eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) (03/24/91)
A few tweaks and fixes. I wanted to get these out quick so I wouldn't
get 500 corrections...
Here are the new entries:
elder days 2.8.2
elvish 2.8.2
The changed old entries: (last changed)
live data 2.8.2
QWERTY 2.8.2
The Jargon File copies at the FTP sites will be updated shortly.
*** oldversions/jargon281.ascii Fri Mar 22 13:35:25 1991
--- jargon.ascii Sat Mar 23 16:42:08 1991
***************
*** 1,4 ****
! ============ THIS IS THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 2.8.1, 22 MAR 1991 ============
Copyright 1991 by Eric S. Raymond, all rights reserved. Permission to
make copies and derived works for non-profit use is granted as long as
--- 1,4 ----
! ============ THIS IS THE JARGON FILE, VERSION 2.8.2, 23 MAR 1991 ============
Copyright 1991 by Eric S. Raymond, all rights reserved. Permission to
make copies and derived works for non-profit use is granted as long as
***************
*** 192,200 ****
jargon-1 were all unnumbered and may be collectively considered
`Version 1'.
- In 1976, Mark Crispin brought the File to MIT; he and Guy Steele then
- added a first wave of new entries.
-
In 1976, Mark Crispin, having seen an announcement about the File on
the SAIL computer, {FTP}ed a copy of the File to MIT. He noticed that
it was hardly restricted to `AI words' and so stored the file on
--- 192,197 ----
***************
*** 2351,2365 ****
driver looks pretty solid but the bit-bashing for the control
registers still has bugs." See also {bit bang}, {mode bit}.
- bit twiddling: n. 1. (pejorative) An exercise in {tuning} in
- which incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little
- noticeable improvement, with the frequent result that the code has
- become incomprehensible. 2. aimless small modification to a
- program, esp. for some pointless goal. 3. Approx. syn. for {bit
- bashing}; esp. used for the act of frobbing the device control
- register of a peripheral in an attempt to get it back to a known
- state.
-
bit bucket: n. 1. The universal data sink (originally, the mythical
receptacle used to catch bits when they fall off the end of a
register during a shift instruction). Data that is discarded,
--- 2348,2353 ----
***************
*** 2418,2423 ****
--- 2406,2420 ----
The term {software rot} is almost synonymous. Software rot is
the effect, bit rot the notional cause.
+ bit twiddling: n. 1. (pejorative) An exercise in {tuning} in
+ which incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little
+ noticeable improvement, with the frequent result that the code has
+ become incomprehensible. 2. aimless small modification to a
+ program, esp. for some pointless goal. 3. Approx. syn. for {bit
+ bashing}; esp. used for the act of frobbing the device control
+ register of a peripheral in an attempt to get it back to a known
+ state.
+
bit-paired keyboard: n. obs. A non-standard keyboard layout which
seems to have originated with the Teletype ASR-33 and remained
common for several years on early computer equipment. The ASR-33
***************
*** 5518,5523 ****
--- 5515,5526 ----
long, he renamed it `El Camino Bignum', and that name has stuck.
(See {bignum}.)
+ elder days: n. The heroic age of hackerdom (roughly, pre-1980); the
+ era of the {PDP-10}, {TECO}, {ITS}, and the ARPANET. This
+ term has been rather consciously adopted from J. R. R. Tolkien's
+ fantasy epic `The Lord of the Rings'. Compare {Iron Age};
+ see also {elvish}.
+
elegant: [from mathematical usage] adj. Combining simplicity, power,
and a certain ineffable grace of design. Higher praise than
`clever', `winning', or even {cuspy}.
***************
*** 5544,5549 ****
--- 5547,5564 ----
controller?" Elevator controllers became important rhetorical
weapons on both sides of several {holy wars}.
+ elvish: n. 1. The Tengwar of Feanor, a table of letterforms
+ resembling the beautiful Celtic half-uncial hand of the {Book of
+ Kells}. These were invented and described by J. R. R. Tolkien in
+ `The Lord of The Rings' as an orthography for his fictional
+ `elvish' languages. This system, which is both visually and
+ phonetically elegant, has long fascinated hackers (who tend to be
+ interested by artificial languages in general). It is traditional
+ for graphics printers, plotters, window systems, and the like to
+ support a Feanorian font as one of their demo items. 2. By
+ extension, any odd or unreadable font produced by a graphics
+ device.
+
EMACS: /ee'maks/ [from Editing MACroS] n. The ne plus ultra of
hacker editors, a program editor with an entire LISP system inside
it. Originally written by Richard Stallman in {TECO} at the
***************
*** 6898,6904 ****
does not constitute a clear specification of an algorithm. See
also {DWIM}.
