The Jargon File v, part 13 of 17

[Eric S. Raymond]

Submitted-by: jargon at thyrsus.com
Archive-name: jargon/part13

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X   nose.
X
X   Quadruple-bucky combinations were very seldom used in practice,
X   because when one invented a new command one usually assigned it to
X   some character that was easier to type.  If you want to imply that
X   a program has ridiculously many commands or features, you can say
X   something like "Oh, the command that makes it spin the tapes while
X   whistling Beethoven's 5th Symphony is quadruple-bucky-cokebottle".
X   See {double bucky}, {bucky bits}, {cokebottle}.
X
Xquantum bogodynamics: /kwon'tm boh`goh-die-nam'iks/ n. A theory
X   that characterizes the universe in terms of bogon sources (such as
X   politicians, used-car salesmen, TV evangelists, and {suit}s in
X   general), bogon sinks (such as taxpayers and computers), and
X   bogosity potential fields.  Bogon absorption, of course, causes
X   human beings to behave mindlessly and machines to fail (and may
X   cause them to emit secondary bogons as well); however, the precise
X   mechanics of the bogon-computron interaction are not yet understood
X   and remain to be elucidated.  Quantum bogodynamics is most
X   frequently invoked to explain the sharp increase in hardware and
X   software failures in the presence of suits; the latter emit bogons
X   which the former absorb.  See {bogon}, {computron}, {suit}.
X
Xquarter: n. Two bits; syn. {tayste}, {crumb}, {quad}.  The
X   term comes from the `pieces of eight' famed in pirate movies ---
X   Spanish gold pieces that could be broken into eight
X   pie-slice-shaped `bits' to make change.  Early in the U.S.'s
X   history the coin was considered equal to a dollar, so each of these
X   `bits' was considered worth 12.5 cents.  Usage: rare.  See also
X   {nickle}, {nybble}, {{byte}}, {dynner}.
X
Xques: /kwess/ 1. n. The question mark character (`?', ASCII
X   #b0111111).  2. interj.  What?  Also frequently verb-doubled as
X   "Ques ques?"  See {wall}.
X
Xquick and dirty: adj. Describes a {crock} put together under time
X   or user pressure.  Used esp. when you want to convey that you think
X   the fast way might lead to trouble further down the road.  "I can
X   have a quick-and-dirty fix in place tonight, but I'll have to
X   rewrite the whole module to solve the underlying design problem."
X   See also {kluge}.
X
Xquux: /kwuhks/ Mythically, from the Latin semi-deponent verb quuxo,
X   quuxare, quuxandum iri; noun form variously `quux' (plural
X   `quuces', anglicized to `quuxes') and `quuxu' (genitive plural is
X   `quuxuum', for four u-letters out of seven total, using up all the
X   `u' letters in Scrabble in one swell foop).] 1. Originally, a
X   meta-word like {foo} and {foobar}.  Invented by Guy Steele for
X   precisely this purpose when he was young and naive and not yet
X   interacting with the real computing community.  Many people invent
X   such words; this one seems simply to have been lucky enough to have
X   spread a little.  In an eloquent display of poetic justice, it has
X   returned to the originator in the form of a nickname, as punishment
X   for inventing the bletcherous word in the first place.  2.
X   interj. See {foo}; however, denotes very little disgust, and is
X   uttered mostly for the sake of the sound of it.  3. Guy Steele in
X   his persona as `The Great Quux', which is somewhat infamous for
X   light verse and for the `Crunchly' cartoons.  4. In some circles,
X   quux is used as a punning opposite of `crux'. "Ah, that's the quux
X   of the matter!" implies that the point is *not* crucial
X   (compare {tip of the ice-cube}).  5. quuxy: adj. Of or
X   pertaining to a quux.
X
Xqux: /kwuhks/ The fourth of the standard metasyntactic variables,
X   after {baz} and before the quuu*x series.  See {foo}, {bar},
X   {baz}, {quux}.  Note that this appears to be a recent mutation
X   from {quux}, and that many versions of the standard series just
X   run {foo}, {bar}, {baz}, {quux}, ....
X
XQWERTY: /kwer'tee/ [from the keycaps at the upper left] adj.
X   Pertaining to a standard English-language typewriter keyboard
X   (sometimes called the Sholes keyboard after its inventor), as
X   opposed to Dvorak or foreign-language layouts or a {space-cadet
X   keyboard} or APL keyboard.
X
X= R =
X=====
X
Xrain dance: n. 1. Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware
X   problem, with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished.
X   This especially applies to reseating printed circuit boards,
X   reconnecting cables, etc.  "I can't boot up the machine.  We'll
X   have to wait for Greg to do his rain dance."  2. Any arcane
X   sequence of actions performed with computers or software in order
X   to achieve some goal; the term is usually restricted to rituals
X   that include both an {incantation} or two and physical activity
X   or motion.  Compare {magic}, {voodoo programming}, {black
X   art}.
X
Xrandom: adj. 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical
X   definition); weird.  "The system's been behaving pretty
X   randomly."  2.  Assorted; undistinguished.  "Who was at the
X   conference?"  "Just a bunch of random business types."  3.
X   Frivolous; unproductive; undirected (pejorative).  "He's just a
X   random loser."  4.  Incoherent or inelegant; not well organized.
X   "The program has a random set of misfeatures."  "That's a random
X   name for that function."  "Well, all the names were chosen pretty
X   randomly."  5. Gratuitously wrong, i.e., poorly done and for no
X   good apparent reason.  For example, a program that handles file
X   name defaulting in a particularly useless way, or an assembler
X   routine that could easily have been coded using only three
X   registers, but randomly uses seven for assorted non-overlapping
X   purposes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving
X   four extra registers.  6.  In no particular order, though
X   deterministic.  "The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file
X   is opened one is chosen randomly."  7. n. A random hacker; used
X   particularly of high school students who soak up computer time and
X   generally get in the way.  8. n. (pejorative) Anyone who is not
X   a hacker; the noun form of sense #2 "I went to the talk, but the
X   audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions".  9:. n.
