eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) (03/03/91)
Submitted-by: jargon@thyrsus.com Archive-name: jargon/part06 ---- Cut Here and feed the following to sh ---- #!/bin/sh # this is jargon.06 (part 6 of jargon) # do not concatenate these parts, unpack them in order with /bin/sh # file jargon.ascii continued # if test ! -r _shar_seq_.tmp; then echo 'Please unpack part 1 first!' exit 1 fi (read Scheck if test "$Scheck" != 6; then echo Please unpack part "$Scheck" next! exit 1 else exit 0 fi ) < _shar_seq_.tmp || exit 1 if test -f _shar_wnt_.tmp; then sed 's/^X//' << 'SHAR_EOF' >> 'jargon.ascii' && X XDissociated Press: n. An algorithm for transforming any text into X potentially humorous garbage, even more efficiently than passing it X through a {marketroid}. You start by printing any N consecutive X words (or letters) in the text. Then at every step you search for X any random occurrence in the text of the last N words (or letters) X already printed and then print the next one. EMACS has a handy X command for this. Here is a short example of word-based X Dissociated Press applied to this Jargon File: X X wart: n. A small, crocky {feature} that sticks out of X an array (C has no checks for this). This is relatively X benign and easy to spot if the phrase is bent so as to be X not worth paying attention to the medium in question. X X Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to this X Jargon File: X X window sysIWYG: n. A bit was named aften /bee't@/ prefer X to use the other guy's re, especially in every cast a X chuckle on neithout getting into useful informash speech X makes removing a featuring a move or usage actual X abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace logic or problem! X X A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press X to a random body of text and {vgrep} the output in hopes of finding X an interesting new word. (In the preceding example, `window X sysIWYG' and `informash' show some promise.) Iterated applications X of Dissociated Press usually yield better results. Similar X techniques called `travesty generators' have been employed with X considerable satirical effect to the utterances of USENET flamers; X see {pseudo}. X Xdistribution: n. 1. A software source tree packaged for X distribution; but see {kit}. 2. A vague term encompassing X mailing lists and USENET newsgroups; any topic-oriented message X channel with multiple recipients. 3. An information-space domain X (usually loosely correlated with geography) to which propagation of X a USENET message is restricted; a much-underutilized feature. X Xdo protocol: [from network protocol programming] vt. To perform an X interaction with somebody or something that follows a clearly X defined procedure. For example, "Let's do protocol with the X check." at a restaurant means to ask for the check, calculate the X tip and everybody's share, collect money from everybody, generate X change as necessary, and pay the bill. See {protocol}. X Xdoco: /do'koh/ [orig. in-house jargon at Symbolics] n. A X documentation writer. See also {devo} and {mango}. X Xdocumentation:: n. The multiple kilograms of macerated, pounded, X steamed, bleached, and pressed trees that accompany most modern X software or hardware products (see also {tree-killer}). Hackers X seldom read paper documentation and (too often) resist writing it; X they prefer theirs to be terse and on-line. See {drool-proof X paper}, {verbiage}. X Xdodgy: adj. Syn. with {flaky}. Preferred outside the U.S. X Xdogcow: n. See {Moof}. X Xdogwash: [From a quip in the `urgency' field of a very optional X software change request, about 1982. It was something like, X "Urgency: Wash your dog first."] 1. n. A project of minimal X priority, undertaken as an escape from more serious work. 2. v. X To engage in such a project. Many games and much {freeware} get X written this way. X Xdomainist: adj. 1. Said of an {{Internet address}} (as opposed to X a {bang path}) because the part to the right of the `@', X specifies a nested series of `domains'; for example, X `eric@snark.thyrsus.com' specifies the machine called X `snark' in the subdomain called `thyrsus' within the X top-level domain called `com'. 2. Said of a site, mailer or X routing program which knows how to handle domainist addresses. X XDon't do that, then!: [from an old doctor's office joke about a X patient with a trivial complaint] interj. Stock response to a user X complaint. "When I type control-S, the whole system comes to a X halt for thirty seconds." "Don't do that, then." (or "So don't X do that!"). Compare {RTFM}. X Xdongle: /dong'gl/ n. 1. A security device for commercial X microcomputer programs consisting of a serialized EPROM and some X drivers in a D-25 connector shell. Programs that use a dongle X query the port at startup and at programmed intervals thereafter, X and terminate if it does not respond with the dongle's programmed X validation code. Thus, users can make as many copies of the X program as they want but must pay for each dongle. The idea was X clever but initially a failure, as users disliked tying up a serial X port this way. Most dongles on the market today (1991) will pass X data through the port and monitor for `magic codes' (and X combinations of status lines) with minimal if any interference with X devices further down the line (this innovation was necessary to X allow daisy-chained dongles for multiple pieces of software). The X devices are still not widely used, as the industry has moved away X from copy-protection schemes in general. 