The Jargon File by Eric S. Raymond (sites to read books for free .TXT) 📖

of hardware.

Node:some random X, Next:[12462]sorcerer's apprentice mode,

Previous:[12463]softy, Up:[12464]= S =

some random X adj.

Used to indicate a member of class X, with the implication that Xs are

interchangeable. "I think some random cracker tripped over the guest

timeout last night." See also [12465]J. Random.

Node:sorcerer's apprentice mode, Next:[12466]SOS, Previous:[12467]some

random X, Up:[12468]= S =

sorcerer's apprentice mode n.

[from Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling" via Paul Dukas's "L'apprenti

sorcier" the film "Fantasia"] A bug in a protocol where, under some

circumstances, the receipt of a message causes multiple messages to be

sent, each of which, when received, triggers the same bug. Used esp.

of such behavior caused by [12469]bounce message loops in [12470]email

software. Compare [12471]broadcast storm, [12472]network meltdown,

[12473]software laser, [12474]ARMM.

Node:SOS, Next:[12475]source, Previous:[12476]sorcerer's apprentice

mode, Up:[12477]= S =

SOS /S-O-S/

n.,obs. An infamously [12478]losing text editor. Once, back in the

1960s, when a text editor was needed for the PDP-6, a hacker crufted

together a [12479]quick-and-dirty `stopgap editor' to be used until a

better one was written. Unfortunately, the old one was never really

discarded when new ones came along. SOS is a descendant (`Son of

Stopgap') of that editor, and many PDP-10 users gained the dubious

pleasure of its acquaintance. Since then other programs similar in

style to SOS have been written, notably the early font editor BILOS

/bye'lohs/, the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap (the alternate expansion

`Bastard Issue, Loins of Stopgap' has been proposed).

Node:source, Next:[12480]source of all good bits, Previous:[12481]SOS,

Up:[12482]= S =

source n.

[very common] In reference to software, `source' is invariably

shorthand for `source code', the preferred human-readable and

human-modifiable form of the program. This is as opposed to object

code, the derived binary executable form of a program. This shorthand

readily takes derivative forms; one may speak of "the sources of a

system" or of "having source".

Node:source of all good bits, Next:[12483]space-cadet keyboard,

Previous:[12484]source, Up:[12485]= S =

source of all good bits n.

A person from whom (or a place from which) useful information may be

obtained. If you need to know about a program, a [12486]guru might be

the source of all good bits. The title is often applied to a

particularly competent secretary.

Node:space-cadet keyboard, Next:[12487]spaceship operator,

Previous:[12488]source of all good bits, Up:[12489]= S =

space-cadet keyboard n.

A now-legendary device used on MIT LISP machines, which inspired

several still-current jargon terms and influenced the design of

[12490]EMACS. It was equipped with no fewer than seven shift keys:

four keys for [12491]bucky bits (control',meta', `hyper', and

super') and three like regular shift keys, calledshift', `top', and

`front'. Many keys had three symbols on them: a letter and a symbol on

the top, and a Greek letter on the front. For example, the `L' key had

an `L' and a two-way arrow on the top, and the Greek letter lambda on

the front. By pressing this key with the right hand while playing an

appropriate `chord' with the left hand on the shift keys, you could

get the following results:

L

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 [12492]bucky bits, [12493]cokebottle,

[12494]double bucky, [12495]meta bit, [12496]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 [12497]bucky bits). The true space-cadet

keyboard evolved from the first Knight keyboard.

Node:spaceship operator, Next:[12498]SPACEWAR,

Previous:[12499]space-cadet keyboard, Up:[12500]= S =

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. [12501]Perl uses this to denote the

signum-of-difference operation.

Node:SPACEWAR, Next:[12502]spaghetti code, Previous:[12503]spaceship

operator, Up:[12504]= S =

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 1962. In 1968-69, a

descendant of the game motivated Ken Thompson to build, in his spare

time on a scavenged PDP-7, the operating system that became

[12505]Unix. Less than nine years after that, SPACEWAR was

commercialized as one of the first video games; descendants are still

[12506]feeping in video arcades everywhere.

Node:spaghetti code, Next:[12507]spaghetti inheritance,

Previous:[12508]SPACEWAR, Up:[12509]= S =

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.

Node:spaghetti inheritance, Next:[12510]spam,

Previous:[12511]spaghetti code, Up:[12512]= S =

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

[12513]spaghetti code.

Node:spam, Next:[12514]spam bait, Previous:[12515]spaghetti

inheritance, Up:[12516]= S =

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 [12517]buffer overflow, [12518]overrun screw, [12519]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 [12520]cross-posting

(e.g. any message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and

alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups).

