The Jargon File by Eric S. Raymond (sites to read books for free .TXT) 📖
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least go [1578]nonlinear. 2. Syn. [1579]blow out.
Node:BLT, Next:[1580]Blue Book, Previous:[1581]blow up, Up:[1582]= B =
BLT /B-L-T/, /bl*t/ or (rarely) /belt/ n.,vt.
Synonym for [1583]blit. This is the original form of [1584]blit and
the ancestor of [1585]bitblt. It referred to any large bit-field copy
or move operation (one resource-intensive memory-shuffling operation
done on pre-paged versions of ITS, WAITS, and TOPS-10 was sardonically
referred to as `The Big BLT'). The jargon usage has outlasted the
[1586]PDP-10 BLock Transfer instruction from which [1587]BLT derives;
nowadays, the assembler mnemonic [1588]BLT almost always means `Branch
if Less Than zero'.
Node:Blue Book, Next:[1589]blue box, Previous:[1590]BLT, Up:[1591]= B
=
Blue Book n.
Informal name for one of the four standard references on thepage-layout and graphics-control language [1592]PostScript
("PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook", Adobe Systems,
Addison-Wesley 1985, QA76.73.P67P68, ISBN 0-201-10179-3); the other
three official guides are known as the [1593]Green Book, the [1594]Red
Book, and the [1595]White Book (sense 2). 2. Informal name for one of
the three standard references on Smalltalk: "Smalltalk-80: The
Language and its Implementation", David Robson, Addison-Wesley 1983,
QA76.8.S635G64, ISBN 0-201-11371-63 (this book also has green and red
siblings). 3. Any of the 1988 standards issued by the CCITT's ninth
plenary assembly. These include, among other things, the X.400 email
spec and the Group 1 through 4 fax standards. See also [1596]book
titles.
Node:blue box, Next:[1597]Blue Glue, Previous:[1598]Blue Book,
Up:[1599]= B =
blue box
n. 1. obs. Once upon a time, before all-digital switches made it
possible for the phone companies to move them out of band, one could
actually hear the switching tones used to route long-distance calls.
Early [1600]phreakers built devices called `blue boxes' that could
reproduce these tones, which could be used to commandeer portions of
the phone network. (This was not as hard as it may sound; one early
phreak acquired the sobriquet `Captain Crunch' after he proved that he
could generate switching tones with a plastic whistle pulled out of a
box of Captain Crunch cereal!) There were other colors of box with
more specialized phreaking uses; red boxes, black boxes, silver boxes,
etc. 2. n. An [1601]IBM machine, especially a large (non-PC) one.
Node:Blue Glue, Next:[1602]blue goo, Previous:[1603]blue box,
Up:[1604]= B =
Blue Glue n.
[IBM] IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture), an incredibly
[1605]losing and [1606]bletcherous communications protocol widely
favored at commercial shops that don't know any better. The official
IBM definition is "that which binds blue boxes together." See
[1607]fear and loathing. It may not be irrelevant that Blue Glue is
the trade name of a 3M product that is commonly used to hold down the
carpet squares to the removable panel floors common in [1608]dinosaur
pens. A correspondent at U. Minn. reports that the CS department there
has about 80 bottles of the stuff hanging about, so they often refer
to any messy work to be done as `using the blue glue'.
Node:blue goo, Next:[1609]Blue Screen of Death, Previous:[1610]Blue
Glue, Up:[1611]= B =
blue goo n.
Term for `police' [1612]nanobots intended to prevent [1613]gray goo,
denature hazardous waste, destroy pollution, put ozone back into the
stratosphere, prevent halitosis, and promote truth, justice, and the
American way, etc. The term `Blue Goo' can be found in Dr. Seuss's
"Fox In Socks" to refer to a substance much like bubblegum. `Would you
like to chew blue goo, sir?'. See [1614]nanotechnology.
Node:Blue Screen of Death, Next:[1615]blue wire, Previous:[1616]blue
goo, Up:[1617]= B =
Blue Screen of Death n.
[common] This term is closely related to the older [1618]Black Screen
of Death but much more common (many non-hackers have picked it up).
