Node:real operating system, Next:[11126]Real Programmer, Previous:[11127]real hack, Up:[11128]= R =
real operating system n.
The sort the speaker is used to. People from the BSDophilic academic community are likely to issue comments like “System V? Why don’t you use a real operating system?”, people from the commercial/industrial Unix sector are known to complain “BSD? Why don’t you use a real operating system?”, and people from IBM object “Unix? Why don’t you use a real operating system?” Only [11129]MS-DOS is universally considered unreal. See [11130]holy wars, [11131]religious issues, [11132]proprietary, [11133]Get a real computer! _________________________________________________________________
Node:Real Programmer, Next:[11134]Real Soon Now, Previous:[11135]real operating system, Up:[11136]= R =
Real Programmer n.
[indirectly, from the book “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche”] A particular sub-variety of hacker: one possessed of a flippant attitude toward complexity that is arrogant even when justified by experience. The archetypal `Real Programmer’ likes to program on the [11137]bare metal and is very good at same, remembers the binary opcodes for every machine he has ever programmed, thinks that HLLs are sissy, and uses a debugger to edit his code because full-screen editors are for wimps. Real Programmers aren’t satisfied with code that hasn’t been [11138]bummed into a state of [11139]tenseness just short of rupture. Real Programmers never use comments or write documentation: “If it was hard to write”, says the Real Programmer, “it should be hard to understand.” Real Programmers can make machines do things that were never in their spec sheets; in fact, they are seldom really happy unless doing so. A Real Programmer’s code can awe with its fiendish brilliance, even as its crockishness appalls. Real Programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other programmers — because someday, somebody else might have to try to understand their code in order to change it. Their successors generally consider it a [11140]Good Thing that there aren’t many Real Programmers around any more. For a famous (and somewhat more positive) portrait of a Real Programmer, see “[11141]The Story of Mel” in Appendix A. The term itself was popularized by a 1983 Datamation article “Real Programmers Don’t Use Pascal” by Ed Post, still circulating on Usenet and Internet in on-line form. You can browse “Real Programmers Don’t Use Pascal” from the Datamation home page [11142]http://www.datamation.com. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Real Soon Now, Next:[11143]real time, Previous:[11144]Real Programmer, Up:[11145]= R =
Real Soon Now adv.
[orig. from SF’s fanzine community, popularized by Jerry Pournelle’s column in “BYTE”] 1. Supposed to be available (or fixed, or cheap, or whatever) real soon now according to somebody, but the speaker is quite skeptical. 2. When one’s gods, fates, or other time commitments permit one to get to it (in other words, don’t hold your breath). Often abbreviated RSN. Compare [11146]copious free time. _________________________________________________________________
Node:real time, Next:[11147]real user, Previous:[11148]Real Soon Now, Up:[11149]= R =
real time
1. [techspeak] adj. Describes an application which requires a program to respond to stimuli within some small upper limit of response time (typically milli- or microseconds). Process control at a chemical plant is the [11150]canonical example. Such applications often require special operating systems (because everything else must take a back seat to response time) and speed-tuned hardware. 2. adv. In jargon, refers to doing something while people are watching or waiting. “I asked her how to find the calling procedure’s program counter on the stack and she came up with an algorithm in real time.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:real user, Next:[11151]Real World, Previous:[11152]real time, Up:[11153]= R =
real user n.
1. A commercial user. One who is paying real money for his computer usage. 2. A non-hacker. Someone using the system for an explicit purpose (a research project, a course, etc.) other than pure exploration. See [11154]user. Hackers who are also students may also be real users. “I need this fixed so I can do a problem set. I’m not complaining out of randomness, but as a real user.” See also [11155]luser.
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Node:Real World, Next:[11156]reality check, Previous:[11157]real user, Up:[11158]= R =
Real World n.
1. Those institutions at which `programming’ may be used in the same sentence as `FORTRAN’, `[11159]COBOL’, `RPG’, `[11160]IBM’, `DBASE’, etc. Places where programs do such commercially necessary but intellectually uninspiring things as generating payroll checks and invoices. 2. The location of non-programmers and activities not related to programming. 3. A bizarre dimension in which the standard dress is shirt and tie and in which a person’s working hours are defined as 9 to 5 (see [11161]code grinder). 4. Anywhere outside a university. “Poor fellow, he’s left MIT and gone into the Real World.” Used pejoratively by those not in residence there. In conversation, talking of someone who has entered the Real World is not unlike speaking of a deceased person. It is also noteworthy that on the campus of Cambridge University in England, there is a gaily-painted lamp-post which bears the label `REALITY CHECKPOINT’. It marks the boundary between university and the Real World; check your notions of reality before passing. This joke is funnier because the Cambridge `campus’ is actually coextensive with the center of Cambridge town. See also [11162]fear and loathing, [11163]mundane, and [11164]uninteresting.
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Node:reality check, Next:[11165]reality-distortion field, Previous:[11166]Real World, Up:[11167]= R =
reality check n.
1. The simplest kind of test of software or hardware; doing the equivalent of asking it what 2 + 2 is and seeing if you get 4. The software equivalent of a [11168]smoke test. 2. The act of letting a [11169]real user try out prototype software. Compare [11170]sanity check.
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Node:reality-distortion field, Next:[11171]reaper, Previous:[11172]reality check, Up:[11173]= R =
reality-distortion field n.
An expression used to describe the persuasive ability of managers like Steve Jobs (the term originated at Apple in the 1980s to describe his peculiar charisma). Those close to these managers become passionately committed to possibly insane projects, without regard to the practicality of their implementation or competitive forces in the marketpace.
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Node:reaper, Next:[11174]recompile the world, Previous:[11175]reality-distortion field, Up:[11176]= R =
reaper n.
A [11177]prowler that [11178]GFRs files. A file removed in this way is said to have been `reaped’.
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Node:recompile the world, Next:[11179]rectangle slinger, Previous:[11180]reaper, Up:[11181]= R =
recompile the world
The surprisingly large amount of work that needs to be done as the result of any small but globally visible program change. “The world” may mean the entirety of some huge program, or may in theory refer to every program of a certain class in the entire known universe. For instance, “Add one #define to stdio.h, and you have to recompile the world.” This means that any minor change to the standard-I/O header file theoretically mandates recompiling every C program in existence, even if only to verify that the change didn’t screw something else up. In practice, you may not actually have to recompile the world, but the implication is that some human cleverness is required to figure out what parts can be safely left out.
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Node:rectangle slinger, Next:[11182]recursion, Previous:[11183]recompile the world, Up:[11184]= R =
rectangle slinger n.
See [11185]polygon pusher.
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Node:recursion, Next:[11186]recursive acronym, Previous:[11187]rectangle slinger, Up:[11188]= R =
recursion n.
See [11189]recursion. See also [11190]tail recursion. _________________________________________________________________
Node:recursive acronym, Next:[11191]Red Book, Previous:[11192]recursion, Up:[11193]= R =
recursive acronym n.
A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is to choose acronyms/abbreviations that refer humorously to themselves or to other acronyms/abbreviations. The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE (“EINE Is Not EMACS”) and ZWEI (“ZWEI Was EINE Initially”). More recently, there is a Scheme compiler called LIAR (Liar Imitates Apply Recursively), and [11194]GNU (q.v., sense 1) stands for “GNU’s Not Unix!” — and a company with the name Cygnus, which expands to “Cygnus, Your GNU Support” (though Cygnus people say this is a [11195]backronym). See also [11196]mung, [11197]EMACS. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Red Book, Next:[11198]red wire, Previous:[11199]recursive acronym, Up:[11200]= R =
Red Book n.
1. Informal name for one of the four standard references on [11201]PostScript (“PostScript Language Reference Manual”, Adobe Systems (Addison-Wesley, 1985; QA76.73.P67P67; ISBN 0-201-10174-2, or the 1990 second edition ISBN 0-201-18127-4); the others are known as the [11202]Green Book, the [11203]Blue Book, and the [11204]White Book (sense 2). 2. Informal name for one of the 3 standard references on Smalltalk (“Smalltalk-80: The Interactive Programming Environment” by Adele Goldberg (Addison-Wesley, 1984; QA76.8.S635G638; ISBN 0-201-11372-4); this too is associated with blue and green books). 3. Any of the 1984 standards issued by the CCITT eighth plenary assembly. These include, among other things, the X.400 email spec and the Group 1 through 4 fax standards. 4. The new version of the [11205]Green Book (sense 4) — IEEE 1003.1-1990, a.k.a ISO 9945-1 — is (because of the color and the fact that it is printed on A4 paper) known in the USA as “the Ugly Red Book That Won’t Fit On The Shelf” and in Europe as “the Ugly Red Book That’s A Sensible Size”. 5. The NSA “Trusted Network Interpretation” companion to the [11206]Orange Book. 6. Nemeth, Snyder, Seebass, Hein; “Unix System Administration Handbook, Second Edition” (Prentice Hall PTR, New Jersey; 1995; QA76.76.063N45; ISBN 0-13-151051-7). See also [11207]book titles. _________________________________________________________________
Node:red wire, Next:[11208]regexp, Previous:[11209]Red Book, Up:[11210]= R =
red wire n.
