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

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 [12690]disusered.

Node:state, Next:[12691]stealth manager, Previous:[12692]star out,

Up:[12693]= S =

state n.

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 [12694]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).

Node:stealth manager, Next:[12695]steam-powered,

Previous:[12696]state, Up:[12697]= S =

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 [12698]smoke and

mirrors.

Node:steam-powered, Next:[12699]STFW, Previous:[12700]stealth manager,

Up:[12701]= S =

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.

Node:STFW, Next:[12702]stiffy, Previous:[12703]steam-powered,

Up:[12704]= S =

STFW imp. /S-T-F-W/

[Usenet] Commmon abbreviation for "Search The Fucking Web", a

suggestion that what you're asking for is a query better handled by a

search engine than a human being. Usage is common and exactly parallel

to both senses of [12705]RTFM.

Node:stiffy, Next:[12706]stir-fried random, Previous:[12707]STFW,

Up:[12708]= S =

stiffy n.

3.5-inch [12709]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'. For some odd

reason, several sources have taken the trouble to inform us that this

term is widespread in South Africa.

Node:stir-fried random, Next:[12710]stomp on, Previous:[12711]stiffy,

Up:[12712]= S =

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 [12713]random,

[12714]great-wall, [12715]ravs, [12716]laser chicken, [12717]oriental

food; see also [12718]mumble.

Node:stomp on, Next:[12719]Stone Age, Previous:[12720]stir-fried

random, Up:[12721]= S =

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 [12722]scribble, [12723]mangle,

[12724]trash, [12725]scrog, [12726]roach.

Node:Stone Age, Next:[12727]stone knives and bearskins,

Previous:[12728]stomp on, Up:[12729]= S =

Stone Age n.,adj.

In computer folklore, an ill-defined period from ENIAC (ca. 1943)

to the mid-1950s; the great age of electromechanical [12730]dinosaurs.

Sometimes used for the entire period up to 1960-61 (see [12731]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-[12732]core machines with drum or CRT mass storage (as

opposed to just mercury delay lines and/or relays). See also

[12733]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 [12734]Stone Age (sense 1).

Node:stone knives and bearskins, Next:[12735]stoppage,

Previous:[12736]Stone Age, Up:[12737]= S =

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 [12738]steam-powered.

Node:stoppage, Next:[12739]store, Previous:[12740]stone knives and

bearskins, Up:[12741]= S =

stoppage /sto'p*j/ n.

Extreme [12742]lossage that renders something (usually something

vital) completely unusable. "The recent system stoppage was caused by

a [12743]fried transformer."

Node:store, Next:[12744]strided, Previous:[12745]stoppage, Up:[12746]=

S =

store n.

[prob. from techspeak `main store'] In some varieties of Commonwealth

hackish, the preferred synonym for [12747]core. Thus, `bringing a

program into store' means not that one is returning shrink-wrapped

software but that a program is being [12748]swapped in.

Node:strided, Next:[12749]stroke, Previous:[12750]store, Up:[12751]= S

=

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.

Node:stroke, Next:[12752]strudel, Previous:[12753]strided, Up:[12754]=

S =

stroke n.

Common name for the slant (`/', ASCII 0101111) character. See

[12755]ASCII for other synonyms.

Node:strudel, Next:[12756]stubroutine, Previous:[12757]stroke,

Up:[12758]= S =

strudel n.

Common (spoken) name for the at-sign (`@', ASCII 1000000) character.

See [12759]ASCII for other synonyms.

Node:stubroutine, Next:[12760]studly, Previous:[12761]strudel,

Up:[12762]= S =

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.

Node:studly, Next:[12763]studlycaps, Previous:[12764]stubroutine,

Up:[12765]= S =

studly adj.

Impressive; powerful. Said of code and designs which exhibit both

complexity and a virtuoso flair. Has connotations similar to

[12766]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."

Node:studlycaps, Next:[12767]stunning, Previous:[12768]studly,

Up:[12769]= S =

studlycaps /stuhd'lee-kaps/ n.

A hackish form of silliness similar to [12770]BiCapitalization for

trademarks, but applied randomly and to arbitrary text rather than to

trademarks. ThE oRigiN and SigNificaNce of thIs pRacTicE iS oBscuRe.

