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

in the configurator or was

defeated by something exceptional in the local environment. "The worst

thing about being a gateway between four different nets is having to

hand-roll a new sendmail configuration every time any of them

upgrades."

Node:handle, Next:[6634]handshaking, Previous:[6635]hand-roll,

Up:[6636]= H =

handle n.

[from CB slang] An electronic pseudonym; a `nom de guerre' intended

to conceal the user's true identity. Network and BBS handles function

as the same sort of simultaneous concealment and display one finds on

Citizen's Band radio, from which the term was adopted. Use of

grandiose handles is characteristic of [6637]warez d00dz,

[6638]crackers, [6639]weenies, [6640]spods, and other lower forms of

network life; true hackers travel on their own reputations rather than

invented legendry. Compare [6641]nick, [6642]screen name. 2. A

[6643]magic cookie, often in the form of a numeric index into some

array somewhere, through which you can manipulate an object like a

file or window. The form `file handle' is especially common. 3. [Mac]

A pointer to a pointer to dynamically-allocated memory; the extra

level of indirection allows on-the-fly memory compaction (to cut down

on fragmentation) or aging out of unused resources, with minimal

impact on the (possibly multiple) parts of the larger program

containing references to the allocated memory. Compare [6644]snap (to

snap a handle would defeat its purpose); see also [6645]aliasing bug,

[6646]dangling pointer.

Node:handshaking, Next:[6647]handwave, Previous:[6648]handle,

Up:[6649]= H =

handshaking n.

[very common] Hardware or software activity designed to start or keep

two machines or programs in synchronization as they [6650]do protocol.

Often applied to human activity; thus, a hacker might watch two people

in conversation nodding their heads to indicate that they have heard

each others' points and say "Oh, they're handshaking!". See also

[6651]protocol.

Node:handwave, Next:[6652]hang, Previous:[6653]handshaking, Up:[6654]=

H =

handwave

[poss. from gestures characteristic of stage magicians] 1. v. To gloss

over a complex point; to distract a listener; to support a (possibly

actually valid) point with blatantly faulty logic. 2. n. The act of

handwaving. "Boy, what a handwave!"

If someone starts a sentence with "Clearly..." or "Obviously..." or

"It is self-evident that...", it is a good bet he is about to handwave

(alternatively, use of these constructions in a sarcastic tone before

a paraphrase of someone else's argument suggests that it is a

handwave). The theory behind this term is that if you wave your hands

at the right moment, the listener may be sufficiently distracted to

not notice that what you have said is [6655]bogus. Failing that, if a

listener does object, you might try to dismiss the objection with a

wave of your hand.

The use of this word is often accompanied by gestures: both hands up,

palms forward, swinging the hands in a vertical plane pivoting at the

elbows and/or shoulders (depending on the magnitude of the handwave);

alternatively, holding the forearms in one position while rotating the

hands at the wrist to make them flutter. In context, the gestures

alone can suffice as a remark; if a speaker makes an outrageously

unsupported assumption, you might simply wave your hands in this way,

as an accusation, far more eloquent than words could express, that his

logic is faulty.

Node:hang, Next:[6656]Hanlon's Razor, Previous:[6657]handwave,

Up:[6658]= H =

hang v.

[very common] To wait for an event that will never occur. "The

system is hanging because it can't read from the crashed drive". See

[6659]wedged, [6660]hung. 2. To wait for some event to occur; to hang

around until something happens. "The program displays a menu and then

hangs until you type a character." Compare [6661]block. 3. To attach a

peripheral device, esp. in the construction `hang off': "We're going

to hang another tape drive off the file server." Implies a device

attached with cables, rather than something that is strictly inside

the machine's chassis.

Node:Hanlon's Razor, Next:[6662]happily, Previous:[6663]hang,

Up:[6664]= H =

Hanlon's Razor prov.

