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From: eric@snark.thyrsus.com (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.misc
Subject: The Jargon File v2.8.1, 22 MAR 1991, part 5 of 19
Message-ID: <1ZsDyB#6lOt5577QXcj5srpvr4mmnRp=eric@snark.thyrsus.com>
Date: 22 Mar 91 23:39:11 GMT
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Submitted-by: jargon@thyrsus.com
Archive-name: jargon/part05

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X   fudging; the term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed.
X   You might talk of liking a movie for its silliness factor.
X   Quotient tends to imply that the property is a ratio of two
X   opposing factors: "I would have won except for my luck quotient."
X   This could also be, "I would have won except for the luck factor",
X   but using *quotient* emphasizes that it was bad luck
X   overpowering good luck.   
X
X   `Foo index' and `coefficient of foo' both tend to imply
X   that foo is, if not strictly measurable, at least something that
X   can be larger or smaller.  Thus, you might refer to a paper or
X   person as having a `high bogosity index', whereas you would be less
X   likely to speak of a `high bogosity factor'.  `Foo index' suggests
X   that foo is a condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane
X   cost-of-living index; `coefficient of foo' suggests that foo is a
X   fundamental quantity, as in a coefficient of friction.  The choice
X   between these terms is often one of personal preference; e.g., some
X   people might feel that bogosity is a fundamental attribute and thus
X   say "coefficient of bogosity", whereas others might feel it is a
X   combination of factors and thus say "bogosity index".
X
Xcokebottle: /kohk'bot-l/ n. Any very unusual character,
X   particularly one that isn't on your keyboard so you can't type it.
X   MIT people used to complain about the `control-meta-cokebottle'
X   commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained right back about the
X   `altmode-altmode-cokebottle' commands at MIT.  After the demise of
X   the {space-cadet keyboard}, cokebottle faded away as serious
X   usage, but was often invoked humorously to describe an
X   (unspecified) weird or non-intuitive keystroke command.  It may be
X   due for a second inning, however.  The OSF/Motif window manager,
X   mwm, has a reserved keystroke for switching to the default set of
X   keybindings and behavior.  This keystroke is (believe it or not)
X   `control-meta-bang' (see {bang}).  Since the exclamation point
X   looks a lot like an upside down coke bottle, Motif hackers have
X   begun referring to this keystroke as cokebottle.  See also
X   {quadruple bucky}.
X
XCOME FROM: n. A semi-mythical language construct dual to the `go
X   to'; COME FROM <label> would cause the referenced label to act as a
X   sort of trapdoor, so that if the program ever reached it control
X   would quietly and {automagically} be transferred to the statement
X   following the COME FROM.  COME FROM was first proposed in a
X   {Datamation} article of December 1973 (reprinted in the April
X   1984 issue of Communications of the ACM) that parodied the
X   then-raging `structured programming' {holy wars} (see
X   {considered harmful}).  Mythically, some variants are the
X   `assigned come from', and the `computed come from'
X   (parodying some nasty control constructs in FORTRAN and some
X   extended BASICs).  Obviously, multi-tasking (or non-determinism)
X   could be implemented by having more than one COME FROM statement
X   coming from the same label.
X
X   In some ways the FORTRAN DO looks like a COME FROM statement.
X   After the terminating label/CONTINUE is reached, control continues
X   at the statement following the DO.  Some generous FORTRANs would
X   allow arbitrary statements (other than CONTINUE) for the
X   label, leading to examples like this
X
X           DO 10 I=1,LIMIT
X     C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the original DO
X     C statement lost in the spaghetti...
X           WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I)
X      10   FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4)
X
X   in which the trapdoor is just after the statement labelled 10.
X
X   While sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this
X   form of COME FROM statement isn't completely general.  After all,
X   control will eventually pass to the following statement.  The
X   implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN,
X   ca.1975.  The statement `AT 100' would perform a `COME
X   FROM 100'.  It was intended strictly as a debugging aid, with dire
X   consequences promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in
X   production code.  More horrible things had already been perpetrated
X   in production languages, however; doubters need only contemplate
X   COBOL's `ALTER' verb.
X
X   COME FROM was supported under its own name for the first time
X   fifteen years later, in C-INTERCAL (see {INTERCAL},
X   {retrocomputing}); knowledgeable observers are still reeling from
X   shock.
X
Xcomm mode: /kom mohd/ [from the ITS feature supporting on-line
X   chat, spelled with one or two Ms] Syn. for {talk mode}.
X
Xcommand key: [Mac users] n. The Macintosh key with the cloverleaf
X   graphic on its keytop; sometimes referred to as `flower',
X   `clover', `propeller', or `beanie' (an apparent reference to the
X   propeller on a beanie).  The Mac's equivalent to an {ALT} key.
X
Xcomment out: vt. To surround a section of code with comment
X   delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment
X   marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted.  Often
X   done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but you want to leave
X   it in the source to make the intent of the active code clearer;
X   also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass
X   it in order to debug some other part of the code.  Compare
X   {condition out}, usually the preferred technique in languages
X   (like {C}) that make it possible.
X
XCommonwealth Hackish:: n. Hacker jargon as spoken outside the
X   U.S., esp. in the British Commonwealth.  It is reported that
X   Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce `char', `soc',
X   etc. as spelled (/char/, /sok/) as opposed to American /keir/ or
X   /sohsh/.  Dots in {newsgroup} names tend to be pronounced more
X   often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot wi'bble/ rather than /sohsh
X   wib'ble/).  The prefix {meta} may be pronounced /mee't*-/;
X   similarly, Greek letter beta is often /bee't*/, zeta is often
X   /zee't*/ and so forth.  Preferred metasyntactic variables include
X   EEK, OOK, FRODO, and BILBO; WIBBLE, WOBBLE, and in emergencies
X   WUBBLE; BANANA, WOMBAT, FROG, {fish}, and so on and on (see
X   {foo}, sense #4).
