The Jargon File by Eric S. Raymond (sites to read books for free .TXT) 📖
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by performing a [1807]power cycle.
Historical note: this term derives from `bootstrap loader', a short
program that was read in from cards or paper tape, or toggled in from
the front panel switches. This program was always very short (great
efforts were expended on making it short in order to minimize the
labor and chance of error involved in toggling it in), but was just
smart enough to read in a slightly more complex program (usually from
a card or paper tape reader), to which it handed control; this program
in turn was smart enough to read the application or operating system
from a magnetic tape drive or disk drive. Thus, in successive steps,
the computer `pulled itself up by its bootstraps' to a useful
operating state. Nowadays the bootstrap is usually found in ROM or
EPROM, and reads the first stage in from a fixed location on the disk,
called the `boot block'. When this program gains control, it is
powerful enough to load the actual OS and hand control over to it.
Node:Borg, Next:[1808]borken, Previous:[1809]boot, Up:[1810]= B =
Borg n.
In "Star Trek: The Next Generation" the Borg is a species of cyborg
that ruthlessly seeks to incorporate all sentient life into itself;
their slogan is "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." In
hacker parlance, the Borg is usually [1811]Microsoft, which is thought
to be trying just as ruthlessly to assimilate all computers and the
entire Internet to itself (there is a widely circulated image of Bill
Gates as a Borg). Being forced to use Windows or NT is often referred
to as being "Borged". Interestingly, the [1812]Halloween Documents
reveal that this jargon is live within Microsoft itself. (Other
companies, notably Intel and UUNet, have also occasionally been
equated to the Borg.) See also [1813]Evil Empire, [1814]Internet
Exploiter.
In IETF circles, where direct pressure from Microsoft is not a daily
reality, the Borg is sometimes Cisco. This usage commemmorates their
tendency to pay any price to hire talent away from their competitors.
In fact, at the Spring 1997 IETF, a large number of ex-Cisco
employees, all former members of Routing Geeks, showed up with
t-shirts printed with "Recovering Borg".
Node:borken, Next:[1815]bot, Previous:[1816]Borg, Up:[1817]= B =
borken adj.
(also borked') Common deliberate typo forbroken'.
Node:bot, Next:[1818]bot spot, Previous:[1819]borken, Up:[1820]= B =
bot n
[common on IRC, MUD and among gamers; from `robot'] 1. An [1821]IRC or
[1822]MUD user who is actually a program. On IRC, typically the robot
provides some useful service. Examples are NickServ, which tries to
prevent random users from adopting [1823]nicks already claimed by
others, and MsgServ, which allows one to send asynchronous messages to
be delivered when the recipient signs on. Also common are `annoybots',
such as KissServ, which perform no useful function except to send cute
messages to other people. Service bots are less common on MUDs; but
some others, such as the `Julia' bot active in 1990-91, have been
remarkably impressive Turing-test experiments, able to pass as human
for as long as ten or fifteen minutes of conversation. 2. An
AI-controlled player in a computer game (especially a first-person
shooter such as Quake) which, unlike ordinary monsters, operates like
a human-controlled player, with access to a player's weapons and
abilities. An example can be found at
[1824]http://www.telefragged.com/thefatal/. 3. Term used, though less
commonly, for a web [1825]spider. The file for controlling spider
behavior on your site is officially the "Robots Exclusion File" and
its URL is "http:///robots.txt")
Note that bots in all senses were `robots' when the terms first
appeared in the early 1990s, but the shortened form is now habitual.
Node:bot spot, Next:[1826]bottom feeder, Previous:[1827]bot,
Up:[1828]= B =
bot spot n.
[MUD] The user on a MUD with the longest connect time. Derives from
the fact that [1829]bots on MUDS often stay constantly connected and
appear at the bottom of the list.
Node:bottom feeder, Next:[1830]bottom-up implementation,
Previous:[1831]bot spot, Up:[1832]= B =
bottom feeder n.
