, Next:
orphan
, Previous:
Orange Book
, Up:
= O =
oriental foodn.
Hackers display an intense tropism towards oriental cuisine, especially Chinese, and especially of the spicier varieties such as Szechuan and Hunan. This phenomenon (which has also been observed in subcultures that overlap heavily with hackerdom, most notably science-fiction fandom) has never been satisfactorily explained, but is sufficiently intense that one can assume the target of a hackish dinner expedition to be the best local Chinese place and be right at least three times out of four. See alsoravs,great-wall,stir-fried random,laser chicken,Yu-Shiang Whole Fish. Thai, Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese cuisines are also quite popular.
Node:
orphan
, Next:
orphaned i-node
, Previous:
oriental food
, Up:
= O =
orphann.
[Unix] A process whose parent has died; one inherited byinit(1). Comparezombie.
Node:
orphaned i-node
, Next:
orthogonal
, Previous:
orphan
, Up:
= O =
orphaned i-node/or'f*nd i:'nohd/ n.
[Unix] 1. [techspeak] A file that retains storage but no longer appears in the directories of a filesystem. 2. By extension, a pejorative for any person no longer serving a useful function within some organization, esp.lion foodwithout subordinates.
Node:
orthogonal
, Next:
OS
, Previous:
orphaned i-node
, Up:
= O =
orthogonaladj.
[from mathematics] Mutually independent; well separated; sometimes, irrelevant to. Used in a generalization of its mathematical meaning to describe sets of primitives or capabilities that, like a vector basis in geometry, span the entire `capability space' of the system and are in some sense non-overlapping or mutually independent. For example, in architectures such as the PDP-11 or VAX where all or nearly all registers can be used interchangeably in any role with respect to any instruction, the register set is said to be orthogonal. Or, in logic, the set of operators `not' and `or' is orthogonal, but the set `nand', `or', and `not' is not (because any one of these can be expressed in terms of the others). Also used in comments on human discourse: "This may be orthogonal to the discussion, but...."
Node:
OS
, Next:
OS/2
, Previous:
orthogonal
, Up:
= O =
OS/O-S/
1. [Operating System] n. An abbreviation heavily used in email, occasionally in speech. 2. n. obs. On ITS, an output spy. See "OS and JEDGAR" in Appendix A.
Node:
OS/2
, Next:
OSS
, Previous:
OS
, Up:
= O =
OS/2/O S too/ n.
The anointed successor to MS-DOS for Intel 286- and 386-based micros; proof that IBM/Microsoft couldn't get it right the second time, either. Often called `Half-an-OS'. Mentioning it is usually good for a cheap laugh among hackers -- the design was sobaroque, and the implementation of 1.x so bad, that 3 years after introduction you could still count the majorapps shipping for it on the fingers of two hands -- in unary. The 2.x versions are said to have improved somewhat, and informed hackers now rate them superior to Microsoft Windows (an endorsement which, however, could easily be construed as damning with faint praise). Seemonstrosity,cretinous,second-system effect.
Node:
OSS
, Next:
OSU
, Previous:
OS/2
, Up:
= O =
OSS
Written-only acronym for "Open Source Software" (seeopen source. This is a rather uglyTLA, and the principals in the open-source movement don't use it, but it has (perhaps inevitably) spread through the trade press like kudzu.
Node:
OSU
, Next:
OTOH
, Previous:
OSS
, Up:
= O =
OSU/O-S-U/ n. obs.
[TMRC] Acronym for Officially Sanctioned User; a user who is recognized as such by the computer authorities and allowed to use the computer above the objections of the security monitor.
Node:
OTOH
, Next:
out-of-band
, Previous:
OSU
, Up:
= O =
OTOH//
[Usenet; very common] On The Other Hand.
Node:
out-of-band
, Next:
overclock
, Previous:
OTOH
, Up:
= O =
out-of-bandadj.