X   (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall.  See also
X   {J.  Random}, {some random X}.
X
Xrandom numbers:: n. When one wishes to specify a large but random
X   number of things, and the context is inappropriate for {N}, certain
X   numbers are preferred by hacker tradition (that is, easily
X   recognized as placeholders).  These include
X
X     17
X          Long described at MIT as `the least random number', see 23.
X     23
X          Sacred number of Eris, Goddess of Discord (along with 17 and 5).
X     42
X          The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and
X          Everything. (Note that this answer is completely fortuitous).
X     69
X          From the sexual act.  This one was favored in MIT's ITS culture.
X     105
X          69 hex = 105 decimal, and 69 decimal = 105 octal.
X     666
X          The Number of the Beast.
X
X   For further enlightenment, consult the `Principia Discordia',
X   `The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy', any porn movie, and
X   the Christian Bible's `Book Of Revelations' (chapter 13, verse
X   18).  See also {Discordianism} or consult your pineal gland.
X
X   One common rhetorical maneuver uses any the canonical random
X   numbers as placeholders for variables.  One might hear "The max
X   function takes 23 arguments, for arbitrary values of 23." or
X   "There are 69 ways to leave your lover, for 69 = 50."  This is
X   especially likely when the speaker has uttered a random number and
X   realizes that it was not recognized as such, but even `non-random'
X   numbers are occasionally used in this fashion.  A related joke is
X   that "Pi equals 3 --- for small values of pi and large values of
X   3."
X
Xrandomness: n. An unexplainable misfeature; gratuitous inelegance.
X   Also, a {hack} or {crock} which depends on a complex combination of
X   coincidences (or rather, the combination upon which the crock
X   depends for its accidental failure to malfunction).  "This hack
X   can output characters 40-57 by putting the character in the
X   accumulator field of an XCT and then extracting 6 bits --- the low
X   two bits of the XCT opcode are the right thing."  "What
X   randomness!"
X
Xrape: vt. To (metaphorically) {screw} someone or something,
X   violently; in particular, to destroy a program or information
X   irrecoverably.  Usage: often used in describing file-system damage.
X   "So-and-so was running a program that did absolute disk I/O and
X   ended up raping the master directory."
X
Xrare: [UNIX] adj. CBREAK mode (character-by-character with
X   interrupts enabled).  Distinguished from {raw mode} and
X   `cooked mode'; the phrase "half-cooked (rare?)" is used in
X   the V7/BSD manuals to describe the mode.  Usage: rare.
X
Xraster blaster: n. [Cambridge] Specialized hardware for {bitblt}
X   operations.  Allegedly inspired by analogy with `Rasta Blasta',
X   British slang for the sort of portable stereo/radio/tapedeck
X   Americans call a `boom box' or `ghetto blaster'.
X
Xraster burn: n. Eyestrain brought on by too many hours of looking at
X   low-res, poorly tuned, or glare-ridden monitors, esp. graphics
X   monitors.  See {terminal illness}.
X
Xrat belt: n. A cable tie, esp. the sawtoothed, self-locking plastic
X   kind that you can only remove by cutting (as opposed to a random
X   twist of wire or a baggie tie or one of those humongous metal clip
X   frobs).  Small cable ties are `mouse belts'.
X
Xrave: [WPI] vi. 1. To persist in discussing a specific subject.
X   2. To speak authoritatively on a subject about which one knows
X   very little.  3. To complain to a person who is not in a position
X   to correct the difficulty.  4. To purposely annoy another person
X   verbally.  5. To evangelize.  See {flame}.  Also used to
X   describe a less negative form of blather, such as friendly
X   bullshitting.  `Rave' differs slightly from {flame} in that
X   `rave' implies that it is the manner or persistence of speaking
X   that is annoying, while {flame} implies somewhat more strongly
X   that the subject matter is annoying as well.
X
Xrave on!: imp. Sarcastic invitation to continue a {rave}, often by
X   someone who wishes the raver would get a clue but realizes this is
X   unlikely.
X
Xravs: /ravz/, also `Chinese ravs' n.  Kuo-teh.  A Chinese
X   appetizer, known variously in the plural as dumplings, pot stickers
X   (the literal translation of kuo-teh), and (around Boston) `Peking
X   Ravioli'.  The term `rav' is short for `ravioli', which among
X   hackers always means the Chinese kind rather than the Italian kind.
X   Both consist of a filling in a pasta shell, but the Chinese kind
X   uses a thinner pasta and is cooked differently, either by steaming
X   or frying.  A rav or dumpling can be steamed or fried, but a
X   potsticker is always the fried kind (so called because it sticks to
X   the frying pot and has to be scraped off).  "Let's get
X   hot-and-sour soup and three orders of ravs."  See also
X   {{Oriental Food}}.
X
Xraw mode: n. A mode that allows a program to transfer bits directly
X   to or from an I/O device without any processing, abstraction, or
X   interpretation by the operating system.  Compare {rare}.
X
XRE: /ar-ee/ n. Common spoken and written shorthand for {regexp}.
X
Xread-only user: n. Describes a {luser} who uses computers almost
X   exclusively for reading USENET, bulletin boards, and/or email, as
X   opposed to writing code or purveying useful information.  See
X   {twink}, {terminal junkie}, {lurker}.
X
XREADME file: n. By convention, the top-level directory of a UNIX
X   source distribution always contains a file named `README' (or
X   READ.ME, or (rarely) ReadMe or some other variant) which is a
X   hacker's-eye introduction containing a pointer to more detailed
X   documentation, credits, miscellaneous revision history notes, etc.
X   When asked, hackers invariably relate this to the famous scene in
X   Lewis Carroll's `Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' in which
X   Alice confronts magic food labelled "Eat Me" and "Drink Me".
X
Xreal estate: n. May be used for any critical resource measured in
X   units of area.  Most frequently used of `chip real estate', the
X   area available for logic on the surface of an integrated circuit
X   (see also {nanoacre}).  May also be used of floor space in a
X   {dinosaur pen} or even space on a crowded desktop (whether
X   physical or electronic).