! h{geef} v. [ostensibly from `gefingerpoken'] vt. Syn. {mung}. See
also {blinkenlights}.
geek out: vi. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a
--- 6913,6919 ----
does not constitute a clear specification of an algorithm. See
also {DWIM}.
! geef: v. [ostensibly from `gefingerpoken'] vt. Syn. {mung}. See
also {blinkenlights}.
geek out: vi. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a
***************
*** 9072,9078 ****
commands back to the machine when they are simply viewed. 2. In C
code, data which includes pointers to function {hook}s. 3. An
object such as a {trampoline} which is constructed on the fly by
! a program and intended to be executed as code.
Live Free Or Die!: imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which
used to be on its car license plates. 2. A slogan associated with
--- 9087,9103 ----
commands back to the machine when they are simply viewed. 2. In C
code, data which includes pointers to function {hook}s. 3. An
object such as a {trampoline} which is constructed on the fly by
! a program and intended to be executed as code. 4. `actual
! real-world data', as opposed to `test data'. For example, "I
! think I have the record deletion module finished." "Have you
! tried it out on live data?" It usually carries the connotation
! that live data is more fragile and must not be corrupted, else bad
! things will happen. So a possible alternate response to the above
! claim might be "Well, make sure it works perfectly before we
! throw live data at it." The implication here is that record
! deletion is something pretty significant, and a haywire record
! deletion module running amock on live data would cause great harm
! and probably require restoring from backups.
Live Free Or Die!: imp. 1. The state motto of New Hampshire, which
used to be on its car license plates. 2. A slogan associated with
***************
*** 10087,10093 ****
question ("Mumble?") means "I didn't understand you."
5. Sometimes used in `public' contexts on-line as a placefiller for
things one is barred from giving details about. For example, a
! poater with pre-released hardware in his machine might say "Yup,
my machine now has an extra 16M of mem, thanks to the card I'm
testing for Mumbleco."
--- 10112,10118 ----
question ("Mumble?") means "I didn't understand you."
5. Sometimes used in `public' contexts on-line as a placefiller for
things one is barred from giving details about. For example, a
! poster with pre-released hardware in his machine might say "Yup,
my machine now has an extra 16M of mem, thanks to the card I'm
testing for Mumbleco."
***************
*** 10466,10474 ****
newsgroup: [USENET] n. One of {USENET}'s huge collection of topic
groups. Among the best-known are `comp.lang.c' (the C-language
! forum), `comp.unix.wizards', `rec.arts.sf-lovers' (for
! science-fiction fans), and `talk.politics.misc' (miscellaneous
! political discussions and {flamage}).
nickle: [From `nickel', common name for the US 5-cent coin] n. A
{nybble} + 1; 5 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI
--- 10491,10500 ----
newsgroup: [USENET] n. One of {USENET}'s huge collection of topic
groups. Among the best-known are `comp.lang.c' (the C-language
! forum), `comp.arch' (on computer architectures),
! `comp.unix.wizards' (for UNIX wizards), `rec.arts.sf-lovers'
! (for science-fiction fans), and `talk.politics.misc'
! (miscellaneous political discussions and {flamage}).
nickle: [From `nickel', common name for the US 5-cent coin] n. A
{nybble} + 1; 5 bits. Reported among developers for Mattel's GI
***************
*** 11932,11939 ****
opposed to Dvorak or foreign-language layouts or a {space-cadet
keyboard} or APL keyboard.
! Historical note: the QWERTY layout was designed to be deliberately
! slow, because fast typing jammed up early mechanical typewriters.
= R =
=====
--- 11958,11971 ----
opposed to Dvorak or foreign-language layouts or a {space-cadet
keyboard} or APL keyboard.
! Historical note: the QWERTY layout (one of the worst disasters in
! the history of human-factors design) was actually designed to be
! deliberately slow! Sholes tried to put common digraphs far apart,
! because fast typing of near-adjacent keys jammed up early
! mechanical typewriters. He did a poor job; `th', `er' and other
! common digraphs were close enough together to induce frequent jams.
! The QWERTY layout is therefore more than just {cretinous}, it is
! {bogus} in its very cretinosity!
= R =
=====
***************
*** 14920,14927 ****
2. The assumption that pointer and integer types are the same size,
and that pointers can be stuffed into integer variables (and
! vice-versa) and drawn back out without being truncated or
! mangled.
Problem: fails on segmented architectures or word-oriented machines
with funny pointer formats.
--- 14952,14958 ----
2. The assumption that pointer and integer types are the same size,
and that pointers can be stuffed into integer variables (and
! vice-versa) and drawn back out without being truncated or mangled.
Problem: fails on segmented architectures or word-oriented machines
with funny pointer formats.
--
Eric S. Raymond = eric@snark.thyrsus.com (mad mastermind of TMN-Netnews)