[IBM] Patch wires installed by programmers who have no business mucking with the hardware. It is said that the only thing more dangerous than a hardware guy with a code patch is a [11211]softy with a soldering iron…. Compare [11212]blue wire, [11213]yellow wire, [11214]purple wire.
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Node:regexp, Next:[11215]register dancing, Previous:[11216]red wire, Up:[11217]= R =
regexp /reg’eksp/ n.
[Unix] (alt. `regex’ or `reg-ex’) 1. Common written and spoken abbreviation for `regular expression’, one of the wildcard patterns used, e.g., by Unix utilities such as grep(1), sed(1), and awk(1). These use conventions similar to but more elaborate than those described under [11218]glob. For purposes of this lexicon, it is sufficient to note that regexps also allow complemented character sets using ^; thus, one can specify `any non-alphabetic character’ with [^A-Za-z]. 2. Name of a well-known PD regexp-handling package in portable C, written by revered Usenetter Henry Spencer [11219].
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Node:register dancing, Next:[11220]rehi, Previous:[11221]regexp, Up:[11222]= R =
register dancing n.
Many older processor architectures suffer from a serious shortage of general-purpose registers. This is especially a problem for compiler-writers, because their generated code needs places to store temporaries for things like intermediate values in expression evaluation. Some designs with this problem, like the Intel 80×86, do have a handful of special-purpose registers that can be pressed into service, providing suitable care is taken to avoid unpleasant side effects on the state of the processor: while the special-purpose register is being used to hold an intermediate value, a delicate minuet is required in which the previous value of the register is saved and then restored just before the official function (and value) of the special-purpose register is again needed. _________________________________________________________________
Node:rehi, Next:[11223]reincarnation cycle of, Previous:[11224]register dancing, Up:[11225]= R =
rehi
[IRC, MUD] “Hello again.” Very commonly used to greet people upon returning to an IRC channel after [11226]channel hopping. _________________________________________________________________
Node:reincarnation cycle of, Next:[11227]reinvent the wheel, Previous:[11228]rehi, Up:[11229]= R =
reincarnation, cycle of n.
See [11230]cycle of reincarnation. _________________________________________________________________
Node:reinvent the wheel, Next:[11231]relay rape, Previous:[11232]reincarnation cycle of, Up:[11233]= R =
reinvent the wheel v.
To design or implement a tool equivalent to an existing one or part of one, with the implication that doing so is silly or a waste of time. This is often a valid criticism. On the other hand, automobiles don’t use wooden rollers, and some kinds of wheel have to be reinvented many times before you get them right. On the third hand, people reinventing the wheel do tend to come up with the moral equivalent of a trapezoid with an offset axle.
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Node:relay rape, Next:[11234]religion of CHI, Previous:[11235]reinvent the wheel, Up:[11236]= R =
relay rape n.
The hijacking of a third party’s unsecured mail server to deliver [11237]spam.
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Node:religion of CHI, Next:[11238]religious issues, Previous:[11239]relay rape, Up:[11240]= R =
religion of CHI /ki:/ n.
[Case Western Reserve University] Yet another hackish parody religion (see also [11241]Church of the SubGenius, [11242]Discordianism). In the mid-70s, the canonical “Introduction to Programming” courses at CWRU were taught in Algol, and student exercises were punched on cards and run on a Univac 1108 system using a homebrew operating system named CHI. The religion had no doctrines and but one ritual: whenever the worshipper noted that a digital clock read 11:08, he or she would recite the phrase “It is 11:08; ABS, ALPHABETIC, ARCSIN, ARCCOS, ARCTAN.” The last five words were the first five functions in the appropriate chapter of the Algol manual; note the special pronunciations /obz/ and /ark’sin/ rather than the more common /ahbz/ and /ark’si:n/. Using an alarm clock to warn of 11:08’s arrival was [11243]considered harmful.
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Node:religious issues, Next:[11244]replicator, Previous:[11245]religion of CHI, Up:[11246]= R =
religious issues n.
Questions which seemingly cannot be raised without touching off [11247]holy wars, such as “What is the best operating system (or editor, language, architecture, shell, mail reader, news reader)?”, “What about that Heinlein guy, eh?”, “What should we add to the new Jargon File?” See [11248]holy wars; see also [11249]theology, [11250]bigot.
This term is a prime example of [11251]ha ha only serious. People actually develop the most amazing and religiously intense attachments to their tools, even when the tools are intangible. The most constructive thing one can do when one stumbles into the crossfire is mumble [11252]Get a life! and leave — unless, of course, one’s own unassailably rational and obviously correct choices are being slammed. _________________________________________________________________
Node:replicator, Next:[11253]reply, Previous:[11254]religious issues, Up:[11255]= R =
replicator n.
Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself; this could be a living organism, an idea (see [11256]meme), a program (see [11257]quine, [11258]worm, [11259]wabbit, [11260]fork bomb, and [11261]virus), a pattern in a cellular automaton (see [11262]life, sense 1), or (speculatively) a robot or [11263]nanobot. It is even claimed by some that [11264]Unix and [11265]C are the symbiotic halves of an extremely successful replicator; see [11266]Unix conspiracy. _________________________________________________________________
Node:reply, Next:[11267]restriction, Previous:[11268]replicator, Up:[11269]= R =
reply n.
See [11270]followup.
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Node:restriction, Next:[11271]retcon, Previous:[11272]reply, Up:[11273]= R =
restriction n.
A [11274]bug or design error that limits a program’s capabilities, and which is sufficiently egregious that nobody can quite work up enough nerve to describe it as a [11275]feature. Often used (esp. by [11276]marketroid types) to make it sound as though some crippling bogosity had been intended by the designers all along, or was forced upon them by arcane technical constraints of a nature no mere user could possibly comprehend (these claims are almost invariably false).
Old-time hacker Joseph M. Newcomer advises that whenever choosing a quantifiable but arbitrary restriction, you should make it either a power of 2 or a power of 2 minus 1. If you impose a limit of 107 items in a list, everyone will know it is a random number — on the other hand, a limit of 15 or 16 suggests some deep reason (involving 0- or 1-based indexing in binary) and you will get less [11277]flamage for it. Limits which are round numbers in base 10 are always especially suspect.
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Node:retcon, Next:[11278]RETI, Previous:[11279]restriction, Up:[11280]= R =
retcon /ret’kon/
[short for `retroactive continuity’, from the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.comics] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp. comics or soap operas) where a new story `reveals’ things about events in previous stories, usually leaving the `facts’ the same (thus preserving continuity) while completely changing their interpretation. For example, revealing that a whole season of “Dallas” was a dream was a retcon. 2. vt. To write such a story about a character or fictitious object. “Byrne has retconned Superman’s cape so that it is no longer unbreakable.” “Marvelman’s old adventures were retconned into synthetic dreams.” “Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person into a sentient vegetable.” “Darth Vader was retconned into Luke Skywalker’s father in “The Empire Strikes Back”.
[This term is included because it is a good example of hackish linguistic innovation in a field completely unrelated to computers. The word `retcon’ will probably spread through comics fandom and lose its association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for the record, it started here. –ESR]
[1993 update: some comics fans on the net now claim that retcon was independently in use in comics fandom before rec.arts.comics. In lexicography, nothing is ever simple. –ESR] _________________________________________________________________
Node:RETI, Next:[11281]retrocomputing, Previous:[11282]retcon, Up:[11283]= R =
RETI v.
Syn. [11284]RTI
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Node:retrocomputing, Next:[11285]return from the dead, Previous:[11286]RETI, Up:[11287]= R =
retrocomputing /ret’-roh-k*m-pyoo’ting/ n.
Refers to emulations of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; esp. if such implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies, written mostly for [11288]hack value, of more `serious’ designs. Perhaps the most widely distributed retrocomputing utility was the pnch(6) or bcd(6) program on V7 and other early Unix versions, which would accept up to 80 characters of text argument and display the corresponding pattern in [11289]punched card code. Other well-known retrocomputing hacks have included the programming language [11290]INTERCAL, a [11291]JCL-emulating shell for Unix, the card-punch-emulating editor named 029, and various elaborate PDP-11 hardware emulators and RT-11 OS emulators written just to keep an old, sourceless [11292]Zork binary running.
A tasty selection of retrocomputing programs are made available at the Retrocomputing Museum, [11293]http://www.ccil.org/retro. _________________________________________________________________
Node:return from the dead, Next:[11294]RFC, Previous:[11295]retrocomputing, Up:[11296]= R =
return from the dead v.
To regain access to the net after a long absence. Compare [11297]person of no account.
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Node:RFC, Next:[11298]RFE, Previous:[11299]return from the dead, Up:[11300]= R =
RFC /R-F-C/ n.
[Request For Comment] One of a long-established series of numbered Internet informational documents and standards widely followed by commercial software and freeware in the Internet and Unix communities. Perhaps the single most influential one has been RFC-822 (the Internet mail-format standard). The RFCs are unusual in that they are floated by technical experts acting on their own initiative and reviewed by the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated through an institution such as ANSI. For this reason, they remain known as RFCs even once adopted as standards.
