The Jargon File v2.3.1 03 JAN 1991, part 7 of 11

[Eric S. Raymond]

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X   tactics.
X
X<meltdown, network> n. A state of complete network overload; the
X   network equivalent of <thrash>ing.  See also <broadcast storm>.
X
X<meme> /meem/ [coined on analogy with `gene' by Richard Dawkins] n. An
X   idea considered as a <replicator>. Used esp. in the prase `meme
X   complex' denoting a group of mutually supporting memes which form
X   an organized belief system, such as a religion.  This dictionary is
X   a vector of the "hacker subculture" meme complex; each entry
X   might be considered a meme.  However, "meme" is often misused to
X   mean "meme complex". Use of the term connotes acceptance of the
X   idea that in humans (and presumably other tool-and language-using
X   sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has
X   superseded biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits.
X   Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons.
X
X<meme plague> n. The spread of a successful but pernicious <meme>,
X   esp.  one which `parasitizes' the victims into giving their all to
X   propagate it.  Astrology, BASIC, and the other guy's religion are
X   often considered to be examples.  This usage is given point by the
X   historical fact that `joiner' ideologies like Naziism or various
X   forms of millenarian Christianity have exhibited plague-like cycles
X   of exponential growth followed by collapse to small `reservoir'
X   populations.
X
X<memetics> /me-me-tiks/ [from <meme>] The study of memes.  As of 1990,
X   this is still an extremely informal and speculative endeavor,
X   though the first steps towards at least statistical rigor have been
X   made by H. Keith Henson and others.  Memetics is a popular topic
X   among hackers, who like to see themselves as the architects of the
X   new information ecologies in which memes live and replicate.
X
X<memory leak> [C/UNIX programmers] n. An error in a program's
X   dynamic-store allocation logic that causes it to fail to reclaim
X   discarded memory, leading to attempted hogging of main store and
X   eventual collapse due to memory exhaustion.  Also (esp. at CMU)
X   called <core leak>.  See <aliasing bug>, <fandango on core>, <smash
X   the stack>, <precedence lossage>, <overrun screw>, <leaky heap>.
X
X<menuitis> /men`yoo-i'tis/ n. Notional disease suffered by software
X   with an obsessively simple-minded menu interface and no escape.
X   Hackers find this intensely irritating and much prefer the
X   flexibility of command-line or language-style interfaces,
X   especially those customizable via macros or a special-purpose
X   language in which one can encode useful hacks.  See
X   <user-obsequious>, <drool-proof paper>, <WIMP environment>.
X
X<mess-dos> /mes-dos/ [UNIX hackers] n. Derisory term for MS-DOS. Often
X   followed by the ritual expurgation "Just Say No!". See MS-DOS.
X   Most hackers (even many MS-DOS hackers) loathe MS-DOS for its
X   single-tasking nature, its limits on application size, its nasty
X   primitive interface, and its ties to IBMness (see <fear and
X   loathing>). Also "mess-loss", "messy-dos", "mess-dog"
X   "mess-loss" "mess-dross" and various combinations thereof.
X
X<meta> /meta@/ or /mayt'@/ [from analytic philosophy] adj. One level
X   of description up.  Thus, a meta-syntactic variable is a variable
X   in notation used to describe syntax and meta-language is language
X   used to describe language.  This is difficult to explain out of
X   context, but much hacker humor turns on deliberate confusion
X   between meta-levels.  See <HUMOR, HACKER>.
X
X<meta bit> /meta@ bit/ or /mayt'@ bit/ n. Bit 8 of an 8-bit
X   character, on in values 128-255. Also called <high bit> or <alt
X   bit>.  Some terminals and consoles (especially those designed for
X   LISP traditions) have a META-shift key.  Others (including,
X   mirabile dictu, keyboards on IBM PC-class machines) have an ALT
X   key.  See also <bucky bits>.
X
X<microfloppies> n. 3-1/2 inch floppies, as opposed to 5-1/4 <vanilla>
X   or mini-floppies and the now-obsolescent 8-inch variety.  This term
X   may be headed for obsolescence as 5-1/4 inchers pass out of use,
X   only to be revived if anybody floats a sub-3-inch floppy standard.
X   See <stiffy>.
X
X<microtape> n. Occasionally used to mean a DECtape, as opposed to a
X   <macrotape>.  A DECtape is a small reel of magnetic tape about four
X   inches in diameter and an inch deep.  Unlike normal drivers for
X   standard magnetic tapes, microtape drivers allow "random access"
X   to the data.  In their heyday they were used in pretty much the
X   same ways one would now use a floppy disk: as a small, portable way
X   to save and transport files and programs.  Apparently the term
X   "microtape" was actually the official term used within DEC for
X   these tapes until someone consed up the word "DECtape", which of
X   course sounded sexier to the <marketroid> types.
X
X<middle-endian> adj. Not <big-endian> or <little-endian>.  Used of
X   byte orders like 3-4-1-2 occasionally found in the packed-decimal
X   formats of minicomputer manufacturers who shall remain nameless.
X
X<millilampson> /mil'i-lamp-sn/ n.  How fast people can talk.  Most
X   people run about 200 millilampsons.  Butler Lampson (a CS theorist
X   and systems implementor highly regarded among hackers) goes at
X   1000.  A few people speak faster.
X
X<MIPS> /mips/ [acronym] 1. A measure of computing speed; formally,
X   "Millions of Instructions Per Second"; often rendered by hackers
X   as "Meaningless Indication of Processor Speed". This joke
X   expresses a nearly universal attitude about the value of
X   <benchmark> claims, said attitude being one of the great cultural
X   divides between hackers and <marketroid>s.  2. The corporate name
X   of a RISC-chip maker; among other things, they supplied silicon for
X   the DEC 3100 workstation series.
X
X<misbug> [mit] n. An unintended property of a program that turns out
X   to be useful; something that should have been a <bug> but turns out
X   to be a <feature>.  Usage: rare.
X
X<misfeature> /mis-fee'chr/ n. A feature which eventually screws
X   someone, possibly because it is not adequate for a new situation
X   which has evolved.  It is not the same as a bug because fixing it
X   involves a gross philosophical change to the structure of the
X   system involved.  A misfeature is different from a simple
X   unforeseen side effect; the term implies that the misfeature was
X   actually carefully planned to be that way, but future consequences
X   or circumstances just weren't predicted accurately.  This is
X   different from just not having thought ahead about it at all.
X   Often a former feature becomes a misfeature because a tradeoff was
X   made whose parameters subsequently changed (possibly only in the
X   judgment of the implementors).  "Well, yeah, it's kind of a
X   misfeature that file names are limited to six characters, but the
X   original implementors wanted to save directory space and we're
X   stuck with it for now."