An Internet user that leeches off ISPs - the sort you can neverprovide good enough services for, always complains about the price, no
matter how low it may be, and will bolt off to another service the
moment there is even the slimmest price difference. While most bottom
feeders infest free or almost free services such as AOL, MSN, and
Hotmail, too many flock to whomever happens to be the cheapest
regional ISP at the time. Bottom feeders are often the classic problem
user, known for unleashing spam, flamage, and other breaches of
[1833]netiquette. 2. Syn. for [1834]slopsucker, derived from the
fishermen's and naturalists' term for finny creatures who subsist on
the primordial ooze. (This sense is older.)
Node:bottom-up implementation, Next:[1835]bounce,
Previous:[1836]bottom feeder, Up:[1837]= B =
bottom-up implementation n.
Hackish opposite of the techspeak term `top-down design'. It has been
received wisdom in most programming cultures that it is best to design
from higher levels of abstraction down to lower, specifying sequences
of action in increasing detail until you get to actual code. Hackers
often find (especially in exploratory designs that cannot be closely
specified in advance) that it works best to build things in the
opposite order, by writing and testing a clean set of primitive
operations and then knitting them together. Naively applied, this
leads to hacked-together bottom-up implementations; a more
sophisticated response is `middle-out implementation', in which
scratch code within primitives at the mid-level of the system is
gradually replaced with a more polished version of the lowest level at
the same time the structure above the midlevel is being built.
Node:bounce, Next:[1838]bounce message, Previous:[1839]bottom-up
implementation, Up:[1840]= B =
bounce v.
[common; perhaps by analogy to a bouncing check] An electronic mailmessage that is undeliverable and returns an error notification to the
sender is said to `bounce'. See also [1841]bounce message. 2.
[Stanford] To play volleyball. The now-demolished [1842]D. C. Power
Lab building used by the Stanford AI Lab in the 1970s had a volleyball
court on the front lawn. From 5 P.M. to 7 P.M. was the scheduled
maintenance time for the computer, so every afternoon at 5 would come
over the intercom the cry: "Now hear this: bounce, bounce!", followed
by Brian McCune loudly bouncing a volleyball on the floor outside the
offices of known volleyballers. 3. To engage in sexual intercourse;
prob. from the expression `bouncing the mattress', but influenced by
Roo's psychosexually loaded "Try bouncing me, Tigger!" from the
"Winnie-the-Pooh" books. Compare [1843]boink. 4. To casually reboot a
system in order to clear up a transient problem. Reported primarily
among [1844]VMS and [1845]Unix users. 5. [VM/CMS programmers]
Automatic warm-start of a machine after an error. "I logged on this
morning and found it had bounced 7 times during the night" 6. [IBM] To
[1846]power cycle a peripheral in order to reset it.
Node:bounce message, Next:[1847]boustrophedon, Previous:[1848]bounce,
Up:[1849]= B =
bounce message n.
[common] Notification message returned to sender by a site unable to
relay [1850]email to the intended [1851]Internet address recipient or
the next link in a [1852]bang path (see [1853]bounce, sense 1).
Reasons might include a nonexistent or misspelled username or a
[1854]down relay site. Bounce messages can themselves fail, with
occasionally ugly results; see [1855]sorcerer's apprentice mode and
[1856]software laser. The terms bounce mail' andbarfmail' are also
common.
Node:boustrophedon, Next:[1857]box, Previous:[1858]bounce message,
Up:[1859]= B =
boustrophedon n.
[from a Greek word for turning like an ox while plowing] An ancient
method of writing using alternate left-to-right and right-to-left
lines. This term is actually philologists' techspeak and typesetters'
jargon. Erudite hackers use it for an optimization performed by some
computer typesetting software and moving-head printers. The adverbial
form `boustrophedonically' is also found (hackers purely love
constructions like this).
Node:box, Next:[1860]boxed comments, Previous:[1861]boustrophedon,
Up:[1862]= B =
box n.
A computer; esp. in the construction `foo box' where foo is somefunctional qualifier, like `graphics', or the name of an OS (thus,
Unix box',MS-DOS box', etc.) "We preprocess the data on Unix boxes
before handing it up to the mainframe." 2. [IBM] Without qualification
but within an SNA-using site, this refers specifically to an IBM
front-end processor or FEP /F-E-P/. An FEP is a small computer
necessary to enable an IBM [1863]mainframe to communicate beyond the
limits of the [1864]dinosaur pen. Typically used in expressions like
the cry that goes up when an SNA network goes down: "Looks like the
[1865]box has fallen over." (See [1866]fall over.) See also [1867]IBM,
[1868]fear and loathing, [1869]Blue Glue.
