Chapter L (1)

lowercase l

shift-L
uppercase L

front-L
lowercase lambda

front-shift-L
uppercase lambda

top-L
two-way arrow (front and shift are ignored)

And of course each of these might also be typed with any
combination of the control, meta, hyper, and super keys. On this
keyboard, you could type over 8000 different characters! This
allowed the user to type very complicated mathematical text, and
also to have thousands of single-character commands at his
disposal. Many hackers were actually willing to memorize the
command meanings of that many characters if it reduced typing time
(this attitude obviously shaped the interface of EMACS). Other
hackers, however, thought having that many bucky bits was overkill,
and objected that such a keyboard can require three or four hands
to operate. See {bucky bits}, {cokebottle}, {double bucky},
{meta bit}, {quadruple bucky}.

Note: early versions of this entry incorrectly identified the
space-cadet keyboard with the `Knight keyboard'. Though both
were designed by Tom Knight, the latter term was properly applied
only to a keyboard used for ITS on the PDP-10 and modeled on the
Stanford keyboard (as described under {bucky bits}). The true
space-cadet keyboard evolved from the first Knight keyboard.

:spaceship operator: /n./ The glyph `<=>', so-called
apparently because in the low-resolution constant-width font used
on many terminals it vaguely resembles a flying saucer. {Perl}
uses this to denote the signum-of-difference operation.

:SPACEWAR: /n./ A space-combat simulation game, inspired by
E. E. "Doc" Smith's "Lensman" books, in which two
spaceships duel around a central sun, shooting torpedoes at each
other and jumping through hyperspace. This game was first
implemented on the PDP-1 at MIT in 1960--61. SPACEWAR aficionados
formed the core of the early hacker culture at MIT. Nine years
later, a descendant of the game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in
his spare time on a scavenged PDP-7, the operating system that
became {{Unix}}. Less than nine years after that, SPACEWAR was
commercialized as one of the first video games; descendants are
still {feep}ing in video arcades everywhere.

:spaghetti code: /n./ Code with a complex and tangled control
structure, esp. one using many GOTOs, exceptions, or other
`unstructured' branching constructs. Pejorative. The synonym
`kangaroo code' has been reported, doubtless because such code
has so many jumps in it.

:spaghetti inheritance: /n./ [encountered among users of
object-oriented languages that use inheritance, such as Smalltalk]
A convoluted class-subclass graph, often resulting from carelessly
deriving subclasses from other classes just for the sake of reusing
their code. Coined in a (successful) attempt to discourage such
practice, through guilt-by-association with {spaghetti code}.

:spam: /vt.,vi.,n./ [from "Monty Python's Flying Circus"]
1. To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with
excessively large input data. See also {buffer overflow},
{overrun screw}, {smash the stack}. 2. To cause a newsgroup
to be flooded with irrelevant or inappropriate messages. You can
spam a newsgroup with as little as one well- (or ill-) planned
message (e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?" on
soc.women). This is often done with {cross-post}ing
(e.g. any message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh
and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam
both groups). 3. To send many identical or nearly-identical
messages separately to a large number of Usenet newsgroups. This
is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone on the Net.

The second and third definitions have become much more prevalent as
the Internet has opened up to non-techies, and to many Usenetters
sense 3 is now (1995) primary. In this sense the term has
apparantly begun to go mainstream, though without its original
sense or folkloric freight -- there is apparently a widespread
belief among {luser}s that "spamming" is what happens when you
dump cans of Spam into a revolving fan.

:special-case: /vt./ To write unique code to handle input to or
situations arising in a program that are somehow distinguished from
normal processing. This would be used for processing of mode
switches or interrupt characters in an interactive interface (as
opposed, say, to text entry or normal commands), or for processing
of {hidden flag}s in the input of a batch program or
{filter}.

:speedometer: /n./ A pattern of lights displayed on a linear
set of LEDs (today) or nixie tubes (yesterday, on ancient
mainframes). The pattern is shifted left every N times the
operating system goes through its {main loop}. A swiftly moving
pattern indicates that the system is mostly idle; the speedometer
slows down as the system becomes overloaded. The speedometer on
Sun Microsystems hardware bounces back and forth like the eyes on
one of the Cylons from the wretched "Battlestar Galactica" TV
series.

Historical note: One computer, the GE 600 (later Honeywell 6000)
actually had an *analog* speedometer on the front panel,
calibrated in instructions executed per second.

:spell: /n./ Syn. {incantation}.

:spelling flame: /n./ [Usenet] A posting ostentatiously
correcting a previous article's spelling as a way of casting scorn
on the point the article was trying to make, instead of actually
responding to that point (compare {dictionary flame}). Of
course, people who are more than usually slovenly spellers are
prone to think *any* correction is a spelling flame. It's an
amusing comment on human nature that spelling flames themselves
often contain spelling errors.

:spiffy: /spi'fee/ /adj./ 1. Said of programs having a
pretty, clever, or exceptionally well-designed interface. "Have
you seen the spiffy {X} version of {empire} yet?" 2. Said
sarcastically of a program that is perceived to have little more
than a flashy interface going for it. Which meaning should be
drawn depends delicately on tone of voice and context. This word
was common mainstream slang during the 1940s, in a sense close to
1.

:spike: /v./ To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a
(sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result. The
word is used in several industries; telephone engineers refer to
spiking a relay by inserting a pin to hold the relay in either the
closed or open state, and railroaders refer to spiking a track
switch so that it cannot be moved. In programming environments it
normally refers to a temporary change, usually for testing purposes
(as opposed to a permanent change, which would be called
{hardwired}).

:spin: /vi./ Equivalent to {buzz}. More common among C and
Unix programmers.

:spl: /S-P-L/ [abbrev, from Set Priority Level] The way
traditional Unix kernels implement mutual exclusion by running code
at high interrupt levels. Used in jargon to describe the act of
tuning in or tuning out ordinary communication. Classically, spl
levels run from 1 to 7; "Fred's at spl 6 today" would mean that
he is very hard to interrupt. "Wait till I finish this; I'll spl
down then." See also {interrupts locked out}.

:splash screen: /n./ [Mac users] Syn. {banner}, sense 3.