The RFC tradition of pragmatic, experience-driven, after-the-fact standard writing done by individuals or small working groups has important advantages over the more formal, committee-driven process typical of ANSI or ISO. Emblematic of some of these advantages is the existence of a flourishing tradition of `joke’ RFCs; usually at least one a year is published, usually on April 1st. Well-known joke RFCs have included 527 (“ARPAWOCKY”, R. Merryman, UCSD; 22 June 1973), 748 (“Telnet Randomly-Lose Option”, Mark R. Crispin; 1 April 1978), and 1149 (“A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers”, D. Waitzman, BBN STC; 1 April 1990). The first was a Lewis Carroll pastiche; the second a parody of the TCP-IP documentation style, and the third a deadpan skewering of standards-document legalese, describing protocols for transmitting Internet data packets by carrier pigeon.
The RFCs are most remarkable for how well they work — they manage to have neither the ambiguities that are usually rife in informal specifications, nor the committee-perpetrated misfeatures that often haunt formal standards, and they define a network that has grown to truly worldwide proportions.
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Node:RFE, Next:[11301]rib site, Previous:[11302]RFC, Up:[11303]= R =
RFE /R-F-E/ n.
1. [techspeak] Request For Enhancement (compare [11304]RFC). 2. [from `Radio Free Europe’, Bellcore and Sun] Radio Free Ethernet, a system (originated by Peter Langston) for broadcasting audio among Sun SPARCstations over the ethernet.
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Node:rib site, Next:[11305]rice box, Previous:[11306]RFE, Up:[11307]= R =
rib site n.
[by analogy with [11308]backbone site] A machine that has an on-demand high-speed link to a [11309]backbone site and serves as a regional distribution point for lots of third-party traffic in email and Usenet news. Compare [11310]leaf site, [11311]backbone site. _________________________________________________________________
Node:rice box, Next:[11312]Right Thing, Previous:[11313]rib site, Up:[11314]= R =
rice box n.
[from ham radio slang] Any Asian-made commodity computer, esp. an 80×86-based machine built to IBM PC-compatible ISA or EISA-bus standards.
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Node:Right Thing, Next:[11315]rip, Previous:[11316]rice box, Up:[11317]= R =
Right Thing n.
That which is compellingly the correct or appropriate thing to use, do, say, etc. Often capitalized, always emphasized in speech as though capitalized. Use of this term often implies that in fact reasonable people may disagree. “What’s the right thing for LISP to do when it sees (mod a 0)? Should it return a, or give a divide-by-0 error?” Oppose [11318]Wrong Thing.
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Node:rip, Next:[11319]ripoff, Previous:[11320]Right Thing, Up:[11321]= R =
rip v.
1. To extract the digital representation of a piece of music from an audio CD. Software that does this is often called a “CD ripper”. 2. [Amiga hackers] To extract sound or graphics from a program that they have been compiled/assembled into, or which generates them at run-time. In the case of older Amiga games this entails searching through memory shortly after a reboot. This sense has been in use for many years and probably gave rise to the (now more common) sense 1. _________________________________________________________________
Node:ripoff, Next:[11322]RL, Previous:[11323]rip, Up:[11324]= R =
ripoff n.
Synonym for [11325]chad, sense 1. _________________________________________________________________
Node:RL, Next:[11326]roach, Previous:[11327]ripoff, Up:[11328]= R =
RL // n.
[MUD community] Real Life. “Firiss laughs in RL” means that Firiss’s player is laughing. Compare [11329]meatspace; oppose [11330]VR. _________________________________________________________________
Node:roach, Next:[11331]robocanceller, Previous:[11332]RL, Up:[11333]= R =
roach vt.
[Bell Labs] To destroy, esp. of a data structure. Hardware gets [11334]toasted or [11335]fried, software gets roached. _________________________________________________________________
Node:robocanceller, Next:[11336]robot, Previous:[11337]roach, Up:[11338]= R =
robocanceller /roh-boh-kan’sel-*r/
A program that monitors Usenet feeds, attempting to detect and eliminate [11339]spam by sending appropriate cancel messages . Robocancellers may use the [11340]Breidbart Index as a trigger. Programming them is not a game for amateurs; see [11341]ARMM. See also [11342]Dave the Resurrector.
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Node:robot, Next:[11343]robust, Previous:[11344]robocanceller, Up:[11345]= R =
robot n.
See [11346]bot.
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Node:robust, Next:[11347]rococo, Previous:[11348]robot, Up:[11349]= R =
robust adj.
Said of a system that has demonstrated an ability to recover gracefully from the whole range of exceptional inputs and situations in a given environment. One step below [11350]bulletproof. Carries the additional connotation of elegance in addition to just careful attention to detail. Compare [11351]smart, oppose [11352]brittle. _________________________________________________________________
Node:rococo, Next:[11353]rogue, Previous:[11354]robust, Up:[11355]= R =
rococo adj.
Terminally [11356]baroque. Used to imply that a program has become so encrusted with the software equivalent of gold leaf and curlicues that they have completely swamped the underlying design. Called after the later and more extreme forms of Baroque architecture and decoration prevalent during the mid-1700s in Europe. Alan Perlis said: “Every program eventually becomes rococo, and then rubble.” Compare [11357]critical mass.
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Node:rogue, Next:[11358]room-temperature IQ, Previous:[11359]rococo, Up:[11360]= R =
rogue
1. [Unix] n. A Dungeons-and-Dragons-like game using character graphics, written under BSD Unix and subsequently ported to other Unix systems. The original BSD curses(3) screen-handling package was hacked together by Ken Arnold primarily to support games, and the development of rogue(6) popularized its use; it has since become one of Unix’s most important and heavily used application libraries. Nethack, Omega, Larn, Angband, and an entire subgenre of computer dungeon games (all known as `roguelikes’) all took off from the inspiration provided by rogue(6); the popular Windows game Diablo, though graphics-intensive, has very similar play logic. See also [11361]nethack. 2. [Usenet] adj. An [11362]ISP which permits net abuse (usually in the form of [11363]spamming) by its customers, or which itself engages in such activities. Rogue ISPs are sometimes subject to [11364]IDPs or [11365]UDPs. Sometimes deliberately mispelled as “rouge”. See also [11366]nethack, [11367]moria, [11368]Angband. _________________________________________________________________
Node:room-temperature IQ, Next:[11369]root, Previous:[11370]rogue, Up:[11371]= R =
room-temperature IQ quant.
[IBM] 80 or below (nominal room temperature is 72 degrees Fahrenheit, 22 degrees Celsius). Used in describing the expected intelligence range of the [11372]luser. “Well, but how’s this interface going to play with the room-temperature IQ crowd?” See [11373]drool-proof paper. This is a much more insulting phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers.
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Node:root, Next:[11374]root mode, Previous:[11375]room-temperature IQ, Up:[11376]= R =
root n.
[Unix] 1. The [11377]superuser account (with user name `root’) that ignores permission bits, user number 0 on a Unix system. The term [11378]avatar is also used. 2. The top node of the system directory structure; historically the home directory of the root user, but probably named after the root of an (inverted) tree. 3. By extension, the privileged system-maintenance login on any OS. See [11379]root mode, [11380]go root, see also [11381]wheel. _________________________________________________________________
Node:root mode, Next:[11382]rot13, Previous:[11383]root, Up:[11384]= R =
root mode n.
Syn. with [11385]wizard mode or `wheel mode’. Like these, it is often generalized to describe privileged states in systems other than OSes. _________________________________________________________________
Node:rot13, Next:[11386]rotary debugger, Previous:[11387]root mode, Up:[11388]= R =
rot13 /rot ther’teen/ n.,v.
[Usenet: from `rotate alphabet 13 places’] The simple Caesar-cypher encryption that replaces each English letter with the one 13 places forward or back along the alphabet, so that “The butler did it!” becomes “Gur ohgyre qvq vg!” Most Usenet news reading and posting programs include a rot13 feature. It is used to enclose the text in a sealed wrapper that the reader must choose to open — e.g., for posting things that might offend some readers, or [11389]spoilers. A major advantage of rot13 over rot(N) for other N is that it is self-inverse, so the same code can be used for encoding and decoding. See also [11390]spoiler space, which has partly displaced rot13 since non-Unix-based newsreaders became common. _________________________________________________________________
Node:rotary debugger, Next:[11391]round tape, Previous:[11392]rot13, Up:[11393]= R =
rotary debugger n.
[Commodore] Essential equipment for those late-night or early-morning debugging sessions. Mainly used as sustenance for the hacker. Comes in many decorator colors, such as Sausage, Pepperoni, and Garbage. See [11394]ANSI standard pizza.
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Node:round tape, Next:[11395]RSN, Previous:[11396]rotary debugger, Up:[11397]= R =
round tape n.
Industry-standard 1/2-inch magnetic tape (7- or 9-track) on traditional circular reels. See [11398]macrotape, oppose [11399]square tape.
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Node:RSN, Next:[11400]RTBM, Previous:[11401]round tape, Up:[11402]= R =
RSN /R-S-N/ adj.
See [11403]Real Soon Now.