X
X<Missed'em-five> n. Pejorative hackerism for AT&T System V UNIX,
X   generally used by <BSD> partisans in a bigoted mood.  See <software
X   bloat>, <Berzerkely>.
X
X<moby> [seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years ago.
X   Derived from Melville's "Moby Dick" (some say from "Moby
X   Pickle").]  1. adj. Large, immense, complex, impressive.  "A
X   Saturn V rocket is a truly moby frob."  "Some MIT undergrads
X   pulled off a moby hack at the Harvard-Yale game." (see Appendix
X   A).  2. n. obs.  The maximum address space of a machine (see
X   below).  For a 68000 or VAX or most modern 32-bit architectures, it
X   is 4294967296 8-bit bytes.  3.  A title of address (never of
X   third-person reference), usually used to show admiration, respect,
X   and/or friendliness to a competent hacker.  "Greetings, moby Dave.
X   How's that address-book thing for the Mac going?"  4.  adj. In
X   backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in "moby sixes", "moby
X   ones", etc.  Compare this with <bignum> (sense #2): double sixes
X   are both bignums and moby sixes, but moby ones are not bignums (the
X   use of term "moby" to describe double ones is sarcastic).  <moby
X   foo>, <moby win>, <moby loss>: standard emphatic forms.  <foby
X   moo>: a spoonerism due to Greenblatt.
X
X   This term entered hackerdom with the Fabritek 256K moby memory of
X   the MIT-AI machine. Thus, a moby is classically, 256K 36-bit words,
X   the size of a PDP-10 moby (it has two).  Back when address
X   registers were narrow, the term was more generally useful; because
X   when a computer had virtual memory mapping it might actually
X   have more physical memory attached to it than any one program could
X   access directly.  One could then say "This computer has six
X   mobies" to mean that the ratio of physical memory to address space
X   is six, without having to say specifically how much memory there
X   actually is.  That in turn implied that the computer could
X   timeshare six "full-sized" programs without having to swap
X   programs between memory and disk.
X
X   Nowadays the low cost of processor logic means that registers are
X   typically wider than the most memory you can cram onto a machine,
X   so most systems have much *less* than 1 theoretical `native'
X   moby of core.  Also, more modern memory-management techniques make
X   the `moby count' less significant.  However, there is one series of
X   popular chips for which the term could stand to be revived -- the
X   Intel 8088 and 80286 with their incredibly brain-damaged
X   segmented-memory design.  On these, a `moby' would be the
X   1-megabyte address span of a paragraph-plus-offset pair.
X
X<mode> n. A general state, usually used with an adjective describing
X   the state.  Use of the word "mode" rather than "state" implies
X   that the state is extended over time, and probably also that some
X   activity characteristic of that state is being carried out. "No
X   time to hack; I'm in thesis mode."  Usage: in its jargon sense,
X   "mode" is most often said of people, though it is sometimes
X   applied to programs and inanimate objects. "The E editor normally
X   uses a display terminal, but if you're on a TTY it will switch to
X   non-display mode."  This term is normally used in a technical sense
X   to describe the state of a program.  Extended usage --- for
X   example, to describe people --- is definitely slang.  In
X   particular, see <hack mode>, <day mode>, <night mode>, <demo mode>,
X   <fireworks mode> and <yoyo mode>; also <talk mode>.
X
X   One also often hears the verbs "enable" and "disable" used in
X   connection with slang modes.  Thus, for example, a sillier way of
X   saying "I'm going to crash" is "I'm going to enable crash mode
X   now."  One might also hear a request to "disable flame mode,
X   please".
X
X<modulo> /mod'yuh-low/ prep. Except for.  From mathematical
X   terminology: one can consider saying that 4=22 "except for the
X   9's" (4=22 mod 9) (the precise meaning is a bit more complicated,
X   but that's the idea).  "Well, LISP seems to work okay now, modulo
X   that <GC> bug."  "I feel fine today modulo a slight headache."
X
X<monkey up> vt. To hack together hardware for a particular task,
X   especially a one-shot job.  Connotes an extremely <crufty> and
X   consciously temporary solution.
X
X<monstrosity> 1. n. A ridiculously <elephantine> program or system,
X   esp.  one which is buggy or only marginally functional.  2.  The
X   quality of being monstrous (see `Peculiar nouns' in the discussion
X   of jargonification).  See also <baroque>.
X
X<Moore's Law> /morz law/ n. The observation that the logic density of
X   silicon integrated circuits has closely followed the curve (bits
X   per inch ^ 2) = 2 ^ (n - 1962); that is, the amount of
X   information storable in one square inch of silicon has roughly
X   doubled yearly every year since the technology was invented.
X
X<moria> /mor'i-ah/ n. Together with <nethack> and <rogue>, one of the
X   large PD Dungeons-and-Dragons simulation games, available for a
X   wide range of machines and operationg systems.  Extremely addictive
X   and a major consumer of time better used for hacking.
X
X<MOTAS> /moh-tahs/ [USENET, Member Of The Appropriate Sex] n. A
X   potential or (less often) actual sex partner.  See <MOTOS>,
X   <MOTSS>, <S.O>.
X
X<MOTOS> /moh-tohs/ [from the 1970 census forms via USENET, Member Of
X   The Opposite Sex] n. A potential or (less often) actual sex
X   partner.  See <MOTAS>, <MOTSS>, <S.O.> Less common than <MOTSS> or
X   <MOTAS>, which has largely displaced it.
X
X<MOTSS> /motss/ [from the 1970 census forms via USENET, Member Of The
X   Same Sex] n. Esp. one considered as a possible sexual partner, e.g.
X   by a gay or lesbian.  The gay-issues newsgroup on USENET is called
X   soc.motss.  See <MOTOS> and <MOTAS>, which derive from it.  Also
X   see <S.O.>.
X
X<mount> vt. 1. To attach a removable physical storage volume to a
X   machine.  In elder days and on mainframes this verb was used almost
X   exclusively of tapes; nowadays it is more likely to refer to a disk
X   or disk pack. 2.  By extension, to attach any removable device such
X   as a sensor, robot arm, or <meatware> subsystem (see Appendix A).
X   3.  [UNIX] To make a <logical> volume of some sort available for
X   use.  The volume in question may or may not be removable and may be
X   just one partition of a physical device.
X
X<mouse ahead> vi. To manipulate a computer's pointing device (almost
X   always a mouse in this usage, but not necessarily) and its
X   selection or command buttons before a computer program is ready to
X   accept such input, in anticipation of the program accepting the
X   input.  Handling this properly is rare, but it can help make a
X   <user friendly> program usable by real users, assuming they are
X   familiar with the behavior of the user interface.  Point-and-click
X   analog of "type ahead".
