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

this sense of the term was beginning to

pass out of general use due to wide availability of cheap Internet

connections, included uunet and the mail machines at Rutgers

University, UC Berkeley, [943]DEC's Western Research Laboratories,

Ohio State University, and the University of Texas. Compare [944]rib

site, [945]leaf site.

[1996 update: This term is seldom heard any more. The UUCP network

world that gave it meaning has nearly disappeared; everyone is on the

Internet now and network traffic is distributed in very different

patterns. Today one might see references to a `backbone router'

instead --ESR]

Node:backgammon, Next:[946]background, Previous:[947]backbone site,

Up:[948]= B =

backgammon

See [949]bignum (sense 3), [950]moby (sense 4), and [951]pseudoprime.

Node:background, Next:[952]backreference, Previous:[953]backgammon,

Up:[954]= B =

background n.,adj.,vt.

[common] To do a task `in background' is to do it whenever

[955]foreground matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and

`to background' something means to relegate it to a lower priority.

"For now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on

the graph-printing problem in background." Note that this implies

ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast

to mainstream `back burner' (which connotes benign neglect until some

future resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for

processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (a

tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an obstacle

in creative work). Compare [956]amp off, [957]slopsucker.

Technically, a task running in background is detached from the

terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower priority);

oppose [958]foreground. Nowadays this term is primarily associated

with [959]Unix, but it appears to have been first used in this sense

on OS/360.

Node:backreference, Next:[960]backronym, Previous:[961]background,

Up:[962]= B =

backreference n.

In a regular expression or pattern match, the text which was

matched within grouping parentheses parentheses. 2. The part of the

pattern which refers back to the matched text. 3. By extension,

anything which refers back to something which has been seen or

discussed before. "When you said `she' just now, who were you

backreferencing?"

Node:backronym, Next:[963]backspace and overstrike,

Previous:[964]backreference, Up:[965]= B =

backronym n.

[portmanteau of back + acronym] A word interpreted as an acronym that

was not originally so intended. This is a special case of what

linguists call `back formation'. Examples are given under [966]BASIC,

[967]recursive acronym (Cygnus), [968]Acme, and [969]mung. Discovering

backronyms is a common form of wordplay among hackers. Compare

[970]retcon.

Node:backspace and overstrike, Next:[971]backward combatability,

Previous:[972]backronym, Up:[973]= B =

backspace and overstrike interj.

[rare] Whoa! Back up. Used to suggest that someone just said or did

something wrong. Once common among APL programmers; may now be

obsolete.

Node:backward combatability, Next:[974]BAD, Previous:[975]backspace

and overstrike, Up:[976]= B =

backward combatability /bak'wrd km-bat'-bil'-tee/ n.

[CMU, Tektronix: from `backward compatibility'] A property of hardware

or software revisions in which previous protocols, formats, layouts,

etc. are irrevocably discarded in favor of `new and improved'

protocols, formats, and layouts, leaving the previous ones not merely

deprecated but actively defeated. (Too often, the old and new versions

cannot definitively be distinguished, such that lingering instances of

the previous ones yield crashes or other infelicitous effects, as

opposed to a simple "version mismatch" message.) A backwards

compatible change, on the other hand, allows old versions to coexist

without crashes or error messages, but too many major changes

incorporating elaborate backwards compatibility processing can lead to

extreme [977]software bloat. See also [978]flag day.

Node:BAD, Next:[979]Bad and Wrong, Previous:[980]backward

combatability, Up:[981]= B =

BAD /B-A-D/ adj.

[IBM: acronym, `Broken As Designed'] Said of a program that is

[982]bogus because of bad design and misfeatures rather than because

of bugginess. See [983]working as designed.

Node:Bad and Wrong, Next:[984]Bad Thing, Previous:[985]BAD, Up:[986]=

B =

Bad and Wrong adj.

