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

in a way that is reasonably intuitive and relatively

easy to comprehend from the outside. The antonym is `grungy' or

[2682]crufty. 2. v. To remove unneeded or undesired files in a effort

to reduce clutter: "I'm cleaning up my account." "I cleaned up the

garbage and now have 100 Meg free on that partition."

Node:CLM, Next:[2683]clobber, Previous:[2684]clean, Up:[2685]= C =

CLM /C-L-M/

[Sun: `Career Limiting Move'] 1. n. An action endangering one's future

prospects of getting plum projects and raises, and possibly one's job:

"His Halloween costume was a parody of his manager. He won the prize

for `best CLM'." 2. adj. Denotes extreme severity of a bug, discovered

by a customer and obviously missed earlier because of poor testing:

"That's a CLM bug!"

Node:clobber, Next:[2686]clock, Previous:[2687]CLM, Up:[2688]= C =

clobber vt.

To overwrite, usually unintentionally: "I walked off the end of the

array and clobbered the stack." Compare [2689]mung, [2690]scribble,

[2691]trash, and [2692]smash the stack.

Node:clock, Next:[2693]clocks, Previous:[2694]clobber, Up:[2695]= C =

clock

n 1. [techspeak] The master oscillator that steps a CPU or other

digital circuit through its paces. This has nothing to do with the

time of day, although the software counter that keeps track of the

latter may be derived from the former. 2. vt. To run a CPU or other

digital circuit at a particular rate. "If you clock it at 100MHz, it

gets warm.". See [2696]overclock. 3. vt. To force a digital circuit

from one state to the next by applying a single clock pulse. "The data

must be stable 10ns before you clock the latch."

Node:clocks, Next:[2697]clone, Previous:[2698]clock, Up:[2699]= C =

clocks n.

Processor logic cycles, so called because each generally corresponds

to one clock pulse in the processor's timing. The relative execution

times of instructions on a machine are usually discussed in clocks

rather than absolute fractions of a second; one good reason for this

is that clock speeds for various models of the machine may increase as

technology improves, and it is usually the relative times one is

interested in when discussing the instruction set. Compare

[2700]cycle, [2701]jiffy.

Node:clone, Next:[2702]clone-and-hack coding, Previous:[2703]clocks,

Up:[2704]= C =

clone n.

An exact duplicate: "Our product is a clone of their product."

Implies a legal reimplementation from documentation or by

reverse-engineering. Also connotes lower price. 2. A shoddy, spurious

copy: "Their product is a clone of our product." 3. A blatant ripoff,

most likely violating copyright, patent, or trade secret protections:

"Your product is a clone of my product." This use implies legal action

is pending. 4. `PC clone:' a PC-BUS/ISA or EISA-compatible 80x86-based

microcomputer (this use is sometimes spelled klone' orPClone').

These invariably have much more bang for the buck than the IBM

archetypes they resemble. 5. In the construction `Unix clone': An OS

designed to deliver a Unix-lookalike environment without Unix license

fees, or with additional `mission-critical' features such as support

for real-time programming. 6. v. To make an exact copy of something.

"Let me clone that" might mean "I want to borrow that paper so I can

make a photocopy" or "Let me get a copy of that file before you

[2705]mung it".

Node:clone-and-hack coding, Next:[2706]clover key,

Previous:[2707]clone, Up:[2708]= C =

clone-and-hack coding n.

[DEC] Syn. [2709]case and paste.

Node:clover key, Next:[2710]clue-by-four,

Previous:[2711]clone-and-hack coding, Up:[2712]= C =

clover key n.

[Mac users] See [2713]feature key.

Node:clue-by-four, Next:[2714]clustergeeking, Previous:[2715]clover

key, Up:[2716]= C =

clue-by-four

[Usenet: portmanteau, clue + two-by-four] The notional stick with

which one whacks an aggressively clueless person. This term derives

from a western American folk saying about training a mule "First, you

got to hit him with a two-by-four. That's to get his attention." The

clue-by-four is a close relative of the [2717]LART. Syn. `clue stick'.

This metaphor is commonly elaborated; your editor once heard a hacker

say "I strike you with the great sword Clue-Bringer!"