Due to the extreme fragility and bugginess of Microsoft Windows
misbehaving applications can readily crash the OS (and the OS
sometimes crashes itself spontaneously). The Blue Screen of Death,
sometimes decorated with hex error codes, is what you get when this
happens. (Commonly abbreviated [1619]BSOD.)
The following entry from the [1620]Salon Haiku Contest, seems to have
predated popular use of the term:
Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death No one hears your screams.Node:blue wire, Next:[1621]blurgle, Previous:[1622]Blue Screen of
Death, Up:[1623]= B =
blue wire n.
[IBM] Patch wires (esp. 30 AWG gauge) added to circuit boards at the
factory to correct design or fabrication problems. Blue wire is not
necessarily blue, the term describes function rather than color. These
may be necessary if there hasn't been time to design and qualify
another board version. In Great Britain this can be `bodge wire',
after mainstreanm slang `bodge' for a clumsy improvisation or sloppy
job of work. Compare [1624]purple wire, [1625]red wire, [1626]yellow
wire, [1627]pink wire.
Node:blurgle, Next:[1628]BNF, Previous:[1629]blue wire, Up:[1630]= B =
blurgle /bler'gl/ n.
[UK] Spoken [1631]metasyntactic variable, to indicate some text that
is obvious from context, or which is already known. If several words
are to be replaced, blurgle may well be doubled or tripled. "To look
for something in several files use `grep string blurgle blurgle'." In
each case, "blurgle blurgle" would be understood to be replaced by the
file you wished to search. Compare [1632]mumble, sense 7.
Node:BNF, Next:[1633]boa, Previous:[1634]blurgle, Up:[1635]= B =
BNF /B-N-F/ n.
[techspeak] Acronym for `Backus Normal Form' (later retronymed to`Backus-Naur Form' because BNF was not in fact a normal form), a
metasyntactic notation used to specify the syntax of programming
languages, command sets, and the like. Widely used for language
descriptions but seldom documented anywhere, so that it must usually
be learned by osmosis from other hackers. Consider this BNF for a U.S.
postal address:
::=
::= | "."
::= []
| <personal-part> <name-part>::= []
::= ","
This translates into English as: "A postal-address consists of a
name-part, followed by a street-address part, followed by a zip-code
part. A personal-part consists of either a first name or an initial
followed by a dot. A name-part consists of either: a personal-part
followed by a last name followed by an optional `jr-part' (Jr., Sr.,
or dynastic number) and end-of-line, or a personal part followed by a
name part (this rule illustrates the use of recursion in BNFs,
covering the case of people who use multiple first and middle names
and/or initials). A street address consists of an optional apartment
specifier, followed by a street number, followed by a street name. A
zip-part consists of a town-name, followed by a comma, followed by a
state code, followed by a ZIP-code followed by an end-of-line." Note
that many things (such as the format of a personal-part, apartment
specifier, or ZIP-code) are left unspecified. These are presumed to be
obvious from context or detailed somewhere nearby. See also
[1636]parse. 2. Any of a number of variants and extensions of BNF
proper, possibly containing some or all of the [1637]regexp wildcards
such as * or +. In fact the example above isn't the pure form invented
for the Algol-60 report; it uses [], which was introduced a few years
later in IBM's PL/I definition but is now universally recognized. 3.
In [1638]science-fiction fandom, a `Big-Name Fan' (someone famous or
notorious). Years ago a fan started handing out black-on-green BNF
buttons at SF conventions; this confused the hacker contingent
terribly.
Node:boa, Next:[1639]board, Previous:[1640]BNF, Up:[1641]= B =
boa [IBM] n.
Any one of the fat cables that lurk under the floor in a
[1642]dinosaur pen. Possibly so called because they display a
ferocious life of their own when you try to lay them straight and flat
after they have been coiled for some time. It is rumored within IBM
that channel cables for the 370 are limited to 200 feet because beyond
that length the boas get dangerous -- and it is worth noting that one
of the major cable makers uses the trademark `Anaconda'.
Node:board, Next:[1643]boat anchor, Previous:[1644]boa, Up:[1645]= B =
board n.
