eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond) (03/23/91)
Submitted-by: jargon@thyrsus.com Archive-name: jargon/part15 ---- Cut Here and feed the following to sh ---- #!/bin/sh # this is jargon.15 (part 15 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 "$Scheck" != 15; then echo Please unpack part "$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 compiler over the size of equivalent assembler code produced by X {hand-hacking}; i.e., the space (or maybe time) you lose because X you didn't do it yourself. This number is often used as a measure X of the goodness of a compiler; slop below 5% is very good, and 10% X is usually acceptable. With modern compiler technology, esp. on X RISC machines, the compiler's slop may actually be *negative*; X that is, humans may be unable to generate code as good. This is X one of the reasons assembler programming is no longer X common. X Xslopsucker: n. A lowest-priority task that must wait around until X everything else has `had its fill' of machine resources. Only X when the machine would otherwise be idle is the task allowed to X `suck up the slop.' Also called a {hungry puppy}. One common X variety of slopsucker hunts for large prime numbers. Compare X {background}. X Xslurp: vt. To read a large data file entirely into core before working X on it. This may be contrasted with the strategy of reading a small X piece at a time, processing it, and then reading the next piece. X "This program slurps in a 1K-by-1K matrix and does an FFT." X Xsmart: adj. Said of a program that does the {Right Thing} in a X wide variety of complicated circumstances. There is a difference X between calling a program smart and calling it intelligent; in X particular, there do not exist any intelligent programs (yet) (see X also {AI-complete}). Compare {robust} (smart programs can be X {brittle}). X Xsmart terminal: n. A terminal that has enough computing capability X to render graphics or offload some kind of front-end processing X from the computer it talks to. The development of workstations and X personal computers has made this term and the product it describes X semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear variants of the phrase X "act like a smart terminal" used to describe the behavior of X workstations/PCs with respect to programs that execute almost X entirely out of a remote {server}'s storage, using said devices X as displays. Compare {glass tty}. X X There's a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the {blit} X terminal): "A smart terminal is not a smart*ass* terminal, X but rather a terminal you can educate." This illustrates a common X design problem; the attempt to make peripherals (or anything else) X intelligent sometimes results in finicky, rigid "special X features" that become just so much dead weight if you try to use X the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate. Flexibility X and programmability, on the other hand, are *really* smart. X Compare {hook}. X Xsmash case: vi. To lose or obliterate the uppercase/lowercase X distinction in text input. "MS-DOS will automatically smash case X in the names of all the files you create." Compare {fold case}. X Xsmash the stack: [C programming] n. On many C implementations it is X possible to corrupt the execution stack by writing past the end of X an array declared `auto' in a routine. Code that does this is X said to `smash the stack', and can cause return from the X routine to jump to a random address. This can produce some of the X most insidious data-dependent bugs known to mankind. Variants X include `trash' the stack, {scribble} the stack, {mangle} X the stack; {mung} the stack is not used as this is never done X intentionally. See {spam}; see also {aliasing bug}, X {fandango on core}, {memory leak}, {precedence lossage}, X {overrun screw}. X Xsmiley: n. See {emoticon}. X Xsmoke test: n. 1. A rudimentary form of testing applied to X electronic equipment following repair or reconfiguration, in which X power is applied and the tester checks for sparks, smoke, or other X dramatic signs of fundamental failure. See {magic smoke}. 2. By X extension, the first run of a piece of software after construction X or a critical change. See and compare {reality check}. X X Note: There is an interesting parallel to this term among X typographers and printers. When punchcutting new typefaces by X hand, a `smoke test' (hold the letter in candle smoke, then press X onto paper) is used to check out new dies. X Xsmoking clover: [ITS] n. A {display hack} originally due to Bill X Gosper. Many convergent lines are drawn on a color monitor in X {AOS} mode (so that every pixel struck has its color X incremented). The lines all have one endpoint in the middle of the X screen; the other endpoints are spaced one pixel apart around the X perimeter of a large square. The color map is then repeatedly X rotated. This results in a striking, rainbow-hued, shimmering X four-leaf clover. Gosper joked about keeping it hidden from the X FDA (the U.S.'s Food and Drug Administration) lest it be banned. X XSMOP: /smop/ [Simple (or Small) Matter of Programming] n. 1. A piece X of code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly X greater than its complexity. Usage: used to refer to a program X that could obviously be written, but is not worth the trouble. It X is also used ironically to imply that a difficult problem can be X easily solved because a program can be written to do it; the irony X is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be a X great deal of work. Example: "It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN X compiler to compile COBOL as well; it's just a SMOP." 2. Often X used ironically by the intended victim when a suggestion for a X program is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is obviously X (to the victim) a lot of work. X XSNAFU principle: [from WWII army acronym for "Situation Normal, X all Fucked Up"] n. "True communication is only possible between X equals, because inferiors are