X
X<mouse around> vi. To explore public portions of a large system, esp.
X   a network such as Internet via <FTP> or <TELNET>, looking for
X   interesting stuff to <snarf>.
X
X<mouse elbow> n.  A tennis-elbow-like fatigue syndrome resulting from
X   excessive use of a <WIMP environment>.
X
X<mouso> /mow'so/ n. [by analogy with `typo'] An error in mouse usage
X   resulting in an inappropriate selection or graphic garbage on the
X   screen.  Compare <thinko>.
X
X<MS-DOS> /em-es-dos/ [MicroSoft Disk Operating System] n. A <clone> of
X   <CP/M> for the 8088 crufted together in six weeks by hacker Tim
X   Paterson, who is said to have regretted it ever since.  Numerous
X   features including vaguely UNIX-like but rather broken support for
X   subdirectories, I/O redirection, and pipelines were hacked in in
X   2.0 and subsequent versions; as a result, there are two
X   incompatible versions of many system calls, and MS-DOS programmers
X   can never agree on basic things like what to use as an option
X   switch or whether to be case-sensitive.  Now the
X   highest-unit-volume OS in history.  Often known simply as DOS,
X   which annoys people familiar with other similarly-abbreviated
X   operating systems.  See <mess-dos>, <ill-behaved>.
X
X<MUD> [acronym for "Multi-user Interactive Dungeons"] n. A class of
X   <virtual reality> experiments accessible via <Internet>.  These are
X   real-time chat forums with structure; they have multiple
X   `locations' like an adventure game and may include traps, puzzles,
X   magic, a simple economic system, and the capability for characters
X   to build more structure onto the database that represents the
X   existing world.  However, there is no notion that corresponds to
X   `winning' an adventure game, and interaction is primarily social.
X   The acronym MUD is often lower-cased and/or verbed; thus, one may
X   speak of "going mudding", etc.
X
X<multician> /muhl-ti'sh at n/ [coined at Honeywell, c.1970] n.
X   Competent user of <Multics>.
X
X<Multics> /muhl'tiks/ n. [from "MULTiplexed Information and Computing
X   Service"] An early (late 1960s) timesharing operating system
X   co-designed by a consortium including MIT, GE and Bell
X   Laboratories, very innovative for its time (among other things, it
X   introduced the idea of treating all devices uniformly as special
X   files). All the members but GE eventually pulled out after
X   determining that <second-system effect> had bloated MULTICS to the
X   point of practical unusability (the `lean' predecessor in question
X   is said to have been <CTSS>).  Honeywell commercialized Multics
X   after buying out GE's computer group, but it was never very
X   successful (among other things, one was required to enter a
X   password to log out).  One of the developers left in the lurch by
X   the project's breakup was Ken Thompson, a circumstance which led
X   directly to the birth of <UNIX>. For this and other reasons
X   aspects of the Multics design remain a topic of occasional debate
X   among hackers.  See also <brain-damage>.
X
X<mumblage> /mum'bl at j/ n. The topic of one's mumbling (see <mumble>).
X   "All that mumblage" is used like "all that stuff" when it is
X   not quite clear what it is or how it works, or like "all that
X   crap" when "mumble" is being used as an implicit replacement for
X   obscenities.
X
X<mumble> interj. 1. Said when the correct response is either too
X   complicated to enunciate or the speaker has not thought it out.
X   Often prefaces a longer answer, or indicates a general reluctance
X   to get into a big long discussion.  "Don't you think that we could
X   improve LISP performance by using a hybrid reference-count
X   transaction garbage collector, if the cache is big enough and there
X   are some extra cache bits for the microcode to use?"  "Well,
X   mumble... I'll have to think about it."  2. Sometimes used as an
X   expression of disagreement.  "I think we should buy a <VAX>."
X   "Mumble!"  Common variant: <mumble frotz>. 3. Yet another
X   metasyntactic variable, like <foo>.
X
X<munch> [often confused with `mung', q.v.] vt. To transform
X   information in a serial fashion, often requiring large amounts of
X   computation.  To trace down a data structure.  Related to <crunch>
X   and nearly synonymous with <grovel>, but connotes less pain.
X
X<munching squares> n. A <display hack> dating back to the PDP-1, which
X   employs a trivial computation (involving XOR'ing of x-y display
X   coordinates --- see <HAKMEM> items 146-148) to produce an
X   impressive display of moving, growing, and shrinking squares.  The
X   hack usually has a parameter (usually taken from toggle switches)
X   which when well-chosen can produce amazing effects.  Some of these,
X   (re)discovered recently on the LISP machine, have been christened
X   <munching triangles>, <munching w's>, and <munching mazes>.  More
X   generally, suppose a graphics program produces an impressive and
X   ever-changing display of some basic form foo on a display terminal,
X   and does it using a relatively simple program; then the program (or
X   the resulting display) is likely to be referred to as "munching
X   foos" (this is a good example of the use of the word <foo> as a
X   metasyntactic variable).
X
X<munchkin> /muhnch'kin/ n. A teenage-or-younger micro enthusiast
X   bashing BASIC or something else equally constricted.  A term of
X   mild derision --- munchkins are annoying but some grow up to be
X   hackers after passing through a <larval stage>.  The term <urchin>
X   is also used.  See also <bitty box>.
X
X<mundane> [from SF fandom] n.  1.  A person who is not in science
X   fiction fandom. 2.  A person who is not in the computer industry.
X   In this sense, most often an adjectival modifier as in "in my
X   mundane life..."
X
X<mung> /muhng/ alt. `munge' /muhnj/ [in 1960 at MIT, "Mash Until No
X   Good"; sometime after that the derivation from the recursive
X   acronym "Mung Until No Good" became standard] vt.  1.  To make
X   changes to a file, often large-scale, usually irrevocable.
X   Occasionally accidental.  See <BLT>.  2. To destroy, usually
X   accidentally, occasionally maliciously.  The system only mungs
X   things maliciously; this ia a consequence of Murphy's Law.  See
X   <scribble>, <mangle>, <trash>.  Reports from <USENET> suggest that
X   the pronunciation /muhnj/ is now usual in speech, but the spelling
X   `mung' is still common in program comments. 3. The kind of beans of
X   which the sprouts are used in Chinese food.  (That's their real
X   name!  Mung beans!  Really!)