2. By extension, any X physical electronic key or transferrable ID required for a program X to function. See {dongle-disk}. X Xdongle-disk: /don'gl disk/ n. See {dongle}; a `dongle-disk' is a X floppy disk with some coding that allows an application to X identify it uniquely. It can therefore be used as a {dongle}. X Also called a "key disk". X Xdonuts: n. Collective noun for any set of memory bits. This is X really archaic and may no longer be live jargon; it dates from the X days of ferrite-core memories in which each bit was represented by X a doughnut-shaped magnetic flip-flop. Compare {core}. X Xdoorstop: n. Used to describe equipment that is non-functional and X halfway expected to remain so, especially obsolete equipment kept X around for political reasons or ostensibly as a backup. "When we X get another Wyse-50 in here, that ADM3 will turn into a doorstop." X Compare {boat anchor}. X Xdot file: [UNIX] n. A file that is not visible to normal X directory-browsing tools (on UNIX, files named beginning with a dot X are normally invisible to the directory lister). X Xdouble bucky: adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. "The X command to burn all LEDs is double bucky F." X X This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII keyboard, and X was later taken up by users of the {space-cadet keyboard} at MIT. X A typical MIT comment was that the Stanford {bucky bits} (control X and meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't enough of X them; you could only type 512 different characters on a Stanford X keyboard. An obvious thing was simply to add more shifting keys, X and this was eventually done; one problem is that a keyboard with X that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists, who don't like to X move their hands away from the home position on the keyboard. It X was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting keys be X pedals; typing on such a keyboard would be very much like playing a X full pipe organ. This idea is mentioned below, in a parody of a X very fine song by Jeffrey Moss called `Rubber Duckie', which X was published in `The Sesame Street Songbook' (Simon and X Schuster 1971, ISBN 671-21036-X). These lyrics were written on May X 27, 1978, in celebration of the Stanford keyboard. X X Double Bucky X X Double bucky, you're the one! X You make my keyboard lots of fun. X Double bucky, an additional bit or two: X (Vo-vo-de-o!) X Control and meta, side by side, X Augmented ASCII, nine bits wide! X Double bucky! Half a thousand glyphs, plus a few! X Oh, X I sure wish that I X Had a couple of X Bits more! X Perhaps a X Set of pedals to X Make the number of X Bits four: X Double double bucky! X Double bucky, left and right X OR'd together, outta sight! X Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of X Double bucky, I'm happy I heard of X Double bucky, I'd like a whole word of you! X X --- The Great Quux (with apologies to Jeffrey Moss) X X [This, by the way, is an excellent example of computer {filk} --- ESR] X X See also {meta bit}, {cokebottle}, and {quadruple bucky}. X Xdouble DECkers: n. Used to describe married couples in which both X partners work for Digital Equipment Corporation. X Xdoubled sig: [USENET] n. A {sig block} that has been included X twice in a {USENET} article or, less frequently, in an electronic X mail message. An article or message with a doubled sig can be X caused by improperly configured software. More often, however, it X reveals the author's lack of experience in electronic X communication. See {biff}, {pseudo}. X Xdown: 1. adj. Not operating. "The up escalator is down." is X considered a humorous thing to say, but "The elevator is down." X always means "The elevator isn't working." and never refers to X what floor the elevator is on. With respect to computers, this X usage has passed into the mainstream; the extension to other kinds X of machine is still hackish. 2. `go down' vi. To stop functioning; X usually said of the {system}. The message every hacker hates to X hear from the operator is, "The system will go down in five X minutes." 3. `take down', `bring down' vt. To deactivate X purposely, usually for repair work. "I'm taking the system down to X work on that bug in the tape drive." See {crash}; oppose {up}. X Xdownload: vt. To transfer data or (esp.) code from a larger `host' X system (esp. a {mainframe}) over a digital comm link to a smaller X `client' system, esp. a microcomputer or specialized peripheral X device. Oppose {upload}. X XDP: n. 1. Data Processing. Listed here because, according to hackers, X use of it marks one immediately as a {suit}. See {DPer}. 2. X Common abbrev for {Dissociated Press}. X XDPB: /d@-pib'/ [from the PDP-10 instruction set] vt. To plop X something down in the middle. Usage: silly. Example: "DPB X yourself into that couch, there." The connotation would be that X the couch is full except for one slot just big enough for you to X sit in. DPB means `DePosit Byte', and was the name of a PDP-10 X instruction that inserts some bits into the middle of some other X bits. This usage has been kept alive by the Common Lisp function X of the same name. X XDPer: n. Data Processor. Hackers are absolutely amazed that {suit}s X use this term self-referentially. "*Computers* process data, X not people!" See {DP}. X Xdragon: n. [MIT] A program similar to a {daemon}, except that it X is not invoked at all, but is instead used by the system to perform X various secondary tasks. A typical example would be an accounting X program, which keeps track of who is logged in, accumulates X load-average statistics, etc. Under ITS, many terminals displayed X a list of people logged in, where they were, what they were X running, etc. along with some random picture (such as a unicorn, X Snoopy, or the Enterprise) which was generated by the `name X dragon'. Usage: rare outside MIT --- under UNIX and most other OSs X this would be called a `background demon' or {daemon}. The X best-known UNIX example of a dragon is `cron(1)'. At SAIL, X they called this sort of thing a `phantom'. X XDragon Book: n. Aho, Sethi, and Ullman's classic text X `Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools', so called X because of the cover design depicting a knight slaying a dragon X labelled `compiler complexity'. This actually describes the `Red X Dragon Book' (1986); an earlier edition (sans Sethi and titled X `Principles Of Compiler Design') was the `Green Dragon Book' X (1977). There is now a third edition of the Dragon Book that has X the knight sitting in front of what, for all the world, looks like X a video-game display of the dragon, with the real dragon behind it. X The term `White Dragon Book' has been proposed. See also X {{book titles}}. X Xdrain: [IBM] v. Syn. for {flush} (sense #2). Has a connotation X of finality about it; one speaks of draining a device before taking X it offline. X Xdread high-bit disease: n. A condition endemic to PRIME (a.k.a X PR1ME) minicomputers which results in all the characters having X their high (0x80) bit ON rather than OFF. This of course makes X transporting files to other systems much more difficult, not to X mention talking to true eight-bit devices. It is reported that X PRIME adopted the reversed-eight-bit convention in order to save 25 X cents per serial line per machine. This probably qualifies as one X of the most {cretinous} design tradeoffs ever made. See {meta X bit}. X XDRECNET: /drek'net/ [from Yiddish/German `dreck'] n. Deliberate X distortion of DECNET, a networking protocol used in the {VMS} X community. So called because DEC helped write the Ethernet X specification and then (either stupidly or as a malignant X customer-control tactic) violated that spec in the design of X DRECNET in a way that made it incompatible. See also {connector X conspiracy}. X Xdriver: n. 1. The {main loop} of an event-processing program; the X code that gets commands and dispatches them for execution. 2. In X `device driver', code designed to handle a particular X peripheral device such as a magnetic disk or tape. X Xdrool-proof paper: n. Documentation that has been obsessively dumbed X down, to the point where only a {cretin} could bear to read it, is X said to have succumbed to the `drool-proof paper syndrome' or to X have been `written on drool-proof paper'. For example, this is X an actual quote from Apple's LaserWriter manual: "Do not expose X your LaserWriter to open fire or flame." X Xdrop on the floor: vt. To react to an error condition by silently X discarding messages or other valuable data. Example: "The gateway X ran out of memory, so it just started dropping packets on the X floor." Also frequently used of faulty mail and netnews relay X sites that lose messages. See also {black hole}, {bit bucket}. X Xdrop-ins: [prob. by analogy with {drop-outs}] n. Spurious X characters appearing on a terminal or console due to line noise or X a system malfunction of some sort. Esp. used when these are X interspersed with your own typed input. Compare {drop-outs}. X Xdrop-outs: n. 1. A variety of `power glitch' (see {glitch}); X momentary zero voltage on the electrical mains. 2. Missing X characters in typed input due to software malfunction or system X saturation (this can happen under UNIX, for example, when a bad X connect to a modem swamps the processor with spurious character X interrupts). 3. Mental glitches; used as a way of describing X those occasions when the mind just seems to shut down for a couple X of beats. See {glitch}, {fried}. X Xdrugged: adj. (also `on drugs') 1. Conspicuously stupid, X heading towards {brain-damaged}. Often accompanied by a X pantomime of toking a joint (but see Appendix B). 2. Of hardware, X very slow relative to normal performance. X Xdrunk mouse syndrome: n. A malady exhibited by the mouse pointing X device of some computers. The typical symptom is for the mouse X cursor on the screen to move to random directions and not in sync X with the moving of the actual mouse. Can usually be corrected by X unplugging the mouse and plugging it back again. Another X recommended fix is to rotate your optical mouse pad 90 degrees. X Xdumbass attack: /duhm'ass @-tak'/ [Purdue] n. Notional cause of a X novice's mistake made by the experienced, especially one made while X running as root under UNIX, e.g. typing `rm -r *' or X `mkfs' on a mounted file system. Compare {adger}. X Xdump: n. 1. An undigested and voluminous mass of information about a X problem or the state of a system, especially one routed to the X slowest available output device (compare {core dump}), and most X especially one consisting or hex and octal {runes} describing the X byte-by-byte state of memory, mass storage, or some file. In elder X days, debugging was generally done by `grovelling over a dump' X (see {grovel}); increasing use of high-level languages and X interactive debuggers has made this uncommon, and the term `dump' X now has a faintly archaic flavor. 2. A backup. This usage is X typical only at large timesharing installations. X Xdup killer: /d[y]oop killer/ [FidoNet] n. Software which is X supposed to detect and delete duplicates of a message which may X have reached the FidoNet system via different routes. X Xdup loop: /d[y]oop loop/ (also `dupe loop') [FidoNet] n. An X incorrectly configured system or network gateway may propagate X duplicate messages on one or more {echo}s, with different X identification information that renders {dup killer}s X ineffective. If such a duplicate message eventually reaches a X system which it has already passed through (with the original X identification information), all systems passed on the way back to X that system are said to be involved in a {dup loop}. X Xdusty deck: n. Old software (especially applications) with which X one is obliged to remain compatible (or to maintain). The term X implies that the software in question is a holdover from card-punch X days. Used esp. when referring to old scientific and X {number-crunching} software, much of which was written in FORTRAN and X very poorly documented but is believed to be too expensive to X replace. See {fossil}. X XDWIM: /dwim/ [Do What I Mean] 1. adj. Able to guess, sometimes X even correctly, the result intended when bogus input was provided. X 2. n.,obs. The BBNLISP/INTERLISP function that attempted to X accomplish this feat by correcting many of the more common errors. X See {hairy}. 