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

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Node:one-line fix, Next:[9728]one-liner wars,

Previous:[9729]one-banana problem, Up:[9730]= O =

one-line fix n.

Used (often sarcastically) of a change to a program that is thought to

be trivial or insignificant right up to the moment it crashes the

system. Usually `cured' by another one-line fix. See also [9731]I

didn't change anything!

Node:one-liner wars, Next:[9732]ooblick, Previous:[9733]one-line fix,

Up:[9734]= O =

one-liner wars n.

A game popular among hackers who code in the language APL (see

[9735]write-only language and [9736]line noise). The objective is to

see who can code the most interesting and/or useful routine in one

line of operators chosen from APL's exceedingly [9737]hairy primitive

set. A similar amusement was practiced among [9738]TECO hackers and is

now popular among [9739]Perl aficionados.

Ken Iverson, the inventor of APL, has been credited with a one-liner

that, given a number N, produces a list of the prime numbers from 1 to

N inclusive. It looks like this:

(2 = 0 +.= T o.| T) / T <- iN

where `o' is the APL null character, the assignment arrow is a single

character, and `i' represents the APL iota.

Here's a [9740]Perl program that prints primes:

perl -wle '(1 x $---) !~ /^(11+)1+$/ && print while ++ $---'

In the Perl world this game is sometimes called Perl Golf because the

player with the fewest (key)strokes wins.

Node:ooblick, Next:[9741]op, Previous:[9742]one-liner wars, Up:[9743]=

O =

ooblick /oo'blik/ n.

[from the Dr. Seuss title "Bartholomew and the Oobleck"; the spelling

`oobleck' is still current in the mainstream] A bizarre semi-liquid

sludge made from cornstarch and water. Enjoyed among hackers who make

batches during playtime at parties for its amusing and extremely

non-Newtonian behavior; it pours and splatters, but resists rapid

motion like a solid and will even crack when hit by a hammer. Often

found near lasers.

Here is a field-tested ooblick recipe contributed by GLS:

1 cup cornstarch

1 cup baking soda

3/4 cup water

N drops of food coloring

This recipe isn't quite as non-Newtonian as a pure cornstarch ooblick,

but has an appropriately slimy feel.

Some, however, insist that the notion of an ooblick recipe is far too

mechanical, and that it is best to add the water in small increments

so that the various mixed states the cornstarch goes through as it

becomes ooblick can be grokked in fullness by many hands. For optional

ingredients of this experience, see the "[9744]Ceremonial Chemicals"

section of Appendix B.

Node:op, Next:[9745]open, Previous:[9746]ooblick, Up:[9747]= O =

op /op/ n.

In England and Ireland, common verbal abbreviation for `operator',

as in system operator. Less common in the U.S., where [9748]sysop

seems to be preferred. 2. [IRC] Someone who is endowed with privileges

on [9749]IRC, not limited to a particular channel. These are generally

people who are in charge of the IRC server at their particular site.

Sometimes used interchangeably with [9750]CHOP. Compare [9751]sysop.

Node:open, Next:[9752]open source, Previous:[9753]op, Up:[9754]= O =

open n.

Abbreviation for `open (or left) parenthesis' -- used when necessary

to eliminate oral ambiguity. To read aloud the LISP form (DEFUN FOO

(X) (PLUS X 1)) one might say: "Open defun foo, open eks close, open,

plus eks one, close close."

Node:open source, Next:[9755]open switch, Previous:[9756]open,

Up:[9757]= O =

open source n.

[common; also adj. `open-source'] Term coined in March 1998 following

the Mozilla release to describe software distributed in source under

licenses guaranteeing anybody rights to freely use, modify, and

redistribute, the code. The intent was to be able to sell the hackers'

ways of doing software to industry and the mainstream by avoid the

negative connotations (to [9758]suits) of the term "[9759]free

software". For discussion of the followon tactics and their

consequences, see the [9760]Open Source Initiative site.

Node:open switch, Next:[9761]operating system, Previous:[9762]open

source, Up:[9763]= O =

open switch n.

[IBM: prob. from railroading] An unresolved question, issue, or

problem.

Node:operating system, Next:[9764]optical diff, Previous:[9765]open

switch, Up:[9766]= O =

operating system n.

