:sneakernet: /snee'ker-net/ /n./ Term used (generally with ironic intent) for transfer of electronic information by physically carrying tape, disks, or some other media from one machine to another. "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with magtape, or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs." Also called `Tennis-Net', `Armpit-Net', `Floppy-Net' or `Shoenet'.
:sniff: /v.,n./ Synonym for {poll}.
:snivitz: /sniv'itz/ /n./ A hiccup in hardware or software; a small, transient problem of unknown origin (less serious than a {snark}). Compare {glitch}.
:SO: /S-O/ /n./ 1. (also `S.O.') Abbrev. for Significant Other, almost invariably written abbreviated and pronounced /S-O/ by hackers. Used to refer to one's primary relationship, esp. a live-in to whom one is not married. See {MOTAS}, {MOTOS}, {MOTSS}. 2. [techspeak] The Shift Out control character in ASCII (Control-N, 0001110).
:social engineering: /n./ Term used among {cracker}s and {samurai} for cracking techniques that rely on weaknesses in {wetware} rather than software; the aim is to trick people into revealing passwords or other information that compromises a target system's security. Classic scams include phoning up a mark who has the required information and posing as a field service tech or a fellow employee with an urgent access problem. See also the {tiger team} story in the {patch} entry.
:social science number: /n./ [IBM] A statistic that is {content-free}, or nearly so. A measure derived via methods of questionable validity from data of a dubious and vague nature. Predictively, having a social science number in hand is seldom much better than nothing, and can be considerably worse. As a rule, {management} loves them. See also {numbers}, {math-out}, {pretty pictures}.
:sodium substrate: /n./ Syn {salt substrate}.
:soft boot: /n./ See {boot}.
:softcopy: /soft'kop-ee/ /n./ [by analogy with `hardcopy']A machine-readable form of corresponding hardcopy. See {bits},{machinable}.
:software bloat: /n./ The results of {second-system effect}or {creeping featuritis}. Commonly cited examples include`ls(1)', {X}, {BSD}, {Missed'em-five}, and {OS/2}.
:software hoarding: /n./ Pejorative term employed by members and adherents of the {GNU} project to describe the act of holding software proprietary, keeping it under trade secret or license terms which prohibit free redistribution and modification. Used primarily in Free Software Foundation propaganda. For a summary of related issues, see {GNU}.
:software laser: /n./ An optical laser works by bouncing photons back and forth between two mirrors, one totally reflective and one partially reflective. If the lasing material (usually a crystal) has the right properties, photons scattering off the atoms in the crystal will excite cascades of more photons, all in lockstep. Eventually the beam will escape through the partially-reflective mirror. One kind of {sorcerer's apprentice mode} involving {bounce message}s can produce closely analogous results, with a {cascade} of messages escaping to flood nearby systems. By mid-1993 there had been at least two publicized incidents of this kind.
:software rot: /n./ Term used to describe the tendency of software that has not been used in a while to {lose}; such failure may be semi-humorously ascribed to {bit rot}. More commonly, `software rot' strikes when a program's assumptions become out of date. If the design was insufficiently {robust}, this may cause it to fail in mysterious ways.
For example, owing to endemic shortsightedness in the design of COBOL programs, most will succumb to software rot when their 2-digit year counters {wrap around} at the beginning of the year 2000. Actually, related lossages often afflict centenarians who have to deal with computer software designed by unimaginative clods. One such incident became the focus of a minor public flap in 1990, when a gentleman born in 1889 applied for a driver's license renewal in Raleigh, North Carolina. The new system refused to issue the card, probably because with 2-digit years the ages 101 and 1 cannot be distinguished.
Historical note: Software rot in an even funnier sense than the mythical one was a real problem on early research computers (e.g., the R1; see {grind crank}). If a program that depended on a peculiar instruction hadn't been run in quite a while, the user might discover that the opcodes no longer did the same things they once did. ("Hey, so-and-so needs an instruction to do such-and-such. We can {snarf} this opcode, right? No one uses it.")
Another classic example of this sprang from the time an MIT hacker found a simple way to double the speed of the unconditional jump instruction on a PDP-6, so he patched the hardware. Unfortunately, this broke some fragile timing software in a music-playing program, throwing its output out of tune. This was fixed by adding a defensive initialization routine to compare the speed of a timing loop with the real-time clock; in other words, it figured out how fast the PDP-6 was that day, and corrected appropriately.
Compare {bit rot}.
:softwarily: /soft-weir'i-lee/ /adv./ In a way pertaining to software. "The system is softwarily unreliable." The adjective **`softwary' is *not* used. See {hardwarily}.
:softy: /n./ [IBM] Hardware hackers' term for a software expert who is largely ignorant of the mysteries of hardware.
:some random X: /adj./ Used to indicate a member of class X, with the implication that Xs are interchangeable. "I think some random cracker tripped over the guest timeout last night." See also {J. Random}.
:sorcerer's apprentice mode: /n./ [from Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling" via Paul Dukas's "L'apprenti sorcier" the film "Fantasia"] A bug in a protocol where, under some circumstances, the receipt of a message causes multiple messages to be sent, each of which, when received, triggers the same bug. Used esp. of such behavior caused by {bounce message} loops in {email} software. Compare {broadcast storm}, {network meltdown}, {software laser}, {ARMM}.
:SOS: /S-O-S/ /n. obs./ 1. An infamously {losing} text editor. Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for the PDP-6, a hacker crufted together a {quick-and-dirty} `stopgap editor' to be used until a better one was written. Unfortunately, the old one was never really discarded when new ones (in particular, {TECO}) came along. SOS is a descendant (`Son of Stopgap') of that editor, and many PDP-10 users gained the dubious pleasure of its acquaintance. Since then other programs similar in style to SOS have been written, notably the early font editor BILOS /bye'lohs/, the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap (the alternate expansion `Bastard Issue, Loins of Stopgap' has been proposed). 2. /sos/ /vt./ To decrease; inverse of {AOS}, from the PDP-10 instruction set.
:source of all good bits: /n./ A person from whom (or a place from which) useful information may be obtained. If you need to know about a program, a {guru} might be the source of all good bits. The title is often applied to a particularly competent secretary.