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Node:RTBM, Next:[11404]RTFAQ, Previous:[11405]RSN, Up:[11406]= R =
RTBM /R-T-B-M/ imp.
[Unix] Commonwealth Hackish variant of [11407]RTFM; expands to `Read The Bloody Manual’. RTBM is often the entire text of the first reply to a question from a [11408]newbie; the second would escalate to “RTFM”.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:RTFAQ, Next:[11409]RTFB, Previous:[11410]RTBM, Up:[11411]= R =
RTFAQ /R-T-F-A-Q/ imp.
[Usenet: primarily written, by analogy with [11412]RTFM] Abbrev. for `Read the FAQ!’, an exhortation that the person addressed ought to read the newsgroup’s [11413]FAQ list before posting questions. _________________________________________________________________
Node:RTFB, Next:[11414]RTFM, Previous:[11415]RTFAQ, Up:[11416]= R =
RTFB /R-T-F-B/ imp.
[Unix] Abbreviation for `Read The Fucking Binary’. Used when neither documentation nor source for the problem at hand exists, and the only thing to do is use some debugger or monitor and directly analyze the assembler or even the machine code. “No source for the buggy port driver? Aaargh! I hate proprietary operating systems. Time to RTFB.”
Of the various RTF? forms, `RTFB’ is the least pejorative against anyone asking a question for which RTFB is the answer; the anger here is directed at the absence of both source and adequate documentation. _________________________________________________________________
Node:RTFM, Next:[11417]RTFS, Previous:[11418]RTFB, Up:[11419]= R =
RTFM /R-T-F-M/ imp.
[Unix] Abbreviation for `Read The Fucking Manual’. 1. Used by [11420]gurus to brush off questions they consider trivial or annoying. Compare [11421]Don’t do that then!. 2. Used when reporting a problem to indicate that you aren’t just asking out of [11422]randomness. “No, I can’t figure out how to interface Unix to my toaster, and yes, I have RTFM.” Unlike sense 1, this use is considered polite. See also [11423]FM, [11424]RTFAQ, [11425]RTFB, [11426]RTFS, [11427]STFW, [11428]RTM, all of which mutated from RTFM, and compare [11429]UTSL. _________________________________________________________________
Node:RTFS, Next:[11430]RTI, Previous:[11431]RTFM, Up:[11432]= R =
RTFS /R-T-F-S/
[Unix] 1. imp. Abbreviation for `Read The Fucking Source’. Variant form of [11433]RTFM, used when the problem at hand is not necessarily obvious and not answerable from the manuals — or the manuals are not yet written and maybe never will be. For even trickier situations, see [11434]RTFB. Unlike RTFM, the anger inherent in RTFS is not usually directed at the person asking the question, but rather at the people who failed to provide adequate documentation. 2. imp. `Read The Fucking Standard’; this oath can only be used when the problem area (e.g., a language or operating system interface) has actually been codified in a ratified standards document. The existence of these standards documents (and the technically inappropriate but politically mandated compromises that they inevitably contain, and the impenetrable [11435]legalese in which they are invariably written, and the unbelievably tedious bureaucratic process by which they are produced) can be unnerving to hackers, who are used to a certain amount of ambiguity in the specifications of the systems they use. (Hackers feel that such ambiguities are acceptable as long as the [11436]Right Thing to do is obvious to any thinking observer; sadly, this casual attitude towards specifications becomes unworkable when a system becomes popular in the [11437]Real World.) Since a hacker is likely to feel that a standards document is both unnecessary and technically deficient, the deprecation inherent in this term may be directed as much against the standard as against the person who ought to read it.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:RTI, Next:[11438]RTM, Previous:[11439]RTFS, Up:[11440]= R =
RTI /R-T-I/ interj.
The mnemonic for the `return from interrupt’ instruction on many computers including the 6502 and 6800. The variant `RETI’ is found among former Z80 hackers (almost nobody programs these things in assembler anymore). Equivalent to “Now, where was I?” or used to end a conversational digression. See [11441]pop; see also [11442]POPJ. _________________________________________________________________
Node:RTM, Next:[11443]RTS, Previous:[11444]RTI, Up:[11445]= R =
RTM /R-T-M/
[Usenet: abbreviation for `Read The Manual’] 1. Politer variant of [11446]RTFM. 2. Robert Tappan Morris, perpetrator of the great Internet worm of 1988 (see [11447]Great Worm); villain to many, naive hacker gone wrong to a few. Morris claimed that the worm that brought the Internet to its knees was a benign experiment that got out of control as the result of a coding error. After the storm of negative publicity that followed this blunder, Morris’s username on ITS was hacked from RTM to [11448]RTFM.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:RTS, Next:[11449]rude, Previous:[11450]RTM, Up:[11451]= R =
RTS /R-T-S/ imp.
Abbreviation for `Read The Screen’. Mainly used by hackers in the microcomputer world. Refers to what one would like to tell the [11452]suit one is forced to explain an extremely simple application to. Particularly appropriate when the suit failed to notice the `Press any key to continue’ prompt, and wishes to know `why won’t it do anything’. Also seen as `RTFS’ in especially deserving cases. _________________________________________________________________
Node:rude, Next:[11453]runes, Previous:[11454]RTS, Up:[11455]= R =
rude [WPI] adj.
1. (of a program) Badly written. 2. Functionally poor, e.g., a program that is very difficult to use because of gratuitously poor (random?) design decisions. Oppose [11456]cuspy. 3. Anything that manipulates a shared resource without regard for its other users in such a way as to cause a (non-fatal) problem. Examples: programs that change tty modes without resetting them on exit, or windowing programs that keep forcing themselves to the top of the window stack. Compare [11457]all-elbows.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:runes, Next:[11458]runic, Previous:[11459]rude, Up:[11460]= R =
runes pl.n.
1. Anything that requires [11461]heavy wizardry or [11462]black art to [11463]parse: core dumps, JCL commands, APL, or code in a language you haven’t a clue how to read. Not quite as bad as [11464]line noise, but close. Compare [11465]casting the runes, [11466]Great Runes. 2. Special display characters (for example, the high-half graphics on an IBM PC). 3. [borderline techspeak] 16-bit characters from the Unicode multilingual character set.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:runic, Next:[11467]rusty iron, Previous:[11468]runes, Up:[11469]= R =
runic adj.
Syn. [11470]obscure. VMS fans sometimes refer to Unix as `Runix’; Unix fans return the compliment by expanding VMS to `Very Messy Syntax’ or `Vachement Mauvais Système’ (French idiom, “Hugely Bad System”). _________________________________________________________________
Node:rusty iron, Next:[11471]rusty memory, Previous:[11472]runic, Up:[11473]= R =
rusty iron n.
Syn. [11474]tired iron. It has been claimed that this is the inevitable fate of [11475]water MIPS.
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Node:rusty memory, Next:[11476]rusty wire, Previous:[11477]rusty iron, Up:[11478]= R =
rusty memory n.
Mass-storage that uses iron-oxide-based magnetic media (esp. tape and the pre-Winchester removable disk packs used in [11479]washing machines). Compare [11480]donuts.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:rusty wire, Next:[11481]S/N ratio, Previous:[11482]rusty memory, Up:[11483]= R =
rusty wire n.