X
Xreal hack: n. A {crock}.  This is sometimes used affectionately;
X   see {hack}.
X
Xreal operating system: n. Whichever one a given user is accustomed
X   to, and subject to wild variation.  People from the academic
X   community are likely to issue comments like "System V?  Why don't
X   you use a *real* operating system?", people from the
X   commercial/industrial UNIX sector are known to complain, "BSD?  Why
X   don't you use a *real* operating system?", and people from
X   IBM probably think, "UNIX?  Why don't you use a *real*
X   operating system?"  See {holy wars}, {religious issues},
X   {proprietary}.
X
Xreal programmer: [indirectly, from the book `Real Men Don't
X   Eat Quiche'] n. A particular sub-variety of hacker, one possessed
X   of a flippant attitude towards complexity that is arrogant even
X   when justified by experience.  The archetypal `real programmer'
X   likes to program on the {bare metal}, and is very good at same;
X   he remembers the binary opcodes for every machine he's every
X   programmed; thinks that HLLs are sissy; and he uses a debugger to
X   edit his code because full-screen editors are for wimps.  Real
X   Programmers aren't satisfied with code that hasn't been {bum}med
X   into a state of {tense}ness just short of rupture.  Real
X   Programmers never use comments or write documentation; "If it was
X   hard to write", says the Real Programmer, "it should be hard to
X   understand."  Real Programmers can make machines do things that
X   were never in their spec sheets; in fact, they're seldom really
X   happy unless doing so.  A Real Programmer's code can awe you with
X   its fiendish brilliance, even as it appalls by its level of
X   crockishness.  Real Programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang
X   line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other
X   programmers --- because someday, somebody else might have to try to
X   understand their code in order to change it.  Their successors
X   generally consider it a {Good Thing} that there aren't many Real
X   Programmers around any more.  For a famous (and somewhat more
X   positive) portrait of a Real Programmer, see `The Story of
X   Mel' in Appendix A.
X
XReal Soon Now: [orig. from SF's fanzine community, popularized by
X   Jerry Pournelle's BYTE column] adj. 1. Supposed to be available
X   (or fixed, or cheap, or whatever) real soon now according to
X   somebody, but the speaker is quite skeptical.  2. When the
X   gods/fates/other time commitments permit the speaker to get to it.
X   Often abbreviated RSN.
X
Xreal time: adv. Doing something while people are watching or waiting.
X   "I asked her how to find the calling procedure's program counter
X   on the stack and she came up with an algorithm in real time."
X
Xreal user: n. 1. A commercial user.  One who is paying `real' money
X   for his computer usage.  2. A non-hacker.  Someone using the system
X   for an explicit purpose (research project, course, etc.).  See
X   {user}.  Hackers who are also students may also be real users.  "I
X   need this fixed so I can do a problem set.  I'm not complaining out
X   of randomness, but as a real user."  See also {luser}.
X
XReal World: n. 1. In programming, those institutions at which
X   programming may be used in the same sentence as FORTRAN, {COBOL},
X   RPG, {IBM}, etc.  Places where programs do such commercially
X   necessary but intellectually uninspiring things as compute payroll
X   checks and invoices.  2. To programmers, the location of
X   non-programmers and activities not related to programming.  3. A
X   universe in which the standard dress is shirt and tie and in which
X   a person's working hours are defined as 9 to 5 (see {code
X   grinder}).  4. The location of the status quo.  5. Anywhere outside
X   a university.  "Poor fellow, he's left MIT and gone into the real
X   world."  Used pejoratively by those not in residence there.  In
X   conversation, talking of someone who has entered the real world is
X   not unlike talking about a deceased person.  See also {fear and
X   loathing}, {mundane}, and {uninteresting}.
X
Xreality check: n. 1. The simplest kind of test of software or
X   hardware; doing the equivalent of asking it what `2 + 2' is
X   and seeing if you get `4'.  The equivalent of a {smoke test} for
X   software.  2. The act of letting a {real user} try out prototype
X   software.  Compare {sanity check}.
X
Xreaper: n. A {prowler} that {GFR}s files.  A file removed in
X   this way is said to have been `reaped'.
X
Xrectangle slinger: n. See {polygon pusher}.
X
Xrecursion: n. See {recursion}.  See also {tail recursion}.
X
Xrecursive acronyms:: pl.n. A hackish (and especially MIT) tradition is
X   to choose acronyms that refer humorously to themselves or to other
X   acronyms.  The classic examples were two MIT editors called EINE
X   ("EINE Is Not EMACS") and ZWEI ("ZWEI Was EINE Initially").
X   More recently, {GNU} (q.v., sense #1) is said to stand for "GNU's
X   Not UNIX!"  See also {mung}, {EMACS}.
X
XRed Book: n. 1. Informal name for one of the three standard
X   references on PostScript (`PostScript Language Reference
X   Manual', Adobe Systems, Addison-Wesley 1985 QA76.73.P67P67, ISBN
X   0-201-10174-2); the others are known as the {Green Book} and {Blue
X   Book}.  2. Informal name for one of the three standard references
X   on Smalltalk: `Smalltalk-80: The Interactive Programming
X   Environment', Adele Goldberg, Addison-Wesley 1984, QA76.8.S635G638,
X   ISBN 0-201-11372-4 (this is also associated with blue and green
X   books).  3. Any of the 1984 standards issued by the CCITT 8th
X   plenary assembly.  Until now, these have changed color each review
X   cycle (1988 was {Blue Book}, 1992 will be {Green Book}); however,
X   it is rumored that this convention is going to be dropped before
X   1992.  These include, among other things, the X.400 email spec and
X   the Group 1 through 4 fax standards.  4. The new version of the
X   {Green Book} (sense #4), IEEE 1003.1-1990, aka ISO 9945-1,
X   is (because of the color and the fact that it is printed on A4
X   paper), known in the USA as "The Ugly Red Book That Won't Fit On
X   The Shelf", and in Europe as "The Ugly Red Book That's A Sensible
X   Size".  See also {{book titles}}.
