a way as to slip in + a standard jargon word: + Dr. Dobb's Journal => Dr. Frob's Journal + creeping featurism => feeping creaturism + Margaret Jacks Hall => Marginal Hacks Hall + +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-values function). The question + should expect a yes/no answer, though it needn't. (See T and NIL.) + At dinnertime: "Foodp?" "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry." or "T!" + "State-of-the-world-P?" (Straight) "I'm about to go home." + (Humorous) "Yes, the world has a state." + [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] + +Peculiar nouns: MIT AI 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. Examples: + porous => porosity + generous => generosity + Ergo: mysterious => mysteriosity + ferrous => ferocity + Other examples: winnitude, disgustitude, hackification. + +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 in a com link. Another + expression sometimes heard is "complain!" + +@BEGIN (primarily CMU) with @END, used humorously in writing to + indicate a context or to remark on the surrounded text. From the + SCRIBE command of the same name. 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) + +ANGLE BRACKETS (primarily MIT) n. Either of the characters "<" and + ">". See BROKET. + +AOS (aus (East coast) ay-ahs (West coast)) [based on a PDP-10 + increment instruction] v. To increase the amount of something. + "Aos the campfire." Usage: considered silly. See SOS. + +ARG n. Abbreviation for "argument" (to a function), used so often as + to have become a new word. + +AUTOMAGICALLY adv. Automatically, but in a way which, for some reason + (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps + even too trivial), I don't feel like explaining to you. See MAGIC. + Example: Some programs which produce XGP output files spool them + automagically. + +BAGBITER 1. n. Equipment or program that fails, usually + intermittently. 2. BAGBITING: adj. Failing hardware or software. + "This bagbiting system won't let me get out of spacewar." Usage: + verges on obscenity. Grammatically separable; one may speak of + "biting the bag". Synonyms: LOSER, LOSING, CRETINOUS, BLETCHEROUS, + BARFUCIOUS, CHOMPER, CHOMPING. + +BANG n. Common alternate name for EXCL (q.v.), especially at CMU. See + SHRIEK. + +BAR 1. The second metasyntactic variable, after FOO. "Suppose we have + two functions FOO and BAR. FOO calls BAR..." 2. Often appended to + FOO to produce FOOBAR. + +BARF [from the "layman" slang, meaning "vomit"] 1. interj. Term of + disgust. See BLETCH. 2. v. Choke, as on input. May mean to give + an error message. "The function `=' compares two fixnums or two + flonums, and barfs on anything else." 3. BARFULOUS, BARFUCIOUS: + adj. Said of something which would make anyone barf, if only for + aesthetic reasons. + +BELLS AND WHISTLES n. Unnecessary but useful (or amusing) features of + a program. "Now that we've got the basic program working, let's go + back and add some bells and whistles." Nobody seems to know what + distinguishes a bell from a whistle. + +BIGNUMS [from Macsyma] n. 1. In backgammon, large numbers on the dice. + 2. Multiple-precision (sometimes infinitely extendable) integers + and, through analogy, any very large numbers. 3. EL CAMINO BIGNUM: + El Camino Real, a street through the San Francisco peninsula that + originally extended (and still appears in places) all the way to + Mexico City. It was termed "El Camino Double Precision" when + someone noted it was a very long street, and then "El Camino + Bignum" when it was pointed out that it was hundreds of miles long. + +BIN [short for BINARY; used as a second file name on ITS] 1. n. + BINARY. 2. BIN FILE: A file containing the BIN for a program. + Usage: used at MIT, which runs on ITS. The equivalent term at + Stanford is DMP (pronounced "dump") FILE. Other names used include + SAV ("save") FILE (DEC and Tenex), SHR ("share") and LOW FILES + (DEC), and EXE ("ex'ee") FILE (DEC and Twenex). Also in this + category are the input files to the various flavors of linking + loaders (LOADER, LINK-10, STINK), called REL FILES. + +BINARY n. The object code for a program. + +BIT n. 1. The unit of information; the amount of information obtained + by asking a yes-or-no question. "Bits" is often used simply to + mean information, as in "Give me bits about DPL replicators". 2. + [By extension from "interrupt bits" on a computer] A reminder that + something should be done or talked about eventually. Upon seeing + someone that you haven't talked to for a while, it's common for one + or both to say, "I have a bit set for you." + +BITBLT (bit'blit) 1. v. To perform a complex operation on a large + block of bits, usually involving the bits being displayed on a + bitmapped raster screen. See BLT. 2. n. The operation itself. + +BIT BUCKET n. 1. A receptacle used to hold the runoff from the + computer's shift registers. 2. Mythical destination of deleted + files, GC'ed memory, and other no-longer-accessible data. 3. The + physical device associated with "NUL:". + +BLETCH [from German "brechen", to vomit (?)] 1. interj. Term of + disgust. 2. BLETCHEROUS: adj. Disgusting in design or function. + "This keyboard is bletcherous!" Usage: slightly comic. + +BLT (blit, very rarely belt) [based on the PDP-10 block transfer + instruction; confusing to users of the PDP-11] 1. v. To transfer a + large contiguous package of information from one place to another. + 2. THE BIG BLT: n. Shuffling operation on the PDP-10 under some + operating systems that consumes a significant amount of computer + time. 3. (usually pronounced B-L-T) n. Sandwich containing bacon, + lettuce, and tomato. + +BOGOSITY n. The degree to which something is BOGUS (q.v.). 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." The agreed-upon unit + of bogosity is the microLenat (uL). + +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. Silly. "Stop writing those bogus sagas." (This word seems to + have some, but not all, of the connotations of RANDOM.) + [Etymological note from Lehman/Reid at CMU: "Bogus" was originally + used (in this sense) at Princeton, in the late 60's. It was used + not particularly in the CS department, but all over campus. It + came to Yale, where one of us (Lehman) was an undergraduate, and + (we assume) elsewhere through the efforts of Princeton alumni who + brought the word with them from their alma mater. In the Yale + case, the alumnus is Michael Shamos, who was a graduate student at + Yale and is now a faculty member here. A glossary of bogus words + was compiled at Yale when the word was first popularized (e.g., + autobogophobia: the fear of becoming bogotified).] + +BOUNCE (Stanford) v. To play volleyball. "Bounce, bounce! Stop + wasting time on the computer and get out to the court!" + +BRAIN-DAMAGED [generalization of "Honeywell Brain Damage" (HBD), a + theoretical disease invented to explain certain utter cretinisms in + 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. + +BREAK v. 1. To cause to be broken (in any sense). "Your latest patch + to the system broke the TELNET server." 2. (of a program) To stop + temporarily, so that it may be examined for debugging purposes. + The place where it stops is a BREAKPOINT. + +BROKEN adj. 1. Not working properly (of programs). 2. Behaving + strangely; especially (of people), exhibiting extreme depression. + +BROKET [by analogy with "bracket": a "broken bracket"] (primarily + Stanford) n. Either of the characters "<" and ">". (At MIT, and + apparently in The Real World (q.v.) as well, these are usually + called ANGLE BRACKETS.) + +BUCKY BITS (primarily Stanford) n. The bits produced by the CTRL and + META shift keys on a Stanford (or Knight) keyboard. Rumor has it + that the idea for extra bits for characters came from Niklaus + Wirth, and that his nickname was `Bucky'. + DOUBLE BUCKY: adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. "The command + to burn all LEDs is double bucky F." + +BUG [from telephone terminology, "bugs in a telephone cable", blamed + for noisy lines; however, Jean Sammet has repeatedly been heard to + claim that the use of the term in CS comes from a story concerning + actual bugs found wedged in an early malfunctioning computer] n. An + unwanted and unintended property of a program. (People can have + bugs too (even winners) as in "PHW is a super winner, but he has + some bugs.") See FEATURE. + +BUM 1. v. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at + the expense of clarity. The object of the verb is usually what was + removed ("I managed to bum three more instructions.") but can be + the program being changed ("I bummed the inner loop down to seven + microseconds.") 2. n. A small change to an algorithm to make it + more efficient. + +BUZZ v. To run in a very tight loop, perhaps without guarantee of + getting out. + +CANONICAL adj. The usual or standard state or manner of something. + A true story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed + some annoyance at the use of jargon. Over his loud objections, we + made a point of using jargon as much as possible in his presence, + and eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, + he used the word "canonical" in jargon-like fashion without + thinking. + Steele: "Aha! We've finally got you talking jargon too!" + Stallman: "What did he say?" + Steele: "He just used `canonical' in the canonical way." + +CATATONIA (kat-uh-toe'nee-uh) n. A condition of suspended animation in + which the system is in a wedged (CATATONIC) state. + +CDR (ku'der) [from LISP] v. With "down", to trace down a list of + elements. "Shall we cdr down the agenda?" Usage: silly. + +CHINE NUAL n. The Lisp Machine Manual, so called because the title is + wrapped around the cover so only those letters show. + +CHOMP v. To lose; 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. The gesture alone means CHOMP CHOMP (see Verb + Doubling). + +CLOSE n. Abbreviation for "close (or right) parenthesis", used when + necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity. See OPEN. + +COKEBOTTLE n. Any very unusual character. MIT people complain about + the "control-meta-cokebottle" commands at SAIL, and SAIL people + complain about the "altmode-altmode-cokebottle" commands at MIT. + +COM MODE (variant: COMM MODE) [from the ITS feature for linking two or + more terminals together so that text typed on any is echoed on all, + providing a means of conversation among hackers] n. The state a + terminal is in when linked to another in this way. Com mode has a + special set of jargon words, used to save typing, which are not + used orally: + BCNU Be seeing you. + BTW By the way... + BYE? Are you ready to unlink? (This is the standard way to + end a com mode conversation; the other person types + BYE to confirm, or else continues the conversation.) + CUL See you later. + 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... + 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.) + MtFBWY May the Force be with you. (From Star Wars.) + NIL No (see the main entry for NIL). + 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). + When the typing party has finished, he types + two CRLF's 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. + : 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. + /\/\/\ The equivalent of a giggle. + At Stanford, where the link feature is implemented by "talk loops", + the term TALK MODE is used in place of COM MODE. Most of the above + "sub-jargon" is used at both Stanford and MIT. + +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. + +CONS [from LISP] 1. v. To add a new element to a list. 2. CONS UP: + v. To synthesize from smaller pieces: "to cons up an example". + +CRASH 1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of the + system (q.v., definition #1), sometimes of magnetic disk drives. + "Three lusers lost their files in last night's disk crash." A disk + crash which entails 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". 2. v. To fail suddenly. "Has the system just + crashed?" 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." Sometimes said of people. + See GRONK OUT. + +CRETIN 1. n. Congenital loser (q.v.). 2. CRETINOUS: adj. See + BLETCHEROUS and BAGBITING. Usage: somewhat ad hominem. + +CRLF (cur'lif, sometimes crul'lif) n. A carriage return (CR) followed + by a line feed (LF). See TERPRI. + +CROCK [probably from "layman" slang, which in turn may be derived from + "crock of shit"] n. 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 is a crock. Also, 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. + +CRUFTY [from "cruddy"] adj. 1. Poorly built, possibly overly complex. + "This is standard old crufty DEC software". Hence CRUFT, n. shoddy + construction. Also CRUFT, v. [from hand cruft, pun on hand craft] + to write assembler code for something normally (and better) done by + a compiler. 2. Unpleasant, especially to the touch, often with + encrusted junk. Like spilled coffee smeared with peanut butter and + catsup. Hence CRUFT, n. disgusting mess. 3. Generally unpleasant. + CRUFTY or CRUFTIE n. A small crufty object (see FROB); often one + which doesn't fit well into the scheme of things. "A LISP property + list is a good place to store crufties (or, random cruft)." + [Note: Does CRUFT have anything to do with the Cruft Lab at + Harvard? I don't know, though I was a Harvard student. - GLS] + +CRUNCH v. 1. 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 imbedded in a loop from 1 to 1000000000. "FORTRAN + programs do mostly number crunching." 2. 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 + counting repeated characters (such as spaces) the term is doubly + appropriate. (This meaning is usually used in the construction + "file crunch(ing)" to distinguish it from "number crunch(ing)".) + 3. n. The character "#". Usage: used at Xerox and CMU, among other + places. Other names for "#" include SHARP, NUMBER, HASH, PIG-PEN, + POUND-SIGN, and MESH. GLS adds: I recall reading somewhere that + most of these are names for the # symbol IN CONTEXT. The name for + the sign itself is "octothorp". + +CTY (city) n. The terminal physically associated with a computer's + operating console. + +CUSPY [from the DEC acronym CUSP, for Commonly Used System Program, + i.e., a utility program used by many people] (WPI) adj. 1. (of a + program) Well-written. 2. Functionally excellent. A program which + performs well and interfaces well to users is cuspy. See RUDE. + +DAEMON (day'mun, dee'mun) [archaic form of "demon", which has slightly + different connotations (q.v.)] n. A program which is not invoked + explicitly, but which lays 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, writing a file on the lpt spooler's + directory will 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 (q.v.) are often used interchangeably, but seem to + have distinct connotations. DAEMON was introduced to computing by + CTSS people (who pronounced it dee'mon) and used it to refer to + what is now called a DRAGON or PHANTOM (q.v.). The meaning and + pronunciation have drifted, and we think this glossary reflects + current usage. + +DAY MODE See PHASE (of people). + +DEADLOCK n. A situation wherein two or more processes are unable to + proceed because each is waiting for another to do something. A + common example is a program communicating to a PTY or STY, which + may find itself waiting for output from the PTY/STY before sending + anything more to it, while the PTY/STY is similarly waiting for + more input from the controlling program before outputting anything. + (This particular flavor of deadlock is called "starvation". + 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. + +DEADLY EMBRACE n. Same as DEADLOCK (q.v.), though usually used only + when exactly two processes are involved. DEADLY EMBRACE is the + more popular term in Europe; DEADLOCK in the United States. + +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. + +DEMON (dee'mun) n. A portion of a program which is not invoked + explicitly, but which lays 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. + +DIABLO (dee-ah'blow) [from the Diablo printer] 1. n. Any letter- + quality printing device. 2. v. To produce letter-quality output + from such a device. + +DIDDLE v. To work with in a not particularly serious manner. "I + diddled with 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. + +DIKE [from "diagonal cutters"] v. To remove a module or disable it. + "When in doubt, dike it out." + +DMP (dump) See BIN. + +DO PROTOCOL [from network protocol programming] v. 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 the waitress for the check, calculate + the tip and everybody's share, generate change as necessary, and + pay the bill. + +DOWN 1. adj. Not working. "The up escalator is down." 2. TAKE DOWN, + BRING DOWN: v. To deactivate, usually for repair work. See UP. + +DPB (duh-pib') [from the PDP-10 instruction set] v. To plop something + down in the middle. + +DRAGON n. (MIT) A program similar to a "daemon" (q.v.), 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. At MIT, all free TV's display 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 is generated by the "NAME DRAGON". See PHANTOM. + +DWIM [Do What I Mean] 1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes even correctly, + what result was intended when provided with bogus input. Often + suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex program. A + related term, more often seen as a verb, is DTRT (Do The Right + Thing). 2. n. The INTERLISP function that attempts to accomplish + this feat by correcting many of the more common errors. See HAIRY. + +ENGLISH n. The source code for a program, which may be in any + language, as opposed to BINARY. Usage: slightly obsolete, used + mostly by old-time hackers, though recognizable in context. At + MIT, directory SYSENG is where the "English" for system programs is + kept, and SYSBIN, the binaries. SAIL has many such directories, + but the canonical one is [CSP,SYS]. + +EPSILON [from standard mathematical notation for a small quantity] 1. + n. A small quantity of anything. "The cost is epsilon." 2. adj. + Very small, negligible; less than marginal (q.v.). "We can get + this feature for epsilon cost." 3. WITHIN EPSILON OF: Close enough + to be indistinguishable for all practical purposes. + +EXCH (ex'chuh, ekstch) [from the PDP-10 instruction set] v. To + exchange two things, each for the other. + +EXCL (eks'cul) n. Abbreviation for "exclamation point". See BANG, + SHRIEK, WOW. + +EXE (ex'ee) See BIN. + +FAULTY adj. Same denotation as "bagbiting", "bletcherous", "losing", + q.v., but the connotation is much milder. + +FEATURE n. 1. A surprising property of a program. Occasionally docu- + mented. To call a property a feature sometimes means the author of + the program did not consider the particular case, and the program + makes an unexpected, although not strictly speaking an incorrect + response. See BUG. "That's not a bug, that's a feature!" A bug + can be changed to a feature by documenting it. 2. A well-known and + beloved property; a facility. Sometimes features are planned, but + are called crocks by others. An approximately correct spectrum: + + (These terms are all used to describe programs or portions thereof, + except for the first two, which are included for completeness.) + CRASH STOPPAGE BUG SCREW LOSS MISFEATURE + CROCK KLUGE HACK WIN FEATURE PERFECTION + (The last is never actually attained.) + +FEEP 1. n. The soft bell of a display terminal (except for a VT-52!); + a beep. 2. v. To cause the display to make a feep sound. TTY's do + not have feeps. Alternate forms: BEEP, BLEEP, or just about + anything suitably onomatopoeic. The term BREEDLE is sometimes + heard at SAIL, where the terminal bleepers are not particularly + "soft" (they sound more like the musical equivalent of sticking out + one's tongue). The "feeper" on a VT-52 has been compared to the + sound of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears. + +FENCEPOST ERROR n. 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.) + +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.] + +FLAG DAY [from a bit of Multics history involving a change in the + ASCII character set originally scheduled for June 14, 1966] + 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?" + +FLAKEY adj. Subject to frequent lossages. See LOSSAGE. + +FLAME v. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively + uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude. + FLAME ON: v. To continue to flame. See RAVE. This punning + reference to Marvel comics' Human Torch has been lost as + recent usage completes the circle: "Flame on" now usually + means "beginning of flame". + +FLAP v. To unload a DECtape (so it goes flap, flap, flap...). Old + 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! + +FLAVOR n. 1. Variety, type, kind. "DDT commands come in two flavors." + See VANILLA. 2. The attribute of causing something to be + FLAVORFUL. "This convention yields additional flavor by allowing + one to..." 3. On the LispMachine, an object-oriented programming + system ("flavors"); each class of object is a flavor. + +FLAVORFUL adj. Aesthetically pleasing. See RANDOM and LOSING for + antonyms. See also the entry for TASTE. + +FLUSH v. 1. To delete something, usually superfluous. "All that + nonsense has been flushed." Standard ITS terminology for aborting + an output operation. 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. + +FOO 1. [from Yiddish "feh" or the Anglo-Saxon "fooey!"] interj. Term + of disgust. 2. [from FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition), + from WWII, often seen as FOOBAR] Name used for temporary programs, + or samples of three-letter names. Other similar words are BAR, BAZ + (Stanford corruption of BAR), and rarely RAG. These have been used + in Pogo as well. 3. Used very generally as a sample name for + absolutely anything. The old `Smokey Stover' comic strips often + included the word FOO, in particular on license plates of cars. + MOBY FOO: See MOBY. + +FRIED adj. 1. Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. 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." + +FROB 1. n. (MIT) The official Tech Model Railroad Club definition is + "FROB = protruding arm or trunnion", and by metaphoric extension + any somewhat small thing. See FROBNITZ. 2. v. Abbreviated form of + FROBNICATE. + +FROBNICATE v. To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from + FROBNITZ (q.v.). Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the + saying "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. + +FROBNITZ, pl. FROBNITZEM (frob'nitsm) 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, FROBULE, and FROBNODULE. Starting + perhaps in 1979, FROBBOZ (fruh-bahz'), pl. FROBBOTZIM, has also + become very popular, largely due to its exposure via the Adventure + spin-off called Zork (Dungeon). These can also be applied to + non-physical objects, such as data structures. + +FROG (variant: 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 inbetween a turkey + and a toad. 4. Jake Brown (FRG@SAIL). 5. FROGGY: adj. Similar to + BAGBITING (q.v.), but milder. "This froggy program is taking + forever to run!" + +FROTZ 1. n. See FROBNITZ. 2. MUMBLE FROTZ: An interjection of very + mild disgust. + +FRY v. 1. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware + failures. 2. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never + said of software, only of hardware and humans. See FRIED. + +FTP (spelled out, NOT pronounced "fittip") 1. n. The File Transfer + Protocol for transmitting files between systems on the ARPAnet. 2. + v. To transfer a file using the File Transfer Program. "Lemme get + this copy of Wuthering Heights FTP'd from SAIL." + +FUDGE 1. v. 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 which 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. An example might be the coefficients of an + equation, where the coefficients are varied in an attempt to make + the equation fit certain criteria. + +GABRIEL [for Dick Gabriel, SAIL 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". + +GARBAGE COLLECT v., GARBAGE COLLECTION n. See GC. + +GARPLY n. (Stanford) Another meta-word 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. v. FLUSH (q.v.). + "You should gas that old crufty software." 