3. Occasionally, an interjection hurled at a X balky computer, esp. when one senses one might be tripping over X legalisms (see {legalese}). X X DWIM is often suggested in jest as a desired feature for a complex X program; also, occasionally described as the single instruction the X ideal computer would have. Back when proofs of program correctness X were in vogue, there were also jokes about `DWIMC': Do What I X Mean, Correctly). A related term, more often seen as a verb, is X DTRT (Do The Right Thing), see {Right Thing}. X Xdynner: /din'r/ 32 bits, by analogy with {nybble} and {{byte}}. Usage: X rare and extremely silly. See also {playte}, {tayste}, {crumb}. X X= E = X===== X Xearthquake: [IBM] n. The ultimate real-world shock test for X computer hardware. Hackish sources at IBM deny the rumor that the X Bay Area quake of 1989 was initiated by the company to test quality X assurance procedures at its California plants. X XEaster egg: n. 1. A message hidden in the object code of a program X as a joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or X browsing the code. 2. A message, graphic, or sound-effect emitted X by a program (or, on a PC, the BIOS ROM) in response to some X undocumented set of commands or keystrokes, intended as a joke or X to display program credits. One well-known early Easter egg found X in a couple of OSs caused them to respond to the command `make X love' with `not war?'. Many personal computers have much more X elaborate eggs hidden in ROM, including lists of the developers' X names, political exhortations, snatches of music, and (in one case) X graphics images of the entire development team. X XEaster egging: [IBM] n. The act of replacing unrelated parts more or X less at random in hopes that a malfunction will go away. Hackers X consider this the normal operating mode of {field circus} techs and X do not love them for it. Compare {shotgun debugging}. X Xeat flaming death: imp. A construction popularized among hackers by X the infamous {CPU Wars} comic; supposed to derive from a famously X turgid line in a WWII-era anti-Nazi propaganda comic which ran X "Eat flaming death, non-Aryan mongrels!" or something of the sort X (however, it is also reported that the Firesign Theater's 1975 X album `In The Next World, You're On Your Own' included the X phrase "Eat flaming death, fascist media pigs"; this may have been X an influence). Used in humorously overblown expressions of X hostility. "Eat flaming death, {{EBCDIC}} users!" X XEBCDIC:: /eb's@'dik/, /eb'see-dik/, or /eb'k@-dik/ [Extended Binary X Coded Decimal Interchange Code] n. An alleged character set used on X IBM {dinosaur}s. It exists in six mutually incompatible X versions, all featuring such delights as non-contiguous letter X sequences and the absence of several ASCII punctuation characters X fairly important for modern computer languages (exactly which X characters are absent vary according to which version of EBCDIC X you're looking at). IBM adapted EBCDIC from {{punched card}} code X in the early 1960s and promulgated it as a customer-control tactic X (see {connector conspiracy}), spurning the already established X ASCII standard. Today, IBM claims to be an open-systems company, X but IBM's own description of the EBCDIC variants and how to convert X between them is still internally classified top-secret, X burn-before-reading. Hackers blanch at the very *name* of X EBCDIC and consider it a manifestation of purest {evil}. See X also {fear and loathing}. X Xecho: [FidoNet] n. A topic group on {FidoNet}'s echomail system. Compare X {newsgroup}. X Xeighty-column mind: [IBM] n. The sort said to be employed by X persons for whom the transition from card to tape was traumatic X (nobody has dared tell them about disks yet). It is said that X these people, like (according to an old joke) the founder of IBM, X will be buried `face down, 9-edge first' (the 9-edge is the bottom X of the card). This directive is inscribed on IBM's 1422 and 1602 X card readers, and referenced in a famous bit of doggerel called X `The Last Bug', which ends: X X He died at the console X Of hunger and thirst. X Next day he was buried, X Face down, 9-edge first. X X The eighty-column mind is thought by most hackers to dominate IBM's X customer base, and its thinking. See {{punched card}}, {IBM}, X {fear and loathing}, {card walloper}. X XEl Camino Bignum: /el' k@-mee'noh big'num/ n. El Camino Real. El X Camino Real is the name of a street through the San Francisco X peninsula that originally extended (and still appears in places) X all the way down to Mexico City. Navigation on the San Francisco X peninsula is usually done relative to El Camino Real, which defines X {logical} north and south even though it doesn't really run N/S X many places. El Camino Real runs right past Stanford University X and so is familiar to hackers. The Spanish word `real' (which has X two syllables /ray-ahl'/) means `royal'; El Camino Real is `the X royal road'. In the FORTRAN language, a `real' quantity is a X number typically precise to seven significant digits, and a `double X precision' quantity is a larger floating-point number, precise to X perhaps fourteen significant digits (other languages have similar X `real' types). When a hacker from MIT visited Stanford in 1976 or X so, he remarked what a long road El Camino Real was. Making a pun X on `real', he started calling it `El Camino Double Precision' --- X but when the hacker was told that the road was hundreds of miles X long, he renamed it `El Camino Bignum', and that name has stuck. X (See {bignum}.) X Xelegant: [from mathematical usage] adj. Combining simplicity, power, X and a certain ineffable grace of design. Higher praise than X `clever', `winning', or even {cuspy}. X Xelephantine: adj. Used of programs or systems that are both X conspicuous {hog}s (due perhaps to poor design founded on X {brute force and ignorance}) and exceedingly {hairy} in source X form. An elephantine program may be functional and even friendly, X but (like the old joke about being in bed with an elephant) it's X tough to have around all the same (and, like a pachyderm, difficult X to maintain). In extreme cases, hackers have been known to make X trumpeting sounds or perform expressive proboscatory mime at the X mention of the offending program. Usage: semi-humorous. Compare X `has the elephant nature' and the somewhat more pejorative X {monstrosity}. See also {second-system effect} and X {baroque}. X Xelevator controller: n. Another archetypal dumb