In-context synonym for [1646]bboard; sometimes used even for Usenetnewsgroups (but see usage note under [1647]bboard, sense 1). 2. An
electronic circuit board.
Node:boat anchor, Next:[1648]bob, Previous:[1649]board, Up:[1650]= B =
boat anchor n.
[common; from ham radio] 1. Like [1651]doorstop but more severe;
implies that the offending hardware is irreversibly dead or useless.
"That was a working motherboard once. One lightning strike later,
instant boat anchor!" 2. A person who just takes up space. 3. Obsolete
but still working hardware, especially when used of an old S100-bus
hobbyist system; originally a term of annoyance, but became more and
more affectionate as the hardware became more and more obsolete.
Node:bob, Next:[1652]bodysurf code, Previous:[1653]boat anchor,
Up:[1654]= B =
bob n.
At [1655]Demon Internet, all tech support personnel are called "Bob".
(Female support personnel have an option on "Bobette"). This has
nothing to do with Bob the divine drilling-equipment salesman of the
[1656]Church of the SubGenius. Nor is it acronymized from "Brother Of
[1657]BOFH", though all parties agree it could have been. Rather, it
was triggered by an unusually large draft of new tech-support people
in 1995. It was observed that there would be much duplication of
names. To ease the confusion, it was decided that all support techs
would henceforth be known as "Bob", and identity badges were created
labelled "Bob 1" and "Bob 2". ("No, we never got any further" reports
a witness).
The reason for "Bob" rather than anything else is due to a [1658]luser
calling and asking to speak to "Bob", despite the fact that no "Bob"
was currently working for Tech Support. Since we all know "the
customer is always right", it was decided that there had to be at
least one "Bob" on duty at all times, just in case.
This sillyness inexorably snowballed. Shift leaders and managers began
to refer to their groups of "bobs". Whole ranks of support machines
were set up (and still exist in the DNS as of 1999) as bob1 through
bobN. Then came alt.tech-support.recovery, and it was filled with
Demon support personnel. They all referred to themselves, and to
others, as `bob', and after a while it caught on. There is now a
[1659]Bob Code describing the Bob nature.
Node:bodysurf code, Next:[1660]BOF, Previous:[1661]bob, Up:[1662]= B =
bodysurf code n.
A program or segment of code written quickly in the heat of
inspiration without the benefit of formal design or deep thought. Like
its namesake sport, the result is too often a wipeout that leaves the
programmer eating sand.
Node:BOF, Next:[1663]BOFH, Previous:[1664]bodysurf code, Up:[1665]= B
=
BOF /B-O-F/ or /bof/ n.
[common] Abbreviation for the phrase "Birds Of a Feather" (flockingtogether), an informal discussion group and/or bull session scheduled
on a conference program. It is not clear where or when this term
originated, but it is now associated with the USENIX conferences for
Unix techies and was already established there by 1984. It was used
earlier than that at DECUS conferences and is reported to have been
common at SHARE meetings as far back as the early 1960s. 2. Acronym,
`Beginning of File'.
Node:BOFH, Next:[1666]bogo-sort, Previous:[1667]BOF, Up:[1668]= B =
BOFH // n.
[common] Acronym, Bastard Operator From Hell. A system administrator
with absolutely no tolerance for [1669]lusers. "You say you need more
filespace? Seems to me you have plenty
left..." Many BOFHs (and others who would be BOFHs if they could get
away with it) hang out in the newsgroup alt.sysadmin.recovery,
although there has also been created a top-level newsgroup hierarchy
(bofh.*) of their own.
Several people have written stories about BOFHs. The set usually
considered canonical is by Simon Travaglia and may be found at the
[1670]Bastard Home Page. BOFHs and BOFH wannabes hang out on
[1671]scary devil monastery and wield [1672]LARTs.
Node:bogo-sort, Next:[1673]bogometer, Previous:[1674]BOFH, Up:[1675]=
B =
bogo-sort /boh`goh-sort'/ n.
(var. `stupid-sort') The archetypical perversely awful algorithm (as
opposed to [1676]bubble sort, which is merely the generic bad
algorithm). Bogo-sort is equivalent to repeatedly throwing a deck
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