more consistently rewarded for X telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth." X --- a central tenet of {Discordianism} often invoked by hackers X to explain the reason authoritarian hierarchies screw up so X reliably and systematically. This lightly adapted version of a X fable dating back to the early 1960s illustrates the phenomenon X perfectly: X X In the beginning was the plan, X and then the specification; X And the plan was without form, X and the specification was void. X X And darkness X was on the faces of the implementors thereof; X And they spake unto their leader, X saying: X "It is a crock of shit, X and smells as of a sewer." X X And the leader took pity on them, X and spoke to the project leader: X "It is a crock of excrement, X and none may abide the odor thereof." X X And the project leader X spake unto his section head, saying: X "It is a container of excrement, X and it is very strong, such that none may abide it." X X The section head then hurried to his department manager, X and informed him thus: X "It is a vessel of fertilizer, X and none may abide its strength." X X The department manager carried these words X to his general manager, X and spoke unto him X saying: X "It containeth that which aideth the growth of plants, X and it is very strong." X X And so it was that the General manager rejoiced X and delivered the good news unto the Vice President. X "It promoteth growth, X and it is very powerful." X X The Vice President rushed to the President's side, X and joyously exclaimed: X "This powerful new software product X will promote the growth of the company!" X X And the President looked upon the product, X and saw that it was very good. X X After the subsequent disaster, the {suit}s protect themselves by X saying "I was misinformed!", and the implementors are demoted or X fired. X Xsnail: vt. To {snail-mail} something. "Snail me a copy of those X graphics, will you?" X Xsnail-mail: n. Paper mail, as opposed to electronic. Sometimes X written as the single word `SnailMail'. One's postal address is, X correspondingly, a `snail address'. Derives from earlier X coinage `USnail' for which there have been parody posters and X stamps made. Oppose {email}. X Xsnarf: /snarf/ vt. 1. To grab, esp. a large document or file X for the purpose of using it with or without the author's X permission. See also {BLT}. Variant: `snarf down', to X snarf, sometimes with the connotation of absorbing, processing, or X understanding. "I think I'll snarf down the list of DDT commands X so I'll know what's changed recently." 2. [in the UNIX X community] to fetch a file or set of files across a network. See X also {blast}. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, X meaning `to eat piggishly'. It may still have this connotation in X context. "He's in the snarfing phase of hacking --- ftping megs of X stuff a day." X Xsnarf & barf: /snarf'n-barf/ n. Under a {WIMP environment}, the X act of grabbing a region of text and then stuffing the contents of X that region into another region (or the same one) to avoid X re-typing a command line. In the late 1960s this was a mainstream X expression for an `eat now, regret it later' cheap-restaurant X expedition. X Xsnark: [Lewis Carroll, via the Michigan Terminal System] n. 1. A X system failure. When a user's process bombed, the operator would X get a message "Help, Help, Snark in MTS!". 2. More generally, X any kind of unexplained or threatening event on a computer X (especially if it might be a boojum). Often used to refer to an X event or log file entry that might indicate an attempted security X violation. 3. UUCP name of snark.thyrsus.com, home site of the X Jargon File 2.*.* versions (i.e., this lexicon). X Xsneakernet: n. Term used (generally with ironic intent) for X transfer of electronic information by physically carrying tape, X disks, or some other media from one machine to another. "Never X underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with magtape, X or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs." Also called `Tennis-Net', X `Armpit-Net', `Floppy-Net'. X Xsniff: v.,n. Synonym for {poll}. X Xsnivitz: /sniv'itz/ n. A hiccup in hardware or software; a small, X transient problem of unknown origin (less serious than a X {snark}). X XSO: /ess-oh/ n. 1. (also `S.O.') Abbrev for Significant X Other, almost invariably written abbreviated and pronounced X /ess-oh/ by hackers. Used to refer to one's primary X relationship, esp. a live-in to whom one is not married. See X {MOTAS}, {MOTOS}, {MOTSS}. 2. The Shift Out control X character in ASCII (^N, #b0001110). X Xsocial science number: [IBM] n. A statistic which is X {content-free}, or nearly so. A measure derived via methods of X questionable validity from data of a dubious and vague nature. X Predictively, having a social science number in hand is seldom much X better than nothing, and can be considerably worse. {Management} X loves them. See also {numbers}, {math-out}, {pretty X pictures}. X Xsoftcopy: n. [by analogy with `hardcopy'] A machine-readable form of X corresponding hardcopy. See {bits}, {softcopy}. X Xsoftware bloat: n. The results of {second-system effect} or X {creeping featuritis}. Commonly cited examples include X `ls(1)', {X}, {BSD}, {Missed'em-five}, and {OS/2}. X Xsoftware rot: n. Term used to describe the tendency of software X which has not been used in a while to {lose}; such failure may be X semi-humorously ascribed to {bit rot}. More commonly, X `software rot' strikes when a program's assumptions become out X of date. If the design was insufficiently {robust}, this may X cause it to fail in mysterious ways. X X For example, due to endemic shortsightedness in the design of COBOL X programs, most will succumb to software rot when their two-digit X year counters {wrap around} at the beginning of the year 2000. X Actually, related lossages often afflict centenarians that have to X deal with computer software designed by unimaginative clods. One X such incident became the focus of a minor public