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segmentation fault
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segv
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segment
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= S =
segmentation faultn.
[Unix] 1. [techspeak] An error in which a running program attempts to access memory not allocated to it andcore dumps with a segmentation violation error. This is often caused by improper usage of pointers in the source code, dereferencing a null pointer, or (in C) inadvertently using a non-pointer variable as a pointer. The classic example is:
int i;scanf ("%d", i); /* should have used &i */
2. To lose a train of thought or a line of reasoning. Also uttered as an exclamation at the point of befuddlement.
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segv
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self-reference
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segmentation fault
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segv/seg'vee/ n.,vi.
Yet another synonym forsegmentation fault(actually, in this case, `segmentation violation').
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self-reference
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selvage
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segv
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= S =
self-referencen.
Seeself-reference.
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selvage
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semi
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self-reference
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= S =
selvage/sel'v*j/ n.
[from sewing and weaving] Seechad(sense 1).
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semi
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semi-automated
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selvage
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= S =
semi/se'mee/ or /se'mi:/
1. n. Abbreviation for `semicolon', when speaking. "Commands togrindare prefixed by semi-semi-star" means that the prefix is;;*, not 1/4 of a star. 2. A prefix used with words such as `immediately' as a qualifier. "When is the system coming up?" "Semi-immediately." (That is, maybe not for an hour.) "We did consider that possibility semi-seriously." See alsoinfinite.
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semi-automated
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semi-infinite
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semi
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semi-automatedadj.
[US Geological Survey] A procedure that has yet to be completely automated; it still requires a smidge of clueful human interaction. Semi-automated programs usually come with written-out operator instructions that are worth their weight in gold - without them, very nasty things can happen. At USGS semi-automated programs are often referred to as "semi-automated weapons".
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semi-infinite
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senior bit
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semi-automated
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= S =
semi-infiniten.
Seeinfinite.
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senior bit
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September that never ended
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semi-infinite
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= S =
senior bitn.
[IBM; rare] Syn.meta bit.
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September that never ended
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server
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senior bit
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= S =
September that never ended
All time since September 1993. One of the seasonal rhythms of the Usenet used to be the annual September influx of clueless newbies who, lacking any sense ofnetiquette, made a general nuisance of themselves. This coincided with people starting college, getting their first internet accounts, and plunging in without bothering to learn what was acceptable. These relatively small drafts of newbies could be assimilated within a few months. But in September 1993, AOL users became able to post to Usenet, nearly overwhelming the old-timers' capacity to acculturate them; to those who nostalgically recall the period before hand, this triggered an inexorable decline in the quality of discussions on newsgroups. See alsoAOL!.
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server
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SEX
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September that never ended
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servern.
A kind ofdaemonthat performs a service for the requester and which often runs on a computer other than the one on which the server runs. A particularly common term on the Internet, which is rife with `web servers', `name servers', `domain servers', `news servers', `finger servers', and the like.
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SEX
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sex changer
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server
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SEX/seks/
[Sun Users' Group & elsewhere] n. 1. Software EXchange. A technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow up until then. Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and others (of course, these are no longer limited to exchanges of genetic software). In general, SEX parties are aGood Thing, but unprotected SEX can propagate avirus. See alsopubic directory. 2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend, a machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many other architectures. The RCA 1802 chip used in the early Elf and SuperElf personal computers had a `SEt X register' SEX instruction, but this seems to have had little folkloric impact. The Data General instruction set also hadSEX.
DEC's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler that used theSEXmnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once) marketing wasn't asleep and forced a change. That wasn't the last time this happened, either. The author of "The Intel 8086 Primer", who was one of the original designers of the 8086, noted that there was originally aSEXinstruction on that processor, too. He says that Intel management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and thus the instruction was renamedCBWandCWD(depending on what was being extended). Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the microcontroller used in IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straightSEXbut has logical-or and logical-and instructionsORLandANL.
The Motorola 6809, used in the Radio Shack Color Computer and in U.K.'s `Dragon 32' personal computer, actually had an officialSEXinstruction; the 6502 in the Apple II with which it competed did not. British hackers thought this made perfect mythic sense; after all, it was commonly observed, you could (on some theoretical level) have sex with a dragon, but you can't have sex with an apple.
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sex changer
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shambolic link
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SEX
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= S =
sex changern.
Syn.gender mender.
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shambolic link
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shar file
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sex changer
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shambolic link/sham-bol'ik link/ n.
A Unix symbolic link, particularly when it confuses you, points to nothing at all, or results in your ending up in some completely unexpected part of the filesystem....
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shar file
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sharchive
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shambolic link
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= S =
shar file/shar' fi:l/ n.
Syn.sharchive.
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sharchive
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Share and enjoy!
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shar file
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= S =
sharchive/shar'ki:v/ n.