embedded-systems X application, like {toaster}. During the deliberations of ANSI X X3J11, the C standardization committee, this was the canonical X example of its type. "You can't require `printf(3)' to be X part of the default runtime library --- what if you're targeting an X elevator controller?" Elevator controllers became important X rhetorical weapons on both sides of several {holy wars}. X XEMACS: /ee'maks/ [from Editing MACroS] n. The ne plus ultra of X hacker editors, a program editor with an entire LISP system inside X it. Originally written by Richard Stallman in {TECO} at the X MIT-AI lab, but the most widely used versions now run under UNIX. X It includes facilities to run compilation subprocesses and send and X receive mail; many hackers spend up to 80% of their {tube time} X inside it. Some versions running under window managers iconify as X an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest the one feature the X editor doesn't include. Indeed, some hackers find EMACS too X heavyweight and {baroque} for their taste, and expand the name as X `Escape Meta Alt Control Shift' to spoof its heavy reliance on X keystrokes decorated with {bucky bits}. Other spoof expansions X include `Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping', `Eventually X malloc()s All Computer Storage', and `EMACS Makes A Computer Slow' X (see {{recursive acronyms}}). See also {vi}. X Xemail: /ee'mayl/ 1. n. Electronic mail automatically passed through X computer networks and/or via modems common-carrier lines. Contrast X {snail-mail}, {paper-net}, {voice-net}. See {network X address}. 2. vt. To send email to a person. X X Oddly enough, the word `emailed' is actually listed in the OED; it X means "embossed (with a raised pattern) or arranged in a net work"! X A use from 1480 is given, and the word is derived from French X `emmailleure', network. X Xemoticon: /ee-moh'ti-con/ n. An ASCII glyph used to indicate an X emotional state in email or news. Hundreds have been proposed, but X only a few are in common use. These include: X X :-) Smiley face (indicates humor, laughter, or friendliness) X :-( Frowney face (indicates sadness, anger, or upset) X ;-) Half-smiley ({ha ha only serious}) X Also known as "semi-smiley" or "winkey face". X :-/ Wry face X X It appears that the emoticon was invented by one Scott Fahlman on X the CMU {bboard} systems around 1980. He later wrote "I wish I X had saved the original post, or at least recorded the date for X posterity, but I had no idea that I was starting something that X would soon pollute all the world's communication channels." (GLS X confirms that he remembers this original posting). X X Of these, the first two are by far the most frequently encountered. X Hyphenless forms of them are common on CompuServe, GEnie, and BIX; X see also {bixie}. On {USENET}, `smiley' is often used as a X generic synonymous with {emoticon}, as well as specifically for the X happy-face emoticon. X X Note for the {newbie}: overuse of the smiley is a mark of X loserhood! More than one per paragraph is a fairly sure sign that X you've gone over the line. X Xempire: n. Any of a family of military simulations derived from a X game written by Peter Langston many years ago. There are 5 or 6 X multi-player variants of varying degrees of sophistication, and one X single-player version implemented for both UNIX and VMS which is X even available as MS-DOS freeware. All are notoriously addictive. X Xengine: n. 1. A piece of hardware that encapsulates some function X but can't be used without some kind of {front end}. Today we X have, especially, `print engine': the guts of a laser printer. X 2. An analogous piece of software; notionally, one that does a lot X of noisy crunching, such as a `database engine'. X X The hackish senses of `engine' are actually close to its original, X pre-Industrial-Revolution sense of a skill, clever device, or X instrument (the word is cognate to `ingenuity'). This sense had X not been completely eclipsed by the modern connotation of X power-transducing machinery in Charles Babbage's time, which X explains why he named the stored-program computer that X he designed in 1844 the `Analytical Engine'. X XEnglish: n.,obs. The source code for a program, which may be in any X language, as opposed to the linkable or executable binary produced X from it by a compiler. The idea behind the term is that to a real X hacker, a program written in his favorite programming language is X at least as readable as English. Usage: used mostly by old-time X hackers, though recognizable in context. X Xenhancement: n. {Marketroid}-speak for a bug {fix}. This abuse X of language is a popular and time-tested way to turn incompetence X into increased revenue. A hacker being ironic would instead call X the fix a {feature} --- or perhaps save some effort by declaring X the bug itself to be a feature. X XENQ: /enkw/ [from the ASCII mnemonic `ENQuire' for #b0000101] ques. X An on-line convention for querying someone's availability. After X opening a {talk mode} connection to someone apparently in heavy X hack mode, one might type "SYN SYN ENQ?" (the SYNs representing X notional synchronization bytes) expecting a return of {ACK} or X {NAK} depending on whether or not the person felt interruptible. X Compare {ping}, {finger}, and the usage of "FOO?" listed X under {talk mode}. X XEOF: /ee-oh-ef/ [acronym, End Of File] n. 1. [techspeak] X Refers esp. to whatever pseudo-character value is returned by C's X sequential character input functions (and their equivalents in X other environments) when the logical end of file has been reached X (this was 0 under V6 UNIX but, is -1 under V7 and all subsequent X versions and all non-UNIX C library implementations). 