X
X<MUSIC> n. A common extracurricular interest of hackers (compare
X   <SCIENCE-FICTION FANDOM>, <ORIENTAL FOOD>; see also <filk>).  It is
X   widely believed among hackers that there is a substantial
X   correlation between whatever mysterious traits underlie hacking
X   ability (on the one hand) and musical talent and sensitivity (on
X   the other). It is certainly the case that hackers, as a rule, like
X   music and often develop musical appreciation in unusual and
X   interesting directions.  Folk music is very big in hacker circles;
X   so is the sort of elaborate instrumental jazz/rock that used to be
X   called `progressive' and isn't recorded much any more.  Also, the
X   hacker's musical range tends to be wide; many can listen with equal
X   appreciation to (say) Talking Heads, Yes, Spirogyra, Scott Joplin,
X   King Sunny Ade, The Pretenders, or one of Bach's Brandenburg
X   Concerti.  It is also apparently true that hackerdom includes a
X   much higher concentration of talented amateur musicians than one
X   would expect from a similar-sized control group of <mundane> types.
X
X<mutter> vt. To quietly enter a command not meant for the ears of
X   ordinary mortals.  Frequently in "mutter an <incantation>".
X
X                                {= N =}
X
X<N> /en/ adj. 1. Some large and indeterminate number of objects;
X   "There were N bugs in that crock!"; also used in its original
X   sense of a variable name.  2. An arbitrarily large (and perhaps
X   infinite) number; "This crock has N bugs, as N goes to infinity".
X   3. A variable whose value is specified by the current context.  For
X   example, when ordering a meal at a restaurant N may be understood
X   to mean however many people there are at the table.  From the
X   remark "We'd like to order N wonton soups and a family dinner for
X   N-1." you can deduce that one person at the table wants to eat
X   only soup, even though you don't know how many people there are.  A
X   silly riddle: "How many computers does it take to shift the bits
X   in a register?  N+1: N to hold all the bits still, and one to shove
X   the register over." 4. NTH: adj. The ordinal counterpart of N.
X   "Now for the Nth and last time..."  In the specific context
X   "Nth-year grad student", N is generally assumed to be at least 4,
X   and is usually 5 or more.  See also <random numbers>,
X   <two-to-the-n>.
X
X<nailed to the wall> [like a trophy] adj. Said of a bug finally
X   eliminated after protracted and even heroic effort.
X
X<NAK> [from the ASCII mnemonic for 0010101] interj.  1. On-line joke
X   answer to ACK? (see <ACK>) -- "I'm not here". 2. On line answer
X   to a request for chat -- "I'm not available".  3. Used to
X   politely interrupt someone to tell them you don't understand their
X   point or that they have suddenly stopped making sense.  See <ACK>,
X   sense #3.  "And then, after we recode the project in COBOL..."
X   "Nak Nak Nak!  I thought I heard you say COBOL!"
X
X<nanoacre> /nan'o-ay-kr/ n. An areal unit (about 2mm.sq.) of
X   "real-estate" on a VLSI chip.  The term derives its amusement
X   value from the fact that VLSI nanoacres have costs in the same
X   range as real acres once one figures in design and
X   fabrication-setup costs.
X
X<nanobot> /nan'oh-bot/ n. A robot of microscopic proportions,
X   presumably built by means of <nanotechnology>.  As yet, only used
X   informally (and speculatively!). Also sometimes called a
X   `nanoagent'.
X
X<nanocomputer> /nan'oh-k at m-pyoo-tr/ n. A computer whose switching
X   elements are molecular in size.  Designs for mechanical
X   nanocomputers which use single-molecule sliding rods for their
X   logic have been proposed.  The controller for a <nanobot> would be
X   a nanocomputer.
X
X<nanotechnology> /nan'-oh-tek-naw`l at -ji/ n. A hypothetical
X   fabrication technology in which objects are designed and built with
X   the individual specification and placement of each separate atom.
X   The first unequivocal nano-fabrication experiments are taking place
X   now (1990), for example with the deposition of individual xenon
X   atoms on a nickel substrate to spell the logo of a certain very
X   large computer company by two of its physicists.  Nanotechnology
X   has been a hot topic in the hacker subculture ever since the term
X   was coined by K. Eric Drexler in his book `Engines of Creation',
X   where he predicted that nanotechnology could give rise to
X   replicating assemblers, permitting an exponential growth of
X   productivity and personal wealth.  See also <blue goo>, <gray goo>,
X   <nanobot>.
X
X<nastygram> n. 1. A protocol packet or item of email (the latter is
X   also called a `letterbomb') that takes advantage of misfeatures or
X   security holes on the target system to do untoward things. 2.
X   Disapproving mail, esp. from a net.god, pursuant to a violation of
X   <netiquette>.  Compare <shitogram>.  3. (deprecated) An error reply
X   by mail from a <daemon>; in particular, a <bounce message>.
X
X<neophilia> /nee-oh-fil'-ee-uh/ n. The trait of being excited and
X   pleased by novelty.  Common trait of most hackers, SF fans, and
X   members of several other connected "leading-edge" subcultures
X   including the pro-technology "Whole-Earth" wing of the ecology
X   movement, space activists, theater people, the membership of MENSA,
X   and the <Discordian>/neo-pagan underground.  All these groups
X   overlap heavily and (where evidence is available) seem to share
X   characteristic hacker tropisms for SF, <MUSIC> and <ORIENTAL FOOD>.
X
X<nethack> /net'hak/ n. See <hack>, sense #12.
X
X<netiquette> /net'ee-ket, net'i-ket/ [portmanteau "network
X   ettiquette"] n. Conventions of politeness recognized on <USENET>,
X   such as: avoidance of cross-posting to inappropriate groups, or
X   refraining from commercial pluggery on the net.
X
X<neep-neep> /neep neep/ [onomatopoeic, from New York SF fandom] n. One
X   who is fascinated by computers.  More general than <hacker>, as it
X   need not imply more skill than is required to boot games on a PC.
X   The gerund <neep-neeping> applies specifically to the long
X   conversations about computers that tend to develop in the corners
X   at most SF-convention parties.  Fandom has a related proverb to the
X   effect that "Hacking is a conversational black hole!"
X
X<net.*> /net dot/ pref. [USENET] Prefix used to describe people and
X   events related to USENET.  From the time before the <Great
X   Renaming>, when all non-local newsgroups had names beginning
X   "net.".  Includes net.god(s) (q.v.), net.goddesses (various
X   charismatic women with circles of on-line admirers), net.lurkers,
X   (see <lurker>), net.parties (a synonym for <boink> sense #2 (q.v.))
X   and many similar constructs.  See also <net.police>.
X
X<net.god> (net god) n. Used to refer to anyone who satisfies some
X   combination of the following conditions: has been visible on USENET
X   for more than five years, ran one of the original backbone sites,
X   moderated an important newsgroup, wrote news software, or knows
X   Gene, Mark, Rick, Mel, Henry, Chuq, and Greg personally.  See
X   <demigod>.