Node:boxed comments, Next:[1870]boxen, Previous:[1871]box, Up:[1872]=
B =
boxed comments n.
Comments (explanatory notes attached to program instructions) that
occupy several lines by themselves; so called because in assembler and
C code they are often surrounded by a box in a style something like
this:
/*******
*
This is a boxed comment in C style*
*******/
Common variants of this style omit the asterisks in column 2 or add a
matching row of asterisks closing the right side of the box. The
sparest variant omits all but the comment delimiters themselves; the
`box' is implied. Oppose [1873]winged comments.
Node:boxen, Next:[1874]boxology, Previous:[1875]boxed comments,
Up:[1876]= B =
boxen /bok'sn/ pl.n.
[very common; by analogy with [1877]VAXen] Fanciful plural of
[1878]box often encountered in the phrase `Unix boxen', used to
describe commodity [1879]Unix hardware. The connotation is that any
two Unix boxen are interchangeable.
Node:boxology, Next:[1880]bozotic, Previous:[1881]boxen, Up:[1882]= B
=
boxology /bok-sol'*-jee/ n.
Syn. [1883]ASCII art. This term implies a more restricted domain, that
of box-and-arrow drawings. "His report has a lot of boxology in it."
Compare [1884]macrology.
Node:bozotic, Next:[1885]BQS, Previous:[1886]boxology, Up:[1887]= B =
bozotic /boh-zoh'tik/ or /boh-zo'tik/ adj.
[from the name of a TV clown even more losing than Ronald McDonald]
Resembling or having the quality of a bozo; that is, clownish,
ludicrously wrong, unintentionally humorous. Compare [1888]wonky,
[1889]demented. Note that the noun `bozo' occurs in slang, but the
mainstream adjectival form would be `bozo-like' or (in New England)
`bozoish'.
Node:BQS, Next:[1890]brain dump, Previous:[1891]bozotic, Up:[1892]= B
=
BQS /B-Q-S/ adj.
Syn. [1893]Berkeley Quality Software.
Node:brain dump, Next:[1894]brain fart, Previous:[1895]BQS, Up:[1896]=
B =
brain dump n.
[common] The act of telling someone everything one knows about a
particular topic or project. Typically used when someone is going to
let a new party maintain a piece of code. Conceptually analogous to an
operating system [1897]core dump in that it saves a lot of useful
[1898]state before an exit. "You'll have to give me a brain dump on
FOOBAR before you start your new job at HackerCorp." See [1899]core
dump (sense 4). At Sun, this is also known as `TOI' (transfer of
information).
Node:brain fart, Next:[1900]brain-damaged, Previous:[1901]brain dump,
Up:[1902]= B =
brain fart n.
The actual result of a [1903]braino, as opposed to the mental glitch
that is the braino itself. E.g., typing dir on a Unix box after a
session with DOS.
Node:brain-damaged, Next:[1904]brain-dead, Previous:[1905]brain fart,
Up:[1906]= B =
brain-damaged adj.
[common; generalization of `Honeywell Brain Damage' (HBD), atheoretical disease invented to explain certain utter cretinisms in
Honeywell [1907]Multics] adj. Obviously wrong; [1908]cretinous;
[1909]demented. There is an implication that the person responsible
must have suffered brain damage, because he should have known better.
Calling something brain-damaged is really bad; it also implies it is
unusable, and that its failure to work is due to poor design rather
than some accident. "Only six monocase characters per file name? Now
that's brain-damaged!" 2. [esp. in the Mac world] May refer to free
demonstration software that has been deliberately crippled in some way
so as not to compete with the product it is intended to sell. Syn.
[1910]crippleware.
Node:brain-dead, Next:[1911]braino, Previous:[1912]brain-damaged,
Up:[1913]= B =
brain-dead adj.
[common] Brain-damaged in the extreme. It tends to imply terminal
design failure rather than malfunction or simple stupidity. "This comm
program doesn't know how to
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