[Durham, UK] Said of something that is both badly designed and wrongly

executed. This common term is the prototype of, and is used by

contrast with, three less common terms - Bad and Right (a kludge,

something ugly but functional); Good and Wrong (an overblown GUI or

other attractive nuisance); and (rare praise) Good and Right. These

terms entered common use at Durham c.1994 and may have been imported

from elsewhere; they are also in use at Oxford, and the emphatic form

"Evil, Bad and Wrong" (abbreviated EBW) is reported fromm there. There

are standard abbreviations: they start with B&R, a typo for "Bad and

Wrong". Consequently, B&W is actually "Bad and Right", G&R = "Good and

Wrong", and G&W = "Good and Right". Compare [987]evil and rude,

[988]Good Thing, [989]Bad Thing.

Node:Bad Thing, Next:[990]bag on the side, Previous:[991]Bad and

Wrong, Up:[992]= B =

Bad Thing n.

[very common; from the 1930 Sellar & Yeatman parody "1066 And All

That"] Something that can't possibly result in improvement of the

subject. This term is always capitalized, as in "Replacing all of the

9600-baud modems with bicycle couriers would be a Bad Thing". Oppose

[993]Good Thing. British correspondents confirm that [994]Bad Thing

and [995]Good Thing (and prob. therefore [996]Right Thing and

[997]Wrong Thing) come from the book referenced in the etymology,

which discusses rulers who were Good Kings but Bad Things. This has

apparently created a mainstream idiom on the British side of the pond.

It is very common among American hackers, but not in mainstream usage

here. Compare [998]Bad and Wrong.

Node:bag on the side, Next:[999]bagbiter, Previous:[1000]Bad Thing,

Up:[1001]= B =

bag on the side n.

[prob. originally related to a colostomy bag] An extension to an

established hack that is supposed to add some functionality to the

original. Usually derogatory, implying that the original was being

overextended and should have been thrown away, and the new product is

ugly, inelegant, or bloated. Also v. phrase, `to hang a bag on the

side [of]'. "C++? That's just a bag on the side of C ...." "They want

me to hang a bag on the side of the accounting system."

Node:bagbiter, Next:[1002]bagbiting, Previous:[1003]bag on the side,

Up:[1004]= B =

bagbiter /bag'bi:t-*r/ n.

Something, such as a program or a computer, that fails to work, or

works in a remarkably clumsy manner. "This text editor won't let me

make a file with a line longer than 80 characters! What a bagbiter!"

A person who has caused you some trouble, inadvertently or

otherwise, typically by failing to program the computer properly.

Synonyms: [1005]loser, [1006]cretin, [1007]chomper. 3. `bite the bag'

vi. To fail in some manner. "The computer keeps crashing every five

minutes." "Yes, the disk controller is really biting the bag."

The original loading of these terms was almost undoubtedly obscene,

possibly referring to a douche bag or the scrotum (we have reports of

"Bite the douche bag!" being used as a taunt at MIT 1970-1976, and we

have another report that "Bite the bag!" was in common use at least as

early as 1965), but in their current usage they have become almost

completely sanitized.

ITS's [1008]lexiphage program was the first and to date only known

example of a program intended to be a bagbiter.

Node:bagbiting, Next:[1009]baggy pantsing, Previous:[1010]bagbiter,

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bagbiting adj.

Having the quality of a [1012]bagbiter. "This bagbiting system won't

let me compute the factorial of a negative number." Compare

[1013]losing, [1014]cretinous, [1015]bletcherous, `barfucious' (under

[1016]barfulous) and `chomping' (under [1017]chomp).

Node:baggy pantsing, Next:[1018]balloonian variable,

Previous:[1019]bagbiting, Up:[1020]= B =

baggy pantsing v.

[Georgia Tech] A "baggy pantsing" is used to reprimand hackers who

incautiously leave their terminals unlocked. The affected user will

come back to find a post from them on internal newsgroups discussing

exactly how baggy their pants are, an accepted stand-in for

"unattentive user who left their work unprotected in the clusters". A

properly-done baggy pantsing is highly mocking and humorous (see

examples below). It is considered bad form to post a baggy pantsing to

off-campus newsgroups or the more technical, serious groups. A

particularly nice baggy pantsing may be "claimed" by immediately

quoting the message in full, followed by your sig; this has the added

benefit of keeping the embarassed victim from being able to delete the

post. Interesting baggy-pantsings have been done involving adding

commands to login scripts to repost the message every time the unlucky

user logs in; Unix boxes on the residential network, when cracked,

oftentimes have their homepages replaced (after being politely

backedup to another file) with a baggy-pants message; .plan files are

also occasionally targeted. Usage: "Prof. Greenlee fell asleep in the

Solaris cluster again; we baggy-pantsed him to

git.cc.class.2430.flame."