:splat: /n./ 1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others)
for the asterisk (`*') character (ASCII 0101010). This may
derive from the `squashed-bug' appearance of the asterisk on many
early line printers. 2. [MIT] Name used by some people for the
`#' character (ASCII 0100011). 3. [Rochester Institute of
Technology] The {feature key} on a Mac (same as {alt}, sense
2). 4. obs. Name used by some people for the Stanford/ITS extended
ASCII
circle-x
character. This character is also called `blobby' and `frob',
among other names; it is sometimes used by mathematicians as a
notation for `tensor product'. 5. obs. Name for the
semi-mythical Stanford extended ASCII
circle-plus
character. See also {{ASCII}}.

:spod: /n./ [UK] A lower form of life found on {talker
system}s and {MUD}s. The spod has few friends in {RL} and
uses talkers instead, finding communication easier and preferable
over the net. He has all the negative traits of the {computer
geek} without having any interest in computers per se. Lacking any
knowledge of or interest in how networks work, and considering his
access a God-given right, he is a major irritant to sysadmins,
clogging up lines in order to reach new MUDs, following passed-on
instructions on how to sneak his way onto Internet ("Wow! It's in
America!") and complaining when he is not allowed to use busy
routes. A true spod will start any conversation with "Are you
male or female?" (and follow it up with "Got any good
numbers/IDs/passwords?") and will not talk to someone physically
present in the same terminal room until they log onto the same
machine that he is using and enter talk mode. Compare {newbie},
{tourist}, {weenie}, {twink}, {terminal junkie},
{warez d00dz}.

:spoiler: /n./ [Usenet] 1. A remark which reveals
important plot elements from books or movies, thus denying the
reader (of the article) the proper suspense when reading the book
or watching the movie. 2. Any remark which telegraphs the solution
of a problem or puzzle, thus denying the reader the pleasure of
working out the correct answer (see also {interesting}). Either
sense readily forms compounds like `total spoiler',
`quasi-spoiler' and even `pseudo-spoiler'.

By convention, articles which are spoilers in either sense should
contain the word `spoiler' in the Subject: line, or guarantee via
various tricks that the answer appears only after several
screens-full of warning, or conceal the sensitive information via
{rot13}, or some combination of these techniques.

:sponge: /n./ [Unix] A special case of a {filter} that reads its
entire input before writing any output; the canonical example is a
sort utility. Unlike most filters, a sponge can conveniently
overwrite the input file with the output data stream. If a file
system has versioning (as ITS did and VMS does now) the
sponge/filter distinction loses its usefulness, because directing
filter output would just write a new version. See also {slurp}.

:spool: /vi./ [from early IBM `Simultaneous Peripheral
Operation On-Line', but this acronym is widely thought to have been
contrived for effect] To send files to some device or program (a
`spooler') that queues them up and does something useful with
them later. Without qualification, the spooler is the `print
spooler' controlling output of jobs to a printer; but the term has
been used in connection with other peripherals (especially plotters
and graphics devices) and occasionally even for input devices. See
also {demon}.

:spool file: /n./ Any file to which data is {spool}ed to
await the next stage of processing. Especially used in
circumstances where spooling the data copes with a mismatch between
speeds in two devices or pieces of software. For example, when you
send mail under Unix, it's typically copied to a spool file to
await a transport {demon}'s attentions. This is borderline
techspeak.

:square tape: /n./ Mainframe magnetic tape cartridges for use
with IBM 3480 or compatible tape drives; or QIC tapes used on
workstations and micros. The term comes from the square (actually
rectangular) shape of the cartridges; contrast {round tape}.

:squirrelcide: /n./ [common on Usenet's comp.risks
newsgroup.] (alt. `squirrelicide') What all too frequently happens
when a squirrel decides to exercise its species's unfortunate
penchant for shorting out power lines with their little furry
bodies. Result: one dead squirrel, one down computer installation.
In this situation, the computer system is said to have been
squirrelcided.

:stack: /n./ The set of things a person has to do in the
future. One speaks of the next project to be attacked as having
risen to the top of the stack. "I'm afraid I've got real work to
do, so this'll have to be pushed way down on my stack." "I
haven't done it yet because every time I pop my stack something new
gets pushed." If you are interrupted several times in the middle
of a conversation, "My stack overflowed" means "I forget what we
were talking about." The implication is that more items were
pushed onto the stack than could be remembered, so the least recent
items were lost. The usual physical example of a stack is to be
found in a cafeteria: a pile of plates or trays sitting on a spring
in a well, so that when you put one on the top they all sink down,
and when you take one off the top the rest spring up a bit. See
also {push} and {pop}.

At MIT, {pdl} used to be a more common synonym for {stack} in
all these contexts, and this may still be true. Everywhere else
{stack} seems to be the preferred term. {Knuth}
("The Art of Computer Programming", second edition, vol. 1,
p. 236) says:

Many people who realized the importance of stacks and queues
independently have given other names to these structures:
stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages,
cellars, nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out ("LIFO")
lists, and even yo-yo lists!

:stack puke: /n./ Some processor architectures are said to
`puke their guts onto the stack' to save their internal state
during exception processing. The Motorola 68020, for example,
regurgitates up to 92 bytes on a bus fault. On a pipelined
machine, this can take a while.

:stale pointer bug: /n./ Synonym for {aliasing bug} used
esp. among microcomputer hackers.

:star out: /v./ [University of York, England] To replace a
user's encrypted password in /etc/passwd with a single
asterisk. Under Unix this is not a legal encryption of any
password; hence the user is not permitted to log in. In general,
accounts like adm, news, and daemon are permanently "starred
out"; occasionally a real user might have the this inflicted upon
him/her as a punishment, e.g. "Graham was starred out for playing
Omega in working hours". Also occasionally known as The Order Of
The Gold Star in this context. "Don't do that, or you'll be
awarded the Order of the Gold Star..." Compare {disusered}.

:state: /n./ 1. Condition, situation. "What's the state of
your latest hack?" "It's winning away." "The system tried to
read and write the disk simultaneously and got into a totally
{wedged} state." The standard question "What's your state?"
means "What are you doing?" or "What are you about to do?"
Typical answers are "about to gronk out", or "hungry". Another
standard question is "What's the state of the world?", meaning
"What's new?" or "What's going on?". The more terse and
humorous way of asking these questions would be "State-p?".
Another way of phrasing the first question under sense 1 would be
"state-p latest hack?". 2. Information being maintained in
non-permanent memory (electronic or human).

:stealth manager: /n./ [Corporate DP] A manager that appears
out of nowhere, promises undeliverable software to unknown end
users, and vanishes before the programming staff realizes what has
happened. See {smoke and mirrors}.