Node:clustergeeking, Next:[2718]co-lo, Previous:[2719]clue-by-four,

Up:[2720]= C =

clustergeeking /kluh'st*r-gee`king/ n.

[CMU] Spending more time at a computer cluster doing CS homework than

most people spend breathing.

Node:co-lo, Next:[2721]coaster, Previous:[2722]clustergeeking,

Up:[2723]= C =

co-lo /koh'loh`/ n.

[very common; first heard c.1995] Short for `co-location', used of a

machine you own that is physically sited on the premises of an ISP in

order to take advantage of the ISP's direct access to lots of network

bandwidthm. Often in the phrases co-lo box' orco-lo machines'.

Co-lo boxes are typically web and FTP servers remote-administered by

their owners, who may seldom or never visit the actual site.

Node:coaster, Next:[2724]COBOL, Previous:[2725]co-lo, Up:[2726]= C =

coaster n.

Unuseable CD produced during failed attempt at writing to writeable

or re-writeable CD media. Certainly related to the coaster-like shape

of a CD, and the relative value of these failures. "I made a lot of

coasters before I got a good CD." 2. Useless CDs received in the mail

from the likes of AOL, MSN, CI$, Prodigy, ad nauseam.

In the U.K., `beermat' is often used in these senses.

Node:COBOL, Next:[2727]COBOL fingers, Previous:[2728]coaster,

Up:[2729]= C =

COBOL /koh'bol/ n.

[COmmon Business-Oriented Language] (Synonymous with [2730]evil.) A

weak, verbose, and flabby language used by [2731]card wallopers to do

boring mindless things on [2732]dinosaur mainframes. Hackers believe

that all COBOL programmers are [2733]suits or [2734]code grinders, and

no self-respecting hacker will ever admit to having learned the

language. Its very name is seldom uttered without ritual expressions

of disgust or horror. One popular one is Edsger W. Dijkstra's famous

observation that "The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching

should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense." (from "Selected

Writings on Computing: A Personal Perspective") See also [2735]fear

and loathing, [2736]software rot.

Node:COBOL fingers, Next:[2737]cobweb site, Previous:[2738]COBOL,

Up:[2739]= C =

COBOL fingers /koh'bol fing'grz/ n.

Reported from Sweden, a (hypothetical) disease one might get from

coding in COBOL. The language requires code verbose beyond all reason

(see [2740]candygrammar); thus it is alleged that programming too much

in COBOL causes one's fingers to wear down to stubs by the endless

typing. "I refuse to type in all that source code again; it would give

me COBOL fingers!"

Node:cobweb site, Next:[2741]code, Previous:[2742]COBOL fingers,

Up:[2743]= C =

cobweb site n.

A World Wide Web Site that hasn't been updated so long it has

figuratively grown cobwebs.

Node:code, Next:[2744]code grinder, Previous:[2745]cobweb site,

Up:[2746]= C =

code n.

The stuff that software writers write, either in source form or after

translation by a compiler or assembler. Often used in opposition to

"data", which is the stuff that code operates on. This is a mass noun,

as in "How much code does it take to do a [2747]bubble sort?", or "The

code is loaded at the high end of RAM." Anyone referring to software

as "the software codes" is probably a [2748]newbie or a [2749]suit.

Node:code grinder, Next:[2750]code monkey, Previous:[2751]code,

Up:[2752]= C =

code grinder n.

A [2753]suit-wearing minion of the sort hired in legion strength by

banks and insurance companies to implement payroll packages in RPG and

other such unspeakable horrors. In its native habitat, the code

grinder often removes the suit jacket to reveal an underplumage

consisting of button-down shirt (starch optional) and a tie. In times

of dire stress, the sleeves (if long) may be rolled up and the tie

loosened about half an inch. It seldom helps. The [2754]code grinder's

milieu is about as far from hackerdom as one can get and still touch a

computer; the term connotes pity. See [2755]Real World, [2756]suit. 2.

Used of or to a hacker, a really serious slur on the person's creative

ability; connotes a design style characterized by primitive technique,

rule-boundedness, [2757]brute force, and utter lack of imagination.

Compare [2758]card walloper; contrast [2759]hacker, [2760]Real

Programmer.