Node:balloonian variable, Next:[1021]bamf, Previous:[1022]baggy

pantsing, Up:[1023]= B =

balloonian variable n.

[Commodore users; perh. a deliberate phonetic mangling of `boolean

variable'?] Any variable that doesn't actually hold or control state,

but must nevertheless be declared, checked, or set. A typical

balloonian variable started out as a flag attached to some environment

feature that either became obsolete or was planned but never

implemented. Compatibility concerns (or politics attached to same) may

require that such a flag be treated as though it were [1024]live.

Node:bamf, Next:[1025]banana label, Previous:[1026]balloonian

variable, Up:[1027]= B =

bamf /bamf/

[from X-Men comics; originally "bampf"] interj. Notional sound made

by a person or object teleporting in or out of the hearer's vicinity.

Often used in [1028]virtual reality (esp. [1029]MUD) electronic

[1030]fora when a character wishes to make a dramatic entrance or

exit. 2. The sound of magical transformation, used in virtual reality

[1031]fora like MUDs. 3. In MUD circles, "bamf" is also used to refer

to the act by which a MUD server sends a special notification to the

MUD client to switch its connection to another server ("I'll set up

the old site to just bamf people over to our new location."). 4. Used

by MUDders on occasion in a more general sense related to sense 3, to

refer to directing someone to another location or resource ("A user

was asking about some technobabble so I bamfed them to

[1032]http://www.tuxedo.org/jargon/".)

Node:banana label, Next:[1033]banana problem, Previous:[1034]bamf,

Up:[1035]= B =

banana label n.

The labels often used on the sides of [1036]macrotape reels, so called

because they are shaped roughly like blunt-ended bananas. This term,

like macrotapes themselves, is still current but visibly headed for

obsolescence.

Node:banana problem, Next:[1037]binary four, Previous:[1038]banana

label, Up:[1039]= B =

banana problem n.

[from the story of the little girl who said "I know how to spell

`banana', but I don't know when to stop"]. Not knowing where or when

to bring a production to a close (compare [1040]fencepost error). One

may say `there is a banana problem' of an algorithm with poorly

defined or incorrect termination conditions, or in discussing the

evolution of a design that may be succumbing to featuritis (see also

[1041]creeping elegance, [1042]creeping featuritis). See item 176

under [1043]HAKMEM, which describes a banana problem in a

[1044]Dissociated Press implementation. Also, see [1045]one-banana

problem for a superficially similar but unrelated usage.

Node:binary four, Next:[1046]bandwidth, Previous:[1047]banana problem,

Up:[1048]= B =

binary four n.

[Usenet] The finger, in the sense of `digitus impudicus'. This comes

from an analogy between binary and the hand, i.e. 1=00001=thumb,

2=00010=index finger, 3=00011=index and thumb, 4=00100. Considered

silly. Prob. from humorous derivative of [1049]finger, sense 4.

Node:bandwidth, Next:[1050]bang, Previous:[1051]binary four,

Up:[1052]= B =

bandwidth n.

[common] Used by hackers (in a generalization of its technical

meaning) as the volume of information per unit time that a computer,

person, or transmission medium can handle. "Those are amazing

graphics, but I missed some of the detail -- not enough bandwidth, I

guess." Compare [1053]low-bandwidth. This generalized usage began to

go mainstream after the Internet population explosion of 1993-1994. 2.

Attention span. 3. On [1054]Usenet, a measure of network capacity that

is often wasted by people complaining about how items posted by others

are a waste of bandwidth.

Node:bang, Next:[1055]bang on, Previous:[1056]bandwidth, Up:[1057]= B

=

bang

n. Common spoken name for ! (ASCII 0100001), especially when used

in pronouncing a [1058]bang path in spoken hackish. In [1059]elder

days this was considered