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

somewhere in a cave with the topology of

an dodecahedron's edge/vertex graph (later versions supported other

topologies, including an icosahedron and M�bius strip). The player

started somewhere at random in the cave with five `crooked arrows';

these could be shot through up to three connected rooms, and would

kill the wumpus on a hit (later versions introduced the wounded

wumpus, which got very angry). Unfortunately for players, the movement

necessary to map the maze was made hazardous not merely by the wumpus

(which would eat you if you stepped on him) but also by bottomless

pits and colonies of super bats that would pick you up and drop you at

a random location (later versions added `anaerobic termites' that ate

arrows, bat migrations, and earthquakes that randomly changed pit

locations).

This game appears to have been the first to use a non-random

graph-structured map (as opposed to a rectangular grid like the even

older Star Trek games). In this respect, as in the dungeon-like

setting and its terse, amusing messages, it prefigured [14922]ADVENT

and [14923]Zork and was directly ancestral to the latter (Zork

acknowledged this heritage by including a super-bat colony). A C

emulation of the original Basic game is available at the

Retrocomputing Museum, [14924]http://www.ccil.org/retro.

Node:WYSIAYG, Next:[14925]WYSIWYG, Previous:[14926]wumpus, Up:[14927]=

W =

WYSIAYG /wiz'ee-ayg/ adj.

Describes a user interface under which "What You See Is All You Get";

an unhappy variant of [14928]WYSIWYG. Visual, `point-and-shoot'-style

interfaces tend to have easy initial learning curves, but also to lack

depth; they often frustrate advanced users who would be better served

by a command-style interface. When this happens, the frustrated user

has a WYSIAYG problem. This term is most often used of editors, word

processors, and document formatting programs. WYSIWYG `desktop

publishing' programs, for example, are a clear win for creating small

documents with lots of fonts and graphics in them, especially things

like newsletters and presentation slides. When typesetting book-length

manuscripts, on the other hand, scale changes the nature of the task;

one quickly runs into WYSIAYG limitations, and the increased power and

flexibility of a command-driven formatter like [14929]TeX or Unix's

[14930]troff becomes not just desirable but a necessity. Compare

[14931]YAFIYGI.

Node:WYSIWYG, Next:[14932]X, Previous:[14933]WYSIAYG, Up:[14934]= W =

WYSIWYG /wiz'ee-wig/ adj.

[Traced to Flip Wilson's "Geraldine" character c.1970] Describes a

user interface under which "What You See Is What You Get", as opposed

to one that uses more-or-less obscure commands that do not result in

immediate visual feedback. True WYSIWYG in environments supporting

multiple fonts or graphics is a a rarely-attained ideal; there are

variants of this term to express real-world manifestations including

WYSIAWYG (What You See Is Almost What You Get) and WYSIMOLWYG (What

You See Is More or Less What You Get). All these can be mildly

derogatory, as they are often used to refer to dumbed-down

[14935]user-friendly interfaces targeted at non-programmers; a hacker

has no fear of obscure commands (compare [14936]WYSIAYG). On the other

hand, [14937]EMACS was one of the very first WYSIWYG editors,

replacing (actually, at first overlaying) the extremely obscure,

command-based [14938]TECO. See also [14939]WIMP environment. [Oddly

enough, WYSIWYG has already made it into the OED, in lower case yet.

--ESR]

Node:= X =, Next:[14940]= Y =, Previous:[14941]= W =, Up:[14942]The

Jargon Lexicon

= X =

[14943]X:

[14944]XEROX PARC:

[14945]XOFF:

[14946]XON:

[14947]xor:

[14948]xref:

[14949]XXX:

[14950]xyzzy:

Node:X, Next:[14951]XEROX PARC, Previous:[14952]WYSIWYG, Up:[14953]= X

=

X /X/ n.

Used in various speech and writing contexts (also in lowercase) in

roughly its algebraic sense of `unknown within a set defined by

context' (compare [14954]N). Thus, the abbreviation 680x0 stands for

68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, or 68040, and 80x86 stands for 80186,

80286, 80386, 80486, 80586 or 80686 (note that a Unix hacker might

write these as 680[0-6]0 and 80[1-6]86 or 680?0 and 80?86

respectively; see [14955]glob). 2. [after the name of an earlier

window system called `W'] An over-sized, over-featured,

over-engineered and incredibly over-complicated window system

developed at MIT and widely used on Unix systems.

Node:XEROX PARC, Next:[14956]XOFF, Previous:[14957]X, Up:[14958]= X =

XEROX PARC /zee'roks park'/ n.