X
X   Alternatives to verb doubling include suffixes `-o-rama',
X   `frenzy' (as in feeding frenzy) and `city' (as in "barf
X   city!" "hack-o-rama!" "core dump frenzy!").  Finally, note
X   that the American terms `parens', `brackets', and `braces' for (),
X   [], and {} are uncommon; Commonwealth hackish prefers
X   `brackets', `square brackets', and `curly brackets'.  Also, the
X   use of `pling' for {bang} is common outside the United States.
X
X   See also {attoparsec}, {calculator}, {chemist}, {console
X   jockey}, {fish}, {grunge}, {hakspek}, {heavy metal},
X   {leaky heap}, {lord high fixer}, {noddy},
X   {psychedelicware}, {plingnet}, {raster blaster}, {seggie},
X   {terminal junkie}, {tick-list features}, {weeble},
X   {weasel}, {YABA}, and notes or definitions under {Bad Thing},
X   {barf}, {bogus}, {bum}, {chase pointers}, {cosmic rays},
X   {crippleware}, {crunch}, {dodgy}, {gonk}, {mess-dos},
X   {nybble}, {proglet}, {root}, {tweak}, and {xyzzy}.
X
Xcompact: adj. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it
X   can all be apprehended at once in one's head.  This generally means
X   the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility
X   and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that is not compact.  Note
X   that compactness does not imply triviality or lack of power; for
X   example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful
X   than FORTRAN.  Designs become non-compact through accreting
X   {feature}s and {cruft} that don't merge cleanly into the overall
X   design scheme.
X
Xcompress: [UNIX] vt. When used without a qualifier, generally
X   refers to {crunch}ing of a file using a particular C
X   implementation of Lempel-Ziv compression by James A. Woods et al. and
X   widely circulated via {USENET}.  Use of {crunch} itself in this
X   sense is rare among UNIX hackers.
X
Xcomputer confetti: n. Syn. {chad}.  Though this term is common,
X   this use of the punched-card chad is not a good idea, as the pieces
X   are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes.  GLS
X   reports that he once attended a wedding at MIT during which he and
X   a few other guests enthusiastically threw chad instead of rice. The
X   groom later grumbled that he and his bride had spent most of the
X   evening trying to get the stuff out of their hair.
X
Xcomputer geek: n. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living.  One
X   who fulfills all of the dreariest negative stereotypes about
X   hackers: an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all
X   the personality of a cheese grater.  Cannot be used by outsiders
X   without implied insult to all hackers; compare black-on-black usage
X   of `nigger'.  A computer geek may be either a fundamentally
X   clueless individual or a proto-hacker in {larval stage}.  Also
X   called `turbo nerd', `turbo geek'.  See also
X   {clustergeeking}, {wannabee}, {terminal junkie}.
X
Xcomputron: /kom'pyoo-tron`/ n. 1. A notional unit of computing power
X   combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned
X   roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store times
X   megabytes-of-mass-storage.  "That machine can't run GNU EMACS, it
X   doesn't have enough computrons!"  This usage is usually found in
X   metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible commodity good
X   like a crop yield or diesel horsepower.  See {bitty box}, {Get a
X   real computer!}, {toy}, {crank}.  2. A mythical subatomic particle
X   that bears the unit quantity of computation or information, in much
X   the same way that an electron bears one unit of electric charge
X   (see {bogon}).  An elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons
X   has been worked out based on the physical fact that the molecules
X   in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated.  It is argued
X   that an object melts because the molecules have lost their
X   information about where they are supposed to be (that is, they have
X   emitted computrons).  This explains why computers get so hot and
X   require air conditioning; they use up computrons.  Conversely, you
X   should be able to cool down an object by placing it in the path of
X   a computron beam.  It is believed that this may also explain why
X   machines that work at the factory fail in the computer room ---
X   because the computrons there have been all used up by your other
X   hardware.  (This may owe something to the group of fantasy stories
X   by Larry Niven, beginning with `What Good is a Glass Dagger?',
X   in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural resource called
X   `mana').
X
Xcondition out: vt. To prevent a section of code from being compiled
X   by surrounding it with a conditional-compilation directive whose
X   condition is always false.  The {canonical} example is
X   `#if 0' and `#endif' in C.  Compare {comment out}.
X
Xcondom: n. The protective plastic baggy that accompanies 3.5-inch
X   microfloppy diskettes.  Rarely, used of (paper) disk envelopes.
X   Unlike the write protect, the condom (when left on) not only
X   impedes the practice of {SEX}, it has been shown to have a high
X   failure rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk --- and
X   can even fatally frustrate insertion!
X
Xconnector conspiracy: [probably came into prominence with the
X   appearance of the KL-10, none of whose connectors matched anything
X   else] n. The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension,
X   programmers or purveyors of anything) to come up with new products
X   which don't fit together with the old stuff, thereby making you buy
X   either all new stuff or expensive interface devices.  The KL-10
X   Massbus connector was actually *patented* by DEC, which is
X   reputed to have refused to license the design and thus effectively
X   locked third parties out of competition for the lucrative Massbus
X   peripherals market.  This is a source of never-ending frustration
X   for the die-hards who maintain older PDP-10 or VAX systems.
X   Their CPUs work fine, but they're stuck with dying, obsolescent
X   disk and tape drives with low capacity and high power requirements.
X
X   In these latter days of open-systems computing this term has fallen
X   somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observation that
X   "Standards are great!  There are so *many* of them."  Compare
X   {backward combatability}.
X
Xcons: /konz/ or /kons/ [from LISP] 1. v. To add a new element to a
X   list, esp. at the top.  2. `cons up': vt. To synthesize from
X   smaller pieces: "to cons up an example".
