The New Hacker’s Dictionary version 4.2.2 (page 5)

cd tilde /C-D til-d*/ vi.

To go home. From the Unix C-shell and Korn-shell command cd ~, which takes one to one’s $HOME (cd with no arguments happens to do the same thing). By extension, may be used with other arguments; thus, over an electronic chat link, cd ~coffee would mean “I’m going to the coffee machine.”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:CDA, Next:[2515]cdr, Previous:[2516]cd tilde, Up:[2517]= C =
CDA /C-D-A/

The “Communications Decency Act” of 1996, passed on [2518]Black Thursday as section 502 of a major telecommunications reform bill. The CDA made it a federal crime in the USA to send a communication which is “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent, with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass another person.” It also threatened with imprisonment anyone who “knowingly” makes accessible to minors any message that “describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs”.

While the CDA was sold as a measure to protect minors from the putative evils of pornography, the repressive political aims of the bill were laid bare by the Hyde amendment, which intended to outlaw discussion of abortion on the Internet.
To say that this direct attack on First Amendment free-speech rights was not well received on the Internet would be putting it mildly. A firestorm of protest followed, including a February 29th mass demonstration by thousands of netters who turned their [2519]home pages black for 48 hours. Several civil-rights groups and computing/telecommunications companies mounted a constitutional challenge. The CDA was demolished by a strongly-worded decision handed down on in 8th-circuit Federal court and subsequently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court on 26 June 1997 (`White Thursday’). See also [2520]Exon.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cdr, Next:[2521]chad, Previous:[2522]CDA, Up:[2523]= C =
cdr /ku’dr/ or /kuh’dr/ vt.

[from LISP] To skip past the first item from a list of things (generalized from the LISP operation on binary tree structures, which returns a list consisting of all but the first element of its argument). In the form `cdr down’, to trace down a list of elements: “Shall we cdr down the agenda?” Usage: silly. See also [2524]loop through.

Historical note: The instruction format of the IBM 704 that hosted the original LISP implementation featured two 15-bit fields called the `address’ and `decrement’ parts. The term `cdr’ was originally `Contents of Decrement part of Register’. Similarly, `car’ stood for `Contents of Address part of Register’.
The cdr and car operations have since become bases for formation of compound metaphors in non-LISP contexts. GLS recalls, for example, a programming project in which strings were represented as linked lists; the get-character and skip-character operations were of course called CHAR and CHDR.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chad, Next:[2525]chad box, Previous:[2526]cdr, Up:[2527]= C =
chad /chad/ n.

1. [common] The perforated edge strips on printer paper, after they have been separated from the printed portion. Also called [2528]selvage, [2529]perf, and [2530]ripoff. 2. obs. The confetti-like paper bits punched out of cards or paper tape; this has also been called `chaff’, `computer confetti’, and `keypunch droppings’. It’s reported that this was very old Army slang, and it may now be mainstream; it has been reported seen (1993) in directions for a card-based voting machine in California.
Historical note: One correspondent believes `chad’ (sense 2) derives from the Chadless keypunch (named for its inventor), which cut little u-shaped tabs in the card to make a hole when the tab folded back, rather than punching out a circle/rectangle; it was clear that if the Chadless keypunch didn’t make them, then the stuff that other keypunches made had to be `chad’. There is a legend that the word was originally acronymic, standing for “Card Hole Aggregate Debris”, but this has all the earmarks of a [2531]backronym. _________________________________________________________________
Node:chad box, Next:[2532]chain, Previous:[2533]chad, Up:[2534]= C =
chad box n.

A metal box about the size of a lunchbox (or in some models a large wastebasket), for collecting the [2535]chad (sense 2) that accumulated in [2536]Iron Age card punches. You had to open the covers of the card punch periodically and empty the chad box. The [2537]bit bucket was notionally the equivalent device in the CPU enclosure, which was typically across the room in another great gray-and-blue box. _________________________________________________________________
Node:chain, Next:[2538]channel, Previous:[2539]chad box, Up:[2540]= C =

chain

1. vi. [orig. from BASIC’s CHAIN statement] To hand off execution to a child or successor without going through the [2541]OS command interpreter that invoked it. The state of the parent program is lost and there is no returning to it. Though this facility used to be common on memory-limited micros and is still widely supported for backward compatibility, the jargon usage is semi-obsolescent; in particular, most Unix programmers will think of this as an [2542]exec. Oppose the more modern `subshell’. 2. n. A series of linked data areas within an operating system or application. `Chain rattling’ is the process of repeatedly running through the linked data areas searching for one which is of interest to the executing program. The implication is that there is a very large number of links on the chain. _________________________________________________________________
Node:channel, Next:[2543]channel hopping, Previous:[2544]chain, Up:[2545]= C =

channel n.

[IRC] The basic unit of discussion on [2546]IRC. Once one joins a channel, everything one types is read by others on that channel. Channels are named with strings that begin with a `#’ sign and can have topic descriptions (which are generally irrelevant to the actual subject of discussion). Some notable channels are #initgame, #hottub, callahans, and #report. At times of international crisis, #report has hundreds of members, some of whom take turns listening to various news services and typing in summaries of the news, or in some cases, giving first-hand accounts of the action (e.g., Scud missile attacks in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War in 1991).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:channel hopping, Next:[2547]channel op, Previous:[2548]channel, Up:[2549]= C =

channel hopping n.

[common; IRC, GEnie] To rapidly switch channels on [2550]IRC, or a GEnie chat board, just as a social butterfly might hop from one group to another at a party. This term may derive from the TV watcher’s idiom, `channel surfing’.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:channel op, Next:[2551]chanop, Previous:[2552]channel hopping, Up:[2553]= C =

channel op /chan’l op/ n.

[IRC] Someone who is endowed with privileges on a particular [2554]IRC channel; commonly abbreviated `chanop’ or `CHOP’ or just `op’ (as of 2000 these short forms have almost crowded out the parent usage). These privileges include the right to [2555]kick users, to change various status bits, and to make others into CHOPs. _________________________________________________________________
Node:chanop, Next:[2556]char, Previous:[2557]channel op, Up:[2558]= C =

chanop /chan’-op/ n.

[IRC] See [2559]channel op.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:char, Next:[2560]charityware, Previous:[2561]chanop, Up:[2562]= C =

char /keir/ or /char/; rarely, /kar/ n.
Shorthand for `character’. Esp. used by C programmers, as `char’ is C’s typename for character data.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:charityware, Next:[2563]chase pointers, Previous:[2564]char, Up:[2565]= C =

charityware /cha’rit-ee-weir`/ n.
Syn. [2566]careware.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chase pointers, Next:[2567]chawmp, Previous:[2568]charityware, Up:[2569]= C =

chase pointers

1. vi. To go through multiple levels of indirection, as in traversing a linked list or graph structure. Used esp. by programmers in C, where explicit pointers are a very common data type. This is techspeak, but it remains jargon when used of human networks. “I’m chasing pointers. Bob said you could tell me who to talk to about….” See [2570]dangling pointer and [2571]snap. 2. [Cambridge] `pointer chase’ or `pointer hunt’: The process of going through a [2572]core dump (sense 1), interactively or on a large piece of paper printed with hex [2573]runes, following dynamic data-structures. Used only in a debugging context.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chawmp, Next:[2574]check, Previous:[2575]chase pointers, Up:[2576]= C =

chawmp n.

[University of Florida] 16 or 18 bits (half of a machine word). This term was used by FORTH hackers during the late 1970s/early 1980s; it is said to have been archaic then, and may now be obsolete. It was coined in revolt against the promiscuous use of `word’ for anything between 16 and 32 bits; `word’ has an additional special meaning for FORTH hacks that made the overloading intolerable. For similar reasons, /gaw’bl/ (spelled `gawble’ or possibly `gawbul’) was in use as a term for 32 or 48 bits (presumably a full machine word, but our sources are unclear on this). These terms are more easily understood if one thinks of them as faithful phonetic spellings of `chomp’ and `gobble’ pronounced in a Florida or other Southern U.S. dialect. For general discussion of similar terms, see [2577]nybble. _________________________________________________________________
Node:check, Next:[2578]cheerfully, Previous:[2579]chawmp, Up:[2580]= C =

check n.

A hardware-detected error condition, most commonly used to refer to actual hardware failures rather than software-induced traps. E.g., a `parity check’ is the result of a hardware-detected parity error. Recorded here because the word often humorously extended to non-technical problems. For example, the term `child check’ has been used to refer to the problems caused by a small child who is curious to know what happens when s/he presses all the cute buttons on a computer’s console (of course, this particular problem could have been prevented with [2581]molly-guards).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cheerfully, Next:[2582]chemist, Previous:[2583]check, Up:[2584]= C =

cheerfully adv.

See [2585]happily.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chemist, Next:[2586]Chernobyl chicken, Previous:[2587]cheerfully, Up:[2588]= C =

chemist n.

[Cambridge] Someone who wastes computer time on [2589]number-crunching when you’d far rather the machine were doing something more productive, such as working out anagrams of your name or printing Snoopy calendars or running [2590]life patterns. May or may not refer to someone who actually studies chemistry. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Chernobyl chicken, Next:[2591]Chernobyl packet, Previous:[2592]chemist, Up:[2593]= C =
Chernobyl chicken n.