:steam-powered: /adj./ Old-fashioned or underpowered; archaic.
This term does not have a strong negative loading and may even be
used semi-affectionately for something that clanks and wheezes a
lot but hangs in there doing the job.

:stiffy: /n./ [University of Lowell, Massachusetts.] 3.5-inch
{microfloppies}, so called because their jackets are more rigid
than those of the 5.25-inch and the (now totally obsolete) 8-inch
floppy. Elsewhere this might be called a `firmy'.

:stir-fried random: /n./ (alt. `stir-fried mumble') Term used
for the best dish of many of those hackers who can cook. Consists
of random fresh veggies and meat wokked with random spices. Tasty
and economical. See {random}, {great-wall}, {ravs},
{{laser chicken}}, {{oriental food}}; see also {mumble}.

:stomp on: /vt./ To inadvertently overwrite something
important, usually automatically. "All the work I did this
weekend got stomped on last night by the nightly server script."
Compare {scribble}, {mangle}, {trash}, {scrog},
{roach}.

:Stone Age: /n.,adj./ 1. In computer folklore, an ill-defined
period from ENIAC (ca. 1943) to the mid-1950s; the great age of
electromechanical {dinosaur}s. Sometimes used for the entire
period up to 1960--61 (see {Iron Age}); however, it is funnier
and more descriptive to characterize the latter period in terms of
a `Bronze Age' era of transistor-logic, pre-ferrite-{core}
machines with drum or CRT mass storage (as opposed to just mercury
delay lines and/or relays). See also {Iron Age}. 2. More
generally, a pejorative for any crufty, ancient piece of hardware
or software technology. Note that this is used even by people who
were there for the {Stone Age} (sense 1).

:stone knives and bearskins: /n./ [from the Star Trek Classic
episode "The City on the Edge of Forever"] A term
traditionally used to describe (and deprecate) computing
environments that are grotesquely primitive in light of what is
known about good ways to design things. As in "Don't get too used
to the facilities here. Once you leave SAIL it's stone knives and
bearskins as far as the eye can see". Compare {steam-powered}.

:stoppage: /sto'p*j/ /n./ Extreme {lossage} that renders
something (usually something vital) completely unusable. "The
recent system stoppage was caused by a {fried}
transformer."

:store: /n./ [prob. from techspeak `main store'] In some
varieties of Commonwealth hackish, the preferred synonym for
{core}. Thus, `bringing a program into store' means not that
one is returning shrink-wrapped software but that a program is
being {swap}ped in.

:strided: /stri:'d*d/ /adj./ [scientific computing] Said of
a sequence of memory reads and writes to addresses, each of which
is separated from the last by a constant interval called the
`stride length'. These can be a worst-case access pattern for
the standard memory-caching schemes when the stride length is a
multiple of the cache line size. Strided references are often
generated by loops through an array, and (if your data is large
enough that access-time is significant) it can be worthwhile to
tune for better locality by inverting double loops or by partially
unrolling the outer loop of a loop nest. This usage is borderline
techspeak; the related term `memory stride' is definitely
techspeak.

:stroke: /n./ Common name for the slant (`/', ASCII 0101111)
character. See {ASCII} for other synonyms.

:strudel: /n./ Common (spoken) name for the at-sign (`@',
ASCII 1000000) character. See {ASCII} for other synonyms.

:stubroutine: /stuhb'roo-teen/ /n./ [contraction of `stub
subroutine'] Tiny, often vacuous placeholder for a subroutine that
is to be written or fleshed out later.

:studly: /adj./ Impressive; powerful. Said of code and designs
which exhibit both complexity and a virtuoso flair. Has
connotations similar to {hairy} but is more positive in tone.
Often in the emphatic `most studly' or as noun-form
`studliness'. "Smail 3.0's configuration parser is most
studly."

:studlycaps: /stuhd'lee-kaps/ /n./ A hackish form of
silliness similar to {BiCapitalization} for trademarks, but
applied randomly and to arbitrary text rather than to trademarks.
ThE oRigiN and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS oBscuRe.

:stunning: /adj./ Mind-bogglingly stupid. Usually used in
sarcasm. "You want to code *what* in ADA? That's a ...
stunning idea!"

:stupid-sort: /n./ Syn. {bogo-sort}.

:Stupids: /n./ Term used by {samurai} for the {suit}s who
employ them; succinctly expresses an attitude at least as common,
though usually better disguised, among other subcultures of
hackers. There may be intended reference here to an SF story
originally published in 1952 but much anthologized since, Mark
Clifton's "Star, Bright". In it, a super-genius child
classifies humans into a very few `Brights' like herself, a huge
majority of `Stupids', and a minority of `Tweens', the merely
ordinary geniuses.

:Sturgeon's Law: /prov./ "Ninety percent of everything is
crap". Derived from a quote by science fiction author Theodore
Sturgeon, who once said, "Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud.
That's because 90% of everything is crud." Oddly, when Sturgeon's
Law is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to
`crap'. Compare {Hanlon's Razor}, {Ninety-Ninety Rule}.
Though this maxim originated in SF fandom, most hackers recognize
it and are all too aware of its truth.

:sucking mud: [Applied Data Research] /adj./ (also `pumping
mud') Crashed or {wedged}. Usually said of a machine that
provides some service to a network, such as a file server. This
Dallas regionalism derives from the East Texas oilfield lament,
"Shut 'er down, Ma, she's a-suckin' mud". Often used as a query.
"We are going to reconfigure the network, are you ready to suck
mud?"

:sufficiently small: /adj./ Syn. {suitably small}.

:suit: /n./ 1. Ugly and uncomfortable `business clothing'
often worn by non-hackers. Invariably worn with a `tie', a
strangulation device that partially cuts off the blood supply to
the brain. It is thought that this explains much about the
behavior of suit-wearers. Compare {droid}. 2. A person who
habitually wears suits, as distinct from a techie or hacker. See
{loser}, {burble}, {management}, {Stupids}, {SNAFU
principle}, and {brain-damaged}. English, by the way, is
relatively kind; our Moscow correspondent informs us that the
corresponding idiom in Russian hacker jargon is `sovok', lit. a
tool for grabbing garbage.

:suitable win: /n./ See {win}.

