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prettyprint/prit'ee-print/ v.
(alt. `pretty-print') 1. To generate `pretty' human-readable output from ahairyinternal representation; esp. used for the process ofgrinding (sense 1) program code, and most esp. for LISP code. 2. To format in some particularly slick and nontrivial way.
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pretzel key
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priesthood
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prettyprint
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pretzel keyn.
[Mac users] Seefeature key.
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priesthood
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prime time
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pretzel key
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priesthoodn. obs.
[TMRC] The select group of system managers responsible for the operation and maintenance of a batch operated computer system. On these computers, a user never had direct access to a computer, but had to submit his/her data and programs to a priest for execution. Results were returned days or even weeks later. Seeacolyte.
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prime time
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priesthood
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prime timen.
[from TV programming] Normal high-usage hours on a system or network. Back in the days of big timesharing machines `prime time' was when lots of people were competing for limited cycles, usually the day shift. Avoidance of prime time was traditionally given as a major reason fornight modehacking. The term fell into disuse during the early PC era, but has been revived to refer to times of day or evening at which the Internet tends to be heavily loaded, making Web access slow. The hackish tendency to late-nighthacking runs has changed not a bit.
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printing discussion
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prime time
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printv.
To output, even if to a screen. If a hacker says that a program "printed a message", he means this; if he refers to printing a file, he probably means it in the conventional sense of writing to a hardcopy device (compounds like `print job' and `printout', on the other hand, always refer to the latter). This very common term is likely a holdover from the days when printing terminals were the norm, perpetuated by programming language constructs likeC's printf(3). See senses 1 and 2 oftty.
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printing discussion
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priority interrupt
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printing discussionn.
[XEROX PARC] A protracted, low-level, time-consuming, generally pointless discussion of something only peripherally interesting to all.
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priority interrupt
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profile
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printing discussion
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priority interruptn.
[from the hardware term] Describes any stimulus compelling enough to yank one right out ofhack mode. Classically used to describe being dragged away by anSOfor immediate sex, but may also refer to more mundane interruptions such as a fire alarm going off in the near vicinity. Also called anNMI(non-maskable interrupt), especially in PC-land.
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profile
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progasm
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priority interrupt
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profilen.
1. A control file for a program, esp. a text file automatically read from each user's home directory and intended to be easily modified by the user in order to customize the program's behavior. Used to avoidhardcodedchoices (see alsodot file,rc file). 2. [techspeak] A report on the amounts of time spent in each routine of a program, used to find andtuneaway thehot spots in it. This sense is often verbed. Some profiling modes report units other than time (such as call counts) and/or report at granularities other than per-routine, but the idea is similar. 3.[techspeak] A subset of a standard used for a particular purpose. This sense confuses hackers who wander into the weird world of ISO standards no end!
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progasm
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proggy
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profile
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progasm/proh'gaz-m/ n.
[University of Wisconsin] The euphoria experienced upon the completion of a program or other computer-related project.
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proggy
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proglet
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progasm
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proggyn.
1. Any computer program that is considered a full application. 2. Any computer program that is made up of or otherwise containsproglets. 3. Any computer program that is large enough to be normally distributed as an RPM ortarball.
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proglet
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program
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proggy
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proglet/prog'let/ n.
[UK] A shortextemporeprogram written to meet an immediate, transient need. Often written in BASIC, rarely more than a dozen lines long, and containing no subroutines. The largest amount of code that can be written off the top of one's head, that does not need any editing, and that runs correctly the first time (this amount varies significantly according to one's skill and the language one is using). Comparetoy program,noddy,one-liner wars.
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program
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Programmer's Cheer
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proglet
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programn.
1. A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to turn one's input into error messages. 2. An exercise in experimental epistemology. 3. A form of art, ostensibly intended for the instruction of computers, which is nevertheless almost inevitably a failure if other programmers can't understand it.
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Programmer's Cheer
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programming
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program
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Programmer's Cheer
"Shift to the left! Shift to the right! Pop up, push down! Byte! Byte! Byte!" A joke so old it has hair on it.
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programming
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programming fluid
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Programmer's Cheer
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programmingn.
1. The art of debugging a blank sheet of paper (or, in these days of on-line editing, the art of debugging an empty file). "Bloody instructions which, being taught, return to plague their inventor" ("Macbeth", Act 1, Scene 7) 2. A pastime similar to banging one's head against a wall, but with fewer opportunities for reward. 3. The most fun you can have with your clothes on. 4. The least fun you can have with your clothes off.
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programming fluid
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propeller head
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programming
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programming fluidn.
1. Coffee. 2. Cola. 3. Any caffeinacious stimulant. Many hackers consider these essential for those all-night hacking runs. Seewirewater.
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propeller head
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propeller key
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programming fluid
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propeller headn.
Used by hackers, this is syn. withcomputer geek. Non-hackers sometimes use it to describe all techies. Prob. derives from SF fandom's tradition (originally invented by old-time fan Ray Faraday Nelson) of propeller beanies as fannish insignia (though nobody actually wears them except as a joke).