4. GASEOUS adj. + Deserving of being gassed. Usage: primarily used by Geoff + Goodfellow at SRI, but spreading. + +GC [from LISP terminology] 1. v. To clean up and throw away useless + things. "I think I'll GC the top of my desk today." 2. To + recycle, reclaim, or put to another use. 3. To forget. The + implication is often that one has done so deliberately. 4. n. An + instantiation of the GC process. + +GEDANKEN [from Einstein's term "gedanken-experimenten", such as the + standard proof that E=mc^2] adj. An AI project which is written up + in grand detail without ever being implemented to any great extent. + 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 a program-related concept such + as an algorithm. + +GLASS TTY n. A terminal which has a display screen but which, because + of hardware or software limitations, behaves like a teletype or + other printing terminal. An example is the ADM-3 (without cursor + control). A glass tty can't do neat display hacks, and you can't + save the output either. + +GLITCH [from the Yiddish "glitshen", to slide] 1. n. A sudden + interruption in electric service, sanity, or program function. + Sometimes recoverable. 2. v. To commit a glitch. See GRITCH. + 3. v. (Stanford) To scroll a display screen. + +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. v. Similar to GLITCH (q.v.), but + usually used reflexively. "My program just glorked itself." + +GOBBLE v. To consume or to obtain. 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 SNARF. + +GORP (CMU) [perhaps from the generic term for dried hiker's food, + stemming from the acronym "Good Old Raisins and Peanuts"] Another + metasyntactic variable, like FOO and BAR. + +GRIND v. 1. (primarily MIT) To format code, especially LISP code, by + indenting lines so that it looks pretty. Hence, PRETTY PRINT, the + generic term for such operations. 2. To run seemingly + interminably, performing some tedious and inherently useless task. + Similar to CRUNCH. + +GRITCH 1. n. A complaint (often caused by a GLITCH (q.v.)). 2. v. To + complain. Often verb-doubled: "Gritch gritch". 3. Glitch. + +GROK [from the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Robert Heinlein, + where it is a Martian word meaning roughly "to be one with"] v. To + understand, usually in a global sense. + +GRONK [popularized by the cartoon strip "B.C." by Johnny Hart, but the + word apparently predates that] v. 1. To clear the state of a wedged + device and restart it. More severe than "to frob" (q.v.). 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. 4. GRONK OUT: v. To cease functioning. Of people, + to go home and go to sleep. "I guess I'll gronk out now; see you + all tomorrow." + +GROVEL v. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often + used with "over". "The compiler grovelled over my code." Compare + GRIND and CRUNCH. Emphatic form: GROVEL OBSCENELY. + +GRUNGY adj. Incredibly dirty 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. + +GUBBISH [a portmanteau of "garbage" and "rubbish"?] n. Garbage; crap; + nonsense. "What is all this gubbish?" + +GUN [from the GUN command on ITS] v. 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." + +HACK n. 1. Originally a quick job that produces what is needed, but + not well. 2. The result of that job. 3. NEAT HACK: 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 circa 1961. + 4. REAL HACK: A crock (occasionally affectionate). + v. 5. With "together", to throw something together so it will work. + 6. To bear emotionally or physically. "I can't hack this heat!" 7. + 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 bag". "I hack solid-state + physics." 8. To pull a prank on. See definition 3 and HACKER (def + #6). 9. v.i. To waste time (as opposed to TOOL). "Watcha up to?" + "Oh, just hacking." 10. HACK UP (ON): To hack, but generally + implies that the result is meanings 1-2. 11. HACK VALUE: Term used + 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 code to read and print roman numerals, + which was installed purely for hack value. + HAPPY HACKING: A farewell. HOW'S HACKING?: A friendly greeting + among hackers. HACK HACK: A somewhat pointless but friendly + comment, often used as a temporary farewell. + [The word HACK doesn't really have 69 different meanings. In fact, + HACK has only one meaning, an extremely subtle and profound one + which defies articulation. Which connotation a given HACK-token + has depends in similarly profound ways on the context. Similar + comments apply to a couple other hacker jargon items, most notably + RANDOM. - Agre] + +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, or who enjoys programming rather than just + theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating + hack value (q.v.). 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; example: "A SAIL hacker". (Definitions 1 to 5 are correlated, + and people who fit them congregate.) 6. A malicious or inquisitive + meddler who tries to discover information by poking around. Hence + "password hacker", "network hacker". + +HACKISH adj. Being or involving a hack. HACKISHNESS n. + +HAIR 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. + +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." + +HAKMEM n. MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972). A collection of neat + mathematical and programming hacks contributed by many people + at MIT and elsewhere. + +HANDWAVE 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!" 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 still while rotating + the hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the + gestures alone can suffice as a remark. + +HARDWARILY adv. In a way pertaining to hardware. "The system is + hardwarily unreliable." The adjective "hardwary" is NOT used. See + SOFTWARILY. + +HELLO WALL See WALL. + +HIRSUTE Occasionally used humorously as a synonym for HAIRY. + +HOOK n. An extraneous piece of software or hardware included in order + to simplify later additions or debug options. For instance, a + 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. + +HUMONGOUS, HUMUNGOUS See HUNGUS. + +HUNGUS (hung'ghis) [perhaps related to current slang "humongous"; + 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." + +IMPCOM See TELNET. + +INFINITE adj. Consisting of a large number of objects; extreme. Used + very loosely as in: "This program produces infinite garbage." + +IRP (erp) [from the MIDAS pseudo-op which generates a block of code + repeatedly, substituting in various places the car and/or cdr of + the list(s) supplied at the IRP] v. To perform a series of tasks + repeatedly with a minor substitution each time through. "I guess + I'll IRP over these homework papers so I can give them some random + grade for this semester." + +JFCL (djif'kl or dja-fik'l) [based on the PDP-10 instruction that acts + as a fast no-op] v. To cancel or annul something. "Why don't you + jfcl that out?" [The licence plate on Geoff Goodfellow's BMW is + JFCL.] + +JIFFY n. 1. Interval of CPU time, commonly 1/60 second or 1 + millisecond. 2. Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. + "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly never. + +JOCK n. Programmer who is characterized by large and somewhat brute + force programs. The term is particularly well-suited for systems + programmers. + +J. RANDOM See RANDOM. + +JRST (jerst) [based on the PDP-10 jump instruction] v. To suddenly + change subjects. Usage: rather rare. "Jack be nimble, Jack be + quick; Jack jrst over the candle stick." + +JSYS (jay'sis), pl. JSI (jay'sigh) [Jump to SYStem] See UUO. + +KLUGE (kloodj) alt. KLUDGE [from the German "kluge", clever] n. 1. A + Rube Goldberg device in hardware or software. 2. A clever + programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an + efficient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often + verges on being a crock. 3. Something that works for the wrong + reason. 4. v. 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." Also KLUGE UP. 5. KLUGE AROUND: To avoid by inserting a + kluge. 6. (WPI) A feature which is implemented in a RUDE manner. + +LDB (lid'dib) [from the PDP-10 instruction set] v. To extract from the + middle. + +LIFE n. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton Conway, and + first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner (Scientific American, + October 1970). + +LINE FEED (standard ASCII terminology) 1. v. To feed the paper through + a terminal by one line (in order to print on the next line). 2. n. + The "character" which causes the terminal to perform this action. + +LINE STARVE (MIT) Inverse of LINE FEED. + +LOGICAL [from the technical term "logical device", wherein a physical + device is referred to by an arbitrary name] adj. Understood to have + a meaning 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". The word VIRTUAL is also used. At + SAIL, "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 SF 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.) + +LOSE [from MIT jargon] v. 1. To fail. A program loses when it + encounters an exceptional condition. 2. To be exceptionally + unaesthetic. 3. Of people, to be obnoxious or unusually stupid (as + opposed to ignorant). 4. DESERVE TO LOSE: v. 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 MULTICS deserves to lose!" + LOSE LOSE - a reply or comment on a situation. + +LOSER n. An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or + person. Especially "real loser". + +LOSS n. Something which loses. WHAT A (MOBY) LOSS!: interjection. + +LOSSAGE n. The result of a bug or malfunction. + +LPT (lip'it) n. Line printer, of course. + +LUSER See USER. + +MACROTAPE n. An industry standard reel of tape, as opposed to a + MICROTAPE. + +MAGIC adj. 1. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain. + (Arthur C. Clarke once said that magic was as-yet-not-understood + science.) "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. (Stanford) A feature not generally + publicized which allows something otherwise impossible, or a + feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. Example: The + keyboard commands which override the screen-hiding features. + +MARGINAL adj. 1. Extremely small. "A marginal increase in core can + decrease GC time drastically." See EPSILON. 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 crapped out." 4. + MARGINALLY: adv. Slightly. "The ravs here are only marginally + better than at Small Eating Place." + +MICROTAPE n. Occasionally used to mean a DECtape, as opposed to a + MACROTAPE. This was the official DEC term for the stuff until + someone consed up the word "DECtape". + +MISFEATURE 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. + 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 we're + stuck with it for now." + +MOBY [seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years ago. + Entered the world of AI with the Fabritek 256K moby memory of + MIT-AI. Derived from Melville's "Moby Dick" (some say from "Moby + Pickle").] 1. adj. Large, immense, or complex. "A moby frob." 2. + n. The maximum address space of a machine, hence 3. n. 256K words, + the size of a PDP-10 moby. (The maximum address space means the + maximum normally addressable space, as opposed to the amount of + physical memory a machine can have. Thus the MIT PDP-10s each have + two mobies, usually referred to as the "low moby" (0-777777) and + "high moby" (1000000-1777777), or as "moby 0" and "moby 1". MIT-AI + has four mobies of address space: moby 2 is the PDP-6 memory, and + moby 3 the PDP-11 interface.) In this sense "moby" is often used + as a generic unit of either address space (18. bits' worth) or of + memory (about a megabyte, or 9/8 megabyte (if one accounts for + difference between 32.- and 36.-bit words), or 5/4 megacharacters). + 4. A title of address (never of third-person reference), usually + used to show admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to a + competent hacker. "So, moby Knight, how's the CONS machine doing?" + 5. adj. In backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in "moby sixes", + "moby ones", etc. + MOBY FOO, MOBY WIN, MOBY LOSS: standard emphatic forms. + FOBY MOO: a spoonerism due to Greenblatt. + +MODE n. A general state, usually used with an adjective describing the + state. "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. "If you're on + a TTY, E will switch to non-display mode." In particular, see DAY + MODE, NIGHT MODE, and YOYO MODE; also COM MODE, TALK MODE, and + GABRIEL MODE. + +MODULO prep. Except for. From mathematical terminology: one can + consider saying that 4=22 "except for the 9's" (4=22 mod 9). + "Well, LISP seems to work okay now, modulo that GC bug." + +MOON n. 1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to + hackers. See PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC). + +MUMBLAGE 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. "Well, mumble." 2. Sometimes + used as an expression of disagreement. "I think we should buy it." + "Mumble!" Common variant: MUMBLE FROTZ. 3. Yet another + metasyntactic variable, like FOO. + +MUNCH (often confused with "mung", q.v.) v. To transform information + in a serial fashion, often requiring large amounts of computation. + To trace down a data structure. Related to CRUNCH (q.v.), but + connotes less pain. + +MUNCHING SQUARES n. A display hack dating back to the PDP-1, which + employs a trivial computation (involving XOR'ing of x-y display + coordinates - see HAKMEM items 146-148) to produce an impressive + display of moving, growing, and shrinking squares. The hack + usually has a parameter (usually taken from toggle switches) which + when well-chosen can produce amazing effects. Some of these, + discovered recently on the LISP machine, have been christened + MUNCHING TRIANGLES, MUNCHING W'S, and MUNCHING MAZES. + +MUNG (variant: MUNGE) [recursive acronym for Mung Until No Good] v. 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. + +N adj. 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. 3. A variable whose value is specified by the current + context. "We'd like to order N wonton soups and a family dinner + for N-1." 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 also 69. + +NIGHT MODE See PHASE (of people). + +NIL [from LISP terminology for "false"] No. Usage: used in reply to a + question, particularly one asked using the "-P" convention. See T. + +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." "FIND's command syntax is obscure." MODERATELY + OBSCURE implies that it could be figured out but probably isn't + worth the trouble. + +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 ekx one, close close." See CLOSE. + +PARSE [from linguistic terminology] v. 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". + +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. 2. v. To insert a patch into a piece + of code. + +PDL (piddle or puddle) [acronym for Push Down List] n. 1. A LIFO queue + (stack); more loosely, any priority queue; even more loosely, any + queue. A person's pdl 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 pdl. "I'm afraid I've got real work to do, + so this'll have to be pushed way down on my pdl." See PUSH and + POP. 2. Dave Lebling (PDL@DM). + +PESSIMAL [Latin-based antonym for "optimal"] adj. Maximally bad. + "This is a pessimal situation." + +PESSIMIZING COMPILER n. A compiler that produces object code that is + worse than the straightforward or obvious translation. + +PHANTOM n. (Stanford) The SAIL equivalent of a DRAGON (q.v.). Typical + phantoms include the accounting program, the news-wire monitor, and + the lpt and xgp spoolers. + +PHASE (of people) 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 work 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 used, but less frequently.) 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. + +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." + +PLUGH [from the Adventure game] v. See XYZZY. + +POM n. Phase of the moon (q.v.). Usage: usually used in the phrase + "POM dependent" which means flakey (q.v.). + +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] + dialect: POPJ (pop-jay), based on the PDP-10 procedure return + instruction. v. To return from a digression. By verb doubling, + "Popj, popj" means roughly, "Now let's see, where were we?" + +PPN (pip'in) [DEC terminology, short for Project-Programmer Number] n. + 1. A combination `project' (directory name) and programmer name, + used to identify a specific directory belonging to that user. For + instance, "FOO,BAR" would be the FOO directory for user BAR. Since + the name is restricted to three letters, the programmer name is + usually the person's initials, though sometimes it is a nickname or + other special sequence. (Standard DEC setup is to have two octal + numbers instead of characters; hence the original acronym.) 2. + Often used loosely to refer to the programmer name alone. "I want + to send you some mail; what's your ppn?" Usage: not used at MIT, + since ITS does not use ppn's. The equivalent terms would be UNAME + and SNAME, depending on context, but these are not used except in + their technical senses. + +PROTOCOL See DO PROTOCOL. + +PSEUDOPRIME n. A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied points) + with one point missing. + +PTY (pity) n. Pseudo TTY, a simulated TTY used to run a job under the + supervision of another job. + PTYJOB (pity-job) n. The job being run on the PTY. Also a common + general-purpose program for creating and using PTYs. + This is DEC and SAIL terminology; the MIT equivalent is STY. + +PUNT [from the punch line of an old joke: "Drop back 15 yards and + punt"] v. To give up, typically without any intention of retrying. + +PUSH [based on the stack operation that puts the current information + on a stack, and the fact that procedure call addresses are saved on + the stack] dialect: PUSHJ (push-jay), based on the PDP-10 procedure + call instruction. v. To enter upon a digression, to save the + current discussion for later. + +QUES (kwess) 1. n. The question mark character ("?"). 2. interj. + What? Also QUES QUES? See WALL. + +QUUX [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, four U's in seven letters).] 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. + 2. interj. See FOO; however, denotes very little disgust, and is + uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it. 3. n. Refers to + one of four people who went to Boston Latin School and eventually + to MIT: + THE GREAT QUUX: Guy L. Steele Jr. + THE LESSER QUUX: David J. Littleboy + THE MEDIOCRE QUUX: Alan P. Swide + THE MICRO QUUX: Sam Lewis + (This taxonomy is said to be similarly applied to three Frankston + brothers at MIT.) QUUX, without qualification, usually refers to + The Great Quux, who is somewhat infamous for light verse and for + the "Crunchly" cartoons. 4. QUUXY: adj. Of or pertaining to a + QUUX. + +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 a routine that could easily have been coded using only + three ac's, but randomly uses seven for assorted non-overlapping + purposes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving + four extra ac's. 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." n. 7. 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. + J. RANDOM is often prefixed to a noun to make a "name" out of it + (by comparison to common names such as "J. Fred Muggs"). The most + common uses are "J. Random Loser" and "J. Random Nurd" ("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. + [See also the note at the end of the entry for HACK.] + +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). "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 v. To (metaphorically) screw someone or something, violently. + 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." + +RAVE (WPI) v. 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. + +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. + +REAL WORLD, THE n. 1. In programming, those institutions at which + programming may be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, COBOL, + RPG, IBM, etc. 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. 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. + +RECURSION n. See RECURSION, TAIL RECURSION. + +REL See BIN. + +RIGHT THING, THE n. That which is "obviously" the correct or + appropriate thing to use, do, say, etc. 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 '(.)'?" + +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. + +SACRED adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (a + metaphorical extension of the standard meaning). "Accumulator 7 is + sacred to the UUO handler." Often means that anyone may look at + the sacred object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it is + sacred to. + +SAGA (WPI) n. A cuspy but bogus raving story dealing with N random + broken people. + +SAV (save) See BIN. + +SEMI 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." + +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. + +SHIFT LEFT (RIGHT) LOGICAL [from any of various machines' instruction + sets] 1. v. To move oneself to the left (right). To move out of + the way. 2. imper. Get out of that (my) seat! Usage: often used + without the "logical", or as "left shift" instead of "shift left". + Sometimes heard as LSH (lish), from the PDP-10 instruction set. + +SHR (share or shir) See BIN. + +SHRIEK See EXCL. (Occasional CMU usage.) + +69 adj. Large quantity. Usage: Exclusive to MIT-AI. "Go away, I have + 69 things to do to DDT before worrying about fixing the bug in the + phase of the moon output routine..." + [Note: Actually, any number less than 100 but large enough to have + no obvious magic properties will be recognized as a "large number". + There is no denying that "69" is the local favorite. I don't know + whether its origins are related to the obscene interpretation, but + I do know that 69 decimal = 105 octal, and 69 hexadecimal = 105 + decimal, which is a nice property. - GLS] + +SLOP n. 1. A one-sided fudge factor (q.v.). Often introduced to avoid + the possibility of a fencepost error (q.v.). 2. (used by compiler + freaks) The ratio of code generated by a compiler to hand-compiled + code, minus 1; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you lose because you + didn't do it yourself. + +SLURP v. To read a large data file entirely into core before working + on it. "This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K matrix and does an FFT." + +SMART adj. Said of a program that does the Right Thing (q.v.) 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. + +SMOKING CLOVER n. A psychedelic color munch due to Gosper. + +SMOP [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming] n. 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. + +SNARF v. 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 (IT) DOWN. (At MIT on ITS, DDT has a command called + :SNARF which grabs a job from another (inferior) DDT.) + +SOFTWARE ROT n. Hypothetical disease the existence of which has been + deduced from the observation that unused programs or features will + stop working after sufficient time has passed, even if "nothing has + changed". Also known as "bit decay". + +SOFTWARILY adv. In a way pertaining to software. "The system is + softwarily unreliable." The adjective "softwary" is NOT used. See + HARDWARILY. + +SOS 1. (ess-oh-ess) n. A losing editor, SON OF STOPGAP. 2. (sahss) v. + Inverse of AOS, from the PDP-10 instruction set. + +SPAZZ 1. v. To behave spastically or erratically; more often, to + commit a single gross error. "Boy, is he spazzing!" 2. n. One who + spazzes. "Boy, what a spazz!" 3. n. The result of spazzing. + "Boy, what a spazz!" + +SPLAT n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for the + ASCII star ("*") character. 2. (MIT) Name used by some people for + the ASCII pound-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.) 