X
X<net.police> n.  Those USENET readers who feel it is their
X   responsibility to pounce on and <flame> any posting which they
X   regard as offensive, or in violation of their understanding of
X   <netiquette>.  Generally used sarcastically or pejoratively.  Also
X   spelled `net police'. See also <net.>, <code police>.
X
X<network address> n. As used by hackers, means an address on <the
X   network> (almost always a <bang path> or <Internet address>). An
X   essential to be taken seriously by hackers; in particular, persons
X   or organizations claiming to understand, work with, sell to, or
X   recruit from among hackers that *don't* display net addresses
X   are quietly presumed to be clueless poseurs and mentally flushed
X   (see <flush>, sense #3).  Hackers often put their net addresses on
X   their business cards and wear them prominently in contexts where
X   they expect to meet other hackers face-to-face (see also
X   <SCIENCE-FICTION FANDOM>).  This is mostly functional, but is also
X   a connotative signal that one identifies with hackerdom (like lodge
X   pins among Masons or tie-died T-shirts among Grateful Dead fans).
X   Net addresses are often used in email text as a more concise
X   substitute for personal names; indeed, hackers may come to know
X   each other quite well by network names without ever learning each
X   others' `legal' monikers.  See also <sitename>.
X
X<network, the> n. 1. The union of all the major academic and
X   noncommercial/hacker-oriented networks such as Internet, the old
X   ARPANET, NSFNet, BITNET and the virtual UUCP and <USENET>
X   "networks", plus the corporate in-house networks that gate to
X   them.  A site is generally considered `on the network' if it can be
X   reached through some combination of Internet-style (@-sign) and
X   UUCP (bang-path) addresses.  See <bang path>, <Internet address>,
X   <network address>. 2. A fictional conspiracy of libertarian
X   hacker-subversives and anti-authoritarian monkeywrenchers described
X   in Robert Anton Wilson's novel `Schrodinger's Cat', to which many
X   hackers have subsequently decided they belong (this is an example
X   of <ha ha only serious>).
X
X<New Testament> n. [C programmers] The second edition of K&R's "The C
X   Programming Language" (Prentice-Hall 1988, ISBN 0-13-110362-8),
X   describing ANSI Standard C. See <K&R>.
X
X<newbie> /n[y]oo'bee/ n. [orig. fr. British military & public-school
X   slang contraction of "new boy"] A USENET neophyte.  This term
X   originated in the <newsgroup> "talk.bizarre" but is now in wide
X   use.  Criteria for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a person
X   can be called a newbie in one newsgroup while remaining a respected
X   participant in another.  The label "newbie" is sometimes applied
X   as a serious insult, to a person who has been around USENET for a
X   long time, but who carefully hides all evidence of having a clue.
X   See <biff>.
X
X<newgrp wars> /n[y]oo'grp wohrz/ [USENET] n. Salvos of dueling
X   `newgrp' and `rmgroup' messages sometimes exchanged by persons on
X   opposite sides of a dispute over whether a <newsgroup> should be
X   created netwide.  These usually settle out within a week or two as
X   it becomes clear whether the group has a natural constituency
X   (usually, it doesn't). At times, especially in the completely
X   anarchic `alt' hierarchy, the names of newsgroups themselves become
X   a form of comment or humor; cf. the spinoff of
X   alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork from alt.tv.muppets in early 1990,
X   or any number of specialized abuse groups named after particularly
X   notorious <flamer>s.
X
X<newline> /n[y]oo'lien/ n. 1. [UNIX] The ASCII LF character (0001010),
X   used under <UNIX> as a text line terminator.  A Bell-Labs-ism
X   rather than a Berkeleyism; interestingly (and unusually for UNIX
X   slang) it is said originally to have been an IBM usage (though it
X   appears in the ASCII standard).  2. More generally, any magic
X   character sequence or operation (like Pascal's writeln() function)
X   required to terminate a text record.  See <crlf>, <terpri>.
X
X<newsfroup> /n[y]oos'froop/ [USENET] n. Silly written-only synonym for
X   <newsgroup>, originated as a typo but now in regular use on
X   USENET'S talk.bizarre and other not-real-tightly-wrapped groups.
X
X<newsgroup> [USENET] n. One of USENET's large collection of topic
X   groups.  Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the C-language
X   forum), comp.1.wizards (for UNIX wizards), rec.arts.sf-lovers
X   (for science-fiction fans) and talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous
X   political discussions and <flamage>).
X
X<nickle> n. A <nybble> + 1; 5 bits.  Reported among developers for
X   Mattel's GI 1600 (the Intellivision games processor), a chip with
X   16-bit-wide RAM but 10-bit-wide ROM.  See also <deckle>.
X
X<night mode> n. See <phase> (of people).
X
X<nil> [from LISP terminology for "false"] No.  Usage: used in reply
X   to a question, particularly one asked using the "-P" convention.
X   See T.
X
X<NMI> n. Non-Maskable Interrupt.  See <priority interrupt>.
X
X<noddy> [Great Britain; from the children's books] adj. Small and
X   unuseful, but demonstrating a point. Noddy programs are often
X   written when learning a new language or system. The archetypal
X   noddy program is <hello world>.  Noddy code may be used to
X   demonstrate a feature or bug of a compiler, but would not be used
X   in a real program. May be used of real hardware or software to
X   imply that it isn't worth using.  "This editor's a bit noddy."
X
X<non-optimal (or sub-optimal) solution> n. An astoundingly stupid way
X   to do something.  This term is generally used in deadpan sarcasm,
X   as its impact is greatest when the person speaking looks completely
X   serious.  Compare <stunning>.  See also <Bad Thing>.
X
X<nonlinear> adj. [scientific computation] Behaving in an erratic and
X   unpredictable fashion.  When used to describe the behavior of a
X   machine or program, it suggests that said machine or program is
X   being forced to run far outside of design specifications.  This
X   behavior may be induced by unreasonable inputs, or may be triggered
X   when a more mundane bug sends the computation far away from its
X   expected course.  When describing the behavior of a person,
X   suggests a tantrum or a <flame>.  "When you talk to Bob, don't
X   mention the drug problem or he'll go nonlinear for hours."
X
X<nontrivial> adj. Requiring real thought or significant computing
X   power.  Often used as an understated way of saying that a problem
X   is quite difficult.  See <trivial>, <uninteresting>, <interesting>.
X
X<no-op> /noh-op/ alt. NOP (nop) [no operation] n. 1. A machine
X   instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level
X   programming as filler for data areas).  2. A person who contributes
X   nothing to a project, or has nothing going on upstairs, or both.
