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

> playte, [9597]chawmp (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 16-bit machine), half-word (on a 32-bit machine).

18 bits:

[9598]chawmp (on a 36-bit machine), half-word (on a 36-bit machine)

32 bits:

dynner, [9599]gawble (on a 32-bit machine), word (on a 32-bit machine), longword (on a 16-bit machine).

36:

word (on a 36-bit machine)

48 bits:

[9600]gawble (under circumstances that remain obscure)

64 bits

double word (on a 32-bit machine)

The fundamental motivation for most of these jargon terms (aside from

the normal hackerly enjoyment of punning wordplay) is the extreme

ambiguity of the term `word' and its derivatives.

Node:nyetwork, Next:[9601]Ob-, Previous:[9602]nybble, Up:[9603]= N =

nyetwork /nyet'werk/ n.

[from Russian `nyet' = no] A network, when it is acting [9604]flaky or

is [9605]down. Compare [9606]notwork.

Node:= O =, Next:[9607]= P =, Previous:[9608]= N =, Up:[9609]The

Jargon Lexicon

= O =

[9610]Ob-:

[9611]Obfuscated C Contest:

[9612]obi-wan error:

[9613]Objectionable-C:

[9614]obscure:

[9615]octal forty:

[9616]off the trolley:

[9617]off-by-one error:

[9618]offline:

[9619]ogg:

[9620]-oid:

[9621]old fart:

[9622]Old Testament:

[9623]on the gripping hand:

[9624]one-banana problem:

[9625]one-line fix:

[9626]one-liner wars:

[9627]ooblick:

[9628]op:

[9629]open:

[9630]open source:

[9631]open switch:

[9632]operating system:

[9633]optical diff:

[9634]optical grep:

[9635]optimism:

[9636]Oracle the:

[9637]Orange Book:

[9638]oriental food:

[9639]orphan:

[9640]orphaned i-node:

[9641]orthogonal:

[9642]OS:

[9643]OS/2:

[9644]OSS:

[9645]OSU:

[9646]OTOH:

[9647]out-of-band:

[9648]overclock:

[9649]overflow bit:

[9650]overflow pdl:

[9651]overrun:

[9652]overrun screw:

Node:Ob-, Next:[9653]Obfuscated C Contest, Previous:[9654]nyetwork,

Up:[9655]= O =

Ob- /ob/ pref.

Obligatory. A piece of [9656]netiquette acknowledging that the author

has been straying from the newsgroup's charter topic. For example, if

a posting in alt.sex is a response to a part of someone else's posting

that has nothing particularly to do with sex, the author may append

ObSex' (orObsex') and toss off a question or vignette about some

unusual erotic act. It is considered a sign of great [9657]winnitude

when one's Obs are more interesting than other people's whole

postings.

Node:Obfuscated C Contest, Next:[9658]obi-wan error,

Previous:[9659]Ob-, Up:[9660]= O =

Obfuscated C Contest n.

(in full, the `International Obfuscated C Code Contest', or IOCCC) An

annual contest run since 1984 over Usenet by Landon Curt Noll and

friends. The overall winner is whoever produces the most unreadable,

creative, and bizarre (but working) C program; various other prizes

are awarded at the judges' whim. C's terse syntax and

macro-preprocessor facilities give contestants a lot of maneuvering

room. The winning programs often manage to be simultaneously (a)

funny, (b) breathtaking works of art, and (c) horrible examples of how

not to code in C.

This relatively short and sweet entry might help convey the flavor of

obfuscated C:

/*

HELLO WORLD program

by Jack Applin and Robert Heckendorn, 1985

(Note: depends on being able to modify elements of argv[],

which is not guaranteed by ANSI and often not possible.)

*/

main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]="Hello, world!n)";

(!!c)[c]&&(v--||--c&&execlp(c,*c,c[!!c]+!!c,!c));

c=!c)write(!!c,c,!!c);}

Here's another good one:

/*

Program to compute an approximation of pi

by Brian Westley, 1988

(requires pcc macro concatenation; try gcc -traditional-cpp)

*/

define --- -F<00||--F-OO--;

int F=00,OO=00;

main(){F---OO();printf("%1.3fn",4.*-F/OO/OO);}F---OO()

{

--------------- ------------------------------- ---------------

}

Note that this program works by computing its own area. For more

digits, write a bigger program. See also [9661]hello world.