A corollary of [6665]Finagle's Law, similar to Occam's Razor, that

reads "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately

explained by stupidity." The derivation of the Hanlon eponym is not

definitely known, but a very similar remark ("You have attributed

conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.") appears in

"Logic of Empire", a classic 1941 SF story by Robert A. Heinlein, who

calls it the `devil theory' of sociology. Heinlein's popularity in the

hacker culture makes plausible the supposition that `Hanlon' is

derived from `Heinlein' by phonetic corruption. A similar epigram has

been attributed to William James, but Heinlein more probably got the

idea from Alfred Korzybski and other practitioners of General

Semantics. Quoted here because it seems to be a particular favorite of

hackers, often showing up in [6666]sig blocks, [6667]fortune cookie

files and the login banners of BBS systems and commercial networks.

This probably reflects the hacker's daily experience of environments

created by well-intentioned but short-sighted people. Compare

[6668]Sturgeon's Law, [6669]Ninety-Ninety Rule.

Node:happily, Next:[6670]haque, Previous:[6671]Hanlon's Razor,

Up:[6672]= H =

happily adv.

Of software, used to emphasize that a program is unaware of some

important fact about its environment, either because it has been

fooled into believing a lie, or because it doesn't care. The sense of

`happy' here is not that of elation, but rather that of blissful

ignorance. "The program continues to run, happily unaware that its

output is going to /dev/null." Also used to suggest that a program or

device would really rather be doing something destructive, and is

being given an opportunity to do so. "If you enter an O here instead

of a zero, the program will happily erase all your data." Neverheless,

use of this term implies a basically benign attitude towards the

program: It didn't mean any harm, it was just eager to do its job.

We'd like to be angry at it but we shouldn't, we should try to

understand it instead. The adjective "cheerfully" is often used in

exactly the same way.

Node:haque, Next:[6673]hard boot, Previous:[6674]happily, Up:[6675]= H

=

haque /hak/ n.

[Usenet] Variant spelling of [6676]hack, used only for the noun form

and connoting an [6677]elegant hack. that is a [6678]hack in sense 2.

Node:hard boot, Next:[6679]hardcoded, Previous:[6680]haque, Up:[6681]=

H =

hard boot n.

See [6682]boot.

Node:hardcoded, Next:[6683]hardwarily, Previous:[6684]hard boot,

Up:[6685]= H =

hardcoded adj.

[common] Said of data inserted directly into a program, where it

cannot be easily modified, as opposed to data in some [6686]profile,

resource (see [6687]de-rezz sense 2), or environment variable that a

[6688]user or hacker can easily modify. 2. In C, this is esp. applied

to use of a literal instead of a #define macro (see [6689]magic

number).

Node:hardwarily, Next:[6690]hardwired, Previous:[6691]hardcoded,

Up:[6692]= H =

hardwarily /hard-weir'*-lee/ adv.

In a way pertaining to hardware. "The system is hardwarily

unreliable." The adjective `hardwary' is not traditionally used,

though it has recently been reported from the U.K. See

[6693]softwarily.

Node:hardwired, Next:[6694]has the X nature,

Previous:[6695]hardwarily, Up:[6696]= H =

hardwired adj.

In software, syn. for [6697]hardcoded. 2. By extension, anything

that is not modifiable, especially in the sense of customizable to

one's particular needs or tastes.

Node:has the X nature, Next:[6698]hash bucket,

Previous:[6699]hardwired, Up:[6700]= H =

has the X nature

[seems to derive from Zen Buddhist koans of the form "Does an X have

the Buddha-nature?"] adj. Common hacker construction for `is an X',

used for humorous emphasis. "Anyone who can't even use a program with

on-screen help embedded in it truly has the [6701]loser nature!" See

also [6702]the X that can be Y is not the true X. See also [6703]mu.

Node:hash bucket, Next:[6704]hash collision, Previous:[6705]has the X

nature, Up:[6706]= H =

hash bucket n.

A notional receptacle, a set of which might be used to apportion data

items for sorting or lookup purposes. When you look up a name in the

phone book (for example), you typically hash it by extracting its

first letter; the hash buckets are the alphabetically ordered letter

sections. This term is used as techspeak with respect to code that

uses actual hash functions; in jargon, it is used for human

associative memory as well. Thus, two things `in the same hash bucket'

are more difficult to discriminate, and may be confused. "If you hash

English words only by length, you get too many common grammar words in

the first couple of hash buckets." Compare [6707]hash collision.