X
Xregexp: /reg'eksp/ [UNIX] n. (alt. `regex' or `reg-ex') 1.
X   Common written and spoken abbreviation for `regular
X   expression', one of the wildcard patterns used, e.g., by UNIX
X   utilities such as `grep(1)', `sed(1)', and `awk(1)'.
X   These use conventions similar to but more elaborate than those
X   described under {glob}.  For purposes of this lexicon, it is
X   sufficient to note that regexps also allow complemented character
X   sets using `^' and ranges in character sets using `-';
X   thus, one can specify any non-alphabetic character with
X   `[^A-Za-z]'.  2. Name of a well-known PD regexp-handling
X   package in portable C, written by revered USENETter Henry Spencer
X   (henry at zoo.toronto.edu).
X
Xreincarnation, cycle of: n. See {cycle of reincarnation}.
X
Xreinvent the wheel: v. To design or implement a tool equivalent to
X   an existing one or part of one, with the implication that doing so
X   is silly or a waste of time.  This is frequently a valid criticism;
X   but automobiles don't use wooden rollers, either, and some kinds of
X   wheel have to be re-invented many times before you get it right. On
X   the other hand, it has often been pointed out that people
X   reinventing the wheel tend to come up with the moral equivalent of
X   a trapezoid with an offset axle....
X
Xreligious issues: n. Questions which seemingly cannot be raised
X   without touching off {holy wars}, such as "What is the best
X   operating system (or editor, language, architecture, shell, mail
X   reader, news reader)?" and "What about that Heinlein guy, eh?".
X   See {holy wars}; see also {theology}, {bigot}.
X
X   This entry is an example of {ha ha only serious}.  People
X   actually develop the most amazing and religiously intense
X   attachments to their tools, even when the tools are intangible.
X   The most constructive thing one can do when one stumbles into the
X   crossfire is mumble {Get a life!} and leave --- unless of course
X   one's *own* unassailably rational and obviously correct
X   choices are being slammed....
X
Xreplicator: n. Any construct that acts to produce copies of itself;
X   this could be a living organism, an idea (see {meme}), a program
X   (see {worm}, {wabbit}, and {virus}), a pattern in a cellular
X   automaton (see {life}, sense #1), or (speculatively) a robot or
X   {nanobot}.  It is even claimed by some that {UNIX} and {C}
X   are the symbiotic halves of an extremely successful replicator; see
X   {UNIX conspiracy}.
X
Xreply: n. See {followup}.
X
Xrestriction: n. A {bug} or design error that limits a program's
X   capabilities, and which is sufficiently egregious that nobody can
X   quite work up enough nerve to describe it as a {feature}.  Often
X   used (esp. by {marketroid} types) to make it sound as though some
X   crippling bogosity had been intended by the designers all along, or
X   was forced upon them by arcane considerations no mere user could
X   possibly comprehend (these claims are almost invariably false).
X
X   Old-time hacker Joseph M. Newcomer (jn11+ at andrew.cmu.edu) passes
X   along this wisdom: "Whenever choosing a restriction which is
X   quantifiable by a number, make it either a power of 2 or a power of
X   2 minus 1.  If you impose a limit of 17 items in a list, everyone
X   knows it is a random number.  If the limit is 15 or 16, there is
X   clearly some deep reason and you will get less {flamage}."
X
Xretcon: /ret'kon/ [`retroactive continuity', from USENET's
X   rec.arts.comics] 1. n. The common situation in pulp fiction (esp.
X   comics, soaps) where a new story `reveals' new things about events
X   in previous stories, usually leaving the `facts' the same (thus
X   preserving continuity) while completely changing their
X   interpretation.  E.g., revealing that a whole season's episodes of
X   Dallas was a dream was a retcon.  2. vt. To write such a story
X   about (a character or fictitious object).  Thus, "Byrne has
X   retconned Superman's cape so that it is no longer unbreakable".
X   "Marvelman's old adventures were retconned into synthetic
X   dreams", "Swamp Thing was retconned from a transformed person
X   into a sentient vegetable."
X
X   [This is included because it's a good example of hackish linguistic
X   innovation in a field completely unrelated to computers.  The word
X   `retcon' will probably spread through comics fandom and lose its
X   association with hackerdom within a couple of years; for the
X   record, it started here. --- ESR]
X
Xretrocomputing: /ret'-roh-k at m-pyoo'ting/ n. Refers to emulations
X   of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or
X   implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; esp. if such
X   implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies of
X   more `serious' designs.  Perhaps the most widely distributed
X   retrocomputing utility was the `pnch(6)' or `bcd(6)'
X   program on V7 and other early UNIX versions, which would accept up
X   to 80 characters of text argument and display the corresponding
X   pattern in {{punched card}} code.  Other well-known retrocomputing
X   hacks have included the programming language {INTERCAL}, a
X   {JCL}-emulating shell for UNIX, the card-punch-emulating editor named
X   029, and various elaborate PDP-11 hardware emulators and RT-11 OS
X   emulators written just to keep an old, sourceless {Zork} binary
X   running.
X
XRFC: /ahr ef see/ n. Request For Comment.  One of a long-established
X   series of numbered Internet standards widely followed by commercial
X   and PD software in the Internet and UNIX communities.  Perhaps the
X   single most influential one has been RFC-822 (the Internet
X   mail-format standard).  The RFCs are unusual in that they are
X   floated by technical experts acting on their own initiative and
X   reviewed by the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated
X   through an institution such as ANSI.  For this reason, they remain
X   known as RFCs even once adopted.
X
XRFE: n. 1. Request For Enhancement.  2. [from `Radio Free Europe'
X   Bellcore and Sun] Radio Free Ethernet, a system (originated by
X   Peter Langston) for broadcasting audio among Sun SPARCstations over
X   the ethernet.
X
Xrib site: [by analogy with {backbone site}] n. A machine which
X   has an on-demand high-speed link to a {backbone site} and serves
X   as a regional distribution point for lots of third-party traffic in
X   email and USENET news.  Compare {leaf site}, {backbone site}.