X   As in "he's a no-op.". 3. Any operation or sequence of operations
X   with no effect, such as circling the block without finding a
X   parking space, or putting money into a vending machine and having
X   it fall immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for
X   help and being told to go away.  "Oh well, that was a no-op."
X
X<NP-> /en pee/ pref. Extremely.  Used to modify adjectives describing
X   a level or quality of difficulty.  "Getting this algorithm to
X   perform correctly in every case is NP-annoying."  This is
X   generalized from the computer science terms "NP-hard" and
X   "NP-complete".  NP is the set of Nondeterministic-Polynomial
X   algorithms, those which can be completed by a nondeterministic
X   finite state machine in an amount of time that is a polynomial
X   function of the size of the input.
X
X<nuke> vt. 1. To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given
X   directory or storage volume. "On UNIX, rm -r /usr will nuke
X   everything in the usr filesystem."  Never used for accidental
X   deletion.  Oppose <blow away>. 2. Syn. for <dike>, applied to
X   smaller things such as files, features or code sections. 3. Used of
X   processes as well as files; frequently an alias for "kill -9" on
X   UNIX.
X
X<null device> n. A <logical> input/output device connected to the <bit
X   bucket>; when you write to it nothing happens, when you reaad from
X   it you get a zero-length record full of nothing.  Useful for
X   discarding unwanted output or using interactive programs in a
X   non-interactive way.  See </dev/null>.
X
X<numbers> [scientific computation] n. Results of a computation that may
X   not be physically significant, but at least indicate that the
X   program is running.  May be used to placate management, grant
X   sponsors, etc.  <Making numbers> means running a program because
X   output---any output, not necessarily meaningful output---is needed
X   as a demonstration of progress.  See <pretty pictures>.
X
X<NUXI problem> /nuk'see pro'blm, dh@/ n. This refers to the problem
X   of transferring data between machines with differing byte-order.
X   The string "UNIX" might look like "NUXI" on a machine with a
X   different "byte sex" (i.e. when transferring data from a
X   little-endian to a big endian or vice-versa). See also,
X   <big-endian>, <little-endian>, <swab>, and <bytesexual>.
X
X<nybble> /nib'l/ [from v. `nibble' by analogy with `bite' -> `byte']
X   n.  Four bits; one hexadecimal digit; a half-byte.  Though `byte'
X   is now accepted technical jargon found in dictionaries, this useful
X   relative is still slang.  Compare <crumb>, <taste>, <dynner>, see
X   also <bit>.  Note: a correspondent in England alleges that this
X   spelling is never used on his side of the pond, as British
X   orthography would suggest the pronunciation /niebl/.
X
X                                {= O =}
X
X<Ob> /ob/ pref. Obligatory.  A piece of <netiquette> that acknowledges
X   the author has been straying from the newsgroup's charter.  For
X   example, if a posting in alt.sex has nothing particularly to do
X   with sex, the author may append "ObSex" (or "Obsex") and toss
X   off a question or vignette about some unusual erotic act.
X
X<obscure> adj. Used in an exaggeration of its normal meaning, to imply
X   a total lack of comprehensibility.  "The reason for that last
X   crash is obscure."  "The `find(1)' command's syntax is obscure."
X   The phrase <moderately obscure> implies that it could be figured
X   out but probably isn't worth the trouble.  <Obscure in the extreme>
X   is a preferred emphatic form.
X
X<OBFUSCATED C CONTEST> n. Annual contest run since 1984 over <the
X   network> by Landon Curt Noll & friends.  The overall winner is he
X   who produces the most unreadable, creative and bizarre working C
X   program; various other prizes are awarded at the judges' whim.
X   Given C's terse syntax and macro-preprocessor facilities, this
X   gives contestants a lot of maneuvering room.  The winning programs
X   often manage to be simultaneously a) funny, b) breathtaking works
X   of art, and c) Horrible Examples of how *not* to code in C.
X
X   This relatively short and sweet entry might help convey the flavor
X   of obfuscated C:
X
X
X
X
X     main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]="Hello, world!\n)";(!!c)[*c]&&
X     (v--||--c&&execlp(*c,*c,c[!!c]+!!c,!c));**c=!c)write(!!*c,*c,
X     !!**c);}
X
X   See also <hello, world!>.
X
X<octal forty> /ok'tl for'tee/ n. Hackish way of saying "I'm drawing a
X   blank" (octal 40 is the ASCII space character). See <wall>.
X
X<off-by-one error> n. Exceedingly common error induced in many ways,
X   such as by starting at 0 when you should have started at 1 or vice
X   versa, or by writing < N instead of <= N or vice-versa.  Also
X   applied to giving an object to the person next to the one who
X   should have gotten it.  Often confused with <fencepost error>,
X   which is properly a particular subtype of it.
X
X<off the trolley> adj.  Describes the behavior of a program which
X   malfunctions but doesn't actually <crash> or get halted by the
X   operating system.  See <glitch>, <bug>, <deep space>.
X
X<offline> adv.  Not now or not here.  Example: "Let's take this
X   discussion offline."  Specifically used on <USENET> to suggest
X   that a discussion be taken off a public newsgroup to email.
X
X<old fart> n. Tribal elder.  A title self-assumed with remarkable
X   frequency by (esp.) USENETters who have been programming for more
X   than about twenty five years; frequently appears in SIGs attached
X   to jargon file contributions of great archeological significance.
X   This is a term of insult in second or third person but pride in
X   first person.
X
X<Old Testament> n. [C programmers] The first edition of the book
X   describing <Classic C>; see <K&R>.
X
X<ONE BELL SYSTEM (IT WORKS)> This was the output from the old Unix V6
X   "1" command.  The "1" command also contained a random number
X   generator which gave it a one in ten chance of recursively
X   executing itself.
X
X<one-liner wars> n. Popular game among hackers who code in the
X   language APL (see <write-only language>). The objective is to see
X   who can code the most interesting and/or useful routine in one line
X   of operators chosen from APL's exceedingly <hairy> primitive set.
X   [This is not *quite* as silly as it sounds; I myself have
X   coded one-line <life> programs and once uttered a one-liner that
X   performed lexical analysis of its input string followed by a
X   dictionary lookup for good measure --- ESR] It has been reported
X   that a similar amusement was practised among <TECO> hackers.
X
X<ooblick> /oo'blik/ [from Dr. Seuss' "Bartholomew and the Ooblick"]
X   n.  A bizarre semi-liquid sludge made from cornstarch and water.
X   Enjoyed among hackers who make batches for playtime at parties for
X   its amusing and extremely non-Newtonian behavior; it pours and
X   splatters, but resists rapid motion like a solid and will even
X   crack when hit by a hammer.  Often found near lasers.