See [2594]laser chicken.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Chernobyl packet, Next:[2595]chicken head, Previous:[2596]Chernobyl chicken, Up:[2597]= C =
Chernobyl packet /cher-noh’b*l pak’*t/ n.
A network packet that induces a [2598]broadcast storm and/or [2599]network meltdown, in memory of the April 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The typical scenario involves an IP Ethernet datagram that passes through a gateway with both source and destination Ether and IP address set as the respective broadcast addresses for the subnetworks being gated between. Compare [2600]Christmas tree packet.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chicken head, Next:[2601]chiclet keyboard, Previous:[2602]Chernobyl packet, Up:[2603]= C =
chicken head n.

[Commodore] The Commodore Business Machines logo, which strongly resembles a poultry part (within Commodore itself the logo was always called `chicken lips’). Rendered in ASCII as `C=’. With the arguable exception of the Amiga (see [2604]amoeba), Commodore’s machines were notoriously crocky little [2605]bitty boxes (see also [2606]PETSCII), albeit people have written multitasking Unix-like operating systems with TCP/IP networking for them. Thus, this usage may owe something to Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” (the basis for the movie “Blade Runner”; the novel is now sold under that title), in which a `chickenhead’ is a mutant with below-average intelligence.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chiclet keyboard, Next:[2607]Chinese Army technique, Previous:[2608]chicken head, Up:[2609]= C =
chiclet keyboard n.

A keyboard with a small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like pieces of chewing gum. (Chiclets is the brand name of a variety of chewing gum that does in fact resemble the keys of chiclet keyboards.) Used esp. to describe the original IBM PCjr keyboard. Vendors unanimously liked these because they were cheap, and a lot of early portable and laptop products got launched using them. Customers rejected the idea with almost equal unanimity, and chiclets are not often seen on anything larger than a digital watch any more.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Chinese Army technique, Next:[2610]choad, Previous:[2611]chiclet keyboard, Up:[2612]= C =

Chinese Army technique n.

Syn. [2613]Mongolian Hordes technique. _________________________________________________________________
Node:choad, Next:[2614]choke, Previous:[2615]Chinese Army technique, Up:[2616]= C =

choad /chohd/ n.

Synonym for `penis’ used in alt.tasteless and popularized by the denizens thereof. They say: “We think maybe it’s from Middle English but we’re all too damned lazy to check the OED.” [I’m not. It isn’t. –ESR] This term is alleged to have been inherited through 1960s underground comics, and to have been recently sighted in the Beavis and Butthead cartoons. Speakers of the Hindi, Bengali and Gujarati languages have confirmed that `choad’ is in fact an Indian vernacular word equivalent to `fuck’; it is therefore likely to have entered English slang via the British Raj.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:choke, Next:[2617]chomp, Previous:[2618]choad, Up:[2619]= C =
choke v.

1. [common] To reject input, often ungracefully. “NULs make System V’s lpr(1) choke.” “I tried building an [2620]EMACS binary to use [2621]X, but cpp(1) choked on all those #defines.” See [2622]barf, [2623]gag, [2624]vi. 2. [MIT] More generally, to fail at any endeavor, but with some flair or bravado; the popular definition is “to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chomp, Next:[2625]chomper, Previous:[2626]choke, Up:[2627]= C =
chomp vi.

1. To [2628]lose; specifically, to chew on something of which more was bitten off than one can. Probably related to gnashing of teeth. 2. To bite the bag; See [2629]bagbiter.

A hand gesture commonly accompanies this. To perform it, hold the four fingers together and place the thumb against their tips. Now open and close your hand rapidly to suggest a biting action (much like what Pac-Man does in the classic video game, though this pantomime seems to predate that). The gesture alone means `chomp chomp’ (see “[2630]Verb Doubling” in the “[2631]Jargon Construction” section of the Prependices). The hand may be pointed at the object of complaint, and for real emphasis you can use both hands at once. Doing this to a person is equivalent to saying “You chomper!” If you point the gesture at yourself, it is a humble but humorous admission of some failure. You might do this if someone told you that a program you had written had failed in some surprising way and you felt dumb for not having anticipated it.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chomper, Next:[2632]CHOP, Previous:[2633]chomp, Up:[2634]= C =
chomper n.

Someone or something that is chomping; a loser. See [2635]loser, [2636]bagbiter, [2637]chomp.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:CHOP, Next:[2638]Christmas tree, Previous:[2639]chomper, Up:[2640]= C =

CHOP /chop/ n.

[IRC] See [2641]channel op.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Christmas tree, Next:[2642]Christmas tree packet, Previous:[2643]CHOP, Up:[2644]= C =

Christmas tree n.

A kind of RS-232 line tester or breakout box featuring rows of blinking red and green LEDs suggestive of Christmas lights. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Christmas tree packet, Next:[2645]chrome, Previous:[2646]Christmas tree, Up:[2647]= C =
Christmas tree packet n.

A packet with every single option set for whatever protocol is in use. See [2648]kamikaze packet, [2649]Chernobyl packet. (The term doubtless derives from a fanciful image of each little option bit being represented by a different-colored light bulb, all turned on.) Compare [2650]Godzillagram.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:chrome, Next:[2651]chug, Previous:[2652]Christmas tree packet, Up:[2653]= C =

chrome n.

[from automotive slang via wargaming] Showy features added to attract users but contributing little or nothing to the power of a system. “The 3D icons in Motif are just chrome, but they certainly are pretty chrome!” Distinguished from [2654]bells and whistles by the fact that the latter are usually added to gratify developers’ own desires for featurefulness. Often used as a term of contempt. _________________________________________________________________
Node:chug, Next:[2655]Church of the SubGenius, Previous:[2656]chrome, Up:[2657]= C =

chug vi.

To run slowly; to [2658]grind or [2659]grovel. “The disk is chugging like crazy.”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Church of the SubGenius, Next:[2660]Cinderella Book, Previous:[2661]chug, Up:[2662]= C =

Church of the SubGenius n.

A mutant offshoot of [2663]Discordianism launched in 1981 as a spoof of fundamentalist Christianity by the `Reverend’ Ivan Stang, a brilliant satirist with a gift for promotion. Popular among hackers as a rich source of bizarre imagery and references such as “Bob” the divine drilling-equipment salesman, the Benevolent Space Xists, and the Stark Fist of Removal. Much SubGenius theory is concerned with the acquisition of the mystical substance or quality of [2664]slack. There is a home page at [2665]http://www.subgenius.com/. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Cinderella Book, Next:[2666]CI$, Previous:[2667]Church of the SubGenius, Up:[2668]= C =

Cinderella Book [CMU] n.

“Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation”, by John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman, (Addison-Wesley, 1979). So called because the cover depicts a girl (putatively Cinderella) sitting in front of a Rube Goldberg device and holding a rope coming out of it. On the back cover, the device is in shambles after she has (inevitably) pulled on the rope. See also [2669]book titles.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:CI$, Next:[2670]Classic C, Previous:[2671]Cinderella Book, Up:[2672]= C =

CI$ // n.

Hackerism for `CIS’, CompuServe Information Service. The dollar sign refers to CompuServe’s rather steep line charges. Often used in [2673]sig blocks just before a CompuServe address. Syn. [2674]Compu$erve.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Classic C, Next:[2675]clean, Previous:[2676]CI$, Up:[2677]= C =
Classic C /klas’ik C/ n.

[a play on `Coke Classic’] The C programming language as defined in the first edition of [2678]K&R, with some small additions. It is also known as `K&R C’. The name came into use while C was being standardized by the ANSI X3J11 committee. Also `C Classic’.
An analogous construction is sometimes applied elsewhere: thus, `X Classic’, where X = Star Trek (referring to the original TV series) or X = PC (referring to IBM’s ISA-bus machines as opposed to the PS/2 series). This construction is especially used of product series in which the newer versions are considered serious losers relative to the older ones.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:clean, Next:[2679]CLM, Previous:[2680]Classic C, Up:[2681]= C =
clean 1. adj.

Used of hardware or software designs, implies `elegance in the small’, that is, a design or implementation that may not hold any surprises but does things in a way that is reasonably intuitive and relatively easy to comprehend from the outside. The antonym is `grungy’ or [2682]crufty. 2. v. To remove unneeded or undesired files in a effort to reduce clutter: “I’m cleaning up my account.” “I cleaned up the garbage and now have 100 Meg free on that partition.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:CLM, Next:[2683]clobber, Previous:[2684]clean, Up:[2685]= C =
CLM /C-L-M/

[Sun: `Career Limiting Move’] 1. n. An action endangering one’s future prospects of getting plum projects and raises, and possibly one’s job: “His Halloween costume was a parody of his manager. He won the prize for `best CLM’.” 2. adj. Denotes extreme severity of a bug, discovered by a customer and obviously missed earlier because of poor testing: “That’s a CLM bug!”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:clobber, Next:[2686]clock, Previous:[2687]CLM, Up:[2688]= C =
clobber vt.