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propeller key
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proprietary
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propeller head
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propeller keyn.
[Mac users] Seefeature key.
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proprietary
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protocol
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proprietaryadj.
1. Inmarketroid-speak, superior; implies a product imbued with exclusive magic by the unmatched brilliance of the company's own hardware or software designers. 2. In the language of hackers and users, inferior; implies a product not conforming to open-systems standards, and thus one that puts the customer at the mercy of a vendor able to gouge freely on service and upgrade charges after the initial sale has locked the customer in. Often in the phrase "proprietary crap". 3. Synonym for closed-source, e.g. software issued in binary without source and under a restructive license.
Since the coining of the termopen source, many hackers have made a conscious effort to distinguish between `proprietary' and `commercial' software. It is possible for software to be commercial (that is, intended to make a profit for the producers) without being proprietary. The reverse is also possible, for example in binary-only freeware.
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protocol
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provocative maintenance
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protocoln.
As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties about the proper form for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or the order in which one should use the forks in a Russian-style place setting; hackers don't care about such things. It is used instead to describe any set of rules that allow different machines or pieces of software to coordinate with each other without ambiguity. So, for example, it does include niceties about the proper form for addressing packets on a network or the order in which one should use the forks in the Dining Philosophers Problem. It implies that there is some common message format and an accepted set of primitives or commands that all parties involved understand, and that transactions among them follow predictable logical sequences. See alsohandshaking,do protocol.
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provocative maintenance
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prowler
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protocol
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provocative maintenancen.
[common ironic mutation of `preventive maintenance'] Actions performed upon a machine at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure that the system remains in a usable state. So called because it is all too often performed by afield servoidwho doesn't know what he is doing; such `maintenance' ofteninducesproblems, or otherwise results in the machine's remaining in anunusable state for an indeterminate amount of time. See alsoscratch monkey.
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prowler
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pseudo
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prowlern.
[Unix] Adaemonthat is run periodically (typically once a week) to seek out and erasecorefiles, truncate administrative logfiles, nukelost+founddirectories, and otherwise clean up thecruftthat tends to pile up in the corners of a file system. See alsoGFR,reaper,skulker.
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pseudo
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pseudoprime
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pseudo/soo'doh/ n.
[Usenet: truncation of `pseudonym'] 1. An electronic-mail orUsenetpersona adopted by a human for amusement value or as a means of avoiding negative repercussions of one's net.behavior; a `nom de Usenet', often associated with forged postings designed to conceal message origins. Perhaps the best-known and funniest hoax of this type isB1FF. See alsotentacle. 2. Notionally, aflamage-generating AI program simulating a Usenet user. Many flamers have been accused of actually being such entities, despite the fact that no AI program of the required sophistication yet exists. However, in 1989 there was a famous series of forged postings that used a phrase-frequency-based travesty generator to simulate the styles of several well-known flamers; it was based on large samples of their back postings (compareDissociated Press). A significant number of people were fooled by the forgeries, and the debate over their authenticity was settled only when the perpetrator came forward to publicly admit the hoax.
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pseudoprime
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pseudosuit
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pseudo
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pseudoprimen.
A backgammon prime (six consecutive occupied points) with one point missing. This term is an esoteric pun derived from number theory: a number that passes a certain kind of "primality test" may be called a `pseudoprime' (all primes pass any such test, but so do some composite numbers), and any number that passes several is, in some sense, almost certainly prime. The hacker backgammon usage stems from the idea that a pseudoprime is almost as good as a prime: it will do the same job unless you are unlucky.
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pseudosuit
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psychedelicware
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pseudosuit/soo'doh-s[y]oot`/ n.
Asuitwannabee; a hacker who has decided that he wants to be in management or administration and begins wearing ties, sport coats, and (shudder!) suits voluntarily. It's his funeral. See alsolobotomy.
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psychedelicware
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psyton
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pseudosuit
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psychedelicware/si:`k*-del'-ik-weir/ n.
[UK] Syn.display hack. See alsosmoking clover.
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psyton
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pubic directory
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psychedelicware
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psyton/si:'ton/ n.
[TMRC] The elementary particle carrying the sinister force. The probability of a process losing is proportional to the number of psytons falling on it. Psytons are generated by observers, which is why demos are more likely to fail when lots of people are watching. [This term appears to have been largely superseded bybogon; see alsoquantum bogodynamics. --ESR]
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pubic directory
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puff
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pubic directory/pyoob'ik d*-rek't*-ree/) n.
[NYU] (also `pube directory' /pyoob' d*-rek't*-ree/) The `pub' (public) directory on a machine that allowsFTPaccess. So called because it is the default location forSEX(sense 1). "I'll have the source in the pube directory by Friday."
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puff
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pumpkin holder
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pubic directory
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puffvt.
To decompress data that has been crunched by Huffman coding. At least one widely distributed Huffman decoder program was actuallynamed`PUFF', but these days it is usually packaged with the encoder. Opposehuff, seeinflate.
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pumpkin holder
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pumpking