X
Xconsidered harmful: adj. Edsger W. Dijkstra's infamous March 1968
X   Communications of the ACM note, `Goto Statement Considered
X   Harmful', fired the first salvo in the `structured programming'
X   wars.  Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony
X   sufficiently harmful that they will (by policy) no longer print an
X   article which takes up that assertive a position against a coding
X   practice.  In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious
X   papers and parodies have borne titles of the form `X considered Y'.
X   The `structured programming' wars eventually blew over with the
X   realization that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has
X   remained as a persistent minor in-joke (the `considered silly'
X   found at various places in this lexicon is related).
X
Xconsole:: n. 1. The operator's station of a {mainframe}.  In times
X   past, this was a privileged location which conveyed godlike powers
X   to him (almost invariably a `him') with his fingers on the keys.  Under
X   UNIX and other modern timesharing OSes, such privileges are
X   guarded by passwords, and the console is just the {tty} the system
X   was booted from.  Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is
X   traditional for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from
X   /dev/console.  2. On microcomputer UNIX boxes: the main screen and
X   keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a
X   serial port).  Typically only the console can do real graphics or
X   run {X}.  See also {CTY}.
X
Xconsole jockey: n. See {terminal junkie}.
X
Xcontent-free: adj. Ironic analogy with `context-free', used of a
X   message that adds nothing to the recipient's knowledge.  Though
X   this adjective is sometimes applied to {flamage}, it more usually
X   connotes derision for communication styles which exalt form over
X   substance, or are centered on concerns irrelevant to the subject
X   ostensibly at hand.  Perhaps most used with reference to speeches
X   by company presidents and like animals.  "Content-free?
X   Uh...that's anything printed on glossy paper".  See also
X   {four-color glossies}.
X
Xcontrol-c: vi. "Stop whatever you are doing."  From the interrupt
X   character used on many operating systems to abort a running
X   program.  Considered silly.
X
Xcontrol-o: vi. "Stop talking."  From the character used on many
X   operating systems to abort output but allow the program to keep on
X   running.  Generally means that you are not interested in hearing
X   anything more from that person, at least on that topic; a standard
X   respond to someone who is flaming.  Considered silly.
X
Xcontrol-s: vi. "Stop talking for a second."  From the ASCII XOFF
X   character (this is also pronounced XOFF /eks'off/).  Control-s
X   differs from {control-o} in that the person is asked to stop
X   talking (perhaps because you are on the phone) but will be allowed
X   to continue when you're ready to listen to him, as opposed to
X   control-o which has more of the meaning of "Shut up."  Considered
X   silly.
X
XConway's Law: prov. The rule that the organization of the software and
X   the organization of the software team will be congruent; originally
X   stated as "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll
X   get a four-pass compiler."
X
X   This was originally promulgated by Melvin Conway, an early
X   proto-hacker who wrote an assembler for the Burroughs 220 called
X   SAVE.  The name `SAVE' didn't stand for anything; it was just that
X   you lost fewer decks and listings because they all had SAVE written
X   on top of them.
X
Xcookie: n. A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement
X   between cooperating programs.  "I give him a packet, he gives me
X   back a cookie."  Compare {magic cookie}; see also {fortune
X   cookie}.
X
Xcookie bear: n. Syn. {cookie monster}.
X
Xcookie file: n. A collection of {fortune cookie}s in a format
X   that facilitates retrieval by a fortune program.  There are several
X   different ones in public distribution, and site admins often
X   assemble their own from various sources including this lexicon.
X
Xcookie monster: [from `Sesame Street'] n. Any of a family of
X   early (1970s) hacks reported on {TOPS-10}, {ITS}, {Multics},
X   and elsewhere that would lock up either the victim's terminal (on a
X   time-sharing machine) or the {{console}} (on a batch
X   {mainframe}), repeatedly demanding "I WANT A COOKIE".  The
X   required responses ranged in complexity from "COOKIE" through
X   "HAVE A COOKIE" and upward.  See also {wabbit}.
X
Xcopper: n. Conventional electron-carrying network cable, which uses
X   copper as a core conductor --- or aluminum!  Opposed to {light
X   pipe} or, say, a short-range microwave link.
X
Xcopy protection: n. A class of clever methods for preventing
X   incompetent pirates from stealing software and legitimate customers
X   from using it.  Considered silly.
X
Xcopybroke: adj. [play on `copyright'] Used to describe an
X   instance of a copy-protected program which has been `broken'; that
X   is, a copy with the copy-protection scheme disabled.  Syn.
X   {copywronged}.
X
Xcopyleft: /kop'ee-left/ [play on `copyright'] n. 1. The
X   copyright notice (`General Public License') carried by {GNU}
X   {EMACS} and other Free Software Foundation software, granting re-use
X   and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also {General
X   Public Virus}).  2. By extension, any copyright notice intended to
X   achieve similar aims.
X
Xcopywronged: [play on `copyright'] adj. Syn. for {copybroke}.
X
Xcore: n. Main storage or RAM.  Dates from the days of ferrite-core
X   memory; now archaic most places outside IBM, but also still used in
X   the UNIX community and by old-time hackers or those who would sound
X   like same.  Some derived idioms are quite current; `in core',
X   for example, means `in memory' (as opposed to `on disk'), and both
X   {core dump} and the `core image' or `core file' produced
X   by one are terms in favors.  Commonwealth hackish prefers {store}.
X
Xcore dump: n. [common {Iron Age} jargon, preserved by UNIX] 1. A
X   copy of the contents of {core} produced when a process is aborted
X   by certain kinds of internal error.  2. By extension, used for
X   humans passing out, vomiting, or registering extreme shock.  "He
X   dumped core.  All over the floor.  What a mess." "He heard about
X   ... and dumped core."  3. Occasionally used for a human
X   rambling on pointlessly at great length; esp. in apology: "Sorry I
X   dumped core on you".  4. A recapitulation of knowledge (compare
X   {bits}, sense 1).  Hence, spewing all one knows about a topic,
X   esp. in a lecture or answer to an exam question.  "Short, concise
X   answers are better than core dumps." (from the instructions to a
X   qual exam at Columbia; compare {brain dump}).  See
X   {core}.