Node:code monkey, Next:[2761]Code of the Geeks, Previous:[2762]code

grinder, Up:[2763]= C =

code monkey n

A person only capable of grinding out code, but unable to perform

the higher-primate tasks of software architecture, analysis, and

design. Mildly insulting. Often applied to the most junior people on a

programming team. 2. Anyone who writes code for a living; a

programmer. 3. A self-deprecating way of denying responsibility for a

[2764]management decision, or of complaining about having to live with

such decisions. As in "Don't ask me why we need to write a compiler

in+COBOL, I'm just a code monkey."

Node:Code of the Geeks, Next:[2765]code police, Previous:[2766]code

monkey, Up:[2767]= C =

Code of the Geeks n.

see [2768]geek code.

Node:code police, Next:[2769]codes, Previous:[2770]Code of the Geeks,

Up:[2771]= C =

code police n.

[by analogy with George Orwell's `thought police'] A mythical team of

Gestapo-like storm troopers that might burst into one's office and

arrest one for violating programming style rules. May be used either

seriously, to underline a claim that a particular style violation is

dangerous, or ironically, to suggest that the practice under

discussion is condemned mainly by anal-retentive [2772]weenies. "Dike

out that goto or the code police will get you!" The ironic usage is

perhaps more common.

Node:codes, Next:[2773]codewalker, Previous:[2774]code police,

Up:[2775]= C =

codes n.

[scientific computing] Programs. This usage is common in people who

hack supercomputers and heavy-duty [2776]number-crunching, rare to

unknown elsewhere (if you say "codes" to hackers outside scientific

computing, their first association is likely to be "and cyphers").

Node:codewalker, Next:[2777]coefficient of X, Previous:[2778]codes,

Up:[2779]= C =

codewalker n.

A program component that traverses other programs for a living.

Compilers have codewalkers in their front ends; so do cross-reference

generators and some database front ends. Other utility programs that

try to do too much with source code may turn into codewalkers. As in

"This new vgrind feature would require a codewalker to implement."

Node:coefficient of X, Next:[2780]cokebottle,

Previous:[2781]codewalker, Up:[2782]= C =

coefficient of X n.

Hackish speech makes heavy use of pseudo-mathematical metaphors. Four

particularly important ones involve the terms coefficient',factor',

index of X', andquotient'. They are often loosely applied to things

you cannot really be quantitative about, but there are subtle

distinctions among them that convey information about the way the

speaker mentally models whatever he or she is describing.

Foo factor' andfoo quotient' tend to describe something for which

the issue is one of presence or absence. The canonical example is

[2783]fudge factor. It's not important how much you're fudging; the

term simply acknowledges that some fudging is needed. You might talk

of liking a movie for its silliness factor. Quotient tends to imply

that the property is a ratio of two opposing factors: "I would have

won except for my luck quotient." This could also be "I would have won

except for the luck factor", but using quotient emphasizes that it was

bad luck overpowering good luck (or someone else's good luck

overpowering your own).

Foo index' andcoefficient of foo' both tend to imply that foo is,

if not strictly measurable, at least something that can be larger or

smaller. Thus, you might refer to a paper or person as having a `high

bogosity index', whereas you would be less likely to speak of a `high

bogosity factor'. `Foo index' suggests that foo is a condensation of

many quantities, as in the mundane cost-of-living index; `coefficient

of foo' suggests that foo is a fundamental quantity, as in a

coefficient of friction. The choice between these terms is often one

of personal preference; e.g., some people might feel that bogosity is

a fundamental attribute and thus say `coefficient of bogosity',

whereas others might feel it is a combination of factors and thus say

`bogosity index'.

Node:cokebottle, Next:[2784]cold boot, Previous:[2785]coefficient of

X, Up:[2786]= C =

cokebottle /kohk'bot-l/ n.

Any very unusual character, particularly one you can't type because it

isn't on your keyboard. MIT people used to complain about the

`control-meta-cokebottle' commands at SAIL, and SAIL people complained

right back about the `escape-escape-cokebottle' commands at MIT. After

the demise of the [2787]space-cadet keyboard, `cokebottle' faded away

as serious usage, but was often invoked humorously to describe an

(unspecified) weird or non-intuitive keystroke command. It may be due