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

a piece of C filter code which

remains otherwise mysterious.

Node:whack-a-mole, Next:[14638]whacker, Previous:[14639]whack,

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whack-a-mole n.

[from the carnival game which involves quickly and repeatedly hitting

the heads of mechanical moles with a mallet as they pop up from their

holes.] 1. The practice of repeatedly causing spammers'

[14641]throwaway accounts and drop boxes to be terminated. 2. After

sense 1 became established in the mid-1990s the term passed into more

generalized use, and now is commonly found in such combinations as

`whack-a-mole windows'; the obnoxious pop-ip advertisement windows

spawned in flocks when you surg to sites like Geocities or Tripod.

Node:whacker, Next:[14642]whales, Previous:[14643]whack-a-mole,

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whacker n.

[University of Maryland: from [14645]hacker] 1. A person, similar to a

[14646]hacker, who enjoys exploring the details of programmable

systems and how to stretch their capabilities. Whereas a hacker tends

to produce great hacks, a whacker only ends up whacking the system or

program in question. Whackers are often quite egotistical and eager to

claim [14647]wizard status, regardless of the views of their peers. 2.

A person who is good at programming quickly, though rather poorly and

ineptly.

Node:whales, Next:[14648]whalesong, Previous:[14649]whacker,

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whales n.

See [14651]like kicking dead whales down the beach.

Node:whalesong, Next:[14652]What's a spline?, Previous:[14653]whales,

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whalesong n.

The peculiar clicking and whooshing sounds made by a PEP modem such as

the Telebit Trailblazer as it tries to synchronize with another PEP

modem for their special high-speed mode. This sound isn't anything

like the normal two-tone handshake between conventional V-series

modems and is instantly recognizable to anyone who has heard it more

than once. It sounds, in fact, very much like whale songs. This noise

is also called "the moose call" or "moose tones".

Node:What's a spline?, Next:[14655]wheel, Previous:[14656]whalesong,

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What's a spline?

[XEROX PARC] This phrase expands to: "You have just used a term that

I've heard for a year and a half, and I feel I should know, but don't.

My curiosity has finally overcome my guilt." The PARC lexicon adds

"Moral: don't hesitate to ask questions, even if they seem obvious."

Node:wheel, Next:[14658]wheel bit, Previous:[14659]What's a spline?,

Up:[14660]= W =

wheel n.

[from slang `big wheel' for a powerful person] A person who has an

active [14661]wheel bit. "We need to find a wheel to unwedge the hung

tape drives." (See [14662]wedged, sense 1.) The traditional name of

security group zero in [14663]BSD (to which the major system-internal

users like [14664]root belong) is `wheel'. Some vendors have expanded

on this usage, modifying Unix so that only members of group `wheel'

can [14665]go root.

Node:wheel bit, Next:[14666]wheel of reincarnation,

Previous:[14667]wheel, Up:[14668]= W =

wheel bit n.

A privilege bit that allows the possessor to perform some restricted

operation on a timesharing system, such as read or write any file on

the system regardless of protections, change or look at any address in

the running monitor, crash or reload the system, and kill or create

jobs and user accounts. The term was invented on the TENEX operating

system, and carried over to TOPS-20, XEROX-IFS, and others. The state

of being in a privileged logon is sometimes called `wheel mode'. This

term entered the Unix culture from TWENEX in the mid-1980s and has

been gaining popularity there (esp. at university sites). See also

[14669]root.

Node:wheel of reincarnation, Next:[14670]wheel wars,

Previous:[14671]wheel bit, Up:[14672]= W =

wheel of reincarnation

[coined in a paper by T. H. Myer and I.E. Sutherland "On the Design of

Display Processors", Comm. ACM, Vol. 11, no. 6, June 1968)] Term used

to refer to a well-known effect whereby function in a computing system

family is migrated out to special-purpose peripheral hardware for

speed, then the peripheral evolves toward more computing power as it

does its job, then somebody notices that it is inefficient to support

two asymmetrical processors in the architecture and folds the function

back into the main CPU, at which point the cycle begins again.

Several iterations of this cycle have been observed in

graphics-processor design, and at least one or two in communications

and floating-point processors. Also known as the Wheel of Life',the

Wheel of Samsara', and other variations of the basic Hindu/Buddhist

theological idea. See also [14673]blitter, [14674]bit bang.

Node:wheel wars, Next:[14675]White Book, Previous:[14676]wheel of

reincarnation, Up:[14677]= W =

wheel wars n.