:space-cadet keyboard: /n./ A now-legendary device used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired several still-current jargon terms and influenced the design of {EMACS}. It was equipped with no fewer than *seven* shift keys: four keys for {bucky bits} (`control', `meta', `hyper', and `super') and three like regular shift keys, called `shift', `top', and `front'. Many keys had three symbols on them: a letter and a symbol on the top, and a Greek letter on the front. For example, the `L' key had an `L' and a two-way arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on the front. By pressing this key with the right hand while playing an appropriate `chord' with the left hand on the shift keys, you could get the following results:
Llowercase l
shift-Luppercase L
front-Llowercase lambda
front-shift-Luppercase lambda
top-Ltwo-way arrow (front and shift are ignored)
And of course each of these might also be typed with any combination of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys. On this keyboard, you could type over 8000 different characters! This allowed the user to type very complicated mathematical text, and also to have thousands of single-character commands at his disposal. Many hackers were actually willing to memorize the command meanings of that many characters if it reduced typing time (this attitude obviously shaped the interface of EMACS). Other hackers, however, thought having that many bucky bits was overkill, and objected that such a keyboard can require three or four hands to operate. See {bucky bits}, {cokebottle}, {double bucky}, {meta bit}, {quadruple bucky}.
Note: early versions of this entry incorrectly identified the space-cadet keyboard with the `Knight keyboard'. Though both were designed by Tom Knight, the latter term was properly applied only to a keyboard used for ITS on the PDP-10 and modeled on the Stanford keyboard (as described under {bucky bits}). The true space-cadet keyboard evolved from the first Knight keyboard.
:spaceship operator: /n./ The glyph `<=>', so-called apparently because in the low-resolution constant-width font used on many terminals it vaguely resembles a flying saucer. {Perl} uses this to denote the signum-of-difference operation.
:SPACEWAR: /n./ A space-combat simulation game, inspired by E. E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" books, in which two spaceships duel around a central sun, shooting torpedoes at each other and jumping through hyperspace. This game was first implemented on the PDP-1 at MIT in 1960—61. SPACEWAR aficionados formed the core of the early hacker culture at MIT. Nine years later, a descendant of the game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare time on a scavenged PDP-7, the operating system that became {{Unix}}. Less than nine years after that, SPACEWAR was commercialized as one of the first video games; descendants are still {feep}ing in video arcades everywhere.
:spaghetti code: /n./ Code with a complex and tangled control structure, esp. one using many GOTOs, exceptions, or other `unstructured' branching constructs. Pejorative. The synonym `kangaroo code' has been reported, doubtless because such code has so many jumps in it.
:spaghetti inheritance: /n./ [encountered among users of object-oriented languages that use inheritance, such as Smalltalk] A convoluted class-subclass graph, often resulting from carelessly deriving subclasses from other classes just for the sake of reusing their code. Coined in a (successful) attempt to discourage such practice, through guilt-by-association with {spaghetti code}.
:spam: /vt.,vi.,n./ [from "Monty Python's Flying Circus"] 1. To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data. See also {buffer overflow}, {overrun screw}, {smash the stack}. 2. To cause a newsgroup to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. You can spam a newsgroup with as little as one well- (or ill-) planned message (e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?" on soc.women). This is often done with {cross-post}ing (e.g. any message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups). 3. To send many identical or nearly-identical messages separately to a large number of Usenet newsgroups. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone on the Net.
The second and third definitions have become much more prevalent as the Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to many Usenetters sense 3 is now (1995) primary. In this sense the term has apparantly begun to go mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric freight — there is apparently a widespread belief among {luser}s that "spamming" is what happens when you dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan.
:special-case: /vt./ To write unique code to handle input to or situations arising in a program that are somehow distinguished from normal processing. This would be used for processing of mode switches or interrupt characters in an interactive interface (as opposed, say, to text entry or normal commands), or for processing of {hidden flag}s in the input of a batch program or {filter}.
:speedometer: /n./ A pattern of lights displayed on a linear set of LEDs (today) or nixie tubes (yesterday, on ancient mainframes). The pattern is shifted left every N times the operating system goes through its {main loop}. A swiftly moving pattern indicates that the system is mostly idle; the speedometer slows down as the system becomes overloaded. The speedometer on Sun Microsystems hardware bounces back and forth like the eyes on one of the Cylons from the wretched "Battlestar Galactica" TV series.
Historical note: One computer, the GE 600 (later Honeywell 6000) actually had an *analog* speedometer on the front panel, calibrated in instructions executed per second.
:spell: /n./ Syn. {incantation}.
:spelling flame: /n./ [Usenet] A posting ostentatiouslycorrecting a previous article's spelling as a way of casting scornon the point the article was trying to make, instead of actuallyresponding to that point (compare {dictionary flame}). Ofcourse, people who are more than usually slovenly spellers areprone to think *any* correction is a spelling flame. It's anamusing comment on human nature that spelling flames themselvesoften contain spelling errors.
:spiffy: /spi'fee/ /adj./ 1. Said of programs having apretty, clever, or exceptionally well-designed interface. "Haveyou seen the spiffy {X} version of {empire} yet?" 2. Saidsarcastically of a program that is perceived to have little morethan a flashy interface going for it. Which meaning should bedrawn depends delicately on tone of voice and context. This wordwas common mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to1.
:spike: /v./ To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a (sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result. The word is used in several industries; telephone engineers refer to spiking a relay by inserting a pin to hold the relay in either the closed or open state, and railroaders refer to spiking a track switch so that it cannot be moved. In programming environments it normally refers to a temporary change, usually for testing purposes (as opposed to a permanent change, which would be called {hardwired}).
:spin: /vi./ Equivalent to {buzz}. More common among C and Unix programmers.
:spl: /S-P-L/ [abbrev, from Set Priority Level] The way traditional Unix kernels implement mutual exclusion by running code at high interrupt levels. Used in jargon to describe the act of tuning in or tuning out ordinary communication. Classically, spl levels run from 1 to 7; "Fred's at spl 6 today" would mean that he is very hard to interrupt. "Wait till I finish this; I'll spl down then." See also {interrupts locked out}.
:splash screen: /n./ [Mac users] Syn. {banner}, sense 3.
:splat: /n./ 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others)for the asterisk (`*') character (ASCII 0101010). This mayderive from the `squashed-bug' appearance of the asterisk on manyearly line printers. 2. [MIT] Name used by some people for the`#' character (ASCII 0100011). 3. [Rochester Institute ofTechnology] The {feature key} on a Mac (same as {alt}, sense2). 4. obs. Name used by some people for the Stanford/ITS extendedASCIIcircle-xcharacter. This character is also called `blobby' and `frob',among other names; it is sometimes used by mathematicians as anotation for `tensor product'. 5. obs. Name for thesemi-mythical Stanford extended ASCIIcircle-pluscharacter. See also {{ASCII}}.