[Amateur Packet Radio] Any very noisy network medium, in which the packets are subject to frequent corruption. Most prevalent in reference to wireless links subject to all the vagaries of RF noise and marginal propagation conditions. “Yes, but how good is your whizbang new protocol on really rusty wire?”. _________________________________________________________________
Node:= S =, Next:[11484]= T =, Previous:[11485]= R =, Up:[11486]The Jargon Lexicon
= S =
* [11487]S/N ratio:
* [11488]sacred:
* [11489]saga:
* [11490]sagan:
* [11491]SAIL:
* [11492]salescritter:
* [11493]salt:
* [11494]salt mines:
* [11495]salt substrate:
* [11496]same-day service:
* [11497]samizdat:
* [11498]samurai:
* [11499]sandbender:
* [11500]sandbox:
* [11501]sanity check:
* [11502]Saturday-night special: * [11503]say:
* [11504]scag:
* [11505]scanno:
* [11506]scary devil monastery:
* [11507]schroedinbug:
* [11508]science-fiction fandom: * [11509]scram switch:
* [11510]scratch:
* [11511]scratch monkey:
* [11512]scream and die:
* [11513]screaming tty:
* [11514]screen:
* [11515]screen name:
* [11516]screw:
* [11517]screwage:
* [11518]scribble:
* [11519]script kiddies:
* [11520]scrog:
* [11521]scrool:
* [11522]scrozzle:
* [11523]scruffies:
* [11524]SCSI:
* [11525]ScumOS:
* [11526]search-and-destroy mode: * [11527]second-system effect:
* [11528]secondary damage:
* [11529]security through obscurity: * [11530]SED:
* [11531]segfault:
* [11532]seggie:
* [11533]segment:
* [11534]segmentation fault:
* [11535]segv:
* [11536]self-reference:
* [11537]selvage:
* [11538]semi:
* [11539]semi-automated:
* [11540]semi-infinite:
* [11541]senior bit:
* [11542]September that never ended: * [11543]server:
* [11544]SEX:
* [11545]sex changer:
* [11546]shambolic link:
* [11547]shar file:
* [11548]sharchive:
* [11549]Share and enjoy!:
* [11550]shareware:
* [11551]sharing violation:
* [11552]shebang:
* [11553]shelfware:
* [11554]shell:
* [11555]shell out:
* [11556]shift left (or right) logical: * [11557]shim:
* [11558]shitogram:
* [11559]short card:
* [11560]shotgun debugging:
* [11561]shovelware:
* [11562]showstopper:
* [11563]shriek:
* [11564]Shub-Internet:
* [11565]sidecar:
* [11566]SIG:
* [11567]sig block:
* [11568]sig quote:
* [11569]sig virus:
* [11570]signal-to-noise ratio:
* [11571]silicon:
* [11572]silly walk:
* [11573]silo:
* [11574]Silver Book:
* [11575]since time T equals minus infinity: * [11576]sitename:
* [11577]skrog:
* [11578]skulker:
* [11579]slab:
* [11580]slack:
* [11581]slap on the side:
* [11582]slash:
* [11583]slashdot effect:
* [11584]sleep:
* [11585]slim:
* [11586]slop:
* [11587]slopsucker:
* [11588]Slowlaris:
* [11589]slurp:
* [11590]smart:
* [11591]smart terminal:
* [11592]smash case:
* [11593]smash the stack:
* [11594]smiley:
* [11595]smoke:
* [11596]smoke and mirrors:
* [11597]smoke test:
* [11598]smoking clover:
* [11599]smoot:
* [11600]SMOP:
* [11601]smurf:
* [11602]SNAFU principle:
* [11603]snail:
* [11604]snail-mail:
* [11605]snap:
* [11606]snarf:
* [11607]snarf & barf:
* [11608]snarf down:
* [11609]snark:
* [11610]sneaker:
* [11611]sneakernet:
* [11612]sniff:
* [11613]snivitz:
* [11614]’Snooze:
* [11615]SO:
* [11616]social engineering:
* [11617]social science number:
* [11618]sock puppet:
* [11619]sodium substrate:
* [11620]soft boot:
* [11621]softcopy:
* [11622]software bloat:
* [11623]software hoarding:
* [11624]software laser:
* [11625]software rot:
* [11626]softwarily:
* [11627]softy:
* [11628]some random X:
* [11629]sorcerer’s apprentice mode: * [11630]SOS:
* [11631]source:
* [11632]source of all good bits: * [11633]space-cadet keyboard:
* [11634]spaceship operator:
* [11635]SPACEWAR:
* [11636]spaghetti code:
* [11637]spaghetti inheritance:
* [11638]spam:
* [11639]spam bait:
* [11640]spamblock:
* [11641]spamhaus:
* [11642]spamvertize:
* [11643]spangle:
* [11644]spawn:
* [11645]special-case:
* [11646]speedometer:
* [11647]spell:
* [11648]spelling flame:
* [11649]spider:
* [11650]spider food:
* [11651]spiffy:
* [11652]spike:
* [11653]spin:
* [11654]spl:
* [11655]splash screen:
* [11656]splat:
* [11657]splat out:
* [11658]spod:
* [11659]spoiler:
* [11660]spoiler space:
* [11661]sponge:
* [11662]spoof:
* [11663]spool:
* [11664]spool file:
* [11665]spungle:
* [11666]square tape:
* [11667]squirrelcide:
* [11668]stack:
* [11669]stack puke:
* [11670]stale pointer bug:
* [11671]star out:
* [11672]state:
* [11673]stealth manager:
* [11674]steam-powered:
* [11675]STFW:
* [11676]stiffy:
* [11677]stir-fried random:
* [11678]stomp on:
* [11679]Stone Age:
* [11680]stone knives and bearskins: * [11681]stoppage:
* [11682]store:
* [11683]strided:
* [11684]stroke:
* [11685]strudel:
* [11686]stubroutine:
* [11687]studly:
* [11688]studlycaps:
* [11689]stunning:
* [11690]stupid-sort:
* [11691]Stupids:
* [11692]Sturgeon’s Law:
* [11693]sucking mud:
* [11694]sufficiently small:
* [11695]suit:
* [11696]suitable win:
* [11697]suitably small:
* [11698]Sun:
* [11699]sun lounge:
* [11700]sun-stools:
* [11701]sunspots:
* [11702]super source quench:
* [11703]superloser:
* [11704]superprogrammer:
* [11705]superuser:
* [11706]support:
* [11707]surf:
* [11708]Suzie COBOL:
* [11709]swab:
* [11710]swap:
* [11711]swap space:
* [11712]swapped in:
* [11713]swapped out:
* [11714]swizzle:
* [11715]sync:
* [11716]syntactic salt:
* [11717]syntactic sugar:
* [11718]sys-frog:
* [11719]sysadmin:
* [11720]sysape:
* [11721]sysop:
* [11722]system:
* [11723]systems jock:
* [11724]system mangler:
* [11725]SysVile:
_________________________________________________________________
Node:S/N ratio, Next:[11726]sacred, Previous:[11727]rusty wire, Up:[11728]= S =
S/N ratio // n.
(also `s/n ratio’, `s:n ratio’). Syn. [11729]signal-to-noise ratio. Often abbreviated `SNR’.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:sacred, Next:[11730]saga, Previous:[11731]S/N ratio, Up:[11732]= S =
sacred adj.
Reserved for the exclusive use of something (an extension of the standard meaning). Often means that anyone may look at the sacred object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it is sacred to. The comment “Register 7 is sacred to the interrupt handler” appearing in a program would be interpreted by a hacker to mean that if any other part of the program changes the contents of register 7, dire consequences are likely to ensue.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:saga, Next:[11733]sagan, Previous:[11734]sacred, Up:[11735]= S =
saga n.
[WPI] A cuspy but bogus raving story about N random broken people.
Here is a classic example of the saga form, as told by Guy L. Steele:
Jon L. White (login name JONL) and I (GLS) were office mates at MIT for many years. One April, we both flew from Boston to California for a week on research business, to consult face-to-face with some people at Stanford, particularly our mutual friend Richard P. Gabriel (RPG; see [11736]gabriel).
RPG picked us up at the San Francisco airport and drove us back to Palo Alto (going [11737]logical south on route 101, parallel to [11738]El Camino Bignum). Palo Alto is adjacent to Stanford University and about 40 miles south of San Francisco. We ate at The Good Earth, a `health food’ restaurant, very popular, the sort whose milkshakes all contain honey and protein powder. JONL ordered such a shake — the waitress claimed the flavor of the day was “lalaberry”. I still have no idea what that might be, but it became a running joke. It was the color of raspberry, and JONL said it tasted rather bitter. I ate a better tostada there than I have ever had in a Mexican restaurant.
After this we went to the local Uncle Gaylord’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor. They make ice cream fresh daily, in a variety of intriguing flavors. It’s a chain, and they have a slogan: “If you don’t live near an Uncle Gaylord’s — MOVE!” Also, Uncle Gaylord (a real person) wages a constant battle to force big-name ice cream makers to print their ingredients on the package (like air and plastic and other non-natural garbage). JONL and I had first discovered Uncle Gaylord’s the previous August, when we had flown to a computer-science conference in Berkeley, California, the first time either of us had been on the West Coast. When not in the conference sessions, we had spent our time wandering the length of Telegraph Avenue, which (like Harvard Square in Cambridge) was lined with picturesque street vendors and interesting little shops. On that street we discovered Uncle Gaylord’s Berkeley store. The ice cream there was very good. During that August visit JONL went absolutely bananas (so to speak) over one particular flavor, ginger honey.
Therefore, after eating at The Good Earth — indeed, after every lunch and dinner and before bed during our April visit — a trip to Uncle Gaylord’s (the one in Palo Alto) was mandatory. We had arrived on a Wednesday, and by Thursday evening we had been there at least four times. Each time, JONL would get ginger honey ice cream, and proclaim to all bystanders that “Ginger was the spice that drove the Europeans mad! That’s why they sought a route to the East! They used it to preserve their otherwise off-taste meat.” After the third or fourth repetition RPG and I were getting a little tired of this spiel, and began to paraphrase him: “Wow! Ginger! The spice that makes rotten meat taste good!” “Say! Why don’t we find some dog that’s been run over and sat in the sun for a week and put some ginger on it for dinner?!” “Right! With a lalaberry shake!” And so on. This failed to faze JONL; he took it in good humor, as long as we kept returning to Uncle Gaylord’s. He loves ginger honey ice cream.
Now RPG and his then-wife KBT (Kathy Tracy) were putting us up (putting up with us?) in their home for our visit, so to thank them JONL and I took them out to a nice French restaurant of their choosing. I unadventurously chose the filet mignon, and KBT had je ne sais quoi du jour, but RPG and JONL had lapin (rabbit). (Waitress: “Oui, we have fresh rabbit, fresh today.” RPG: “Well, JONL, I guess we won’t need any ginger!”)
We finished the meal late, about 11 P.M., which is 2 A.M Boston time, so JONL and I were rather droopy. But it wasn’t yet midnight. Off to Uncle Gaylord’s!