4. (Stanford) Name for the semi-mythical + extended ASCII circle-plus character. 5. Canonical name for an + output routine that outputs whatever the the local interpretation + of splat is. Usage: nobody really agrees what character "splat" + is, but the term is common. + +SUPDUP v. To communicate with another ARPAnet host using the SUPDUP + program, which is a SUPer-DUPer TELNET talking a special display + protocol used mostly in talking to ITS sites. Sometimes + abbreviated to SD. + +STATE n. Condition, situation. "What's the state of NEWIO?" "It's + winning away." "What's your state?" "I'm about to gronk out." As + a special case, "What's the state of the world?" (or, more silly, + "State-of-world-P?") means "What's new?" or "What's going on?" + +STOPPAGE n. Extreme lossage (see LOSSAGE) resulting in something + (usually vital) becoming completely unusable. + +STY (pronounced "sty", not spelled out) n. A pseudo-teletype, which is + a two-way pipeline with a job on one end and a fake keyboard-tty on + the other. Also, a standard program which provides a pipeline from + its controlling tty to a pseudo-teletype (and thence to another + tty, thereby providing a "sub-tty"). + This is MIT terminology; the SAIL and DEC equivalent is PTY. + +SUPERPROGRAMMER n. See "wizard", "hacker". Usage: rare. (Becoming + more common among IBM and Yourdon types.) + +SWAPPED adj. From the use of secondary storage devices to implement + virtual memory in computer systems. 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 TECO ORDER 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."). + +SYSTEM n. 1. The supervisor program on the computer. 2. Any + large-scale program. 3. Any method or algorithm. 4. The way + things are usually done. Usage: a fairly ambiguous word. "You + can't beat the system." + SYSTEM HACKER: one who hacks the system (in sense 1 only; for sense + 2 one mentions the particular program: e.g., LISP HACKER) + +T [from LISP terminology for "true"] 1. Yes. Usage: used in reply to + a question, particularly one asked using the "-P" convention). See + NIL. 2. See TIME T. + +TAIL RECURSION n. See TAIL RECURSION. + +TALK MODE See COM MODE. + +TASTE n. (primarily MIT-DMS) 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. + +TECO (tee'koe) [acronym for Text Editor and COrrector] 1. n. A text + editor developed at MIT, and modified by just about everybody. If + all the dialects are included, TECO might well be the single most + prolific editor in use. Noted for its powerful pseudo-programming + features and its incredibly hairy syntax. 2. v. To edit using the + TECO editor in one of its infinite forms; sometimes used to mean + "to edit" even when not using TECO! Usage: rare at SAIL, where + most people wouldn't touch TECO with a TENEX pole. + [Historical note: DEC grabbed an ancient version of MIT TECO many + years ago when it was still a TTY-oriented editor. By now, TECO at + MIT is highly display-oriented and is actually a language for + writing editors, rather than an editor. Meanwhile, the outside + world's various versions of TECO remain almost the same as the MIT + version of ten years ago. DEC recently tried to discourage its + use, but an underground movement of sorts kept it alive.] + [Since this note was written I found out that DEC tried to force + their hackers by administrative decision to use a hacked up and + generally lobotomized version of SOS instead of TECO, and they + revolted. - MRC] + +TELNET v. To communicate with another ARPAnet host using the TELNET + protocol. 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." + +TENSE adj. Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of + code often got that way because it was highly bummed, but sometimes + it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever display + routine by Mike Kazar: "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. + +TERPRI (tur'pree) [from the LISP 1.5 (and later, MacLISP) function to + start a new line of output] v. To output a CRLF (q.v.). + +THEORY n. Used in the general sense of idea, plan, story, or set of + rules. "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 losers on during the day?" "The theory + behind this change is to fix the following well-known screw..." + +THRASH v. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything + useful. Swapping systems which are overloaded waste most of their + time moving pages into and out of core (rather than performing + useful computation), and are therefore said to thrash. + +TICK n. 1. Interval of time; basic clock time on the computer. + Typically 1/60 second. See JIFFY. 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 handwaved. + +TIME T 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." 2. SINCE (OR AT) TIME T + EQUALS MINUS INFINITY: A long time ago; for as long as anyone can + remember; at the time that some particular frob was first designed. + +TOOL v.i. To work; to study. See HACK (def #9). + +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. See UUO. 2. v. 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." + +TTY (titty) n. Terminal of the teletype variety, characterized by a + noisy mechanical printer, a very limited character set, and poor + print quality. Usage: antiquated (like the TTY's themselves). + Sometimes used to refer to any terminal at all; sometimes used + to refer to the particular terminal controlling a job. + +TWEAK v. To change slightly, usually in reference to a value. Also + used synonymously with TWIDDLE. See FROBNICATE and FUDGE FACTOR. + +TWENEX n. The TOPS-20 operating system by DEC. So named because + TOPS-10 was a typically crufty DEC operating system for the PDP-10. + BBN developed their own system, called TENEX (TEN EXecutive), and + in creating TOPS-20 for the DEC-20 DEC copied TENEX and adapted it + for the 20. Usage: DEC people cringe when they hear TOPS-20 + referred to as "Twenex", but the term seems to be catching on + nevertheless. Release 3 of TOPS-20 is sufficiently different from + release 1 that some (not all) hackers have stopped calling it + TWENEX, though the written abbreviation "20x" is still used. + +TWIDDLE n. 1. tilde (ASCII 176, "~"). Also called "squiggle", + "sqiggle" (sic--pronounced "skig'gul"), and "twaddle", but twiddle + is by far the most common term. 2. A small and insignificant + change to a program. Usually fixes one bug and generates several + new ones. 3. v. 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. + +UP adj. 1. Working, in order. "The down escalator is up." 2. BRING + UP: v. To create a working version and start it. "They brought up + a down system." + +USER n. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who + asks questions. Identified at MIT with "loser" by the spelling + "luser". See REAL USER. + [Note by GLS: I don't agree with RF's definition at all. + 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. + (A few users who do are known as real winners.) It is true that + users ask questions (of necessity). Very often they are annoying + or downright stupid.] + +UUO (you-you-oh) [short for "Un-Used Operation"] n. A DEC-10 system + monitor call. The term "Un-Used Operation" comes from the fact + that, on DEC-10 systems, monitor calls are implemented as invalid + or illegal machine instructions, which cause traps to the monitor + (see TRAP). The SAIL manual describing the available UUO's has a + cover picture showing an unidentified underwater object. See YOYO. + [Note: DEC sales people have since decided that "Un-Used Operation" + sounds bad, so UUO now stands for "Unimplemented User Operation".] + Tenex and Twenex systems use the JSYS machine instruction (q.v.), + which is halfway between a legal machine instruction and a UUO, + since KA-10 Tenices implement it as a hardware instruction which + can be used as an ordinary subroutine call (sort of a "pure JSR"). + +VANILLA 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. + +VAXEN [from "oxen", perhaps influenced by "vixen"] n. pl. The plural + of VAX (a DEC machine). + +VIRGIN adj. Unused, in reference to an instantiation of a program. + "Let's bring up a virgin system and see if it crashes again." + Also, by extension, unused buffers and the like within a program. + +VIRTUAL adj. 1. Common alternative to LOGICAL (q.v.), but never used + with compass directions. 2. Performing the functions of. Virtual + memory acts like real memory but isn't. + +VISIONARY n. One who hacks vision (in an AI context, such as the + processing of visual images). + +WALDO [probably taken from the story "Waldo", by Heinlein, which is + where the term was first used to mean a mechanical adjunct to a + human limb] Used at Harvard, particularly by Tom Cheatham and + students, instead of FOOBAR as a meta-syntactic variable and + general nonsense word. See FOO, BAR, FOOBAR, QUUX. + +WALL [shortened form of HELLO WALL, apparently from the phrase "up + against a blank wall"] (WPI) interj. 1. An indication of confusion, + usually spoken with a quizzical tone. "Wall??" 2. A request for + further explication. + +WALLPAPER n. 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 SAIL 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). The term possibly originated on ITS, where the + commands to begin and end transcript files are still :WALBEG and + :WALEND, with default file DSK:WALL PAPER. + +WATERBOTTLE SOCCER n. A deadly sport practiced mainly by Sussman's + graduate students. It, along with chair bowling, is the most + evident manifestation of the "locker room atmosphere" said to + reign in that sphere. (Sussman doesn't approve.) [As of 11/82, + it's reported that the sport has given way to a new game called + "disc-boot", and Sussman even participates occasionally.] + +WEDGED [from "head wedged up ass"] adj. To be in a locked state, + incapable of proceeding without help. (See GRONK.) Often refers + to humans suffering misconceptions. "The swapper is wedged." + This term is sometimes used as a synonym for DEADLOCKED (q.v.). + +WHAT n. The question mark character ("?"). See QUES. Usage: rare, + used particularly in conjunction with WOW. + +WHEEL n. 1. A privilege bit that canonically allows the possessor to + perform any operation on a timesharing system, such as read or + write any file on the system regardless of protections, change or + or look at any address in the running monitor, crash or reload the + system, and kill/create jobs and user accounts. The term was + invented on the TENEX operating system, and carried over to + TOPS-20, Xerox-IFS and others. 2. A person who posses a wheel bit. + "We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives." + +WHEEL WARS [from LOTS at Stanford University] A period during which + student wheels hack each other by attempting to log each other out + of the system, delete each other's files, or otherwise wreak havoc, + usually at the expense of the lesser users. + +WIN [from MIT jargon] 1. v. To succeed. A program wins if no + unexpected conditions arise. 2. 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. See LOSE. + +WINNAGE 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 n. The quality of winning (as opposed to WINNAGE, which is + the result of winning). "That's really great! Boy, what + winnitude!" + +WIZARD n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or + hardware works; someone who can find and fix his bugs in an + emergency. Rarely used at MIT, where HACKER is the preferred term. + 2. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary + people, e.g., a "net wizard" on a TENEX may run programs which + speak low-level host-imp protocol; an ADVENT wizard at SAIL may + play Adventure during the day. + +WORMHOLE n. A location in a monitor which contains the address of a + routine, with the specific intent of making it easy to substitute a + different routine. The following quote comes from "Polymorphic + Systems", vol. 2, p. 54: + + "Any type of I/O device can be substituted for the standard device + by loading a simple driver routine for that device and installing + its address in one of the monitor's `wormholes.'* + ---------- + *The term `wormhole' has been used to describe a hypothetical + astronomical situation where a black hole connects to the `other + side' of the universe. When this happens, information can pass + through the wormhole, in only one direction, much as `assumptions' + pass down the monitor's wormholes." + +WOW See EXCL. + +XGP 1. n. Xerox Graphics Printer. 2. v. To print something on the + XGP. "You shouldn't XGP such a large file." + +XYZZY [from the Adventure game] adj. See PLUGH. + +YOYO n. DEC service engineers' slang for UUO (q.v.). Usage: rare at + Stanford and MIT, has been found at random DEC installations. + +YOYO MODE n. State in which the system is said to be when it rapidly + alternates several times between being up and being down. + +YU-SHIANG WHOLE FISH n. The character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII 11), + which with a loop in its tail looks like a fish. Usage: used + primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine. Tends to elicit + incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand. + +ZERO v. 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. diff --git a/doc/humor/mitsai.jargon b/doc/humor/mitsai.jargon new file mode 100644 index 00000000..0bcb831a --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/humor/mitsai.jargon @@ -0,0 +1,560 @@ + Compiled by Guy L. Steele Jr. with assistance from + the MIT AI community. Some definitions were taken + from a compilation by Raphael Finkel with assistance + from the SAIL community. + +Verb doubling: a standard construction is to double a verb + and use it as a comment on what the implied subject does. + Often used to terminate a conversation. Typical examples + involve WIN, LOSE, HACK, FLAME, BARF, CHOMP: + "The disk heads just crashed." "Lose, lose." + "Mostly he just talked about his --- crock. Flame, flame." + "Boy, what a bagbiter! Chomp, chomp!" + +Soundalike slang: similar to Cockney rhyming slang. Often made up + on the spur of the moment. + Standard examples: + Boston Globe => Boston Glob + Herald American => Horrid (Harried) American + New York Times => New York Slime + Dime Time => Slime Time + government property - do not duplicate (seen on keys) + => government duplicity - do not propagate + +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-values function). The question + should expect a yes/no answer, though it need not. + At dinnertime: "Foodp?" "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry." + "State-of-the-world-P?" (Straight) "I'm about to go home." + (Humorous) "Yes, the world has a state." + +Peculiar nouns: MIT AI hackers love to take various words and add + the wrong endings to them to make nouns and verbs, often by following a + standard rule to nonuniform cases. Examples: + porous => porosity + generous => generosity + Ergo: mysterious => mysteriosity + ferrous => ferocity + + Other examples: winnitude, disgustitude, hackification. + +AOS (aus (East coast) ay-ahs (West coast)) Based on a PDP-10 + increment instruction. v. To increase the amount of something: + "Aos the campfire". usage: considered silly. See SOS. + +ARG n. Abbreviation for "argument" (to a function), used so often + as to have become a new word. + +BAGBITER 1. n. Equipment or program that fails, usually + intermittently. 2. adj. BAGBITING: failing hardware or software. + "This bagbiting system won't let me get out of spacewar." usage: + verges on obscenity. Grammatically separable: one may speak of + "biting the bag". Synonyms: LOSER, LOSING, CRETINOUS, BLETCHEROUS, + BARFUCIOUS, CHOMPER, CHOMPING. + +BAR 1. The second metasyntactic variable, after FOO. + "Suppose we have two functions FOO and BAR. FOO calls BAR..." + 2. Often appended to FOO to produce FOOBAR. + +BARF 1. interj. Term of disgust - see BLETCH. + 2. v. choke, as on input. May mean to give an error message. + "The function = compares two fixnums or two flonums, + and barfs on anything else." + BARFULOUS, BARFUCIOUS adj. said of something which would + make anyone barf, if only for aesthetic reasons. + +BLETCH from German "brechen", to vomit. (?) 1. interj. Term of + disgust. 2. adj. BLETCHEROUS: disgusting in design or function. + "This keyboard is bletcherous!". usage: slightly comic. + +BLT (blit, very rarely belt) Based on the PDP-10 block transfer + instruction. Confusing to users of the PDP-11. 1. v. To transfer + a large contiguous package of information from one place to + another. 2. THE BIG BLT, n. Shuffling operation on the PDP-10 + under some operating systems that consumes significant computer + time. + +BUCKY BITS (primarily Stanford) n. The bits produced by the CTRL + and META shift keys on a Stanford (or Knight) keyboard. + DOUBLE BUCKY adj. using both the CTRL and META keys. + "The command to burn all LEDs is double bucky F." + +BUG Comes from telephone terminology: "bugs in a telephone cable", + blamed for noisy lines. n. An unwanted and unintended property + of a program. See "feature." + +BUM 1. v. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often + at the expense of clarity. "I managed to bum three more + instructions." 2. n. A small change to an algorithm to make it + more efficient. usage: somewhat rare. + +CDR (ku'der) From LISP. 1. v. with "down": to trace down a list of + elements. "Shall we cdr down the agenda?". usage: silly. + +CHOMP v. To lose; 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. The gesture alone means CHOMP CHOMP (see Verb + Doubling). + +CLOSE n. Abbreviation for "close (or right) parenthesis", used when + necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity. See OPEN. + +CONS From LISP. 1. v. To add a new element to a list. 2. v. CONS UP: + To synthesize from smaller pieces: "to cons up an example". + +CRETIN 1. n. Congenital loser, q. v. 2. CRETINOUS adj. See + "bletcherous" and "bagbiting". usage: somewhat ad hominem. + +CROCK n. An awkward feature or programming technique that ought to + be made cleaner. example: To use small integers to represent + error codes without the program interpreting them to the user is a + crock. + +CRUFTY From "cruddy" adj. 1. Poorly built, possibly overly complex. + "This is standard old crufty DEC software". Hence CRUFT, n. + shoddy construction. 2. Unpleasant, especially to the touch, + often with encrusted junk. Like spilled coffee smeared with peanut + butter and ketchup. Hence CRUFT, disgusting mess. 3. Generally + unpleasant. + Does CRUFT have anything to do with the Cruft Lab at Harvard? + I don't know, though I was a Harvard student. - GLS + +DIKE From "diagonal cutters". v. To remove a module or disable it. + "When in doubt, dike it out." + +DOWN 1. adj. Not working, as "The up escalator is down". 2. TAKE + DOWN, BRING DOWN v. To deactivate, usually for repair work. + See UP. + +DPB (duh-pib') From the PDP-10 instruction set. + 1. v. To plop something down in the middle. + +EPSILON from standard mathematical notation for a small quantity. + 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." + +EXCH (ex'chuh, ekstch) From the PDP-10 instruction set. + v. To exchange two things, each for the other. + +EXCL (eks'cul) Abbreviation for "exclamation point". See SEMI, + OPEN, CLOSE. + +FAULTY 1. n. Same denotation as "bagbiting", "bletcherous", + "losing", q. v., but the connotation is much milder. + +FEATURE 1. n. A surprising property of a program. Occasionally + documented. To call a property a feature sometimes means that the + author of the program did not consider the particular case, and + the program makes an unexpected, although not strictly speaking an + incorrect response. See "bug". "That's not a bug, that's a + feature!" A bug can be changed to a feature by documenting it. + 2. A well-known and beloved property, a facility. + Sometimes features are planned, but are called crocks + by others. An approximately correct spectrum: + BUG SCREW LOSS MISFEATURE CROCK KLUDGE WIN FEATURE PERFECTION + (the last is never actually attained).) + +FENCEPOST ERROR n. 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 post ten feet apart, how many posts do you need?" + +FLAKEY 1. adj. Subject to frequent lossages. See "lossage". + +FLAME 1. v. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some + relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently + ridiculous attitude. + FLAME ON - to continue to flame. + +FLAVOR n. 1. Variety, type, kind. "DDT commands come + in two flavors." 2. The attribute of + causing something to be FLAVORFUL. "This convention + yields additional flavor by allowing one to ..." + +FLAVORFUL adj. aesthetically pleasing. + +FLUSH v. 1. To delete something, usually superfluous. "All that + nonsense has been flushed". Standard ITS terminology for + aborting an output operation. 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". + +FOO 1. from Yiddish "feh" or the Anglo-Saxon "fooey!" interj. Term + of disgust. 2. Comes from FUBAR (Fucked up beyond all + recognition), from WWII. Often seen as FOOBAR. name used for + temporary programs, or samples of three letter names. Other + similar words are BAR, BAZ (Stanford corruption of BAR), and + rarely RAG. These have been used in Pogo as well. 3. Used very + generally as a sample name for absolutely anything. + The old SMOKEY STOVER comic strips often included the word FOO, + in particular on license plates of cars. + MOBY FOO - see MOBY. + +FROB 1. n. (MIT) The offical Tech Model Railroad Club definition + is "FROB = protruding arm or trunnion", and by metaphoric + extension any somewhat small thing. See FROBNITZ. + 2. v. abbreviated form of FROBNICATE. + +FROBNICATE 1. v. To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from + FROBNITZ, q. v. Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the + saying "To frob a frob". + +FROBNITZ, pl. FROBNITZEM (frob'nitsm) 1. 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. + +FROTZ 1. n. See FROBNITZ. 2. MUMBLE FROTZ, an interjection + of very mild disgust. + +GARBAGE COLLECT v., GARBAGE COLLECTION n. See GC. + +GC From LISP terminology. 1. v. To clean up and throw away useless things. + "I think I'll GC the top of my desk today." + 2. v. To recycle, reclaim, or put to another use. + 3. n. An instantiation of the GC process. + +GLITCH From the Yiddish "glitshen", to slide. 1. n. A sudden + interruption in electric service, sanity, or program function. + Sometimes recoverable. 2. v. To commit a glitch. + +GOBBLE v. To consume or to obtain. 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 SNARF. + +GRITCH See GLITCH. + +GRONK From the cartoon strip "B.C." 1. v. To clear the state of a + wedged device and restart it. More severe than "to frob", q. v. + 2. To break. "The teletype scanner was gronked, so we took the + system down." 3. GRONK OUT v. To cease functioning. Of people, + to go home and go to sleep. "I guess I'll gronk out now; see + you all tomorrow." + +HACK 1. n. Originally a quick job that produces what is needed, but + not well. 2. The result of that job. 3. NEAT HACK: a clever + technique. 4. REAL HACK: a crock, (occasionally affectionate) 5. + v. with "together": to throw something together so it will work. + 6. to bear emotionally or physically. "I can't hack this heat!" + 7. v. 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 bag": "I hack solid-state physics". + 8. to HACK UP ON: to hack, but generally implies that the result + is meanings 1-2. + HAPPY HACKING - a farewell. HOW'S HACKING? - a friendly greeting + among hackers. HACK HACK - a somewhat pointless but friendly + comment, often used as a temporary farewell. + +HACKER Originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe. 1. n. A + person who is good at programming quickly. Not everything a + hacker produces is a hack. 2. An expert at a particular program, + example: "A SAIL hacker". 