:suitably small: /adj./ [perverted from mathematical jargon]
An expression used ironically to characterize unquantifiable
behavior that differs from expected or required behavior. For
example, suppose a newly created program came up with a correct
full-screen display, and one publicly exclaimed: "It works!"
Then, if the program dumped core on the first mouse click, one
might add: "Well, for suitably small values of `works'."
Compare the characterization of pi under {{random
numbers}}.

:sun lounge: /n./ [UK] The room where all the Sun workstations live.
The humor in this term comes from the fact that it's also in
mainstream use to describe a solarium, and all those Sun
workstations clustered together give off an amazing amount of heat.

:sun-stools: /n./ Unflattering hackerism for SunTools, a pre-X
windowing environment notorious in its day for size, slowness, and
misfeatures. {X}, however, is larger and slower; see
{second-system effect}.

:sunspots: /n./ 1. Notional cause of an odd error. "Why did
the program suddenly turn the screen blue?" "Sunspots, I
guess." 2. Also the cause of {bit rot} -- from the myth that
sunspots will increase {cosmic rays}, which can flip single bits
in memory. See also {phase of the moon}.

:super source quench: /n./ A special packet designed to shut up
an Internet host. The Internet Protocol (IP) has a control message
called Source Quench that asks a host to transmit more slowly on a
particular connection to avoid congestion. It also has a Redirect
control message intended to instruct a host to send certain packets
to a different local router. A "super source quench" is actually
a redirect control packet, forged to look like it came from a local
router, that instructs a host to send all packets to its own local
loopback address. This will effectively tie many Internet hosts up
in knots. Compare {Godzillagram}, {breath-of-life
packet}.

:superloser: /n./ [Unix] A superuser with no clue -- someone
with root privileges on a Unix system and no idea what he/she is
doing, the moral equivalent of a three-year-old with an unsafetied
Uzi. Anyone who thinks this is an uncommon situation reckons
without the territorial urges of {management}.

:superprogrammer: /n./ A prolific programmer; one who can code
exceedingly well and quickly. Not all hackers are
superprogrammers, but many are. (Productivity can vary from one
programmer to another by three orders of magnitude. For example,
one programmer might be able to write an average of 3 lines of
working code in one day, while another, with the proper tools,
might be able to write 3,000. This range is astonishing; it is
matched in very few other areas of human endeavor.) The term
`superprogrammer' is more commonly used within such places as IBM
than in the hacker community. It tends to stress naive measures of
productivity and to underweight creativity, ingenuity, and getting
the job *done* -- and to sidestep the question of whether the
3,000 lines of code do more or less useful work than three lines
that do the {Right Thing}. Hackers tend to prefer the terms
{hacker} and {wizard}.

:superuser: /n./ [Unix] Syn. {root}, {avatar}. This usage has
spread to non-Unix environments; the superuser is any account with
all {wheel} bits on. A more specific term than {wheel}.

:support: /n./ After-sale handholding; something many software
vendors promise but few deliver. To hackers, most support people
are useless -- because by the time a hacker calls support he or
she will usually know the software and the relevant manuals better
than the support people (sadly, this is *not* a joke or
exaggeration). A hacker's idea of `support' is a
t^ete-`a-t^ete with the software's designer.

:surf: /v./ [from the `surf' idiom for rapidly flipping TV
channels] To traverse the Internet in search of interesting stuff,
used esp. if one is doing so with a World Wide Web browser. It is
also common to speak of `surfing in' to a particular resource.

:Suzie COBOL: /soo'zee koh'bol/ 1. [IBM: prob. from Frank
Zappa's `Suzy Creamcheese'] /n./ A coder straight out of training
school who knows everything except the value of comments in plain
English. Also (fashionable among personkind wishing to avoid
accusations of sexism) `Sammy Cobol' or (in some non-IBM circles)
`Cobol Charlie'. 2. [proposed] Meta-name for any {code
grinder}, analogous to {J. Random Hacker}.

:swab: /swob/ [From the mnemonic for the PDP-11 `SWAp Byte'
instruction, as immortalized in the `dd(1)' option
`conv=swab' (see {dd})] 1. /vt./ To solve the {NUXI
problem} by swapping bytes in a file. 2. /n./ The program in V7
Unix
used to perform this action, or anything functionally equivalent to
it. See also {big-endian}, {little-endian},
{middle-endian}, {bytesexual}.

:swap: /vt./ 1. [techspeak] To move information from a
fast-access memory to a slow-access memory (`swap out'), or vice
versa (`swap in'). Often refers specifically to the use of disks
as `virtual memory'. As pieces of data or program are needed,
they are swapped into {core} for processing; when they are no
longer needed they may be swapped out again. 2. The jargon use of
these terms analogizes people's short-term memories with core.
Cramming for an exam might be spoken of as swapping in. If you
temporarily forget someone's name, but then remember it, your
excuse is that it was swapped out. To `keep something swapped
in' means to keep it fresh in your memory: "I reread the TECO
manual every few months to keep it swapped in." If someone
interrupts you just as you got a good idea, you might say "Wait a
moment while I swap this out", implying that a piece of paper is
your extra-somatic memory and that if you don't swap the idea out
by writing it down it will get overwritten and lost as you talk.
Compare {page in}, {page out}.

:swap space: /n./ Storage space, especially temporary storage
space used during a move or reconfiguration. "I'm just using that
corner of the machine room for swap space."

:swapped in: /n./ See {swap}. See also {page in}.

:swapped out: /n./ See {swap}. See also {page out}.

:swizzle: /v./ To convert external names, array indices, or
references within a data structure into address pointers when the
data structure is brought into main memory from external storage
(also called `pointer swizzling'); this may be done for speed in
chasing references or to simplify code (e.g., by turning lots of
name lookups into pointer dereferences). The converse operation is
sometimes termed `unswizzling'. See also {snap}.

:sync: /sink/ n., /vi./ (var. `synch') 1. To synchronize,
to bring into synchronization. 2. [techspeak] To force all pending
I/O to the disk; see {flush}, sense 2. 3. More generally, to
force a number of competing processes or agents to a state that
would be `safe' if the system were to crash; thus, to checkpoint
(in the database-theory sense).

:syntactic salt: /n./ The opposite of {syntactic sugar}, a
feature designed to make it harder to write bad code.
Specifically, syntactic salt is a hoop the programmer must jump
through just to prove that he knows what's going on, rather than to
express a program action. Some programmers consider required type
declarations to be syntactic salt. A requirement to write
`end if', `end while', `end do', etc. to terminate
the last block controlled by a control construct (as opposed to
just `end') would definitely be syntactic salt. Syntactic
salt is like the real thing in that it tends to raise hackers'
blood pressures in an unhealthy way. Compare {candygrammar}.

