eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) (12/10/90)
In the very near future I will be releasing Version 2.2.1 of the infamous
Jargon File.
This version represents a major revision and expansion of the file (bigger than
the step between 2.1.1 and the most recent public version, 2.1.5). The changes
and additions will include:
* Almost the entire main text of Guy Steele's 1983 paper edition
(the ``Hacker's Dictionary'').
* Major new additions to the discussion of hacker speech habits,
writing style and peculiar grammatical quirks.
* A new section on INTERNATIONAL STYLE and a large new entry for
COMMONWEALTH HACKISH describing usage differences in usage in
English-speaking hacker communities outside the U.S.; also, the
relevant lexicon entries now include distillation of a number of
reports on hackish usage outside the U.S., and even some bits about
Russian-language jargon supplied by a contributor from Moscow!
* Major expansions of many entries, often incorporating additional
anecdotal, historical and etymological material from USENET.
* New bibliography entries.
* An expanded appendix A containing a tasty selection of folklore
illuminating entries in the main text.
And, last but not least:
* Over a hundred new entries including AI KOANS, REAL PROGRAMMER,
KGBVAX, SPACE-CADET KEYBOARD, DEC WARS, EAT FLAMING DEATH, DEEP
MAGIC, HEAVY WIZARDRY and YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN HACKING TOO LONG WHEN.
This new version will be posted to alt.folklore.computers, comp.misc, and
comp.unix.wizards (or whatever it's called this week -- unless I get
nastygrams telling me to keep my folklore out of their faces, that is).
This announcement is intended to get anybody still sitting on new entries or
commentary on old ones moving. Send me that slang *now*, please!
For those of you in comp.arch and comp.lang.c that haven't been following
all this, the 2.1.5 version is available for ftp from dorm.rutgers.edu as
jargon.215 under pub. Some guidelines for entries:
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.
Please note that as of 2.1.7 the preferred format for entries has
been slightly changed. Pronunciation guides should now be enclosed in
slashes, following standard lexicographic practice.
We are looking to expand the file's range of technical specialties
covered. There are doubtless rich veins of jargon yet untapped in the
scientific computing, graphics, and networking hacker communities;
also in numerical analysis, computer architectures and VLSI design,
language design, and many other related fields. Send us your slang!
We are *not* interested in straight technical terms explained by
textbooks or technical dictionaries unless an entry illuminates
``underground'' meanings or aspects not covered by official histories.
We are also not interested in ``joke'' entries -- there is a lot of
humor in the file but it must flow naturally out of the explanations
of what hackers do and how they think.
It is OK to submit items of slang you have originated if they
have spread to the point of being used by people who are not
personally acquainted with you. We prefer items to be attested by
independent submission from two different sites.
The jargon file will be regularly maintained and re-posted from
now on and will include a version number. Read it, pass it around,
contribute -- this is *your* monument!
It is intended that some `snapshot' of this on-line version will
become the main text of a second paper edition, possibly as early as
Fall 1991. The maintainers are committed to updating the on-line
version of the jargon file through and beyond paper publication,
and will continue to make it available to archives and public-access
sites as a trust of the hacker community.
--
Eric S. Raymond = eric@snark.thyrsus.com (mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)