3. A malicious or inquisitive meddler + who tries to discover information by poking around. Hence + "keyword hacker", "network hacker". + +HACKISH adj. Being or involving a hack. HACKISHNESS n. + +HAIR n. The complications which make something hairy. + "Decoding TECO commands requires a certain amount of hair." + +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." + +HIRSUTE Occasionally used humorously as a synonym for HAIRY. + +HANDWAVE 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!" + 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 still + while rotating the hands at the wrist to make them flutter. + In context, the gestures alone can suffice as a remark. + +HARDWARILY adv. In a way pertaining to hardware. "The system + is hardwarily unreliable." The adjective "hardwary" is NOT used. + See SOFTWARILY. + +JFCL (djif'kl or djafik'l) Based on the PDP-10 instruction that acts + as a fast no-op. v. To cancel or annul something. "Why don't + you jfcl that out?" + Once at the Museum of Science parking lot I saw a Vermont + License plate JFCL. I wonder who owns it? - GLS + +JIFFY n. 1. Interval of CPU time, commonly 1/60 second or 1 + millisecond. 2. Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. + "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly + never. + +JRST (jerst) Based on the PDP-10 jump instruction. 1. v. To + suddenly change subjects. Rather rare. "Jack be nimble, Jack be + quick; Jack jrst over the candle stick." + +KLUDGE (kloodj) alt: KLUGE. From the German "kluge", clever. 1. A + Rube Goldberg device in hardware or software. 2. n. A clever + programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an + efficient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. + Often verges on being a crock. 3. Something that works for the + wrong reason. + +LDB (lid'dib) From the PDP-10 instruction set. + 1. v. To extract from the middle. + +LINE STARVE (MIT) Inverse of LINE FEED. + +LOSE from MIT jargon 1. v. To fail. A program loses when it + encounters an exceptional condition. 2. v. To be exceptionally + unaesthetic. 3. Of people to be obnoxious or unusually stupid + (as opposed to ignorant). + One is said to DESERVE TO LOSE if one 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 MULTICS deserves to lose!" + LOSE LOSE - a reply or comment on a situation. + +LOSER n. An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or + person. Especially "real loser". + +LOSS n. Something which loses. WHAT A (MOBY) LOSS! - interjection. + +LOSSAGE n. The result of a bug or malfunction. + +MAGIC adj. Something as yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain. + (Someone (who was it?) said that magic was as yet not understood science.) + "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." + +MARGINAL adj. 1. Extremely small. 2. Of extremely small merit. + 3. Of extremely small probability of winning. + "A marginal increase in core can decrease GC time drastically." + "This proposed new feature seems rather marginal to me." + "The power supply was rather marginal anyway; no wonder it crapped out." + MARGINALLY adv. slightly. "The ravs here are only marginally + better than at Small Eating Place." + +MISFEATURE 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 involve a gross philosophical change to the structure of the + system involved. Often a former feature becomes a misfeature + because a tradeoff was made whose parameters subsequently changed + (possibly only in the judgement of the implementors). + "Well, yeah, it's kind of a misfeature that file names are limited + to six characters, but we're stuck with it for now." + +MOBY Seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years ago. + Entered the world of AI with the Fabritek 256K moby memory of + MIT-AI. Derived from Melville's "Moby-Dick" (some say from "Moby Pickle"). + 1. adj. Large, immense, or complex. "A moby frob". 2. n. The + maximum address space of a machine, hence 3. n. 256K words, the + size of a PDP-10 moby. The maximum address space means the + maximum normally addressable space, as opposed to + the amount of physical memory a machine can have. + Thus the MIT PDP-10's each have two mobies, usually + referred to as the "low moby" (0-777777) and "high moby" + (1000000-1777777), or as "moby 0" and "moby 1" (MIT-AI has + four mobies of address space: moby 2 is the PDP-6 memory. + and moby 3 the PDP-11 interface.) + 4. A title of address (never of third-person reference), usually + used to show admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to + a competent hacker. "So, moby Knight, how's the CONS machine doing?" + MOBY FOO, MOBY WIN, MOBY LOSS - standard emphatic forms. + FOBY MOO - a spoonerism due to Greenblatt. + +MODULO prep. Except for. From mathematical terminology: one can + consider saying that 422 "except for the 9's" (422 mod 9). + "Well, LISP seems to work okay now, modulo that GC bug." + +MUMBLE 1. interj. 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. "Well, mumble." + 2. Sometimes used as an expression of disagreement. + "I think we should buy it." "Mumble!" + Common variant: MUMBLE FROTZ. + +MUNCH v. Often confused with "mung", q. v. To transform information + in a serial fashion, often requiring large amounts of computation. + To trace down a data structure. Related to "crunch", as in + "number-crunching". + +MUNG (variant: MUNGE) Recursive acronym for Mung Until No Good. 1. + v. To make changes to a file, often large-scale, usually + irrevocable. Occasionally accidental. See "blt". 2. v. To + destroy. + +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 dee-fun foo, open eks close, open, plus ekx one, close close." + See CLOSE. + +PHASE (of people) 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 work around to the day schedule by Friday." + +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. "This feature depends on having the + channel open in mumble mode, having the foo switch set, and on + the phase of the moon." + +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. + dialect: POPJ (pop-jay), based on the PDP-10 procedure return + instruction. 1. v. To return from a digression. + +PUSH Based on the stack operation that puts the current information + on a stack, and the fact that procedure call addresses are saved + on the stack. dialect: PUSHJ (push-jay), based on the PDP-10 + procedure call instruction. 1. v. To enter upon a digression, to + save the current discussion for later. + +QUUX 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, four U's in seven letters). + 1. Originally, a meta-word like FOO and FOOBAR. Invented + by Steele for precisely this purpose. + 2. Interjection: see FOO; however, denotes very little disgust, + and is uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it. + 3. n. Refers to one of three people who went to + Boston Latin School and eventually to MIT: + THE GREAT QUUX: Guy L. Steele Jr. + THE LESSER QUUX: David J. Littleboy + THE MEDIOCRE QUUX: Alan P. Swide + (This taxonomy, I am told, is similarly applied + to three Frankston brothers at MIT.) + QUUX, without qualification, usually refers to + The Great Quux, who is somewhat infamous for light verse + and for the "Crunchly" cartoons. + 4. QUUXY adj. of or pertaining to a QUUX. + +SACRED adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something + (a metaphorical extension of the standard meaning). + "Accumulator 7 is sacred to the UUO handler." + Often means that anyone may look at the sacred object, + but clobbering it will screw whatever it is sacred to. + +SEMI 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. + +SNARF v. 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 (IT) DOWN. (At MIT on ITS, DDT has a command + called :SNARF which grabs a job from another (inferior) DDT.) + +SOFTWARILY adv. In a way pertaining to software. "The system + is softwarily unreliable." The adjective "softwary" is NOT used. + See HARDWARILY. + +SOS 1. n. A losing editor, SON OF STOPGAP. 2. v. Inverse of AOS, + from the PDP-10 instruction set. + +SPAZZ 1. v. To behave spastically or erratically; more often, + to commit a single gross error. "Boy, is he spazzing!" + 2. n. One who spazzes. "Boy, what a spazz!" + 3. n. The result of spazzing. "Boy, what a spazz!" + +STATE n. Condition, situation. + "What's the state of NEWIO?" "It's winning away." + "What's your state?" "I'm about to gronk out." + As a special case, "What's the state of the world?" + (or, more silly, "State-of-world-P?") means "What's new?" + or "What's going on?" + +SUPERPROGRAMMER 1. n. See "wizard", "hacker". Usage: rare. + (Becoming more common among IBM and Yourdon types.) + +SWAPPED v. From the use of secondary storage devices to implement + virtual memory in computer systems. 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 TECO ORDER every few months to keep the + information swapped in." + +SYSTEM n. 1. The supervisor program on the computer. 2. Any + large-scale program. 3. Any method or algorithm. 4. The way + things are usually done. usage: A fairly ambiguous word. "You + can't beat the system." + SYSTEM HACKER: one who hacks the system (in sense 1 only - + for sense 2 one mentions the particular program: LISP HACKEWR, e.g.) + +THEORY n. Used in the general sense of idea, plan, story, or set of rules. + "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 losers on during the day?" + "The theory behind this change is to fix the following well-known screw..." + +TICK n. 1. Interval of time; basic clock time on the computer. + Typically 1/60 second. See JIFFY. + +UP adj. 1. Working, in order. "The down escalator is up." 2. BRING + UP v. To create a working version and start it. "They brought up + a down system." + +USER n. Definition by RF: + A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One + who asks questions. Identified at MIT with "loser" by the + spelling "luser". + Definition by GLS: + I don't agree with RF's definition at all. + 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. (A few users + who do are known as real winners.) + It is true that users ask questions (of necessity). Very + often they are annoying or downright stupid. + +VANILLA adj. Ordinary flavor, standard. See FLAVOR. + +WALDO Used at Harvard, particularly by Tom Cheatham and students, + instead of FOOBAR as a meta-syntactic variable and general nonsense + word. See FOO, BAR, FOOBAR, QUUX. + +WEDGED from "head wedged up ass". adj. To be in a locked state, + incapable of proceeding without help. (See "gronk"). Often + refers to humans suffering misconceptions. "The swapper is + wedged." + +WIN 1. v. MIT jargon. To win is to succeed. A program wins if no + unexpected conditions arise. 2. 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. + See LOSE. + +WINNAGE 1. n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or when + something is winning. 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 1. n. The quality of winning (as opposed to WINNAGE, which is + the result of winning). "That's really great! Boy, what winnitude!" + +WIZARD n. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or + hardware works; someone who can find and fix his bugs in an + emergency. Rarely used at MIT, where HACKER is the preferred term. + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/doc/humor/nasa.jargon b/doc/humor/nasa.jargon new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b5692504 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/humor/nasa.jargon @@ -0,0 +1,349 @@ +Date: 23 Jan 84 7:41:17-PST (Mon) +From: hplabs!hao!seismo!flinn at Ucb-Vax +To: AIList +Re: Glossary of NASA Terminology + +[Reprinted from the Space Digest by permission of the author. +This strikes me as an interesting example of a "natural sublanguage." +It does not reflect the growth and change of NASA jargon, however: +subsequent discussion on the Space Digest indicates that many of the +terms date back eight years and many newer terms are missing. The +author and others are continuing to add to the list. -- KIL] + + + I've been collecting examples of the jargon in common use by +people at NASA Headquarters. Here is the collection so far: +I have not made any of these up. I'd be glad to hear of worthy +additions to the collection. + + The 'standard NASA noun modifiers' are nouns used as +adjectives in phrases like 'science community' or 'planetary area.' +Definitions have been omitted for entries whose meaning ought to be +clear. + + -- Ted Flinn + +Action Item +Actors in the Program +Ancillary +Ankle: 'Get your ankles bitten' = running into unexpected trouble. +Ant: 'Which ant is steering this log?' = which office is in charge + of a project. +Appendice (pronounced ap-pen-di-see): some people, never having + seen a document with only one appendix, think that this + is the singular of 'appendices.' +Area: Always as 'X Area,' where X is one of the standard NASA + noun modifiers. +Asterick: pronounced this way more often than not. +Back Burner +Bag It: 'It's in the bag' = it's finished. +Ball of Wax +Baseline: verb or noun. +Basis: Always as 'X Basis,' where X is one of the standard NASA + noun modifiers. +Bean Counters: financial management people. +Bed: 'Completely out of bed' = said of people whose opinions + are probably incorrect. +Belly Buttons: employees. +Bench Scientists +Bend Metal: verb, to construct hardware. +Bending Your Pick: unrewarding activity. +Bent Out of Shape: disturbed or upset, of a person. +Big Picture +Big-Picture Purposes +Bite the Bullet +Big-Ticket Item: one of the expensive parts. +Black-belt Bureaucrat: an experienced and knowledgable government + employee. +Bless: verb, to approve at a high level of management. +Blow One's Skirts Up: usually negative: 'that didn't blow + their skirts up' = that didn't upset them. +Blow Smoke: verb, to obfuscate. +Blown Out of the Water +Bottom Line +Bounce Off: to discuss an idea with someone else. +Brassboard (see Breadboard). +Breadboard (see Brassboard). +Bullet: one of the paragraphs or lines on a viewgraph, which are + *never* numbered, but always labelled with a bullet. +Bulletize: to make an outline suitable for a viewgraph. +Bureaucratic Hurdles +Burn: verb, to score points off a competitor. +Burning Factor: one of the critical elements. +Calibrate: verb, to judge the capabilities of people or + organizations. +Camel's Nose in the Tent +Can of Worms +Canned: finished, as 'it's in the can.' +Can't Get There From Here. +Capture a Mission: verb, to construct a launch vehicle for + a space flight. +Carve Up the Turkey +Caveat: usually a noun. +Centers: 'on N-week centers' = at N-week intervals. +Choir, Preaching to the +Clock is Ticking = time is getting short. +Code: Every section at NASA centers or Headquarters has a label + consisting of one or more letters or numbers, and in + conversations or less formal memos, sections are always + referred to by the code rather than the name: + Code LI, Code 931, Code EE, etc. +Commonality +Community: 'X Community,' where X is one of the standard NASA + noun modifiers. +Concept: 'X Concept,' where X is one of the standard NASA + noun modifiers. +Concur: verb, to agree. +Configure: verb. +Constant Dollars: cost without taking inflation into account + (see Real-Year Dollars). +Contract Out +Core X: The more important parts of X, where X is one of the + nouns used as modifiers. +Correlative +Cost-Benefit Tradeoff +Cross-Cut: verb, to look at something a different way. +Crump: transitive verb, to cause to collapse. +Crutch: flimsy argument. +Cut Orders: to fill out a travel order form; left over from the + days when this was done with mimeograph stencils. +Cutting Edge +Data Base +Data Dump: a report made to others, usually one's own group. +Data Point: an item of information. +Debrief: transitive verb, to report to one's own staff after + an outside meeting. +Deep Yoghurt: bad trouble. +Definitize: verb, to make precise or definite. +De-integrate: verb, to take apart (not dis-). +De-lid: verb, to take the top off an instrument. +Delta: an increment to cost or content. +Descope: verb, to redesign a project as a result of budget + cuts (not the opposite of scope, q.v.). +Development Concept +Dialog: transitive verb. +Disadvantage: transitive verb. +Disgruntee: non-NASA person unhappy with program decisions. +Dog's Breakfast +Dollar-Limited +Driver: an item making up a significant part of cost or + schedule: 'X is the cost driver.' +Drop-Dead Date: the real deadline; see 'hard deadline.' +Ducks in a Row +Egg on One's Face +End Item: product. +End-Run the System +End to End +Extent to Which +Extramural +Facilitize: verb, to make a facility out of something. +Factor in: verb. +Feedback: reaction of another section or organization to + a proposition. +Fill This Square +Finalize +Finesse The System +First Cut: preliminary estimate. +Fiscal Constraints +Flag: verb, to make note of something for future reference. +Flagship Program +Flex the Parameters +Flux and Change +What Will Fly: 'see it if will fly.' +Folded In: taken into account. +Forest: miss the f. for the trees. +Forgiving, unforgiving: of a physical system. +Front Office +Full-Up: at peak level. +Future: promise or potential, as, 'a lot of potential future.' +Futuristic +Gangbusters +Glitch +Grease the Skids +Green Door: 'behind the green door' = in the Administrator's offices. +Go to Bat For +Goal: contrasted to 'objective,' q.v. +Grabber +Gross Outline: approximation. +Ground Floor +Group Shoot = brainstorming session. +Guidelines: always desirable to have. +Guy: an inanimate object such as a data point. +Hack: 'get a hack on X' = make some kind of estimate. +Hard Copy: paper, as contrasted to viewgraphs. +Hard Deadline: supposed deadline; never met. +Hard Over: intransigent. +Head Counters: personnel office staff. +Hit X Hard: concentrate on X. +Hoop: a step in realizing a program: 'yet to go through this hoop.' +Humanoid +Hypergolic: of a person: intransigent or upset in general. +Impact: verb. +Implement: verb. +In-House +Initialize +Innovative +Intensive: always as X-intensive. +Intercompare: always used instead of 'compare.' +Issue: always used instead of 'problem.' +Key: adj., of issues: 'key issue; not particularly key'. +Knickers: 'get into their knickers' = to interfere with them. +Laicize: verb, to describe in terms comprehensible to lay people. +Lashup = rackup. +Lay Track: to make an impression on management ('we laid a lot + of track with the Administrator'). +Learning Curve +Liaise: verb. +Limited: always as X-limited. +Line Item +Link Calculation +Liberate Resources: to divert funds from something else. +Looked At: 'the X area is being looked at' = being studied. +Loop: to be in the loop = to be informed. +Love It! exclamation of approval. +Low-Cost +Machine = spacecraft. +Man-Attended Experiment +Marching Orders +Matrix +Micromanagement = a tendency to get involved in management of + affairs two or more levels down from + one's own area of responsibility. +Milestone +Mission Definition +Mode: 'in an X mode.' +Model-Dependent +Muscle: 'get all the muscle into X' +Music: 'let's all read from the same sheet of music.' +Necessitate +Nominal: according to expectation. +Nominative: adj., meaning unknown. +Nonconcur: verb, to disagree. +Numb Nut: unskilled or incapable person. +Objective: as contrasted with 'goal' (q.v.) +Overarching Objective +Oblectation +Off-Load: verb. +On Board: 'Y is on board' = the participation of Y is assured. +On-Boards: employees or participants. +On Leave: on vacation. +On the Part Of +On Travel: out of town. +Open Loop +Out-of-House +Over Guidelines +Ox: 'depends on whose ox is gored.' +Package +Paradigm +Parking Orbit: temporary assignment or employment. +Pathfinder Studies +Pedigree: history of accumulation of non-NASA support for a mission. +Peg to Hang X On +Pie: 'another slice through this same pie is...' +Piece of the Action +Ping On: verb, to remind someone of something they were + supposed to do. +Pitch: a presentation to management. +Placekeeper +Planning Exercise +Pony in This Pile of Manure Somewhere = some part of this mess + may be salvageable. +Posture +Pre-Posthumous +Prioritize +Priority Listing +Problem Being Worked: 'we're working that problem.' +Problem Areas +Product = end item. +Programmatic +Pucker Factor: degree of apprehension. +Pull One's Tongue Through One's Nose: give someone a hard time. +Pulse: verb, as, 'pulse the system.' +Quick Look +Rackup = lashup. +Rainmaker: an employee able to get approval for budget increases + or new missions. +Rapee: a person on the receiving end of an unfavorable decision. +Rattle the Cage: 'that will rattle their cage.' +Real-Year Dollars: cost taking inflation into account, as + contrasted with 'constant dollars.' +Reclama +Refugee: a person transferred from another program. +Report Out: verb, used for 'report.' +Resources = money. +Resource-Intensive = expensive. +ROM: 'rough order of magnitude,' of estimates. +Rubric +Runout +Sales Pitch +Scenario +Scope: verb, to attempt to understand something. +Scoped Out: pp., understood. +Secular = non-scientific or non-technological. +Self-Serving +Sense: noun, used instead of 'consensus.' +Shopping List +Show Stopper +Sign Off On something = approve. +Space Cadets: NASA employees. +Space Winnies or Wieners: ditto, but even more derogatory. +X-Specific +Speak to X: to comment on X, where X is a subject, not a person. +Specificity +Speed, Up To +Spinning One's Wheels +Spooks: DOD of similar people from other agencies. +Staff: verb. +Standpoint: 'from an X standpoint' +Statussed: adj., as, 'that has been statussed.' +Strap On: verb, to try out: 'strap on this idea...' +Strawman +String to One's Bow +Street, On The: distributed outside one's own office. +Stroking +Structure: verb. +Subsume +Success-Oriented: no provision for possible trouble. +Surface: verb, to bring up a problem. +Surveille: verb. +Suspense Date: the mildest form of imaginary deadline. +Tail: to have one's tail in a crack = to be upset or in trouble. +Tall Pole in the Tent: data anomaly. +Tar With the Same Brush +On Target +Task Force +Team All Set Up +Tickler = reminder. +Tiger Team +Time-Critical: something likely to cause schedule trouble. +Time Frame +Torque the System +Total X, where X is one of the standard NASA noun modifiers. +Total X Picture +Truth Model +Unique +Update: noun or verb. +Up-Front: adj. +Upscale +Upper Management +Vector: verb. +Vector a Program: to direct it toward some objective. +Ventilate the Issues: to discuss problems. +Versatilify: verb, to make something more versatile. +Viable: adj., something that might work or might be acceptable. +Viewgraph: always mandatory in any presentation. +Viz-a-Viz +WAG = wild-assed guess. +Wall to Wall: adj., pervasive. +Watch: 'didn't happen on my watch...' +Water Off a Duck's Back +Waterfall Chart: one way of present costs vs. time. +I'm Not Waving, I'm Drowning +Wedge; Planning Wedge: available future-year money. +Been to the Well +Where Coming From +Whole Nine Yards +X-Wide +X-wise +Workaround: way to overcome a problem. +Wrapped Around the Axle: disturbed or upset. diff --git a/doc/info/jargon.info b/doc/info/jargon.info new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c4d9b9a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/info/jargon.info @@ -0,0 +1,2797 @@ +-*- Mode: Text -*- + +JARGON Node: Top, Up: (DIR), Next: Constructs + +This is a general glossary of most commonly-used computer jargon. If you +don't see something that should be here, send mail to lum@cis.ohio-state.edu, +don@sail.stanford.edu, gls@ai.ai.mit.edu, and/or mrc@sail.stanford.edu, +along with a suggested definition. + +* Menu: Micro-gloss: + +* Notes:: [Updating this file] +* Constructs:: [Verb doubling, soundalikes, etc] +* @Begin:: the @Begin(mode) ... @End(mode) convention +* Angle Brackets:: the < ... > bracket characters +* AOS:: a synonym for increment +* Arg:: an abbrev for argument +* Automagically:: automatically, in an unexplained manner +* Bagbiter:: a pejorative for losing systems +* Bang:: the ! character +* Bar:: a metasyntatic variable +* Barf:: a term of disgust +* Bells and Whistles:: all the little fiddly bits +* Bignums:: multiple-precision integers +* BIN:: an abbrev for binary +* Binary:: a binary file +* Bit:: a binary digit +* Bitblt:: bitwise block transfer or calculation +* Bit Bucket:: a place to dump unwanted data +* Bletch:: a term of disgust +* Blt:: the block transfer instruction or method +* Bogosity:: the degree to