flap in 1990, when X a gentleman born in 1889 applied for a driver's license renewal in X Raleigh, NC. The new system refused to issue the card, probably X because it did something like `if (birthyear < (thisyear - X 100)) reject();'. X X Historical note: software rot in an even funnier sense than the X mythical one was a real problem on early research computers (e.g., X the R1, see {grind crank}). If a program that depended on a X peculiar instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user X might discover that the opcodes no longer did the same things they X used to. ("Hey, so-and-so needs an instruction to do X such-and-such. We can snarf this opcode, right? No one uses X it.") X X Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT hacker X found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump X instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched the hardware. Unfortunately, X this broke some fragile timing software in a music-playing program, X throwing its output out of tune. This was fixed by adding a X defensive initialization routine to compare the speed of a timing X loop with the real-time clock; in other words, it figured out how X fast the PDP-6 was that day, and corrected appropriately. X X Compare {bit rot}. X Xsoftwarily: /soft-weir'i-lee/ adv. In a way pertaining to software. X "The system is softwarily unreliable." The adjective X `softwary' is *not* used. See {hardwarily}. X Xsofty: [IBM] n. Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who X is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware. X Xsome random X: adj. Used to indicate a member of class X, with the X implication that Xs are fungible. "I think some random cracker X tripped over the guest timeout last night." See also X {J. Random}. X Xsorcerer's apprentice mode: [from `Fantasia'] n. A bug in a X protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message X causes more than one message to be sent, each of which, when X received, triggers the same bug. Used esp. of such behavior X caused by {bounce message} loops in {email} software. Compare X {broadcast storm}, {network meltdown}. X XSOS: n.,obs. /ess-oh-ess/ 1. An infamously {losing} text X editor. Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for X the PDP-6, a hacker crufted together a {quick and dirty} `stopgap X editor' to be used until a better one was written. Unfortunately, X the old one was never really discarded when new ones (in X particular, {TECO}) came along. SOS is a descendant (`Son of X Stopgap') of that editor; SOS and many PDP-10 users gained the X dubious pleasure of its acquaintance. Since then other programs X similar in style to SOS have been written, notably the early font X editor BILOS X /bye'lohs/ the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap (the expansion `Bastard X Issue, Loins of Stopgap' has been proposed). See also {TECO}. X 2. /sos/ n. Inverse of {AOS}, from the PDP-10 instruction X set. X Xsource of all good bits: n. A person from whom (or place from X which) useful information may be obtained. If you need to know X about a program, a {wizard} might be the source of all good bits. X The title is often applied to a particularly competent secretary. X Xspace-cadet keyboard: n. The Knight keyboard, a now-legendary device X used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired several still-current X jargon terms and influenced the design of {EMACS}. It was inspired X by the Stanford keyboard and equipped with no fewer than X *seven* shift keys: four keys for {bucky bits} (`control', X `meta', `hyper', and `super') and three like regular shift keys, X called `shift', `top', and `front'. Many keys had three symbols X on them: a letter and a symbol on the top, and a Greek letter on X the front. For example, the `L' key had an `L' and a two-way X arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the front. If you X press this key with the right hand while playing an appropriate X `chord' with the left hand on the shift keys, you can get the X following results: X X L lower-case "l" X shift-L upper-case "L" X front-L Greek lower-case lambda X front-shift-L Greek upper-case lambda X top-L two-way arrow (front and shift are ignored) X X And of course each of these might also be typed with any X combination of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys. On this X keyboard, you could type over 8000 different characters! This X allowed the user to type very complicated mathematical text, and X also to have thousands of single-character commands at his X disposal. Many hackers were actually willing to memorize the X command meanings of that many characters if it reduced typing time X (this attitude obviously shaped the interface of EMACS). Other X hackers, however, thought having that many bucky bits was overkill, X and objected that such a keyboard can require three or four hands X to operate. See {bucky bits}, {cokebottle}, {double bucky}, X {meta bit}, {quadruple bucky}. X XSPACEWAR: n. A space-combat simulation game inspired by E. E. X "Doc" Smith's `Lensman' books in which two spaceships duel X around a central sun, shooting torpedoes at each other and jumping X through hyperspace. This game was first implemented on the PDP-1 X at MIT in 1960--61. SPACEWAR aficionados formed the core of X the early hacker culture at MIT. Nine years later, a descendant of X the game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare time on a X scavenged PDP-7, the operating system that became {UNIX}. Less X than nine years after that, SPACEWAR was commercialized as one of X the first video games; descendants are still {feep}ing in video X arcades everywhere. X Xspaghetti code: n. Describes code with a complex and tangled X control structure, esp. one using many GOTOs, exceptions, or other X `unstructured' branching constructs. Pejorative. The synonym X `kangaroo code' has been reported. X Xspaghetti inheritance: n. [Encountered among users of object-oriented X languages that use inheritance, such as Smalltalk] A