2. Used by X extension in non-computer contexts when a human is doing something X that can be modelled as a sequential read and can't go further. X "Yeah, I looked for a list of 360 mnemonics to post as a joke, but X I hit EOF pretty fast; all the library had was a {JCL} manual." X See also {EOL}. X XEOL: /ee-oh-el/ [End Of Line] n. Syn. for {newline} derived X perhaps from the original CDC6600 Pascal. Now rare, but widely X recognized and occasionally used because it's shorter. It's used X in the example entry under {BNF}. See also {EOF}. X XEOU: /ee-oh-yoo/ n. The mnemonic of a mythical ASCII control X character (End Of User) that could make a Model 33 Teletype explode X on receipt. This parodied the numerous obscure delimiter and X control characters left in ASCII from the days when it was more X associated with wire-service teletypes than computers (e.g., FS, X GS, RS, US, EM, SUB, ETX, and esp. EOT). It is worth remembering X that ASR-33s were big, noisy mechanical beasts with a lot of X clattering parts; the notion that one might explode was nowhere X near as ridiculous as it might seem to someone sitting in front of X a {tube} or flatscreen today. X Xepoch: [UNIX] [perhaps from astronomical timekeeping] n. The time X and date corresponding to zero in an operating system's clock and X timestamp values. Under most UNIX versions, 00:00:00 GMT, January X 1, 1970. System time is measured in seconds or {tick}s past the X epoch. Note that weird problems may ensue when the clock wraps X around (see {wrap around}), and that this is not a necessarily a X rare event; on systems counting 10 ticks per second, a signed X 32-bit count of ticks is good only for 6.8 years. The X 1-tick-per-second clock of UNIX is good only until January 18, X 2038, assuming word lengths don't increase by then. See also X {wall time}. X Xepsilon: [see {delta} for etymology] 1. n. A small quantity of X anything. "The cost is epsilon." 2. adj. Very small, X negligible; less than {marginal}. "We can get this feature for X epsilon cost." 3. `within epsilon of': close enough to be X indistinguishable for all practical purposes. This is even closer X than being `within delta of'. Example: "That's not what I asked X for, but it's within epsilon of what I wanted." Alternatively, it X may mean not close enough, but very little is required to get it X there: "My program is within epsilon of working." X Xepsilon squared: n. A quantity even smaller than {epsilon}, as X small in comparison to it as it is to something normal; completely X negligible. If you buy a supercomputer for a million dollars, the X cost of the thousand-dollar terminal to go with it is {epsilon}, X and the cost of the ten-dollar cable to connect the two is X {epsilon squared}. Compare {lost in the underflow}, {lost in X the noise}. X Xera, the: Syn. {epoch}. The Webster's Unabridged makes these words X almost synonymous, but `era' usually connotes a span of time X rather than a point in time. The {epoch} usage is recommended. X XEric Conspiracy: n. A shadowy group of mustachioed hackers named X Eric first pinpointed as a sinister conspiracy by an infamous X talk.bizarre posting c. 1986; this was doubtless influenced by the X numerous `Eric' jokes in the Monty Python oeuvre. There do indeed X seem to be considerably more mustachioed Erics in hackerdom than X the frequency of these three traits can account for unless they are X correlated in some arcane way. Well-known examples include Eric X Allman (he of the `Allman style' described under {indent style}), X and Erik Fair (co-author of NNTP); your editor has heard from about X fourteen others by email, and the organization line `Eric X Conspiracy Secret Laboratories' now emanates regularly from more X than one site. X XEris: /e'ris/ pn. The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion, X and Things You Know Not Of; her name was latinized to Discordia and X she was worshiped by that name in Rome. Not a very friendly deity X in the Classical original, she was re-invented as a more benign X personification of creative anarchy starting in 1959 by the X adherents of {Discordianism} and has since been a semi-serious X subject of veneration in several `fringe' cultures, including X hackerdom. See {Discordianism}, {Church of the Sub-Genius}. X Xerotics: /ee-ro'tiks/ n. Reported from Scandinavia as X English-language university slang for electronics. Often used by X hackers, maybe because good electronics makes them warm. X Xessentials: n. Things necessary to maintain a productive and secure X hacking environment. "A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, a X 20-megahertz 80386 box with 8 meg of core and a 300-megabyte disk X supporting full UNIX with source and X windows and EMACS and UUCP X via a 'blazer to a friendly Internet site, and thou." X Xevil: adj. As used by hackers, implies that some system, program, X person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not X worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in the X {cretinous}/{losing}/{brain-damaged} series, `evil' does not X imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of goals or X design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's. This is X more an esthetic and engineering judgement than a moral one in the X mainstream sense. "We thought about adding a {Blue Glue} X interface but decided it was too evil to deal with." "{TECO} X is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos." X Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/. X Xexa-: /ek's@/ pref. Multiplier, 10 ^ 18 or [proposed] 2 ^ 60. See X {kilo-}. X Xexamining the entrails: n. The process of rooting through a core dump X or hex image in the attempt to discover the bug that brought your X program or system down. Compare {runes}, {incantation}, {black X art}, {desk check}. X XEXCH: /eks'ch@, eksch/ vt. To exchange two things, each for the X other; to swap places. If you point to two people sitting down and X say "Exch!", you are asking them to trade places. EXCH, X meaning EXCHange, was originally the name of a PDP-10 instruction X that exchanged the contents of a register and a memory location. X Many newer hackers tend to be thinking instead of the PostScript X exchange operator (which is usually written in lowercase). X Xexcl: /eks'kl/ n. Abbreviation for `exclamation point'. See X {bang}, {shriek}, {{ASCII}}. X XEXE: /eks'ee/, /eek'see/ n. An executable binary file. Some X operating systems (notably MS-DOS, VMS, and TOPS-20/TWENEX) use the X