which something is bogus +* Bogus:: non-functional, useless, false, incorrect, silly +* Bounce:: to play volleyball +* Brain-Damaged:: obviously wrong, cretinous, demented +* Break:: to cause to break or be broken; to breakpoint +* Broken:: not working properly, behaving strangely +* Broket:: the < ... > bracket characters +* Bucky Bits:: the extra-high-order (8th/9th) bits of ASCII chars +* Bug:: an unwanted or unintended property +* Bum:: to optimize for efficiency +* Buzz:: to run in a very tight loop +* Canonical:: the standard state or manner of something +* Catatonia:: suspended animation; being wedged or hung +* CDR:: to trace down a list of elements +* Chine Nual:: the Lisp Machine Manual +* Chomp:: to lose, to chew on too much +* Close:: ), >, ], } close bracket characters +* Cokebottle:: any unusual characters +* Com Mode:: the communication or "TALK" mode +* Connector Conspiracy::the perverse avoidance of compatibility +* CONS:: to synthesize from smaller pieces +* Crash:: sudden, drastic failure +* Cretin:: congenital loser +* CRLF:: a Carriage Return Line Feed char pair +* Crock:: an awkward, crufty feature or technique +* Crufty:: poorly built, obtusely complex +* Crunch:: to process in a time-consuming manner +* CTY:: the controlling terminal of a system +* Cuspy:: well-written, functionally excellent +* Daemon:: programs which are not explicitly invoked +* Day Mode:: (see phase) +* Deadlock:: a situation of fruitless waiting +* Deadly Embrace:: (ditto) +* Demented:: a term of disgust +* Demon:: program routines which are not explicity invoked +* Diablo:: a letter-quality printing terminal +* Diddle:: to work in a non-serious manner +* Dike:: to remove or disable a module +* DMP:: a binary file +* Do Protocol:: to follow an established procedure +* Down:: non-functional, temporarily +* DPB:: to insert in the middle +* Dragon:: programs which run concurrently with the monitor +* DWIM:: "Do what I mean" +* English:: a program's source files +* Epsilon:: very small, negligible, less than marginal +* EXCH:: to exchange two things +* EXCL:: the ! character (exclamation) +* EXE:: a binary file +* Faulty:: losing, but with milder connotation +* Feature:: a surprising, useful property of a program +* Feep:: a soft beep +* Fencepost Error:: discrete boundary condition error (off by one) +* Fine:: good, but not good enough to be cuspy +* Firebottle:: a primitive equivalent of an FET +* Flag Day:: an incompatible software change +* Flakey:: unreliable, subject to frequent lossages +* Flame:: to rave, to speak incessantly or rabidly +* Flap:: to unload tape (so the end flaps) +* Flavor:: variety, type, kind +* Flavorful:: aesthetically pleasing +* Flush:: to delete or remove something +* Foo:: a metasyntactic variable +* Fried:: non-functional due to hardware failure, burnt out +* Frob:: any smallish thing +* Frobnicate:: to tweak some small thing +* Frobnitz:: an unspecified object, a widjet, a black box +* Frog:: a term of disgust +* Frotz:: (see frobnitz) +* Fry:: to fail, esp. of hardware, esp. with smoke +* FTP:: File Transfer Protocol ala ARPANET, to transfer files +* Fudge:: to perform in a marginally acceptable way +* Fudge Factor:: an ad hoc value or parameter varied for effect +* Gabriel:: any unnecessary stalling tactic +* Garbage Collect:: garbage collection; see GC +* Garply:: a metasyntactic variable +* Gas:: a term of disgust and hatred +* GC:: to clean up, to recycle, to forget +* Gedanken:: thought-experiment, programming-in-vacuum, methods +* Glass TTY:: a display terminal which behaves like a teletype +* Glitch:: a sudden interruption in service, sanity, or function +* Glork:: a term of mild surprise, tinged with outrage +* Gobble:: to consume or to obtain +* Gorp:: a metasyntactic variable +* Grind:: to format code, esp. LISP code; to crunch +* Gritch:: to complain +* Grok:: to comprehend in a global manner +* Gronk:: to restart, to break +* Grovel:: to work interminably without progress +* Grungy:: incredibly dirty or grubby +* Gubbish:: a portmanteau of garbage and rubbish +* Gun:: to terminate with extreme prejudice +* Hack:: quick or clever programming or program, etc +* Hacker:: someone who programs quickly or cleverly, etc +* Hackish:: being or involving a hack +* Hair:: the complications which make something hairy +* Hairy:: overly complicated, incomprehensible, etc +* Hakmem:: MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972) - neat hacks +* Handwave:: to gloss over complex material +* Hardwarily:: pertaining to hardware +* Hello Wall:: (see wall) +* Hirsute:: hairy +* Hook:: something which exists to allow modification +* Humongous:: large, unwieldy, usually unmanageable +* Hungus:: (ditto) +* Impcom:: (see telnet) +* Infinite:: any extremely large number or quantity +* IRP:: to iterate with minor variations +* JFCL:: to cancel or annul something +* Jiffy:: a small interval of time, eg, 1/60 or 1/1000 sec +* Jock:: someone who handles large, brute-force programs +* J. Random:: an emphatic form of random +* JRST:: to suddenly go on to something else +* JSYS:: a jump to system monitor call +* Kluge:: something clever, that works for the wrong reason +* LDB:: to extract from the middle +* Life:: a cellular automata by John Horton Conway +* Line Feed:: the Line Feed character +* Line Starve:: the absence of a Line Feed character +* Logical:: virtual, not physical +* Lose:: to fail, to be exceptionally unaesthetic or obnoxious +* Loser:: an unexpectedly bad situation, program/mer, or person +* Loss:: something which loses +* Lossage:: the result of a loss, bug, or malfunction +* LPT:: a line printer +* Luser:: (see user) +* Macrotape:: an industry standard reel of tape +* Magic:: unexplained, too complicated to explain +* Marginal:: extremely small, esp. of merit or likelihood of winning +* Microtape:: the original name of DECtape, very small reels of tape +* Misfeature:: a feature which screws someone, a perennial annoyance +* Moby:: large, immense, complex; numerically, 256K +* Mode:: a state, usually with a descriptive adjective +* Modulo:: except for, ignoring +* Moon:: a celestial object characterised by having phases +* Mumblage:: a topic of mumbling +* Mumble:: a substitue for a full response +* Munch:: to process serially with much computation +* Munching Squares:: a clever display hack; see HAKMEM 146-148 +* Mung:: "mung until no good"; to change irrevocably +* N:: any number, large, indeterminate, or known from context +* Night Mode:: (see phase) +* Nil:: no, false +* Obscure:: totally incomprehensible +* Open:: the (, <, [, { bracket characters +* Parse:: to determine syntactic structure, to understand +* Patch:: a temporary or quick-and-dirty fix to code +* PDL:: a push down list, LIFO queue, or, loosely, any queue +* Pessimal:: maximally bad +* Pessimizing Compiler::one producing code worse than the obvious translation +* Phantom:: programs which run concurrently with the monitor +* Phase:: the phase of one's circadian schedule +* Phase of the moon:: a random parameter on which something depends +* Plugh:: (see xyzzy) +* POM:: an abbrev for phase of the moon +* Pop:: to return from a digression +* PPN:: a project-programmer number +* Protocol:: (see do protocol) +* Pseudoprime:: a backgammon prime lacking one point +* PTY:: a pseudoterminal, a simulated software terminal +* Punt:: to give up, often without intending to try again +* Push:: to enter into a digression +* Ques:: the ? character (question) +* Quux:: a metasyntactic variable +* Random:: unpredictable, assorted, undirected, incoherent +* Randomness:: an inexplicable misfeature, gratuitous inelegance +* Rape:: to (metaphorically) screw someone or something +* Rave:: to persist on a topic, to annoy someone verbally +* Real user:: someone who pays real money for computer usage +* Real world:: the location of the status quo +* Recursion:: (see recursion) +* REL:: a binary file +* Right thing:: the obviously correct or appropriate thing +* Rude:: badly written, functionally poor +* Sacred:: reserved for the exclusive use of something +* Saga:: a cuspy bogus raving story about N random broken people +* SAV:: a binary file +* Semi:: an abbrev for semicolon +* Server:: a daemon which perform service on request +* Shift left (right) logical:: to move to the side or out of the way +* SHR:: a binary file +* Shriek:: the ! character +* 69:: a large number or quantity +* Slop:: a one-sided fudge factor +* Slurp:: to read a large data file entirely into core +* Smart:: something which does the right thing +* Smoking clover:: a psychedelic color munch due to Gosper +* SMOP:: a "simple matter of programming", not yet written +* Snarf:: to grab, esp. of a large file +* Software rot:: the tendency of programs to break down over time +* Softwarily:: pertaining to software +* SOS:: a line editor; a synonym for decrement +* Spazz:: to behave spastically or erratically +* Splat:: a name for various characters +* Supdup:: a super-duper flavor of ARPANET TELNET +* State:: condition, situation +* Stoppage:: extreme lossage, complete unusability +* STY:: (see pty) +* Superprogrammer:: a rare synonym for wizard or hacker +* Swapped:: to (not) be available, usually with in or out +* System:: any large program, eg, the monitor, method, etc +* T:: yes, true +* Tail recursion:: (see tail recursion) +* Talk mode:: (see com mode) +* Taste:: elegance, absence of hacks and kluges +* TECO:: the text editor and corrector programming language +* Telnet:: to communicate with another ARPANET host via TELNET +* Tense:: very clever and efficient +* TERPRI:: to output a crlf +* Theory:: idea, plan, story, rules +* Thrash:: to move wildly or violently and uselessly +* Tick:: an interval of time, eg, 1/60 or 1/1000 sec +* Time T:: an unspecified but known time, with T+1 or T-1 +* Tool:: to work, to study +* Trap:: a program interrupt; to cause an interrupt +* TTY:: terminal, esp. a teletype +* Tweak:: to change slightly, esp. in ref. to a value +* Twenex:: the TOPS-20 operating system +* Twiddle:: the tilde char, a small change +* Up:: functional, working, in order +* User:: a programmer who believes what they are told +* UUO:: an un-used operation monitor call +* Vanilla:: standard, ordinary flavor +* Vaxen:: the plural of VAX +* Virgin:: unused, in ref. to an instantiation of a program +* Virtual:: logical, performing the functions of +* Visionary:: one who hacks vision in an AI context +* Waldo:: a metasyntactic variable +* Wall:: a request for explanation, an expression of confusion +* Wallpaper:: a log file, containing a session listing or transcript +* Waterbottle soccer:: a deadly sport +* Wedged:: to be in a locked state +* What:: the ? character +* Wheel:: a capability bit originally implemented in TENEX +* Wheel Wars:: a period of extreme danger +* Win:: to succeed; serendipity +* Winnage:: the result of winning or of the correction of lossage +* Winner:: an unexpectedly good situation, program/mer, or person +* Winnitude:: the quality of winning +* Wizard:: someone who knows how a complex system works, a hacker +* Wormhole:: a location in the monitor, provided as a hook +* Wow:: the ! character +* XGP:: a xerographic printer +* Xyzzy:: (see plugh) +* Yoyo:: a synonym for UUO +* Yoyo mode:: a rapid alternation between up and down +* Yu-shiang whole fish::the gamma SAIL character +* Zero:: to set to zero, to erase, to discard data + +JARGON Node: Notes, Up: Top, Next: Constructs + + Notes on updating this file: + +This file is maintained at three locations. It is AIWORD.RF[UP,DOC] +at SAIL, and GLS;JARGON > at MIT-MC and at MIT-AI. If you make any +changes, please FTP the new file to the other location. (NOTE: Use +ASCII mode in FTP to avoid screwing up the tilde char!) It is also a +good idea to compare this file against the copy on the other machine +before FTP'ing and to merge any changes found there, in case someone +else forgot to do the FTP. Also, please let us know (see list of +names below) about your changes so that we can double-check them. + +Try to conform to the format already being used--70 character lines, +3-character indentations, pronunciations in parentheses, etymologies +in brackets, single-space after def'n numbers and word classes, etc. + +Stick to the standard ASCII character set. + +If you'd rather not mung the file yourself, send your definitions to +DON @ SAIL, GLS @ MIT-AI, and/or MRC @ SAIL. + +The last edit (of this line, anyway) was by Don Woods, 82-11-14. + +====================================================================== + + Compiled by Guy L. Steele Jr., Raphael Finkel, Donald + Woods, Geoff Goodfellow and Mark Crispin, with + assistance from the MIT and Stanford AI communities + and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Some + contributions were submitted via the ARPAnet from + miscellaneous sites. + +JARGON Node: Constructs, Previous: Notes, Up: Top, Next: @Begin + +Verb doubling: a standard construction is to double a verb and use it + as a comment on what the implied subject does. Often used to + terminate a conversation. Typical examples involve WIN, LOSE, + HACK, FLAME, BARF, CHOMP: + "The disk heads just crashed." "Lose, lose." + "Mostly he just talked about his --- crock. Flame, flame." + "Boy, what a bagbiter! Chomp, chomp!" + +Soundalike slang: similar to Cockney rhyming slang. Often made up on + the spur of the moment. Standard examples: + Boston Globe => Boston Glob + Herald American => Horrid (Harried) American + New York Times => New York Slime + historical reasons => hysterical raisins + government property - do not duplicate (seen on keys) + => government duplicity - do not propagate + Often the substitution will be made in such a way as to slip in + a standard jargon word: + Dr. Dobb's Journal => Dr. Frob's Journal + creeping featurism => feeping creaturism + Margaret Jacks Hall => Marginal Hacks Hall + +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-values function). The question + should expect a yes/no answer, though it needn't. (See T and NIL.) + At dinnertime: "Foodp?" "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry." or "T!" + "State-of-the-world-P?" (Straight) "I'm about to go home." + (Humorous) "Yes, the world has a state." + [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] + +Peculiar nouns: MIT AI 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. Examples: + porous => porosity + generous => generosity + Ergo: mysterious => mysteriosity + ferrous => ferrosity + Other examples: winnitude, disgustitude, hackification. + +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 in a com link. Another + expression sometimes heard is "complain!" + +JARGON Node: @Begin, Previous: Constructs, Up: Top, Next: Angle Brackets + +@BEGIN (primarily CMU) with @END, used humorously in writing to + indicate a context or to remark on the surrounded text. From the + SCRIBE command of the same name. 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) + +JARGON Node: Angle Brackets, Previous: @Begin, Up: Top, Next: AOS + +ANGLE BRACKETS (primarily MIT) n. Either of the characters "<" and + ">". See BROKET. + +JARGON Node: AOS, Previous: Angle Brackets, Up: Top, Next: Arg + +AOS (aus (East coast), ay-ahs (West coast)) [based on a PDP-10 + increment instruction] v. To increase the amount of something. + "Aos the campfire." Usage: considered silly. See SOS. + +JARGON Node: Arg, Previous: AOS, Up: Top, Next: Automagically + +ARG n. Abbreviation for "argument" (to a function), used so often as + to have become a new word. + +JARGON Node: Automagically, Previous: Arg, Up: Top, Next: Bagbiter + +AUTOMAGICALLY adv. Automatically, but in a way which, for some reason + (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps + even too trivial), I don't feel like explaining to you. See MAGIC. + Example: Some programs which produce XGP output files spool them + automagically. + +JARGON Node: Bagbiter, Previous: Automagically, Up: Top, Next: Bang + +BAGBITER 1. n. Equipment or program that fails, usually + intermittently. 2. BAGBITING: adj. Failing hardware or software. + "This bagbiting system won't let me get out of spacewar." Usage: + verges on obscenity. Grammatically separable; one may speak of + "biting the bag". Synonyms: LOSER, LOSING, CRETINOUS, BLETCHEROUS, + BARFUCIOUS, CHOMPER, CHOMPING. + +JARGON Node: Bang, Previous: Bagbiter, Up: Top, Next: Bar + +BANG n. Common alternate name for EXCL (q.v.), especially at CMU. See + SHRIEK. + +JARGON Node: Bar, Previous: Bang, Up: Top, Next: Barf + +BAR 1. The second metasyntactic variable, after FOO. "Suppose we have + two functions FOO and BAR. FOO calls BAR..." 2. Often appended to + FOO to produce FOOBAR. + +JARGON Node: Barf, Previous: Bar, Up: Top, Next: Bells and Whistles + +BARF [from the "layman" slang, meaning "vomit"] 1. interj. Term of + disgust. See BLETCH. 2. v. Choke, as on input. May mean to give + an error message. "The function `=' compares two fixnums or two + flonums, and barfs on anything else." 3. BARFULOUS, BARFUCIOUS: + adj. Said of something which would make anyone barf, if only for + aesthetic reasons. + +JARGON Node: Bells and Whistles, Previous: Barf, Up: Top, Next: Bignums + +BELLS AND WHISTLES n. Unnecessary but useful (or amusing) features of + a program. "Now that we've got the basic program working, let's go + back and add some bells and whistles." Nobody seems to know what + distinguishes a bell from a whistle. + +JARGON Node: Bignums, Previous: Bells, Up: Top, Next: BIN + +BIGNUMS [from Macsyma] n. 1. In backgammon, large numbers on the dice. + 2. Multiple-precision (sometimes infinitely extendable) integers + and, through analogy, any very large numbers. 3. EL CAMINO BIGNUM: + El Camino Real, a street through the San Francisco peninsula that + originally extended (and still appears in places) all the way to + Mexico City. It was termed "El Camino Double Precision" when + someone noted it was a very long street, and then "El Camino + Bignum" when it was pointed out that it was hundreds of miles long. + +JARGON Node: BIN, Previous: Bignums, Up: Top, Next: Binary + +BIN [short for BINARY; used as a second file name on ITS] 1. n. + BINARY. 2. BIN FILE: A file containing the BIN for a program. + Usage: used at MIT, which runs on ITS. The equivalent term at + Stanford is DMP (pronounced "dump") FILE. Other names used include + SAV ("save") FILE (DEC and Tenex), SHR ("share") and LOW FILES + (DEC), and EXE ("ex'ee") FILE (DEC and Twenex). Also in this + category are the input files to the various flavors of linking + loaders (LOADER, LINK-10, STINK), called REL FILES. + +JARGON Node: Binary, Previous: BIN, Up: Top, Next: Bit + +BINARY n. The object code for a program. + +JARGON Node: Bit, Previous: Binary, Up: Top, Next: Bitblt + +BIT n. 1. The unit of information; the amount of information obtained + by asking a yes-or-no question. "Bits" is often used simply to + mean information, as in "Give me bits about DPL replicators". 2. + [By extension from "interrupt bits" on a computer] A reminder that + something should be done or talked about eventually. Upon seeing + someone that you haven't talked to for a while, it's common for one + or both to say, "I have a bit set for you." + +JARGON Node: Bitblt, Previous: Bit, Up: Top, Next: Bit Bucket + +BITBLT (bit'blit) 1. v. To perform a complex operation on a large + block of bits, usually involving the bits being displayed on a + bitmapped raster screen. See BLT. 2. n. The operation itself. + +JARGON Node: Bit Bucket, Previous: Bitblt, Up: Top, Next: Bletch + +BIT BUCKET n. 1. A receptacle used to hold the runoff from the + computer's shift registers. 2. Mythical destination of deleted + files, GC'ed memory, and other no-longer-accessible data. 3. The + physical device associated with "NUL:". + +JARGON Node: Bletch, Previous: Bit Bucket, Up: Top, Next: Blt + +BLETCH [from German "brechen", to vomit (?)] 1. interj. Term of + disgust. 2. BLETCHEROUS: adj. Disgusting in design or function. + "This keyboard is bletcherous!" Usage: slightly comic. + +JARGON Node: Blt, Previous: Bletch, Up: Top, Next: Bogosity + +BLT (blit, very rarely belt) [based on the PDP-10 block transfer + instruction; confusing to users of the PDP-11] 1. v. To transfer a + large contiguous package of information from one place to another. + 2. THE BIG BLT: n. Shuffling operation on the PDP-10 under some + operating systems that consumes a significant amount of computer + time. 3. (usually pronounced B-L-T) n. Sandwich containing bacon, + lettuce, and tomato. + +JARGON Node: Bogosity, Previous: Blt, Up: Top, Next: Bogus + +BOGOSITY n. The degree to which something is BOGUS (q.v.). 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." The agreed-upon unit + of bogosity is the microLenat (uL). + +JARGON Node: Bogus, Previous: Bogosity, Up: Top, Next: Bounce + +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. Silly. "Stop writing those bogus sagas." (This word seems to + have some, but not all, of the connotations of RANDOM.) + [Etymological note from Lehman/Reid at CMU: "Bogus" was originally + used (in this sense) at Princeton, in the late 60's. It was used + not particularly in the CS department, but all over campus. It + came to Yale, where one of us (Lehman) was an undergraduate, and + (we assume) elsewhere through the efforts of Princeton alumni who + brought the word with them from their alma mater. In the Yale + case, the alumnus is Michael Shamos, who was a graduate student at + Yale and is now a faculty member here. A glossary of bogus words + was compiled at Yale when the word was first popularized (e.g., + autobogophobia: the fear of becoming bogotified).] + +JARGON Node: Bounce, Previous: Bogus, Up: Top, Next: Brain-Damaged + +BOUNCE (Stanford) v. To play volleyball. "Bounce, bounce! Stop + wasting time on the computer and get out to the court!" + +JARGON Node: Brain-Damaged, Previous: Bounce, Up: Top, Next: Break + +BRAIN-DAMAGED [generalization of "Honeywell Brain Damage" (HBD), a + theoretical disease invented to explain certain utter cretinisms in + 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. + +JARGON Node: Break, Previous: Brain-Damaged, Up: Top, Next: Broken + +BREAK v. 1. To cause to be broken (in any sense). "Your latest patch + to the system broke the TELNET server." 2. (of a program) To stop + temporarily, so that it may be examined for debugging purposes. + The place where it stops is a BREAKPOINT. + +JARGON Node: Broken, Previous: Break, Up: Top, Next: Broket + +BROKEN adj. 1. Not working properly (of programs). 2. Behaving + strangely; especially (of people), exhibiting extreme depression. + +JARGON Node: Broket, Previous: Broken, Up: Top, Next: Bucky Bits + +BROKET [by analogy with "bracket": a "broken bracket"] (primarily + Stanford) n. Either of the characters "<" and ">". (At MIT, and + apparently in The Real World (q.v.) as well, these are usually + called ANGLE BRACKETS.) + +JARGON Node: Bucky Bits, Previous: Broket, Up: Top, Next: Bug + +BUCKY BITS (primarily Stanford) n. The bits produced by the CTRL and + META shift keys on a Stanford (or Knight) keyboard. Rumor has it + that the idea for extra bits for characters came from Niklaus + Wirth, and that his nickname was `Bucky'. + DOUBLE BUCKY: adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. "The command + to burn all LEDs is double bucky F." + +JARGON Node: Bug, Previous: Bucky Bits, Up: Top, Next: Bum + +BUG [from telephone terminology, "bugs in a telephone cable", blamed + for noisy lines; however, Jean Sammet has repeatedly been heard to + claim that the use of the term in CS comes from a story concerning + actual bugs found wedged in an early malfunctioning computer] n. An + unwanted and unintended property of a program. (People can have + bugs too (even winners) as in "PHW is a super winner, but he has + some bugs.") See FEATURE. + +JARGON Node: Bum, Previous: Bug, Up: Top, Next: Buzz + +BUM 1. v. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at + the expense of clarity. The object of the verb is usually what was + removed ("I managed to bum three more instructions.") but can be + the program being changed ("I bummed the inner loop down to seven + microseconds.") 