Node:hash collision, Next:[6708]hat, Previous:[6709]hash bucket,

Up:[6710]= H =

hash collision n.

[from the techspeak] (var. `hash clash') When used of people,

signifies a confusion in associative memory or imagination, especially

a persistent one (see [6711]thinko). True story: One of us [ESR] was

once on the phone with a friend about to move out to Berkeley. When

asked what he expected Berkeley to be like, the friend replied: "Well,

I have this mental picture of naked women throwing Molotov cocktails,

but I think that's just a collision in my hash tables." Compare

[6712]hash bucket.

Node:hat, Next:[6713]HCF, Previous:[6714]hash collision, Up:[6715]= H

=

hat n.

Common (spoken) name for the circumflex (`^', ASCII 1011110)

character. See [6716]ASCII for other synonyms.

Node:HCF, Next:[6717]heads down, Previous:[6718]hat, Up:[6719]= H =

HCF /H-C-F/ n.

Mnemonic for `Halt and Catch Fire', any of several undocumented and

semi-mythical machine instructions with destructive side-effects,

supposedly included for test purposes on several well-known

architectures going as far back as the IBM 360. The MC6800

microprocessor was the first for which an HCF opcode became widely

known. This instruction caused the processor to [6720]toggle a subset

of the bus lines as rapidly as it could; in some configurations this

could actually cause lines to burn up. Compare [6721]killer poke.

Node:heads down, Next:[6722]heartbeat, Previous:[6723]HCF, Up:[6724]=

H =

heads down [Sun] adj.

Concentrating, usually so heavily and for so long that everything

outside the focus area is missed. See also [6725]hack mode and

[6726]larval stage, although this mode is hardly confined to fledgling

hackers.

Node:heartbeat, Next:[6727]heatseeker, Previous:[6728]heads down,

Up:[6729]= H =

heartbeat n.

The signal emitted by a Level 2 Ethernet transceiver at the end of

every packet to show that the collision-detection circuit is still

connected. 2. A periodic synchronization signal used by software or

hardware, such as a bus clock or a periodic interrupt. 3. The

`natural' oscillation frequency of a computer's clock crystal, before

frequency division down to the machine's clock rate. 4. A signal

emitted at regular intervals by software to demonstrate that it is

still alive. Sometimes hardware is designed to reboot the machine if

it stops hearing a heartbeat. See also [6730]breath-of-life packet.

Node:heatseeker, Next:[6731]heavy metal, Previous:[6732]heartbeat,

Up:[6733]= H =

heatseeker n.

[IBM] A customer who can be relied upon to buy, without fail, the

latest version of an existing product (not quite the same as a member

of the [6734]lunatic fringe). A 1993 example of a heatseeker was

someone who, owning a 286 PC and Windows 3.0, went out and bought

Windows 3.1 (which offers no worthwhile benefits unless you have a

386). If all customers were heatseekers, vast amounts of money could

be made by just fixing some of the bugs in each release (n) and

selling it to them as release (n+1). Microsoft in fact seems to have

mastered this technique.

Node:heavy metal, Next:[6735]heavy wizardry,

Previous:[6736]heatseeker, Up:[6737]= H =

heavy metal n.

[Cambridge] Syn. [6738]big iron.

Node:heavy wizardry, Next:[6739]heavyweight, Previous:[6740]heavy

metal, Up:[6741]= H =

heavy wizardry n.

Code or designs that trade on a particularly intimate knowledge or

experience of a particular operating system or language or complex

application interface. Distinguished from [6742]deep magic, which

trades more on arcane theoretical knowledge. Writing device drivers is

heavy wizardry; so is interfacing to [6743]X (sense 2) without a

toolkit. Esp. found in source-code comments of the form "Heavy

wizardry begins here". Compare [6744]voodoo programming.

Node:heavyweight, Next:[6745]heisenbug, Previous:[6746]heavy wizardry,

Up:[6747]= H =

heavyweight adj.

[common] High-overhead; [6748]baroque; code-intensive; featureful, but

costly. Esp. used of communication protocols, language designs, and

any sort of implementation in which maximum generality and/or ease of

implementation has been pushed at the expense of mundane

considerations such as speed, memory utilization, and