[Stanford University] A period in [14678]larval stage during which

student hackers hassle each other by attempting to log each other out

of the system, delete each other's files, and otherwise wreak havoc,

usually at the expense of the lesser users.

Node:White Book, Next:[14679]whitelist, Previous:[14680]wheel wars,

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White Book n.

Syn. [14682]K&R. 2. Adobe's fourth book in the PostScript series,

describing the previously-secret format of Type 1 fonts; "Adobe Type 1

Font Format, version 1.1", (Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN 0-201-57044-0).

See also [14683]Red Book, [14684]Green Book, [14685]Blue Book.

Node:whitelist, Next:[14686]whizzy, Previous:[14687]White Book,

Up:[14688]= W =

whitelist n.

The opposite of a blacklist. That is, instead of being an explicit

list of people who are banned, it's an explicit list of people who are

to be admitted. Hackers use this especially of lists of email

addresses that are explicitly enabled to get past strict anti-spam

filters.

Node:whizzy, Next:[14689]wibble, Previous:[14690]whitelist,

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whizzy adj.

(alt. `wizzy') [Sun] Describes a [14692]cuspy program; one that is

feature-rich and well presented.

Node:wibble, Next:[14693]WIBNI, Previous:[14694]whizzy, Up:[14695]= W

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wibble

[UK, perh. originally from the first "Roger Irrelevant" strip in "VIZ"

comics, spread via "Your Sinclair magazine in the 1980s and early

1990s"] 1. n.,v. Commonly used to describe chatter, content-free

remarks or other essentially meaningless contributions to threads in

newsgroups. "Oh, rspence is wibbling again". 2. [UK IRC] An explicit

on-line no-op equivalent to [14696]humma. 3. One of the preferred

[14697]metasyntactic variables in the UK, forming a series with

wobble, wubble, and flob (attributed to the hilarious historical

comedy "Blackadder"). 4. A pronounciation of the letters "www", as

seen in URLs; i.e., www.[14698]foo.com may be pronounced "wibble dot

foo dot com" (compare [14699]dub dub dub).

The ancestral sense of this word is reported to have been "My brain is

packing it in now. I give up. Tilt! Tilt! Tilt!"

Node:WIBNI, Next:[14700]widget, Previous:[14701]wibble, Up:[14702]= W

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WIBNI // n.

[Bell Labs: Wouldn't It Be Nice If] What most requirements documents

and specifications consist entirely of. Compare [14703]IWBNI.

Node:widget, Next:[14704]wiggles, Previous:[14705]WIBNI, Up:[14706]= W

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widget n.

A meta-thing. Used to stand for a real object in didactic examples

(especially database tutorials). Legend has it that the original

widgets were holders for buggy whips. "But suppose the parts list for

a widget has 52 entries...." 2. [poss. evoking `window gadget'] A user

interface object in [14707]X graphical user interfaces.

Node:wiggles, Next:[14708]WIMP environment, Previous:[14709]widget,

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wiggles n.

[scientific computation] In solving partial differential equations by

finite difference and similar methods, wiggles are sawtooth

(up-down-up-down) oscillations at the shortest wavelength

representable on the grid. If an algorithm is unstable, this is often

the most unstable waveform, so it grows to dominate the solution.

Alternatively, stable (though inaccurate) wiggles can be generated

near a discontinuity by a Gibbs phenomenon.

Node:WIMP environment, Next:[14711]win, Previous:[14712]wiggles,

Up:[14713]= W =

WIMP environment n.

[acronym: `Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device (or Pull-down menu)'] A

graphical-user-interface environment such as [14714]X or the Macintosh

interface, esp. as described by a hacker who prefers command-line

interfaces for their superior flexibility and extensibility. However,

it is also used without negative connotations; one must pay attention

to voice tone and other signals to interpret correctly. See

[14715]menuitis, [14716]user-obsequious.

Node:win, Next:[14717]win big, Previous:[14718]WIMP environment,

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win

[MIT; now common everywhere] 1. vi. To succeed. A program wins if no

unexpected conditions arise, or (especially) if it sufficiently

[14720]robust to take exceptions in stride. 2. n. Success, or a

specific instance thereof. A pleasing outcome. "So it turned out I

could use a [14721]lexer generator instead of hand-coding my own

pattern recognizer. What a win!" Emphatic forms: moby win',super

win', `hyper-win' (often used interjectively as a reply). For some

reason `suitable win' is also common at MIT, usually in reference to a

satisfactory solution to a problem. Oppose [14722]lose; see also

[14723]big win, which isn't quite just an intensification of `win'.