2. n. A small change to an algorithm to make it + more efficient. + +JARGON Node: Buzz, Previous: Bum, Up: Top, Next: Canonical + +BUZZ v. To run in a very tight loop, perhaps without guarantee of + getting out. + +JARGON Node: Canonical, Previous: Buzz, Up: Top, Next: Catatonia + +CANONICAL adj. The usual or standard state or manner of something. + A true story: One Bob Sjoberg, new at the MIT AI Lab, expressed + some annoyance at the use of jargon. Over his loud objections, we + made a point of using jargon as much as possible in his presence, + and eventually it began to sink in. Finally, in one conversation, + he used the word "canonical" in jargon-like fashion without + thinking. + Steele: "Aha! We've finally got you talking jargon too!" + Stallman: "What did he say?" + Steele: "He just used `canonical' in the canonical way." + +JARGON Node: Catatonia, Previous: Canonical, Up: Top, Next: CDR + +CATATONIA (kat-uh-toe'nee-uh) n. A condition of suspended animation in + which the system is in a wedged (CATATONIC) state. + +JARGON Node: CDR, Previous: Catatonia, Up: Top, Next: Chine Nual + +CDR (ku'der) [from LISP] v. With "down", to trace down a list of + elements. "Shall we cdr down the agenda?" Usage: silly. + +JARGON Node: Chine Nual, Previous: CDR, Up: Top, Next: Chomp + +CHINE NUAL n. The Lisp Machine Manual, so called because the title is + wrapped around the cover so only those letters show. + +JARGON Node: Chomp, Previous: Chine Nual, Up: Top, Next: Close + +CHOMP v. To lose; 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. The gesture alone means CHOMP CHOMP (see Verb + Doubling). + +JARGON Node: Close, Previous: Chomp, Up: Top, Next: Cokebottle + +CLOSE n. Abbreviation for "close (or right) parenthesis", used when + necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity. See OPEN. + +JARGON Node: Cokebottle, Previous: Close, Up: Top, Next: Com Mode + +COKEBOTTLE n. Any very unusual character. MIT people complain about + the "control-meta-cokebottle" commands at SAIL, and SAIL people + complain about the "altmode-altmode-cokebottle" commands at MIT. + +JARGON Node: Com Mode, Previous: Cokebottle, Up: Top, Next: Connector Conspiracy + +COM MODE (variants: COMM MODE, TALK MODE) [from the ITS feature for + linking two or more terminals together so that text typed on any is + echoed on all, providing a means of conversation among hackers] n. + The state a terminal is in when linked to another in this way. Com + mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing, which + are not used orally: + BCNU Be seeing you. + BTW By the way... + BYE? Are you ready to unlink? (This is the standard way to + end a com mode conversation; the other person types + BYE to confirm, or else continues the conversation.) + CUL See you later. + 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... + 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.) + MtFBWY May the Force be with you. (From Star Wars.) + NIL No (see the main entry for NIL). + 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). + When the typing party has finished, he types + two CRLF's 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. + : 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. + /\/\/\ The equivalent of a giggle. + At Stanford, where the link feature is implemented by "talk loops", + the term TALK MODE is used in place of COM MODE. Most of the above + "sub-jargon" is used at both Stanford and MIT. + +JARGON Node: Connector Conspiracy, Previous: Com Mode, Up: Top, Next: CONS + +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. + +JARGON Node: CONS, Previous: Connector Conspiracy, Up: Top, Next: Crash + +CONS [from LISP] 1. v. To add a new element to a list. 2. CONS UP: + v. To synthesize from smaller pieces: "to cons up an example". + +JARGON Node: Crash, Previous: CONS, Up: Top, Next: Cretin + +CRASH 1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of the + system (q.v., definition #1), sometimes of magnetic disk drives. + "Three lusers lost their files in last night's disk crash." A disk + crash which entails 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". 2. v. To fail suddenly. "Has the system just + crashed?" 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." Sometimes said of people. + See GRONK OUT. + +JARGON Node: Cretin, Previous: Crash, Up: Top, Next: CRLF + +CRETIN 1. n. Congenital loser (q.v.). 2. CRETINOUS: adj. See + BLETCHEROUS and BAGBITING. Usage: somewhat ad hominem. + +JARGON Node: CRLF, Previous: Cretin, Up: Top, Next: Crock + +CRLF (cur'lif, sometimes crul'lif) n. A carriage return (CR) followed + by a line feed (LF). See TERPRI. + +JARGON Node: Crock, Previous: CRLF, Up: Top, Next: Crufty + +CROCK [probably from "layman" slang, which in turn may be derived from + "crock of shit"] n. 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 is a crock. Also, 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. + +JARGON Node: Crufty, Previous: Crock, Up: Top, Next: Crunch + +CRUFTY [from "cruddy"] adj. 1. Poorly built, possibly overly complex. + "This is standard old crufty DEC software". Hence CRUFT, n. shoddy + construction. Also CRUFT, v. [from hand cruft, pun on hand craft] + to write assembler code for something normally (and better) done by + a compiler. 2. Unpleasant, especially to the touch, often with + encrusted junk. Like spilled coffee smeared with peanut butter and + catsup. Hence CRUFT, n. disgusting mess. 3. Generally unpleasant. + CRUFTY or CRUFTIE n. A small crufty object (see FROB); often one + which doesn't fit well into the scheme of things. "A LISP property + list is a good place to store crufties (or, random cruft)." + [Note: Does CRUFT have anything to do with the Cruft Lab at + Harvard? I don't know, though I was a Harvard student. - GLS] + +JARGON Node: Crunch, Previous: Crufty, Up: Top, Next: CTY + +CRUNCH v. 1. 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 imbedded in a loop from 1 to 1000000000. "FORTRAN + programs do mostly number crunching." 2. 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 + counting repeated characters (such as spaces) the term is doubly + appropriate. (This meaning is usually used in the construction + "file crunch(ing)" to distinguish it from "number crunch(ing)".) + 3. n. The character "#". Usage: used at Xerox and CMU, among other + places. Other names for "#" include SHARP, NUMBER, HASH, PIG-PEN, + POUND-SIGN, and MESH. GLS adds: I recall reading somewhere that + most of these are names for the # symbol IN CONTEXT. The name for + the sign itself is "octothorp". + +JARGON Node: CTY, Previous: Crunch, Up: Top, Next: Cuspy + +CTY (city) n. The terminal physically associated with a computer's + operating console. + +JARGON Node: Cuspy, Previous: CTY, Up: Top, Next: Daemon + +CUSPY [from the DEC acronym CUSP, for Commonly Used System Program, + i.e., a utility program used by many people] (WPI) adj. 1. (of a + program) Well-written. 2. Functionally excellent. A program which + performs well and interfaces well to users is cuspy. See RUDE. + +JARGON Node: Daemon, Previous: Cuspy, Up: Top, Next: Day Mode + +DAEMON (day'mun, dee'mun) [archaic form of "demon", which has slightly + different connotations (q.v.)] n. A program which is not invoked + explicitly, but which lays 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, writing a file on the lpt spooler's + directory will 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 (q.v.) are often used interchangeably, but seem to + have distinct connotations. DAEMON was introduced to computing by + CTSS people (who pronounced it dee'mon) and used it to refer to + what is now called a DRAGON or PHANTOM (q.v.). The meaning and + pronunciation have drifted, and we think this glossary reflects + current usage. + +JARGON Node: Day Mode, Previous: Daemon, Up: Top, Next: Deadlock + +DAY MODE See PHASE (of people). + +JARGON Node: Deadlock, Previous: Day Mode, Up: Top, Next: Deadly Embrace + +DEADLOCK n. A situation wherein two or more processes are unable to + proceed because each is waiting for another to do something. A + common example is a program communicating to a PTY or STY, which + may find itself waiting for output from the PTY/STY before sending + anything more to it, while the PTY/STY is similarly waiting for + more input from the controlling program before outputting anything. + (This particular flavor of deadlock is called "starvation". + 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. + +JARGON Node: Deadly Embrace, Previous: Deadlock, Up: Top, Next: Demented + +DEADLY EMBRACE n. Same as DEADLOCK (q.v.), though usually used only + when exactly two processes are involved. DEADLY EMBRACE is the + more popular term in Europe; DEADLOCK in the United States. + +JARGON Node: Demented, Previous: Deadly Embrace, Up: Top, Next: Demon + +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. + +JARGON Node: Demon, Previous: Demented, Up: Top, Next: Diablo + +DEMON (dee'mun) n. A portion of a program which is not invoked + explicitly, but which lays 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. + +JARGON Node: Diablo, Previous: Demon, Up: Top, Next: Diddle + +DIABLO (dee-ah'blow) [from the Diablo printer] 1. n. Any letter- + quality printing device. 2. v. To produce letter-quality output + from such a device. + +JARGON Node: Diddle, Previous: Diablo, Up: Top, Next: Dike + +DIDDLE v. To work with in a not particularly serious manner. "I + diddled with 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. + +JARGON Node: Dike, Previous: Diddle, Up: Top, Next: DMP + +DIKE [from "diagonal cutters"] v. To remove a module or disable it. + "When in doubt, dike it out." + +JARGON Node: DMP, Previous: Dike, Up: Top, Next: Do Protocol + +DMP (dump) See BIN. + +JARGON Node: Do Protocol, Previous: DMP, Up: Top, Next: Down + +DO PROTOCOL [from network protocol programming] v. 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 the waitress for the check, calculate + the tip and everybody's share, generate change as necessary, and + pay the bill. + +JARGON Node: Down, Previous: Do Protocol, Up: Top, Next: DPB + +DOWN 1. adj. Not working. "The up escalator is down." 2. TAKE DOWN, + BRING DOWN: v. To deactivate, usually for repair work. See UP. + +JARGON Node: DPB, Previous: Down, Up: Top, Next: Dragon + +DPB (duh-pib') [from the PDP-10 instruction set] v. To plop something + down in the middle. + +JARGON Node: Dragon, Previous: DPB, Up: Top, Next: DWIM + +DRAGON n. (MIT) A program similar to a "daemon" (q.v.), 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. At MIT, all free TV's display 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 is generated by the "NAME DRAGON". See PHANTOM. + +JARGON Node: DWIM, Previous: Dragon, Up: Top, Next: English + +DWIM [Do What I Mean] 1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes even correctly, + what result was intended when provided with bogus input. Often + suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex program. A + related term, more often seen as a verb, is DTRT (Do The Right + Thing). 2. n. The INTERLISP function that attempts to accomplish + this feat by correcting many of the more common errors. See HAIRY. + +JARGON Node: English, Previous: DWIM, Up: Top, Next: Epsilon + +ENGLISH n. The source code for a program, which may be in any + language, as opposed to BINARY. Usage: slightly obsolete, used + mostly by old-time hackers, though recognizable in context. At + MIT, directory SYSENG is where the "English" for system programs is + kept, and SYSBIN, the binaries. SAIL has many such directories, + but the canonical one is [CSP,SYS]. + +JARGON Node: Epsilon, Previous: English, Up: Top, Next: EXCH + +EPSILON [from standard mathematical notation for a small quantity] 1. + n. A small quantity of anything. "The cost is epsilon." 2. adj. + Very small, negligible; less than marginal (q.v.). "We can get + this feature for epsilon cost." 3. WITHIN EPSILON OF: Close enough + to be indistinguishable for all practical purposes. + +JARGON Node: EXCH, Previous: Epsilon, Up: Top, Next: EXCL + +EXCH (ex'chuh, ekstch) [from the PDP-10 instruction set] v. To + exchange two things, each for the other. + +JARGON Node: EXCL, Previous: EXCH, Up: Top, Next: EXE + +EXCL (eks'cul) n. Abbreviation for "exclamation point". See BANG, + SHRIEK, WOW. + +JARGON Node: EXE, Previous: EXCL, Up: Top, Next: Faulty + +EXE (ex'ee) See BIN. + +JARGON Node: Faulty, Previous: EXE, Up: Top, Next: Feature + +FAULTY adj. Same denotation as "bagbiting", "bletcherous", "losing", + q.v., but the connotation is much milder. + +JARGON Node: Feature, Previous: Faulty, Up: Top, Next: Feep + +FEATURE n. 1. A surprising property of a program. Occasionally docu- + mented. To call a property a feature sometimes means the author of + the program did not consider the particular case, and the program + makes an unexpected, although not strictly speaking an incorrect + response. See BUG. "That's not a bug, that's a feature!" A bug + can be changed to a feature by documenting it. 2. A well-known and + beloved property; a facility. Sometimes features are planned, but + are called crocks by others. An approximately correct spectrum: + + (These terms are all used to describe programs or portions thereof, + except for the first two, which are included for completeness.) + CRASH STOPPAGE BUG SCREW LOSS MISFEATURE + CROCK KLUGE HACK WIN FEATURE PERFECTION + (The last is never actually attained.) + +JARGON Node: Feep, Previous: Feature, Up: Top, Next: Fencepost Error + +FEEP 1. n. The soft bell of a display terminal (except for a VT-52!); + a beep. 2. v. To cause the display to make a feep sound. TTY's do + not have feeps. Alternate forms: BEEP, BLEEP, or just about + anything suitably onomatopoeic. The term BREEDLE is sometimes + heard at SAIL, where the terminal bleepers are not particularly + "soft" (they sound more like the musical equivalent of sticking out + one's tongue). The "feeper" on a VT-52 has been compared to the + sound of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears. + +JARGON Node: Fencepost Error, Previous: Feep, Up: Top, Next: Fine + +FENCEPOST ERROR n. 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.) + +JARGON Node: Fine, Previous: Fencepost Error, Up: Top, Next: Firebottle + +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.] + +JARGON Node: Firebottle, Previous: Fine, Up: Top, Next: Flag Day + +FIREBOTTLE n. A large, primitive, power-hungry active electrical + device, similar to an FET 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. + +JARGON Node: Flag Day, Previous: Firebottle, Up: Top, Next: Flakey + +FLAG DAY [from a bit of Multics history involving a change in the + ASCII character set originally scheduled for June 14, 1966] + 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?" + +JARGON Node: Flakey, Previous: Flag Day, Up: Top, Next: Flame + +FLAKEY adj. Subject to frequent lossages. See LOSSAGE. + +JARGON Node: Flame, Previous: Flakey, Up: Top, Next: Flap + +FLAME v. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively + uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude. + FLAME ON: v. To continue to flame. See RAVE. This punning + reference to Marvel comics' Human Torch has been lost as + recent usage completes the circle: "Flame on" now usually + means "beginning of flame". + +JARGON Node: Flap, Previous: Flame, Up: Top, Next: Flavor + +FLAP v. To unload a DECtape (so it goes flap, flap, flap...). Old + 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! + +JARGON Node: Flavor, Previous: Flap, Up: Top, Next: Flavorful + +FLAVOR n. 1. Variety, type, kind. "DDT commands come in two flavors." + See VANILLA. 2. The attribute of causing something to be + FLAVORFUL. "This convention yields additional flavor by allowing + one to..." 3. On the LispMachine, an object-oriented programming + system ("flavors"); each class of object is a flavor. + +JARGON Node: Flavorful, Previous: Flavor, Up: Top, Next: Flush + +FLAVORFUL adj. Aesthetically pleasing. See RANDOM and LOSING for + antonyms. See also the entry for TASTE. + +JARGON Node: Flush, Previous: Flavorful, Up: Top, Next: Foo + +FLUSH v. 1. To delete something, usually superfluous. "All that + nonsense has been flushed." Standard ITS terminology for aborting + an output operation. 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. + +JARGON Node: Foo, Previous: Flush, Up: Top, Next: Fried + +FOO 1. [from Yiddish "feh" or the Anglo-Saxon "fooey!"] interj. Term + of disgust. 2. [from FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition), + from WWII, often seen as FOOBAR] Name used for temporary programs, + or samples of three-letter names. Other similar words are BAR, BAZ + (Stanford corruption of BAR), and rarely RAG. These have been used + in Pogo as well. 3. Used very generally as a sample name for + absolutely anything. The old `Smokey Stover' comic strips often + included the word FOO, in particular on license plates of cars. + MOBY FOO: See MOBY. + +JARGON Node: Fried, Previous: Foo, Up: Top, Next: Frob + +FRIED adj. 1. Non-working due to hardware failure; burnt out. 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." + +JARGON Node: Frob, Previous: Fried, Up: Top, Next: Frobnicate + +FROB 1. n. (MIT) The official Tech Model Railroad Club definition is + "FROB = protruding arm or trunnion", and by metaphoric extension + any somewhat small thing. See FROBNITZ. 2. v. Abbreviated form of + FROBNICATE. + +JARGON Node: Frobnicate, Previous: Frob, Up: Top, Next: Frobnitz + +FROBNICATE v. To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. Derived from + FROBNITZ (q.v.). Usually abbreviated to FROB. Thus one has the + saying "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. + +JARGON Node: Frobnitz, Previous: Frobnicate, Up: Top, Next: Frog + +FROBNITZ, pl. FROBNITZEM (frob'nitsm) 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, FROBULE, and FROBNODULE. Starting + perhaps in 1979, FROBBOZ (fruh-bahz'), pl. FROBBOTZIM, has also + become very popular, largely due to its exposure via the Adventure + spin-off called Zork (Dungeon). These can also be applied to + non-physical objects, such as data structures. + +JARGON Node: Frog, Previous: Frobnitz, Up: Top, Next: Frotz + +FROG (variant: 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 inbetween a turkey + and a toad. 4. Jake Brown (FRG@SAIL). 5. FROGGY: adj. Similar to + BAGBITING (q.v.), but milder. "This froggy program is taking + forever to run!" + +JARGON Node: Frotz, Previous: Frog, Up: Top, Next: Fry + +FROTZ 1. n. See FROBNITZ. 2. MUMBLE FROTZ: An interjection of very + mild disgust. + +JARGON Node: Fry, Previous: Frotz, Up: Top, Next: FTP + +FRY v. 1. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware + failures. 2. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never + said of software, only of hardware and humans. See FRIED. + +JARGON Node: FTP, Previous: Fry, Up: Top, Next: Fudge + +FTP (spelled out, NOT pronounced "fittip") 1. n. The File Transfer + Protocol for transmitting files between systems on the ARPAnet. 2. + v. To transfer a file using the File Transfer Program. "Lemme get + this copy of Wuthering Heights FTP'd from SAIL." + +JARGON Node: Fudge, Previous: FTP, Up: Top, Next: Fudge Factor + +FUDGE 1. v. 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. + +JARGON Node: Fudge Factor, Previous: Fudge, Up: Top, Next: Gabriel + +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 which 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. An example might be the coefficients of an + equation, where the coefficients are varied in an attempt to make + the equation fit certain criteria. + +JARGON Node: Gabriel, Previous: Fudge Factor, Up: Top, Next: Garbage Collect + +GABRIEL [for Dick Gabriel, SAIL 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". + +JARGON Node: Garbage Collect, Previous: Gabriel, Up: Top, Next: Garply + +GARBAGE COLLECT v., GARBAGE COLLECTION n. See GC. + +JARGON Node: Garply, Previous: Garbage Collect, Up: Top, Next: Gas + +GARPLY n. (Stanford) Another meta-word popular among SAIL hackers. + +JARGON Node: Gas, Previous: Garply, Up: Top, Next: GC + +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. v. FLUSH (q.v.). + "You should gas that old crufty software." 4. GASEOUS adj. + Deserving of being gassed. Usage: primarily used by Geoff + Goodfellow at SRI, but spreading. + +JARGON Node: GC, Previous: Gas, Up: Top, Next: Gedanken + +GC [from LISP terminology] 1. v. To clean up and throw away useless + things. "I think I'll GC the top of my desk today." 2. To + recycle, reclaim, or put to another use. 3. To forget. The + implication is often that one has done so deliberately. 4. n. An + instantiation of the GC process. + +JARGON Node: Gedanken, Previous: GC, Up: Top, Next: Glass TTY + +GEDANKEN [from Einstein's term "gedanken-experimenten", such as the + standard proof that E=mc^2] adj. An AI project which is written up + in grand detail without ever being implemented to any great extent. + 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 a program-related concept such + as an algorithm. + +JARGON Node: Glass TTY, Previous: Gedanken, Up: Top, Next: Glitch + +GLASS TTY n. A terminal which has a display screen but which, because + of hardware or software limitations, behaves like a teletype or + other printing terminal. An example is the ADM-3 (without cursor + control). A glass tty can't do neat display hacks, and you can't + save the output either. + +JARGON Node: Glitch, Previous: Glass TTY, Up: Top, Next: Glork + +GLITCH [from the Yiddish "glitshen", to slide] 1. n. A sudden + interruption in electric service, sanity, or program function. + Sometimes recoverable. 2. v. To commit a glitch. See GRITCH. + 3. v. (Stanford) To scroll a display screen. + +JARGON Node: Glork, Previous: Glitch, Up: Top, Next: Gobble + +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. v. Similar to GLITCH (q.v.), but + usually used reflexively. "My program just glorked itself." + +JARGON Node: Gobble, Previous: Glork, Up: Top, Next: Gorp + +GOBBLE v. To consume or to obtain. 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 SNARF. + +JARGON Node: Gorp, Previous: Gobble, Up: Top, Next: Grind + +GORP (CMU) [perhaps from the generic term for dried hiker's food, + stemming from the acronym "Good Old Raisins and Peanuts"] Another + metasyntactic variable, like FOO and BAR. + +JARGON Node: Grind, Previous: Gorp, Up: Top, Next: Gritch + +GRIND v. 1. (primarily MIT) To format code, especially LISP code, by + indenting lines so that it looks pretty. Hence, PRETTY PRINT, the + generic term for such operations. 2. To run seemingly + interminably, performing some tedious and inherently useless task. + Similar to CRUNCH. + +JARGON Node: Gritch, Previous: Grind, Up: Top, Next: Grok + +GRITCH 1. n. A complaint (often caused by a GLITCH (q.v.)). 2. v. To + complain. Often verb-doubled: "Gritch gritch". 3. Glitch. + +JARGON Node: Grok, Previous: Gritch, Up: Top, Next: Gronk + +GROK [from the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land", by Robert Heinlein, + where it is a Martian word meaning roughly "to be one with"] v. To + understand, usually in a global sense. + +JARGON Node: Gronk, Previous: Grok, Up: Top, Next: Grovel + +GRONK [popularized by the cartoon strip "B.C." by Johnny Hart, but the + word apparently predates that] v. 1. To clear the state of a wedged + device and restart it. More severe than "to frob" (q.v.). 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. 4. GRONK OUT: v. To cease functioning. Of people, + to go home and go to sleep. "I guess I'll gronk out now; see you + all tomorrow." + +JARGON Node: Grovel, Previous: Gronk, Up: Top, Next: Grungy + +GROVEL v. To work interminably and without apparent progress. Often + used with "over". "The compiler grovelled over my code." Compare + GRIND and CRUNCH. Emphatic form: GROVEL OBSCENELY. + +JARGON Node: Grungy, Previous: Grovel, Up: Top, Next: Gubbish + +GRUNGY adj. Incredibly dirty 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. + +JARGON Node: Gubbish, Previous: Grungy, Up: Top, Next: Gun + +GUBBISH [a portmanteau of "garbage" and "rubbish"?] n. Garbage; crap; + nonsense. "What is all this gubbish?" + +JARGON Node: Gun, Previous: Gubbish, Up: Top, Next: Hack + +GUN [from the GUN command on ITS] v. 