:syntactic sugar: /n./ [coined by Peter Landin] Features added
to a language or other formalism to make it `sweeter' for
humans, features which do not affect the expressiveness of the
formalism (compare {chrome}). Used esp. when there is an
obvious and trivial translation of the `sugar' feature into
other constructs already present in the notation. C's `a[i]'
notation is syntactic sugar for `*(a + i)'. "Syntactic sugar
causes cancer of the semicolon." -- Alan Perlis.

The variants `syntactic saccharin' and `syntactic syrup' are
also recorded. These denote something even more gratuitous, in
that syntactic sugar serves a purpose (making something more
acceptable to humans), but syntactic saccharin or syrup serve no
purpose at all. Compare {candygrammar}, {syntactic salt}.

:sys-frog: /sis'frog/ /n./ [the PLATO system] Playful variant
of `sysprog', which is in turn short for `systems programmer'.

:sysadmin: /sis'ad-min/ /n./ Common contraction of `system
admin'; see {admin}.

:sysape: /sys'ayp/ /n./ A rather derogatory term for a
computer operator; a play on {sysop} common at sites that use
the banana hierarchy of problem complexity (see {one-banana
problem}).

:sysop: /sis'op/ /n./ [esp. in the BBS world] The operator
(and usually the owner) of a bulletin-board system. A common
neophyte mistake on {FidoNet} is to address a message to
`sysop' in an international {echo}, thus sending it to
hundreds of sysops around the world.

:system: /n./ 1. The supervisor program or OS on a computer.
2. The entire computer system, including input/output devices, the
supervisor program or OS, and possibly other software. 3. Any
large-scale program. 4. Any method or algorithm. 5. `System
hacker': one who hacks the system (in senses 1 and 2 only; for
sense 3 one mentions the particular program: e.g., `LISP hacker')

:systems jock: /n./ See {jock}, sense 2.

:system mangler: /n./ Humorous synonym for `system manager',
poss. from the fact that one major IBM OS had a {root} account
called SYSMANGR. Refers specifically to a systems programmer in
charge of administration, software maintenance, and updates at some
site. Unlike {admin}, this term emphasizes the technical end of
the skills involved.

:SysVile: /sis-vi:l'/ /n./ See {Missed'em-five}.

= T = =====

:T: /T/ 1. [from LISP terminology for `true'] Yes. Used
in reply to a question (particularly one asked using {The `-P'
convention}). In LISP, the constant T means `true', among other
things. Some Lisp hackers use `T' and `NIL' instead of `Yes' and
`No' almost reflexively. This sometimes causes misunderstandings.
When a waiter or flight attendant asks whether a hacker wants
coffee, he may absently respond `T', meaning that he wants coffee;
but of course he will be brought a cup of tea instead.
Fortunately, most hackers (particularly those who frequent Chinese
restaurants) like tea at least as well as coffee -- so it is not
that big a problem. 2. See {time T} (also {since time T
equals minus infinity}). 3. [techspeak] In transaction-processing
circles, an abbreviation for the noun `transaction'. 4. [Purdue]
Alternate spelling of {tee}. 5. A dialect of {LISP}
developed at Yale. (There is an intended allusion to NIL, "New
Implementation of Lisp", another dialect of Lisp developed for the
{VAX})

:tail recursion: /n./ If you aren't sick of it already, see
{tail recursion}.

:talk mode: /n./ A feature supported by Unix, ITS, and some
other OSes that allows two or more logged-in users to set up a
real-time on-line conversation. It combines the immediacy of
talking with all the precision (and verbosity) that written
language entails. It is difficult to communicate inflection,
though conventions have arisen for some of these (see the section
on writing style in the Prependices for details).

Talk mode has a special set of jargon words, used to save typing,
which are not used orally. Some of these are identical to (and
probably derived from) Morse-code jargon used by ham-radio amateurs
since the 1920s.

AFAIK
as far as I know
BCNU
be seeing you
BTW
by the way
BYE?
are you ready to unlink? (this is the standard way to end a
talk-mode conversation; the other person types `BYE' to confirm,
or else continues the conversation)
CUL
see you later
ENQ?
are you busy? (expects `ACK' or `NAK' in return)
FOO?
are you there? (often used on unexpected links, meaning also
"Sorry if I butted in ..." (linker) or "What's up?" (linkee))
FWIW
for what it's worth
FYI
for your information
FYA
for your amusement
GA
go ahead (used when two people have tried to type simultaneously;
this cedes the right to type to the other)
GRMBL
grumble (expresses disquiet or disagreement)
HELLOP
hello? (an instance of the `-P' convention)
IIRC
if I recall correctly
JAM
just a minute (equivalent to `SEC....')
MIN
same as `JAM'
NIL
no (see {NIL})
O
over to you
OO
over and out
/
another form of "over to you" (from x/y as "x over y")
\
lambda (used in discussing LISPy things)
OBTW
oh, by the way
OTOH
on the other hand
R U THERE?
are you there?
SEC
wait a second (sometimes written `SEC...')
T
yes (see the main entry for {T})
TNX
thanks
TNX 1.0E6
thanks a million (humorous)
TNXE6
another form of "thanks a million"
WRT
with regard to, or with respect to.
WTF
the universal interrogative particle; WTF knows what it means?
WTH
what the hell?
<double newline>
When the typing party has finished, he/she types two newlines to
signal that he/she is done; this leaves a blank line between
`speeches' in the conversation, making it easier to reread the
preceding text.
<name>:
When three or more terminals are linked, it is conventional for
each typist to {prepend} his/her login name or handle and a colon
(or a hyphen) to each line to indicate who is typing (some
conferencing facilities do this automatically). The login name
is often shortened to a unique prefix (possibly a single letter)
during a very long conversation.
/\/\/\
A giggle or chuckle. On a MUD, this usually means `earthquake
fault'.