X
Xcore leak: n. Syn. {memory leak}.
X
XCore Wars: n. A game between `assembler' programs in a simulated
X   machine, where the objective is to kill your opponent's program by
X   overwriting it.  This was popularized by A. K. Dewdney's column
X   in `Scientific American' magazine, but is said to have been
X   first devised by Victor Vyssotsky as a PDP-1 hack, during the early
X   '60s at Bell Labs.  It is rumored that the game is a civilized
X   version of an amusement called DARWIN common on multitasking
X   machines before the advent of protected address segments.  See
X   {core}.
X
Xcorge: /korj/ [originally, the name of a cat] n. Yet another
X   meta-syntactic variable, invented by Mike Gallaher and propagated
X   by the Gosmacs documentation.  See {grault}.
X
Xcosmic rays: n. Notionally, the cause of {bit rot}.  However, this is
X   a semi-independent usage which may be invoked as a humorous way to
X   {handwave} away any minor {randomness} that doesn't seem worth the
X   bother of investigating.  "Hey, Eric --- I just got a burst of
X   garbage on my {tube}, where did that come from?"  "Cosmic rays, I
X   guess." Compare {sunspots}, {phase of the moon}.  The British seem
X   to prefer the usage `cosmic showers'; `alpha particles' is also
X   heard, because stray alpha particles passing through a memory chip
X   can cause single-bit errors (this becomes increasingly more likely
X   as memory sizes and densities increase).
X
X   Factual note: alpha particles cause bit rot, cosmic rays do not
X   (except occasionally in spaceborne computers).  Intel could not
X   explain random bit drops in their early chips, and one hypothesis
X   was cosmic rays.  So they created the World's Largest Lead Safe, 25
X   tons of lead, and used two identical boards for testing.  One was
X   placed in the safe, one outside.  The hypothesis was that if cosmic
X   rays were causing the bit drops, they should see a statistically
X   significant difference between the error rates on the two boards.
X   They did not observe such a difference.  Further investigation
X   demonstrated conclusively that the bit drops were due to alpha
X   particle emission from thorium (and to a much lesser degree
X   uranium) in the encapsulation material.  Since it is impossible to
X   eliminate these radioactives (they are uniformly distributed
X   through the earth's crust, with the statistically insignificant
X   exception of uranium mines) it became obvious that you have to
X   design memories to withstand these hits.
X
Xcough and die: v. Syn. {barf}.  Connotes that the program is
X   throwing its hands up by design rather than because of a bug or
X   oversight.
X
Xcowboy: [Sun, from William Gibson's {cyberpunk} SF] n. Synonym for
X   {hacker}.  It is reported that, at Sun, this is often said with
X   reverence.
X
XCP/M: /see-pee-em/ n. [Control Program for Microcomputers] An
X   early microcomputer {OS} written by hacker Gary Kildall for 8080-
X   and Z80-based machines, very popular in the late 1970s until
X   virtually wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBM PC in
X   1981 (legend has it that Kildall's company blew their chance to
X   write the OS for the IBM PC because Kildall decided to spend the
X   day IBM's reps wanted to meet with him enjoying the perfect flying
X   weather in his private plane).  Many of its features and
X   conventions strongly resemble those of early DEC operating systems
X   such as {TOPS-10}, OS/8, RSTS, and RSX-11.  See {MS-DOS},
X   {operating system}.
X
XCPU Wars: /see-pee-yoo worz/ n. A 1979 large-format comic by Chas
X   Andres chronicling the attempts of the brainwashed androids of
X   `IPM' (Impossible to Program Machines) to conquer and destroy the
X   peaceful denizens of HEC (Human Engineered Computers).  This rather
X   transparent allegory featured many references to {ADVENT} and the
X   immortal line "Eat flaming death, minicomputer mongrels!"
X   (uttered, of course, by an IPM stormtrooper).  It is alleged that
X   the author subsequently received a letter of appreciation on IBM
X   company stationery from the then-head of IBM's Thomas J. Watson
X   research laboratories (then, as now, one of the few islands of true
X   hackerdom in the IBM archipelago).  The lower loop of the `B' in
X   the IBM logo, it is said, had been carefully whited out.  See
X   {eat flaming death}.
X
Xcracker: n. One who breaks security on a system.  Coined ca.1985 by
X   hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of {hacker} (q.v.,
X   sense #7).  There had been an earlier attempt to establish `worm'
X   in this sense around 1981--1982 on USENET; this largely failed.
X
Xcrank: [from automotive slang] vt. Verb used to describe the
X   performance of a machine, especially sustained performance.  "This
X   box cranks (or, cranks at) about 6 megaflops, with a burst mode of
X   twice that on vectorized operations."
X
Xcrash: 1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure.  Most often said of
X   the {system} (q.v., sense #1), sometimes of magnetic disk drives.
X   "Three {luser}s lost their files in last night's disk crash."
X   A disk crash which involves the read/write heads dropping onto the
X   surface of the disks and scraping off the oxide may also be
X   referred to as a `head crash', whereas the term `system
X   crash' usually, though not always, implies that the operating
X   system or other software was at fault.  2. vi. To fail suddenly.
X   "Has the system just crashed?"  See {down}.  Also used
X   transitively to indicate the cause of the crash (usually a person
X   or a program, or both).  "Those idiots playing {SPACEWAR}
X   crashed the system."  3. vi. Sometimes said of people hitting the
X   sack after a long {hacking run}; see {gronk} (sense #4).