:spod: /n./ [UK] A lower form of life found on {talker system}s and {MUD}s. The spod has few friends in {RL} and uses talkers instead, finding communication easier and preferable over the net. He has all the negative traits of the {computer geek} without having any interest in computers per se. Lacking any knowledge of or interest in how networks work, and considering his access a God-given right, he is a major irritant to sysadmins, clogging up lines in order to reach new MUDs, following passed-on instructions on how to sneak his way onto Internet ("Wow! It's in America!") and complaining when he is not allowed to use busy routes. A true spod will start any conversation with "Are you male or female?" (and follow it up with "Got any good numbers/IDs/passwords?") and will not talk to someone physically present in the same terminal room until they log onto the same machine that he is using and enter talk mode. Compare {newbie}, {tourist}, {weenie}, {twink}, {terminal junkie}, {warez d00dz}.
:spoiler: /n./ [Usenet] 1. A remark which reveals important plot elements from books or movies, thus denying the reader (of the article) the proper suspense when reading the book or watching the movie. 2. Any remark which telegraphs the solution of a problem or puzzle, thus denying the reader the pleasure of working out the correct answer (see also {interesting}). Either sense readily forms compounds like `total spoiler', `quasi-spoiler' and even `pseudo-spoiler'.
By convention, articles which are spoilers in either sense should contain the word `spoiler' in the Subject: line, or guarantee via various tricks that the answer appears only after several screens-full of warning, or conceal the sensitive information via {rot13}, or some combination of these techniques.
:sponge: /n./ [Unix] A special case of a {filter} that reads its entire input before writing any output; the canonical example is a sort utility. Unlike most filters, a sponge can conveniently overwrite the input file with the output data stream. If a file system has versioning (as ITS did and VMS does now) the sponge/filter distinction loses its usefulness, because directing filter output would just write a new version. See also {slurp}.
:spool: /vi./ [from early IBM `Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line', but this acronym is widely thought to have been contrived for effect] To send files to some device or program (a `spooler') that queues them up and does something useful with them later. Without qualification, the spooler is the `print spooler' controlling output of jobs to a printer; but the term has been used in connection with other peripherals (especially plotters and graphics devices) and occasionally even for input devices. See also {demon}.
:spool file: /n./ Any file to which data is {spool}ed to await the next stage of processing. Especially used in circumstances where spooling the data copes with a mismatch between speeds in two devices or pieces of software. For example, when you send mail under Unix, it's typically copied to a spool file to await a transport {demon}'s attentions. This is borderline techspeak.
:square tape: /n./ Mainframe magnetic tape cartridges for use with IBM 3480 or compatible tape drives; or QIC tapes used on workstations and micros. The term comes from the square (actually rectangular) shape of the cartridges; contrast {round tape}.
:squirrelcide: /n./ [common on Usenet's comp.risks newsgroup.] (alt. `squirrelicide') What all too frequently happens when a squirrel decides to exercise its species's unfortunate penchant for shorting out power lines with their little furry bodies. Result: one dead squirrel, one down computer installation. In this situation, the computer system is said to have been squirrelcided.
:stack: /n./ The set of things a person has to do in the future. One speaks of the next project to be attacked as having risen to the top of the stack. "I'm afraid I've got real work to do, so this'll have to be pushed way down on my stack." "I haven't done it yet because every time I pop my stack something new gets pushed." If you are interrupted several times in the middle of a conversation, "My stack overflowed" means "I forget what we were talking about." The implication is that more items were pushed onto the stack than could be remembered, so the least recent items were lost. The usual physical example of a stack is to be found in a cafeteria: a pile of plates or trays sitting on a spring in a well, so that when you put one on the top they all sink down, and when you take one off the top the rest spring up a bit. See also {push} and {pop}.
At MIT, {pdl} used to be a more common synonym for {stack} in all these contexts, and this may still be true. Everywhere else {stack} seems to be the preferred term. {Knuth} ("The Art of Computer Programming", second edition, vol. 1, p. 236) says:
Many people who realized the importance of stacks and queues independently have given other names to these structures: stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages, cellars, nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out ("LIFO") lists, and even yo-yo lists!
:stack puke: /n./ Some processor architectures are said to `puke their guts onto the stack' to save their internal state during exception processing. The Motorola 68020, for example, regurgitates up to 92 bytes on a bus fault. On a pipelined machine, this can take a while.
:stale pointer bug: /n./ Synonym for {aliasing bug} used esp. among microcomputer hackers.
:star out: /v./ [University of York, England] To replace a user's encrypted password in /etc/passwd with a single asterisk. Under Unix this is not a legal encryption of any password; hence the user is not permitted to log in. In general, accounts like adm, news, and daemon are permanently "starred out"; occasionally a real user might have the this inflicted upon him/her as a punishment, e.g. "Graham was starred out for playing Omega in working hours". Also occasionally known as The Order Of The Gold Star in this context. "Don't do that, or you'll be awarded the Order of the Gold Star…" Compare {disusered}.
:state: /n./ 1. Condition, situation. "What's the state of your latest hack?" "It's winning away." "The system tried to read and write the disk simultaneously and got into a totally {wedged} state." The standard question "What's your state?" means "What are you doing?" or "What are you about to do?" Typical answers are "about to gronk out", or "hungry". Another standard question is "What's the state of the world?", meaning "What's new?" or "What's going on?". The more terse and humorous way of asking these questions would be "State-p?". Another way of phrasing the first question under sense 1 would be "state-p latest hack?". 2. Information being maintained in non-permanent memory (electronic or human).
:stealth manager: /n./ [Corporate DP] A manager that appearsout of nowhere, promises undeliverable software to unknown endusers, and vanishes before the programming staff realizes what hashappened. See {smoke and mirrors}.
:steam-powered: /adj./ Old-fashioned or underpowered; archaic.This term does not have a strong negative loading and may even beused semi-affectionately for something that clanks and wheezes alot but hangs in there doing the job.
:stiffy: /n./ [University of Lowell, Massachusetts.] 3.5-inch{microfloppies}, so called because their jackets are more rigidthan those of the 5.25-inch and the (now totally obsolete) 8-inchfloppy. Elsewhere this might be called a `firmy'.
:stir-fried random: /n./ (alt. `stir-fried mumble') Term usedfor the best dish of many of those hackers who can cook. Consistsof random fresh veggies and meat wokked with random spices. Tastyand economical. See {random}, {great-wall}, {ravs},{{laser chicken}}, {{oriental food}}; see also {mumble}.