Now the French restaurant was in Redwood City, north of Palo Alto. In leaving Redwood City, we somehow got onto route 101 going north instead of south. JONL and I wouldn’t have known the difference had RPG not mentioned it. We still knew very little of the local geography. I did figure out, however, that we were headed in the direction of Berkeley, and half-jokingly suggested that we continue north and go to Uncle Gaylord’s in Berkeley.
RPG said “Fine!” and we drove on for a while and talked. I was drowsy, and JONL actually dropped off to sleep for 5 minutes. When he awoke, RPG said, “Gee, JONL, you must have slept all the way over the bridge!”, referring to the one spanning San Francisco Bay. Just then we came to a sign that said “University Avenue”. I mumbled something about working our way over to Telegraph Avenue; RPG said “Right!” and maneuvered some more. Eventually we pulled up in front of an Uncle Gaylord’s.
Now, I hadn’t really been paying attention because I was so sleepy, and I didn’t really understand what was happening until RPG let me in on it a few moments later, but I was just alert enough to notice that we had somehow come to the Palo Alto Uncle Gaylord’s after all.
JONL noticed the resemblance to the Palo Alto store, but hadn’t caught on. (The place is lit with red and yellow lights at night, and looks much different from the way it does in daylight.) He said, “This isn’t the Uncle Gaylord’s I went to in Berkeley! It looked like a barn! But this place looks just like the one back in Palo Alto!”
RPG deadpanned, “Well, this is the one I always come to when I’m in Berkeley. They’ve got two in San Francisco, too. Remember, they’re a chain.”
JONL accepted this bit of wisdom. And he was not totally ignorant — he knew perfectly well that University Avenue was in Berkeley, not far from Telegraph Avenue. What he didn’t know was that there is a completely different University Avenue in Palo Alto.
JONL went up to the counter and asked for ginger honey. The guy at the counter asked whether JONL would like to taste it first, evidently their standard procedure with that flavor, as not too many people like it.
JONL said, “I’m sure I like it. Just give me a cone.” The guy behind the counter insisted that JONL try just a taste first. “Some people think it tastes like soap.” JONL insisted, “Look, I love ginger. I eat Chinese food. I eat raw ginger roots. I already went through this hassle with the guy back in Palo Alto. I know I like that flavor!”
At the words “back in Palo Alto” the guy behind the counter got a very strange look on his face, but said nothing. KBT caught his eye and winked. Through my stupor I still hadn’t quite grasped what was going on, and thought RPG was rolling on the floor laughing and clutching his stomach just because JONL had launched into his spiel (“makes rotten meat a dish for princes”) for the forty-third time. At this point, RPG clued me in fully.
RPG, KBT, and I retreated to a table, trying to stifle our chuckles. JONL remained at the counter, talking about ice cream with the guy b.t.c., comparing Uncle Gaylord’s to other ice cream shops and generally having a good old time.
At length the g.b.t.c. said, “How’s the ginger honey?” JONL said, “Fine! I wonder what exactly is in it?” Now Uncle Gaylord publishes all his recipes and even teaches classes on how to make his ice cream at home. So the g.b.t.c. got out the recipe, and he and JONL pored over it for a while. But the g.b.t.c. could contain his curiosity no longer, and asked again, “You really like that stuff, huh?” JONL said, “Yeah, I’ve been eating it constantly back in Palo Alto for the past two days. In fact, I think this batch is about as good as the cones I got back in Palo Alto!”
G.b.t.c. looked him straight in the eye and said, “You’re in Palo Alto!”
JONL turned slowly around, and saw the three of us collapse in a fit of giggles. He clapped a hand to his forehead and exclaimed, “I’ve been hacked!”
[My spies on the West Coast inform me that there is a close relative of the raspberry found out there called an `ollalieberry’ –ESR]
[Ironic footnote: the [11739]meme about ginger vs. rotting meat is an urban legend. It’s not borne out by an examination of medieval recipes or period purchase records for spices, and appears full-blown in the works of Samuel Pegge, a gourmand and notorious flake case who originated numerous food myths. The truth seems to be that ginger was used to cover not rot but the extreme salt taste of meat packed in brine, which was the best method available before refrigeration. –ESR]
_________________________________________________________________
Node:sagan, Next:[11740]SAIL, Previous:[11741]saga, Up:[11742]= S =
sagan /say’gn/ n.
[from Carl Sagan’s TV series “Cosmos”; think “billions and billions”] A large quantity of anything. “There’s a sagan different ways to tweak EMACS.” “The U.S. Government spends sagans on bombs and welfare — hard to say which is more destructive.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:SAIL, Next:[11743]salescritter, Previous:[11744]sagan, Up:[11745]= S =
SAIL /sayl/, not /S-A-I-L/ n.
1. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. An important site in the early development of LISP; with the MIT AI Lab, BBN, CMU, XEROX PARC, and the Unix community, one of the major wellsprings of technical innovation and hacker-culture traditions (see the [11746]WAITS entry for details). The SAIL machines were shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks after the MIT AI Lab’s ITS cluster was officially decommissioned. 2. The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language used at SAIL (sense 1). It was an Algol-60 derivative with a coroutining facility and some new data types intended for building search trees and association lists.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:salescritter, Next:[11747]salt, Previous:[11748]SAIL, Up:[11749]= S =
salescritter /sayls’kri`tr/ n.
Pejorative hackerism for a computer salesperson. Hackers tell the following joke:
Q. What’s the difference between a used-car dealer and a computer salesman?
A. The used-car dealer knows he’s lying. [Some versions add: …and probably knows how to drive.]
This reflects the widespread hacker belief that salescritters are self-selected for stupidity (after all, if they had brains and the inclination to use them, they’d be in programming). The terms `salesthing’ and `salesdroid’ are also common. Compare [11750]marketroid, [11751]suit, [11752]droid. _________________________________________________________________
Node:salt, Next:[11753]salt mines, Previous:[11754]salescritter, Up:[11755]= S =
salt n.
A tiny bit of near-random data inserted where too much regularity would be undesirable; a data [11756]frob (sense 1). For example, the Unix crypt(3) man page mentions that “the salt string is used to perturb the DES algorithm in one of 4096 different ways.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:salt mines, Next:[11757]salt substrate, Previous:[11758]salt, Up:[11759]= S =
salt mines n.
Dense quarters housing large numbers of programmers working long hours on grungy projects, with some hope of seeing the end of the tunnel in N years. Noted for their absence of sunshine. Compare [11760]playpen, [11761]sandbox.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:salt substrate, Next:[11762]same-day service, Previous:[11763]salt mines, Up:[11764]= S =
salt substrate n.
[MIT] Collective noun used to refer to potato chips, pretzels, saltines, or any other form of snack food designed primarily as a carrier for sodium chloride. Also `sodium substrate’. From the technical term `chip substrate’, used to refer to the silicon on the top of which the active parts of integrated circuits are deposited. _________________________________________________________________
Node:same-day service, Next:[11765]samizdat, Previous:[11766]salt substrate, Up:[11767]= S =
same-day service n.
Ironic term used to describe long response time, particularly with respect to [11768]MS-DOS system calls (which ought to require only a tiny fraction of a second to execute). Such response time is a major incentive for programmers to write programs that are not [11769]well-behaved. See also [11770]PC-ism. _________________________________________________________________
Node:samizdat, Next:[11771]samurai, Previous:[11772]same-day service, Up:[11773]= S =
samizdat /sahm-iz-daht/ n.
[Russian, literally “self publishing”] The process of disseminating documentation via underground channels. Originally referred to underground duplication and distribution of banned books in the Soviet Union; now refers by obvious extension to any less-than-official promulgation of textual material, esp. rare, obsolete, or never-formally-published computer documentation. Samizdat is obviously much easier when one has access to high-bandwidth networks and high-quality laser printers. Note that samizdat is properly used only with respect to documents which contain needed information (see also [11774]hacker ethic) but which are for some reason otherwise unavailable, but not in the context of documents which are available through normal channels, for which unauthorized duplication would be unethical copyright violation. See [11775]Lions Book for a historical example.
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Node:samurai, Next:[11776]sandbender, Previous:[11777]samizdat, Up:[11778]= S =
samurai n.
A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for factions in corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases, and other parties with legitimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith. In 1991, mainstream media reported the existence of a loose-knit culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems, mostly bright teenagers with personal micros; they have modeled themselves explicitly on the historical samurai of Japan and on the “net cowboys” of William Gibson’s [11779]cyberpunk novels. Those interviewed claim to adhere to a rigid ethic of loyalty to their employers and to disdain the vandalism and theft practiced by criminal crackers as beneath them and contrary to the hacker ethic; some quote Miyamoto Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings”, a classic of historical samurai doctrine, in support of these principles. See also [11780]sneaker, [11781]Stupids, [11782]social engineering, [11783]cracker, [11784]hacker ethic, and [11785]dark-side hacker. _________________________________________________________________
Node:sandbender, Next:[11786]sandbox, Previous:[11787]samurai, Up:[11788]= S =
sandbender n.