X
Xcrash and burn: vi.,n. A spectacular crash, in the mode of the
X   conclusion of the car chase scene from the movie `Bullitt' and
X   many subsequent imitators.  Sun-3 monitors losing the flyback
X   transformer and lightning strikes on VAX-11/780 backplanes are
X   notable crash and burn generators.  The construction
X   `crash-and-burn machine' is reported for a computer used
X   exclusively for alpha or {beta} testing, or reproducing bugs
X   (i.e., not for development).  The implication is that it wouldn't
X   be such a disaster if that machine crashed, since only the testers
X   would be inconvenienced.
X
Xcrawling horror: n. Ancient crufty hardware or software that forces
X   beyond the control of the hackers at a site refuse to let die.
X   Like {dusty deck} or {gonkulator}, but connotes that the thing
X   described is not just an irritation but an active menace to health
X   and sanity.  "Mostly we code new stuff in C, but they pay us to
X   maintain one big FORTRAN II application from nineteen-sixty-X
X   that's a real crawling horror...."  Compare {WOMBAT}.
X
Xcray: /kray/ n. 1. (properly, capitalized) One of the line of
X   supercomputers designed by Cray Research.  2. Any supercomputer at
X   all.  3. The {canonical} {number-crunching} machine.
X
X   The term is actually the lowercased last name of Seymour Cray, a
X   noted computer architect and co-founder of the company.  Numerous
X   vivid legends surround him, some true and some admittedly invented
X   by Cray Research brass to shape their corporate culture and image.
X
Xcray instability: n. A shortcoming of a program or algorithm which
X   manifests itself only when running a large problem on a powerful
X   machine.  Generally more subtle than bugs that can be detected in
X   smaller problems running on a workstation or mini.
X
Xcrayola: n. A super-mini or -micro computer that provides some
X   reasonable percentage of supercomputer performance for an
X   unreasonably low price.  Might also be a {killer micro}.
X
Xcrayon: n. 1. Someone who works on Cray supercomputers.  More
X   specifically implies a programmer, probably of the CDC ilk,
X   probably male, and almost certainly wearing a tie (irrespective of
X   gender).  Unicos systems types who have a UNIX background tend not
X   to be described as crayons.  2. A {computron} that participates
X   only in {number-crunching}.  3. A unit of computational power
X   equal to that of a single Cray-1.  There is a standard joke about
X   this that derives from an old Crayola crayon promotional gimmick:
X   when you buy 64 crayons you get a free sharpener.
X
Xcreationism: n. The (false) belief that large, innovative designs
X   can be completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked
X   out of the void by the normal efforts of a team of normally
X   talented programmers.  In fact, experience has shown repeatedly
X   that good designs arise only from evolutionary, exploratory
X   interaction between one (or at most a small handful of)
X   exceptionally able designer(s) and an active user population ---
X   and that the first try at a big new idea is always wrong.
X   Unfortunately, because these truths don't fit the planning models
X   beloved of {management}, they are generally ignored.
X
Xcreeping elegance: n. Describes a tendency for parts of a design to 
X   become {elegant} past the point of diminishing return.  This often
X   happens at the expense of the less interesting parts of the design,
X   schedule, and other things deemed important in the {Real World}.
X   See also {creeping featurism}, {second-system effect}, {tense}.
X
Xcreeping featurism: /kree'ping fee'chr-izm/ n. 1. Describes a
X   systematic tendency to load more {chrome} and {feature}s onto
X   systems at the expense of whatever elegance they may have possessed
X   when originally designed.  See also {feeping creaturism}.  "You
X   know, the main problem with {BSD} UNIX has always been creeping
X   featurism."  2. More generally, the tendency for anything
X   complicated to become even more complicated because people keep
X   saying, "Gee, it would be even better if it had this feature
X   too."  (See {feature}.)  The result is usually a patchwork
X   because it grew one ad-hoc step at a time, rather than being
X   planned.  Planning is a lot of work, but it's easy to add just one
X   extra little feature to help someone... and then another...
X   and another....  When creeping featurism gets out of hand, it's
X   like a cancer.  Usually this term is used to describe computer
X   programs, but it could also be said of the federal government, the
X   IRS 1040 form, and new cars.  A similar phenomenon sometimes
X   afflicts conscious redesigns; see {second-system effect}.  See
X   also {creeping elegance}.
X
Xcreeping featuritis: /kree'ping fee'-chr-ie`t*s/ n. Variant of
X   {creeping featurism}, with its own Spoonerization as `feeping
X   creaturitis'.  Some people like to reserve this form for the
X   disease as it actually manifests in software or hardware, as
X   opposed to the lurking general tendency in designers' minds.  After
X   all, -ism means `condition' or `pursuit of', whereas -itis usually
X   means `inflammation of'.)
X
Xcretin: /kre'tn/ or /kree'tn/ n. Congenital {loser}; an obnoxious
X   person; someone who can't do anything right.  It has been observed
X   that many American hackers tend to favor the British pronunciation
X   /kre'tn/ over standard American /kree'tn/; it is thought this may
X   be due to the insidious phonetic influence of Monty Python's Flying
X   Circus.
X
Xcretinous: /kre't*n-uhs/ or /kree't*n-uhs/ adj. Wrong;
X   non-functional; very poorly designed.  Also used pejoratively of
X   people.  Synonyms: {bletcherous}, `bagbiting' (see
X   {bagbiter}), {losing}, {brain-damaged}.
X
Xcrippleware: n. 1. Software that has some important functionality
X   deliberately removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a
X   working version.  See also {guiltware}.  2. [Cambridge]
X   {guiltware} that exhorts you to donate to some charity (compare
X   {careware}).
X
Xcritical mass: n. In physics, the minimum amount of fissionable
X   material required to sustain a chain reaction.  Of a software
X   product, describes a condition of the software such that fixing one
X   bug introduces one plus {epsilon} bugs.  When software achieves
X   critical mass, it can only be discarded and rewritten.