:stomp on: /vt./ To inadvertently overwrite somethingimportant, usually automatically. "All the work I did thisweekend got stomped on last night by the nightly server script."Compare {scribble}, {mangle}, {trash}, {scrog},{roach}.
:Stone Age: /n.,adj./ 1. In computer folklore, an ill-defined period from ENIAC (ca. 1943) to the mid-1950s; the great age of electromechanical {dinosaur}s. Sometimes used for the entire period up to 1960—61 (see {Iron Age}); however, it is funnier and more descriptive to characterize the latter period in terms of a `Bronze Age' era of transistor-logic, pre-ferrite-{core} machines with drum or CRT mass storage (as opposed to just mercury delay lines and/or relays). See also {Iron Age}. 2. More generally, a pejorative for any crufty, ancient piece of hardware or software technology. Note that this is used even by people who were there for the {Stone Age} (sense 1).
:stone knives and bearskins: /n./ [from the Star Trek Classic episode "The City on the Edge of Forever"] A term traditionally used to describe (and deprecate) computing environments that are grotesquely primitive in light of what is known about good ways to design things. As in "Don't get too used to the facilities here. Once you leave SAIL it's stone knives and bearskins as far as the eye can see". Compare {steam-powered}.
:stoppage: /sto'p*j/ /n./ Extreme {lossage} that renders something (usually something vital) completely unusable. "The recent system stoppage was caused by a {fried} transformer."
:store: /n./ [prob. from techspeak `main store'] In some varieties of Commonwealth hackish, the preferred synonym for {core}. Thus, `bringing a program into store' means not that one is returning shrink-wrapped software but that a program is being {swap}ped in.
:strided: /stri:'d*d/ /adj./ [scientific computing] Said of a sequence of memory reads and writes to addresses, each of which is separated from the last by a constant interval called the `stride length'. These can be a worst-case access pattern for the standard memory-caching schemes when the stride length is a multiple of the cache line size. Strided references are often generated by loops through an array, and (if your data is large enough that access-time is significant) it can be worthwhile to tune for better locality by inverting double loops or by partially unrolling the outer loop of a loop nest. This usage is borderline techspeak; the related term `memory stride' is definitely techspeak.
:stroke: /n./ Common name for the slant (`/', ASCII 0101111)character. See {ASCII} for other synonyms.
:strudel: /n./ Common (spoken) name for the at-sign (`@',ASCII 1000000) character. See {ASCII} for other synonyms.
:stubroutine: /stuhb'roo-teen/ /n./ [contraction of `stub subroutine'] Tiny, often vacuous placeholder for a subroutine that is to be written or fleshed out later.
:studly: /adj./ Impressive; powerful. Said of code and designs which exhibit both complexity and a virtuoso flair. Has connotations similar to {hairy} but is more positive in tone. Often in the emphatic `most studly' or as noun-form `studliness'. "Smail 3.0's configuration parser is most studly."
:studlycaps: /stuhd'lee-kaps/ /n./ A hackish form of silliness similar to {BiCapitalization} for trademarks, but applied randomly and to arbitrary text rather than to trademarks. ThE oRigiN and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS oBscuRe.
:stunning: /adj./ Mind-bogglingly stupid. Usually used in sarcasm. "You want to code *what* in ADA? That's a … stunning idea!"
:stupid-sort: /n./ Syn. {bogo-sort}.
:Stupids: /n./ Term used by {samurai} for the {suit}s who employ them; succinctly expresses an attitude at least as common, though usually better disguised, among other subcultures of hackers. There may be intended reference here to an SF story originally published in 1952 but much anthologized since, Mark Clifton's "Star, Bright". In it, a super-genius child classifies humans into a very few `Brights' like herself, a huge majority of `Stupids', and a minority of `Tweens', the merely ordinary geniuses.
:Sturgeon's Law: /prov./ "Ninety percent of everything is crap". Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, who once said, "Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud." Oddly, when Sturgeon's Law is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to `crap'. Compare {Hanlon's Razor}, {Ninety-Ninety Rule}. Though this maxim originated in SF fandom, most hackers recognize it and are all too aware of its truth.
:sucking mud: [Applied Data Research] /adj./ (also `pumping mud') Crashed or {wedged}. Usually said of a machine that provides some service to a network, such as a file server. This Dallas regionalism derives from the East Texas oilfield lament, "Shut 'er down, Ma, she's a-suckin' mud". Often used as a query. "We are going to reconfigure the network, are you ready to suck mud?"
:sufficiently small: /adj./ Syn. {suitably small}.
:suit: /n./ 1. Ugly and uncomfortable `business clothing' often worn by non-hackers. Invariably worn with a `tie', a strangulation device that partially cuts off the blood supply to the brain. It is thought that this explains much about the behavior of suit-wearers. Compare {droid}. 2. A person who habitually wears suits, as distinct from a techie or hacker. See {loser}, {burble}, {management}, {Stupids}, {SNAFU principle}, and {brain-damaged}. English, by the way, is relatively kind; our Moscow correspondent informs us that the corresponding idiom in Russian hacker jargon is `sovok', lit. a tool for grabbing garbage.
:suitable win: /n./ See {win}.
:suitably small: /adj./ [perverted from mathematical jargon] An expression used ironically to characterize unquantifiable behavior that differs from expected or required behavior. For example, suppose a newly created program came up with a correct full-screen display, and one publicly exclaimed: "It works!" Then, if the program dumped core on the first mouse click, one might add: "Well, for suitably small values of `works'." Compare the characterization of pi under {{random numbers}}.
:sun lounge: /n./ [UK] The room where all the Sun workstations live.The humor in this term comes from the fact that it's also inmainstream use to describe a solarium, and all those Sunworkstations clustered together give off an amazing amount of heat.
:sun-stools: /n./ Unflattering hackerism for SunTools, a pre-Xwindowing environment notorious in its day for size, slowness, andmisfeatures. {X}, however, is larger and slower; see{second-system effect}.
:sunspots: /n./ 1. Notional cause of an odd error. "Why did the program suddenly turn the screen blue?" "Sunspots, I guess." 2. Also the cause of {bit rot} — from the myth that sunspots will increase {cosmic rays}, which can flip single bits in memory. See also {phase of the moon}.