Most of the above sub-jargon is used at both Stanford and MIT.
Several of these expressions are also common in {email}, esp.
FYI, FYA, BTW, BCNU, WTF, and CUL. A few other abbreviations have
been reported from commercial networks, such as GEnie and
CompuServe, where on-line `live' chat including more than two
people is common and usually involves a more `social' context,
notably the following:

<g>
grin
<gr&d>
grinning, running, and ducking
BBL
be back later
BRB
be right back
HHOJ
ha ha only joking
HHOK
ha ha only kidding
HHOS
{ha ha only serious}
IMHO
in my humble opinion (see {IMHO})
LOL
laughing out loud
NHOH
Never Heard of Him/Her (often used in {initgame})
ROTF
rolling on the floor
ROTFL
rolling on the floor laughing
AFK
away from keyboard
b4
before
CU l8tr
see you later
MORF
male or female?
TTFN
ta-ta for now
TTYL
talk to you later
OIC
oh, I see
rehi
hello again

Most of these are not used at universities or in the Unix world,
though ROTF and TTFN have gained some currency there and IMHO is
common; conversely, most of the people who know these are
unfamiliar with FOO?, BCNU, HELLOP, {NIL}, and {T}.

The {MUD} community uses a mixture of Usenet/Internet emoticons,
a few of the more natural of the old-style talk-mode abbrevs, and
some of the `social' list above; specifically, MUD respondents
report use of BBL, BRB, LOL, b4, BTW, WTF, TTFN, and WTH. The use
of `rehi' is also common; in fact, mudders are fond of re-
compounds and will frequently `rehug' or `rebonk' (see
{bonk/oif}) people. The word `re' by itself is taken as
`regreet'. In general, though, MUDders express a preference for
typing things out in full rather than using abbreviations; this may
be due to the relative youth of the MUD cultures, which tend to
include many touch typists and to assume high-speed links. The
following uses specific to MUDs are reported:

CU l8er
see you later (mutant of `CU l8tr')
FOAD
fuck off and die (use of this is generally OTT)
OTT
over the top (excessive, uncalled for)
ppl
abbrev for "people"
THX
thanks (mutant of `TNX'; clearly this comes in batches of 1138
(the Lucasian K)).
UOK?
are you OK?

Some {B1FF}isms (notably the variant spelling `d00d')
appear to be passing into wider use among some subgroups of
MUDders.

One final note on talk mode style: neophytes, when in talk mode,
often seem to think they must produce letter-perfect prose because
they are typing rather than speaking. This is not the best
approach. It can be very frustrating to wait while your partner
pauses to think of a word, or repeatedly makes the same spelling
error and backs up to fix it. It is usually best just to leave
typographical errors behind and plunge forward, unless severe
confusion may result; in that case it is often fastest just to type
"xxx" and start over from before the mistake.

See also {hakspek}, {emoticon}.

:talker system: /n./ British hackerism for software that
enables real-time chat or {talk mode}.

:tall card: /n./ A PC/AT-size expansion card (these can be
larger than IBM PC or XT cards because the AT case is bigger). See
also {short card}. When IBM introduced the PS/2 model 30 (its
last gasp at supporting the ISA) they made the case lower and many
industry-standard tall cards wouldn't fit; this was felt to be a
reincarnation of the {connector conspiracy}, done with less
style.

:tanked: /adj./ Same as {down}, used primarily by Unix
hackers. See also {hosed}. Popularized as a synonym for
`drunk' by Steve Dallas in the late lamented "Bloom County"
comic strip.

:TANSTAAFL: /tan'stah-fl/ [acronym, from Robert Heinlein's
classic "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress".] "There Ain't No
Such Thing As A Free Lunch", often invoked when someone is balking
at the prospect of using an unpleasantly {heavyweight}
technique, or at the poor quality of some piece of free software,
or at the {signal-to-noise ratio} of unmoderated Usenet
newsgroups. "What? Don't tell me I have to implement a database
back end to get my address book program to work!" "Well,
TANSTAAFL you know." This phrase owes some of its popularity to
the high concentration of science-fiction fans and political
libertarians in hackerdom (see {A Portrait of J. Random
Hacker} in Appendix B).

:tar and feather: /vi./ [from Unix `tar(1)'] To create a
transportable archive from a group of files by first sticking them
together with `tar(1)' (the Tape ARchiver) and then
compressing the result (see {compress}). The latter action is
dubbed `feathering' partly for euphony and (if only for contrived
effect) by analogy to what you do with an airplane propeller to
decrease wind resistance, or with an oar to reduce water
resistance; smaller files, after all, slip through comm links more
easily.

:taste: [primarily MIT] /n./ 1. The quality in a program that
tends to be inversely proportional to the number of features,
hacks, and kluges programmed into it. Also `tasty',
`tasteful', `tastefulness'. "This feature comes in N
tasty flavors." Although `tasty' and `flavorful' are
essentially synonyms, `taste' and {flavor} are not. Taste
refers to sound judgment on the part of the creator; a program or
feature can *exhibit* taste but cannot *have* taste. On
the other hand, a feature can have {flavor}. Also, {flavor}
has the additional meaning of `kind' or `variety' not shared by
`taste'. The marked sense of {flavor} is more popular than
`taste', though both are widely used. See also {elegant}.
2. Alt. sp. of {tayste}.

:tayste: /tayst/ /n./ Two bits; also as {taste}.
Syn. {crumb}, {quarter}. See {nybble}.

:TCB: /T-C-B/ /n./ [IBM] 1. Trouble Came Back. An
intermittent or difficult-to-reproduce problem that has failed to
respond to neglect or {shotgun debugging}. Compare
{heisenbug}. Not to be confused with: 2. Trusted Computing
Base, an `official' jargon term from the {Orange Book}.

:TCP/IP: /T'C-P I'P/ /n./ 1. [Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol] The wide-area-networking protocol that
makes the Internet work, and the only one most hackers can speak
the name of without laughing or retching. Unlike such allegedly
`standard' competitors such as X.25, DECnet, and the ISO 7-layer
stack, TCP/IP evolved primarily by actually being *used*,
rather than being handed down from on high by a vendor or a
heavily-politicized standards committee. Consequently, it (a)
works, (b) actually promotes cheap cross-platform connectivity, and
(c) annoys the hell out of corporate and governmental
empire-builders everywhere. Hackers value all three of these
properties. See {creationism}. 2. [Amateur Packet Radio]
Sometimes expanded as "The Crap Phil Is Pushing". The reference
is to Phil Karn, KA9Q, and the context is an ongoing
technical/political war between the majority of sites still running
AX.25 and a growing minority of TCP/IP relays.

:tea, ISO standard cup of: /n./ [South Africa] A cup of tea
with milk and one teaspoon of sugar, where the milk is poured into
the cup before the tea. Variations are ISO 0, with no sugar; ISO
2, with two spoons of sugar; and so on.