X
Xcrlf: /ker'l*f/, sometimes /kru'l*f/ or /see-ar-el-eff/ n. (often
X   capitalized as `CRLF') A carriage return (CR) followed by a line
X   feed (LF).  More loosely, whatever it takes to get you from the end
X   of one line of text to the beginning of the next line.  See
X   {newline}, {terpri}.  Under {UNIX} influence this usage has
X   become less common (UNIX uses a bare line feed as its `CRLF').
X
Xcrock: [from the obvious mainstream scatologism] n. 1. An awkward
X   feature or programming technique that ought to be made cleaner.
X   Example: Using small integers to represent error codes without the
X   program interpreting them to the user (as in, for example, UNIX
X   `make(1)', which returns code 139 for a process that dies due
X   to {segfault}).  2. A technique that works acceptably, but which
X   is quite prone to failure if disturbed in the least, for example
X   depending on the machine opcodes having particular bit patterns so
X   that you can use instructions as data words too; a tightly woven,
X   almost completely unmodifiable structure.  See {kluge},
X   {brittle}.  Also in the adjectives `crockish' and
X   `crocky', and the noun `crockitude'.
X
Xcross-post: [USENET] vi. To post a single article directed to
X   several newsgroups.  Distinguished from posting the article
X   repeatedly, once to each newsgroup, which causes people to see it
X   multiple times (this is very bad form).  Cross-posting without a
X   Followup line directing responses to a single followup group is
X   frowned upon, as it tends to cause {followup} articles to go to
X   inappropriate newsgroups as people respond to only one part of the
X   original posting.
X
Xcrudware: /kruhd'weir/ n. Pejorative term for the hundreds of
X   megabytes of low-quality {freeware} circulated by user's groups
X   and BBS systems in the micro-hobbyist world.  "Yet *another*
X   set of disk catalog utilities for {MS-DOS}?  What crudware!"
X   The related usage `fuckware' is reported for software so bad it
X   mutilates your disk, broadcasts to the Internet, or perpetrates
X   some similar fiasco.
X
Xcruft: /kruhft/ 1. [back-formation from {crufty}] 1. n. An
X   unpleasant substance.  The dust that gathers under your bed is
X   cruft; the TMRC dictionary correctly noted that attacking it with a
X   broom only produces more.  2. n.  The results of shoddy
X   construction.  3. vt. [from hand cruft, pun on hand craft] to
X   write assembler code for something normally (and better) done by a
X   compiler (see {hand-hacking}).  4. n. Excess; superfluous junk.
X   Esp. used of redundant or superseded code.
X
Xcruft together: vt. (also `cruft up') To throw together
X   something ugly but temporarily workable.  Like vt. {kluge up},
X   but more pejorative.  "There isn't any program now to reverse all
X   the lines of a file, but I can probably cruft one together in about
X   ten minutes."  See {hack together}, {hack up}, {kluge up},
X   {crufty}.
X
Xcruftsmanship: /kruhfts'man-ship / n. [from {cruft}] The
X   antithesis of craftsmanship.
X
Xcrufty: /kruhf'tee/ [origin unknown; poss. from `crusty' or
X   `cruddy'] adj. 1. Poorly built, possibly overly complex.  The
X   {canonical} example is "This is standard old crufty DEC
X   software."  In fact, one fanciful theory of the origin of `crufty'
X   holds that was originally a mutation of `crusty' applied to DEC
X   software so old that the S characters were tall and skinny, looking
X   more like `f' characters.  2. Unpleasant, especially to the touch,
X   often with encrusted junk.  Like spilled coffee smeared with peanut
X   butter and catsup.  3. Generally unpleasant.  4. (sometimes spelled
X   `cruftie') n. A small crufty object (see {frob}); often one
X   that doesn't fit well into the scheme of things.  "A LISP property
X   list is a good place to store crufties (or, collectively,
X   {random} cruft)."
X
Xcrumb: n. Two binary digits; a {quad}.  Larger than a {bit},
X   smaller than a {nybble}.  Syn. {tayste}.
X
Xcrunch: 1. vi. To process, usually in a time-consuming or
X   complicated way.  Connotes an essentially trivial operation that is
X   nonetheless painful to perform.  The pain may be due to the
X   triviality being embedded in a loop from 1 to 1,000,000,000.
X   "FORTRAN programs do mostly {number-crunching}."  2. vt. To
X   reduce the size of a file by a complicated scheme that produces bit
X   configurations completely unrelated to the original data, such as
X   by a Huffman code.  (The file ends up looking like a paper document
X   would if somebody crunched the paper into a wad.)  Since such
X   compression usually takes more computations than simpler methods
X   such as run-length encoding, the term is doubly appropriate.  (This
X   meaning is usually used in the construction `file crunch(ing)' to
X   distinguish it from {number-crunching}.)  See {compress}.
X   3. n. The character `#'.  Usage: used at XEROX and CMU, among
X   other places.  See {{ASCII}}.  4. vt. To squeeze program source
X   into a minimum-size representation that will still compile or
X   execute.  The term came into being specifically for a famous
X   program on the BBC that crunched BASIC source in order to make it
X   run more quickly (it was a wholly interpretive BASIC).
X   {Obfuscated C Contest} entries are often crunched; see the first
X   example under that entry.
X
Xcruncha cruncha cruncha: /kruhn'ch* kruhn'ch* kruhn'ch*/ interj.
X   An encouragement sometimes muttered to a machine bogged down in a
X   serious {grovel}.  Also describes a notional sound made by
X   grovelling hardware.  See {wugga wugga}, {grind} (sense #3).
X
Xcryppie: /krip'ee/ n. A cryptographer.  One who hacks or implements
X   cryptographic software or hardware.