To overwrite, usually unintentionally: “I walked off the end of the array and clobbered the stack.” Compare [2689]mung, [2690]scribble, [2691]trash, and [2692]smash the stack. _________________________________________________________________
Node:clock, Next:[2693]clocks, Previous:[2694]clobber, Up:[2695]= C =
clock

1. n 1. [techspeak] The master oscillator that steps a CPU or other digital circuit through its paces. This has nothing to do with the time of day, although the software counter that keeps track of the latter may be derived from the former. 2. vt. To run a CPU or other digital circuit at a particular rate. “If you clock it at 100MHz, it gets warm.”. See [2696]overclock. 3. vt. To force a digital circuit from one state to the next by applying a single clock pulse. “The data must be stable 10ns before you clock the latch.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:clocks, Next:[2697]clone, Previous:[2698]clock, Up:[2699]= C =
clocks n.

Processor logic cycles, so called because each generally corresponds to one clock pulse in the processor’s timing. The relative execution times of instructions on a machine are usually discussed in clocks rather than absolute fractions of a second; one good reason for this is that clock speeds for various models of the machine may increase as technology improves, and it is usually the relative times one is interested in when discussing the instruction set. Compare [2700]cycle, [2701]jiffy.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:clone, Next:[2702]clone-and-hack coding, Previous:[2703]clocks, Up:[2704]= C =

clone n.

1. An exact duplicate: “Our product is a clone of their product.” Implies a legal reimplementation from documentation or by reverse-engineering. Also connotes lower price. 2. A shoddy, spurious copy: “Their product is a clone of our product.” 3. A blatant ripoff, most likely violating copyright, patent, or trade secret protections: “Your product is a clone of my product.” This use implies legal action is pending. 4. `PC clone:’ a PC-BUS/ISA or EISA-compatible 80×86-based microcomputer (this use is sometimes spelled `klone’ or `PClone’). These invariably have much more bang for the buck than the IBM archetypes they resemble. 5. In the construction `Unix clone’: An OS designed to deliver a Unix-lookalike environment without Unix license fees, or with additional `mission-critical’ features such as support for real-time programming. 6. v. To make an exact copy of something. “Let me clone that” might mean “I want to borrow that paper so I can make a photocopy” or “Let me get a copy of that file before you [2705]mung it”.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:clone-and-hack coding, Next:[2706]clover key, Previous:[2707]clone, Up:[2708]= C =

clone-and-hack coding n.

[DEC] Syn. [2709]case and paste.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:clover key, Next:[2710]clue-by-four, Previous:[2711]clone-and-hack coding, Up:[2712]= C =
clover key n.

[Mac users] See [2713]feature key. _________________________________________________________________
Node:clue-by-four, Next:[2714]clustergeeking, Previous:[2715]clover key, Up:[2716]= C =

clue-by-four

[Usenet: portmanteau, clue + two-by-four] The notional stick with which one whacks an aggressively clueless person. This term derives from a western American folk saying about training a mule “First, you got to hit him with a two-by-four. That’s to get his attention.” The clue-by-four is a close relative of the [2717]LART. Syn. `clue stick’. This metaphor is commonly elaborated; your editor once heard a hacker say “I strike you with the great sword Clue-Bringer!” _________________________________________________________________
Node:clustergeeking, Next:[2718]co-lo, Previous:[2719]clue-by-four, Up:[2720]= C =

clustergeeking /kluh’st*r-gee`king/ n.
[CMU] Spending more time at a computer cluster doing CS homework than most people spend breathing.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:co-lo, Next:[2721]coaster, Previous:[2722]clustergeeking, Up:[2723]= C =

co-lo /koh’loh`/ n.

[very common; first heard c.1995] Short for `co-location’, used of a machine you own that is physically sited on the premises of an ISP in order to take advantage of the ISP’s direct access to lots of network bandwidthm. Often in the phrases `co-lo box’ or `co-lo machines’. Co-lo boxes are typically web and FTP servers remote-administered by their owners, who may seldom or never visit the actual site. _________________________________________________________________
Node:coaster, Next:[2724]COBOL, Previous:[2725]co-lo, Up:[2726]= C =
coaster n.

1. Unuseable CD produced during failed attempt at writing to writeable or re-writeable CD media. Certainly related to the coaster-like shape of a CD, and the relative value of these failures. “I made a lot of coasters before I got a good CD.” 2. Useless CDs received in the mail from the likes of AOL, MSN, CI$, Prodigy, ad nauseam.
In the U.K., `beermat’ is often used in these senses. _________________________________________________________________
Node:COBOL, Next:[2727]COBOL fingers, Previous:[2728]coaster, Up:[2729]= C =

COBOL /koh’bol/ n.

[COmmon Business-Oriented Language] (Synonymous with [2730]evil.) A weak, verbose, and flabby language used by [2731]card wallopers to do boring mindless things on [2732]dinosaur mainframes. Hackers believe that all COBOL programmers are [2733]suits or [2734]code grinders, and no self-respecting hacker will ever admit to having learned the language. Its very name is seldom uttered without ritual expressions of disgust or horror. One popular one is Edsger W. Dijkstra’s famous observation that “The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.” (from “Selected Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective”) See also [2735]fear and loathing, [2736]software rot.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:COBOL fingers, Next:[2737]cobweb site, Previous:[2738]COBOL, Up:[2739]= C =

COBOL fingers /koh’bol fing’grz/ n.
Reported from Sweden, a (hypothetical) disease one might get from coding in COBOL. The language requires code verbose beyond all reason (see [2740]candygrammar); thus it is alleged that programming too much in COBOL causes one’s fingers to wear down to stubs by the endless typing. “I refuse to type in all that source code again; it would give me COBOL fingers!”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cobweb site, Next:[2741]code, Previous:[2742]COBOL fingers, Up:[2743]= C =

cobweb site n.

A World Wide Web Site that hasn’t been updated so long it has figuratively grown cobwebs.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:code, Next:[2744]code grinder, Previous:[2745]cobweb site, Up:[2746]= C =

code n.

The stuff that software writers write, either in source form or after translation by a compiler or assembler. Often used in opposition to “data”, which is the stuff that code operates on. This is a mass noun, as in “How much code does it take to do a [2747]bubble sort?”, or “The code is loaded at the high end of RAM.” Anyone referring to software as “the software codes” is probably a [2748]newbie or a [2749]suit. _________________________________________________________________
Node:code grinder, Next:[2750]code monkey, Previous:[2751]code, Up:[2752]= C =

code grinder n.

1. A [2753]suit-wearing minion of the sort hired in legion strength by banks and insurance companies to implement payroll packages in RPG and other such unspeakable horrors. In its native habitat, the code grinder often removes the suit jacket to reveal an underplumage consisting of button-down shirt (starch optional) and a tie. In times of dire stress, the sleeves (if long) may be rolled up and the tie loosened about half an inch. It seldom helps. The [2754]code grinder’s milieu is about as far from hackerdom as one can get and still touch a computer; the term connotes pity. See [2755]Real World, [2756]suit. 2. Used of or to a hacker, a really serious slur on the person’s creative ability; connotes a design style characterized by primitive technique, rule-boundedness, [2757]brute force, and utter lack of imagination. Compare [2758]card walloper; contrast [2759]hacker, [2760]Real Programmer.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:code monkey, Next:[2761]Code of the Geeks, Previous:[2762]code grinder, Up:[2763]= C =

code monkey n

1. A person only capable of grinding out code, but unable to perform the higher-primate tasks of software architecture, analysis, and design. Mildly insulting. Often applied to the most junior people on a programming team. 2. Anyone who writes code for a living; a programmer. 3. A self-deprecating way of denying responsibility for a [2764]management decision, or of complaining about having to live with such decisions. As in “Don’t ask me why we need to write a compiler in+COBOL, I’m just a code monkey.”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Code of the Geeks, Next:[2765]code police, Previous:[2766]code monkey, Up:[2767]= C =

Code of the Geeks n.

see [2768]geek code.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:code police, Next:[2769]codes, Previous:[2770]Code of the Geeks, Up:[2771]= C =

code police n.

[by analogy with George Orwell’s `thought police’] A mythical team of Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst into one’s office and arrest one for violating programming style rules. May be used either seriously, to underline a claim that a particular style violation is dangerous, or ironically, to suggest that the practice under discussion is condemned mainly by anal-retentive [2772]weenies. “Dike out that goto or the code police will get you!” The ironic usage is perhaps more common.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:codes, Next:[2773]codewalker, Previous:[2774]code police, Up:[2775]= C =

codes n.

[scientific computing] Programs. This usage is common in people who hack supercomputers and heavy-duty [2776]number-crunching, rare to unknown elsewhere (if you say “codes” to hackers outside scientific computing, their first association is likely to be “and cyphers”). _________________________________________________________________
Node:codewalker, Next:[2777]coefficient of X, Previous:[2778]codes, Up:[2779]= C =

codewalker n.

A program component that traverses other programs for a living. Compilers have codewalkers in their front ends; so do cross-reference generators and some database front ends. Other utility programs that try to do too much with source code may turn into codewalkers. As in “This new vgrind feature would require a codewalker to implement.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:coefficient of X, Next:[2780]cokebottle, Previous:[2781]codewalker, Up:[2782]= C =
coefficient of X n.