Node:win big, Next:[14724]win win, Previous:[14725]win, Up:[14726]= W

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win big vi.

To experience serendipity. "I went shopping and won big; there was a

2-for-1 sale." See [14727]big win.

Node:win win, Next:[14728]Winchester, Previous:[14729]win big,

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win win excl.

Expresses pleasure at a [14731]win.

Node:Winchester, Next:[14732]windoid, Previous:[14733]win win,

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Winchester n.

Informal generic term for sealed-enclosure magnetic-disk drives in

which the read-write head planes over the disk surface on an air

cushion. There is a legend that the name arose because the original

1973 engineering prototype for what later became the IBM 3340 featured

two 30-megabyte volumes; 30-30 became `Winchester' when somebody

noticed the similarity to the common term for a famous Winchester

rifle (in the latter, the first 30 referred to caliber and the second

to the grain weight of the charge). (It is sometimes incorrectly

claimed that Winchester was the laboratory in which the technology was

developed.)

Node:windoid, Next:[14735]window shopping, Previous:[14736]Winchester,

Up:[14737]= W =

windoid n.

In the Macintosh world, a style of window with much less adornment

(smaller or missing title bar, zoom box, etc, etc) than a standard

window.

Node:window shopping, Next:[14738]Windoze, Previous:[14739]windoid,

Up:[14740]= W =

window shopping n.

[US Geological Survey] Among users of [14741]WIMP environments like

[14742]X or the Macintosh, extended experimentation with new window

colors, fonts, and icon shapes. This activity can take up hours of

what might otherwise have been productive working time. "I spent the

afternoon window shopping until I found the coolest shade of green for

my active window borders -- now they perfectly match my medium slate

blue background." Serious window shoppers will spend their days with

bitmap editors, creating new and different icons and background

patterns for all to see. Also: `window dressing', the act of applying

new fonts, colors, etc. See [14743]fritterware, compare

[14744]macdink.

Node:Windoze, Next:[14745]winged comments, Previous:[14746]window

shopping, Up:[14747]= W =

Windoze /win'dohz/ n.

See [14748]Microsloth Windows.

Node:winged comments, Next:[14749]winkey, Previous:[14750]Windoze,

Up:[14751]= W =

winged comments n.

Comments set on the same line as code, as opposed to [14752]boxed

comments. In C, for example:

d = sqrt(xx + yy); / distance from origin /

Generally these refer only to the action(s) taken on that line.

Node:winkey, Next:[14753]winnage, Previous:[14754]winged comments,

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winkey n.

(alt. `winkey face') See [14756]emoticon.

Node:winnage, Next:[14757]winner, Previous:[14758]winkey, Up:[14759]=

W =

winnage /win'*j/ n.

The situation when a lossage is corrected, or when something is

winning.

Node:winner, Next:[14760]winnitude, Previous:[14761]winnage,

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winner

n. An unexpectedly good situation, program, programmer, or person.

`real winner': Often sarcastic, but also used as high praise (see

also the note under [14763]user). "He's a real winner -- never reports

a bug till he can duplicate it and send in an example."

Node:winnitude, Next:[14764]Wintel, Previous:[14765]winner,

Up:[14766]= W =

winnitude /win'*-t[y]ood/ n.

The quality of winning (as opposed to [14767]winnage, which is the

result of winning). "Guess what? They tweaked the microcode and now

the LISP interpreter runs twice as fast as it used to." "That's really

great! Boy, what winnitude!" "Yup. I'll probably get a half-hour's

winnage on the next run of my program." Perhaps curiously, the obvious

antonym `lossitude' is rare.

Node:Wintel, Next:[14768]wired, Previous:[14769]winnitude, Up:[14770]=

W =

Wintel n.

Microsoft Windows plus Intel - the tacit alliance that dominated

desktop computing in the 1990s. Now (1999) possibly on the verge of

breaking up under pressure from [14771]Linux; see [14772]Lintel.

Node:wired, Next:[14773]wirehead, Previous:[14774]Wintel, Up:[14775]=

W =

wired n.

See [14776]hardwired.

Node:wirehead, Next:[14777]wirewater, Previous:[14778]wired,

Up:[14779]= W =

wirehead /wi:r'hed/ n.

[prob. from SF slang for an electrical-brain-stimulation addict] 1. A

hardware hacker, especially one who concentrates on communications

hardware. 2. An expert in local-area networks.