X
XCTSS: /see-tee-ess-ess/ n. Compatible Time-Sharing System.  An early
X   (1963) experiment in the design of interactive time-sharing
X   operating systems.  Cited here because it was ancestral to
X   {Multics}, {UNIX}, and {ITS}.  The name {ITS} ("Incompatible
X   Time-sharing System") was a hack on CTSS, meant both as a joke and
X   to express some basic differences in philosophy about the way I/O
X   services should be presented to user programs.
X
XCTY: /sit'ee/ or /see tee wie/ n. [MIT] The terminal physically
X   associated with a computer's system {{console}}.  The term is a
X   contraction of `Console {tty}', that is, `Console TeleTYpe'.
X   This {ITS}- and {TOPS-10}-associated term has become less common
X   than formerly, as most UNIX hackers simply refer to the CTY as `the
X   console'.
X
Xcube: n. 1. [short for `cubicle'] A module in the open-plan
X   offices used at many programming shops.  "I've got the manuals in
X   my cube".  2. A NeXT machine.
X
Xcubing: [parallel with `tubing'] vi. 1. Hacking on an IPSC (Intel
X   Personal SuperComputer) hypercube.  "Louella's gone cubing
X   *again*!!"  2. Hacking Rubik's Cube or related puzzles,
X   either physically or mathematically.  3. An indescribable form of
X   self-torture (see sense #1 or #2).
X
Xcursor dipped in X: n. There are a couple of metaphors in English
X   of the form `pen dipped in X' (perhaps the most common values of X
X   are `acid', `bile' and `vitriol').  These map over neatly to this
X   hackish usage (the cursor being what moves, leaving letters behind,
X   when one is composing on-line).
X
Xcuspy: /kuhs'pee/ [coined at WPI from the DEC acronym CUSP, for
X   Commonly Used System Program, i.e., a utility program used by many
X   people] adj. 1. (of a program) Well-written.  2. Functionally
X   excellent.  A program that performs well and interfaces well to
X   users is cuspy.  See {rude}.  3. [NYU] Said of an attractive
X   woman, especially one regarded as available.  Implies a certain
X   curvaceousness.
X
Xcut a tape: [poss. fr. mainstream `cut a check' or from the
X   recording industry's `cut a record'] vi. To write a software or
X   document distribution on magnetic tape for shipment.  Has nothing
X   to do with physically cutting the medium!  Though this usage is
X   quite widespread, one never speaks of analogously `cutting a disk'
X   or anything else in this sense.
X
Xcybercrud: /sie'ber-kruhd/ [coined by Ted Nelson] n. Obfuscatory
X   tech-talk.  Verbiage with a high {MEGO} factor.  The computer
X   equivalent of bureaucratese.
X
Xcyberpunk: /sie'ber-puhnk/ [orig. by SF writer Bruce Bethke and/or
X   editor Gardner Dozois] n.,adj. A subgenre of SF launched in 1982
X   by William Gibson's epoch-making novel `Neuromancer' (though
X   its roots go back through Vernor Vinge's `True Names' (see
X   Appendix C) to John Brunner's 1975 novel, `The Shockwave
X   Rider').  Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the
X   present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role
X   of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since
X   found both irritatingly naive and tremendously stimulating.
X   Gibson's work was widely imitated, in particular by the short-lived
X   but innovative `Max Headroom' TV series.  See {cyberspace},
X   {ice}, {go flatline}.
X
Xcyberspace: /sie'ber-spays/ n. 1. Notional `information-space'
X   loaded with visual cues and navigable with brain-computer
X   interfaces called `cyberspace decks'; a characteristic prop of
X   {cyberpunk} SF.  At time of writing (mid-1991), serious efforts to
X   construct {virtual reality} interfaces modelled explicitly on
X   Gibsonian cyberspace are already under way, using more conventional
X   devices such as glove sensors and binocular TV headsets.  Few
X   hackers are prepared to outright deny the possibility of a
X   cyberspace someday evolving out of the network (see {network,
X   the}).  2. Occasionally, the metaphoric location of the mind of a
X   person in {hack mode}.  Some hackers report experiencing strong
X   eidetic imagery when in hack mode; interestingly, independent
X   reports from multiple sources suggest that there are common
X   features to the experience.  In particular, the dominant colors of
X   this subjective `cyberspace' are often gray and silver, and the
X   imagery often involves constellations of marching dots, elaborate
X   shifting patterns of lines and angles, or moire patterns.
X
Xcycle: n. The basic unit of computation.  What every hacker wants
X   more of (noted hacker Bill Gosper used to describe himself as a
X   "cycle junky").  One might think that single machine instructions
X   would be the measure of computation, and indeed computers are often
X   compared by how many instructions they can process per second, but
X   some instructions take longer than others.  Nearly all computers
X   have an internal clock, though, and you can describe an instruction
X   as taking so many `clock cycles'.  Frequently the computer can
X   access its memory once on every clock cycle, and so one speaks also
X   of `memory cycles'.  These are technical meanings of {cycle}.
X   The jargon meaning comes from the observation that there are only
X   so many cycles per second, and when you are sharing a computer, the
X   cycles get divided up among the users.  The more cycles the
X   computer spends working on your program rather than someone else's,
X   the faster your program will run.  That's why every hacker wants
X   more cycles: so he can spend less time waiting for the computer to
X   respond.
X
Xcycle crunch: n. The situation where the number of people trying to
X   use the computer simultaneously has reached the point where no one
X   can get enough cycles because they are spread too thin.  This is an
X   inevitable result of Parkinson's Law applied to timesharing.
X   Usually the only solution is to buy more computer.  Happily, this
X   has rapidly become easier in recent years, so much so that the very
X   term `cycle crunch' now has a faintly archaic flavor; most
X   hackers now use workstations or personal computers as opposed to
X   traditional timesharing systems.
X
Xcycle drought: n. A scarcity of cycles.  It may be due to a {cycle
X   crunch}, but could also occur because part of the computer is
X   temporarily not working, leaving fewer cycles to go around.