The IOCCC has an official home page at [9662]http://www.ioccc.org.

Node:obi-wan error, Next:[9663]Objectionable-C,

Previous:[9664]Obfuscated C Contest, Up:[9665]= O =

obi-wan error /oh'bee-won` er'*r/ n.

[RPI, from `off-by-one' and the Obi-Wan Kenobi character in "Star

Wars"] A loop of some sort in which the index is off by 1. Common when

the index should have started from 0 but instead started from 1. A

kind of [9666]off-by-one error. See also [9667]zeroth.

Node:Objectionable-C, Next:[9668]obscure, Previous:[9669]obi-wan

error, Up:[9670]= O =

Objectionable-C n.

Hackish take on "Objective-C", the name of an object-oriented dialect

of C in competition with the better-known C++ (it is used to write

native applications on the NeXT machine). Objectionable-C uses a

Smalltalk-like syntax, but lacks the flexibility of Smalltalk method

calls, and (like many such efforts) comes frustratingly close to

attaining the [9671]Right Thing without actually doing so.

Node:obscure, Next:[9672]octal forty, Previous:[9673]Objectionable-C,

Up:[9674]= O =

obscure adj.

Used in an exaggeration of its normal meaning, to imply total

incomprehensibility. "The reason for that last crash is obscure." "The

find(1) command's syntax is obscure!" The phrase `moderately obscure'

implies that something could be figured out but probably isn't worth

the trouble. The construction `obscure in the extreme' is the

preferred emphatic form.

Node:octal forty, Next:[9675]off the trolley, Previous:[9676]obscure,

Up:[9677]= O =

octal forty /ok'tl for'tee/ n.

Hackish way of saying "I'm drawing a blank." Octal 40 is the

[9678]ASCII space character, 0100000; by an odd coincidence, [9679]hex

40 (01000000) is the [9680]EBCDIC space character. See [9681]wall.

Node:off the trolley, Next:[9682]off-by-one error,

Previous:[9683]octal forty, Up:[9684]= O =

off the trolley adj.

Describes the behavior of a program that malfunctions and goes

catatonic, but doesn't actually [9685]crash or abort. See

[9686]glitch, [9687]bug, [9688]deep space, [9689]wedged.

This term is much older than computing, and is (uncommon) slang

elsewhere. A trolley is the small wheel that trolls, or runs against,

the heavy wire that carries the current to run a streetcar. It's at

the end of the long pole (the trolley pole) that reaches from the roof

of the streetcar to the overhead line. When the trolley stops making

contact with the wire (from passing through a switch, going over bumpy

track, or whatever), the streetcar comes to a halt, (usually) without

crashing. The streetcar is then said to be off the trolley, or off the

wire. Later on, trolley came to mean the streetcar itself. Since

streetcars became common in the 1890s, the term is more than 100 years

old. Nowadays, trolleys are only seen on historic streetcars, since

modern streetcars use pantographs to contact the wire.

Node:off-by-one error, Next:[9690]offline, Previous:[9691]off the

trolley, Up:[9692]= O =

off-by-one error n.

[common] Exceedingly common error induced in many ways, such as by

starting at 0 when you should have started at 1 or vice-versa, or by

writing < N instead of <= N or vice-versa. Also applied to giving

something to the person next to the one who should have gotten it.

Often confounded with [9693]fencepost error, which is properly a

particular subtype of it.

Node:offline, Next:[9694]ogg, Previous:[9695]off-by-one error,

Up:[9696]= O =

offline adv.

Not now or not here. "Let's take this discussion offline."

Specifically used on [9697]Usenet to suggest that a discussion be

moved off a public newsgroup to email.

Node:ogg, Next:[9698]-oid, Previous:[9699]offline, Up:[9700]= O =

ogg /og/ v.

[CMU] 1. In the multi-player space combat game Netrek, to execute

kamikaze attacks against enemy ships which are carrying armies or

occupying strategic positions. Named during a game in which one of the

players repeatedly used the tactic while playing Orion ship G, showing

up in the player list as "Og". This trick has been roundly denounced

by those who would return to the good old days when the tactic of

dogfighting was dominant, but as Sun Tzu wrote, "What is of supreme

importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy, not his tactics."