X
Xrice box: [from ham radio slang] n. Any Asian-made commodity
X   computer, esp. an 80*86-based machine built to IBM PC-compatible
X   ISA or EISA-bus standards.
X
XRight Thing: n. That which is *obviously* the correct or
X   appropriate thing to use, do, say, etc.  Often capitalized, always
X   emphasized in speech as though capitalized.  Use of this term often
X   implies that in fact reasonable people may disagree.  "Never let
X   your conscience keep you from doing the right thing!"  "What's
X   the right thing for LISP to do when it reads `(mod a 0)'?
X   Should it return `a', or give a divide-by-zero error?"
X   Antonym: {Wrong Thing}.
X
XRL: [MUD community] n. Real Life.  "Firiss laughs in RL" means
X   Firiss's player is laughing.
X
Xroach: [Bell Labs] vt. To destroy, esp. of a data structure.  Hardware
X   gets {toast}ed or {fried}, software gets roached.
X
Xrobust: adj. Said of a system that has demonstrated an ability to
X   recover gracefully from the whole range of exception conditions in
X   a given environment.  One step below {bulletproof}.  Compare
X   {smart}, oppose {brittle}.
X
Xrococo: adj. {Baroque} in the extreme.  Used to imply that a
X   program has become so encrusted with the software equivalent of
X   gold leaf and curlicues that they have completely swamped the
X   underlying design.  Called after the later and more extreme forms
X   of Baroque architecture and decoration prevalent during the
X   mid-1700s in Europe.
X
Xrogue: [UNIX] n. Dungeons-And-Dragons-like game using character
X   graphics, written under BSD UNIX and subsequently ported to other
X   UNIX systems.  The original BSD `curses(3)' screen-handling
X   package was hacked together by Ken Arnold to support
X   `rogue(6)' and has since become one of UNIX's most important
X   and heavily used application libraries.  Nethack, Omega, Larn, and
X   an entire subgenre of computer dungeon games all took off from the
X   inspiration provided by `rogue(6)'.  See {nethack}.
X
Xroom-temperature IQ: [IBM] quant. 80 or below.  Used in describing the
X   expected intelligence range of the {luser}.  As in "Well, but
X   how's this interface gonna play with the room-temperature IQ
X   crowd?"  See {drool-proof paper}.  This is a much more insulting
X   phrase in countries that use Celsius thermometers.
X
Xroot: [UNIX] n. 1. The `superuser' account that ignores
X   permission bits, user number zero on a UNIX system.  This account
X   has the user name `root'.  2. The top node of the system directory
X   structure (home directory of the root user).  3. By extension, the
X   privileged system-maintenance login on any OS.  4. Thus, `root
X   mode': Syn.  with {wizard mode} or `wheel mode'.  Like these,
X   it is often generalized to describe privileged states in systems
X   other than OSs.  5. `go root': to temporarily enter `root mode'
X   in order to perform a privileged operation.  This use is deprecated
X   in Australia, where v. `root' is slang for "to have sex with".
X
Xrot13: /rot ther'teen/ [USENET, from `rotate alphabet 13 places']
X   n.,v. The simple Caesar-cypher encryption that replaces each
X   English letter with the one 13 places forward or back along the
X   alphabet, so that "The butler did it!" becomes "Gur ohgyre qvq
X   vg!"  Most USENET news reading and posting programs include a
X   rot13 feature.  It is used as if to enclose the text in a sealed
X   wrapper that the reader must choose to open, for posting things
X   that might offend some readers, answers to puzzles, or discussion
X   of movie plot surprises.  A major advantage of rot13 over rot(N)
X   for other N is that it is self-inverse --- thus the same code can
X   be used for encoding and decoding.
X
Xrotary debugger: [Commodore] n. Essential equipment for those late
X   night or early morning debugging sessions.  Mainly used as
X   sustenance for the hacker.  Comes in many decorator colors such as
X   Sausage, Pepperoni, and Garbage.  See {pizza, ANSI standard}.
X
XRSN: adj. See {Real Soon Now}.
X
XRTFAQ: /ahr-tee-eff-ay-kyoo/ [USENET, by analogy with {RTFM}]
X   imp. Abbrev. for `Read the FAQ!', an exhortation that the person
X   being addressed ought to read the newsgroup's {FAQ list} before
X   posting questions.
X
XRTFM: /ahr-tee-ef-em/ [UNIX] imp. Abbrev. for `Read The Fucking Manual'.
X   1. Used by GURUs to brush off questions they consider trivial or
X   annoying.  Compare {Don't do that, then!}.  2. Used when reporting
X   a problem to indicate that you aren't just asking out of
X   {randomness}.  "No, I can't figure out how to interface UNIX to my
X   toaster, and yes, I have RTFM."  Unlike sense #1, this use is
X   considered polite.  See also {RTFAQ}, {RTM}.
X
XRTI: /ahr-tee-ie/ interj. The mnemonic for the `return from
X   interrupt' instruction on many computers including the 6502 and
X   Z80.  Equivalent to "Now, where was I?" or used to end a
X   conversational digression.  See {pop}.
X
XRTM: /ahr-tee-em/ [USENET, acronym for `Read The Manual'] Politer
X   variant of {RTFM}.
X
Xrude: [WPI] adj. 1. (of a program) Badly written.  2. Functionally
X   poor, e.g. a program which is very difficult to use because of
X   gratuitously poor (random?) design decisions.  See {cuspy}.
X
Xrunes: pl.n. 1. Anything that requires {heavy wizardry} or
X   {black art} to {parse}; core dumps, JCL commands, or even code
X   in a language you don't have the faintest idea how to read.
X   Compare {casting the runes}, {Great Runes}.  2. Special
X   display characters (for example, the high-half graphics on an IBM
X   PC).
X
Xrunic: adj. Syn. {obscure}.  VMS fans sometimes refer to UNIX as
X   `Runix'; UNIX fans return the compliment by expanding VMS to `Very
X   Messy Syntax' or `Vachement Mauvais Systeme' (French, lit.
X   "Cowlike Bad System").