convoluted X class-subclass graph, often resulting from carelessly deriving X subclasses from other classes just for the sake of reusing their X code. Coined in a (successful) attempt to discourage such X practice, through guilt-by-association with {spaghetti code}. X Xspam: [from the {MUD} community] vt. To crash a program by overrunning X a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. See also X {buffer overflow}, {overrun screw}, {smash the stack}. X Xspecial-case: vt. To write unique code to handle input to or X situations arising in program that are somehow distinguished from X normal processing. This would be used for processing of mode X switches or interrupt characters in an interactive interface (as X opposed, say, to text entry or normal commands), or for processing X of {hidden flag}s in the input of a batch program or {filter}. X Xspell: n. Syn. {incantation}. X Xspiffy: /spi'fee/ adj. 1. Said of programs having a pretty, X clever, or exceptionally well-designed interface. "Have you seen X the spiffy {X} version of {empire} yet?" 2. Said X sarcastically of programs that are perceived to have little more X than a flashy interface going for them. Which meaning should be X drawn depends delicately on tone of voice and context. This word X was common mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to X #1. X Xspin: vi. Equivalent to {buzz}. More common among C and UNIX X programmers. X Xspl: /ess-pee-ell/ [abbrev, from Set Priority Level] The way X traditional UNIX kernels implement mutual exclusion by running code X at high interrupt levels. Used in jargon to describe the act of X tuning in or tuning out ordinary communication. Classically, spl X levels run from 1 to 7; "Fred's at spl 6 today." would mean he's X very hard to interrupt. "Wait till I finish this; I'll spl down X then." See also {interrupts locked out}. X Xsplat: n. 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for X the asterisk (`*') character (ASCII #b0101010). This may X derive from the `squashed-bug' appearance of the asterisk on many X early line printers. 2. [MIT] Name used by some people for the X `#' character (ASCII #b0100011). 3. [Rochester Institute X of Technology] The command key on a Mac (same as {ALT}, sense X #2). 4. [Stanford] Name used by some people for the Stanford/ITS X extended ASCII X circle-x X character. X This character is also called `blobby', and X `frob', among other names; it is used by mathematicians as a X notation for `cross-product'. 5. [Stanford] Name for the X semi-mythical extended ASCII X circle-plus X X character. 6. Canonical name for an output routine that outputs X whatever the local interpretation of `splat' is. X X With ITS and WAITS gone, senses 4--6 are now obsolete. See X also {{ASCII}}. X Xspooge: /spooj/ 1. n. Inexplicable or arcane code, or random X and probably incorrect output from a computer program. 2. vi. To X generate spooge (sense #1). X Xspool: [from early IBM `Simultaneous Peripheral Operation Off-Line', X but this acronym is widely thought to have been contrived for X effect] vt. To send files to some device or program (a `spooler') X that queues them up and does something useful with them later. The X spooler usually understood is the `print spooler' controlling X output of jobs to a printer, but the term has been used in X connection with other peripherals (especially plotters and graphics X devices). See also {demon}. X Xstack: n. A person's stack is the set of things he/she has to do in X the future. One speaks of the next project to be attacked as X having risen to the top of the stack. "I'm afraid I've got real X work to do, so this'll have to be pushed way down on my stack." X "I haven't done it yet because every time I pop my stack something X new gets pushed." If you are interrupted several times in the X middle of a conversation, "My stack overflowed." means "I forget X what we were talking about." The implication is that too many X items were pushed onto the stack than could be remembered, so the X least recent items were lost. The usual physical example of a X stack is to be found in a cafeteria: a pile of plates or trays X sitting on a spring in a well, so that when you put one X on the top they all sink down, and when you take one off the top X the rest spring up a bit. See also {push} and {pop}. X X At MIT, {pdl} used to be a more common synonym for {stack} in X all these contexts, and this may still be true. Everywhere else X {stack} seems to be the preferred term. {Knuth} writes (in X `The Art of Computer Programming', 2nd edition, vol 1, page X 236 in section 2.2.1): X X Many people who realized the important of stacks and queues X independently have given other names to these structures: X stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages, X cellars, nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out ("LIFO") X lists, and even yo-yo lists! X Xstack puke: n. Some computers are said to `puke their guts onto the X stack' to save their internal state during exception processing. X On a pipelined machine this can take a while (up to 92 bytes for a X bus fault on the 68020, for example). X Xstale pointer bug: n. Synonym for {aliasing bug} used esp. among X microcomputer hackers. X Xstate: n. 1. Condition, situation. "What's the state of your X latest hack?" "It's winning away." Or "The system tried to X read and write the disk simultaneously and got into a totally X wedged state." A standard question is "What's your state?" X which means "What are you doing?" or "What are you about to X do?" Typical answers might be "about to gronk out", or X "hungry". Another standard question is "What's the state of the X world?" meaning "What's new?" or "What's going on?". The X more terse and humorous way of asking these questions would be X `state-p?'. Another way of phrasing the question under sense #1 X would be "state-p latest hack?". 