extension .EXE to mark such files. This usage is also occasionally X found among UNIX programmers even though UNIX executables don't X have any required extension (in fact, the term `extension' in this X sense is not part of UNIX jargon). X Xexec: /eg-zek'/ [shortened from `executive' or `execute'] X vt.,n. 1. [UNIX] Synonym for {chain}, derives from the X `exec(2)' call. 2. obs. The command interpreter for an X {OS} (see {shell}); term esp. used on mainframes, and prob. X derived from UNIVAC's archaic EXEC 2 and EXEC 8 operating systems. X 3. At IBM, the equivalent of a shell command file (this is among X VM/CMS users). X Xexercise, left as an: [from technical books] Used to complete a X proof when one doesn't mind a {handwave}, or to avoid one X entirely. The complete phrase is: "The proof (or the rest) is left as X an exercise for the reader." This comment *has* occasionally X been attached to unsolved research problems by authors possessed of X either an evil sense of humor or a vast faith in the capabilities X of their audiences. X Xeyeball search: n. To look for something in a mass of code or data X {by hand}, as opposed to using some sort of pattern matcher like X {grep} or any other automated search tool. Also called a X {vgrep}; compare {vdiff}, {desk check}. X X= F = X===== X Xfab: /fab/ [from `fabricate'] v. 1. To produce chips from a X design that may have been created by someone at another company. X Fabbing chips based on the designs of others is the activity of a X {silicon foundry}. To a hacker, `fab' is practically never short X for `fabulous'. 2. `fab line': the production system X (lithography, diffusion, etching, etc.) for chips at a chip X manufacturer. Different `fab lines' are run with different X process parameters, die sizes, or technologies, or simply to X provide more manufacturing volume. X Xface time: n. Time spent interacting with somebody face-to-face (as X opposed to via electronic links). "Oh, yeah, I spent some face X time with him at the last Usenix." X Xfall over: [IBM] vi. Yet another synonym for {crash} or {lose}. X `Fall over hard' equates to {crash and burn}. X Xfall through: v. (n. `fallthrough', var. `fall-through') X 1. To exit a loop by exhaustion, i.e. by having fulfilled its exit X condition rather than via a break or exception condition that exits X from the middle of it. This usage appears to be *really* old, X as in dating from the 1940s and '50s. It may no longer be live X jargon. 2. To fail a test that would have passed control to a X subroutine or other distant portion of code. 3. In C, X `fall-through' occurs when the flow of execution in a X switch statement reaches a `case' label other than by jumping X there from the switch header, passing a point where one would X normally expect to find a `break'. A trivial example: X X switch (color) X { X case GREEN: X do_green(); X break; X case PINK: X do_pink(); X /* FALL THROUGH */ X case RED: X do_red(); X break; X default: X do_blue(); X break; X } X X The effect of this code is to `do_green()' when color is X `GREEN', `do_red()' when color is `RED', X `do_blue()' on any other color other than `PINK', and X (and this is the important part) `do_pink()' *and then* X `do_red()' when color is `PINK'. Fall-through is X {considered harmful} by some, though there are contexts such as X the coding of state machines in which it is natural; it is X generally considered good practice to include a comment X highlighting the fallthrough, at the point one would normally X expect a break. X Xfandango on core: [UNIX/C hackers, from the Mexican dance] n. In C, a X wild pointer that runs out of bounds causing a {core dump}, or X corrupts the `malloc(3)' {arena} in such a way as to cause mysterious X failures later on, is sometimes said to have `done a fandango on X core'. On low-end personal machines without an MMU, this can X corrupt the OS itself, causing massive lossage. Other frenetic X dances such as the rhumba, cha-cha, or watusi may be substituted. X See {aliasing bug}, {precedence lossage}, {smash the stack}, X {memory leak}, {overrun screw}, {core}. X XFAQ list: /ef-ay-kyoo list/ [Usenix] n. A compendium of accumulated X lore, posted periodically to high-volume newsgroups in an attempt X to forestall Frequently Asked Questions. This lexicon itself X serves as a good example of a collection of one kind of lore, X although it is far too big for a regular posting. Several extant X FAQ lists do (or should) make reference to the Jargon File (the X on-line version of this lexicon). "How do you pronounce `char'?" X and "What's that funny name for the `#' character?" for X example, are both Frequently Asked Questions. X Xfarming: [Adelaide University, Australia] n. What the heads of a X disk drive are said to do when they plow little furrows in the X magnetic media. Associated with a {crash}. Typically used as X follows: "Oh no, the machine has just crashed; I hope the hard X drive hasn't gone {farming} again." X Xfascist: adj. 1. Said of a computer system with excessive or X annoying security barriers, usage limits, or access policies. The X implication is that said policies are preventing hackers from X getting interesting work done. The variant `fascistic' seems X to have been preferred at MIT, poss. by analogy with X `touristic' (see {tourist}). 2. In the design of languages X and other software tools, `the fascist alternative' is the most X restrictive and structured way of capturing a particular function; X the implication is that this may be desirable in order to simplify X the implementation or provide tighter error checking. Compare X {bondage-and-discipline language}; but that term is global rather X than local. X XFAtt: [FidoNet] n. Written-only abbreviation for {File Attach}. X Xfaulty: adj. Non-functional; buggy. Same denotation as X {bletcherous}, {losing}, q.v., but the connotation is much X milder. X Xfd leak: /ef dee leek/ n. A kind of programming bug analogous to a X {core leak}, in which a program fails to close file descriptors X (`fd's) after file operations are completed, and thus eventually X runs out. See {leak}. X Xfear and loathing: [from Hunter Thompson] n. State inspired by the X prospect of dealing with certain real-world systems and standards X that are totally {brain-damaged} but ubiquitous --- Intel 8086s, X or {COBOL}, or {{EBCDIC}}, or any {IBM} machine except the Rios (aka X the RS/6000). "Ack! They want PCs to be able to talk to the AI X machine. Fear and loathing time!" X Xfeature: n. 1. A good property or behavior (as of a program). X Whether it was intended or not is immaterial. 