The famed Palo Alto Research Center. For more than a decade, from the

early 1970s into the mid-1980s, PARC yielded an astonishing volume of

groundbreaking hardware and software innovations. The modern mice,

windows, and icons style of software interface was invented there. So

was the laser printer and the local-area network; and PARC's series of

D machines anticipated the powerful personal computers of the 1980s by

a decade. Sadly, the prophets at PARC were without honor in their own

company, so much so that it became a standard joke to describe PARC as

a place that specialized in developing brilliant ideas for everyone

else.

The stunning shortsightedness and obtusity of XEROX's top-level

[14959]suits has been well anatomized in "Fumbling The Future: How

XEROX Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer" by Douglas

K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander (William Morrow & Co., 1988, ISBN

0-688-09511-9).

Node:XOFF, Next:[14960]XON, Previous:[14961]XEROX PARC, Up:[14962]= X

=

XOFF /X-of/ n.

Syn. [14963]control-S.

Node:XON, Next:[14964]xor, Previous:[14965]XOFF, Up:[14966]= X =

XON /X-on/ n.

Syn. [14967]control-Q.

Node:xor, Next:[14968]xref, Previous:[14969]XON, Up:[14970]= X =

xor /X'or/, /kzor/ conj.

Exclusive or. A xor B' meansA or B, but not both'. "I want to get

cherry pie xor a banana split." This derives from the technical use of

the term as a function on truth-values that is true if exactly one of

its two arguments is true.

Node:xref, Next:[14971]XXX, Previous:[14972]xor, Up:[14973]= X =

xref /X'ref/ v.,n.

Hackish standard abbreviation for `cross-reference'.

Node:XXX, Next:[14974]xyzzy, Previous:[14975]xref, Up:[14976]= X =

XXX /X-X-X/ n.

A marker that attention is needed. Commonly used in program comments

to indicate areas that are kluged up or need to be. Some hackers liken

`XXX' to the notional heavy-porn movie rating. Compare [14977]FIXME.

Node:xyzzy, Next:[14978]YA-, Previous:[14979]XXX, Up:[14980]= X =

xyzzy /X-Y-Z-Z-Y/, /X-Y-ziz'ee/, /ziz'ee/, or /ik-ziz'ee/ adj.

[from the ADVENT game] The [14981]canonical `magic word'. This comes

from [14982]ADVENT, in which the idea is to explore an underground

cave with many rooms and to collect the treasures you find there. If

you type `xyzzy' at the appropriate time, you can move instantly

between two otherwise distant points. If, therefore, you encounter

some bit of [14983]magic, you might remark on this quite succinctly by

saying simply "Xyzzy!" "Ordinarily you can't look at someone else's

screen if he has protected it, but if you type quadruple-bucky-clear

the system will let you do it anyway." "Xyzzy!" It's traditional for

xyzzy to be an [14984]Easter egg in games with text interfaces.

Xyzzy has actually been implemented as an undocumented no-op command

on several OSes; in Data General's AOS/VS, for example, it would

typically respond "Nothing happens", just as [14985]ADVENT did if the

magic was invoked at the wrong spot or before a player had performed

the action that enabled the word. In more recent 32-bit versions, by

the way, AOS/VS responds "Twice as much happens".

Early versions of the popular `minesweeper' game under Microsoft

Windows had a cheat mode triggered by the command

`xyzzy' that turns the top-left pixel of the

screen different colors depending on whether or not the cursor is over

a bomb. This feature temporarily diasappeared in Windows 98, but

reappeared in Windows 2000.

The following passage from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank

Baum, suggesting a possible pre-ADVENT origin, has recently come to

light:

"Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!" said Dorothy, who was now standing on both

feet. This ended the saying of the charm, and they heard a great

chattering and flapping of wings, as the band of Winged Monkeys flew

up to them.

The text can be viewed at

[14986]ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext93/wizoz10.

txt.

Another possible pre-ADVENT porigin is discussed at

[14987]http://people.delphi.com/rickadams/adventure/c---xyzzy.html.

Node:= Y =, Next:[14988]= Z =, Previous:[14989]= X =, Up:[14990]The

Jargon Lexicon

= Y =

[14991]YA-:

[14992]YABA:

[14993]YAFIYGI:

[14994]YAUN:

[14995]Yellow Book:

[14996]yellow card:

[14997]yellow wire:

[14998]Yet Another:

[14999]YHBT:

[15000]YKYBHTLW:

[15001]YMMV:

[15002]You are not expected to understand this:

[15003]You know you've been hacking too long when:

[15004]Your mileage may vary:

[15005]Yow!:

[15006]yoyo mode:

[15007]Yu-Shiang Whole Fish:

Node:YA-, Next:[15008]YABA, Previous:[15009]xyzzy, Up:[15010]= Y =

YA- abbrev.

