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

work to do and can

never catch up.

Node:liveware, Next:[8074]lobotomy, Previous:[8075]livelock,

Up:[8076]= L =

liveware /li:v'weir/ n.

Synonym for [8077]wetware. Less common. 2. [Cambridge] Vermin.

"Waiter, there's some liveware in my salad..."

Node:lobotomy, Next:[8078]locals the, Previous:[8079]liveware,

Up:[8080]= L =

lobotomy n.

What a hacker subjected to formal management training is said to

have undergone. At IBM and elsewhere this term is used by both hackers

and low-level management; the latter doubtless intend it as a joke. 2.

The act of removing the processor from a microcomputer in order to

replace or upgrade it. Some very cheap [8081]clone systems are sold in

`lobotomized' form -- everything but the brain.

Node:locals the, Next:[8082]locked and loaded,

Previous:[8083]lobotomy, Up:[8084]= L =

locals, the pl.n.

The users on one's local network (as opposed, say, to people one

reaches via public Internet or UUCP connects). The marked thing about

this usage is how little it has to do with real-space distance. "I

have to do some tweaking on this mail utility before releasing it to

the locals."

Node:locked and loaded, Next:[8085]locked up, Previous:[8086]locals

the, Up:[8087]= L =

locked and loaded adj.,obs.

[from military slang for an M-16 rifle with magazine inserted and

prepared for firing] Said of a removable disk volume properly prepared

for use -- that is, locked into the drive and with the heads loaded.

Ironically, because their heads are `loaded' whenever the power is up,

this description is never used of [8088]Winchester drives (which are

named after a rifle).

Node:locked up, Next:[8089]logic bomb, Previous:[8090]locked and

loaded, Up:[8091]= L =

locked up adj.

Syn. for [8092]hung, [8093]wedged.

Node:logic bomb, Next:[8094]logical, Previous:[8095]locked up,

Up:[8096]= L =

logic bomb n.

Code surreptitiously inserted into an application or OS that causes it

to perform some destructive or security-compromising activity whenever

specified conditions are met. Compare [8097]back door.

Node:logical, Next:[8098]loop through, Previous:[8099]logic bomb,

Up:[8100]= L =

logical adj.

[from the technical term `logical device', wherein a physical device

is referred to by an arbitrary `logical' name] Having the role of. If

a person (say, Les Earnest at SAIL) who had long held a certain post

left and were replaced, the replacement would for a while be known as

the `logical' Les Earnest. (This does not imply any judgment on the

replacement.) Compare [8101]virtual.

At Stanford, `logical' compass directions denote a coordinate system

in which logical north' is toward San Francisco,logical west' is

toward the ocean, etc., even though logical north varies between

physical (true) north near San Francisco and physical west near San

Jose. (The best rule of thumb here is that, by definition, El Camino

Real always runs logical north-and-south.) In giving directions, one

might say: "To get to Rincon Tarasco restaurant, get onto [8102]El

Camino Bignum going logical north." Using the word `logical' helps to

prevent the recipient from worrying about that the fact that the sun

is setting almost directly in front of him. The concept is reinforced

by North American highways which are almost, but not quite,

consistently labeled with logical rather than physical directions. A

similar situation exists at MIT: Route 128 (famous for the electronics

industry that has grown up along it) is a 3-quarters circle

surrounding Boston at a radius of 10 miles, terminating near the

coastline at each end. It would be most precise to describe the two

directions along this highway as clockwise' andcounterclockwise',

but the road signs all say "north" and "south", respectively. A hacker

might describe these directions as logical north' andlogical

south', to indicate that they are conventional directions not

corresponding to the usual denotation for those words. (If you went

logical south along the entire length of route 128, you would start

out going northwest, curve around to the south, and finish headed due

east, passing along one infamous stretch of pavement that is

simultaneously route 128 south and Interstate 93 north, and is signed

as such!)

Node:loop through, Next:[8103]loose bytes, Previous:[8104]logical,

Up:[8105]= L =

loop through vt.

To process each element of a list of things. "Hold on, I've got to

loop through my paper mail." Derives from the computer-language notion

of an iterative loop; compare `cdr down' (under [8106]cdr), which is

less common among C and Unix programmers. ITS hackers used to say `IRP

over' after an obscure pseudo-op in the MIDAS PDP-10 assembler (the

same IRP op can nowadays be found in Microsoft's assembler).