:super source quench: /n./ A special packet designed to shut up an Internet host. The Internet Protocol (IP) has a control message called Source Quench that asks a host to transmit more slowly on a particular connection to avoid congestion. It also has a Redirect control message intended to instruct a host to send certain packets to a different local router. A "super source quench" is actually a redirect control packet, forged to look like it came from a local router, that instructs a host to send all packets to its own local loopback address. This will effectively tie many Internet hosts up in knots. Compare {Godzillagram}, {breath-of-life packet}.
:superloser: /n./ [Unix] A superuser with no clue — someone with root privileges on a Unix system and no idea what he/she is doing, the moral equivalent of a three-year-old with an unsafetied Uzi. Anyone who thinks this is an uncommon situation reckons without the territorial urges of {management}.
:superprogrammer: /n./ A prolific programmer; one who can code exceedingly well and quickly. Not all hackers are superprogrammers, but many are. (Productivity can vary from one programmer to another by three orders of magnitude. For example, one programmer might be able to write an average of 3 lines of working code in one day, while another, with the proper tools, might be able to write 3,000. This range is astonishing; it is matched in very few other areas of human endeavor.) The term `superprogrammer' is more commonly used within such places as IBM than in the hacker community. It tends to stress naive measures of productivity and to underweight creativity, ingenuity, and getting the job *done* — and to sidestep the question of whether the 3,000 lines of code do more or less useful work than three lines that do the {Right Thing}. Hackers tend to prefer the terms {hacker} and {wizard}.
:superuser: /n./ [Unix] Syn. {root}, {avatar}. This usage has spread to non-Unix environments; the superuser is any account with all {wheel} bits on. A more specific term than {wheel}.
:support: /n./ After-sale handholding; something many software vendors promise but few deliver. To hackers, most support people are useless — because by the time a hacker calls support he or she will usually know the software and the relevant manuals better than the support people (sadly, this is *not* a joke or exaggeration). A hacker's idea of `support' is a t^ete-`a-t^ete with the software's designer.
:surf: /v./ [from the `surf' idiom for rapidly flipping TV channels] To traverse the Internet in search of interesting stuff, used esp. if one is doing so with a World Wide Web browser. It is also common to speak of `surfing in' to a particular resource.
:Suzie COBOL: /soo'zee koh'bol/ 1. [IBM: prob. from Frank Zappa's `Suzy Creamcheese'] /n./ A coder straight out of training school who knows everything except the value of comments in plain English. Also (fashionable among personkind wishing to avoid accusations of sexism) `Sammy Cobol' or (in some non-IBM circles) `Cobol Charlie'. 2. [proposed] Meta-name for any {code grinder}, analogous to {J. Random Hacker}.
:swab: /swob/ [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 `SWAp Byte'instruction, as immortalized in the `dd(1)' option`conv=swab' (see {dd})] 1. /vt./ To solve the {NUXIproblem} by swapping bytes in a file. 2. /n./ The program in V7Unixused to perform this action, or anything functionally equivalent toit. See also {big-endian}, {little-endian},{middle-endian}, {bytesexual}.
:swap: /vt./ 1. [techspeak] To move information from a fast-access memory to a slow-access memory (`swap out'), or vice versa (`swap in'). Often refers specifically to the use of disks as `virtual memory'. As pieces of data or program are needed, they are swapped into {core} for processing; when they are no longer needed they may be swapped out again. 2. The jargon use of these terms analogizes people's short-term memories with core. Cramming for an exam might be spoken of as swapping in. If you temporarily forget someone's name, but then remember it, your excuse is that it was swapped out. To `keep something swapped in' means to keep it fresh in your memory: "I reread the TECO manual every few months to keep it swapped in." If someone interrupts you just as you got a good idea, you might say "Wait a moment while I swap this out", implying that a piece of paper is your extra-somatic memory and that if you don't swap the idea out by writing it down it will get overwritten and lost as you talk. Compare {page in}, {page out}.
:swap space: /n./ Storage space, especially temporary storage space used during a move or reconfiguration. "I'm just using that corner of the machine room for swap space."
:swapped in: /n./ See {swap}. See also {page in}.
:swapped out: /n./ See {swap}. See also {page out}.
:swizzle: /v./ To convert external names, array indices, or references within a data structure into address pointers when the data structure is brought into main memory from external storage (also called `pointer swizzling'); this may be done for speed in chasing references or to simplify code (e.g., by turning lots of name lookups into pointer dereferences). The converse operation is sometimes termed `unswizzling'. See also {snap}.
:sync: /sink/ n., /vi./ (var. `synch') 1. To synchronize, to bring into synchronization. 2. [techspeak] To force all pending I/O to the disk; see {flush}, sense 2. 3. More generally, to force a number of competing processes or agents to a state that would be `safe' if the system were to crash; thus, to checkpoint (in the database-theory sense).
:syntactic salt: /n./ The opposite of {syntactic sugar}, a feature designed to make it harder to write bad code. Specifically, syntactic salt is a hoop the programmer must jump through just to prove that he knows what's going on, rather than to express a program action. Some programmers consider required type declarations to be syntactic salt. A requirement to write `end if', `end while', `end do', etc. to terminate the last block controlled by a control construct (as opposed to just `end') would definitely be syntactic salt. Syntactic salt is like the real thing in that it tends to raise hackers' blood pressures in an unhealthy way. Compare {candygrammar}.
:syntactic sugar: /n./ [coined by Peter Landin] Features added to a language or other formalism to make it `sweeter' for humans, features which do not affect the expressiveness of the formalism (compare {chrome}). Used esp. when there is an obvious and trivial translation of the `sugar' feature into other constructs already present in the notation. C's `a[i]' notation is syntactic sugar for `*(a + i)'. "Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon." — Alan Perlis.
The variants `syntactic saccharin' and `syntactic syrup' are also recorded. These denote something even more gratuitous, in that syntactic sugar serves a purpose (making something more acceptable to humans), but syntactic saccharin or syrup serve no purpose at all. Compare {candygrammar}, {syntactic salt}.
:sys-frog: /sis'frog/ /n./ [the PLATO system] Playful variantof `sysprog', which is in turn short for `systems programmer'.
:sysadmin: /sis'ad-min/ /n./ Common contraction of `systemadmin'; see {admin}.
:sysape: /sys'ayp/ /n./ A rather derogatory term for a computer operator; a play on {sysop} common at sites that use the banana hierarchy of problem complexity (see {one-banana problem}).
:sysop: /sis'op/ /n./ [esp. in the BBS world] The operator (and usually the owner) of a bulletin-board system. A common neophyte mistake on {FidoNet} is to address a message to `sysop' in an international {echo}, thus sending it to hundreds of sysops around the world.