X
X<open> n. Abbreviation for "open (or left) parenthesis", used when
X   necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity.  To read aloud the LISP form
X   (DEFUN FOO (X) (PLUS X 1)) one might say: "Open def-fun foo, open
X   eks close, open, plus ekx one, close close."  See <close>.
X
X<open switch> [IBM, prob. fr. railroading] n. An unresolved issue.
X
X<operating system> n. (Often abbreviated "OS") The foundation
X   software of a machine, of course; that which schedules tasks,
X   allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user
X   between applications.  The facilities the operating system provides
X   and its general design philosophy exert an extremely strong
X   influence on programming style and the technical culture that grows
X   up around a machine.  Hacker folklore has been shaped primarily by
X   the UNIX, ITS, TOPS-10, TOPS-20/TWENEX, VMS, CP/M, MS-DOS, and
X   MULTICS operating systems (most importantly by ITS and UNIX). Each
X   of these has its own entry, which see.
X
X<Orange Book> n. The U.S. Government's standards document (Trusted
X   Computer System Evaluation Criteria, DOD standard 5200.28-STD,
X   December, 1985) characterizing secure computing architectures,
X   defining levels A1 (most secure) through D (least).  Stock UNIXes
X   are roughly C2.  See also <Red Book>, <Blue Book>, <Green Book>,
X   <Silver Book>, <Purple Book>, <White Book>, <Pink-Shirt Book>,
X   <Dragon Book>, <Aluminum Book>.
X
X<ORIENTAL FOOD> n. Hackers display an intense tropism towards Oriental
X   cuisine, especially Chinese, and especially of the spicier
X   varieties such as Szechuan and Hunan.  This phenomenon (which has
X   also been observed in subcultures which overlap heavily with
X   hackerdom, most notably science-fiction fandom) has never been
X   satisfactorily explained, but is sufficiently intense that one can
X   assume the target of a hackish dinner expedition to be the best
X   local Chinese place and be right at least 3 times out of 4. See
X   also <ravs>, <great-wall>, <stir-fried random>.  Thai, Indian,
X   Korean and Vietnamese cuisines are also quite popular.
X
X<orphan> [UNIX] n. A process whose parent has died; one inherited by
X   `init(1)'. Compare <zombie>.
X
X<orthogonal> [from mathematics] adj. Mutually independent;
X   well-separated; sometimes, irrelevant to.  Used in a generalization
X   of its mathematical meaning to describe sets of primitives or
X   capabilities which, like a vector basis in geometry, span the
X   entire `capability space' of the system and are in some sense
X   non-overlapping or mutually independent.  For example, in
X   architectures such as the MC68000 where all or nearly all registers
X   can be used interchangeably in any role with respect to any
X   instruction, the register set is said to be orthogonal.  Or, in
X   logic, the set of operators `not' and `or' is orthogonal, but the
X   set `nand', `or' and `not' is not (because any one of these can be
X   expressed in terms of the other two via De Morgan's Laws). Also
X   used in comment on human discourse; "This may be orthogonal to the
X   discussion, but...".
X
X<OS> /oh ess/ 1. [Operating System] n. Acronym heavily used in email,
X   occasionally in speech. 2. obs. n. On ITS, an output spy.  See
X   Appendix A.
X
X<OS/2> (oh ess too) n. The anointed successor to MS-DOS for Intel-286
X   and (allegedly) 386-based micros; proof that IBM/Microsoft couldn't
X   get it right the second time, either.  Cited here because
X   mentioning it is usually good for a cheap laugh among hackers ---
X   the design was so <baroque> and the implementation of 1.x so bad
X   that three years after introduction you could still count the major
X   APPs shipping for it on the fingers of two hands.  Often called
X   "Half-an-OS".  A minority of DOS hackers retains hopes that the
X   32-bit 2.x version will turn out a winner.  See <vaporware>,
X   <monstrosity>, <cretinous>, <second-system effect>.
X
X<overrun screw> [C programming] n. A variety of <fandango on core>
X   produced by scribbling past the end of an array (C has no checks
X   for this).  This is relatively benign and easy to spot if the array
X   is static; if it is auto, the result may be to <smash the stack>.
X   The term <overrun screw> is used esp. of scribbles beyond the end
X   of arrays allocated with `malloc(3)'; this typically trashes the
X   allocation header for the next block in the <arena>, producing
X   massive lossage within malloc and (frequently) a core dump on the
X   next operation to use `stdio(3)' or `malloc(3)' itself.  See <spam>; see
X   also <memory leak>, <aliasing bug>, <precedence lossage>, <fandango
X   on core>.
X
X                                {= P =}
X
X<page in> [MIT] v. To become aware of one's surroundings again after
X   having paged out (see PAGE OUT).  Usually confined to the sarcastic
X   comment, "So-and-so pages in.  Film at 11."  See <film at 11>.
X
X<page out> [MIT] v. To become unaware of one's surroundings
X   temporarily, due to daydreaming or preoccupation.  "Can you repeat
X   that?  I paged out for a minute."  See <page in>.  Compare
X   <glitch>, <thinko>.
X
X<panic> [UNIX] v. An action taken by a process or the entire operating
X   system when an unrecoverable error is discovered.  The action
X   usually consists of: (1) displaying localized information on the
X   controlling terminal, (2) saving, or preparing for saving, a memory
X   image of the process or operating system, and (3) terminating the
X   process or rebooting the system.
X
X<param> /p at -ram'/ n. Speech-only shorthand for "parameter". Compare
X   <arg>, <var>. The plural `params' is often further compressed to
X   `parms'.
X
X<parity errors> pl.n. Those little lapses of attention or (in more
X   severe cases) consciousness, usually brought on by having spent all
X   night and most of the next day hacking.  "I need to go home and
X   crash; I'm starting to get a lot of parity errors."  Derives from a
X   relatively common but nearly always correctable transient error in
X   RAM hardware.
X
X<parse> [from linguistic terminology via AI research] v. 1. To
X   determine the syntactic structure of a sentence or other utterance
X   (close to the standard English meaning).  Example: "That was the
X   one I saw you."  "I can't parse that."  2. More generally, to
X   understand or comprehend.  "It's very simple; you just kretch the
X   glims and then aos the zotz."  "I can't parse that."  3. Of
X   fish, to have to remove the bones yourself (usually at a Chinese
X   restaurant).  "I object to parsing fish" means "I don't want to
X   get a whole fish, but a sliced one is okay."  A "parsed fish"
X   has been deboned.  There is some controversy over whether
X   "unparsed" should mean "bony", or also mean "deboned".