Hackish speech makes heavy use of pseudo-mathematical metaphors. Four particularly important ones involve the terms `coefficient’, `factor’, `index of X’, and `quotient’. They are often loosely applied to things you cannot really be quantitative about, but there are subtle distinctions among them that convey information about the way the speaker mentally models whatever he or she is describing.
`Foo factor’ and `foo quotient’ tend to describe something for which the issue is one of presence or absence. The canonical example is [2783]fudge factor. It’s not important how much you’re fudging; the term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed. You might talk of liking a movie for its silliness factor. Quotient tends to imply that the property is a ratio of two opposing factors: “I would have won except for my luck quotient.” This could also be “I would have won except for the luck factor”, but using quotient emphasizes that it was bad luck overpowering good luck (or someone else’s good luck overpowering your own).

`Foo index’ and `coefficient of foo’ both tend to imply that foo is, if not strictly measurable, at least something that can be larger or smaller. Thus, you might refer to a paper or person as having a `high bogosity index’, whereas you would be less likely to speak of a `high bogosity factor’. `Foo index’ suggests that foo is a condensation of many quantities, as in the mundane cost-of-living index; `coefficient of foo’ suggests that foo is a fundamental quantity, as in a coefficient of friction. The choice between these terms is often one of personal preference; e.g., some people might feel that bogosity is a fundamental attribute and thus say `coefficient of bogosity’, whereas others might feel it is a combination of factors and thus say `bogosity index’.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cokebottle, Next:[2784]cold boot, Previous:[2785]coefficient of X, Up:[2786]= C =

cokebottle /kohk’bot-l/ n.

Any very unusual character, particularly one you can’t type because it isn’t on your keyboard. MIT people used to complain about the `control-meta-cokebottle’ commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained right back about the `escape-escape-cokebottle’ commands at MIT. After the demise of the [2787]space-cadet keyboard, `cokebottle’ faded away as serious usage, but was often invoked humorously to describe an (unspecified) weird or non-intuitive keystroke command. It may be due for a second inning, however. The OSF/Motif window manager, mwm(1), has a reserved keystroke for switching to the default set of keybindings and behavior. This keystroke is (believe it or not) `control-meta-bang’ (see [2788]bang). Since the exclamation point looks a lot like an upside down Coke bottle, Motif hackers have begun referring to this keystroke as `cokebottle’. See also [2789]quadruple bucky.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cold boot, Next:[2790]COME FROM, Previous:[2791]cokebottle, Up:[2792]= C =

cold boot n.

See [2793]boot.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:COME FROM, Next:[2794]comm mode, Previous:[2795]cold boot, Up:[2796]= C =

COME FROM n.

A semi-mythical language construct dual to the `go to’; COME FROM would cause the referenced label to act as a sort of trapdoor, so that if the program ever reached it control would quietly and [2797]automagically be transferred to the statement following the COME FROM. COME FROM was first proposed in R. Lawrence Clark’s “A Linguistic Contribution to GOTO-less programming”, which appeared in a 1973 [2798]Datamation issue (and was reprinted in the April 1984 issue of “Communications of the ACM”). This parodied the then-raging `structured programming’ [2799]holy wars (see [2800]considered harmful). Mythically, some variants are the `assigned COME FROM’ and the `computed COME FROM’ (parodying some nasty control constructs in FORTRAN and some extended BASICs). Of course, multi-tasking (or non-determinism) could be implemented by having more than one COME FROM statement coming from the same label.
In some ways the FORTRAN DO looks like a COME FROM statement. After the terminating statement number/CONTINUE is reached, control continues at the statement following the DO. Some generous FORTRANs would allow arbitrary statements (other than CONTINUE) for the statement, leading to examples like:
DO 10 I=1,LIMIT
C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the C original DO statement lost in the spaghetti… WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I)
10 FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4)

in which the trapdoor is just after the statement labeled 10. (This is particularly surprising because the label doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the flow of control at all!)
While sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this form of COME FROM statement isn’t completely general. After all, control will eventually pass to the following statement. The implementation of the general form was left to Univac FORTRAN, ca. 1975 (though a roughly similar feature existed on the IBM 7040 ten years earlier). The statement AT 100 would perform a COME FROM 100. It was intended strictly as a debugging aid, with dire consequences promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in production code. More horrible things had already been perpetrated in production languages, however; doubters need only contemplate the ALTER verb in [2801]COBOL.
COME FROM was supported under its own name for the first time 15 years later, in C-INTERCAL (see [2802]INTERCAL, [2803]retrocomputing); knowledgeable observers are still reeling from the shock. _________________________________________________________________
Node:comm mode, Next:[2804]command key, Previous:[2805]COME FROM, Up:[2806]= C =

comm mode /kom mohd/ n.

[ITS: from the feature supporting on-line chat; the term may spelled with one or two m’s] Syn. for [2807]talk mode. _________________________________________________________________
Node:command key, Next:[2808]comment out, Previous:[2809]comm mode, Up:[2810]= C =

command key n.

[Mac users] Syn. [2811]feature key. _________________________________________________________________
Node:comment out, Next:[2812]Commonwealth Hackish, Previous:[2813]command key, Up:[2814]= C =
comment out vt.

To surround a section of code with comment delimiters or to prefix every line in the section with a comment marker; this prevents it from being compiled or interpreted. Often done when the code is redundant or obsolete, but is being left in the source to make the intent of the active code clearer; also when the code in that section is broken and you want to bypass it in order to debug some other part of the code. Compare [2815]condition out, usually the preferred technique in languages (such as [2816]C) that make it possible. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Commonwealth Hackish, Next:[2817]compact, Previous:[2818]comment out, Up:[2819]= C =

Commonwealth Hackish n.

Hacker jargon as spoken in English outside the U.S., esp. in the British Commonwealth. It is reported that Commonwealth speakers are more likely to pronounce truncations like `char’ and `soc’, etc., as spelled (/char/, /sok/), as opposed to American /keir/ and /sohsh/. Dots in [2820]newsgroup names (especially two-component names) tend to be pronounced more often (so soc.wibble is /sok dot wib’l/ rather than /sohsh wib’l/).

Preferred [2821]metasyntactic variables include [2822]blurgle, eek, ook, frodo, and bilbo; [2823]wibble, wobble, and in emergencies wubble; flob, banana, tom, dick, harry, wombat, frog, [2824]fish, [2825]womble and so on and on (see [2826]foo, sense 4). Alternatives to verb doubling include suffixes `-o-rama’, `frenzy’ (as in feeding frenzy), and `city’ (examples: “barf city!” “hack-o-rama!” “core dump frenzy!”).

All the generic differences within the anglophone world inevitably show themselves in the associated hackish dialects. The Greek letters beta and zeta are usually pronounced /bee’t*/ and /zee’t*/; meta may also be pronounced /mee’t*/. Various punctuators (and even letters – Z is called `zed’, not `zee’) are named differently: most crucially, for hackish, where Americans use `parens’, `brackets’ and `braces’ for (), [] and {}, Commonwealth English uses `brackets’, `square brackets’ and `curly brackets’, though `parentheses’ may be used for the first; the exclamation mark, `!’, is called pling rather than bang and the pound sign, `#’, is called hash; furthermore, the term `the pound sign’ is understood to mean the pound currency symbol (of course).
See also [2827]attoparsec, [2828]calculator, [2829]chemist, [2830]console jockey, [2831]fish, [2832]go-faster stripes, [2833]grunge, [2834]hakspek, [2835]heavy metal, [2836]leaky heap, [2837]lord high fixer, [2838]loose bytes, [2839]muddie, [2840]nadger, [2841]noddy, [2842]psychedelicware, [2843]plingnet, [2844]raster blaster, [2845]RTBM, [2846]seggie, [2847]spod, [2848]sun lounge, [2849]terminal junkie, [2850]tick-list features, [2851]weeble, [2852]weasel, [2853]YABA, and notes or definitions under [2854]Bad Thing, [2855]barf, [2856]bogus, [2857]bum, [2858]chase pointers, [2859]cosmic rays, [2860]crippleware, [2861]crunch, [2862]dodgy, [2863]gonk, [2864]hamster, [2865]hardwarily, [2866]mess-dos, [2867]nybble, [2868]proglet, [2869]root, [2870]SEX, [2871]tweak, [2872]womble, and [2873]xyzzy.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:compact, Next:[2874]compiler jock, Previous:[2875]Commonwealth Hackish, Up:[2876]= C =

compact adj.

Of a design, describes the valuable property that it can all be apprehended at once in one’s head. This generally means the thing created from the design can be used with greater facility and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that is not compact. Compactness does not imply triviality or lack of power; for example, C is compact and FORTRAN is not, but C is more powerful than FORTRAN. Designs become non-compact through accreting [2877]features and [2878]cruft that don’t merge cleanly into the overall design scheme (thus, some fans of [2879]Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer compact). _________________________________________________________________
Node:compiler jock, Next:[2880]compo, Previous:[2881]compact, Up:[2882]= C =

compiler jock n.