:system: /n./ 1. The supervisor program or OS on a computer. 2. The entire computer system, including input/output devices, the supervisor program or OS, and possibly other software. 3. Any large-scale program. 4. Any method or algorithm. 5. `System hacker': one who hacks the system (in senses 1 and 2 only; for sense 3 one mentions the particular program: e.g., `LISP hacker')
:systems jock: /n./ See {jock}, sense 2.
:system mangler: /n./ Humorous synonym for `system manager', poss. from the fact that one major IBM OS had a {root} account called SYSMANGR. Refers specifically to a systems programmer in charge of administration, software maintenance, and updates at some site. Unlike {admin}, this term emphasizes the technical end of the skills involved.
:SysVile: /sis-vi:l'/ /n./ See {Missed'em-five}.
= T = =====
:T: /T/ 1. [from LISP terminology for `true'] Yes. Used in reply to a question (particularly one asked using {The `-P' convention}). In LISP, the constant T means `true', among other things. Some Lisp hackers use `T' and `NIL' instead of `Yes' and `No' almost reflexively. This sometimes causes misunderstandings. When a waiter or flight attendant asks whether a hacker wants coffee, he may absently respond `T', meaning that he wants coffee; but of course he will be brought a cup of tea instead. Fortunately, most hackers (particularly those who frequent Chinese restaurants) like tea at least as well as coffee — so it is not that big a problem. 2. See {time T} (also {since time T equals minus infinity}). 3. [techspeak] In transaction-processing circles, an abbreviation for the noun `transaction'. 4. [Purdue] Alternate spelling of {tee}. 5. A dialect of {LISP} developed at Yale. (There is an intended allusion to NIL, "New Implementation of Lisp", another dialect of Lisp developed for the {VAX})
:tail recursion: /n./ If you aren't sick of it already, see {tail recursion}.
:talk mode: /n./ A feature supported by Unix, ITS, and some other OSes that allows two or more logged-in users to set up a real-time on-line conversation. It combines the immediacy of talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection, though conventions have arisen for some of these (see the section on writing style in the Prependices for details).
Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing, which are not used orally. Some of these are identical to (and probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs since the 1920s.
AFAIKas far as I knowBCNUbe seeing youBTWby the wayBYE?are you ready to unlink? (this is the standard way to end atalk-mode conversation; the other person types `BYE' to confirm,or else continues the conversation)CULsee you laterENQ?are you busy? (expects `ACK' or `NAK' in return)FOO?are you there? (often used on unexpected links, meaning also"Sorry if I butted in …" (linker) or "What's up?" (linkee))FWIWfor what it's worthFYIfor your informationFYAfor your amusementGAgo ahead (used when two people have tried to type simultaneously;this cedes the right to type to the other)GRMBLgrumble (expresses disquiet or disagreement)HELLOPhello? (an instance of the `-P' convention)IIRCif I recall correctlyJAMjust a minute (equivalent to `SEC….')MINsame as `JAM'NILno (see {NIL})Oover to youOOover and out/another form of "over to you" (from x/y as "x over y")\lambda (used in discussing LISPy things)OBTWoh, by the wayOTOHon the other handR U THERE?are you there?SECwait a second (sometimes written `SEC…')Tyes (see the main entry for {T})TNXthanksTNX 1.0E6thanks a million (humorous)TNXE6another form of "thanks a million"WRTwith regard to, or with respect to.WTFthe universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it means?WTHwhat the hell?
Most of the above sub-jargon is used at both Stanford and MIT.Several of these expressions are also common in {email}, esp.FYI, FYA, BTW, BCNU, WTF, and CUL. A few other abbreviations havebeen reported from commercial networks, such as GEnie andCompuServe, where on-line `live' chat including more than twopeople is common and usually involves a more `social' context,notably the following:
Most of these are not used at universities or in the Unix world, though ROTF and TTFN have gained some currency there and IMHO is common; conversely, most of the people who know these are unfamiliar with FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, {NIL}, and {T}.
The {MUD} community uses a mixture of Usenet/Internet emoticons, a few of the more natural of the old-style talk-mode abbrevs, and some of the `social' list above; specifically, MUD respondents report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF, TTFN, and WTH. The use of `rehi' is also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re- compounds and will frequently `rehug' or `rebonk' (see {bonk/oif}) people. The word `re' by itself is taken as `regreet'. In general, though, MUDders express a preference for typing things out in full rather than using abbreviations; this may be due to the relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to include many touch typists and to assume high-speed links. The following uses specific to MUDs are reported:
CU l8ersee you later (mutant of `CU l8tr')FOADfuck off and die (use of this is generally OTT)OTTover the top (excessive, uncalled for)pplabbrev for "people"THXthanks (mutant of `TNX'; clearly this comes in batches of 1138(the Lucasian K)).UOK?are you OK?
Some {B1FF}isms (notably the variant spelling `d00d')appear to be passing into wider use among some subgroups ofMUDders.
One final note on talk mode style: neophytes, when in talk mode, often seem to think they must produce letter-perfect prose because they are typing rather than speaking. This is not the best approach. It can be very frustrating to wait while your partner pauses to think of a word, or repeatedly makes the same spelling error and backs up to fix it. It is usually best just to leave typographical errors behind and plunge forward, unless severe confusion may result; in that case it is often fastest just to type "xxx" and start over from before the mistake.
See also {hakspek}, {emoticon}.
:talker system: /n./ British hackerism for software that enables real-time chat or {talk mode}.
:tall card: /n./ A PC/AT-size expansion card (these can be larger than IBM PC or XT cards because the AT case is bigger). See also {short card}. When IBM introduced the PS/2 model 30 (its last gasp at supporting the ISA) they made the case lower and many industry-standard tall cards wouldn't fit; this was felt to be a reincarnation of the {connector conspiracy}, done with less style.
:tanked: /adj./ Same as {down}, used primarily by Unix hackers. See also {hosed}. Popularized as a synonym for `drunk' by Steve Dallas in the late lamented "Bloom County" comic strip.
:TANSTAAFL: /tan'stah-fl/ [acronym, from Robert Heinlein's classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".] "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", often invoked when someone is balking at the prospect of using an unpleasantly {heavyweight} technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of free software, or at the {signal-to-noise ratio} of unmoderated Usenet newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well, TANSTAAFL you know." This phrase owes some of its popularity to the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political libertarians in hackerdom (see {A Portrait of J. Random Hacker} in Appendix B).