[techspeak] (Often abbreviated `OS') The foundation software of a

machine; that which schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a

default interface to the user between applications. The facilities an

operating system provides and its general design philosophy exert an

extremely strong influence on programming style and on the technical

cultures that grow up around its host machines. Hacker folklore has

been shaped primarily by the [9767]Unix, [9768]ITS, [9769]TOPS-10,

[9770]TOPS-20/[9771]TWENEX, [9772]WAITS, [9773]CP/M, [9774]MS-DOS, and

[9775]Multics operating systems (most importantly by ITS and Unix).

Node:optical diff, Next:[9776]optical grep, Previous:[9777]operating

system, Up:[9778]= O =

optical diff n.

See [9779]vdiff.

Node:optical grep, Next:[9780]optimism, Previous:[9781]optical diff,

Up:[9782]= O =

optical grep n.

See [9783]vgrep.

Node:optimism, Next:[9784]Oracle the, Previous:[9785]optical grep,

Up:[9786]= O =

optimism n.

What a programmer is full of after fixing the last bug and before

discovering the next last bug. Fred Brooks's book "The Mythical

Man-Month" (See "Brooks's Law") contains the following paragraph that

describes this extremely well:

All programmers are optimists. Perhaps this modern sorcery

especially attracts those who believe in happy endings and fairy

godmothers. Perhaps the hundreds of nitty frustrations drive away

all but those who habitually focus on the end goal. Perhaps it is

merely that computers are young, programmers are younger, and the

young are always optimists. But however the selection process

works, the result is indisputable: "This time it will surely run,"

or "I just found the last bug.".

See also [9787]Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology.

Node:Oracle the, Next:[9788]Orange Book, Previous:[9789]optimism,

Up:[9790]= O =

Oracle, the

The all-knowing, all-wise Internet Oracle rec.humor.oracle), or one of

the foreign language derivatives of same. Newbies frequently confuse

the Oracle with Oracle, a database vendor. As a result, the

unmoderated rec.humor.oracle.d is frequently crossposted to by the

clueless, looking for advice on SQL. As more than one person has said

in similar situations, "Don't people bother to look at the newsgroup

description line anymore?" (To which the standard response is, "Did

people ever read it in the first place?")

Node:Orange Book, Next:[9791]oriental food, Previous:[9792]Oracle the,

Up:[9793]= O =

Orange Book n.

The U.S. Government's standards document "Trusted Computer System

Evaluation Criteria, DOD standard 5200.28-STD, December, 1985" which

characterize secure computing architectures and defines levels A1

(most secure) through D (least). Modern Unixes are roughly C2. See

also [9794]crayola books, [9795]book titles.

Node:oriental food, Next:[9796]orphan, Previous:[9797]Orange Book,

Up:[9798]= O =

oriental food n.

Hackers display an intense tropism towards oriental cuisine,

especially Chinese, and especially of the spicier varieties such as

Szechuan and Hunan. This phenomenon (which has also been observed in

subcultures that overlap heavily with hackerdom, most notably

science-fiction fandom) has never been satisfactorily explained, but

is sufficiently intense that one can assume the target of a hackish

dinner expedition to be the best local Chinese place and be right at

least three times out of four. See also [9799]ravs, [9800]great-wall,

[9801]stir-fried random, [9802]laser chicken, [9803]Yu-Shiang Whole

Fish. Thai, Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese cuisines are also quite

popular.

Node:orphan, Next:[9804]orphaned i-node, Previous:[9805]oriental food,

Up:[9806]= O =

orphan n.

[Unix] A process whose parent has died; one inherited by init(1).

Compare [9807]zombie.

Node:orphaned i-node, Next:[9808]orthogonal, Previous:[9809]orphan,

Up:[9810]= O =

orphaned i-node /or'f*nd i:'nohd/ n.

[Unix] 1. [techspeak] A file that retains storage but no longer

appears in the directories of a filesystem. 2. By extension, a

pejorative for any person no longer serving a useful function within

some organization, esp. [9811]lion food without subordinates.

Node:orthogonal, Next:[9812]OS, Previous:[9813]orphaned i-node,

Up:[9814]= O =

orthogonal adj.

[from mathematics] Mutually independent; well separated; sometimes,

irrelevant to. Used in a generalization of its mathematical meaning to

describe sets of primitives or capabilities that, like a vector basis

in geometry, span the entire `capability space' of the system and are

in some sense non-overlapping or mutually independent. For example, in

architectures such as the PDP-11 or VAX where all or nearly all

registers can be used interchangeably in any role with respect to any

instruction, the register set is said to be orthogonal. Or, in logic,

the set of operators not' andor' is orthogonal, but the set `nand',

or', andnot' is not (because any one of these can be expressed in

terms of the others). Also used in comments on human discourse: "This

may be orthogonal to the discussion, but...."