Like many ISO standards, this one has a faintly alien ring in North
America, where hackers generally shun the decadent British practice
of adulterating perfectly good tea with dairy products and
prefer instead to add a wedge of lemon, if anything. If one were
feeling extremely silly, one might hypothesize an analogous `ANSI
standard cup of tea' and wind up with a political situation
distressingly similar to several that arise in much more serious
technical contexts. Milk and lemon don't mix very well.

:TechRef: /tek'ref/ /n./ [MS-DOS] The original "IBM PC
Technical Reference Manual", including the BIOS listing and
complete schematics for the PC. The only PC documentation in the
original-issue package that was considered serious by real
hackers.

:TECO: /tee'koh/ /n.,v. obs./ 1. [originally an acronym for
`[paper] Tape Editor and COrrector'; later, `Text Editor and
COrrector'] /n./ A text editor developed at MIT and modified by
just
about everybody. With all the dialects included, TECO may have
been the most prolific editor in use before {EMACS}, to which it
was directly ancestral. Noted for its powerful
programming-language-like features and its unspeakably hairy
syntax. It is literally the case that every string of characters
is a valid TECO program (though probably not a useful one); one
common game used to be mentally working out what the TECO commands
corresponding to human names did. 2. /vt./ Originally, to edit
using
the TECO editor in one of its infinite variations (see below).
3. vt.,obs. To edit even when TECO is *not* the editor being
used! This usage is rare and now primarily historical.

As an example of TECO's obscurity, here is a TECO program that
takes a list of names such as:

Loser, J. Random
Quux, The Great
Dick, Moby

sorts them alphabetically according to surname, and then puts the
surname last, removing the comma, to produce the following:

Moby Dick
J. Random Loser
The Great Quux

The program is

[1 J^P$L$$
J <.-Z; .,(S,$ -D .)FX1 @F^B $K :L I $ G1 L>$$

(where ^B means `Control-B' (ASCII 0000010) and $ is actually
an {alt} or escape (ASCII 0011011) character).

In fact, this very program was used to produce the second, sorted
list from the first list. The first hack at it had a {bug}: GLS
(the author) had accidentally omitted the `@' in front
of `F^B', which as anyone can see is clearly the {Wrong Thing}. It
worked fine the second time. There is no space to describe all the
features of TECO, but it may be of interest that `^P' means
`sort' and `J<.-Z; ... L>' is an idiomatic series of commands
for `do once for every line'.

In mid-1991, TECO is pretty much one with the dust of history,
having been replaced in the affections of hackerdom by {EMACS}.
Descendants of an early (and somewhat lobotomized) version adopted
by DEC can still be found lurking on VMS and a couple of crufty
PDP-11 operating systems, however, and ports of the more advanced
MIT versions remain the focus of some antiquarian interest. See
also {retrocomputing}, {write-only language}.

:tee: /n.,vt./ [Purdue] A carbon copy of an electronic
transmission. "Oh, you're sending him the {bits} to that?
Slap on a tee for me." From the Unix command `tee(1)',
itself named after a pipe fitting (see {plumbing}). Can also
mean `save one for me', as in "Tee a slice for me!" Also
spelled `T'.

:teledildonics: /tel`*-dil-do'-niks/ /n./ Sex in a computer
simulated virtual reality, esp. computer-mediated sexual
interaction between the {VR} presences of two humans. This
practice is not yet possible except in the rather limited form of
erotic conversation on {MUD}s and the like. The term, however,
is widely recognized in the VR community as a {ha ha only
serious} projection of things to come. "When we can sustain a
multi-sensory surround good enough for teledildonics, *then*
we'll know we're getting somewhere." See also {hot chat}.

:Telerat: /tel'*-rat/ /n. obs./ Unflattering hackerism for
`Teleray', a now-extinct line of extremely losing terminals.
Compare {AIDX}, {Macintrash} {Nominal Semidestructor},
{Open DeathTrap}, {ScumOS}, {sun-stools}, {HP-SUX}.

:TELNET: /tel'net/ /vt./ (also commonly lowercased as
`telnet') To communicate with another Internet host using the
TELNET ({RFC} 854) protocol (usually using a program of the same
name). TOPS-10 people used the word IMPCOM, since that was the
program name for them. Sometimes abbreviated to TN /T-N/. "I
usually TN over to SAIL just to read the AP News."

:ten-finger interface: /n./ The interface between two networks
that cannot be directly connected for security reasons; refers to
the practice of placing two terminals side by side and having an
operator read from one and type into the other.

:tense: /adj./ Of programs, very clever and efficient. A tense
piece of code often got that way because it was highly {bum}med,
but sometimes it was just based on a great idea. A comment in a
clever routine by Mike Kazar, once a grad-student hacker at CMU:
"This routine is so tense it will bring tears to your eyes." A
tense programmer is one who produces tense code.

:tentacle: /n./ A covert {pseudo}, sense 1. An artificial
identity created in cyberspace for nefarious and deceptive
purposes. The implication is that a single person may have
multiple tentacles. This term was originally floated in some
paranoid ravings on the cypherpunks list (see {cypherpunk}), and
adopted in a spirit of irony by other, saner members. It has since
shown up, used seriously, in the documentation for some remailer
software, and is now (1994) widely recognized on the net.

:tenured graduate student: /n./ One who has been in graduate
school for 10 years (the usual maximum is 5 or 6): a `ten-yeared'
student (get it?). Actually, this term may be used of any grad
student beginning in his seventh year. Students don't really get
tenure, of course, the way professors do, but a tenth-year graduate
student has probably been around the university longer than any
untenured professor.

:tera-: /te'r*/ /pref./ [SI] See {{quantifiers}}.

:teraflop club: /te'r*-flop kluhb/ /n./ [FLOP = Floating
Point Operation] A mythical association of people who consume
outrageous amounts of computer time in order to produce a few
simple pictures of glass balls with intricate ray-tracing
techniques. Caltech professor James Kajiya is said to have been
the founder. Compare {Knights of the Lambda Calculus}.

:terminak: /ter'mi-nak`/ /n./ [Caltech, ca. 1979] Any
malfunctioning computer terminal. A common failure mode of
Lear-Siegler ADM 3a terminals caused the `L' key to produce the `K'
code instead; complaints about this tended to look like "Terminak
#3 has a bad keyboard. Pkease fix." Compare {dread high-bit
disease}, {frogging}; see also {AIDX}, {Nominal
Semidestructor}, {Open DeathTrap}, {ScumOS}, {sun-stools},
{Telerat}, {HP-SUX}.