X   Example: "The {high moby} is {down}, so we're running with only
X   half the usual amount of memory.  There will be a cycle drought
X   until it's fixed."
X
Xcycle of reincarnation: [coined by Ivan Sutherland ca.1970] n. Term
X   used to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a
X   computing system family is migrated out to special-purpose
X   peripheral hardware for speed, then the peripheral evolves towards
X   more computing power as it does its job, then somebody notices that
X   it's inefficient to support two asymmetrical processors in the
X   architecture and folds the function back into the main CPU, at
X   which point the cycle begins again.  Several iterations of this
X   cycle have been observed in graphics processor design, and at least
X   one or two in communications and floating-point processors.  Also
X   known as `the Wheel of Life', `the Wheel of Samsara', and
X   other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist theological idea.
X
Xcycle server: n. A powerful machine that exists primarily for
X   running large batch jobs.  Implies that interactive tasks such as
X   editing are done on other machines on the network, such as
X   workstations.
X
X= D =
X=====
X
Xdaemon: /day'm*n/ or /dee'm*n/ [from the mythological
X   meaning, later rationalized as the acronym `Disk And Execution
X   MONitor'] n. A program which is not invoked explicitly, but which
X   lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur.  The idea is
X   that the perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a
X   daemon is lurking (though often a program will commit an action
X   only because it knows that it will implicitly invoke a daemon).
X   For example, under {ITS} writing a file on the {LPT} spooler's
X   directory would invoke the spooling daemon, which would then print
X   the file.  The advantage is that programs which want (in this
X   example) files printed need not compete for access to the {LPT}.
X   They simply enter their implicit requests and let the daemon decide
X   what to do with them.  Daemons are usually spawned automatically by
X   the system, and may either live forever or be regenerated at
X   intervals.  Usage: daemon and {demon} are often used
X   interchangeably, but seem to have distinct connotations.  The term
X   `daemon' was introduced to computing by {CTSS} people (who
X   pronounced it /dee'mon/) and used it to refer to what ITS called
X   a {dragon}.  While the meaning and pronunciation have drifted, we
X   think this glossary reflects current (1991) usage.
X
Xdangling pointer: n. A reference that doesn't actually lead
X   anywhere (in C and some other languages, a pointer that doesn't
X   actually point at anything valid).  Usually this is because it
X   formerly pointed to something which has moved or disappeared.  Used
X   as jargon in a generalization of its techspeak meaning; a local
X   phone number for a person who's since moved to the other coast, for
X   example.
X
XDatamation: n. A magazine that many hackers assume all {suit}s
X   read.  Used to question an unbelieved quote, as in "Did you read
X   that in Datamation?"  It used to publish something hackishly
X   funny every once in a while, like the original paper on {COME
X   FROM} in 1973; but since then it's become much more exclusively
X   {suit}-oriented.
X
Xday mode: n. See {phase} (sense #1).  Used of people only.
X
XD. C. Power Lab: n.  The former site of the {SAIL}.  Hackers
X   thought this was very funny because the obvious connection to
X   electrical engineering was nonexistent --- the lab was named for a
X   Donald C. Power.  Compare {Marginal Hacks}.
X
Xdd: /dee-dee/ [from IBM {JCL}] vt. Equivalent to {cat} or
X   {BLT}.  This was originally the name of a UNIX copy command with
X   special options suitable for block-oriented devices.  Often used in
X   heavy-handed system abuse, as in "Let's dd the root partition onto
X   a tape, then use the boot PROM to load it back on to a new disk".
X   The UNIX `dd(1)' was designed with a weird, distinctly
X   non-UNIXy keyword option syntax reminiscent of IBM System/360 JCL
X   (which had a similar DD command); though the command filled a need,
X   the design choice looks like somebody's idea of a joke.  The jargon
X   usage is now very rare outside UNIX sites and now nearly obsolete
X   even there, as `dd(1)' has been {deprecated} for a long time
X   (though it has no replacement).  Replaced by {BLT} or simple
X   English `copy'.
X
XDDT: /dee-dee-tee/ n. 1. Generic term for a program that helps you
X   to debug other programs by showing individual machine instructions
X   in a readable symbolic form and letting the user change them.  In
X   this sense the term DDT is now archaic, having been widely
X   displaced by `debugger' or names of individual programs like
X   `dbx', `adb', or `sdb'.  2. [ITS] Under MIT's fabled
X   {ITS} operating system, DDT (running under the alias HACTRN) was
X   also used as the {shell} or top level command language used to
X   execute other programs.  3. Any one of several specific DDTs (sense
X   #1) supported on early DEC hardware.  The DEC PDP-10 Reference
X   Handbook (1969) contained a footnote on the first page of the
X   documentation for DDT which illuminates the origin of the
X   term:
X
X     Historical footnote: DDT was developed at MIT for the PDP-1
X     computer in 1961.  At that time DDT stood for "DEC Debugging
X     Tape".  Since then, the idea of an on-line debugging program
X     has propagated throughout the computer industry.  DDT programs
X     are now available for all DEC computers.  Since media other
X     than tape are now frequently used, the more descriptive name
X     "Dynamic Debugging Technique" has been adopted, retaining
X     the DDT acronym.  Confusion between DDT-10 and another well
X     known pesticide, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane
X     (C14-H9-Cl5) should be minimal since each attacks a different,
X     and apparently mutually exclusive, class of bugs.
X
X   Sadly, this quotation was removed from later editions of the
X   handbook after the {suit}s took over and DEC became much more
X   `businesslike'.
X
Xde-rezz: /dee-rez'/ [from the movie `Tron'; poss. related to
X   `hi-res' used for a graphics mode on early Apples] (also `derez')
SHAR_EOF
true || echo 'restore of jargon.ascii failed'
fi
echo 'End of part 5, continue with part 6'
echo 6 > _shar_seq_.tmp
exit 0