X
Xrusty iron: n. Syn. {tired iron}.  It has been claimed that this
X   is the inevitable fate of {water MIPS}.
X
Xrusty memory: n. Mass-storage that uses iron-oxide-based magnetic
X   media (esp. tape and the pre-Winchester removable disk packs used
X   in {washing machine}s).  Compare {donuts}.
X
X= S =
X=====
X
Xs/n ratio: n. (also `s:n ratio').  See {signal-to-noise
X   ratio}.  Often abbreviated `SNR'.
X
Xsacred: adj. Reserved for the exclusive use of something (a
X   metaphorical extension of the standard meaning).  "Register 7 is
X   sacred to the interrupt handler."  Often means that anyone may
X   look at the sacred object, but clobbering it will screw whatever it
X   is sacred to.  Example: The comment "Register 7 is sacred to the
X   interrupt handler" appearing in a program would be interpreted by
X   a hacker to mean that one part of the program, the `interrupt
X   handler', uses register 7, and if any other part of the program
X   changes the contents of register 7 dire consequences are likely to
X   ensue.
X
Xsaga: [WPI] n. A cuspy but bogus raving story dealing with N random
X   broken people.
X
Xsagan: /say'gn/ [from Carl Sagan's TV series `Cosmos'; think
X   `Billions and Billions'] n. A large quantity of anything.
X   "There's a sagan different ways to tweak EMACS."  "The US
X   Government spends sagans on military hardware."
X
XSAIL: /sayl/, not /ess ay ie el/ n. 1. Stanford University
X   Artificial Intelligence Lab.  An important site in the early
X   development of LISP; with the MIT AI LAB, BBN, CMU, and the UNIX
X   community, one of the major founts of technical innivation and
X   hacker culture traditions (see the {WAITS} entry for details).
X   The SAIL machines were shut down in late May 1990, scant weeks
X   after the MIT AI lab's ITS cluster went down for the last time.  2.
X   The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Language used at SAIL (sense
X   #1).  It was an Algol-60 derivative with some new data types
X   intended for building search trees and association lists and a
X   coroutining facility.
X
Xsalescritter: /sayls'kri`tr/ n. Pejorative hackerism for a computer
X   salesperson.  Hackers tell the following joke:
X
X     Q. What's the difference between a used car dealer and a computer
X        salesman?
X     A. The used car dealer knows he's lying.
X
X   This reflects the widespread hacker belief that salescritters are
X   self-selected for stupidity (after all, if they had brains and the
X   inclination to use them, they'd be in programming).  The terms
X   `salesthing' and `salesdroid' are also common.  Compare
X   {marketroid}, {suit}.
X
Xsalt mines: n. Dense quarters housing large numbers of programmers
X   working long hours on grungy projects, with some hope of seeing the
X   end of the tunnel in N years.  Noted for their absence of sunshine.
X   Compare {playpen}, {sandbox}.
X
Xsalt substrate: [MIT] n. Collective noun used to refer to potato
X   chips, pretzels, saltines, or any other form of snack food
X   essentially designed as a carrier for sodium chloride.  From the
X   technical term `chip substrate', used to refer to the silicon on the
X   top of which the active parts of integrated circuits are deposited.
X
Xsame-day-service: n. Ironic term is used to describe slow response
X   time, particularly with respect to {MS-DOS} system calls.  Such
X   response time is a major incentive for programmers to write
X   programs that are not {well-behaved}.  See also {PC-ism}.
X
Xsandbender: [IBM] n. A person involved with silicon lithography and
X   the physical design of chips.  Compare {ironmonger}, {polygon
X   pusher}.
X
Xsandbox: n. (or `sandbox, the') Common term for the R&D
X   department at many software and computer companies (where hackers
X   in commercial environments are likely to be found).  Half-derisive,
X   but reflects the truth that research is a form of creative play.
X   Compare {playpen}.
X
Xsanity check: n. 1. The act of checking a piece of code for
X   completely stupid mistakes.  Implies that the check is to make sure
X   the author was sane when it was written; e.g., if a piece of
X   scientific software relied on a particular formula and was giving
X   unexpected results, one might first look at the nesting of
X   parentheses or the coding of the formula, as a {sanity check},
X   before looking at the more complex I/O or data structure
X   manipulation routines.  Compare {reality check}.  2. A run-time
X   test, either validating input or ensuring that the program hasn't
X   screwed up internally (producing an inconsistent value or state).
X
Xsay: vt. In some contexts, to type to a terminal.  "To list a
X   directory verbosely, you have to say `ls -l'".  Tends to imply
X   a carriage-return-terminated command (a `sentence').  A computer
X   may also be said to `say' things to you even if it doesn't have a
X   speech synthesizer, by displaying them on a terminal in response to
X   your commands.  Hackers find it odd that this usage confuses other
X   people.
X
XScience-Fiction Fandom:: n. Another voluntary subculture having a very
X   heavy overlap with hackerdom; most hackers read SF and/or fantasy
X   fiction avidly, and many go to `cons' (SF conventions) or are
X   involved in fandom-connected activities like the Society for
X   Creative Anachronism.  Some hacker jargon originated in SF fandom;
X   see {defenestration}, {great-wall}, {cyberpunk}, {h}, {ha ha
X   only serious}, {IMHO}, {mundane}, {neep-neep}, {Real Soon Now}.
X   Additionally, the jargon terms {cowboy}, {cyberspace}, {de-rezz},
X   {go flatline}, {ice}, {virus}, {wetware}, {wirehead}, and {worm}
X   originated in SF itself.
X
Xscram switch: [from the nuclear power industry] n. An
X   emergency-power-off switch (see {Big Red Switch}), esp. one
X   positioned to be easily hit by evacuating personnel.  In general,
X   this is *not* something you frob lightly; these are installed
X   in a {dinosaur pen} for use in case of electrical fire or in case
X   some luckless {field servoid} should put 120 volts across himself
X   while {Easter egging}.