2. An intended X property or behavior (as of a program). Whether it is good or not X is immaterial (but if bad, it is also a {misfeature}). 3. A X surprising property or behavior; in particular, one that is X purposely inconsistent because it works better that way --- such an X inconsistency is therefore a {feature} and not a {bug}. This X kind of feature is sometimes called a {miswart}; see that entry X for a classic example. 4. A property or behavior that is X gratuitous or unnecessary, though perhaps also impressive or cute. X For example, one feature of Common LISP's FORMAT function is the X ability to print numbers in two different Roman-numeral formats X (see {bells, whistles, and gongs}). 5. A property or behavior X that was put in to help someone else but that happens to be in your X way. 6. A bug that has been documented. To call something a X feature sometimes means the author of the program did not consider X the particular case, and the program responded in a way that was X unexpected, but not strictly incorrect. A standard joke is that a X bug can be turned into a {feature} simply by documenting it (then X theoretically no one can complain about it because it's in the X manual), or even by simply declaring it to be good. "That's not a X bug, that's a feature!" See also {feetch feetch}, {creeping X featurism}, {wart}, {green lightning}. X X The relationship between bugs, features, misfeatures, warts, and X miswarts might be clarified by the following exchange between two X hackers on an airplane: X X A: "This seat doesn't recline." X X B: "That's not a bug, that's a feature. There is an emergency X exit door built around the window behind you, and the route has to X be kept clear." X X A: "Oh. Then it's a misfeature; they should have increased the X spacing between rows here." X X B: "Yes. But if they'd only increased spacing in one section it X would have been a wart --- they would've had to make X nonstandard-length ceiling panels to fit over the displaced X seats." X X A: "A miswart, actually. If they widened all the seats they'd X lose several rows and a chunk out of the profit margin. So unequal X spacing would actually be the Right Thing." X X B: "Indeed." X X Finally, note that {undocumented feature} is a common, allegedly X humorous euphemism for a {bug}. X Xfeature creature: [poss. fr. slang `creature feature' for a horror X movie] n. One who loves to add features to designs or programs, X perhaps at the expense of coherence, concision, or {taste}. See X also {creeping featurism}. X Xfeature shock: [from Alvin Toffler's title `Future Shock'] n. X A user's (or programmer's!) confusion when confronted with a X package that has too many features and poor introductory material. X Xfeaturectomy: /fee`ch@r-ek'to-mee/ n. The act of removing a feature X from a program. Featurectomies generally come in two varieties, X the `righteous' and the `reluctant'. Righteous featurectomies X are performed because the remover believes the program would be X more elegant without the feature, or there is already an equivalent X and `better' way to achieve the same end. (This is not quite the X same thing as removing a {misfeature}.) Reluctant featurectomies X are performed to satisfy some external constraint such as code size X or execution speed. X Xfeep: /feep/ 1. n. The soft electronic `bell' sound of a display terminal X (except for a VT-52!); a beep (in fact, the microcomputer world X seems to prefer {beep}). 2. vi. To cause the display to make a X feep sound. ASR 33s (the original TTYs) do not feep; they X have mechanical bells that ring. Alternate forms: {beep}, X `bleep', or just about anything suitably onomatopoeic. (Jeff X MacNelly, in his comic strip `Shoe', uses the word `eep' for X sounds made by computer terminals and video games; this is perhaps X the closest written approximation yet.) The term `breedle' was X sometimes heard at SAIL, where the terminal bleepers are not X particularly `soft' (they sound more like the musical equivalent of X a raspberry or Bronx cheer; for a close approximation, imagine the X sound of a Star Trek communicator's beep lasting for five X seconds). The `feeper' on a VT-52 has been compared to the sound X of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears. See also {ding}. X Xfeeper: /fee'pr/ n. The device in a terminal or workstation (usually X a loudspeaker of some kind) that makes the {feep} sound. X Xfeeping creature: [from {feeping creaturism}] n. An unnecessary X feature; a bit of {chrome} that, in the speaker's judgement, is X the camel's nose for a whole horde of new features. X Xfeeping creaturism: /fee'ping kree`ch@r-izm/ n. Deliberate X Spoonerism for {creeping featurism}, meant to imply that the X system or program in question has become a misshapen creature of X hacks. This term isn't really well-defined, but it sounds so neat X that most hackers have said or heard it. It is probably reinforced X by an image of terminals prowling about in the dark making their X customary noises. X Xfeetch feetch: interj. If someone tells you about some new X improvement to a program, you might respond, "Feetch, feetch!". X The meaning of this depends critically on vocal inflection. With X enthusiasm, it means something like, "Boy, that's great! What a X great hack!" Grudgingly or with obvious doubt, it means "I don't X know; it sounds like just one more unnecessary and complicated X thing." With a tone of resignation, it means, "Well, I'd rather X keep it simple, but I suppose it has to be done." SHAR_EOF true || echo 'restore of jargon.ascii failed' fi echo 'End of part 6, continue with part 7' echo 7 > _shar_seq_.tmp exit 0