See [2883]jock (sense 2).
_________________________________________________________________
Node:compo, Next:[2884]compress, Previous:[2885]compiler jock, Up:[2886]= C =

compo n.

[[2887]demoscene] Finnish-originated slang for `competition’. Demo compos are held at a [2888]demoparty. The usual protocol is that several groups make demos for a compo, they are shown on a big screen, and then the party participants vote for the best one. Prizes (from sponsors and party entrance fees) are given. Standard compo formats include [2889]intro compos (4k or 64k demos), music compos, graphics compos, quick [2890]demo compos (build a demo within 4 hours for example), etc.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:compress, Next:[2891]Compu$erve, Previous:[2892]compo, Up:[2893]= C =

compress [Unix] vt.

When used without a qualifier, generally refers to [2894]crunching of a file using a particular C implementation of compression by Joseph M. Orost et al. and widely circulated via [2895]Usenet; use of [2896]crunch itself in this sense is rare among Unix hackers. Specifically, compress is built around the Lempel-Ziv-Welch algorithm as described in “A Technique for High Performance Data Compression”, Terry A. Welch, “IEEE Computer”, vol. 17, no. 6 (June 1984), pp. 8-19. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Compu$erve, Next:[2897]computer confetti, Previous:[2898]compress, Up:[2899]= C =
Compu$erve n.

See [2900]CI$. Synonyms CompuSpend and Compu$pend are also reported. _________________________________________________________________
Node:computer confetti, Next:[2901]computer geek, Previous:[2902]Compu$erve, Up:[2903]= C =
computer confetti n.

Syn. [2904]chad. Though this term is common, this use of punched-card chad is not a good idea, as the pieces are stiff and have sharp corners that could injure the eyes. GLS reports that he once attended a wedding at MIT during which he and a few other guests enthusiastically threw chad instead of rice. The groom later grumbled that he and his bride had spent most of the evening trying to get the stuff out of their hair.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:computer geek, Next:[2905]computron, Previous:[2906]computer confetti, Up:[2907]= C =

computer geek n.

1. One who eats (computer) bugs for a living. One who fulfills all the dreariest negative stereotypes about hackers: an asocial, malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a cheese grater. Cannot be used by outsiders without implied insult to all hackers; compare black-on-black vs. white-on-black usage of `nigger’. A computer geek may be either a fundamentally clueless individual or a proto-hacker in [2908]larval stage. Also called `turbo nerd’, `turbo geek’. See also [2909]propeller head, [2910]clustergeeking, [2911]geek out, [2912]wannabee, [2913]terminal junkie, [2914]spod, [2915]weenie. 2. Some self-described computer geeks use this term in a positive sense and protest sense 1 (this seems to have been a post-1990 development). For one such argument, see [2916]http://www.darkwater.com/omni/geek.php. See also [2917]geek code.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:computron, Next:[2918]con, Previous:[2919]computer geek, Up:[2920]= C =

computron /kom’pyoo-tron`/

n. 1. [common] A notional unit of computing power combining instruction speed and storage capacity, dimensioned roughly in instructions-per-second times megabytes-of-main-store times megabytes-of-mass-storage. “That machine can’t run GNU Emacs, it doesn’t have enough computrons!” This usage is usually found in metaphors that treat computing power as a fungible commodity good, like a crop yield or diesel horsepower. See [2921]bitty box, [2922]Get a real computer!, [2923]toy, [2924]crank. 2. A mythical subatomic particle that bears the unit quantity of computation or information, in much the same way that an electron bears one unit of electric charge (see also [2925]bogon). An elaborate pseudo-scientific theory of computrons has been developed based on the physical fact that the molecules in a solid object move more rapidly as it is heated. It is argued that an object melts because the molecules have lost their information about where they are supposed to be (that is, they have emitted computrons). This explains why computers get so hot and require air conditioning; they use up computrons. Conversely, it should be possible to cool down an object by placing it in the path of a computron beam. It is believed that this may also explain why machines that work at the factory fail in the computer room: the computrons there have been all used up by the other hardware. (The popularity of this theory probably owes something to the “Warlock” stories by Larry Niven, the best known being “What Good is a Glass Dagger?”, in which magic is fueled by an exhaustible natural resource called `mana’.)
_________________________________________________________________
Node:con, Next:[2926]condition out, Previous:[2927]computron, Up:[2928]= C =

con n.

[from SF fandom] A science-fiction convention. Not used of other sorts of conventions, such as professional meetings. This term, unlike many others imported from SF-fan slang, is widely recognized even by hackers who aren’t [2929]fans. “We’d been corresponding on the net for months, then we met face-to-face at a con.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:condition out, Next:[2930]condom, Previous:[2931]con, Up:[2932]= C =

condition out vt.

To prevent a section of code from being compiled by surrounding it with a conditional-compilation directive whose condition is always false. The [2933]canonical examples of these directives are #if 0 (or #ifdef notdef, though some find the latter [2934]bletcherous) and #endif in C. Compare [2935]comment out. _________________________________________________________________
Node:condom, Next:[2936]confuser, Previous:[2937]condition out, Up:[2938]= C =

condom n.

1. The protective plastic bag that accompanies 3.5-inch microfloppy diskettes. Rarely, also used of (paper) disk envelopes. Unlike the write protect tab, the condom (when left on) not only impedes the practice of [2939]SEX but has also been shown to have a high failure rate as drive mechanisms attempt to access the disk — and can even fatally frustrate insertion. 2. The protective cladding on a [2940]light pipe. 3. `keyboard condom’: A flexible, transparent plastic cover for a keyboard, designed to provide some protection against dust and [2941]programming fluid without impeding typing. 4. `elephant condom’: the plastic shipping bags used inside cardboard boxes to protect hardware in transit. 5. n. obs. A dummy directory /usr/tmp/sh, created to foil the [2942]Great Worm by exploiting a portability bug in one of its parts. So named in the title of a comp.risks article by Gene Spafford during the Worm crisis, and again in the text of “The Internet Worm Program: An Analysis”, Purdue Technical Report CSD-TR-823.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:confuser, Next:[2943]connector conspiracy, Previous:[2944]condom, Up:[2945]= C =

confuser n.

Common soundalike slang for `computer’. Usually encountered in compounds such as `confuser room’, `personal confuser’, `confuser guru’. Usage: silly.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:connector conspiracy, Next:[2946]cons, Previous:[2947]confuser, Up:[2948]= C =

connector conspiracy n.

[probably came into prominence with the appearance of the KL-10 (one model of the [2949]PDP-10), none of whose connectors matched anything else] The tendency of manufacturers (or, by extension, programmers or purveyors of anything) to come up with new products that don’t fit together with the old stuff, thereby making you buy either all new stuff or expensive interface devices. The KL-10 Massbus connector was actually patented by [2950]DEC, which reputedly refused to license the design and thus effectively locked third parties out of competition for the lucrative Massbus peripherals market. This policy is a source of never-ending frustration for the diehards who maintain older PDP-10 or VAX systems. Their CPUs work fine, but they are stuck with dying, obsolescent disk and tape drives with low capacity and high power requirements.

(A closely related phenomenon, with a slightly different intent, is the habit manufacturers have of inventing new screw heads so that only Designated Persons, possessing the magic screwdrivers, can remove covers and make repairs or install options. A good 1990s example is the use of Torx screws for cable-TV set-top boxes. Older Apple Macintoshes took this one step further, requiring not only a long Torx screwdriver but a specialized case-cracking tool to open the box.)
In these latter days of open-systems computing this term has fallen somewhat into disuse, to be replaced by the observation that “Standards are great! There are so many of them to choose from!” Compare [2951]backward combatability.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cons, Next:[2952]considered harmful, Previous:[2953]connector conspiracy, Up:[2954]= C =

cons /konz/ or /kons/

[from LISP] 1. vt. To add a new element to a specified list, esp. at the top. “OK, cons picking a replacement for the console TTY onto the agenda.” 2. `cons up’: vt. To synthesize from smaller pieces: “to cons up an example”.

In LISP itself, cons is the most fundamental operation for building structures. It takes any two objects and returns a `dot-pair’ or two-branched tree with one object hanging from each branch. Because the result of a cons is an object, it can be used to build binary trees of any shape and complexity. Hackers think of it as a sort of universal constructor, and that is where the jargon meanings spring from.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:considered harmful, Next:[2955]console, Previous:[2956]cons, Up:[2957]= C =

considered harmful adj.

[very common] Edsger W. Dijkstra’s note in the March 1968 “Communications of the ACM”, “Goto Statement Considered Harmful”, fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars (text at [2958]http://www.acm.org/classics). Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print an article taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. (Years afterwards, a contrary view was uttered in a CACM letter called, inevitably, “`Goto considered harmful’ considered harmful'”‘. In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies have borne titles of the form “X considered Y”. The structured-programming wars eventually blew over with the realization that both sides were wrong, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke (the `considered silly’ found at various places in this lexicon is related). _________________________________________________________________
Node:console, Next:[2959]console jockey, Previous:[2960]considered harmful, Up:[2961]= C =

console n.