X
Xscratch: 1. [from `scratchpad'] adj. Describes a device or
X   recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary-use
X   purposes; one that can be {scribble}d on without loss.  Usually
X   in the combining forms `scratch memory', `scratch
X   register', `scratch disk', `scratch tape', `scratch
X   volume'.  See {scratch monkey}.  2. [primarily IBM] vt. To delete
X   (as in a file).
X
Xscratch monkey: n. As in, "Before testing or reconfiguring, always
X   mount a...", a proverb used to advise caution when dealing
X   with irreplaceable data or devices.  Used to refer to any
X   non-expendable device or scratch volume hooked to a computer, in
X   memory of Mabel, the Swimming Wonder Monkey who expired when a
X   computer vendor PM'd a machine which was regulating the gas mixture
X   that the monkey was breathing at the time.  See Appendix A.  See
X   {scratch}.
X
Xscrew: [MIT] n. A {lose}, usually in software.  Especially used for
X   user-visible misbehavior caused by a bug or misfeature.
X
Xscrewage: /skroo'@j/ n. Like {lossage} but connotes that the
X   failure is due to a designed-in misfeature rather than a simple
X   inadequacy or mere bug.
X
Xscribble: n. To modify a data structure in a random and
X   unintentionally destructive way.  "Bletch! Somebody's
X   disk-compactor program went berserk and scribbled on the i-node
X   table."  "It was working fine until one of the allocation routines
X   scribbled on low core."  Synonymous with {trash}; compare {mung},
X   which conveys a bit more intention, and {mangle}, which is more
X   violent and final.
X
Xscrog: /skrog/ [Bell Labs] vt. To damage, trash, or corrupt a data
X   structure.  "The cblock got scrogged."  Also reported as
X   `skrog', and ascribed to `The Wizard of Id' comix.  Equivalent
X   to {scribble} or {mangle}
X
Xscrozzle: /skroz'l/ vt. Used when a self-modifying code segment runs
X   incorrectly and corrupts the running program or vital data.  "The
X   damn compiler scrozzled itself again!"
X
XSCSI: n. Small Computer System Interface is a system-level
X   interface between a computer and intelligent devices.  Typically
X   annotated in literature with `sexy' (/sek'see/), `sissy' /sis'ee/
X   and `scuzzy' (/skuhz'zee/) as pronunciation guides --- the last
X   being the overwhelmingly predominant form, much to the dismay of
X   the designers and their marketing people.  One can usually assume
X   that a person who pronounces it /ess see ess eye/ is clueless.
X
Xsearch-and-destroy mode: n. Hackerism for the search-and-replace
X   facility in an editor, so called because an incautiously chosen
X   match pattern can cause {infinite} damage.
X
Xsecond-system effect: n. (sometimes, more euphoniously,
X   `second-system syndrome'.) When designing the successor to a
X   relatively small, elegant, and successful system, there is a
X   tendency to become grandiose in one's success and design an
X   {elephantine} feature-laden monstrosity.  The term was first used
X   by Fred Brooks in his classic book `The Mythical Man-Month'.
X   It described the jump from a set of nice, simple, operating
X   monitors on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series.  A
X   similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see
X   {creeping elegance}, {creeping featurism}.  See also
X   {Multics}.
X
X   This version of the jargon lexicon has been described (with
X   altogether too much truth for comfort) as the result of
X   second-system effect applied to jargon-1...
X
Xsecondary damage: n. When a fatal error occurs (esp. a
X   {segfault}) the immediate cause may be that a pointer is damaged
X   due to a {fandango on core}.  However, this fandango may have
X   been due to an *earlier* fandango, so no amount of analysis
X   will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred.  "The data
X   structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage."
X
X   This generalizes.  The corruption resulting from N cascaded
X   fandangoes on core is "Nth-level damage".  There is at least one
X   case on record in which 17 hours of grovelling with `adb'
X   actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of 7th-level
X   damage!  The hacker who accomplished this near-superhuman feat was
X   presented with an award by his fellows.
X
Xsecurity through obscurity: n. A name applied by hackers to most OS
X   vendors' favorite way of coping with security holes --- namely,
X   ignoring them and not documenting them and trusting that nobody
X   will find out about them and that people who do find out about them
X   won't exploit them.  This never works for long and occasionally
X   sets the world up for disasters like the RTM worm of 1988, but once
X   the brief moments of panic created by such events subside most
X   vendors are all too willing to turn over and go back to sleep.
X   After all, actually fixing the bugs would siphon off the resources
X   needed to implement the next user-interface frill on Marketing's
X   wish list --- besides, if they started fixing security bugs
X   customers might begin to *expect* it and imagine that their
X   warranties of merchantability gave them some sort of *right*
X   to a system with fewer holes in it than a shotgunned Swiss cheese,
X   and then where would we be?
X
X   Historical note: this term was first used in the USENET newsgroup
X   in `comp.sys.apollo' during a campaign to get HP/Apollo to fix
X   rampant security problems in its UNIX-lookalike Aegis/DomainOS.
X   They didn't change a thing.
X
Xsegfault: n.,vi. Syn. {segment}, {seggie}.
X
Xseggie: /seg'ee/ [UNIX] n. Shorthand for {segmentation fault}
X   reported from Britain.
X
Xsegment: /seg'ment/ vi. To experience a {segmentation fault}.
X   Confusingly, this is often accented on the first syllable rather
X   than on the second as for mainstream v. segment; this is because
X   it's actually a noun shorthand that has been verbed.
X
Xsegmentation fault: n. [UNIX] 1. Error in which a running program
X   attempts to access memory not allocated to it and {core dump}s
X   with a segment violation error.  2. To lose a train of thought or a
X   line of reasoning.  Also uttered as an exclamation at the point of
X   befuddlement.
X
Xsegv: /seg'vee/ n.,vi. Yet another synonym for {segmentation fault}.
X
Xself-reference: n. See {self-reference}.
X
Xselvage: /sel'v at j/ [from sewing] n. See {chad} (sense #1).