[Yet Another] In hackish acronyms this almost invariably expands to

[15011]Yet Another, following the precedent set by Unix yacc(1) (Yet

Another Compiler-Compiler). See [15012]YABA.

Node:YABA, Next:[15013]YAFIYGI, Previous:[15014]YA-, Up:[15015]= Y =

YABA /ya'b*/ n.

[Cambridge] Yet Another Bloody Acronym. Whenever some program is being

named, someone invariably suggests that it be given a name that is

acronymic. The response from those with a trace of originality is to

remark ironically that the proposed name would then be

`YABA-compatible'. Also used in response to questions like "What is

WYSIWYG?" See also [15016]TLA.

Node:YAFIYGI, Next:[15017]YAUN, Previous:[15018]YABA, Up:[15019]= Y =

YAFIYGI /yaf'ee-y*-gee/ adj.

[coined in response to WYSIWYG] Describes the command-oriented

ed/vi/nroff/TeX style of word processing or other user interface, the

opposite of [15020]WYSIWYG. Stands for "You asked for it, you got it",

because what you actually asked for is often not apparent until long

after it is too late to do anything about it. Used to denote

perversity ("Real Programmers use YAFIYGI tools...and like it!") or,

less often, a necessary tradeoff ("Only a YAFIYGI tool can have full

programmable flexibility in its interface.").

This precise sense of "You asked for it, you got it" seems to have

first appeared in Ed Post's classic parody "Real Programmers don't use

Pascal" (see [15021]Real Programmers); the acronym is a more recent

invention.

Node:YAUN, Next:[15022]Yellow Book, Previous:[15023]YAFIYGI,

Up:[15024]= Y =

YAUN /yawn/ n.

[Acronym for `Yet Another Unix Nerd'] Reported from the San Diego

Computer Society (predominantly a microcomputer users' group) as a

good-natured punning insult aimed at Unix zealots.

Node:Yellow Book, Next:[15025]yellow card, Previous:[15026]YAUN,

Up:[15027]= Y =

Yellow Book n.

The print version of this Jargon File; "The New Hacker's Dictionary"

from MIT Press; The book includes essentially all the material the

File, plus a Foreword by Guy L. Steele Jr. and a Preface by Eric S.

Raymond. Most importantly, the book version is nicely typeset and

includes almost all of the infamous Crunchly cartoons by the Great

Quux, each attached to an appropriate entry. The first edition (1991,

ISBN 0-262-68069-6) corresponded to the Jargon File version 2.9.6. The

second edition (1993, ISBN 0-262-68079-3) corresponded to the Jargon

File 3.0.0. The third (1996, ISBN 0-262-68092-0) corresponded to

4.0.0.

Node:yellow card, Next:[15028]yellow wire, Previous:[15029]Yellow

Book, Up:[15030]= Y =

yellow card n.

See [15031]green card.

Node:yellow wire, Next:[15032]Yet Another, Previous:[15033]yellow

card, Up:[15034]= Y =

yellow wire n.

[IBM] Repair wires used when connectors (especially ribbon connectors)

got broken due to some schlemiel pinching them, or to reconnect cut

traces after the FE mistakenly cut one. Compare [15035]blue wire,

[15036]purple wire, [15037]red wire.

Node:Yet Another, Next:[15038]YHBT, Previous:[15039]yellow wire,

Up:[15040]= Y =

Yet Another adj.

[From Unix's yacc(1), `Yet Another Compiler-Compiler', a LALR parser

generator] 1. Of your own work: A humorous allusion often used in

titles to acknowledge that the topic is not original, though the

content is. As in Yet Another AI Group' orYet Another Simulated

Annealing Algorithm'. 2. Of others' work: Describes something of which

there are already far too many. See also [15041]YA-, [15042]YABA,

[15043]YAUN.

Node:YHBT, Next:[15044]YKYBHTLW, Previous:[15045]Yet Another,

Up:[15046]= Y =

YHBT //

[Usenet: very common] Abbreviation: You Have Been Trolled (see

[15047]troll, sense 1). Especially used in "YHBT. YHL. HAND.", which

is widely understood to expand to "You Have Been Trolled. You Have

Lost. Have A Nice Day". You are quite likely to see this if you

respond incautiously to a flame-provoking post that was obviously

floated as sucker bait.

Node:YKYBHTLW, Next:[15048]YMMV, Previous:[15049]YHBT, Up:[15050]= Y =

YKYBHTLW // abbrev.

Abbreviation of `You know you've been hacking too long when...', which

became established on the Usenet group alt.folklore.computers during

extended discussion of the indicated entry in the Jargon File.

Node:YMMV, Next:[15051]You are not expected to understand this,

Previous:[15052]YKYBHTLW, Up:[15053]= Y =

YMMV // cav.