:tar and feather: /vi./ [from Unix `tar(1)'] To create a transportable archive from a group of files by first sticking them together with `tar(1)' (the Tape ARchiver) and then compressing the result (see {compress}). The latter action is dubbed `feathering' partly for euphony and (if only for contrived effect) by analogy to what you do with an airplane propeller to decrease wind resistance, or with an oar to reduce water resistance; smaller files, after all, slip through comm links more easily.
:taste: [primarily MIT] /n./ 1. The quality in a program that tends to be inversely proportional to the number of features, hacks, and kluges programmed into it. Also `tasty', `tasteful', `tastefulness'. "This feature comes in N tasty flavors." Although `tasty' and `flavorful' are essentially synonyms, `taste' and {flavor} are not. Taste refers to sound judgment on the part of the creator; a program or feature can *exhibit* taste but cannot *have* taste. On the other hand, a feature can have {flavor}. Also, {flavor} has the additional meaning of `kind' or `variety' not shared by `taste'. The marked sense of {flavor} is more popular than `taste', though both are widely used. See also {elegant}. 2. Alt. sp. of {tayste}.
:tayste: /tayst/ /n./ Two bits; also as {taste}. Syn. {crumb}, {quarter}. See {nybble}.
:TCB: /T-C-B/ /n./ [IBM] 1. Trouble Came Back. An intermittent or difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to respond to neglect or {shotgun debugging}. Compare {heisenbug}. Not to be confused with: 2. Trusted Computing Base, an `official' jargon term from the {Orange Book}.
:TCP/IP: /T'C-P I'P/ /n./ 1. [Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol] The wide-area-networking protocol that makes the Internet work, and the only one most hackers can speak the name of without laughing or retching. Unlike such allegedly `standard' competitors such as X.25, DECnet, and the ISO 7-layer stack, TCP/IP evolved primarily by actually being *used*, rather than being handed down from on high by a vendor or a heavily-politicized standards committee. Consequently, it (a) works, (b) actually promotes cheap cross-platform connectivity, and (c) annoys the hell out of corporate and governmental empire-builders everywhere. Hackers value all three of these properties. See {creationism}. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio] Sometimes expanded as "The Crap Phil Is Pushing". The reference is to Phil Karn, KA9Q, and the context is an ongoing technical/political war between the majority of sites still running AX.25 and a growing minority of TCP/IP relays.
:tea, ISO standard cup of: /n./ [South Africa] A cup of tea with milk and one teaspoon of sugar, where the milk is poured into the cup before the tea. Variations are ISO 0, with no sugar; ISO 2, with two spoons of sugar; and so on.
Like many ISO standards, this one has a faintly alien ring in North America, where hackers generally shun the decadent British practice of adulterating perfectly good tea with dairy products and prefer instead to add a wedge of lemon, if anything. If one were feeling extremely silly, one might hypothesize an analogous `ANSI standard cup of tea' and wind up with a political situation distressingly similar to several that arise in much more serious technical contexts. Milk and lemon don't mix very well.
:TechRef: /tek'ref/ /n./ [MS-DOS] The original "IBM PC Technical Reference Manual", including the BIOS listing and complete schematics for the PC. The only PC documentation in the original-issue package that was considered serious by real hackers.
:TECO: /tee'koh/ /n.,v. obs./ 1. [originally an acronym for`[paper] Tape Editor and COrrector'; later, `Text Editor andCOrrector'] /n./ A text editor developed at MIT and modified byjustabout everybody. With all the dialects included, TECO may havebeen the most prolific editor in use before {EMACS}, to which itwas directly ancestral. Noted for its powerfulprogramming-language-like features and its unspeakably hairysyntax. It is literally the case that every string of charactersis a valid TECO program (though probably not a useful one); onecommon game used to be mentally working out what the TECO commandscorresponding to human names did. 2. /vt./ Originally, to editusingthe TECO editor in one of its infinite variations (see below).3. vt.,obs. To edit even when TECO is *not* the editor beingused! This usage is rare and now primarily historical.
As an example of TECO's obscurity, here is a TECO program thattakes a list of names such as:
Loser, J. RandomQuux, The GreatDick, Moby
sorts them alphabetically according to surname, and then puts thesurname last, removing the comma, to produce the following:
Moby DickJ. Random LoserThe Great Quux
The program is
[1 J^P$L$$J <.-Z; .,(S,$ -D .)FX1 @F^B $K :L I $ G1 L>$$
(where ^B means `Control-B' (ASCII 0000010) and $ is actually an {alt} or escape (ASCII 0011011) character).
In fact, this very program was used to produce the second, sorted list from the first list. The first hack at it had a {bug}: GLS (the author) had accidentally omitted the `@' in front of `F^B', which as anyone can see is clearly the {Wrong Thing}. It worked fine the second time. There is no space to describe all the features of TECO, but it may be of interest that `^P' means `sort' and `J<.-Z; … L>' is an idiomatic series of commands for `do once for every line'.
In mid-1991, TECO is pretty much one with the dust of history, having been replaced in the affections of hackerdom by {EMACS}. Descendants of an early (and somewhat lobotomized) version adopted by DEC can still be found lurking on VMS and a couple of crufty PDP-11 operating systems, however, and ports of the more advanced MIT versions remain the focus of some antiquarian interest. See also {retrocomputing}, {write-only language}.
:tee: /n.,vt./ [Purdue] A carbon copy of an electronic transmission. "Oh, you're sending him the {bits} to that? Slap on a tee for me." From the Unix command `tee(1)', itself named after a pipe fitting (see {plumbing}). Can also mean `save one for me', as in "Tee a slice for me!" Also spelled `T'.
:teledildonics: /tel`*-dil-do'-niks/ /n./ Sex in a computer simulated virtual reality, esp. computer-mediated sexual interaction between the {VR} presences of two humans. This practice is not yet possible except in the rather limited form of erotic conversation on {MUD}s and the like. The term, however, is widely recognized in the VR community as a {ha ha only serious} projection of things to come. "When we can sustain a multi-sensory surround good enough for teledildonics, *then* we'll know we're getting somewhere." See also {hot chat}.
:Telerat: /tel'*-rat/ /n. obs./ Unflattering hackerism for`Teleray', a now-extinct line of extremely losing terminals.Compare {AIDX}, {Macintrash} {Nominal Semidestructor},{Open DeathTrap}, {ScumOS}, {sun-stools}, {HP-SUX}.