Node:OS, Next:[9815]OS/2, Previous:[9816]orthogonal, Up:[9817]= O =

OS /O-S/

[Operating System] n. An abbreviation heavily used in email,

occasionally in speech. 2. n. obs. On ITS, an output spy. See

"[9818]OS and JEDGAR" in Appendix A.

Node:OS/2, Next:[9819]OSS, Previous:[9820]OS, Up:[9821]= O =

OS/2 /O S too/ n.

The anointed successor to MS-DOS for Intel 286- and 386-based micros;

proof that IBM/Microsoft couldn't get it right the second time,

either. Often called `Half-an-OS'. Mentioning it is usually good for a

cheap laugh among hackers -- the design was so [9822]baroque, and the

implementation of 1.x so bad, that 3 years after introduction you

could still count the major [9823]apps shipping for it on the fingers

of two hands -- in unary. The 2.x versions are said to have improved

somewhat, and informed hackers now rate them superior to Microsoft

Windows (an endorsement which, however, could easily be construed as

damning with faint praise). See [9824]monstrosity, [9825]cretinous,

[9826]second-system effect.

Node:OSS, Next:[9827]OSU, Previous:[9828]OS/2, Up:[9829]= O =

OSS

Written-only acronym for "Open Source Software" (see [9830]open

source. This is a rather ugly [9831]TLA, and the principals in the

open-source movement don't use it, but it has (perhaps inevitably)

spread through the trade press like kudzu.

Node:OSU, Next:[9832]OTOH, Previous:[9833]OSS, Up:[9834]= O =

OSU /O-S-U/ n. obs.

[TMRC] Acronym for Officially Sanctioned User; a user who is

recognized as such by the computer authorities and allowed to use the

computer above the objections of the security monitor.

Node:OTOH, Next:[9835]out-of-band, Previous:[9836]OSU, Up:[9837]= O =

OTOH //

[Usenet; very common] On The Other Hand.

Node:out-of-band, Next:[9838]overclock, Previous:[9839]OTOH,

Up:[9840]= O =

out-of-band adj.

[from telecommunications and network theory] 1. In software, describes

values of a function which are not in its `natural' range of return

values, but are rather signals that some kind of exception has

occurred. Many C functions, for example, return a nonnegative integral

value, but indicate failure with an out-of-band return value of -1.

Compare [9841]hidden flag, [9842]green bytes, [9843]fence. 2. Also

sometimes used to describe what communications people call `shift

characters', such as the ESC that leads control sequences for many

terminals, or the level shift indicators in the old 5-bit Baudot

codes. 3. In personal communication, using methods other than email,

such as telephones or [9844]snail-mail.

Node:overclock, Next:[9845]overflow bit, Previous:[9846]out-of-band,

Up:[9847]= O =

overclock /oh'vr-klok'/ vt.

To operate a CPU or other digital logic device at a rate higher than

it was designed for, under the assumption that the manufacturer put

some [9848]slop into the specification to account for manufacturing

tolerances. Overclocking something can result in intermittent

[9849]crashes, and can even burn things out, since power dissipation

is directly proportional to [9850]clock frequency. People who make a

hobby of this are sometimes called "overclockers"; they are thrilled

that they can run their 450MHz CPU at 500MHz, even though they can

only tell the difference by running a [9851]benchmark program.

Node:overflow bit, Next:[9852]overflow pdl, Previous:[9853]overclock,

Up:[9854]= O =

overflow bit n.

[techspeak] A [9855]flag on some processors indicating an attempt

to calculate a result too large for a register to hold. 2. More

generally, an indication of any kind of capacity overload condition.

"Well, the [9856]Ada description was [9857]baroque all right, but I

could hack it OK until they got to the exception handling ... that set

my overflow bit." 3. The hypothetical bit that will be set if a hacker

doesn't get to make a trip to the Room of Porcelain Fixtures: "I'd

better process an internal interrupt before the overflow bit gets

set."

Node:overflow pdl, Next:[9858]overrun, Previous:[9859]overflow bit,

Up:[9860]= O =

overflow pdl n.

[MIT] The place where you put things when your [9861]PDL is full. If

you don't have one and too many things get pushed, you forget

something. The overflow