Node:loose bytes, Next:[8107]lord high fixer, Previous:[8108]loop

through, Up:[8109]= L =

loose bytes n.

Commonwealth hackish term for the padding bytes or [8110]shims many

compilers insert between members of a record or structure to cope with

alignment requirements imposed by the machine architecture.

Node:lord high fixer, Next:[8111]lose, Previous:[8112]loose bytes,

Up:[8113]= L =

lord high fixer n.

[primarily British, from Gilbert & Sullivan's `lord high executioner']

The person in an organization who knows the most about some aspect of

a system. See [8114]wizard.

Node:lose, Next:[8115]lose lose, Previous:[8116]lord high fixer,

Up:[8117]= L =

lose vi.

[very common] To fail. A program loses when it encounters an

exceptional condition or fails to work in the expected manner. 2. To

be exceptionally unesthetic or crocky. 3. Of people, to be obnoxious

or unusually stupid (as opposed to ignorant). See also [8118]deserves

to lose. 4. n. Refers to something that is [8119]losing, especially in

the phrases "That's a lose!" and "What a lose!"

Node:lose lose, Next:[8120]loser, Previous:[8121]lose, Up:[8122]= L =

lose lose interj.

A reply to or comment on an undesirable situation. "I accidentally

deleted all my files!" "Lose, lose."

Node:loser, Next:[8123]losing, Previous:[8124]lose lose, Up:[8125]= L

=

loser n.

An unexpectedly bad situation, program, programmer, or person. Someone

who habitually loses. (Even winners can lose occasionally.) Someone

who knows not and knows not that he knows not. Emphatic forms are

real loser',total loser', and complete loser' (but not **moby

loser', which would be a contradiction in terms). See [8126]luser.

Node:losing, Next:[8127]loss, Previous:[8128]loser, Up:[8129]= L =

losing adj.

Said of anything that is or causes a [8130]lose or [8131]lossage. "The

compiler is losing badly when I try to use templates."

Node:loss, Next:[8132]lossage, Previous:[8133]losing, Up:[8134]= L =

loss n.

Something (not a person) that loses; a situation in which something is

losing. Emphatic forms include moby loss', andtotal loss',

`complete loss'. Common interjections are "What a loss!" and "What a

moby loss!" Note that moby loss' is OK even though **moby loser' is

not used; applied to an abstract noun, moby is simply a magnifier,

whereas when applied to a person it implies substance and has positive

connotations. Compare [8135]lossage.

Node:lossage, Next:[8136]lost in the noise, Previous:[8137]loss,

Up:[8138]= L =

lossage /los'*j/ n.

[very common] The result of a bug or malfunction. This is a mass or

collective noun. "What a loss!" and "What lossage!" are nearly

synonymous. The former is slightly more particular to the speaker's

present circumstances; the latter implies a continuing [8139]lose of

which the speaker is currently a victim. Thus (for example) a

temporary hardware failure is a loss, but bugs in an important tool

(like a compiler) are serious lossage.

Node:lost in the noise, Next:[8140]lost in the underflow,

Previous:[8141]lossage, Up:[8142]= L =

lost in the noise adj.

Syn. [8143]lost in the underflow. This term is from signal processing,

where signals of very small amplitude cannot be separated from

low-intensity noise in the system. Though popular among hackers, it is

not confined to hackerdom; physicists, engineers, astronomers, and

statisticians all use it.

Node:lost in the underflow, Next:[8144]lots of MIPS but no I/O,

Previous:[8145]lost in the noise, Up:[8146]= L =

lost in the underflow adj.

Too small to be worth considering; more specifically, small beyond the

limits of accuracy or measurement. This is a reference to `floating

underflow', a condition that can occur when a floating-point

arithmetic processor tries to handle quantities smaller than its limit

of magnitude. It is also a pun on `undertow' (a kind of fast, cold

current that sometimes runs just offshore and can be dangerous to

swimmers). "Well, sure, photon pressure from the stadium lights alters

the path of a thrown baseball, but that effect gets lost in the

underflow." Compare [8147]epsilon, [8148]epsilon squared; see also

[8149]overflow bit.