:TELNET: /tel'net/ /vt./ (also commonly lowercased as `telnet') To communicate with another Internet host using the TELNET ({RFC} 854) protocol (usually using a program of the same name). TOPS-10 people used the word IMPCOM, since that was the program name for them. Sometimes abbreviated to TN /T-N/. "I usually TN over to SAIL just to read the AP News."
:ten-finger interface: /n./ The interface between two networks that cannot be directly connected for security reasons; refers to the practice of placing two terminals side by side and having an operator read from one and type into the other.
:tense: /adj./ Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense piece of code often got that way because it was highly {bum}med, but sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at CMU: "This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes." A tense programmer is one who produces tense code.
:tentacle: /n./ A covert {pseudo}, sense 1. An artificial identity created in cyberspace for nefarious and deceptive purposes. The implication is that a single person may have multiple tentacles. This term was originally floated in some paranoid ravings on the cypherpunks list (see {cypherpunk}), and adopted in a spirit of irony by other, saner members. It has since shown up, used seriously, in the documentation for some remailer software, and is now (1994) widely recognized on the net.
:tenured graduate student: /n./ One who has been in graduate school for 10 years (the usual maximum is 5 or 6): a `ten-yeared' student (get it?). Actually, this term may be used of any grad student beginning in his seventh year. Students don't really get tenure, of course, the way professors do, but a tenth-year graduate student has probably been around the university longer than any untenured professor.
:tera-: /te'r*/ /pref./ [SI] See {{quantifiers}}.
:teraflop club: /te'r*-flop kluhb/ /n./ [FLOP = Floating Point Operation] A mythical association of people who consume outrageous amounts of computer time in order to produce a few simple pictures of glass balls with intricate ray-tracing techniques. Caltech professor James Kajiya is said to have been the founder. Compare {Knights of the Lambda Calculus}.
:terminak: /ter'mi-nak`/ /n./ [Caltech, ca. 1979] Any malfunctioning computer terminal. A common failure mode of Lear-Siegler ADM 3a terminals caused the `L' key to produce the `K' code instead; complaints about this tended to look like "Terminak #3 has a bad keyboard. Pkease fix." Compare {dread high-bit disease}, {frogging}; see also {AIDX}, {Nominal Semidestructor}, {Open DeathTrap}, {ScumOS}, {sun-stools}, {Telerat}, {HP-SUX}.
:terminal brain death: /n./ The extreme form of {terminalillness} (sense 1). What someone who has obviously been hackingcontinuously for far too long is said to be suffering from.
:terminal illness: /n./ 1. Syn. {raster burn}. 2. The`burn-in' condition your CRT tends to get if you don't have ascreen saver.
:terminal junkie: /n./ [UK] A {wannabee} or early {larval stage} hacker who spends most of his or her time wandering the directory tree and writing {noddy} programs just to get a fix of computer time. Variants include `terminal jockey', `console junkie', and {console jockey}. The term `console jockey' seems to imply more expertise than the other three (possibly because of the exalted status of the {{console}} relative to an ordinary terminal). See also {twink}, {read-only user}.
:terpri: /ter'pree/ /vi./ [from LISP 1.5 (and later,MacLISP)] To output a {newline}. Now rare as jargon, thoughstill used as techspeak in Common LISP. It is a contraction of`TERminate PRInt line', named for the fact that, on some early OSesand hardware, no characters would be printed until a complete linewas formed, so this operation terminated the line and emitted theoutput.
:test: /n./ 1. Real users bashing on a prototype long enough toget thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful monitoring andfollowup of the results. 2. Some bored random user trying a coupleof the simpler features with a developer looking over his or hershoulder, ready to pounce on mistakes. Judging by the quality ofmost software, the second definition is far more prevalent. Seealso {demo}.
:TeX:: /tekh/ /n./An extremely powerful {macro}-based text formatter written byDonald E. {Knuth}, very popular in the computer-sciencecommunity (it is good enough to have displaced Unix {{troff}}, theother favored formatter, even at many Unix installations). TeXfans insist on the correct (guttural) pronunciation, and thecorrect spelling (all caps, squished together, with the E depressedbelow the baseline; the mixed-case `TeX' is considered anacceptable kluge on ASCII-only devices). Fans like to proliferatenames from the word `TeX' — such as TeXnician (TeXuser), TeXhacker (TeX programmer), TeXmaster (competentTeX programmer), TeXhax, and TeXnique. See also{CrApTeX}.
Knuth began TeX because he had become annoyed at the declining quality of the typesetting in volumes I—III of his monumental "Art of Computer Programming" (see {Knuth}, also {bible}). In a manifestation of the typical hackish urge to solve the problem at hand once and for all, he began to design his own typesetting language. He thought he would finish it on his sabbatical in 1978; he was wrong by only about 8 years. The language was finally frozen around 1985, but volume IV of "The Art of Computer Programming" is not expected to appear until 2002. The impact and influence of TeX's design has been such that nobody minds this very much. Many grand hackish projects have started as a bit of {toolsmith}ing on the way to something else; Knuth's diversion was simply on a grander scale than most.
TeX has also been a noteworthy example of free, shared, but high-quality software. Knuth used to offer monetary awards to people who found and reported bugs in it; as the years wore on and the few remaining bugs were fixed (and new ones even harder to find), the bribe went up. Though well-written, TeX is so large (and so full of cutting edge technique) that it is said to have unearthed at least one bug in every Pascal system it has been compiled with.
:text: /n./ 1. [techspeak] Executable code, esp. a `pure code' portion shared between multiple instances of a program running in a multitasking OS. Compare {English}. 2. Textual material in the mainstream sense; data in ordinary {{ASCII}} or {{EBCDIC}} representation (see {flat-ASCII}). "Those are text files; you can review them using the editor." These two contradictory senses confuse hackers, too.
:thanks in advance: [Usenet] Conventional net.politenessending a posted request for information or assistance. Sometimeswritten `advTHANKSance' or `aTdHvAaNnKcSe' or abbreviated `TIA'.See {net.-}, {netiquette}.
:That's not a bug, that's a feature!: The {canonical}first parry in a debate about a purported bug. The complainant, ifunconvinced, is likely to retort that the bug is then at best a{misfeature}. See also {feature}.
:the X that can be Y is not the true X: Yet another instance of hackerdom's peculiar attraction to mystical references — a common humorous way of making exclusive statements about a class of things. The template is from the "Tao te Ching": "The Tao which can be spoken of is not the true Tao." The implication is often that the X is a mystery accessible only to the enlightened. See the {trampoline} entry for an example, and compare {has the X nature}.