:terminal brain death: /n./ The extreme form of {terminal
illness} (sense 1). What someone who has obviously been hacking
continuously for far too long is said to be suffering from.

:terminal illness: /n./ 1. Syn. {raster burn}. 2. The
`burn-in' condition your CRT tends to get if you don't have a
screen saver.

:terminal junkie: /n./ [UK] A {wannabee} or early {larval
stage} hacker who spends most of his or her time wandering the
directory tree and writing {noddy} programs just to get a fix of
computer time. Variants include `terminal jockey', `console
junkie', and {console jockey}. The term `console jockey'
seems to imply more expertise than the other three (possibly
because of the exalted status of the {{console}} relative to an
ordinary terminal). See also {twink}, {read-only
user}.

:terpri: /ter'pree/ /vi./ [from LISP 1.5 (and later,
MacLISP)] To output a {newline}. Now rare as jargon, though
still used as techspeak in Common LISP. It is a contraction of
`TERminate PRInt line', named for the fact that, on some early OSes
and hardware, no characters would be printed until a complete line
was formed, so this operation terminated the line and emitted the
output.

:test: /n./ 1. Real users bashing on a prototype long enough to
get thoroughly acquainted with it, with careful monitoring and
followup of the results. 2. Some bored random user trying a couple
of the simpler features with a developer looking over his or her
shoulder, ready to pounce on mistakes. Judging by the quality of
most software, the second definition is far more prevalent. See
also {demo}.

:TeX:: /tekh/ /n./
An extremely powerful {macro}-based text formatter written by
Donald E. {Knuth}, very popular in the computer-science
community (it is good enough to have displaced Unix {{troff}}, the
other favored formatter, even at many Unix installations). TeX
fans insist on the correct (guttural) pronunciation, and the
correct spelling (all caps, squished together, with the E depressed
below the baseline; the mixed-case `TeX' is considered an
acceptable kluge on ASCII-only devices). Fans like to proliferate
names from the word `TeX' -- such as TeXnician (TeX
user), TeXhacker (TeX programmer), TeXmaster (competent
TeX programmer), TeXhax, and TeXnique. See also
{CrApTeX}.

Knuth began TeX because he had become annoyed at the declining
quality of the typesetting in volumes I--III of his monumental
"Art of Computer Programming" (see {Knuth}, also
{bible}). In a manifestation of the typical hackish urge to
solve the problem at hand once and for all, he began to design his
own typesetting language. He thought he would finish it on his
sabbatical in 1978; he was wrong by only about 8 years. The
language was finally frozen around 1985, but volume IV of "The
Art of Computer Programming" is not expected to appear until 2002.
The impact and influence of TeX's design has been such that
nobody minds this very much. Many grand hackish projects have
started as a bit of {toolsmith}ing on the way to something else;
Knuth's diversion was simply on a grander scale than most.

TeX has also been a noteworthy example of free, shared, but
high-quality software. Knuth used to offer monetary awards to
people who found and reported bugs in it; as the years wore on and
the few remaining bugs were fixed (and new ones even harder to
find), the bribe went up. Though well-written, TeX is so large
(and so full of cutting edge technique) that it is said to have
unearthed at least one bug in every Pascal system it has been
compiled with.

:text: /n./ 1. [techspeak] Executable code, esp. a `pure
code' portion shared between multiple instances of a program
running in a multitasking OS. Compare {English}. 2. Textual
material in the mainstream sense; data in ordinary {{ASCII}} or
{{EBCDIC}} representation (see {flat-ASCII}). "Those are
text files; you can review them using the editor." These two
contradictory senses confuse hackers, too.

:thanks in advance: [Usenet] Conventional net.politeness
ending a posted request for information or assistance. Sometimes
written `advTHANKSance' or `aTdHvAaNnKcSe' or abbreviated `TIA'.
See {net.-}, {netiquette}.

:That's not a bug, that's a feature!: The {canonical}
first parry in a debate about a purported bug. The complainant, if
unconvinced, is likely to retort that the bug is then at best a
{misfeature}. See also {feature}.

:the X that can be Y is not the true X: Yet another instance
of hackerdom's peculiar attraction to mystical references -- a
common humorous way of making exclusive statements about a class of
things. The template is from the "Tao te Ching": "The Tao
which can be spoken of is not the true Tao." The implication is
often that the X is a mystery accessible only to the enlightened.
See the {trampoline} entry for an example, and compare {has
the X nature}.

:theology: /n./ 1. Ironically or humorously used to refer to
{religious issues}. 2. Technical fine points of an abstruse
nature, esp. those where the resolution is of theoretical
interest but is relatively {marginal} with respect to actual use
of a design or system. Used esp. around software issues with a
heavy AI or language-design component, such as the smart-data vs.
smart-programs dispute in AI.

:theory: /n./ The consensus, idea, plan, story, or set of rules
that is currently being used to inform a behavior. This usage is a
generalization and (deliberate) abuse of the technical meaning.
"What's the theory on fixing this TECO loss?" "What's the
theory on dinner tonight?" ("Chinatown, I guess.") "What's
the current theory on letting lusers on during the day?" "The
theory behind this change is to fix the following well-known
screw...."

:thinko: /thing'koh/ /n./ [by analogy with `typo'] A
momentary, correctable glitch in mental processing, especially one
involving recall of information learned by rote; a bubble in the
stream of consciousness. Syn. {braino}; see also {brain
fart}. Compare {mouso}.

:This can't happen: Less clipped variant of {can't
happen}.

:This time, for sure!: /excl./ Ritual affirmation frequently
uttered during protracted debugging sessions involving numerous
small obstacles (e.g., attempts to bring up a UUCP connection).
For the proper effect, this must be uttered in a fruity imitation
of Bullwinkle J. Moose. Also heard: "Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a
rabbit out of my hat!" The {canonical} response is, of course,
"But that trick *never* works!" See {{hacker humor}}.

:thrash: /vi./ To move wildly or violently, without
accomplishing anything useful. Paging or swapping systems that are
overloaded waste most of their time moving data into and out of
core (rather than performing useful computation) and are therefore
said to thrash. Someone who keeps changing his mind (esp. about
what to work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person
frantically trying to execute too many tasks at once (and not
spending enough time on any single task) may also be described as
thrashing. Compare {multitask}.