Node:lots of MIPS but no I/O, Next:[8150]low-bandwidth,

Previous:[8151]lost in the underflow, Up:[8152]= L =

lots of MIPS but no I/O adj.

Used to describe a person who is technically brilliant but can't seem

to communicate with human beings effectively. Technically it describes

a machine that has lots of processing power but is bottlenecked on

input-output (in 1991, the IBM Rios, a.k.a. RS/6000, was a notorious

example).

Node:low-bandwidth, Next:[8153]LPT, Previous:[8154]lots of MIPS but no

I/O, Up:[8155]= L =

low-bandwidth adj.

[from communication theory] Used to indicate a talk that, although not

[8156]content-free, was not terribly informative. "That was a

low-bandwidth talk, but what can you expect for an audience of

[8157]suits!" Compare [8158]zero-content, [8159]bandwidth,

[8160]math-out.

Node:LPT, Next:[8161]Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology,

Previous:[8162]low-bandwidth, Up:[8163]= L =

LPT /L-P-T/ or /lip'it/ or /lip-it'/ n.

Line printer (originally Line Printing Terminal). Rare under Unix,

more common among hackers who grew up with ITS, MS-DOS, CP/M and other

operating systems that were strongly influenced by early [8164]DEC

conventions. 2. Local PorT. Used among MS-DOS programmers (and so

expanded in the MS-DOS 5 manual). It seems likely this is a

[8165]backronym.

Node:Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology, Next:[8166]Lumber

Cartel, Previous:[8167]LPT, Up:[8168]= L =

Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology prov.

"There is always one more bug."

Node:Lumber Cartel, Next:[8169]lunatic fringe,

Previous:[8170]Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology, Up:[8171]= L =

Lumber Cartel n.

A mythical conspiracy accused by [8172]spam-spewers of funding

anti-spam activism in order to force the direct-mail promotions

industry back onto paper. Hackers, predictably, responded by forming a

"Lumber Cartel" spoofing this paranoid theory; the web page is

[8173]http://come.to/the.lumber.cartel. Members often include the tag

TINLC ("There Is No Lumber Cartel") in their postings; see [8174]TINC,

[8175]backbone cabal and [8176]NANA for explanation.

Node:lunatic fringe, Next:[8177]lurker, Previous:[8178]Lumber Cartel,

Up:[8179]= L =

lunatic fringe n.

[IBM] Customers who can be relied upon to accept release 1 versions of

software. Compare [8180]heatseeker.

Node:lurker, Next:[8181]luser, Previous:[8182]lunatic fringe,

Up:[8183]= L =

lurker n.

One of the `silent majority' in a electronic forum; one who posts

occasionally or not at all but is known to read the group's postings

regularly. This term is not pejorative and indeed is casually used

reflexively: "Oh, I'm just lurking." Often used in `the lurkers', the

hypothetical audience for the group's [8184]flamage-emitting regulars.

When a lurker speaks up for the first time, this is called

`delurking'.

The creator of the popular science-fiction TV series "Babylon 5" has

ties to SF fandom and the hacker culture. In that series, the use of

the term `lurker' for a homeless or displaced person is a conscious

reference to the jargon term.

Node:luser, Next:[8185]M, Previous:[8186]lurker, Up:[8187]= L =

luser /loo'zr/ n.

[common] A [8188]user; esp. one who is also a [8189]loser.

([8190]luser and [8191]loser are pronounced identically.) This word

was coined around 1975 at MIT. Under ITS, when you first walked up to

a terminal at MIT and typed Control-Z to get the computer's attention,

it printed out some status information, including how many people were

already using the computer; it might print "14 users", for example.

Someone thought it would be a great joke to patch the system to print

"14 losers" instead. There ensued a great controversy, as some of the

users didn't particularly want to be called losers to their faces

every time they used the computer. For a while several hackers

struggled covertly, each changing the message behind the back of the

others; any time you logged into the computer it was even money

whether it would say "users" or "losers". Finally, someone tried the

compromise "lusers", and it stuck. Later one of the ITS machines

supported luser as a request-for-help command. ITS died the death in

mid-1990, except as a museum piece; the usage lives on, however, and

the term `luser' is often