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

>escape sequences for interpretation by a video terminal; one notable

example displayed, on any VT100, a Christmas tree with twinkling

lights and a toy train circling its base. The [4050]hack value of a

display hack is proportional to the esthetic value of the images times

the cleverness of the algorithm divided by the size of the code. Syn.

[4051]psychedelicware.

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hack, Up:[4054]= D =

dispress vt.

[contraction of `Dissociated Press' due to eight-character MS-DOS

filenames] To apply the [4055]Dissociated Press algorithm to a block

of text. The resultant output is also referred to as a 'dispression'.

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Dissociated Press n.

[play on `Associated Press'; perhaps inspired by a reference in the

1950 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up, Doc?"] An algorithm for

transforming any text into potentially humorous garbage even more

efficiently than by passing it through a [4059]marketroid. The

algorithm starts by printing any N consecutive words (or letters) in

the text. Then at every step it searches for any random occurrence in

the original text of the last N words (or letters) already printed and

then prints the next word or letter. [4060]EMACS has a handy command

for this. Here is a short example of word-based Dissociated Press

applied to an earlier version of this Jargon File:

wart: n. A small, crocky [4061]feature that sticks out of an array

(C has no checks for this). This is relatively benign and easy to

spot if the phrase is bent so as to be not worth paying attention

to the medium in question.

Here is a short example of letter-based Dissociated Press applied to

the same source:

window sysIWYG: n. A bit was named aften /bee't*/ prefer to use the

other guy's re, especially in every cast a chuckle on neithout

getting into useful informash speech makes removing a featuring a

move or usage actual abstractionsidered interj. Indeed spectace

logic or problem!

A hackish idle pastime is to apply letter-based Dissociated Press to a

random body of text and [4062]vgrep the output in hopes of finding an

interesting new word. (In the preceding example, `window sysIWYG' and

`informash' show some promise.) Iterated applications of Dissociated

Press usually yield better results. Similar techniques called

`travesty generators' have been employed with considerable satirical

effect to the utterances of Usenet flamers; see [4063]pseudo.

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Press, Up:[4066]= D =

distribution n.

A software source tree packaged for distribution; but see

[4067]kit. Since about 1996 unqualified use of this term often implies

`[4068]Linux distribution'. The short for [4069]distro is often used

for this sense. 2. A vague term encompassing mailing lists and Usenet

newsgroups (but not [4070]BBS [4071]fora); any topic-oriented message

channel with multiple recipients. 3. An information-space domain

(usually loosely correlated with geography) to which propagation of a

Usenet message is restricted; a much-underutilized feature.

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distro n.

Synonym for [4075]distribution, sense 1.

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disusered adj.

[Usenet] Said of a person whose account on a computer has been

removed, esp. for cause rather than through normal attrition. "He got

disusered when they found out he'd been cracking through the school's

Internet access." The verbal form `disuser' is live but less common.

Both usages probably derive from the DISUSER account status flag on

VMS; setting it disables the account. Compare [4079]star out.

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D =

do protocol vi.

[from network protocol programming] To perform an interaction with

somebody or something that follows a clearly defined procedure. For

example, "Let's do protocol with the check" at a restaurant means to

ask for the check, calculate the tip and everybody's share, collect

money from everybody, generate change as necessary, and pay the bill.

See [4083]protocol.

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doc /dok/ n.

Common spoken and written shorthand for `documentation'. Often used in

the plural docs' and in the constructiondoc file' (i.e.,

documentation available on-line).

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documentation n.

The multiple kilograms of macerated, pounded, steamed, bleached, and

pressed trees that accompany most modern software or hardware products

(see also [4090]tree-killer). Hackers seldom read paper documentation

and (too) often resist writing it; they prefer theirs to be terse and

on-line. A common comment on this predilection is "You can't

[4091]grep dead trees". See [4092]drool-proof paper, [4093]verbiage,

[4094]treeware.

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dodgy adj.

Syn. with [4098]flaky. Preferred outside the U.S.

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dogcow /dog'kow/ n.

See [4102]Moof. The dogcow is a semi-legendary creature that lurks in

the depths of the Macintosh Technical Notes Hypercard stack V3.1. The

full story of the dogcow is told in technical note #31 (the particular

dogcow illustrated is properly named `Clarus'). Option-shift-click

will cause it to emit a characteristic Moof!' or!fooM' sound.

Getting to tech note 31 is the hard part; to discover how to do that,

one must needs examine the stack script with a hackerly eye. Clue:

[4103]rot13 is involved. A dogcow also appears if you choose `Page

Setup...' with a LaserWriter selected and click on the `Options'

button. It also lurks in other Mac printer drivers, notably those for

the now-discontinued Style Writers. Sadly, Apple has removed the pages

that used to describe the dogcow.

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dogfood n.

[Microsoft, Netscape] Interim software used internally for testing.

"To eat one's own dogfood" (from which the slang noun derives) means

to use the software one is developing, as part of one's everyday

development environment (the phrase is used outside Microsoft and

Netscape). The practice is normal in the Linux community and

elsewhere, but the term `dogfood' is seldom used as open-source betas

tend to be quite tasty and nourishing. The idea is that developers who

are using their own software will quickly learn what's missing or

broken. Dogfood is typically not even of [4107]beta quality.