X
Xsemi: /se'mee/ or /se'mie/ 1. n. Abbreviation for `semicolon', when
X   speaking.  "Commands to {grind} are prefixed by semi-semi-star"
X   means that the prefix is `;;*', not 1/4 of a star.  2. Prefix with
X   words such as `immediately', as a qualifier.  "When is the system
X   coming up?"  "Semi-immediately." (That is, maybe not for an
X   hour).  "We did consider that possibility semi-seriously."  See
X   also {infinite}.
X
Xsenior bit: [IBM] n. Syn. {meta bit}.
X
Xserver: n. A kind of {daemon} that performs a service for the
X   requester, which often runs on a computer other than the one on
X   which the server runs.  A particularly common term on the Internet,
X   which is rife with `name servers', `domain servers', `news
X   servers', `finger servers', and the like.
X
XSEX: [Sun User's Group & elsewhere] n. 1. Software EXchange.  A
X   technique invented by the blue-green algae hundreds of millions of
X   years ago to speed up their evolution, which had been terribly slow
X   up until then.  Today, SEX parties are popular among hackers and
X   others.  2. The rather Freudian mnemonic often used for Sign EXtend,
X   a machine instruction found in the PDP-11 and many architectures.
X
X   DEC's engineers nearly got a PDP-11 assembler using the SEX
X   mnemonic out the door at one time, but (for once) marketing wasn't
X   asleep and forced a change.  That wasn't the last time this
X   happened, either.  The author of `The Intel 8086 Primer', who
X   was one of the original designers of the 8086, noted that there was
X   originally a SEX instruction on that processor, too.  He says that
X   Intel management got cold feet and decreed that it be changed, and
X   thus the instruction was renamed CBW and CWD (depending on what was
X   being extended).  Amusingly, the Intel 8048 (the microcontroller
X   used in IBM PC keyboards) is also missing straight SEX but has
X   logical-or and logical-and instructions ORL and ANL.
X
Xsex changer: n. Syn. {gender mender}.
X
Xshareware: n. {freeware} for which the author requests some payment,
X   usually in the accompanying documentation files or in an
X   announcement made by the software itself.  Such payment may or may
X   not buy additional support or functionality.  See {guiltware},
X   {crippleware}.
X
Xshelfware: n. Software purchased on a whim (by an individual user) or
X   in accordance with policy (by a corporation or government), but not
X   actually required for any particular use.  Therefore, it often ends
X   up on some shelf.
X
Xshell: [UNIX, now used elsewhere] n. 1. [techspeak] The command
X   interpreter used to pass commands to an operating system; so called
X   because it's the part of the operating system that interfaces to
X   the outside world.  2. More generally, any interface program
X   which mediates access to a special resource or {server} for
X   convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the
X   usage is usually `a shell around' whatever.  This sort of
X   program is also called a `wrapper'.
X
Xshell out: [UNIX] n. To spawn an interactive {subshell} from within a
X   program such as a mailer or editor.  "Bang foo runs foo in a
X   subshell, while bang alone shells out."
X
Xshift left (or right) logical: [from any of various machines'
X   instruction sets] 1. vi. To move oneself to the left (right).  To
X   move out of the way.  2. imper. "Get out of that (my) seat!  You
X   can shift to that empty one to the left (right)."  Usage: often
X   used without the `logical', or as `left shift' instead of
X   `shift left'.  Sometimes heard as LSH /l at sh/, from the PDP-10
X   instruction set.  See {Programmer's Cheer}.
X
Xshitogram: /shit'oh-gram/ n. A *really* nasty piece of email.
X   Compare {nastygram}, {flame}.
X
Xshort card: n. A half-length IBM PC expansion card or adapter that
X   will fit in one of the two short slots located towards the right
X   rear of a standard chassis (tucked behind the floppy disk drives).
X   See also {tall card}.
X
Xshotgun debugging: n. The software equivalent of {Easter egging};
X   the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope
X   that a bug will be perturbed out of existence.  This almost never
X   works, and usually introduces more bugs.
X
Xshowstopper: n. A hardware or (especially) software bug that makes
X   an implementation effectively unusable; one that absolutely has to
X   be fixed before development can go on.  Opposite in connotation
X   from its original theatrical use, which refers to something
X   stunningly *good*.
X
Xshriek: n. See {excl}.  Occasional CMU usage, also in common use
X   among APL fans and mathematicians, especially category theorists.
X
Xsidecar: n. 1. Syn. {slap on the side}.  Esp. used of add-ons for
X   the late and unlamented IBM PCjr.  2. The IBM PC compatibility box
X   that could be bolted on to the side of an Amiga.  Designed and
X   produced by Commodore and broke all of their design rules.  If it
X   worked with any other peripherals, it was by {magic}.
X
Xsig block: /sig blok/ [UNIX; often written ".sig" there] n. Short
X   for `signature', used specifically to refer to the electronic
X   signature block that most UNIX mail- and news-posting software
X   will allow you to automatically append to outgoing mail and news.
X   The composition of one's sig can be quite an art form, including an
X   ASCII logo or one's choice of witty sayings (see {sig quote}); but
X   many consider large sigs a waste of {bandwidth}, and it has been
X   observed that the size of one's sig block is usually inversely
X   proportional to one's longevity and level of prestige on the net.
X
Xsig quote: /sig kwoht/ [USENET] n. A maxim, quote, proverb, joke, or
X   slogan embedded in one's {sig block} and intended to convey
X   something of one's philosophical stance, pet peeves, or sense of
X   humor. "He *must* be a Democrat --- he posted a sig quote
X   from Dan Quayle."
X
Xsignal-to-noise ratio: [from analog electronics] n. Used by hackers
X   in a generalization of its technical meaning.  `Signal' refers to
X   useful information conveyed by some communications medium and
X   `noise' to anything else on that medium.  Hence a low ratio implies
X   that it is not worth paying attention to the medium in question.
X   Figures for such metaphorical ratios are never given.  The term is
X   most often applied to {USENET} newsgroups during {flame war}s.
X   Compare {bandwidth}.  See also {coefficient of x}, {lost in
X   the noise}.
X
Xsilicon: n. Hardware, esp. ICs or microprocessor-based computer
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