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." + +JARGON Node: Hack, Previous: Gun, Up: Top, Next: Hacker + +HACK n. 1. Originally a quick job that produces what is needed, but + not well. 2. The result of that job. 3. NEAT HACK: 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 circa 1961. + 4. REAL HACK: A crock (occasionally affectionate). + v. 5. With "together", to throw something together so it will work. + 6. To bear emotionally or physically. "I can't hack this heat!" 7. + 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 bag". "I hack solid-state + physics." 8. To pull a prank on. See definition 3 and HACKER (def + #6). 9. v.i. To waste time (as opposed to TOOL). "Watcha up to?" + "Oh, just hacking." 10. HACK UP (ON): To hack, but generally + implies that the result is meanings 1-2. 11. HACK VALUE: Term used + 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 code to read and print roman numerals, + which was installed purely for hack value. + HAPPY HACKING: A farewell. HOW'S HACKING?: A friendly greeting + among hackers. HACK HACK: A somewhat pointless but friendly + comment, often used as a temporary farewell. + [The word HACK doesn't really have 69 different meanings. In fact, + HACK has only one meaning, an extremely subtle and profound one + which defies articulation. Which connotation a given HACK-token + has depends in similarly profound ways on the context. Similar + comments apply to a couple other hacker jargon items, most notably + RANDOM. - Agre] + +JARGON Node: Hacker, Previous: Hack, Up: Top, Next: Hackish + +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, or who enjoys programming rather than just + theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating + hack value (q.v.). 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; example: "A SAIL hacker". (Definitions 1 to 5 are correlated, + and people who fit them congregate.) 6. A malicious or inquisitive + meddler who tries to discover information by poking around. Hence + "password hacker", "network hacker". + +JARGON Node: Hackish, Previous: Hacker, Up: Top, Next: Hair + +HACKISH adj. Being or involving a hack. HACKISHNESS n. + +JARGON Node: Hair, Previous: Hackish, Up: Top, Next: Hairy + +HAIR 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. + +JARGON Node: Hairy, Previous: Hair, Up: Top, Next: Hakmem + +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." + +JARGON Node: Hakmem, Previous: Hairy, Up: Top, Next: Handwave + +HAKMEM n. MIT AI Memo 239 (February 1972). A collection of neat + mathematical and programming hacks contributed by many people + at MIT and elsewhere. + +JARGON Node: Handwave, Previous: Hakmem, Up: Top, Next: Hardwarily + +HANDWAVE 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!" 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 still while rotating + the hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the + gestures alone can suffice as a remark. + +JARGON Node: Hardwarily, Previous: Handwave, Up: Top, Next: Hello Wall + +HARDWARILY adv. In a way pertaining to hardware. "The system is + hardwarily unreliable." The adjective "hardwary" is NOT used. See + SOFTWARILY. + +JARGON Node: Hello Wall, Previous: Hardwarily, Up: Top, Next: Hirsute + +HELLO WALL See WALL. + +JARGON Node: Hirsute, Previous: Hello Wall, Up: Top, Next: Hook + +HIRSUTE Occasionally used humorously as a synonym for HAIRY. + +JARGON Node: Hook, Previous: Hirsute, Up: Top, Next: Humongous + +HOOK n. An extraneous piece of software or hardware included in order + to simplify later additions or debug options. For instance, a + 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. + +JARGON Node: Humongous, Previous: Hook, Up: Top, Next: Hungus + +HUMONGOUS, HUMUNGOUS See HUNGUS. + +JARGON Node: Hungus, Previous: Humongous, Up: Top, Next: Impcom + +HUNGUS (hung'ghis) [perhaps related to current slang "humongous"; + 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." + +JARGON Node: Impcom, Previous: Hungus, Up: Top, Next: Infinite + +IMPCOM See TELNET. + +JARGON Node: Infinite, Previous: Impcom, Up: Top, Next: IRP + +INFINITE adj. Consisting of a large number of objects; extreme. Used + very loosely as in: "This program produces infinite garbage." + +JARGON Node: IRP, Previous: Infinite, Up: Top, Next: JFCL + +IRP (erp) [from the MIDAS pseudo-op which generates a block of code + repeatedly, substituting in various places the car and/or cdr of + the list(s) supplied at the IRP] v. To perform a series of tasks + repeatedly with a minor substitution each time through. "I guess + I'll IRP over these homework papers so I can give them some random + grade for this semester." + +JARGON Node: JFCL, Previous: IRP, Up: Top, Next: Jiffy + +JFCL (djif'kl or dja-fik'l) [based on the PDP-10 instruction that acts + as a fast no-op] v. To cancel or annul something. "Why don't you + jfcl that out?" [The licence plate on Geoff Goodfellow's BMW is + JFCL.] + +JARGON Node: Jiffy, Previous: JFCL, Up: Top, Next: Jock + +JIFFY n. 1. Interval of CPU time, commonly 1/60 second or 1 + millisecond. 2. Indeterminate time from a few seconds to forever. + "I'll do it in a jiffy" means certainly not now and possibly never. + +JARGON Node: Jock, Previous: Jiffy, Up: Top, Next: J. Random + +JOCK n. Programmer who is characterized by large and somewhat brute + force programs. The term is particularly well-suited for systems + programmers. + +JARGON Node: J. Random, Previous: Jock, Up: Top, Next: JRST + +J. RANDOM See RANDOM. + +JARGON Node: JRST, Previous: J. Random, Up: Top, Next: JSYS + +JRST (jerst) [based on the PDP-10 jump instruction] v. To suddenly + change subjects. Usage: rather rare. "Jack be nimble, Jack be + quick; Jack jrst over the candle stick." + +JARGON Node: JSYS, Previous: JRST, Up: Top, Next: Kluge + +JSYS (jay'sis), pl. JSI, JSY (jay'sigh) [Jump to SYStem] See UUO. + +JARGON Node: Kluge, Previous: JSYS, Up: Top, Next: LDB + +KLUGE (kloodj) alt. KLUDGE [from the German "kluge", clever] n. 1. A + Rube Goldberg device in hardware or software. 2. A clever + programming trick intended to solve a particular nasty case in an + efficient, if not clear, manner. Often used to repair bugs. Often + verges on being a crock. 3. Something that works for the wrong + reason. 4. v. 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." Also KLUGE UP. 5. KLUGE AROUND: To avoid by inserting a + kluge. 6. (WPI) A feature which is implemented in a RUDE manner. + +JARGON Node: LDB, Previous: Kluge, Up: Top, Next: Life + +LDB (lid'dib) [from the PDP-10 instruction set] v. To extract from the + middle. + +JARGON Node: Life, Previous: LDB, Up: Top, Next: Line Feed + +LIFE n. A cellular-automata game invented by John Horton Conway, and + first introduced publicly by Martin Gardner (Scientific American, + October 1970). + +JARGON Node: Line Feed, Previous: Life, Up: Top, Next: Line Starve + +LINE FEED (standard ASCII terminology) 1. v. To feed the paper through + a terminal by one line (in order to print on the next line). 2. n. + The "character" which causes the terminal to perform this action. + +JARGON Node: Line Starve, Previous: Line Feed, Up: Top, Next: Logical + +LINE STARVE (MIT) Inverse of LINE FEED. + +JARGON Node: Logical, Previous: Line Starve, Up: Top, Next: Lose + +LOGICAL [from the technical term "logical device", wherein a physical + device is referred to by an arbitrary name] adj. Understood to have + a meaning 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". The word VIRTUAL is also used. At + SAIL, "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 SF 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.) + +JARGON Node: Lose, Previous: Logical, Up: Top, Next: Loser + +LOSE [from MIT jargon] v. 1. To fail. A program loses when it + encounters an exceptional condition. 2. To be exceptionally + unaesthetic. 3. Of people, to be obnoxious or unusually stupid (as + opposed to ignorant). 4. DESERVE TO LOSE: v. 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 MULTICS deserves to lose!" + LOSE LOSE - a reply or comment on a situation. + +JARGON Node: Loser, Previous: Lose, Up: Top, Next: Loss + +LOSER n. An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or + person. Especially "real loser". + +JARGON Node: Loss, Previous: Loser, Up: Top, Next: Lossage + +LOSS n. Something which loses. WHAT A (MOBY) LOSS!: interjection. + +JARGON Node: Lossage, Previous: Loss, Up: Top, Next: LPT + +LOSSAGE n. The result of a bug or malfunction. + +JARGON Node: LPT, Previous: Lossage, Up: Top, Next: Luser + +LPT (lip'it) n. Line printer, of course. + +JARGON Node: Luser, Previous: LPT, Up: Top, Next: Macrotape + +LUSER See USER. + +JARGON Node: Macrotape, Previous: Luser, Up: Top, Next: Magic + +MACROTAPE n. An industry standard reel of tape, as opposed to a + MICROTAPE. + +JARGON Node: Magic, Previous: Macrotape, Up: Top, Next: Marginal + +MAGIC adj. 1. As yet unexplained, or too complicated to explain. + (Arthur C. Clarke once said that magic was as-yet-not-understood + science.) "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. (Stanford) A feature not generally + publicized which allows something otherwise impossible, or a + feature formerly in that category but now unveiled. Example: The + keyboard commands which override the screen-hiding features. + +JARGON Node: Marginal, Previous: Magic, Up: Top, Next: Microtape + +MARGINAL adj. 1. Extremely small. "A marginal increase in core can + decrease GC time drastically." See EPSILON. 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 crapped out." 4. + MARGINALLY: adv. Slightly. "The ravs here are only marginally + better than at Small Eating Place." + +JARGON Node: Microtape, Previous: Marginal, Up: Top, Next: Misfeature + +MICROTAPE n. Occasionally used to mean a DECtape, as opposed to a + MACROTAPE. This was the official DEC term for the stuff until + someone consed up the word "DECtape". + +JARGON Node: Misfeature, Previous: Microtape, Up: Top, Next: Moby + +MISFEATURE 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. + 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 we're + stuck with it for now." + +JARGON Node: Moby, Previous: Misfeature, Up: Top, Next: Mode + +MOBY [seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years ago. + Entered the world of AI with the Fabritek 256K moby memory of + MIT-AI. Derived from Melville's "Moby Dick" (some say from "Moby + Pickle").] 1. adj. Large, immense, or complex. "A moby frob." 2. + n. The maximum address space of a machine, hence 3. n. 256K words, + the size of a PDP-10 moby. (The maximum address space means the + maximum normally addressable space, as opposed to the amount of + physical memory a machine can have. Thus the MIT PDP-10s each have + two mobies, usually referred to as the "low moby" (0-777777) and + "high moby" (1000000-1777777), or as "moby 0" and "moby 1". MIT-AI + has four mobies of address space: moby 2 is the PDP-6 memory, and + moby 3 the PDP-11 interface.) In this sense "moby" is often used + as a generic unit of either address space (18. bits' worth) or of + memory (about a megabyte, or 9/8 megabyte (if one accounts for + difference between 32.- and 36.-bit words), or 5/4 megacharacters). + 4. A title of address (never of third-person reference), usually + used to show admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to a + competent hacker. "So, moby Knight, how's the CONS machine doing?" + 5. adj. In backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in "moby sixes", + "moby ones", etc. + MOBY FOO, MOBY WIN, MOBY LOSS: standard emphatic forms. + FOBY MOO: a spoonerism due to Greenblatt. + +JARGON Node: Mode, Previous: Moby, Up: Top, Next: Modulo + +MODE n. A general state, usually used with an adjective describing the + state. "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. "If you're on + a TTY, E will switch to non-display mode." In particular, see DAY + MODE, NIGHT MODE, and YOYO MODE; also COM MODE, TALK MODE, and + GABRIEL MODE. + +JARGON Node: Modulo, Previous: Mode, Up: Top, Next: Moon + +MODULO prep. Except for. From mathematical terminology: one can + consider saying that 4=22 "except for the 9's" (4=22 mod 9). + "Well, LISP seems to work okay now, modulo that GC bug." + +JARGON Node: Moon, Previous: Modulo, Up: Top, Next: Mumblage + +MOON n. 1. A celestial object whose phase is very important to + hackers. See PHASE OF THE MOON. 2. Dave Moon (MOON@MC). + +JARGON Node: Mumblage, Previous: Moon, Up: Top, Next: Mumble + +MUMBLAGE 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. + +JARGON Node: Mumble, Previous: Mumblage, Up: Top, Next: Munch + +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. "Well, mumble." 2. Sometimes + used as an expression of disagreement. "I think we should buy it." + "Mumble!" Common variant: MUMBLE FROTZ. 3. Yet another + metasyntactic variable, like FOO. + +JARGON Node: Munch, Previous: Mumble, Up: Top, Next: Munching Squares + +MUNCH (often confused with "mung", q.v.) v. To transform information + in a serial fashion, often requiring large amounts of computation. + To trace down a data structure. Related to CRUNCH (q.v.), but + connotes less pain. + +JARGON Node: Munching Squares, Previous: Munch, Up: Top, Next: Mung + +MUNCHING SQUARES n. A display hack dating back to the PDP-1, which + employs a trivial computation (involving XOR'ing of x-y display + coordinates - see HAKMEM items 146-148) to produce an impressive + display of moving, growing, and shrinking squares. The hack + usually has a parameter (usually taken from toggle switches) which + when well-chosen can produce amazing effects. Some of these, + discovered recently on the LISP machine, have been christened + MUNCHING TRIANGLES, MUNCHING W'S, and MUNCHING MAZES. + +JARGON Node: Mung, Previous: Munching Squares, Up: Top, Next: N + +MUNG (variant: MUNGE) [recursive acronym for Mung Until No Good] v. 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. + +JARGON Node: N, Previous: Mung, Up: Top, Next: Night Mode + +N adj. 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. 3. A variable whose value is specified by the current + context. "We'd like to order N wonton soups and a family dinner + for N-1." 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 also 69. + +JARGON Node: Night Mode, Previous: N, Up: Top, Next: Nil + +NIGHT MODE See PHASE (of people). + +JARGON Node: Nil, Previous: Night Mode, Up: Top, Next: Obscure + +NIL [from LISP terminology for "false"] No. Usage: used in reply to a + question, particularly one asked using the "-P" convention. See T. + +JARGON Node: Obscure, Previous: Nil, Up: Top, Next: Open + +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." "FIND's command syntax is obscure." MODERATELY + OBSCURE implies that it could be figured out but probably isn't + worth the trouble. + +JARGON Node: Open, Previous: Obscure, Up: Top, Next: Parse + +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." See CLOSE. + +JARGON Node: Parse, Previous: Open, Up: Top, Next: Patch + +PARSE [from linguistic terminology] v. 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". + +JARGON Node: Patch, Previous: Parse, Up: Top, Next: PDL + +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. 2. v. To insert a patch into a piece + of code. + +JARGON Node: PDL, Previous: Patch, Up: Top, Next: Pessimal + +PDL (piddle or puddle) [acronym for Push Down List] n. 1. A LIFO queue + (stack); more loosely, any priority queue; even more loosely, any + queue. A person's pdl 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 pdl. "I'm afraid I've got real work to do, + so this'll have to be pushed way down on my pdl." See PUSH and + POP. 2. Dave Lebling (PDL@DM). + +JARGON Node: Pessimal, Previous: PDL, Up: Top, Next: Pessimizing Compiler + +PESSIMAL [Latin-based antonym for "optimal"] adj. Maximally bad. + "This is a pessimal situation." + +JARGON Node: Pessimizing Compiler, Previous: Pessimal, Up: Top, Next: Phantom + +PESSIMIZING COMPILER n. A compiler that produces object code that is + worse than the straightforward or obvious translation. + +JARGON Node: Phantom, Previous: Pessimizing Compiler, Up: Top, Next: Phase + +PHANTOM n. (Stanford) The SAIL equivalent of a DRAGON (q.v.). Typical + phantoms include the accounting program, the news-wire monitor, and + the lpt and xgp spoolers. + +JARGON Node: Phase, Previous: Phantom, Up: Top, Next: Phase of the moon + +PHASE (of people) 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 work 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 used, but less frequently.) 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. + +JARGON Node: Phase of the moon, Previous: Phase, Up: Top, Next: Plugh + +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." + +JARGON Node: Plugh, Previous: Phase of the moon, Up: Top, Next: POM + +PLUGH [from the Adventure game] v. See XYZZY. + +JARGON Node: POM, Previous: Plugh, Up: Top, Next: Pop + +POM n. Phase of the moon (q.v.). Usage: usually used in the phrase + "POM dependent" which means flakey (q.v.). + +JARGON Node: Pop, Previous: POM, Up: Top, Next: PPN + +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] + dialect: POPJ (pop-jay), based on the PDP-10 procedure return + instruction. v. To return from a digression. By verb doubling, + "Popj, popj" means roughly, "Now let's see, where were we?" + +JARGON Node: PPN, Previous: Pop, Up: Top, Next: Protocol + +PPN (pip'in) [DEC terminology, short for Project-Programmer Number] n. + 1. A combination `project' (directory name) and programmer name, + used to identify a specific directory belonging to that user. For + instance, "FOO,BAR" would be the FOO directory for user BAR. Since + the name is restricted to three letters, the programmer name is + usually the person's initials, though sometimes it is a nickname or + other special sequence. (Standard DEC setup is to have two octal + numbers instead of characters; hence the original acronym.) 2. + Often used loosely to refer to the programmer name alone. "I want + to send you some mail; what's your ppn?" Usage: not used at MIT, + since ITS does not use ppn's. The equivalent terms would be UNAME + and SNAME, depending on context, but these are not used except in + their technical senses. + +JARGON Node: Protocol, Previous: PPN, Up: Top, Next: Pseudoprime + +PROTOCOL See DO PROTOCOL. + +JARGON Node: Pseudoprime, Previous: Protocol, Up: Top, Next: PTY + +PSEUDOPRIME n. A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied points) + with one point missing. + +JARGON Node: PTY, Previous: Pseudoprime, Up: Top, Next: Punt + +PTY (pity) n. Pseudo TTY, a simulated TTY used to run a job under the + supervision of another job. + PTYCON (pity-con) n. A program which controls several jobs from a + single terminal, with each subjob having its own PTY. + PTYJOB (pity-job) n. The job being run on the PTY. Also a common + general-purpose program for creating and using PTYs. + This is DEC and SAIL terminology; the MIT equivalent is STY. + +JARGON Node: Punt, Previous: PTY, Up: Top, Next: Push + +PUNT [from the punch line of an old joke: "Drop back 15 yards and + punt"] v. To give up, typically without any intention of retrying. + +JARGON Node: Push, Previous: Punt, Up: Top, Next: Ques + +PUSH [based on the stack operation that puts the current information + on a stack, and the fact that procedure call addresses are saved on + the stack] dialect: PUSHJ (push-jay), based on the PDP-10 procedure + call instruction. v. To enter upon a digression, to save the + current discussion for later. + +JARGON Node: Ques, Previous: Push, Up: Top, Next: Quux + +QUES (kwess) 1. n. The question mark character ("?"). 2. interj. + What? Also QUES QUES? See WALL. + +JARGON Node: Quux, Previous: Ques, Up: Top, Next: Random + +QUUX [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, four U's in seven letters).] 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. + 2. interj. See FOO; however, denotes very little disgust, and is + uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it. 3. n. Refers to + one of four people who went to Boston Latin School and eventually + to MIT: + THE GREAT QUUX: Guy L. Steele Jr. + THE LESSER QUUX: David J. Littleboy + THE MEDIOCRE QUUX: Alan P. Swide + (This taxonomy is said to be similarly applied to three Frankston + brothers at MIT.) QUUX, without qualification, usually refers to + The Great Quux, who is somewhat infamous for light verse and for + the "Crunchly" cartoons. 4. The Micro Quux: Sam Lewis. 5. QUUXY: + adj. Of or pertaining to a QUUX. + +JARGON Node: Random, Previous: Quux, Up: Top, Next: Randomness + +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 a routine that could easily have been coded using only + three ac's, but randomly uses seven for assorted non-overlapping + purposes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving + four extra ac's. 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." n. 7. 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. + J. RANDOM is often prefixed to a noun to make a "name" out of it + (by comparison to common names such as "J. Fred Muggs"). The most + common uses are "J. Random Loser" and "J. Random Nurd" ("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. + [See also the note at the end of the entry for HACK.] + +JARGON Node: Randomness, Previous: Random, Up: Top, Next: Rape + +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). "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!" + +JARGON Node: Rape, Previous: Randomness, Up: Top, Next: Rave + +RAPE v. To (metaphorically) screw someone or something, violently. + 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." + +JARGON Node: Rave, Previous: Rape, Up: Top, Next: Real user + +RAVE (WPI) v. 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. + +JARGON Node: Real user, Previous: Rave, Up: Top, Next: Real world + +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. + +JARGON Node: Real world, Previous: Real user, Up: Top, Next: Recursion + +REAL WORLD, THE n. 1. In programming, those institutions at which + programming may be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, COBOL, + RPG, IBM, etc. 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. 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. + +JARGON Node: Recursion, Previous: Real world, Up: Top, Next: REL + +RECURSION n. See RECURSION, TAIL RECURSION. + +JARGON Node: REL, Previous: Recursion, Up: Top, Next: Right thing + +REL See BIN. + +JARGON Node: Right thing, Previous: REL, Up: Top, Next: Rude + +RIGHT THING, THE n. That which is "obviously" the correct or + appropriate thing to use, do, say, etc. 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 '(.)'?" + +JARGON Node: Rude, Previous: Right thing, Up: Top, Next: Sacred + +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. + +JARGON Node: Sacred, Previous: Rude, Up: Top, Next: Saga + +SACRED adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (a + metaphorical extension of the standard meaning). "Accumulator 7 is + sacred to the UUO handler." Often means that anyone may look at + the sacred object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it is + sacred to. + +JARGON Node: Saga, Previous: Sacred, Up: Top, Next: SAV + +SAGA (WPI) n. A cuspy but bogus raving story dealing with N random + broken people. + +JARGON Node: SAV, Previous: Saga, Up: Top, Next: Semi + +SAV (save) See BIN. + +JARGON Node: Semi, Previous: SAV, Up: Top, Next: Server + +SEMI 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." + +JARGON Node: Server, Previous: Semi, Up: Top, Next: Shift left (right) logical + +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. + +JARGON Node: Shift left (right) logical, Previous: Server, Up: Top, Next: SHR + +SHIFT LEFT (RIGHT) LOGICAL [from any of various machines' instruction + sets] 1. v. To move oneself to the left (right). To move out of + the way. 2. imper. Get out of that (my) seat! Usage: often used + without the "logical", or as "left shift" instead of "shift left". + Sometimes heard as LSH (lish), from the PDP-10 instruction set. + +JARGON Node: SHR, Previous: Shift left (right) logical, Up: Top, Next: Shriek + +SHR (share or shir) See BIN. + +JARGON Node: Shriek, Previous: SHR, Up: Top, Next: 69 + +SHRIEK See EXCL. (Occasional CMU usage.) + +JARGON Node: 69, Previous: Shriek, Up: Top, Next: Slop + +69 adj. Large quantity. Usage: Exclusive to MIT-AI. "Go away, I have + 69 things to do to DDT before worrying about fixing the bug in the + phase of the moon output routine..." + [Note: Actually, any number less than 100 but large enough to have + no obvious magic properties will be recognized as a "large number". + There is no denying that "69" is the local favorite. I don't know + whether its origins are related to the obscene interpretation, but + I do know that 69 decimal = 105 octal, and 69 hexadecimal = 105 + decimal, which is a nice property. - GLS] + +JARGON Node: Slop, Previous: 69, Up: Top, Next: Slurp + +SLOP n. 1. A one-sided fudge factor (q.v.). Often introduced to avoid + the possibility of a fencepost error (q.v.). 