This overlaps with [12521]troll behavior; the latter more specific

term has become more common. 3. To send many identical or

nearly-identical messages separately to a large number of Usenet

newsgroups. This is more specifically called `ECP', Excessive

Cross-Posting. This is one sure way to infuriate nearly everyone on

the Net. See also [12522]velveeta and [12523]jello. 4. To bombard a

newsgroup with multiple copies of a message. This is more specifically

called `EMP', Excessive Multi-Posting. 5. To mass-mail unrequested

identical or nearly-identical email messages, particularly those

containing advertising. Especially used when the mail addresses have

been culled from network traffic or databases without the consent of

the recipients. Synonyms include [12524]UCE, [12525]UBE. 6. Any large,

annoying, quantity of output. For instance, someone on IRC who walks

away from their screen and comes back to find 200 lines of text might

say "Oh no, spam".

The later definitions have become much more prevalent as the Internet

has opened up to non-techies, and to most people senses 3 4 and 5 are

now primary. All three behaviors are considered abuse of the net, and

are almost universally grounds for termination of the originator's

email account or network connection. In these senses the term `spam'

has gone mainstream, though without its original sense or folkloric

freight - there is apparently a widespread myth among [12526]lusers

that "spamming" is what happens when you dump cans of Spam into a

revolving fan.

Node:spam bait, Next:[12527]spamblock, Previous:[12528]spam,

Up:[12529]= S =

spam bait n.

Email addresses included in, or comprising the entirety of, a usenet

message so that spammers mining a newsgroup with an [12530]address

harvester will collect them. These addresses can be people who have

offended or annoyed the poster, or who are included so that a spammer

will spam an official, thereby causing himself trouble. One

particularly effective form of spam bait is the address of a

[12531]teergrube.

Node:spamblock, Next:[12532]spamhaus, Previous:[12533]spam bait,

Up:[12534]= S =

spamblock /spam'blok/ n.

[poss. by analogy to sunblock] Text inserted in an email address to

render it invalid and thus useless to spammers. For example, the

address `jrandom@hacker.org' might be transformed to

`jrandom@NOSPAM.hacker.org'. Adding spamblock to an address is often

referred to as `munging' it (see [12535]munge)-. This evasion tactic

depends on the fact that most spammers collect names with some sort of

[12536]address harvester on volumes too high to de-mung by hand, but

individual humans reading an email message can readily spot and remove

a spamblock in the from address.

Note: This is not actually a very effective tactic, and may already be

passing out of use in early 1999 after about two years of life. In

both mail and news, it's essentially impossible to keep a smart

address harvester from mining out the addresses in the message header

and trace lines. Therefore the only people who can be protected are

third parties mentioned by email address in the message - not a common

enough case to interest spammers.

Node:spamhaus, Next:[12537]spamvertize, Previous:[12538]spamblock,

Up:[12539]= S =

spamhaus spam'hows n.

Pejorative term for an internet service provider that permits or even

encourages [12540]spam mailings from its systems. The plural is

`spamhausen'. There is a web page devoted to [12541]tracking

spamhausen.

The most notorious of the spamhausen was Sanford Wallace's Cyber

Promotions Inc., shut down by a lawsuit on 16 October 1997. The

anniversary of the shutdown is celebrated on Usenet as Spam Freedom

Day, but lesser imitators of the Spamford still infest various murky

corners of the net. Since prosecution of spammers became routine under

the junk-fax laws and statues specifically targeting spam, spamhausen

have declined in relative importance; today, hit-and-run attacks by

spammers using [12542]relay rape and [12543]throwaway accounts on

reputable ISPs seem to account for most of the flow.

Node:spamvertize, Next:[12544]spangle, Previous:[12545]spamhaus,

Up:[12546]= S =

spamvertize v.

To advertise using [12547]spam. Pejorative.

Node:spangle, Next:[12548]spawn, Previous:[12549]spamvertize,

Up:[12550]= S =

spangle n.

[UK] The singular of [12551]bells and whistles. See also

[12552]spungle.

Node:spawn, Next:[12553]special-case, Previous:[12554]spangle,

Up:[12555]= S =

spawn n.,vi.

[techspeak] In UNIX parlance, to create a child process from within

a process. Technically this is a fork'; the termspawn' is a bit

more general and is used for threads (lightweight processes) as well

as traditional heavyweight processes. 2. In gaming, meant to indicate

where (spawn-point') and when a player comes to life (orre-spawns')

after being killed. Opposite of [12556]frag.

Node:special-case, Next:[12557]speedometer, Previous:[12558]spawn,

Up:[12559]= S =

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 [12560]hidden flags in the input of a

batch program or [12561]filter.

Node:speedometer, Next:[12562]spell, Previous:[12563]special-case,

Up:[12564]= S =

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 [12565]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.

Node:spell, Next:[12566]spelling flame, Previous:[12567]speedometer,

Up:[12568]= S =

spell n.

Syn. [12569]incantation.

Node:spelling flame, Next:[12570]spider, Previous:[12571]spell,

Up:[12572]= S =