However, the traditional answer to the newbie question "What does ogg

mean?" is just "Pick up some armies and I'll show you." 2. In other

games, to forcefully attack an opponent with the expectation that the

resources expended will be renewed faster than the opponent will be

able to regain his previous advantage. Taken more seriously as a

tactic since it has gained a simple name. 3. To do anything

forcefully, possibly without consideration of the drain on future

resources. "I guess I'd better go ogg the problem set that's due

tomorrow." "Whoops! I looked down at the map for a sec and almost

ogged that oncoming car."

Node:-oid, Next:[9701]old fart, Previous:[9702]ogg, Up:[9703]= O =

-oid suff.

[from Greek suffix -oid = `in the image of'] 1. Used as in mainstream

slang English to indicate a poor imitation, a counterfeit, or some

otherwise slightly bogus resemblance. Hackers will happily use it with

all sorts of non-Greco/Latin stem words that wouldn't keep company

with it in mainstream English. For example, "He's a nerdoid" means

that he superficially resembles a nerd but can't make the grade; a

`modemoid' might be a 300-baud box (Real Modems run at 28.8 or up); a

computeroid' might be any [9704]bitty box. The wordkeyboid' could

be used to describe a [9705]chiclet keyboard, but would have to be

written; spoken, it would confuse the listener as to the speaker's

city of origin. 2. More specifically, an indicator for `resembling an

android' which in the past has been confined to science-fiction fans

and hackers. It too has recently (in 1991) started to go mainstream

(most notably in the term `trendoid' for victims of terminal hipness).

This is probably traceable to the popularization of the term

[9706]droid in "Star Wars" and its sequels. (See also [9707]windoid.)

Coinages in both forms have been common in science fiction for at

least fifty years, and hackers (who are often SF fans) have probably

been making `-oid' jargon for almost that long [though GLS and I can

personally confirm only that they were already common in the mid-1970s

--ESR].

Node:old fart, Next:[9708]Old Testament, Previous:[9709]-oid,

Up:[9710]= O =

old fart n.

Tribal elder. A title self-assumed with remarkable frequency by (esp.)

Usenetters who have been programming for more than about 25 years;

often appears in [9711]sig blocks attached to Jargon File

contributions of great archeological significance. This is a term of

insult in the second or third person but one of pride in first person.

Node:Old Testament, Next:[9712]on the gripping hand,

Previous:[9713]old fart, Up:[9714]= O =

Old Testament n.

[C programmers] The first edition of [9715]K&R, the sacred text

describing [9716]Classic C.

Node:on the gripping hand, Next:[9717]one-banana problem,

Previous:[9718]Old Testament, Up:[9719]= O =

on the gripping hand

In the progression that starts "On the one hand..." and continues "On

the other hand..." mainstream English may add "on the third hand..."

even though most people don't have three hands. Among hackers, it is

just as likely to be "on the gripping hand". This metaphor supplied

the title of Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle's 1993 SF novel "The

Gripping Hand" which involved a species of hostile aliens with three

arms (the same species, in fact, referenced in [9720]juggling eggs).

As with [9721]TANSTAAFL and [9722]con, this usage one of the

naturalized imports from SF fandom frequently observed among hackers.

Node:one-banana problem, Next:[9723]one-line fix, Previous:[9724]on

the gripping hand, Up:[9725]= O =

one-banana problem n.

At mainframe shops, where the computers have operators for routine

administrivia, the programmers and hardware people tend to look down

on the operators and claim that a trained monkey could do their job.

It is frequently observed that the incentives that would be offered

said monkeys can be used as a scale to describe the difficulty of a

task. A one-banana problem is simple; hence, "It's only a one-banana

job at the most; what's taking them so long?"

At IBM, folklore divides the world into one-, two-, and three-banana

problems. Other cultures have different hierarchies and may divide

them more finely; at ICL, for example, five grapes (a bunch) equals a

banana. Their upper limit for the in-house [9726]sysapes is said to be

two bananas and three grapes (another source claims it's three bananas

and one grape, but observes "However, this is subject to local

variations, cosmic rays and ISO"). At a complication level any higher

than that, one asks the manufacturers to send someone around to check

things.

See also [9727]Infinite-Monkey Theorem.