[from telecommunications and network theory] 1. In software, describes values of a function which are not in its `natural' range of return values, but are rather signals that some kind of exception has occurred. Many C functions, for example, return a nonnegative integral value, but indicate failure with an out-of-band return value of -1. Comparehidden flag,green bytes,fence. 2. Also sometimes used to describe what communications people call `shift characters', such as the ESC that leads control sequences for many terminals, or the level shift indicators in the old 5-bit Baudot codes. 3. In personal communication, using methods other than email, such as telephones orsnail-mail.
Node:
overclock
, Next:
overflow bit
, Previous:
out-of-band
, Up:
= O =
overclock/oh'vr-klok'/ vt.
To operate a CPU or other digital logic device at a rate higher than it was designed for, under the assumption that the manufacturer put someslopinto the specification to account for manufacturing tolerances. Overclocking something can result in intermittentcrashes, and can even burn things out, since power dissipation is directly proportional toclockfrequency. People who make a hobby of this are sometimes called "overclockers"; they are thrilled that they can run their 450MHz CPU at 500MHz, even though they can only tell the difference by running abenchmarkprogram.
Node:
overflow bit
, Next:
overflow pdl
, Previous:
overclock
, Up:
= O =
overflow bitn.
1. [techspeak] Aflagon some processors indicating an attempt to calculate a result too large for a register to hold. 2. More generally, an indication of any kind of capacity overload condition. "Well, theAdadescription wasbaroqueall right, but I could hack it OK until they got to the exception handling...that set my overflow bit." 3. The hypothetical bit that will be set if a hacker doesn't get to make a trip to the Room of Porcelain Fixtures: "I'd better process an internal interrupt before the overflow bit gets set."
Node:
overflow pdl
, Next:
overrun
, Previous:
overflow bit
, Up:
= O =
overflow pdln.
[MIT] The place where you put things when yourPDLis full. If you don't have one and too many things get pushed, you forget something. The overflow pdl for a person's memory might be a memo pad. This usage inspired the following doggerel:
Hey, diddle, diddleThe overflow pdlTo get a little more stack;If that's not enoughThen you lose it all,And have to pop all the way back.-The Great Quux
The term `pdl' (seePDL) seems to be primarily an MITism; outside MIT this term is replaced by `overflowstack' (but that wouldn't rhyme with `diddle').
Node:
overrun
, Next:
overrun screw
, Previous:
overflow pdl
, Up:
= O =
overrunn.
1. [techspeak] Term for a frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, esp. in serial line communications. For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if asilocan hold only two characters and the machine takes longer than 2 msec to get to service the interrupt, at least one character will be lost. 2. Also applied to non-serial-I/O communications. "I forgot to pay my electric bill due to mail overrun." "Sorry, I got four phone calls in 3 minutes last night and lost your message to overrun." Whenthrashing at tasks, the next person to make a request might be told "Overrun!" Comparefirehose syndrome. 3. More loosely, may refer to abuffer overflownot necessarily related to processing time (as inoverrun screw).
Node:
overrun screw
, Next:
P-mail
, Previous:
overrun
, Up:
= O =
overrun screwn.
[C programming] A variety offandango on coreproduced by scribbling past the end of an array (C implementations typically have no checks for this error). This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the array is static; if it is auto, the result may be tosmash the stack-- often resulting inheisenbugs of the most diabolical subtlety. The term `overrun screw' is used esp. of scribbles beyond the end of arrays allocated withmalloc(3); this typically trashes the allocation header for the next block in thearena, producing massive lossage within malloc and often a core dump on the next operation to usestdio(3)ormalloc(3)itself. Seespam,overrun; see alsomemory leak,memory smash,aliasing bug,precedence lossage,fandango on core,secondary damage.
Node:
= P =
, Next:
= Q =
, Previous:
= O =
, Up:
The Jargon Lexicon
Node:
P-mail
, Next:
P.O.D.
, Previous:
overrun screw