2. (used by compiler + freaks) The ratio of code generated by a compiler to hand-compiled + code, minus 1; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you lose because you + didn't do it yourself. + +JARGON Node: Slurp, Previous: Slop, Up: Top, Next: Smart + +SLURP v. To read a large data file entirely into core before working + on it. "This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K matrix and does an FFT." + +JARGON Node: Smart, Previous: Slurp, Up: Top, Next: Smoking clover + +SMART adj. Said of a program that does the Right Thing (q.v.) 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. + +JARGON Node: Smoking clover, Previous: Smart, Up: Top, Next: SMOP + +SMOKING CLOVER n. A psychedelic color munch due to Gosper. + +JARGON Node: SMOP, Previous: Smoking clover, Up: Top, Next: Snarf + +SMOP [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming] n. 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. + +JARGON Node: Snarf, Previous: SMOP, Up: Top, Next: Software rot + +SNARF v. 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 (IT) DOWN. (At MIT on ITS, DDT has a command called + :SNARF which grabs a job from another (inferior) DDT.) + +JARGON Node: Software rot, Previous: Snarf, Up: Top, Next: Softwarily + +SOFTWARE ROT n. Hypothetical disease the existence of which has been + deduced from the observation that unused programs or features will + stop working after sufficient time has passed, even if "nothing has + changed". Also known as "bit decay". + +JARGON Node: Softwarily, Previous: Software rot, Up: Top, Next: SOS + +SOFTWARILY adv. In a way pertaining to software. "The system is + softwarily unreliable." The adjective "softwary" is NOT used. See + HARDWARILY. + +JARGON Node: SOS, Previous: Softwarily, Up: Top, Next: Spazz + +SOS 1. (ess-oh-ess) n. A losing editor, SON OF STOPGAP. 2. (sahss) v. + Inverse of AOS, from the PDP-10 instruction set. + +JARGON Node: Spazz, Previous: SOS, Up: Top, Next: Splat + +SPAZZ 1. v. To behave spastically or erratically; more often, to + commit a single gross error. "Boy, is he spazzing!" 2. n. One who + spazzes. "Boy, what a spazz!" 3. n. The result of spazzing. + "Boy, what a spazz!" + +JARGON Node: Splat, Previous: Spazz, Up: Top, Next: Supdup + +SPLAT n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for the + ASCII star ("*") character. 2. (MIT) Name used by some people for + the ASCII pound-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.) 4. (Stanford) Name for the semi-mythical + extended ASCII circle-plus character. 5. Canonical name for an + output routine that outputs whatever the the local interpretation + of splat is. Usage: nobody really agrees what character "splat" + is, but the term is common. + +JARGON Node: Supdup, Previous: Splat, Up: Top, Next: State + +SUPDUP v. To communicate with another ARPAnet host using the SUPDUP + program, which is a SUPer-DUPer TELNET talking a special display + protocol used mostly in talking to ITS sites. Sometimes + abbreviated to SD. + +JARGON Node: State, Previous: Supdup, Up: Top, Next: Stoppage + +STATE n. Condition, situation. "What's the state of NEWIO?" "It's + winning away." "What's your state?" "I'm about to gronk out." As + a special case, "What's the state of the world?" (or, more silly, + "State-of-world-P?") means "What's new?" or "What's going on?" + +JARGON Node: Stoppage, Previous: State, Up: Top, Next: STY + +STOPPAGE n. Extreme lossage (see LOSSAGE) resulting in something + (usually vital) becoming completely unusable. + +JARGON Node: STY, Previous: Stoppage, Up: Top, Next: Superprogrammer + +STY (pronounced "sty", not spelled out) n. A pseudo-teletype, which is + a two-way pipeline with a job on one end and a fake keyboard-tty on + the other. Also, a standard program which provides a pipeline from + its controlling tty to a pseudo-teletype (and thence to another + tty, thereby providing a "sub-tty"). + This is MIT terminology; the SAIL and DEC equivalent is PTY. + +JARGON Node: Superprogrammer, Previous: STY, Up: Top, Next: Swapped + +SUPERPROGRAMMER n. See "wizard", "hacker". Usage: rare. (Becoming + more common among IBM and Yourdon types.) + +JARGON Node: Swapped, Previous: Superprogrammer, Up: Top, Next: System + +SWAPPED adj. From the use of secondary storage devices to implement + virtual memory in computer systems. 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 TECO ORDER 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."). + +JARGON Node: System, Previous: Swapped, Up: Top, Next: T + +SYSTEM n. 1. The supervisor program on the computer. 2. Any + large-scale program. 3. Any method or algorithm. 4. The way + things are usually done. Usage: a fairly ambiguous word. "You + can't beat the system." + SYSTEM HACKER: one who hacks the system (in sense 1 only; for sense + 2 one mentions the particular program: e.g., LISP HACKER) + +JARGON Node: T, Previous: System, Up: Top, Next: Tail recursion + +T [from LISP terminology for "true"] 1. Yes. Usage: used in reply to + a question, particularly one asked using the "-P" convention). See + NIL. 2. See TIME T. + +JARGON Node: Tail recursion, Previous: T, Up: Top, Next: Talk mode + +TAIL RECURSION n. See TAIL RECURSION. + +JARGON Node: Talk mode, Previous: Tail recursion, Up: Top, Next: Taste + +TALK MODE See COM MODE. + +JARGON Node: Taste, Previous: Talk mode, Up: Top, Next: TECO + +TASTE n. (primarily MIT-DMS) 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. + +JARGON Node: TECO, Previous: Taste, Up: Top, Next: Telnet + +TECO (tee'koe) [acronym for Text Editor and COrrector] 1. n. A text + editor developed at MIT, and modified by just about everybody. If + all the dialects are included, TECO might well be the single most + prolific editor in use. Noted for its powerful pseudo-programming + features and its incredibly hairy syntax. 2. v. To edit using the + TECO editor in one of its infinite forms; sometimes used to mean + "to edit" even when not using TECO! Usage: rare at SAIL, where + most people wouldn't touch TECO with a TENEX pole. + [Historical note: DEC grabbed an ancient version of MIT TECO many + years ago when it was still a TTY-oriented editor. By now, TECO at + MIT is highly display-oriented and is actually a language for + writing editors, rather than an editor. Meanwhile, the outside + world's various versions of TECO remain almost the same as the MIT + version of ten years ago. DEC recently tried to discourage its + use, but an underground movement of sorts kept it alive.] + [Since this note was written I found out that DEC tried to force + their hackers by administrative decision to use a hacked up and + generally lobotomized version of SOS instead of TECO, and they + revolted. - MRC] + +JARGON Node: Telnet, Previous: TECO, Up: Top, Next: Tense + +TELNET v. To communicate with another ARPAnet host using the TELNET + protocol. 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." + +JARGON Node: Tense, Previous: Telnet, Up: Top, Next: TERPRI + +TENSE adj. Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of + code often got that way because it was highly bummed, but sometimes + it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever display + routine by Mike Kazar: "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. + +JARGON Node: TERPRI, Previous: Tense, Up: Top, Next: Theory + +TERPRI (tur'pree) [from the LISP 1.5 (and later, MacLISP) function to + start a new line of output] v. To output a CRLF (q.v.). + +JARGON Node: Theory, Previous: TERPRI, Up: Top, Next: Thrash + +THEORY n. Used in the general sense of idea, plan, story, or set of + rules. "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 losers on during the day?" "The theory + behind this change is to fix the following well-known screw..." + +JARGON Node: Thrash, Previous: Theory, Up: Top, Next: Tick + +THRASH v. To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything + useful. Swapping systems which are overloaded waste most of their + time moving pages into and out of core (rather than performing + useful computation), and are therefore said to thrash. + +JARGON Node: Tick, Previous: Thrash, Up: Top, Next: Time T + +TICK n. 1. Interval of time; basic clock time on the computer. + Typically 1/60 second. See JIFFY. 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 handwaved. + +JARGON Node: Time T, Previous: Tick, Up: Top, Next: Tool + +TIME T n. 1. An unspecified but usually well-understood time, often + used in conjunction with a later time T+1, or an earlier time T-1. + "We'll meet on campus at time T or at Louie's at time T+1." 2. + SINCE (OR AT) TIME T EQUALS MINUS INFINITY: A long time ago; for as + long as anyone can remember; at the time that some particular frob + was first designed. + +JARGON Node: Tool, Previous: Time T, Up: Top, Next: Trap + +TOOL v.i. To work; to study. See HACK (def #9). + +JARGON Node: Trap, Previous: Tool, Up: Top, Next: TTY + +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. See UUO. 2. v. 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." + +JARGON Node: TTY, Previous: Trap, Up: Top, Next: Tweak + +TTY (titty) n. Terminal of the teletype variety, characterized by a + noisy mechanical printer, a very limited character set, and poor + print quality. Usage: antiquated (like the TTY's themselves). + Sometimes used to refer to any terminal at all; sometimes used + to refer to the particular terminal controlling a job. + +JARGON Node: Tweak, Previous: TTY, Up: Top, Next: Twenex + +TWEAK v. To change slightly, usually in reference to a value. Also + used synonymously with TWIDDLE. See FROBNICATE and FUDGE FACTOR. + +JARGON Node: Twenex, Previous: Tweak, Up: Top, Next: Twiddle + +TWENEX n. The TOPS-20 operating system by DEC. So named because + TOPS-10 was a typically crufty DEC operating system for the PDP-10. + BBN developed their own system, called TENEX (TEN EXecutive), and + in creating TOPS-20 for the DEC-20 DEC copied TENEX and adapted it + for the 20. Usage: DEC people cringe when they hear TOPS-20 + referred to as "Twenex", but the term seems to be catching on + nevertheless. Release 3 of TOPS-20 is sufficiently different from + release 1 that some (not all) hackers have stopped calling it + TWENEX, though the written abbreviation "20x" is still used. + +JARGON Node: Twiddle, Previous: Twenex, Up: Top, Next: Up + +TWIDDLE n. 1. tilde (ASCII 176, "~"). Also called "squiggle", + "sqiggle" (sic--pronounced "skig'gul"), and "twaddle", but twiddle + is by far the most common term. 2. A small and insignificant + change to a program. Usually fixes one bug and generates several + new ones. 3. v. 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. + +JARGON Node: Up, Previous: Twiddle, Up: Top, Next: User + +UP adj. 1. Working, in order. "The down escalator is up." 2. BRING + UP: v. To create a working version and start it. "They brought up + a down system." + +JARGON Node: User, Previous: Up, Up: Top, Next: UUO + +USER n. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who + asks questions. Identified at MIT with "loser" by the spelling + "luser". See REAL USER. + [Note by GLS: I don't agree with RF's definition at all. + 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. + (A few users who do are known as real winners.) It is true that + users ask questions (of necessity). Very often they are annoying + or downright stupid.] + +JARGON Node: UUO, Previous: User, Up: Top, Next: Vanilla + +UUO (you-you-oh) [short for "Un-Used Operation"] n. A DEC-10 system + monitor call. The term "Un-Used Operation" comes from the fact + that, on DEC-10 systems, monitor calls are implemented as invalid + or illegal machine instructions, which cause traps to the monitor + (see TRAP). The SAIL manual describing the available UUO's has a + cover picture showing an unidentified underwater object. See YOYO. + [Note: DEC sales people have since decided that "Un-Used Operation" + sounds bad, so UUO now stands for "Unimplemented User Operation".] + Tenex and Twenex systems use the JSYS machine instruction (q.v.), + which is halfway between a legal machine instruction and a UUO, + since KA-10 Tenices implement it as a hardware instruction which + can be used as an ordinary subroutine call (sort of a "pure JSR"). + +JARGON Node: Vanilla, Previous: UUO, Up: Top, Next: Vaxen + +VANILLA 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. + +JARGON Node: Vaxen, Previous: Vanilla, Up: Top, Next: Virgin + +VAXEN [from "oxen", perhaps influenced by "vixen"] n. pl. The plural + of VAX (a DEC machine). + +JARGON Node: Virgin, Previous: Vaxen, Up: Top, Next: Virtual + +VIRGIN adj. Unused, in reference to an instantiation of a program. + "Let's bring up a virgin system and see if it crashes again." + Also, by extension, unused buffers and the like within a program. + +JARGON Node: Virtual, Previous: Virgin, Up: Top, Next: Visionary + +VIRTUAL adj. 1. Common alternative to LOGICAL (q.v.), but never used + with compass directions. 2. Performing the functions of. Virtual + memory acts like real memory but isn't. + +JARGON Node: Visionary, Previous: Virtual, Up: Top, Next: Waldo + +VISIONARY n. One who hacks vision (in an AI context, such as the + processing of visual images). + +JARGON Node: Waldo, Previous: Visionary, Up: Top, Next: Wall + +WALDO [probably taken from the story "Waldo", by Heinlein, which is + where the term was first used to mean a mechanical adjunct to a + human limb] Used at Harvard, particularly by Tom Cheatham and + students, instead of FOOBAR as a meta-syntactic variable and + general nonsense word. See FOO, BAR, FOOBAR, QUUX. + +JARGON Node: Wall, Previous: Waldo, Up: Top, Next: Wallpaper + +WALL [shortened form of HELLO WALL, apparently from the phrase "up + against a blank wall"] (WPI) interj. 1. An indication of confusion, + usually spoken with a quizzical tone. "Wall??" 2. A request for + further explication. + +JARGON Node: Wallpaper, Previous: Wall, Up: Top, Next: Waterbottle soccer + +WALLPAPER n. 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 SAIL 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). The term possibly originated on ITS, where the + commands to begin and end transcript files are still :WALBEG and + :WALEND, with default file DSK:WALL PAPER. + +JARGON Node: Waterbottle soccer, Previous: Wallpaper, Up: Top, Next: Wedged + +WATERBOTTLE SOCCER n. A deadly sport practiced mainly by Sussman's + graduate students. It, along with chair bowling, is the most + evident manifestation of the "locker room atmosphere" said to + reign in that sphere. (Sussman doesn't approve.) [As of 11/82, + it's reported that the sport has given way to a new game called + "disc-boot", and Sussman even participates occasionally.] + +JARGON Node: Wedged, Previous: Waterbottle soccer, Up: Top, Next: What + +WEDGED [from "head wedged up ass"] adj. To be in a locked state, + incapable of proceeding without help. (See GRONK.) Often refers + to humans suffering misconceptions. "The swapper is wedged." + This term is sometimes used as a synonym for DEADLOCKED (q.v.). + +JARGON Node: What, Previous: Wedged, Up: Top, Next: Wheel + +WHAT n. The question mark character ("?"). See QUES. Usage: rare, + used particularly in conjunction with WOW. + +JARGON Node: Wheel, Previous: What, Up: Top, Next: Wheel Wars + +WHEEL n. 1. A privilege bit that canonically allows the possessor to + perform any operation on a timesharing system, such as read or + write any file on the system regardless of protections, change or + or look at any address in the running monitor, crash or reload the + system, and kill/create jobs and user accounts. The term was + invented on the TENEX operating system, and carried over to + TOPS-20, Xerox-IFS and others. 2. A person who posses a wheel bit. + "We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung tape drives." + +JARGON Node: Wheel wars, Previous: Wheel, Up: Top, Next: Win + +WHEEL WARS [from LOTS at Stanford University] A period during which + student wheels hack each other by attempting to log each other out + of the system, delete each other's files, or otherwise wreak havoc, + usually at the expense of the lesser users. + +JARGON Node: Win, Previous: Wheel Wars, Up: Top, Next: Winnage + +WIN [from MIT jargon] 1. v. To succeed. A program wins if no + unexpected conditions arise. 2. 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. See LOSE. + +JARGON Node: Winnage, Previous: Win, Up: Top, Next: Winner + +WINNAGE n. The situation when a lossage is corrected, or when + something is winning. Quite rare. Usage: also quite rare. + +JARGON Node: Winner, Previous: Winnage, Up: Top, Next: Winnitude + +WINNER 1. n. An unexpectedly good situation, program, programmer or + person. 2. REAL WINNER: Often sarcastic, but also used as high + praise. + +JARGON Node: Winnitude, Previous: Winner, Up: Top, Next: Wizard + +WINNITUDE n. The quality of winning (as opposed to WINNAGE, which is + the result of winning). "That's really great! Boy, what + winnitude!" + +JARGON Node: Wizard, Previous: Winnitude, Up: Top, Next: Wormhole + +WIZARD n. 1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or + hardware works; someone who can find and fix his bugs in an + emergency. Rarely used at MIT, where HACKER is the preferred term. + 2. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to ordinary + people, e.g., a "net wizard" on a TENEX may run programs which + speak low-level host-imp protocol; an ADVENT wizard at SAIL may + play Adventure during the day. + +JARGON Node: Wormhole, Previous: Wizard, Up: Top, Next: Wow + +WORMHOLE n. A location in a monitor which contains the address of a + routine, with the specific intent of making it easy to substitute a + different routine. The following quote comes from "Polymorphic + Systems", vol. 2, p. 54: + + "Any type of I/O device can be substituted for the standard device + by loading a simple driver routine for that device and installing + its address in one of the monitor's `wormholes.'* + ---------- + *The term `wormhole' has been used to describe a hypothetical + astronomical situation where a black hole connects to the `other + side' of the universe. When this happens, information can pass + through the wormhole, in only one direction, much as `assumptions' + pass down the monitor's wormholes." + +JARGON Node: Wow, Previous: Wormhole, Up: Top, Next: XGP + +WOW See EXCL. + +JARGON Node: XGP, Previous: Wow, Up: Top, Next: Xyzzy + +XGP 1. n. Xerox Graphics Printer. 2. v. To print something on the + XGP. "You shouldn't XGP such a large file." + +JARGON Node: Xyzzy, Previous: XGP, Up: Top, Next: Yoyo + +XYZZY [from the Adventure game] adj. See PLUGH. + +JARGON Node: Yoyo, Previous: Xyzzy, Up: Top, Next: Yoyo mode + +YOYO n. DEC service engineers' slang for UUO (q.v.). Usage: rare at + Stanford and MIT, has been found at random DEC installations. + +JARGON Node: Yoyo mode, Previous: Yoyo, Up: Top, Next: Yu-shiang whole fish + +YOYO MODE n. State in which the system is said to be when it rapidly + alternates several times between being up and being down. + +JARGON Node: Yu-shiang whole fish, Previous: Yoyo mode, Up: Top, Next: Zero + +YU-SHIANG WHOLE FISH n. The character gamma (extended SAIL ASCII 11), + which with a loop in its tail looks like a fish. Usage: used + primarily by people on the MIT LISP Machine. Tends to elicit + incredulity from people who hear about it second-hand. + +JARGON Node: Zero, Previous: Yu-shiang whole fish, Up: Top + +ZERO v. 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. + +Tag Table: +JARGON Node: Top40 +JARGON Node: Notes12903 +JARGON Node: Constructs14408 +JARGON Node: @Begin16878 +JARGON Node: Angle Brackets17348 +JARGON Node: AOS17500 +JARGON Node: Arg17761 +JARGON Node: Automagically17941 +JARGON Node: Bagbiter18311 +JARGON Node: Bang18754 +JARGON Node: Bar18902 +JARGON Node: Barf19135 +JARGON Node: Bells and Whistles19593 +JARGON Node: Bignums19915 +JARGON Node: BIN20531 +JARGON Node: Binary21127 +JARGON Node: Bit21228 +JARGON Node: Bitblt21766 +JARGON Node: Bit Bucket22041 +JARGON Node: Bletch22355 +JARGON Node: Blt22615 +JARGON Node: Bogosity23128 +JARGON Node: Bogus23509 +JARGON Node: Bounce24602 +JARGON Node: Brain-Damaged24809 +JARGON Node: Break25286 +JARGON Node: Broken25617 +JARGON Node: Broket25819 +JARGON Node: Bucky Bits26126 +JARGON Node: Bug26553 +JARGON Node: Bum27073 +JARGON Node: Buzz27505 +JARGON Node: Canonical27660 +JARGON Node: Catatonia28315 +JARGON Node: CDR28507 +JARGON Node: Chine Nual28714 +JARGON Node: Chomp28905 +JARGON Node: Close29397 +JARGON Node: Cokebottle29595 +JARGON Node: Com Mode29873 +JARGON Node: Connector Conspiracy32027 +JARGON Node: CONS32486 +JARGON Node: Crash32702 +JARGON Node: Cretin33412 +JARGON Node: CRLF33598 +JARGON Node: Crock33773 +JARGON Node: Crufty34447 +JARGON Node: Crunch35349 +JARGON Node: CTY36608 +JARGON Node: Cuspy36765 +JARGON Node: Daemon37108 +JARGON Node: Day Mode38456 +JARGON Node: Deadlock38562 +JARGON Node: Deadly Embrace39322 +JARGON Node: Demented39597 +JARGON Node: Demon39982 +JARGON Node: Diablo40969 +JARGON Node: Diddle41195 +JARGON Node: Dike41501 +JARGON Node: DMP41666 +JARGON Node: Do Protocol41764 +JARGON Node: Down42187 +JARGON Node: DPB42393 +JARGON Node: Dragon42554 +JARGON Node: DWIM43176 +JARGON Node: English43664 +JARGON Node: Epsilon44112 +JARGON Node: EXCH44514 +JARGON Node: EXCL44688 +JARGON Node: EXE44833 +JARGON Node: Faulty44922 +JARGON Node: Feature45105 +JARGON Node: Feep46014 +JARGON Node: Fencepost Error46631 +JARGON Node: Fine47005 +JARGON Node: Firebottle47275 +JARGON Node: Flag Day47688 +JARGON Node: Flakey48088 +JARGON Node: Flame48213 +JARGON Node: Flap48628 +JARGON Node: Flavor48963 +JARGON Node: Flavorful49367 +JARGON Node: Flush49545 +JARGON Node: Foo49942 +JARGON Node: Fried50587 +JARGON Node: Frob50946 +JARGON Node: Frobnicate51248 +JARGON Node: Frobnitz52027 +JARGON Node: Frog52622 +JARGON Node: Frotz53060 +JARGON Node: Fry53207 +JARGON Node: FTP53467 +JARGON Node: Fudge53794 +JARGON Node: Fudge Factor54113 +JARGON Node: Gabriel54845 +JARGON Node: Garbage Collect55244 +JARGON Node: Garply55364 +JARGON Node: Gas55503 +JARGON Node: GC56138 +JARGON Node: Gedanken56512 +JARGON Node: Glass TTY57162 +JARGON Node: Glitch57539 +JARGON Node: Glork57854 +JARGON Node: Gobble58269 +JARGON Node: Gorp58603 +JARGON Node: Grind58852 +JARGON Node: Gritch59212 +JARGON Node: Grok59410 +JARGON Node: Gronk59662 +JARGON Node: Grovel60241 +JARGON Node: Grungy60505 +JARGON Node: Gubbish60798 +JARGON Node: Gun60974 +JARGON Node: Hack61240 +JARGON Node: Hacker63274 +JARGON Node: Hackish64220 +JARGON Node: Hair64341 +JARGON Node: Hairy64608 +JARGON Node: Hakmem64994 +JARGON Node: Handwave65223 +JARGON Node: Hardwarily65901 +JARGON Node: Hello Wall66133 +JARGON Node: Hirsute66230 +JARGON Node: Hook66361 +JARGON Node: Humongous66730 +JARGON Node: Hungus66831 +JARGON Node: Impcom67146 +JARGON Node: Infinite67239 +JARGON Node: IRP67438 +JARGON Node: JFCL67882 +JARGON Node: Jiffy68167 +JARGON Node: Jock68433 +JARGON Node: J. 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