Node:stunning, Next:[12771]stupid-sort, Previous:[12772]studlycaps,

Up:[12773]= S =

stunning adj.

Mind-bogglingly stupid. Usually used in sarcasm. "You want to code

what in ADA? That's a ... stunning idea!"

Node:stupid-sort, Next:[12774]Stupids, Previous:[12775]stunning,

Up:[12776]= S =

stupid-sort n.

Syn. [12777]bogo-sort.

Node:Stupids, Next:[12778]Sturgeon's Law, Previous:[12779]stupid-sort,

Up:[12780]= S =

Stupids n.

Term used by [12781]samurai for the [12782]suits 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 ofTweens', the

merely ordinary geniuses.

Node:Sturgeon's Law, Next:[12783]sucking mud, Previous:[12784]Stupids,

Up:[12785]= S =

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 [12786]Hanlon's Razor,

[12787]Ninety-Ninety Rule. Though this maxim originated in SF fandom,

most hackers recognize it and are all too aware of its truth.

Node:sucking mud, Next:[12788]sufficiently small,

Previous:[12789]Sturgeon's Law, Up:[12790]= S =

sucking mud adj.

[Applied Data Research] (also `pumping mud') Crashed or [12791]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?"

Node:sufficiently small, Next:[12792]suit, Previous:[12793]sucking

mud, Up:[12794]= S =

sufficiently small adj.

Syn. [12795]suitably small.

Node:suit, Next:[12796]suitable win, Previous:[12797]sufficiently

small, Up:[12798]= S =

suit n.

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

[12799]droid. 2. A person who habitually wears suits, as distinct from

a techie or hacker. See [12800]pointy-haired, [12801]burble,

[12802]management, [12803]Stupids, [12804]SNAFU principle, [12805]PHB,

and [12806]brain-damaged.

Node:suitable win, Next:[12807]suitably small, Previous:[12808]suit,

Up:[12809]= S =

suitable win n.

See [12810]win.

Node:suitably small, Next:[12811]Sun, Previous:[12812]suitable win,

Up:[12813]= S =

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

[12814]random numbers.

Node:Sun, Next:[12815]sun lounge, Previous:[12816]suitably small,

Up:[12817]= S =

Sun n.

Sun Microsystems. Hackers remember that the name was originally an

acronym, Stanford University Network. Sun started out around 1980 with

some hardware hackers (mainly) from Stanford talking to some software

hackers (mainly) from UC Berkeley; Sun's original technology concept

married a clever board design based on the Motorola 68000 to

[12818]BSD Unix. Sun went on to lead the worstation industry through

the 1980s, and for years afterwards remained an engineering-driven

company and a good place for hackers to work. Though Sun drifted away

from its techie origins after 1990 and has since made some strategic

moves that disappointed and annoyed many hackers (especially by

maintaining proprietary control of Java and rejecting Linux), it's

still considered within the family in much the same way [12819]DEC was

in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Node:sun lounge, Next:[12820]sun-stools, Previous:[12821]Sun,

Up:[12822]= S =

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.

Node:sun-stools, Next:[12823]sunspots, Previous:[12824]sun lounge,

Up:[12825]= S =

sun-stools n.

Unflattering hackerism for SunTools, a pre-X windowing environment

notorious in its day for size, slowness, and misfeatures. [12826]X,

however, is larger and (some claim) slower; see [12827]second-system

effect.

Node:sunspots, Next:[12828]super source quench,

Previous:[12829]sun-stools, Up:[12830]= S =

sunspots n.

Notional cause of an odd error. "Why did the program suddenly turn

the screen blue?" "Sunspots, I guess." 2. Also the cause of [12831]bit

rot -- from the myth that sunspots will increase [12832]cosmic rays,

which can flip single bits in memory. See also [12833]phase of the

moon.

Node:super source quench, Next:[12834]superloser,

Previous:[12835]sunspots, Up:[12836]= S =

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 [12837]Godzillagram,

[12838]breath-of-life packet.

Node:superloser, Next:[12839]superprogrammer, Previous:[12840]super

source quench, Up:[12841]= S =

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

[12842]management.

Node:superprogrammer, Next:[12843]superuser,

Previous:[12844]superloser, Up:[12845]= S =

superprogrammer n.

A prolific programmer; one who can code exceedingly well and quickly.

Not all hackers are superprogrammers, but many are.