[IBM] A person involved with silicon lithography and the physical design of chips. Compare [11789]ironmonger, [11790]polygon pusher. _________________________________________________________________
Node:sandbox, Next:[11791]sanity check, Previous:[11792]sandbender, Up:[11793]= S =
sandbox n.
1. (also `sandbox, the’) Common term for the R&D department at many software and computer companies (where hackers in commercial environments are likely to be found). Half-derisive, but reflects the truth that research is a form of creative play. Compare [11794]playpen. 2. Syn. [11795]link farm. 3. A controlled environment within which potentially dangerous programs are run. Used esp. in reference to Java implementations.
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Node:sanity check, Next:[11796]Saturday-night special, Previous:[11797]sandbox, Up:[11798]= S =
sanity check n.
[very common] 1. The act of checking a piece of code (or anything else, e.g., a Usenet posting) for completely stupid mistakes. Implies that the check is to make sure the author was sane when it was written; e.g., if a piece of scientific software relied on a particular formula and was giving unexpected results, one might first look at the nesting of parentheses or the coding of the formula, as a `sanity check’, before looking at the more complex I/O or data structure manipulation routines, much less the algorithm itself. Compare [11799]reality check. 2. A run-time test, either validating input or ensuring that the program hasn’t screwed up internally (producing an inconsistent value or state). _________________________________________________________________
Node:Saturday-night special, Next:[11800]say, Previous:[11801]sanity check, Up:[11802]= S =
Saturday-night special n.
[from police slang for a cheap handgun] A [11803]quick-and-dirty program or feature kluged together during off hours, under a deadline, and in response to pressure from a [11804]salescritter. Such hacks are dangerously unreliable, but all too often sneak into a production release after insufficient review.
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Node:say, Next:[11805]scag, Previous:[11806]Saturday-night special, Up:[11807]= S =
say vt.
1. To type to a terminal. “To list a directory verbosely, you have to say ls -l.” Tends to imply a [11808]newline-terminated command (a `sentence’). 2. A computer may also be said to `say’ things to you, even if it doesn’t have a speech synthesizer, by displaying them on a terminal in response to your commands. Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses [11809]mundanes.
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Node:scag, Next:[11810]scanno, Previous:[11811]say, Up:[11812]= S =
scag vt.
To destroy the data on a disk, either by corrupting the filesystem or by causing media damage. “That last power hit scagged the system disk.” Compare [11813]scrog, [11814]roach. _________________________________________________________________
Node:scanno, Next:[11815]scary devil monastery, Previous:[11816]scag, Up:[11817]= S =
scanno /skan’oh/ n.
An error in a document caused by a scanner glitch, analogous to a typo or [11818]thinko.
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Node:scary devil monastery, Next:[11819]schroedinbug, Previous:[11820]scanno, Up:[11821]= S =
scary devil monastery n.
Anagram frequently used to refer to the newsgroup alt.sysadmin.recovery, which is populated with characters that rather justify the reference.
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Node:schroedinbug, Next:[11822]science-fiction fandom, Previous:[11823]scary devil monastery, Up:[11824]= S =
schroedinbug /shroh’din-buhg/ n.
[MIT: from the Schroedinger’s Cat thought-experiment in quantum physics] A design or implementation bug in a program that doesn’t manifest until someone reading source or using the program in an unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point the program promptly stops working for everybody until fixed. Though (like [11825]bit rot) this sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harbored latent schroedinbugs for years. Compare [11826]heisenbug, [11827]Bohr bug, [11828]mandelbug. _________________________________________________________________
Node:science-fiction fandom, Next:[11829]scram switch, Previous:[11830]schroedinbug, Up:[11831]= S =
science-fiction fandom n.
Another voluntary subculture having a very heavy overlap with hackerdom; most hackers read SF and/or fantasy fiction avidly, and many go to `cons’ (SF conventions) or are involved in fandom-connected activities such as the Society for Creative Anachronism. Some hacker jargon originated in SF fandom; see [11832]defenestration, [11833]great-wall, [11834]cyberpunk, [11835]h, [11836]ha ha only serious, [11837]IMHO, [11838]mundane, [11839]neep-neep, [11840]Real Soon Now. Additionally, the jargon terms [11841]cowboy, [11842]cyberspace, [11843]de-rezz, [11844]go flatline, [11845]ice, [11846]phage, [11847]virus, [11848]wetware, [11849]wirehead, and [11850]worm originated in SF stories.
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Node:scram switch, Next:[11851]scratch, Previous:[11852]science-fiction fandom, Up:[11853]= S =
scram switch n.
[from the nuclear power industry] An emergency-power-off switch (see [11854]Big Red Switch), esp. one positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel. In general, this is not something you [11855]frob lightly; these often initiate expensive events (such as Halon dumps) and are installed in a [11856]dinosaur pen for use in case of electrical fire or in case some luckless [11857]field servoid should put 120 volts across himself while [11858]Easter egging. (See also [11859]molly-guard, [11860]TMRC.)
A correspondent reports a legend that “Scram” is an acronym for “Start Cutting Right Away, Man” (another less plausible variant of this legend refers to “Safety Control Rod Axe Man”; these are almost certainly both [11861]backronyms). The story goes that in the earliest nuclear power experiments the engineers recognized the possibility that the reactor wouldn’t behave exactly as predicted by their mathematical models. Accordingly, they made sure that they had mechanisms in place that would rapidly drop the control rods back into the reactor. One mechanism took the form of `scram technicians’. These individuals stood next to the ropes or cables that raised and lowered the control rods. Equipped with axes or cable-cutters, these technicians stood ready for the (literal) `scram’ command. If necessary, they would cut the cables, and gravity would expeditiously return the control rods to the reactor, thereby averting yet another kind of [11862]core dump.
Modern reactor control rods are held in place with claw-like devices, held closed by current. SCRAM switches are circuit breakers that immediately open the circuit to the rod arms, resulting in the rapid insertion and subsequent bottoming of the control rods. _________________________________________________________________
Node:scratch, Next:[11863]scratch monkey, Previous:[11864]scram switch, Up:[11865]= S =
scratch
1. [from `scratchpad’] adj. Describes a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary-use purposes; one that can be [11866]scribbled on without loss. Usually in the combining forms `scratch memory’, `scratch register’, `scratch disk’, `scratch tape’, `scratch volume’. See also [11867]scratch monkey. 2. [primarily IBM] vt. To delete (as in a file). _________________________________________________________________
Node:scratch monkey, Next:[11868]scream and die, Previous:[11869]scratch, Up:[11870]= S =
scratch monkey n.
As in “Before testing or reconfiguring, always mount a [11871]scratch monkey”, a proverb used to advise caution when dealing with irreplaceable data or devices. Used to refer to any scratch volume hooked to a computer during any risky operation as a replacement for some precious resource or data that might otherwise get trashed.
This term preserves the memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder Monkey, star of a biological research program at the University of Toronto. Mabel was not (so the legend goes) your ordinary monkey; the university had spent years teaching her how to swim, breathing through a regulator, in order to study the effects of different gas mixtures on her physiology. Mabel suffered an untimely demise one day when a [11872]DEC [11873]field circus engineer troubleshooting a crash on the program’s VAX inadvertently interfered with some custom hardware that was wired to Mabel.
It is reported that, after calming down an understandably irate customer sufficiently to ascertain the facts of the matter, a DEC troubleshooter called up the [11874]field circus manager responsible and asked him sweetly, “Can you swim?”
Not all the consequences to humans were so amusing; the sysop of the machine in question was nearly thrown in jail at the behest of certain clueless [11875]droids at the local `humane’ society. The moral is clear: When in doubt, always mount a scratch monkey.
[The actual incident occured in 1979 or 1980. There is a version of this story, complete with reported dialogue between one of the project people and DEC field service, that has been circulating on Internet since 1986. It is hilarious and mythic, but gets some facts wrong. For example, it reports the machine as a PDP-11 and alleges that Mabel’s demise occurred when DEC [11876]PMed the machine. Earlier versions of this entry were based on that story; this one has been corrected from an interview with the hapless sysop. –ESR] _________________________________________________________________
Node:scream and die, Next:[11877]screaming tty, Previous:[11878]scratch monkey, Up:[11879]= S =
scream and die v.
Syn. [11880]cough and die, but connotes that an error message was printed or displayed before the program crashed. _________________________________________________________________
Node:screaming tty, Next:[11881]screen, Previous:[11882]scream and die, Up:[11883]= S =
screaming tty n.
[Unix] A terminal line which spews an infinite number of random characters at the operating system. This can happen if the terminal is either disconnected or connected to a powered-off terminal but still enabled for login; misconfiguration, misimplementation, or simple bad luck can start such a terminal screaming. A screaming tty or two can seriously degrade the performance of a vanilla Unix system; the arriving “characters” are treated as userid/password pairs and tested as such. The Unix password encryption algorithm is designed to be computationally intensive in order to foil brute-force crack attacks, so although none of the logins succeeds; the overhead of rejecting them all can be substantial.
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Node:screen, Next:[11884]screen name, Previous:[11885]screaming tty, Up:[11886]= S =
screen n.