1. The operator’s station of a [2962]mainframe. In times past, this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to anyone with fingers on its keys. Under Unix and other modern timesharing OSes, such privileges are guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the [2963]tty the system was booted from. Some of the mystique remains, however, and it is traditional for sysadmins to post urgent messages to all users from the console (on Unix, /dev/console). 2. On microcomputer Unix boxes, the main screen and keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a serial port). Typically only the console can do real graphics or run [2964]X. _________________________________________________________________
Node:console jockey, Next:[2965]content-free, Previous:[2966]console, Up:[2967]= C =

console jockey n.

See [2968]terminal junkie.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:content-free, Next:[2969]control-C, Previous:[2970]console jockey, Up:[2971]= C =

content-free adj.

[by analogy with techspeak `context-free’] Used of a message that adds nothing to the recipient’s knowledge. Though this adjective is sometimes applied to [2972]flamage, it more usually connotes derision for communication styles that exalt form over substance or are centered on concerns irrelevant to the subject ostensibly at hand. Perhaps most used with reference to speeches by company presidents and other professional manipulators. “Content-free? Uh… that’s anything printed on glossy paper.” (See also [2973]four-color glossies.) “He gave a talk on the implications of electronic networks for postmodernism and the fin-de-siecle aesthetic. It was content-free.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:control-C, Next:[2974]control-O, Previous:[2975]content-free, Up:[2976]= C =

control-C vi.

1. “Stop whatever you are doing.” From the interrupt character used on many operating systems to abort a running program. Considered silly. 2. interj. Among BSD Unix hackers, the canonical humorous response to “Give me a break!”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:control-O, Next:[2977]control-Q, Previous:[2978]control-C, Up:[2979]= C =

control-O vi.

“Stop talking.” From the character used on some operating systems to abort output but allow the program to keep on running. Generally means that you are not interested in hearing anything more from that person, at least on that topic; a standard response to someone who is flaming. Considered silly. Compare [2980]control-S. _________________________________________________________________
Node:control-Q, Next:[2981]control-S, Previous:[2982]control-O, Up:[2983]= C =

control-Q vi.

“Resume.” From the ASCII DC1 or [2984]XON character (the pronunciation /X-on/ is therefore also used), used to undo a previous [2985]control-S.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:control-S, Next:[2986]Conway’s Law, Previous:[2987]control-Q, Up:[2988]= C =

control-S vi.

“Stop talking for a second.” From the ASCII DC3 or XOFF character (the pronunciation /X-of/ is therefore also used). Control-S differs from [2989]control-O in that the person is asked to stop talking (perhaps because you are on the phone) but will be allowed to continue when you’re ready to listen to him — as opposed to control-O, which has more of the meaning of “Shut up.” Considered silly. _________________________________________________________________
Node:Conway’s Law, Next:[2990]cookbook, Previous:[2991]control-S, Up:[2992]= C =

Conway’s Law prov.

The rule that the organization of the software and the organization of the software team will be congruent; commonly stated as “If you have four groups working on a compiler, you’ll get a 4-pass compiler”. The original statement was more general, “Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.” This first appeared in the April 1968 issue of [2993]Datamation. Compare [2994]SNAFU principle.

The law was named after Melvin Conway, an early proto-hacker who wrote an assembler for the Burroughs 220 called SAVE. (The name `SAVE’ didn’t stand for anything; it was just that you lost fewer card decks and listings because they all had SAVE written on them.)
There is also Tom Cheatham’s amendment of Conway’s Law: “If a group of N persons implements a COBOL compiler, there will be N-1 passes. Someone in the group has to be the manager.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:cookbook, Next:[2995]cooked mode, Previous:[2996]Conway’s Law, Up:[2997]= C =

cookbook n.

[from amateur electronics and radio] A book of small code segments that the reader can use to do various [2998]magic things in programs. One current example is the “[2999]PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook” by Adobe Systems, Inc (Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10179-3), also known as the [3000]Blue Book which has recipes for things like wrapping text around arbitrary curves and making 3D fonts. Cookbooks, slavishly followed, can lead one into [3001]voodoo programming, but are useful for hackers trying to [3002]monkey up small programs in unknown languages. This function is analogous to the role of phrasebooks in human languages.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cooked mode, Next:[3003]cookie, Previous:[3004]cookbook, Up:[3005]= C =

cooked mode n.

[Unix, by opposition from [3006]raw mode] The normal character-input mode, with interrupts enabled and with erase, kill and other special-character interpretations performed directly by the tty driver. Oppose [3007]raw mode, [3008]rare mode. This term is techspeak under Unix but jargon elsewhere; other operating systems often have similar mode distinctions, and the raw/rare/cooked way of describing them has spread widely along with the C language and other Unix exports. Most generally, `cooked mode’ may refer to any mode of a system that does extensive preprocessing before presenting data to a program.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cookie, Next:[3009]cookie bear, Previous:[3010]cooked mode, Up:[3011]= C =

cookie n.

A handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement between cooperating programs. “I give him a packet, he gives me back a cookie.” The claim check you get from a dry-cleaning shop is a perfect mundane example of a cookie; the only thing it’s useful for is to relate a later transaction to this one (so you get the same clothes back). Compare [3012]magic cookie; see also [3013]fortune cookie. Now mainstream in the specific sense of web-browser cookies. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cookie bear, Next:[3014]cookie file, Previous:[3015]cookie, Up:[3016]= C =

cookie bear n. obs.

Original term, pre-Sesame-Street, for what is now universally called a [3017]cookie monster. A correspondent observes “In those days, hackers were actually getting their yucks from…sit down now…Andy Williams. Yes, that Andy Williams. Seems he had a rather hip (by the standards of the day) TV variety show. One of the best parts of the show was the recurring `cookie bear’ sketch. In these sketches, a guy in a bear suit tried all sorts of tricks to get a cookie out of Williams. The sketches would always end with Williams shrieking (and I don’t mean figuratively), `No cookies! Not now, not ever…NEVER!!!’ And the bear would fall down. Great stuff.”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cookie file, Next:[3018]cookie jar, Previous:[3019]cookie bear, Up:[3020]= C =

cookie file n.

A collection of [3021]fortune cookies in a format that facilitates retrieval by a fortune program. There are several different cookie files in public distribution, and site admins often assemble their own from various sources including this lexicon. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cookie jar, Next:[3022]cookie monster, Previous:[3023]cookie file, Up:[3024]= C =

cookie jar n.

An area of memory set aside for storing [3025]cookies. Most commonly heard in the Atari ST community; many useful ST programs record their presence by storing a distinctive [3026]magic number in the jar. Programs can inquire after the presence or otherwise of other programs by searching the contents of the jar.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cookie monster, Next:[3027]copious free time, Previous:[3028]cookie jar, Up:[3029]= C =
cookie monster n.

[from the children’s TV program “Sesame Street”] Any of a family of early (1970s) hacks reported on [3030]TOPS-10, [3031]ITS, [3032]Multics, and elsewhere that would lock up either the victim’s terminal (on a time-sharing machine) or the [3033]console (on a batch [3034]mainframe), repeatedly demanding “I WANT A COOKIE”. The required responses ranged in complexity from “COOKIE” through “HAVE A COOKIE” and upward. Folklorist Jan Brunvand (see [3035]FOAF) has described these programs as urban legends (implying they probably never existed) but they existed, all right, in several different versions. See also [3036]wabbit. Interestingly, the term `cookie monster’ appears to be a [3037]retcon; the original term was [3038]cookie bear. _________________________________________________________________
Node:copious free time, Next:[3039]copper, Previous:[3040]cookie monster, Up:[3041]= C =

copious free time n.

[Apple; orig. fr. the intro to Tom Lehrer’s song “It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier”] 1. [used ironically to indicate the speaker’s lack of the quantity in question] A mythical schedule slot for accomplishing tasks held to be unlikely or impossible. Sometimes used to indicate that the speaker is interested in accomplishing the task, but believes that the opportunity will not arise. “I’ll implement the automatic layout stuff in my copious free time.” 2. [Archly] Time reserved for bogus or otherwise idiotic tasks, such as implementation of [3042]chrome, or the stroking of [3043]suits. “I’ll get back to him on that feature in my copious free time.” _________________________________________________________________
Node:copper, Next:[3044]copy protection, Previous:[3045]copious free time, Up:[3046]= C =

copper n.

Conventional electron-carrying network cable with a core conductor of copper — or aluminum! Opposed to [3047]light pipe or, say, a short-range microwave link.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:copy protection, Next:[3048]copybroke, Previous:[3049]copper, Up:[3050]= C =

copy protection n.

A class of methods for preventing incompetent pirates from stealing software and legitimate customers from using it. Considered silly. _________________________________________________________________
Node:copybroke, Next:[3051]copycenter, Previous:[3052]copy protection, Up:[3053]= C =

copybroke /kop’ee-brohk/ adj.

1. [play on `copyright’] Used to describe an instance of a copy-protected program that has been `broken’; that is, a copy with the copy-protection scheme disabled. Syn. [3054]copywronged. 2. Copy-protected software which is unusable because of some bit-rot or bug that has confused the anti-piracy check. See also [3055]copy protection.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:copycenter, Next:[3056]copyleft, Previous:[3057]copybroke, Up:[3058]= C =

copycenter n.