[Unix and Usenet; from /bin/sh archive] Aflattened representation of a set of one or more files, with the unique property that it can be unflattened (the original files restored) by feeding it through a standard Unix shell; thus, a sharchive can be distributed to anyone running Unix, and no special unpacking software is required. Sharchives are also intriguing in that they are typically created by shell scripts; the script that produces sharchives is thus a script which produces self-unpacking scripts, which may themselves contain scripts. (The downsides of sharchives are that they are an ideal venue forTrojan horseattacks and that, for recipients not running Unix, no simple un-sharchiving program is possible; sharchives can and do make use of arbitrarily-powerful shell features.) Sharchives are also commonly referred to as `shar files' after the name of the most common program for generating them.
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Share and enjoy!
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shareware
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sharchive
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Share and enjoy!imp.
1. Commonly found at the end of software release announcements andREADME files, this phrase indicates allegiance to the hacker ethic of free information sharing (seehacker ethic, sense 1). 2. The motto of the complaints division of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation (the ultimate gaggle of incompetentsuits) in Douglas Adams's "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The irony of using this as a cultural recognition signal appeals to hackers.
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shareware
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sharing violation
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Share and enjoy!
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shareware/sheir'weir/ n.
A kind offreeware(sense 1) for which the author requests some payment, usually in the accompanying documentation files or in an announcement made by the software itself. Such payment may or may not buy additional support or functionality. See alsocareware,charityware,crippleware,FRS,guiltware,postcardware, and-ware; comparepayware.
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sharing violation
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shebang
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shareware
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sharing violation
[From a file error common to severalOSs] A response to receiving information, typically of an excessively personal nature, that you were probably happier not knowing. "You know those little noises that Pat makes in bed..?" "Whoa! Sharing violation!" In contrast to the original file error, which indicated that you werenotbeing given data that youdidwant.
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shebang
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shelfware
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sharing violation
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= S =
shebang/sh*-bang/ n.
The character sequence "#!" that frequently begins executable shell scripts under Unix. Probably derived from "shell bang" under the influence of American slang "the whole shebang" (everything, the works).
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shelfware
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shell
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shebang
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shelfware/shelf'weir/ n.
Software purchased on a whim (by an individual user) or in accordance with policy (by a corporation or government agency), but not actually required for any particular use. Therefore, it often ends up on some shelf.
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shell
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shell out
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shelfware
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= S =
shell[orig.Multicsn.
techspeak, widely propagated via Unix] 1. [techspeak] The command interpreter used to pass commands to an operating system; so called because it is the part of the operating system that interfaces with the outside world. 2. More generally, any interface program that mediates access to a special resource orserverfor convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the usage is usually `a shell around' whatever. This sort of program is also called a `wrapper'. 3. A skeleton program, created by hand or by another program (like, say, a parser generator), which provides the necessaryincantations to set up some task and the control flow to drive it (the termdriveris sometimes used synonymously). The user is meant to fill in whatever code is needed to get real work done. This usage is common in the AI and Microsoft Windows worlds, and confuses Unix hackers.
Historical note: Apparently, the original Multics shell (sense 1) was so called because it was a shell (sense 3); it ran user programs not by starting up separate processes, but by dynamically linking the programs into its own code, calling them as subroutines, and then dynamically de-linking them on return. The VMS command interpreter still does something very like this.
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shell out
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shift left (or right) logical
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shell
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shell outvi.
[Unix] Tospawnan interactive subshell from within a program (e.g., a mailer or editor). "Bang foo runs foo in a subshell, while bang alone shells out."
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shift left (or right) logical
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shim
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shell out
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shift left (or right) logical
[from any of various machines' instruction sets] 1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right). To move out of the way. 2. imper. "Get out of that (my) seat! You can shift to that empty one to the left (right)." Often used without the `logical', or as `left shift' instead of `shift left'. Sometimes heard as LSH /lish/, from thePDP-10instruction set. SeeProgrammer's Cheer.
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shim
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shitogram
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shift left (or right) logical
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shimn.
A small piece of data inserted in order to achieve a desired memory alignment or other addressing property. For example, the PDP-11 Unix linker, in split I&D (instructions and data) mode, inserts a two-byte shim at location 0 in data space so that no data object will have an address of 0 (and be confused with the C null pointer). See alsoloose bytes.
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shitogram
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short card
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shim
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shitogram/shit'oh-gram/ n.
Areallynasty piece of email. Comparenastygram,flame.
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short card
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shotgun debugging
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shitogram
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short cardn.
A half-length IBM XT expansion card or adapter that will fit in one of the two short slots located towards the right rear of a standard chassis (tucked behind the floppy disk drives). See alsotall card.
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shotgun debugging
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shovelware
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short card
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shotgun debuggingn.
The software equivalent ofEaster egging; the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope that a bug will be perturbed out of existence. This almost never works, and usually introduces more bugs.
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shovelware
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showstopper
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shotgun debugging
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shovelware/shuh'v*l-weir`/ n.
1. Extra software dumped onto a CD-ROM or tape to fill up the remaining space on the medium after the software distribution it's intended to carry, but not integrated with the distribution. 2. A slipshod compilation of software dumped onto a CD-ROM without much care for organization or even usability.