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dogpile v.

[Usenet: prob. fr. mainstream "puppy pile"] When many people post

unfriendly responses in short order to a single posting, they are

sometimes said to "dogpile" or "dogpile on" the person to whom they're

responding. For example, when a religious missionary posts a

simplistic appeal to alt.atheism, he can expect to be dogpiled. It has

been suggested that this derives from U.S, football slang for a tackle

involving three or more people; among hackers, it seems at least as

likely do derive from an `autobiographical' Bugs Bunny cartoon in

which a gang of attacking canines actually yells "Dogpile on the

rabbit!".

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dogwash /dog'wosh/

[From a quip in the `urgency' field of a very optional software change

request, ca. 1982. It was something like "Urgency: Wash your dog

first".] 1. n. A project of minimal priority, undertaken as an escape

from more serious work. 2. v. To engage in such a project. Many games

and much [4114]freeware get written this way.

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domainist /doh-mayn'ist/ adj.

[Usenet, by pointed analogy with "sexist", "racist", etc.] Someone

who judges people by the domain of their email addresses; esp. someone

who dismisses anyone who posts from a public internet provider. "What

do you expect from an article posted from aol.com?" 2. Said of an

[4118]Internet address (as opposed to a [4119]bang path) because the

part to the right of the @ specifies a nested series of `domains'; for

example, [4120]esr@snark.thyrsus.com specifies the machine called

snark in the subdomain called thyrsus within the top-level domain

called com. See also [4121]big-endian, sense 2.

The meaning of this term has drifted. At one time sense 2 was primary.

In elder days it was also used of a site, mailer, or routing program

which knew how to handle domainist addresses; or of a person (esp. a

site admin) who preferred domain addressing, supported a domainist

mailer, or proselytized for domainist addressing and disdained

[4122]bang paths. These senses are now (1996) obsolete, as effectively

all sites have converted.

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Don't do that then! imp.

[from an old doctor's office joke about a patient with a trivial

complaint] Stock response to a user complaint. "When I type control-S,

the whole system comes to a halt for thirty seconds." "Don't do that,

then!" (or "So don't do that!"). Compare [4126]RTFM.

Here's a classic example of "Don't do that then!" from Neil

Stephenson's "In The Beginning Was The Command Line". A friend of his

built a network with a load of Macs and a few high-powered database

servers. He found that from time to time the whole network would lock

up for no apparent reason. The problem was eventually tracked down to

MacOS's cooperative multitasking: when a user held down the mouse

button for too long, the network stack wouldn't get a chance to run...

Node:dongle, Next:[4127]dongle-disk, Previous:[4128]Don't do that

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dongle /dong'gl/ n.

[now obs.] A security or [4130]copy protection device for

proprietary software consisting of a serialized EPROM and some drivers

in a D-25 connector shell, which must be connected to an I/O port of

the computer while the program is run. Programs that use a dongle

query the port at startup and at programmed intervals thereafter, and

terminate if it does not respond with the dongle's programmed

validation code. Thus, users can make as many copies of the program as

they want but must pay for each dongle. The idea was clever, but it

was initially a failure, as users disliked tying up a serial port this

way. By 1993, dongles would typically pass data through the port and

monitor for [4131]magic codes (and combinations of status lines) with

minimal if any interference with devices further down the line -- this

innovation was necessary to allow daisy-chained dongles for multiple

pieces of software. These devices have become rare as the industry has

moved away from copy-protection schemes in general. 2. By extension,

any physical electronic key or transferable ID required for a program

to function. Common variations on this theme have used parallel or

even joystick ports. See [4132]dongle-disk. 3. An adaptor cable mating

a special edge-type connector on a PCMCIA or on-board Ethernet card to

a standard RJ45 Ethernet jack. This usage seems to have surfaced in

1999 and is now dominant. Laptop owners curse these things because

they're notoriously easy to lose and the vendors commonly charge

extortionate prices for replacements.

[Note: in early 1992, advertising copy from Rainbow Technologies (a

manufacturer of dongles) included a claim that the word derived from

"Don Gall", allegedly the inventor of the device. The company's

receptionist will cheerfully tell you that the story is a myth

invented for the ad copy. Nevertheless, I expect it to haunt my life

as a lexicographer for at least the next ten years. :-( --ESR]

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dongle-disk /don'gl disk/ n.

A special floppy disk that is required in order to perform some task.

Some contain special coding that allows an application to identify it

uniquely, others are special code that does something that

normally-resident programs don't or can't. (For example, AT&T's "Unix

PC" would only come up in [4136]root mode with a special boot disk.)

Also called a `key disk'. See [4137]dongle.

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donuts n. obs.

A collective noun for any set of memory bits. This usage is extremely

archaic and may no longer be live jargon; it dates from the days of

ferrite-[4141]core memories in which each bit was implemented by a

doughnut-shaped magnetic flip-flop.

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doorstop n.

Used to describe equipment that is non-functional and halfway expected

to remain so, especially obsolete equipment kept around for political

reasons or ostensibly as a backup. "When we get another Wyse-50 in

here, that ADM 3 will turn into a doorstop." Compare [4145]boat

anchor.

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