[play on `copyright’ and `copyleft’] 1. The copyright notice carried by the various flavors of freeware BSD. According to Kirk McKusick at BSDCon 1999: “The way it was characterized politically, you had copyright, which is what the big companies use to lock everything up; you had copyleft, which is free software’s way of making sure they can’t lock it up; and then Berkeley had what we called “copycenter”, which is “take it down to the copy center and make as many copies as you want”.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:copyleft, Next:[3059]copyparty, Previous:[3060]copycenter, Up:[3061]= C =

copyleft /kop’ee-left/ n.

[play on `copyright’] 1. The copyright notice (`General Public License’) carried by [3062]GNU [3063]EMACS and other Free Software Foundation software, granting reuse and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also [3064]General Public Virus). 2. By extension, any copyright notice intended to achieve similar aims. _________________________________________________________________
Node:copyparty, Next:[3065]copywronged, Previous:[3066]copyleft, Up:[3067]= C =

copyparty n.

[C64/amiga [3068]demoscene ]A computer party organized so demosceners can meet other in real life, and to facilitate software copying (mostly pirated software). The copyparty has become less common as the Internet makes communication easier. The demoscene has gradually evolved the [3069]demoparty to replace it. _________________________________________________________________
Node:copywronged, Next:[3070]core, Previous:[3071]copyparty, Up:[3072]= C =

copywronged /kop’ee-rongd/ adj.

[play on `copyright’] Syn. for [3073]copybroke. _________________________________________________________________
Node:core, Next:[3074]core cancer, Previous:[3075]copywronged, Up:[3076]= C =

core n.

Main storage or RAM. Dates from the days of ferrite-core memory; now archaic as techspeak most places outside IBM, but also still used in the Unix community and by old-time hackers or those who would sound like them. Some derived idioms are quite current; `in core’, for example, means `in memory’ (as opposed to `on disk’), and both [3077]core dump and the `core image’ or `core file’ produced by one are terms in favor. Some varieties of Commonwealth hackish prefer [3078]store.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:core cancer, Next:[3079]core dump, Previous:[3080]core, Up:[3081]= C =

core cancer n.

[rare] A process that exhibits a slow but inexorable resource [3082]leak — like a cancer, it kills by crowding out productive `tissue’.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:core dump, Next:[3083]core leak, Previous:[3084]core cancer, Up:[3085]= C =

core dump n.

[common [3086]Iron Age jargon, preserved by Unix] 1. [techspeak] A copy of the contents of [3087]core, produced when a process is aborted by certain kinds of internal error. 2. By extension, used for humans passing out, vomiting, or registering extreme shock. “He dumped core. All over the floor. What a mess.” “He heard about X and dumped core.” 3. Occasionally used for a human rambling on pointlessly at great length; esp. in apology: “Sorry, I dumped core on you”. 4. A recapitulation of knowledge (compare [3088]bits, sense 1). Hence, spewing all one knows about a topic (syn. [3089]brain dump), esp. in a lecture or answer to an exam question. “Short, concise answers are better than core dumps” (from the instructions to an exam at Columbia). See [3090]core.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:core leak, Next:[3091]Core Wars, Previous:[3092]core dump, Up:[3093]= C =

core leak n.

Syn. [3094]memory leak.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:Core Wars, Next:[3095]corge, Previous:[3096]core leak, Up:[3097]= C =

Core Wars n.

A game between `assembler’ programs in a machine or machine simulator, where the objective is to kill your opponent’s program by overwriting it. Popularized in the 1980s by A. K. Dewdney’s column in “Scientific American” magazine, but described in “Software Practice And Experience” a decade earlier. The game was actually devised and played by Victor Vyssotsky, Robert Morris Sr., and Doug McIlroy in the early 1960s (Dennis Ritchie is sometimes incorrectly cited as a co-author, but was not involved). Their original game was called `Darwin’ and ran on a IBM 7090 at Bell Labs. See [3098]core. For information on the modern game, do a web search for the `rec.games.corewar FAQ’ or surf to the [3099]King Of The Hill site.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:corge, Next:[3100]cosmic rays, Previous:[3101]Core Wars, Up:[3102]= C =

corge /korj/ n.

[originally, the name of a cat] Yet another [3103]metasyntactic variable, invented by Mike Gallaher and propagated by the [3104]GOSMACS documentation. See [3105]grault. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cosmic rays, Next:[3106]cough and die, Previous:[3107]corge, Up:[3108]= C =

cosmic rays n.

Notionally, the cause of [3109]bit rot. However, this is a semi-independent usage that may be invoked as a humorous way to [3110]handwave away any minor [3111]randomness that doesn’t seem worth the bother of investigating. “Hey, Eric — I just got a burst of garbage on my [3112]tube, where did that come from?” “Cosmic rays, I guess.” Compare [3113]sunspots, [3114]phase of the moon. The British seem to prefer the usage `cosmic showers’; `alpha particles’ is also heard, because stray alpha particles passing through a memory chip can cause single-bit errors (this becomes increasingly more likely as memory sizes and densities increase).

Factual note: Alpha particles cause bit rot, cosmic rays do not (except occasionally in spaceborne computers). Intel could not explain random bit drops in their early chips, and one hypothesis was cosmic rays. So they created the World’s Largest Lead Safe, using 25 tons of the stuff, and used two identical boards for testing. One was placed in the safe, one outside. The hypothesis was that if cosmic rays were causing the bit drops, they should see a statistically significant difference between the error rates on the two boards. They did not observe such a difference. Further investigation demonstrated conclusively that the bit drops were due to alpha particle emissions from thorium (and to a much lesser degree uranium) in the encapsulation material. Since it is impossible to eliminate these radioactives (they are uniformly distributed through the earth’s crust, with the statistically insignificant exception of uranium lodes) it became obvious that one has to design memories to withstand these hits.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cough and die, Next:[3115]courier, Previous:[3116]cosmic rays, Up:[3117]= C =

cough and die v.

Syn. [3118]barf. Connotes that the program is throwing its hands up by design rather than because of a bug or oversight. “The parser saw a control-A in its input where it was looking for a printable, so it coughed and died.” Compare [3119]die, [3120]die horribly, [3121]scream and die.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:courier, Next:[3122]cow orker, Previous:[3123]cough and die, Up:[3124]= C =

courier

[BBS & cracker cultures] A person who distributes newly cracked [3125]warez, as opposed to a [3126]server who makes them available for download or a [3127]leech who merely downloads them. Hackers recognize this term but don’t use it themselves, as the act is not part of their culture. See also [3128]warez d00dz, [3129]cracker, [3130]elite. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cow orker, Next:[3131]cowboy, Previous:[3132]courier, Up:[3133]= C =

cow orker n.

[Usenet] n. fortuitous typo for co-worker, widely used in Usenet, with perhaps a hint that orking cows is illegal. This term was popularized by Scott Adams (the creator of [3134]Dilbert) but already appears in the January 1996 version of the [3135]scary devil monastery FAQ. There are plausible reports that it was in use on talk.bizarre as early as 1992. Compare [3136]hing, [3137]grilf, [3138]filk, [3139]newsfroup. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cowboy, Next:[3140]CP/M, Previous:[3141]cow orker, Up:[3142]= C =
cowboy n.

[Sun, from William Gibson’s [3143]cyberpunk SF] Synonym for [3144]hacker. It is reported that at Sun this word is often said with reverence.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:CP/M, Next:[3145]CPU Wars, Previous:[3146]cowboy, Up:[3147]= C =
CP/M /C-P-M/ n.

[Control Program/Monitor; later [3148]retconned to Control Program for Microcomputers] An early microcomputer [3149]OS written by hacker Gary Kildall for 8080- and Z80-based machines, very popular in the late 1970s but virtually wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBM PC in 1981. Legend has it that Kildall’s company blew its chance to write the OS for the IBM PC because Kildall decided to spend a day IBM’s reps wanted to meet with him enjoying the perfect flying weather in his private plane. Many of CP/M’s features and conventions strongly resemble those of early [3150]DEC operating systems such as [3151]TOPS-10, OS/8, RSTS, and RSX-11. See [3152]MS-DOS, [3153]operating system.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:CPU Wars, Next:[3154]crack, Previous:[3155]CP/M, Up:[3156]= C =
CPU Wars /C-P-U worz/ n.

A 1979 large-format comic by Chas Andres chronicling the attempts of the brainwashed androids of IPM (Impossible to Program Machines) to conquer and destroy the peaceful denizens of HEC (Human Engineered Computers). This rather transparent allegory featured many references to [3157]ADVENT and the immortal line “Eat flaming death, minicomputer mongrels!” (uttered, of course, by an IPM stormtrooper). The whole shebang is now [3158]available on the Web.
It is alleged that the author subsequently received a letter of appreciation on IBM company stationery from the head of IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Laboratories (then, as now, one of the few islands of true hackerdom in the IBM archipelago). The lower loop of the B in the IBM logo, it is said, had been carefully whited out. See [3159]eat flaming death.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crack, Next:[3160]crack root, Previous:[3161]CPU Wars, Up:[3162]= C =

crack

[warez d00dz] 1. v. To break into a system (compare [3163]cracker). 2. v. Action of removing the copy protection from a commercial program. People who write cracks consider themselves challenged by the copy protection measures. They will often do it as much to show that they are smarter than the developper who designed the copy protection scheme than to actually copy the program. 3. n. A program, instructions or patch used to remove the copy protection of a program or to uncripple features from a demo/time limited program. 4. An [3164]exploit.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crack root, Next:[3165]cracker, Previous:[3166]crack, Up:[3167]= C =

crack root v.