[Atari ST [11887]demoscene] One [11888]demoeffect or one screenful of them. Probably comes from old Sierra-style adventures or shoot-em-ups where one travels from one place to another one screenful at a time. _________________________________________________________________
Node:screen name, Next:[11889]screw, Previous:[11890]screen, Up:[11891]= S =
screen name n.
A [11892]handle sense 1. This term has been common among users of IRC, MUDs, and commercial on-line services since the mid-1990s. Hackers recognize the term but don’t generally use it. _________________________________________________________________
Node:screw, Next:[11893]screwage, Previous:[11894]screen name, Up:[11895]= S =
screw n.
[MIT] A [11896]lose, usually in software. Especially used for user-visible misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature. This use has become quite widespread outside MIT.
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Node:screwage, Next:[11897]scribble, Previous:[11898]screw, Up:[11899]= S =
screwage /skroo’*j/ n.
Like [11900]lossage but connotes that the failure is due to a designed-in misfeature rather than a simple inadequacy or a mere bug. _________________________________________________________________
Node:scribble, Next:[11901]script kiddies, Previous:[11902]screwage, Up:[11903]= S =
scribble n.
To modify a data structure in a random and unintentionally destructive way. “Bletch! Somebody’s disk-compactor program went berserk and scribbled on the i-node table.” “It was working fine until one of the allocation routines scribbled on low core.” Synonymous with [11904]trash; compare [11905]mung, which conveys a bit more intention, and [11906]mangle, which is more violent and final. _________________________________________________________________
Node:script kiddies, Next:[11907]scrog, Previous:[11908]scribble, Up:[11909]= S =
script kiddies pl.n.
1. The lowest form of [11910]cracker; script kiddies do mischief with scripts and programs written by others, often without understanding the [11911]exploit. 2. People who cannot program, but who create tacky HTML pages by copying JavaScript routines from other tacky HTML pages. More generally, a script kiddie writes (or more likely cuts and pastes) code without either having or desiring to have a mental model of what the code does; someone who thinks of code as magical incantations and asks only “what do I need to type to make this happen?”
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Node:scrog, Next:[11912]scrool, Previous:[11913]script kiddies, Up:[11914]= S =
scrog /skrog/ vt.
[Bell Labs] To damage, trash, or corrupt a data structure. “The list header got scrogged.” Also reported as `skrog’, and ascribed to the comic strip “The Wizard of Id”. Compare [11915]scag; possibly the two are related. Equivalent to [11916]scribble or [11917]mangle. _________________________________________________________________
Node:scrool, Next:[11918]scrozzle, Previous:[11919]scrog, Up:[11920]= S =
scrool /skrool/ n.
[from the pioneering Roundtable chat system in Houston ca. 1984; prob. originated as a typo for `scroll’] The log of old messages, available for later perusal or to help one get back in synch with the conversation. It was originally called the `scrool monster’, because an early version of the roundtable software had a bug where it would dump all 8K of scrool on a user’s terminal. _________________________________________________________________
Node:scrozzle, Next:[11921]scruffies, Previous:[11922]scrool, Up:[11923]= S =
scrozzle /skroz’l/ vt.
Used when a self-modifying code segment runs incorrectly and corrupts the running program or vital data. “The damn compiler scrozzled itself again!”
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Node:scruffies, Next:[11924]SCSI, Previous:[11925]scrozzle, Up:[11926]= S =
scruffies n.
See [11927]neats vs. scruffies.
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Node:SCSI, Next:[11928]ScumOS, Previous:[11929]scruffies, Up:[11930]= S =
SCSI n.
[Small Computer System Interface] A bus-independent standard for system-level interfacing between a computer and intelligent devices. Typically annotated in literature with `sexy’ (/sek’see/), `sissy’ (/sis’ee/), and `scuzzy’ (/skuh’zee/) as pronunciation guides — the last being the overwhelmingly predominant form, much to the dismay of the designers and their marketing people. One can usually assume that a person who pronounces it /S-C-S-I/ is clueless. _________________________________________________________________
Node:ScumOS, Next:[11931]search-and-destroy mode, Previous:[11932]SCSI, Up:[11933]= S =
ScumOS /skuhm’os/ or /skuhm’O-S/ n.
Unflattering hackerism for SunOS, the BSD Unix variant supported on Sun Microsystems’s Unix workstations (see also [11934]sun-stools), and compare [11935]AIDX, [11936]Macintrash, [11937]Nominal Semidestructor, [11938]HP-SUX. Despite what this term might suggest, Sun was founded by hackers and still enjoys excellent relations with hackerdom; usage is more often in exasperation than outright loathing. _________________________________________________________________
Node:search-and-destroy mode, Next:[11939]second-system effect, Previous:[11940]ScumOS, Up:[11941]= S =
search-and-destroy mode n.
Hackerism for a noninteractive search-and-replace facility in an editor, so called because an incautiously chosen match pattern can cause [11942]infinite damage.
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Node:second-system effect, Next:[11943]secondary damage, Previous:[11944]search-and-destroy mode, Up:[11945]= S =
second-system effect n.
(sometimes, more euphoniously, `second-system syndrome’) When one is designing the successor to a relatively small, elegant, and successful system, there is a tendency to become grandiose in one’s success and design an [11946]elephantine feature-laden monstrosity. The term was first used by Fred Brooks in his classic “The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering” (Addison-Wesley, 1975; ISBN 0-201-00650-2). It described the jump from a set of nice, simple operating systems on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series. A similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see [11947]Brooks’s Law, [11948]creeping elegance, [11949]creeping featurism. See also [11950]Multics, [11951]OS/2, [11952]X, [11953]software bloat.
This version of the jargon lexicon has been described (with altogether too much truth for comfort) as an example of second-system effect run amok on jargon-1….
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Node:secondary damage, Next:[11954]security through obscurity, Previous:[11955]second-system effect, Up:[11956]= S =
secondary damage n.
When a fatal error occurs (esp. a [11957]segfault) the immediate cause may be that a pointer has been trashed due to a previous [11958]fandango on core. However, this fandango may have been due to an earlier fandango, so no amount of analysis will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred. “The data structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage.”
By extension, the corruption resulting from N cascaded fandangoes on core is `Nth-level damage’. There is at least one case on record in which 17 hours of [11959]grovelling with adb actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of seventh-level damage! The hacker who accomplished this near-superhuman feat was presented with an award by his fellows.
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Node:security through obscurity, Next:[11960]SED, Previous:[11961]secondary damage, Up:[11962]= S =
security through obscurity
(alt. `security by obscurity’) A term applied by hackers to most OS vendors’ favorite way of coping with security holes — namely, ignoring them, documenting neither any known holes nor the underlying security algorithms, trusting that nobody will find out about them and that people who do find out about them won’t exploit them. This “strategy” never works for long and occasionally sets the world up for debacles like the [11963]RTM worm of 1988 (see [11964]Great Worm), but once the brief moments of panic created by such events subside most vendors are all too willing to turn over and go back to sleep. After all, actually fixing the bugs would siphon off the resources needed to implement the next user-interface frill on marketing’s wish list — and besides, if they started fixing security bugs customers might begin to expect it and imagine that their warranties of merchantability gave them some sort of right to a system with fewer holes in it than a shotgunned Swiss cheese, and then where would we be?
Historical note: There are conflicting stories about the origin of this term. It has been claimed that it was first used in the Usenet newsgroup in comp.sys.apollo during a campaign to get HP/Apollo to fix security problems in its Unix-[11965]clone Aegis/DomainOS (they didn’t change a thing). [11966]ITS fans, on the other hand, say it was coined years earlier in opposition to the incredibly paranoid [11967]Multics people down the hall, for whom security was everything. In the ITS culture it referred to (1) the fact that by the time a tourist figured out how to make trouble he’d generally gotten over the urge to make it, because he felt part of the community; and (2) (self-mockingly) the poor coverage of the documentation and obscurity of many commands. One instance of deliberate security through obscurity is recorded; the command to allow patching the running ITS system (escape escape control-R) echoed as $$^D. If you actually typed alt alt ^D, that set a flag that would prevent patching the system even if you later got it right.
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Node:SED, Next:[11968]segfault, Previous:[11969]security through obscurity, Up:[11970]= S =
SED /S-E-D/ n.
[TMRC, from `Light-Emitting Diode’] Smoke-emitting diode. A [11971]friode that lost the war. See also [11972]LER. _________________________________________________________________
Node:segfault, Next:[11973]seggie, Previous:[11974]SED, Up:[11975]= S =
segfault n.,vi.
Syn. [11976]segment, [11977]segmentation fault. _________________________________________________________________
Node:seggie, Next:[11978]segment, Previous:[11979]segfault, Up:[11980]= S =
seggie /seg’ee/ n.
[Unix] Shorthand for [11981]segmentation fault reported from Britain. _________________________________________________________________
Node:segment, Next:[11982]segmentation fault, Previous:[11983]seggie, Up:[11984]= S =
segment /seg’ment/ vi.
To experience a [11985]segmentation fault. Confusingly, this is often pronounced more like the noun `segment’ than like mainstream v.