2. Information being X maintained in non-permanent memory (electronic or human). X Xstiffy: [University of Lowell] n. 3.5-inch {microfloppies}, so X called because their jackets are more firm than the 5.25-inch and X 8-inch floppy. X Xstir-fried random: alt. `stir-fried mumble' n. Term used for frequent X best dish of those hackers who can cook. Consists of random fresh X veggies and meat wokked with random spices. Tasty and economical. X See {random}, {great-wall}, {ravs}, {{Oriental Food}}; see also X {mumble}. X Xstomp on: vt. To inadvertently overwrite something important, usually X automatically. Example: "All the work I did this weekend got X stomped on last night by the nightly server script." Compare X {scribble}, {mangle}, {trash}, {scrog}, {roach}. X XStone Age: n.,adj. 1. In computer folklore, an ill-defined period X from ENIAC (c.1943) to the mid-1950s; the great age of X electromechanical {dinosaur}s. Sometimes used for the entire X period up to 1960--61 (see {Iron Age}); however, it is funnier X and more descriptive to characterize the latter period in terms of X a `Bronze Age' era of transistor-logic, pre-ferrite-core machines X with drum or CRT mass storage (as opposed to just mercury delay X lines and/or relays). See also {Iron Age}. 2. More generally, X a pejorative for any crufty, ancient piece of hardware or software X technology. Note that this is used even by people who were there X for the {Stone Age} (sense #1). X Xstoppage: /sto'p*j/ n. Extreme {lossage} resulting in something X (usually vital) becoming completely unusable. "The recent system X stoppage was caused by a {fried} transformer." X Xstore: [poss. from techspeak `main store'] n. Preferred Commonwealth X synonym for {core}. Thus, `bringing a program into store' means X not that one is returning shrink-wrapped software but that a X program is being {swapped in}. X Xstubroutine: /stuhb'roo-teen/ [contr. of `stub routine'] n. X Tiny, often vacuous placeholder for a subroutine which is to be X written or fleshed out later. X Xstudlycaps: /stuhd'lee-kaps/ n. A hackish form of silliness X similar to {BiCapitalization} for trademarks, but applied X randomly to arbitrary text rather than to trademarks. ThE oRigiN X and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS oBscuRe. X Xstunning: adj. Mind-bogglingly stupid. Usually used in sarcasm. X "You want to code *what* in ADA? That's...a stunning idea!" X See also {non-optimal solution}. X Xsubshell: [UNIX, MS-DOS] n. An OS command interpreter (see X {shell}) spawned from within a program, such that exit from the X command interpreter returns one to the parent program in a state X that allows it to continue execution. Compare {shell out}; X oppose {chain}. X Xsucking mud: [Applied Digital Research] adj. (also `pumping X mud') Crashed or wedged. Usually said of a machine that provides X some service to a network, such as a file server. This Dallas X regionalism derives from the East Texas oil field lament, "Shut X 'er down, Ma, she's a-suckin' mud." Often used as a query. "We X are going to reconfigure the network, are you ready to suck mud?" X Xsufficiently small: adj. Syn. {suitably small}. X Xsuit: n. 1. Ugly and uncomfortable `business clothing' often worn X by non-hackers. Invariably worn with a `tie', a strangulation X device which partially cuts off the blood supply to the brain. It X is thought that this explains much about the behavior of X suit-wearers. Compare {droid}. 2. A person who habitually X wears suits, as distinct from a techie or hacker. See {loser}, X {burble} and {brain-damaged}. English, BTW, is relatively X kind; our Soviet correspondent informs us that the corresponding X idiom in Russian hacker jargon is `sovok', lit. a tool for X grabbing garbage. X Xsuitable win: n. See {win}. X Xsuitably small: [perverted from mathematical jargon] adj. An X expression used ironically to characterize non-quantifiable X behavior which differs from expected or required behavior. For X example, suppose a newly-created program came up with a correct X full screen display, and one publicly exclaimed "It works!". X Then, if the program dumps core on the first mouse click, one might X add "Well, for suitably small values of `works'...". Compare X the characterization of pi under {{random numbers}}. X Xsun-stools: n. Unflattering hackerism for SunTools, a pre-X X windowing environment notorious in its day for size, slowness, and X misfeatures. {X}, however, is larger and slower; see X {second-system effect}. X Xsunspots: n. 1. Notional cause of an odd error. "Why did the X program suddenly turn the screen blue?" "Sunspots, I guess". X 2. Also the cause of {bit rot}, from the myth that sunspots X will increase {cosmic rays} that can flip single bits in memory. X See {cosmic rays}, {phase of the moon}. X Xsuperprogrammer: n. A prolific programmer; one who can code X exceedingly well and quickly. Not all hackers are X superprogrammers, but many are. (Productivity can vary from one X programmer to another by three orders of magnitude. For example, X one programmer might be able to write an average of 3 lines of X working code in one day, while another, with the proper tools, X might be able to write 3,000. This range is astonishing, matched X in very few other areas of human endeavor.) The term X superprogrammer is more commonly used within such places as IBM X than in the hacker community. It tends to stress naive measures of X productivity and to underweight creativity, ingenuity and getting X the job *done*. Hackers tend to prefer the terms {hacker} X and {wizard}. X Xsuperuser: [UNIX] n. Syn. {root}, {avatar}. This usage has X spread to non-UNIX environments; the superuser is any account with X all {wheel} bits on. A more specific term than {wheel}. X Xsupport: n. After-sale handholding; something many software vendors X promise, but few deliver. To hackers, most support people are X useless --- because by the time a hacker calls support he/she will X usually know the relevant manuals better than the support people; X sadly, this is *not* a joke or exaggeration. A hacker's idea X of `support' is a tete-a-tete with the software's designer. X XSuzie COBOL: /soo'zee