[very common] To defeat the security system of a Unix machine and gain [3168]root privileges thereby; see [3169]cracking. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cracker, Next:[3170]cracking, Previous:[3171]crack root, Up:[3172]= C =

cracker n.

One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of [3173]hacker (q.v., sense 8). An earlier attempt to establish `worm’ in this sense around 1981-82 on Usenet was largely a failure.

Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion against the theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking rings. While it is expected that any real hacker will have done some playful cracking and knows many of the basic techniques, anyone past [3174]larval stage is expected to have outgrown the desire to do so except for immediate, benign, practical reasons (for example, if it’s necessary to get around some security in order to get some work done).
Thus, there is far less overlap between hackerdom and crackerdom than the [3175]mundane reader misled by sensationalistic journalism might expect. Crackers tend to gather in small, tight-knit, very secretive groups that have little overlap with the huge, open poly-culture this lexicon describes; though crackers often like to describe themselves as hackers, most true hackers consider them a separate and lower form of life.

Ethical considerations aside, hackers figure that anyone who can’t imagine a more interesting way to play with their computers than breaking into someone else’s has to be pretty [3176]losing. Some other reasons crackers are looked down on are discussed in the entries on [3177]cracking and [3178]phreaking. See also [3179]samurai, [3180]dark-side hacker, and [3181]hacker ethic. For a portrait of the typical teenage cracker, see [3182]warez d00dz. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cracking, Next:[3183]crank, Previous:[3184]cracker, Up:[3185]= C =

cracking n.

[very common] The act of breaking into a computer system; what a [3186]cracker does. Contrary to widespread myth, this does not usually involve some mysterious leap of hackerly brilliance, but rather persistence and the dogged repetition of a handful of fairly well-known tricks that exploit common weaknesses in the security of target systems. Accordingly, most crackers are only mediocre hackers. _________________________________________________________________
Node:crank, Next:[3187]crapplet, Previous:[3188]cracking, Up:[3189]= C =

crank vt.

[from automotive slang] Verb used to describe the performance of a machine, especially sustained performance. “This box cranks (or, cranks at) about 6 megaflops, with a burst mode of twice that on vectorized operations.”
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crapplet, Next:[3190]CrApTeX, Previous:[3191]crank, Up:[3192]= C =

crapplet n.

[portmanteau, crap + applet] A worthless applet, esp. a Java widget attached to a web page that doesn’t work or even crashes your browser. Also spelled `craplet’.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:CrApTeX, Next:[3193]crash, Previous:[3194]crapplet, Up:[3195]= C =

CrApTeX /krap’tekh/ n.

[University of York, England] Term of abuse used to describe TeX and LaTeX when they don’t work (when used by TeXhackers), or all the time (by everyone else). The non-TeX-enthusiasts generally dislike it because it is more verbose than other formatters (e.g. [3196]troff) and because (particularly if the standard Computer Modern fonts are used) it generates vast output files. See [3197]religious issues, [3198]TeX.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crash, Next:[3199]crash and burn, Previous:[3200]CrApTeX, Up:[3201]= C =

crash

1. n. A sudden, usually drastic failure. Most often said of the [3202]system (q.v., sense 1), esp. of magnetic disk drives (the term originally described what happens when the air gap of a hard disk collapses). “Three [3203]lusers lost their files in last night’s disk crash.” A disk crash that involves the read/write heads dropping onto the surface of the disks and scraping off the oxide may also be referred to as a `head crash’, whereas the term `system crash’ usually, though not always, implies that the operating system or other software was at fault. 2. v. To fail suddenly. “Has the system just crashed?” “Something crashed the OS!” See [3204]down. Also used transitively to indicate the cause of the crash (usually a person or a program, or both). “Those idiots playing [3205]SPACEWAR crashed the system.” 3. vi. Sometimes said of people hitting the sack after a long [3206]hacking run; see [3207]gronk out. _________________________________________________________________
Node:crash and burn, Next:[3208]crawling horror, Previous:[3209]crash, Up:[3210]= C =

crash and burn vi.,n.

A spectacular crash, in the mode of the conclusion of the car-chase scene in the movie “Bullitt” and many subsequent imitators (compare [3211]die horribly). Sun-3 monitors losing the flyback transformer and lightning strikes on VAX-11/780 backplanes are notable crash and burn generators. The construction `crash-and-burn machine’ is reported for a computer used exclusively for alpha or [3212]beta testing, or reproducing bugs (i.e., not for development). The implication is that it wouldn’t be such a disaster if that machine crashed, since only the testers would be inconvenienced.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crawling horror, Next:[3213]cray, Previous:[3214]crash and burn, Up:[3215]= C =

crawling horror n.

Ancient crufty hardware or software that is kept obstinately alive by forces beyond the control of the hackers at a site. Like [3216]dusty deck or [3217]gonkulator, but connotes that the thing described is not just an irritation but an active menace to health and sanity. “Mostly we code new stuff in C, but they pay us to maintain one big FORTRAN II application from nineteen-sixty-X that’s a real crawling horror….” Compare [3218]WOMBAT.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:cray, Next:[3219]cray instability, Previous:[3220]crawling horror, Up:[3221]= C =

cray /kray/ n.

1. (properly, capitalized) One of the line of supercomputers designed by Cray Research. 2. Any supercomputer at all. 3. The [3222]canonical [3223]number-crunching machine.

The term is actually the lowercased last name of Seymour Cray, a noted computer architect and co-founder of the company. Numerous vivid legends surround him, some true and some admittedly invented by Cray Research brass to shape their corporate culture and image. _________________________________________________________________
Node:cray instability, Next:[3224]crayola, Previous:[3225]cray, Up:[3226]= C =

cray instability n.

1. A shortcoming of a program or algorithm that manifests itself only when a large problem is being run on a powerful machine (see [3227]cray). Generally more subtle than bugs that can be detected in smaller problems running on a workstation or mini. 2. More specifically, a shortcoming of algorithms which are well behaved when run on gentle floating point hardware (such as IEEE-standard or PDP-series machines) but which break down badly when exposed to a Cray’s unique `rounding’ rules.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crayola, Next:[3228]crayola books, Previous:[3229]cray instability, Up:[3230]= C =

crayola /kray-oh’l*/ n.

A super-mini or -micro computer that provides some reasonable percentage of supercomputer performance for an unreasonably low price. Might also be a [3231]killer micro.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crayola books, Next:[3232]crayon, Previous:[3233]crayola, Up:[3234]= C =

crayola books n.

The [3235]rainbow series of National Computer Security Center (NCSC) computer security standards (see [3236]Orange Book). Usage: humorous and/or disparaging.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:crayon, Next:[3237]creationism, Previous:[3238]crayola books, Up:[3239]= C =

crayon n.

1. Someone who works on Cray supercomputers. More specifically, it implies a programmer, probably of the CDC ilk, probably male, and almost certainly wearing a tie (irrespective of gender). Systems types who have a Unix background tend not to be described as crayons. 2. Formerly, anyone who worked for Cray Research; since the buyout by SGI, anyone they inherited from Cray. 3. A [3240]computron (sense 2) that participates only in [3241]number-crunching. 4. A unit of computational power equal to that of a single Cray-1. There is a standard joke about this usage that derives from an old Crayola crayon promotional gimmick: When you buy 64 crayons you get a free sharpener. _________________________________________________________________
Node:creationism, Next:[3242]creep, Previous:[3243]crayon, Up:[3244]= C =

creationism n.

The (false) belief that large, innovative software designs can be completely specified in advance and then painlessly magicked out of the void by the normal efforts of a team of normally talented programmers. In fact, experience has shown repeatedly that good designs arise only from evolutionary, exploratory interaction between one (or at most a small handful of) exceptionally able designer(s) and an active user population — and that the first try at a big new idea is always wrong. Unfortunately, because these truths don’t fit the planning models beloved of [3245]management, they are generally ignored.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:creep, Next:[3246]creeping elegance, Previous:[3247]creationism, Up:[3248]= C =

creep v.

To advance, grow, or multiply inexorably. In hackish usage this verb has overtones of menace and silliness, evoking the creeping horrors of low-budget monster movies.
_________________________________________________________________
Node:creeping elegance, Next:[3249]creeping featurism, Previous:[3250]creep, Up:[3251]= C =

creeping elegance n.

Describes a tendency for parts of a design to become [3252]elegant past the point of diminishing return, something which often happens at the expense of the less interesting parts of the design, the schedule, and other things deemed important in the [3253]Real World. See also [3254]creeping featurism, [3255]second-system effect, [3256]tense. _________________________________________________________________