X
X<patch> 1. n. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a
X   quick-and-dirty remedy to an existing bug or misfeature.  A patch
X   may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated
X   permanently into the program.  2. v. To insert a patch into a piece
X   of code. 3. [in the UNIX world] n. a set of differences between two
X   versions of source code, generated with `diff(1)' and intended to be
X   mechanically applied using patch(1); often used as a way of
X   distributing source code upgrades and fixes over <USENET>.
X
X<pathological> [scientific computation] adj. Purposefully engineered
X   as a worst case.  An algorithm which can be broken by pathological
X   inputs may still be useful if such inputs are very unlikely to
X   occur in practice.  The implication is that someone had to
X   explicitly set out to break an algorithm in order to come up with
X   such a crazy example.
X
X<PBD> [abbrev of `Programmer Brain Damage'] n. Applied to bug reports
X   revealing places where the program was obviously broken due to an
X   incompetent or short-cited programmer.  Compare UBD; see also
X   <brain-damaged>.
X
X<PC-ism> n. A piece of code or coding technique that takes advantage
X   of the unprotected single-tasking environment in IBM PCs and the
X   like.  e.g. by busy-waiting on a hardware register, direct diddling
X   of screen memory, or using hard timing loops.  Compare
X   <ill-behaved>, <vaxism>, <unixism>.  Also, <pc-ware> n., a program
X   full of PC-ISMs on a machine with a more capable operating system.
X   Pejorative.
X
X<PD> /pee-dee/ adj. Common abbreviation for "public domain", applied
X   to software distributed over <USENET> and from Internet archive
X   sites.  Much of this software is not in fact "public domain" in
X   the legal sense but travels under various copyrights granting
X   reproduction and use rights to anyone who can <snarf> a copy.  See
X   <copyleft>.
X
X<pdl> /pid'l/ or /pud'l/ [acronym for Push Down List] In ITS days, the
X   preferred MITism for <stack>.  2.  Dave Lebling, one of the
X   coauthors of <Zork>; (his <network address> on the ITS machines was
X   at one time pdl at dms).  3. Program Design Language.  Any of a large
X   class of formal and profoundly useless pseudo-languages in which
X   <management> forces one to design programs.  <Management> often
X   expects it to be maintained in parallel with the code.  Used
X   jokingly as in, "Have you finished the PDL?"
X
X<PDP-10> [Programmable Data Processor model 10] n. The machine that
X   made timesharing real.  Looms large in hacker folklore due to early
X   adoption in the mid-70s by many university computing facilities and
X   research labs including the MIT AI lab, Stanford and CMU. Some
X   aspects of the instruction set (most notably the bit-field
X   instructions) are still considered unsurpassed.  Later editions
X   were labelled `DECsystem-10' as a way of differentiating them from
X   the PDP-11.  The '10 was eventually eclipsed by the PDP-11 and VAX
X   machines and dropped from DEC's line in the early '80s, and in 1990
X   to have cut one's teeth on one is considered something of a badge
X   of honorable old-timerhood among hackers.  See <TOPS-10>, <ITS>,
X   Appendix A.
X
X<peek/poke> n.,v. The commands in most microcomputer BASICs for
X   directly accessing memory contents at an absolute address; often
X   extended to mean the corresponding constructs in any <HLL>. Much
X   hacking on small, non-MMU micros consists of <peek>ing around
X   memory, more or less at random, to find the location where the
X   system keeps "interesting" stuff. Long and variably accurate, lists
X   of such addresses for various computers circulate. The results of
X   <poke>s at these addresses may be highly useful, mildly amusing,
X   useless but neat or (most likely) total <lossage> (see <killer
X   poke>).
X
X<percent-s> /per-sent' ess/ [From "%s", the formatting sequence in
X   C's `printf(3)' library function used to indicate that an arbitrary
X   string may be inserted] n. An unspecified person or object.  "I
X   was just talking to some percent-s in administration."  Compare
X   <random>.
X
X<perf> /perf/ n. See <chad> (sense #1).  The term "perfory" is also
X   heard.
X
X<PERL> [Practical Extraction and Report Language, aka Pathologically
X   Eclectic Rubbish Lister] n. An interpreted language developed by
X   Larry Wall (lwall at jpl.nasa.gov, author of `patch(1)') and
X   distributed over USENET.  Superficially resembles `awk(1)', but is
X   much more arcane (see AWK).  Increasingly considered a <language of
X   choice> by UNIX sysadmins, who are almost always incorrigible
X   hackers.  Perl has been described, in a parody of a famous remark
X   about `lex(1)', as the "Swiss-army chainsaw" of UNIX programming.
X
X<pessimal> /pes'i-ml/ [Latin-based antonym for "optimal"] adj.
X   Maximally bad.  "This is a pessimal situation."  Also <pessimize>
X   v.  to make as bad as possible.  These words are the obvious
X   Latin-based antonyms for "optimal" and "optimize", but for some
X   reason they do not appear in most English dictionaries, although
X   "pessimize" is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.
X
X<pessimizing compiler> /pes'i-miez-ing kuhm-pie'lr/ [antonym of
X   `optimizing compiler'] n. A compiler that produces object code that
X   is worse than the straightforward or obvious translation.  The
X   implication is that the compiler is actually trying to optimize the
X   program, but through stupidity is doing the opposite.  A few
X   pessimizing compilers have been written on purpose, however, as
X   pranks.
X
X<phase> 1. n. The phase of one's waking-sleeping schedule with respect
X   to the standard 24-hour cycle.  This is a useful concept among
X   people who often work at night according to no fixed schedule.  It
X   is not uncommon to change one's phase by as much as six hours/day
X   on a regular basis.  "What's your phase?"  "I've been getting in
X   about 8 PM lately, but I'm going to <wrap around> to the day
X   schedule by Friday."  A person who is roughly 12 hours out of
X   phase is sometimes said to be in "night mode".  (The term "day
X   mode" is also , but less frequently, used, meaning you're working
X   9 to 5 (or more likely 10 to 6)).  The act of altering one's cycle
X   is called "changing phase"; "phase shifting" has also been
X   recently reported from Caltech.  2. <change phase the hard way>: to
X   stay awake for a very long time in order to get into a different
X   phase.  3. <change phase the easy way>: To stay asleep etc.
X   However, some claim that either staying awake longer or sleeping
X   longer is easy, an that it's *shortening* your day or night
X   that's hard.  The phenomenon of "jet lag" that afflicts travelers
X   who cross many time-zone boundaries may be attributed to two
X   distinct causes: the strain of travel per se, and the strain of
X   changing phase.  Hackers who suddenly find that they must change
X   phase drastically in a short period of time, particularly the hard
SHAR_EOF
chmod 0644 jsplit.ag || echo "restore of jsplit.ag fails"
if [ $TOUCH = can ]
then
    touch -am 0103154591 jsplit.ag
fi
exit 0