koh'bol/ 1. [IBM, prob. from Frank Zappa's X `Suzy Creamcheese'] n. A coder straight out of training school who X knows everything except the benefits of comments in plain English. X Also (fashionable among personkind wishing to avoid accusations of X sexism) `Sammy Cobol' or (in some non-IBM circles) `Cobol Charlie'. X 2. [proposed] Meta-name for any {code grinder}, analogous to X {J. Random Hacker}. X Xswab: /swob/ [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 `SWap Byte' X instruction, as immortalized in the dd(1) option `conv=swab' X (see {dd})] 1. vt. To solve the {NUXI problem} by swapping X bytes in a file. 2. n. The program in V7 UNIX used to perform this X action, or anything functionally equivalent to it. See also X {big-endian}, {little-endian}, {middle-endian}, X {bytesexual}. X Xswap: vt. 1. [techspeak] To move information from a fast-access X memory to a slow-access memory (`swap out'), or vice versa X (`swap in'). Often refers specifically to the use of disks as X `virtual memory'. As pieces of data or program are needed, they X are swapped into {core} for processing; when they are no longer X needed they may be swapped out again. 2. The jargon use of these X terms analogizes people's short-term memories with core. Cramming X for an exam might be spoken of as swapping in. If you temporarily X forget someone's name, but then remember it, your excuse is that it X was swapped out. To `keep something swapped in' means to keep it X fresh in your memory: "I reread the TECO manual every few months X to keep it swapped in." If someone interrupts you just as you got X a good idea, you might say, "Wait a moment while I swap this X out", implying that the piece of paper is your extra-somatic X memory and if you don't swap the info out by writing it down, it X will get overwritten and lost as you talk. Compare {page in}, X {page out}. X Xswap space: n. Storage space, especially temporary storage space X used during a move or reconfiguration. "I'm just using that corner X of the machine room for swap space." X Xswapped in: n. See {swap}. See also {page in}. X Xswapped out: n. See {swap}. See also {page out}. X Xswizzle: v. To convert external names or references within a data X structure into direct pointers when the data structure is brought X into main memory from external storage; also called `pointer X swizzling'; the converse operation is sometimes termed X `unswizzling'. X Xsync: /sink/ (var. `synch') n.,vi. 1. To synchronize, to X bring into syncronization. 2. [techspeak] To force all pending X I/O to the disk; see {flush}, sense #2. 3. More generally, to X force a number of competing processes or agents to a state that X would be `safe' if the system were to crash; thus, to checkpoint X (in the database-theory sense). X Xsyntactic sugar: [coined by Peter Landin] n. Features added to a X language or formalism to make it `sweeter' for humans, that do not X affect the expressiveness of the formalism (compare {chrome}). X Used esp. when there is an obvious and trivial translation of the X `sugar' feature into other constructs already present in the X notation. Example: C's `a[i]' notation is syntactic sugar for X `*(a + i)'. "Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the X semicolon." --- Alan Perlis. X Xsys-frog: /sis'frog/ [the PLATO system] n. Playful hackish variant X of `sysprog', which is in turn short for `systems programmer'. X Xsysop: /sis'op/ n. [BBS] The operator (and usually owner) of a X bulletin-board system. A common neophyte mistake on {FidoNet} is X to address a message to `sysop' in an international {echo}, thus X sending it to hundreds of sysops world-wide. X Xsystem: n. 1. The supervisor program or OS on a computer. 2. The X entire computer system, including input/output devices, the X supervisor program or OS, and possibly other software. 3. Any X large-scale program. 4. Any method or algorithm. 5. (slang) The X way things are usually done. Usage: a fairly ambiguous word. X "You can't beat the system." 6. `System hacker': one who X hacks the system (in senses #1 and #2 only; for sense #3 one X mentions the particular program: e.g., `LISP hacker') X Xsystem mangler: n. Humorous synonym for `system manager', poss. X from the fact that one major IBM OS had a `root' account called X SYSMANGR. Refers specifically to a systems programmer in charge of X administration, software maintainance, and updates at some site. X Unlike {admin}, this term emphasizes the technical end of the X skills involved. X X= T = X===== X XT: /tee/ 1. [from LISP terminology for `true'] Yes. Usage: used X in reply to a question (particularly one asked using the `-P' X convention). In LISP, the constant T means `true', among other X things. Some hackers use `T' and `NIL' instead of `Yes' and `No' X almost reflexively. This sometimes causes misunderstandings. When X a waiter or flight attendant asks whether a hacker wants coffee, he X may well respond `T', meaning that he wants coffee; but of course X he will be brought a cup of tea instead. As it happens, most X hackers (particularly those who frequent Chinese restaurants) like X tea at least as well as coffee --- so it's not that big a problem. X 2. See {time T} (also {since time T equals minus infinity}). X 3. [techspeak] In transaction-processing circles, an abbreviation X for the noun `transaction'. 4. [Purdue] Alternate spelling of X {tee}. X Xtail recursion: n. If you aren't sick of it already, see {tail X recursion}. X Xtalk mode: n. A feature supported by UNIX, ITS and some other OSes X which allows two or more logged-in users to set up a real-time X on-line conversation. Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, X used to save typing, which are not used orally. Some of these are X identical to (and probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by X ham-radio amateurs going back to the 1920s. X X BCNU Be seeing you. X BTW By the way... Lower-case also works. X BYE? Are you ready to unlink? (This is the standard way to X end a talk mode conversation; the other person types BYE X to confirm, or else continues the conversation.) X CUL See you later. X ENQ? Are you busy? Expects ACK or NAK in return. X FOO? A greeting, also meaning R U THERE? Often used in the X case of unexpected links, meaning also "Sorry if I X butted in..." (linker) or "What's up?" (linkee). X FYI For your information... X FYA For your amusement... X GA Go ahead (used when two people have tried to type X simultaneously; this cedes the right to type to the other). X GRMBL grumble --- expresses disquiet or disagreement. X HELLOP A greeting, also meaning R U THERE? (An instance of the X "-P" convention.) X JAM Just a minute... Equivalent to SEC... X MIN Same as JAM. X NIL No (see {NIL}). X O Over (lower-case works too). X OO Over and out (lower-case works too). X / Another form of "Over to you" (from x/y as "x over y") X \ Lambda (used in discussing LISPy things). X OBTW Oh, by the way... X R U THERE? Are you there? X SEC Wait a second (sometimes written SEC...). X T Yes (see the main entry for {T}). X TNX Thanks. X TNX 1.0E6 Thanks a million (humorous). X TNXE6 Ditto. X WRT With Regard To or With Respect To. X WTF The universal interrogative particle. WTF knows what X it means? X WTH What the hell? X <double newline> When the typing party has finished, he types two newlines X to signal that he is done; this leaves a blank line between X individual "speeches" in the conversation, making it easier to X re-read the preceding text. X <name>: When three or more terminals are linked, each speech is X preceded by the typist's login name or handle and a colon (or a X hyphen) to indicate who is typing. The login name often is X shortened to a unique prefix (possibly a single letter) during a X very long conversation. X /\/\/\ A giggle or chuckle. On a MUD, this usually means X `earthquake fault'. X X Most of the above sub-jargon is used at both Stanford and MIT. X Several of these are also common in {email}, esp. FYI, FYA, BTW, X BCNU, WTF, and CUL. A few other abbreviations have been reported X from commercial networks such as GEnie and CompuServe where on-line X `live' chat including more than two people is common and usually X involves a more `social' context, notably: X X <g> grin X <gr&d> grinning, running and ducking X BBL be back later X BRB be right back X HHOJ ha ha only joking X HHOS {ha ha only serious} X IMHO in my humble opinion (see {IMHO}) X LOL laughing out loud X ROTF rolling on the floor X ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing X AFK away from keyboard X b4 before X CU l8tr see you later X MORF Male or Female? X TTFN ta-ta for now X OIC Oh, I see X rehi hello again X X Most of hese are not used at universities or in the UNIX world, X though IMHO, ROTF, and TTFN have gained some currency there; X conversely, most of the people who know these are unfamiliar with X FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, {NIL}, and {T}. X X The {MUD} community uses a mixture of USENET/Internet emoticons, a X few of the more natural of the old-style talk mode abbrevs, and X some of the `social' list above; specifically, MUD respondents X report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF, TTFN, and WTH. The use of X rehi is also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re- compounds and X will frequently `rehug' or `rebonk' (see {bonk/oif}) people. The X word `re' by itself is taken as `re-greet'. In general, though, X MUDders express a preference for typing things out in full rather X than using abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of X the MUD cultures, which tend to include many touch typists and X assume high-speed links. The following uses specific to MUDs are X reported: X X UOK? Are you OK? X THX Thanks (mutant of TNX). Clearly this comes in batches of X 1138 (the Lucas K). X CU l8er See you later (mutant of CU l8tr) X OTT Over the top (excessive, uncalled for) X X Some {BIFF}isms (notably the variant spelling `d00d') appear to be X passing into wider use among some subgroups of mudders. See also X {hakspek}, {emoticon}, {bonk/oif}. X Xtalker system: n. British hackerism for software that enables X real-time chat or {talk mode}. X Xtall card: n. A PC/AT-sized expansion card (these can be larger X than IBM PC or XT cards because the AT case is bigger). See also X {short card}. When IBM introduced the PS/2 model 30 (their last X gasp at supporting the ISA) they made the case lower and many X industry-standard tall cards wouldn't fit; this was felt to be a X reincarnation of the {connector conspiracy}, done with less X style. X Xtanked: adj. Same as {down}, used primarily by UNIX hackers. See X also {hosed}. Popularized as a synonym for `drunk' by Steve X Dallas in the late lamented `Bloom County' comics. X Xtar and feather: [from UNIX `tar(1)'] vt. To create a X transportable archive from a group of files by first sticking them X together with `tar(1)' (the Tape ARchiver) and then X compressing the result (see {compress}). The latter is dubbed X `feathering' by analogy to what you do with an airplane propeller X to decrease wind resistance, or with an oar to reduce water X resistance; smaller files, after all, slip through comm links more X easily. X Xtaste: [primarily MIT] n. 1. The quality in programs which tends X to be inversely proportional to the number of features, hacks, and X kluges programmed into it. Also, `tasty', `tasteful', X `tastefulness'. "This feature comes in N tasty flavors." X Although `tasteful' and `flavorful' are essentially X synonyms, `taste' and {flavor} are not. Taste refers to X sound judgement on the part of the creator; a program or feature X can *exhibit* taste but cannot `have' taste. On the other X hand, a feature can have {flavor}. Also, {flavor} has the X additional meaning of `kind' or `variety' not shared by X `taste'. {Flavor} is a more popular word than `taste', X though both are used. See also {elegant}. 2. Alt. sp. of X {tayste}. X Xtayste: n. Two bits; also as {taste}. Syn. {crumb}, X {quarter}. Compare {{byte}}, {dynner}, {playte}, X {nybble}, {quad}. X XTCB: /tee see bee/ [IBM] n. 1. Trouble Came Back. Intermittent or X difficult-to reproduce problem which has failed to respond to X neglect. Compare {heisenbug}. Not to be confused with: 2. Trusted X Computing Base, an `official' jargon term from the {Orange Book}. X Xtea, ISO standard cup of: [South Africa] n. A cup of tea with milk X and one teaspoon of sugar, where the milk is poured into the cup X before the tea. Variations are ISO 0, with no sugar; ISO 2, with X two spoons of sugar; and so on. X X Note: like many ISO standards, this one has a faintly alien ring in X North America, wherein hackers generally shun the decadent British X practice of adulterating perfectly good tea with *dairy X products* and prefer instead to add a wedge of lemon, if anything. X If one were feeling extremely silly, one might hypothesize an X analogous `ANSI standard cup of tea' and wind up with a X political situation distressingly similar to several that arise in X much more serious technical contexts. Milk and lemon don't mix X very well. X XTechRef: [MS-DOS] n. The original `IBM PC Technical Reference X Manual', including the BIOS listing and complete schematics for the X PC. The only PC documentation in the issue package that's X considered serious by real hackers. X XTECO: /tee'koh/ obs. 1. vt. Originally, to edit using the TECO X editor in one of its infinite variations (see below); sometimes X still used to mean `to edit' even when not using TECO! Usage: rare X and now primarily historical. 2. [originally an acronym for X `(paper) Tape Editor and COrrector'; later, `Text Editor and X Corrector'] n. A text editor developed at MIT and modified by just X about everybody. If all the dialects are included, TECO might have X been the single most prolific editor in use before {EMACS}, to X which it was directly ancestral. Noted for its powerful X programming-language-like features and its unspeakably hairy X syntax. It is literally the case that every string of characters X is a valid TECO program (though probably not a useful one); one X common hacker game used to be mentally working out what the TECO X commands corresponding to human names did. As an example of TECO's X obtusosity, here is a TECO program that takes a list of names like X this: X X Loser, J. Random X Quux, The Great X Dick, Moby X X sorts them alphabetically according to last name, and then puts the X last name last, removing the comma, to produce this: X X Moby Dick X J. Random Loser X The Great Quux X X The program is: X X [1 J^P$L$$ X J <.-Z; .,(S,$ -D .)FX1 @F^B $K :L I $ G1 L>$$ X X (where ^B means `Control-B' (ASCII #b0000010) and $ is actually an X {ALT} or escape (ASCII #b0011011) character). X X In fact, this very program was used to produce the second, sorted X list from the first list. The first hack at it had a {bug}: GLS X (the author) had accidentally omitted the `@' in front of X `F^B', which as anyone can see is clearly the {Wrong Thing}. It X worked fine the second time. There is no space to describe all the X features of TECO, but it may be of interest that `^P' means X `sort' and `J<.-Z; ... L>' is an idiomatic series of commands X for `do once for every line'. X X In mid-1991, TECO is now pretty much one with the dust of history, X having been replaced in the affections of hackerdom by {EMACS}. It X can still be found lurking on VMS and a couple of crufty PDP-11 X operating systems, however, and remains the focus of some antiquarian X interest. See also {write-only language}. X Xtee: n.,vt. [Purdue] A carbon copy of an electronic transmission. X "Oh, you're sending him the {bits} to that? Slap on a tee for X me." From the UNIX command `tee(1)', itself named after a X pipe fitting (see {plumbing}, {pipeline}). Can also mean `save X one for me' as in "Tee a slice for me!". Also spelled `T'. X XTelerat: /tel'*-rat/ n. Unflattering hackerism for `Teleray', a X line of extremely losing terminals. See also {terminak}, X {sun-stools}, {HP-SUX}. X XTELNET: /tel'net/ vt. To communicate with another Internet host X using the {TELNET} program. TOPS-10 people used the word IMPCOM X since that was the program name for them. Sometimes abbreviated to X TN. "I usually TN over to SAIL just to read the AP News." X Xten-finger interface: n. The interface between two networks which X cannot be directly connected for security reasons; refers to the X practice of placing two terminals side by side and having an X operator read from one and type into the other. X Xtense: adj. Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece X of code often got that way because it was highly {bum}med, but X sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever X routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at CMU: "This X routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes." A tense X programmer is one who produces tense code. X Xtenured graduate student: n. One who has been in graduate school X for ten years (the usual maximum is five or six): a `ten-yeared' X student (get it?). Actually, this term may be used of any grad X student beginning in his seventh year. Students don't really get X tenure, of course, the way professors do, but a tenth-year graduate X student has probably been around the university longer than any X non-tenured professor. X Xtera-: /te'r*/ pref. See {{quantifiers}}. X Xteraflop club: /ter'a-flop kluhb/ [FLOP = Floating Point X Operation] n. Mythical association of people who consume outrageous X amounts of computer time in order to produce a few simple pictures X of glass balls with intricate ray tracing techniques. Caltech X professor James Kajiya is said to have been the founding member. X See also {tera-}. X Xterminak: /ter'mi-nak`/ [Caltech, ca. 1979] n. Any malfunctioning X computer terminal. A common failure mode of Lear-Siegler ADM3a X terminals caused the `L' key to produce the `K' code instead; SHAR_EOF true || echo 'restore of jargon.ascii failed' fi echo 'End of part 15, continue with part 16' echo 16 > _shar_seq_.tmp exit 0